Apple announces new MacBook Air, kills MacBook

Apple has announced their new MacBook Air to great tech analyst fanfare, but in the announcement, it has been noted that the MacBook is no longer going to be in the Apple lineup. Additionally, the MacBook Pro was announced.
Apple confirmed to Engadget that the MacBook has been discontinued. It is unclear if it is because of sales or simply that they are moving on to bigger and better things.
According to AnandTech.com, the new MacBook air has some pretty amazing specs:
H: 0.11-0.68? (0.3-1.7cm)
W: 11.8? (30cm)
D: 7.56? (19.2cm)H: 0.11-0.68? (0.3-1.7cm)
W: 12.8? (32.5cm)
D: 8.94? (22.7cm)Thunderbolt, 2x USB 2.0, composite audio in/out jackThunderbolt, 2x USB 2.0, SDHC slot, composite audio in/out jack
AnandTech’s Andrew Cunningham notes, “The Sandy Bridge upgrade makes the Air lineup a reasonable alternative to the white MacBook or 13? MacBook Pro, especially if weight is more important than processor speed This is particularly true of the in the 13? model, where the speed of the SSD and the higher screen resolution might actually make it better suited for some production work. The Thunderbolt port can also (either through dongles or dedicated Thunderbolt devices) make up for the Air’s lack of FireWire and other high-speed connectivity.”
“If you were on the fence about the Air before, this healthy speed bump should make the thin-and-light laptops that much more palatable. If the lack of optical drive, FireWire, Ethernet, or hard drive space still put you off, though, this upgrade isn’t likely to change your mind,” said Cunningham.
Is this a good news or bad news scenario or is this really just Apple changing their lineup as a part of evolution?


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Facebook ad pricing up yet spending is down – digital ad trends

Facebook advertising cost-per-click (CPC) rose 22% in the second quarter of 2011, as more advertisers have come online as was always Facebook’s plan for financial growth. The earliest adopters saw the lowest price when there were the fewest members and as the number of reachable members rises, so will the price.
Efficient Frontier’s 2011 Global Digital Marketing Performance Report says that Facebook CPCs are expected to reach 80% growth by the end of 2011.
Efficient Frontier notes that brands actively seeking fans on Facebook are “on course to double their fan base Year on Year (YOY) by October, demonstrating an increasingly competitive marketplace for consumers’ attention.”
That said, the dollars spent were up 8% in the second quarter but dropped 17% from the first quarter of 2010 with Efficient Frontier suspecting advertisers are focusing on their return on investment (ROI) over volume. We suspect an alternative reason could be that advertisers are diversifying their digital ad spends to include niche target sites rather than the standard Twitter/Facebook duo.
According to Efficient Frontier, comments on Facebook have a viral effect. “An analysis of 10 million fans managed by Context Optional demonstrated that for every brand post, there was an average of 100 comments in response. However, brands with more fans received additional interactions. For every 17,000 additional fans generated, the brand received one more comment per post. This demonstrated that there is a viral effect to having more fans as this creates more direct responses (from existing fans) and also indirect responses (from friends of fans).”
The study found that Facebook spends are mostly incremental. “Facebook constitutes approximately 5% of search budgets, though for some advertisers this can peak at 25% during time-sensitive, offer-led promotions.In the entertainment category there are some large advertisers who solely advertise on Facebook. This hints that there are new advertising budgets from the gaming and dating sectors going to Facebook, which would not have gone into Search otherwise.”
Lastly, the study revealed that Bing/Yahoo! gained a stunning 3.4% points of spend share from Google since Q4 2010. “Bing’s continued focus on higher quality and higher monetized traffic is paying off. Last quarter it was noted that the ROI on Bing/Yahoo! was better than Google. Bid management technology such as that used by Efficient Frontier has enabled advertisers to take advantage of that by moving budgets as appropriate.”

This article published on Tuesday, July 19th, 2011 at 12:03 am | Contact the editor Tags: facebook, facebook marketing, featured, real estate social mediaCategory: New Media
AgentGenius is a rapidly growing real estate social media, tech, news, and opinion site built and designed by and for the on-the-go agent. Our mission is to be a positive force in the industry, led by people inside of real estate. We aim to keep you up to date on trends that we study closely in order to forecast what’s next on the horizon.
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Wall Street executives crashed the economy says FCIC, DE, NY and now CA

When the Federal Crisis Inquiry Commission wrapped up their report last week, Wall Street executives came out as the culprit and news outlets went wild. We took a closer look and asked if it could be any of the many who were involved ranging from politicians to NAR to LPS.

The Attorneys General in New York and Delaware have pressed to seek criminal charges for Wall Street executives individually rather than continue the route of suing banks and corporations. Now, California’s Attorney General joins the ranks of those seeking to penalize those who allegedly knew of the risks involved yet chose to drive their companies and investors into the ground.

Because California represents a disproportionate number of homeowners harmed by the crash, the addition of this state strengthens the probe for political reasons but mostly because of the sheer number of individual cases they are able to point to.

Subpoenas have already been served by New York and Delaware to 13 financial firms, according to the LA Times, including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase.

The FCIC findings have not launched any official Department of Justice investigations and no charges have been made yet in regard to the report but analysts suspect they are coming which could potentially strengthen the states’ cases.

Bankers claim they are attempting to settle but with dozens of federal agencies, state agencies and individuals coming after them, they say settling is impossible as it could open them up to double or even triple jeopardy.

While this sentiment makes sense, some believe it to be a convenient excuse in light of massive governmental disorganization with no clear leadership. Perhaps the FCIC report will organize the movement to punish whoever is responsible for the housing crash, but for now agencies pursue bankers who say they want to settle but claim they cannot.

This article published on Monday, July 18th, 2011 at 6:00 am | Contact the editor Tags: featured, mortgage crisis, real estate economy, Real Estate News

Category: Economy

Tara Steele is the News Director at AgentGenius, covering real estate news, technology news and everything in between. If you’d like to reach Tara with a question, comment, press release or hot news tip, she frequently checks her email, simply click the link below.

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Understanding touchscreens can help with your next phone purchase

You are here: Home » Gadgets » Smartphones » Understanding touchscreens can help with your next phone purchase

There are a lot of words that most people don’t know when it comes to technology and technology as complex as touchscreens is mystifying for many but knowing the difference between how each works could have a huge impact on your purchasing decision for your next smartphone.

Do you know the difference between resistive and capacitive abilities for a touchscreen? Do you know what infrared is? Take a look at this simple infographic that breaks down the differences between the features that make touchscreens work.

It’s one of the considerations people make when smartphone shopping and the information below makes it much easier to understand.

This article published on Friday, July 22nd, 2011 at 12:04 am | Contact the editor Tags: featured, smartphones, Technology, touchscreens

Category: Smartphones

AgentGenius is a rapidly growing real estate social media, tech, news, and opinion site built and designed by and for the on-the-go agent. Our mission is to be a positive force in the industry, led by people inside of real estate. We aim to keep you up to date on trends that we study closely in order to forecast what’s next on the horizon.

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Cycle of building trust online with real estate consumers – infographic

Although the infographic below outlines theory that has been in practice for several years now and the concept of online trust building is not new, it is still a theory that eludes many real estate insiders. Eight common components of building online trust are as follows:

Most of the tone of the above infographic is reactive and somewhat defensive, starting right off with admitting mistakes, but what if you haven’t made any (yet)? Let’s break down these steps as they pertain to real estate.

