Frankly Real Estate

To list or not to list....listing information on Realtor.com

A friend of mine by the name of Karen used to work with me here in our real estate office in Silverdale, WA. She had been both an agent and an assistant manager. Some years ago (they fly by way to fast to count) she moved to the east coast and eventually to Florida where she practices real estate.

Karen e-mailed me this morning asking for my take on this article; http://realtytimes.com/rtapages/20061130_seattlepullout.htm

Here are some of my thoughts:

This article comes from an interesting angle….”why are brokers choosing not to put their listings with Realtor.com”. I would come from the other side…why would brokers want to???

The Realtor organization is a fantastic organization for providing services to its’ members like; education, a consistent code of ethics, cost savings from third party vendors and for acting as a political watch dog regarding property rights, land use and legislation that affects our business.

They were not used for marketing or promoting our listing inventory. That has always been the broker’s job. In some areas there may be a crossover. Some Multiple Listing Services (MLS) are owned by the local Realtor organization.

So lets break this discussion into a two pieces; context and reasoning:

Context:

Some years ago, National Association of Realtors decided to start Realtor.com. They hired a third party to put this whole thing together and it is now operated solely by this third party as NAR has distanced themselves from it. The third party was Homestore, but is now known as Move Inc. and trades on the NASDAQ as Move.

The reason NAR felt there was a need for Realtor.com is because real estate firms in the midwest and on the east coast did not share their listing information in a way that the public could access it on line. The consumer would have to access each broker’s webpage, one company at a time to see what was on the market.

This is very different than those of us in the northwest. From the beginning we felt it was a benefit for the public to get their listing knowledge and market information right from the horse’s mouth. So each of us share with the other all of our listings. We would rather have the consumer go to our competitors website and get accurate up to the minuet information then to a third party vendor.

So now we have a for profit company, who looks and feels like NAR but really isn’t and they want to collect, distribute and profit from the listings that our agents have worked so hard to get.

Here is some of the information from their web page, italicized:

Stock Quote

Top of Form Bottom of Form MOVE (Common Stock)
Exchange	NASDAQ GS (US Dollar)
Price	$6.29
Change (%)	0.03 (0.48%)
Volume	1,403,481
Data as of 02/26/07 4:47 p.m. ET Minimum 20 minute delay Move, Inc. provides consumers with the real estate content, decision support tools and professional connections they need before, during and after a move. For the last ten years, MoveT, the new Homestore®, has been providing information and decision support tools for consumers looking for home and real estate-related information on the Internet. Visitors to Move's Web sites, including operates REALTOR.com®, Move.com™, (formerly Homestore.com®, RENTNET® and HomeBuilder.com®) and SeniorHousingNet™ have access to the most comprehensive selection of existing homes for sale, new homes, apartments for rent and senior housing. Consumers also have access to home plans and construction-ready floor plans through Move's Homeplans Company . This information is provided so that you may put Realtor.com in context. Realtor .com is not the “Mother ship” as the author of the referenced article would have you believe. In fact it is just like many of the marketing vehicles currently available to brokers such as newspapers, home magazines and other third party website vendors. Some reasoning: Now that we know what Realtor.com is, or isn’t, let’s talk about the reasoning behind the decision not to turn listing information loose. In an earlier blog I addressed “whose listing is it?” If you’ve taken a moment to peruse past articles you’ll see that I firmly believe that the listing is the property of the listing broker. It is their privilege to be able to help sellers sell their home but it is also the broker’s responsibility to ensure the information is true, accurate and up to date. It is also the broker’s responsibility to market the property in a way that reflects positively back on the seller and the brokerage. In its simplest form, a website is much like a flyer. If done correctly it can illuminate the high points and features of a home as well as carry an image of the broker. They can also look pretty poor if not done well. We have all seen a flyer that is a third generation copy that does not carry the image the broker or the seller would be proud of. So why turn this responsibility over to a third party web designer whose goal is to sell banner ads? In essence they increase the value of their site by publishing our listings. This drives more traffic to the site which means their electronic real estate becomes more valuable to advertisers. While I appreciate the importance of earning a profit and running a business, it is important to keep in mind our goals. A third party internet web companies goal is to attract traffic to their site so that they can sell advertising and or spin a lead off to an agent to earn a referral fee back. The goal of a real estate firm is to promote a listing, provide accurate and timely information, provide a searchable data base, allow the public to meet our agents and promote the image of the company. Lets take a moment to talk about accuracy. Currently the Department of Licensing in Washington state (I’m sure other states as well) requires a broker to promote a listing with accurate information. If we were running a listing in the paper that was already sold, or contained incorrect information we could be called to task. This same standard is carried out to the internet as well. While I’ve not heard of DOL prosecuting agencies for improper internet advertising their light will be shining in that corner soon. No one will be as responsive as the broker to make appropriate changes. Before we had our listings removed from a local home magazine website we had a lot of calls on listings that had long ago closed but had not yet been removed by this third party vendor. The same has been reported about Realtor.com. Different solutions for different companies: If you are a small company who has just surfed in on this latest real estate market then Realtor.com may be a good solution. You need to employ every tool possible to make yourself appear larger than you are. If you are a larger company who has successfully invested marketing money into a website, then there is no better tool for providing the consumer with the best experience. That is the benefit of running a business or being an independent contractor….you get to make these decisions. Don’t forget to read the fine print……”all decisions are subject to change.”

