Archive for the 'Real Estate Industry' Category
CTMLS vs. Fairfield County Multiple Listing Services
December 29th, 2008 categories: Central Connecticut News & Information, Real Estate Industry
Connecticut Business News Journal published an article earlier this year about the trouble CTMLS, the almost statewide multiple listing service, is having convincing agents, brokers and local realtor associations in Fairfield County to give up their local MLS service in exchange for a united, statewide MLS.
I was reminded of this when I received an e-mail from CTMLS announcing that Westchester-Putnam MLS has signed a reciprocal agreement with CTMLS, allowing the sharing of information listings between Litchfield, Hartford, New Haven, Middlesex, Tolland, Windham and New London counties in CT and Westchester and Putnam counties in NY.
Notice I left out Fairfield County, which is home to four multiple listing services, none of whom share their listings with the CTMLS or Westchester-Putnam MLS. Realtors and brokers in Fairfield county who want to expose their listings to buyers outside the county, must join the statewide MLS in addition to their local MLS, creating competition where there should be cooperation.
Five, Count ‘Em Five, Multiple Listing Services in CT
Until 2007, there were six different multiple listing services in all of Connecticut.
| Discussion: 2 Comments »
Another Bad Idea from From Fannie Mae - Tenants Can Stay in Foreclosed Properties
December 16th, 2008 categories: Investors/Landlords, Mortgages & Finance, Real Estate Industry
From the people who brought you the massive boom in subprime and Alt-A mortgages and the predictable crash that followed, comes one more equally bad idea:
Allow Fannie Mae (the government) to become a landlord to thousands of tenants and thereby delaying or preventing the sale of properties altogether. The size and scope of this decision won’t be as large or devastating as the aforementioned but it’s just as poorly thought-out.
Who will buy a foreclosed home with tenants in it?
Buying a home with tenants in place is a catch-22. While you may be getting paying tenants, you are also trusting the person who placed the tenants (the same person, by the way, who just got foreclosed on) to pick qualified, responsible people to live in your investment.
What if the landlord in buying to live in the property or wants to place their own tenants or raise rent? Will Fannie Mae agree to then evict tenants or does the new owner have to take on this additional financial burden?
Who will maintain the property while tenants are in it for months or possibly longer?
Who at Fannie Mae is going to be taking the inevitable 2 AM toilet is backed-up calls? Who is going to replace the smoke alarm batteries? Of course, they’ll hire a property management company but who at Fannie Mae knows anything about managing property management companies? Property management companies will be salivating at the opportunity to rip-off, I mean, work with Fannie Mae.
How will agents schedule showings?
Showing rental properties with tenants is hard enough, never mind when they’re mad. Setting up a typical showing for an occupied rental property goes like this: call the office 2-3 days prior to showing, the office calls tenants who almost never call back to confirm, the listing agent calls the owner to get them to call the tenants and then a showing is scheduled for one floor only. 50% of the time, the tenants still claim to not know about the showing and sometimes refuse to let agents in.
Now imagine that you have tenants who are disgruntled (Fannie Mae is now the landlord and probably not all that responsive) or who are nervous that the house may be sold to someone who can evict them (Fannie Mae may not call them back but at least they won’t evict). Who will agents call to get in? With so many homes on the market, I think investors will just pass these properties by knowing they’ll be a headache.
Will tenants trash the home and make it worth even less?
Bank-owned properties are targets of theft and vandalism when they’re vacant but does Fannie Mae actually think this will end when they allow tenants to remain? Tenants will know that no one is watching the store. Use your imagination.
The End Result
Investment properties owned and managed by Fannie Mae will be harder to sell and therefore, worth less, and will then negatively impact the value of surrounding properties. Fannie Mae will mismanage properties, tenants will not be happy with Fannie Mae as their landlord and some will purposely destroy or vandalize properties.
I want to be optimistic but I fear that this bad idea will sound like a good one to other lenders (or worse, legislators) which will only compound the problem.
What’s the alternative?
I think it’s unfair to demand that tenants leave their home with little notice. However, if Fannie Mae can find the tenants after the foreclosure to evict them, can’t they find them before the foreclosure and notify them at least 30 days before the actual foreclosure is to take place?
And if the tenants can’t find housing prior to the foreclosure, Fannie Mae would then give them an additional 30-day grace period before it begins the eviction process. The reality is that eviction, at least in CT, takes several months so the tenants would have that additional period to find housing.
Fannie Mae should pay for moving costs, any additional rent if tenants can’t find an apartment for the same rent, and should pay the new landlord directly for the security deposit (since the previous landlord isn’t going to give it back).
Fannie Mae should stick to the time honored and tested tradition of being in the business of real estate lending, not real estate investment.
| Discussion: 9 Comments »
Top Ten Real Estate Search Terms According to Hitwise
October 15th, 2008 categories: Real Estate Industry
What are other people using as search terms when looking for real estate related websites? Hitwise puts out a monthly report and shows that Realtor.com is the leading search term, followed by Remax. Technically, Zillow should be second but who’s counting.
Rank |
Search Term |
Volume |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | realtor.com | 1.69% |
| 2. | remax | 0.82% |
| 3. | zillow | 0.52% |
| 4. | zillow.com | 0.38% |
| 5. | real estate | 0.37% |
| 6. | realtor | 0.34% |
| 7. | coldwell banker | 0.29% |
| 8. | century 21 | 0.28% |
| 9. | apartments | 0.26% |
| 10. | for sale by owner | 0.26% |
| Discussion: 3 Comments »
Another Craigslist Scam - Vacant Homes Rented Without Owners’ Permission
September 9th, 2008 categories: Real Estate Industry
A couple, including one man identifying himself as a real estate agent, was recently arrested in Las Vegas for renting out vacant homes belonging to seasonal residents - without the home owners’ permission.
They advertised the homes on Craigslist and collected money in cash from the tenants. The scam was revealed only when the actual homeowners showed up to find uninvited tenants.
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Connecticut Realtors Optimistic About Real Estate Market
July 26th, 2008 categories: Central Connecticut News & Information, Real Estate Industry
Connecticut Realtors have demonstrated their optimism for the real estate market by renewing their state licenses at a higher rate than last year and beyond what most people were expecting, including me.
7,313 licenses were renewed this year, compared to 6,876 last year. (RIS Media)
Realtors in neighboring Rhode Island don’t share this view - renewals are down 30% compared to last year.
While I think this shows Realtors aren’t believing the press coverage, I wouldn’t mind seeing the number of Realtors in Connecticut shrink a bit.
For related stories:
Central Connecticut Real Estate Market Report 7.11.08
Your House Isn’t Selling? Blame the Hartford Courant
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