Sales Market

As Sales Slow, Rules of Real Estate Evolve
REALTOR Magazine Online

(March 28, 2006) -- Rising mortgage rates, a surge in housing inventory, and slower home sales in some areas are changing the ways in which buyers and sellers approach the housing market.

Real estate practitioners are placing a great deal of emphasis on pricing, with buyers who use the Web to conduct home searches steering clear of properties that appear to be overpriced.

Westport, Conn.-based practitioner David D'Ausilio of RE/MAX Heritage is encouraging sellers to price their homes in the bottom 25 percent of comparable dwellings and shave 3-5 percent off the asking price after three weeks if interest is tepid.

Sellers also are urged to undertake repairs to attract buyers at a time when they have plenty of homes to choose from and plenty of time to make purchase decisions.

Meanwhile, first-time buyers are encouraged to stay within their budgets because slower home-price appreciation means that there will not be a great deal of equity to bail them out in the event of a financial crisis.

Move-up buyers, by the same token, are being told to avoid offers that are contingent on the sale of their current residence if they want to secure a better price; and investors who do not want to aggressively compete with other new units for sale are being advised to rent or turn to stagers to make their properties more attractive. The housing slowdown also is impacting relocaters, as a growing number of employers require that homes be priced close to the appraised value to achieve a quick sale. Additionally, many companies are instituting "loss on sale" programs to compensate workers who get less than their asking prices.

Source: Wall Street Journal, Ruth Simon (03/28/06)

© Copyright 2006 Information Inc.

Investing

Housing Counsel: Investor Rules of "Pigs" and "Pals"
Realty Times
by Benny L. Kass


Question: I own a small rental building (4 units), and am trying to understand the tax rules so that I can prepare my tax return. I would prefer to use one of the tax services on the internet, rather than pay for an accountant. Can you provide me with the basics?

Answer: Yes, but I still recommend that you retain a professional CPA to assist you. While many of the internet services are adequate, there still is nothing better than having a real live person to talk to -- and to hold accountable should mistakes be made. And besides, the accountant's fee is tax deductible.

There are a lot of people in the Washington metropolitan area who own investment real estate, and this includes single family homes, condominium and cooperative apartments as well as large office complexes and shopping centers.

Many people are investors by choice; they believe that real estate is a good investment. Many people are investors by default; they could not sell their family home when leaving this area, and decided to become a landlord instead.

Before Congress dramatically changed the tax laws in 1986, real estate investment was usually considered a "profit making activity." You could purchase rental property, obtain favorable mortgage financing, and receive rental income. These would often generate large "paper losses" which translated into large tax shelters.

For example, if you bought a piece of property for $200,000.00, and the land value was assessed at $95,000.00, the depreciable basis for the building was $105,000.00. Land cannot be depreciated for tax purposes. The tax laws then on the books allowed you to take accelerated depreciation, and take a large paper loss each year.

Indeed, if you decided to elect straight line depreciation, depending on what year you were in, you might have the option to depreciate the property on a basis of 18 or 19 years. Assuming that you took an 18 year basis, you could take a paper loss of $5,833 each year from your tax return ($105,000.00 divided by 18).

In addition to deducting your actual out of pocket expenses -- such as mortgage interest payments, real estate taxes, leasing commissions, advertising and repairs -- from rental income, the law also allowed you to take a paper loss called depreciation.

Congress and the Reagan administration were concerned about the growth of the tax shelter industry. Often, promoters and speculators would buy property that would not necessarily be a good investment, but would generate a significant tax write-off each and every year. These write-offs were called "tax shelters."

When Congress enacted the Tax Reform Act of 1986, it created a new concept called "passive activities." Although the primary focus of passive activity was to curtail tax shelter abuse, the net result was a dramatic impact on the average real estate investor.

Passive activity regulations are complex. Here is a very brief summary of passive activities as they relate to real estate transactions. In August of 1993, Congress modified the law for professional real estate investors.

For all practical purposes, most investment real estate transactions fall into the category of "passive activity." Oversimplified, this means that real estate losses may only be used to offset income from other real estate activities.

Prior to the 1986 Tax Reform Act, you were able to deduct your real estate losses from other income sources, such as wages and stock dividends. However, beginning 1987, this situation -- and the law -- changed.

To simplify this complex law, let us pretend that you have two buckets. One bucket is labeled "passive income generators (PIGs)" and the other bucket is labeled "passive activity losses (PALs)."

If you are involved in a real estate investment activity, all of your losses are put in the PAL bucket, and all of your gains are put in the PIG bucket. One of the primary objectives of any real estate investor is to make a lot of profit while at the same time not having to pay tax on that income.

Under the Tax Reform Act of 1986, real estate gains in the PIG bucket can only be offset by real estate losses in the PAL bucket.

There are provisions, however, for carrying forward the losses. This is referred to as "net operating loss" (NOL). You can carry forward these losses indefinitely and can use them as deductions against passive income in later years. Unused losses are allowed in full when the taxpayer disposes of the entire interest in the real estate.

There are two major exclusions from these passive activity rules:


Under certain circumstances, a taxpayer may be able to deduct up to $25,000.00 of passive rental losses from other (non-passive) activities. This special rule is known as the "$25,000.00 exemption."
To qualify for this exemption, the taxpayer must "actively participate" in the rental activity. To be an active participant, this requires "bona fide" participation by the owner of the property, such as making management decisions, approving new tenants, approving repairs or writing checks.

However, the $25,000.00 exemption is applicable only to taxpayers whose adjusted gross income (AGI) in any taxable year is $100,000.00 or less. Where the taxpayer's AGI exceeds $100,000.00, the $25,000.00 maximum amount is phased out; the $25,000 is reduced by 50 percent of the amount by which the individual's adjusted gross income exceeds $100,000.00. In other words, if the taxpayer's AGI exceeds $150,000.00, passive losses cannot be used to offset other income.

For married taxpayers who file separate returns and live apart, up to $12,500.00 of passive losses may be used to offset income, again with the same phasing out rules.


In August of 1993, Congress reacted to the strong -- and vocal -- concerns from the real estate industry, and partially liberalized these rules in the Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1993. Now, if a taxpayer materially participates in real estate activities, he or she will be allowed to offset any losses incurred against non-passive (non-real estate) income, regardless of the AGI.
There are two important tests to determine whether the taxpayer is eligible for these liberalized rules. First, more than 50 percent of the taxpayer's personal services during the tax year must be performed in real property trades or business. This is referred to as the "material participation" test. Second, the taxpayer must spend more than 750 hours during the tax year actively working on these real estate businesses. And the IRS has made it clear that the taxpayer cannot combine rental and non-rental activities to satisfy the test of material participation.

However, most investors will probably still fall under the 1986 passive activity rules. You should obtain a copy of IRS Form 8582 entitled "Passive Activity Loss Limitations," which must be filed with your tax return if you claim a loss from real estate activities.

You should also obtain a copy of IRS Publication 527, entitled "Residential Rental Property." This is available on the web (irs.gov; click on "More Forms and Publications.") You can also order it from the IRS by calling (800) 829-3676.

The laws relating to investor real estate are complex; a proper understanding of these passive activity rules may provide the taxpayer some tax savings, but you are must discuss your individual situation with your own tax advisor.

Published: March 27, 2006

Home Sellers Information

5 Tough Questions for Sellers
Realtor Magazine Online

(March 24, 2006) -- Selling a home is getting more difficult these days and sellers are going to be asked some difficult questions that buyers in tighter markets may not have had the time or inclination to ask.

Here are five questions a seller should think about and be able to answer — just in case they are asked.

1. Why are you selling this lovely home?
The buyer wants to know just how desperate the seller is. Desperation equals a lower offer, so answer carefully.

2. How much did the seller pay for this house?
The amount is a matter of public record and a real estate professional can find it easily. One answer a seller might consider is some variation of this: "I got a bargain purchase price when this was a run-down shack before I renovated it so my purchase price is irrelevant to today's market value."

3. What defects does the home have and have there been any recent professional home inspections?
It’s a good idea for the seller to have a home inspection before the home is put on the market, so any defects can be repaired or, at least, potential buyers can be told about them before they make an offer.

4. What problems have you had with this home?
In most states, court decisions and statutes do not require home sellers to reveal past problems that have been corrected.

5. What is the quality of the public schools?
Even buyers who don’t have children can be concerned about this and a seller should know the answer.

Source: Inman News, Robert Bruss (3/24/06)

Home Inspections

Home Inspections: Varied Perceptions
by Al Heavens
Realty Times

In a slower market, buyers aren't willing to throw caution to the wind, and are less willing to buy houses with problems.

Buyers are less willing to fix problems after they buy

In most areas of the country, the winter hasn't been as bad as it was last year, which reduces the amount of cleaning up you'll need to do before the summer heat propels you poolside.

Whatever has fallen or peeled since the last warm day of autumn needs to be picked up or repaired before then, and certainly before the house goes on the market. That means sooner, not later, because with a slowing real estate market in many regions, the first house on the block for sale has a leg up on the competition.

Before I mix more metaphors, let's just say that when you do get a house ready for sale, you can miss many of the things that will capture the notice of buyer and especially the home inspector or other professional the buyer employs to make sure what he or she is buying is as sound as the dollars being spent.

