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Fort Lauderdale, FL Real Estate News

By Stephen McWilliam, ABR, CRB, CRS, GRI
(Florida State Realty Group, Inc)
Well, so much for the conspiracy theorists.  FREC conducted a 1 day workshop seminar yesterday specifically regarding their announced enforcement of requiring all advertising to include the broker’s phone number.  FREC was also conducting their normally scheduled commission meetings yesterday and today.FREC announced their reversal on the FAC rule requiring all advertising to include the broker’s phone number.  The FAC will be amended accordingly and there will not be any enforcement action taken in this regard.There had been a lot of inquiries as to why FREC was requiring the broker’s phone inclusion.  It appears many licensees were not too happy.  Some even suggested a big broker conspiracy.  Therefore, based on FREC's recent ruling we can reasonably assume either there was not any co...
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By Stephen McWilliam, ABR, CRB, CRS, GRI
(Florida State Realty Group, Inc)
Earlier this year the FREC (Florida Real Estate Commission) amended the Florida Administrative Code (FAC) to require that all advertising (including business cards & yard signs) contain the name and phone contact of the broker. The rule went into effect in August 2006.  However, its’ enforcement has been delayed until later this month after FREC conducts and educational workshop.  On the FAR website planetrealtor.com there have been a few associates crying broker conspiracy theories. Below is the thread up to date which includes my eventual reply. Other comments from this forum are invited to join in. Eileen SchifferMemberPosts: 8Joined: Dec 2003 Thu October 12, 2006 12:36 PM   (NEW!)          Would someone please explain the logic behind requiring the broker's phone number on all ads? ...
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By Stephen McWilliam, ABR, CRB, CRS, GRI
(Florida State Realty Group, Inc)
I was reading my real estate news this morning to learn that the former CEO of Move.com (a/k/a Realtor.com) is going to jail for 15 years. The charges were much the same as the Arthur Anderson Accounting firm and Enron.  Cooking the books. Below is the article.Ex-Homestore CEO gets 15-year sentenceLOS ANGELES -- Oct. 13, 2006 -- The founder and former chief executive of online real estate listings company Homestore Inc. was sentenced Thursday to a 15-year prison term and ordered to pay a $5 million fine for his part in a scheme to defraud investors.Stuart Wolff, 43, was convicted in June on charges of insider trading, lying to company accountants and federal regulators, and conspiracy in a scheme to inflate online ad revenues at the Westlake Village-based company.U.S. District Judge Per...
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By Vivien Young
(Q International Realty Corp.)
Hi Gang:  Check this out ------this is a great thing. The Florida Department of Drivers License has added a new feature to their on-line services.  You can now go on-line and enter two (2) emergency contacts on your Florida Drivers License (electronically) which can only be retrieved by a police officer. This way, if you are in an accident, the police can run the drivers license and have the emergency info ASAP!!!It will help the police contact family or friends quickly in case you or your loved ones are in a serious car accident.The link below is the Florida Department of Drivers License:https://www6.hsmv.state.fl.us/dlcheck/findcustomerAlso, emergency personnel have started looking for I.C.E. entries in cell phones for emergency contact information.  ICE stands for IN CASE OF EMERGENC...
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By Stephen McWilliam, ABR, CRB, CRS, GRI
(Florida State Realty Group, Inc)
Hillary Clinton for President in 2008? Who knows? It's certainly way to early to determine. I also have no interest in making my blog or Activerain a political forum.  Although, who knows by the time the 2008 elections roll around. It's been awfully quiet on AR with pending mid-terms.Anyways, I just received a funny Jib-Jab styled email from a friend that I wanted to share with my AR co-horts. It's very cute - and I am certainly not a Hillary fan.Check it out and keep it alive by providing lots of replies and ranking this post high will keep this cartoon going.http://www.michaelhodges.com/missing.html 
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By Stephen McWilliam, ABR, CRB, CRS, GRI
(Florida State Realty Group, Inc)
One of our newest associates recently closed on a transaction representing the buyer. He and his wife purchased a beautiful vase and plant for a home warming gift. They planted within the plant several gift cards for various stores such as Home Depot, Publix, etc.  The entire gift cost approximately $250.00.  Very nice gift.Here’s the rub – he was shocked to learn that only $50 of this $250 gift was tax deductible. IRS regulations limit gifts such as this to a tax deductibility limit of $25 per person or $50 per couple. Okay, so he must now treat that $200 difference as income and pay taxes accordingly. Well, I have known of other Realtors that provide much bigger gifts back to their clients and believe they can simply deduct the cost as a business expense.  If it is in reality a rebate...
