National MLS a 'waste of time'
Inman Community roundup
By Inman News, Tuesday, August 5, 2008.Bookmarking Sites
Editor's note: The following is a collection of readers' comments found on Inman.com:
Local MLSs can provide value to local markets
MLS stakeholders take on syndication, public sites
"A national (multiple listing service) is a waste of time and effort. Not to mention that having NAR or any other large organization control the lifeblood of our income is a bad idea. Just look at how Realtor.com has been managed since the days of the defunct Real Estate Information Network. The fact that as Realtors we belong to the largest trade group in the United States and do not own and control Realtor.com is beyond my comprehension. I also fail to understand why we give our data to Realtor.com for free and then have to pay to showcase our listings with basic info (multiple photos, contact info, etc.).
"The suggestion that a small MLS (that) caters to its unique market by providing the solutions required by its local real estate agents will not survive is unfounded. A regional or national MLS only serves the needs of NAR and large national companies. Any discussion pertaining to economy of scale is not worth discussing based on the fact that MLS data is inexpensive when you are actually selling real estate.
"A local, well-run MLS that caters to its local market will succeed based on the fact that its members will support it. In the example of banks, look at local versus regional or national (banks). Local banks play a critical role in this industry."
--Bill Hanlon
Brokers should tap power of blogging
Mixing business with 'friends'
"The brokerage of the future ... understands. As part of their strategy, they'll employ or partner with a highly visible corporate blogger whose job is to do what they do best ... write about the market, tell the consumers everything they need to know to make an informed decision, and thus make rain for the entire company.
"Sure, blogging isn't for everyone. But for those who excel at it, the opportunities are endless. What I've learned is that the more honest, relevant info we put out for the audience with no strings attached, the more business we attract. It's a powerful online tool that brokers need to tap into if they're to survive in the future."
--Diane Cohn
Why stop seller-funded down-payment assistance?
FHA Changes make housing bill a 'mixed bag'
"This is more government interference in the market.
"Elimination of the seller-funded down-payment assistance interferes with the rights of the homeowner/seller.
"If a property is market priced and the seller opts to pay all or part of the buyer's down payment, the result is a reduction in the seller's net proceeds and should be none of the government's business.
"The licensed appraiser is the entity that should verify market value, not the government.
"What I can't figure out is who (is objecting) and why (are there objections) to the seller paying the buyer's down payment. It defies logic, market and common sense."
--Lenn Harley
Generate referrals from relationships
Social networks: Think outside the real estate box
"Networking sites focused on something other than real estate produce a more diverse group of people with diverse networks themselves. This is where clients come from. Establishing relationships produces referrals and there are so many sites now to find 'friends' with similar interests."
--Catherine Read
'Covert and blatant discrimination' exists in housing industry
Real estate firm charged with racial discrimination
"The testers may be overzealous -- but there still exists massive covert and blatant discrimination on all levels of the housing industry. Indirect or misdirected displays of discrimination are no excuse. Double-talk, use of fuzzy or gray language and terminology to promote acts of discrimination by brokers, agents, customers or clients is completely out of order. Will we ever learn?"
--Carrie Gingrich
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Submitted by Gregory Schreiber on August 5, 2008 - 1:57pm.
The comments in regard to the end of seller paid downpayments for FHA loans are actually very funny! Government loans are what is really government interference. You can still have seller financing as long as you don't put the American taxpayer on the receiving end of a bad loan. If you think the buyers are such a great risk, why don't you cosign the loan for them?
Submitted by Eric Cunliffe on August 5, 2008 - 1:59pm.
