Welcome to the 148th edition of the Carnival of Real Estate. I wanted to conduct a little experiment this go around. . .
. . .you see, as I was receiving submissions for the CoRE, I got an email from the folks at Blog Carnival who said that they have a new tool called the InstaCarnival. Basically, you just click a button, and you get all the text necessary to host a Blog Carnival. Basically, you can outsource your entire Carnival of Real Estate hosting experience. I thought I would give it a whirl.
It works.
But, then I thought that it wasn’t a whole lot of fun. I mean, I like the CoRE, and I like reading the blog posts, so I thought I should still add my own flare to the hosting experience. So, I am going to share with you the two posts that I thought were head and shoulders above the rest, and then below, you can read the InstaCarnival version of the show.
The first post that stood out to me was submitted by Ben Roberts of ExitRealEstate540.com. He wrote an excellent and timely post about explaining to his potential clients 3 Reasons a Social Media Agent is Way More Likely to Get Your Home Sold. The cool thing about the article is that not only is it very informative for real estate consumers, but there is a lot of things that real estate professionals could learn about marketing in the post, too.
The other post that I enjoyed very much was submitted by Dan Melson of Searchlight Crusade. Dan was one of the very first real estate industry bloggers that I ever came across when I began blogging. I have always enjoyed his writing, and his post, Why Sellers Should Counter All Reasonable Offers, was straightfoward, easy to undrstand, and very informative for consumers and real estate professionals alike. It is exactly the type of thing that Dan delivers to his readers post after post.
Congrats to Ben and Dan for rising to the head of the class this week.
Like I said, I tried out the InstaCarnival, and it worked. The results are below. I had fun hosting the CoRE this week, and if you want to have fun with it next week, head on over to CoRE and submit an article of your very own!
So here is your InstaCarnival:
Welcome to the June 29, 2009 edition of carnival of real estate.
Handy Saputra presents The Big Foreclosure Bailout 80 LTV Plan… Is It Working? posted at Home Loan | Mortgage Resources, saying, “We have all heard President Obama’s plan for what he calls Americas economic come back. At best it is a roller coaster ride with multiple twist and turns. One of the many twist is the claim of solving the countries foreclosure crisis.”
Handy Saputra presents When is the right time to refinance your mortgage? posted at Home Loan | Mortgage Resources, saying, “You’ve heard that interest rates are down and you think it could be time to refinance your existing mortgage, but the entire loan application process was so exhausting during the initial loan that you aren’t sure it’s worth the hassle. You could very well be right, but there are some things you can do to help decide whether it’s time to refinance your mortgage.”
Jack Schmidt presents 10 Ways to Fuel Your Own Economy posted at SectorMatic Money Journal, saying, “SectorMatic Money Journal: Personal Finance – Everything for the Big Spender on a Budget. Now you can live like a fat cat, even if you’re on a money diet. Laugh all the way to the bank with Jack Schmidt and SectorMatic. It’s for you!”
Handy Saputra presents Is an Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) Right for you? posted at Home Loan | Mortgage Resources, saying, “Until just a few years ago, an Adjustable rate mortgage was the best way to buy a home. Say you do not have the money to buy your dream home, then you can opt for a mortgage with an adjustable rate over a fixed one. In case of an adjustable rate, the rate of interest changes every year depending on the market condition. On the other hand, in case of a fixed rate of mortgage the rate of interest is not dependant on the market scenario and remains fixed.”
Dan Melson presents Why Sellers Should Counter All Reasonable Offers posted at Searchlight Crusade.
Handy Saputra presents Is Mortgage Refinancing Market Good or Bad Right Now? posted at Home Loan | Mortgage Resources, saying, “With all of the home foreclosures taking place across the country, many people may feel that it is not a good time to refinance. This is actually not true. Lenders want to keep people in their homes because of the expenses they incur when they try to sell a foreclosed home. Most times, they will actually take a bit of a loss. If you are considering refinancing for a better rate or to clean up any outstanding debts, there are many reasons why this is a good time to refinance your mortgage.”
