360Digest

From the Associated Press:

“The Justice Department gave a boost Tuesday to online real estate brokers — and potentially their clients — by forcing new industry policies that give Internet-based agents access to home listings they were previously denied.”

Supposedly, this was done to make the playing field level for smaller and/or online real estate brokerages. However, the opposite may occur.

From SEO Theory – SEO Theory and Analysis Blog

The National Association of Realtors has allowed local associations to withhold listing information from online realtors whose mega sites tend to outperform local realtors’ sites in some search results. Search engine optimization specialists have been aware for years that the hyperoptimized real estate vertical is one of the most highly competitive search markets.

The consumer may or may not benefit from the settlement, considering that local realtors offer opportunities for face-to-face discussions that online forms and search tools simply cannot provide. The fact that local realtors have little to no search visibility in some critical search terms may imply that the Justice Department has in fact created an unfair business advantage for an already overwhelmingly powerful industry group.

Local realtors just don’t have the resources to compete with the mega sites, and the U.S. Justice Department’s lawsuit fails to take this imbalance of search positioning resources into consideration. From a search perspective, the Justice Department’s action may have the exact opposite result of its original intent in that it may very well limit the competition. After all, most searchers will never look beyond the first ten results shown to them and major search engines have no incentive to show the best results for queries where they are already showing acceptable results.

On the surface, the NRA is being required to treat online brokers as if they are local brokers by granting them full access to local brokerage shared databases. The search engines already treat online brokers the same way, and the reviewing court might very well take the view that consumers’ best interests are not being served well by restricting online brokers’ access to data (which they apparently make little or no contribution to themselves).

It has been my perception for a while now that the ones that may have the “unfair advantage” may be the online real estate firm, well-funded, working with venture capital and well-versed in search engine optimization and online marketing. This ruling may give them even more of a leg-up and further erode the full-service bricks-and-mortar real estate brokerage.

Authorities said today they found two handguns with the badly decomposed bodies of five family members who were discovered in a home in a wealthy, gated Orange County community over the holiday weekend.

The house where the family was found was worth about $1.7 million, according to the real estate Web site Zillow.com.

It appears that Zillow’s becoming the official reference site for property values in the Los Angeles Times.

By all appearances, Aaron Wider is the chief executive of a flourishing mortgage bank in Garden City, issuing more than $33 million in home loans to buyers across Nassau and Suffolk counties over the past four years.

A closer look at his lending practices, however, reveals that many of these loans relied on faulty appraisals and exaggerated loan applications, leaving behind angry homeowners who are struggling to pay mortgages on overpriced homes.

Aaron Wilder, CEO of HTFC and a mortgage investor, gave a deposition to Robert Bodzin, a lawyer from GMAC Bank. In February, U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno declared the deposition a “spectacular failure”, ordered Wider to give a new deposition, and fined Wider and his lawyer $29K.

GMAC Bank has filed a lawsuit against HTFC alleging that the company sold loans that were not property underwritten.

ROBERT BODZIN: My question is: Where are you currently employed?
AARON WIDER: I’m not. I work for free
BODZIN: Okay. You’re not employed by HTFC Corporation?
WIDER: No, I own HTFC Corporation.
BODZIN: Okay. And what do the initials HTFC mean?
WIDER: Hit That Fuckin’ Clown.

From The Wall Street Journal “Curses! Client Swears His Way Through Deposition, Pays Price”

Throughout the deposition, Robreno said, Wider “sought to intimidate opposing counsel by maintaining a persistently hostile demeanor, employing uncivil insults, and using profuse vulgarity.”

In one passage, GMAC’s lawyer, Robert B. Bodzin of Kleinbard Bell & Brecker in Philadelphia, asked Wider to open a file so that Bodzin could ask questions about certain documents.

According to the transcript, as quoted in Robreno’s opinion, Wider erupted, saying: “‘I’m taking a break. Fuck him. You open up the document. You want me to look at something, you get the document out. Earn your fucking money, asshole. Isn’t the law wonderful?’”

In another passage, Bodzin said: “We’re going to adjourn this deposition if this happens again because you are offending every single person.”

According to Robreno’s opinion, Wider responded: “‘Don’t speak for anybody in here except yourself fuck face.’”

When Bodzin said he was speaking for himself and the court reporter, Wider said: “‘If she had a problem with me she would say something. She knows it’s [not] directed toward her. It’s directed to you because you’re a piece of shit and a piece of garbage and I’m the only person in your life that is fucking up your world and I enjoy it.’”

