John Palmisano

Nicholas, you build equity as you pay down your mortgage. I believe you mean gaining appreciation. Also, the tax deduction would depend on the amount you make for a salary, and how much interest you can write off. You would then have to weigh tax deduction and equity build up, versus how much of a home you can afford to rent. - Thu Oct 16 2008, 11:09

Carl,

I remember in 1976, in 6th grade learning about Earth Day. So we knew are resources where limited before 1979, as I remember. I do have a great book that they can read, by David Butler, it is called "Tin Can Alley." It explains the process of buying and selling notes. Maybe I should loan it to Freddie and Fannie. - Sun Oct 12 2008, 07:13

Realty Exec,

We seeing the same thing here in South Florida. More contracts are coming in and more deals are closing with mostly FHA financing. We are also seeing that investors are buying the real good deals, and those deals are staying on the market for less than 30 days, and some deals last less then 10 days. I do not know if the market has hit bottom and it will probably will over-correct itself, but there are some good signs that the market is probably stabilizing itself to some degree in this market. - Tue Sep 30 2008, 11:26

Ryan, well we can argue the point that Mr. Bruce is protraying himself as an expert in a certain field, by his postings. Mr. Bruce is now using copy written articles in his postings and not clearly defining what are his writtens words, and the words of the author. Now let me ask you, as a lawyer ( I know you are waiting for your test results, good luck,) if you copy another lawyer's copy written work onto a public website, what do you think would happen? Anyway, my point to this discussion is that, Mr. Bruce can not follow simple directions, so what qualifies him to counsel people on any topic in this forum, and to make disparaging remarks to other people, and disqualify their comments. Caveat Emptor - Thu Aug 28 2008, 07:16

Thank you Ryan,

Will you agree that Mr. Bruce did violated the website's agreement? Then the comments I made are a fact, and yes, I doubt the author would sue for damages. My point to the exchange, is that if Mr. Bruce can not follow the simple procedures of a websites privacy rules. What qualifies him to counsel anyone on the subject discussed in this exchange? The use of profanity by Mr. Bruce, in his exchange's with other people, including myself, who post answers on this forum to me constitutes a childish behavior greater than any of my writings.

JohnP - Thu Aug 28 2008, 05:37

OK Bruce, I believe you copied the part of the blog/article word for word. There is not even a statement claiming this is not your writing. No quotation marks, nothing to distinguish where the article starts and ends, and what you have wrote. Other than look at the link, which is not allowed to be posted in another website. Pretty clear to me, what don't you understand. - Wed Aug 27 2008, 22:50

OK The Bruce, maybe you should learn to read Privacy policies on websites you visit. Blog or not, someone owns the work. Here is part of the privacy policy from site you copied the article from:
User Agreement
Portfolio.com User Agreement
II. Rules of Usage:

1. USE OF THE WEBSITE BY YOU:

A. Unless otherwise specified, the Website is intended for your personal use only. You may not authorize others to use the Website, and you are responsible for all use of the Website by you and by those you allow to use, or provide access to, the Website.

B. The Website contains material that is protected by state, national and international copyright, trademark and other intellectual property laws. You may not modify, copy, reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit or distribute in any way any material, including code and software, from the Website. You may download material from the Website and may use the Website for your personal use only, provided you keep intact all copyright and other proprietary notices.
4. COPYRIGHT COMPLAINTS:
A. Service Provider respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. Service Provider may, in appropriate circumstances and at its discretion, suspend or terminate the access of and take other action against users, subscribers, registrants and account holders who infringe the copyright rights of others.

B. If you believe that your work has been copied and is accessible on the Website in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, or that the Website contains links or other references to another online location that contains material or activity that infringes your copyright rights, you may notify Service Provider by providing the following information (as required by the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. sec. 512) to our copyright agent set forth below: - Wed Aug 27 2008, 22:39

Gee Bruce, you know you are right. you did not copy from the NY times, but you did post a link. But take a look at the bottom of the blog you copied in to this public forum. Here it is:

Portfolio.com © 2008 Condé Nast Inc. All rights reserved.

See the c with the circle, it means it is copy written and you can not reproduce it. - Wed Aug 27 2008, 22:21

John The Bruce Wrote:
"Zack and others in this thread have explained this point ad nauseam. More than once I might add. Go back and read the thread and get educated.

