All Forum Posts by: Michael Stole

When would be the best season to list a house? And the worst?

I think winter probablly is the worst season, as few occupants look for houses in winter, and selling in winter is a sign that you are very motivated to sell.

Spring is probablly the best season. More occupant buyers. I notice the house prices in my area have been increasing since winter.

Any thoughts?

Hi, J. The data they gave to me do not show any of these information.

Probablly they record information like this for each property. But for each transaction, they dont keep a detailed information.

But you just raised a good question. I am gonna talk to them on monday to see whether they just gave me a wrong data.

But still the MLS data is the most convenient and most detailed data Ive ever seen.

Thanks, Chris. My local county recorders do not keep detailed information about sold properties, like age, # of rooms, etc. That is the reason why I turned to MLS.

Hi, BPers, I have been hanging around this forum for a while, and get many answers and helps from here. Now I need another big help.

I am a part time investor as well as an economic analyst. I am right now doing a research studying the residential real estate market, and need some data. The ideal data would be a list of detailed information about all the houses been sold in a given city during a given period.

I myself is not an agent, so I resort to my local MLS center on getting the data. But they told me they were not able to give me the data with that much detail. Well, I can go with a less detailed data, but detailed information will be much much better. So I still wanna try my best to persuade them, and I can sign a confidentiality agreement. But before I do that, I would like to know the chance of success and what the best way is to persuade them.

Well, my wife is an real estate agent, so yes, I can easilly get the data from my wife. But I have to know for sure whether it is legal for me to get the data from my agent wife. If I used the data, and the research get published, are they able to sue me for that? The bottomline is I dont want any legal trouble. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

FYI, the research is pure academic, and not for profit.

Thanks, Joshua. That is what I am aksing.

Thank you guys for your insights.

So what it really matters is the individual agent, but not the office.

Can I says that an outstanding agent in a so-so office is definitely better than an average agent in a renowned office?

I know that a broker can have many offices located in different places. Some brokers may provide better services in one area, while another broker better in another area.

My question is when choosing a listing agent to sell a house of yours, will you consider which office s/he is working for? or just the agent his own reputation?

Will the office make any different or make any contribution in the process of selling a house?

Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated.

I used to be a huge soccer fan. I think I am still, but not that much enthusiastic as before. I support the brazil national team, and my favorate players are ronaldo, and ronaldinho.

This can be explained by a basic job-market signalling model. Even though a degree can not improve any of your skills, it can be used as a signal of your ability. Here is a quote from wiki:

"In the job market, potential employees seek to sell their services to employers for some wage, or price. Generally, employers are willing to pay higher wages to employ better workers. While the individual may know his or her own level of ability, the hiring firm is not (usually) able to observe such an intangible trait - thus there is an asymmetry of information between the two parties. Education credentials can be used as a signal to the firm, indicating a certain level of ability that the individual may possess; thereby narrowing the informational gap. This is beneficial to both parties as long as the signal indicates a desirable attribute - a signal such as a criminal record may not be so desirable."

Before attending college, how many of you ever think of what you expect to learn from college, what kind of life you will have in college, and what career you will pursue after graduate? I dont, and don't even know what I am interested in. Just everybody goes to college, and so do I. But I did develop my interest that I can take as a career when I was in college. Just curious how many are like me. Maybe I am a outlier.