Should you obtain a pre-inspection of your house before you put it on the market? What this entails is hiring a home inspector to come up with a list of things that the buyer's inspector might find after the house is on the market. Knowing ahead of time might give you a chance to correct all those problems in advance, thus making the transaction go much more smoothly and virtually ensuring that your asking price won't be whittled down by roof replacement or a new heating and cooling system, to mention two examples.

From what my readers, real estate agents and many home inspectors tell me, it doesn't work that way. Depending upon where they are coming from, two inspectors could look at your house completely differently, and their lists could have few similarities as a result.

Here's a reader's example: "I put my house on the market, and it attracted several interested buyers. The successful bidder hired an inspector, who found that we had mold behind a wall in the second-floor bathroom, and that the roof needed to be replaced. We were willing to negotiate, but the buyer was nervous about the mold and pulled out of the deal."

"Those were the only two problems that inspector found with the house," the reader continued. "The next prospective buyer hired a home inspector. We warned the buyer that the previous offer had been rescinded because of the mold and the roof, but that we were willing to negotiate, and would either take care of the problems ourselves or reduce the price of the house by the cost of the work."

Now, the reader's state doesn't require a disclosure statement, which is fairly rare these days, and the buyer didn't mention the roof or the mold to the next inspector. That inspector found the mold (the odor in the bathroom made it hard to miss), but thought that roof seemed in pretty good shape, and might need replacement a few years down the road.

The inspector did find a cracked heat exchanger in the furnace that definitely needed replacement. The other inspector had checked out the furnace and had not found the problem, but expertise only goes so far. Two different sets of eyes don't necessarily see the same thing.

Again, this is not a complaint against home inspectors. I hired my first in 1982 and have used them on every house I've purchased since. I tried to talk the successful bidders on my last house to employ one because there might have been a problem I'd missed in 14 years. They decided not to, so I spent the three months between agreement of sale and settlement finding things on my own and fixing them.

After five years, they still love the house, but it's not the way I wanted to spend a summer, working on a house I wouldn't be living in after Aug. 24.

Real estate agents are divided on pre-inspections. In disclosure states especially, agents say that the less the seller knows the better, since caveat emptor went out the window long ago, and it is easier to sue than not to sue these days.

Other agents like the idea, because it means sellers can get a jump on the problem and get the house quickly on what is becoming in many areas a buyer's market again.

It's the seller's choice. From what I've already seen, however, buyers are getting picky about houses and are taking more time to choose. Inventories are up, so there's more to look at, and with interest rates rising, buyers are beginning to hang on tightly to every dollar before they spend it.

It's something to think about.

Published: March 23, 2006

Sell Your Home

10 Ways To Make Your Home More Salable
by Peter G. Miller
Press of Atlantic City

There's little doubt that the real estate marketplace is now in transition. Sale volume has begun to weaken and in many markets the days of quick sales and multiple offers are going or gone.

"The cooling from overheated sales conditions in recent months is helping to bring inventory levels up to the point where buyers have more choices than they've seen in the last five years," says David Lereah, NAR's chief economist. "Annual price appreciation is still running at double-digit rates, but the cause of those sharp increases is going away. As the market readjusts, price appreciation should return to more normal rates of growth this year."

Translation: Homes are not selling as quickly as before -- that's good news for buyers. Sharp increases in value are moderating -- that's also good for buyers. Values are not falling -- that's great news for sellers.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Home Builders says that permits for new construction for February fell by 3 percent when compared with a year earlier.

Neither the existing nor new home unit declines should trouble anyone. These changes follow record year after record year, a pace that's not sustainable. The good news is that the changes are modest rather than manic.

The catch is that a softer marketplace means sellers will have to fight harder to get top prices and quick sales. Here are 10 ways to get more out of your local marketplace.


Go for the junk -- and get rid of it. A house with less stuff looks bigger and roomier. If what you want to throw out can have value to others, see if you can help by donating goods to local charities.

Price within reason. Trying to sell a home for $700,000 when like homes go for $525,000 is a non-starter. The days of "testing" the market with huge price increases is finished in many areas. Overprice and you won't be competitive.

Use the best local broker you can find. Experience, connections and reputation can be a real edge when marketing a property.

Require your broker to have a marketing plan that makes sense for you and your property. The technique that sells one property may not be appropriate for another, so find the approach that's right for you.

If the home doesn't sell within a reasonable time period, think about changing the deal rather than lowering the price. In other words, rather than cutting the price from $500,000 to $480,000, instead keep the $500,000 price and offer a 2 percent "seller contribution" to help a buyer pay for closing costs. This approach is cheaper ($10,000 in closing cost help rather than a $20,000 price reduction) plus it gets to the real need of many buyers, closing assistance.

Have a home equity line of credit in place -- even if you don't expect to sell for several years. This way you can have funds available if you want to buy a replacement home while the current property is being sold. Just be aware of the risk -- if your current home does not sell in a reasonable period you could face lots of mortgage payments.

Make sure everything works -- and nothing leaks. Expect buyers to ask for a home inspection and be prepared to make reasonable repairs if requested. Remember that it may be better to upgrade an electrical service box than to look for a new buyer.

Find out what buyers thought after a showing or open house. Don't take negative comments personally. Look for ideas that can help you make a better impression with the next prospect.

Beware of buyers who want you to take back financing. At a time when loans with little or nothing down are available from every lender, don't go into the banking business and take back a loan when there is less risk to you with an outright sale.

Don't get upset with small inconveniences. If a prospect wants to see a home with little notice or at an odd hour, don't worry about it. It's better to show the property than to have a home which is both undisturbed and unsold.
For more articles by Peter G. Miller, please press here.

Published: March 21, 2006

Investing in Real Estate

Self-directed IRA and IRA LLC for Real Estate
by Phoebe Chongchua
Realty Times


Many people are concerned with building wealth so that they can retire comfortably. A decades-old form of investing and creating wealth is gaining in popularity as people search for creative ways to buy real estate.

Investing using your IRA is a complex strategy that I have written about before, but because it is often misunderstood and generates so much interest, it's well worth further exploration.

The self-directed IRA and IRA LLC (Limited Liability Company) are vehicles to invest in real estate. However, they are not often used because many people are erroneously told by their IRA trustees that you cannot use the account to invest in real estate.

Actually what you have to do is simply find a company that offers the option of using a self-directed IRA to invest in real estate. This can be an extremely beneficial investment tool because IRAs come in two forms: tax-deferred and tax free.

The traditional tax-deferred IRA allows yearly contributions to a tax-deferred account using your pretax dollars. You are not taxed when you deposit into your IRA; you are, of course, taxed when you withdraw the money upon retirement.

The tax-free, Roth IRA, allows yearly contributions of after-tax dollars. You're not getting a tax advantage in the year of the contribution, but growth of the entire retirement account is tax free as well as the income distributions when you retire.

Many types of IRAs can be converted to self-directed accounts including: Traditional IRAs, Sep IRAs, Roth IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, Coverdell Education Savings (ESA), Qualified Annuities, Profit Sharing Plans, Money Purchase Plans, Government Eligible Deferred Compensation Plans, and Keoghs.

The creation of a self-directed IRA or IRA LLC enables you to choose what you would like to invest your money in -- it can be raw land, single-family homes, condominiums, apartments -- to name a few.

"A lot of people want to identify retirement property or identify rental property and they're going to rent it out until they want to retire and [it's only] one or two IRAs -- then they can do the investment directly," says Attorney Debra Buchanan of Legal Strategies, P.C. who specializes in asset protection, estate planning and business planning.

Buchanan highly recommends an LLC because it is flexible and you can add and subtract investment partners easily.

"When I set you up as the manager then you have the checkbook [control]," says Buchanan. She adds, "Then every time you are going to invest in a new property you don't have to have the custodian approve [the transaction]."

"But if somebody is going to invest with one property for a long-term investment then you don't need to use the LLC strategy," says Buchanan.

A word of caution -- always make certain that the transaction is not prohibited. Setting up an LLC and using an attorney who gives you an opinion letter (stating whether the transaction is legal or prohibited) is valuable protection for you.

Navigating through the process of setting up a self-directed IRA or IRA LLC can seem overwhelming. Using qualified experts to guide you through the process will help keep you out of financial troubles that could cost you your entire investment. A good resource for more details can be found here.

Published: March 20, 2006

Buying Sight Unseen

Net Offers Buying Sight Unseen, But Should You?
by Broderick Perkins
Realty Times

Browsing for housing is not just an ancillary tool in the quest to buy a home.

For one in three home buyers it could be the only way to go when buying a home.

Using the Internet, it turns out, also gives you a clandestine approach to being the proverbial nosy neighbor, not to mention all the "normal" online home shopping benefits -- obtaining a real estate agent and finding financing, mortgage, market, school and neighborhood information, among others.

Nearly a third of 300 San Francisco Bay Area home owners surveyed said it's likely home buyers will consider buying a home on the Internet -- sight unseen -- without an in-person tour, according to a survey commissioned by Prudential California Realty.

Given advances in the Internet's information technology, including high resolution imagery, speedy virtual tours, cross-platform file exchange, online neighborhood mapping, emailed communication convenience, and the wealth of school, neighborhood, mortgage and other educational home buying content, it's not surprising that some consumers believe buying sight-unseen with a Net assist will become more common.

After all, the vast majority of home buyers go online to browse for housing at some point in their home-buying effort.

The National Association of Realtors 2005 Profile of Home Buyers And Sellers found that 82 percent of first-time home buyers and 78 percent of repeat buyers used the Internet to search for homes.