Robreno said the transcript showed that Wider “used the word ‘fuck’ and variants thereof no less than 73 times.”

Curses! from the WSJ blog

Lawyer and Client Sanctioned Over Client’s Conduct, Use of ‘F Word’ During Deposition from Law.com

I was able to attend a presentation yesterday by Dr. Stan Humphries, VP of data & Analytics at Zillow, and the man behind their housing data. He gave a speech to the Real Estate Roundtable at the Rainier Club where he discussed US housing data in freakish detail.

Though this kind of information is not known to be rocket science, Stan is, indeed, some sort of rocket scientist, and brings a level of depth to the subject heretofore unplumbed by researchers.

I was the guest of Spencer Rascoff, previously known as CFO & VP of Marketing Zillow, but whose true claim-to-fame is that he’s the new (yes!) National Real Estate Examiner. (I’m merely the local “Seattle Real Estate Examiner” and can only look at his national platform with jealousy and awe.)

The presentation was at the Rainier Club, founded in 1888 as an exclusive private gentleman’s club. According to HistoryLink, no ladies were allowed at the time it was founded (nor anyone not of European ancestry nor Protestant religion.) But the now non-discriminatory club is currently a “vibrant, thriving institution whose membership comprises civic leaders of both sexes and all races.”

I’m organizing a luncheon there on September 18th, for the 10th anniversary of HistoryLink, the first and largest encyclopedia of community history created expressly for the Internet by Walt Crowley, Marie McCaffrey, Paul Dorpat, and various other historians and writers. If you are interested in local history, I urge you to sign up for their weekly emails or make a donation. It’s a great way to keep up on local history and current events, and then you’ll also be one of the first to find out about the luncheon as, when tickets go on sale, it’s sure to be a sell-out! You can sit at my table.

It’s free—no personal info or agent required
It’s comprehensive—listings, comps, stats, trends & advice
It’s easy—so you can make sense of it all

Why was it necessary to put “no….agent required”?

By far the best explanation I’ve heard of the Housing Mortage/Credit Crisis is — improbably — a podcast from the motherlode of story-telling on NPR, This American Life. This podcast is a bit different from their usual slice-o-life stories in that they try to explain something extremely complex and abstract — but in personal stories. The episode is called The Giant Pool of Money and it’s worth at least an hour of your time on your next commute. Hearing the agents all along the “chain” of events describe what they [were] thinking in their own words is about 100 times better than reading about it.

Link via Kevin Kelly

Scary real estate marketing tactics get plenty of attention in an election year.

I had written before about the Home Price Comparison Index compiled by Coldwell Banker Real Estate that allows one to approximate how much your home might cost in different areas around the U.S.

For instance, here in Seattle, $800K-900K might buy you a 100-year old house in a nice in-city neighborhood with 1800 sqft and 3-4 bedrooms and 2-3 baths and a 1-car garage on a 3000 sqft lot.

Just 50 miles South in Tacoma, with the same amount of money, you can buy a newer 4BR/4Bbth home with 5000 sqft and a 3-car garage. On 20 acres.

In Colossal Castle or Humble Home, Neha Grey finds similar examples of home values all around the world.

Being a Tiki fan, Aloha-aficionado and keeper of the flame at Seattle Tiki, I was excited to see Trader Vic Bergeron’s first home on the market. The listing notes that 965 Mendocino Avenue has been a landmark and focal point of North Berkeley since it was built in 1925. Trader Vic Bergeron and his wife Esther were the first owners, and the authentic Chinese roasting brick oven still stands in the backyard. Nothing else Tiki is left, however

Open House this Sunday.

Trader Vic’s Photo Tour

I think all of us have a story like this.

The House That Got Away by Sarah Jio and Gabi Campanario

Since Redfin has announced that they were including unlisted bank-owned property on their website, it’s raised a lot of questions about foreclosures, short sales and distressed property in Washington State.

The Distressed Property Law was passed during the 2008 Legislative session and signed into law by the Governor on March 30 for the purpose of protecting vulnerable property owners from scam artists who seek to steal the property owner’s equity.

An unintended consequence of the law has the potential for dramatically increasing the duties owed by a real estate agent to a distressed homeowner. The law defines the term “distressed home consultant” as anyone who helps or offers to help a distressed homeowner in a variety of ways. For example, if an agent offers to save the distressed home from foreclosure by selling the home prior to foreclosure, it is possible that the law will be interpreted to mean that agent is a distressed home consultant. If the seller is a distressed homeowner and a real estate agent contacts the short sale lender to obtain a reduced payoff or to delay a foreclosure sale, the real estate agent is a distressed home consultant. If the agent writes an offer on a distressed home and the transaction will close within 20 days of a foreclosure sale, buyer’s agent is a distressed home consultant, and the buyer is also a distressed home consultant.

