Is Big Brother Dead?

Has collective collaboration taken the power from the top of the pyramid and dispersed it among the participants?

There is no one overseeing camera that records our every move. There are millions of them, in the hands of the public and on the walls of private businesses. The Mainstream Media cannot get the news to us faster than the masses of bloggers do. In addition, if they push something based on an agenda, it is swarmed by truth seekers. New stars and celebrities are created by choice, not force. Peer to Peer file swapping changed the entertainment industry forever. Google Video and YouTube have leeched television viewership significantly, and foreshadow the future of video entertainment.

Hopefully, my lack of example doesn't spoil the point of the article.

To me it seems that the power, once controlled by the few, is now slipping into the hands of the masses. Not that Orwell had it wrong, but the transmutation of his novel's message, and the prediction of greater totalitarian control in accordance with the development of technology, is wrong.

How does this affect the real estate industry?

Hundreds of thousands of voices can question the leadership, decisions, policies, management and opinions of those above and beside them. These voices can and will be heard whether anonymously, individually or collectively. Accountability is now the highest priority for those that took their power for granted. The NAR can be questioned, MLS's can be questioned, large brokerages can be questioned, top producers can be questioned, the questioners, questioned.

Search Engine results are up for grabs. Top placement is achievable by those who won't settle for static content. The long tail of search results is made up of the many many active voices. The more they say, the more they are heard, the more they are networked, the more Google loves them.

The once coveted access to MLS listings is becoming less of a compelling offer to generate leads. As the barriers soften and the public have access to that which was once locked away in a private, powerful book, service, education and trust define the attraction to an agent. One's ability to be heard among, and supported by the critical mass will replace the gatekeeper mentality and influence.

Reputations, the cornerstone of any long-standing business, depend on the collective voice. It can take years of success to be 'talked about.' One negative blog article can wash it all away.

Soon sellers and their listing agents will be held accountable by the collective audience for the facts they present about a property.

The future of listing a home?: Listing goes online. The audience participates in its description and perception. Property values become influenced by the community's comments.

With great power comes great responsibility.

Jim Cronin is the creator and author of The Real Estate Tomato: http://www.realestatetomato.com

Mission: To Provide Realtors With A Destination For The News, Knowledge, Technology and Service They Need To Be Successful.

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Appraisals Help Price Homes

Many homeowners are now paying to have an appraisal performed on their home before putting it on the market. Alan Hummel, chief appraiser for Forsythe Appraisals LLC of St. Paul, Minn. says that many homeowners are willing to pay the cost upfront.

Presale appraisals for the firm increased during the first quarter, said Hummel, as the residential real estate market has begun to see cooling in many areas and an increase in inventory.

Although many real estate agents conduct their own market analysis to price a property, the appraiser is able to come up with an independent, unbiased opinion to price the property, said Hummel. If a property isn't getting any interest, an agent might encourage the client to have an appraisal performed to make sure the home is priced appropriately.

Now, you've got to be competitive and you have to know that the offers coming in are reasonable, said Hummel.

An appraisal looks at a property from a visual standpoint. It takes into account everything from cracking paint to the proximity to schools and shopping.

We are trying to react the way a typical purchaser would, said Hummel.

The appraiser will look at the health of the local real estate market, which gives a homeowner a personalized expectation for selling the home. The homeowner must remember that the market can vary from area to area -- national news about real estate slow downs may or may not apply, said Hummel.

The appraisal report will include the details about the home, a description of the neighborhood and a side-by-side comparison of similar homes in the area. It will evaluate the area's real estate market, make notations of any major problems that affect the property value and estimate the time it will take to sell the home.

The appraisal is a opinion of the home's value. It is based on similar homes in the area that have been sold recently. It is not the same thing as a home inspection. It deals with the value, the inspection deals with the condition.

You pay for the appraisal when you purchase a home. You should request a copy from your lender, you have a federal right to receive it. When you have the house appraised before you put it on the market, you simply pay the appraiser and receive the report.

It is wise to have your home appraised before putting it up for sale. It will help you to accurately price your home. This can help you avoid problems later. You could find that you priced your home for too much or too little.

Martin Lukac represents http://www.RateEmpire.com and http://www.1AmericanFinancial.com, a finance web-company specializing in real estate and mortgage rates. We specialize in daily updates, mortgage news, rate predictions, mortgage rates and more. Find low home loan mortgage interest rates from hundreds of mortgage companies!

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Lakefront Property For Sale

Lakefront property for sale is a highly valuable commodity. A life at the lakefront is just like your own personal heaven. A lakefront property cannot be compared with any other property. Hence, the delight of living next to lake can be experienced only by owning or renting lakefront property.

Today a huge number of lakefront properties are available for sale. Some are along the world's most beautiful lakes, while others are on small and quiet ones. Lakefront property is common in the USA and Canada, since they have about 3,000 lakes.

Some lakefront properties set themselves apart from the rest. Less than a 4-hour drive from the areas of Washington, DC, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and New Jersey is a village at the Bear Trap Dunes, which was given the 2002 Development of the Year award for some of the best lakefront property in the area. Near Delaware, elegant lakefront property is available next to the Indian River Bay.

In Florida, the Hammock Beach, situated at the Palm Coast, is enclosed by very old oak hammocks and the Atlantic Ocean. Here one has a chance to obtain pre-construction pricing. Then, moving towards the Southeast, there are beautiful lakefront properties in the Mississippi, such as the Pickwick Pines Resort in Iuka and the Old Waverly in West Point. These provide an amazing experience of stylish living. A lakefront property on Lake Wylie, near Charlotte, North Carolina, is The Sanctuary, which is a natural reserve society of less than 200 home sites. The Goodfield Landing, Decatur, is in Tennessee.