NAR also found 24 percent of buyers actually found their home on the Internet. It's not clear if those buyers actually purchased their home sight unseen, but nearly one in four netted their home on the net.

Online shoppers surveyed said that's because what home shoppers saw online was often pretty much what they got -- on the surface anyway.

In Prudential's survey, 79 percent of those surveyed said the homes online met their expectations when they viewed them in person.

So why beat the bushes?

In the time it takes to physically tour 1 home, you can "visit" dozens or more homes in the virtual world.

Thirty-three percent of buyers searching online said they viewed 10 to 30 homes before they purchased their dream home and 22 percent looked at 100-200 homes online before they purchased. The buyers most frequently viewed between 10 and 20 homes in person, the survey said.

However, sight-unseen buyers should beware.

If you do attempt to purchase a home online or otherwise, without actually seeing it, you should not forego a full round of inspections (home, roof, termite, etc.) to learn the true condition of the property.

Also, photographs and virtual tours typically do not reveal termites, leaky roofs, appliances about to quit or an undermined foundation.

And then there are all the little things that don't show up in photos and virtual tours -- the next door neighbors; true color rendition of paint, decor and other finishing details; creaky floors; the property's north, east, south or west orientation and a host of other conditions lurking out of sight.

"A picture is worth a thousand words, but it's not the same thing as being there. Somewhere along the line, it's your duty to examine the property physically," said Frank Cannella, a branch and regional manager in Prudential's Northern California East Bay Division.

What you see simply isn't always what you get -- below the surface.

"How could you know what the neighborhood is like. How could you know what the smell of the house is like. They could have had [animals] in it," Cannella said.

Neighborhood virtual tours and an online experience that, well, smells is still on the drawing boards.

"I would be surprised if that (one-in-three sight unseen online buyers) ever happened. I don't see that happening," he added.

Prudential commissioned Caravan Opinion Research to conduct the telephone survey from January 17 to 19 this year with 300 adults living in private households in Northern California, who also purchased a home in the past three years and used the Internet to assist them in the search.

Photos attracting the most attention of buyers was the exterior of the home (41 percent) and then photos of the kitchen (37 percent).

While the online home shoppers were at it, many of them, toured online homes as virtual nosy neighbors, dropping in uninvited on homes near where they live.

Among those surveyed, 37 percent were "looky-loos" who wanted to see what was inside of their neighbor's home for sale. Nearly twice that many dropped in to check their neighbor's listing price.

Prudential said consumers not only use real estate listing websites to see homes' high quality photos and virtual tours, but also to view finance, community and school information, to find open houses and to assess the value of their homes.

And that's another sight unseen buyer beware.

Online home values typically aren't accurate if real comparables (recent sale and listing prices of homes comparable, by neighborhood, floor plan, age, style, etc., to their own) are not considered.

Apparently, virtual naiveté is alive and well.

Published: March 20, 2006

Capital Gains

Housing Counsel: Don't Forget the Stepped up Basis
Realty Times
by Benny L. Kass


Question: My husband and I purchased our home back in 1975 for approximately $20,000. He died in 1983, and I have lived in the house since we first bought it. I would like to move to another residence. I believe I can sell the house for $400,000, and am looking at another property in the range of $325,000. Will I have to pay any capital gains tax?

Answer: Let us first assume that you and your husband are alive and have lived in the property all these years. Under the current tax law, if you have owned and occupied a house as your primary residence for two year out of five years before it is sold, if you file a joint income tax return, you can exclude up to $500,000 of any gain. If you are not married, or do not file a joint return, you can only exclude up to $250,000 of the profit you have made.

How do you determine profit? According to the IRS, there is a simple formula:

Selling Price - Selling Expenses = Amount Realized

Amount Realized - Adjusted Basis = Gain or Loss

You paid $20,000 for the house. That's that the tax people call "basis." You can also add to this basis certain closing costs which you paid when you first went to settlement. That's why it is critical to keep copies of all settlement statements (HUD-1s) for your properties.

Some of the closing costs which can be added to basis include:


legal fees

recording fees

survey cost

transfer tax

owner's title insurance premium
If you made major improvements to your property over the years, and these improvements have a useful life of more than one year, these costs can also be added to basis.

Let's further assume that you did not make any improvements and for this example we will ignore closing costs and other expenses which ordinarily can be included in the computation of gain.

You paid $20,000, and will be selling the property for $400,000. That is a gain (profit) in the amount of $380,000. If you were still married, you would be able to exclude this entire gain and use all of the sales proceeds to purchase your new house. You do not have to trade up; you do not even have to buy another house. This money is yours to do with as you see fit.

However, in your case, your husband died in 1983. You have to determine the value of the house on the date of his death. You may be able to find this in any documents which may have been filed with the Probate court. Otherwise, you will have to look at newspapers, tax office records or just make an educated guess.

Let's assume the property was worth $100,000 when your husband died. Under the law, you are able to take what is known as the "stepped up" basis in the property. You paid $20,000 for the house, so your basis was half of this, namely $10,000. When your husband died, your basis was increased by half of the value on the date of death -- namely $50,000. So, your basis for income tax purposes is now $60,000 ($10,000 + $50,000).

You sell the property for $400,000. Your gain is $340,000. Since you no longer file a joint tax return, you can exclude up to $250,000 of this gain, but the difference ($90,000) is taxable. Currently, the capital gains tax rate is 15 percent, so you will have to pay Uncle Same $13,500, plus whatever tax your local jurisdiction will assess against you.

As you can see, the more legitimate expenses you can include when you compute your basis, the less tax you will have to pay.

For example, when you sell your house, you may be paying a real estate commission. This entire amount can be used to adjust your gain downward. Similarly, any recordation tax which you have to pay to sell your property is also a legitimate item to adjust your basis.

This is really not complicated, but you have to make sure that every legitimate expense which you paid when you owned the house is accounted for. The IRS has a simple English publication which will be helpful. (Publication 523: Selling your Home for use in preparing 2005 Returns). This is available on the web at irs.gov. (click on Forms and Publications)

Published: March 20, 2006

Accessible to All

Making real estate accessible
Agents strive to accommodate disabled buyers
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Published: Sunday, March 19, 2006
Updated: Sunday, March 19, 2006

Thick rugs, narrow doorways and menacing stairways can stop a wheelchair in its tracks.

Shopping for a house to either rent for the summer or buy can be difficult as it is. A disabled person looking for one doesn't make the process any easier.

Disabled people from those in wheelchairs to those who can't hear represent a portion of the real estate market that real estate agents accommodate.

"We have places with elevators, handicapped accessible. There are units here in town that are definitely geared toward people with handicaps," said Nick Marotta, an agent at Academy Real Estate and the president of the Ocean City Board of Realtors.

Marotta said real estate agents who rent for the summer will measure door openings or arrange for mechanical wheelchairs rentals.

"We get calls. There isn't a year that goes by where we don't get calls trying to accommodate somebody with a disability," he said.

Last summer, an Avalon real estate agency started a service to communicate with deaf clients.

The Avalon Re/Max has a software program that enables real estate agents to use live sign language interpreters, said Nia Coombs of Re/Max.

Those in wheelchairs present other issues.

Avalon real estate agent Dan Bowersock said the realtors have to take into consideration what houses would suit people with disabilities.

"Years ago I was showing properties and the folks had a van that had the apparatus they needed to get the wheelchair out. The challenge for me was to sift through the 200 odd properties that were accessible," said Bowersock, of Ferguson Dechert Real Estate.

"It was something I had to think of mentally: Can I get in this house with a wheelchair, let alone navigate the interior of the home?"

Ron Snarskis is a real estate agent who deals with the disabled everyday.

Snarskis, who works in the Tampa Bay area in Florida, has been in a wheelchair for 18 years. He has moved several times, and his wheelchair was always a top consideration.

Snarskis said disabled people need to express to their agent what they are looking for in a home. They should make a list of all the things they consider necessary before they even visit a real estate agent, he said.

Being prepared is especially important for disabled people because the mere act of seeing houses in person can be exhausting, he said.

"It's better to do it this way," Snarskis said. "Do it intelligently."

Little nuisances like cracks in sidewalks, lips in doorways and the size of doors can cause big problems, he said.

"Regular people walk on carpeted floors and think nothing of it, but if you have to wheel a wheelchair over a carpet, the friction is great," he said. "If you have to push around on a carpeted floor all day long, that becomes quite a burden."

Some tiled floors can even be difficult because of the bumps, he said.

"What I'm trying to do is point out things that regular people take for granted that become huge obstacles for people like myself. It's little things that you wouldn't even think of that become an obstacle," he said.

Buying Tips

Some tips for making a winning bid
By Ellen James Martin
The Morning Call Online - www.mccall.com

After a long and dispiriting home search, the personnel specialist and his homemaker wife spotted their be-all-and-end-all property in a premium neighborhood. Located just three blocks from a highly rated elementary school, the house backed to a soccer field and a forested park — both draws for the couple's four children.

But how could this family of six be sure they'd win the house, especially after learning from the listing agent that other potential bidders were in the wings?

Lehigh Valley LocalLinks
''I told them to make their first offer their best possible offer,'' recalls Art Godi, the homemaker's father and former president of the National Association of Realtors.

The couple followed Godi's advice. They wrote a ''clean contract,'' as free of conditions as they could make it, and offered $5,000 over the asking price. Thus they triumphed over rival bidders.

