All Forum Posts by: Hazel L

Sorry to hear about that, Jerry. I agree with Scott, the agents' goals are definitely different than yours. Among your profit and the agents' commissions, there isn't much negotiating room. Your best bet is finding your own leads, or if you have to use the mls, find recently expired properties that are overleveraged.

I've been doing research on this company recently in order to automate pre-qualifying my homeowner leads. They have examples of all their reports on their website, I've included a few here:

Home Price Analyzer http://pro.realquest.com/uploadedFiles/Web/18-RQHPA-0509-00%20screen.pdf
Valuation of distressed properties http://pro.realquest.com/uploadedFiles/Web/18-RQVP4D-0509-00%20screen.pdf
Detailed Comparable Report http://pro.realquest.com/uploadedFiles/Web/18-RQHPA-0509-00%20screen.pdf

Hope that helps, they supposedly use multiple valuation techniques and include confidence levels for each comp. Still checking them out, will let everyone know how it goes.

Hi Jason, great thread going on here. I've been using Google voice for almost a year now, just wanted to add that another great thing about Google Voice is that you can use multiple numbers for your signs and have them all forward to any phone so you don't have to be anchored to your office the whole day.

I agree with Jeff. If you were a homeowner struggling with payments, and you had the choice to not pay your mortgage for an indefinite period of time OR short sale and have to pay moving costs/deposit, which one would you choose?

Thanks for the links, Steve. I looked them over and wanted to add a point that wasn't mentioned--network or make some close realtor friends you can trust (or get your license) because not alot out there can compare to having the depth of information you can get on the MLS. I've found that craigslist ads only post the current price, and the ads with actual rented prices get taken down. I'm all for driving around, but then again you only get the current listed price, which is not necessarily the price renters will take.

A recent report pulled from the MLS (I like to use the last 6 months) lists the history of all the leased homes in a specific neighborhood, in addition to their pricing history and how many days on market. I find this is the most accurate and straight forward method for pinpointing a competitive rate and keeping vacancies low. Hope that helps!

I agree with hakchinoy, there are multiple security measures that must be taken into consideration by using your own site. You can read about the details here:

https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/pdfs/pci_ssc_quick_guide.pdf

Great discussion here, I'd like to add more specifics to the list:

1. Agent doesn't qualify the buyer well
2. Homeowner lacks education about how to pick/find an experienced negotiator and never asks how many short sales the agent has closed
3. Agent posing as "short sale expert" with no actual experience/short sale negotiating skills
4. Buyer's agents don't qualify a short sale listing agent, buyers not educated/informed about short sale process-->Buyer gets impatient and walks

I assume you mean consumer bankruptcy? I'd recommend Jeffrey Whitehead, his info is here:

http://www.superlawyers.com/illinois/lawyer/Jeffrey-Whitehead/4dc97165-c84e-499d-a77b-680ba960dcaa.html

This database has proven useful in my area, SuperLawyers has a rigorous process in which they select the top 5% of lawyers in a state. I use superlawyers locally for my business and clients, hope it proves useful to you.

I don't think it's a matter of specs.

There are at least 10 models out there that are much better--multitasking abilities, GPS, flash capabilities.

http://www.pukmedia.com/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1994:tablet-wars-the-12-biggest-ipad-competitors&catid=40ent&Itemid=396

As mentioned above, you can't multitask (something productive investors actually have to do) or even watch youtube on an ipad. Vincent, you are entitled to your opinion, but recognize we're basically comparing a pretty shiny tricycle to a car.

@workerdrone: Creative idea, but IMO the average agents will not get onboard (probably only the tech savvy ones will do it, and those are few and far between). Agents generally don't like their buyers being able to do their own research and god forbid, not rely on the agent's opinion. It's hard enough for them to refrain from cheesy, web 2.0 websites.