October 23rd, 2007 Bob
The title of this post is taken directly from the US Department of Justice’s new website which focuses on competition in real estate. Needless to say, we were very happy to see that the Department of Justice supports companies like Real-a-Save, going so far as to say: “Offering rebates and incentives is one way that real estate brokers can compete for consumers’ business, leading to lower prices to consumers.”
The bottom line is that consumers benefit whenever companies compete for their business. We know for a fact that our own efforts have saved consumers hundreds of thousands of dollars in commission expenses.
Here’s another interesting quote from the FAQ section of the Department of Justice website:
“Do refunds and incentives pose any risk to consumers?
Some have argued that refunds and incentives can tempt consumers into closing on real estate transactions against their best interests. The Antitrust Division has found no evidence that refunds and incentives harm consumers. On the contrary, they can dramatically lower the price that consumers pay for brokerage services.”
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October 18th, 2007 Bob
We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve just launched our new website. New features include:
- Custom home-search feature
- Detailed neighborhood pages
- Easier navigation
- Comparable sales information
- Home-valuation tool information
- Saved search feature
- Emailed update feature- allows you to receive the most recent listings every morning
We’ll be adding to the website on a daily basis. A couple items that we’ll be bringing to you in the very near future include:
- MLS listings for Summit County and Colorado Springs. Soon thereafter we will have coverage of the entire state of Colorado.
- Detailed schools information
We hope you enjoy the new site. Feel free to contact us with any feedback at info@realasave.com
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Posted in Colorado Real Estate, Our Company, Denver, CO, Boulder, CO, Niwot, CO, Longmont, CO, Littleton, CO, Lafayette, CO, Highlands Ranch, CO, Erie, CO, Superior, CO, Louisville, CO, Broomfield, CO, Fort Collins, CO | No Comments »
September 11th, 2007 Bob
We’ve been working away at Real-a-Save to create an entirely new website. Our new home search feature will be the best one in the entire state of Colorado. We’re confident that you’ll love the new site, and we’re really looking forward to feedback from our loyal users.
Give us about another week or so and you’ll see an incredible new site, with a really cool home search feature.
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Posted in Colorado Real Estate, Denver, CO, Boulder, CO | 2 Comments »
July 2nd, 2007 Bob
I could have said, “The Big Business That Hates ITS Competition”, but that may not be entirely true. I don’t think traditional real estate HATES the competition, I think that simply want us to disappear. And with oodles of money, lobbyists, and the heavy momentum of “tradition” on their side they are certainly making small gains on the realization of this dream.
With the recent decision in Tennessee which bans cash rebates to buyers, the honorable Gov. Phil Bredesen shows his true colors. But are they red, white, and blue? You decide.
Is it American to try to outlaw competition? Because that’s exactly what this law attempts to do. A new wave of real estate companies offer cash rebates to buyers. This is strong competition from a relatively new type of brokerage, and it’s bound to benefit the consumer because it means more money stays in their pockets, not the pockets of real estate professionals. There are currently only about ten states with anti-competitive laws like this on the books. And the trend is that these old laws are crumbling (like in West Virginia, Kentucky, and South Dakota). So this move by Gov. Phil Bredesen is all the more confusing.
In the Internet-induced age of unavoidable transparency and instantaneous commentary by the blogosphere, a decision like this is bound to be ridiculed and exposed for exactly what it is: a protectionist nod to the deep pockets of traditional real estate. Let’s protect the good ol boys for a while. Let the gravy-train roll on for a few more months or years.
Am I alone with this opinion? The Unites States Department of Justice is firmly against this protectionist decision in Tennessee, and has already sent a letter to the honorable Gov. Bredesen. Hmmm, I wonder how long it will take them to reverse this decision?
A note to the good people of Colorado: our company is here to stay. Colorado is one of the 40 plus states that allows cash rebates to buyers, and our company has already rebated around $100,000 to Colorado real estate buyers and sellers. We’re proud of that fact. And we’re proud to be part of the solution when it comes to the changing face of real estate.
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June 5th, 2007 Bob
That’s the opinion of many consumers out there in regards to real estate agents. And I can’t say that I blame them for their opinion. We’ve seen a lot of questioning of Realtor’s standard 6% commission rate of late. Check out this 60 Minutes piece on commission rates if you’ve not already seen it. It’s really worth watching.
Our Colorado real estate programs are actually a little better than the company profiled in this 60 Minutes segment, but if you’re reading this blog then you probably already know that.