''When you find your dream house, don't get hung up on saving a few thousand dollars if that's what it takes. Don't clutter up your offer with a lot of piddly demands that could turn the sellers off,'' Godi says. Here are several other pointers for homebuyers:

Don't become overconfident if you plan to buy in a coveted area. Taken as a whole, the nation's real estate market is now going through a transitional phase with demand slipping gradually in a number of areas, says Karl Case, a property valuation expert.

But Case, an economics professor at Wellesley College, says sellers remain dominant in many communities, particularly those that attract buyers of ''trophy properties.'' Those include homes in widely admired suburban neighborhoods with good public schools, popular resort destinations and vital urban centers where upscale boomers plan to retire.

Before crafting an offer for a home of serious interest to you, he suggests you thoroughly investigate neighborhood valuation trends.

Ask your agent for a full statistical analysis of recent home sales nearby. Ray Brown, co-author of ''Home Buying for Dummies,'' advises prospective purchasers to look at some hard numbers before preparing a bid on a property in their neighborhood of choice.

He says the agent should examine all home sales in the community during the previous six months. If the number of days that properties linger on the market has increased during this period, this usually indicates that buyers are gaining bargaining power. But if the ''days on market'' is decreasing, sellers probably still have the upper hand.

Also, ask your agent to find out if sellers are getting an increasing or decreasing percentage of the list price on their homes. These data can also indicate a shift in the balance of power.

Seek to accommodate the sellers' needs. Godi, who heads his own realty company, is now representing an elementary school teacher who plans to move to a faraway state and recently put her house up for sale. But she doesn't want to leave the property until June, when the school year ends.

The agent is encouraging the several bidders interested in the desirable property to tailor their offers to suit the teacher's timing. Godi knows she would favor a bidder who would let her stay in the house until summer.

In considering such an accommodation, he says too many buyers think only of the extra mortgage payment they would need to make rather than the potential savings they could reap on the purchase as a whole.

''So maybe you're losing the equivalent of a month's rent or more.

But you could save several thousand dollars if the sellers pick your deal over one from a less flexible bidder who is offering more money,'' Godi says.

While some sellers may wish to delay their departure, others will want to close as soon as possible. They might favor your bid if you promise to complete the transaction in 30 days rather than the more customary 60- or 90-day period.

Avoid demands for small items or minor repairs. Many would-be purchasers are tempted to ask a home's sellers to ''throw in'' extras when a home changes hands. Perhaps you covet a dining room chandelier that the sellers want to exclude from the sale. Or maybe you want the sellers to make small improvements, like a $200 fence repair.

But remember that if you make such requests, the sellers could become annoyed and decide to do their business with another bidder, Godi warns.

''Don't junk up your offer with a lot of bells and whistles that might turn the sellers off — especially if you love the house and don't want to risk losing out,'' Godi says.

Contact Ellen James Martin at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com

Buying First Home

First home purchase takes facts, savvy
By Carolyn Bigda
Chicago Tribune
Your Money staff reporter

Posted March 19, 2006

Finding your dream home is exciting, especially if you're a first-time buyer. But in today's real estate market, it pays to shelve your emotions and look hard at the facts.

Why? Although the feverish pace of home buying has eased, it's not a buyer's market just yet.

The National Association of Realtors expects 2006 to be the third-strongest year ever for new and existing home sales, meaning there's still enough demand to keep prices aloft.

In the Midwest, especially, the softening could be relatively mild this year--home appreciation never reached the stratospheric levels that it did along the coasts. As a result, pending home sales in January, for instance, were off by just 1 percent from the year before, compared with 13.6 percent in the West, according to the Realtors association.

To find the best value, then, you need to know the fair price. Otherwise, "if you go in unarmed, you're going to overpay," said Mark Nash, author of "1,001 Tips for Buying and Selling a Home" (South-Western Educational Publishing, $16.95). Here's what to do:

-- Research home values

Despite national trends, home prices depend on the neighborhood (location, location, location), and sometimes vary from street to street.

To get a feel for which areas you can afford, head online. Web sites such as Zillow.com allow you to investigate what individual homes are worth.

Even better, you can compare those values with the sale price of homes recently sold, otherwise known as sold comparables. The difference will show if a house is overpriced.

Your broker also can pull this information for you. Ask to see data for the last six months, Nash said. A home's appraisal is based on the same period, which affects the size and terms of your mortgage.

-- Time your search

With home values in hand, you can start to tour properties. But be aware that spring is the busiest season for home sales, thanks to warmer weather and families trying to time their move before the start of the next school year.

Some brokers argue that a mild winter has led buyers to start their search early, which will help alleviate demand over the next few months. At the same time, more houses are on the market than in previous years.

In Minnesota, for instance, there are 42,000 listings, up from just 12,000 at this time in 2001, said John Smaby, former regional vice president for the Realtors group.

But if sellers won't come down to a price you're comfortable with, and you can wait, you may get a better value in the fall when there are fewer buyers, and the housing bubble could potentially deflate more.

-- Gauge seller's motivation

Even if you house hunt during the spring, you may snag a deal if a seller is itching to move.

During an open house, politely ask why the owner is leaving or contact the listing agent. You may not get details--after all, they know the game too--but divorce and job transfers often indicate that sellers want out fast. If that's the case, push your bid lower.

-- Start negotiating

Having done all your research, you should be able to spot a good value and make an offer quickly. Even so, the days of having to bid on the spot or compete with multiple offers generally are gone.

You may not be taken seriously if you submit a bid that's more than 10 percent below the list price, especially in the entry-level market, where there's still strong demand, said Jim Merrion, regional director Re/Max Northern Illinois.

If the owners won't meet your offer, and you want the house, ask if they'll instead cover some of the closing costs, a practice that's becoming more common again.

And hire an independent inspector to evaluate the home's condition. If you haven't already slashed the price, the owners may agree to replace, say, an aging furnace.

E-mail Carolyn Bigda at yourmoney@tribune.com.
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune

Pricing your Home for Sale

Pricing as Much Art as Science
by M. Anthony Carr
Realty Times

When shopping for a new home, I've heard many a buyer say, shaking their heads, "What were these people thinking?" Unless the agent has previewed the house and eliminated the "dogs," a buyer can spend a whole day looking at such a wide range of homes that it becomes impossible to see all the inventory in their price range.

Pricing property can be more art than science in today's market. New home builders probably have the easiest time of it -- at least without shocking the buyers -- because everything is new. There are no bare areas in the carpet, fingerprints on the appliances, nicotine stained ceiling tiles in the rec room -- and definitely no cat and dog odors that are promised to be dealt with by installing new carpet after the buyer moves in.

With resale homes, the first weapon to use in the battle to sell the home is to price it correctly. The challenge for sellers is that they want as much as the last sale, however, in today's market that's not as guaranteed as it was a year ago. The seller can still walk away with hundreds of thousands of dollars in gain, but maybe not the absolute highest amount of gain ever in the community.

Thus, pricing is the key. There are only a few ways to price a home for sale and sellers who don't want to putts around on the sale of their home need to adapt to the accepted modes of pricing and get over the fact that their house may not be worth as much as it was 12 months ago.

The first model is probably the most popular -- the comparable. By pulling up only the sales of your particular model, the Realtor can determine a trend price for your home. The challenge in a slowing market is that your particular model may only have three sales in the last year. Such a low number of houses selling does not really create a trend line, especially if the last sale was 6 months previous. Thus, you turn to the second pricing model.

Your home is then dissected to create comparables across a few neighborhoods or even a whole zip code that match your local community. Several aspects of your home will be plugged into the comparable model: style of home (split level, colonial, etc.); number of levels; number of bedrooms and baths; extra rooms; year built; square footage; and more. Then the averages on these parameters are tabulated and you'll have a target price. Keep in mind to remove the highs and lows.

Finally, another way to price your home is to come up with a tax assessment model. This one takes a little bit more homework and data mining. It's tedious, but it can present one of the most accurate pictures of home values in your community. The first step is to pull up all the sales in the community in the last 6 to 12 months. Tabulate the sales price total (let's say it comes up to $10 million) and then tabulate the tax assessment total (our model will use $8 million). Divide the tax assessment into the sales price and you come up with a tax assessment-sales price ratio. In this case, the community ratio is 1.25. Multiply your tax assessment by the ratio figure, and it will determine your target asking price. For example, if your tax assessment is $250,000, multiply it by 1.25 and you'll arrive at $312,500 as a target asking price. Again, be careful to pull out the anomalies that represent overbuilt properties. The largest, biggest house in the community could affect your price, as well as the pre-foreclosure sale.

You're looking for average prices with average situations for average results.

If you're having to use all three models to arrive at a price, then your real estate professional should weigh in with all three models to determine the price.

The biggest challenge in pricing the home is a seller's greed level. Sorry to be so blunt, but sellers always want more than the last sale, regardless of the market condition. My blunt advice is to "get over it." Waiting around for the "right" buyer is just plain foolishness in the world of real estate. If you're putting your home on the market, don't putts around and waste your time, the buyers' time and the agents' time with an unrealistic asking price.

If your Realtor provides feedback from colleagues that your house is overpriced, move on it. Move from denial into acceptance and price the house right. Remember, the goal here is not to price the property as high as possible, but to sell the house. Good luck.

Published: March 17, 2006

Credit Score

Big Three Announce New Credit Score
by Broderick Perkins
Realty Times

The nation's three major credit data reporting agencies have joined to create a single system for calculating credit scores.