Realtors can tell truths by making expertise clear and not making any false or misleading claims on their blog or website. Agents should not say they are the “#1 agent,” rather more specifically “Highest volume sold in 2010? so as to be specific and add trust. Avoid subjective terms like “#1 agent” that could leave consumers feeling lied to down the road.

Often, Realtors are held accountable for misdeeds of the entire industry which is when being honest in communications is a good idea. When it is found that a massive investigation penalizes local Realtors for involvement in a mortgage scheme, that is an opportunity to publicly note that illegal behavior is not tolerated at your brokerage and here are some steps you’ve taken to insure your team is on the up and up.

Old fashioned real estate involves writing down social security numbers and incomes and handing it to an agent which was not very scary because a consumer could see exactly where it is going. Now that most transactions are electronic, agents should make very clear to clients where their information is going and who has access to it. This can be done by phone or email if your client is filling out an application through the lender, or in a blog post created for new clients. Don’t assume they feel safe or already know.

Consumers should know when they are registering their email on your site that you will not sell their email and that they will (or will not) be getting email notifications from you. Always offer unsubscribe options (it’s the law).

Real estate is a world of negotiations and promises and a broken promise be it a simple failed return call or a brand promise, trust can be irreparably damaged by broken promises. To avoid breaking promises online, make clear your process and intentions on your site. Put your listing presentation online and make your pricing clear. Then stick with it. This sound simple, but promises by Realtors are broken all the time and could very easily be avoided.

Constance Freedman of the National Association of Realtors’ Second Century Ventures technology fund noted that 65% of all calls to Realtors go to voicemail and 80% of failed calls end up with competitors which amounts to major losses.

According to Trulia, “Agents who have instant access to their leads and respond to inquiries within the first five minutes have a greater likelihood of connecting with leads on the first call. Research has shown that the odds of contacting an online lead if called within the first 5 minutes versus 30 minutes drops 100 times, and the odds of qualifying an online lead if called within the first 5 minutes versus 30 minutes drops 21 times. Using Instant Leads and responding to online leads immediately can allow agents to catch the consumer at the peak of interest—while they’re still searching online and near a phone.”

It goes without saying that Realtors should be extremely responsive, but not just in the lead generation phase, but throughout the process. Use all tools available to help make this happen.

Integrity isn’t an option in real estate like it is in maybe other industries like entertainment. Every Realtor’s word online (and off) could potentially be documented and used in a lawsuit, so it is best for agents to always act as if in front of a judge. There isn’t much grey area in real estate, but when contracts are treated as such, integrity not only of that particular agent, but of the transaction, those involved and possibly the sector as a whole are impacted.

Years ago, when the transparency debate was hot, it was believed that an agent’s personal financial forms should be shared online, as it was a very extreme time. Now, transparency is expected in moderation as the web has gone mainstream, and your financial details are that of your own private home. Transparency in real estate pertains to practices and consistency and not offering better rates to some people and not others, it’s about being public with what you offer and what your process looks like, and if you’re really brave, what your stats are. Some agents choose to publish this on their own websites, others dodge it, but transparency these days mostly pertains to keeping professional promises and being clear with your offering up front.

In a world where repeat business is many agents’ bread and butter, establishing history is important. Doing so online involves soliciting testimonials from past (or current) clients and posting them on your website, or asking for LinkedIn recommendations. Building history online involves featuring sellers or buyers on your blogs and telling their story (to the extent that you legally can), and showing that you’ve done more than one transaction. Speaking at conferences is fabulous, but those credits are not the same as having done a side in real estate, so remember to focus on the client, their needs and making them comfortable via past transactions on display.

If you’re a dishonest person in real life, chances are that it will convey online, but if you’re focused on integrity and results, your natural desire to share that with others will come across in every tweet that you share as you provide value over fluff, and it will shine in your recommendations on Linked-In. Be honest, provide as much information as possible, and always keep consumers as the center of your web efforts rather than focusing on your ego (and your next conference) as the center of those same web efforts.

This article published on Saturday, July 23rd, 2011 at 11:30 am | Contact the editor Tags: featured, real estate social media

Category: Training

AgentGenius is a rapidly growing real estate social media, tech, news, and opinion site built and designed by and for the on-the-go agent. Our mission is to be a positive force in the industry, led by people inside of real estate. We aim to keep you up to date on trends that we study closely in order to forecast what’s next on the horizon.

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Realty Executives International mega franchise in turmoil – speculation looms

Realty Executives International (REI) has been riddled with quiet troubles in recent years with little to no media attention or even knowledge by REI agents of the turmoil. Executives have been let go, headquarters have been dramatically downsized, a major REI office defected to KW, while others have stopped paying franchise fees.

REI is headquartered in Arizona and claims 10,000 agents across 600 franchises in 24 countries. International headquarters moved in 2007 from their multi-story corporate high rise and in 2009 ultimately moved in with a local franchisee claiming in a letter to franchisee owners that because times were tough, they needed to have ears on the ground, thus they moved in with a franchisee.

One of our sources told us that they were not buying that as their reason and was disappointed that in 2011, they have moved into the equivalent of a strip mall with no explanation or warning to agents and brokers, only an email with instructions on sending franchise fees to the new location.

One of our sources who is a franchise owner feels wronged by the corporate office not empowering their people by telling them what was going on in an honest manner, rather claimed they needed “ears on the ground.”

The REI brand was dealt a major blow in spring of 2010 when 13 year franchise owner Anthony Azar defected to Keller Williams overnight, allegedly taking REI executives by surprise. Azar left with most of his 375 Tucson agents while some chose to stay with REI. Azar said in a statement that research and other observations convinced him to make the transition and one of our sources said they believe this conversion to be a sign of things to come.

In spring of 2010, after over 20 years with REI, Realty Executives Phoenix President John Foltz’ allegedly nasty departure from the company was indicative of how one of our sources feels is becoming the culture of REI. Before Foltz left, his title was changed and was replaced as President by Dominic Scappaticci recruited from Sotheby’s.

REI President and CEO Rich Rector filed a lawsuit accusing Foltz of misappropriating corporate assets, Foltz countersued for libel, claiming REI failed to pay him and when he complained, they sued him and accused him of fraud. Franchisees, brokers and agents were aware of this battle as the continuing volley of lawsuits has been quite public.

But what most of the REI was not aware of is the company letting go of a large number of executives in December 2010 which did not get the same press as the Foltz/Rector battle. One source says thirteen people were let go at corporate headquarters, nearly half of the executive team including the COO and CFO due to REI’s claim of budget problems, with no one at corporate offering answers to the agents and brokers in the field.

Public relations begins from internally at any company, with all parts of the body being prepared to handle any inquiries be they from consumers or journalists. A source close to the corporation says the only notices being sent to brokers, agents or franchisee owners are good news emails with only mentions of positive news and no arming of franchises to handle the bad news of executives getting cut or battles between leaders. Some franchisees believe that REI corporate has a black out of information, often stating that they “will get back to you” to their agents and brokers; sources say REI is refusing to address any negative speculation which leads some inside the network to believe the company is in real trouble and potentially incapable of handling the fallout.

Bloggers went wild this April when multiple Phoenix REI agents arrived at their offices and were shocked that the doors were locked by the landlords. Realty Executives Phoenix is where roughly 10% of REI corporate executives hang their license, and the franchise’s filing for bankruptcy has made waves in the industry. The lockouts occurred when lease negotiations failed, but executives told press that they were surprised of any lockout, while our sources tell us they knew the threat of a lockout loomed over them.

Because of the financial troubles of REI’s flagship franchise, they are no longer paying franchise fees which has deeply upset other franchise owners.