We can't spoon feed you forever."

Boy, spoon feed by whom, you and Zack. I doubt it. You boys are just "Big fish in a little pond;" feeling like big men. I only asked a question which until now have avoided in giving me, not somebody else a direct answer.
Whats the problem. You can not find the website where you found the answer to the question? You should bookmark it next time, that helps.

JohnP - Wed Aug 27 2008, 21:28

JC Wrote:
John P,

"When did you take a copyright class? Just because you reproduce something without permission automatically qualifies as "illegal"? Really?????
Can what you say be construed as "giving legal advice"? Are you a licensed attorney?
Your ignorance is stunning."

My ignorance is stunning! Boy wake up and smell the coffee.

I believe you are taught this in middle school. You can not reproduce an article, or any part of in a public forum. Gee, is the article "Public Domain?" This is a New york Times article, why don't you call them and ask if its OK to republish part of the article in a public forum without permission, and see what they tell you. Better yet, I will give them a call in morning with a link to the website and see what they have to say. So, I find it funny that you do not know some basic things in life, but you are qualified to give financial advice on this forum. Are you a CPA or an Economist. What qualifies you a computer and a half a brain. Just because people can reproduce dosen't mean they should, if you hear what I am saying?

JohnP - Wed Aug 27 2008, 21:22

John the Bruce Wrote:
John and “JR/Bill Jacobs/No Spin’s” legal-eagle delusions aside, considering the site itself allows you to e-mail the article to users of your choice, I fail to see an issue in re-posting it, providing the link to the original author as well as giving the author a citation for his work. I’m not passing it off as my own or editing in any way.

Thas right John The Bruce, if you edited the article, or claimed to be yours, it would be Plagiarism.

John The Bruce Wrote:
"considering the site itself allows you to e-mail the article to users of your choice, I fail to see an issue in re-posting it,"

Johnthe Bruce, see you do not understand that e-mailing the article to a friend is different than posting the article on a public website. Boy, now I want you to interpet that sales contract, and understand everything that is written in the contract.
John the Bruce, please do not try to sell your own house, if you own one, which i doubt. You will end up in court, if you can not follow simple instructions on a website, about emailing an article versus posting it in a public forum.

JohnP
JohnP - Wed Aug 27 2008, 21:06

John P,

You wrote: "Now Zack, can you explain the statement above, and how Buying a home not a good investment? "

I've probably replied nearly 100x to this thread in the life of it. There are nearly 2000 posts, the first 200 hold much of it and there is a ton of statistics showing a house is a terrible investment for financial gain. If you want a place to put pink siding on and lawn decorations of fat ladies in flower dresses bending over, great, buy a house, but if you buy a house as an investment, you're costing yourself a lot of money.

You still have not answered the question with any qualifying facts!

JohnP - Wed Aug 27 2008, 20:58

John the Bruce,

In the article you republished, which I hope you had permission to republish. The article states that brokers sold homes quicker. So then the homeowner saved carrying cost for the additional months that they did not own the home. So why is that number not part of the equation added into services provided. Simple economics there that you should have seen. Again, another arm chair economist who regurgitates what he hears or reads.

O.K. and where do you get MLS services for $300 dollars, because I want to sign up. My service cost me around $750.00 per year.Gee, I guess all the short sale properties, from people who can not take responsibility for themselves, now have the ability to sell their own property, and negotiate with the bank. What a joke.

The university keeps track of the homes sales for sale and assist with paperwork. Key word here is assist realtors actually fillout the paperwork and are responsible for their actions. I guess the university does not want the liability, and that is why they only assist. Plus they are not getting paid to interpet contracts, addendums, and closing cost.

What is the point to your article. Which you probably do not have the legal right to reproduce. You know that is against the law, right? Boy, I would want you to handle the sale of my home!

Johnp
Johnp - Wed Aug 27 2008, 19:41

Bill Wrote: In the end, those against realtors seem to be upset that agents make about 8k on an average sale. (If an average sale is 250k.) If an agent makes 8 sales a year, they will make 64k for working full time, evenings, weekends, etc. That is a good salary, but it is not extravagent or extraordinary given how many hours they work.