Lakefront Property provides detailed information on Lakefront Property, Michigan Lakefront Property, Lakefront Property For Sale, Wisconsin Lakefront Property and more. Lakefront Property is affiliated with Lake Havasu City.

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Real Estate Investing Strategies for Flipping Houses

If you're like most real estate investment wannabes, you've taken seminars, read books, watched infomercials and DVDs, and have spent considerable amounts of money to learn about the ins and outs of the field. If you're still struggling with how to get started, here are some of successful investors favorite ways to make money in real estate.

The first has become popular with the advent of several television programs. It's popularly known as flipping houses, which just means buying, fixing up, and reselling a property for a profit. It sounds simple enough. Find a rundown house, spend what can be a considerable amount of time and money to upgrade and repair it, and then recoup that investment, along with a sizable profit, when you resell the property.

Other investors like to buy homes that are in need of the repairs and upgrades you see so often portrayed on television and sell them WITHOUT doing the repairs. It's not as crazy as it sounds. All it involves is buying a property by contract, structuring that contract so that you have the right to sell the underlying to a building contractor or other investor who will have the means to be able to subcontract out the work.

This process is sometimes called bird dogging or wholesaling. Investors don't make as much per transaction, but the turnaround time is much faster. You don't have to deal with the 101 things that can and do go wrong, as you well know if you're a fan of the various television shows that follow the ups and downs of investors as they try to flip their homes.

Real estate investors have always looked for houses that have the potential to be fixed up and upgraded and then resold at a profit. That's partly because, depending upon how hot your local real estate may be, the potential profits can be in the five-digit range for each transaction.

There are dangers, of course, since many projects have at least one hidden problem that throws a giant monkey wrench into the process, reducing profits and lengthening the time to finish. Therefore, it's important for you to know your market and how much things will cost to repair before you start working this popular investment strategy.

Lease options can also be a profitable way to get into a rundown house, bring it up to standard, and then either resell or rent it, depending upon your taste. This allows you to generally get into a house without the real estate agent's fees, which can be considerable. Once you've got the property up to standard, you can then sell the home on a lease option to someone else, which is generally good, because they'll have more incentive to keep it nice.

There are many other ways to make money in real estate, of course, but these are some investors favorites. The main thing is to pick a strategy you're comfortable with and stick to it until you're an expert at it!

Copyright ? 2006 Jeanette J. Fisher

Free ebook, The Truth about Making Money Flipping Houses at doghousetodollhousefordollars.com. Jeanette Fisher, author of Doghouse to Dollhouse for Dollars, teaches interior design secrets for fixing houses to make money in any real estate market: Fixing and Flipping Houses

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Offer To Purchase Clauses You Need

An offer to purchase is a legally binding document, not just a casual negotiating tool. The moment the seller of the real estate signs your offer, you are obligated to live up to its exact language. Since you can write the offer how you want to, why not include the clauses that smart buyers use to protect themselves? You can also use language that will save you money.

The Offer To Purchase - Important Clauses

Inspection contingency clauses. You want something like this in every offer to purchase: Offer is contingent upon a home inspection and buyer's approval of the results; inspection to be done at buyer's expense within ten days. You can ask the real estate agent for help with the specific wording. This clause gives you the right to have an inspection done. If anything negative is found, you could refuse to approve of the results, and so get your deposit back. Alternately, you could renegotiate a lower price.

Earnest money clause. Real estate agents will tell you that a certain amount is necessary for a deposit, but the decision is yours. A small earnest money deposit may be taken seriously, if you include a clause like this: $100 earnest money deposit, to be increased to $2,000 upon acceptance of this offer. Or you can have it increased when all contingencies are met. The reason? Suppose there's an argument about you backing out because the inspector found foundation damage. You won't have your money tied up while this is being resolved.

Right to assign clause. This one is primarily for investors. Suppose your partner isn't there to sign the offer, or you want to flip the deal to another investor, or you may need to involve a partner for purposes of funding the deal. You need a clause in the offer to purchase that covers this. Including the words and/or assigns after your name on the offer is usually sufficient, but ask the real estate agent what the local custom or language is. This allows you to add another buyer or assign the whole contract to another.

Closing cost clauses. You can specify that the seller pays for the closing fee, the title insurance, the recording fees, and even the points on your loan. For many sellers the price is the most important thing, and they don't care too about the details. What if they don't want to pay the costs? You at least gave yourself some negotiating points. Now get something for dropping each of the costs you included. This could include a reduced interest rate if the seller is financing part of your purchase.

Basic financing contingency clause. If the loan doesn't come through, and you can't buy the home, you'll lose your deposit, unless you have something like this in the agreement: Subject to buyer obtaining a firm commitment for suitable financing within ten days. Actually, the language should usually specify what suitable means in terms of interest rate and such.

Spousal approval clause. This clause can be as simple as Subject to a walk through inspection and approval of home by buyer's wife (or husband or partner - state their name) within two days. If your wife says no to the deal within two days, you can back out and get your deposit back. For the seller to agree to this one you need to keep the time frame as short as you can.

Some of the above clauses are normal and acceptable to all, while others are likely to annoy the real estate agent. That's okay. The seller has the right to say no to your offer in any case, and you have the right to use these clauses to protect yourself in your offer to purchase.

Copyright Steve Gillman. Visit his website for: 1. A photo of a beautiful house he and his wife bought for $17,500. 2. A free book on how to save thousands buying your next home. 3. A free real estate investing course. Visit www.HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com

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