So Realtor magazine is confirming today what I already knew -- open houses are not particularly helpful in selling a house. In today's Daily News, they're reporting that while 80% of home buyers use the internet to search for homes, only 42% even visited a single open house in the past year. They didn't give the percentage of those buyers who wound up buying the open house they visited, but I suspect that number is very, very small. When I was going ... Read More

They say all real estate is local. And it's really true. Forbes magazine recently did an analysis of estimated 2008 housing inventory, sales rates and turnovers to determine where there is most likely to be an increase in sales in the near future. Guess what city came in at #5? The article, called Best Places for Real Estate Deals, said that a pure "buyer's market" is one where there are far more sellers than buyers. That creates a drop in demand, which ... Read More

Before I was a Realtor, I was a "realtor-wannabe." I was always the one volunteering to help friends (and sometimes total strangers) look for a new home. When somebody new moved into town, I was the "chamber of commerce" -- giving them tours, showing them neighborhoods, talking through their housing options. I loved doing that, and it's one of the reasons I hung up my "amateur" standing and became a professional Realtor. But one time I took it too far. ... Read More

A while back, a real estate agent's flyer showed up in my mailbox. In it, Mr. Agent announced that he would pay $300 to anyone who referred a client to him. Three hundred bucks. That's a lot of money -- enough to make anybody want to start combing through their mental Rolodex to find this guy a prospect or two. It's a pretty good deal for Mr. Agent, too. After all, $300 really isn't a lot of money to ... Read More