Realtors Archives
Go, Adam!
[Image Credit: CRAK! Offset Lithograph, 1964, by Roy Lichtenstein. Private Collection]
Nice piece in today' s Chronicle on Socketsite, the other San Francisco real estate blog not written by realtors. Adam deserves a lot of credit- blogging just looks easy. He's spent time and energy establishing his voice and expertise, and the investment shows. We read it everyday. And Adam's way cuter than the picture they used. Curbed SF got mentioned too, and a number of realtors were quoted. Seems they have mixed feelings about blogs:
But the free-flowing critiques of price points and brochure language do sting... "They track (new condo developments), they trash them, they compliment them," said Mitch Laufer, director of marketing at Vanguard Properties. Laufer said the Lambourne, a new condo complex on Nob Hill, was cited for its tiny kitchens... We say 'petite'...We say deal with it. Pacific Union top producer Dona Crowder was quoted, too:
A lot of people don't understand what we doIt's true. And whose fault is that? Consumers want transparency, and better choices of services. Some realtors are worth more than six percent- looking at the art and antiques market they're woefully underpaid- but if they're intent on remaining gatekeepers, they're bound to generate a certain amount of animosity. And the relentless, positive spin of the the NAR is just going to come back and kick them in the teeth: we've noticed that one realtor-about-town has dropped her "TIC's are the road to wealth" schtick.
· Socketsite [Socketsite]
· Getting Down and Dirty on Housing [SF Gate]
Crime Story
[Angelica Huston in Stephen Frear's The Grifters. Photo Credit: IMDb]
The alleged Open House Bandits have been apprehended in Missouri, ratted out by the tracking system in their rented Hummer after being sighted in Utah last weekend. The pair had ripped off unsuspecting realtors in the East Bay and San Francisco, and one of the victims, Zephyr realtor Virginia Thackwell, said
They are really slick,... now I'd like to have revenge. They are awful people. I want them to march down Market Street naked.The duo are believed to have used Thackwell's credit card at a McDonalds and a Union Square jewelry store. That plus the Hummer sort of says it all.
· Public Servce Announcement: Watch Your Stuff [Curbed SF]
· Theft Suspects Caught [SF Gate]
NAR: Lawrence Yun, Partly Cloudy
[Photo credit: PBS]
If anyone thought things would change when professional optimist David Lereah, the National Association of Realtors' spokesmodel/chief economist stepped aside earlier this year, they were mistaken. Lawrence Yun is Lereah's replacement, and he's jumped in with both feet, blaming the worries about the housing market on unfavorable attention in the media. Via the Inman Blog:
To a great extent, we can thank steady media coverage of the real estate market 'correction' for unfounded consumer concernBlame the media. We're sure Paris Hilton feels the same way. Why does the NAR call these guys "economists" anyway? They're more like weather men:
chance of showers later today, followed by sublimely lovely warm breezes possibly by Sunday. Maybe.Yun goes to the mat in another commentary citing a recent study by the Consumer Federation of America (hilarious PDF here) claiming a favorable rating from 79% of consumers who had used a realtor recently. Begging the question of who did what to the remaining 21%. Working from the NAR playbook, Mr. Yun fails to mention that the closing paragraphs of the study include the words:
Taken as a whole, these survey data suggest that consumers value the services provided... views are positive in part because of their lack of awareness of specific industry practices that could harm their interestsHe goes on to refer to the CBS/Frontline piece on Redfin as an informercial, and in closing not only reasserts the NAR position that listings content is the private intellectual property of the realtor but also cites the American way of free enterprise. Just to make sure the coffin was nailed shut.
· Don't call it a correction, call it "buying opportunities" [Inman Blog]
· The Wrong Correction [Realtor Magazine Online]
· The Consumer's Choice [Real Estate Insights]
· Housing/Real Estate [Consumer federation of America]
· Most Consumers View Real Estate Industry and Services Favorably but Understand Them Poorly and Object to Specific Practices (PDF) [Consumer Federation of America]
· 60 Billion Dollars [Curbed SF]
Public Service Announcement: Watch Your Stuff
[Angelica Huston in Stephen Frear's The Grifters. Photo Credit: IMDb]
We've been hearing rumors about a pair of grifters- sadly, not John Cusack and Angelica Houston- victimizing real estate agents in the East Bay. A reversal of fortune, perhaps, or a cruel cosmic trick. Karma or not, this couple, posing as mother and son, have shown up at open houses, split up, and while one talks about an all-cash sale, the other walks off with wallets, cellphones and who knows what else. From a realtor friend:
The suspects descriptions are: MALE - 25 to 35 years old, 5'7", 130-150 lbs, Slight build, pointy chin; hole in left ear or grommet earring; Clean cut, well dressed; Has used names of Paul Chapman or Paul McClung. FEMALE - 50 to 60 years old; Slender build; Short, dark black hair; Uneven, 'smokers' teeth; May have small dog on leash.Really, no one should have to put up with this shit. Making a living is hard enough.
· The Grifters [IMDb]
Have License, Will Lease
We had no idea how valuable a real estate broker's license could be- here's someone on Craigslist looking to lease one:
If you have a Real Estate Broker License , but not using. We need to lease for our Corporate location. Also, looking for 100 individual real estate sales agents with or without licence, high commission. Experienced or without experience, we'll train. You can work where you live, we can give you all the tools you need to make as much as commission you ever wanted, depend on you. How good you are? Please response to this ads, if you have a business mind and willing to work hard, and make a lots of money.The beauty part is that if you're an licensed (or better yet, unlicensed, realtor) there's a job for you in San Jose. Next up: Driver's License for Hire.