Real Estate Statistics for Kitsap County, WA 2/18/2007

Watching stats like these will help you determine what kind of a market you are in.
For Kitsap County Washington as of 2/18/2007
1350 Active Listings
71 Homes went Pending last week
77 Average Days on Market

$305,601 Average List Price
$300,937 Average Sale Price

98% List price to sale price ratio

19 weeks of inventory

Learn more about Defining Your Market.

Who owns the listing data?

I just finished reading and responding to a discussion in the INMAN blog

http://www.inman.com/hstory.aspx?ID=61445

The reason I think this is an important issue is because it comes down to, who is responsible for the way your home is marketed?

In my opinion that should be your real estate professional.

Many websites are building traffic to their site by using other peoples information. The challenge with this is that information becomes dated or is entered on the third party site incorrectly or incompletely. By ensuring the chain of ownership and responsibility you can be sure your property is marketed in it's best light.

Here is my response or comment in that blog:

To answer who owns the listing information you need only follow the chain of responsibility.

The real estate broker/agent enters into a contract with a seller, which allows the real estate broker/agent to offer and market the seller’s property for sale.

The real estate broker/agent is responsible for entering the information into their local MLS, print media as well as any internet marketing that is done. If the information is incorrect or incomplete the broker and agent are held responsible.

If it were not for the listing agreement the information would not be made available. The listing information provided is usually above and beyond what is public record through county records.

The photos added, the descriptions used and the pricing strategy are all services brought to bear by the real estate firm and its agents.

Since real estate agents can not practice real estate unless they are a broker or work for a brokerage firm, ownership of the listing, the data and the responsibility lands squarely at the broker’s feet.

Annual Real Estate Update for Kitsap County WA

At the end of each year I send out a letter to all of my clients with a 1 page update on what is happening in Kitsap County. Below is this years letter:

I hope this annual letter and calendar find you and yours doing well. Please note that your calendar starts on December 1^st so go ahead and start planning next year today.

2006 has been a good year in real estate despite the doom and gloom you might have heard earlier in the year. The markets throughout the US that had the highest run up in value are the ones that had the biggest decline. Our area has done quite well. Though inventory and market time are up so is the value of your home. In general the value of your home has increased about 9% this year, a much more sustainable increase over the 20% increase of 2005.

Some Stats comparing 2006 to 2004 & 05 for Kitsap County (through Nov. 1 2006)

2004 2005 2006

# of New Listings: 5038 5237 5634

# of transactions: 3823 3871 3406

Avg. Days on Market: 65 58 63

Avg. Sale Price $254,809 $307,235 $336,299 (+9%)

If you were a seller in 2006 you had to be a bit more patient than you’ve had to have been over the past few years. You were not able to choose a list price as aggressive as in the past. Bottom line though is houses are still selling and sellers continue to see appreciation.

If you were a buyer in 2006 you’ve actually had the best of both worlds. Interest rates continue to stay low and you have more houses to choose from. The icing on the cake is that sellers have had to be a little more flexible in their sale price and have been more open to paying some of your closing costs.

I’ve developed two web resources to help you keep up with our market:

Website: http://www.franklyrealestate.com

Blogsite: http://franklyrealestate.blogspot.com (see what is in store for 2007)

Politics/Taxes – This last election cycle has brought in a new County Commissioner. Since there are only 3 Commissioners involved in making decisions for us at the County level the change out of 1 can have a large impact. This last change brings with it an increased risk to your property rights and increases the likely hood of increased taxes. Now, more than ever you need to be prepared to speak out if you see something going on that you disagree with. Letters to your local and state representatives as well as letters to the editor are great tools to get your point across.

