Letter from the Editor

The HomeGain Blog was recently recognized by Inman News as a nominee for the Most Innovative Real Estate Blog of the year. This is an honor in view of the efforts we’ve put into creating a place that can be enjoyed by our readers on a daily basis, and provides insight and value to real estate agents whether they subscribe to HomeGain or not.

Of course we couldn’t have come this far without the terrific blog posts from our contributors and guest bloggers, and commentary from our readers.

We take pride in the fact that our blog comprises of unique aspects – that it delivers content over advertisements; that we are a company, not just a social network site, that invites contributors from all different walks of real estate, including a few whose opinions differ from that of HomeGain’s business model; and that we encourage our customers to speak openly about our products from their point of view.

We will continue to put efforts towards a blog that is innovative, insightful and inspiring. Continue reading this post

In our exclusive interview with Mike Farmer of Mike Farmer Realty in Savannah, Georgia, Mike describes how expanding his reach on the Internet – from providing content on consumer facing real estate blogs to providing advice to the real estate community online to maintaining his own websites and blog – has changed and grown his business.

Listen in to hear Mike Farmer’s real estate advice:

Highlights of the call:

Mike discusses what he’s experiencing as most challenging in a down market, like the Continue reading this post

Jeffrey Bastress of Startpoint Realty in Massachusetts is the special guest on HomeGain Radio’s June 3rd show.

Jeffrey discusses how home buyer and seller expectations have changed over the past year, how it’s making things more challenging for today’s Realtors, and what real estate agents and brokers can do to avoid or overcome lost transactions due to this expectation gap.

Listen to Jeffrey Bastress’ call:

Jeffrey Bastress has been a HomeGain AgentEvaluator member for many years, ranking #1 in Massachusetts and nationwide, is a HomeGain Advisor, and a HomeGain Blog contributor.

To hear more HomeGain Radio interviews, plus find real estate articles, survey results and more, visit our Media Center!

Continue reading this post

The Upland Real Estate market is facing pressure with a lot of inventory. There are still far too many homes on the market, with tons of choices and few home buyers.

I have noticed a lot of home buyers are starting to make the move and write offers on the short sale, or bank-owned homes. This is affecting the regular sellers and their bottom line.

Many sellers are starting to realize that they are not going to get the price they had hoped to get. But, then again, they will get the next home for much less than they had thought, as well. As long as they keep that in mind it will work out in the end.

This market will work itself out as soon as the inventory drops down.

The surrounding areas of Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga and Fontana are really feeling the affects of supply and demand, with a lot of supply and very little demand. The City of Fontana has 395 single family homes for sale for $250K, or less. A year ago you could not find any single family homes under $300K.

There are still a lot of loans that will be reset to higher rates over the next year. This will result in Continue reading this post

Ann Marie Clements of RE/MAX Realty Group in Maryland was the Featured Real Estate Agent of the Month in our March Agent Success Newsletter.

Here’s the story:

If you ask Ann Marie what she thinks of today’s conditions, she’ll tell you that it’s great market for a Realtor®. After 20 years in the business, Ann Marie’s business is growing every year – it’s already up 40% from last year!

Ann Marie Clements was also just featured on the March 2008 cover of REALTOR® Magazine in which she discussed her success with finding new clients on Facebook.

How is Ann Marie able to be so productive?

She relies on two main things: referrals and HomeGain.
“I just sold one house for $700k and another one for $480k, both as a result of HomeGain leads,” said Ann Marie. Continue reading this post

ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA FORECLOSURE UPDATE:

The Orange County real estate market now consists of mostly bank owned properties for sale.

The banks are scrambling to rid themselves of this massive inventory. Listing agents are presently allowed to list at whatever price they want and a lot of them are listing way below market value.

This doesn’t mean the banks will take this low offer. In fact, I can almost guarantee they won’t. Unscrupulous agents are doing this just to get offers in and scoop up buyers (new clients).

I am seeing multiple offers on REO’s to be the norm right now, any where from 90 to 180 days or more for the banks to get back to the offerers.

What does that mean? Continue reading this post