by Memphis Real Estate 2.0 - Joe Spake on August 23, 2010
To paraphrase Forrest Gump: Professional is as professional does.
This post was triggered by a link Rick Rabideau, a Telivant colleague, emailed me: The front page lead headline of The Journal News - Real estate licenses rise 23 percent, an article about the reasons for increasing numbers of real estate licensees in New York. Of course the economy, layoffs and general conditions in the job market have sent many searching for new jobs, second jobs or complete career changes. And real estate seems to be a target job.
The expected rosy comment from the REALTOR®,”We’ve definitely noticed an increase, which we think is great,” said Suffern Realtor Adam DiFrancesco, former president of the Rockland Board of Realtors. “It shows the revival of the market and the profession of a licensed real estate agent as a sound place to hold your career.”
was followed by a revealing evaluation of why so many choose the “profession”: “As the economy has changed, people have looked to see where they can expand themselves,” DiFrancesco said. “Real estate, it is the most affordable business you can open on your own.”
In the same article, Farrokh Hormozi, a professor or economics at Pace University, agreed that “one of the characteristics of a recessionary period is that unemployed people or partly employed people try to kind of reposition themselves in another profession.” So what better “profession” to change to than real estate? Start up costs are actually pretty low compared to other businesses, but not as low as a salaried job would be. Entry is easy; easier in Tennessee than becoming a hairdresser. Just take a course, take the licensing test, pay some fees, find a company to join and you are a REALTOR®, ready to go out and make the big bucks. And if you have that license the companies will really want you to come to work for them, and the local, state and national organizations will be happy to take your dues whether you ever sell any property or not. You will most likely be working on straight commission, so there is a real possibility there that you could make more money as a Wal-Mart greeter than as a real estate agent. And in this we welcome everyone into the big tent “profession” odds are 3 to 1 that you won’t be around to celebrate your one year anniversary.
Self-described as America’s largest trade association, the National Association of REALTORS® doesn’t make a hint at being a professional organization. Oh yeah, there is a code of ethics, and a huge PR machine, and all the appearances that professionalism is the guiding force in the association. A public article on NAR’s website, Careers in Real Estate touts the advantages and rewards of a career in real estate; suggests pursuing higher education courses oriented toward real estate to prepare for your real estate career; then rolls right into the heading “Professional Requirements for a Career in Real Estate“ which states that you basically just need a license to get to work. Now that’s professional
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by Memphis Real Estate 2.0 - Joe Spake on August 21, 2010
Just a couple of things I have been thinking about this week:
1. On Wednesday I attempted to make showing appointments on 7 houses. I was denied on 3 of them because the showing was not convenient to the seller. On 2 that I showed, there were spider webs in the keypad area of the key boxes. Obviously the market is slow right now. Considering that showings might be weeks apart, why would any seller who wanted to sell their home turn down a showing under any circumstances? Do they realize that, in turning down a showing for their own convenience, that those potential buyers probably won’t come back for a second attempt?
2. 90% of the calls I have received about my listings this month have been folks wanting to rent the houses. Not too strange on the face of it. But these folks were asking if we took Section 8 vouchers or if we had listings that did. I tried to help those I could by referring them to a property management company, and in a couple of cases, to a loan originator. The take away here: many who are in the market for housing don’t see any difference between renting and ownership; and the questions about Section 8 could indicate a shortage of subsidized housing in this market. Are the throngs of investors in the Memphis applying for Section 8 status, or are they doing well without going there?
