New Alabama Relocation Network makes debut

A new network of websites which features the largest 494 cities in Alabama will make it's debut statewide in December. Called the ePartners Network, the statewide web will make it easier for consumers to find properties all across the state of Alabama. In particular, the major cities, Montgomery, Huntsville, Birmingham, and Mobile and their surrounding communities are linked and cross linked so consumers can easily search for homes and real estate from one single location.

The state affiliate Broker, Mike Carraway (Broker, Access Realty), has already introduced the network to real estate agents in Birmingham, Huntsville, Jasper, Cullman, Hoover, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Montgomery, and several other Alabama cities. Each city has it's own site and weblog and an agent can elect to be the exclusive real estate agent for their city to help consumers find what they want or to market their property statewide.

This is the first time in the history of real estate that geographic boundaries have been erased. In the past, agents and brokers have worked in certain geographic areas and basically limited themselves to that area, even though they were licensed to do business anywhere in the state. Now, for the first time, those boundaries are gone. An agent licensed to do business in the state can assist customers finding homes or locating a local agent from anywhere.

This new network will be a plus for all real estate ancillary services as well. Mortgage companies, insurance companies, and others can now advertsie their services on the network either statewide or in a local community.

The ePartners Network will change the way that the real estate business is done in other ways as well. It will serve as the first statewide, and even nationwide, platform for paperless real estate transactions.

Developing...

ePartners comes to Alabama

ePartners is making it's debut in Alabama in 492 cities statewide. ePartners is a nationwide relocation network that allows anyone to search for and find properties for sale in any city any time.

The local cities are affiliated with an agent or team of real estate agents who work the areas and are specialists in properties in each city. They can help members of the homebuying or homeselling public find exactly what they are looking for.

The ePartners network also contains specific city information on schools and neighborhoods, shopping and restaurants, and parks and recreation.

Sellers can market their homes through the nationwide network and buyers can easily find them from anywhere in the United States.

Some of the main sites are very easy to find: Alabamawebpage.com, Montgomerywebpage.com are examples of url's that make this network very consumer friendly.

The ePartners network also allows real estate agents to easily get plugged into a nationwide relocation and referral network.

ePartners is set to take off in early December 2006. We will be watching.

Todays HOT NEW Listings

Dear Blog Update, There is 1 new listing that matches the criteria you expressed to your preferred REALTOR®. Your preferred REALTOR® has prepared a report for you which includes all of the properties in the list below. Click the button at the right to view the report. 318434 45 Ridgewood Dr, Trussville, AL New $389,900 Mike Carraway Access Realty Direct: 205-833-6300 Cell: 205-369-8689 Office Ph: 205-833-6300 Home: 205-655-4086

Click here to unsubscribe if you do not want to receive real estate notices by email that match this particular criteria.This email was generated by:
Solid Earth, Inc.
109-B North Jefferson Street
Huntsville, Alabama 35801
On behalf of:
Mike Carraway
Access Realty
Direct: 205-833-6300
Cell: 205-369-8689
Office Ph: 205-833-6300
Home: 205-655-4086

Automated Messaging Service

Dear Blog Update,

Today, the automated messaging system used by your real estate sales agent, MIKE CARRAWAY, has stopped sending email to you because none of the email messages sent have been opened. For a mail message to be considered "open", you must have clicked one of the links contained in the email and viewed the report your provider sent.

This message is an automated process designed to reduce the sending of unwanted emails. If you would like to continue receiving emails, please click here. Once your account has been reactivated you will begin to receive your emails immediately.

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New Listings

New listings coming soon!

Broker
Access Realty, Inc.
1-800-840-0165

Real Estate Class

I am in Post license class demonstrating how to post to your weblog directly from email.

Curb Appeal: What is it and How Important is it?

The last thing you want to have happen when you have your home up for sale is for people to drive up and have a look, and then drive off...nver to return again. Why did they leave?

Your home could have been the wrong style or have the wrong exterior finish. But in all likelihood, it was curb appeal.

Curb appeal is one of those magic phrases used by real estate people that means a lot of things. It could be the home itself, or they could be referring to the landscaping. Curb appeal, in is simplest form means the overall balance and harmoney of everything the eye beholds while sitting at the curb and viewing the property. If it is eye appealing and alluring, they will want to come inside and have a look around.

The amount of curb appeal your home has will determine how much inside traffic you get to the home (outside traffic doesn't count). Inside traffic into the home is what it takes to sell it. So, curb appeal will ultimately effect how much your home sells for...or if it will sell at all.

