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RISMedia’s 22nd annual Power Broker Survey Now Available for Completion

RISMEDIA, February 1, 2010—RISMedia’s 22nd Annual Power Broker Report & Survey—the industry’s leading report ranking the nation’s top brokerages—is now available for completion online. Inclusion in this listing of the real estate industry’s “who’s who” has long served as an important competitive tool and carries even more weight in today’s difficult marketplace where many real estate firms have been forced to close their doors. The deadline for completion of the survey is Monday, February 22nd. To complete the survey, please click here.

For years, the nation’s top real estate brokers have sought to be included in the Power Broker Report & Survey—an indispensable reference and marketing tool. In today’s troubled real estate market, however, inclusion in the Power Broker ranking takes on increased significance as brokers struggle to regain consumer confidence in real estate.

“Being among the firms ranked in the Power Broker Survey highlights your firm as a strong, stable leader in a still-troubled real estate market, and puts you at the forefront as our industry begins to stabilize and rise again,” said RISMedia President & CEO John Featherston. “Making this list of leaders proves your firm’s commitment to real estate consumers and positions you as the place to turn to for all their real estate needs.”

The Power Broker Report is read by more than 500,000 real estate professionals and thousands of leading corporate relocation decision makers. The report is also accessible online to millions of interested consumers.

To complete the survey, firms must have completed a minimum of 500 transactions in 2009. Brokerages participating in this year’s survey should note that to avoid duplication and potential confusion, the Power Broker Survey should be completed by an individual, shareholder or entity with a minimum 50.1% ownership interest inclusive of subsidiaries. All sales and transaction volume comes directly from brokerages and is verified and substantiated by external sources, in most cases accounting firms, prior to publication. There is no cost or any obligation to participate in this report.

The deadline for our receipt of your completed survey is February 22, 2010. To take the survey, click here.

Why participate?
ELITE STATUS – You will join the industry’s leading real estate companies when you are published in the largest circulated annual report of its kind in the real estate industry.
PROMOTION - Your firm will be promoted to more than 600 local and national media outlets as one of America’s largest real estate companies.
READERSHIP - The Annual RISMedia POWER BROKER Report is read by more than 300,000 real estate professionals, thousands of leading corporate relocation decision makers and is accessible online to millions of interested consumers.
RECRUITMENT – Appearing in the RISMedia Power Broker ranking is a great agent recruitment and retention tool.
INVITATION – You will be invited to the 15th Annual RISMedia Power Broker Reception & Dinner at the NAR Conference & Expo in New Orleans, Louisiana this November—an exclusive networking event with the industry’s most successful brokers.

Results of the RISMedia POWER BROKER Survey will be accessible online at www.rismedia.com and in the April 20010 issue of RISMedia’s Real Estate magazine. For questions regarding RISMedia’s 22nd Annual Power Broker Report & Survey, please contact Executive Editor Maria Patterson (maria@rismedia.com) or IT Manager James Jones (jim@rismedia.com).

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

RISMEDIA, February 1, 2010—Marketing. Advertising. Promotions.

Don’t let these three words scare you. Though integral to making connections and winning over buyers and sellers alike, many real estate professionals don’t think they have the time or know-how to develop a cost effective, thought out strategy. With a rocky market and ever-growing pressures and demands, who could blame them?

Fortunately, the following four promotional strategies require little time, effort, and investment. What’s more, they are proven concepts that’ll increase your name recognition, pool of customers and bottom line.

Forget handing out regular business cards
Guess where the majority of your paper business cards spend their lives? Here’s a clue: not in front of your customers and prospects. As at least 80% of U.S. households have business card magnets on their refrigerator, why not take advantage and have your name and contact information stick around for the long run? Bonus points for clever and interesting designs.

Send a direct mail piece with a branded magnet
Fact: direct mail pieces accompanied with a magnet are 60% more likely to be opened and read than a mailer without a magnet. Indeed, this reason alone explains why many real estate professionals mail branded magnets to households in their local market. Not only is it cheaper and more effective than placing an ad in the phonebook or in the newspaper, it guarantees your contact information remains in plain sight (on the cherished fridge, nonetheless) when a buyer or seller needs your service.

People love free things
Who doesn’t like getting free stuff? What’s more, who doesn’t like getting useful free stuff? Although the New Year just passed, it’s certainly not too late to send your customers and prospects a free custom calendar magnet or even a baseball schedule magnet of your local team. Add your contact information, company logo and/or photo and you have a free and useful item that’ll stay in your customers’ view for a long while.

