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Real Estate News and Advice |
December 2, 2009 |
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 Realty Times' Best And Worst Of 2004
by Blanche Evans
Maybe it was just the year, but it seems there was a lot that was funny about 2004. Or, Realty Times is turning into The Onion. We don't know which. Anyway, here are Realty Times' picks for the best and worst of 2004: Best Scandal - Fannie Mae's creative accounting Smoothing the bent pages of its accounting books in order to show investors that Fannie Mae is a low-risk entity, the "culture and environment that made these problems possible" has been in place for years, dating at least back to 1998 when accounting deferments were used to enable management to qualify for bonuses that otherwise would not have been paid. The SEC requires Fannie Mae to restate its earnings for the last four years, causing Chief executive Franklin D. Raines and chief accountant Timothy Howard to be ousted. The restatements could show as much as $9 billion in previously unaccounted-for losses between 2001 and 2004. No purge is complete without promoting others in power. Daniel Mudd, currently vice chairman and chief operating officer, is to become interim CEO, and executive vice president Robert Levin will serve as interim chief financial officer. Best New Idea To Screw The Public - HedgeStreet - Home Value Fluctuation Hedge Funds If you didn't get enough of securities gambling with Enron and Homestore, now you can bet on the outcomes of housing markets. According to CNN/Money, says Realtormag.com, new securities soon will be rolled out to hedge against fluctuations in home values. The "safety" securities to be sold by Macro Securities Research will climb if prices tumble. The company also will issue "investor" securities that increase along with residential values. Meanwhile, HedgeStreet will sell contracts to investors, including those who do not own property, taking bets as to the direction of home prices in specific metropolitan areas. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre Award - Chicagoland Chicagoland Realtor leaders have turned a dispute over how their MLS is run into a bloody battle between big brokers VS small brokers, association VS MLS executives, and agents VS other agents. The CEO of MLSNI CEO Jay Huffman was forced to step down, and Chicago Association of Realtors CEO Darcy Dougherty, who hadn't been in residential sales for a quarter century, left her post to take a job as a Keller Williams franchise executive. Former "Realtor of the Year" Jim Kinney, was one of three independent-minded MLSNI shareholder representatives, also asked to step down. (Kinney denies being asked, and told Realty Times it was the end of his tenure.) Chicagoland Realtors are waiting to see what the new board will do in terms of alleviating the in-fighting between big/little brokers and agents over MLS issues such as how millions were spent and will be spent in the future and whether agents will continue to be forced to access two MLSs to find listings. Best Proof That The Internet Is The Place To Advertise Circulation, composed of subscriptions and inflated by "pass-along values," or how many more people read the paper at the doctor's office, car wash, etc., has long been the unquantifiable but undeniable gold standard of advertising. Belo Corp, parent of The Dallas Morning News, along with Hollinger International's Chicago Sun-Times and Tribune Co.'s Newsday and Spanish language Hoy all disclosed to shareholders that they had overstated circulation. The problems uncovered were limited to "single-copy" sales. 'Ya sure? The Dallas Morning News accounts for 20 percent of Belo's revenues. Great Moments On RealTalk RealTalk is a list-serv(tm) for the real estate industry that is used by practitioners to share tips, get free tech support, argue about agency, slam institutions, and gripe about pressures on commissions, among other topics. Some RealTalkers really hate it when disrespectful consumers ask for discounts, rebates, free advice or otherwise cheaper ways to transact real estate, and they really hate to get used by consumers to cough up free information. That's why this post by a RealTalk participant is so funny: "…..Just wanted to add how my husband brought me my car. Through the internet! Didn't have to deal with salesmen, dealership, etc. We went out and test drove cars I was interested in, when we settled on the make and model he got on the internet and shopped around for the best deal he could get." The Raising Arizona Award - Ralph Roberts Minding his own business at the local Kroger store, mega Realtor Ralph Roberts found himself in the middle of a chase. A shoplifter suddenly left the store in a hurry after failing to pay for 20 cans of baby formula and two packages of Huggies. The man was seen abandoning the rattling shopping cart containing the bulky stolen items. As he ran, Roberts decided to follow him in his vehicle. "He asked