Real Estate Investing

If you want a free house, there’s one waiting for you in Clarksville, Tennessee.  But there’s a catch…. really a couple of catches.  First, the house is not livable without complete remodeling.  The second catch is the house doesn’t come with the land.  You must move the 880 square foot house to somewhere else.  Further, when you move it, you can’t take the basement or the foundation - just the top floor.  Want to read more?  Here’s the link.

Another agent asked why people hate “us” so much (”us” being real estate agents) because of another advertisement on Craigslist.  The ad was removed, but here’s a link to the original in PDF format.  Jonelle noted that these words were written with such venom that she wonders what our industry has done to make people so angry,

Back to our original topic of Craigslist.  We talked in our meeting this morning that many agents are forgetting to put their company name and phone number when they place a home on Craigslist.  I did a quick search and found agents are all over the place.  Some forget the office number, but include the company name.  Others list the phone number, but forget to tell who they work for.  Agents must have both the company name nad phone number or they are in violation of state law.

Here’s a house on Craigslist for $270 - a 2600 square foot home with lots of nice stuff.  I think they meant $270,000.

Finally, Craigslist has a “funny” ads page which were pretty eye opening.  I love this one where someone is looking for a roommate, but - again - there is a catch.  One of the roommates is a gorilla,

BEDROOM MUST BE SHARED WITH APPROX. 700 LB. ADULT MALE SILVERBACK GORILLA. THIS IS AN EASTERN LOWLAND GORILLA WHO IS FAIRLY DOCILE ALTHOUGH HE DOES NEED TO “STRETCH HIS LEGS” FROM TIME TO TIME.

The ad goes into more graphic details.  Want to buy a house?  Call a Realtor!

In a class this morning, Mimi from our auction team was asked by another agent about how to conduct an eBay auction for a house.  Mimi’s answer was very eye opening, “You don’t.”

Her colleague Dale further explained that unless you’re the actual owner of a house, real estate agents can not auction homes on eBay unless they are licensed by the state as auctioneers.  Real estate broker Tom from St. Louis, Missouri says on the Homes & Agents site that you only have to be a licensed real estate agent to sell homes through online auctions, so this points to rules varying from state to state.

I suspect you could auction a mobile home - without the land - because it’s considered personal property rather than real property.  For example, if a seller calls me who lives in a mobile home park to list their trailer, I could not because Realtors sell LAND and any house or building on it is considered an improvement that adds value to the land.

Overall, regular real estate auctions are picking up.  Douglas Heddings of True Gotham Real Estate Blog says,

They key once again to creating the perception of value is to aggressively price the property to appeal to a larger pool of buyers.  A tricky task in today’s less heated market. 

In today’s less heated market, everything is a tricky task - from finding the right marketing strategy to pricing to figuring out how to compel a buyer to offer a fair market price when they’re under the perception that sellers are giving their homes away in a buyers’ market!

Meanwhile, I visited the real estate auctions on eBay.  In one hour, 47 minutes, the bidding will be over for a home in Flint, Michigan.  Current bid: $5300.  Two bedrooms, one bath.  “Great investment property.”

When you’re ready to sell your home, thinking beyond running an ad in the Sunday paper is what it’ll take to get a contract.  Although many agents and “for sale by owner” homes are still found in the Sunday paper and in supermarket real estate books, a staggering 85 percent of buyers today turn to the Internet when looking for a house.  Online, buyers have the opportunity to look at interior and backyard photos, read about additional features like whether the yard has a fence and marble counters, and find directions so they can drive by they neighborhood before making an appointment to tour.

A good marketing effort will certainly focus on online, but a well-rounded program will also include some tried and true methods.  Here are my Top 10 ways to market a home. 

1. Put a brochure box in front of the home for flyers that will include basic information like number of beds and baths, interior photos, square footage, and contact information for a personal tour.  Make sure the box is never empty!
2. The local MLS is perhaps the single biggest boost to any listing.  Be sure the information is accurate, honest, and please-for-the-love-of-buyers include photos.  If you don’t they’ll pass you right by because honestly your words aren’t that eloquent that they’ll pull in a buyer without a photo.
3. Use Postlets.com.  This fantastic site is easy-to-use and will promote your listing at many other online places like Trulia, Zillow, and GoogleBase. 
4. This ties in with Postlets, but once Trulia picks it up your listing will go to Trulia Snapshot.  This is one of the most awesome, amazing, coolest sites I’ve ever seen.  Go there immediately.  Do not pass go.  Do not collect $200.  It’s that good.
5. Develop a web page just for the listing at Freewebs.com.   Here’s a sample page by Theresa from my office, done for one of her listings.  I admit I haven’t done this yet mostly because I blog about my listings.
6. Write a blog.  It doesn’t have to be about real estate, but can focus on your family, your neighborhood, your town.  I’ve met a lot of great friends from hosting a blogsite (though I often call it a “site” because blog is such an icky word). My community blog has a real estate section where I feature my listings … some listings I’ve gained because I show that I care about my community.
7. Make business cards for your home.  Include an outside photo of the home and other basic features.  Give the cards to the home seller and ask them to hand them out to their friends, colleagues, and neighbors. 
8. Curb appeal.  The house MUST look good on the outside to attract buyers to the inside.  This isn’t necessarily the job of your Realtor, but a neat, well-kept appearance will go far to promote your listing.
9. Host a Realtor home tour because another agent is probably who will bring your buyer.  We have office caravans every week, but hosting a luncheon is an option to make other agents feel welcome.
10. Finally, Animoto is one of my favorite online sites.  I’ve opted to pay the $30 p/year fee for an unlimited amount of “long-version” videos, made by uploading still photos and selecting music.  Here’s an example of one of my listings.

Good luck and happy selling!