MLS Real Estate & Listings Blog

I left my old corporate job, with its lovely 401(k) that offered cushy matching funds, in 2005.

The year after was such a financial disaster — I piled on credit-card debt like, well, a sailor on shore leave with a fistful of credit cards — that I didn’t make any retirement contributions at all.

But now, I am doing my 2007 taxes, and (huzzah!) I get to be responsible again. That means I’m making a contribution to my retirement funds.  more…

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(This is Part 2 of a three-part series. Read Part 1, “Top questions to ask sellers at listing appointment.”)

Are buyers really liars? Not usually — the challenge is you just haven’t asked them the right questions.  more…

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The explosion assaults your otherwise quiet, habit-filled day. In the distance, a massive mushroom cloud heaves toward the heavens. Seconds later, you buckle from the shockwave. An electromagnetic jolt shocks you back to the Stone Age.

When you regain consciousness you realize the dust shower now settling on your town was once a nearby metropolitan city. Days pass. Amid the chaos, you learn that this Armageddon was released on several dozen major metropolitan cities by the very hands of the newly formed, self-appointed government now taking over the country.  more…

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I have a new listing on the market and it’s generating a lot of excitement — a few dozen visitors in the first week and a half it’s been listed. As a result, I have not only seen clients in various shapes and sizes, I have also seen just about every style of buyer’s broker imaginable. In a world where the listing is in play (and people don’t necessarily know that they’re going to be written about) I don’t want to be too specific, but here are some composite impressions that might be helpful to buyers and buyer’s brokers everywhere.  more…

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(This is Part 1 of a three-part series.)

Are you talking too much and closing too little? A simple shift in your strategy can yield huge returns for years to come.  more…

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I have a new listing for a $2 million, two-bedroom condo in SoHo. For those of you who don’t live in the amusement park that is Manhattan, let me assure you that that is cheap, and I have been showing — so far by appointment only — like crazy. By the time my first week ends, I will have had a dozen showings, including one second showing, before I even get to my open house.  more…

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Seniors currently hold $4.3 trillion in home equity. Sadly, many of them are unable to access this resource without selling their homes or obtaining an expensive reverse mortgage. Today there’s a new model for helping seniors tap into their equity that may become a widespread alternative in the not-too-distant future.

Until now, if you were over the age of 65, there were few alternatives for using the equity from your home. You could refinance, but you had to qualify, pay points and fees, and make monthly payments.  more…

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I met Alice Heiman, as I have done so many serendipitous things, online. (Longtime readers of this column will know that’s how I met my husband.) A sales coach — whose background is in sales training, so she has "trained the trainers" — she is based in Reno, Nev., where she offers some of the best advice for salespeople I have ever seen.  more…

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* Communicating ideas with colleagues
* Socializing with colleagues
* Reaching new customers
* Marketing listings
* Wasting time

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Generating referrals is a key part of the real estate business. Are you ready to take this old standby and update it for 2008?

When most agents start the business, they normally make a list of the people they know who may send referrals to them. There are several reasons that this approach typically generates only one or two transactions:

• Friends and family know that the agent is new to the business.

• The agent may lack an adequate knowledge of the inventory or the ability to close buyers and sellers effectively.  more…

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