Move bets on social media, acquires platform & talent at SocialBios

California based Move, Inc. is the parent company of Move.com, Realtor.com, Moving.com, SeniorHousingNet.com, TopProducer.com and is in joint partnership with Builder Homesite, Inc. to offer Builders Digital Experience. As one of the top real estate companies, Move, Inc. has made a move that expands their offering in a new direction- toward social media.

Given the reliance of Realtors (their consumers) on being social, they have acquired SocialBios.com which is just over a year old. SocialBios is a social search platform that allows people and brands to “create a single social hub for their online profiles through interactive ‘About Us’ pages that simplify the discovery of shared connections on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Foursquare and Google without sacrificing their privacy.”

For an undisclosed amount, Move, Inc. has acquired the SocialBios platform and team which will be based in Denver, CO. The SocialBios products will remain “in production and available to real estate professionals.” Although it remains to be seen how Move will integrate the platform into their current offering, Move says development will continue which means there are potentially more products or modes of integration on the way.

“Real estate is inherently a social industry and social media experiences are changing the landscape of how people connect and interact with each other,” said Scott Boecker, chief product officer at Move, Inc. “The convergence of our expertise in search, mobile and now social brings a new element of discovery to our product development process that we think will give our customers new ways to connect naturally with people across all of our brands.”

According to Move, Inc., SocialBios founder Ernie Graham and co-founders Ira McMahon and Andrew Van Tassel have joined the product development team at Move, Inc. where Graham will serve as general manager of Move’s SocialBios brand and head up Move’s social product strategy and development team effective immediately.

“We’re very excited to join Move and the talented team that continually delivers great products and services based on the premise of connection,” said Ernie Graham, general manager for Move’s SocialBios platform. “By using the current SocialBios platform as a springboard and leveraging Move’s product and technology assets, we’ll take the concept of social capital discovery and create new ways to expedite higher quality connections between agents and consumers. We’re looking forward to the road ahead and transcending the traditional boundaries within our industry of how to drive better client-agent relationships.”

Move, Inc. is a product advertiser on AgentGenius.com.

This article published on Monday, July 18th, 2011 at 5:00 am | Contact the editor Tags: featured, Inc., move, Real Estate News, real estate social media

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

View the original article here

Average closing costs have risen 8.8% from last year

Across the nation, closing costs are on the rise and are up 8.8% over the last twelve months. Origination and title fees on a $200,000 home loan average $4,070 nationally according to Bankrate Inc.’s 2011 Closing Costs Survey.

The four most expensive states are New York with average closing costs of $6,138 followed by Texas at $4,944, Utah with $4,906, and California with $4,832 rounding out the top spots. For the last five years, Texas and New York have taken the top two spots in Bankrate’s survey. Arkansas is the least expensive state averaging $3,378.

Closing costs have jumped nearly 10% over the last year because of fees lenders are now directly charged. “New regulations require more staffing and cost more money,” says Jason Auerbach, division manager of First Choice Loan Services in New York City. Banks are requiring extra employment verification and the like to keep loans in shape for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and although these regulations “have been in place for a couple of years already, the mortgage industry takes them more seriously now. New forms and regulations that are still in discussion are influencing lenders already.”

Bankrate said, “On average, lenders charge about $1,614 in origination fees this year, up 10.3 percent from last year. Origination fees include lender charges for services, such as underwriting and processing.”

“Interest rates get a lot of attention, and rightfully so, but it’s also important for consumers to compare lender fees when shopping for a loan,” said Greg McBride, CFA, senior financial analyst for Bankrate Inc.

New rules (or rules that lenders now take seriously) cost more money to meet, Director of Housing Policy for the Consumer Federation of America, Barry Zigas told Bankrate in their study that it is difficult to determine how much of the additional costs are actually a direct result of regulatory changes.

“It’s ironic to hear that the consumer has to pay more to get a fair product,” Zigas said. “But if it means the mortgage they are getting is more likely to be tailored to their needs, they should be happy to pay.”

