Plan for Sears mail order home

If you offer real estate Search on a real estate blog, it seems that the natural thing for visitors to do is Search, many times overlooking the brilliant insights of the Realtor/blogger in favor of  looking at glitzy presentations of available dream homes.

I did have a few posts that stood out from the pack in 2011.  My 2 most popular post here on Memphis Real Estate Buzz were originally posted in 2010:

1.  Your house may have come from Sears – is a primer on the Sears “kit” homes of the early 20th century, and an introduction to identifying if your house may have been shipped in on a train.

2. Memphis Lustron – Mid-Centrury steel – about one of a couple of intact, post-WWII, all-metal homes left in Memphis.

3.  Realtor Association gets deeper into politics (4/20/2011) addresses the National Association of Realtors increased political activity.

4. Practical use of QR codes in real estate (3/14/2011) – QR codes were a big topic in 2011. The 2-dimensional, mobile-scannable grids have not caught on on as much in Memphis as they have in other parts of the country, especially in real estate.

Lustron Home - Midtown Memphis

5.Ghost towns are the result of recession and the burst housing bubble (1/6/2011) -Economics, the housing bubble and the sluggish economy  have created ghost towns across America.

6.  Don’t overlook Midtown Memphis condos (7/28/2011)  Mention Memphis condos, and most people think of Downtown; however, Midtown has reasonably priced, convenient condos available.

Stick around in 2012.  I am sure there will be plenty of things happening in real estate.  The market might even improve, and I will be here to tell you about it.

One little housekeeping item:  I am trying to figure out a simple way to merge this blog with my updated main real estate site http://spake.com.  If you are an RSS subscriber, I have already addressed that.  Stay tuned, and check out the blog over at spake.com – It features re-posts from here, my other blog, and interesting real estate, social media and Memphis links.

If you have suggestions for topics you would like to see here, share your thoughts in the comments.

Joe Spake is a Memphis, Tennessee based Consultant, Real Estate Broker, and Blogger. Call 901.214.5563 for a consultation or click to make a social connection.
If you enjoy this blog, please subscribe to the RSS Feed. 

If you use Google+, I have just started a brand new business page. Visit it HERE.

This scam has been going on on Craigslist, and probably other sites for years, but it hit one of my listings yesterday.  Fortunately someone alerted me early that the listing was being offered for rent at about a third of market rent.  Of course it was a scam, perpetrated by someone off shore.  It generated 9 calls from my yard sign from people who had seen the ad and driven by the house, so, obviously, lots of folks search Craigslist for rentals and they all seemed to think they had found the ultimate deal on a rental.

I replied to the email address on the scam, and got back an email from “Kristina Kilgore” , who claimed to be the owner, written in poor English, with overseas phone numbers, the mention of Nigeria, and a Rental Application designed to get personal information.   At the end of the application, this:  ”Please do understand that, a refundable deposit of $600 MUST be put down first before receiving the keys and paper work from me as to secure the house for you while you go through.”

This scam is actually pretty transparent. It has been going on for quite a while.  Does that mean that it is successful enough that people are actually sending the deposits to foreign addresses to people they have never met,  to get a good rental deal on a property they have never been inside?

Craigslist provides scam warnings here.  Real estate listings all have a scam alert in the header which takes you to this useful information:

You can sidestep would-be scammers by following these common-sense rules:

• DEAL LOCALLY WITH FOLKS YOU CAN MEET IN PERSON - follow this one rule and avoid 99% of scam attempts on craigslist.
• NEVER WIRE FUNDS VIA WESTERN UNION, MONEYGRAM or any other wire service – anyone who asks you to do so is a scammer.
• FAKE CASHIER CHECKS & MONEY ORDERS ARE COMMON, and BANKS WILL CASH THEM AND THEN HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE when the fake is discovered weeks later.
• CRAIGSLIST IS NOT INVOLVED IN ANY TRANSACTION, and does not handle payments, guarantee transactions, provide escrow services, or offer “buyer protection” or “seller certification”
• NEVER GIVE OUT FINANCIAL INFORMATION (bank account number, social security number, eBay/PayPal info, etc.)
• AVOID DEALS INVOLVING SHIPPING OR ESCROW SERVICES and know that ONLY A SCAMMER WILL “GUARANTEE” YOUR TRANSACTION.
• DO NOT RENT HOUSING WITHOUT SEEING THE INTERIOR, OR PURCHASE EXPENSIVE ITEMS SIGHT-UNSEEN - in all likelihood that housing unit is not actually for rent and that cheap item does not exist.
• DO NOT SUBMIT TO CREDIT CHECKS OR BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR A JOB OR FOR HOUSING UNTIL YOU HAVE MET THE INTERVIEWER OR LANDLORD/AGENT IN PERSON.