In response to Realty Executives Phoenix’s franchise fees allegedly no longer being paid, several franchisees have halted payments of their franchise fees in response. A source told us that “brokers are dropping like flies” and that some are planning on leaving as their franchise contract ends while others are rumored to be considering dropping the REI name and paying the contract breach fee.

This is the crux of the entire falling of the REI dominoes is that franchise owners and brokers are opting out and in their own small network discussing how to jump ship, but of the agents (not brokers) we spoke with, none were aware of anything going on which means agents across America could be in for a big surprise in the coming year as their franchise owners change gears.

REI boasts technology and a superior referral network, but one franchise owner we spoke with said they feel nickled and dimed by conventions, meetings and cost per head. Rather than tuck tail, several former REI executives that were ousted have banded together to form an alternative brokerage model that contrasts REI and is likely based on the feelings of the franchise owner who feels nickled and dimed.

The competitor is called Professionals Realty Group USA (PRG) which they brought over from Australia. The company’s President is Glenn Melton, ousted CEO of REI, and their Director of Member Services is Meghan Hartman, former Director of Franchise Growth at REI. Scott Hurlock is PRG’s SVP of Franchise Development, formerly REI’s VP of International Franchise Development, and Mark Vost is now PRG’s Executive VP Membership & Business Development and was ousted as a well known Regional Developer at REI. These four are just a few of the handful of former REI leaders now at PRG.

The group offers a twist on the flat fee brokerage model that gets away from the traditional real estate split. Although franchisees tell us there is bad blood, they say the PRG team is focusing on their growth and looking forward rather than backward. Given the series of lawsuits between Foltz and Rector, it is possible other lawsuits will be forthcoming, but we were unable to locate any currently filed suits and REI has not responded to our request for information or comment.

Nasty legal brawls, ousting executives with no warning, franchisees not paying franchise fees, a corporation in a communications blackout with the largest franchise filing bankruptcy and agents arriving to locked offices does not spell for a franchise in good health. One of our sources says their biggest frustration is that no one is seeing what is going on at REI, no one is putting the pieces together, and people are just assuming that the isolated incident they might be aware of is a sign of a down economy, but from a macro perspective, this is a franchise in turmoil.

This article published on Sunday, July 24th, 2011 at 11:34 am | Contact the editor Tags: featured, real estate brokerage, Real Estate News, realty executives international

Category: News

AgentGenius Editor-in-Chief: Lani, named one of Real Estate’s 100 Most Influencial, as well as 12 Most Influencial Women in Real Estate, is a business writer hailing from the great state of Texas in the city of Austin. As a digital native, Lani is immersed not only in advanced technologies and new media, but is also a stats nerd often burried in piles of reports. Lani is a proven leader, thoughtful speaker, and vested partner at AGBeat. You’ll often find her on Facebook and Twitter, so feel free to reach out and get to know her.

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6.5 million Americans are over 30 days late on their mortgage payment

Lender Processing Services is reporting the total American loan delinquency rate of mortgage borrowers whose loans are 30 days or more past due but not yet in foreclosure, is now at 8.15%, thus, the total number of homes in delinquency is 4,285,000 and with foreclosures, the number is an astonishing 6,452,000.

The home loan delinquency rate is up 2.4% from May but down 14.7% from June 2011.

Florida, Nevada, Mississippi, New Jersey and Illinois currently have the highest rates of delinquencies while the lowest rates of delinquencies are in Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, South Dakota and North Dakota.

Currently, the lending industry is in a very tight spot as recent reports reveal that not only is robo-signing still going on despite bank denial, thousands of loans that were packaged and sold to investors don’t even have promissory notes, and add to all that mess, courts across the nation are saying MERS doesn’t have the authority to issue foreclosure rights to a bank. (Read more on these topics here.)

All of these issues are potentially destructive to the foreclosure process and given that over six million homeowners are in danger of foreclosure are potentially looking at a different process altogether. Banks are questioning who has the authority to do what and homeowners are suing on technicalities and with no promissory note or proof that a bank even owns a loan, banks are losing foreclosure suits in rising numbers.

Although delinquencies are up a bit this month, they are down over the past year by a healthy margin, but will it matter if courts are not upholding foreclosures? How will banks respond? So far, the same problems plaguing the banks and have led to endless probes and even criminal charges and no changes have been made, so will courts denying foreclosures implement change? Time will tell.

This article published on Thursday, July 21st, 2011 at 12:06 am | Contact the editor Tags: featured, mortgage crisis, real estate economy, Real Estate News

Category: Economy

Tara Steele is the News Director at AgentGenius, covering real estate news, technology news and everything in between. If you’d like to reach Tara with a question, comment, press release or hot news tip, she frequently checks her email, simply click the link below.

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Ten cities that have fared well through the economic crash

You are here: Home » Economy » Ten cities that have fared well through the economic crash

Ten cities across the nation have fared fairly well despite the economic meltdown with rising populations, declining unemployment rates and improving housing prices. TheState.com outlined their top ten cities “unaffected” by a bad economy and while it could be argued that no city is immune to national financial crises, it is hard to argue that any city who has grown 20% in the last ten years experiencing a low unemployment rate is suffering in comparison.

With the national unemployment rate at 9.2% and housing prices projected to drop another 2.4% in 2011, many areas remain hard hit.

Austin, Texas is ranked as the top performing city according to TheState.com with an unemployment rate of 6.8%, a population rise of 20.4% between 2000 and 2010, and housing prices having dropped 2.28% from March 2010 to March 2011 according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency yet a rise of 14.64% in values over the last five years.

Austin, TX- 6.8% unemployment, 20.4% population increase in 10 years, home prices down 2.28% over one year and up 14.64% over the last five.Washington, D.C.- 5.8% unemployment, 2.8% population change, -1.58% home prices over one year, -20.84% home prices over five years.Augusta, GA- 8.4% unemployment, 0.3% population change, -2.8% home price change over one year, 5.04% over five years.Madison, WI- 5.7% unemployment, 11.6% population change, -1.59% home price change over one year, -2.47% over five years.Boulder, CO- 6.9% unemployment, 5.8% population change, -2.76% home price change over one year, 0.39% over five years.Dallas, TX- 6.9% unemployment, 8.1% population change, -2.04% home price change over one year, 3.66% over five years.Albany, NY- 7.2% unemployment, 2.3% population change, 0.09% home price change over one year, 3.29% over five years.Boston, MA- 7.1% unemployment, 4.8% population change, 0.19% home price change over one year, -14.12% over five years.Pittsburgh, PA- 7.4% unemployment, -8.6% population change, 1.05% home price change over one year, 7.08% over five years.Elko, NV- 7.9% unemployment, 7.8% population change, FHFA does not track Elko as an MSA.

What is interesting about the list is that there is not one thing in common as they are all of various industry backgrounds, some are college towns while others are not, some have great housing prices while others have dropped, but most of these areas were healthy to begin with. Even these cities have felt the pinch but continue to perform well. How has your city fared in the economic downturn?

This article published on Saturday, July 23rd, 2011 at 12:03 am | Contact the editor Tags: featured, real estate economy, Real Estate News

Category: Economy

AgentGenius is a rapidly growing real estate social media, tech, news, and opinion site built and designed by and for the on-the-go agent. Our mission is to be a positive force in the industry, led by people inside of real estate. We aim to keep you up to date on trends that we study closely in order to forecast what’s next on the horizon.

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Interior design trend spotting – chevron prints everywhere

Stripes have been hot for years now, but we’re seeing the rise of the chevron pattern as seen in the curtains above. The trend is appearing in lofts and traditional homes alike and is appealing because of its clean lines and simplicity and a bit of unexpectedness in a world of horizontal stripes.