· Real Estate Broker License for hire (san jose downtown) [Craigslist]
Realtors Fire One Over Redfin's Bow, Moon Consumers
[Photo Credit: Moon Amtrack]
Via the Inman Blog: This week the Northwest MLS fined Redfin, the Seattle-based online real estate brokerage $50K for the content in Redfin's "Sweet Digs" blog. The MLS judged that Redfin's bloggers violated the rule forbidding realtors "from advertising each other's listings." Just a few days after the 60 Minutes report on Redfin and the traditional 6% commission. And in Washington DC this week, at the NAR's midyear conference, Alan Dalton of Move. Inc. stepping up as spinmeister while David Lereah retreats into the ether:
Not only have we as an industry not been consumer-centric, it's as if we have been mooning them... In an age where everything is speeding up, our responses tend to be superficial and lacking in depthDalton also argued that making service your number one value was what your cleaners do -- not your doctor or attorney. "People pay us for our expertise". Managing to insult cleaners, doctors and lawyers in just one sentence. No word on whether the mooning will continue, or if consumers will have to kick in a few kisses with the 6%.
· Redfin fined, forced to shut down review blogs [Inman Blog]
· Industry moons real estate consumer [Inman Blog]
60 Billion Dollars?
The NAR said no one would watch because it was Mother's Day. Because it's just not about TV anymore, you can sit at your computer and watch Leslie Stahl's entire piece about online brokerage Redfin versus traditional real estate brokers for their share of the $60 billion real estate pie. As of this morning, the most emailed link on CBS's website. Stahl misses one important distinction in labeling Redfin a discount brokerage- they're an online business, not a discount business. She interviews a "full service" broker who points out that the cost of stamps has gone up, touches on the DOJ lawsuit, and talks to another online broker who's business in Texas went belly-up after the local MLS shut him out. Not surprisingly, Redfin's servers seem a bit slow today. Redfin may not be for everyone yet, but Glenn Kelman seems to be willing to take it one transaction at a time.
· Hi-Tech Real Estate Moves In [Leslie Stahl/CBS 60Minutes]
· Redfin [Redfin]
· Unleash The Hounds [Redfin Corporate Blog]
Happy Mutha's Day
[Screen shot of Leslie Stahl, from CBS/60 Minutes]
Sunday evening: CBS's 60 Minutes will deliver on a year's worth of looking at the National Association of Realtors, an organization that has no other purpose than to look after the interests of its members (and their six percent.) Which is perfectly OK in the abstract. But they've gone and issued talking points for members to refute and downplay the 60 Minutes broadcast, basically blowing it off as a minor irritation that won't have much reach because it's airing on Mother's Day. Forgetting of course that it will be available online- there's a preview here.
Features Glenn Kelman, founder of Redfin, the online brokerage, intent on proving that full service does not require overpayment. Glenn was recently featured in Forbes Magazine as one of twenty-four top innovators in business.
· A War of Words [Inman Blog]
· Stahl's Reporter's Notebook [CBS/Sixty Minutes]
· What to Say When You Need to Smile [Redfin Corporate Blog]
· 24 Top Innovators: Glen Kelman [Forbes]
David Lereah, on the Move
We'd heard that David Lereah, the economist who's been the public face of the National Association of Realtors in print and broadcast media, was leaving his post at the NAR and moving to Move.com. Mr. Lereah's rosy prognostications have been the subject of considerable scorn in the blogs. Now the smart kids at the Inman blog are speculating about a new entity that Lereah will be heading. If this were a blind item, it would run something like
What new entity is being set up by a former executive of a trade group/lobbying organization currently under investigation by both the Justice Department and state attorneys-general and whose members may be implicated for their role in the sub-prime mortgage crisis?Move.com is the home of the NAR's Realtor.com, and appears to be primarily a lead generator for NAR members. For a business who's members (and non-members) keep insisting that all real estate is local, these monoliths make no sense. So our guess is the new business is a full-service online brokerage including appraisal, title, and financing. Just a hunch.
· Solve this Move mystery [Inman Blog]
· David Lereah Watch [David Lereah Watch]
[Note: Curbed SF can be hard on the NAR and often ridicules the business of real estate. Let's just say by way of disclaimer that we don't paint everyone in the business with the same brush, or that ethics have entirely evaporated from the profession.]
They're Back!
Sold over asking! The old mantra of realtors, made new by underpricing properties to get multiple offers. From today's Chronicle:
Oh, it's a tremendous change," Goss said. "This property on Ord, it was listed last year for $1.795 million before the price was lowered to $1.749 million and then taken off the market. This year, we listed it for $1.695 million -- a little lower -- but the offer we received was for $1.85 million. So again, this is more than asking price of last year.Like politics, all real estate is ultimately local, it just may have become seasonal again. So it's hard to know if sales are up because it's Spring or because realtors are geniuses, because they're just so relentlessly on message.
To generate excitement, smart realtors are underpricing properties and getting multiple bids- also attracting hesitant sellers, but ultimately allowing the market to set prices. Of course, shortages in anything generate fear, and the housing market is no exception. Categories to watch- the new condo projects and TIC's, as potential buyers worry that the advertised HOA/common charges are artificially low, given the new sensitivity to the monthly payments we make.
· Picking Up Steam [SF Gate]
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