Category Archive

Industry Update

Things You Need To Know Part 1

Posted on October 31, 2023 by Russell Shaw

The fact that someone is wealthy does not establish that they can teach you how to become wealthy. There are numerous people who are very wealthy, who are still blithering idiots. Anyone, claiming they can make you into a millionaire or a multimillionaire is trying to sell you something that you probably don’t need to buy (like their fantastic coaching program). Any coaching program that won’t let you quit but insists on you paying for at least one full year of their fantastic coaching even if it’s not working for you or you don’t like it is a fraud. Do

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Can Anybody Trust Anything Zillow Says?

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Russell Shaw

www.zillowsucks.com was already taken.  Same for www.zillowsucks.net.  Already taken.  This is a company that is openly mocked and pretty much the entire agent community (their actual paying customers) dislikes them.  The people who might speak up in their defense are on their payroll. They spew FALSE AND MISLEADING DATA almost non-stop and pretend like it is factual information.  This false information is not limited to their usually silly “Zestimates”.  Oh no.  In the months and years ahead I will document that the initially open (but now hidden) CONTEMPT that Zillow’s founder has for agents remains an interegal part of the

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NAR Raises Dues. Yawn

Posted on March 21, 2011 by Russell Shaw

Oh sure.  Lots of agents will complain and bemoan having to pay more.  But I doubt NAR will lose any members (due to the dues increase) they weren’t going to lose anyway.  There is a very interesting relationship between how many members NAR has and the average number of sales per member.  Although some members are not directly or significantly impacted by this sales-to-member-ratio, it does have an impact on the average NAR member, regardless of if they think it does or not. The chart above, showing NAR Members VS Average Sales is from the wonderful Gary Keller book, Shift. 

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If You’re in the Short Sale Business Most of the Banks Are About to Take a Giant Dump on You and Your Clients

Posted on September 28, 2010 by Russell Shaw

It is no secret that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are tightening the reins on delinquent  borrowers.  What is looks like to me is Fannie is now going WAY out of their way to "find errors" and "mistakes" so they can can shove the foreclosure back on the originating bank and not have the loss belong to them.  FNMA has a long history of when making loads of money any profits belong to them (for their ultra-bright management) and the stockholders.  When they lose money – well yes, that’s on the taxpayers. Now industry giant, Wells Fargo had the following

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“what if you could really help – really make a life or death difference to a fellow REALTOR who seriously needs a hand up, not a hand out?”

Posted on September 27, 2010 by Russell Shaw

I just received the following email from my good friend, Dr. Fred Grosse: Dear Friends Greetings to you all from springtime in New Zealand. We are writing to you with a different kind of message today, one that we very much hope you will support and which we also hope you will never need to use. We would like to invite you to visit the following site: http://forpatssake.com The site asks the question: “what if you could really help – really make a life or death difference to a fellow REALTOR who seriously needs a hand up, not a hand

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CHASE Bank Has a Bully and Threats Division

Posted on August 19, 2010 by Russell Shaw

It appears that Chase Bank has a division that continuously checks the net for any posts or comments about them. So it shouldn’t take them long to find this one. It didn’t take them long at all to find the videos that my friends and short sale competitors, Kevin and Fred had at their site, Short Sale Power Hour. Then the lawyers for the Chase Bully and Threats Division got involved. The videos in question had Kevin and Fred talking about their experiences and interactions as short sale agents dealing with Chase. The Chase Bully and Threats Division didn’t like

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Wachovia Will No Longer Postpone A Foreclosure

Posted on August 9, 2010 by Russell Shaw

In an effort to stop sellers facing foreclosure from gaming their system, Wachovia has completely stopped allowing any postponement of a foreclosure or Trustee’s Sale.  I have long felt that Wachovia was not simply a good lender to deal with for a short sale – truth be told – they were the very best. I’m being told that this new policy isn’t going to be a "bad" thing.  I don’t see it that way.  To penalize everyone because of  the bad actions of a few is seldom good (even if common). Here is a copy of a response from Wachovia

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Thank You NAR! Or Would You Prefer to be Known as a Used House Salesman?

Posted on April 21, 2010 by Russell Shaw

A lot of blog posts have been written about what the National Association of Realtors is doing wrong or what they "ought to be doing" with regard to this or that.  I have written some of those posts myself.  I think it is important if one is going to find and point out things that are wrong that they also see and point out things that are right. I believe that all members of the NAR have a debt of gratitude to the NAR.  Not just for the MLS either!  This includes all the various people who do nothing but

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