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Real Estate

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Real estate is essentially a piece of property, land and attached improvements, that cannot be moved. Real estate is often identified to fall under three categories: residential real estate, commercial real estate, and other. Depending on the property and also the timing, it can either be sold in its entirety from one homeowner to the next and also rented, or leased, which ensures a form of payment for use of the asset. [1]

When purchasing real estate, planning and research is often recommended when deciding whether to own or lease a property. With the use of new media, the real estate business has grown exponentially through the use of many online databases and online communication platforms. And by efficiently utilizing the world wide web, not only will consumers be able to easily find real estate that fit their personal requirement, they're able to find more than they could have in prior times. Thanks to new media in the real estate sector, consumers are able to access multiple real estate websites to find housing dimensions, proper pricing, testimonies & reviews, and also answers to important questions. Compared to real estate catalogs and newspaper listings, offering services in new media has drastically changed the way people are able to access information on housing. [2]

With the help of new media and the stream of available information, people are now able to accurately find desired homes, calculate mortgage and tax amounts, and also efficiently plan and prepare for the hardships of either investing in or renting a home.

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Real estate License

In New York Real estate there are a few ways to get started. If you are a lawyer who passed the NYC Bar Exam, you do not have to take the real estate salesperson exam. For the rest of us we have to take a 72 hour class. This can be done in-person or online. Once you have fulfilled the 72 hours you are required to take two tests before you are licensed. A test is required from wherever you received instruction, after then finally you have to schedule and take a state test. Once you have passed the state test, your license card mailed to you by the state of New York.

You have the option of being sponsored by a real estate firm or pay for the school and books yourself. If you get sponsored, you will not have to pay for going to school and in some cases your books will be paid for as well. The price of the classes and books together range from 250 dollars to about 900 dollars, depending on the which school you pick. After you are sponsored you required to work at that firm for a minimum number of months after becoming licensed. A percentage of your first sale or rental will go towards your sponsorship fees that were paid for you before you are an agent.

If you pay for the classes yourself, you will have the opportunity to interview at any Real Estate office you think will be suitable to your needs as new salesperson. You can shop around for different books and not be bound to the real estate school’s materials. You can take a book out from the library and learn on your own. Realty Institute is located in NYC and available for licensing new agents. [3]

Multiple Listing Service

The Multiple Listing Service (MLS), also known as Multiple Listing System offers a range of services relating to the listing and sale of properties on the real estate market. It provides a more regulated environment among participants such as real estate brokers, investors and other parties. The Multiple Listing Service charges membership fees to real estate professionals who wish to list properties or assets on its database.[1]

Features

The Multiple Listing Service (MLS) provides subscribers with tools for market research and comparisons. It allows users to search for listings using over 30 specifications in the advanced search criteria. This helps brokers and real estate agents in providing information to their clients, varying from school district to the year of construction for the prospective property. Market comparisons are made easy through this service's side by side comparisons feature. Multiple Listing Service (MLS) also includes detailed records of previous transactions. This information is very accuracy since most of it is derived from government records.

Residential Properties

Residential properties are real estate properties for the purpose of housing an individual or group of individuals. Currently, we have more than 5 different forms of residential properties for housing purposes, which include:

  • Multi-family houses: Typical housing properties that consist of sufficient square space to fully accommodate more than one family in the household. Often, Multi-Family houses (i.e. apartment buildings) are purchased as an investment property by an investor(s).
  • Apartments: Smaller properties within a large building that can fit a range of parties - from a full family to one person. An apartment is usually rented and now owned by those living in the quarters.
  • Condominiums: A condo is the form of housing where a specified a piece of an apartment is individually owned by the inhabitant. The difference between a condo and an apartment is ownership.
  • Cooperatives: Also known as co-ops, they are similar to condominiums except for the fact that you become a shareholder in a corporation that owns the property rather than own it yourself. As a shareholder, you are entitled to exclusive use of a housing unit in the property.
  • Mobile housing: Prefabricated structures that are built outside of the land it sits on. Due to legal reasons, they can conveniently be moved to another location.

