When we look at photos of homes, it’s easy to say whether it’s a good photo or a poor one. And in architectural magazines, you’ll rarely see examples of poor ones… although your local MLS is probably a different story.
In fact, some bad real estate photos are becoming a subject of ridicule, or a marketing technique. Don’t allow your photos to join these collections!
Started in San Francisco by, who else, a guy named Craig Newmark, Craigslist.org may not be a household name like Yahoo! or Google, but you can bet your local newspaper publisher not only knows about it – it probably keeps him or her up at night!
Investors seem to be taking a shotgun approach to finding steals… fax off several lowball offers on various properties all at once. It’s the latest way to find sellers willing to “give away” their properties.
I have no problem with investors making offers, and there are some sellers who are happy to take them. But don’t waste my time so you don’t waste yours!
The purpose of an escrow deposit is more than a sign of good faith. If sufficient, it should keep a buyer from failing to meet contract terms. But the buyer expects that if they uphold the deal they’ll get it back, and the seller expects that if the buyer defaults, there will be a little something for the trouble and time off the market.
But not all “escrow accounts” are the same, and the buyer and/or seller may be disappointed…
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) seems to think there could be better competition in real estate (see their site: Competition and Real Estate).
What really bugs me… the DOJ says “Consumers can save thousands of dollars”. They even chart the savings of choosing various business models such as flat fee MLS, limited services, and sale by owner. That’s so cool, when I was a kid my dad would tie a string to my loose tooth, the other one to the doorknob. We all know that saves about $100 in dentist visits, but the risk of something going wrong is pretty low (make sure it’s a baby tooth, and it really is loose, and “no brainer”). And I’m sure we’ve all tried some home improvement project so we can save money over what the contractors were quoting… and then later, hired a pro to fix it and re-do it the right way.