Silver Investor presents Debt Doesn?t Always Mean Inflation: Remember Japan posted at Gold Investing Info, saying, “The mammoth amount of government debt about to be issued does not guarantee inflation is inevitable.”
nickel presents More Thoughts on Paying Off Your Mortgage Early posted at fivecentnickel.com.
lifestyles presents Principles of Basic Property Negotiation – Lifestyles Unlimited posted at Lifestyles Unlimited Real Estate Investing and Mentoring, saying, “A thorough guide to negotiating for single-family investment real estate.”
Jacqulyn Richey presents Las Vegas Housing Market: Foreclosures Down, Sales Up posted at Las Vegas Real Estate News, saying, “Despite the media’s doom and gloom about the real estate market, the numbers for Las Vegas are painting a different picture. Could this be a sign of the start of a recovery?”
Crissie Cudd presents Chasing the Market posted at Crissie’s Comments, saying, “20 years in this business has given me plenty to talk about!”
Patrick Duffy presents Time to throw out the old rule books posted at Housing Chronicles.
Claudia Gonella presents The state of the real estate market in Nicaragua 2009 posted at Real estate investing in Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Belize, saying, “Trying to plug the information gap for real estate price trends in Central America”
Ro Troia presents New Family Cabon Monoxide Saftey Act in Colorado posted at Blog the Rockies, saying, “My friend is always asking me to “check” my carbon monoxide detector in my house and I said “I do”! The simple answer is, I look over to see that the red light is still on and that no one is sick yet! Sounds a bit frivolous, but I don’t remember having a carbon monoxide detector in my house when I was little, more less when my kids were little.”
Dan Green presents The Untimely Timing Of The Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey posted at The Mortgage Reports, saying, “The most widely-cited mortgage rates in the press are outdated before they’re ever published.”
Dan Green presents In Another Good Sign For The Housing Market, Builders Are Clearing Out Their Inventory posted at Rita Kerins – Chicago Realtor, saying, “It’s a subtle signal of improvement, but an important one — builders are clearing out their inventories.”
Ben Roberts presents 3 Reasons a Social Media Agent is Way More Likely to Get Your Home Sold posted at Exit Real Estate 540, saying, “This article is flirting with the 2 week cut-off but I forgot to submit it last week and I think it’s a relevant article anytime…”
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of real estate using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
Technorati tags: carnival of real estate, blog carnival.
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It has been a long time since I hosted an edition of the Carnival of Real Estate. Too long, in fact. That is why when they asked if I would like to host for this Monday, I jumped at the chance!
So, you know what to do. . .
1) Write an awesome real estate related blog post.
2) Submit the link to your post by the end of the day on Sunday, June 28th.
3) Check back here on Monday, June 29th, to see who the winners are!
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Ok, so here’s the deal–
Inman Connect SF ‘09 is coming up quick. You’re not going to want to miss it. Whether you are thinking about going for the fabulous main conference, or you want to check out the killer lineup for Blogger’s Connect, you’ve only got 48 hours left to save $170 on your registration.
What are you waiting for? Go register!
(and, NO, I’m not just saying all this becuase I am the Community Manger for Inman News) 
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Just watch. . .
Ok, so to be completely accurate, Kari is the one who is pregnant, but I helped. 
Needless to say, we are EXTREMELY excited. We actually found out on Mother’s Day (how cool is that?), but wanted to sit on making a huge deal out of it until we had time to tell everyone in our families, and go to the doctor. We had our first doctor’s appointment yesterday, so Kari said I am now free to make a big deal out of it. 
So, without further adieu, making his/her first Internet appearance (in black and white, of course)– IT’S OUR LITTLE ZEBRA! 
Needless to say, our lives are about to change; but only for the better. We are both very much looking forward to being parents, and our baby is going to be born to very excited grandparents, and an Aunt and Uncle who are super excited.
One thing we that we realized is that our baby is also going to have quite the extended family. It is a family that we want our baby to know and experience. In true “2.0 Baby” style, you can expect to see us at BarCamps, Connect, and wherever else we can be with our baby. We’ve got a while, though, since the current due date isn’t until January 18th.
In the meantime, however, we thought it might be a good idea to prepare our baby for this 2.0 world by introducing some of the Aunts and Uncles who will be awaiting his/her arrival. We also thought it might be a good idea to set some ground rules for our baby to follow with his/her Aunts and Uncles. . .
