Drones are fast becoming more popular as a way to take photos and videos of properties, but it is important to look at the photos before posting them publicly on a billboard. One Australian woman got more than she bargained for when her topless photo went public for the world to see. Continue reading
Tag Archives: real estate
The New Crop Of Landlords – Unsuspecting Victims
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A large number of homeowners, paying two mortgages because they can’t sell their previous home, are finding out that being a landlord isn’t as easy as it sounds. With housing prices in decline, many homeowners are deciding to rent out their old house rather than take a loss discounting their house to a price low enough to sell it. According to RISMedia, “People don’t want to be landlords, but they really have no choice, said Dennis Dickstein, a Realtor at Real Estate One in Farmington Hills, Mich., who estimates that 20% of his deals are leases.” Continue reading
Voyeurs Invade Open Houses In New York City
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Rather than being a buyer’s market or seller’s market in New York, open houses are attracting the voyeur market. Looking at real estate listings has become a spectator’s sport to see what the Joneses are up to. Almost half of the people going to open houses in New York are there to rummage in the closets, scarf down the free Hors d’œuvres, and look for decorating tips, according to a survey reported in The New York Post. Continue reading
Insurance And Arson – Avoiding Foreclosure Without Damaging Your Credit
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Why risk losing your home to foreclosure if you can’t make the payments? Why should you ruin your credit because you can no longer afford the house you live in? An Arkansas attorney and real estate developer, Aaron Jones may have come up with a unique approach to get out of debt while keeping his FICO score intact. Burn the heavily insured house down and collect the insurance money. Somehow, he thought that would be a good idea. The State of Arkansas and the insurance company disagree. Continue reading
The New Foreclosure Victims – Innocent Homeowners Like You
Banks are foreclosing on homeowners who are in default. While they’re at it, they’re even foreclosing on homeowners who are either current with their payments or don’t even have a loan with that bank. The confusion created by the robo-mortgage fiasco has resulted in lots of mistakes involving who owes what, and where those mortgaged houses are. However, that confusion hasn’t stopped banks from plowing ahead and throwing out the innocent with the homeowners in default. Continue reading
House Squatting – Why Buy Or Rent When You Can Just Squat
Recently, Randy Quaid brought the illegal act of squatting into mainstream news, but really, there’s nothing new about it. Apparently squatting in really expensive homes has hit the news in a lot of major areas in the US. Some squatters are even able to get the utilities turned on and brazen enough to move all of their belongings into the house and make it their home. Squatting is becoming a big problem in major US cities. Continue reading
Google, Trulia, Zillow and Realtor.com Now Offer Misery Searches
I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to go through a foreclosure. Just imagine the humiliation if everyone you knew found out about your foreclosure? Now you don’t have to imagine it, you can Google it! Google now gives you the ability to search for foreclosures on Google Maps. Not only is Google Maps offering misery mapping options, but Zillow.com, Trulia.com, and Realtor.com are offer foreclosure searches too. Continue reading
Psychic Staging – God, Witches, Pegans, Psychics & Qi Sell Houses
What do God, ancient Chinese philosophy, psychics, witchcraft and Saint Joseph all have in common? These are the new tools in the real estate agent tool bag. Apparently some agents are willing to blame their unsold listings on “bad energy” and are using mystical techniques to get rid of all that negative energy to bring more ying & yang balance into their listing. While other agents don’t believe it will work, they also believe it couldn’t do any harm and are desperate enough to try it. Continue reading
Pimping Real Estate By Using Sex
To get buyers’ attention, real estate agents are resorting to sexual images in ads to sell real estate listings. Here are a few examples. Continue reading
Homebuyer Tax Credit: Nearly Half Will Be Required To Return It
Nearly half of the homebuyer tax credit recipients have recently discovered that they will be required to return it to the government. If you received a tax credit, find out if you have to return your too. If you filed wrong, or had your home sale fall outside the rebate period, or got one rebate mixed up with the other and filed for the wrong one, you may have a surprise coming. Continue reading
OneWest Bank Discovered How To Profit From A Short Sale – Sell It Twice
Apparently OneWest Bank found a way to profit from short sales. OneWest Bank sold a home to two separate parties a few days apart. Then they cashed both of their checks. Amazingly enough, the total of both sales comes really close to what was owed on the home mortgage. Coincidence? Now both “owners” are fighting it out to see who really owns it. Continue reading