Realty Freak

Tax Credit a Bad Idea (Again)

I have to agree with Jack Hough and his WSJ article that the U.S. doesn't need more home-buyer perks.  The best way to get people into homes is to let the artificially inflated housing market continue to correct itself.  The $8,000 first time buyer tax credit and the new $6,500 tax credit for existing homeowners that purchase, though relatively ineffective,  slows the correction and robs the treasury of badly needed funds.  Let's hope this is the last NAR/banking housing "stimulus" scheme we see. 

Realtors Pucker Up for Kiss of Death

Why do agents insist on writing stupid things?  Don't they know that telling people to hurry (217 days on the market) is like a giving a triple dog dare to Fate?

In a quick and unscientific study I looked at the average market time for properties on the North Shore of Chicago (180 days) and compared that to properties that had "hurry" (267 days) or "won't last" (221 days) in the remarks.

Now I know that correlation does not necessarily equal causation, but a 48% increase in average market time would be enough for me to stop BS-ing people in a vain attempt to sell a property quickly.

The only way to sell a property quickly is to price it low enough that everyone with even the vaguest knowledge of  the market  will want to hurry, lest they loose the property.

Real Estate Ads Suck

My friend Andy Sernovitz had a great post today about creating content instead of ads.  

Real estate agents should take notice since there is hardly anything more full of cliches than the typical remarks of a real estate listing.    Here's an example.  "Newer", by the way, means it's not new.

Real estate agents also like to make shit up soften reality.  Take this example.  In my version of reality roofs, chimneys, furnaces, windows and foundations aren't upgrades, they are necessities that should be in good working order.

I am a big fan of telling it like it is, as I do with this Park Ridge home for sale or this Evanston condo.  It's an opportunity to be honest and funny at the same time.