Maureen Mengel Blog

A growing number of sellers are using Wi-Fi cameras and mics to spy on buyers as they tour their houses, raising ethical and legal questions. Buying a home? Sellers may use cameras, microphones to spy on house hunters A growing number of sellers are using Wi-Fi cameras and mics to spy on buyers as they tour their houses, raising ethical and legal questions. Start the conversation, or Read more at Deming Headlight. Buying a home? Sellers may use cameras, microphones to spy on house hunters curated from Real Estate News

California is home to some of the nation’s most robust and expensive real estate markets, so it’s no surprise the Golden State dominated WalletHub’s 2018 Best Places to Be a Real Estate Agent list. San Francisco, San Jose, Fremont and Oakland nabbed four of the top five spots and were evaluated on 18 key indicators, which included average sales per agent, the annual median wage for real estate agents and overall housing market health. San Francisco garnered the no. 1 spot overall with a score of 63.88 out of 100. The City by the Bay ranked second in job opportunity and competition, and ninth in real estate market health thanks to the having highest median home sales price ($858,800) and the fewest days on market (38). Real estate agents in San Francisco, on average, complete 22.8 per year and have an annual median wage of ($74,460). San Jose came in third overall with a score of 59.65. While San Jose scored lower than San Francisco in terms of job opportunity and competition ...

National Association of Realtors Treasurer Tom Riley responds to Kenya Burrell-VanWormer’s piece “Reallocate funds or raise dues — that is the question.” Read NAR’s response to HAR’s stance on raising dues curated from Inman

Might tea be just tea? curated from Real Estate News

According to the latest analysis from Attom Data Solutions, May is the best month to sell a home since homeowners , on average, received offers 5.9 percent above asking price — the highest of any month. June and August were the second and third best months with an average seller premium of 5.8 percent and 4.2 percent, respectively. To no one’s surprise, winter months ranked last, since homeselling and buying activity tends to slow down as temperatures fall. October and December were the worst months to sell, with homes only selling 1.6 percent above selling price. Source: Attom Data Solutions If you’re going to bet on one particular day to sell , go with June 28 — on this day, homes were sold for 9.1 percent above asking price. February 15, May 31, May 29 and June 21 also yielded great results for sellers as well — on these days, homes sold for 8.1 percent to 9.0 percent above asking price. Delivering a luxury experience in a tech-driven world 4 key concepts real estate...

The day that Town Residential announced it was ceasing its re-sale and leasing operations, top agent and Million Dollar Listing New York star Steve Gold called Corcoran CEO Pam Liebman, and the two met that night. A week later, Corcoran announced Gold would be bringing his listings and his team to the luxury real estate firm. Steve Gold talks joining Corcoran after Town Residential’s shutdown curated from Inman

On the go and no time to finish that story right now? Your News is the place for you to save content to read later from any device. Register with us and content you save will appear here so you can access them to read later. Disgraced former real estate agent Aaron Hughes convicted of unlicensed trading curated from Real Estate News

Unlicensed real estate agents who operate outside the law will be held to account, says the Real Estate Authority . The REA has welcomed news that former Auckland real estate agent Aaron Hughes has been fined $8,000 for unlicensed trading. Rogue Agents Will Be Held to Account: Industry Regulator curated from Real Estate News

Since the beginning of the year, Pink Realty has opened two franchises in Georgia — in Atlanta and Augusta — and a third in Southern Colorado, where she controls a personal portfolio of approximately 100 properties in Colorado Springs. Monica Breckenridge’s Pink Realty takes franchise model nationwide curated from Inman

The Parker Principles poster and a copy of “Leadership: How Real Estate Leaders Can ACT Decisively to Change the Industry” is available, absolutely free, to Inman Select members. Get your free Parker Principles poster and Leadership e-book now curated from Inman

The National Association of Realtors (NAR)  Pending Home Sales Index  (PHSI), a forward-looking indicator that tracks home sales in which a contract is signed but the sale has not yet closed, increased 0.4 percent in the month of March to 107.6, up from a downwardly revised 107.2 in February. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said low inventory is to blame for the small increases over the past few months. Pending home sales, he said, could be more robust if buyers had the supply to meet their demand. Healthy economic conditions are creating considerable demand for purchasing a home, but not all buyers are able to sign contracts because of the lack of choices in inventory,” Yun said in a statement. “Steady price growth and the swift pace listings are coming off the market are proof that more supply is needed to fully satisfy demand. What continues to hold back sales is the fact that prospective buyers are increasingly having difficulty finding an affordable home to buy.” ...