VantageScore information is initially sketchy -- the current leading credit score system (FICO) provider, Fair Isaac has had years to develop vast reams of consumer information -- but consumers can look forward to purchasing their new uniform score by year's end and more details in the weeks to come.

Credit information reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion have created the single system in a move designed, they say, to make it easier to apply for a loan.

A credit score, used by the vast majority of lenders to approve or deny a mortgage application, is a statistical analysis of a consumers' creditworthiness generated, in part, from information on a credit report. A credit report tracks credit consumers' payment records on individual credit accounts and reveals how well or how poorly each account is being paid.

Today, three different credit scores, one from each agency, are based on three different scoring models. Under the new VantageScore system, you could still get three different scores, but they'll all be based on the same system which the partnership says will make scoring less confusing.

The system uses a numerical score, like previous systems, but also a letter grading system scoring consumers from A to F.


901-990 is an A

801-900 is a B

701-800 is a C

601-700 is a D

501-600 is an F
The dominant FICO score ranges from 350 to 850 with no letter grading system.

In both cases, generally, the higher the score the more likely you are to qualify for a home loan and the lower the interest rate and better the terms.

It's not yet clear what this will mean for FICO and other scores. The new system is being marketed to lenders, but it's up to them to buy in or not. That could leave some of the confusion the new score is designed to eliminate.

"This score provides a new and unique option to the marketplace. There will continue to be multiple scoring solutions in the market that meet business needs. VantageScore will compete on the merits of its consistent, predictive power," the Big Three said in a prepared statement.

The three also said the same VantageScore model will be used across all three companies, but differences in scores can occur when one agency has underlying data that is different from another agency.

VantageScore was developed from a national sample of approximately 15 million anonymous consumer credit profiles pulled from across the three major credit reporting companies (five million from each source).

The big three claim the new score predicts the likelihood of future serious delinquencies of 90 days late or greater, based on a 24-month performance period.

Published: March 16, 2006

Smelling Fresh and Clean

Fresh House: Smells Sell
by Debbie L. Sklar
March 15, 2006

A smell can either make or break a home. Yes, it's true. Even a Realtor will tell you to make a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies before holding an open house or to air the home out and make it smell good.

But let's face it, sometimes there are circumstances that hold this possibility at bay. In other words: kids, dirty clothes, pets, preparing fish for dinner or even cutting up an onion can all stink up the house for weeks on end. So, what's a homeowner to do? Relax.

Here are few tried and true options in getting your home back on track so you can enjoy a home that smells clean and wonderful rather than old and stinky.


Try, try, try. It may be difficult, but try to keep distasteful smells away from the house or at least away from the high traffic areas i.e., Great Room, bathrooms and of course, the kitchen. Make sure the kids and other family members leave stinky shoes and sporting equipment in the garage. Don't let smokers smoke in the house. Keep the bathroom doors shut and be sure that no unnecessary trash builds up under kitchen sinks.

Appealing cleaning products. One of the easiest ways to keep ugly odors at bay is to use cleaning products that smell nice. For example, trying sprinkling a scented powder on the carpet before vacuuming. Put a drop of your favorite essential oil in buckets of water used to clean the floor. Any citrus oil (i.e. orange flower) is perfect for giving your home a fresh scent.

Candle magic. Burn fresh smelling candles or add an incense burner in a room or two and light frequently.

Kitchen Floors. In a bucket mix 1/2 cup white vinegar with 1-gallon hot water. This is safe for hardwood, linoleum, tile, and any washable surface.

Oven Cleaner. Mix 1 tablespoon of baking soda, 1-tablespoon salt, and add 1/2 cup hot water. Make a gritty paste, apply to the oven, heat slightly, cool and then wipe away with a damp rag.

Refrigerator Seals. The plastic seals of refrigerators can be wiped free of debris with a rag dabbed in white vinegar.

Laundry Detergent for White Clothes. Use 1/4 cup washing soda (sodium carbonate) in place of bleach. Bleach is one of the most toxic substances for the environment. Washing with baking soda costs only a few pennies per wash load, and it is far less expensive than bleach. Along with the baking soda, add 1/4 cup of white vinegar.

Laundry Detergent for Dark Clothes. Use 1/4 cup of white vinegar and 1/4 cup of salt. Salt helps restore faded colors, and removes dirt and grime.

Bathroom Glass Cleaner. Use 1-2 tablespoons of white vinegar mixed with 1- quart of water in a spray bottle. To remove oily fingerprints and hairspray from the mirror, dab on a little rubbing alcohol and wipe with a linen rag.

Bathroom/Bathtub Glass Sliding Doors. Use 1/4 cup white vinegar mixed with 3/4 cup of hot water. Those hard water stains will wipe away like magic.
With just a bit of imagination, and some pre-planning, your home can smell fresh, clean and not so lived in! Something most of us strive for on a daily basis.
Published: March 15, 2006

New Jersey Slogan

A Scandalous Take on our New State SloganTuesday, February 7, 2006
THE RECORD
By JEFFREY PAGE
March 13, 2006

DEAR Governor Corzine: Before you spend lots of public money on ad campaigns based on the new state slogan -- "New Jersey: Come see for yourself" -- you should consider scrapping the motto because its inherent ambiguity presents a problem. Anyone who has read the newspaper lately will tell you that "Come see for yourself" can be read in wildly opposing ways.

Is it a positive message, that one must come see New Jersey and its varied landscape and storied culture to believe it?

Or is it negative, that one must come see New Jersey and its weird politics and public servants with their hands out to believe it?

Take the case of Marty Barnes, the former Paterson mayor who just got out of federal custody after 32 months. Barnes was at the center of a $200,000 municipal corruption scandal when he was mayor. Now, when a man gets out of prison, you expect that his wife, his kids, and some close friends might welcome him home with a little get-together. But in Paterson, they're about to turn Barnes into some kind of all-around great guy, some kind of hero. For the ex-con mayor, who still owes the city $16,000 in unpaid real estate taxes, there'll be a big birthday bash next month at the Brownstone House. Admission: $35 a person.

New Jersey: Come see for yourself. In Barnes' case, that's really a joke, right?

Here's the replacement slogan, which is more to the point, more honest, doesn't coyly beat around the bush.

New Jersey: You may think it's all fun and games but we live here and we know better.

There's no question that politicians, the tourism industry, the Chamber of Commerce and other Jersey boosters always want to present to outsiders -- with all their crisp tourist dollars -- a rosy view of good old New Jersey. At the same time they seek to reassure the 8 million people who live here -- and pay the bills -- that in Jersey, all is calm, all is upright, all is aboveboard.

Time for the truth, and nothing but.

Consider the current and proposed slogans in some other contexts.

A nosy federal grand jury wants to know the details about Joseph Simunovich's flights to Florida aboard a plane partly owned by his pal, Joseph Sanzari. Clearly this is nobody's business except for two irritating little facts. One is that Simunovich heads the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and the other is that Sanzari is one of the foremost highway contractors in the state. In fact, Sanzari has done $52 million worth of business with the turnpike in the last two years. Last year, Simunovich sent Sanzari a reimbursement check.

So New Jersey: Come see for yourself. Or New Jersey: You may think it's all fun and games but we live here and we know better.

Every time you open the paper, there's another story about the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The latest is a report of enormous sums spent to provide transportation for UMDNJ bigwigs who never heard of driving their own cars to work or hailing a cab, or, God forbid, hopping a bus.

Which was more nauseating? Spending $82,000 on repeatedly transporting one UMDMJ VIP back and forth between her home and the campus? Or spending $240 on one ride of less than a mile in Newark? Both occurred.

New Jersey: Come see for yourself.

Or New Jersey: You may think it's all fun and games but we live here and we know better.

And of course Gov, there's your nomination of Ms. Safe Driver of the Year to be state attorney general. That would be Zulima Farber, who collected more than a dozen traffic tickets and threesuspensions of her license, not to mention two warrants that were issued for her arrest after she ignored some of the tickets.

New Jersey: Come see for yourself.

Or New Jersey: You may think it's all fun and games but we live here and we know better.

Let's drop the pretense and have a slogan that tells it plain and honest about the place we call home. The proposed replacement slogan is a little long, but it says that which must be said.

Record columnist Jeffrey Page also writes the North Jersey column. Send comments about this column to opedpage@gmail.com.

Market Conditions

Market Conditions
by Carla L. Davis
Realty Times
March 14, 2006


As the National Association of Realtors releases its most recent figures, real estate professionals and homeowners alike breathes sighs of relief.

David Lereah, NAR's chief economist, is reporting that the market is improving and bringing a much needed balance. "The cooling from overheated sales conditions in recent months is helping to bring inventory levels up to the point where buyers have more choices than they've seen in the last five years," Lereah said. "Annual price appreciation is still running at double-digit rates, but the cause of those sharp increases is going away. As the market readjusts, price appreciation should return to more normal rates of growth this year."

This is great news for large and small cities who saw buyers scrambling to keep up with the ever increasing home values.

Ridgefield, Connecticut, voted the best town with a population between 20,000 and 50,000 by Connecticut Magazine, was no exception to last summer's trend. Two thousand and five saw appreciation rates in the double digits (around 10 percent), which brought the average sales price to $950,000.

While this price was considerably higher than the national average sales price, the market continued to bustle and is still experiencing healthy rates of appreciation -- even if they are not record breaking.

NAR has reported that the average existing home price in 2006 should rise 5.8 percent to $220,300.

