Yeah, Texas! and an experiment

An article was published in the Washington Post this week regarding how Texas has been somewhat unaffected by the housing bubble. Basically, it's because we're good 'ole boys down here! Specifically, Texas has limited cash-out refinances: cash-outs and home-equity loans cannot total more than 80 percent of a home's appraised value. Additionally, there's a 12-day waiting period once an application is submitted, during which the borrower can stop everything and walk away.

These limitations are written into our state's constitution- restrictions date back to Texas' early statehood in 1845 when the state constitution banned home loans. I always knew the Lone Star State was right on the money!

When I read this article, I tweeted about it. With the new ability to embed tweets in blog posts, I wanted to try embedding that tweet into this post.

Why did Texas, of all places, escape the real estate crisis?: http://bit.ly/arL4Tjless than a minute ago via HootSuiteCreekview Realty
creekviewrealty

As I'm composing this post, the tweet appears skewed and doesn't appear to be rendering correctly, but when I publish this post, it will supposedly look correct. We shall see...

But! Check out the article regarding what Texas is doing right these days. Wouldn't be so bad if we adopted these principles nationally!

Do Realtors Find Clients Homes?

I ran across this video today, and, intrigued by the topic, giggled as I watched this Realtor readily admit that his job description no longer includes finding homes for his clients. He's got a great point- gone are the days when a Realtor will dig through the MLS, searching for the perfect 3/2/2 in the preferred neighborhood of their clients. In fact, that's something that most clients prefer to do on their own these days.

In this video, Frank arrives at an interesting quandary. One of this clients says "If you're not finding me a home, why wouldn't I use a discount real estate company?" Here's the fun part- Frank has no answer. Just that "this is no longer part of my job description."

I want to find Frank's client and hug him. I want to tell him "You get it!! You get that for a lot of people, warm fuzzies are no longer enough, and you are demanding actual value for your dollar!" Just as flat fee MLS listing, or a discount realty, is not for everyone, neither are traditional agents. If you aren't sure what value a traditional agent will be able to bring you when you're searching to buy a house, give discount listing brokerage a call. Because while we won't waste 16 1/2 hours of your time driving you to and from potential homes, we will save you a heck of a lot of money...

Thoughts?? (By the way, ignore the first 30 seconds of this video, where this self conscious Realtor worries if his hair growth treatment is working or not... no, I'm not kidding....)

FSBO or Traditional Agent?

I was over on Trulia.com the other day looking at their Q&A posts. Trulia is a great place to get real estate questions answered, and one poster asked the following question:

Is it a bad idea to try For Sale by Owner for a few weeks before getting an Agent? We're going to be putting our home on the market relatively soon and we are thinking of listing it For Sale by Owner for a few weeks to see what pans out. If we get not bites in a few weeks, then we'll get an agent.

Does anyone see any adverse affect of this aside from losing time? We intend on offering commission to the buying agent. The catalyst for this idea is because we are right up against the margin of room we have of what we think we can get for the house and paying full 6% might take use under where we need to be. We do not plan on posting in MLS while it's under FSBO.

Most of the answers were the traditional agent responses of "No, an agent can sell your home better than you can" kind of thing. What really got me about the answers to this post was that none of them answered the question. The poster asked "Will it hurt to try it?" And the very simple answer is "No, as long as you're not at risk for losing your home to foreclosure, where time is of the absolute essence. Go ahead and give it a shot."

Here's the thing. I of course feel that this guy is wasting his time by not giving his FSBO listing the best shot of success by going ahead and utilizing a flat fee MLS listing for a really low out-of-pocket investment, but that's his business. If he wants to stick a 'for sale by owner' sign out in his yard and see who calls, why not encourage him. Because when he does reach the point of being ready to sign with a Realtor, he'll more than likely think they hung the moon with even very minimal foot traffic.

I'm so frustrated, folks! He doesn't have to choose! He CAN do the 'for sale by owner' thing AND have support if he were to go with a flat fee MLS listing company. But you already know that. Thank goodness.

