Image via Wikipedia

for those who are interested in  ”what is good for the R.E. consumer.”

Behind the Curtain: Will Inman News survey expose need for RE reforms?

While consumers may have more information at their fingertips than ever before about for-sale homes and real estate transactions, some consumers remain misinformed or in the dark about the intricacies of real estate transactions and even how real estate agents are compensated.

http://www.inman.com/news/2011/04/11/real-estate-behind-curtain

Related articles

• If You Are Selling Real Estate? – Beware of Fake Buyers (realestatenoevalley.com)

Image via Wikipedia

from the RE Insider

The FBI and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) investigated a fraud scheme that defrauded lenders of more than $20,000,000.  As a result, ten people have been indicted. The indictment focused on David Marshal Crisp and Carlyle Lee Cole who owned and operated Crisp and Cole Real Estate. Along with another eight individuals, Crisp and Cole obtained real estate loans for borrowers by making false statements about their income, assets, employment and their intent to occupy those properties as their primary residence.

How many brokers do you know that have “helped” a borrower qualify – 1 out of 10, 9 out of 10 or none at all?  Unfortunately while it is unusual that the FBI and HUD get involved, this is old news when it relates to some brokers and some agents taking walks outside of the law.

Read the rest of the article

Image via Wikipedia

You definitely need to know the news when you are a real estate investor. You will find that it is a huge help professionally. It will also help you spot good deals. I have definitely spotted a lot of real estate investing opportunities thanks to following real estate trends.

Each time you read about real estate then make sure that you are looking for trends. These trends will likely help you determine whether to buy or sell. You will find that they help you identify good creative financing options. You could even decide if you should get involved in a new venture using this information.

Be sure to read all types of news in real estate. Do not restrict yourself to the areas in which you currently have an interest. Check out all different types of investing. You can find out that there is a lucrative alternative that you have overlooked.

You might sometimes find that you do not have enough time for real estate investing research. You can use my notes on those days. Each day I will make them public. Be sure to review them each day if you want.

Today’s real estate investing notes can be found below:

* Bulk reo investing certainly is taking off. – If you want to buy lots of houses at once then you will love this. People are loving the bulk buys that they can achieve. More lenders are getting used to the idea. They are very eager to be rid of their REO property problems.

* Real estate investing experts have a new problem. – “Boiler room” law firms are billing themselves out as the answer to loan modification problems. They charge fees that are very high and then disappear with your money. They may never even attempt to resolve your loan issue.

* Use this method to hedge your bets when you are tax lien investing. – You can use this method to spot opportunities in tax lien investing. These details are a good sign that the deals in question meet your needs.

Check back tomorrow to see the latest news!

Related articles

• REIT Group Calls Calpers’ Proposed Strategy ‘Ill-Advised’ (blogs.wsj.com)
• 10 Common Reasons Real Estate Investors Fail (doorfly.com)
• You: George Ross, Donald Trump’s Most Trusted Advisor, Advises Hawaii’s Business Leaders at the Hawaii Wealth Summit (menafn.com)
• 47 Real Estate Investment Blogs (homeequityloan.net)
• Calpers Dropping Stocks From Property Portfolio (online.wsj.com)
• Real estate outlook with Don Campbell (theglobeandmail.com)
• This Month in Real Estate- Beat the Spring Rush! (kmckeeth.wordpress.com)

Pending U.S. home sales rise in July

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Boosted by low prices and a home-buyer tax credit, pending sales of existing homes rose in July for the six straight month, the longest streak on record, a real estate trade group reported Tuesday. The pending home sales index rose 3.2% in July, the National Association of Realtors said. The index is 12% above July 2008. Pending homes sales in July rose in the South and West. The index is based on sales contracts on existing homes. The NAR reports on sales of existing homes once the sales closes, usually six to eight weeks later

Today, agents are still that way, about money…

A typical listing, in SF, on a $100,000 property, carries a 5% commission… the typical agent would rather pocket $5,000, as a dual agent, than take $2,500, and see another agent take $2,500.. That “twin killing” is enough to lead people to squeeze anywhere it seems will help close the deal, too much so.

I pre-discuss this with the seller, and we usually agree, that I will not also act as an unrepresented buyer’s agent. I WILL act to protect them from mistakes made out of ignorance. I will not let them breech any term of the contract that I would have written for their signature. I will give them all the data on recent sales, and current competing properties. I will not advise them on what to offer, or how to disadvantage my client.. I do only take the 2 or 2.5% for the “listing agent commission. I do also charge my seller an extra fee for all the extra work that I do, but never more than 1/3 of what a buyer’s agent would have pocketed. In that case, the seller is saving 2/3s of the missing buyer’s agent commission, and I point that out to the buyer, as well as the seller…. so that both principals are aware of who is netting what… Some call this “transactional agent”… I call it “Facilitator”…

I expressly cite all things a “buyer’s agent can do for the buyer, that I cannot. I cite the only clear benefit to the principals as the saving of 2/3s, or more of the ‘buyer agent commission’.

I do think that if a “Fully Disclosed Dual Agent” is taking the whole “commission pie”, they are being patently greedy, to put it mildly.

Finally: I do not believe that there can be such a thing as a “Dual Agent”, anymore than there can be “a square circle”…

One of the prime requirements of being an Agent, is to be totally loyal to the principal, and their goals. The seller wants the top dollar, the buyer wants ‘bottom dollar’. A “Dual Agent” is going to have to betray the interests of one OR the other, if not both.

The only reason that “Dual Agency” is legal..is due to the lobbying of the big brokerages, from what I can deduce.

JackBarry99@gmail.com
415-564-0225/415-235-7897cell
1627 Tenth Ave, S.F.,Ca.94122-3624
“These are My Principles…If you don’t like them, I have others!”

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/nca/1906/kap/

Real Estate Cafe

Why would you spend $100,000 to recover a $34,000 deposit? Principle, of course.

The real estate industry is rife with conflicts, incompetence and fraud. And, if Stern can donate a little (OK, a lot) of his boundless energy to reform it, he is more than willing to spend his free time spamming journalists and lawmakers for the greater good.

Joel Stern is a man on a mission

Agent Provocateur

You need to know who represents whom in realty deals

By Lew Sichelman

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch)

Bruce Hahn
President
American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance and
the American Homeowners Foundation

Serving the interests of the nation’s 75 million homeowners and future homeowners since 1984.

The American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance is a nonpartisan consumer advocacy organization dedicated to assisting the nation’s 75 million homeowners understand significant policy issues affecting homeowners and homeownership, and empowering homeowners  to make their voices heard by state and federal officials.

The American Homeowners Foundation is an educational and research foundation providing information and tools to help consumers make wiser decisions when they buy, sell, remodel, finance or invest in homes.

Visit our web site http://www.americanhomeowners.org. Contact us at: 6776
Little Falls Road, Arlington, VA 22213-1213.  Cell: 571-214-1013;
Headquarters: 703-536-7776