The pattern serves to break up monotonous spaces and in a staged listing can add a major impact with a simple pattern addition.

Let’s take a look at how this hot print is being used, and let it serve as inspiration not only for you home, but to your new buyers, or for staging a vacant home.

Chevron rugs can range from neutrals to very bold colors depending on the designer. In an all white room, a simple pattern can help tie elements together.

This rug is a neutral rather than the up-and-coming-common black and white pattern:

We are seeing the chevron pattern used in three ways in wood flooring. One is to alternate darker and lighter woods, the next is simply to spice up the standard floor pattern while using all the same finish, and the last is to add color to wood floors.

We anticipate that builders will begin experimenting with using tiles in kitchens and bathrooms in the chevron pattern because it is edgy right now and it does not offend the traditional senses. All white tiles on bathroom walls are simple to install in the chevron pattern, and we are seeing bold uses in kitchens:

Many people are taking to the DIY route for the chevron pattern in their decor, namely with furniture. Painting the top of tables, sewing pillows and staining concrete patios are all making a splash. Homeowners and builders are reverting to the chevron pattern for outdoor pavers and patios and getting away from the expected horizontal/vertical pattern.

The chevron pattern is hot and we encourage knowing it to help with your custom build homes, for staging vacant homes, or simply being on top of trends to help your buyers envision their new living space.

This article published on Saturday, July 23rd, 2011 at 12:19 pm | Contact the editor Tags: featured, interior design trends

Category: Interior Design

Tara Steele is the News Director at AgentGenius, covering real estate news, technology news and everything in between. If you’d like to reach Tara with a question, comment, press release or hot news tip, she frequently checks her email, simply click the link below.

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98% of mortgages in Spain are current, what could America learn?

The Plaza Mayor in Salamanca, Spain. Photo by Raúl Hernández González.

As America struggles with foreclosures and defaults, there are now 6.5 million Americans who are over 30 days delinquent on their mortgage payments with analysts projecting this number will rise.

As a contrast, Yahoo Finance reports that 98% of mortgages in Spain are on time, so what is Spain doing that is so different than America?

In America, we all know that a foreclosure means a house goes back to the bank, the borrower is forgiven that debt in exchange for a massive credit score decline.

In Spain, when a home goes into foreclosure, not only is some or part of the debt still owed to the bank, but many mortgages allow for lenders to go after wages until the debt is fulfilled.

The two systems are drastically different yet yield completely different results. Would a harsh system like Spain’s help with the foreclosure numbers? It is highly unlikely, as the majority (not all) homeowners that go into foreclosure do so for legitimate reasons like being laid off. Penalties like this would easily stall the American housing sector.

That said, are penalties high enough in America? Some politicians are hoping that a 20% down requirement on all new loans would incentivize homeowners to stay so as not to lose their investment, while critics believe that would drastically stunt sales.

So how could penalties change in America? Some support tightened lending and more regulatory oversight, while others note that foreclosures that severely damage credit also damages the ability to buy again and especially hurts the ability to rent, as credit is a primary qualifying criteria in most of America, meaning a foreclosure limits where one can live.

The Spanish system is obviously too harsh and would never work in America, but would requiring 20% down or other “tough” measures aid in limiting foreclosures? Not likely, as we have maintained that most delinquencies aren’t by choice and that if we see unemployment numbers go down, we’ll also see defaults drop.

Jobs = housing, and the Spanish system may have few delinquencies, but they also are a nation of many poor people, with this as one of the contributing factors.

This article published on Saturday, July 23rd, 2011 at 1:21 pm | Contact the editor Tags: featured, mortgage crisis, real estate editorial, Real Estate News

Category: Editorials

AgentGenius is a rapidly growing real estate social media, tech, news, and opinion site built and designed by and for the on-the-go agent. Our mission is to be a positive force in the industry, led by people inside of real estate. We aim to keep you up to date on trends that we study closely in order to forecast what’s next on the horizon.

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Zillow insider makes bold predictions as “Z” makes its NASDAQ debut

Zillow exits the quiet period as their stocks have gone public and Spencer Rascoff, current Zillow CEO rang the opening bell at NASDAQ as their shares hit the market for the first day, after a long process toward their initial public offering (IPO).

Drew Meyers, worked at Zillow from 2005 through January 2010, managing Zillow’s API program and various online partnerships. Over the course of that time, he worked with Zillow’s PR team and served as a spokesperson for the company in various fashions via social media.

Today, he shares his his predictions with AGBeat based on his many years at Zillow and begins by saying, “I’m not a reporter. As such, I left out the typical BS you can read in every single other article out there about the Zillow IPO. If you want to find out the share price, history of the company, revenue, etc – do a few Google searches and you’ll find all the basics that 50 others have all repeated already. If you want some thoughtful analysis, read this instead.”

The interview below is in Meyers’ own words:
The day has finally arrived – Zillow is publicly traded on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “Z” (and it’s already soared from $20 to $60 per share according to Bloomberg). It’s the day every employee at an early stage startup relishes; the day all those years laboring away for the chance at an initial public offering is finally realized. The day liquidity goes from dream to reality.

I’ve been away from Zillow for over a year now since my departure in early 2010, but that gives me the unique perspective of seeing Zillow from the inside as well as from the outside while still working within the industry. Though of course I am biased (I am a shareholder in the company), I’m more than bullish on the companies long term prospects. Part of that bullishness comes from the fact that I know the people running Zillow quite well, and know they are top notch individuals with a vast amount of business experience under their belts already.

However, a large part of my bullishness also comes from the fact that the residential real estate vertical is a massive massive market that involves the single largest investment the majority of main street ever makes. Combined with the mortgage side of things, you have an extremely lucrative niche to capitalize on.

I wanted to put together a few predictions regarding where Zillow will invest following their IPO. I don’t claim to have all the answers by any means, but these are the most strategic investments I can see them making:

Even though the United States online real estate progressed quite a bit in the United States market over the past 6 years since I entered the industry in late 2005, the online real estate arena abroad is still noticeably a few years behind the curve. For instance, look at the websites that rank #1 for greece property for sale (http://www.apropertyingreece.com/) and Madrid Spain property for sale (http://www.thinkspain.com/properties-in-spain/3/15). Zillow has a chance to take a sizable chunk on that rapidly growing market by strategically investing in the right companies in the right geographic markets.

Delivering a better consumer experience and investing in the SEO side of the equation can beat those incumbents who haven’t innovated in a decade. Couple that with the fact that commissions in many places overseas are considerably higher than in the United States means that the leads generated off of that traffic would be worth a pretty penny to international real estate agencies.

I think (hope) it’s a given that Zillow’s sales team will eventually run out of ad space on Zillow and Yahoo! Real Estate to sell to agents and brokers. At that point, they will need additional products to go to agents with — or they need to find more ad space to sell by acquiring it with strategic partnerships with other media companies.

I personally think acquiring companies with existing subscription revenue from technology and marketing products vital to agents and brokers success (such as a CRM, website, or IDX) is a more viable growth strategy because there are only so many “premiere” national online properties that agents would be willing to pay an additional monthly advertising expense to be on.

