Trulia - A Breath of Fresh Air for Real Estate Searches

Imagine a real estate search tool that gives the consumer what they want and need, and also gives the real estate brokers what they want and need, too. Go to www.trulia.com and you will see what I mean. Cool maps, different ways to sort the listings that appear, and great information about the area, makes this a very robust site for any consumer looking for houses.

But that's not all. As a real estate broker, it makes me really happy that the consumers that want to see my listings are taken directly to my site, and are not hijacked. I don't get charged any referral fees for the leads. What a difference from all the free-loaders who have sites that do! The concept is simple: get the consumer directly to the broker or agent who knows the most about the property as quickly as possible without any interference from a "middle-man" who wants to get paid for doing little or nothing.

Trulia is designed to get the right parties together quickly to get real estate sold. They have based their model on selling advertising to those who want more exposure on the site, without getting in the way of real estate commerce.

3 Cheers! Check out www.trulia.com

Cendant Changes its Name AGAIN!

It almost seems like they are running from something or trying to hide something, doesn't it? First it was HFS, then CUC, then Cendant, and now the real estate spin off will be called "Realogy." ("REEL" "OH" "GEE.") Just rolls off the tongue. I actually think they meant for it to be "Realology," ("REEL" "AWL" "OH" "GEE") which is how most people will probably pronounce it, but they spelled it wrong if that's what they wanted.

When you consider all of the shareholder lawsuits, SEC investigations, and internal bickering from franchisees, maybe they have to keep changing their name to confuse those who want to get to the real facts behind the company. I wonder if it has anything to do with them having to cut $50 Million from their operating budget this year...

Skeletons at HomeStore.com

What a tangled web of intrigue at HomeStore.com...I remember when the public offering was made and there was a "lottery" system for allocating shares to members of the NAR. It seems like some were more priveleged than others...take Joe Hanauer for example. He is now the Chairman of the Board of this public company, but in the initial offering he had obtained some shares under his name, but what may not be evident is that one of his companies also obtained a large percentage of the shares. It was not clear to the person on the street that Mr. Hanauer was the controlling person in that company. It appears that this was done to avoid detection of how much stock he actually controlled. In any case, it smells funny...

If you have been reading the real estate industry news lately, you will know that two of the principals of HomeStore from the past have been convicted of major fraud crimes involving the company. Stuart Wolff was just sent to jail, and Peter Tafeen has also been in the news. What you may not know is that HomeStore has paid over $22 Million to these two men to help them with their legal costs! I would think that the shareholders would be up in arms!

In addition, HomeStore has an outstanding obligation to pay to one of our competitors, Cendant, approximately $2.3 Million, plus almost 4 Million shares of HomeStore stock. This is all a result of some behind the scenes monkey-business that resulted in a class-action lawsuit. That lawsuit is not resolved yet.

And so the big news now is that HomeStore has announced that it is changing its company name to Move.com. Funny, though, they announced the name change prior to the shareholders voting on it. I guess Mr. Hanauer may control enough of the stock to name it anything he wants without any other shareholders votes...

If I had been involved in all of these shenanigans, I would want to change my name, too!!!

REALTY EXECUTIVES International introduces HOMEWORKS Program for teachers

On Saturday, I unveiled a new program called "HOMEWORKS - Opening Doors for Teachers." This is a national program designed to help teachers buy houses.

I feel like teachers have a huge impact on our future, but our society has chosen to pay teachers poorly. I wish I could do something about that problem, but I don't really know how to. So I invented HOMEWORKS, which is a grouping of a number of loan programs that are designed to help teachers to buy houses, or refinance houses they already have. Most of these programs will allow teachers to have about 30% more buying-power than they could have had otherwise.

In addition, we have arranged for "bundled" closing packages through First American Title which reduces closing costs for teachers by about 20%.

If you are a teacher, know a teacher, or are related to a teacher, you need to let them know about this program. With the market slowing in many areas, prices may be more flexible, and there are many more homes on the market right now, making it the perfect time for teachers to buy homes that they may not have been able to buy in the past few years. Contact me at: richrector@realtyexecutives.com for further details.

I do know that affordable housing remains a big issue in many areas, but this is one small step that can help our teachers live in homes closer to their work, and in neighborhoods that are suitable to their lifestyles.