Our friend to the north will be introducing a new online community called Livium - Real Estate as God Intended. Livium says it’s “a real estate marketing services provider”.
Livium will provide agents an interactive online community to showcase listings, position themselves as neighborhood experts by contributing to the site and interact with other members and potential buyers and sellers.
One more good thing about living in the Emerald City -
“I’ve been to enough house fires where people are crying for us to save their pets,” Seattle firefighter Jennifer Bessler said. “This just gives us one more tool to help out a pet that’s maybe been in too long.”
A group called the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) has filed a complaint with the FTC against Seattle-based Zillow over the accuracy of Zillow’s zestimates. The NCRC infers that the zestimates are dangerous information that mislead the public.
David Berenbaum, of the NCRC mentioned that “many in the appraisal industry have said to us that it is almost an open joke the information on this Web site.” The NCRC is aligned with a group of appraisers & lenders, perhaps threatened by AVMs. Interestingly, lender appraisals are almost always the same or very close to the selling price of a property.
Granted, Zillow isn’t the most accurate, but that’s not a secret. Zillow even admits only 73% of Seattle area valuations are within 10% of selling price. But unlike other agents who would have Zillow’s head on a platter, I say, so what? Ask 5 real estate agents to for a home valuation report, you’ll get 5 different pricing opinions. Though, an agent may have an opportunity to view the property and consider intangibles that an automated valuation model (AVM) is not able to do. The fact is, Zillow just provides another opinion. And, there’s nothing wrong with that.
Read more:
John Cook’s PI article & blog post
Sellsius’ Zillow Zapped with FTC
Columbus Best Blog’s Complaint to FTC consumers Zillowed?
Real Estate 2.X’s Trouble for Zillow
Roberta Murphy’s Zillow gets Zinged
Three Oceans A modest proposal … amen!
I had the opportunity to speak with Lennox Scott, CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate, this morning. He did confirm that the NWMLS will stop it’s feed to Realtor.com. However, he did reiterate, that John L. Scott will continue to feed it’s listings to Realtor.com on its own. It’ll will cost John L. Scott more to do so on it’s own, but Lennox Scott believes this is a tremendous benefit for John L. Scott sellers.
While the poll below provides an indication that most local buyers do not use Realtor.com for home searches, I believe most relocation clients do. People moving to the Puget Sound area from out-of-state may not be aware of the local real estate websites such as johnlscott.com or windermere.com and may use Realtor.com as an initial search site.
Just taking a little poll to see if anyone uses Realtor.com to search for properties.
Thanks.
Marlow @ 360digest.com reports that the NWMLS will suspend it’s feed to Realtor.com when the current contract ends in next Spring.
Probably not a big deal. In speaking with the general public and my own clients, no one ever mentions using Realtor.com to view listings. In the Seattle area, company websites such as Windermere.com, JohnLScott.com and Remax.com probably get the lion’s share of user home searches.
Plus, many alternative websites are fast becoming highly visited sites to search for home such as - Trulia, Oodle, Propsmart and edgeio to name a few.
By Lee Morales, ASP
If your idea of preparing your home for sale is putting the kids toys in a box, lighting a scented candle, getting out the Swiffer and sweeping the front porch, you’ve a little behind the curve. Today, staging a home for sale can involve a complete redesign, repainting rooms, renovations, renting furniture and decorative items, or even hiring a family to give a home that lived-in feel.
Per staging diva Barb Schwarz, staging can boost the selling price 6 to 20 percent in a moderately priced neighborhood and as high as 20 to 50 percent for luxury homes or in a particularly hot market.
Vacant homes are particularly challenging for buyers to visualize without a little staging help. In order for a home to sell, it needs to speak to potential buyers. It needs to look good, feel good, smell good and stand out from the crowd.
What is an Accredited Staging Professional (ASP)?
A dedicated professional who has studied and learned the proven and powerful techniques of staging homes, and completed a detailed training course and examination.
What does Inner Beauty Final Staging do?
Stage homes for sale or for everyday living and provides staging consultation services.
