From HousingWire:
How the Internet chips away the MLS
What the Internet and Uber are doing to the taxi business is happening in its own way to real estate brokers and the MLS.
Earlier this month, Inman News reported from an industry conference that a study by Jonathan Green, vice president real estate services for CoreLogic (CLGX), found that nearly half of all homes sold last year were never listed in an MLS or were listed only after a buyer was lined up.
The MLS, that coveted and proprietary listing report that gave unique value and advantage to real estate agents using it for decades, is falling out of use in favor of more open, free listing services, such as Zillow (Z) and other off-MLS listings.
Inman reported that CoreLogic’s analysis compared public record transaction data with MLS data in four counties, and extrapolating on those findings shows that MLS use is rapidly declining.
Inman reported that Corelogic says that this raises significant questions for the industry:
Will the prevalence of off-MLS listings (or FSBOs) continue to grow?
Will behavior change in proportion to inventory?
Will brokers attempt to systematically or effectively monetize pre-MLS listings?
Will this behavior dilute the “first position” status of the MLS as a marketing engine?
Will this behavior change the perception of the MLS as the record of choice for listing and sales content?
What’s hurt the MLSs has been good for companies like Zillow. And Zillow has been aggressive in taking things to the next level as the company grows. Zillow’s website is an open listing for both real estate brokers and buyers.
In mid-March Move (MOVE) and the National Association of Realtors filed a lawsuit against Zillow and Errol Samuelson, chief industry development officer for Zillow, in a Washington state superior court, alleging breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and – most critically – misappropriation of trade secrets.
The death of real estate. Sell houses like cars. Fcuk everyone.
One day closer to armageddon.
Interesting piece from the Atlantic on economic segregation in US metros:
The U.S. Cities Where the Poor Are Most Segregated From Everyone Else
Poverty in America is an enormous problem. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 15 percent of Americans, or 46.5 million people, lived below the poverty line in 2012. And the poor are increasingly isolated across America. As Sean Reardon and Kendra Bischoff have documented, between 1970 and 2009 the proportion of poor families living in poor neighborhoods more than doubled, from 8 to 18 percent. And the trend shows no signs of abating.
This increasing concentration of poverty poses a host of problems to communities. Less advantaged communities suffer not just from a lack of economic resources but from everything from higher crime and drop-out rates to higher rates of infant mortality and chronic disease. In his classic The Truly Disadvantaged, William Julius Wilson called attention to the deleterious social effects that go along with the spatial concentration of poverty, which “include the kinds of ecological niches that the residents of these neighborhoods occupy in terms of access to jobs and job networks, availability of marriageable partners, involvement in quality schools, and exposure to conventional role models.”
But just how segregated are the poor across U.S. metros?
From CNBC:
What we will—and won’t—learn about home prices this week
Housing market data have been mixed over the past few months, as harsh winter weather has appeared to put a damper of homebuying. Investors will get some more data on housing in the days ahead, when new home sales, pending home sales and home price data are released. But even if these numbers come in soft, some experts say the U.S. housing market is just getting heated up.
“We’re still in the very preliminary stages of a housing market upturn,” said Carl Riccadonna, senior U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank. “Housing is extremely seasonal, and there’s a high season and a low season. This low season is particularly low due to the weather, and housing numbers have been vulnerable.”
“In next week’s data, new home sales will be pretty lousy, just because buyer traffic has been depressed. But I’m personally waiting to see the March and April data to see what happens in the spring buying season,” Riccadonna told CNBC.com on Friday.
New homes sales for the month of February are set to be released by the Commerce Department on Tuesday morning. The consensus expectation is for sales to come in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 449,000 units, below the 5½ year high of 468,000 that was recorded for the month of January.
In other housing data that will emerge this week, the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index for January will be released Tuesday as well. This is designed to give investors an indication of the trend in real estate prices. And on Friday, pending home sales data from the National Association of Realtors, which tracks sales that have not yet closed, will give an indication of the demand for houses.