States like New York and Texas are accustomed to high closing costs, but should a state like Arkansas with a lower median and rising closing cost average “be happy to pay” or is lending passing on a cost that should have been built in in the first place?

Analysts on both sides make good points, what do you think of the rising closing costs?

This article published on Tuesday, July 19th, 2011 at 12:07 am | Contact the editor Tags: featured, real estate economy, Real Estate News

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

Integrity in real estate or slime ball Realtors? How to rise above

The phone rings and you are asked if you can show a home to a potential buyer. Do you qualify the buyer or jump in your car and out the door you go? My guess is the less busy REALTORS, and those with less business or new agents would do this.

But, after a few times of being burned… lesson learned. With all the increased activity of agents missing or killed this is also not the smartest thing to do at any time. Never mind that nine times out of ten, this showing isn’t going anywhere.

Most of the time when you receive a call like this, “Hey, I found this home on the internet and would like to see it,” it is from your IDX site or one of the major syndication sites.

Depending on where they found the home, I asked them to give me a minute to see if it is truly available. While they are waiting I qualify them.

Is this the type of home you are looking for?Have you spoken to a lender yet?Are you currently working with a Realtor?

Besides trying to find out the above answers, while I search I am trying to engage them to see if it would be a good fit to have one of my Buyer Specialists work with them, while looking up the listing.

When I ask the question of are you working with a Realtor, most will say…”we haven’t signed anything?”

Sometimes I get, “we are working with my Aunt, Brother, Cousin, Friend of my Sister but she lives 45 minutes away and we don’t want to “bother them.” Once I was actually told, “my Realtor told me to call the listing agents to see homes, and then they would write up the offer.”

Ok, but at least they are honest. More times than not you have to pull it out of them, by asking enough questions to get to the bottom of the answer.

Do you still go and show?Do you say call your relative?If it is your listing do you behave differently?

I have shown my own listing to a buyer like this, because I feel an obligation to my sellers to get their home sold. If they were honest with me. If it is on a listing that is via IDX, no I don’t. I tell them to have their relative to show it or to have their relative call me and I will be glad to work with them since I live in the area they want to purchase in. Showing homes to buyers that you will not end of working with is a complete waste of time.

The one thing that really upsets me is the attitude of the licensed REALTOR who has no respect or disregard for agents in other areas… someone in our profession! Seriously, you are telling your relative to call listing agents or agents in the area and go spend an hour or so to show a home, that you will write the offer on?

I know the consumers don’t have a high regard for REALTORS, that has been documented over and over again, but how can another licensed professional not have respect for what we do? Now if you didn’t take the time to qualify them before putting them in your car, then shame on you.

Once, I had a potential buyer call me and request a showing. As I began to qualify her, and look up the listing, I told her give me a minute to look it up and see if it is available. She said, “Oh you’re not the listing agent, well just give me the listing agent information, I want to work with them, I only saw it on your site and thought it was yours.”

Kinda took me back…the raw honesty. Did I give her the name and phone number? You betcha!

How can we expect the public to respect what we do if other licensed professionals don’t? More importantly how do we respect ourselves if we do this? How do you handle calls like this?

This article published on Tuesday, July 19th, 2011 at 3:04 pm | Contact the editor Tags: featured, real estate ethics, real estate professionalism

Category: Editorials

View the original article here

Home sellers who bought after 2007 now overprice their homes 14%

Seattle real estate signs, photo by AR McLin.

According to a study performed by real estate search company Zillow.com, home sellers who bought their home after the housing bubble burst in 2007 overprice their homes an average of 14.1% as opposed to people who bought before the bubble (prior to 2002) and those who purchased during the bubble (2002-2006).

Home sellers who bought prior to 2002 price their homes an average of 11.6% over market value and those who bought during the bubble are the most conservative at 9.3% over market value. The bottom line here is also that listings are still roughly 10% or over market value when listed, regardless of home values struggling across the nation and sales remaining anemic.

