Here it is very early in the  morning on Labor Day 2009.  I have been up for a couple of hours reading entries to this week’s carnival of real estate, and I am doing my best to be really happy about that!  But then, we all know that Realtors rarely take a day off.

Since Labor Day is the “workers” holiday, it is fitting that the posts that I have selected from this week’s 25+ carnival submissions are posts that were written “for the people,” not just for industry insiders.  This is my third time hosting the CORE and I have to say the submissions have changed considerably over the last three years.  There were quite a few “sploggy” entries, and I saw a LOT of Google adwords ads this morning as I visited the entries.

Without further ado, I give you the two runners up:

Here in Metro Detroit, we see lots of first time buyers out there in the market. Hopefully by now they all know that time is running short to qualify for the $8k first time buyers tax credit. For those still on the fence, Alison Paoli presents $8,000 First-time Homebuyer Tax Credit Ends Soon — Better Get Moving! posted at Zillow Blog – Real Estate Market Stats, Celebrity Real Estate, and Zillow News.

I also liked When Saying Goodbye to $1030 is a Good Idea posted at My Dollar Plan. Madison is a consumer who extols the value of the home inspection. She feels her investment of $1,030 in a house she does not own was well worth it. Madison bought the house after renegotiating with the seller to get some inspection issues resolved prior to her purchase. Of course, Madison’s tale could have had many other endings.

This week’s winner of the Carnival of Real Estate is Heidi Tiefenthaler who submitted The New Lending Regulations or The Boy Who Cried HERA posted at Central Station – The Hub for Real Estate News. I had a closing that was scheduled for last Friday that had to be rescheduled for next Thursday because of a lender’s conservative interpretation of these new lending regulations. It is causing major inconvenience for the buyer, as well as significant expense. Buyers and sellers need to be very aware of the potential impact of this legislation and plan accordingly. Simultaneous closings may become riskier to schedule, amongst other considerations.

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to all who submitted entries.

Photo credit www.redavantgarde.com

Written by Maureen Francis
SKBK Sotheby's International Realty, 248.430.4450
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I am so excited to see Marianne Sweet’s post as a final winner. Check out all the winners on Real Estate Undressed.

Thanks for all your great posts, Marianne! Of course, your work as a stager is what I appreciate most of all.

Written by Maureen Francis
SKBK Sotheby's International Realty, 248.430.4450
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Search for homes in Oakland County

Written by Maureen Francis
SKBK Sotheby's International Realty, 248.430.4450
Visit Website
Search for homes in Oakland County

For those of you readers who are interested in Metro Detroit Real Estate, yet you find yourself landing on this curious post, the carnival of real estate is essentially a round up of some of the best posts in the vast and ever growing land of real estate blogging from the previous week, as determined (this week) by me. Actually, in the year since I last hosted, real estate blogging really has exploded, and there are now thousands of real estate blogs one could read. But if you are interested in Metro Detroit real estate, of course, you need not look any farther I don’t know if carnival hosts are allowed to use emoticons in carnival posts, so forgive me if I wasn’t supposed to do that.

Like last time, there were lots of interesting submissions.  There were a few more than I have mentioned here that I really thought stood out, but this week I wanted to distill it down to four posts.   Thank you for the good submissions.  On the other hand, quite a few not so interesting, like the one that said “we already link to you, please link us now.”  Folks, this carnival is actually not an orgy of link love.

I hear the engines revving up on Woodward Avenue, so its time for me to get started with this week’s road rally.

The Edsel Award

It had so much potential. And it probably is not fair to compare this post with the most spectacular failure in automotive history because actually the post is interesting, and I was excited about it until one little sentence turned me away.

Future carnival entrants, take this advice to heart: its pretty important not to slam the Carnival host’s stomping ground when you submit, especially if your knowledge of economics seems a little off.

I was excited to see that Detroit topped Zillow’s affordability survey, but then Zillowblog went on to say:

It might come as a surprise that Detroit is high on the list. This probably arises from a combination of factors. First, home prices are very low, so mortgage payments are low as well. The other factor is that Detroit’s high unemployment rate can make the average household income look higher.

OK, correct me if I am wrong, but wouldn’t a high unemployment rate make average household income look lower? I mean, last I checked, unemployed people don’t make much usually, right? Bottom-line, Detroit has been near the top of such lists for a long time. Our cost of living has been relatively low and wages here were/are high.

Now lets motor on to some happier territory.

The Chevy Award

Think baseball, apple pie and Chevrolet. This one goes to Larry Cragun, for his piece “God Bless America and Title Insurance.” We’ve all had sellers and buyers grumble about having to pay for expensive and seemingly useless title insurance at closing. Afterall, how many times do you actually hear about someone filing a title claim? Not too often. Larry’s piece points out that when you need it, you might REALLY need it.

The Corvette Award

Mike Simonsen from Altos Research offers up an interesting piece on hedging real estate risk using MacroShares. At first blush, this sort of investing sounds a bit complex for the average investor, but
the day could come when we are all holding MacroShares in our SEPs and IRAs. Warning: do not take financial advice from me!

