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📚 Devil in the Darkness By: JT Hunter

Hi Folks!  For this episode we listen to Semisonic's song "Basement Tapes".  Appearing on Semisonic's 2020 EP "You're Not Alone".  This EP marked the end to a 19 year hiatus for the band.  Best known in the USA for their hit "Closing Time", "Basement Tapes" is a true return to form for Semisonic.  This song is a lot of fun and as a bonus mentions Kansas City!  Tune in as we talk about Semisonic's history while also discussing this song and sharing stories.  Thanks for listening!

Spotify Playlist

Intro/Outro Music:
Upbeat Forever by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5011-upbeat-forever
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Co-hosts Jason Anthoine and Madeline Temple reminisce about their favorite episodes from the 26 created over the past year. Madeline quotes from her fav swan song while Jason suggests one or two others that may be just as apropos. Join us one final time as we wrap things up and head on down the road!

PART ONE:
Paul and Scott geek out about the Bee Gees documentary, and the nature of being the kind of songwriter who MUST do it, no matter what.

PART TWO:
Dan Wilson chats about how Liam Gallagher of Oasis inspired the first new Semisonic music in years; why his relationship with songs has always been very practical; how his first massive hit was born from a need to mix up the set list; the theory he once had about lyrics that he doesn't have any more; the lesson he learned from writing with Carole King that he's carried through his entire career; why it was a good thing that Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks rejected his song idea; how Rick Rubin informed his approach to music; the gritty details on the two-day process of writing "Someone Like You" with Adele; why Nashville's songwriting ethic impacted his process; the time a song was finalized over pizza with John Legend and Chrissy Tiegen; and how fellow songwriter Teddy Geiger indirectly inspired a most unusual format for Dan's collection of wisdom for writers and musicians. 

ABOUT  DAN WILSON:
Songwriter, singer, musician, producer and acclaimed visual artist Dan Wilson is a Minnesota native and Harvard graduate who launched his music career with the band Trip Shakespeare, which was signed to A&M Records. He went on to co-found the rock band Semisonic, whose platinum-selling Feeling Strangely Fine album yielded the singles “Secret Smile,” “Singing in My Sleep,” and “Closing Time,” a chart-topping hit that earned Dan a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Song. 

He went on to reinvent himself as a behind-the-scenes hitmaker, earning a Song of the Year Grammy for co-writing “Not Ready to Make Nice” with the group then known as The Dixie Chicks, and writing three songs on Adele’s multiplatinum 21 album: “Don’t You Remember,” “One and Only,” and “Someone Like You,” which became an international hit and earned Dan an Album of the Year Grammy for his production work. Wilson has also found success in Nashville, co-writing Dierks Bentley’s number one hit “Home” and earning yet another Album of the Year Grammy nomination for Taylor Swift’s Red LP, for which he co-wrote and produced the song “Treacherous.” 

Dan’s long list of collaborators includes Carole King, Rachel Yamagata, Jason Mraz, Gabe Dixon, Weezer, Keith Urban, Josh Groban, James Morrison, P!nk, Leann Rimes, John Legend, Chris Stapleton, Panic! At the Disco, Cold War Kids, Noah Cyrus, Leon Bridges, Celine Dion, and many others.

In addition to his acclaimed Words and Music by Dan Wilson solo concerts, he launched a social media series called Words & Music in Six Seconds. The series, which focuses on “forging collaborative relationships, seeking a community, testing out ideas in front of an audience, and writing better songs,” has recently been turned into a deck of 75 cards, designed by Dan, that distill his insights from nearly three decades of writing, performing, and collaborating with the world’s greatest musical artists. You can get your own set and find out more about Dan’s amazing career at danwilsonmusic.com. 

Closingtimepodcast.com for the latest news from the real estate world, helpful tips for buyers, sellers and other agents, and all of our previous podcast episodes. Keep up with us on Facebook and Instagram. We also offer home video tours, Realtor branding videos, ariel shots, live streams and more.. closingtimepodcast.com and click on the CMG Real Estate Link..