[3] grim,
Validates what I’ve said for years about north easterners and democrats. They love the poor and minorities. Provided they stay over there.
City of Brotherly Love, not so much, Philly comes in at #3 economically segregated large metros. NY metro, surprisingly, does not beat Philly, instead coming in at #6.
When I started on Wall st we had fixed commission based on stock price .You could buy 100 shares IBM @ 100 and it would cost you 1K in commission ,that same trade today could be had for $7.95 commission . Why should I pay a RE broker 5% or 6% of an asset just to purchase /or sell it ,when all the info is out their for the buyer or seller to do his own DD …..the tec is out there for $500. to 1K for a house sale
Technically, you don’t need to pay any commission. Plenty of FSBOs trade hands every day with not a single dollar paid, requiring no technology to enable the low-cost transaction (I’d argue that it required billions of dollars in technology and infrastructure investments to enable a $7.95 trade). So … isn’t this even more efficient than the stock market, where you don’t have no-commision choice?
Bullshit that I can’t walk onto the floor of the NY Stock Exchange and trade my own stock for free.
A visual depiction of the Obama Administration:
http://nypost.com/2014/03/24/train-derails-at-chicago-airport-injuring-dozens-of-commuters/
Besides, title insurance is the real scam here, let’s just call this spade what it is.
Given all of the technology that we have in place, maintaining a clean unbroken chain of title is no easier than in the 1800s. Suppose they want to keep it this way, since it means outrageous fees associated with title searches and title insurance.
This is the biggest racket going. At least your house tour guide spends a Saturday or two (or 34) with you, what’s the title agent do? I’d wager a guess and say that the cost of title insurance should be at least 1 order of magnitude cheaper, if not 2, based on the actual claims paid out. Pure profit, laughing all the way to the bank, and they never even needed to get our of the chair to do it. No better indicator of a racket than the nearly impossible barriers to entry, put in place on purpose, to keep out competition.
What value does a buyer get for the $2,500, on-average, they’ll be paying for a title search and title insurance at closing?
You want to hear an even dirtier secret than this?
Do you know that in some states, your attorney makes a huge commission on the sale of title insurance to their client? Oh boy, now I did it.
Hell, the surveyor does more for his money, and that doesn’t even run half of the title insurance, including markers.
From RealtyTimes – this makes the 2% to 2.5% commissions that go to both the listing and the sales agencies look like child’s play:
TITLE INSURANCE BATTLE HEATS UP IN NEW JERSEY
(From 2007)
How much of the premium went to commissions for title agents? The study found that commissions often represented 60 percent or more of the entire premium.
In other words, if you were a title insurance company your big cost was not fixing title problems, it was selling policies. Since consumers were picking title agents and not title insurance policies, the way to sell policies was — and is — to offer the highest possible fees to title agents, the folks who do title and settlement work.
You might think that the Simmon’s study is old news but that’s not the case. Testifying before Congress in 2006, J. Robert Hunter, Director of Insurance for the Consumer Federation of America said that “on a countrywide basis, the top four title insurers paid an average of about 80 percent of the title insurance premiums to their title agents in the form of commissions. An analysis of commission splits in California found that between 8 percent and 12 percent of the premium was paid to the title underwriter and between 88 percent and 92 percent of the premium was paid to the title agent.”
“It should be noted,” Hunter continued, “that the commission split is not disclosed to borrowers. The HUD-1 form that discloses the costs of title insurance to borrowers at line 1108 merely shows the total premium amount the buyer pays for title insurance, but homebuyers assume that the entirety of the premium goes toward underwriting, not the real estate intermediary in the room with them at the time of closing.”
Been a lurker on this board for years. Need some advice. House inspector needed. Mercer/Burlington area. Any recommendations greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Nom – that’s been the real Mason-Dixon line for generations. In the South they don’t care how close they get, so long as they don’t get too high. In the North they don’t care how high they get, so long as they don’t get too close.
