Unsubscribe Me From Your New Listing Emails!

Most real estate agents today are inundated with emails from other agents advertising their new listings. Some days I’ll get 20-30 of these emails and another 10 or so directly to my spam folder. I wish they would all go to my spam folder because that is exactly what they are – spam.

Just for reference, let’s take a look and remember what the definition of spam is when referring to email solicitations. I’m sure they believe these to be a great use of the “new technology” known as email, but, really it’s nothing more than spam.

As agents, we already have all of these listings available for home buyers in the MLS and that does nothing to mention that buyers can find these great new listings and reduced properties simply by searching through the MLS on agent websites, broker websites, realtor.com, and all of the other 3rd party aggregator websites where buyers are searching for homes.

If I receive them, I immediately unsubscribe myself from this innovative use of spam, er, technology. The biggest reason for this is the fact that they are non-targeted to me and my market and the sheer volume makes it impractical for me to try to keep them in my mind.

Since I’m receiving so many of these emails on a daily basis, how can any agent possibly believe that I am interested in looking at this unsolicited regurgitated information from the MLS listings posted in these emails?

On listing appointments, I specifically tell my potential clients that we do not communicate with agents via spam, er, new listing emails because they are ineffective and a tool only used by agents who don’t actually understand how to effectively utilize technology to market listings to agents and directly to buyers.

Let me offer some solutions to effectively utilize some of the real new technologies to help market homes for sale rather than sending bulk messages to people who don’t need the information. read more

Posted by Ryan Ward on Jul 24, 2008 under Online Marketing

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HomeGain 2008 Mid-Year Home Sales Report

Home Sales Results by MSA For AgentEvaluator Agents

It’s been tough sledding for real estate sales in most areas of the country this year, as we are in the midst of summer heat waves, firestorms in California and hurricanes in the Gulf Coast.

For our member agents who use the HomeGain AgentEvaluator program to help consumers “Find A Realtor” online, mid-year home sales results are in.

Even though real estate sales continue a downward cycle in most pockets of the country, our reports show that many real estate agents are, in fact, still closing deals and making home sales happen successfully for their clients.

Where exactly are these consumers buying and selling?

We tabulate sales closed by HomeGain buyers and sellers and report by major Metropolitan Statistical Areas.

Listed here are the top 10 cities and metropolitan areas for home buyers and home sellers where HomeGain consumers closed sales during the first half of 2008, as well as the top areas for Q2 (which we can compare to Q1 areas in my blog post earlier in the year).

New this month on the Top 10 list are previously unranked cities that moved up in Q2 are Denver-Boulder-Greeley, CO, coming in at #7, and Phoenix-Mesa, AZ, coming in at #10.

San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA and Detroit-Ann Arbor-Flint, MI, which ranked in the Top 10 for the First Quarter, fell off the list in the Second Quarter. read more

Posted by Peggy Boehm on Jul 23, 2008 under HomeGain Market Data

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Irvine CA Real Estate Market Update

As a Realtor in Orange County I am seeing a lot of change in buyer behavior. I am working with more home buyers than ever. The problem is getting them a home.

No, that is not a typo.

I have been putting in offers almost weekly and only getting 10 percent or less accepted. The reason being is that REO agents are getting creative with the way they present their offers to the bank. If your client really wants the home they should come in with a strong offer, either at full price or very close to it.

The REO agents are listing at low prices to get multiple offers. The banks are taking the highest offers most times without countering back. That leaves a lot of home buyers in the Irvine market with a bad taste in their mouths and questioning you as a real estate agent.

If your buyer is qualified to buy a home for $400,000 for instance don’t look at homes over that amount. You are better off looking at homes in the $350,000 range so you have a little room to barter with. This housing market seems to change on a weekly basis.

There are deals out there, deals galore and there are lots of buyers to buy homes in the Irvine area. Most of the buyers are in the lower price range and qualifying through FHA and taking advantage of read more

Posted by Peggy Aldinger on Jul 17, 2008 under Regional

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Baltimore Real Estate Update

Here is what we’re finding in Baltimore, Maryland…

Homes that are priced right and show well sell quickly and for almost full price. We are still seeing a lot of seller concessions, and FHA financing. FHA mortgage limits range from $560,000 in the Baltimore region which includes Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Baltimore City, Howard, Harford and Carroll counties to $729,250 in Montgomery, Frederick, Calvert, Charles and Prince Georges counties.

The Baltimore market is holding steady with new jobs being created for BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure). Maryland is expected to gain more than 45,000 federal and private sector jobs.

We are still seeing some short sales and foreclosures but overall the Baltimore market is still pretty good.

Eric Pakulla is a Realtor with The Eric Pakulla Team, RE/MAX Advantage Realty in Baltimore, Maryland.

Learn more about Baltimore real estate. read more

Posted by Eric Pakulla on Jul 17, 2008 under Regional

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