You will never have to pay to be listed as a top neighbor. Period. That important detail clarified, let's discuss how we arrive at two "top neighbors" for a given region:
Localism is a bustling collection of hyper-local communities, and the top neighbors should reflect those members who are most active. When ranking users in a given region, several factors are considered. To get your foot in the proverbial door, you need to have posted at least one "Localism" article or photo for the region.
The very best way to quickly rise to #1 is to post high-quality local content. Keeping a steady strem of incoming posts and photos will massively tilt the scales in your favor.
What doesn't count toward the top neighbor ranking? ActiveRain points and community sponsorships. The top neighbor spots will always go to the most active members in a region. We want to create a level playing field that encourages the growth of communities — talent and dedication are required to win the day.
I had a closing last week. I love it when that happens. TLW can now go shopping and I can sit out by the pool, work on my tan and bask in the sweet feeling of victory while smoking a $10 cigar and sipping a Remy Martin!! OK maybe I'll pass on the cigar and the Remy. I wonder if TLW will pass on the shopping? I doubt it.
About 6 weeks ago I had a very nice lady from England contact me from my ActiveRain blogging efforts. Her property, a vacation rental, had been on the market for almost a year with another REALTOR® with no action and she really wanted to get it sold. Anyway, like the good little Broker that I am, I told her I would do a quick analysis on her property and call her back shortly.
My analysis showed that she was about 20% above market value and that the property was currently listed with another REALTOR®. I called her back and "pitched my wares" and told her what it would take to get her property sold. I also mentioned that since she was already listed I could not take the listing at this time but if things changed please let me know and I'd be happy to get her place sold.
She called me back the next day wanting to cancel her current listing and list with me. She then proceeded to tell me she had been trying to reach her REALTOR® for weeks to no avail.
Her current REALTOR® was someone I have known for years. I told the Seller not to worry about it that I would call her REALTOR® and see what I could do. So I did.
I told the REALTOR® that her Seller had contacted me(which she had) and that after speaking with her and giving her my opinion on what it would take to get her property sold she had decided that she wanted me to list her property. Then I asked the REALTOR® what the status of the listing was and when was it expiring. She told me.
Then I suggested to her that if she would cancel out the listing agreement, now, I would pay her a 25% referral fee and get this property sold promptly. She agreed.
I listed the property on December 5th and closed on it last week. The other REALTOR® was very excited when I called to let her know we closed today and that she will be getting a check on Monday. She then asked if I wanted another referral for one of her other listings that she is struggling with. I said OK.
Folks, I wrote this post to show you how to practice aggressive real estate within the boundaries of our Code of Ethics(CoE). While some may feel I over stepped my boundaries, according to our Code of Ethics, I did not. I also didn't do anything sneaky. I picked up the phone and called the other REALTOR® and simply had a conversation and made a suggestion that she wisely went for. I say wisely, because the way the property was priced it would have NEVER sold. The listing would have expired and the REALTOR® would have got squat.
Instead she was able to get a referral fee on it. The Seller was happy, I was happy and the other REALTOR® was happy. It was a win, win, win. Everything was above board and everything was ethical and legal.
Sometimes, we just have to take the initiative. It would have been very easy to just tell this lady I couldn't help her but I would have been lying. I could help her and I knew it. I also could have just told her to fire her REALTOR® and call me back BUT that would have been unethical. So I took the high road, made the call and everything worked out just fine.
Aggressive? Yes. But just like everything else it's all in the presentation. Now you know how to handle these situations when they come up. How did I do?
Are you facing foreclosure in Florida?
Do NOT be foreclosed on! Avoid foreclosure. Short Sales DO close.
Investment property. 4 bedroom 2 bath townhouse located in Kissimmee Poinciana Florida. This home has 2,234 sq ft of living area. It was purchased new in May of 2005 for $234,000. It Sold 12/28/2011 for $72,200. That's a decline in value of 70% in 6.5 years!
Liens:
1st Mortgage with Fifth Third Bank for $230,000
Hardship:
Loss of rental income. Reduction in value.
Summary:
I placed the property on the market 29 April for $75,000. Negotiated a cash deal at $72,200 on 19 May. It took until 18 December to get the approval from Fifth Third. Most of this time was negotiating promissory notes that were required form Fifth Third and the Mortgage Insurance Company. After almost 3 months of trying to make these go away the seller agreed to pay Fifth Third $15,000 over 15 years and the MI Company $23,000 over 15 years. After finally receiving the written approval on the 18th of December the buyer decided to walk!!!
Even though the Buyer and his agent had been updated weekly for 7 months he still walked. Anyway I placed it back on the market as an "approved" short sale and we found a Buyer the same day for $72,200. We scheduled the closing for 2 days later and this Buyer made it to the closing table before getting cold feet and walking.