There’s a reason Move, Inc owns Top Producer; it’s a subscription service sold to many of the same agents they already reach via their Realtor.com – I strongly suspect a lot of cross promotional marketing occurs between Realtor.com advertisers and Top Producer clients.
Here are two possible candidates for an acquisition:

Altos Research – I’ve long thought Altos would be a perfect acquisition for Zillow given they specialize in the same thing; data. I obviously have no insight into Altos’ subscriber numbers, but it seems there could be considerable savings from using Zillow data to power Altos and sharing a sales team.WiseAgent – we all know a CRM is essential to any agent and brokerage looking to grow their business; an email inbox can only get you so far. There are a number of CRM’s out there (none of which are perfect), or Zillow could build their own of course, but from what I’ve seen WiseAgent has built a product their clients love and has a very loyal following as a result.

3. Form a joint venture or very strategic partnership with a consumer banking site. This one certainly isn’t an obvious move, but hear me out before you discount it. A new company in the banking industry could then take on Bankrate (the clear leader in the industry) by combining Zillow mortgage data with auto & bank loan information from another provider.

Right now, Bankrate, Quinstreet, and Informa are the primary games in town when it comes to mortgage and other bank rate information. Distribution of mortgage data to other sites is a massive revenue opportunity for Zillow, but my gut is that to get the really strategic media deals with sites such as Wall Street Journal or CNNMoney who already have boatloads of traffic, Zillow (or a partner company) is going to need to be able to serve as the primary data provider for all their rate information — autos, CDs, mortgage, etc. Those companies don’t want to work with 3 different providers for that data. Bankrate was taken private for 571 million in 2009, so there is clearly a sizable opportunity in the consumer banking space worth chasing.

I think now is the time for Zillow to make some strategic investments and make a real run at burying their competitors. It was a race to the IPO for this exact reason (getting access to the liquidity that can be easily used for acquisitions) between Zillow and Trulia, and Zillow beat them to the punch card. It’s my strong hope that Zillow uses this fresh capital and liquidity to really turn the corner and, as a result, ends up as the next Amazon or Expedia of the web. It’ll certainly be interesting to watch over the course of the next few years — and I’ll be rooting for the Zillow stock chart to continue tranding up and to the right as it has thus far today.

Drew Meyers worked at Zillow from 2005 through January 2010, managing Zillow’s API program and various online partnerships. Over the course of that time, he worked with Zillow’s PR team and served as a spokesperson for the company in various fashions via social media.

Current Marketing Director for Virtual Results, a boutique website design firm in the real estate vertical, and maintains a personal blog where he shares his thoughts on his passions of travel and microfinance (among other things).

A social media marketing enthusiast, he founded the Carnival of Real Estate and is the founder and managing editor of Geek Estate Blog, a multi-author blog focused on real estate technology for real estate professionals. He has spoken on panels at Inman’s Real Estate Connect conferences and has led sessions on Social Media Marketing and Search Engine Optimization at numerous Real Estate BarCamps across the country.

This article published on Wednesday, July 20th, 2011 at 12:27 pm | Contact the editor Tags: featured, Real Estate News, Zillow

Category: Editorials

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Wells Fargo fined $85 million for abusive practices of thousands

The Federal Reserve Board has alleged that Wells Fargo employed deceptive mortgage practices, fraud and unsafe banking practices against thousands of borrowers and is issuing an $85 million fine, their largest ever consumer protection fine in Fed history.

The Fed says that “possibly more than 10,000? mortgage borrowers between 2004 and 2008 were pushed into higher cost loans when they would have qualified for lower rates and less expensive loans.

The fine for each individual case looks to be upward of $20,000 each as the Fed demanded that Wells Fargo fully compensate all customers that were cheated.

At the root of this major fine is “Wells Fargo Financial,” the subprime loan arm of Wells Fargo that was closed last year, with the Fed pointing to salespeople in this division as overly aggressive and commission driven. The group “altered or falsified income documents and inflated prospective borrowers’ incomes to qualify those borrowers for loans that they would not otherwise have been qualified to receive,” according to the Federal Reserve.

The Wells Fargo Financial division sold high cost loans to those who easily qualified for lower cost loans.

Because Wells Fargo estimates that of the 300,000 loans they made during that period, only an estimated 4% were abusive, the bank claims it was a small number of people that committed these abuses and the group doesn’t represent what Wells Fargo stands for.

Nonetheless, they will now be forced to work with the Fed to determine who the borrowers that were wronged are and appropriate compensation given.

In a statement, the Fed said, “In addition to the monetary components of the settlement, Wells Fargo is required to improve oversight of its anti-fraud and compliance programs and incentive compensation and performance management policies for personnel who sell and underwrite home mortgage loans.”

The Fed noted that they have issued consent orders against 16 former Wells Fargo Financial sales personnel prohibiting them from becoming employed in the banking industry. The Fed said that they have “also issued a consent cease and desist order against another former Wells Fargo Financial sales person prohibiting future improper conduct.”

This article published on Thursday, July 21st, 2011 at 12:56 pm | Contact the editor Tags: featured, mortgage crisis, Real Estate News, wells fargo

Category: News

Tara Steele is the News Director at AgentGenius, covering real estate news, technology news and everything in between. If you’d like to reach Tara with a question, comment, press release or hot news tip, she frequently checks her email, simply click the link below.

Email Tara Steele

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Trulia to help consumers rate Realtors and shop commissions? – buzz

In December, Zillow announced they added Realtor ratings to their site, followed by the launch of Mountain of Agents in February 2011, followed by the beta launch of AgentLeaf.com in Spring 2011 after being founded in October 2010, according to CrunchBase.com where it is specifically listed under the description “Realtor Ratings and Commission Rebates.”

AgentLeaf.com offers rankings of real estate agents based on MLS data of their actual sales stats and gives a commission rebate option when consumers use participating agents. The reaction to the commission rebate portion of the site was received negatively by the AGBeat readers and stirred up some controversy. When we interviewed AgentLeaf.com CEO and Founder, Matthew Holder, he was relatively evasive about his plans and claimed his reason was that they were still in beta.

Prior to March, Holder was on a hiring spree with job listings online ranging from a CTO/VP to an Online Marketing Guru, showing all the makings of a budding startup. According to CrunchBase.com, there are five employees and one member of the Board of Directors.

Against the backdrop of competitive sites like MountainofAgents.com and Zillow’s Realtor Ratings system, AgentLeaf.com is no more. The site and all backpages have been redirected to Google.com with no announcement as to why. AgentLeaf.Blogspot.com’s last entry was on March 28, 2011 as was their last Facebook Page entry, and the company’s last tweet was on April 5, 2011. None of these social networks offered any explanation as to why all operations ceased.

Meanwhile, Holder was hired this spring as a Product Manager at Trulia and although no announcement was made on the Trulia Blog of his hiring and his Twitter account doesn’t claim ties to Trulia, Holder didn’t mention Trulia once on Twitter from March 1st to March 30th, but in the 113 days since, 196 references to Trulia have been made on his Twitter account ranging from postings of open Trulia jobs to Foursquare check-ins to Trulia headquarters as well as retweets of various Trulia employees, with Trulia being his primary topic of conversation.

Holder’s Linked-In profile as well as AgentLeaf’s Board of Directors member Alexandre Linares list AgentLeaf’s end date as March 2011 despite that being the time period Holder informed us that they would be launching in various cities shortly.

The timing of all of these events tied together and how a budding company went silent overnight are quite intriguing. Speculation is that the big announcement Trulia has planned for next week is that Trulia has acquired the technology or at least the talent behind AgentLeaf.com to rate Realtors and reveal their sales stats through the MLS, as well as offer the option for consumers to shop for agents that are willing to offer competitive commission rebates. At a minimum, it appears to be a talent acquisition, but it could be Trulia’s foray into the ratings offering they currently lack. We suspect that Trulia will add Realtor ratings in the near future and it remains unseen as to whether or not they will publicly tie that feature to AgentLeaf.com or to Holder.