Get viral
Get your name and contact information out in the community and create some word of mouth. For example, drop off a handful of creative, outside the box magnets (perhaps even include some sort of interesting offer on them) at your community center, chamber of commerce, local hardware store, church, etc. and watch how quickly word spreads. Similarly, take your offer online via Facebook, Twitter, and your blog.

What are you doing to increase your name recognition, pool of customers and bottom line?

Eric Bogard is the marketing manager of Magnets.com, a leading designer and manufacturer of custom promotional fridge magnets. Get free shipping on all orders by visiting www.Magnets.com.

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

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RISMEDIA, February 1, 2010—Here at Zillow, we’ve assumed for a long time that, in most markets, buyers can get pretty good deals on foreclosures. Our chief economist, Dr. Stan Humphries, has called foreclosures and non-foreclosures two distinct markets—a comment that has recently set off some debate.

That debate prompted us to delve further into the issue and release a white paper titled “Price Differences Between Foreclosures and Non-Foreclosures.” It turns out that, in most markets, foreclosures and non-foreclosures do indeed constitute two distinct markets, with previously foreclosed homes regularly fetching much lower prices than non-foreclosed homes with similar attributes.

The extent of the “discount” for foreclosed homes varies by market though. Of the 16 markets we analyzed (using data from the end of the third quarter), the Pittsburgh metropolitan statistical area (MSA) showed the biggest discount for foreclosed homes, with buyers currently paying 59% less for foreclosures than they would for similar non-foreclosures.

However, there aren’t as many foreclosures to choose from in Pittsburgh as there are in some other markets. Ten percent of all sales in September 2009 were sales of previously foreclosed homes. That’s decreased even more, with 8% of sales in November being foreclosure re-sales.

On the other end of the spectrum was the Portland, Ore. MSA, where foreclosures typically fetched 18% less than non-foreclosures. Across all 16 markets, the average foreclosure discount was 28% (i.e., foreclosures sold for 72% of the price of a non-foreclosure. Here’s the full list.

A little about methodology: Our analysis attempted to control for physical differences in the homes, as well as differences in local markets that may exist between foreclosures and non-foreclosures (see the full methodology in the white paper). Without controlling for these factors, the discount for foreclosures was much larger, with foreclosures selling at a 42% discount compared to non-foreclosures.

The discount after controlling for differences between homes is probably the result of seller motivation (many sellers of foreclosed homes are banks), and the condition of the home (versus the physical specifications of the home, like number of bedrooms and bathrooms). Finally, the amount of foreclosure discount varies somewhat by how common foreclosures are in the metro area, but read the white paper for more about this relationship.

For more information, visit www.Zillow.com.

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

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RISMEDIA, February 1, 2010—As part of the Administration’s ongoing housing market stabilization plan, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently released updated guidance for servicers participating in the Administration’s mortgage modification program. This guidance refines the documentation requirements in order to expedite conversions of current trial modifications to permanent ones.

“With more than 850,000 homeowners in trial and permanent modifications, we are providing immediate relief to struggling homeowners,” said Phyllis Caldwell, Chief of Treasury’s Homeownership Preservation Office. “This new guidance represents our commitment to more efficiently move qualified homeowners into permanent modifications.”

“Increasing the number of borrowers receiving permanent modifications under HAMP is critical to our efforts to preserve affordable and sustainable homeownership,” said HUD Senior Advisor for Housing Finance William Apgar. “While we continue to meet our goals to provide immediate assistance, these updates should enable servicers to transition borrowers more quickly and easily from trial to permanent modification.”

On December 23, 2009, the Administration required most trial modifications to be placed in a temporary review period to ensure that all borrowers are being fairly evaluated for the program. During this temporary review period, servicers were not permitted to cancel an active HAMP trial modification for any reason other than failure to meet the HAMP property eligibility requirements. This allowed servicers to convert a significant number of trial modifications to permanent ones. In fact, the total number of conversions more than doubled in December. The new guidance will help improve this conversion process for the future.

The updated process requires that key documents, including proof of income, be obtained from the borrower before a borrower evaluation can begin. This more robust requirement of upfront documentation will make it easier and quicker to convert trial modifications to permanent modifications and enable servicers to use their resources more effectively.

Guidance Details
Supplemental Directive 10-01 provides guidance on two major issues:

-New Requirements that Documentation be Provided Before Trial Modification Begins- New guidance refines the documentation process and makes it easier for eligible borrowers in trial modifications to get permanent modifications quickly. Under this guidance: A simple, standard package of documents will be required prior to the servicer’s evaluation of the borrower for a trial modification. This process will be required for all new HAMP modifications that became effective after June 1, although mortgage servicers may implement it sooner.