Validates what I’ve said for years about north easterners and democrats. They love the poor and minorities. Provided they stay over there.
Most attorneys who do lots of RE closings usually have an interest in a title company, often in the name of a spouse or child. Sometimes, you’ll also see mortgage brokers’ wives or kids running title companies.
Always a workaround to keep things appearing arm’s length.
http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2014/03/he-cooperated-with-cops-and-is-paying.html#links
Cooperation was his downfall
That is absolutely the case in Massachusetts. About $500 kickback to the attorney is the going rate. That’s why any family member who is an attorney will gladly do your closing for “free”.
Do you know that in some states, your attorney makes a huge commission on the sale of title insurance to their client? Oh boy, now I did it.
When we rented our house in Centerport, Long Island our landlords were a Title Company wife and Attorney husband. They were moving out to Arizona where the wife was doing very well with her title insurance business. The husband said he probably wouldn’t even sit for the bar in AZ as his wife was doing so well in title insurance. That was in ’97. They probably had a good run for 8 or 9 years.
Most attorneys who do lots of RE closings usually have an interest in a title company, often in the name of a spouse or child. Sometimes, you’ll also see mortgage brokers’ wives or kids running title companies.
Always a workaround to keep things appearing arm’s length.
Re: Title Search;
Essex county is the worst — dark ages and that’s just the way they like it. I was spoiled by shopping in Morris county where the deed and mortgage records are publicly available in electronic format. When I seriously considered one place in west Essex co., I had to pay a runner at the deed room to get copies made for me. It makes work for some otherwise unemployable people, I suppose. I just consider it part of the broader welfare state — if not for that my taxes would have been even higher!
Joyce, that is a great quote yesterday about Tesla. Sums up the state very well. HTF did I end up here.
Mr. Musk is a brilliant man, and Tesla is an innovative company. We can all respect that,” says NJ CAR’s Appleton. “But he doesn’t get what it takes to do business in New Jersey.
http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/19/5525544/new-jersey-auto-dealers-respond-to-teslas-elon-musk
I raise your dark ages comment with the Sinkhole of Bureaucracy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2014/03/22/sinkhole-of-bureaucracy/
You can now buy title insurance on line It is more useful on a condo as it covers back maint owed. It is useless on a coop.
Zillow and Trulia let you list rentals for free and when you do it apprears in tons of other seaches like Redfin etc.
Realtors have to follow all the fair housing rules. Individual owners who owner three or less properties who do three or less rentals are year are exempt.
Meaning. On my own I can avoid, kids, cults, smokers, criminals, shady folks, handicapped, high maint folks. With a realtor I have to blindly rent to people.
Also good tenants dont feel need to use a realtor. For instance I would not want to ever rent to someone with a stay at home wife and a few kids and pets a fully furnished place. The wear and tear would be a nightmare.
Renting to a married couple with no kids who work full time is ideal. Rarely home and two incomes to pay rent.
Doesn’t even matter if they’re married, just that they like a bona fide working couple (about the same age, probably aged 28-40 is best, better yet if the guy don’t look blue-collar). From ’91-2002 we rented numerous places. I built up a reference list, kind of an apartment résumé, of all the places we lived. Address, starting rent, ending rent, landlord’s name, but most important, for each place, the words “Full Deposit Returned”. We never were turned down for a place.
Renting to a
marriedcouple with no kids who work full time is ideal. Rarely home and two incomes to pay rent.[23] Probably helps if the girl is conservatively hot, instead of stripper-hot, too. That way you figure the guy is going to keep her and she’s going to keep him.
JJ – you should try Airbnb they throw monster BBW parties and are shooting for a 10 Billion dollar valuation. Imagine that renting out someone elses home and having a worth 10 Billion?
