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The Ten Best in RE.net This Week: Feb. 13, 2010 Edition

Dean Ouellette
3 min read

1 ) Government Math – This video seemed to create the most buzz this week, and rightfully so. Indymac worked out a sweetheart deal for themselves and we are paying for it. One thing that is not stressed here is who is George Soros? Soros is the money man for the group MoveOn.org and spent over $23million alone in 2004 to oppose Republicans. I guess this is his reward.

2 ) The Internet is Broken – I love this post. How many times have you heard that social media does not really work for those in real estate? Jim Marks answers that question here better than I have seen anyone else answer it before.

3 ) Does the Realtor’s Code of Ethics Prevent Real Estate Agents From Serving Their Clients? – This post is so good because it is something I struggle with on a regular basis as an agent. How do you answer that question from the out of state buyer when they ask, is that a safe neighborhood, or is that a nice neighborhood, or would you put your mother there? You can’t, and then who are you really helping? But at the same time I understand why we can’t.

4 ) If I Can Change, and You Can Change, Everybody Can Change! – Redfin has got a bad wrap from those in the real estate community since they launched. Let’s face it, many agents do not like change and Redfin has been a complete paradigm change in the way real estate is conducted. The model is not for everyone, but you should at least be impressed with their constant commitment to customer service.

5 ) Much ado about the professionalism of real estate agents. – Speaking of changing the way things are done, three of RE.net’s heavyweights this week weighed in on the hot topic this year, professionalism in real estate and raising the bar. First Daniel Rothamel wrote about how he believed the professionalism in real estate was overrated. Then Dustin Luther disagreed with him. Kris Berg sums up her thoughts in this response.

6 ) Bank of America Achieves Surrealistic Central Status – For us who like to work short sales, we know Bank of America is not the brightest group when it comes to getting short sales approved. The reason this post is so valuable is not to take shots at BoA, but there are two hidden gems on short sales within the post. First lesson is about escalation, notice when they are not getting the results they move the file along and all of a sudden things start getting done. That is because the further up you go, the more they understand the importance of getting things done. The second lesson is in how much it costs the bank just on day one to foreclose on a property. $3800 in the first 24-hours, just to foreclose. Then come repairs, carrying costs and more… that is why it makes sense for banks to do short sales vs foreclosures.

7 ) Brokers’ rights to control uses of their data and the RPR license agreement – The RPR-MLS-Broker discussion was hot this week, and very interesting if you followed it. If RPR cannot get all the data in the MLS their service will not be nearly as impressive as if they have all the data. If MLS’s do not provide the data brokers could do so. But again, this is only beneficial if all the major broker’s agree to it.

8 ) Citigroup to Ease Foreclosure Process – Citigroup has come up with an idea that really does not fix the problem, but just delays it some more. There is a time, and I think we are there, where we are going to need to come up with a real solution to keep people in their homes or we are going to just need to rip the band-aid off quickly and reset.

9 ) Rewards to Stop Mortgage Walkaways? – The idea behind this is great, but not really sure it would work in the places that need it most. I could see a program like this working in a state like Maine or Wyoming where the market may be down, but has not totally crashed. Then you have places like Las Vegas, Phoenix or Southern California where you may be $300,000 underwater $10k is not going to make much of a difference.

10 ) Why I love my job. Real Life Real Estate Emails – I ended the first edition of this last week with something entertaining, this week I am ending the same way. I actually was sitting with Jay when he received this email yesterday morning. It was very entertaining and enlightening about general consumer’s feelings towards those in real estate.

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.