Florida Clients - Time to Host an Open House

According to The Florida Times-Union, a statewide open house will be taking place on April 10-11, 2010, with the goal of getting more people to take advantage of the $8,000 first-time homebuyer credit before the offer expires on April 30. Additionally, this promotion should spur sales for Realtors during this traditionally slow real estate month.

But we're not so worried about those Realtors as we are our Florida 'For Sale by Owner' flat fee MLS listing clients. While this event is being sponsored by the Florida Association of Realtors, there's no reason why our FSBO flat fee clients can't take advantage of this big event marketing push. Since would-be buyers are probably anticipating attending this massive event, you should plan to host your own open house on this date.

First and foremost, contact your flat fee listing broker, and inform them that you will be participating in the statewide open house, and give them the times you will have your home open for foot traffic. Give them as much notice as possible, as your broker will add this information to both your MLS listing AND on Realtor.com for maximum exposure.

Reportedly, blue balloons with the "R" Realtor logo will be used to mark open houses. Ask your broker if they have these balloons you can use, or if they are available for purchase. Or, if you are a straight-up 'For Sale by Owner' home seller, without our or another flat fee service, go out and purchase some blue balloons to use for this day.

We often tell our clients that open houses are more easily hosted by home sellers themselves versus a listing agent. Home sellers can point out their favorite aspects of their home, while a Realtor would not have this perspective. Home sellers should make sure to keep any personal details to a minimum, as in "Check out this backyard - it's fantastic for hosting bar-b-ques and summer events!" versus "We have wonderful memories of this backyard - this is where our son learned to catch a football, and where our dog had her first litter of puppies..."

If you want to host an open house, related to this massive statewide open house date or otherwise, make sure to have plenty of flyers ready for your visitors. Make sure your home smells fresh and clean: no pet odors, smoke odors or ethnic food odors allowed! (Ever tried to stomach the smell of garlic or curry at 9am?)

Your home should already be staged for selling. For staging tips, check out our Staging YouTube video.

Good luck selling your home! Get those fresh-baked cookies ready! If you're interested in selling your home by owner in Florida, see our Florida For Sale by Owner Homes page.

New CREA Regulations - Too Little, Too Late

ForSalebyOwnerHomes.com operates within the United States of America, and does not have a broker network currently extending into Canada. But, we sure think it's interesting watching the Canadian flat fee MLS drama play out! From the sidelines, the similarities to our American DOJ vs. NAR fist fight are quite entertaining.

On Monday, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) approved changes to their legislation that will allow a little more wiggle room for those organizations wishing to offer flat fee MLS listing services. Specifically, folks wanting to buy or sell their homes will have more power to handle some details of the transaction on their own.

With the new legislation approved and waiting to be implemented "as soon as it is reasonable at each local board", a client will be able to pay a real estate agent a flat fee to list their property on the MLS. Additionally, agents are required to provide the home seller's contact phone number to an interested buyer, if the seller opts to offer this information.

These changes were instigated when Canada's Competition Bureau launched an investigation against CREA, saying that the current system's requirement that all consumers listing within MLS must 'employ' an agent throughout the sales process leads to higher prices for consumers.

Even with this new legislation, the bureau says these changes don't go far enough because CREA can still change rules and create new restrictions on organizations or agents who try to offer innovative services. A Competition Tribunal will be held to further investigate the matter.

Tribunals aside, we're impressed with the aggressiveness of newly-appointed Competition Bureau Commissioner Melanie Aitken who has vowed to improve the bureau's record of going to bat against organizations accused of anti-competitive behavior.

All of this news sounds all too familiar to those of us here in America, backing the Department of Justice's fight against the National Association of Realtors (NAR). To read about the latest efforts by the DOJ in their battle with the traditional real estate industry, see the links available on our website.

Sigh. I'm brimming with frustration that this is even a battle. Organizations like CREA and NAR aren't preventing consumers from being harmed in anyway. Rather, they're battling the evolution of an industry. And preventing change for the better, just so you can make a few bucks, is wrong.

Market Your For Sale by Owner Home with Great Photos

The first in a series of 'FSBO Tip' videos, check out this Photo Tips for Your MLS Listing video. For more guidance on this subject, see our website - http://forsalebyownerhomes.com