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By Stephen McWilliam, ABR, CRB, CRS, GRI
(Florida State Realty Group, Inc)
I always hear and read that most brokers prefer not to maintain an escrow account. I believe this is founded from broker schools where it is generally taught that you tremendously lower your chances of a state compliance audit if there is not an escrow account maintained by the broker.  Although, this may be very true it is in my opinion a disservice to the customers that pay us.  Additionally, the “maintenance” on an escrow account is rather simple and generally involves one 3 page report – no big deal.What’s the big advantage? First, it’s so much simpler to disburse from your office than having to depend on another company to service you.  In fact, in a rental situation the only escrow choice is an attorney or a real estate broker. In house escrow management should allow one access 7 ...
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By Stephen McWilliam, ABR, CRB, CRS, GRI
(Florida State Realty Group, Inc)
Many MLS now require a double authentication system.  Basically, your used ID, password, and generally another password generated by an external key.  Personally, I think it’s great because it helps reduce the unauthorized access/use of the MLS for which we all pay a lot of money.Those MLS systems that do not have this yet – it is coming sooner rather than later.  Many boards have been reluctant to implantation due to the cost of the key generator a/k/a token.There is a new option being beta tested and should be release sometime near term.  The Palm Beach regional MLS may be one of the first in this area. Clareity Security, maker of their tokens is working with GE Supra to provide OTP (one time passwords) to display in the Supra Display Key.  Each time you synch you’ll get a new set of ...
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By Stephen McWilliam, ABR, CRB, CRS, GRI
(Florida State Realty Group, Inc)
FREE Blackberry 8700CI have been asked by various Realtors which cell phone, in my opinion, is the “best”. Isn’t it obvious? I am using a Blackberry. “Best” is always as in the eyes of the user. So, I think the more appropriate question is why did I pick the Blackberry over say the more Realtor popular Treo?  Considering I have used both I felt fairly comfortable in providing a reply.Treo’s unique pros:The Treo allows for touch screen operation for many of the functions.The Treo has IR capabilities which is necessary for Supra lock box operation.Treo’s unique cons:The Treo’s use requires 2 hands in many of the operations.The Treo’s email gets locked up in many instances if you’re receiving large attachments over 1mb.The Treo has a little antenna nub that makes it a little more cumbersom...
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By Stephen McWilliam, ABR, CRB, CRS, GRI
(Florida State Realty Group, Inc)
We continue to see the craziness of sellers that apparently continue to keep their head in the sand on Ft Lauderdale beach. However, we are starting to see more and more sellers each day open their eyes to the reality that the ship has sailed.  To this end we have found that using data provided by our local association assists us in this regard – almost as good as the reports in the newspaper. It’s rather hard to argue with these numbers in black & white.  Although, if you track these reports each month they actually appear to be getting better (really, they do) – month to month or month to previous year is a real eye opener. 
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By Stephen McWilliam, ABR, CRB, CRS, GRI
(Florida State Realty Group, Inc)
Do you have a seller than does not want to sell because of capital gains tax? And, they're not eligible for a 1031 tax deferred exchange? Even high end properties can be sold through this type of program with signifanct savings to the sellers. Additionally, it allows for continual roll overs where the Realtors may earn and still provide for a substantial savings plus to the sellers saving them a tremendous amount of money.Although, this may appear to be complicated - it is not and it would be well worth the time of most Realtors dealing in expensive properties to learn about this strategy.It's commonly referred to as a Private Annuity Trust. More information may be found at http://www.napat.org/This company handles the complexities generally involved.
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By Stephen McWilliam, ABR, CRB, CRS, GRI
(Florida State Realty Group, Inc)
Many posts have referenced Realtor.com Showcase costs without providing the actual cost breakdown. I wanted to help those that were actually interested in knowing their actual charges.Costs are based on your previous years number of listings. Mulitple entered properties count as 1 listing. For example, entered as active - canceled and re-entered.0-3 $193; 4-10 $350; 11-25 $696; 26-50 $1205; 51-75 $1819; 75-100 $2331; 100+ $2843This program allows for no charge "red house" virtual tour links which is worth about $25 per listing by itself.
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By Stephen McWilliam, ABR, CRB, CRS, GRI
(Florida State Realty Group, Inc)
We all get dumped on every day with lots of SPAM. Well, I just received one that I actually thought at first was a joke from a friend with the same last name. The picture was just too funny. The ad is real and actually just as funny.Besides the dog I was shocked at any mortgage ad that reflected a 350 FICO. That's the lowest there is and there are still programs? Maybe hard money lenders?  
