Real Estate Advice and Insurance Information
Real estate investing from experienced real estate investors. Home buying & selling, foreclosures, home loans, HELOC, home research, investment properties, and more.
Green Home TrendsThe key to mainstreaming green homes is to make sure that consumers understand the value of green upgrades — how cost-effective energy efficiency can be in the long run. Consumers want homes that are environmentally friendly and home values should reflect the increased savings. Better Homes and Gardens Recent poll results of 2,342 people who plan to [...]View Source
I Heard The News Today, Oh Boy!The Labor Department numbers for January came out today, and the most widely followed (and most misleading) employment statistic, the unemployment rate, fell. The bad news was that the economy is still shedding jobs, 20,000 last month. We cannot have any meaningful growth, and we will not have a revived real estate market without job growth. And this we do not yet have. In the State of the Union, the President recognized this and proposed several new programs to create jobs. Most of these have been seconded by the U.S. ...Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:34:32 +0000View Source
This is Hilarious! (Must Read!)I had a funny thing happen to me this week and I felt compelled to share it with my readers. I got back to the office yesterday evening and there on my desk was a big envelope from Re/Max Corporate Headquarters. Hmmmmm. I opened it up wondering what it could possibly contain. To my amazement, it contained a letter from their legal department! The letter was what is known in legal circles as a “cease and desist” letter. For the uninitiated, a cease and desist letter is a formal demand that ...Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:55:16 +0000View Source
Activity Breeds ProductivityHave you ever noticed how the busiest people seem to get more referrals, more listings, more buyers and then, when they can’t possibly have any more time available, even more business comes their way? Some call it an aura, others call it a success attitude or the law of attraction. Call it what you like—I simply believe that when you are consciously and productively engaged in doing activities that generate business, you radiate a feeling of success, and when that happens success begins to follow you.Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:51:21 +0000View Source
Luxury Real Estate Blogging: Do You Feel Like a Fish Out of Water?As a luxury real estate marketing blogger do you feel like a fish out of water? The source of the “disconnect” that you are experiencing could very well be your lack of passion about that which you are writing. If so, you are OFF your personal brand signal. Unless you discover both your passion AND your own unique voice, which is your personal brand and style as a blogger, you are much better off channeling your energy into other marketing strategies.Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:32:08 +0000View Source 
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Agent Success Newsletter - January/February 2010 IssueHomeGain rolled out its January/February 2010 newsletter for real estate agents, called “Agent Success Newsletter“. The digital real estate newsletter included: Feature Story: The 2009 Top Performing AgentEvaluator Agents by Highest Home Sales Volume and Highest Dollar were announced last month by region, nationwide and by state. We were pleased to also recognize two Rookie Agents of the [...]View Source
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Will Mortgage Underwriters Be Using Mapquest Soon?Transportation costs may soon become a recognized expense for mortgage applications if the Natural Resources Defense Council study holds up. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the study showed that higher transportation costs resulted in a higher foreclosure rate: The draft report looked at trends associated with 40,000 mortgages in San Francisco, Chicago and Jacksonville, [...]View Source Luxury Real Estate Branding: Canned Content = Canned BrandsAre people following your luxury real estate marketing blog? Are they watching your videos? If you do it right, you can build an entire personal brand and a large audience around your blog and videos. However, if your content is canned, meaning unoriginal or generic, you will not stand out as a distinct brand nor will you be follow-worthy. Canned content equals canned brands.Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:53:53 +0000View Source Personal Branding: Make More Money Faster by Showing Your True ColorsPersonal branding for luxury real estate marketing professionals is all about consistently showing your true colors to your ideal target market. By clearly articulating your true colors, that is, who you are and what you stand for, through your brand identity, you will accelerate the pace of attracting more ideal clients. The more matches you make the more money you make. It is that simple!Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:11:11 +0000View Source PUTTING PROSPECTING TO WORKYou can work harder, or you can work smarter. Most successful Agents don’t go into a secluded room, pick up the phone, and toil away making hundreds of random calls over a non-stop eight-hour period. Few people would even consider that approach. I know I wouldn’t, and I doubt you would. Instead, those who win at prospecting begin by targeting who they will call and why. They don’t waste their time or effort calling iffy contacts that may or may not even be in the real estate market. Prospecting is only effective ...Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:05:31 +0000View Source Publish On and WP 2.9 If you aren't reading this in your reader this Post is Stolen From: Real Estate Blog Lab Publish On and WP 2.9Did you start any draft posts between 2.9 and 2.9.1? Have you noticed when you go back to those drafts, finish the post and publish they seemed to disappear, kinda?Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:36:17 +0000View Source From PHP to HTMLIf you aren't reading this in your reader this Post is Stolen From: Real Estate Blog Lab From PHP to HTMLPHP is great, but there is one thing about it. It has to be loaded with a call to the database to grab the data to display. Each of those "calls", a database query takes little bit of time to execute.Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:24:21 +0000View Source And Then There Was Staging…This is my first contribution to HomeGain and thought what a better place to start then at the beginning – the importance of home staging and why it is such a hot industry in the real estate market. In 2009 HomeGain released its national survey results for the top Return on Investment (ROI) for home sellers. [...]View Source Don’t Quit! Let Us Help!Okay, I’ve spent a couple of weeks “teasing” you about the Zero2Hero Agent Challenge 2010 contest. Good news is we now have about half the contestants we need, so there’s still time to enter! I know there are many of you out there who are hesitating… Part of you wants to be a part of the contest but you’re scared. Or maybe you want to know a little more before going for it. So, I thought it might be a good idea to tell you a little more about what ...Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:13:40 +0000View Source Welcome New Guest Blogger, Stephanie Decker of Staged HomesWe’d like to welcome Stephanie Decker of Staged Homes, LLC in Mill Valley, CA to our team of HomeGain Guest Bloggers! Stephanie will be our designated home staging expert, blogging about ways to help Realtors work through home staging issues and work effectively with home sellers. With more than 20 years in the Interior Design industry, [...]View Source If I Didn’t Know … Would I Know?If I wasn’t constantly being told be the TV, radio, newspaper, and magazines that we are in a financial downturn, would I know that from my every day life experiences over the last year? My answer is no. My life has gone on pretty much unchanged from what it was prior to this “down turn.” No, that’s [...]View Source Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Win Listings in Just Two MinutesAs a luxury real estate marketing professional, can you make a convincing case, to prospective home sellers, to hire you in the first few minutes of your listing presentation? If you can, you stand to win more listings, run circles around your competition and become the market leader in your area. Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:36:12 +0000View Source File Uploads to Your Wordpress Blog for the Road Warrior If you aren't reading this in your reader this Post is Stolen From: Real Estate Blog Lab File Uploads to Your Wordpress Blog for the Road WarriorThe WP Easy Uploader is a great tool for your blogging toolbox even if you don't use it very often.Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:30:16 +0000View Source Luxury Real Estate Branding: What Does Your Brand Stand For?The Oprah Effect—Part 2 As a luxury real estate marketing professional, what does your personal or company brand stand for? Can you say it in a few words? Better yet, can you say what your brand stands for in just one word? Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:40:26 +0000View Source Enable Gzip Compression If you aren't reading this in your reader this Post is Stolen From: Real Estate Blog Lab Enable Gzip CompressionOne of the things that Page Speed recommended was to Enable Gzip Compression. I'm not going to go into all the ways I tried to implement this (and blew up the site in the process. I'm going to cut to the chase and show you the steps it took to get this in place and working.Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:16:45 +0000View Source Fixing the Housing MarketIf you've read some of my previous posts you'll know that I'm not a big fan of some of the government's programs because they do not help enough buyers or homeowners. Some problems they do not control, like why does it take up to 4 months or even longer sometimes to get a negotiator assigned to a short sale? Why are these same banks being unreasonable? Why does is it sometimes makes more sense for these lenders to just let properties go into foreclosure?But there is a lot they can control. Currently they are offering home buyers money if they purchase a home. So if you happen to be in the market for a home, this is certainly a nice incentive, but by no means should this be the deciding factor when purchasing a home. In addition, how many of these people would have bought a home anyway? Maybe not as soon, but most likely within 6-12 months. And what happens when these incentives go away? Now, I'm not one of those people who just complain and don't have a solution (I don't like those people) and my solutions were not all my ideas, but ideas I've seen or heard from other people as well. First, eliminate the current incentives being offered. Our country has a big enough deficit, there is no need to print more money because of the housing market. Second, make down payments tax deductible and make it available to all purchasers. This would encourage home buyers to save a little more money prior to purchasing which would benefit them as well as lenders who lend them the money. Better loans should also allow for lenders more willing to lend more money as well. It would also be an incentive for investors. Third, raise the limits on FHA loans. If the government insists on throwing money into the housing market then this would be the place to do it. Being that the government owns Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and are basically just using them as an additional finance arm of the US government, they could increase the loan amount limits. It was recently announced there would be stricter loan qualifications for FHA loans (which I agree with), but take it a step further and raise the limits as well for qualified buyers.,br> Fourth, offer investors a tax incentive. I already said I think they should make down payments tax deductible so that would qualify as a tax incentive for investors. But another option is to offer a lower capital gains tax for as long as they own the property or at least 5-10 years. I wouldn't offer both incentives, the investor would get to choose the option. I'm hopeful over the next couple of months some of these ideas will make their way to Congress and we can start to stabilize this housing market. I've listed my ideas, what do you think?  View Source Chicago Area Housing NumbersSo is the housing market really turning around? I think that depends on which numbers you deem more important. Are year-over-year numbers the ones you look at or month-to-month? If it's the year-over-year numbers you believe provides a better picture then things are certainly looking up.December was the fourth consecutive month of sales increases year-over-year, 8,197 total homes sold (sinlge family and condos) vs. 6,823 from the same time period a year earlier. That's almost a 20% increase!!!! In addition the median home price was only down 1.9% ($155,000 December 2008 vs. $152,000 December 2009 However, if you believe month-to-month is a better indicator of the market, then the news wasn't as good. The total number of homes sold in December 2009 was 8,197 compared to 10,361 in November 2009. That's more than a 20% decrease!!!! And the median home price fell the same 1.9% ($155,000 November 2009 vs. December 2009). Both of these numbers are a bit scewed because of the first-time home buyer tax credit. The reason for the large increase in November was due to the first-time home buyer credit expiring and buyers tried to beat the deadline. Thus, the numbers in December are probably a better reflection of the actual market. I'll be be curious to see the upcoming housing numbers and whether or not the current incentives are extended or replaced with new ones. With the large number of mortgages set to adjust this year, the high unemployment and continued high number of foreclosures, we are not nearly out of the woods yet with this housing market.  