Most interesting to us is that the study reveals post-bubble buyers were the most likely to base their asking price on the original purchase price of their home than home sellers who bought before or during the bubble. Zillow notes that despite home values have been dropping since 2006 and are at 2003 levels, post-bubble buyers are sticking to their guns on pricing and going to market with the original price they paid rather than the current state of the market. Zillow sums up by saying, “buyers who bought during bubble years more likely to price realistically.”

Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries points to a litany of reasons. “Post-bubble buyers seem to believe they escaped the worst of the housing recession, as evidenced by how they price their homes today. But 2006 was just the beginning of the housing recession, and it is continuing in earnest to this day. That means that even people who bought after the bubble burst need to break out the pencil and paper and do serious research into what has happened in their market since they first bought their home, whether it was four years ago or six months ago.”

Zillow studied current listings but set out to do some forecasting. They surveyed homeowners who indicated they plan on selling their homes in the next four years and found that of those that purchased their home prior to the bubble, 17% noted purchase price would be the primary factor in pricing their home to sell in the next four years. Of those who purchase prior to the bubble, only 4% indicated they would use the original purchase price as the primary factor and 9% of owners that purchased during the bubble would. Homeowners who purchased after the bubble burst are four times more likely to use the original purchase price of their home to price it now or within the next four years.

It is unclear the impact of having a Realtor versus not having a Realtor makes on this equation and although it gives a bit of predictability to seller mentality over the next few years, it presents a challenge to Realtors struggling to get homeowners to understand market conditions.

Realtors should understand the three types of home sellers as studied by Zillow- those that bought before, during and after the bubble, and take the year of purchase into account as an indicator of seller mentality.

This article published on Wednesday, July 13th, 2011 at 11:01 pm | Contact the editor Tags: featured, real estate economy, Real Estate News, Zillow

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

View the original article here

Housing baffles traditional media leading to unacceptable fluff headlines

Just as it has been in recent history, low foreclosure filing numbers have traditional media outlets and misled bloggers to proclaim a sunny spot in the real estate sector.

Looking at a chart of foreclosures just for the past year, the first half of the year looks pretty healthy as the number of filings have dropped dramatically. Headlines today praised the massive drop and Twitter lit up with agents desperately trying to pass along the good news to their client followers.

Alas, the data is not a talking point or sound bite that should be painted as positive, it is an outlook that is misguided at best.

Some analysts are finally echoing our original assertion that the falling foreclosure filings are related almost exclusively with the slow down in the foreclosure process as the time to process has nearly doubled in the last year.

We said last month when traditional outlets took the same stance and made fluff headlines, “These numbers look good, but don’t take into account why this process has slowed down. We’ll give you a hint- it isn’t because employment is any better or because consumer confidence is up. No, it’s because the big banks have kinked the hose of the flow of foreclosures in light of the robosigning debacle (where banks didn’t manually review documents before foreclosure leading to illegal foreclosures on wrong addresses, homes paid in full and various other mistakes) as many states attorneys general and federal agencies are investigating the banks’ processes, putting a hamper on how quickly papers are/were being processed.”

Yet again, outlets point to filings dropping 29% over the last year as a sign of recovery based on RealtyTrac numbers. But this year alone, 1.2 million homeowners have received a foreclosure filing with delinquencies on the rise.

The reason we are outraged at the soundbites that are being regurgitated on tv, in print and online is that if you look at the chart of recent foreclosure filings and delinquencies, just compare 2011 to 2005 and you’ll see how dramatically high foreclosures are:

Prices are falling, sales are falling, politicians are pulling each others’ hair out arguing over whether or not to require 20% be put down on all mortgages and shadow inventories loom over a crippled real estate economy. When possible to present good news, we do it proudly, but when we see bad news spun as good, we find it to be unacceptable. Thinking critically in down times helps forge the way toward a healthy future, but collectively burying our heads in the sand will most certainly stall a recovery.