These 5 cities are at risk for housing crashes this year

A new GoBankingRates study published on Tuesday looked at the number of underwater mortgages, home vacancies as well as delinquency and foreclosure rates to identify the cities most at risk of a housing crisis in the coming years. A crash is generally defined as a market in which large numbers of properties are in negative equity, or worth less than the owners’ mortgage.

Here are the top 5 markets that are most at risk of a pending crash:

Newark, New Jersey

The housing market in Newark, New Jersey showed the biggest signs of trouble. Nearly 30 percent of mortgages have negative equity while vacancy rates for houses and rental units sit at 5.2 percent and 9.5 percent compared to the nationwide average of 1.7 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively. Approximately 6.5 percent of mortgage payments are in some sort of delinquency, which is more than six times the national average.

Detroit, Michigan

Post-crash, Detroit’s real estate challenges and opportunities have long been a nationwide topic of conversation. But in this study, Detroit came in second place for crash risk due to its floundering home values — $161,300 compared to the national median of $226,300. At 34.4 percent, the number of homes with negative equity is also the highest in the country while vacancy and delinquency rates are also higher than average.

Bridgeport, Connecticut

The largest city in Connecticut, Bridgeport has seen real estate values drop due to a high crime rate and low economic prospects. The median house in the city is worth $176,200 while 26.9 percent of mortgages are underwater.

“The city’s high delinquency and foreclosure rates are not inviting to people looking for the best place to buy their first home,” reads the report.

Baltimore, Maryland

Baltimore has been taking a hit from all sides lately — President Trump recently called parts of the city a “rat and rodent-infested mess” in attacks on local House Representative Elijah Cummings. But while the city’s low median home values ($119,200) and high negative equity rates (26.5 percent) put it fourth on the at-risk list, Baltimore in fact does see constant development and provides plenty of opportunities for investors.

Hartford, Connecticut

While only 22.4 percent of Hartford homes have negative equity, the capital of Connecticut has a high homeowner vacancy rate. At 4.3 percent, the rate is more than 2.5 times the national average. The number is even worse for rental units, which has a vacancy rate of 9.2 percent. A median home in Hartford is worth $130,900.

Critics slam presidential hopeful's plan to 'tax the hell out of' the rich

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio came out last Wednesday night for his second presidential debate with his gloves off.

“When I’m president, we will even up the score and we will tax the hell out of the wealthy to make this a fairer country and to make sure it’s a country that puts working people first,” de Blasio declared during his opening remarks.

De Blasio repeated the comment at the end of the debate, while also plugging his new fundraising website TaxTheHell.com, and dropped the line again at the conclusion of the night during an interview with MSNBC.

The line is a catchy one with a certain Trumpian ring — you can imagine people chanting “tax the hell” at a rally — but now, critics are arguing that the actual policies behind de Blasio’s comments would in fact lead to financial problems, particularly in the real estate industry.

de Blasio’s proposal could negatively impact people who have their wealth locked up in property, which is valuable but not very liquid, wants to “repeal the estate tax… and replace it with a more aggressive inheritance tax.

In any case, it’s highly unlikely at this point that de Blasio will get anywhere near the White House. Polling and news site FiveThirtyEight currently has the mayor in a multi-way tie for last place among nearly two dozen candidates.

Beauty queen accused of interior design fraud by hotel mogul

A couple who hired a former Miss Sweden to decorate their opulent property in The Bahamas is now accusing the one-time beauty queen of interior design fraud. Hotel magnate Henry Silverman and his wife Karen Silverman have filed a suit against interior designer Sofia Joelsson in Florida federal court. With a registered net worth of $300 million, Henry Silverman has at one point controlled hotel brands Howard Johnson’s Ramada, Super 8 and Travelodge.

According to the complaint, Joelsson defrauded them out of millions of dollars by overcharging clients through a network of shell companies and inside vendors.