Depending on the situation, length of stay, price range, and also availability, it is important to choose a specific form of residential housing fit for you. A real estate website is able to fully accommodate these requirements and filter through thousands of properties to assist in finding the perfect apartment or house.

Residential Listing Websites

Zillow

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Zillow is an online real estate database founded in 2005. Since then, they have drastically grown and holds data of about 110 million homes domestically in the United States. [4] Not only are they known for their valuations in home price estimations, but they also offer superior services compared to other competitors through historical prices, comparable homes around the neighborhood and city, aerial views, and also great customer service. One of Zillow's most popular services is its unique offering called a "Zestimate". According to Zillow, this is..."The Zestimate® (pronounced ZEST-ti-met, rhymes with estimate) home valuation is Zillow's estimated market value, computed using a proprietary formula. It is not an appraisal. It is a starting point in determining a home's value. The Zestimate is calculated from public and user submitted data." According to some Real Estate Professionals, this is proving to be a valuable (and proprietary) asset of ZIllow's. The Zestimate has been gaining much momentum with buyers as they are growing increasingly comfortable and thus, trusting, of Zillow as an advisor and reputable component of the modern Real Estate industry.[5] Zillow also offer Rent Zestimates that allow renters to see how much they should be paying and homeowners to see how much they could be charging. [6]

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Zillow is currently rated the most popular real estate website as of December 2013, with more than 15 million estimated monthly visitors. Zillow, in the past few months, has been in talks to acquire StreetEasy, one of New York's leading real estate platform, for roughly $50 million. One reason for Zillow's popularity is from their clever New York City Transit ads and in general their marketing. Zillow provides funny ads that attracts people looking for apartments to use their app. [7]

Zillow Mobile

Zillow launched its mobile platform on Apple's IOS on April 29, 2009. [8] Since then, Zillow's mobile app has become popular among many homes buyers. According to Zillow's 2014 Q1 Earnings Report, mobile users viewed more than 460 million homes in the month of April 2014. [9]

On July 28, 2014, Zillow acquired its largest competitor Trulia for $3.5 Billion. [10]

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StreetEasy

StreetEasy is one of New York's leading commercial real estate platform. StreetEasy is known for its emphasis on user transparency, share history, and also recorded sales. Its model utilizes real-time updates from an aggregate of all active sales and rental listings. With information on monthly price changes and length of time each listing is on the market, users are able to accurately find the best deals in NYC. [11]

By inputting a desired location in NY, the type of residential housing, a price range, and also the number of desired bedrooms and bathrooms, users of StreetEasy are able to find numerous houses on sale from reliable and credible sources, along with a sufficient amount of pictures and descriptions on the interior housing structure. Users can also access an assortment of blog posts, guides, and a Q&A section on the trends of the housing market.

As stated above, Zillow is in place to purchase StreetEasy. [12]

Trulia

Trulia is a home and neighborhood application for buyers and renters for real estate in America. The site provides photos, prices, taxes, maps, crime reports, schools, etc. The site was founded in 2005 and is owned and founded by the Zillow group. [13]

Airbnb

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Airbnb, founded in August 2008 and headquartered in San Francisco, offers unique accommodations to rent in over 192 countries. With more than 10 million transactions taking place worldwide, Airbnb is the world leader in travel rentals. Typical listings have included private rooms, apartments, castles, boats, manors, tree houses, tipis, igloos, and even private islands. [14]


Hosts of housing properties are able to post accommodations for rent, whether long-term or short-term that includes the price per night, amenities, house rules, and imagery of the property. By holding a profile, guests are able to see reviews from past customers - one of new media's strongest factors in benefiting real estate rental services. Taking a look at the platform, users are able to see certain accommodations such as internet and cable provider, car services, train and bus services around the neighborhood, and also famous sites and attractions around the city.

The reason most people choose Airbnb is because approximately 55% of people say its cheaper than other providers. [15] Users are categorized as either hosts and guests, both of whom must create a profile and account on the website and build reviews and a reputation over time. [16] Guests typically are given sufficient information to reach a decision. In the case a question is needed to be asked, the website offers easy communication between hosts and guests through any preferred form of medium.