This article published on Friday, July 15th, 2011 at 6:00 am | Contact the editor Tags: featured, real estate economy, Real Estate News

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

View the original article here

Realtors and their MLS bloopers – “ducs for hazzards”

I love television, but I am beginning to believe it is the downfall of mankind. It seems people spend more time scanning the tube than studying. As a result, our psyches are imbued with TV trivia, while our spelling skills are atrocious.  

I get contributions from all over, folks, so this is not just an L.A. “thang.” Check out this week’s spelling anarchy:

“Seller pays ducs for hazzards” (Bo, Luke, Daisy, it’s cha-ching time.)

“New - Pam Dessert” (If you’re referring to Pam Anderson for dessert, get ready for a stampede.)

“One miley from intersection” (May I assume this listing is in the state of Hannah Montana?)

“Extra car parts” (David Hasselhoff’s driveway after an all-nighter.)

“A win-won for all” (Thank you, Long Duck Wong.)

“Furniture and rags negotiable” (…Just in case you plan to open a car wash.)

“Mosaic floor in foyer boasts inlaid brass and ox” (Mosaic floor in PETA  foyer boasts inlaid agent…)

“Needs TOC” (Offered by Hickory Dickory of  Mouse Ran Up The Clock Realty.)

“Tenant occu pies” (Hmmm…tenant’s eyes in a pie…wouldn’t a damage deposit be more humane?)

“Two banglos on a lot” (Attention, Susanna Hoffs, I found the rest of your band from the eighties!)

“Very nice plac” (Are you quoting your dentist?)

“Hipo and trendy neighborhood” (Isn’t this rhino discrimination?)

“Bar and s tools incuded” (Methinks the biggest tool has already hit the bar.)

(Contributed by our own Lani Rosales via Lily Aleksander.)
“This is one the most desirable one bedroom in the 360 towers. Fantastic views of the cty and  amd Lady Bird lake..Granite counter top stainless still appliences. hard wood floors in the kitthcen and carpet in living room and bedroom. ..a build in was is just babulows, totallty privacy and yeat letting lots natural light in..”

Hellooo??? So how did those shock treatments work out for you, dear?

This article published on Friday, July 15th, 2011 at 7:00 am | Contact the editor Tags: featured, humor, Marketing, MLS, Public Relations, Real Estate, real estate marketing, Realtors

Category: Marketing

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

View the original article here

How Second Century Ventures funds real estate technologies

Second Century Ventures is the strategic investment arm of the National Association of Realtors, focused on funding innovative technology companies with real estate implications.

In a rare move for the association world which typically operates under rules and cultural guidelines that are very different than the corporate world, NAR aimed to be “innovative.” The returns fund the operation entirely and is not funded by member dues.

In conversation with Second Century Venture’s Managing Director, Constance Freedman we learned that NAR’s strategic investments in the past helped members and ended up making profit, so when NAR turned 100, the fund became a more concerted, formalized effort rather than based on opportunities at the time. The fund was officially branded and bean partnering with technology companies that were pushing innovation in the real estate space.

Second Century’s most recent investment was in IfByPhone, a voicemail system that is hosted via cloud, allowing small businesses like Realtors to have a more robust voicemail system offering call routing, assigning of different phone numbers for ad types, helping to mitigate the costs of losing business.

Freedman noted this technology as particularly appealing to NAR members because 65% of all calls to Realtors go to voicemail and 80% of failed calls end up with competitors which amounts to major losses.

The selection process is not an executive at NAR making buddies with a vendor on the expo floor and throwing them money. As with any major venture fund, there is a formalized process with one of the largest requirements by Second Century is an established market need, proof of concept and $2 to $20 million in annual revenue. The fund aims to help companies looking to grow rather than seed small startups, and all companies must have a clear benefit to membership. The funded companies are typically folded into the NAR Member Benefits package.

The fund approaches and is approached by hundreds of companies each year and may back one or two out of the group. Practitioners that seek to get involved in the process are encouraged by NAR to contact Second Century Ventures.

This article published on Thursday, July 14th, 2011 at 6:30 am | Contact the editor Tags: featured, NAR, Real Estate News, second century ventures

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

View the original article here