me to give him a ride because these guys were chasing him," said Roberts. "The loss prevention people were yelling for assistance as they were running down the street." Roberts and a second man pursued the man on foot, tackled him and sat on the suspect until the police arrived. Best Housewarming Gift Idea - FamilyTime DVD from NAR Who says gifts have to be expensive? For $5, Realtors can give homebuyers a DVD that helps build the fabric of the family which, in turn, helps build the fabric of our society. The DVD offers suggestions and activities for individuals, families, and communities to grow stronger while having fun together. To order the FamilyTime® DVD, call 1-800-917-7035; go to http://www.FamilyTimeOrders.com Most Curious Marketing Ploy - Realtor.com's ads featuring Allan Dalton Having been accused of writing some mind-numbingly long sentences herself, Realty Times editor Blanche Evans is a somewhat reluctant pot to call any kettle black; therefore, bringing Allan Dalton's stylistic penchant for writing meandering obtuse pontifications, with some marketing masquerading as martyrdom, to the attention of Realty Times' readers, a mass-market which can also be counted as potential subscribers to Realtor.com products, hovers near, but does not quite land on, hypocrisy. As he flip-flops from his former position, from encouraging subscribers not to say anything nice about Realtor.com, to singing its praises, Dalton now says he realizes that he may have offended some Realtors, and offers this oxygen-depleting apology: "In the future, instead of our catering to the small percentage who express outrage that we provide Realtors with the option of paying what amounts to, on average, about $50.00 per listing for online photos and contact information for the life of the listing, we will instead be relentlessly promulgating the positive accounts of Realtor.com customers." The Biggest Balls Award - Peter Tafeen, former VP of business development, Homestore Considered by many to be one of the masterminds behind former Homestore management's execution of faking revenues in order to keep stock prices high (so some insiders could reap millions while dumping their shares,) Tafeen showed particular nerve when he sued the "new" Homestore because the corporation didn't feel it should be responsible for Tafeen's legal fees. Did Tafeen "shelter assets in an effort to circumvent his obligation to repay to Homestore any fees and expenses for which Tafeen was not ultimately entitled to indemnification under Homestore’s bylaws?" Apparently not, ruled The Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware. The court ruled "that Homestore must advance Tafeen all reasonable attorney's fees and costs in connection with the SEC and Department of Justice investigations and civil actions/lawsuits that have been filed against him for his purported role in a scheme to inflate Homestore's revenues. Tafeen is also entitled to payment of his attorney's fees for bringing the lawsuit," according to a Homestore release. Homestore is considering its options. From the Realty Times' Sales Department - Funniest Complaint We try to anticipate our customers' needs, and help them no matter what their level of expertise is on the Internet. We even try to read their minds. An irritated customer recently emailed our customer support staff: "I sent you three phone numbers, and you used the wrong one!" From Our Sales Department - Customers We Love In New Jersey, it's illegal to drive and talk on a cellphone simultaneously. We made a sales call to a customer, who answered on her cell phone. She was spotted by a trooper and promptly pulled over. While our sales rep sweated it out, thinking his career was over, he didn't know he was in for a pleasant surprise. The lady called back, and said she got a ticket, but she wasn't annoyed with us. She placed an order for a "Showcase of Homes" property ad and gave our rep her credit card number. Although she didn't ask us to, we eased her pain a little. Most Unintentionally Funny Reader Response Columnist Dianne Benson Harrington wrote an amusing fluffpiece about how to decorate one's home in order to minimize housework. She suggested tips such as buying carpet to match major food groups and taking the spotlight off dustbunnies by hanging sconces with upward-turned lights. One reader was a little too seriously engaged. "No one wears shoes in our home and no one goes barefoot either," the reader enthused in a letter to Realty Times. "We wear clean socks or disposable medical booties. Our flooring looks brand new. We eat as a family at the table, and drink water or lemonade, and have no stains anywhere. We are not only healthier, but our home is model perfect." One can only imagine what this family does to keep their sheets spotless..... Published: January 3, 2005 Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws. 
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Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68.
