Things are heating up in the ole’ real estate industry.

Prudential Real Estate told Zillow and Trulia they were not welcome to exhibit or attend Prudential’s annual convention in San Diego this week. They told Trulia 20 minutes before the exhibition was to open to “leave”. Seems like the online world is scaring some of the big named brokerages who are used to doing things the old way.

I pretty much have recovered from trying the Microsoft Vista upgrade. I reformatted my computer, reinstalled Windows XP and all my other programs. One program I’ve had the most problems reinstalling is one that I use to do analysis of the MLS database but I resolved the installation problem with the vendor today, so I’m back in business!

The first report I just ran was to see how many Listing Agents were finding the Buyer and “double-ending” the transaction (represented both the Buyer and Seller). Out of the 422 single family homes sold on the Central Coast since January 1st, only 60 were represented by the same agent which is 14%. That means 86% of homes were sold by another Realtor.

The reason I wanted to see this percentage is the increasing practice by Listing Agents to not market complete information about a listing. This includes suppressing the street address when potential Buyers are searching listings on Realtor.com and sites like SloCountyHomes.com. Another example is empty flyer boxes.

Some Listing Agents believe that if they don’t include all the information, the potential Buyer will call them. Not only do they have a chance of “double-ending” the transaction and getting ALL the commission, but the belief is that if they get a potential Buyer to call them they can try to sell them another home if they don’t like (or qualify for) their listing. I’ve blogged before about how I would not want the same Realtor representing both sides in a high-dollar business transaction. I would want someone working 100% for me, not 50%! I would discuss this with the Listing Agent before you sign the contract and write in what you are comfortable with in the agreement.

One major problem with the “don’t give them all the info” thinking is that the Listing Agent’s contact info isn’t displayed on sites like SloCountyHomes.com (and all other Realtor sites too). So, either the potential Buyer will call another Realtor who most probably isn’t familiar with the other agent’s listing or they won’t call anyone and cross that home off their list. Either way, it’s not a plus for the homeowner who is trying to sell their home.

Empty flyer boxes are another matter. When I see an empty flyer box, the first thing I think is that the home may be off the market. According to the California Association of REALTORS, yard signs was the #3 way that Buyers found their homes (another Realtor and the Internet were #1 and #2). I think empty flyer boxes is really about laziness or counting every penny and not wanting to spend money on reprinting flyers and refilling the box. It’s amazing to me that an agent who makes $10,000 in commissions will work to spend as little as possible on marketing a listing. If you’re Listing Agent has left the flyer box empty for days and you can’t get them to refill it, I’d take a screwdriver and remove it from the yard sign.

With 86% of homes being sold by other Realtors other than the Listing Agent, do you want your home marketed to the 86%?? If so, don’t let Listing Agents use your home as a way to make them more money. Make sure they market YOUR home the best possible way!

Fast Facts from the California Association of REALTORS (CAR)

Calif. median home price – January 07: $559,640 (Source: C.A.R.)

Calif. highest median home price by C.A.R. region January 07: Santa Barbara So. Coast $1,150,000 (Source: C.A.R.)

Calif. lowest median home price by C.A.R. region January 07: High Desert $317,380 (Source: C.A.R.)

Calif. First-time Buyer Affordability Index – Fourth Quarter 06: 25 percent (Source: C.A.R.)

Mortgage rates – week ending 3/15:
30-yr. fixed: 6.14%; Fees/points: 0.4%
15-yr. fixed: 5.88%; Fees/points: 0.4%
1-yr. adjustable: 5.42%; Fees/points: 0.7%(Source: Freddie Mac)

Ryan’s Mortgage Blog:
I know I wrote about subprime mortgages about a month ago, but it has really affected more people than I anticipated, so I thought I would shed more light on the subject. I wanted to let you know how it may affect you.

A subprime mortgage is a term used to describe an elevated risk loan. These loans are made to borrowers who have bad credit, have shown problems making payments on-time, or have limited money for down payment. In the past these loans were hard to find and uncommon, but over the last 3 – 5 years they became more and more popular. Last year it was estimated that 20% of mortgages were subprime (the numbers are mixed depending who you talk to because people’s definition of subprime is different). One of my old financial text books states that only 4.5% of mortgages in 1994 were subprime. This is a huge difference. We are taking hundreds of billions of dollars here.