When it comes to lead gen and driving growth, Offrs.com is among the best serving real estate. Thousands of agents and brokers nationwide have used Offrs.com’s predictive analytics and time-saving automation to boost both listings and business potential across the board. Just like Inman, Offrs.com is working to make you smarter about real estate. Everyday. Inman and Offrs.com are teaming up to bring you best practices and new, transformative real estate tech with a free all-access pass to ICSF18. To enter to win, just fill in the blanks below and click submit: At midnight Pacific this Saturday, May 7, 2018, the contest will end and we’ll randomly select one winner from all the entries.* Good luck and we hope to see you soon in San Francisco! * Standard contest rules apply . By entering, you authorize us to share your information with and you consent to be contacted by Offrs.com. Delivering a luxury experience in a tech-driven world 4 key concepts real estate prof...

Not that long ago, prospective home buyers would trawl neighborhoods looking for that one sure symbol of a house for sale: the yard sign. It's a useful, if imperfect, tool for home hunters. Realtors say Zillow, other websites are inaccurate and confusing but... curated from Real Estate News

Consumers can now use the Facebook Messenger tool to unearth sold data on more than 90 million properties thanks to an application programming interface (API) integration with Onboard Informatics. This allows potential sellers to perform their own quick and dirty comparative market analysis (CMA) … HomeHawk’s chatbot now offers quick CMAs and home estimates curated from Inman

First-time homebuyers certainly present an interesting challenge for any real estate agent. They put all your skills to the test as you balance trying to close the sale, dishing out cautionary advice and sometimes saving your clients from themselves. 6 tips for easing first-time homebuyer stress curated from Inman

When she’s not working with clients or writing about real estate, Maria Dampman is riding horses or managing the menagerie at Smiling Cat Farm, the animal rescue she owns and runs in Purcellville, Virginia. We reached out for her wisdom and insight as we continue our Lesson Learned series. Lesson learned: Setting boundaries for the win-win curated from Inman

Equities analysts expect Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. to report $1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal quarter, according to Zacks . Two analysts have provided estimates for Alexandria Real Estate Equities' earnings, with the lowest EPS estimate coming in at $1.58 and the highest estimate coming in at $1.60. Start the conversation, or Read more at AmericanBankingNews.com. $1.59 Earnings Per Share Expected for Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (ARE) This Quarter curated from Real Estate News

When most real estate agents make business-related posts on their website or social media, they do so with the expectation that their site will attract customers for their business. Although the number of unique visitors to your site is important, creating a “sticky” site or post is one of the most powerful ways to build your business. Article image credited to Photo by G. Crescoli on Unsplash 9 ideas for getting your online leads to ‘stick’ with you curated from Inman

As the real estate industry continues to evolve, the importance and value of delivering an exceptional client experience has never been higher. Yet, every day seems to bring a new entrant to the market that claims to provide better, faster transactions — without the need for human touch. But real estate will always be deeply human with great service marked by standout personal service. With all of the noise in the market today it has never been more important for real estate professionals to deliver a luxury experience to every client they work with. However, as the real estate industry has evolved, so has the definition of luxury and what it means to deliver a luxury experience. That said, there are four key concepts real estate professionals working in our fast-changing, modern industry should understand and apply to ensure they provide luxury service that will never go out of style. Luxury is personal It’s important to recognize that the concept of luxury in the modern real...

I’m sure it’s happened to you. You show up at the office with the best intentions to make the most of your day. Yet hours later, you head home feeling like you didn’t accomplish one thing that will bring in the bucks. In this business, it’s way too easy to waste time on “busy work” that doesn’t contribute to your bottom line. To combat this dilemma, I’ve got three money-making activities you should do each and every day. I’m also excited to announce our brand new Time Management Tool Kit , a free bundle of productivity hacks and helpers that will help you identify your priorities and keep you focused on what matters most. Download it now ! Focus on one thing There’s only one leading indicator of a healthy sales business. It’s not how busy you are throughout the day. It’s not replying to emails. It’s not even generating lots of leads. Pure and simple, it’s appointments. If you’re not getting face-to-face with homebuyers and sellers, you’re not making money in this business. ...