We have no confirmation as to whether or not the controversial commission rebates portion of the Realtor ranking product would be included, nor what their announcement is for July 28th, and Trulia indicated that they would respond to our request for comment at a later date. What Trulia did tell us, however, is that today, they will be launching agent recommendations but indicated they didn’t anticipate any controversy attached to the soft launch.

This article published on Friday, July 22nd, 2011 at 1:53 am | Contact the editor Tags: featured, Real Estate News, Realtor ratings, Trulia

Category: Editorials

AgentGenius Editor-in-Chief: Lani, named one of Real Estate’s 100 Most Influencial, as well as 12 Most Influencial Women in Real Estate, is a business writer hailing from the great state of Texas in the city of Austin. As a digital native, Lani is immersed not only in advanced technologies and new media, but is also a stats nerd often burried in piles of reports. Lani is a proven leader, thoughtful speaker, and vested partner at AGBeat. You’ll often find her on Facebook and Twitter, so feel free to reach out and get to know her.

Email Lani Rosales

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“Nice wart bar” – do your listings need medical attention?

I had a lot of laughs this week, friends – and most were unintentional. Perhaps the summer sun is causing lethargy. That’s the only excuse I could come up with to explain some of these moronic meanderings. Thanks to Allyson Hoffman for her great contributions from Chicago. 

“Nice wart bar” (Frog Inspection highly recommended)

“Cards for dump included” (Wouldn’t tissue be less irritating?)

“No lame offers accepted” (This must be from the Lame Agent Rule Book…)

“Designd with Fang shui” (From the Caravan Guide For Listings That Bite)

“Pool to dye for!” (Uh-uh – I don’t whip out the Loreal for anyone but Clooney.)

“Perfect for art correction” (Offered by Dominatrix Dorothy)

“Wonderful ocean freezes” ( …Isn’t that a bit hard on your manhood, Siberian Sam?)

“Must sell before labor” (This gives new meaning to “contractual obligations.”)

“Nice bean ceilings” (Are you also serving Chianti, Mr. Lecter?)

“Depressed wood floors” (You’d feel the same way if you had feet in your face every time you were in a horizontal position.)

“High-tech TB equip inc”  (Yipee – I can have my very own sanitarium.)

“Mosaic of glob in foyer” (That’s probably what the seller expelled from his throat after  seeing your spelling abilities.)

“House on end of peninisulim” (My condolences – that sounds terminal…)

“This home offers cure elegance” (Does it have a cure for idiocy?)

“Views of Point Doom” (Point Dume is in Malibu, pal – “Point Doom” is the top of your skull.)

That’s it for this week, folks.  Remember, I’m always lurking with the Blooper Scooper!

This article published on Friday, July 22nd, 2011 at 9:00 am | Contact the editor Tags: featured, MLS bloopers, real estate humor

Category: Editorials, Real Estate

I wear several hats: My mink fedora real estate hat belongs to Sotheby’s International Realty on the world famous Sunset Strip. I’M not world famous, but I’ve garnered a few Top Producer credits along the way. I also wear a coonskin writer’s cap with an arrow through it, having written a few novels and screenplays and scored a few awards there, too. (The arrow was from a tasteless critic.) My sequined turban is my thespian hat for my roles on stage, and in film and television, Dahling. You can check me out in all my infamy at LinkedIn, LAhomesite.com, SherlockOfHomes, IMDB or you can shoot arrows at my head via email. I can take it.

Email Gwen Banta

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Luxury builder Taylor Morrison acquired for nearly $1 billion

You are here: Home » News » Luxury builder Taylor Morrison acquired for nearly $1 billion

Luxury home builder Taylor Morrison and Canadian sister company Monarch homes (built to suit) have been acquired for $955 billion by TMM Holdings LP, which is owned indirectly by investment funds managed separately by TPG Capital, Oaktree Capital Management LP and JH Investments.

Monarch builds in Canada while mega builder Taylor Morrison builds in Florida, Texas, Colorado, California and Arizona where it is headquartered and employs 687 people.

Taylor Wimpey PLC sold both home-building operations. President Sheryl Palmer told BizJournals.com that the buyout will fund expansion of the Taylor Morrison brand.

“We’ve shown that we can be a profitable, viable company during a difficult time. This sale is a vote of confidence for the team and the way we do business and we’re looking forward to capitalizing on it,” Palmer said.

With such a massive acquisition, is there hope for the new home construction sector? Could this motivate builder’s confidence in the long run? Builders have struggled with tight lending for construction and tight lending for home loans, hitting them hard and producing historic lows regarding starts and sales.

Taylor Morrison has beat the trends in recent years and remained profitable despite a housing sector in peril.

This article published on Monday, July 18th, 2011 at 4:33 am | Contact the editor Tags: featured, new home construction, Real Estate News

Category: News

AgentGenius is a rapidly growing real estate social media, tech, news, and opinion site built and designed by and for the on-the-go agent. Our mission is to be a positive force in the industry, led by people inside of real estate. We aim to keep you up to date on trends that we study closely in order to forecast what’s next on the horizon.

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NAR and NAHB spending on Capitol Hill compared to Google and Facebook

Over the years, Google has gained substantial attention because of their close ties with the American government and Facebook has gotten quite cozy with the current administration, even playing host to a town hall meeting with President Obama earlier this year.

Now, the two companies are making headlines for their increased spending on lobbying. In the second quarter of 2011, for the first time, Google’s spending on lobbying was higher than Microsoft’s, and the two companies have just broken their own quarterly lobbying spend records.

Google’s lobbying spend for Q2 2011 was $2.06 million, up 54% over the past year, while Facebook’s lobbying spend was $320,000, nearly matching their entire lobbying effort for 2010.

When we heard these numbers and read opinion columns opining about the large amounts of money the two companies are spending and the feigned outrage is interesting to us.

Our immediate thought was “why the outrage over two million dollars, haven’t these people ever heard of real estate lobbying?” We analyzed real estate spending back in 2010 and many people were shocked at how many industry dollars go toward Capitol Hill.

Take a look at this comparison chart to see if you believe Google and Facebook’s spending is outrageous, and take special note that for the recent year, not all numbers have been reported which is why we included 2009-2010 to give you an idea of an annual spend. We separated out contributions from lobbyist spending, because many Realtors think that all political spends coming from their trade association are for political offices, but the spend by NAR on lobbyists is one of the largest in the entire nation (take special note of the second line of this chart).

Not only are political contributions and spending on lobbyists dramatically higher in the real estate industry compared to technology as demonstrated above, contributions are spread more evenly between state and federal contributions in real estate. Support for Democrats and Republicans varies widely, even within leaders in each sector and NAR appears to be the most fair, indicating that it is often an office that is supported rather than the idea of an individual.

What do you think of the political contributions and money spent on lobbyists in each sector and even within the real estate industry? Tell us in comments your thoughts.

This article published on Friday, July 22nd, 2011 at 2:32 am | Contact the editor Tags: featured, real estate lobbying, Real Estate News, Technology

Category: News

AgentGenius Editor-in-Chief: Lani, named one of Real Estate’s 100 Most Influencial, as well as 12 Most Influencial Women in Real Estate, is a business writer hailing from the great state of Texas in the city of Austin. As a digital native, Lani is immersed not only in advanced technologies and new media, but is also a stats nerd often burried in piles of reports. Lani is a proven leader, thoughtful speaker, and vested partner at AGBeat. You’ll often find her on Facebook and Twitter, so feel free to reach out and get to know her.