HomeAway

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HomeAway was founded on 2004 as CEH Holdings and is headquartedered in Austin, Texas. HomeAway offeres more than two million vacation rentals in over 50 countries. HomeAway offers rental condos, cabins, castles, villas, farmhouses and barns. HOmeAway is one of the most succesful technology companies in the past decade. They raised over 405 million dollars from venture capital firms growing revenue on average over 25 percent per year for the past 14 years HomeAway was eventually acquired by Expedia, the second largest travel technology company, for $2.2 billion. Expedia viewed this as a great way to compete with Airbnb since HomeAway is a direct competitior to it. Also, it provided an avenue for large growth because the vacation rental market is growing every year. HomeAway owns many other vacaton rental sites as well which offers the consumer a wide variety of listings to choose from at an affordable price. [17]

Craigslist

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Craigslist is a website of classified advertisements where people can buy and sell items and even rent homes in a variety of cities worldwide. Craigslist was created in 1995 by Craig Newmark as a simple email distribution to friends. Over the years, the website has transformed tremendously, with a variety of sections such as for sale, job postings, rentals, and volunteers. Users are also able to publish anonymous listings of home sales, rentals, and even sublets. However, Craigslist has been a topic of controversy over the past several years because of its anonymity. Many users pretend to publish legitimate homes for rent, but oftentimes these are not actually legitimate. Many scammers and criminals have flocked to Craigslist as a means of scamming others of their money and personal information. For instance, the term "Craigslist Killer" has been used by many media outlets worldwide to describe people who use the site as a means of luring victims and engaging in scams or even murder.


RentHop

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RentHop can be used to list and find apartments. RentHop is used in most of the major cities, including New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, D.C., and Miami, to name a few. RentHop offers support through agents that can be accessed through the website. RentHop has positive reviews for their responsive and knowledgeable agents. RentHop also offers users support through rental guides, blogs, as well as FAQ’s. RentHop has been praised in the New York Times.

RentHop includes a popular feature called HopScore. It ranks rentals based on listing accuracy, listing, recency. A high HopScore implies that the apartment is of good value. A low HopScore implies that the apartment may not be that popular. Users can search for properties on a map as well as filter through neighborhoods. RentHop also offers assistance to users through their neighborhood specialists. [18]


Zumper

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Zumper is an apartment rental website which enables its users to search through real estate listings across the United States. [19] Zumper's available apartment inventory is in a curated news feed. The company was founded in 2012 by Anthemos Georgiades and Taylor Glass-Moore, both from real-estate backgrounds, when they teamed up with Russell Middleton and Leah Jones, both former software engineers at Google. Zumper launched in September 2012 at the annual TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco where they made it to the final of the Battlefield competition. Zumper has since added services which allow landlords to run background checks. Zumper has also added a feature for real estate professionals to post and manage their listings. Listings are automatically syndicated to other major real estate sites.

Others

Listed above are a few of the more notorious and well-known websites in providing real estate information and services to consumers. On top of that, hundreds of websites are out there providing the same services in different locations, and to different demographics.

Among a few of the less known housing platforms are Yahoo! Real Estate, Trulia, Realtor.com, Homes.com, Rent.com, RedFin, ZipRealty, Apartments.com, HotPads, ApartmentGuide, ApartmentRatings, ForRent, Rentals.com, and FrontDoor. [20]

Redfin stands out in particular as it does not follow the traditional online real estate platform model. Instead, Redfin employs its agents directly and pays them a salary instead of commission. In addition, Redfin ties bonuses to customer satisfaction, their agents are reviewed after every transaction and all reviews are posted on the site under the agent's online profiles.

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Commercial Properties

For commercial properties, finding real estate using new media has definitely increased the selections available, along with creating a new medium for businesses to invest in a structure of land or building. Unlike the countless websites consumers can use for residential housing, commercial real estate is a bit more limited in resources and utilizes a few new media platforms on top of agencies that specialize in contracting commercial real estate properties.

