Top Five Real Estate Industry Blogs

I had wanted to include a poll for everyone to cast their own vote, but I couldn't find one that I liked that worked with blogger. So instead I thought I'd list my own top five real estate industry blogs (one that I read). There are a LOT of real estate blogs out there to choose from. Some are super niche concentrated, others offer a wider view of the real estate market in general.

So here is my picks for the top five real estate industry blogs:

1. Bloodhound Blog - Owned and operated by Greg Swann, it started off with humble beginnings and has evolved into one of the most influential industry blogs out there. Greg has championed several causes on his blog and has thousands of fans across the US. If you haven't stopped by there yet, what are you waiting for?
2. Real Estate Industry Watch - A relatively new blog, REIW looks at issues not only affecting the market in the US, but all over the world. A great section is the "Franchise Watch" which lists what the big real estate franchises are up to.
3. Rain City Guide - Based in Seattle, RCG covers a wide range of industry topics. RCG set the standard for collaboration blogs in the industry.
4. Sellsius - Joe had a RV tour across the US that hit 24 cities in 2007. Very original and generated a lot of buzz and a loyal following.
5. Matrix - Jonathan Miller's blog focuses on the more economic issues of real estate, current trends, analysis and trends. A must read.

There are of course several more great blogs that I didn't list (after all I did say the top five). Thanks for stopping by.

Pets of Foreclosures

With so much attention given to people losing their homes, often the animals they leave behind are overlooked. Today my wife and I drove over to the West side of Vegas to pickup a dog that had been left behind. His owners lost their home to foreclosure and weren't able to take the dog with them. Unlike most people, the owner did show back up and help us get him into our van.

The dog whose name is Oso (Bear in Spanish) is now resting comfortably at the the Green Valley vet's office until tomorrow when he will be neutered. After that he'll go to German Shepard rescue in Pahrump for some training and socialization. Then he'll go up for adoption. So if you are looking to help a dog that has had a hard luck story, visit http://germanshepherdrescuelasvegas.com/.

Lending

By Ben Barker, McQuaid Associate Broker

Many of my current conversations with apartment building owners revolve around if their apartment assets have held their value during this economic downturn. This of course depends on many factors including location, gross income, and condition of the building. Buyers are scrutinizing buildings more and do not look at the upside of a building as they did a year ago. Most importantly, lenders have raised their criteria to 60% loan to value which minimizes one of the large advantages of owning apartment buildings, leverage. So, there are two natural ways to keep leverage in a deal: seller finance and assumption of an existing loan.

I recently took a client through the loan assumption process for a University District apartment building which was at least as difficult as originating a new loan. Even though the buyer had very strong financials and was in a better position than the existing borrower, the bank still asked for over a 15% pay down of the loan. This wasn’t acceptable to my buyer. So, even after I had gotten the seller and buyer to come to agreement on price and terms, this began an entirely new round of negotiating. We were able to get Chase to reduce their pay down requirement to about half of what they originally requested. Without our work with the bank, the buyer could not have assumed the loan and the deal most likely would have fallen out of contract.

So that leaves seller financing. Only owners who have owned their buildings for quite a while without pulling any equity out are eligible to operate as the note holder since there is no loan balance to pay off. Since this does not involve a bank and their oversight, the assurance that a broker brings into a deal becomes even more meaningful. What are your goals? As a seller, to be paid off quickly or to have guaranteed long term income? As a buyer, will the additional price of seller financing be capitalized in the buyer’s holding period? How does the note need to be structured so that the seller’s and buyer’s goals are achieved? These are all questions that both the use of an experienced high integrity broker and the open market will best address.

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