Real Estate

I have had an interest in Real Estate for some time now and am finally going to start pursuing it as a career. I watched these real estate shows where the agents are selling high end property and wondered to myself how did they transition from regular residential homes to high end property and commercial units?

They established themselves, networked, may have had contacts before they even were in the business and work their butts off.

It isn’t like you get your license and suddenly you are getting owners in the Hollywood Hills to trust you can market and sell their property. You are going to need a track record. That takes time.

For example, when a new home comes on the market matching some criteria (price, location, etc) I’d like to get an email or other alert. Thanks!

Any local real estate agent can set up an auto alert for you, it is very common practice.

My husband and I put an offer on a short sale home. We fell in love with house and made an offer over the asking price. The seller accepted our offer within a day, and submitted it to the bank for approval.They said the bank did the appraisal this week and that we should expect an answer by Monday.

After extensive research on the short sale process, I found that it would be a miracle if we received an answer from the bank that quickly. I’m wondering if they recently had an offer and the buyer backed out, or was denied. They claimed to of had another offer when we submitted ours. They claim our offer was higher and that we were not asking for as many repairs as the other offer, which they also claim to have not even submitted to the bank.

It’s just not clear whether or not they have been approved to do a short sale. The printout off the MLS mentions something like (short sale, must be bank approved – seller in default). I don’t know if that means our offer needs to be approved by the bank, or if they need to be approved to do a short sale, or both. What stage in the short sale process would they be in if their bank did an appraisal. I thought they just used an estimate from the Realtor and not an actual appraiser.

Any advice would be appreciated. I know the odds are against us in getting approved due to the nature of short sales. I just can’t help but get anxious because we really want this house. Is it possible the bank give an answer so quickly, and under what circumstances?

Additional details: This house has been on the market since December 2010 and the family is still occupying the home.

The odds of success should be very good. The only problem is the long time that you will be required to wait. You think that your "offer" is the most important part of the process but it isn’t. The most important thing is how much money the bank is going to require from the seller to complete the process.

If the house is asking $150,000 but the existing loan is $250,000, the "short" amount is $100,000. usually the bank will ask the seller to pay $15,000 in order for the bank to lose the remaining $85,000. The bank and the seller share the loss. The seller might refuse. The bank then makes another proposal. The bank will lose $80,000 if the seller signs an IOU for $20,000 (but the seller does not have to pay any cash).

Sometimes this negotiating takes 6 months as the seller refuses the proposals. You are never told about any of this. All you know is that the bank "has not accepted your offer" but that is not true. The acceptance of your offer is completely dependent on how much the seller will contribute.

On one short sale, the final proposal to the seller was that the seller had to pay $13,000. When the seller refused, the buyer (you) agreed to increase her offer by $13,000 just to buy the house and be done with it.

You need to talk personally to the seller ( you can do this if you make an effort) and find out how much the bank is asking from them.

A) the demand for new homes has risen.
B) the law of demand has been violated.
C) new firms have entered the construction industry.
D) construction firms must be facing higher costs.

24. Exhibit 4-7 Demand and supply schedules for movie tickets
Price Quantity
Demanded Quantity
Supplied
$10 200 500
8 240 470
6 370 420
4 390 390
2 410 310

In Exhibit 4-7, the equilibrium price of a movie ticket is:
A) $10.
B) $8.
C) $6.
D) $4.
E) $2.

25. If the equilibrium price of natural gas is $4 per thousand cubic feet and a price ceiling is imposed at $3 per thousand cubic feet, the result will be:
A) a surplus of natural gas.
B) a shortage of natural gas.
C) an accumulation of inventories of unsold gas.
D) None of these.

26. Exhibit 4-9 Data on supply and demand
Price Quantity
Demanded Quantity
Supplied
$2.00 100 300
1.50 150 250
1.00 200 200
0.50 250 150

In Exhibit 4-9 the equilibrium price and quantity in the market are:
A) $5.50, 200.
B) $1.50, 300.
C) $2.00, 100.
D) $1.00, 200.

27. An externality is:
A) always a benefit to the recipient.
B) always a detriment to the recipient.
C) an activity that occurs in a business which is unknown to management.
D) unintended benefits or costs imposed on third parties as a result of economic activity.
E) an act, caused by a firm located in this country, which has an effect on a person in a foreign country.

28. Which of the following is an example of a negative externality?
A) A Japanese company begins to produce cars, which causes American workers to lose their jobs.
B) An employee of a chemical company spills acid on his arm, causing severe damage.
C) John plants fruit trees in his front yard, which attracts bees, which sting neighbor Mary.
D) Sally buys coffee at McDonald’s, spills some on her, and burns her arm.
E) Jack attempts to fix his roof, falls off, and breaks his leg.

29. If a chemical factory causes noxious fumes to be emitted in the neighborhood, a third party would be:
A) workers at the factory.
B) factory managers.
C) chemical customers.
D) local homeowners.
E) owners of the factory.

30. Externalities are unintended costs or benefits that are imposed on unsuspecting people and that result from:
A) poor planning.
B) intentional damages.
C) excessive costs.
D) excessive losses.
E) the economic activity of others.

A.

Real Estate Guy, quit cheating by looking on my paper for the answer!

Looking at homes for sale and ramblers and ranchers are the two home styles we like the most in MLS pictures. We sold our property and want to re-invest before Obama destroys any hope of re-investing by devaluing our money to nothing.

Both are Ranch style houses in that they are low, and wide either front to back or side to side. The Rambler would be the Ranch style that has a footprint that wanders from being just a single rectangle.

I want to sell my house myself, and I’ve heard of flat fee mls listing services that will get your house on the mls, and therefore it would also appear on realtor.com. But I’ve read little disclaimers that say in Tennessee I can’t put a ‘for sale by owner’ sign on my lawn if I’ve gotten an mls listing, because there was a broker that had to do the listing for me. This confuses me, as what is the purpose of a flat fee mls service if not for people trying to do for sale by owner?

I do not know the laws in TN, but you cannot have it both ways. If you want your house in the MLS, you have to have some sort of relationship with a broker, period. The flat fee broker should (IMHO) provide signs for your listing, and you will be a ‘limited representation seller’ – as it is called in my area, you get some canned forms and get to try to complete the transaction.

I always tell people that want to try this to go for it, but keep my number, you’ll need it.

I thought it would be a good idea as a part time job (mostly evenings / weekends) where I could take pictures of cars for sale, homes for sale, anything related (like cars for sale through dealers for posting online, homes for sale-take photos for realtors, etc). I have a decent camera. I wasn’t sure how to go about looking for part-time jobs like this? Any ideas?

Your interests are different. Try searching your local offers for real state and cars. Photography has good demand in Internet.

You buy the lot & design the house etc (ex: thru Centex) – then up until official closing, does it get listed "available" on a sign, or "for sale" in MLS?

No. If you own the lot, no one else has the right to put it on the market.

anyone know a good web site to view home listings for homes for sale in modesto. i am renting a home and ant to find out if its up for sale so im not scammed

search on realtor.com first, then do zillow. Some property on zillow not up to date. If property you see for sale on zillow may be not for sale or already under contract.

Selling our home. Is For Sale By Owner or other websites reliable, trustworthy and a good way to go? Who has experience with them? I need an answer from someone that is not a realtor.

I would give it a try. In this market, you could sell one as easily as a realtor. Be prepared for calls asking if you would finance.