Money for nothing and chicks for free.
http://nypost.com/2014/03/20/airbnb-in-talks-to-raise-valuation-to-10b-despite-orgy-fiasco/
Juice [21];
I’ve heard of that place. Unless I’m mistaken, archived US patent files are stored there as well.
25 – way more funny than the realtor love shack story – this should have got more airtime.
26 [con’t]
What’s with the gratuitous apology for TrainWreck.gov?
Totally unrelated to the point of the story, but they just can’t help themselves but apologize for Obama, can they?
The reason we have so many unemployed and underemployed is that PRODUCTIVITY IS TOO DAMN HIGH.
Commercial real estate utilization would be through the roof if it weren’t for those pesky computers replacing hallways lined with file cabinets.
Techincally my town has a “grouper” law. And my condo as well as town is zoned single family occupency. I can rent to non-married couples except I cant put both on the lease. And I am unsure if both can get beach passes etc. If they were engaged ok I guess. I would most likely pick the one with highest income and bettter references to put on the lease and let the other one move in as a “roomate” Then dont have to worry what happens when the break up.
23.The Original NJ ExPat says:
March 24, 2014 at 11:07 am
Doesn’t even matter if they’re married, just that they like a bona fide working couple (about the same age, probably aged 28-40 is best, better yet if the guy don’t look blue-collar). From ’91-2002 we rented numerous places. I built up a reference list, kind of an apartment résumé, of all the places we lived. Address, starting rent, ending rent, landlord’s name, but most important, for each place, the words “Full Deposit Returned”. We never were turned down for a place.
Renting to a married couple with no kids who work full time is ideal. Rarely home and two incomes to pay rent.
Vigoda > Oderus Urungus
Regarding the headline article and other comments, how are the agents going forward going to find comparable sales if a large portion, perhaps a majority, are not on the MLS? Are they truly going to comb through the county real estate / tax database that has a very long lag? Grim, maybe you and other agents do that already to capture in your data sets sales outside the MLS… but I can’t imagine most agents will do so (unless forced).
It would be near impossible unless someone build a system to automate deed searches and associate deeds with the appropriate tax cards. However, it would provide significantly less comp information than you could yield from the MLS today.
re # 27 – Way too funny is right they immediately wired the landlord Ari Teman twenty grand to try and keep him quiet. Hotel laws, taxes, bah we have a 10 billion dollar IPO to get out the door. A few dozen fat people screwing in your apartment? Bad for business people won’t use Airbnb if they don’t have any real background checks.
Most all of Montclair is on Airbnb, they must be into that kind of thing over there. I wonder how many Montklarians report the income on their taxes.
Nah. Most of Montclair isn’t into the BBW thing. They are more into Cloppers.
Moose,
I think “mainstream media” is too kind of a name for what’s going on.
“Bootlicking media” is more appropriate.
Government is always innocent until proven guilty.
Imagine if citizens could critique misleading NY City street signs in the way that the FDA scrutinizes nutrition labels or tv b0ner medication advertisements.
Ok I’m regretting looking that up.
ChiFi on #9 – That is low.
But I’ll match you.
Your last president -> http://youtu.be/NzbhbetwYFU
Your future ideological mates -> http://youtu.be/DNC3OciAF3w with a lot of this http://youtu.be/R6dm9rN6oTs
And your future -> http://youtu.be/Cr5KyLzFdgI
If you are going to throw ideological bombs be more creative and fun.
https://news.yahoo.com/texas-teen-gives-police-parking-ticket-151406123.html
Cop issues bribe to get out of ticket
Propertyshark has all that details but they charge a lot for it. I find MLS to be bad comp data for grieving my taxes. It leaves off a lot of distress sales and no fsbo type sales or sales between neighbors etc. Pretty much I am looking for low comps. MLS is all inflated comps. Redfin is much better for comps and it is fre.
33.grim says:
March 24, 2014 at 11:58 am
It would be near impossible unless someone build a system to automate deed searches and associate deeds with the appropriate tax cards. However, it would provide significantly less comp information than you could yield from the MLS today.