Seller assistance prohibition by FHA:
For years one of the main underwriting concepts of the FHA was that of "motivation to pay". As there was little motivation due to the low down-payment requirements, the motivation was purely the homeowners desire to repay and the fact that they had invested some hard-earned savings into paying the costs of the closing and whatever down-payment they could make. FHA was a geat program but fell apart due to their excessive property certification process placing undeue burdens on sellers and causing multiple "chains of closings" to collapse. Then PMI became available and the FHA programs declined in usage. This was followed by the 90/10/10 programs for those who did not wish to put their cash into a home nor pay for insurance. Therefore, in light of the unprecedented decline in home values it only makes sense to do away with the no-downpayment programs, the "liars" mortgages and seller/builder assisted financing. If FNMA and FHLMC had listened to the nay-sayers years ago they would not have ended up allowing lenders and mortgage brokers to make a fortune off dubious programs that have now gone awfully bad.
Responsible lending is the one of the only things that will eventually get us through the housing and credit mess and a solid credit underwriting process will be one of the key foundations of a housing value recovery.
Submitted by Joseph Ballarino on August 5, 2008 - 3:58pm.
A national MLS is not needed, but a gateway system with some national data standards would be a great help.
Local MLSs always have borders, so the need to display or share data from a neighboring MLS is necessary. We need a cost effective way of accomplishing that goal, while allowing local expertise to influence their local system.
We need national data standards to allow all brokers to compete with 3rd party aggregates. They publish a standard and we all deliver data to them in their format. They deliver consistent results with great data translation because the sending party did the translation.
National franchises, large brokers and small brokers would all benefit from a standard internet data display data format since the cost of delivering solutions would be driven down due to the lack of having to deal with 700 different data formats and rules.
Regards,
Joe Ballarino
Amerivest Realty | Real Estate Franchise
Naples, Florida
Submitted by Ralph M on August 6, 2008 - 8:49am.
The above article comments on the mls system are so true.
the above article comments on the blog to succeed are bs... Show me 1 statistic where it shows a real estate professional who blogs over another real estate professional who does not, is more successful.....Bloggin/whineing has little to no benefit. In fact it may be more of a negative since the real estate professional is showing the public they spend more time blogging than on a clients property.
www.aarsteam.com
Submitted by Dale Corbett on August 6, 2008 - 1:56pm.
Yes I totally agree national mls stinks although, it might be a good idea.
Submitted by Ben Nicolas on August 8, 2008 - 12:23am.
Gregory Schreiber,
You are uninformed and I'm not sure you get how FHA works.
1) The American taxpayer is not "on the hook" for FHA loans that fail. FHA is a self-funded program from the upfront and monthly MI paid by borrowers that participate in the program.
2) I know you think you made a real great point in your last sentence challenging Lenn Harvery to co-sign if he thinks it is such a great risk. I can't speak for Mr. Harvery but I would glady take the risk of an FHA loan if I received all the upfront and monthly premiums annually to offset the risk for the loans that do default.
? for everyone against seller assisted DPA programs: Are you also against RE brokerage models that rebate commission to buyers? Why not eliminate buyer rebates for what they are ("kickbacks") and lower the price of the property? Why should a buyer finance a higher sale price to get a % of the commission as a kickback. The $5k cash back you get kicked back financed for 30 years at 6.5% costs you ~$11k. People always say the seller pays the commission but where does the seller get the money that he pays the commission with?
Submitted by Matt Carter on August 8, 2008 - 2:36pm.
Ben -- HUD claims seller-funded DPA would put the mortgage insurance fund in the red (which would indeed put taxpayers "on the hook") or force it to raise premiums. We are, in fact, about to see an across the board FHA premium increase for everyone, because Congress decided to delay risk-based pricing for one year.
HUD says seller funded DPA triples the chance a home will end up in foreclosure. So, to answer Lenn Harley's question about might object to the practice, how about the majority of people who use FHA and don't rely on seller funded DPA but now have to pay higher premiums?
Your point about commission rebates assumes buyers who patronize discount brokerages will have to pay more for a home than if they went with a full commission broker. Anybody seen any evidence that's the case?
HUD has research that it says shows that allowing sellers (and really what we're talking about is home builders) to pitch in on the down payment does, indeed, inflate the price of the home.