All Forum Posts by: Matt Shields

First I'm not an attorney, fair housing violation lawsuits are expensive, and I could just be a guy on the internet spouting nonsense, so please seek professional advice. 

Emotional support animals are the biggest scam going right now and tenants have figured out that they can get around pet policies by claiming any pet is a support animal. The tenant must provide a letter/certificate from a doctor and you then must accept the animal as a support animal. There are websites selling support animal "certificates" and vests that are not prescribed by a doctor and legally not acceptable, BUT there are now websites with doctors selling service animal "certificates" and they are probably legally legitimate. The government created this mess of the abuse of emotional support animals and needs to do something to correct it. Good luck.

Emotional Support Camel

BTW ADA and Fair Housing laws are different. Fair housing allows for emotional support animals of any type. Have you met my emotional support gorilla? 

Are there any agents who have used Zillow's Premier Agent advertising? What were your results?

 Yes very similar to Open Door and Offer Pad except they control real estate information, Zillow now has three times the traffic of Realtor.com. They are the Google of real estate, and information gives you power. I don't see them at the auctions, but I think they will suck up most of everything else eventually. 

I just received my first "Owned by Zillow" advertisement. Interesting that it is listed more than the Zestimate.

I agree with those who point out that flipping is cyclical and you can find deals in any market, but is it worth the risk to work your tail off to find a couple of flips a year that only net $30,000? I think the paradigm shift that is going to occur in the flipping market will be the corporate flippers, especially Zillow. While Zillow may have larger overhead than small flippers, they don't need to be profitable for every deal, they had revenues of 1.1 billion dollars last year. From a distressed sellers perspective, why would they sell to a small unknown flipper when they can click on a Zillow "Instant Offer" and receive more money? I love flipping and hope I'm wrong, but as that annoying saying goes, it is what it is.

@Kellen King I spoke with some of the proxy bidders and they told me that many of the current auction buyers are end users. I still don't understand why someone would pay retail for a trustee auction property with no title insurance or inspection. When purchasing at a substantial discount the risk is worth the reward, but now there is no reward, only risk.

A gift is nice, but the best gift is referring your agent to other people. You could also send him a letter of recommendation, and leave positive reviews on internet sites. If you really want to win an agent's loyalty compensate him something for his time, you can't put a gift in your gas tank!