Shown at the office opening in The Woodlands are, from left, Peter Doyle, Jim Carman, Cheri Fama, John A. Daugherty and Rip Reynolds. Shown at the office opening in The Woodlands are, from left, Peter Doyle, Jim Carman, Cheri Fama, John A. Daugherty and Rip Reynolds. Start the conversation, or Read more at Chron. John Daugherty, Realtors opens new office in The Woodlands curated from Real Estate News

Chelsea Goyer said she was honored to be asked to join the board and is hopeful Redfin’s perspective and technical expertise can be helpful. Article image credited to g-stockstudio / Shutterstock.com Broker Public Portal welcomes new board members, including Redfin curated from Inman

According to authorities, the fire broke out on the top floor of the building, that until recently had been called Trump Tower. Local news reports stated that the blaze broke out on the top floor of the building and burned down through about 20 stories before firefighters extinguished the flames. Four injured in fire at former Trump Tower building in Baku curated from Real Estate News

Corrections: Other Top Finalists in Realtor category omitted curated from Real Estate News

Real-estate agents promote themselves with yard signs, online ads, direct-mail postcards and even sponsored public benches. So cutting through the advertising hype and finding the right agent can be tough. 7 tips for picking a great real estate agent curated from Real Estate News

If you drive around West Michigan you can see, it's a hot real estate market. It seems like there are "for sale" signs going up every day and "sold" appearing just as fast. Selling your home in a hot real estate market curated from Real Estate News

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust and Kilroy Realty are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations and profitability. This is a breakdown of recent ratings for KKR Real Estate Finance Trust and Kilroy Realty, as provided by MarketBeat. Start the conversation, or Read more at Daily Political. Head-To-Head Comparison: KKR Real Estate Finance Trust curated from Real Estate News

Apr 27, 2018--Public Storage opened a new two-story self-storage facility today in one of Plano's fastest-growing suburbs to help residents-both new and longtime-find more room close to home. The construction project is part of the company's ongoing effort to expand in North Texas. Public Storage Opens New Frisco, Texas, Storage Facility curated from Real Estate News

Luxury Bruce Makowsky's Bel Air spec home is the most expensive home on the U.S. real estate market. It's currently on the market for $188 million, down from it's original $250 million. America's most expensive home is on sale curated from Real Estate News

Two real estate agents have filed a class-action lawsuit against realtor.com operator and News Corp. subsidiary Move Inc., alleging the company has defrauded thousands of agents by failing to deliver the number of viable leads from Realtor.com it promises. Realtor.com hit with class action lawsuit over allegedly non-viable leads curated from Inman

DocuSign began trading publicly on the NASDAQ today, and the vaunted e-signature company’s IPO proved to be a smashing success for shareholders — including the National Association of Realtors’ venture capital fund. When DocuSign  first filed to go public back in March , the company estimated on its Securities and Exchange Commission filing  that it would earn $405 million from its IPO with the opening price of $27 a share. The company ended up pricing its shares slightly higher at $29 on Thursday night and raising $629 million, according to CNBC , with shares trading at $38 for much of Friday. That places DocuSign’s approximate valuation at $4.4 billion. Trading closed over $39. The National Association of Realtors’ venture capital fund  Second Century Ventures  also received a windfall from the public offering. Before the IPO, Second Century Ventures, which was launched with money from NAR in 2008 and invested in DocuSign nearly a decade ago, owned about 5.6 m...

This striking wood-framed home rises against a majestic backdrop of the Himalayas on a flat site some 2,000 meters above sea level. Located in the village of Satkhol in India's Nainital district, the so-called Woodhouse was designed by New Delhi-based Matra Architects and is set among traditional homes. Striking mountain home frames stunning views of the Himalayas curated from Real Estate News

Million Dollar Listing New York star Ryan Serhant discussed the Bravo show’s lack of leading women today, in a conversation with Rutenberg Realty President Stefani Berkin at an agent-to-agent event hosted by the Real Estate Board of New York in New York City.  Bravo star addresses lack of gender diversity on ‘Million Dollar Listing’ curated from Inman

Single-family listings are at all-time highs in 10 of the 20 the regions tracked on this month’s S&P CoreLogic Case Shiller home price index numbers . Bespoke Investment  first pointed out the milestone over at the financial blog Seeking Alpha . The index as a whole  showed a 6.3 percent year-over-year gain for home prices in February, released earlier this week. Home prices, according to the index, showed no sign of slowing and were similar to rising home prices in the 15 years before the financial crisis. When you break those numbers down from the national to the regional level, the all-time highs are now standing in half of the real estate markets–reaching or exceeding levels seen before 2008. San Diego and Los Angeles are now at all-time highs. Los Angeles saw a 1.03 percent monthly change and a 8.3 percent year-over-year change, while San Diego saw a 1.11 percent monthly and 7.6 percent year-over-year jump. Home prices in Los Angeles. Credit: Screenshot of C...