Many experts, however, are still worried about the state of new construction. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused a surge in price of building supplies that is still being felt today. Many prospective buyers have been holding off buying, fearing interest rate hikes and economic unrest.

The National Association of Home Builders reported at the end of February that "sales of new single-family homes fell 5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.233 million units in January following upward revisions to the November and December rates.The January sales rate was 3.3 percent above a year ago."

This means that the pace of late 2005 has not continued, but the number of buyers and sales are still 3.3 percent above what they were last year at this time.

Housing Market

Housing Market Readjusting to Normal Balance

(March 13, 2006) -- A lower level of home sales expected this year will create a more level playing field for buyers and sellers on the heels of a five-year sellers’ market, according to the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.

David Lereah, NAR’s chief economist, said the number of homes on the market has been improving nicely. “The cooling from overheated sales conditions in recent months is helping to bring inventory levels up to the point where buyers have more choices than they’ve seen in the last five years,” Lereah said. “Annual price appreciation is still running at double-digit rates, but the cause of those sharp increases is going away. As the market readjusts, price appreciation should return to more normal rates of growth this year.”

The national median existing-home price for all housing types is projected to rise 5.8 percent in 2006 to $220,300. The median new-home price should increase 5.4 percent this year to $250,200.

Existing-home sales are expected to fall 5.7 percent to 6.67 million in 2006 from the record 7.08 million last year. At the same time, new-home sales are forecast to decline 7.7 percent to 1.18 million from a record 1.28 million in 2005 – each sector would be at the third highest year following the tallies for 2005 and 2004. Housing starts are likely to total 1.98 million this year, down 4.3 percent from 2.06 million in 2005.

NAR President Thomas M. Stevens from Vienna, Va., said some home buyers and sellers have unrealistic expectations. “Some sellers in markets that have had rapid appreciation are listing the price of their home too high, but those homes are just languishing on the market,” said Stevens, senior vice president of NRT Inc. “At the same time, some buyers who have believed hype about a housing bubble are hoping prices will drop, but that’s not happening either.

“Consumers need professional assistance to understand and negotiate the current market realities. Sellers should listen to their agent’s advice to competitively price and show the home, and buyers may want to choose a buyer’s agent to represent their interests and help them negotiate favorable terms. Today’s market has changed a lot from the conditions we’ve seen during the last five years.”

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage should increase gradually to 6.9 percent in the fourth quarter.

Inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index is projected at 3.3 percent this year. Inflation-adjusted disposable personal income is expected to grow 3.7 percent in 2006.
Growth in the U.S. gross domestic product is forecast at 3.5 percent in 2006, while the unemployment rate is seen to average 4.8 percent this year.

--NAR

Making Money in Real Estate

Making Millions through Real Estate
by Phoebe Chongchua

Many of the richest people in the world have earned their wealth through real estate. That's why real estate investing is touted as the avenue to riches, but while it is estimated that 80 percent of the world's wealth is held in real estate it is owned by a very small percentage of the population -- less than 20 percent, according to a new book on real estate.

Lisa Vander is founder of Pacific Blue Investments, a real estate investment advising company, and author of The Real Guide to Making Millions through Real Estate: Start Your Own Portfolio With as Little as $3000.

Her nearly 300-page book details how to begin the investing process. Filled with tangible information, worksheets, and hot tips -- you have a wealth of knowledge in one resource book.

Here are some tips from the book on what investors need.

Have an understanding of the timing of the market.

"You've got to understand how the market cycles so that you're not disappointed or having unmet expectations when the market is going to do what it is naturally going to do, which is go up and down," says Vander.

Have an understanding of how to analyze real estate numbers.

There are four parts of understanding the numbers of real estate: appreciation, cash flow, loan reduction and tax benefits and how they work together to produce a rate of return on equity that you have in a property.

"You're shifting your mentality from an 'Oh, the property is gaining in value' which is appreciation to how hard is the money, that I have in the property, working for me," explains Vander.

Have an understanding of the economic environment where you hold real estate.

"How diverse is the economy that I am putting my money/capital into and what's the likelihood of my investment being there today, tomorrow and into the future," says Vander. She says there are six economic indicators to consider that help to determine the health and viability of a market where you plan to invest in real estate. They are: mortgage interest rates; affordability indices; supply and demand; demographic information; commercial real estate; and health of the job market.

Vander also points out that, savvy investors take time to research both macro and micro economics when purchasing real estate.

"Macro economics is the study of how large economic forces impact the health and stability of an economy," writes Vander. She says things such as: recessions/depressions; nationally based loan interest rates; wartime; and demographics of the nation are areas that investors should research.

Micro economics is a look at individual sectors of the economy, concentrating on local and regional areas. Vander names the following as factors that will affect real estate: local and regional recessions/depressions; local or regional disasters; age; seniors; youth; diversification of the job market; unemployment rates; affordability indices; supply and demand; new housing starts; existing housing for sale; permits being pulled; commercial real estate; types of vacancies.

Making millions through real estate is possible and with the help of Vander's new book -- how to do it is no longer knowledge just for the wealthy.

Published: March 13, 2006

Selling Tips

How to correctly list your home for sale
Tips to help earn top sales price
Inman News Features
Friday, March 10, 2006

Spring is traditionally the peak home sales season. Home sellers know if they want to earn top sales price, they must have their house or condo in tip-top condition during this best home sale time of the year when the largest number of buyers are in the market.

But the 2006 home sales season started off much differently than usual in most communities. Perhaps it was the mild weather in many areas.

Purchase Bob Bruss reports online.

For some unexplained reason, the number of homes listed for sale grew abnormally large in January and February, traditionally slow home sales months.

The result for buyers is an especially enjoyable "buyer's market" in most areas. That means there are more homes for sale than there are qualified buyers, which means that home buyers can be especially aggressive with their price and sales term negotiations.

HOW TO SELL YOUR HOME FOR TOP DOLLAR. However, if you are a 2006 home seller, you need to know how to get top dollar for your house or condo amid the competition from other residences listed for sale.

The first step is to get your home into its best physical condition. This includes cleaning, repairing, and painting so your residence shows its best.

The second step is to have customary local inspections made and necessary repairs completed before listing your home for sale. Such inspections might include termite (pest control), radon, building code compliance, and energy efficiency.

The third step is to have a professional home inspection. While not required, savvy home buyers insist on such inspections as a sales contingency. However, many buyers will accept the seller's professional inspection report.

When the report reveals an unexpected problem that you don't want or can't afford to have repaired, just sell the home "as is" but disclose the defect. An "as is" sale means the seller won't pay for any repairs but all known defects have been disclosed.

If you don't know a local qualified professional home inspector, the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) has the toughest, most respected standards. To find local ASHI members, go to www.ashi.org or phone 1-800-743-2744.

The fourth step to a profitable home sale is to interview at least three successful local real estate agents. Even if you plan to sell your home alone "for sale by owner," it's smart to interview three agents to find out the market value of your home and all the details of today's home sales.

Don't worry. The agents you interview won't mind, even if you want to sell your home alone. They know most do-it-yourself home sellers fail and, within 30 to 60 days, list with one of the agents interviewed.

HOW TO LOCATE THREE REALTY AGENTS TO INTERVIEW. After your house or condo is ready to sell, and you had it professionally inspected so you know of its warts, if any, selecting listing agents to interview is your next step.

The reason it is critical to interview at least three successful local agents is to compare their evaluations of your home. Don't be misled by a charismatic agent who gushes with enthusiasm for your home. Also, watch out for the enthusiastic agent who says your home is worth far more than the other interviewed agents estimate.

To find agents to interview, consider agents who send you their monthly newsletters about local home sales prices (disregard those glossy four-color flyers with recipes but nothing of local interest).

In addition, look for agents whose "for sale" signs turned to "sold" signs within a reasonable time. Finally, ask nearby friends and business associates for names of realty agents who recently sold their homes.

If you still don't have the names of three successful local realty agents, a good Internet source is www.homegain.com. There you can also check nearby home sales prices and ask local agents to inform you of their services (while you remain anonymous).

In addition, on the Internet you can go to the brand-new, free Web site www.zillow.com for a computerized appraisal of your home's market value. Not yet available in all areas, this amazing Web site provides aerial photos of home addresses, market value estimates, and recent sales prices of comparable homes. I tried it for several of my properties and found it to be remarkably accurate.

KEY QUESTIONS TO ASK OF AGENTS YOU INTERVIEW. Each agent you individually interview should, after inspecting your residence, prepare a personal CMA (comparative market analysis) and give you an opinion of your home's market value. Compare this information with the Zillow market-value estimate you may have already obtained.

As a savvy home seller, discuss each CMA with the agent who prepared it. Watch out for agents who try to "buy the listing" by estimating an abnormally high sales price without justification based on sales prices within the last few months of comparable nearby homes.

Next, ask the 10 key questions each agent hopes you don't ask:

1.) How long have you been selling homes in this area?

2.) What are the names, addresses, and phone numbers of your five most recent home sellers?

3.) What is your writing marketing plan for my home?

4.) Do you sell real estate full-time (dismiss any part-time agent unless you want part-time service)?

5.) How many listings do you currently have (watch out for agents who have too many listings and won't have personal time to devote to your home sale)?

6.) Do you have any office assistants (if so, inquire if you will be dealing with them or the agent)?

7.) What day of the week do you take off and which agent covers for you when you are gone?