Lenders were making money off these loans by raising the rates on the loans compared to conforming loans. As you can see from watching any financial news channel, the subprime market is taking a huge hit. Many companies have gone out of business or losing money daily because of foreclosed homes. These “risky” borrowers weren’t such a good gamble after all.

So how does this affect you? Well, it could in many ways, especially if you are buying or selling Real Estate. When the market was hot not too long ago, people were able to buy and sell homes using subprime lenders. This allowed for a greater number of approved clients, which meant a greater number of people who could “afford” to buy a home. Now many of these options aren’t available because borrower requirements have gotten much stricter lately because of all these foreclosures. This means that if you are selling a home you may have fewer candidates who can afford (find a loan) to buy your home. On the other side of things, if you are a buyer with “subprime” credit your options are limited. So obviously this is another problem for the already hurting housing market.

The stock market is also affected by this since some of the companies/banks in the market have invested in these subprime mortgages over the years and are paying for it now. The consumer buying habits may decrease also, which can slightly affect some companies (it is a stretch). Homeowners have been known to refinance their house and take cash out (using equity) so they could buy things they couldn’t afford with their cash on hand. These rates were much better than using a credit card. Now, some of these same people may not be approved to refinance at the great deal they were before, or maybe not at all. I think you can see where I am going with this.

Right now rates are still good for “A” paper mortgages and you can still find a loan if you are subprime but be prepared for a lot of requirements, worse rates, or maybe having to find a co-signer.
If you have any mortgage related questions please call me at 805-540-0866, or email me at my personal address of RyanBaker500@gmail.com.

I ran new Just Sold Reports for the last 17 days. I also ran a Sold Report for Lots/Land for all properties since January 1, 2007. You can find the Just Sold Reports here.

The latest issue of “Where to Retire” magazine has an article of cities within a Wine Country. San Luis Obispo is one of the cities they spotlight.

I don’t know if the city of San Luis Obispo would be my #1 Central Coast city to retire in. I guess it’s what you are looking for in a city that counts. If you like the energy of a college town, then this is the place to be. When the Poly Canyon Village opens up, Cal Poly will raise their attendance by a few thousand. I think that will make the student population over 50% of the population of SLO.

But that’s what is great about the Central Coast. So many different cities to choose from!

According to the California Association of Realtors’s Internet Versus Traditional Buyer survey, 88 percent of home buyers rate pictures and slide shows as “extremely important” or “very important” in the home-viewing process.

My old Cal Poly roommate came to visit from Colorado so I took a couple days off for some non-stop fun! From ATV’ing on the dunes to disc golf at Sinsheimer Park in SLO, we did a lot. Only disappointing part was dinner at McLintock’s Saloon in downtown SLO on Friday night. The tri-tip that was supposed to be seasoned with black pepper was just burnt and tasted awful. It seems like I only go to McLintocks when someone from out of town visits but next time I think I’ll take them somewhere else.

On Saturday we went up to Santa Cruz. The Tubes happened to be playing at the Catalyst on Saturday night so we went there. Great show!

I spent Sunday visiting another college buddy who lives in Boulder Creek. Plenty of Open Houses going on in Boulder Creek these days…

The traffic on my website has really picked up this month. I just ran my web statistics program for the first 15 days of March and these are the Top 20 Countries who are visiting SloCountyHomes.com. I didn’t think this many people knew about our little treasure here on the Central Coast!

Time range: 2/28/2007 20:32:15 – 3/15/2007 22:34:31

Also, on the web browser front…Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 7.x use has increased a lot recently. Probably due to the new Windows Operating System release. Here’s the top 4 browsers being used by SloCountyHomes.com visitors this month, in case you’re interested.

Here is an example of photos used to market a listing. This is a currently available property. I have omitted the Listing Agent’s name from the following display.

Click to see listing photos

Make sure the photos used to market your home are a good representation of your home!

I have examples of “Before” and “After” Photos here.