All Forum Posts by: Neil G.

interesting claims; i wonder if by now these accusations have turned yet into a class action or some lawsuits?

http://www.inman.com/2015/04/10/whistleblower-alle...http://www.inman.com/2015/04/10/whistleblower-alle...

"An anonymous whistleblower is alleging that Zillow steals listing data from agent websites in order to compare it to data scraped from realtor.com and see where its own site is falling short.

In a letter to attorneys for realtor.com operator Move Inc., a presumed Zillow employee claims knowledge of illegal actions at Zillow and points Move to specific people, documents, keywords and locations to search for evidence of those actions.

The allegations support Move’s claims of misappropriation of trade secrets in a lawsuit filed a year ago against Zillow and one of its execs, Errol Samuelson, a former Move employee. Last month, Move accused Samuelson of tipping Zillow off to confidential information that allowed Zillow to acquire Trulia and therefore obtain an unfair competitive advantage.

In addition to claiming theft of agent and realtor.com listing data, the whistleblower letter (visible at the end of this story) alleges that:

• The Zillow sales team scrapes customer lists from realtor.com to target potential advertisers.
• Zillow is running secret programs called “LSS” and “LSSv2″ around listing quality.
• Samuelson was working while under a preliminary injunction, contrary to Zillow’s claims.
• Zillow exec Curt Beardsley stole multiple listing service contact, listing and other databases from Move (his former employer), keeps them in the cloud and uses them in his work at Zillow.

“This whistleblower letter raises extremely serious allegations about destruction of documents, theft and misuse of databases, violations of a court injunction and other illegal behavior. We hope that Zillow takes no steps to retaliate against the whistleblower, and that no further destruction of evidence in this case occurs,” said Move spokeswoman Lexie Puckett in an emailed statement.

“We find it especially troubling that confidential industry data and agent websites may have been illegally accessed and used by Zillow for its own purposes. That is a matter of great concern to our partners in the industry.”

What are my options? there seems to be  so many local boards for the area yet hardly any  (maybe 1 or 2?) actually based in the greater long beach area.

i took a quick look at PWR.net and some of their links are currently broken =/ but its the organization and their MLS access i'm interested in joining, not their website per say and well.. i'm always optimistic about supporting the little guys / startups rather than just going with the most popular which the masses flock to

let me know the good the bad of em out there? Thanks!

Building/reno materials market used to be reasonable/rational 10 years ago. Flash forward 10 years and most every building block of a home re/construction seems around TWICE the price it was just a decade ago. 

Average maintenance fee for just 1 condo alone in a huge Manhattan building i sold in recent years was and is around $5,000/month. As materials and services get more pricey, so does maintenance and repairs and sellers' expectations; who wants to buy a house for 400k spend 100k on needed repairs over the next few years then be expected to sell for the same 400k?

just remodelling a bath nowadays around here costs 25k easy. didnt use to be that way. so i 'blame' home depot and contractors (and wholesalers!); not so much developers or fix and sell flippers.

My mom assumed my deceased brother's VA loan with no closing costs.

I wouldnt assume if the total closing costs are over 1% the loan amount.

Thanks Carrie that article does list the 5 i've mentioned and Culver City as 6th highest LA county cities tax rate

off to get the TRA #s...

Sok sabai! If the listing agent is selling a property with tenants and warning that you will need to EVICT the tenants that is such a huge red flag.

My first questions would include:

Why is the owner selling it (if its not a foreclosure/REO)? Is this a regular, or distressed sale?!

How many units?

Why haven't the tenants been given notice to vacate by now? What sort of leases do they all have?

That said, I would be buying the building, not the tenants. Some investors like to purchase a rental property and consider keeping all/some of the tenants. Not me. My offers (and contract) always stipulate vacant upon close. 

There's been one property where a seller himself remained living in the property after close, and I had to use holdover/eviction in court not just a sheriff to get him out even though he just sold me the house.  Thats why I will never close unless on the morning of the close the building is evidently fully vacated and locked shut then we close and I rush over with the keys and change locks.

Good luck with your offers, investments and tenants!

what 10 or so LA cities would u say (or ur research/link/data shows) have the highest property tax rate in the county?

I would think the westside, bearing among the most 'affluent' cities would be home to the highest LA tax rates, with perhaps Los Angeles city itself being the highest (sadly including pacific palisades), followed by west hollywood, santa monica, beverly hills, malibu as the other top 4? 

what say u all and/or fellowcalifornian BPers?

i'd live in it another year thus not have to pay full capital gains tax when selling (2/recent 5 rule)

If so, in which states?

And if so, how does that not violate anti-trust laws clearly against monopolization?

Can't help but notice that like 99% of MLS providers' initials end in 'AR' for Association (of) Realtors®

i understand ethics requirements and good for the community and such, but arent even those intrinsic to state license issuer, not commercial brand?