Realty Times is presenting it's annual Best and Worst list for the tenth year in a row. That's right. It's our ten-year anniversary. For marrieds, it's the year of the diamond. For Realty Times, it's the year of the diamond in the rough.
Shameless Plug
Realty Times has always been innovative. This year, we've reinvented Realty Times and revolutionized personal marketing for Realtors! Think about it -- where else does any online vendor put you directly in front of consumers and make you look as good as we do? Market Conditions Reports and Real Estate Update newsletters have gone video. We make you the star of your own broadcast online!
Realty Times is now a 24-7 video newscast with daily news, advice, market conditions, interest rates and much more.
Watch for big news in January!
Best Real Estate Forecast: D.R. Horton CEO Donald J. Tomnitz
Speaking to investors in early March, Tomnitz said, "I don't want to be too sophisticated here, but '07 is going to suck, all 12 months of the calendar year."
He was right.
Proof Technology Has a Long Way To Go
Poor results made monkeys out of Google's search spiders when the spiders failed to match news stories with the appropriate photo. News spiders picked up a Reuters story about Tim Warner CEO Richard Parsons, an African-American, but instead of posting his photograph, they chose a picture of a rhesus monkey. Google apologized, saying that's how automated algorithyms work.
Best commute: Portland, Oregon
Portland has the highest rate of bicycle commuters, eight times the national average. Citizens' use of public transportation is twice the national average, says the American Community Survey.
The Real Estate-Really-Is-A-Long-term-Investment Award
A Hawaiian (The Lo'ihi Development) development company plans to offer oceanview lots for sale. There's just one little thing -- they're under water and will be for thousands of years. Betting that global warming will eventually lift an underwater volcano called Lo'ihi to the surface, land speculators can buy $40 parcels. What they really get is a brochure and a deed, but good luck proving ownership. Not that it will matter in 10,000 years.
Cappering off the evening ... .
Russell Capper, who almost single-handedly ruined the cooperative nature of brokerage with a barrage of complaints to the FTC claiming they were being unfair to his startup discount brokerage, has put the shoe on the other foot. Now president of Prudential's e-commerce subsidiary Prudential Real Estate Services, Co., Capper and co. kept Zillow and Trulia from exhibiting at the franchise broker's 2007 convention. According to Sam Inkinen's blog, Capper told Trulia personnel to "pack up and leave immediately."
The company was told their business model was "in direct competition with a partnership between Prudential Real Estate Affiliates and Yahoo! Inc." Apparently, Prudential charges referral fees to its own brokers, while Trulia and Zillow generate leads for free.
How does it feel, Russell?
Apple's iBooBoo
To all iPhone customers:"'I have received hundreds of emails from iPhone customers who are upset about Apple dropping the price of iPhone by $200 two months after it went on sale. After reading every one of these emails, I have some observations and conclusions ... even though the technology road is bumpy, we need to do a better job taking care of our early iPhone customers as we aggressively go after new ones." -- Steve Jobs
Full quote: "First, I am sure that we are making the correct decision to lower the price of the 8GB iPhone from $599 to $399, and that now is the right time to do it. iPhone is a breakthrough product, and we have the chance to 'go for it' this holiday season. iPhone is so far ahead of the competition, and now it will be affordable by even more customers. It benefits both Apple and every iPhone user to get as many new customers as possible in the iPhone 'tent.' We strongly believe the $399 price will help us do just that this holiday season.Second, being in technology for 30-plus years, I can attest to the fact that the technology road is bumpy. There is always change and improvement, and there is always someone who bought a product before a particular cutoff date and misses the new price or the new operating system or the new whatever.
This is life in the technology lane. If you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you'll never buy any technology product because there is always something better and less expensive on the horizon. The good news is that if you buy products from companies that support them well, like Apple tries to do, you will receive years of useful and satisfying service from them even as newer models are introduced.
Third, even though we are making the right decision to lower the price of iPhone, and even though the technology road is bumpy, we need to do a better job taking care of our early iPhone customers as we aggressively go after new ones with a lower price. Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these.
Therefore, we have decided to offer every iPhone customer who purchased an iPhone from either Apple or AT&T, and who is not receiving a rebate or any other consideration, a $100 store credit towards the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store. Details are still being worked out and will be posted on Apple's website next week. Stay tuned.
We want to do the right thing for our valued iPhone customers. We apologize for disappointing some of you, and we are doing our best to live up to your high expectations of Apple.
-- Steve Jobs
Apple CEO
Editor's Choice: "The Unbelievably Bad Real Estate Photography Hall of Fame"
Read this classic story about bad agent listing photos and take the funniest virtual tour you've ever been on of bad agent listing photos. Many thanks to Saskatoon agent Norm Fisher for one of the biggest laughs of the year.
Certifications You Didn't Know You Needed: Divorce Specialist
A Colorado financial planner has created a certification program for real estate agents to help people whose marriages are on the Rockies. (Har, har ... couldn't resist.) The Certified Real Estate Divorce Specialists are "trained in the legal and tax aspects of the divorce process as it relates to real estate."
The Aurora Association of Realtors is awarding continuing education credits to attend the certification class.
With one out of two marriages ending in divorce, they'll never run out of clients.
The Real Estate Legend Missed By All: Bob Bruss
NAR said it best: "He was thoughtful, polite and kind in both manner and word ... . His advice to consumers was straight, balanced, accurate and informative. Even when readers had questions or situations that could cause others cringe, Bob had a knack for being respectful in addressing their predicament. He set a high standard for his colleagues."
As always, thank you to our readers. Next year, we'll say, thank you to our VIEWERS.
