Still no oversight and still lacking professionalism from some of Garrett County's professionals ..

As I've said before, we all make mistakes, but after two weeks you would think someone within the organization would have realized that "comming" is not a word and corrections would have been made. Since that is not the case, however, I can only assume that they are either lazy and simply don't care or they just aren't paying attention to how their staff is representing them and the people of Garrett County. You be the judge.

"Lowe's Is Comming to Oakland, MD - Jon Bell / Railey Realty"

Updated, 8/20/08: well it seems Mr. Bell is also reading this blog, otherwise I would have to assume he had a revelation on the spelling of coming in the last 24 hours. Either way, it's good to see that changes have been made and those type of things aren't out there on professional websites reflecting poorly on the people and businesses of Garrett County.

Don't forget to check back to Dan's Deep Creek Blog for future updates.

Puzzling real estate listing ..

Not long ago we heard a lot about how the Deep Creek market was "well and improving daily" and then it was that lakefront sales continue to be "strong." Well given those two statements I am somewhat puzzled by this real estate listing from a local real estate agency. Here you have an approximately $1.3million lakefront listing divided into six fractions. But what is really puzzling to me, however, is that if the market is so strong and was really well and improving daily why are the sellers offering to pay $10k in closing costs and contribute another approximately $10k towards homeowners association fees (although I should add that the listed condo fee over two years comes to about $8.6k not more than $10k but we'll take their word for it)? Could it be that one of the co-owners of this property being one and the same as one of the co-owners of this real estate company does not feel the market is as strong as his staff is leading you to believe?

These type of seller incentives also show that real estate sales data must be taken with a grain of salt. Assuming each fraction sells at full list price it will be listed in the MLS sales data as selling for $219,500 but according to the listing the sellers are giving over $20,000 of that back to the buyers (again taking their word for it), meaning the purchase price which will show up in the data could be inflated by more than 10% over the true purchase price. Using data of such poor quality to make broad, generalized statements about the health of the market can be very dicey and judging by what a co-owner of a local real estate company does to sell his own property could also give one a false sense of security about the health of the market. In this case, I believe what they are telling you via their market updates and what they are doing in their own dealings are not one in the same.

Collectively the real estate agents of Garrett County own a substantial amount of investment real estate so this could be a case of trying to talk up their own investments or what some on Wall St. would call a "pump and dump" scheme. When you see so many agent-owned listings on the market combined with questionable market updates that, during 2008, have declared the market "strong" and "well and improving daily" and declared the credit crisis to be "over" months ago it does raise a few red flags in my opinion. As always, buyer beware.

Where are the market updates that say the market is weak, inventories are exploding, countless agents are trying to sell properties (if it's such a great investment shouldn't they want to hold on to them?) and agents are discounting their own properties? Unless something changes, for more of those type of Deep Creek real estate updates you'll just have to keep reading this blog.

Don't forget to check back to Dan's Deep Creek Blog for future updates.

What went wrong from someone on the inside ..

A great read from CNN Money.com on the story of Richard Bitner and his failed lending business. And remember as I commented on a few days back many of these loans issued in 2006 aren't even due to reset until 2011 so it is completely possible many people still may not even realize what is coming. One thing is known, however, there are some really horrible stories coming out of this mess and they are sure to continue for some time to come. I can't stress it enough, if you are a buyer, do your due diligence and find a trustworthy, honest and responsible realtor, lender, appraiser, inspector, etc.

"The broker, buyer, appraiser, and realtor all conspired to perpetrate this fraud," said Bitner. Indeed, just about all the documentation was falsified.

Don't forget to check back to Dan's Deep Creek Blog for future updates.

Part two from the desperate realtor video I showed yesterday ..

Notice the key phrase he uses, "I need you to buy a house."



Don't forget to check back to Dan's Deep Creek Blog for future updates.