We happen to agree with most consumers in that the 6% commission rate doesn’t make sense. I don’t even agree with companies like Assist-2-Sell because they charge a sliding scale fee (it goes up depending on how expensive your home is) and then they don’t even put your home on the MLS.
We don’t think there should be a difference in fees to sell some Denver real estate that costs 300k, or some Boulder area home that costs 800k. An agent needs to do the same thing to sell both properties, so why should he charge more on one and not the other? It just doesn’t make sense.
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May 31st, 2007 Bob
It’s all about ugly solar panels and cold houses, right? Turn down the heat! Put a sweater on! God, those solar panels are an eye-sore!
Not any more. Green building has evolved into much more than simply slapping some solar panels on the roof of your house and calling it a day. It can include such basic concepts as: the proper orientation of your house, sealed air ducts, high efficiency windows, improved insulation, high efficiency HVAC, and tight construction.
Check out The US Green Building Council for more information. A comprehensive rating system called LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) has been developed whose goal is to provide “a road map for delivering economically profitable, environmentally responsible, healthy, productive places to live and work.”
Too late, I’ve already got a house
Not really, LEED provides a document called “16 Ways to Green your Home” which advises that you:
- Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs
- Program your thermostat
- Plug air leaks
- Tune up your HVAC system
- Choose Energy Star appliances
- Reduce water use
- Switch to green power
- Buy local
- Use low VOC products
- Use wood-alternative or FSC-certified wood products
- Use rapidly renewable flooring materials
- Plant trees to provide shade and wind protection
- Use native plants
- Use non-toxic garden techniques
- Carpool
- Buy a high-efficiency car
For more information about buying green real estate, or about buying Denver or Boulder real estate please visit our website or give us a call at 303-415-2541.
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May 16th, 2007 Bob
The short answer is yes. Radon is a carcinogenic, radioactive gas which emanates from natural decay of uranium in the earth’s supply of water, rocks, and soil. Can’t see it, can’t smell it, can’t taste it.
What can I do?
It’s quite simple for both home buyers and home sellers to hire a home inspector to test for radon. Visit the ASHI website for a list of qualified home inspectors in your area. Costs for short-term radon testing (about 2 days) is about $100-$150.
What if they find radon in my home?
The bad news is that the Surgeon General has warned that radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the US today. The good news is that radon mitigation systems work, and they are not very costly. The EPA recommends that home owners take action if the levels of radon are above 4.0 pCi/L. Most radon mitigation contractors can install a venting system in your home or the home you want to buy for an average price of about $1,200. Visit The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment website and download their list of residential radon mitigation contractors if you need help.
Is this a deal killer?
Radon does not have to be a deal killer for either a home seller or a home buyer. It’s quite common for buyers and sellers to negotiate to have a radon system installed in the home after radon is deteced during the inspection. Most radon mitigation contractors will return radon levels to 4.0pCi/L after installation of the system.
How dangerous is 4.0 pCi/L of radon?
It’s hard to say. This level is simply the “action level” as recommended by the EPA. If you want some perspective, just take a look at this chart below which shows the action levels in various countries around the world:
|
Country
|
Existing Dwellings
|
New Buildings
|
|
Canada
|
22 pCi/L
|
|
|
Finland
|
22 pCi/L
|
5 pCi/L
|
|
Germany
|
8 pCi/L
|
8 pCi/L
|
|
Ireland
|
5 pCi/L
|
5 pCi/L
|
|
Norway
|
22 pCi/L
|
5 pCi/L
|
|
Sweden
|
11 pCi/L
|
4 pCi/L
|
|
Spain
|
11 pCi/L
|
5 pCi/L
|
|
Switzerland
|
5 pCi/L
|
|
|
United Kingdom
|
5 pCi/L
|
5 pCi/L
|
|
United States
|
4 pCi/L
|
4 pCi/L
|
If you’d like more information about radon or other environmental issues surrounding the purchase or sale of a home in Colorado, please feel free to call us at 303-415-2541
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May 14th, 2007 Bob
The real estate industry has many long standing traditions which are being tested in today’s market. Fees as a percentage of sales price were once a given in every real estate transaction– that’s a fancy way of saying that the price of your house dictates how much we make for selling it. But this tradition is being challenged as never before.
The Internet has empowered consumers with an abundance of information, making them better able to negotiate and ask the right questions before hiring any service professional.
