Carnival of Real Estate Returns to LiveInAlpharetta.com | Fellow Real Estate Bloggers Take Me Back to School
categories: Stuff I like to talk about
I was thrilled to host Edition 44 of the Real Estate Carnival over a year ago, but am even more thrilled to host this week’s 101st Edition. Why?
Two reasons: First, it proves my perseverance and commitment.
It seems that blogging was a bit of a fad a year ago and I sometimes wonder what has become of all the past Carnival hosts. Many are still around but some have fallen to the wayside. I’m proud that I’m still here over a year later and stronger than ever. I plan to be here for many years to come: same url; same caustic writing. Blogging and further building my online presence is now second nature and the blog is the cornerstone of it all.
Secondly, I enjoy hosting the Carnival because it gets me out of my box. I spend way too much time on my own blog and it is nice to have a diversion to go read other blogs, see other styles, other widgets, other layouts and other ways of doing things.
But wait, before we start the tour, I was sitting with thumb hovered over the left mouse button thinking: What’s the theme going to be? Every good post, every good story, every good tour needs a theme. Then it came to me. School starts in Alpharetta in two measly weeks and we are already getting in Back to School mode. Since I believe that people read blogs not only to be entertained but mostly to learn something, I thought we’d make this the back to school edition.
The blogs that I’ve chosen to highlight for this week’s Carnival are the ones that actually taught me something.
1. Dan Melson at SearchLight Crusade gets top nod with his post Buying Teardown Properties and Condemned Buildings. Since my of my business is with resale or new construction real estate, I didn’t know a lot of what Dan explains in his post about how to finance a “tear down.” But if you need to know, Dan’s post is the perfect place to start. Just remember that when you get a mortgage you are getting a mortgage on the land and the house. Is a lender just going to let you just tear down the house if that is part of the collateral? Probably not. Dan offers some options - and one that I’ve always recommended to investor clients is to approach your local community bank and get some sort of construction loan, not a residential mortgage.
2. Silicon Valley Blogger educated me about the return on investment for various home improvements with this post: Doing A Home Improvement Project? Know Your Return on Investment. It makes perfect sense, but did you know that the cheapest improvements like decluttering and “lightening and brightening” your home have the highest percentage payoffs? Also, if you live in the South, like I do, the highest return on investment you can get is by replacing your fiber board siding with cement siding (also referred to as Hardiplank). Sounds like I have a project on my hands.
3. Chris Harris from Inventure Global changed my thinking about how we should compensate lenders for originating mortgages with his post An Idea to Fix Mortgage Origination. If there were ever a problem looking for a solution. I don’t want to steal Chris’s thunder, but think about how brokers in the insurance industry are compensated. Maybe he is onto something here.
4. A mini-mention goes to home stager, Craig Schiller, and his post Selling Your Vanilla Box. What I hadn’t thought about was why it might be more important to stage your condo than your house. Craig’s case makes sense, but I knew what his conclusion was going to be all along ‘cuz he’s a stager ;->
5. Finally, Tiger … I mean a post by Diane Tuman on ZillowBlog.com about Tiger: Southhampton Estate: Did Tiger Buy It or Not? Remember that I said people go to blogs to be entertained as well? Well this is my hat tip to entertainment. Since I’m an avid golfer, I find it entertaining to see what real estate golf’s Number One player is buying and where. Perhaps the biggest clue in solving this mystery is that Southhapton is only 58 miles from Bethpage, the site of next year’s U.S. Open. Are you thinking like a Tiger?
I will say that Tiger is reported to have paid $65 Million for the seaside estate. He could have saved $20 Million and bought Le Reve, a 72-acre estate here in Cumming that already has an 18-hole course on the grounds. Tiger, if you have setup Google Alerts on yourself and see this post, call me, please. You may be one of the few guys in the country who can afford this property. It isn’t THAT far to Augusta from here. (Hey, it can’t hurt to plant a seed, can it? You never know what will happen.)
See I can turn any topic eventually to golf and then back to real estate!
That wraps up this week’s tour. Hopefully you learned something AND were entertained. We’ll see the Carnival when it comes back to Alpharetta in a year or so…we’ll be here.
Kevin…
Thanks for the recognition. And YES… ofcourse I was going to talk about staging. But the story is in the SPECIFIC problem and condition staging is addressing NOT staging per say.
But regardless… thanks for seeing the merit.
Craig Schiller
http://www.thestagingblog.com
Well, thank you.
I don’t consider myself an expert on teardowns and condemned property by any means. At most, I know enough to know how to research the issues with a given property. But I’ve seen a few people who assumed it was going to be simple, and found out otherwise in a very expensive fashion.
Hi Kevin: Thanks for the inclusion in your Carnival! The Tiger “did he or didn’t he” (buy in Southampton) story won’t go away until it’s proven conclusively one way or another. I’m waiting for the NY Post or the NY Daily News or one of the tabs to get to the bottom of it.
Hi Kevin, nice to see you participating in the Carnival. btw… If Tiger does call, let me know if I could ever help to fill out a foursome.
Thank you so very much for including me in this edition of the carnival! The CoRE is one of my most anticipated carnivals for the high quality content and also to see if I made it in!
I also want to add how I find that staging post interesting. I’ve decided to treat my house as if it is staged — always keep it clean and decluttered and with fewer things in it (than I used to have). That way, I won’t need a stager when it comes time to sell!