Uncle Jeff is cool now, but he’ll seem even more cool once you are old enough to use Apple products.
You won’t be able to get anything over on Aunt Rocky. She already has six of you.
If you ever need candy, ask Uncle Mike.
If you want to know about Uncle Todd, google him– he’s kind of a big deal.
Uncle Andy is only allowed to watch you before 6pm. No matter what he says, Flask 2.0 is not filled with milk.
Don’t call him Uncle Brad. Call him Uncle Cool.
If Aunt Ines gives you “the look,” RUN.
We’ll try to take enough pictures of you that you should be prepared for Aunt Teresa by the time you meet her.
Uncle Jay was born in the same hospital as you. How cool is that? Also, he can teach you what the “dead man’s hand” is.
Don’t ask Uncle Rob a question, unless you are prepared for a long debate– although, you’ll probably agree with whatever his current assessment is of the Jets.
Aunt Mizzle rocks!
If you ever lose any of your uncles, just look for Aunt Heather and Aunt Ginger, your uncles will be around there, somewhere.
Be careful around Uncle Bill, his wit is razor-sharp.
If the OTHER Uncle Jeff looks depressed, it’s totally normal– he’s a Buffalo sports fan.
If you become a Britney Spears fan, talk to Uncle Drew. He will score some tickets.
If you need a ride anywhere, ask Uncle Ben. His car runs on smiles and rainbows.
Uncle Jovan is a Fluco; therefore, he is awesome.
If you need investing advice, turn to Uncle Bawldguy– he always makes the right call.
If you are ever in doubt as to how to dress, try to dress one level above Uncle Dan. That way, you’re sure to impress.
There is a good chance that, one day, Uncle Greg is going to write a blog post about you. Don’t worry, he still loves you– he just wants to make you a better baby. Also– there will be NO playing of Scrabble for money with Uncle Greg.
Talk to Aunt Sarah, she’ll let you on the moon bounce.
When you want a pony, talk to Aunt Donna and Aunt Candy Lynn, they can handle that.
If Aunt Lani and Uncle Benn ever ask you to contribute, do it. They only ask for the best.
You need good data to make good decisions. See the other Uncle Mike. Also, if you are looking for a party– he’s your man.
Gentle, thoughtful, people are often hard to come by, so spend time with your Uncle Rudy.
If you can train your ears to listen really quickly, you can learn that much more. Listen to Uncle Dustin, that should provide adequate training.
When you want your own website, talk to Uncle Jim.
If you are looking for a good portrait, browse through Aunt Kristal’s flickr stream. You’re probably in there, somewhere.
If you are going to talk about anything serious with Uncle Keith, make sure you do it BEFORE the beer starts flowing. Otherwise, things could get strange.
If you need any really cool, crafty stuff made to make all the other babies jealous, talk to your other Aunt Sarah.
When you are ready to ride the DC Metro, Uncle Matt makes a great riding partner.
I’ll bet that if you ask really nicely, Uncle Brad and Uncle Bobby will live-stream all your birthday parties.
If you want a good google PR, ask your Uncle Gahlord. Also, do whatever he says, he knows how to ski and shoot a gun.
Let your other Uncle Jim show you how to ride a bike.
Don’t ask your Uncle Jeremy for directions– unless it is to a Tech game.
You’ll get to see all your Inman Aunts and Uncles twice a year. They’re good people, and lots of fun.
Your entire RE.net family is filled with really cool, genuine, good people. Your mother and I hope that you will grow to cherish your memories and relationships with them as much as we have.
These are just the Aunts and Uncles we could think of. I know that we probably left some people out (completely unintentionally). If you want to volunteer as an Aunt or Uncle, we’d love to have you! Just leave a comment and show our baby some love!
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It never ceases to amaze me how similar being a Realtor is to being a basketball referee. I’ve got a pretty big officiating camp coming up this weekend, so I guess I have basketball on the brain, but another similarity struck me this week as I was wandering around the blogosphere. . .