Experience Matters
Yes, it does. But I’m talking about the home-selling experience of the consumer. Once you sell a home or two of your own, it becomes obvious that the real estate sales professionals you hired are all basically doing the same thing. And that’s the point I’m trying to make: Why should the price of your home dictate how much you spend to hire someone to sell it if that person is basically doing the same things to sell an $800,000 house and a $400,000 house? Our answer is that it shouldn’t. This is why flat fee listing makes so much sense.
What we do on each home we list
- MLS and Internet marketing: you’ll be on the local MLS, Zillow, Trulia, and craigslist
- Yard sign
- Lock box
- Professional Showing Service (verifies and schedules showings for brokers who want to bring clients to see your home)
- Virtual Tour (5 video shots and 6 professional still shots of every home)
- 100 Professional Glossy Fliers: we don’t make them, an actual professional does, but we pay for them.
- Legal help:
- we take care of all the paperwork, contracts, negotiations, and closing
- CMA: we’ll look at all the sold homes and current listed homes in your area to help you determine the best sales price of your house.
We’re not a traditional real estate company
Absolutely not. We know that our service is not for everyone. We ask our clients to do a couple of things to help us keep our costs down. Things like:
- Hold your own open houses: we feel that you are the best person to hold the open house because your motivation is to sell your house, and you know the most about it. We’ll advertise the open house for you and will provide you with open house signs.
- Refill the flier box when it gets low.
- Communicate with us via email, phone, fax, and our website. If you’re the kind of person who wants lots of face-time with your agent then we may not be the company for you. Our primary means of communication with all of our clients is through our incredible website, telephone, email, and faxing for documents. We actually require that all of our clients have access to a fax machine, and email in order to work with us. There’s lots of Kinkos locations in our service area if you don’t own a fax machine, and many of our clients receive faxes this way.
We think it makes sense to charge clients the same price for the same service. It doesn’t matter to us what your house price is. We’ll offer you the same outstanding service for the same price every time. There’s no sliding scale, no hidden fees, no caveats. Just one low price for an effective marketing package every time.
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May 8th, 2007 Bob
So you’re a residential specialist who wants to try commercial real estate on for size. Why? Because a client of yours wants to buy commercial space for his growing business, you’ve helped him with finding a home in the past and he figures- hey, why not ask you? You seemed to know what you were talking about last time we did a deal.
This is a recipe for disaster. For both the agent and her client. The person who came to me with this scenario was about to make a huge mistake. I urged her to hand it over to someone with some experience.
Commercial real estate is a totally different ball-game with rules that are more complicated, and players who are generally much more experienced than the average residential specialists.
And while the average residential deal sails smoothly from the contract, to counter, through inspections, to closing. The average commercial deal involves multiple lawyers on both sides, hard core negotiations, complex building code, tax issues, property valuation, and players who are accustomed to swimming with and surrounded by sharks. I’m not suggesting that these are unscrupulous people, just the opposite. These are players who respect experience and will not cut you any slack if you’re a residential rookie taking her first dip in commercial waters. Your mistakes will cost you money. Period.
Leave it to the experts. We like Barbara Jaynes at The Laramie Company. She’s tough, smart, and has 17 years experience.
Barbara’s info:
Barbara@laramiecompany.com, phone: 303-573-0302
And for those of you residential specialists who may think that we’re fishing for referral fees: we’re not. I’ve never liked referral fees, and I won’t take one for sending someone to Barbara. Our company policy is that we don’t pay out referral fees and we don’t accept them when we refer business to other brokers.
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May 3rd, 2007 Bob
Have you seen hotpads.com yet? If you are looking for a rental then you should flat-out run to this website. hotpads probably can’t threaten craigslist as far as overall listings and, obviously, brand recognition. But just give these guys a chance. I predict that within 18 months hotpads will become one of the top online destinations for renters searching for a place to live.
Why will HotPads rise so quickly?
In real estate, as the old adage goes, it’s location, location, location. hotpads sticks to the online version of this adage with: user-interface, user-interface, user-interface. They’ve got some great, intuitive tools, a cool look, and tons of information. All set up in a way that makes in convenient, fun, and incredibly usable.
Just take a look at their heatmaps below:
Anyone looking for stats on an area will be thrilled with the heatmaps offered by hotpads. Again, this is a site geared towards Colorado renters. If you are interested in Colorado real estate, then you should visit our site to begin your home search.
Once in a while I get customers who are looking for inexpensive housing, and sometimes when the harsh reality of the market sets in, especially if these folks are searching for Boulder real estate, then I’ll advise them that a rental might be more inline with their current situation. Inevitably, then next question they ask is: “can you help me find a rental?”. Now I’ll have an answer for them. Go to hotpads.com.
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