After reading my post from a few days ago on questionable ads from the NAR ..

someone was kind enough to send me this link to an article from the Motley Fool as well as this video embedded below. The video is a bit of an exaggeration but he really is a realtor with RE/MAX Allegiance and there is no denying that a lot of real estate agents in a lot of markets are getting very desperate at this point. Some will move on to other jobs, some saved wisely from the prior boom years knowing that real estate, like other investment classes, can be very cyclical and others will tough it out until we get through the current tough time. In the meantime, however, some will try anything to stay afloat so do your due diligence and don't be deceived into a deal that is bad for you but simply lets them live another day.



Don't forget to check back to Dan's Deep Creek Blog for future updates.

Services Real Estate Agents Can Provide ..

Real estate agents help buyers find homes and help sellers find buyers for their homes (which sometimes means advertising and persuading people to buy so that a sale can be made, hence the perpetual "it's a good time to buy" statements). I couldn’t imagine moving and buying a home in a completely new area without their services, so in helping buyers find the right home for them they do provide a very valuable service. They will generally help with all the legwork and see that the transaction is completed without too much extra effort on the part of the buyer.

At the same time, there are other options as well. In the past I have purchased real estate in three ways: 1) with the help of a real estate agent, 2) owner to owner transaction or for sale by owner and 3) at public auction. Of the three, the public auction was by far the easiest for me. It’s sort of like Ebay on fast forward and when it’s over the highest bidder wins. Unfortunately since sellers rarely get top dollar through public auctions there are very few opportunities to acquire homes through this avenue. You also have to be well aware of the process because in most cases you need to make a substantial deposit at the time of your winning bid and then bring that up to as much as 10% of purchase price within 24 hours. So you have to have cash or at least access to some to even get in the door. Then you’ll generally have a short period of time to pay off the balance and close the transaction or risk losing your deposit. So as I said this is definitely not for everyone, but can be very good for those willing to educate themselves about the process and put in a little legwork in an area they are familiar with.

Most properties, however, will be listed by real estate agents because sellers either don’t want to do the work required to sell their property on their own, feel they are not equipped to deal with the process or believe that by paying the agent to advertise for them and attract more traffic they are more likely to get “top dollar” for their home. These are all legitimate reasons to use a real estate agent and are services they provide to the seller. Gaining access to the brokers' listing system or MLS certainly gives the seller a much wider audience for their property. Agents might also offer staging or other tips, much like you would get from "Designed to Sell" or "Curb Appeal" on HGTV. For their services the agents are paid a commission which is essentially a transaction fee much like a gratuity added to your check in a restaurant to pay the waiter to provide a service you choose not to do for yourself.

Sometimes finding a good real estate agent can be very difficult as there are many out there but few good ones in my experience. The best way to find a good one is to use personal recommendations from people you know and trust which in itself can be difficult if you are moving to a new and unknown area. Whatever you do though, be patient and don't let them rush you into a decision that is good for them but bad for you. If you can't find a good agent based on the personal recommendation of someone you know and trust, it is also a good idea to do a background check on any perspective agent. That means using publicly available resources (see below) to see if they have bankruptcies or criminal records or simply by reading their websites if they have them to see if they are providing sound advice, behaving ethically and capable of expressing their thoughts in complete sentences for example. It's a big transaction and you will be paying them a large sum so make sure you do your homework and find someone you can trust to put your interests before their own.

Resources for checking out your real estate agent or anyone else you might be consider hiring to provide a critical service to you for that matter:

Maryland Judiciary Case Search: http://casesearch.courts.state.md.us/inquiry/inquiry-index.jsp (see if they have a criminal record, liens, bankruptcies, etc.)

Maryland Land Record Archives: http://www.mdlandrec.net/msa/stagser/s1700/s1741/cfm/index.cfm (see how they financed their own property and if they have any conflict of interests in offering you advice, also see how the owners of the property you may be considering financed their property and get an idea of how much they will need to cover the remaining balance on their mortgage(s))

These are excellent resources and I know at least some agents are (or were) totally unaware that they exist for anyone to do their own due diligence. If you are willing and able to do a little bit of homework yourself you can make much more educated decisions.

Don't forget to check back to Dan's Deep Creek Blog for future updates.