As a basketball referee, there are two different types of relationships that are very important to me, especially when I am working a game. On the one hand is my relationship with my fellow officials while we are working together; and on the other hand is my relationship with players and coaches who are involved in the game. Both of these relationships are important if I am going to be successful, but each of them has responsibilities that require me to act a particular way in certain situations. Here’s a real-life example of what I mean that happened to me during a game this past season. . .
Towards the end of the season this year, I was working a particularly close game between two teams who were fighting for seeding as the playoffs approached.
The game was going well, lots of back and forth play, the coaches were intense, and the players were playing very hard. Near the end of the game, as the score was very close, the team that was behind was in-bounding the ball on the baseline, and I was there, covering the thrower-in. He attempted to pass the ball to a teammate, who was close to the baseline but across the court. When he threw the pass, I stepped back to see where the ball was going so that I could cover the play. Unfortunately, I stepped back into a bad angle, and I was blocked by another player. As is usually the case when I make a mistake like that, I paid for it– the ball was immediately deflected and went out of bounds again. I blew the whistle, but I had no idea which team should get the ball.
That sucks. It happens, but it sucks.
I did exactly what I was supposed to do, and immediately called to my partner, “HELP!” He was on that side of the floor, so I was asking him if he saw anything. Things just went from bad to worse when I looked at him and he looked back with the infamous, I-have-no-idea-becuase-I-didn’t-see-it-either look on his face.
Now things suck really bad.
My partner and I came together, decided that neither of us could accurately make the call, and went to the possession arrow in order to determine possession (that’s what the rule dictates we do in that situation). Because, apparently, the stars were aligning against me on that day, the possesion arrow favored the team who was leading at the time, so the possession changed hands and went to the other team.
At this point, things couldn’t suck any worse. Really.
The coach for the team who lost possession immediately jumped up and went to our third partner, who was closest at the time. Luckily for me, he was also our crew chief, so he was able to calm down the coach. A few moments later, the game ended, and we all went to the locker room.
After a game, we, as officials, take a few minutes to discuss the game, go over unusual plays, talk about things we could do to improve, etc. It’s like a big, basketball referee de-briefing. Guess which play we talked about first? You got it. The out-of-bounds mess. Ugh.
Our crew chief, by far the most experienced official among the three of us, asked us exactly what happened, what we did, and why. He then proceeded to give us a pretty good tongue-lashing about how we could have and should have done it better. We messed it up, we knew it, but we learned from it. After discussing the play, I asked him what he said to the coach when he was approached. He told me, “Oh, he got up, complaining about the call, but I just told him, ‘we’ve got it under control, coach; my partners got together, and they did what they had to do to get it right’ the coach was okay with that.”
1) I make mistake on a routine play, partner makes mistake.
2) Coach is angry about our mistake.
3) Third partner steps in and saves our bacon by gaining the confidence of the coach and defending our actions.
4) Coach is satisfied.
5) Third partner gives us a good tongue-lashing for making the mistakes, and teaches how to avoid that situation in the future.
Our crew chief could have sold us out. Easily. He could have said to the coach, “yeah, they really screwed that one up.” He didn’t. Why? Well, for starters, you don’t become a crew chief by throwing your partners to the lions (if you think real estate agents can be petty and back-stabbing, you should see how some referees think they can climb over others to make it to the top). The other thing that our crew chief understood, and that all good referees understand, is that the relationship between referees and coaches sometimes requires different actions than the relationship between referees and referees does.
Think about it for a second. If our crew chief would have done to us on the court what he did in the locker room, the whole game would have fallen apart. Our confidence and credibility would have been shot, and the game would have suffered. Once we got into the locker room, however, he could do what he needed to do to make sure that we got the message, understood the mistake we made, and understood how to correct it and avoid making it again. He told the coach one thing, told us another thing, and did exactly the right thing, preserving both relationships.
As real estate agents, we find ourselves maintaining two relationships, as well. There is the relationship that we have with the public and our clients, and then a different relationship that we have with our fellow professionals. Those relationships have different responsibilities, and require that we act accordingly in different situations.
There are going to be times when your fellow professionals make mistakes. They are going to do things with which you do not agree. Some of them are going to do things in a way that you wouldn’t do them.