The lawsuit calls Joelsson a “penthouse queen” of South Beach and claims that she misled them to believe that her company was a licensed interior design firm when it wasn’t.

The Silvermans are asking for at least $7 million in damages based on alleged violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and Florida Deceptive and Unfair Practices Act. They further claim that Joelsson would arrange for contractors to give overinflated invoices and then launder the funds through various real estate purchases while keeping several sets of records for each transaction to defraud tax authorities.

NYC competitor sues Compass over allegedly poaching manager

The well-funded New York City-based brokerage Compass has been hit with yet another lawsuit.

This time, New York City-based competitor Elegran is suing Compass and one of its former managers over what it calls a “brazen scheme to unfairly compete with Elegran by stealing Elegran’s confidential information and trade secrets and using them to target Elegran’s other real estate brokers, clients, and potential clients.”

At the center of the complaint is Zino Angelides, a former manager who defected to Compass from Elegran. Compass allegedly recruited Angelides and three other brokers while they were still at Elegran. On June 24, 2019, Angelides and the three other brokers abruptly resigned from Elegran with no prior notice, according to the complaint, and immediately began working for Compass. They also took what could potentially be $10 million in leads, assuming they all close.

A Compass spokesperson, in a statement, told Inman that it is focused on providing the best experience for its employees, agents and their clients.

Compass has been the target of a number of lawsuits from Competitors, including, most recently, a la...

Closingtimepodcast.com for the latest news from the real estate world, helpful tips for buyers, sellers and other agents, and all of our previous podcast episodes. Keep up with us on Facebook and Instagram. We also offer home video tours, Realtor branding videos, ariel shots, live streams and more.. closingtimepodcast.com and click on the CMG Real Estate Link..

How to Get a $5,000 Amazon Credit: Buy a House Through Realogy

Over the past year, the decidedly analog business of buying and selling real estate has been upended by a flurry of new money and start-ups trying to usher in a world where homes are bought and sold online. Now, Amazon is creating a partnership that goes in the opposite direction by using its gigantic retail platform to facilitate phone calls with human real estate agents.

On Tuesday, Amazon said that it was working with Realogy, the nation’s largest residential real estate brokerage company and owner of Century 21, Coldwell Banker and other brands, to create TurnKey, a service that will help prospective home buyers find real estate agents. To entice customers, Amazon will give buyers up to $5,000 in home services and smart-home gear when they close.

Amazon is now as much a search engine as it is a store, and the deal fits into the company’s effort to capitalize on its status as an online destination by making money on advertising and other services. It’s also a way to encourage people to adopt products like Alexa speakers and Ring doorbells and to promote its list of handymen, furniture assemblers and other home services.

For Realogy, who will pay for those benefits, the partnership is a way of using Amazon to find home buyers and help its brokers separate the closers from the lookie-loos by rebating a portion of its commission, in the form of free Amazon stuff, to anyone who actually buys a house.

Keller Williams and Compass leaders spar (politely) over tech

Keller Williams Realty President Josh Team said Thursday during an Inman Connect panel that his brokerage is investing $1 billion into technology before directing a jab at Compass CEO Robert Reffkin: “Not buying marketshare.”

During a discussion entitled “The Inman Interview: Can Your Technology Compete?” Reffkin touted purportedly unrivaled engineering talent and Compass’ vision of building a first-of-its-kind property search platform. Teamcountered that Keller Williams is already delivering top-shelf technology to its agents.

The two executives never directly disparaged each other’s firms. But they traded some thinly-veiled barbs.

“This isn’t hyperbole or vision,” Team said about Keller Williams’ tech platform, implying that Compass’ is just that. “This is real.”

Keller Williams’ suite of tools combined with its integration of an in-house lender is helping agents guide customers from the time their contact information arrives in a database to the moment they order an appraisal, he said.

NRT CEO compares Compass' agent recruitment to 'shoplifting'

NRT CEO Ryan Gorman compared Compass’ recruitment of agents and efforts to gain market share in competing marketplaces to “shoplifting,” at Inman Connect Las Vegas Thursday morning

NRT’s parent company Realogy is suing Compass over “unfair business practices and illegal schemes to gain market share at all costs.”

