HomeGain Advisors Group – April 2010 Conference Call Recap

The HomeGain Advisors met for their quarterly meeting last week on Thursday, April 22nd. The Advisors represent top real estate agents across the country who provide insight into HomeGain products and services, market trends and Realtor behavior.

We had several interesting discussions with our Advisors Group last week that are worth sharing with our Blog readers — about market conditions, overcoming issues created by appraisers, and whether there may be implications from either terminating or extending the first time buyer tax credit .

Market Conditions

Agent Advisors in Massachusetts and Maryland reported that the market (and business) is good. Maryland foreclosures and short sales are drying up. Colorado is seeing an uptick — although there are still a lot of foreclosures, there are less short sales.

Arizona and Florida real estate agents reported the market continues to decline, with lots of foreclosures and people still defaulting. In Florida, it was reported the real estate market has 40% short sales — and one agent commented that he had only 4,968 listings vs. over 8,000 at the same time in previous years.

Appraiser Issues Continue reading this post

Today HomeGain announced that it has inducted 13 real estate agent members in 9 states into its AgentEvaluator® clubs.

“As we celebrate our 11th year in business this week, and after a tough few years in real estate, it is extremely encouraging to see HomeGain agent members in several different states closing home sale transactions, and experiencing ongoing results from our online marketing programs,” noted Louis Cammarosano

The 13 real estate agent inductees are for March-April 2010 are:

1. Nancy Pearson, Pearson Realty, CA (Platinum Club)
2. John W. King, Keller Williams Realty, CA (Platinum Club)
3. Ruby Henderson, RE/MAX One Realty, NC (Platinum Club)
4. Bill and Terrie Hoyle, Sun Realty, FL (Platinum Club)
5. Diana McBride, Keller Williams Realty Cityside, GA (Gold Club)
6. Andi Lynne, Lynne & Associates, NV (Gold Club)
7. Lisa Hench, Coldwell Banker, CA (Gold Club)
8. Jeff Ambrugy, Real Estate One, MI (Silver Club)
9. Andy McKay, McKay & Associates Real Estate, UT (Silver Club)
10. Melanie Hurwitz, Prudential Real Estate Professionals, OR (Silver Club)
11. Grant House, Realty One Group, NV (Silver Club)
12. Debbie Sloan, Coldwell Banker United, Realtors, NC (Silver Club)
13. RE/MAX Property Center, NJ (Silver Club)

HomeGain’s AgentEvaluator clubs now include a total of 913 real estate agents, and have earned over $100 million dollars worth of  real estate commissions since 1999.

Set forth below is the complete list of HomeGain club members:

• Four new HomeGain Platinum Club members (totaling 358 members who have earned $125,000 or more)
• Three new HomeGain Gold Club members (totaling 286 members who have earned $75,000 or more)
• Six new HomeGain Silver Club members (totaling 245 members who have earned $50,000 or more)

There are currently 24 members in the Diamond Club for earning $500,000 or more in gross commissions from HomeGain, and two members in the HomeGain Million Dollar Club.

HomeGain, one of the first websites to provide free instant home prices celebrates its 11th anniversary today!

On April 26, 1999 HomeGain first opened its doors in Emeryville, California.

To celebrate Earth Day today, HomeGain is delighted to share feedback, comments and participation from real estate agents across the country who support and practice Green real estate.

Today we published a press release for the Top 9 Green Home Improvements for Home Sellers.

Agent Blogs

Agents Practicing Green

• Do everything possible via laptop and avoid paperwork. We now have a lawyer to ratify the contract and have the bank accept a scanned copy of the contract instead of over-nighting approved original offer.
• We work hard to keep printed paper to a minimum. Email and scanning is wonderful!
  Our office is hosting a shredding day and e-waste event. We also recycle bottles and cans and we re-use paper in the fax machine. We also turn out the lights when they are not in use.
• My office is near paperless due to a Tablet PC.
• I became a Certified EcoProfessional. I changed the way I live, where I buy my food, Greened my real estate business and also buy electricity generated by wind.
• I use the back of all printed listings as scrap paper for call notes, to do lists, grocery lists.
• We have unplugged all non used electrical items so we are not wasting any trickle charges to unused appliances, lamps, motors, etc.
• “I am providing a paperless business model to my clients. Every document is signed on my computer and all the files are in PDF format. How’s that for lessening our carbon footprint!”- Jaime Sparks
• I have planted a home garden, walk when possible, and reuse items or donate them to charities. Continue reading this post

The weekend before last, (April 10-11) was National Open House weekend.  Pushed by local Realtor associations and brokerages, this was to be an all out assault meant to encourage home buyers to take advantage of current low interest rates, high inventory (in some areas) and the federal tax credits (only good for contract through the end of April).

But was it a good idea?  And did it work?

In the Washington Metropolitan area, I will go with an unequivocal no…and no.

We are fortunate to be in a market that is clearly recovering.  As an indication, lenders are giving many “close-in” DC neighborhoods the stamp of “stable” — up a notch from the previous designation of “declining”.  We have been seeing the return of multiple offers on properties that are well priced in many localities.

Artificially Producing A “Fire-sale Perception”?

So what did National Open House weekend do for us in the close-in DC Metro area?  Well, it surely made many employees at The Washington Post happy, where open house ads took up more space than we’ve seen in over a year.  The result?  A perception of a higher absorption rate that diluted the number of potential buyers going to each open house.

The “Open HouseFest” vs. The “After Party”

One of my sellers REALLY wanted me to hold his house open last weekend because he thought that his garden was looking particularly beautiful.  He owns a home in a highly desirable area of Northwest Washington, DC and the house itself has tremendous curb appeal. Continue reading this post

“Reuse, Reduce and Recycle” is a tune my grammar school son chants all the time. He learned it in school and I have even found myself chanting it at times. And as with anything, once something gets in to your head you find yourself applying it to your everyday life.

As Earth Day approaches I am excited by how I have applied some of the “Green” principles of my son’s song to my own home staging business in Marin. As home stagers, we try to have environmentally sustainable designs that improve our environment rather than detract from it.

REUSE & RECYCLE

The most obvious is that we reuse our furniture for home staging. And when we need to add to our collection we try to buy locally so we can reduce transportation costs and waste.

When clients are thinking of replacing their upholstered furniture I suggest that they have their furniture recovered rather than just throw it away. Upholsterers can recycle the furniture to look like new, with half the waste as buying new, and half the cost.

REDUCE

Lighting is also an easy way to be eco-friendly. Before any open house Realtors turn on all of the lights in the home. This creates light and a welcome environment. This is also something I do before a party when I want my guests to feel welcome and the energy in the house come alive. But before wasting all of that wattage consider using only compact florescent light bulbs. Switching from a traditional light bulb to a CFL is a simple change everyone can make to reduce up to 20% of our greenhouse gases without skimping on the ambiance.

Another way we reduce waste is to reuse our packing materials over and over again rather than have our moving companies use new materials. Continue reading this post