8.) Do you plan to take any vacation during my listing period?

9.) Will you be able to sell my home within the 90-day listing period?

10.) What is your sales commission fee schedule?

If you don't like an agent's answer to one or more questions, don't necessarily dismiss that agent (unless the agent is not a full-time agent). To illustrate, a new agent might have more time to devote to your listing than an "old pro" who has too many listings.

AVOID LONG-TERM LISTINGS. The biggest pitfall home sellers make is signing a long-term listing without an escape clause. Some of the best agents insist on a long 180-day listing. But, if you ask, they will usually agree to an unconditional cancellation clause after 90 days.

The reason to avoid long listings over 90 days is just in case you chose a lazy agent who doesn't aggressively market your home, and you don't want to be stuck with an unsold home

Even when the agent says something like, "Well, according to local statistics, homes in this area take an average of 132 days to sell," your very polite reply should be, "I don't want to list with an average sales agent. If you won't either list and sell my home within 90 days, or list for 180 days with an unconditional written cancellation clause after 90 days, I don't think we should do business." The best agents have enough confidence in their ability to agree to such terms.

CONCLUSION: Home sellers who want to earn top dollar for their homes in today's extremely competitive home sales market must (a) carefully prepare their residence for sale, (b) interview at least three successful local real estate agents, (c) ask lots of questions, and (d) list with the best agent.

(For more information on Bob Bruss publications, visit his
Real Estate Center).

Making "Sense" when Buying

Appealing to Eyes and Ears of Buyers
Realty Times
by Jim Adair

One of the main reasons I wanted to sell my last house was because of the smell. It was an old semi-detached home, and our neighbours had a basement kitchen where they did a lot of cooking. The gourmet food they cooked may have smelled great to them, but the odours that leaked and lingered into our house were not pleasant for us.

A new poll by Royal LePage shows that the odour of a home has a huge impact on buyers' decisions about whether to buy a home. The idea of "staging" a home to make it look attractive to buyers has become popular during the last decade, with many new home staging companies offering advice about how to make the house more attractive to buyers. The poll says that while appearance and cleanliness are important, 53 per cent of buyers said strong odours such as pet and cigarette smells had a stronger impact on their impression of a home than overall tidiness and cleanliness, strong wall colours, or an outdated facade and landscaping.

"Often, people who smoke or who have pets are so accustomed to the smells that they don't notice it," says Diane Usher, a senior manager for Royal LePage. "We always recommend that our sellers get a second opinion of their home to know how potential buyers may see it."

The poll, conducted by Maritz Research for Royal LePage, shows that renovations can improve the value of a home, but if they are in "too much of a unique style," they can be detrimental when it comes time to sell, says Royal LePage.

Men were more concerned than women about the décor, with 41 per cent of men saying that they would be willing to pay a premium for an updated décor, while only 30 per cent of women said they would pay the premium. Overall, more than a third of potential buyers said they would pay more for a home with an updated décor.

"As the real estate market begins to moderate in many markets across the country, the need to impress buyers becomes even more crucial," says Usher. "A combination of the right renovations with modern and tasteful décor is the best way to do that."

There's no doubt that the kitchen is the heart of the home, and the fastest way to the hearts of home buyers. Seventy-nine per cent of buyers said they would be willing to pay a premium for a home with a renovated kitchen. But when asked if they would still pay a premium if the kitchen was renovated in a style that was not to their taste, less than half of those who originally said they would pay the premium were still likely to do so.

"The way you live in your home is not the way to sell your home," says interior designer Timothy Badgley of Acanthus Interiors in Port Hope, Ont. In a Royal LePage release about the findings of the survey, Badgley says, "Not all renovations are created equal. Style and décor are especially important with large renovations, as these features will be costly to change for a buyer and they can be a major factor in buying decisions."

While it's common to see houses undergo major renovations shortly after a new owner moves in, most buyers say they would prefer to buy a house that doesn't need work. Sixty-three per cent of those surveyed said they would buy a higher-priced home that does not require renovations, rather than a lower-priced fixer-upper. But the poll also found that 65 per cent of buyers thought it would cost more than $5,000 to update a newly purchased home to their tastes, and 57 per cent said they wanted to do that within six months of moving in.

When we moved out of our semi to a new detached home, the house we bought was vacant. We liked viewing the empty rooms and deciding how to decorate it from scratch, but interior designer Badgley says that generally, vacant homes are harder to sell than those with furniture.

"People often mistakenly think that viewing empty properties will give them an accurate sense of the space available, but, in fact, it's hard to really understand the size of a room without furniture and other objects as reference points," he says. An empty room allows buyers to focus on negative details instead of getting a sense of the overall space and the flow of each room to the next."

He says in oddly shaped spaces, it can be hard for buyers to visualize furniture arrangements.

"We see a real trend emerging in staging empty condominium projects," he says. "The newer units tend to have much smaller spaces and buyers often have a hard time visualizing how their furniture will fit. Staging really helps buyers envision themselves in the space."

Royal LePage has created a quiz for sellers called, "What kind of homeowner are you?".

By taking the quiz and answering some questions about the way you live in your home and how you describe your house, you can get an idea of how much work it will be to prepare the house to appeal to potential buyers. The site also includes tips for preparing your house for sale.

Published: March 9, 2006

Selling Mistakes

Home Sellers: Overpricing Was Biggest Mistake They Made When Listing Homes

RISMEDIA, March 6 — Overpricing is the number one mistake home sellers said they made when listing their homes, according to a new national e-mail survey conducted by HouseHunt, Inc. The margin was nearly three-to-one over the second choice.

Survey respondents said their next biggest mistake was “dealing with the same real estate agent who represented the buyer,” thereby setting up a possible conflict of interest and possibly a perception that the buyer was getting a better deal.

Third biggest mistake was “failure to disclose known defects or problems.” Virtually tied for fourth place were: “under pricing their properties” and “not utilizing Internet technology to market their properties.”

“With the rapid price appreciation we’ve seen in many housing markets across the country, it’s not surprising that home seller expectations sometimes outran market reality,” said Michael Bearden, president and CEO of HouseHunt, Inc., a consumer-oriented Internet firm that provides valuable information to homeowners, home buyers and home sellers in thousands of markets across the U.S. through its two primary websites, HouseHunt.com and moveUp.com. The latter is a valuable listing tool for both sellers and agents to accurately determine individual home pricing as well as providing access to moveUp.com’s top listing agent network of pre-screened real estate professionals with a proven track record of getting top dollar for their customer listings.

“Free to consumers, moveUp.com provides home sales information in specific neighborhoods in each ZIP code, based on county tax records,” Bearden explained. “By return e-mail, moveUp.com provides homeowners with a comprehensive list of recent sales as well as giving them access to valuable information such as seller reports, pricing plans and home selling techniques.

Bearden expressed surprise over the negative response to agents representing both the buyer and the seller: “Usually it boils down to good communication with the consumer. The agent who communicates effectively and stays in touch throughout the transaction usually has a positive experience with both the buyer and the seller.. With automated response systems like our Total Internet Marketing (TIM), customer communication should not be a problem.”

HouseHunt, Inc., is represented by more than 1,500 outstanding member agents representing exclusive territories in 47 states. Available territories are open to all qualified Realtors regardless of brand affiliations and geographic limitations.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Interest Only Loans

Housing Counsel: Interest Only Loan Potential for Disaster
Realty Times
by Benny L. Kass


Question: I am a first time home buyer with limited income. My mortgage lender has suggested that I should consider obtaining an interest only loan. I have heard that these kind of loans are not necessarily in the best interest of consumers. Can you explain what an interest only loan is, and why it is problematic?

Answer: An interest only loan is exactly what it says: the borrower pays interest only for a period of time.

Let's take this simple example: you borrow $200,000 at 6 percent. If you amortize this over 30 years, your monthly payment would be $1199.11. This only includes principal and interest, and not taxes and insurance. The principle behind an amortization loan is that at the end of 30 years, you will have paid off the loan.

Why? Because each and every month, a portion of your mortgage payment goes to reduce the then outstanding principal balance of your loan. For the first seven years, the outstanding principal balance goes down very slowly. However, if you keep the loan for a longer period of time, eventually more of your payment will go toward reducing the principal and less to paying mortgage interest.

Now let's look at an interest only loan in the same amount and at the same rate. The monthly payment is $1000. No portion of this payment goes to reduce the original principal amount of $200,000.

In our 30 year amortization example, when you make the very first payment, $199.11 will go toward principal, thereby reducing the balance down to $199,800.89. If you take 6 percent of this new balance and divide it by 12, the interest due on the new balance has been reduced down to $999.00. This means that your next mortgage payment will reduce the principal balance by $200.11 ($1199.11 - $999).

Computers obviously can do this math much quicker, so I will only show the example for the first two months payments.

But as you can plainly see, for each and every monthly mortgage payment you make, you are slowly reducing the amount you owe your lender.

Your mortgage broker is correct: in our example, if you take an interest only loan, you will theoretically be saving almost $200 month on the mortgage payment. I purposely use the word "theoretically" because typically, interest rates on these interest only loans will be one -- eight to one-quarter of a percent higher than the standard 30 year first amortized mortgage.

Why? Interest only rates are not new, although they have become very popular in the past year. My research indicates that these types of loans actually originated in the 1920's. However, when our country went into an economic depression in the 1930's, many of the mortgages that were foreclosed upon were interest only loans.

