bubbleinfo.com

Home sellers have been trained by the real estate industrial complex to think that the big splashy ads in newspapers and magazines will sell their home.  Realtors prey on the seller’s ego by promising to have their house prominently displayed all over town, and with a price that will make them proud.  Sometimes they’ll get a chuckle with their signature sign-off, “we can always lower it later”.

In 2011, those tactics are low-grade.

Yes, there is a very remote chance that some old guy sitting around the barbershop will pick up a freebee real estate magazine and become enamored with the glossy photos, and plunk down a small portion of his massive bankroll to put you out of your misery.  Very remote.

It’s much more likely that the eventual buyer will come from a thorough internet presentation that reflects reality.  Most realtors say they do video tours, but in virtually every case they are moving a camera over a still photo.  That is not a video tour.

If you are selling your house, review the internet presentations of the realtors you are considering.

1. Do they use large, clear photos that look professional?  Or did they use a camera they got out of a cereal box?

2. Do they use a wide-angle lens that captures most of the room?

3.  Are they “over-photoshopped? Improving the quality with the computer is permissible, but if they are adding enough extra mustard that it looks like a fairy-tale, it’ll makes buyers wonder, “what are they hiding?”

4.  Do they include a youtube video tour that shows a physical walk-through of the house?

The listing agents that produce a tailored, professional internet presentation of your house are the ones doing sellers a favor.  They will use these photos and videos on all of their marketing, and maximize the exposure of your home.

Both buyers and sellers should use two other simple ways to evaluate agents:

1. Check their license number – it’s on every business card now.  Agent license numbers are issued sequentially, so the lower the number, the longer they have been in business:

My license # 00873197 from 1984

Klinge Realty # 01388871 from 2003

Wifey’s license # 01889890 from 2010

The license number is just a checkpoint on experience, and not a perfect measure.  There are plenty of old guys with numbers around mine that should have retired a long time ago, and others like wifey who just got licensed but have been in the business for 12 years - she has more qualified experience than most realtors.

2.  The BEST way to evaulate a realtor is by how many homes they have sold this year.

It’ll make virtually every agent squirm, but you want to know how successful they are at navigating these waters.  The market is TOUGH, and you need quality help to succeed.  A decent, full-time realtor should be selling at least one house per month.  If they aren’t, you should ask more questions to find out why.  There are still 2,000+ sales happening month in SD County, rates are at all-time lows, and lots of people want to buy a house.  If their answer is ‘bad economy’, then you may want to keep looking.

It is nothing personal, I’m not trying to throw lousy agents under the bus – they will do it themselves.  The public deserves to know how to evaluate a realtor, in an environment where virtually nobody talks about it.

Here is my video on Interviewing Listing Agents: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-9qpueJik8

In this video, you’ll hear how I am going to expand my service to homebuyers.

The limited inventory, combined with the public nature of this blog, keeps a throttle on what is available here.  Frankly, I think that both you and I are bored of looking at these run-out REO losers, and want to see some quality homes that you might consider buying!

Thus, I have created a private version of this blog for my clients, with the intent to view more videos packed with commentary to advance your knowledge and experience of the market.  Hopefully, you might even see a house you want to buy, just like shadash!

The public version of bubbleinfo.com will continue here, with videos.  There is plenty of general information to discuss – trends, stats, etc – and as readers get closer to wanting to buy a house, we’ll get you involved with the real contenders on the other site.  When you are ready, contact me and we’ll get you started.

I’m guessing that readers will feel like the public version of bubbleinfo.com will be lightweight, and the real meat and potatoes will move to the private website.  But that is not the case.

On the private side are videos that would never been seen in public, because they are proprietary.  It will be similar to actually being in the car with me as a client, and getting the real advice I’d give you one-on-one.  I have never done that here, and never will.  Bubbleinfo.com has always been a chance to get familar with Jim the Realtor, and if you like what you see/hear, then contact me about representation.