Bill now cut the 64k in half. First, depending on their split with the broker, they have to give a percentage to the company. then minus healthcare, adverising to get the 8 sales. Then minus on going education which is mandatory. Then minus gas and additional car insurance. So you can cut that 64K in half to 32K. You need to sell about 12 houses a year, with an average sales price of 350K to make around 70k per year. you will probably be working 7 days a week in your first 2-3 years in the business to sell that many houses. Remember realtors are self employed. we do not get benefits of a salaried employee. Again, if we make a mistake everyone is looking to sue us. Again, if people understood what a good realtor does, than there would be no argument.

Johnp - Wed Aug 27 2008, 19:15

"About 500 posts ago, I had mentioned that all I wanted was for the NAR to stop touting the investment potential of homes. Its false, misleading and has been massively effective. "Its a good time to buy and sell a home" is patently false unless its finished "unless you hate your money". That would be all I ask. "

Now Zack, can you explain the statement above, and how Buying a home not a good investment?

JohnP - Wed Aug 27 2008, 18:11

JR, I was responding to your post just below John The Bruce. Anyway, thanks for agreeing.

JohnP - Tue Aug 26 2008, 20:19

JR good post, but you forgot one equation. The mortgage broker/bank tells the buyer what they can afford, the realtor has nothing to do with the buyers budget. We are all big boys and girls now, and we should know what we can spend and not spend. JR, I do not know if you are a realtor or not, but when you start telling buyers what they can and cannot afford, they seem to get funny, and sometimes look for a new realtor. So I say, it is time people start taking responsibility for themselves and stop blaming everyone else. I know our government does it, so maybe the fish is just rotting from the head down.

JohnP - Tue Aug 26 2008, 20:02

Nicholas, you caan go FHA to purchase a home. They have just raised their limits on the purchase amount to %125 of the median price for the area. So for example miami has a median price of 339,000 X %125, which equals $423,750. You can put a down paymt as low as %3, I believe. So that solves your problem with first time home buyers. Once the banks see more and more people going FHA, they should loosen up a little. - Tue Aug 19 2008, 13:47

John The Bruce wrote:

"Your home does produce a cash flow. It’s called rent. If you live in it, then the cash flow benefit you enjoy is called a “rent equivalent.” I.e., the money you theoretically save by not having to pay rent. Granted, that number may be negative for many home owners today."

No, its called quality of life. How do you save money buy not paying rent. You can look at that two different ways. A rental does not have the same liabilities a homeowner will have. You see you are looking at your home like a stock, and not the quality of life it brings you. I know people who own homes with no mortgages and they do not look at it as I have XXX amount of asset, it is there home where they raised their family. But thye still ahve the liability of taxes, insurance, and up keep without the benefit of cash flow from the home. Does your home increase your net worth, of course it does, but go and try to spend it without causing more liability or liquifying the asset. So a home for all intensive purposes is not still not an asset. A stock that you bought that provides monthly cash flow is an asset, because it cost you nothing to keep it. I am not splitting hairs, but when you understand the difference it will makes sense.

John The Bruce Wrote: Your home does produce a cash flow. It’s called rent.

Do you understand what cash flow is? Even when you own a rental unit rent is not the cash flow. The net from the rent is the cash flow minus taxes, repairs, and etc...
To put gas in your car is not a liability, it is the cost to operate. The same as fixing your roof in your home. if the car does not run it becomes a useless asset, and the asset it provides you, is the ability to go from point A to B, which goes back to quality of life issue. Is the car an asset so you go to work to earn money, or could you use mass transit, or maybe your bicycle. Not mandatory to own a car is it? The same with a house you do not need to own a home unless you choose too, and it really is not an asset is it then. It become more of a quality of life issue. So to say to people the market will go down further, first is irresponsible on your part. You are speculator and do not have any quantified fact to back up your statement. What happens if they housing market drops 5%, but interest rate go up 1%. Pretty much you are where you started from, aren't you? I do not see any armchair economic majors mentioning that fact on this board. I guess you forgot about that one. So I guess you are as bad as the realtors, who you say are just trying to boost their business by getting people to buy. You must want to seem like a big fish in a small pond and spout off your opinions which have no data or fact to back it up. I guess the local news is all that you need, and you know accurate they are!

John Palmisano - Fri Aug 15 2008, 21:10

JohnThe Bruce,
Whoever said that your home is an asset? It is a liability, even when you pay off the note( mortgage is the instrument to secure the note.) Your home does not produce cash flow, so therefore it is not an asset, it is a place to live and possibly raise a family. You see the thinking is all wrong with people today. People looked at houses like a stock. Now if you are looking to but a home to raise a family, then right now might be the perfect time for that person to buy. if you are an investor, and I mean a true investor who knows what they are doing, then there are some great bargains to be had. Now if you are a speculator with limited knowledge, then it is not a good time to buy. Can I say it is all rosey out there in the RE market, no. It is a challenging market right now, but people still need a place to live, and if you are going to try to time the RE market, like the stock market. Well we know how that scenario will end up. Will housing prices drop further, possibly, but not to any great extent, and it depends in which local market you are speaking about. If my local area inventory has come down form 44 monthe to 13 months in 6 month period, and trending downwards.. Still not a sellers market but inventory is decreasing. You really need to know the numbers for an area, and thats part of the reason people pay me, to know my market. You know the RE market is like any market, it will not completely stop. People are buying and selling everday for different reasons. Do I think the RE market will be better in 6-9 months, yes, but not a sellers market. That will take a few years before that happens. We will still have inventory to get through, but the time the media see's this it will be too late for the average person to jump for a deal. I wish I could tell you more, but my crystal ball is in the shop for repairs this week.

JohnP - Fri Aug 15 2008, 17:22

Tni,

Exellent point and well said.

John - Thu Oct 9 2008, 18:30

Well thank you JB, I hope I was some help. Good luck with the home. I hope everything works out well.

John - Thu Oct 9 2008, 18:27

JB, I should have read the question better. But what I would offer is: Pulling the active, just sold, and pending sales, and giving a fair market price for the home. I would negotiate the contract or price, review and explaining the contract, closing cost or net sheet. Meeting the inspector, reviewing the inspection report with you, asking for concessions, or repairs, Meeting the appraisor with comparables in hand making sure it appraisors. communicating with your mortgage broker and the seller's agent, keeping you in time with your contract. Reviewing the Hud. Checking the Hud numbers. Making sure you are not overcharged for closing cost. Doing a walk through with you. Going to closing with you.

JB, showing the house is the easy part.

You feel the last paragraph scares you. Now you know how a Realtor feels when a person calls up and says I want to buy a house and wants to meet you at the house. Again, I am a professional so I have a system for sucess that works very well. I have people meet me at my office for a consultation. I need to focus my energies on people who want service and are serious, so I can provide them with the best possible service.

I am sure you can understand that if you work in an industry, or own your own business. Would you go to work at job (A) if you knew you might, or might not get paid, or job (B) where you knew you where getting paid? Where would you go? I do not know why people see Realtors as someone who shows houses, or works for free. Yes, I work for commissions, but that does not sway me one way or the other in showing my qualified buyers homes. I nurture relationships, or as we say in my office you are either in real estate for a year or you have a career.

I do not want you to take this the wrong way, but your other option is to have an attorney draw up the contract and you can submit it on your own, or have the attorney submit the contract. But they will charge piece meal. The lisiting agent will keep all the commission and you can pay for an attorney. I do not know how many houses you have purchased, but a professional realtor will save you time and money. Thank you for your time. - Thu Oct 9 2008, 16:39

James, to answer your last question first. I have no problem telling a buyer what my commission is.

James, well you have a responsibility to point out flaws that are obvious to you as a Realtor, that is your responsibility to the buyer, agreement or no agreement. The buyers agreement is to allow you to, in a nut shell, to work for the best possible price for the buyer. Here in Florida we are all transaction brokers meaning we only put the two parties together. You can not pull comparables for buyers unless you have a buyer's broker's agreement, or give any information as why the client is selling. Basically if you have a buyer's brokers agreement you are then allowed to get the best possible price for your buyer. You are acting as a single agent for the buyer. I believe as realtors the agency relationship is not always understood correctly, so we end up doing things when we are not suppose to. That is where the system is failed.