Lib seriously how do you know what a clopper is? I had to look it up and I’m still laughing at my desk
Curious as to where Trulia, Zillow, Propertyshark, Redfin, etc etc will get the majority of their data without the various MLS’s?
Pain…learned it from a comedy podcast.
I honestly dont see what big deal is with VRBO or AIRBNB. Unless you are some snooty doorman building in Midtown why should your neighbors care.
Plus the rental is allowed if I am there. What is definition that. It is allowed if no money changes hands. It is allowed if it is 30 days or more.
So someone rents a house on the block do you run up and say excuse me do you have an illegal rental? Are you renting 30 days or less? Are you a relative? Are you paying?
Unless it is a troublemaker why should the nieghbors care. Another issue is lot of condos are having trouble with arrears and have undewater units.As long as folks are paying the maint aka building gets a cut what is issue.
It is the wave of the future. Even more so in towns that do not have any hotels or motels. The monthly rental rule is very expensive. Folks near me do Memorial Day till end of June, July and August including Labor day.
June is cheap but folks with kids cant do it as school is on and weather iffy. July is good but that is peak time. August till Labor day is a lot of weeks and got to get kids readly for back to school. Plus the beach rental only makes sense if you are there all week. Folks only get one or two weeks vacations. They dont want to pay for four weeks. Then second issue if folks “split it” A lot of towns that enforce the one month rule you get two to four couple whot split the month and you have a lot of traffic. I rather see one couple at a time.
It is all public data. Property Shark pulls it right from property records. It even gives you name and address of owner, mortgage amounts everything. Kinda cool.
42.joyce says:
March 24, 2014 at 1:09 pm
Curious as to where Trulia, Zillow, Propertyshark, Redfin, etc etc will get the majority of their data without the various MLS’s?
Yes, I know the info on the MLS’s is available to the public (minus a small portion that is agent only, as well as the report running functions). Yes, when doc’s are registered with the county for a sale, mortgage, other lien, etc… it is available to the public.
I’m asking if the MLS fades away and if the slack is not picked up by FSBO.com and the like… how are these aggregate sites going to find out about available homes for sale?
45.JJ says:
March 24, 2014 at 1:17 pm
It is all public data. Property Shark pulls it right from property records. It even gives you name and address of owner, mortgage amounts everything. Kinda cool.
42.joyce says:
March 24, 2014 at 1:09 pm
Curious as to where Trulia, Zillow, Propertyshark, Redfin, etc etc will get the majority of their data without the various MLS’s?
Can you read? I said that you can make more than 5% on your money by cutting out the management fee and by cutting down on how many times you think it will be vacant.
Michael says:
March 23, 2014 at 5:34 pm
Guess, I’m not the only one who sees the value of rental properties in north jersey. It’s terrible, there is no inventory at all in thus part of the market. Btw, cut out the management fee, and you make a lot more than 5% on your money. That # seems really low even with a management fee included. You must have been on the high end for your cost calculation.
“Apparently there is a strong demand for small income producing properties in suburban areas”
joyce says:
March 23, 2014 at 9:58 pm
He wasn’t saying one could or should earn 5% on rental properties; he explicitly calculated an asking price based on the REAL and current expenses and rent, etc. and said 5% is the return if you pay close to this price. I know math is hard for you Mikey, but is reading tough too?
Trulia and Zillow are tied significantly to the MLSes.
This guy seems to understand what I was saying about the importance of networks. You go to an ivy league for the networks. You can get an education anywhere, but what’s separates an ivy league education from another college, you get to come in contact with the real players of the game. Plain and simple. A poor kid living in the ghetto learns to hustle drugs from the network he is around, the ivy league kid gets to learn how to run companies/countries from the network he is around. You guys are blind, if you don’t think it works like this.
