With 3D Tours, the 92% of buyers house-hunting online can now view the floor plan of a Geraldson Realty listing and take a virtual walk through the entire home—right from their smartphone, tablet, or desktop computer.As a company committed to providing the highest quality selling/buying experience for its clientele, Geraldson Realty is constantly vetting cutting-edge technologies that offer improvements in the quality and efficiency of our services. Such is the case with the latest addition to our comprehensive listing services for sellers. With 92% of home buyers using the internet during … [Read more...]
Misconceptions: MLS & Big Brokerages
If you’ve ever talked with a REALTOR®, you’ve probably heard “MLS” at some point in the conversation. Chances are, unless someone has explained what the MLS is and what it does, you might have some misconceptions about the MLS and real estate brokerages in general. Often I hear sellers refer to the MLS as if it has some sort of magical power to sell homes. As if, simply listing a home on the MLS will make it sell. The fact is, it takes much more than that to sell a home. So, if you’re thinking of selling in the near future, and are even slightly confused about the MLS, please read on. You may … [Read more...]
Red vs Blue: Zillow Foreclosure Listings
Zillow.com is hands down the most thorough, ‘one-stop’ home search tool available to buyers right now. With only a few, minor exceptions, if a home is “for sale” and it’s listed online somewhere, chances are it’s also going to be listed on Zillow. Additionally, Zillow’s mobile apps for iOS and Android devices offer, without question, the most user-friendly map search interface of any home search app available. So, now that I’ve told you something you probably already knew, lets move on to something that tends to be a common point of confusion for Zillow users–Zillow’s foreclosure listings. … [Read more...]
The Only 2 Home Search Apps You Need
I don’t mind telling you that when I want to quickly and easily search through the homes for sale in Conway Arkansas, I don’t go to the MLS. [gasps] Yes, I know. I shouldn’t be telling you that, right? But, it’s the truth. The MLS isn’t the first search tool I grab in those moments. In fact, it’s the last–for 3 simple reasons:Our local MLS doesn’t have an app for my iPhone. This means, if I want to log in to my account, I have to open my mobile browser and access a scaled-down/missing-a-bunch-of-useful-content mobile version of the MLS’s website. Only homes listed with a REALTOR are in … [Read more...]
Mortgage Rates in 2014
“Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.” – Warren BuffetMortgage Rates 10/13-12/13 Looking back at 2013 and forward to the year ahead, it doesn’t take much to identify the biggest source of financial risk we’re all facing—Obamacare. You might already be feeling the effects directly. If you aren’t, and you’re thinking you’ve got your bases covered because you’re on an employer health insurance plan, just wait. It may be that the law affects some directly, through skyrocketing health insurance premiums and the loss of coverage. For others, those direct effects will undoubtedly … [Read more...]
What’s Up with Interest Rates?
What’s Going On? Since the ’08 housing crisis the Fed has been manipulating the interest rate to keep it low. Without getting too much into the details of how it’s been doing this, the point is that it results in more dollars coming into existence (via a super-special one-of-a-kind printer owned by the US Treasury Dept). The basics of supply and demand take over at this point. Think of money as the “supply” and the interest rate as a reflection of the “demand”. When you go to get a mortgage for a new home, the rate your lender quotes you is the amount they are demanding in return for the … [Read more...]
Homeowners Insurance Claims after a Tornado: Tips from a Catastrophic Claims Adjuster
The safety and security of yourself, your family and your friends is the first priority. After that, if you or someone you know has completely lost or sustained damage to a home or personal property that’s insured, you/they will need to begin taking steps to file an insurance claim. The details and specifics of an insurance claim might be the last thing you/they would want to do right now. However, the sooner the claims process is started, the better.Today, I contacted a local homeowners insurance claims adjuster who has had extensive experience adjusting catastrophic claims after natural … [Read more...]
Home Buyer Closing Costs: A Detailed Breakdown
I compare prices when I shop. My wife teases me about it when we’re in a store and she catches me opening my calculator app. In her defense, I can go a bit over-the-top sometimes. The fact is, I simply want to know that I’m not overpaying for something. I want to be wise with the money God has provided. Sometimes my quick calculations do pay off though—[FYI: the per-diaper price for Luvs size 3 is higher when you buy the 96-count box than it is when you buy the 34-count plastic pack]. Most of the time, I just end up bugging my wife.Because of my price-comparing tendencies, I can empathize with … [Read more...]
Beware the Volume-Selling Listing Agent
Some listing agents in Conway Arkansas sell their listing services by focusing, in conversations and advertisements, on how fast they sell homes and how many they sell. They practice what I refer to as “volume-selling”. They’ve made their mark by selling LOTS of homes, and by selling those homes quickly. Now, on the surface this sounds great. I mean, who wouldn’t want to list with someone who can sell a home quickly? Right? And, if a listing agent sells homes quickly and has a track record of selling LOTS of homes, well, it stands to reason that they should be the one you list with. Right? … [Read more...]
Beyond Virtual Tours: Real Estate Marketing for the 21st Century
Real Estate Marketing: The Historical Context In today’s internet-driven marketplace, content is king. Just as the internet revolutionized every other industry, in real estate, the internet has empowered buyers by enabling them to browse through listings online–without the assistance of a buyer’s agent. The listing information that brokerages once held complete control over is now freely accessible through websites like Zillow.com and Trulia.com. Back in the ole ‘book-o-listings’ era, a few pictures were all the ‘visual content’ a brokerage needed in order to create a new listing for their … [Read more...]