Homescopes

Tags: Real estate

A conversation I had yesterday with a mortgage broker about the Fed’s interest rate announcement yesterday reminded me of the days of Alan Greenspan and his amazing obfuscatory comments, with pundits parsing his every word in an attempt to decipher his real meaning. It got me thinking: What if Greenspan were to become a Realtor? [...]

I wonder if I may be making history here as the first person to ever be live-blogging a real estate legal update seminar.
Twice a year my broker, Alain Pinel Realtors, runs attendance-mandatory legal update seminars hosted by Bill Jansen of Broker Risk Management.  Most of us look at these events akin to a trip to […]

There, I knew I’d grab your attention with a headline like that! Imagine you could wave a magic wand and, presto! our whole industry structure disappears and gets replaced instantaneously with whatever you decide.  What would the new real estate industry look like? Would you want to recreate what we have now, with some 1.x  million independent [...]

Inman News just announced the list of finalists for the 2007 Inman Innovator Awards. I started reading through the list and saw many familiar names and companies… Most Innovative Brokerage or Franchise…Coldwell Banker? Check. John L. Scott? Check… Most Innovative Web Service…Trulia Voices? Check. Zillow Q&A? Check. vFlyer, Wellcomemat, [...]

I recently stated that as of July 1st, 2007 — 6 days from now — California’s new ban on holding a cell phone while driving would go into effect.  It turns out I was wrong, and for that I apologize.  Mea culpa! Reader Jennifer pointed out in a comment that the ban doesn’t take effect till [...]

Lest those of us practicing real estate in the great state of California forget, July 1st is the first day of a ban on holding a cell phone while driving.  Those Realtors who don’t already have those cool Bluetooth Trekkie ear pieces better go out and buy one now! Better yet, get your car kitted out [...]

You gotta love NPR – except when they launch another one of their interminable guilt-inducing fund raising drives.  Heck, I’m not even Catholic, but every time I hear one of their spiels and decline to donate, I feel an urge to go to confession!  Speaking of drives and NPR, however, I was going to a [...]

Greg Swann and his merry band of re.net bloggers have published — in blog format, of course — a guide to real estate blogging, consisting of many of their finest articles on the topic.  Having been a faithful reader of Bloodhound since nearly its inception, most of the content is familiar to me, but it’s [...]

As a real estate consultant, I often get asked questions about foreclosures, especially as the number of these distressed properties skyrockets. According to a recent RealtyTrac press release, there were a total of 176,137 foreclosure filings in May of this year, a 19 percent increase from the previous month and up nearly 90 percent from May 2006. Purchasing [...]