Developers and investors have been raking in large profits on deals in the years since the market bottomed out about a decade ago amid the Great Recession. Now, the big questions are how long can the hot market continue and how can investors keep making money, said Kenneth McCarthy , principal economist with Cushman & Wakefield, who spoke on a panel Thursday during the Eisner Amper West Coast real estate summit in San Francisco. Start the conversation, or Read more at Business Journal. With real estate market in 'extra innings,' investors struggle to find good deals curated from Real Estate News

Let me start by saying that the National Association of Realtors is not the bad guy. Neither is the Houston Association of Realtors, or anyone else who opposes the proposed dues increase. Reallocate funds or raise dues — that is the question curated from Inman

When they first came on the market a decade or so ago, reverse mortgages were heralded as new sources of income for cash-poor, home-rich retirees. The were seen as new sources of generating money for retirement. After all, you could tap the equity in your home for income -- and not have a monthly mortgage payment. But combining reverse mortgages with delaying Social Security may not be a good choice. According to a study by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), this one-two punch retirement strategy is highly flawed. The agency recently issued a warning about this option: “A reverse mortgage loan can help some older homeowners meet financial needs, but can also jeopardize their retirement if not used carefully,” said former CFPB Director Richard Cordray in the report. “For consumers whose main asset is their home, taking out a reverse mortgage to delay Social Security claiming may risk their financial security because the cost of the loan will likely be more than the...

 We’ll add more market news briefs throughout the day. Check back to read the latest. Most recent market news Friday, April 27 Bankrate mortgage rates The average rate for the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage is 4.46 percent, up 6 basis points over the last week. A month ago, the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was lower, at 4.27 percent. The average 15-year fixed-mortgage rate is 3.86 percent, up 5 basis points over the last week. Source: Bankrate News from earlier this week Thursday, April 26 Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Survey How to win in the lucrative global real estate market 3 ways real estate agents can capture and close international deals READ MORE 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.58 percent with an average 0.5 point for the week ending April 26, 2018, up from last week when it averaged 4.47 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.03 percent. 15-year FRM this week averaged 4.02 percent with an average 0.4...

We’re focusing on how agents and brokerages can all move Faster, Better, Together this July at Inman Connect San Francisco . Not got your ticket yet? Buy it here , and remember that Select members get a $100 discount. Thinking of bringing your team? There are special onsite perks and discounts when you buy those tickets together too. Just contact us to find out more. An independent broker is the ultimate entrepreneur. There’s no marketing structure or game plan to follow when you decide to strike out on your own — your ability to gain a foothold and keep it in your marketplace will depend on your skills, your abilities, your brains and your willpower. Register now That’s a very exciting place to be career-wise, but it’s also pretty scary. There’s no backup if you fail, no deep pockets or established brand that’s going to save you from disaster. “A lot of other business-owners can fall on their faces a number of times and still get back up because someone else is paying for it,”...

Attorney General Josh Stein joined with local real estate agents in Charlotte Thursday afternoon to announce new guidelines aimed at stopping the theft of opioid medications when houses are being show or during open houses. The Attorney General told a group of agents that they need to deliver a message to sellers about their prescription medications. Attorney General and real estate agents band together to fight opioid epidemic curated from Real Estate News

The real estate industry has poured enormous sums of money into the improvement of predictive analytics, blockchain tech, virtual reality, artificial intelligence (AI) and countless other technologies — all this, of course, in an effort to enhance our ability to anticipate and meet consumer demands. Parker Principle 1: How fees will help real estate go from sales to service curated from Inman

The listing presentation in real estate is all about the soft skills. A real estate agent’s personality, communication style and rapport will largely drive the success or failure of this critical conversation. Master of the listing presentation: How to land more deals curated from Inman

Jackson's real estate market was red hot in the first quarter of 2018, with sales of homes under $1 million showing marked growth. Jackson's cheapest single-family home is on Corner Creek Lane in Cottonwood Park. Real estate market shows signs of improvement curated from Real Estate News

At a Sunday open house on a sunny spring day outside Philadelphia, only about a half-dozen families showed up to tour a $600,000 colonial. The home was in a sought-after suburb with excellent schools and had just gone on the market the previous Thursday. Bidding wars: Homebuyers are stretching their budgets and mortgage limits to win curated from Real Estate News

