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Brokerage Creates ‘Sneak Preview’ App for Listings

Brokerage Creates ‘Sneak Preview’ App for Listings. Image courtesy of Vichaya Kiatying-Angsulee / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

@properties, a Chicago-based brokerage, has created a mobile app that allows its real estate professionals to market listings to one another before the properties show up in the multiple listing service.

“Our 1,100 agents form a powerful ‘market within a market.’ The app makes the market incredibly efficient,” says Thaddeus Wong, a co-founder of @properties. “It has generated about a dozen off-market transactions since the launch. It’s a game changer for our brokers and a huge benefit to their clients.”

@properties says the app is not intended to limit the exposure of listings or to keep deals in house but “to maximize exposure by allowing listings to be marketed during the dead time between getting a listing agreement signed, getting the home ready to show, and getting it out there on the MLS,” Peter Olesker, a spokesman for @properties, told Inman News.

Olesker also told Inman News that the brokerage’s clients approve the market date for all pocket listings. For non-pocket listings, @properties says the homes they represent are entered into the MLS within 48 hours of receiving a signed listing agreement—which follows REALTOR® association requirements.

Source: “App Lets @properties Agents Market Listings to Each Other,” Inman News (March 7, 2013)

Many Americans Face ‘Megacommutes’

Many Americans Face ‘Megacommutes’. Image courtesy of Dundee Photographics / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About 600,000 Americans travel more than 90 minutes each way—more than 50 miles—to get from home to work each day, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau report.

Megacommutes are known for being worst in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and New Orleans. Megacommuters tend to be male, older, married, and paid higher than the average worker, according to Census data.

Nearly 11 million people have what’s considered just “long commutes” from home to work, averaging just over an hour each way, according to the report. New York averaged the most “long commuters,” followed by Maryland and New Jersey.

Source: “600,000 Americans Have ‘Megacommutes’ of Over 90 Minutes,” CNNMoney (March 6, 2013)

Are Foreclosures a Better Buy Than Short Sales?

Are Foreclosures a Better Buy Than Short Sales? Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Consumers may find buying a bank-owned home better than buying a short sale. Increasing REO inventory, deeper discounts, and shorter times to close can make foreclosures a more attractive option to home buyers, according to new data from RealtyTrac.

The average sales price of a bank-owned home is at least 30 percent below the average sales price of a non-distressed home, according to RealtyTrac’s analysis.

RealtyTrac identified some of the following best markets to buy bank-owned homes:

Cleveland

Average REO sales price: $57,782

Percent below average non-distressed sales price: 56 percent

Dayton, Ohio

Average REO sales price: $50,579

Percent below average non-distressed sales price: 57

Charlotte, N.C.

Average REO sales price: $111,260

Percent below average non-distressed sales price: 43

Columbus, Ohio

Average REO sales price: $87,994

Percent below average non-distressed sales price: 48

Palm Bay, Fla.

Average REO sales price: $87,018

Percent below average non-distressed sales price: 39

Winston-Salem, N.C.

Average REO sales price: $72,356

Percent below average non-distressed sales price: 49

Daytona Beach, Fla.

Average REO sales price: $88,012

Percent below average non-distressed sales price: 33

Source: RealtyTrac