So...I placed it back on the market and found another cash buyer on 22 December. We closed and funded on 28 December.
Tutas Towne Realty placed the property on the market 20 April 2011. The transaction closed on 28 December 2011. 243 days from listing to closing!!
Fifth Third Bank accepted $65,500 or .28 cents on the dollar for the 1st mortgage.
***The Seller received FULL WAIVER OF DEFICIENCY on an investment property. He did have to participate in the loss by signing two promissory notes.
This is something that has always bothered me. Have you ever noticed that no matter what news channel you turn on it’s always negative stuff? I can’t remember the last time I saw a news story about Habitat For Humanity helping a family in need. I sure haven’t seen any news stories about the Toys for Tots program that will give out thousands of toys this year. Why is that?
On to the focus of this post...why won’t the media report on the real estate recovery as passionately as they did about the recession? I believe the media as a whole damaged our country. They reported on everything negative there was to find that could raise their ratings and they piled on needlessly. Now the housing market is recovering and you don’t hear a peep. I think they owe it to the American public to help undue some of the damage they caused.
Poinciana, FL was one of the worst hit communities in America with thousands of foreclosures and market values falling almost 70% between 2006-2010. Over the last year home values have been stable and over the last 3 months home values have even begun to rise. But you wouldn’t know that if you left it up to the media to tell you.
So how about it media types? Do you have the balls to start reporting the truth for a change? We’d all love to hear what’s REALLY going on in the world for once....Here’s what we want...the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth!
A few months ago I had a buyer looking at homes in a 55+ community named Solivita in Kissimmee, FL. Solivita is a top notch community and there is some pretty stiff competition when trying to get an offer accepted. We saw quite a few homes and made a few offers that were not accepted. Well, we finally found “the one” and made an offer that was pretty generous. The buyers needed financing so their offer was not as competitive as it could have been and they knew that going in.
The home was being sold as a short sale and when we drew up the offer they decided to allow the sellers to accept back-up offers. During the time the 3rd party short sale negotiator (also a bad idea) was working with the seller’s lender a couple back-up offers were received by the sellers. One of them had no contingencies and was for $40k more than my buyers had offered. It was a damn good offer and very clean.
I wasn’t worried because...who in their right mind works for 4 months on trying to get short sale approval and then walks away from the current qualified buyers? Well this particular seller was not in their right mind apparently. When the contract was due to expire we sent over an addendum extending the short sale approval deadline. They wouldn’t sign it and canceled the contract. No one did anything wrong, unethical, or illegal. The deal just didn’t work out because the lender took too long giving approval and there was a better offer on the table.
The lesson I took from this situation is to advise buyers on a short sale not to allow sellers to accept back-up offers while we are under contract. Without the other offer I think the sellers would have just extended our contract and kept working at the lender. As it was, they had an offer that looked better to the lender and felt like they could gain short sale approval quicker with the offer executed.
This is funny because, if I’m the listing agent instead of the buyer’s agent, I would advise the sellers not to accept an offer unless they can take back-ups. However, I would not advise them to throw away a good qualified buyer’s contract. Either way I would advise whatever is in the best interest of my client.
This post is part of the ActiveRain contest“The one that got away - a contest for learning”. The point of this contest is to share our experiences with failure in the hopes that we can help someone else avoid the same failure by providing a lesson learned. As well as learn from everyone else’s experiences. On that note...I hope you learned something and have a great 2012!
It’s Friday afternoon and it’s almost quitting time. The work week is almost over. the stress is almost over. What do you do to relax? Do you remember when the last time you danced was? When was the last time you danced with the kids? You should try it, it’s really fun and no matter how bad you suck at dancing your kids still think you’re the best. Here, I’ll start....
The most attractive communities in Poincianna are Belle Laga and Solivita,
Solivita® is very easy to get to, and travel from, via Orlando International Airport, with direct service to more than 70 U.S. cities and dozens of international destinations. This 55+ retirement community is a very special place to visit. And it's all just 20 miles south of Walt Disney World!
The most attractive communities in Poincianna are Belle Laga and Solivita,
Solivita® is very easy to get to, and travel from, via Orlando International Airport, with direct service to more than 70 U.S. cities and dozens of international destinations. This 55+ retirement community is a very special place to visit. And it's all just 20 miles south of Walt Disney World!
ActiveRain Corp. is not responsible for the accuracy of the site's content (which is written by members of the ActiveRain Real Estate Network) and does not endorse the views of the real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and others listed here.
A few months ago I had a buyer looking at homes in a 55+ community named Solivita in Kissimmee, FL. Solivita is a top notch community and there is some pretty stiff competition when trying to get an offer accepted. We saw quite a few homes and made a few offers that were not accepted. Well, we finally found “the one” and made an offer that was pretty generous. The buyers needed financing so their offer was not as competitive as it could have been and they knew that going in. 