So what makes up curb appeal and how do you get it?

The Structure

Your home must appear to be in top condition and well maintained. The paint must look fresh and unblemished. Gutters must be straight and in good repair. Doors should be square and fit in their frames perfectly. Anything that looks out of the ordinary needs to either be removed, repainted, or fixed.

The Yard

The lawn should be mowed and edged, and GREEN in the spring, summer and fall. Everything that blocks the view of the home needs to be trimmed or removed. This includes bushes, shrubs, trees, etc. If people cannot see the home, they will not want to come inside. All shrubs and bushes should be manicured and shaped. Flowers and bark or mulch needs to be new and replanted if necessary. Your job is to make the yard look picture perfect BEFORE you put it up for sale. Trim all low hanging branches that interfere with the street view of your home.

If you do not want to do all of the work, hire a landscaping contractor to come up with a plan. You will be more than rewarded for what you spend in the eventual sales price of your home.

Curb appeal increase the traffic to the inside of your home. And, if people don't come inside, they won't buy it. Your agent can get people to at least take a drive by your home. It's up to you to make them want to come inside.

How to Sell Your Home when Prices are Falling

I guess it's now official. The real estate bubble has burst. When the inventory figures for homes show they are going up nationwide AND it's in the national media, you can be sure that it's already been happening for a few months now. The NY Times and Jouranl and just about every other news outlet decided today that it was a story - so I guess it's official.

Those of us in the real estate business have known it for the last 3 months and we could have told you so. We have sales figures and "time on market" statistics that can back up our claims. We have been telling successful sellers what's happening and how to price their homes accordingly. Now - 3 months later, the media is catching on.

The story is that the supply of homes on the market is rising and the number of buyers isn't. What that means to you is that your home will sit on the market longer without selling. In fact, two of the articles I've read state simply that it would take over 6 months to sell all the homes currently for sale. What they leave out is that more homes come on the market every day, further increasing the glut.

As the number of homes on the market increases, it takes further price reductions to get some of those homes to sell quicker, which, in turn, lowers the reflected market price of all homes. Sellers will wait and wait and then lower their price - too late. What they don't realize is that they are chasing the market down.

The market price of their home goes down and then they lower their price just above the market price and wait. While they wait, the market price goes down further, putting them farther and farther away from the market value, until they lower the price again.

So, as a seller, what should you do right now?

Simple, lower your price to a point that is BELOW the current market value. Ask your agent to take some time and do a good market analysis to get a feel for what your home is worth right now. Then, price it below that number. If you do this, you will have hungry and willing buyers lining up to make offers on your home... but only for a short time in a falling market. If you wait too long, and the market coninues to drop, then you will be priced above the market again and have to reassess the situation.

The smart thing to do is price your home low and let the market come to you, rather than chasing the market down. One strategy results in buyers, the other results in foreclosures. But you have to decide which strategy to persue.

Can my Agent Give me a Rebate?

I hear this questions a lot in the daily real estate game, "can you give us part of our fee back after the closing?"

The answer is yes but only if done in a certain way.

RESPA, the Real Estate Settlement Procdures Acts, requires a couple of things that need to be mentioned. The first thing is that payment cannot be made for services not performed. The second one is that if any payments are made, they must be disclosed on the HUD-1 Settlement Statement.

Futher, Alabama License Law, and most states License Laws, require that no "rebate" be made to any party in a real estate transaction from another party. Another section of the code also requires that the TRUE terms of a real estate transaction be diclosed to the lender or lending institution.

What does all this mean? For starters, if your agent says they can give you cash back after the closing, in nearly every case, this is both against case law and the license law governing the licensees in your state. So - in short - don't do it. If you are a participant in a transaction and you recieve cash back later, after the closing takes place, then you are participating in loan fraud. Fraud is a crime. Because the lender didn't know that you were receiving additional cash proceeds from the sale, they are not aware of the TRUE details of the transaction. Alomst every loan program for the purchase of a home has the provision that the buyer cannot receive what is called "cash out" - that is - get money back when they make a purchase. This, in essence, would be overfinancing the home. on a refinance, however, this is okay.

The way to get a credit back from your agent is to have the credit put on the settlement statement as a CREDIT to you and then the credit is applied to any costs you have to pay at the closing table. This applies whether you are buying or selling.