LoopNet

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LoopNet as of now is considered to be one of the most widely used marketplace for commercial real estate. With over 5.8 million members and 3.6 million monthly visits, LoopNet is responsible for proving a large amount of businesses a property in the United States. It also holds many off market deals which provide additional opportunity to potential buyers.

The platform allows for businesses to post property listings, and allows buyers an opportunity to connect with sellers in a widely used and open market. For those that pay for a premium membership, buyers or sellers are given more benefits that free users do not get.

LoopNet, in April 2012, has been acquired by CoStar Group and now acts as its subsidiary.

TheRealDeal

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TheRealDeal is both an online blogging platform and a magazine that specializes on the overall real estate industry. With emphasis on both commercial and residential property back in 2003, TheRealDeal has transformed into what it is now called the must-read news source for NYC real estate professionals. [21] Readers are able to get an update of the overall industry, with more articles concerning more specific buildings all around the U.S. with a focus on New York City. For New York City's real estate professionals, regardless of focus (i.e. commercial, residential, retail, industrial), being in tune with recent transactions, proposed transactions, developments, etc. is paramount. TheRealDeal has established a reputation in the industry that firmly places it among the leaders in real estate news.

Costar

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Lately, although they may not specifically be for the purpose of commercial use, many seek residential real estate as a form of investment or personal wealth accumulation. CoStar allows readers to get a more detail grasp of the real estate industry as they are a large provider in commercial information on properties all over the world. Recently, the site is using a new system to access property information. For those who preferred the previous system, the new change is not welcomed.

Considered the world leader of commercial real estate intelligence, CoStar offers users a database of well-constructed information, along with analytics and marketing services. Having started in 1987, the company has developed its research procedures and expanded its database over the years to become the global head of information on real estate. [22] Recently, CoStar acquired LoopNet for $860 million. [23] LoopNet and CoStar have been outstanding rivals for the last few decades. There have even been lawsuits brought against each other. [24]

Social Media in Real Estate

Facebook

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Ever since Facebook launched their Marketplace feature, they changed the social media landscape. Ten years ago, people associated Facebook simply with connecting with other people. Buying and selling was associated with things like Craigslist and Ebay. Marketplace allows users to see a myriad of items for sale near them (with a picture as well), allowing them to make close and easy purchases. Clicking on an item allows you to see a detailed description of the item, the sellers name, their picture, and an approximate location [25]. Marketplace also allows individuals to post their own items for sale. Facebook recently allowed users to post homes and other real estate for sale or rent as well. Being that individuals are on social media sites like Facebook constantly, posting houses for sale/rent on it will garner a lot more attention than a simple Craigslist add [26]. Facebook also has an option to create "groups" where individuals can post things (including buy and sell opportunities). An example of this being used in real estate would be individuals taking advantage of college Facebook groups to sell listings on apartments near the campus (as students always look for places to live). A college like Baruch College has a Facebook group for buying and selling which contains numerous real estate postings [27].


Owning vs. Renting

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When it comes down to housing, it is very important to decide on whether owning a piece of real estate is a much better investment than renting one. Not only do you need to consider long and short term plans of getting a piece of property, but you must also look into the amount of fees, expenses, and opportunities that come with it between owning a house or renting one.

Title

Title is the legal term for the collection of rights in a given property and/or the legal document serving as evidence of ownership. The document evidencing title is a deed of trust. Conveyance of the document may be required in order to transfer ownership in the property to another person.

Deed

Deed is a document conveying title from one person to another. It provides assurance about whether the title is good and marketable. Some types of deed are general warranty deed, special warranty deed or quitclaim deed. Deeds are recorded in the county land records which are available to the public and courts. Buyers wants “good and marketable title,” and can learn a lot about a property by going to the town or county recorder’s office and looking at the records.

