Everyone hears about the problems in real estate; that there are many homes on the market and many more being lost to foreclosure every day.

It’s amazing to watch the world through the eyes of a child.  The exposure we gain is immeasurable.  The evaluation skills we can take and the questioning of everything by the child gives pause to our often routine, busy lives.

After a year of trying to sell her four-bedroom home and eight years of singledom, Deven Trabosh is offering her South Florida home and a shot at marrying her on the Internet. Read the full story by Associated Press here.

One has to wonder if this will help sell the house faster or not at all.

Please forgive my potty mouth but I happen to believe that every human being has the right to sell their own property and not be treated like they are complete idiots and have no ability to write and read a contract or negotiate with a potential buyer.  Please read on before you kick me to the curb.  I have noticed that supporting a FSBO in the sale of their own home is seen as taboo.  Shhhhh...don't tell them about any of our secret tools to get their home sold....give me a break!  If we don't accept the shifts in our industry and the ability for information to be dispersed globally with a key stroke by anyone at any time, then we are fooling ourselves.

I have gotten the impression from the many real estate agents are unaware that the effect of a Short Sale on their clients credit report isn't as bad as Foreclosure or Deed In Lieu of Foreclosure.

I have actually seen a lot to the contrary in advertising. It scares me because I see a lot of lawsuits in the future regarding this.

Short Sales, Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure, or full blown Foreclosure are all weighted the same in determining credit score computations. This information comes directly from MyFICO.com. My FICO is a website for FAIR ISAAC,  the inventors of credit scoring.

This past Monday, June 9^th, was the first day’s use of the new software for underwriting Fannie Mae/FNMA loans. Version 7 of the Desktop Underwriting® software was upgraded with lenders over the past weekend.

This new version of the underwriting process will take a much longer and more conservative look at borrowers. By longer, I mean that additional documentation will be required in order to get an approval. Fewer approvals will be given as well. The bar has been raised as to what makes for an approvable loan.

It doesn’t matter what the “experts” say about the market – it’s June, school is out and folks are on the move.  Now is the time to ensure that you haven’t left anything to chance.  It’s the time to embrace the concept of home staging like it’s your best friend … because it is!  

1.         While standing at the entrance of the house you have just listed, take lots of photographs of the garden and exterior and especially the front door.  Download them and have a good hard look at what you’re dealing with.  This is your time to be super observant.

A recent Real Estate Agent Community Trends survey, sponsored by Jeld-Wen Inc., found 82 percent of real estate agents had buyers refuse to look inside a house based on its exterior appearance." Now that doesn’t surprise me at all. I clearly remember house hunting for my first home and pausing outside many a home, only to drive off if the exterior lacked appeal.

The largest international network of vacation rental websites, HomeAway, announced this week its acquisition of EscapeHomes.com.   With this addition HomeAway expands its offerings, providing owners the tools to research and find real estate professionals who specialize in second homes and their dream vacation, investment or retirement home. Other sites owned include VRBO.com, Holiday-Rentals.co.uk, Abritel.fr and FeWo-direkt.de.

At $42.91 per square inch the world’s most expensive luxury home real estate isn’t in the U.S.  In fact you won’t find it in Tokyo, Monaco, Paris, St. Tropez or Hong Kong or a number of other world class cities.  That’s an astounding $6,191 per square foot and if you’re buying a home there with Euros, £1,000,000 is only going to get you 234 square feet of living space. 

 If you are buying with USD you are going to have to cough up roughly $1,540,000 at today’s exchange rate. Scary?  Maybe – then again maybe not.