So lenders consider these loans a higher risk and accordingly charge a slightly higher interest rate to compensate for this risk.

There is yet another problem with these types of loans. Typically, an interest-only loan is an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM). That means that for the first five years, you will pay interest only, but thereafter you will start paying a higher rate, and the payments will be established so that you will pay off the loan at the end of a fixed period of time (15 or 30).

This means that when your interest only payments stop, you will have to start making substantially higher monthly payments to "catch up."

Can you afford this? Are you on a fixed income, with limited possibilities of getting a higher salary down the road. And how long do you plan to keep this house?

These are all questions which you must answer before you accept that interest only loan.

In our example, you buy your house for $225,000 and get that $200,000 loan. Five years from now, you will still owe the same amount.

Real estate has appreciated dramatically over the past few years. But there is absolutely no guarantee that this will continue. Real estate values are like a roller-coaster; they have their ups and downs.

I recall many people who purchased homes in the Capital Hill area of the District of Columbia at the peak of the market in late 1989. When they sold their homes in the mid-90s (before the boom started) they actually had to come up with money because their mortgage exceeded the depreciated value of their house.

Consumers should not buy their principal residence with the idea that it will be a good investment. You buy because you want a roof over your head, and a place where you and your family will be comfortable. If the property appreciates in value, that's your good fortune.

When you obtain an interest only loan, however, you can only expect (or hope) that the house will appreciate, because that is the only way that you will create equity in your house. With an amortized loan, on the other hand, you build up equity as your mortgage balance decreases.

Interest only loans can be useful for some consumers:


If you know that you will not be living in the house for more than a few years

If you know that your income will increase within the next five years so that you will be able to afford the increased mortgage

If you are prepared to take a chance and gamble with the future.
As with any major financial decision, you should shop around, ask questions, and consult your legal and financial advisors before signing any legal documents.

Published: March 6, 2006

Different Pictures of the Housing Market

Hoping for Best in Home Sales, 2 Sides Sit Tight By VIKAS BAJAJ and DAVID LEONHARDT
Published: March 4, 2006

Along much of the East and West Coasts, home buyers and home sellers are engaged in a stare-down.

Many buyers, having heard that the real estate market is a bubble in danger of popping, are refusing to offer the asking price on a house, convinced that it will soon drop. But many sellers are not blinking either, thinking that offers will improve when the weather does and biding their time until then.

As a result, the housing market is now in a deeply confusing state, with average prices still rising even though homes are taking much longer to sell and the number on the market has soared. Sometime soon — probably in the spring, the peak sales season — one side or the other will have to capitulate, many economists and industry executives predict.

"In my opinion, the jury on housing is still out," said Antonio B. Mon, the chief executive of Technical Olympic USA, a home builder. "The period from now until May will tell the tale."

Many real estate agents argue that the current slowdown is merely a pause, pointing out that interest rates remain low and that Americans still seem convinced that houses are a great investment. Buyers, on the other hand, are hoping that the rising number of unsold homes is a signal that a slump is coming. It was an early sign of the last housing slump, in the early 1990's.

Nationwide, the number of existing homes for sale jumped 36 percent between January 2005 and January of this year, the National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday.

In Manhattan, 42 percent more co-ops and condominiums were available for sale at the end of last month than was the case a year ago, according to Miller Samuel, an appraisal company in New York. More Manhattan apartments were on the market in late February than at any point in at least five years.

For now, though, average selling prices have continued to rise, even in the markets that had already experienced the biggest leaps in prices and the increases continued even in the final months of last year. Prices rose 40 percent in the Phoenix area during 2005, according to the federal government. In Manhattan, the median price of an apartment was $760,000 at the end of last year, up from $605,000 at the end of 2004.

The latest statistics on house prices appear to be dominated by sellers who, for one reason or another, quickly received good offers. That has kept average prices rising. Builders of new homes have also offered bonuses to buyers, like enclosed sunrooms or top-of-the-line appliances. So the builders have been able to continue selling homes without cutting the list prices.

But many houses in the Northeast, Florida and California are, in fact, selling for less than they would have six months ago. In parts of the Northeast, the drop has been about 5 percent, estimated Robert I. Toll, chief executive of Toll Brothers, the biggest luxury home builder in the country. Other sellers have cut their price and still not found a buyer.

In Buxton, Me., a suburb of Portland, Geof and Cheri Toner put their three-bedroom Cape Cod-style house on the market for $379,900 late last year, shortly before moving to Raleigh, N.C., for Mr. Toner's job. They have received only one offer — for $350,000, which they rejected — and recently reduced the price to $374,900.

Mr. Toner said he assumed that more buyers would look at the property as the weather warmed up. In the spring, they would not have to wonder whether snow covered up flaws in the lawn or the roof. He expects that the eventual buyer will be a transplant from elsewhere in New England who is willing to pay significantly more than $350,000.

"We're not panicking over it," said Mr. Toner, 48, the regional sales manager of a video equipment maker. "It's just a matter of sitting it out and seeing what happens."

Many real estate agents argue that people like the Toners are doing the right thing and that the market will not slump as it did a decade ago. The job market is now improving. The interest rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage remains just 5.79 percent, according to Bankrate.com. And the number of homes on the market remains far lower than in the early 1990's, relative to sales volumes, despite the recent increases.

The current slowdown is simply a transition, the agents say, from a scorching hot housing market to a normal, healthy one. "All we are seeing is a pregnant pause," said Richard A. Smith, chief executive of Cendant's real estate division, which owns Coldwell Banker and Century 21, "a disconnect between sellers and buyers."

But many buyers say they have a sense that the long boom has finally come to an end.

In the San Jose, Calif., area, where the average house price increased 21 percent last year, Sathish Pottavathini, a programmer at eBay, said he was taking his time with the search for a new home and trying to find a good deal.

"I don't want to rush into things especially in this kind of situation," Mr. Pottavathini, who is 32, said, "where you hear about a slowing down everywhere."

He and his wife, Madhuri, spend $1,200 a month renting an 800-square-foot two-bedroom apartment, where they live with their 21/2-year-old daughter, Siri. They would like to find a three-bedroom town house with a two-car garage for less than $500,000.

Although he does not expect prices to fall significantly, he does not think they will rise either and hopes he can find a bargain — a goal that seemed all but impossible in Northern California in the last few years. Now, Mr. Pottavathini said, "If I wait, I might get a better place."

Buyers who showed similar patience in the early 1990's were rewarded. From the summer of 1989 to the summer of 1990, the number of homes for sale rose about 10 percent, according to the Realtors association.

At first, many sellers refused to accept lower offers, thinking that they would get their asking price or close to it. But they eventually had to unload their houses, and in the Northeast and California that often meant reducing the price. In the Los Angeles area, the median sale price of existing houses fell 22 percent from 1992 to 1996, before taking inflation into account.

If a similar slowdown were to happen again, Mr. Toner said he would consider changing his mind and his asking price. "At some point, if this were to become protracted, I would consider lowering the price to attract a buyer," he said.

Impact of the Internet on Real Estate

TRENDS Report: The Internet Has Forever Changed Real Estate

RISMEDIA, March 3 — While technology has significantly influenced the way the real estate marketplace operates, the Swanepoel TRENDS Report (www.RealEstateTrendsReport.com) highlights it as one of the Top 15 trends impacting the real estate industry.

The Report predicts that brokers and agents can expect much more from technology as an increased wave of innovation and the continued development of existing technology flood the market.

Now, empowered by a wealth of information at their fingertips, Internet homebuyers are generally experiencing a greater sense of control during the home-buying process. They are devoting more time to research before working with a real estate agent, but they tend to move quickly once they began working with an agent.

Although search engines have been around a long time, most brokers and agents have still not succeeded in optimizing their Web sites sufficiently enough to be found on the first page of the primary search results for search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN.

In trend #15, the Swanepoel TRENDS Report also discusses broadband, ASP, Wi-Fi, blogs and more. Until recently, blogs were considered a curiosity, a cult phenomenon or a faintly embarrassing hobby.

But in 2004, blogs unexpectedly vaulted into the forefront of major media, where today there are thought to be approximately 30 million “bloggers” worldwide. Blogging provides yet another tool to help real estate agents maintain an open dialogue with their clients and provide them with valuable information. By posting local current events or financing updates alongside listings, agents can establish themselves as the expert in a specialized area.

Some examples of blogging in real estate include:

-- Fran and Rowenta (Dilbeck Realtors® GMAC in La Canada, California—www.franandrowena.com)—use a real estate blog to inform viewers about prices, trends and events in the real estate market.

-- John Mudd (Exit Realty Suncoast in Largo, Florida—www.homeintampabay.com)—uses his real estate blog as a marketing tool to convey information about current interest rates and the housing market.

-- Hanan Levin (The Champion Company in Riverside, California—www.thegreatteam.com)—uses his blog called grow-a-brain to post topics such as politics, architecture, Americana, cinema, foods and sculptures.

-- Fraser Beach (Select Plan Real Estate near Toronto, Canada—http://toreal.blogs.com)—writes about topical real estate issues, locally-based news and general real estate advice for homebuyers and sellers.

The overwhelming message of Trend #15 is that wherever you look, the Internet is exploding. It continues to drive many of the changes in the real estate industry, opening new opportunities for forward thinking brokers and agents.

The Swanepoel TRENDS Report is published by RISMedia in association with RealSure and can be purchased online at www.RealtyUBookstore.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.