Don’t say you haven’t been warned!

For more on this type of scam, see Jay Thompson’s post Anatomy of a Rental Scam for his in-depth follow-up with the scammer.

Joe Spake is a Memphis, Tennessee based Consultant, Real Estate Broker, and Blogger. Call 901.214.5563 for a consultation or click to make a social connection.
If you enjoy this blog, please subscribe to the RSS Feed. 

If you use Google+, I have just started a brand new business page. Visit it HERE.

I was chastised by a colleague the other day about my “negative” blog posts.  It seems that real estate agents are supposed to spin real estate stories to make everything look bright and sunny.

I happen to think honesty occasionally trumps rose-colored glasses, but there are still real estate folks out there telling anyone who will listen that 2011 was their best year ever in the business.

More power to them; and more of the same for them in 2012.

Joe Spake is a Memphis, Tennessee based Consultant, Real Estate Broker, and Blogger. Call 901.214.5563 for a consultation or click to make a social connection.
If you enjoy this blog, please subscribe to the RSS Feed. 

If you use Google+, I have just started a brand new business page. Visit it HERE.

A window into the Memphis residential real estate market

www.1573Vance.com

The Memphis Area Association of Realtors is publishing the monthly MAAR Monitor: A 6-Month Window into the Memphis Real Estate Market – a monthly summary of the previous 6 months of area residential real estate activity and trends such as pending sales, closed sales, new home sales, median and average sales prices, inventory and average days on market

Download the May-November, 2011 report HERE. or visit MAAR’s site.

Joe Spake is a Memphis, Tennessee based Consultant, Real Estate Broker, and Blogger. Call 901.214.5563 for a consultation or click to make a social connection.
If you enjoy this blog, please subscribe to the RSS Feed. 

If you use Google+, I have just started a brand new business page. Visit it HERE.

QUESTION:  What’s wrong with this scenario?

You need a new refrigerator. You go the big box store and are engaged by an energetic salesperson.  She knows the specs for all the models off the top of her head, but you have done some research too and ask her some questions that require studying factory specs, and a call back to you at a later time.  Within minutes you are doing everything you can to beat down the prices on the your favorite models.  You leave with the salesperson’s card, and the she calls you back in a couple of hours with the answers to all your questions, offering to fax you the information.  You are a picky shopper.  You call her with more questions.  You visit the store and the salesperson 3 more times,  spending time with “your” salesperson, while other eager buyers wait.   On one visit, you prevent her from getting her scheduled lunch break with your persistent questions.  Throughout all this the seasoned salesperson maintained her professionalism and helped you at levels far beyond your exepctations.

You see, the majority of her pay was based on commission, and it was in both of your best interests for her to establish a relationship and provide you with superior service.

A few days later the lizard part of your brain gives you the BUY signal.  As you are driving by another branch of the same big box store, you swing into the parking lot, go in, and tell the first salesperson you encounter the make and model of the refrigerator you have decided on.  He  writes it up, schedules delivery.  You whip out your credit card, and in a total of 15 minutes, you have bought yourself a refrigerator.  The salesman gets full commission for his 15 minutes of work.  The first salesperson, the one who spent  all that time with you, gets ZERO.

You run into that salesman from time to time when you are shopping at her store. You always greet her with a smile, and have even asked her advice on other appliances you will be needing in the upcoming months.

ANSWER:  Nothing.  You got what you wanted. End of story.

Lots of people depend on commissions to survive.  As a real estate agent, 100% of my income is based on commission, yet, it is not unheard of in this business to work with a home buyer for weeks, taking calls at crazy hours, juggling and re-juggling business and family schedules at their whim, establishing levels of rapport that rival those of family members, and showing them scores of properties, only to have them go to another agent to show them that ONE last house, which they buy without consulting you.  No guilt at their loyal agent making ZERO, while their second agent who probably spent all of 2 hours with them takes a 5-figure commission.

Real estate and other straight commission people don’t talk about this much.  If  you even think about it, it makes you crazy.  It’s part of the business of commission sales.  You just suck it up and go on.

I have a business card stuck in the corner of my white board from a big box store appliance salesman.  I took up a lot of his time when I was researching dishwashers a few weeks ago.  I am not quite ready to buy yet, but when I am, I know who my salesman will be.

By the way, if you use Google+, I have just started a brand new business page. Visit it HERE.

Joe Spake is a Memphis, Tennessee based Consultant, Real Estate Broker, and Blogger. Call 901.214.5563 for a consultation or click to make a social connection.
If you enjoy this blog, please subscribe to the RSS Feed. 

If you use Google+, I have just started a brand new business page. Visit it HERE.