Basic Rule of them: If you can put the cash payment on the HUD-1 settlement statement so that it is disclosed to all parties, including the lender, chances are it's AOK to do it.

Which Agent will YOU choose?

Almost any source you looki at will tel you that between 80% and 90% of For Sale By Owners will eventually list their home with a real estate agent. There are a myriad of reasons why this happens but it all boils down to this: agents have the inside track on attracting buyer traffic to the home. They also do it full time so that even when the seller is gone to work, the house is still "for sale" and can be shown.

So, if you find yourself thinking of hiring an agent, which one should you hire?

First of all, consider paying the highest price for a good agent. Interview several of them and then ask them to cut their fee. The one that refuses to is probably your best bet. Why? When it comes to selling your home and getting your proce, you want an agent who is NOT a noodle...someone with a little back bone. If they won't cut their fee and they promise a higher level of service and service quality, then they will also negotiate the hardest in the trenches when people are trying to cut your price on your home.

Second: if the agent you call doesn't answer their phone or call back within a half hour - stop trying to get them. If they don't answer or call back when you try to call them for an interview, what makes you think they will answer calls from buyers for your home?

Lastly, when you are doing the interview and listening to the agent's marketing plan, look for the things that are different. If you talk to 2 agents and they pretty much do the same things... a sign, MLS, and a few ads... keep talking to more agents. What you are looking for is the agent who has a unique approach or ads value by adding unique tools. Agents that use the talking house transmitter or a 24 hour hotline system are some examples. If the agent you hire isn't doing extra things to make your home stand out in the marketplace, you are just going to get the same ole, same ole. Look for something different.

Generating Online Interest in Your Property

The internet is all the rage when it comes to real estate. According to the National Association of Realtors, when a buyer starts thinking of buying, the first place they turn is the internet. Just 10 years ago - it was getting in the car and driving around.

With gasoline prices approaching $3 a gallon, more and more people will search online first before they do any driving.

So - if you are an agent or a seller, how do you get your property noticed online?

Let's talk about being an agent first. If you are with a national franchise and/or your company is affiliated with the local board of Realtors, there is a good chance that your listings will get streamed to Realtor.com. Relator.com is the #1 property search engine in the world and just keeps getting bigger and better. The site is ranked by Alexa.com as the #8 site - in the WORLD. That's pretty big. Real estate agents already have this site in their favor.

As a home seller, you do not have such an advantage. You can either buy into one of the FSBO (For Sale By Owner) products out there that will put your home on the internet for you, or you can put up your own site and sales page for your home. Of course, if someone is searching for a home in your area, and your site doesn't come up on the first page or two of the major search engines, no one will ever see it.

With people shopping more online and doing less driving around, it puts todays home sellers (those selling without an agent) at a pretty big disadvantage. If they would list their home with an agent whose company has a popular internet presence, their home would sell a lot faster because of the increased exposure.

Our company site is such a site. If you go to Google and search on "Birmingham Alabama Homes for Sale", you will see that the Access Realty site comes in at #3 or #4 on the first page. That's a huge advantage for anyone who wants to sell a home in Birmingham.

One other way to sell a home is to generate a large roster of interested buyers. This can be accomplished online by setting up what are called mini-sites designed to capture llists of people who are currently in the market for a home. This works great for real estate agents but may not work so well with a seller of just one home. You can get more information on these mini-sites and how to accomplish this HERE. As I said before, this type of buyer generation works extremely well these days because almost everyone shops online before getting in the car and driving around looking for homes.

Is it a Buyer's Market?

Times have definitely changed in the last year in most parts of the country. I'm in Birmingham, Alabama and we are lucky to have 3 new automoblie maufacturing plants located in a triangle around our city.

But - if you are in an area that doesn't have commodities or heavy industry (two sectors that are doing well right now), what is your market like?

Chances are - you're in a "Buyer's Market".

What does that mean exactly? It means that there is more inventory than there are potential customers for that inventory. just like in the stock market - when almost everyone is selling and few are buying - the stock price will go down.

Many seller's think that because they paid a certain amount for a property, they can get at least that amount when they sell. Sadly, this leads to overpricing and a long, long wait until they sell much later at a lower price. My best advice is to find a real estate agent who will tell you the truth about market conditions and back it up with recent sales prices of similar home.

Last week, I was driving around Destin, Florida. Every third home was for sale. Auctions were common. Prices escalated in the area for 5 years and then they reached a top. What's happening now? The seller's are "holding out" for their price as more and more homes come on the market at significant discounts to what they are asking. The bottom line is that the sellers who put their homes on the market first are going to take a big hit.