Email Lani Rosales

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Checks going out to former Countrywide borrowers totaling $108 million

Over three years ago, it was found that Countrywide Financial overcharged more than 450,000 borrowers, all of whom have been waiting reimbursement ever since. The Federal Trade Commission said that as a result of a settlement reached with Countrywide over a year ago, checks will soon be cut and sent to nearly half a million borrowers totaling nearly $108 million.

The borrowers that were overcharged had borrowed from Countrywide Financial prior to its collapse and prior to being acquired to Bank of America three years ago.

The Federal Trade Commission sued Countrywide for unfair and deceptive practices in servicing the mortgages of homeowners in default or Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

According to the FTC, Countrywide used unlawful practices in servicing homeowners’ mortgages. Countrywide allegedly charged excessive fees for default-related services like property inspections, made claims about amounts owed by homeowners in bankruptcy that were false or couldn’t be backed up and didn’t tell people going through bankruptcy when new fees or charges were being added to their loans.

“It’s astonishing that a single company could be responsible for overcharging more than 450,000 homeowners,” FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement. “Countrywide’s unconscionable behavior harmed American consumers on a massive scale and we are proud to be getting every single dollar back to hundreds of thousands of struggling consumers who can least afford to lose the money.”

There were two categories of overcharges, according to FTC spokesperson Frank Dorman that were tied to inspections, home maintenance, lawn mowing and other services that Countrywide provided to homes of borrowers in default.

The checks will begin going out to overcharged borrowers on July 21st with no word as to how long until all borrowers will be reimbursed. Gilardi & Co. is charged with this program and are administering the settlement for the FTC. Borrowers with questions can reach them at 888-230-3196 or ftcvcountrywide@classactmail.com.

This article published on Thursday, July 21st, 2011 at 12:01 am | Contact the editor Tags: featured, mortgage crisis, Real Estate News

Category: Economy

Tara Steele is the News Director at AgentGenius, covering real estate news, technology news and everything in between. If you’d like to reach Tara with a question, comment, press release or hot news tip, she frequently checks her email, simply click the link below.

Email Tara Steele

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RealtyTrac SVP speaks out against national moratorium on foreclosures

In the video above, Rick Sharga, Senior Vice President of RealtyTrac speaks to the current status of the government as their role in housing and especially foreclosures is currently in flux.

Sharga says that the first thing the American government should do about housing is, first “do no harm.” How exactly does the government go about doing that, given how ingrained they are in housing?

Sharga says that government can influence banks for principle balance reductions, but that without job stimulation, there are no buyers and no confidence in the safety to buy.

The government can get involved in financing by not impeding, for example not eliminating the mortgage tax credits which would weaken the desire to buy (the last thing housing needs right now), Sharga notes.

Rethinking the Dodd-Frank provisions is a necessary step, Sharga said. As a nation, it would be unwise to unplug the life support tubes, so this reform must be thought through more fully.

Sharga said clearly and succinctly that he does not support a national moratorium on foreclosures. He said that at best, it is a temporary reprieve for a very small number and that most homeowners at that stage will foreclose anyhow.

A national moratorium on foreclosures would be disastrous, essentially eliminate financing and threaten to damage housing prices, says Sharga. It is a popular but impractical sentiment.

If you read between the lines, Sharga is saying that the current role of government and the role they are attempting to put themselves in for the future, is not much more than a political move and doesn’t do much to move the needle. With Sharga saying that a moratorium that sounds healthy on the surface but doesn’t do much more than stall the inevitable while harming housing.

This article published on Tuesday, July 19th, 2011 at 2:46 pm | Contact the editor Tags: featured, real estate economy, Real Estate News

Category: Economy, Video

Tara Steele is the News Director at AgentGenius, covering real estate news, technology news and everything in between. If you’d like to reach Tara with a question, comment, press release or hot news tip, she frequently checks her email, simply click the link below.

Email Tara Steele

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A creative use for QR codes in real estate – video demonstration

You are here: Home » New Media » A creative use for QR codes in real estate – video demonstration

We’ve opined in months past that QR codes being a passing trend but we acknowledge that many people are excited about the technology and use is certainly rising. We maintain that it is not a permanent technology as it truly is simpler on everyone to offer a shortened url to visit, but for now, those seeking to use QR codes in marketing because of their novelty, the above video demonstrates a pretty neat use of QR codes.

W&R Studios, creators of Cloud CMA demonstrates the implementation of a QR code within a printed CMA as a means of personalizing the listing presentation and call it the “Animated CMA.”

The ideas is creative not only because it’s uncommon (in fact, we can’t point to anyone using this method yet) but because it is a way to be memorable, but helps for clients that have spouses that are unable to make it to a listing appointment or for the lookie lous who are interviewing dozens of agents- what a great way to stand out.

This article published on Friday, July 22nd, 2011 at 12:11 am | Contact the editor Tags: featured, QR codes, real estate technology

Category: New Media, Video

AgentGenius Editor-in-Chief: Lani, named one of Real Estate’s 100 Most Influencial, as well as 12 Most Influencial Women in Real Estate, is a business writer hailing from the great state of Texas in the city of Austin. As a digital native, Lani is immersed not only in advanced technologies and new media, but is also a stats nerd often burried in piles of reports. Lani is a proven leader, thoughtful speaker, and vested partner at AGBeat. You’ll often find her on Facebook and Twitter, so feel free to reach out and get to know her.

Email Lani Rosales

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Trulia launches Instant Leads to better connect Realtors with consumers

Trulia.com has announced a new online real estate lead notification system for real estate professionals powered by Twilio.com that automatically calls the agent’s mobile phone when consumers leave their phone number, which instantly connects both client and Realtor on a phone call. When a phone number is not left by the consumer or the Realtor does not answer, the Trulia Instant Leads system sends the agent a text message with the consumer’s contact information.

Instant Leads is now offered to all Trulia Pro account holders. Although messaging systems like this are not new and have been used by companies like PropertyMaps.com for years, Trulia would likely claim that its edge is that the Instant Lead systems is using cloud technology.

“Using Twilio, we’ve built what we believe to be a one-of-a kind powerful service that gives agents the opportunity to respond quickly to consumers inquiries, meet more clients and close more transactions,” said Georg Gerstenfeld, VP of Business Services at Trulia. “Twilio’s technology has allowed Trulia to create instant connections between consumers and real estate professionals. When consumers get a quick response it allows agents to build more relationships with potential clients.”

“Trulia has led the way in many aspects of connecting buyers to properties and agents in the real estate market, and Trulia Instant Leads is a great use of Twilio’s voice and text messaging products,” said Jeff Lawson, Twilio CEO. “We’re excited to power another transformative product from an industry-leader, and expect Trulia Instant Leads will re-invent how agents connect with consumers.”

We are enthusiastic about any system or method available to Realtors to connect with consumers in a meaningful way. Constance Freedman of the National Association of Realtors’ Second Century Ventures technology fund noted that 65% of all calls to Realtors go to voicemail and 80% of failed calls end up with competitors which amounts to major losses.

Trulia claims their Instant Leads tool increases the chance of turning online leads into a client by one hundred fold.

According to Trulia, “Agents who have instant access to their leads and respond to inquiries within the first five minutes have a greater likelihood of connecting with leads on the first call. Research has shown that the odds of contacting an online lead if called within the first 5 minutes versus 30 minutes drops 100 times, and the odds of qualifying an online lead if called within the first 5 minutes versus 30 minutes drops 21 times. Using Instant Leads and responding to online leads immediately can allow agents to catch the consumer at the peak of interest—while they’re still searching online and near a phone.”