Mechanic's Lien

Mechanic's lien is a junior lien put on a property by an unpaid contractor, worker or material supplier whose collateral for payment becomes the property. For example, a painter is contracted by a property owner to paint his home. After rendering his services the homeowner refuses to pay the painter for a reason other than dissatisfaction with the job the painter has performed. The painter can then go to court and file for a mechanic's lien. If granted the court will place a lien on the home, effectively forcing the owner to pay the painter before he can transfer the property in any way.

Loan Amortization Sequences

Listed below are multiple mortgage and loan schedules to take into consideration when purchasing real estate. Each one specifically is geared towards a different interest in the property, and is also dependent on the current environment of the economy or the real estate market.

Constant Payment Mortgages

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A constant payment mortgage, or a CPM, is the most common form of payment pattern used in financing real estate. In a CPM, interest and also principal payment change inversely as time goes by. Most payment in the beginning is interest. As the overall balance decreases overtime, principal payment, or the payment specifically toward paying the loan, will be larger. In this form of a loan, the overall loan balance is paid towards the end of maturity.

Interest Only Loans

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In an interest only loan, a loan will be offered where no principle will be paid off. This loan holds an agreement to only pay forth an interest set by a specific interest rate. This is often times used for short-term lending, where the borrowers choose not to pay any form of principle payment as they stay in a property for a short amount of time.

On maturity, the total loan balance will be paid back.

Partially Amortizing Loans

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In partially amortizing loans, often called balloon loans, a lump sum of the remaining outstanding balance will be paid after a certain amount of time. Essentially, for those that are looking to cut their payment time down, borrowers have the opportunity to completely pay off their outstanding loan amount all at once as to avoid any further interest payments.

Negative Amortizing Loans

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A negative amortizing loan occurs when the payments will be less than the actual or necessary, accrued amount. The loan balance will end up being greater than the original loan amount at maturity. for example, if $50,000 is borrowed, $60,000 may be potentially due at maturity.

Oftentimes, this form of a loan is agreed upon in an attempt to avoid defaults in payment.

Constant Amortization Mortgage

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Constant amortizing mortgages, or CAM, are payments that over time pay off the same amount of principal until time. Unlike the CPM, or constant payment mortgage, month payment is not constant, but principal payment is.

Government Intervention

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Recent innovations in financing and securitization of real property require that demarcations of rights and responsibilities be spelled out very clearly. As more than one entity may have an interest in a property, it is important to understand what rights are transferred with ownership. Some limitations of property rights by the Government are:

  • Eminent domain
  • Land use regulations
  • Zoning ordinances
  • Building codes
  • Water/mineral rights


Helpful data site

Reonomy

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Reonomy is a real estate technology platform which was established in 2013 by Richard Sarkis and Charlie Oshman after they discovered that there was a gap that they could potentially fill in the fragmented commercial real estate market. [28] Both entrepreneurs found that various commercial real estate professionals were making really big real estate investment decisions based on probability rather than high quality information that could ensure them of making the right choices. Since then, Reonomy has developed its current technology platform which provides investors, brokers and lenders a data intelligence engine that searches through more than 200 public databases to bring together property information such as outstanding mortgages, Department of Building violations, and other relative knowledge of a property and its comparative assets.

In 2018, Reonomy had raised approximately $30 million in Series-C financing from multiple firms including Sapphire Ventures, Softbank, and Bain Ventures. [29] According to CEO Richard Sarkis, he reported plans to go after larger investment funds and real estate investment trusts once the company expands their services in different cities during the first half of 2019.[30]

PropertyShark

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PropertyShark is a real estate website that provides in-depth data for approximately 90 million properties in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area and other major US markets. The company was founded in 2002 by real estate investor and programmer Matthew Haines and is headquartered in New York, New York. As of March 30, 2010, PropertyShark operates as a subsidiary of Yardi Systems, Inc.