As time goes on and the market is flooded with inventory, prices will go down and down and down. A smart seller would realize this and take the loss now before any further reduction in prices happened.

Is there anything you can do if you are trying to sell into a buyer's market?

Yes - make sure your home is:

#1) Priced very competitively with TODAYS prices (not what you paid 2 years ago)
#2) Make sure that your home looks like NEW (and I mean new - not just "touched up")
#3) make sure you get PLENTY of exposure.

The rpice, the condition, and the exposure are everything when it comes to selling into a down market. Good Luck!

by Mike Carraway Access1000.com, 7steps2freedom.com

Top 3 Dangers of Overpricing Your Home

by Mike Carraway, Access Realty, Birmingham, AL

A LOT of sellers want to price their home above the market value and they do it for a variety of reasons...

Some say they want to have "negotiating room". Some say, "we can always come down later". And others say, "we just want to see what we can get - you know - test the market."

Theses are all good reasons from a seller's point of view. They aren't, however, from a property marketing standpoint. When you put a property on the market, you want to generate the highest traffic and demand in the shortest time possible and all of these so called reasons to overprice just hinder and impede the marketing process.

Danger #1

Pricing a home above the market value usually results in people going elsewhere and buying. They may love your home but if you have a similar product in your market for a lower price, they'll buy it - not yours. In effect, you have missed your buyer and now you will have to wait and attract another one at a later date.

Danger #2

Traffic and lots of it is what sells a home. Without human bodies walking through your home, it doesn't matter if it's the best deal around or the most beautiful in your neighborhood - it still won't sell. In order to get the most traffic possible in the shortest time, the price must be right from the very beginning. If the home is priced very near what you actually think it will sell for, you will get the most traffic - and offers.

Danger #3

Your home will sit on the market while YOUR buyers go buy other homes. You will have lower traffic due to the higher price and fewer people will be exposed to it. What happens when you finally decide to lower the price? People see the price reduction and it causes a couple of thoughts...

1) I wonder how much further down they will come?
2) I wonder if something is wrong with it?
3) I wonder how long it's been for sale?

Just these three will cause you more suffering from low offers and constant questions about whether you will carry part of the financing or not. You will soon grow tired of it.

The best way to avoid ALL of these problems, especially in a buyers market as we are in right now, is to price your home AT the market. Not a little over but right at the market value.

Want a secret? Price your home slightly UNDER the market value. You will have people fighting over it and will probably receive multiple offers. When you do - you can actually start a bidding war of sorts over your home and may even realize MORE than the market value.

by Mike Carraway, Broker, Access Realty, Birmingham, AL 800-840-0165

Access Realty Fast Start Training

by Mike Carraway

It happens almost daily in this great country of ours. A new real estate agent gets thier license. Then, they set off on a journey to learn how to get customers and how to do business.

Unfortunately for most of them, they try for about 3 to 6 months, don't get any business, and quit. Why?

Well, look at it this way - if you opened up a new business and had no customers in your first 6 months - what would you do? I know that I would be questioning my own abilities at getting cusomters, wouldn't you?

Having seen this happen so many times with new agents, I knew that there had to be a way to give new agents the tools and techniques they needed to succeed quickly. Over a 5 year period, I deveoped what I call our proprietary "Fast Start" program.

This program takes someone with zero sales experience, with no knowledge of marketing and teaches them the basics of response generating advertising and marketing. Most real estate agents have no idea why people call on an ad. When the students in Fast Start complete their training, they not only know why, but they can accurately track their ad performance and cost per call. They can also measure conversion rates. All of these things are a must for any business.

The second big part of this program is how to manage those leads that are generated and follow up with them so that they actually become customers or clients. The students are taught to set up a simple follow-up system and several different "action plans". Combining this foolow-up system with the lead generation is the cornerstone of the Fast Start program.

Most of the students who apply what they learn in the real world ususally have a real estate transaction pending within their first 30 days. That's how good the program works. Not everyone who goes through the program is successfull. Some students learn the information and then do not apply it. Why? Hard to say. I think one of the biggest reasons is fear of success.

They know that if they are successfull, they'll have to work. They also know that if they are successfull, most of their problems will go away and they won't have any excuses any more. Of course, it's just my opinion.

If you are in the real estate business and actually WANT success - you should take our next Fast Start training class and get on the fast track to success.