Around Town – Bremerton continues to flourish, its skyline almost unrecognizable from a few years ago. We have real, on purpose condominiums being built where in the past Kitsap has seen apartment looking condos or converted condos. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge continues its construction. Stay tuned to http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/goodtogo/ to sign up for your “good to go” sticker that will allow easy passage on the bridge without having to stop and pay a toll

Please have a wonderful holiday season and a safe, healthy and prosperous new year. Should you know of anyone thinking about buying or selling real estate in 2007 please let me know or if you just want a market update please feel free to call or check out one of my web resources mentioned above.

PS Sorry for the formatting, apparantly Blogger does not like info from MS Word.

Conventional Conforming Loan Limits for 2007

Though I'm not a lender this information will affect buyers in todays market.

2007 Loan Limits
for Conventional Conforming Loans

Oregon and
Washington
single-family to $417,000
two-family to $533,850
three-family to $645,300
four-family to $801,950

Thank you to Cherie Kesti of Windermere Mortgage Services for the above information; www.windermeremortgageservices.com

What is in store for Kitsap County real estate in 2007.

2006 is wrapping up nicely. Homes have continued to appreciate on the average of 9% this year. Though homes are on the market a little longer and sellers are having to be a bit more flexible it is still a very good time to own a home and an even better time to be buying one. Buyers have the best of all worlds right now, interest rates are low and home choices are up.

2007 will see much of the same. It appears interest rates will continue to be low or lower than the historical average. Home values should continue to appreciate between 4 and 7%. There will be an increase in new construction over the next few years. From a consumers stand point it will be important to be able to compare homes on their attributes and not just compare cost per square foot. We are seeing builders build smaller garages, use vinyl siding, employ manmade products for molding, countertops and flooring and use various grades of lighting, linoleum and carpets. Granted, these are all attempts to build an affordable home but just be sure you can compare one home to another from an informed prospective. It is also worth a moment of time to consider having your own real estate agent represent you as your “buyers agent” instead of settling with the agent who is on site and represents the builder.

Second Home and Vacation Home Ownership

Over the past few years we have seen a large increase in second & vacation home ownership. My company, Windermere Real Estate, conducted a survey to learn more about this trend. Here are the results of that survey.

2006 Windermere Vacation Home Ownership Survey Results

• Distance of vacation home
from primary residence
20% under 50 miles
23% 50 to 100 miles
16% 100 to 200 miles
41% over 200 miles

• Type of home
54% Detached single-family home
23% Condominium/apartment
17% Cabin
2% Mobile home/manufactured home
4% Other

• Time spent at vacation home
in the past year
8% No days
12% 1 to 7 days
40% 2 to 4 weeks
31% 1 to 3 months
7% 3 to 6 months
2% 6 months or more

• Is the home rented when not in use
27% Rent out
73% Do not rent out

• Likelihood the property will become their primary home when they retire
16% Very likely
20% Somewhat likely
15% Somewhat unlikely
45% Very unlikely
4% Don’t know

Real Estate Statistics for Kitsap County, WA 9/18/2006

Watching stats like these will help you determine what kind of a market you are in.
For Kitsap County Washington as of 9/18/2006

1595 Active Listings
49 Homes went Pending last week
60 Average Days on Market

$298,829 Average List Price
$295,421 Average Sale Price

99% List price to sale price ratio

32.55 weeks of inventory

Learn more about Defining Your Market.

Vacation Home Ownership Profile

Vacation Home
Ownership Profile

• About 16 percent of homeowners surveyed also own a second home.
• While boomers continue to drive the vacation-home boom, a third of vacation-home owners are under the age of 35.
• 67 percent of vacation-home owners claim sole ownership of their property. A little over a quarter of those surveyed owned their getaway jointly with family or friends.

My company, Windermere Real Estae, has been doing research and surveys about vacation home ownership. The next few entries will share that information.

Information for becoming a licensed real estate agent.

There is a lot of information available about becoming a real estate agent. One of the best places to start the information hunt is at the web page of the department of licesning of the state you hope to practice in. Washington state has just developed a new web site, here is the link:

http://www.dol.wa.gov/business/realestate/

For links to other western states DOLs please visit this web page:

http://franklyrealestate.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=page&page=12133&parent=12023

Real Estate Statistics for 8/21/2006 for Kitsap County, Washington

Watching stats like these will help you determine what kind of a market you are in.
For Kitsap County Washington as of 8/21/2006

1482 Active Listings
70 Homes went Pending last week
61 Average Days on Market

$295,121 Average List Price
$291,857 Average Sale Price

99% List price to sale price ratio

21.17 weeks of inventory

Learn more about Defining Your Market.

Trick of the trade. Its not always about real estate....

All cell phone companies typically charge $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411 information calls when they don’t have to. When you need to use the 411 information option, simply dial 1-800/FREE 411, or 1-800/373-3411 without incurring any charge at all. Program this into your cell phone. This works on your home telephone as well.