Aggregating data and listings from a number of public and proprietary sources, PropertyShark provides property reports, pre-foreclosure and foreclosure listings, sales comparables, maps, and building photos, as well as for sale/lease listings of homes and commercial properties.[2]

NYC Property Record Information

The Offices of the City Register maintain the official public records for New York City Real and Personal Property transfers, interest, and ownership for the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. Records dated after 1966 can be recorded and corrected through the Automated City Register Information System (ACRIS) online or at ACRIS terminals in City Register Offices. Records dated before 1966 can only be accessed in the City Register's Office in the borough where the property is located. [3]

TLOwp

http://www.tlo.com/ TLO helps to find contact information of property's owners


TLOwp helps protect fraud which is extremely vital when finding a place to live. It links people between businesses and customer relationships, and investigates conflicts of interest. It can be very helpful to know somebody through a business because it hopefully limits fraud.

Lavamap

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http://www.LavaMap.com

LavaMap.com is a location-based search engine that aggregates comprehensive property records of every building on one dynamic map.

Virtual Reality in Real Estate

Virtual Property Showcases

Typically, when clients are looking to buy a property, they visit multiple properties. This is both time-consuming and inefficient, as you may need a broker to be available.

VR provides solutions to these problems by allowing people to visit and walkthrough properties without leaving their homes. Companies like Matterport create virtual tours for real estate agents and helps them reach out to potential clients. [31]

Virtual Staging

It is not uncommon for open houses to be shown with no furniture, as the owners may have already moved out of the home, or the property has been recently built. Usually unfurnished homes make them feel less welcoming and warm.

It has been shown by the National Association of Realtors, that 77% of real estate agents say staging helps buying associate a property with their future home.

However, while staging does allow for easier sales, it requires investment of capital, and time. Virtual Reality however, provides realtors with a solution by staging properties virtually. This allows clients to envision how their homes will look. [32][33]

Architectural Visualization

It is sometimes hard to envision how a property that has not yet been constructed will look solely based of architectural drawings. Virtual Reality helps solves this problem as it may help every party involved in the development of a property. These parties can include developers, architects, mechanical engineers, plumpers, electricians, interior designers and so on.

PropTech

Property technology, or Proptech, is a term that encompasses the application of information technology and platform economics to real estate market.[34]

There are many startups currently trying to target every segment of the real estate market such as developers, buyers, sellers renters, investors, and real estate professionals. In the first six months of 2019, $12.9 billion was poured into real-estate tech startups by venture investors, which surpassed the $12.7 billion record for all of 2017.[35]

Lease Guarantors

A guarantor is someone who guarantees your obligations under the lease. If you owe the landlord and don't pay, the guarantor pays instead.

TheGuarantors

TheGuarantors is a FinTech company that offers innovative risk and financial solutions for the real estate ecosystem. With a focus on data and industry expertise in real estate, risk, and finance, TheGuarantors has created winning opportunities for landlords, leasing staff, brokers, renters, and tenants by taking the risk out of the leasing process and making it more efficient at the same time. While Guaranti solves for risk on the multifamily side, Securiti is bringing office landlords and tenants closer together by making the security package cheaper and easier to buy.[36]

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Insurent

The Insurent Lease Guaranty Program is the first and leading institutional guarantor of residential leases, and was created to assist renters, landlords, condo/coop owners, brokers and relocation specialists in quickly and easily closing leases for all parties.

Insurent has transformed the multifamily industry, issuing thousands of lease guarantees representing over $900 million of rent exposure, with over 400,000 units and over 3,500 buildings accepting the Insurent Lease Guaranty Program. The pace of owner acceptance and utilization has accelerated, and more owners, or property managers choose Insurent every day. The Insurent Program presently operates in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Illinois, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC.

The Insurent Lease Guaranty Program allows for lease closures of "creditworthy" renters who don't meet the financial requirements of their landlord. These renters include foreign professionals relocating to the US without US Credit history, international and domestic students, retirees, self-employed individuals, and young college and professional school graduate entering the workforce, and non-employed US and foreign persons with significant cash liquid assets, all who in many cases cannot qualify to rent an apartment. Insurent acts as the "institutional guarantor" to help renters obtain their apartment quickly in a competitive market.[37]

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How Real Estate Professional work with Buyers