“In his classic The Truly Disadvantaged, William Julius Wilson called attention to the deleterious social effects that go along with the spatial concentration of poverty, which “include the kinds of ecological niches that the residents of these neighborhoods occupy in terms of access to jobs and job networks, availability of marriageable partners, involvement in quality schools, and exposure to conventional role models.””
Also, as Moose alluded to earlier… most counties do not have the same online databases as Morris County. I doubt redfin et al are going to physically visit each county clerk and make copies.
46.joyce says:
March 24, 2014 at 1:28 pm
Yes, when doc’s are registered with the county for a sale, mortgage, other lien, etc… it is available to the public.
I doubt redfin et al are going to physically visit each county clerk and make copies.
There is an industry around making this kind of closed data available to 3rd parties for a fee. They employ people who do exactly that.
I know that Corelogic has a product offering in this space that has the most complete coverage, something like 98% of of all zip codes.
Nearly every Ivy Leaguer I knew from HS was a drug dealer or used a drug dealer.
Most are lawyers now. One guy was moving so much drugs at college he sold his business for six figures when he graduated. I was at his house in HS. He had $40,000 worth of pot in his room in High School. Big mansion type house. Mom was home when I dropped by. Minimun purchase was one pound. He basically sold to the street the folks who sold to the folks that sold you pot. His stuff was so pure you would have to mix in twigs, tea and seeds in your dollar joints. Otherwise you were giving it away. I only went there once. Guy he sold his college route to ended up selling to the bartender at Dorians Red hand and Robert Chambers and the women who first ran for VP son was invloved. At stony brook I had a coke dealer, pot dealer, lude dealer on the hall and even a Hash guy. Down the halls a guy even had LSD. All these folks are executives. One guy I ran into got an IVY leagure law degree and is a Partner in a white shoe firm. Back then no twitter, utube, facebook and campus police covered stuff up. Heck DWI, Hate crimes, date rape, arson, petty theft drug dealing happened weekly on my hall. Heck one guy stole my car a few times and when I caught him he was like just chill man. And I did. Big Bro code.
49.Michael says:
March 24, 2014 at 1:43 pm
This guy seems to understand what I was saying about the importance of networks. You go to an ivy league for the networks. You can get an education anywhere, but what’s separates an ivy league education from another college, you get to come in contact with the real players of the game. Plain and simple. A poor kid living in the ghetto learns to hustle drugs from the network he is around, the ivy league kid gets to learn how to run companies/countries from the network he is around. You guys are blind, if you don’t think it works like this.
“In his classic The Truly Disadvantaged, William Julius Wilson called attention to the deleterious social effects that go along with the spatial concentration of poverty, which “include the kinds of ecological niches that the residents of these neighborhoods occupy in terms of access to jobs and job networks, availability of marriageable partners, involvement in quality schools, and exposure to conventional role models.””
Talked to an older gentleman who had his first visit to the Montclair dispensary.
He said they were doing so much business, that when it was his turn to pay, the cashier had a problem with the cash register getting stuck because there was so much money jammed in the drawer (they only take cash), it wouldn’t slide in or out anymore.
Given that few banks will deal with dispensaries directly, I wonder how huge their pile of cash is. Suppose that as a business, that’s a good problem to have. It was rumored that Escobar had warehouses filled with so much cash that they were reporting hundreds of thousands worth of dollars each month as lost inventory, due to “spoilage” from rats eating the money.
52 – I know plenty of cops that were pot dealers in college, funny how that works.
Earlier this month, Inman News reported from an industry conference that a study by Jonathan Green, vice president real estate services for CoreLogic (CLGX), found that nearly half of all homes sold last year were never listed in an MLS or were listed only after a buyer was lined up.
The MLS, that coveted and proprietary listing report that gave unique value and advantage to real estate agents using it for decades, is falling out of use in favor of more open, free listing services, such as Zillow (Z) and other off-MLS listings.
