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Part 1: FAQ's From Media Interviews With Real Estate Author


Do you feel there is going to be a real estate bubble?

Nash: No. Are some coastal and resort markets over-heated, yes. I don't feel that markets will collapse. But investors and property owners should be ready for longer market times, diminishing over-full-price and multiple offers in over-heated markets. Prices could plateau and appreciation levels will hover at more historical levels. If you live out-of-town from where you purchased property on appreciation speculation, I would keep in very close contact with a un-biased professional in the market, daily.

Have real estate appraisers contributed to the rapid increase in home prices?

Nash: Not necessarily. You have to understand their role in a real estate transaction. They are hired by the mortgage lender to appraise the property. The homebuyer pays for the appraisers services. The lender is in business to lend money and the real estate brokerages want to close the transaction and receive their fees. In most markets there are solid closed comparable properties that justify underwriting the loan. In rapidly appreciating markets, where there are no closed comparables to support the new value, all the participants in the transaction should be aware that there is risk involved in the new value assigned to a property in a real estate contract.

What should homeowners and investors do to protect themselves from a potential bubble?

Nash: Look for incentives by builders on completed new construction buildings or homes; this indicates an over-supply of new units. Research days on market or the length of time of property has been on market. If the typical time recently has been 30 days for sold properties and current market times for the majority of sold properties are 60 or more days, the market is softening. Home prices and mortgage rates effect each other, as interest rates drop, the more buyers can afford to pay for a home, but as rates rise buyers can afford less of a purchase price. Watch interest rates as an indictor of deflating prices.

What is your position on interest only loans?

Nash: Consumers need to look at the long-range implications of interest-only loans. They should keep in mind that if their home value declines, they still owe the loan amount, which could be higher than their homes market value when they sell. If appreciation remains low, in the two to five percent range and the cost to use a full-service real estate company to sell their home is five to seven percent, their appreciation will actually go to pay selling and marketing costs, ouch!

What do you think about two new books:" Irrational Exuberance" and "Freakonomics" that touch on residential real estate?

Nash: Both make solid contributions for real estate consumers and investors in today's environment. Everyone is looking for information to make real estate decisions. While there are many inflammatory headlines, I've found the majority of the accompanying dialogue; offer good market and real estate practices advice.

The term Realtor® is generic to most consumers but are all real estate agents Realtors®?

Nash: No and the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) is diligent on protecting it's status as an registered collective membership mark that identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION of REALTORS® and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics. NAR has approximately 1.1 million members, while industry sources state there are about an additional 1.4 million real estate agents not members of NAR.

What housing style will be hot in five years?

Nash: The ranch. As the boomers age they'll go from the two-story "I've arrived" colonial to the "I've retired" ranch. Five years ago ranch homes were not that popular and languished on the market in some areas. This last year several clients looking towards retirement and downsizing have asked to see only ranch homes.

Why did you write your fourth real estate book "1001 Tips for Buying and Selling a Home"?

Nash: I wanted to focus on informing the consumer to understand the questions to ask the other participants in their next real estate transaction. I ask questions like, "What is dual agency?" and "Are you being served if your agent is a dual agent?" I explain the back end of the real estate business, which is important if you as the consumer want to manage the front end of it, i.e. your transaction.

Why is 1001 Tips different from other "how-to" real estate books?

Nash: Early on my publisher wanted the book real simple. Its style is numbered tips with an explanation in bullet-points. Editorially light, but not real estate light. The reader can pick it up and put it down and grasp each tip without having to read four additional paragraphs. Plus I've been through many transactions as a real estate broker and understand what the buyer or seller needs to know in their transaction before they walk out of closing or escrow. With home prices today, consumers should demand to know.

Is location, location, location a cliché in real estate today?

Nash: Location, price, risk.

Mark Nash author of 1001 Tips for Buying and Selling a Home has shared his real estate insight with CBS The Early Show, Bloomberg TV, Dow Jones MarketWatch, Universal Press Syndicate. 1001 Tips is Mr. Nash's fourth real estate book. His tips for consumers are drawn from real world experience as a broker in Chicago.


