Dave Thurman's Real Estate Blog

Open House

On March 21, 2010 at 11:00 AM, you are invited to an Open House at 3320 Greenwood Street in Stockton. If you are looking for a Single-family property in this area, don’t miss this rare opportunity to visit this magnificent property. For a preview of this Single-family property, check out my site at DaveThurman.com. Please do not hesitate to Contact Me if you have any questions or wish to schedule a private showing.

Most real estate firms think that a statewide MLS (Multiple Listings Service) is a good idea, but the question remains can or will all the local AOR (Association of Realtors) and the profit earning MLS’s be able work together for the benefit of the public and the real estate agents. Several years ago the CVAR (Central Valley Association of Realtors) had a significate dispute with MetroList MLS when the local AOR attempted take back control of their MLS territory in the Stockton / Tracy / Modesto area.

The California Association of Realtors® appears to be in support of the statewide MLS and cal REDD

 In my opinion real estate agents and brokers should support the CAR and take back their MLS for the good of their clients and their own future as a small business professional. Also, brokers need to take back and fix the realtor.com website.

I recently had a client asking about referral fees and/or gifts from licensed real estate agents. You might think this is a very simple question, but it is not!!! Here is some information from the California Association of Realtors web site.

Question:

I am a REALTOR® and I want to give a gift to a friend for referring a client to me.  Is that legal?

Answer:

The answer depends on several factors.  First, what type of property is involved in the resulting transaction? Second, is your “friend” a real estate licensee, an unlicensed person, or an employee of a company providing special services such as title insurance or pest control work?

There is a legal article, Referral Fee Chart, that illustrates when you can or cannot give a “gift” (any amount of money or any other type of consideration).  In addition, there is a detailed legal article on the same topic, Referral Arrangements.

If you deal with residential one-to-four properties and your friend is a non-licensee unaffiliated with any type of special service company, then federal law–RESPA–generally forbids the giving of a referral fee (any type of gift) to your friend.  The term “generally” is used because RESPA does not forbid a referral fee if the buyer purchases the property using all cash or a loan from an individual who doesn’t typically loan money to borrrowers.

If you deal with residential five or more properties or commercial or industrial or agricultural property, then you may give a referral fee to a non-licensee who is not affiliated with a provider of special services.

Finally, the same rules apply regardless of what you call the “gift”:   a referral fee or a finder’s fee.

Realty World Corporate Update.

Last week we signed a one-year deal with Zillow.com to feature your listings on their website above your competitors. What this means is that when buyers and sellers are searching properties on Zillow, all Realty World listings show up first. This delivers five times the amount of buyer traffic for your listings and huge exposure. We already feature your listings on Trulia.com, and with this new Zillow contract, you have the highest amount of exposure for your listings on two of the biggest real estate sites in the world.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Trulia Also Experiences Record Growth, Shift Towards Mobile in 2009  searchenginewatch.com)
• Zillow Wants a Home on Wall Street  gigaom.com)

Image by inman newsvia Flickr

The Stockton, CA real estate market is sooo… crazy. Approximately 50% or more of the home buyers are pre-approved for FHA financing for the very low priced inventory available. They find homes for sale on the Internet, but become frustrated due to the fierce competition from other buyers. Most buyers have made offers 5-10 times before finally getting a chance to close. Many home buyers just give up after a while, but in my opinion, expect the market to stay very active right through the winter holiday season due to the extension of the tax credits from uncle Sam.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Really? Feds to rescue condo market  lansner.freedomblogging.com)
• NationalBLS.com – For Real Estate Buyers And Sellers  killerstartups.com)
• Expansion of MRIS Eco-Friendly Attributes  metrodcliving.com)
• Legitimized leasebacks picking up momentum  sfgate.com)
• The next taxpayer bailout … FHA?  seattlepi.com)
• Downtown condo complex receives national honor  seattlepi.com)
• Will the Housing Agency Need a Bailout?  time.com)
• JPMorgan analyst sees housing recovery in next 2 years  seattlepi.com)
• 7 Things Every Home Buyer Should Know – Part 1  zillow.com)
• Seller-Funded Down Payments Still Plague FHA  blogs.wsj.com)

Image via Wikipedia

When I started in the real estate business many years ago; finding a customer or client was easy! I picked out a neighborhood that seemed likely to me that someone would need an eager real estate agent and I knock on the door and left my business card. If, I left enough cards with a little note on the back, eventually I would have some call backs about why I was at their home. I always tell the truth!!! I told the caller that I was looking for new clients who might be interested in buying or selling a home; and I was wondering if they knew anybody! This is known as “Door Knocking” which can work well for the agent and also for the customer who wants a hard working real estate agent.

I’m not sure if door knocking works today, because I have not done it on a regular basis for about 25-30 years. Also, most of the sellers’ these days are banks that usually are a little difficult to find. I’m not really sure where their front door is!

Related articles by Zemanta

• How Do You Find a Real Estate Agent?  ronmedlin.com)