You’re kidding me! The same holds true for car sales people and just about any industry where useless middle levels are involved.
Grim,
I WENT TO TWO OPEN HOUSES IN WAYNE THIS PAST WEEKEND!! ;) SOUND THE ALARMS!
Was one of them 2 Teton?
No, it wasn’t. One was a sh1tty one that needed a complete overhual on Osceola and the other off of Black Oak (forget the name); a really nicely done split @ 599K. We liked it and even talked about it.
Grim,
Do you have any idea what the mechanics are for CoreLogic to compile this?
51.grim says:
March 24, 2014 at 2:20 pm
I doubt redfin et al are going to physically visit each county clerk and make copies.
There is an industry around making this kind of closed data available to 3rd parties for a fee. They employ people who do exactly that.
I know that Corelogic has a product offering in this space that has the most complete coverage, something like 98% of of all zip codes.
Monterey is nice, but it’s too close to the river for my liking. I don’t believe it is in flood.
Must have shown well, because it went into Attorney Review this morning.
Trying to slowly catch up with the board in between work.
You guys are good, both describe me well. Lmao…Damn, you are good. At least I’m honest.
“The Original NJ ExPat says:
March 24, 2014 at 10:11 am
Nom – that’s been the real Mason-Dixon line for generations. In the South they don’t care how close they get, so long as they don’t get too high. In the North they don’t care how high they get, so long as they don’t get too close.
Validates what I’ve said for years about north easterners and democrats. They love the poor and minorities. Provided they stay over there.”
61- everything but the democrat part…just wanted to make that clear before you start associating me with a party. I don’t believe in either.
When you’re right, you’re right!
The higher up you go, the more you realize that most of the people at the top are just really good bull sh!tters. That’s all it really is.
grim says:
March 24, 2014 at 9:32 am
From RealtyTimes – this makes the 2% to 2.5% commissions that go to both the listing and the sales agencies look like child’s play:
TITLE INSURANCE BATTLE HEATS UP IN NEW JERSEY
(From 2007)
How much of the premium went to commissions for title agents? The study found that commissions often represented 60 percent or more of the entire premium.
In other words, if you were a title insurance company your big cost was not fixing title problems, it was selling policies. Since consumers were picking title agents and not title insurance policies, the way to sell policies was — and is — to offer the highest possible fees to title agents, the folks who do title and settlement work.
Are you talking about the ranch? If you are, I have to agree with you, that place needs a lot of work.
“Fast Eddie says:
March 24, 2014 at 3:15 pm
No, it wasn’t. One was a sh1tty one that needed a complete overhual on Osceola and the other off of Black Oak (forget the name); a really nicely done split @ 599K. We liked it and even talked about it.”
Someone was nice enough to send me a photo of their HUD-1 this afternoon.
Total for title search and title insurance was a few dollars under $3,000
Get this, are you ready??????
Underwriter’s portion of the total title insurance premium
Wait
Wait for it…
$337.00
Hold on now, Buyer paid $2,989.00 for title search and policies.
How much did the insurance cost?
$337.00
What were the total commissions paid on that $337.00 policy?
$2,652.00
You can bitch about agent commissions all you like, but while you are over here bitching, your getting robbed and you don’t even know about it.
Average agent commission on a similar house would have been $6,250, which means the attorney, or title agent, is making approximately 40% of the commission of the real estate agent, without doing any real work at all, nothing.
Is there a special term for cloppers who are into unicorns?
Unihorny
[39] Joyce
Life imitates art. I know you will appreciate this more than others.
http://www.tmz.com/2014/03/24/judge-joe-brown-arrested-court-juvenile/
[41] pain.
I looked it up as well, and now I’m screwed. I have a daughter that is still into the little ponies. The next time she asks me to sit and watch “little girl TV” with her I am not going to be able to keep a straight face.
I so didn’t need that visual.