Why didn't I get an Offer???

A seller puts their home on the market and then waits for the offers. BUT - they don't come. In fact 40 or 50 people look at their home and nothing happens. No one has any NEGATIVE feedback, everyone says "it's a nice house", but no one makes an offer.
What's wrong?
Simple - the home is competeing against other homes that offer more for the same money. People are looking at this home and then looking at other homes and saying, "the other homes are a better buy". There is only one way to fix this problem...
Lower the price. Once YOUR home is the best buy among a group of similarly priced homes, you'll get an offer. Just because you want to get more, doesn't mean someone will pay more.

Another Day in Real Estate Class

It's Mike again and I have just completed the ninth day of the Alabama Pre-License class for a class of 18 students. The last day is tomorrow and they all take their Pre-License Test. Once passing the test, they will go and take the state exam.

I have to admit, being a real estate instructor is fun. I simply LOVE doing it. I am always amazed at how much information the human brain can learn and retain in a period of just 2 weeks. But I digress... I should start at the beginning...

You see, when I first started real estate instructing, I was in Louisiana and I was working for a small real estate company with 10 agents. I talked the broker into doing what I called FULL TIME real estate classes for full time agents. I figured that if we did the classes part time, we would end up with part time agents. After a year, the company had tripled in size.

Fast forward 5 years. I had met a girl, gotten married, and moved to Alabama. I started my own real estate company, Access Realty in Birmingham in 1998. Over the next few years, besides doing regular real estate business, I started getting the points necessary for my intructors license. It took 5 years but I finally got them.

Once I was an instructor - I knew what I had to do. I hadn't forgotten the successes we had had with the small company in Louisiana. I started doing the pre-license class and marketing the classes as we scheduled them. In January of 2003, we had 3 agents. I have done the classes now for 3 years and now we have 60 agents and 2 offices in Birmingham.

I have also put together a Fast Start Training program that takes 2 weeks to complete. There is a minimal charge for this class. The new agent learns exactly what they have to do to get business fast. And - it works. Every agent that has followed the steps has made over $25,000 in their first 6 months in the business. This is an amazing statistic. Most agents do NO business.

I guess if I could, I would figure out more ways to make people pay and listen to me talk. But for the time being, I'm happy doing what I'm doing. Besides, Access Realty is on track to be the fastest growing company in Alabama.

Today's New Buyer Tips

   1.  Don't make the seller mad with the first offer.

 

   2.  Get pre-approved BEFORE shopping for houses.

 

www.access1000.com

New Orleans, the pitiful, and NAR

I just read an article about a doctor in New Orleans moaning and groaning that his childhood home, not his REAL home, was messed up by Katrina and still is to this day. The article implies that NO is in a state of downward spiral from which it may never recover.
Give me a break.

This is just another example of another reporter who can't find any real news so he makes up his own and then goes to press with it as if it's another disaster story. HELLO!!! WAKE UP!! The Katrina story is over - why doesn't the media get it?

New Orleans just celebrated Mardi Gras! People were partying in the streets 24/7 again. Restaurants are filling up. And guess what?

The National Association of Realtors is having it's NATIONAL convention in NO this year! That's right, over 3000 Realtors from across the US will make their way to the Big Easy come November, along with several thousand more vendors, support staff, and presenters. The NAR president estimates the city will benefit by over 30 million dollars.

Realtors are doing their part, haven't abandoned the Big Easy, and are committed to helping revitalize the city. The next time you hear a pitiful story about something bad in NO, just remember: a lot of the folks in NO are doing just fine and us Realtos and going to enjoy the Big Easy for what it is...a great tourist destination.

Helping buyers and sellers save thousands of dollars every day!

----------------------------------------------
The following are the links to the selected listings.

Details 290425, 4690 RIVERBEND RD, TRUSSVILLE, AL - $395,000.00

Or Click Here to go view all listings at once.

If your email program doesn't support an HTML url, then copy and paste the following
address to your browser's address box. Make sure you copy and paste the
entire link; it may appear on multiple lines.

http://bhammls.net/BAARReports/listings.asp?ID=I2744742

REALTORS: REAL-Service REAL-Expertise.
You can also visit http://www.Access1000.com to perform your own property search.

Broker
Access Realty, Inc.
1-800-840-0165

3 Things you MUST know before shopping for a home

1)  Get your pre-approval

 

2) know your closing costs

 

3)  know your monthly payment