In the Real Estate profession many new agents make their first commissions in helping their clients purchase a home. As interest rates decrease more and more individuals are hoping on the market to purchase a home as getting a loan has never been more enticing for many. In this portion we will discuss the process, conversation, and responsibilities an agent will hold when helping their clients and how some of the above described new media is applied. [38]

Initial Conversations

No matter the method in which an agent attains a buyer, whether it's through a referral, an advertisement on Zillow, or even self promotion on Instagram the process moving forward with them is consistent across the board. In the initial conversation the goal of the agent is to gauge the knowledge of the market, need to buy, and availability. Learning how many bedrooms, taxes, and style of home will come and change as they see homes but these three components will help you find the right home and close the deal. In the first call you want to ensure you leave with enough information to book a few appointments in the upcoming weekend and give a good spread of homes so the buyers understand what they like and don't like.

Initial Showings

In the initial showings of your client there a few important ideas to keep in mind. First off, be prompt, professional, and pronounced. Create a presence in which you display yourself as knowledgeable of the market but also understanding of your client's interests. The main goal of the initial 5-6 showings is to break the buyer in and help them gain an understanding of the market and the value of a home. Many buyers will not purchase the first home they see and it can take some time for them to be comfortable enough to provide an offer. This is where using a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool comes in handy, such as Monday. Monday allows users to maintain a record on each of their clients and understand at which stage in the buying process they are. This will allow you to organize and manage your clients needs, documents, and potential changes. [39]

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Finding the One

Once the initial showings have passed you and your buyer should have an idea of the type of home, location, and price that they are willing to put in an offer for. Now the concept of "time breaks deals" must be introduced. The longer it takes to get contracts signed after an offer is accepted the less likely it will be that the buyer will purchase the home. Along with this idea, the notion of "getting" the home must be instilled. Rather than wait and wait and hope something falls from the sky. If a buyer really likes the home they must be willing to do whatever it takes to get it. Often times there's already a home they liked prior and they regret not being aggressive enough. Your job as an agent is to push the buyer to make it happen. In this scenario utilizing technology such as DocuSign to quickly and efficiently send documents which require your clients signatures and creating contacts with Home Inspectors who use platforms such as Spectora to provide reports, contracts, and payments instantly can often save days of communication in a deal.

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Closing

Once an offer has been accepted by the buyer and seller your job as an agent is a bit less stressful. Now it's the responsibility of the lenders and lawyers to do their job in verifying all details in regards to the home's title, buyer's loan, and other aspects. It's important to make sure communication is flowing at this point and to check up on your client periodically. On the day of closing ensure to bring a small gift, sign for the buyer's to hold, or any other small item to show your appreciation. Make sure to take a photo with the buyer with item and post to social media! This show's your gratitude and care towards your client.

References

  1. http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/realestate.asp/
  2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtsK0HpE9js/
  3. https://realtyinstitute.net/index.html
  4. http://www.zillow.com/corp/About.htm
  5. http://www.zillow.com/learnmore/what-you-can-do-on-zillow.htm/
  6. https://www.zillow.com/
  7. http://investors.zillow.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=785901
  8. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/07/technology/personaltech/07smart.html
  9. http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/07/zillow-swings-to-a-loss-due-to-ad-expenses-but-q1-revenue-up-70-percent-to-a-record-66-2m/
  10. http://money.cnn.com/2014/07/28/real_estate/zillow-buys-trulia-for-3-5-billion/
  11. http://gotham-magazine.com/living/articles/real-estate-made-easy/
  12. http://investors.zillow.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=785901
  13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trulia
  14. http://airlandandsea.wordpress.com/2013/11/08/airbnb-trying-it-out/
  15. https://www.raconteur.net/culture/5-airbnb-facts-you-probably-didnt-know
  16. http://conscious.travel/2012/11/26/10-reasons-why-airbnb-is-an-awesome-conscious-travel-enterprise/
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  26. https://www.housingwire.com/articles/41797-facebook-launches-massive-push-into-real-estate-listings
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  38. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/16/business/economy/federal-reserve-interest-rates.html
  39. https://monday.com/