In your scenario, if the agent is willing to work for 2% and the listing pays three, then yes then the 1% of the money should go to the buyer. But are you only worth 2%

I know when my client signs a buyer's agreement, I know I have a serious buyer. 100% of my time and attention is going to be focused on that buyer, because I know their commitment to me is 100%. I can only work with so many people, so I want to make sure they are serious in their intentions. The same goes for someone who says, " Sell my house," and I am sure you have had this with FSBO's. How serious are you in finding a buyer for that home knowing you might, or might not get paid?

John - Thu Oct 9 2008, 14:18

James, you do have a point, but your answer would be for an agent who is not serious about their career. This would be an agent that lacks serious training in providing a service to their client. You always have a fiduciary responsibility to your client, but if you do not have a buyers brokers agreement with a buyer. Your responsibility is to the seller, even if you are not the listing agent on the property. Now if a buyer really wants your full attention, they will be willing to pay whatever commission shortfall there would be in a listing. So lets say that they hire you to receive 3% , and listing is only paying 1.5%. The buyer would make up the difference in commission, if needed. You would then have a buyers agent working for you, if that buyers agent then still wanted to pitch a home that is offering 10% commission, then I believe that comes down to personal morals, and they are not seeing the big picture, that would be unfortunate. Agents like that dimish our business and professionalism.

Buyers need to understand that working with an agent, without a buyers broker agreement, that agent must treat you fairly and honestly, but their responsibility is to the seller. So if you disclose any information. IE: offer $250K for the house, but I will pay $275K if I have to. Then it is that agents responsibilty to the seller to inform them, that the buyer will pay more.

The problem with the buyer's broker agreement, is not that the system is out dated. It is that agents do not explain it correctly, or do not understand agency responsibility. - Thu Oct 9 2008, 04:22

Paloma, find a realtor, because you will need to price this correctly for the property to sell. if you try on your own and fail you might end up owing more than the house is worth. You need to look at the pending sales, active, and sold in the last 90 days. You also need to compare apples to apples when pricing your home, which is difficult to do when you are a FSBO. Also, your mortgage statement is not your payoff. interest on the mortgage is always in the arrears. So when you pay October's payment you are paying the interest for September. Get a payoff letter from your lender, it will cost you about $25.00 but it is worth it. - Mon Oct 6 2008, 17:09

That is the new FHA guide lines, which I believe change in January of 09. Also FHA will lend to a person who just moved here from another country, if they verify that the borrower has 2 years work history in their home country and has a job here in the U.S. - Mon Oct 6 2008, 16:55

Hi Alma,

So I are you saying, that all of the teachers that are now realtors, which are many, earn less money than someone who dropped out of high school? Interesting, you know in California, I believe you need a 4 year college degree to become licensed as a realtor or broker. I guess they do not make any money there. The simple fact is that it is training the seperates the good from the bad. if you are serious about a career in real estate and are professional, then you are worth what you get paid. Everybody thinks 6% is a lot of money. Remember we are independent contractors that pay for are own health insurance and expenses. Stock Brokers are not independent contractors. just so you know. I would not mind being paid hourly, then buyers and sellers would need to put their money where their mouth is. We can all represent ourselves in court can't we, but how many of us excercise that right, not many? And when you hire an attorney how do you know they are any good? Just because they graduate from law school does not make them smart, they can just be vey persistent. Also when selling stocks what is the legal risk for the stock broker versus the real estate agent selling a house, big difference. I have to run now, I am going to collect money that I did not really earn, because I sold a house that the seller could not sell for 9 months. We got it under contract in 3 weeks, once we took the listing and priced it correctly. He lost about 30K by messing around, but I should cut my commission, because I sold it too fast by doing all the research, which the seller could not do. Which you know only takes 10 minutes to do. My job is so easy.

JohnP - Wed Aug 20 2008, 12:22

Theace wrote:
Buyers' agents get nothing if there is no sale, so they want their clients to buy no matter how bad the deal is,

Theace, maybe thats what you do with you're clients, or do you call them customers. You say you are a real estate pro, but you only spend a few hours to help a client buy or sell a house? Boy, not much of a pro are you? When you understand what professionalism means, then you can come back and post. In the mean time I would keep my opinions to myself, until you get an education. - Tue Aug 19 2008, 05:54