The Lincoln Town Car Award

Dan Melson at Searchlight Crusade is so consistently good. This week he writes about why he is hearing about more and more deals not make it to close. I feel fortunate that it hasn’t happened to me, but his statistic of 50% of escrows failing to close in San Diego County is more than sobering.

2008 Malibu Award

The Malibu is the Car of the Year for 2008 and I am going in a completely different direction than I normally would with this week’s top winner. Lauren Mitchell may be the first blogger to ever win the Carnival with a market report. Frankly, I have been writing market reports for 3+ years now and I almost always find them painful to execute. Lauren made reading about Toronto’s market interesting and entertaining. I write about local things and I am happy to have someone who is “keepin’ it local” take the top carnival award.

Well, folks, that’s your automotive update. Thanks for cruising by. Be sure to visit next week’s carnival of real estate on Renthusiast.

Big thanks to Drew Meyers from Zillow for keeping the carnival running so smoothly for all these months!

Written by Maureen Francis
SKBK Sotheby's International Realty, 248.430.4450
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Search for homes in Oakland County

Other times I forget to turn the thing on at all. So people send me messages through it, hoping for a response. Unfortunately, most of them forget that I don’t know how to contact them unless they leave me a phone number or email address.

Other times, I am actually at the computer, but in the middle of doing something else. In order to help YOU more efficiently, and quickly, I might ask you to pick up the phone and call me. Don’t construe that as a “high pressure sales technique.” I am about as far as you can get from a high pressure sales person. If you decide that I can help you, super. Let’s talk. If not, that’s cool too. Sometimes I just can’t sit in front of the screen for 20 minutes typing back and forth trying to figure out what you need. Most of the time, the same thing can be dealt with in a 4 minute call. Don’t worry, I won’t call you again unless you ask me to.

I look forward to our next “chat.”

Written by Maureen Francis
SKBK Sotheby's International Realty, 248.430.4450
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2 hours later one of my ActiveRain friends let me know my Point2 site wasn’t working. Then a couple of agents spoke up on Twitter and said they were having issues too. Then an agent from Max Broock responded to my Facebook message about “interruptions in service”. This all took place within about 7 minutes. People are reading and following social networks.

Walt, could you please ask Point2Agent to put a recorded message on their phone when their servers are down, so that we don’t have to wait on hold to find out something that is widespread? Please? Or you could ask Point2 to Twitter us.

Written by Maureen Francis
SKBK Sotheby's International Realty, 248.430.4450
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..Mine isn’t but it was until yesterday.
I attended Professional Standards/Code of Ethics Training this week provided by the Michigan Association of Realtors. Our trainer, Bruce Aydt, went over changes in the COE, and this is one that actually was put in January of 2007, yet is not at all well known.

Standard of Practice 12-9

REALTOR^® firm websites shall disclose the firm’s name and state(s) of licensure in a reasonable and readily apparent manner.

Websites of Realtors^® and non-member licensees affiliated with a Realtor^® firm shall disclose the firm’s name and that Realtor^®‘s or non-member licensee’s state(s) of licensure in a reasonable and readily apparent manner. (Adopted 1/07)

Blogs are, of course, websites. Your blog probably does suggest a market that you work in, but, in my opinion, it does not comply with this COE unless you specifically put something on it that says the state of licensure and firm’s name.I will be adding these items to my sidebar now. miOaklandCounty.com is compliant. How about your blog?

Photo provided by Hawaii

Written by Maureen Francis
SKBK Sotheby's International Realty, 248.430.4450
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Search for homes in Oakland County

In the course of our family crisis, many people stepped forward and offered to do things for me. People brought us homemade dinner every night for months. A friend wrapped Katya’s Christmas gifts. People brought her ‘thinking of you’ presents long after Christmas. Bloggers from around the country offered to send posts, though I didn’t even have the energy to post other people’s work, so I did not accept the generous overtures from all who offered, though I did appreciate it.

I’ve known for a long time the the RE blogging community is a generous family. In my time of crisis, an idea came to me, and I need the help of others to see it made a reality. I would like to set up a site/wiki/list/group for bloggers in need and those who would like to help. In my mind I am calling it The Gift of a Blog, but brainstorming is welcome. Perhaps I should set up a Facebook Group for ideas? What I have in mind is a place where bloggers with a personal problem that is impacting their ability to keep up with posting could mention their need without having to go into much detail on their own blog. Members of the community who would like to join can offer to provide guest posts. Clearly, they will be some kind of generic-ish content.

So, if you are an RE blogger and you would like to help, either as a writer, “board member,” brainstormer, etc. leave me a comment and we will get started.

Written by Maureen Francis
SKBK Sotheby's International Realty, 248.430.4450
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Larry Cragun has just launched the Neighborhoods Undressed blogging platform for Realtors. Coaching to be provided by Teresa Boardman. I think we have uncovered a great clothing optional Realtor client for him.

Good luck Larry and Kathleen.

We now return to our local programming. Clothing mandatory.

Photo by Mafleen

Written by Maureen Francis
SKBK Sotheby's International Realty, 248.430.4450
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Search for homes in Oakland County

We appreciate your nomination, Lar! Thanks.

