Derek Massey's (derekmassey) Blog

If you are a Maryland, DC or Northern Virginia real estate agent or loan officer, bookmark this page today!  Mid-Atlantic Settlement Service's "Title Charge Calculator" can provide you or your buyer with all title charges for all Maryland counties, DC and Northern Virginia in less than 30 seconds...

This post is admittedly for those new to the world of real estate technology, but as my talk on this topic was very well-received by the Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Coastal crowd last week, I figured I'd make it a blog post.  I made a few changes from the original handout I provided eve...

One of my New Year's resolutions is to write something of substance every day.  It can be a blog post or an email blast to my team, but something that provides some value to any one of my communities on a daily basis.  I truly admire those who do it regularly... they make it look effortless. I ha...

Around the holidays I typically send an email out to the Mid-Atlantic Settlement Services team to thank them for all they do to make me look good.  For the real estate agents reading this, you are the beginning, middle and end of your success.  You handle every facet of your business from making...

HUD announced today that it will ask the board overseeing the enforcement of the January 1, 2010 rule changes to "exercise restraint in enforcing" them for the first 120 days of 2010.  The new Good Faith Estimate (GFE) and HUD-1 Settlement Statement are still to be used as of January 1, 2010, but...

I have tried to make a point to thank our men and women who have served in our military.  (I hope) I do this whenever I find out they were indeed a member of our armed forces.  On Veterans Day, we are afforded an even more wonderful opportunity (translation: "reminder") to do this.  While I jumpe...

I attended my 5th Real Estate BarCamp (RE BarCamp: DC) yesterday in Herndon, DC VA.  Each one has offered something a little different.  The first one, RE BarCamp: Virginia, was mind-blowing in that I got to meet - for the first time - a bunch of folks I had otherwise only known through social m...

I have continuously been intrigued by a blog post penned by the inimitable Seth Godin in January of this year.  In that post called "Time to start a newspaper", he suggests that real estate brokers ...wait for it..... start a local newspaper. Last night I witnessed a variation on this theme:  Som...

Have you been to a Real Estate BarCamp before?  Maybe you've been meaning to, but there hasn't been one in your area.  Maybe you planned to, but just couldn't get out of the office for a whole day.  Or maybe, you have been to a bunch, yet are having a hard time justifying the expense of travel a...

Confession time: I came late to the recycling game.  We bought our first house in 2003 in a town where there was no curbside pickup for either trash or recycling, yet the transfer station made it very easy to drop off each.  Despite this ease of use, we only "dabbled" in the art of separation.  ...