Snark

Funny things in the MLS

Investors

Tagged as: ,

This is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in the Arizona Regional MLS in a long while. It’s in the Realtor-to-Realtor “private remarks” data field. Promise of response within 12 hours with a full price non-contingent offer. Okayfine…   How random. Am I supposed to think that’s a good thing? Cranky me, I feel like [...]

18 February 2011 Read the full article →

Did the homebuyer tax credit cause false buyer demand?

In The News

Tagged as: ,

There are some talking heads claiming that the federal $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit caused a lot of fake demand for houses earlier this year and the sharp drop in July home sales was because the tax credit ended. It’s important to distinquish the difference between false demand and pushed-forward demand. The tax credit [...]

4 September 2010 Read the full article →

“Amare” for the home team

Op Ed

Tagged as:

Professional sports ain’t what they used to be, what with free agency and all.. You want to get behind the home teams, and you want to love the home players, but those players seem to come & go every year.  So I root for the teams, and when I have to buy something player-specific (like [...]

30 August 2010 Read the full article →

Sometimes it’s just too much

Lifestyle

Tagged as: ,

This was taken with my Blackberry, so the color tone is ‘off’. I didn’t capture the whole closet because I was trying to avoid showing anything personally identifying (it’s not my kid, or even my clients’ kid, and the house is currently for sale). Nevertheless… I saw this in a home I was showing last [...]

29 August 2010 Read the full article →

New house, same old lot

Lifestyle

Tagged as:

Sometimes making the most of the livable space available isn’t quite as important as not pissing off the neighbors. – real estate wisdom by Heather (picture credit, Dwell.com’s “Houses We Love” contest. NOTE that the caption is mine, not theirs! Three of the finalist homes are in Arizona, and were designed by merzproject. Voting continues [...]

16 June 2010 Read the full article →

More Bad MLS Photos

General Musings

Tagged as: ,

Wow! You mean that stuff on the counter comes with the house? Cool! Heather Barr is a Realtor and a happy workaholic. She eats more than someone her size ought to be able, and is a runner as a consequence. Her TiVo’s full of spy thrillers, police procedurals and Whedonesque sci-fi.

18 March 2010 Read the full article →

Lenders Behaving Madly

Buyer Help

Tagged as: , ,

An illustration of just how ridiculous lender requirements have become, direct from an email written by a loan officer and sent to loan specialist Rob Chrisman: “Rob – The following is an actual underwriting condition from a large wholesale lender which is known for having the best wholesale pricing for conforming loans. (As background, the [...]

27 February 2010 Read the full article →

Where has modesty gone?

Op Ed

Tagged as:

Haven’t we crossed the line in the whole “any publicity is good publicity” thing? Seems like every email I receive (from a salesperson), every radio ad I hear, and every website I read all claim to be “the best”, loudly and repeatedly.  I’m tired of it – more than that, I’m sick of it.  If [...]

11 February 2010 Read the full article →

Fix and Flippers, Bustin’ Your Chops Again

Op Ed

Tagged as: ,

Alright folks. I’m going to rag on fix and flippers again. I can’t help it; they leave themselves wide open. Investors! Listen up! When you buy a home at foreclosure auction, it’s going to need some work. Paint and carpet might not be all the house needs to make it livable. Case in point (these [...]

22 January 2010 Read the full article →

The Sleazy Side of the Business

Op Ed

Tagged as:

It’s not hard to figure out why real estate agents have a bad reputation as a whole. I saw this ad on FaceBook a couple days ago: (note – the ad is directed towards Realtors, not consumers.) Wait..  What?!  You advertise one thing but do something completely different??  I don’t get it. First of all, [...]

18 January 2010 Read the full article →

More MLS Funnies

Op Ed

Tagged as:

Bathrooms are beautiful with tile, and cabinets. Golly. I’m glad the bathrooms have cabinets. You can’t always count on that. . New double payne windows. . . Did you mean pane? Or maybe pain, like I have to install them myself? . Oh those Internets! Such an endless source of entertainment for someone like me [...]

10 January 2010 Read the full article →

← Previous Entries