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Redfin to serve up agents' comments on real estate listings

By Inman News, Thursday, March 17, 2011.

Registered users of Redfin's website can now see what the brokerage's agents thought of listings they've toured, whether "the lawn needs to be mowed" or the home "showed well," CEO Glenn Kelman announced in a blog post.

The comments that Redfin agents make in "Agent Insights" notes will also be e-mailed automatically to listing agents, Kelman said.

Given the sheer number of homes Redfin agents tour, the new feature will be a "game changer," for consumers, he said. The 13,793 Agent Insights currently available for homes on the market represent 35 percent of active listings in Irvine, Calif., and 31 percent of Seattle listings, Kelman wrote.

Redfin will give the client who requested the tour two days to decide whether they want to suppress Agent Insight comments.  more...

8 can't-miss real estate tech tools

By Teresa Boardman, Thursday, March 17, 2011.
Flickr image courtesy of <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fragiletender/5355407898/">kirstyhall</a>.

When I decided to become a Realtor, one of the first investments I made was in computer hardware and software. I decided that I needed a laptop computer and software.

Today, I don't need a laptop computer -- an iPad, netbook or smart phone is less expensive and lighter and will do the job.

I don't need to spend much on software because most of it is free and what is now free is better than what I used to pay a small fortune for.

Here are some great free programs and services that I use every day, and most of them have been around for years and have a large user base.

1. Pixlr is a free photo editor that is a browser extension. You can use it to edit photographs right in your browser. I use it in Google's Chrome browser, but it is also available for the Firefox browser.  more...

Must-knows for short-sale buyers

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Thursday, March 17, 2011.

Question No. 1: I made an offer for a house that was a short sale. After my offer was accepted and the contract had been sent to escrow, I noticed the house still listed as "active" on the multiple listing service. The listing agent claimed that he kept receiving inquiries on the property, and used that to push me to remove inspection and loan contingencies. He said he would only mark the home "pending" once I had removed contingencies.

Is it possible for the seller to accept a second buyer's offer after accepting mine (even if the later offer comes with a higher price? Don't they need me to sign a release before they do that?

If they do accept another offer and go with the second offer, do I have any legal right for compensation? (I believe this would be a "breach of contract" case, but can you confirm it?) --Mike

Question No. 2: The broker on a short-sale house has not acknowledged my offer and will not sign the papers. He says he wants to wait and see if the first offer goes through first. Isn't this an unlawful way of doing things? I do not know if I am a backup buyer or just left out in the cold. Is there anyone I can contact regarding this unethical way of doing things? --Charles  more...

Rates ease again but buyers not biting yet Premium Content

By Inman News, Thursday, March 17, 2011.

Mortgage rates eased this week as economic uncertainty over the crisis in Japan and turmoil in the Middle East had investors seeking safety in bonds, including those that fund most mortgages.

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.76 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending March 17, down from 4.88 percent last week and 4.96 percent a year ago, Freddie Mac said in releasing the results of its latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey.  more...

MRIS taps Instanet for e-signatures

By Inman News, Thursday, March 17, 2011.

Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc. -- a Rockville, Md.-based multiple listing service serving nearly 50,000 Realtors in the mid-Atlantic region -- has selected Instanet Solutions to provide electronic signature services to members.

Instanet's Authentisign digital signature platform is simple to use, and can be integrated into third-party forms and applications already used by MRIS members, said MRIS Chief Marketing Officer John Heithaus in a statement.  more...

5 real estate tech time-savers Premium Content

By Bernice Ross, Thursday, March 17, 2011.
Flickr image courtesy of <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robbie73/3387189144/sizes/z/in/photostream/" target=blank>Robbert van der Steeg</a>.

Are you looking for some simple new Web tools that will definitely help your business and won't break the bank? Here are some great suggestions.

Evernote and Dropbox are the two relatively new tools that I use constantly. Evernote allows me to take notes anywhere on my smart phone or iPad. It then syncs those notes so they appear on all my devices, including my laptop.

I have complete accessibility to my notes at all times. Best of all, I can quickly search my notes to locate keywords. Evernote aggregates each document containing those keywords as well as highlighting the position of the keywords within the document.

Dropbox saves me tremendous amounts of time by avoiding the hassle of downloading and uploading files. Normally it would take three to five minutes to upload a 6MB video. I recently moved my presentations folder, which occupied 672MB of disk space, using Dropbox.  more...

Exposing rent payment histories for profit

By Janet Portman, Thursday, March 17, 2011.

Q: I've heard that landlords are starting to report on-time rent payments to credit reporting agencies, who will use this information in their credit reports and FICO scores. Is this true? Is it a good thing for tenants? --Amelia B.

A: You heard right. In June 2010, Experian, one of the big three credit bureaus, announced its purchase of RentBureau, a smaller bureau that concentrates on the multifamily rental industry. RentBureau now has a program that allows participating property management companies to feed rent payment histories directly to the bureau. The information will supposedly make its way to credit reports and FICO scores.

Whether this is a good thing for tenants is debatable, however. A careful look at the company's website reveals just how problematic this new program is. The website page for residents strongly suggests that only positive rental histories will be reported ("In the past, only negative rental payment data such as evictions and collections were reported to consumer reporting agencies."). The page goes on to hype the benefits of having one's "on-time rental payments" figure into credit scores, thereby helping tenants "establish or rebuild [their] credit" and "qualify for what [they] deserve."  more...

Real estate price declines overshooting fundamentals?

By Inman News, Thursday, March 17, 2011.

Home prices have fallen below fundamental values in more than half of U.S. states, overcorrecting from bubbles in some markets and dragged down by the recession in others.

That's the conclusion of analysts at mortgage insurer PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., who warn home prices during the next few years will vary "far more by location than usual."

PMI's monthly analysis of economic, housing and mortgage market conditions attempts to tackle the question, "Have house prices fallen by enough to be affordable again?" The answer to that question depends on where you live, PMI analysts said.

PMI looked at home prices relative to income at the state level, using 1995 as a baseline. Because of home-price declines during the bust, growth in per capita income has outstripped home prices in 35 states over that time frame. Home prices are trailing income growth by double-digit rates in 30 states, PMI said.  more...

Re/Max CEO: Change with the real estate market Premium Content

By Andrea V. Brambila, Thursday, March 17, 2011.

LAS VEGAS -- Re/Max founder and Chairman Dave Liniger first got his real estate license back in 1968 because he wanted to save on commissions. He'd been buying and selling fixer-uppers for two years as a supplement to his income from the U.S. Air Force.

Five years later, at 27, he decided to start his own real estate company, Re/Max Inc. -- a name derived from "real estate" and "maximums." His first employee was his future wife, Gail Main.

"I had worked for three different companies and felt I had a better idea," Liniger said. "At the time, virtually all real estate companies split their commissions with their agents, usually 50-50. We decided we could run the company as a co-op where we could share expenses but agents could keep the bulk of the money for themselves."

He founded the company at a time when other national real estate companies were popping up: Red Carpet in 1966, Century 21 in 1971, ERA Real Estate in 1972. Liniger felt what differentiated Re/Max, and continues to do so today, was the quality of the sales associates.  more...