The Trump Blog

Questions to Ask Before Listing Your Home with a Real Estate Agent

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:04:00 EST

It's common knowledge that today, 87% of buyers are searching for homes on the internet. They are still using real estate agents to buy the homes; however, buyers are going to the internet before and during their home search in greater numbers each day.

Now, let's say 87% of all buyers were searching in your local newspaper for a home. Would you hire an agent who ran 1 ad a month in the newspaper or would you prefer to go with the real estate agent who ran an ad everyday? Dumb question, huh? But it's not...many sellers are still not asking the right questions regarding the internet presence of their real estate agent in marketing their property. "My agent has a website and my property is on the site" is not an acceptable online marketing strategy for your property.

Here are some questions I came up with and I hope they will help you in finding a real estate agent who can successfully market your property in 2010:

1. On how many websites will my property be advertised?

2. Will my property be featured on any of these websites?

3. Do you have your listings professionally photographed or do you take the pictures yourself? If you take them yourself, can I please see a sampling of the quality of your photos?

4. Do you create a video of my property and post it online? If so, where do you post it?

5. On which classified websites do you advertise your listings? (i.e. Craigslist, Backpage, etc)

6. Do you create a single property website for each listing?

7. How do you make sure my property ranks high in the search engines?

8. Do you create interactive floorplans of your listings?

9. How will you market my property to buyer-agents and how will you get feedback from them for showings?

10. How will I be kept in the loop with regards to showings, feedback and marketing activities on my property?

11. Will there be a text-for-info, Voicepad or other form of marketing on my "for sale" sign for potential buyers who drive by?

12. Does your Company have a website? How will your company be advertising my property? (Remember, when you list your home, you are listing it with an agent of a company...they BOTH should be advertising your property)

13. What phone number will buyers call to get information on my home? Does this number connect them to a recording, an office, an answering service, a cell phone?

14. If a buyer leaves a voice mail or an email requesting more information about my property, who gets that message and how quickly is it responded to?

15. What other marketing activities will be done? Newspaper? Magazines? Open houses? Direct mail? (These are not nearly as important, but even marketing that is 1-5% effective can help as long as is does not become a waste of valuable time).

Tina Merritt is an 11 year veteran Real Estate Agent and Trainer based out of Virginia Beach, Virginia. She holds a degree in economics from Virginia Tech and post-baccalaureate from Virginia Commonwealth in real estate and land development. As an avid social networker and internet marketer, Tina helps real estate agents, loan officers and affiliated industries embrace technology. As a real estate agent, Tina primarily deals with marketing and selling properties deemed "hard to sell" and also works with real estate investors helping them build and/or liquidate their portfolios for maximum profit.

Deducting Travel Expenses for Investment Properties

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:40:00 EST

by Tina Merritt

A tax deduction often overlooked by investors is the cost of travelling to their own properties as well as the cost of travel when looking for new properties.

Travel expenses connected with the management of your real estate investments are deductible if they are ordinary and necessary.

A few rules regarding the deduction of travel expenses:

1. At least 50% of the time you spent away on travel must have been spent doing business related to your real estate investment business. The primary reason for travel must be business as well.

2. Taking a week long vacation to Hawaii and attending an open house while there doesn't count.

3. Expenses that are commonly deductible include: travel, lodging and meals.

4. You can get creative...while the costs of bringing your family with you may not be deductible, if you hire those family members to do landscaping work or other maintenance activities, then you may have another deduction.

5. Everyone's situation is different and you should always consult with a professional accountant for tax advice.

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When a Tenant Violates the HOA Rules...

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:32:00 EST

by Tina Merritt

A few years ago, a client of mine was relocating overseas. When I asked about what his plans were for his rental property, he said, "Oh, I'm not worried about it. The tenants are on a multi-year lease and the HOA will keep them in check".

Well, that is not the case. In most states, the HOA has no governing authority at all over tenants; only over members.

Yes, it is the landlord's responsibility to enforce the rules and regulations of the HOA. If there is a fine or penalty for the tenant breaking a rule, the fine is levied against the landlord. It is up to the landlord to get reimbursement from the tenant for the fine.

To help avoid problems, landlords should always give tenants a copy of the HOA rules and regulations and have them sign a document stating they have read and agree to abide by the guidelines of the HOA. Landlord's should also give tenant contact information to the HOA to be used in the case of an emergency.

It is inherently problematic to have a landlord as a middleman between the HOA and tenant. Even worse is a rental property manager added in the middle as well. If you are a "hands-off" landlord, you may want to re-think your position when dealing with a HOA. Let's look at an example:

Landlord owns a property occupied by tenants and handled by a property manager. Tenants go out of town and have a friend house-sit for the weekend. Friend decides to take a swim in the community pool and when finished, leaves a towel hung over the balcony railing of the home. The hanging towel is a violation of the HOA rules and a neighbor calls the HOA, who calls the owner, who calls the property manager, who calls the tenants, who call their house-sitter. Doesn't seem very efficient and appears to be an easy way to upset the neighbors. How about just speaking directly with the adjoining property owners, explain that you are a landlord who cares about the community and your property, give the neighbors your number and ask them to call you personally if there is ever an issue?

Does Your Property Have Defective Drywall?

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:27:00 EST

by Tina Merritt

Last week, the Department of HUD and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission released a statement offering guidance on identifying problem drywall in homes. Drywall from China has been found to cause corrosion and air quality issues in homes where it was installed.

The guidance consists of 2 steps for identifying if there is a problem:

1. A visual inspection showing blackening of the copper electrical wiring and/or air conditioning evaporator coils.

2. The drywall was installed between 2001 and 2008.

If both of the above conditions are positive, then there are additional tests to determine the presence of problem drywall.

3. Chemical analysis of the drywall

4. Elemental markers in the drywall

5. Markings on the drywall (such as "Made in China" stamped on the back)

6. Specific chemical emissions from the drywall

Homes with drywall installed between 2005 and 2008 must have 2 of the above additional tests performed. Homes with drywall installed between 2001 and 2004 must perform all 4 tests. Performing these tests may require professional assistance and analysis.

More information can be found at HUD's website or by calling 800-638-2772. Homeowners who have defective drywall and are experiencing problems may be eligible for financial assistance to help them rehabilitate their property.

If you have drywall which was installed in 2009, I recommend you check that as well. Just because they stopped importing the drywall doesn't necessarily mean it was removed from inventory in stores and warehouses.

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Global Warming

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:27:00 EST

by Richard Johnson

Donald Trump recently stated with a laugh at a speech to his membership at Trump National Golf Club in Westchester "with the coldest winter ever recorded, with snow setting record levels from Virginia all the way up and down the coast, the Nobel Committee should take the Nobel Prize back from Al Gore."

As Mr. Trump explained, "Gore wants us to clean up our factories and plants in order to protect us from global warming when China and other countries couldn't care less. It would make us totally non-competitive in the manufacturing world and China, Japan, and India are laughing at America's stupidity while they go along with the good act of pretending they're all for spending dollars on global warming." The entire room of 500 people stood up and cheered.

Richard Johnson is a celebrity columnist for the New York Post.