SHB contributing writer, Lee Morales, is an Accredited Staging Professional & founder of InnerBeauty Final Staging.
The Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) released a report on the use of inducements and incentives by Title Insurance companies operating in Washington. The OIC’s investigation found a number of Title companies that use these methods to steer business to their respective companies. The beneficiaries of these inducements are, for the most part, real estate agents.
The full report can be found on the OIC’s website or clicking here (PDF). Under state law, companies may provide incentives up to $25 per person per year. The report found, however, that several companies routinely exceed this amount, sometimes by thousands of dollars. Unfortunately, per an OIC press release, the OIC will not pursue enforcement or punishment of the wrong doers. Instead, they will implement an educational campaign. I think that’s a wrong decision. Certainly, addressing the problems and educating Title company personnel is the right step forward, but blanket forgiving serious violators sends the wrong message. Without enforcement the rules are meaningless.
Fortunately, these types of inducements are also regulated and enforced on the federal level via the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). RESPA has teeth and resources that the OIC lacks, so I would hope that they would look into the violations identified by the OIC and issue appropriate remedies.
The question, then, as an agent, have I benefited through such incentives and inducements? I have never received a kickback, a free lunch, a trip or tickets to a sporting event. But, there has been occassions where a title company representative provided bagels at a staff meeting or bought a cup of joe. In that respects, then, yes I’ve benefited, but they’ve been well under the $25 limit.
John L. Scott, along with a few other real estate companies share ownership in a title company, however, I do not include that company when providing clients a list of suggested title companies. When requested, I provide clients with recommendations for mortgage lenders, escrow and title services. However, I base my recommendations on the professionalism of those individuals, their knowledge and their ability to manage & close the transaction smoothly. That, to me, is far more valuable than a double tall mocha.
Kickbacks, rebates, incentives and inducements are serious issues in this industry. Violations increase negative perceptions which hurts the industry as a whole and provides unfair competition, especially when a few agents receive substantial subsidies at the expense of consumers. To that end, I support any steps that’ll clean up this practice.
The Housing Affordability Index (HAI), as calculated by WSU’s Washington Center for Real Estate Research, continues it’s downward spiral. Figures for 2nd quarter 2006 show the HAI for King County is 70.4, down from 1st quarter’s 77.1. It’s even tougher on first-time home buyers who have an HAI of 39.4.
Housing Affordability Index measures the ability of middle income family to carry the mortgage payments on a median price home. When the index is 100 there is a balance between the family’s ability to pay and the cost. Higher indexes indicate housing is more affordable.
The Seattle PI posted an article today about the lack of family-friendly living in the downtown core. Parents cite lack of larger units, developers cite lack of schools and schools cite lack of demand; an unenviable catch-22. Yet, I’m not sure there is an easy solution.
Certainly, bringing schools to the area will provide a foundation for families to consider urban living. But, should the city invest into a new school that currently would have very little demand, especially at a time when other schools are closing? Will building larger units, as some parents claim, bring them to the downtown area? Considering that 2-bedroom units at Rollin Street Flats & Escala start at $800,000, it reasons that only uber-wealthy families could afford a 3-bedroom “family-sized” condo. And, would children who live in million-dollar condos attend public rather than private schools?
The PI had an accompanying article about how downtown family living works in Vancouver, BC. The article cited downtown schools and the fact that many of those families came from areas where high-rise family living is common and that’s why it works. Which may certainly be true. But, Vancouver’s downtown area, and I’m talking about the West End (between the financial district & Stanley Park), is essentially residential with a mixture of low and high-rise residential buildings, single-family homes, parks, schools and quiet tree-lined streets. Families lived in this part of downtown long before the explosion of high-rises along False Creek and Burrard Inlet.
The fact of the matter is Seattle isn’t Vancouver and never will be. Plus, Vancouver has something Seattle doesn’t, a long-established downtown residential neighborhood with infrastructure and community services to support it. Rather than compare ourselves to Vancouver, Seattle (the city) needs to look inward to determine if the downtown area can truly support urban family living for all classes. And, if so, the city needs to develop solutions rather than rely on developers or the wait endlessly before the demographics change.