-Converting Borrowers in the Temporary Review Period to Permanent Modifications- In December, Treasury implemented a review period through January 31 to provide servicers additional time to collect and submit missing documentation for borrowers in trial modifications, to require that borrowers be notified of any missing documents, and to give borrowers an opportunity to dispute and correct any erroneous information in their applications. New guidance clarifies for servicers the proper procedures for conversion of those borrowers who are current on their monthly payments to permanent modifications.

For more information, visit www.hud.gov.

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

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RISMEDIA, February 1, 2010—(MCT)—The U.S. economy grew at an accelerated pace in the last quarter of 2009, driven largely by a rebound in manufacturing and better-than-expected gains in consumer spending and commercial investments, according to Commerce Department statistics.

The nation’s gross domestic product (GDP)—or total goods and services produced in the United States—expanded at a robust 5.7% annual rate in the fourth quarter. That’s more than double the 2.2% growth in the third quarter and a dramatic turnaround from the first three months of 2009, when the economy shrank by 6.4%.

The latest GDP growth rate was about a percentage point higher than most economists’ forecasts, with consumer spending and an upturn in commercial investments contributing more than what was expected. These are encouraging signs and could prompt analysts to raise their growth forecasts for this year. Even so, the fuel behind the fourth-quarter acceleration won’t last as it was mostly temporary: an extraordinarily big swing in inventory levels that accounted for 60% of the quarterly growth. With manufacturing recovering from the recession and consumers purchasing more, producers stopped their massive liquidation of stocks and many have begun to boost inventories.

It remains to be seen whether consumer purchases, exports and capital spending can grow enough to keep lifting production and sustain the economic recovery. Analysts had predicted economic growth this year at between 2-3%, a moderate pace that would not be enough to spark much job creation or drive down unemployment significantly from its current 10% rate. For all of 2009, the nation’s total output of goods and services, after adjusting for inflation, contracted 2.4% from the previous year.

(c) 2010, Tribune Co.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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

RISMEDIA, February 1, 2010—The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had increased in December 2009, improved further in January 2010. The Index now stands at 55.9 (1985=100), up from 53.6 in December. The Present Situation Index increased to 25.0 from 20.2. The Expectations Index increased to 76.5 from 75.9 last month.

The Consumer Confidence Survey is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households. The monthly survey is conducted for The Conference Board by TNS. TNS is one of the world’s largest custom research companies. The cutoff date for January’s preliminary results was January 19th.

“Consumer Confidence rose for the third consecutive month, primarily the result of an improvement in present-day conditions. Consumers’ short-term outlook, while moderately more positive, does not suggest any significant pickup in activity in the coming months. Regarding their financial situation, while consumers were less dire about their income prospects than in December, the number of pessimists continues to outnumber the optimists,” said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center.

Consumers’ assessment of present-day conditions was, on the whole, more positive than last month. Those stating business conditions are “good” increased to 9.0% from 7.5%, however, those stating business conditions are “bad” increased to 46.1% from 45.7%. Consumers’ assessment of the labor market improved moderately. Those claiming jobs are “hard to get” declined to 47.4% from 48.1%, while those claiming jobs are “plentiful” increased to 4.3% from 3.1%.

Consumers’ short-term outlook, while overall more positive, was somewhat mixed. The percentage of consumers expecting an improvement in business conditions over the next six months decreased to 20.9% from 21.2%, while those anticipating conditions will worsen increased to 12.7% from 11.8%. Regarding the outlook for the labor market, those expecting fewer jobs decreased to 18.9% from 20.6%. However, those expecting more jobs to become available in the months ahead declined to 15.5% from 16.4%. The proportion of consumers anticipating a decrease in their incomes declined to 16.2% from 18.4%.

For more information, visit www.conference-board.org.

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

Maryland based brokerage firm celebrates 30 years in business

The total absence of any system of real estate education in India has been affecting the quality of human resources available to this sector. Therefore IDS National Institute of Real Estate Management (IDS NIREM), established by the Industry Development Society for Real Estate, has taken initiative to develop professionals dedicated to real estate sector.

The seven years that Karen Dahl and Brian Reich spent in Cambridge, Mass., were formative ones, but Ms. Dahl longed for New York.

Civic Center has an antique feel, Chinese restaurants and all the post-9/11 security that comes with the federal courts.