Archive for September, 2006

Are You A Car Buff? Then You Probably Want a Multi Car Garage

While I am not a car buff, per se, I know a bunch of friends who are. There idea of a great afternoon is working on or rebuilding a car in their garage. There are enough of these folks that homes that have large (3 or more car bays) garages are a treasured item and [...]

24Sep2006 | Tom Royce | 0 comments | Continued

California Real Estate Agents Will Have To Recieve More Training Before Being Licensed

California presently has 1 licensed real estate agent for every 52 residents. Many of these are so poorly equipt to provide adequate service for their customers that problems in real estate transactions have increased dramatically.
To counter this, Governor Arnold Achwarzenegger has signed a new law requiring agents to recieve all of the required training before [...]

23Sep2006 | Tom Royce | 3 comments | Continued

Housing Slowdown Worse in Midwest than California?

That is what the experts are projecting. The inventory bump in California will not be nearly as disruptive to pricing of homes as the economic decline in the rust belt states is to housing costs and foreclosures. The San Francisco – Oakland region is in for a soft landing as job growth and wage inflation [...]

22Sep2006 | Tom Royce | 1 comment | Continued

Why Bring a Buyers Agent to a New Home Purchase? It is Money in Your Pocket!

Greg Swann over at the Bloodhound Blog has one of the best posts I have read in a long time on practical real estate advice. If you are looking to purchase a spec home from a new home builder, he advices bringing a buyers agent to the table. What is cool is that the buyers [...]

22Sep2006 | Tom Royce | 2 comments | Continued

The Maine “Real Estate Rapist” Appeals “Life Sentence”

Oliver Hooper, who posed as a home buyer and then raped a 19 year old, is appealing his consecutive 50 to 100 year sentences. This animal says there was not enough evidence to convict him.
When doing an open house, take precautions, please. And try to have someone with you when you are showing a [...]

21Sep2006 | Tom Royce | 202 comments | Continued

Questions To Help Find an Appraiser

With the slowing home market, finding a fully qualified and trustworthy appraiser is more important that ever. If the appraiser cuts corners, you may have a home that is worth less than it’s appraisal. Or you may end upside down in your loan. The Wall Street Journal had these pertinent questions to ask potential appraisers [...]

21Sep2006 | Tom Royce | 2 comments | Continued

Custom Home Builders Go Out of Business More Often Than You Think

CNBC has an interesting video on the custom home builders, and the difficulties that they go through. It is very interesting how 80 percent of custom homebuilders go out of business every 3 to 5 years. The difficulty for individual proprietors remind me of the restaurant business. There are a good deal of skilled people [...]

21Sep2006 | Tom Royce | 6 comments | Continued

More on Dropping Real Estate Commissions

Real Estate commissions are have dropped to an average of 5 percent. The combination of an increased supply of new agents who are competing on price (commission) and the new technology that makes it easier for deals to get done by qualified agents are leading to this.

One reason for the drop is tied to [...]

21Sep2006 | Tom Royce | 2 comments | Continued

Zillow Now Allows Homeowners to Add Estimates

It looks like Zillow is now allowing users to provide their own data to help get homes closer to the appraised value. It seems that there is a good deal of remodeling and modifications being made to homes that are not showing up on the tax records that Zillow gets their information from.
Irony would be [...]

20Sep2006 | Tom Royce | 6 comments | Continued

Sports Fan Condo’s – Own Next to Your Teams Stadium

If you are the die hard fan who attends all of your universities home games and are looking for convenience, have we got the new trend in housing for you. Why own a home on the beach when you can have a condo that overlooks Sanford Stadium, or is just down the block from Rupp [...]

20Sep2006 | Tom Royce | 0 comments | Continued