Written by Maureen Francis
SKBK Sotheby's International Realty, 248.430.4450
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Search for homes in Oakland County

Kate is a sophisticated buyer. She is scouring listings, knows prices per square foot better than I do, and seems to be reading lots of sites and blogs looking for more information. In one of her recent posts she picked on me and my recent Staging Your Refrigerator blog as she thought that was rather trivial advice for a seller in Michigan’s challenging real estate market.

IF that were all I had to say on how to sell a Michigan home right now, I would agree. But I have a large archive of information written especially for the Michigan home seller, and I have some of my better advice (in my not so humble opinion) stashed away in Dear Mr and Mrs Seller. Kate did not have a chance to delve deeper into my blog to see those things, which is OK.

I’ve rather enjoyed reading Kate’s blog, particularly because I learn something by hearing a consumer’s perspective on this industry. Kate dissects MLS listings, and when the listing agent does a down right cruddy job at presenting a home, Kate is quick to point it out. Rightfully so. I’ve wished that I could do that with listings I run across here, but I don’t think that would go over so well from a fellow Realtor. Yet agents seem to know that Kate has highlighted them, and it seems that they go and update their listings after Kate’s not so gentle prod. Not that Kate should even have to prod these professionals…

So, go take a look at Kate’s Fifth of May Blog and be glad you are not living her search for a home. Kate, it is MUCH easier to be a home buyer in Michigan right now. I could offer you LOTS of great choices in your price range. As a bonus updated kitchens here do not have 6″ ceramic tile countertops in the $800K range.

Written by Maureen Francis
SKBK Sotheby's International Realty, 248.430.4450
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Search for homes in Oakland County

Blog Tour USA

Actually, it was Birmingham’s annual Day on the Town, a big sidewalk sale with live entertainment, and it was a nice backdrop for the Sellsius visit. I kept trying to say that all the hoopla was because Birmingham was just sooooo into blogging, but I could not keep a straight face. Here is my rundown on the day…

Rudy called me a few minutes before our designated meeting time to say that they were just outside of town and would be there shortly. I ended up a few cars behind them, just down the street from my office, and watched with astonishment as they turned the bus in exactly the wrong direction from where they needed to go. Their GPS had sent them on a very circuitous route to a destination that was only one left turn away. Anywho, I managed to flag them down and they followed me into the SKBK Sotheby’s parking lot, where we were met by Missy Caulk and Todd Waller, who both drove in from Ann Arbor. I had begged Black Tie Todd to don his tux, and he was a good sport and threw the top half on over jeans after a full morning out showing homes. Todd’s not shy, and I suspect he had planned on wearing it anyway.

I had never met Todd, Missy, Joe or Rudy before, but after knowing them all for at least a year on line through their blogs or other e-groups, it felt like a reunion of old friends. That was nice.

After standing around in the parking lot for a while taking pictures (I think I had more photos taken of me yesterday than I have on any day other than my wedding), we went in my office and Joe and Rudy pulled out the BloggerazziTV.com cam and began filming us for their documentary of their trip. The questions were mostly about blogging and the technologies we use as Realtors. All three of us gave big plugs for vFlyer.com and a few other products. As we are in relatively similar markets, it was interesting to hear things that are and are not working for Todd and Missy.

We had a quick tour of the bus, and got some of the literature for the tour sponsors. I expected to see more beer bottles in the refrigerator. The stove is currently being used as the literature rack, and it does not look like any actual meals are being eaten in the camper. Joe, out of respect for his wife, makes his bed when there is company coming. Or maybe he makes it every day.

After a trip over the the local coney island (that is what we call diners here in Detroit) Rudy and Joe decided it was time to go out and do some man on the street interviews with the Bloggerazzi cam and that was a hoot. Missy is ready for her own network show. She is adept with the microphone. There were some good ‘takeaways’ for me from the interviews and a possible new client for both me and Missy. Observations:

• Most people did not read blogs
• Nobody had heard of real estate blogs and they did not know that Realtors write blogs
• Facebook was the social network of choice from those on the streets of Birmingham. We did not run into any myspace fans.
• Other people don’t spend as much time on line as we bloggers do!
• One guy actually did not have a computer. His wife said this was a good thing because they never have to worry about viruses or worms. He does not have a cell phone either. I was kind of jealous.
• You can get free stuff if you have a microphone and a videocamera. Rudy and Joe walked out of the new soup restaurant with TShirts after chatting with the owner. Maybe you have to be nice too, which they are.

I have to say, I could see some great applications for doing some mini interviews with local merchants, restaurateurs and such in my blogging. I hate the idea of being on camera myself, but the content for the blog could be great.

A huge thanks to Rudy and Joe for honoring Michigan with a visit. We REALLY appreciated it. 5 hours flew by quickly and it was great to meet in a small group and share ideas. Another big thanks to the sponsors, like Inman News, who made this trip a possibility. For many of us, this is the first step to “Bloggers Connect” and I have the feeling that you will see more of us at a future Bloggers Connect because Joe and Rudy stopped by this year to visit us.

Written by Maureen Francis
SKBK Sotheby's International Realty, 248.430.4450
Visit Website
Search for homes in Oakland County