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By Stephen McWilliam, ABR, CRB, CRS, GRI
(Florida State Realty Group, Inc)
FAR has a Showing Agreement form available to all Realtors. The form is very similar to a Buyer's Brokers Contract but it is specific to an identified properties. We have used the form frequently when simply showing a buyer 1 or 2 properties. Should the buyer want to expand the search and engage us further we will then transition into a Buyer's Broker Contract.Does anyone else out there in AR land use the Showing Agreement and/or do other states even offer to suggest such a contract?  
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By Stephen McWilliam, ABR, CRB, CRS, GRI
(Florida State Realty Group, Inc)
We all know that title insurance is a necessary cost that most all transactions incur. Depending upon your local customs and/or the negotiations between the seller and the buyer one of them is going to pay these charges.No matter whom you represent no one wants to see any party overpay for this rather expensive protection.  The title company generally earns a 70% commission on this protection and i have found it rare that they volunteer ways to save money in this regard.Any policy being issued within the State of Florida, wherein there was a prior policy issued within 3 years prior, is entitled to a substantial reissue credit.  Contrary to what many believe the new buyer is entitled to this credit.For example, a new purchase would incur approximately $2500.00 in a new policy charge. Let...
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By Stephen McWilliam, ABR, CRB, CRS, GRI
(Florida State Realty Group, Inc)
I had 3 high end rental listings from 1 client. It has taken approximately 3 months to get 1 rented after 2 offers from 2 different tenants in a period of approximately 2 weeks (lots of 2s there). We have had 2 offers on the second and had to temporarily status the other (the client was refinancing it).   The first rental was listed at $5k per month (this was after we lowered it from his original asking of $6k per month). We brought a low ball offer to him of $4k per month but for 2 years. There was some back and forth countering and it stopped at $4.5k per month by the owner. We had both sides of this transaction – there was not any other Realtor involved. The owner asked for a “favor”. Would we take our commission for the 2 years half now and half next year on the anniversary date? I ...
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By Stephen McWilliam, ABR, CRB, CRS, GRI
(Florida State Realty Group, Inc)
How many Realtors are using Transaction Desk throughout the State of Florida? From what I am being told by Instanet – Transaction Desk’s parent company over 100k Florida Realtors have multiple logins.  It appears that most do not use the auto-population features nor do they complete the information in the “Transaction Overview”. It appears that they simply go into the forms themselves and type in the information. This sort of defeats the main purpose of TD – managing a transaction from the Realtor level, broker level, administrative level, cooperating broker level, mortgage broker and closing agent level.  Until recently, actually until this past Thursday, much of the data entered into these Overview fields did not, or did not properly, populate into the correct fields in the various fo...
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By Stephen McWilliam, ABR, CRB, CRS, GRI
(Florida State Realty Group, Inc)
Recently at the FAR annual convention one of NAR’s attorneys, Brian Larson, spoke to us about various MLS topics. This included the FTC complaint against the Houston association and now the Michigan association.  Additionally, Brian spoke to his recommendation to eliminate cooperating commission and simply have the buyers pay their broker if they so elect to even engage one. Brian wrote an article on this subject and posted it to his website. Here is the link: The End of the MLS as We Know it
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By Stephen McWilliam, ABR, CRB, CRS, GRI
(Florida State Realty Group, Inc)
In a previous post of mine I spoke to the serious impending drop in Realtor membership. Some associations are reporting as much as 40%. Those “in the know” in southeast Florida are predicting at least 30% in our area. Our association over the past 5 years has almost double in membership size. They’ve cut membership fees and added many value added no fee services especially in the area of technology.  This anticipated drop in membership is going to quickly equate into a major loss of revenue for all of the associations.  I was asked by one of our association’s directors recently as a broker/owner what my preference would be: increase in membership fees or a reduction in the valued added no fee services?  My reply was quick: How about collecting membership fees from the thousands of assoc...
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By Stephen McWilliam, ABR, CRB, CRS, GRI
(Florida State Realty Group, Inc)
The newest "marketing" twist by several Realtors is to advertise their properties in the MLS as having an auction at some point in the near term. In the meantime, the quote that the seller will consider all offers starting from a low ball price that is listed. This is acceptable providing that the MLS allows auction listings. Some do not and some have yet to consider prohibiting them.   The real problem is that some of these Realtors load this low ball price (a/k/a starting bid) into the LP (listing price) field of their MLS. When doing a search if there is not any minimum price set their listing will generally be first on the list as the low price. Unfortunately, that price also propagates over into www.Realtor.com , Florida Living (FAR’s website) and all IDX systems.  We started getti...
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