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Choosing the best Charleston real estate agent

It seems like an appropriate time to discuss a better way of finding and choosing a real estate agent which is probably just as important as finding the perfect home in light of this weekend's brouhaha in the REnet regarding syndicated listings and

ARG Realty removes listings from Zillow, Trulia and Realtor.com

As I wrote in The Dirty Little Secret of Charleston Real Estate Search , you're being bought and sold as a LEAD when you search for homes on Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com and other syndicated websites. Late last year, Edina Realty, a large Midwestern

The dirty little secret of Charleston real estate search

In a word, you're being bought and sold as a LEAD . A lot of people who search for Charleston real estate use what they consider to be impartial 3rd party sites like Zillow, Trulia and others to search homes for sale. That way, they don't have

Will the future of real estate include more unrepresented buyers

There are a lot of commission models in real estate today besides the traditional co - broker commission offered in the MLS. There are flat fees for menu services provided, commission rebates, retainers, service fees and others. But since some people

Charleston home buyers, if you call the listing agent, understand dual agency

What is dual agency anyway. The first thing to understand is that there are two sides to a real estate transaction, the seller side and the buyer side. What you have with dual agency are two parties with adverse interests and dual agency is created when

FTC to regulate new social media

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will be regulating bloggers and new social media users on Twitter and other sites beginning December 1, 2009. According to Carl Franzen writing in The Atlantic Wire , paid product endorsements and material connections

Referral is a fancy way of saying [You've been sold as a lead]

Do you think of yourself as a real estate buyer or do you want to be sold as a commodity like perhaps cattle. Effectively, that is what becoming a lead is. Referral is only a fancy way of saying it. And now Redfin has rejoined the referral fray, having

How long is that house on the market

... is probably the most often asked question in real estate. Well, maybe it's second to how much (little) can I offer but actually, the two questions go hand in hand. So, does Days On Market (DOM) really matter. And if so, how does it matter to buyers,

Real estate commissions

... and a tale of 2 buyers. UPDATE: by the time I finish writing, it will be 4 buyers. I've been very fortunate to work with many wonderful buyers (and sellers) during my career as a Charleston real estate agent. Of course, real estate agents work

Denial is a river in Eqypt, part 2

In my post last week, Denial is a river in Egypt , I wondered whether the National Association of Realtors (NAR) had any credibility with the public any more. “First we had the Laughable Lereah with his misguided pronouncements and now newly promoted
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Commission and possibly a bonus too

As reported by 60 Minutes during their famous love fest with Glenn Kelman of Redfin, the 6% commission was declared to be sacrosanct. Of course, we all know that isn't the case but reality vs. what the media reports and what people read or hear can

Days on market, how long has this house really been on the market

As I pointed out in a previous post, relist, refresh, deceive , real estate agents have manipulated the days on market data by withdrawing and relisting the property to reset the clock at zero. A follow up article on the Inman News Blog now reports that

Real estate q & a

I have linked to Nationally syndicated columnist Lou Sichelman writing at Marketwatch in the past when I noticed an interesting Question and Answer. Today, I thought was one of the best columns he has written and I’d like to comment on just a few

Relist, refresh, deceive

According to an article I noticed on the Inman News blog, "A Rhode Island Realtor lodged a complaint with the state Realtors association and the state Department of Business over listings information collected by the MLS that he said could be harmful

Realtor vs FSBO, are real estate agents lower than dirt yet?

A new study by Northwestern University professors compared homes sold by Realtors and FSBO's in one city, Madison Wisconsin. The surprising result was that FSBO's did better. Read all about it. There are asterisks to consider. Then in the NY Times
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