“We don’t sue for show,” Gorman told interviewer Clelia Peters, the president of Warburg Realty. “This is the real deal… the industry should take it seriously.”

Gorman encouraged everyone in the audience to read beyond the headlines and take a full look at the lawsuit. He said after reading it, people won’t wonder why Realogy is suing Compass, but rather why it took them so long to do so.

Next recession will come in 2020 — but it won't be due to housing

Half of the real estate economists and experts surveyed by Zillow this week believe that the next recession is coming in 2020, according to the second quarter Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey.

Of the 100 real estate experts surveyed, half said a recession was likely to come in 2020 with 19 percent specifically pinpointing the third quarter of 2020 — which lines up directly with the months leading up to the presidential election. Thirty-five percent of those surveyed said they believe a recession is likely in 2021, meaning 85 of 100 experts believe a recession is coming in the next two years.

Although experts say housing won’t cause of the recession, the potential slowdown will have an impact. More than half of those surveyed said they expect home buying demand in 2020 to be significantly lower than in 2019, while about a third of those surveyed said they expected it to be about the same.

The combination of slowing demand and an impending recession could be good news for potential buyers in the short-term and cause further slowdowns in overall U.S. home value appreciation going forward.

Home values are currently growing at a 6.1 percent annual p...

Closingtimepodcast.com for the latest news from the real estate world, helpful tips for buyers, sellers and other agents, and all of our previous podcast episodes. Keep up with us on Facebook and Instagram. We also offer home video tours, Realtor branding videos, ariel shots, live streams, and more.. closingtimepodcast.com and click on the CMG Real Estate Link.

Five outdated seller believes agents should debunk

The success of HGTV and the plethora of online information has shifted the ground rules of real estate sales

Three fundamental changes

These three changes have altered the home buying and selling landscape forever.

Change 1: The advent of HGTV

Buyers spend countless hours watching HGTV and have developed extremely refined tastes. They know what they want and when they look at homes for sale. They are looking for properties that look similar to what they have seen and liked on TV.

Change 2: The advent of mobile devices and HD internet connectivity

Buyers used to have to visit a home to add or remove it from their shortlist. No longer the case, today’s sellers have between seven and 10 seconds to sell their home, and those seconds are on a mobile device anywhere on the planet — not in any home for sale.

Change 3: The advent of internet real estate sites

Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia and a host of broker-owned sites have populated the internet with user-friendly websites that provide property data, historical facts, HD pictures, automated valuations, neighborhood and school info, and more.

They have completely removed the need for buyers to visit in person to determine if they like a home. Once a buyer has shortlisted available inventory, they only visit the select few they like.

Five seller myths

With this in mind, here are the top five seller beliefs that are no longer true:

1. I do not need to have the listing agent visit until my home is ready.

Wrong. In reality, the sooner the agent can get in, the better. Sellers, assuming the old rules still apply, might spend money on things that could harm a home’s potential and, conversely, fail to spend money where it matters.

Agents can not only help sellers maximize their potential, but they can also connect them with the trades and other professionals required to do it right.

2. I do not need to upgrade the property for sale.

Since increasing numbers of buyers are looking for move-in ready homes, the more a seller does to get the house to that level, the higher the returns. In an upmarket, sellers can reap a $2-$3 dollar return for every dollar spent.

In a declining market, they may not get 100 percent back, but they will get a sale. I frequently hear sellers ask, “Why should I upgrade? Won’t the new buyers come in and rip out all the stuff I just put in?”

That is not the right question. A better question is, “What can I do to make my online pictures sizzle to get the highest number of buyers through the front door regardless of what a buyer does once they own the home?”

If a seller can invest $1,000 on carpets and in the process, make $3,000, does it matter what the new owner does once they move in?