In that situation, the best thing that you can do is exactly what my crew chief did– take them behind closed doors and help them do things better. Help them improve for the future. If the situation dictates, you may even need to give a tongue-lashing here or there. But do it when the situation dictates, and in a way that benefits them.
Calling people out for ridicule before the public does nothing to improve our profession, or increase the credibility of yourself or the target of your criticism. In fact, the opposite is usually true.
With all the buzz about transparency out there, I think that people sometimes forget that there are plenty of conversations that are better had behind closed doors, not on open blogs.
Relationships matter, so make sure you are doing what is necessary to maintain and strengthen the relationships you’ll need to succeed in the future.
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Just noticed that there are a few things on the site that arean’t displaying correctly. I’ll get them fixed as soon as I can. Unfortuantely, that isn’t right now.
Hang in there. . .
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Apparently the stars are aligning this Thursday, April 30th at 10:30 AM PST (1:30 EST).
At that time, you have not one but TWO great real-estate related webinars from which to choose. Both of them are ABSOLUTELY FREE!
This first of the webinars will feature yours truly. I’ll be sharing my experiences as a member of an agent team as a way of helping others discover the power and avoid the pitfalls of agent teams. The webinar is hosted by Inman News (I’m the Community Manager there), and sponsored by Market Leader. If you are part of an agent team, or thinking about starting/joining an agent team, I think you’ll find the information quite valuable. As of the writing of this post, we’ve got just over 400 people signed up, so the question and answer period should be lively, too.Visit this link to register.
If agent teams just ain’t your thing, but video is, then Stephen Jagger and Ian Watt have the webinar for you. Stephen will be talking with Ian about the process he goes through to create the really cool videos he makes. If you’re interested in making your own internet videos, I’m sure Ian will be able to share a ton of enlightening tips and tricks. Visit this link to register.
So, there you go. If you’ve got some time to spare on Thursday, you’ve got two great options for great content that is sure to stretch your mind and improve your bottom line. Check ‘em out!
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I’ve never used FreeCreditReport.com, so I can make no statements about their service. I do know, however, that their new TV commercial is pretty darn funny:
That’s all. You are free to return to your normal activities.
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I just posted this over on the Inman Blog, but I wanted to put it up here, as well, since I know that there are some of you who probably don’t read the Inman Blog regularly. That kinda begs the question, why not?
I know, I know, duplicate content, yada, yada, yada. . . but I could really use your help here, and I just didn’t see the need to write a whole different blog post.
In case you might have missed it, the schedule for Blogger’s Connect SF ‘09 is up in our Events section. Whether you have attended previous Blogger’s Connects, or you are thinking of making this one your first, there is sure to be content you will find exciting and valuable. This year, there will be an opportunity to choose different sessions during Blogger’s Connect. So, whether you are new to social media and interested in getting started, or if you have emersed yourself in social media for years, we’ve got you covered.
Another exiciting feature is the “Live Lab.” During this time, we’ll break out the laptops and everyone can help eachother by answering questions, working through difficult problems, or just helping however they can. The best part is that it will all be hands-on and on the fly. You’ll walk out of the room in better shape than when you walked in. Pretty cool.
One thing you’ll notice about the schedule so far is that we haven’t slotted any speakers or presenters. This has been done intentionally. To be quite honest, we haven’t sent out a single speaker invite to Blogger’s Connect– yet. Before we start inviting folks, I want to hear from you. I want to know who YOU want to see at Blogger’s Connect. Take a look at the program, and let me know if you know of someone that would be perfect for leading the discussion on any of the topics. Heck, the person you have in mind could be YOU! That’s fine, too.
Then, just send me your suggestions: Daniel@Inman.com
I’ll put them all together, we’ll discuss them, and then we’ll begin inviting presenters. Is there someone you really want to see present a topic at Blogger’s Connect, or does one of these topics just jump off the page at you? LET ME KNOW!
The feedback that I heard as a result of my previous post about the Blogger’s Connect schedule was extremely helpful, and we were able to integrate some of it in oder to produce this dynamite program. I know you’ve still got some of that awesome feedback and insight left in the tank, so get to sharing!
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