There are many interesting dimensions to this new law, including the fact that if a property owner fits any of the definitions of a distressed homeowner, then the law protects them as a distressed homeowner even if they never communicate that fact to anyone and even if they do not realize themselves that they are a distressed homeowner.

Obviously, this is messed up.

How was this law passed without intervention?

The Washington Association of Realtors monitored the legislation as it was proposed by the Attorney General as the legislation progressed through the House and the Senate. Both WAR and the AG were satisfied that the Bill, as proposed and intended by the AG, did not include the adverse language now causing the problems. However, after the Bill was passed in one form by the House and in a slightly different form by the Senate, it moved into a process that occurs outside the arena where public comment or influence are allowed. It was at that stage that the adverse language was added and the Bill was immediately voted out of the Legislature without any opportunity for the AG or WAR to testify about the problem.

No one’s sure if this will be resolved before the new law changes on June 12th.

All of the listed distressed property in our area is listed on our MLS and supplied to brokerages in their regular feed, but Redfin has specifically decided to include UNLISTED Bank-Owned properties, and also continue to do limited short-sales that meet certain criteria.

From their website:

Redfin supports buyers pursuing some types of short-sale listings ……(however) in many cases, Redfin will not be able to represent you in a short sale. In the first quarter of 2008, we handled 65 short sales but only four were approved by the bank.

I wonder how much money those 61 lost sales cost their firm? Each one must have represented at least several hours of paperwork and negotiation. The nature of their business model would be inclined to attract bargain-hunters, low-ballers and others looking for “a deal”. If I made 65 offers on property with only 4 closings, I’d be really depressed. Not to mention, really poor.

Because of that, Redfin’s made very specific rules about how and when they’ll present an offer on a short-sale. However, even then, it’s a crap shoot if they’ll close or not and there might not even be enough of a commission to cover their minimum fee, as banks have been known to renegotiate the commission at closing.

I have to say that I don’t have much experience in short sales and after reading their statistics, doubt I’m going to make that the focus of my business anytime soon.

Our local news/entertainment magazine had a heartwarming story about Zillow and their “Make Me Move” feature. Some guy was able to sell his house for significantly more than it was worth. Capitol Hill Triangle seems to think it was poor form not to disclose that the seller was an ex-Zillow employee. And the new owner may be having buyers remorse, as it’s now on the market for $15K more than they paid for it. $15K won’t even cover closing costs in our state

Galen Ward is my new hero for publicizing the fact that Trulia blocks Google from following their links.

Ben Kakimoto discovers a competitor is conducting a deceptive Google Adwords campaign by buying Google Adwords with his name as the keyword search term as well as the title of the ads themselves.

The Seattle Times reports that the live-in manager of a fancy Queen Anne condominium building with multimillion-dollar views has been accused of stealing from her well-to-do neighbors.

Redfin announced that it was showing ALL the houses for sale, including FSBO’s and foreclosures. According to the site, Seattle, a city of over 500,000 people, has only 23 foreclosures. Either we have the smallest foreclosure rate in the nation or that site has a way to go before being complete. Plus, there seems to be some debate as to whether or not mixing up these listings on the same website with an MLS/IDX feed is even legal.

Evening Magazine video

Because of UnusualLife.com, I get frequent inquiries from television producers and magazine editors about unusual homes, and 3 of the houses I’ve written about were featured this week on Evening Magazine.

This castle house is located in Winthrop, WA in the Methow Valley.

The custom home is designed to look like a medieval castle, complete with moat and battlements.

A labor of love on over a acre, designed by Ken Cramer.

Another interesting home is this church and art gallery in Sultan, Washington, on HY 2 on the way up to Stevens Pass.

It features an art gallery, a frame shop, a beautiful atrium, studio and shop space, plus living area. This would be a great place to have a little espresso stand too, and is a great stop on your way over the Cascades.

Several years ago, the Hunter’s bought this old bank in Douglas County, in the town of Waterville. Mr. Hunter restored the bank to run his law firm and he lives there with his wife. They converted one of the vaults into their guest room.

An added plus is it’s cool in the summer and very quiet!

Unusual Homes for sale in the Pacific Northwest