Real estate ramblings – what’s going on here? is a post from: Memphis Real Estate Buzz This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are reading this post outside of your RSS feed reader, you are looking at a website guilty of violating federal copyright law. #memphisrealestatebuzzscraper
by Memphis Real Estate 2.0 - Joe Spake on August 18, 2010
For the 33 years since Elvis Presley‘s death in 1977, there has been a fan commemoration at Graceland, with thousands of fans making the pilgrimage to be near the hallowed ground of Graceland and Elvis’ grave. The quiet march by thousands of candle holding fans up the long Graceland driveway on the eve of the date of the death of the king lasts most of the night. Elvis Presley Blvd. (US Hwy 51) is closed to vehicular traffic. I braved the 95+ degree heat, to be a part of this celebration. While I didn’t make the trek up the driveway, I was there to be part of the experience. Here is a short video I put together. I probably greatly underestimated the number of fans in attendance
Over the years, what started as a spontaneous act by fans has evolved into a week-long event, now orchestrated by Elvis Presley Enterprises. Elvis Week is loaded with Elvis related activities. Here are some photos from the vigil:
by Memphis Real Estate 2.0 - Joe Spake on August 17, 2010
I don’t have anything against mature, rational people who choose to spend their time playing Farmville or Mafia Wars. Some of them are good online friends of mine. I just don’t care to see their virtual game exploits, their advertising for get rich quick webinars, or their real estate listings in my Facebook home feed.
One of my favorite features in Facebook is the Remove button (formerly known as the Hide button). You can hide your friends’ annoying, inappropriate, offensive or boring status updates from your home feed forever, without them knowing and without it effecting your friendship or other Facebook interactive functionality.
In your Home feed, just mouse over to the right of the offending entry; mousing over the remove button will make it visible and clickable:
When you click, the entry goes away and is replaced by a bar that lets you choose to Hide, Mark as Spam, or Cancel. If the entry is generated from an app, you also have the option of hiding the app, so that you never see updates from the app again.
Choosing Hide hides the person’s or app’s future updates. And the cool part is the the hidee never knows they have been hidden from your feed. If you have second thoughts about hiding your aunt’s Zodiac app, or you decide that maybe your Farmville playing buddy has something useful to say now and then, you can UN-hide them by going to the bottom of your home page and finding and clicking the link Edit Options. This will list all the friends, pages and apps you have hidden and let you re-instate them.
by Memphis Real Estate 2.0 - Joe Spake on August 13, 2010
I am a little bit late in announcing Elvis Week this year, but the best is yet to come. Check out the OFFICIAL SCHEDULE. Still lots of great events to enjoy. For this week Memphis is Mecca for tens of thousands of Elvis fans, and many who just like to watch.
If you have never been to the Candlelight Vigil, go on down to Graceland Sunday evening. You don’t have to participate in the actual candlelight pilgrimage up to the Meditation Garden. Just being in the crowd with Elvis Presley Blvd. closed for the evening is quite an experience in itself. See you there!
by Memphis Real Estate 2.0 - Joe Spake on August 13, 2010
I am a little bit late in announcing Elvis Week this year, but the best is yet to come. Check out the OFFICIAL SCHEDULE. Still lots of great events to enjoy. For this week Memphis is Mecca for tens of thousands of Elvis fans, and many who just like to watch.
If you have never been to the Candlelight Vigil, go on down to Graceland Sunday evening. You don’t have to participate in the actual candlelight pilgrimage up to the Meditation Garden. Just being in the crowd with Elvis Presley Blvd. closed for the evening is quite an experience in itself. See you there!
by Memphis Real Estate 2.0 - Joe Spake on August 11, 2010
A couple of interesting charts from Altos Research looking at changes in Median Sales Price (darker line, indexed in the left column) and Average Days on the Market (orange line, indexed by days in the right column), for the prominent Midtown Memphis zips, 38104 and 38112
Well, we can say that days on the market is moving down with the figure approaching 6 months on Market to sell. the fluctuations in median price are interesting. It looks like we are peaking, or have peaked in both zips, but the roller coaster shape of the graph reflects the uncertainty of consumers and real estate practitioners about the state of the market. I still don’t think we have hit a solid bottom in pricing. Those waiting for the bottom are likely to miss it. There are some great values in Midtown right now, and some very motivated sellers. With interest rates hovering near 4%, it’s time for those buyers who have been waiting for the optimum market, it’s time to run up the periscope and have a look around.
Midtown price and days on market rollercoaster is a post from: Memphis Real Estate Buzz This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are reading this post outside of your RSS feed reader, you are looking at a website guilty of violating federal copyright law. #memphisrealestatebuzzscraper