MORE RESOURCES:

Aspen real estate outgained other state resort-area markets in 2011
Aspen Times
ASPEN — A flat year for the Pitkin County real estate market in 2011 is looking good compared with the performance in Eagle County and other resort areas in Colorado. A report by Land Title Guarantee Co. shows Aspen and Pitkin County had one of the ...

and more »


San Francisco Chronicle (blog)

Real estate firm's game ad nothing to laugh at
Chicago Tribune
Five years into the housing crisis, a national real estate firm thinks there's still a national audience of potential homebuyers just waiting for the right opportunity. The combination of home affordability and mortgage interest rates are practically ...
Real Estate's Hail Mary Sales PitchSmartmoney.com (blog)
Will 1st real estate Super Bowl ad in 20 years help boost home sales?San Francisco Chronicle (blog)
Century 21 Maintains Leadership Position in Brand Awareness SurveyRisMedia.com (press release)
ChicagoNow (blog)
all 11 news articles »


New York Times

So Eager to Get Foot in Real Estate's Door, They Work Without Pay
New York Times
In past years, becoming a real estate agent was rarely a first-choice gig. For many people, it was a way to pay the bills while trying to break into another field. For some, it was a second career — or maybe a third or a fourth — tackled after the ...
Real estate is a team sportBoston.com (blog)

all 1 news articles »


USA TODAY

$16 house man: real estate genius or squatter?
New Zealand Herald
And while real estate experts and authorities say he's misusing the law, Robinson appears to have inspired dozens of imitators who moved into the Dallas-Fort Worth area homes - some of which were still occupied by their owners.
Squatter evicted from $340000 home he's been living in for EIGHT months after ...Daily Mail

all 345 news articles »


Montgomery County eyes hefty real estate tax jump
Roanoke Times
Demands and cuts in state funding suggest a 21-cent real estate tax rate hike. Supervisors balked. By Mike Gangloff Montgomery County supervisors braced themselves Monday for the possibility of a record increase in the county's real estate tax rate.

and more »


Real estate title agent to add 200
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
The parent of United Lender Services, a national real estate title and settlement agent in Findlay, has acquired two large office buildings along the Parkway West, where ULS will relocate and triple its employment to more than 250.

and more »


Bloomberg

Real Estate: National foreclosure settlement delayed, Nevada AG concerned
Reno Gazette Journal
Ap File BY THE NUMBERS Foreclosure-related filings for 2011 for Washoe County, Nevada and the United States. Filings include notices of default, notices of sale or auction and bank-owned foreclosures. Washoe: 7981 (down 27.3 percent and 27.6 percent ...
Week ahead in real estate (Feb. 6-10)U-T San Diego
Banks Paying Homeowners a Bonus to Avoid Foreclosures: MortgagesBusinessWeek

all 490 news articles »


The Real Deal New York

Manhattan Real Estate CEO Pleads Guilty to Bridgehampton DWI
Patch.com
By Brendan J. O'Reilly Real estate broker Robert Futterman, the CEO of Manhattan-based firm Robert K. Futterman & Associates, pleaded guilty Friday to a felony driving while intoxicated charge and a misdemeanor count of driving while impaired by drugs ...
Robert Futterman pleads guilty to felony DUIThe Real Deal New York (blog)

all 3 news articles »


Zephyr Real Estate Announces Top Producers for 2011
MarketWatch (press release)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Feb 06, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Zephyr Real Estate, San Francisco's largest independent real estate firm, is proud to announce the company's top producing real estate agents for 2011. The Company Top 10, in order by highest ...

and more »


TEXT-S&P says European real estate should weather downside credit risks
Reuters
"We think that our macroeconomic forecast of a mild recession for the first half of the year will have a moderate effect on the operating performance of our rated Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) portfolio," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst ...

and more »

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