3. I need to open houses to sell my home.

The myth here is that buyers need to visit your home in person to decide whether they like it or not. In the new reality, buyers are visiting because they have already seen the house online and decided it was worth seeing in person.

Open houses make it easier for buyers who are already going to visit actually to get in. They also make it easy for the neighbors to come through — which is good because they frequently know someone looking to move into the area.

4. I need many open house signs at multiple vital intersections.

Wrong again. Savvy listing agents put out tons of signs because they are free advertising. Buyers who have seen the home online do not need directional signs to find the apartment. With open houses dates and times syndicating to all the major web portals, buyers use the GPS feature in their phones.

As for the neighbors, they will not come because you posted signs at far away intersections. To get them, you want signs close to the open house.

5. If buyers want my house, they will pay more than market value.

Buyers are not running charities. Due to online AVMs (automated valuation models — think Zestimate), buyers know when a property is overpriced and generally stay away, assuming the seller is unrealistic.

While pricing strategies vary from region to region, most agents know to recommend that sellers price listings close to market realities. As more listings come onto the market, buyers have more choices and migrate toward those they believe represent ethical values.

Sellers who insist they must net a specific amount, which in turn pushes the price too high, are only kidding themselves.

For sellers who have not sold a home in recent years, the new rules can be a shock. Ironically, since most sellers are also looking to buy a replacement home, all I usually have to do to change their thinking is to ask them how they are personally searching for homes in their new location.

They walk me through their process, and suddenly, in most cases, they get it.

11 Bad listing description cliches we're over

Hiding flaws behind flowery copy does nothing but waste the buyer's and their agent’s time

1. ‘This one won’t last!’

I get it. The listing agent is trying to convey that they’ve got a hot property that some fortunate buyer will surely snap up in a matter of days, if not hours.

The problem with “This one won’t last!” is agents tend never to revisit their listing descriptions. When your market has an average days-on-market of 30 days, seeing “This one won’t last!” on a listing entering its eighth month on the market will either make a buyer laugh out loud or think, “Hmmm, it did last, so there must be something wrong with it.” 

2 ‘Needs TLC’ or its partner in crime, ‘the handyman special.’

In other words, the home is disrepair, outdated, or has some other issue that needs to be fixed. By leaving those issues to the buyer’s imagination, you might very well be causing buyers to skip right over your listing and move on to the next one.

3. ‘Cozy’ or ‘quaint.’

This is fluffy marketing-speak. What you’re trying to do is cover up the fact that the home is small. Guess what? Any potential buyer who walks through the front door will swiftly figure out that the home is small. You can’t hide that fact behind cozy or quaint.

4. ‘Better than new’

No, it’s not better than new. Even if the home has been demolished and rebuilt from the foundation, it’s not better than new. It’s new. Well, it’s a new home on an old foundation. But you get the point. 

“Better than new!” is one of those phrases that makes buyers ask, “What d...

Closingtimepodcast.com for the latest news from the real estate world, helpful tips for buyers, sellers and other agents, and all of our previous podcast episodes.
Keep up with us on Facebook and Instagram. We also offer home video tours, Realtor branding videos, aerial shots, live streams and more.. closingtimepodcast.com and click on the CMG Real Estate Link.

Why homeownership truly is the American dream

The three main reasons why owning a home is still a big component of the American dream.

1. There are proven psychological, physical and financial benefits to homeownership.

“You own your little corner of the world. You can customize your house, remodel, paint, and decorate without the need to get permission from a landlord.” That’s pride of ownership. 

But aside from the positive psychological effects of owning a home, homeowners in strong markets build equity. 

2. Homeownership positively impacts American families.

From having room for your kids to play to being able to entertain to having space to do the things you love, owning a home helps people realize their full potential.

It also provides a greater sense of stability and opportunity, while growing personal wealth. Homeownership by those who make down payments, and who stay in their houses over long periods of time can result in better academic and emotional outcomes for children.

3. People who invest in their home, invest in the community, and thus improve the local economy.

Nearly 60 percent of Americans own their homes, and for good reason. The National Association of Realtors points out the many social benefits, which include civic participation, financial education and poverty improvements.