Two years of litigation between competing Realtor associations in San Diego have come to an end. The settlement leaves their multiple listing service diminished, but intact. The deal resolves two lawsuits filed in 2016 between the three association shareholders of regional MLS Sandicor, which has about 20,000 agent and broker subscribers, and frees the associations to […] Sandicor internal feud settled, creating new San Diego MLS curated from Inman

Real estate agents are experts at guiding consumers through the negotiations and paperwork involved in the homebuying process. Yet, once buyers have signed on the dotted line, walked into their new homes and closed the door behind them, they too often are left with a false sense of security that all the surprises are over. How agents can soften the blow of homeownership costs curated from Inman

Limited inventory and strong demand mean that reasonably priced homes in good condition sell quickly. But as prices rise, homes are becoming harder to afford. Hot real estate market: Long Islanders are rushing to close deals curated from Real Estate News

Compass, the ever-growing real estate technology company, is continuing its hiring spree in the wake of last year’s $550 million Series E funding round, and is pulling top talent from other buzzy tech companies: Khurrum Malik, most recently of Spotify, is joining as Compass’s Chief Marketing Officer and Matt Rosenberg, lately of Eventbrite, is coming aboard […] Compass announces new executive hires from Spotify, Eventbrite curated from Inman

HomeSmart International, the Scottsdale, Arizona, franchisor, reported a 33 percent year-over-year increase in franchises nationwide for the first quarter of 2018, according to quarterly results released Wednesday. The rapidly growing company, which boasts 133 offices in 17 states, also increased its agent count by 28 percent, ramping up to 14,611 agents in April. New franchises in Florida, Kansas and Kentucky are the latest in a whirlwind expansion bid coming up that could include locations along the Eastern Seaboard in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, said Wendy Forsythe, chief operating officer of HomeSmart International. The company has opened 42 new offices since early 2017. “Our focus is on markets where we don’t have a presence and, generally speaking, we see lots of opportunity on the East Coast,” said Forsythe, who said the company added eight franchises in the first quarter of 2018 compared to six a year earlier. “HomeSmart is committed to addin...

Watch Byron Lazine and Nicole White give a real estate agent’s perspective on industry-related topics. This week, they’ll take on a fake Trulia rental listing in Denver that caused a family to lose $3,900, whether you can stop your neighbor from running an Airbnb and what smoke-infested listings are the worst.  The Real Word: A fake Trulia rental and shutting down the neighborhood Airbnb curated from Inman

The U.S. housing market narrowed by 9 percent over the past 12 months, with the majority of available inventory out of reach for all but the highest earners, according to a new Zillow report. With inventory in continuous decline since 2015, home hunting this summer is expected to be among the most competitive seasons on record, with only about 22 percent of the available housing stock priced for first-time homebuyers, according to Zillow’s March Market Report. Home values nationwide have risen 8 percent year-over-year since March 2017, to a median of $213,146, with more than 51 percent of all available homes now priced on the high end, according to the Zillow report; and median home prices in Las Vegas, Seattle and San Jose in the heart of Silicon Valley rose by 15 percent or more. In San Jose, where median prices have soared by 25 percent since 2017 to nearly $1.3 million last month, 26 percent fewer homes are on the market since a year ago, according to the report. “This ...

A New York judge sought Wednesday to streamline and speed the process for lawyers to help decide how to protect attorney-client privilege in evidence seized from President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, suggesting again that a court-appointed neutral "special master" might be the answer. U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood followed through on a promise to ensure there were no unnecessary delays by scheduling a court hearing for Thursday, a month earlier than she originally announced. Judge seeks update on raids of president's personal lawyer curated from Real Estate News

While most Americans show a desire to age in place, retirement can also be the ideal time to sell your home and relocate or downsize. Kids are typically grown up and moved out of the home, and the need to be close to work is gone, so many seniors use retirement as a catalyst for relocating. Some relocate because of a lifestyle or climate change, others want to be to family, and others due purely to financial circumstances. Whatever the reason, retirees appear to be making two big mistakes with their homes. They seem to vastly misunderstand the home as an investment decision, and they don’t consider the financing options available to them at all. In the 2017 National Association of REALTORS® Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends Report, homebuyers were asked to compare the purchase of their home as a financial investment as compared to a stock. Amazingly, 80 percent of those ages 61-70 viewed it as a good financial investment, with over half stating it was a better investment th...