They note that a recent industry report reflects that “86% of leads considered response time to be “extremely important” when deciding on their real estate agent, 31% of leads expected a real estate agent to reply instantly to their online inquiry while 96% of leads expected a real estate agent to contact them within 4 hours of their online inquiry.

This article published on Thursday, July 21st, 2011 at 8:28 pm | Contact the editor Tags: featured, real estate marketing, Real Estate News, Trulia

Category: Marketing

AgentGenius is a rapidly growing real estate social media, tech, news, and opinion site built and designed by and for the on-the-go agent. Our mission is to be a positive force in the industry, led by people inside of real estate. We aim to keep you up to date on trends that we study closely in order to forecast what’s next on the horizon.

Email AGBeat News

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New regulations push MetLife bank to close, what of the mortgage division?

MetLife Inc. has announced that it is considering selling their MetLife Bank which currently offers traditional banking such as depository business, savings accounts, money market accounts and certificates of deposit. The MetLife Home Loans division, however, is not being considered as part of the sale. The bank’s current assets total $15.6 billion with $9.3 million in deposits.

According to MetLife, they have decided that a bank holding company structure is no longer appropriate despite having been considered a “systematically important financial institution.” They are facing scrutiny from the Federal Reserve Board and regulations like the Dodd-Frank act have loomed overhead.

“MetLife Bank represented just two percent of MetLife Inc.’s first quarter 2011 operating earnings, and we do not believe it is appropriate for the overwhelming majority of our business to be governed by regulations written for banking institutions,” said Steven Kandarian, President and CEO of MetLife Inc. in a statement.

“In a highly competitive global insurance marketplace, it is imperative that MetLife be able to operate on a level playing field with other insurance companies,” Kandarian said.

The ten year old division initially began offering retail savings products online and their home loans division which will remain in tact was created in 2008 when they had acquired EverBank mortgage and First Horizon Home Loans from from First Tennessee Bank.

“We are pursuing a sale of our depository operations and in the future will concentrate on our mortgage banking businesses (including forward and reverse mortgage origination, servicing and warehouse lending). MetLife Home Loans will remain a part of the MetLife enterprise,” said an internal company memo obtained by National Mortgage Professional Magazine (NMPM).

NMPM reports that “the company contends that it is committed to growth strategies in all of its mortgage banking businesses, including focusing on the continued success of its jumbo mortgage products.”

“The mortgage business often provides access to the bulk of a person’s wealth and, therefore, is a natural part of financial and retirement planning,” noted the memo. “In addition, the mortgage product provides a natural hedge to the insurance business and a diversified entry point to customer acquisition.”

The major changes to the mortgage division over the next year will include a requirement of their loan originators to seek licensing given their dropping of the bank charger, and some states will require fulfillment and loss mitigation employees.

“The elephant in the room here is the fact that all of MetLife’s LOs will now have to become licensed,” said Eric Tishaw, chief operating officer of Hazel Green, Ala.-based Hometown Lenders. “A significant portion of MetLife’s recent growth has come from entire branch networks and producers making lateral moves from competitors in an effort to make a move to a company where licensing would not be required, obviously to avoid the hassles of becoming licensed (and the fear of failing!). Those producers that MetLife are able to both retain and get licensed will no doubt be re-evaluating their compensation levels and comparing that to what they could get elsewhere working for a smaller lender, who will be able to offer them relief from big-bank red tape and who will give them more flexibility, more products and greater autonomy.”

MetLife’s dropping of their bank division is indicative of changing governmental regulations and analysts suspect that such a large closure could change the conversation in Washington about mortgage regulation.

This article published on Friday, July 22nd, 2011 at 12:03 am | Contact the editor Tags: featured, mortgage crisis, Real Estate News

Category: News

AgentGenius is a rapidly growing real estate social media, tech, news, and opinion site built and designed by and for the on-the-go agent. Our mission is to be a positive force in the industry, led by people inside of real estate. We aim to keep you up to date on trends that we study closely in order to forecast what’s next on the horizon.

Email AGBeat News

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Stewart Lending acquires REO subservicing company PMH Financial

Steward Lender Services (SLS), subsidiary of Stewart Title Company has announced the acquisition of a majority ownership interest in PMH Financial, a full-service REO outsource and subservicing company that provides REO services, short sale management, collateral valuation, subservicing, loan review and due diligence services.

PMH currently has over 100 employees spread across six states and an active inventory of roughly $2.5 billion in real estate assets on behalf of financial institutions, loan servicers and hedge fund investors.

“This transaction represents a strategic acquisition for Stewart Lender Services,” said Jason Nadeau, president and CEO of Stewart Lender Services. “PMH will provide a great deal of synergy with a number of Stewart clients and services. PMH’s senior leadership team has some of the leading REO and servicing executives in our industry. We are very excited to have them join our team.”

Although the two have some clients in common, the overlap that does exist will not lead to any internal competition, according to Nadeau.

“This is an excellent move for our clients and helps to position our company for continued growth”, said Ken Blevins, president and CEO of PMH Financial. “Stewart is a market leader in providing a comprehensive set of default and mortgage origination services. By joining Stewart Lender Services, we can deliver greater value to our clients while offering them an expanded line of related products and services.”

It’s not just tech companies and real estate search companies that are acquiring one another, builders and lenders are as well, marking an era of strengthening internal offering while buying companies that in an extremely successful economy could possibly be unable to be acquired.

This article published on Tuesday, July 19th, 2011 at 4:30 am | Contact the editor Tags: featured, real estate economy, Real Estate News, REO

Category: News

Tara Steele is the News Director at AgentGenius, covering real estate news, technology news and everything in between. If you’d like to reach Tara with a question, comment, press release or hot news tip, she frequently checks her email, simply click the link below.

Email Tara Steele

View the original article here

Google Plus at 18 million users, projected to hit 100 million soon

Paul Allen, the well known “unofficial Google Plus statistician” and founder of Ancestry.com is reporting that Google Plus has reached 18 million users making it the fastest growing social network in history. Although growth has subsided from its early boom, in a short time, Google Plus has as many people as the entire combined population of Chile.

Google critics point out that Google Plus’ size is still only 2.4% of the size of Facebook while supporters note that the current size of Google Plus is astronomical based on how long it has been around.

Further, Allen reports that Google Plus has been dominated by male users but that women are catching up rapidly, conflicting with reports that contradict Allen’s report, and he notes previous reports are “flawed.” Currently, Allen says that 66.4% of users are male and 33.6% female.

Google Plus has announced they will soon be making gender an optional choice in profile pages not only out of respect for modern gender issues, but for privacy. We believe, however, that based on user behavior, Google will still profile users and segment them based on demographics to feed their advertising platform.

If the current rate of growth continued at approximately 763,000 new users every day, Google Plus would only take four to five months to reach 100 million users, putting them squarely against Facebook and Twitter.

By default, Google has always undone the progress of companies that provide similar offerings and sometimes they run parallel (like Google Docs versus Microsoft Office) while others are supplanted by Google (for example, Google Plus is now believed to be capable of supplanting Skype).

Google is in growth mode and there is no question that their current moves are making waves and threatening companies in the technology sector, regardless of whether or not Google has set their sights on those companies.

This article published on Thursday, July 21st, 2011 at 12:11 am | Contact the editor Tags: featured, google, google plus

Category: New Media

Tara Steele is the News Director at AgentGenius, covering real estate news, technology news and everything in between. If you’d like to reach Tara with a question, comment, press release or hot news tip, she frequently checks her email, simply click the link below.

Email Tara Steele

View the original article here