Plus, a person who cares for their home is more likely to care for their community through donations and volunteer efforts that keep their neighborhood and schools safe, livable and thriving. In other words, you help yourself and others contribute to a fundamental sense of belonging and responsibility to the wider community.  

Homeownership also plays a critical role in the economy. 

According to the National Association of Home Builders, building 100 average single-family homes generates 305 jobs, $23.1 million in wage and business income, and $8.9 million in taxes and revenue for state, local and federal governments. 

Rents are rising, but the US lacks sufficient middle-income housing

Rents are climbing and more higher-income Americans are choosing to lease rather than buy, but while those conditions are a boon to investors many middle-income earners are nevertheless facing a lack of housing supply.

New research from data firm CoStar paints a picture of an overall booming U.S. rental industry that has seen uneven growth across different parts of the market. For starters, much of the multifamily housing being built today tends to be high-end luxury units.  The number of renter households in the U.S. has grown the most among those earning more than $100,000 per year. And those renters are being attracted to the locations and benefits of living in well-connected urban hot spots. 

CoStar found that since 2015 rent has grown by about 4 percent each year, which is between 1 percent and 1.5 percent more than incomes. The current tendency of people to move out of pricey states as they face affordability woes and into more affordable ones is well-documented, and is typical of what happens as an economic cycle reaches its high point.

All of this represents something of a two-edged sword: On the one hand conditions are tough and getting tougher for renters, but on the other those people who can afford to step onto the investment ladder stand to make reliable returns as rents continue to rise.

Home price growth accelerates for first time in 14 months

For the first time in 14 months, home price growth is accelerating.

Nationwide, home prices grew by 3.6 percent in May year-over-year and 0.9 percent from April, according to the latest data from CoreLogic. At 10.7 percent, Idaho had the highest growth rate out of all the states. Utah and South Dakota followed at 7.8 percent and 7.7 percent, respectively.

The growth can be attributed to a strong job market and decreased mortgage rates, according to CoreLogic. 

CoreLogic predicts that home prices will see even steeper growth in the coming year — 0.8 percent by next month but 5.6 percent by May 2020.

Due to years of consistent home price increases, many buyers are worried about their ability to afford a home. According to CoreLogic, 28 percent of homeowners are worried they won’t be able to afford buying a new home in the future. Only half are satisfied with the number of options available in their market while 40 percent believe they will have to relocate

Trump creates affordable housing council, taps Ben Carson as chair

Amid a growing sense of national crisis over the cost of housing, President Trump created a new government council Tuesday and tasked it with clearing “regulatory barriers,” such as zoning, that get in the way of building new homes.

Ben Carson — who leads the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — will now also serve as the chair of the White House Council on Eliminating Barriers to Affordable Housing. In an executive order, Trump said the role of the council would be to increase the supply of homes in the U.S. in an effort to meet demand.

Trump also singled out an array of specific regulations that he argued are getting in the way of housing construction. The regulations include zoning, limits on population density, “undu...

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Bombshell lawsuit takes a new turn

The class-action lawsuit that could upend the real estate industry by effectively forcing changes in how buyer’s agents are traditionally compensated has been amended, adding more plaintiffs and defendants and emphasizing the role commissions play in steering buyers and raising costs for sellers.

Nine law firms filed an amended complaint consolidating two previous complaints with nearly identical claims: the first filed by home seller Christopher Moehrl on March 6 and another filed by homeseller Sawbill Strategic Inc. on April 15.

The June 14 amended complaint alleges NAR and the named real estate brokers and franchisors have violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by “agreeing, combining and conspiring to impose, implement and enforce anticompetitive restraints that cause home sellers to pay inflated commissions on the sale of their homes.”

The main restraint the complaint refers to is a NAR rule requiring listing brokers — and their agents who represent homesellers — to make a “blanket unilateral offer of compensation” to buyer brokers when listing a property in a Realtor-affiliated multiple listing service.

