Arizona Real Estate Notebook

Real estate bloggers have a weekly contest to choose some of the best posts of the week. A volunteer host selects the posts for the week. This week Arizona Real Estate Notebook is the host!

Welcome to the December 10, 2007 edition of carnival of real estate.

THE WINNERS ARE…

CATEGORY - Consumer and Investor Oriented

#1 - Christopher Smith - Are you rebalancing your real estate portfolio? posted at Real Estate Investing in the Real World.

“I wrote in a recent column that when an investment starts “getting good” – when it starts kicking off some cashflow and putting some dollars in your pocket on a month-to-month basis – then that’s the time to sell. This might sound counter-intuitive, but I’ll give a couple of examples that show how passive investors let their leverage run out of steam…”

This was easily the most visually attractive post submitted and Chris presents an intriguing investment strategy to keep your leverage up.

#2 - John Crenshaw - Full Doc, Stated Doc, and All The Other Mortgage Doc Types posted at Truthful Lending dot Com.

Zillions have covered the mortgage basics but John’s explanation is fantastically clear and brief. Well done!

#3 - Sarah Bandy - To Sell or Not To Sell Your NJ Home During the Holidays? posted at Tyler Talk A Lot.

Sarah has an attractive blog and a real snappy, easy to digest writing style.

CATEGORY - Sheer Entertainment Value

#1 - Eric Medemar - Real Estate Investing: 13 Lessons I Have Learned posted at The Millionaires Blog.

1. If someone gets shot in your house, regular carpet cleaner (Resolve) does not work to remove the nasty stuff that comes out when you get shot.

This post would make a great resource for sellers who are paralyzed with indecision over whether to lower their price yet again or whether to “just rent it.”

Read it all!

#2 - Chris Kuhlman - Contractors posted at Property Innovators.

This blog looked like hell in Firefox but how can you pass up a post complaining about contractors?

CATEGORY - Realtor Inside Baseball

#1 - Mike Mueller - Are Agents the New Brokers? posted at Lenderama.

Currently, the Loss Mitigation Department of any lender is understaffed and overworked. It’s typical to spend an hour or two on hold. Once you get to a real person, well… I’ll try to say this nicely. Let’s just say, the better paid, smarter, more effective people in the lenders organization tree don’t work in this department, yet.

With Short Sales and REO’s only going to become a bigger part of the overall picture, how long till we see the lenders bolstering their Loss Mitigation Departments to better service the ones that are currently helping their bottom line - the Real Estate Agents?

An interesting juxtaposition of how lenders treat mortgage brokers versus how they treat Realtors.

#2 - Jonathan Dalton - Working With Buyers Without Signed Agreements posted at Dalton’s Arizona Homes Blog.

I always have believed that when someone asks you for some information, sets an appointment to see some homes, wants to know about areas, that they’re being above board and are not asking multiple agents the same questions to see what other answers they may receive.

This could be in the consumer category but this issue is of far more interest to Realtors than consumers.

#3 - Jay Thompson - ActiveRain Takes Off the Training Wheels posted at GeekEstate Blog.

ActiveRain introduces public blogs. ActiveRain is a very popular (closed) blogging network for real estate pros.

Other great posts

Dee Copeland - Real Estate Marketing Goes Mobile posted at Texas Realty Blog.

Mobile phone marketing of listings.

Dan Melson - Buying Without An Agent - My Own Experience posted at Searchlight Crusade.

I did something similarly stupid with the first home I bought. “I was in, ‘I don’t want to deal with sales people!’ mode.”

Denny Oh - 2006 vs 2007 Downtown San Diego Condo Sales Statistics posted at San DiegOh.

Take the scary roller coaster ride if you aren’t too chicken!

John Wen - How Many Home Foreclosures Can Bush Plan Stop? posted at BestHomeSellingTips.com.

Chad Lariscy - Blairsville Georgia’s Southern Tree Plantation posted at The Front Porch View.

A local activity promotion page.

Diane Tuman - City Nicknames Reflect True Identity? posted at Zillow Blog.

Jonathan Dalton - Strengthening NAR’s Value Proposition : NAR Wisdom posted at NAR Wisdom.

Cliff Jacobson - Online Real Estate Marketing, Where Do We Fit? posted at Clifford Jacobson.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of real estate using our carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: carnival of real estate, blog carnival.

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