View Source Congratulations to the 2009 HomeGain Top Performing RealtorsWe are pleased to announce the HomeGain AgentEvaluator® Top Performers™ of 2009. Many HomeGain real estate agents and brokers had successful years, despite the downturn in home prices nationwide. We are proud to recognize these agents for their high level of accomplishment in association with HomeGain’s AgentEvaluator marketing program. In addition to highlighting the 2009 Top Performers Nationwide, [...]View Source Free Event For Members: HomeGain Nation 2010 San FranciscoIn just five weeks, on Monday, March 1, HomeGain will kick off its second HomeGain Nation Live Real Estate Forum in San Francisco. HomeGain Realtor members* are invited to attend this complimentary, 1-day event to network, discover new strategies and learn how to advance plans for a successful 2010! We are also pleased to offer member attendees [...]View Source HomeGain Advisors’ January 2010 InsightHomeGain Advisors Group – January 2010 Conference Call The HomeGain Advisors met for their quarterly meeting last week on Thursday, January 21st. The Advisors represent top real estate agents across the country who provide insight into HomeGain products and services, market trends and Realtor behavior. We had several interesting discussions with our Advisors board last week that [...]View Source The Firefox Page Speed Add-on If you aren't reading this in your reader this Post is Stolen From: Real Estate Blog Lab The Firefox Page Speed Add-onOnce you add the Page Speed Add-on you will think you have slipped down the rabbit hole with Alice. You will wonder if you are on a Speed trip yourself (not that I can tell you what that is like)Sun, 24 Jan 2010 21:57:40 +0000View Source Closing EscrowFri, 22 Jan 2010 19:52:00 +0000View Source Final Walk ThroughFri, 22 Jan 2010 19:41:00 +0000View Source Insurance For Your New Orange County CA HomeThu, 21 Jan 2010 23:24:00 +0000View Source Grow Your Confidence, Grow Your BusinessAs a consumer, have you ever walked in to a store, let’s say an electronics store, seeking the advice of one of the helpful salespeople and found that their lack of knowledge throttled their confidence level to the point that they were really of no use to you and as they try to muster an [...]View Source Woopra Analytics Plugin Reveals TOO MUCHIf you aren't reading this in your reader this Post is Stolen From: Real Estate Blog Lab Woopra Analytics Plugin Reveals TOO MUCHYour Tracking will be un-interrupted and you won't be giving away your name and email address to every spam dick and harry in the universe.Tue, 12 Jan 2010 23:41:29 +0000View Source Fullerton Homes For Sale - Luxury Home Update January 2010Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:30:00 +0000View Source Google Webmaster Tools Site PerformanceIf you aren't reading this in your reader this Post is Stolen From: Real Estate Blog Lab Google Webmaster Tools Site PerformanceI think Google changes the layout of Webmaster tools more than Costco changes where they are hiding stuff. Even more often than teen age girls change the theme on their Myspace or Facebook page. More often than a U-boat commander changed underwear. Oh, you get the idea. Why even post about thisI’m posting about this because fueling the fire over Google using Page Load times for Organic placement is the addition of Labs and the Site Performance page. Let me guess you have terrible numbers and about 90 percent of all sites load faster than yours. DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT !
What do you mean don’t worry about it? Take a look at the pages that are loading slow in this screen shot. Did you notice they are all coming from the blog admin page? Does your WP Admin page load slow? YES, of course it does. Google Site Performance only measures those users who have the Google Toolbar with PageRank ACTIVATED in their data gathering. Well guess who comes to the blog the most meeting those requirements? YEP, YOU! This is why the data gathered in the report above is WORTHLESS to you. It is also why this is in Google Labs. It is where they experiment. The bottom line. Sure go look at it if you are curious but for crying out loud, (as mom used to say) don’t start tweaking your blog or pulling your hair out over this Google Lab page. IT IS AN EXPERIMENT. The very last thing they suggest is you get the Page Speed plugin for FireFox to do analysis of your Page Load Times. Oh, yeah, get the Rolaids, Tums, and Rogaine for this one. I’ll explain in the next post in this series. Go buy a good Geeks Speak Dictionary and don’t loose any sleep over this stuff. At least not yet  If you aren't reading this in your reader this Post is Stolen From: Real Estate Blog Lab Google Webmaster Tools Site PerformanceMon, 11 Jan 2010 20:23:20 +0000View Source La Habra Home For Sale - Condo update January 2010Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:23:00 +0000View Source Page Load Time Testing If you aren't reading this in your reader this Post is Stolen From: Real Estate Blog Lab Page Load Time TestingResources for testing page load are pretty easy to come by. How accurate or useful is another issue. But a standard when compared against itself should still provide some information we can use.Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:41:02 +0000View Source Custom Post Limits Plugin If you aren't reading this in your reader this Post is Stolen From: Real Estate Blog Lab Custom Post Limits PluginCustom Post Limits let you set how many posts are returned in the many ways they can be accessed. Searches, Archive, Category, etc.Sat, 02 Jan 2010 19:10:00 +0000View Source Beginning the Year on a Binary Note If you aren't reading this in your reader this Post is Stolen From: Real Estate Blog Lab Beginning the Year on a Binary NoteWe often begin a New Year by cleaning out closets, and leaning down our own baggage/poundage. Now is a good time to do the same for our blogs and websites. What do you say? Ready to dig in and make some changes?Fri, 01 Jan 2010 19:47:51 +0000View Source Good News For Orange County CA Short Sales - HAFATue, 22 Dec 2009 02:44:00 +0000View Source Yorba Linda Real Estate and Homes For Sale Update - Dec 2009Tue, 15 Dec 2009 05:05:00 +0000View Source Placentia Real Estate Update - Market Conditions December 2009Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:22:00 +0000View Source Orange County Home Sales in the Median Range - Dec 09Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:14:00 +0000View Source Entry Level Home Sales - The Hottest Selling Market in Orange County CA (part 2)Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:16:00 +0000View Source Recent Home Sales, What's Next????The most recent home sales data showed that sales increased over the past couple of months, but that prices are either stagnant or still falling. I believe the first-time home buyer tax credit certainly helped the sales numbers, but I think these buyers would have purchased a home anyway in the next 3-6 months.So what happens now? I think the next couple of months will slow down as usual, but potential buyers will be out in full force for the first quarter of 2010 since the extended tax credit requires purchasers to have a signed contract by April 30, 2010 and must close by June 30, 2010. The new tax credit was also extended for existing homeowners, granted they've lived in their home five of the past eight years. They do not need to purchase a more expensive home and they do not need to sell their existing one in order to be eligible for the credit. However, they can only receive up to a credit of $6500 vs. $8,000 for the first-time home buyers. Once the credit expires, it's anyone's guess as to what might happen, but I think further incentives will still be needed to stimulate the housing market. One idea from a fellow Realtor that caught my attention was making down payments tax deductible. I like this idea because the government doesn't need to print any more money, it encourages home buyers to save a little more, it's an incentive for purchasers of higher priced homes and it should make for more qualified loans. If you would like more information regarding these tax credits and whether or not you might qualify I can be contacted at scott@illinoisrealestate.com or by calling 847-829-0130.  View Source Entry Level Home Sales - The Hottest Selling Market in Orange County CA (part1)Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:06:00 +0000View Source Some Great Areas of Santa Ana CA Home Buyers Should ConsiderFri, 13 Nov 2009 23:59:00 +0000View Source Update to Housing Stimulus - Tax Credit Extended and Deepened!Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:36:00 +0000View Source Huntington Beach Townhouse Just 350 Yards From The Sand!Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:47:00 +0000View Source South Bay Home For Sale - Harbor City, CAFri, 23 Oct 2009 17:52:00 +0000View Source 5 Newest Anaheim Foreclosure Homes For SaleTue, 13 Oct 2009 03:48:00 +0000View Source Another Case For Good Investment Property InsuranceTue, 06 Oct 2009 22:13:00 +0000View Source New Hot Property of the Week is Up!Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:00:00 +0000View Source Essential Negotiation Tips For Orange County Home Buyers!Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:20:00 +0000View Source New Home For Sale In Huntington BeachMon, 21 Sep 2009 23:18:00 +0000View Source Real Estate Investor Property OpportunitiesThu, 17 Sep 2009 22:17:00 +0000View Source New Tool - RSS Feeds Bring Home Listings Faster Than Ever!Thu, 03 Sep 2009 21:25:00 +0000View Source WARNING - These ARE NOT from your County Tax AssessorMon, 24 Aug 2009 20:52:00 +0000View Source Subscribe to us on YouTube!Tue, 11 Aug 2009 03:19:00 +0000View Source Follow Us on Twitter!Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:12:00 +0000View Source Real Estate Opportunities in the World’s Most Romantic CityMon, 22 Jun 2009 05:21:33 +0000View Source 1853 W 34th Pl Chicago Mckinley ParkBEST BUY IN MCKINELY PARK! 2 BEDROOM SINGLE FAMILY HOME WITH SEPARATE LIVING ROOM AND DINING ROOM, OFFICE/DEN, 2 CAR GARAGE, BEAUTIFULLY LANDSCAPED BACK YARD, WALK-OUT BASEMENT AND ATTIC W/ POTENTIAL TO EXPAND. NEAR PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION, I-55, LOOP, SOX PARK.Price: $180,000 1853 W 34th Pl. Chicago 60608 MLS ID# 07211503 Beds: 2 Baths: 1 Sean Agnew Realtor IllinoisRealEstate.com Cell/Text: (708) 772-2542 eFax: (312) 253-2049 sean.agnew@illinoisrealestate.com  View Source | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