I just went to a new dentist, and I Googled her afterward and found out she was busted for writing oxy prescriptions for herself and others, and had to go to court ordered rehab……seems like a nice enough lady…who knew?
chicagofinance says:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
March 24, 2014 at 6:37 pm
I just went to a new dentist, and I Googled her afterward and found out she was busted for writing 0xy prescr!ptions for herself and others, and had to go to court ordered rehab……seems like a nice enough lady…who knew?
The End Is Nigh (clot Green Energy Edition):
A handful of British hospitals have reportedly been incinerating the bodies of aborted or miscarried babies to generate power for heating.
Two hospitals — Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge and Ipswich Hospital — burned the bodies at their own “waste to energy” plant as “clinical waste,” the Daily Telegraph reported. A further eight hospitals admitted incinerating fetal remains alongside other rubbish.
In the last two years, at least 15,500 fetal remains were burned at UK hospitals.
The shocking revelations came to light in a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary, the Telegraph reported.
The program discovered that many parents who lose children early in their pregnancy suffer callous treatment by the hospitals and they are frequently asked what they want done with the remains.
According to the documentary, mothers were told by staff at Addenbrooke’s that the remains had been “cremated.” One of the country’s top hospitals, it reportedly incinerated 797 babies below 13 weeks gestation at the “waste to energy” plant. At Ipswich 1,101 fetal remains were burned between 2011 and 2013.
@bhojanio: I am sick to death of rich people telling us to “follow our passion” via @kdrum http://t.co/dolixr1HBF via @motherjones
I’m sick to death of mother Jones readers telling me anything.
[72] chi fi
No, this is the Clot version
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9IKVj4l5GU4
@BillMoyersHQ: The Koch bros’ complex dark money network disguises the flow of funds from one entity to another http://t.co/bNM2zfvva9
STFU, junior.
http://money.cnn.com/2014/03/24/pf/taxes/middle-aged-taxpayers/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
[61] Michael
Apologies to those who may have heard this story in the distant past.
Decades ago, I used to work at State Street with a man who was a hard-core left wing democrat, a Jesse Jackson supporter when he ran for president, and who would doubtless be part of the occupy crowd were it not for his own occupation. Naturally, he and I argued regularly, if not civilly but for his slightly condescending style.
He and his wife, an associate for a white shoe law firm, were looking for a new apartment. Knowing his commitment to the plight of minorities and the poor, I at least half expected him to reside in somewhat close proximity to them. When I asked where he was moving, the response was priceless:
“Wellesley.”
(Expat, I know you just spit up your beer right now and I’m sorry).
Nom, it’s only Monday and you are already drinking?
No better example of economic segregation than montclair.
Rich people go here and poor people go there, nice and tidy.
Nobody ever gets shot north of Valley.
chi (71)-
Get you some of that action.
“I just went to a new dentist, and I Googled her afterward and found out she was busted for writing oxy prescriptions for herself and others, and had to go to court ordered rehab……seems like a nice enough lady…who knew?”
woops, moderated responding to chi’s @ddict dentist story
Wait until the wall goes up in Montklair.
71,
There’s a few doctors in every town that treat their license as a right to deal drugs. No one goes to the street to get oxy. They seek out the easiest doctor. Some of them blatantly deal prescriptions for cash. The only difference is, unlike a street dealer, they file the necessary paperwork to absolve themselves. It’s quite a racket. They openly document their misdeeds.
69
Comrade,
I’m not sure who to root for when it’s judge v judge ;-)
Go easy on Judge Brown. It was Memphis, after all.
Trust me, he was prolly justified in his rant. That city is basically Detroit with good weather.
[80] anon,
“Nom, it’s only Monday and you are already drinking?”
Well, its that or I hunt you down and end everyone else’s misery. Booze is cheaper than legal fees.
Besides, we one percenters (or wannabes, depending on the year), have the bubbly flowing every day.
Guys you should try Dzaine money making system – brings me some good cash, just google it