I appreciate where we have been, and want to continue with you on this path.  At the same time, I want to expand the quality of service, knowing that there is more available for us to discover about the homebuying process using an on-line format. 

How will I find the time?  The only difference will be more video of what I’m doing every day – at some point, it could be live streaming all day long!

Could there be conflict if more than one client likes something they see?  We’re covering a large area and a wide spread of price points, so it’s not too likely, but if it were to happen it’ll be first-come, first serve.

I hope you will see this as a logical expansion of what we have started here, with the goal being to better serve my clients.  I want to include you!

I think we’re going to see sales slow to a crawl for the rest of the year, due to sellers being unwilling to lower their price enough.  Then the media will blame it on the loan limits going down.

Our friend Nick at the Wall Street Journal worked on this article for a couple of weeks about the loan limits going down in October, but no conclusive evidence yet as to what we can expect. 

An excerpt:

In San Diego County, loan limits will decline to $546,250 from the current ceiling of $697,500. Greg Demgen and his wife are trying to sell their 5,200 square-foot home for $900,000. While he says he’s confident the home is priced to sell quickly, finding buyers who can qualify for cut-rate loans “can only help the cause,” says Mr. Demgen, 51, of Vista, Calif. “We should get it done before that $697,500 ceiling goes away.”

One in 12 home sales during the past year fell within the county’s proposed and current limit, assuming a 10% down payment, according to MDA DataQuick, a real-estate research firm.

Some lenders say they will soon ease lending rules at the margins for jumbo loans. Banks sharply tightened standards three years ago on jumbo mortgages. Wells Fargo is preparing to reduce down payment standards to 20% from 25% in more markets and to relax the amount of liquid assets that borrowers must have after closing the loan, said Brad Blackwell, national sales manager for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.

Mr. Demgen’s real-estate agent, Jim Klinge, says the decline in loan limits is overdue for loans backed by the FHA, which allows minimum down payments of 3.5%. Borrowers need to earn nearly $140,000 to qualify for the largest FHA loan in the county. “With that income, if you only have $25,000 for a down payment, then you shouldn’t be buying a house with virtually no skin in the game,” he says.

Still, the overall effect of the decline in the limit is hard to gauge. “The impact is going to very regional and how it all adds up is going to be hard to tell,” says Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance. “Dollar-wise and percentage-wise it’s not a big change, but that’s easy for me to say. I’m not living in San Diego looking for a new house.”

This is better for nightime viewing – hopefully you’ve had a couple of cold ones by now:

From the nctimes.com: 

“This year’s Fiesta del Sol is on track to shatter last year’s record-breaking crowds. We’re serving up an eclectic mix of live music, multiple adult beverage venues, fun family activities, compelling food choices and great vendors —- all by the ocean. If you can’t have fun at Fiesta, you must be perpetually bummed out,” event co-chairman Peter Zahn said.

The party will be running from 9am to 9pm, and is off Lomas Santa Fe just west of Highway 101 –  and you can shuttle from the Solana Beach train station!

The live music includes eight bands each day, and Peter’s description of eclectic is fitting – enjoy the blues, soul, reggae, ska, dance & world beat music. 

Personally, I am looking forward to the Springsteen tribute band Thunder Road scheduled for 3pm on Saturday, plus on Sunday the Farmers at 1pm and Wild Child, the Doors tribute band at 4pm.

The weather is expected to be in the mid-to-high 60s.

Myself and some of the crew will be there, handing out pens, t-shirts, and our new coffee mugs.  We’ll have a game or two, and hope readers will stop by and say hello! 

The booths close down at 6pm.

The next bubbleinfo gathering is on the calendar – click here for more info!

Yes, it’s true that I was in the nation’s capital last week, but it had nothing to do with bin Laden.   I was there on the eighth-grade field trip – here’s part one, a video of the first two-and-a-half days condensed into 7 minutes:

My primary focus is assisting people with buying and selling real estate in the premium markets.

The REO videos are for comic relief: