My Realtor Michelle

I am seeing a trend of Short Sale and REO Realtors whining because they are slow..... Maybe I am jealous of the money you have all made during this time of REO and Short Sales. I never really broke into the REO listings of 50+.  I shlepped BPO's for the last few years.But I will say I have worked...

My car was recently totaled and now I am in the market for a new car. I drove a Lexus SUV, that I really enjoyed. I had purchased it in cash, and it was 5 years old.  It had great value, so I am committing myself to only use the cash from the insurance company.Times are different now, and I feel ...

http://www.dsnews.com/articles/index/surge-in-short-sale-requests-unlikely-to-impact-housing-market-2010-01-21   This is a great, timely article on short sales. Everyone is wondering how this new year will shake out. As Realtors, how can we best prepare for this new "normal" of doing business? Wh...

Has anyone heard of a homeowner who has been successful at actually getting a loan modification? It seems that the hoops are unrealistic for these homeowners to actually satisfy the mortgage company requirements. Some of these people should put there home on the market and try for a short sale. B...

After working with a nice young couple, we found a home to write a PA on. Yes, they said they could afford more than they actually could, but this was cleared up during pre approval. After settling on a price, we had issues with the appraisal. The appraisal came in $5,000 too low, on a $220k sale...

 I work for the number 2 Real Estate Company in America. There are many brands so we may not be as recognizeable as the other 2.But we set the trends in Minnesota!!   As a Minneapolis Realtor, I understand that we will not have the double digit Real Estate growth, as we did. I am just excited tha...

As I sit in an Open House, waiting for an unrepresented client, I am wondering what new fangled tricks can I use to get more business. I am not trying to always reinvent the wheel, but I do like to think about how to make the wheels better, faster, stronger. I am looking for cool "spinner" ideas....

  Here we are, Sept 2009. The $8,000 tax credit may end November 30. Let's pretend it does, and  that  NAR doesn't get the date extended. When things do stabilize and home prices ever so slightly creep up, the interest rates will go up. Home prices vary so much per neighborhood, that homeowners c...

July 30th is the drop dead date for the change from old practices to new. What Hera Hoepa is really saying is, let's do business, the way we should have in the beginning. Tell people who are buying a home exactly what they will be paying for the duration of their loan and tell them clearly and ti...

If you are making less money now than when you purchased your home a few years ago and wanted to refinance to enjoy lower rates, but are self employed, you may be finding that hard to accomplish. Here is the scenario:   You bought a home, in 2006, that you could afford, and you put down over 20%,...