That offer of compensation must be made regardless of the fact that buyer brokers represent the buyer, not the seller, and because it is a blanket offer, it cannot vary according to the buyer broker’s experience, the services the buyer broker is offering or the buyer broker’s financial arrangement with the buyer, according to the complaint.

Unlike the original complaints, the amended complaint does not argue that the blanket offer of compensation is non-negotiable. But the amended lawsuit cites NAR’s Standard of Practice 3-2 and Standard of Practice 16-16 as evidence that NAR impedes effective negotiation of the offer of compensation.

Ikea rebuilds rooms from Friends, Simpsons and Stranger Things

A new Ikea campaign recreates the living rooms of three iconic TV shows with furniture that can be bought in its stores.

Titled ‘Real Life Series,’ the Ikea United Arab Emirates campaign features living rooms from “Friends,” “The Simpsons” and “Stranger Things.” Each room is created with furniture and accessories from the Ikea catalog. While the campaign was designed by Publicis Spain, the rooms will only be set up in select Middle East stores and through an online catalog checklist.

The “Friends” room recreates Monica and Rachel’s apartment with the purple walls and a beige armchair while “The Simpsons” room has an orange couch and bright round carpet. The “Stranger Things” room has the flowered wallpaper, Christmas tree lights and striped couch. Because the campaign has no financial ties to the iconic television shows, Ikea describes the “Simpsons” room simply as for “families,” the “Friends” room for “mates” and the “Stranger Things” room for “everyone” without calling out their titles by name.

Red Flags When Looking For Your Next Home

1. While there may be other houses on the street for sale, especially during the "busy" seasons of spring and summer, an overwhelming number of houses on the market for an area can be a warning sign.

2. Class size in a school system says a lot, schools should be adding enrollment, not losing it.

3. If the neighborhood has lots of empty storefronts, be wary. Empty storefronts point to the area in decline.

4. If limited parking at the house you're looking at is something that you noticed while you were visiting the house for the first time, it has the potential for forever being an Achilles heel of the property.

5. If the solution to the parking situation at your house is off-street parking, what's the traffic like? Are there cars lined up and down the street? Will you potentially have to drive around a while in search of a spot to park? That inconvenience can quickly become a major hassle, especially with a car full of groceries or small children to bring into the house.

Yes, You Can Trust Your Real Estate Broker

A Manhattan Real luxury Real Estate broker wrote a great blog in Forbes Magazine entitled, Yes, You Can Trust Your Real Estate Broker.

According to a 2018 Gallup poll on the subject of most- and least-trusted professions, 19% of Americans consider the ethical standards of real estate agents as either low or very low, while 54% of the population consider our honesty to be just about average. You may conclude that we real estate brokers have nothing to complain about, especially compared to members of Congress, whom, according to the poll, 58% of Americans consider to be unethical.

But when almost one-fifth of the country's population thinks of the profession that I’ve been dedicated to for two decades as not worthy of their trust, it makes me upset. I find such public opinion unfair, especially because the very thing that gives true value to our work is the ethical foundation upon which it's built.

The job of a real estate broker is trust-based. There is serious capital involved in every transaction, especially for those of us who specialize in luxury transactions, and in order for us to succeed in helping our clients achieve their goals, we must be trusted. Brokers who don’t earn their clients’ trust can’t close deals and don’t stay in business.

President Trump’s Onetime Greenwich Estate Relists for 29% Less

A Greenwich, Connecticut estate where President Donald Trump and his ex-wife Ivana Trump lived is returning to the market for $38.5 million—almost 29% less than its onetime $54 million asking price.

The Trumps bought the property after they were married in the early 1980s for about $4 million. When they divorced in the early 1990s, Ms. Trump kept the house. She sold it to the current owners, financier Robert Steinberg and his wife Suzanne Steinberg, for $15 million in 1998.

&n...

Danielle uses Brigit Pegeen Kelly’s poem to change Max's opinion of a discovery that he initially found to be unsettling.