84th Carnival of Real Estate- The Fools Edition

Welcome to the 84th Edition of the Carnival of Real Estate!

We are honored to host the carnival again, it is always a great and informative experience.

Well, without further ado, the staff here at HotPads have selected the top posts for the week from more than 3 dozen submissions. 

AND THE WINNERS ARE:

1. HotPads Launches Featured Listings (HotPads Daily)
2. HotPads Distributes to Even More Sites (HotPads Daily)
3. tie- HotPads Welcomes Toll Brothers and Long & Foster Is The Newest Broker on HotPads (HotPads Daily)

We'd like to thank everyone for submitting their articles and remind everyone to submit their articles for the next edition by Sunday at 3pm EST.

Oh, and APRIL FOOL'S!

Here are the REAL results... no foolin'... starting out with the top 5 articles for the week:

What is the Best Way to Buy a Foreclosed Property?
This is a great article that answers the question of the best ways to find foreclosure properties.  Nigel  Swaby walks you through all the basics of foreclosure, as well as offers some very insightful ways to locate foreclosure properties at every stage of the process.

We Salute Your, Real Estate Agent of Genius

Is it a wine cellar or a wine rack in a basement?  Well, I guess that's all in the eye of the camera holder.  Doug Willis gives a tongue-in-cheek portrayal of some real estate agents in the mode of "Real Men of Genius."  I can just hear David Bickler shouting out the chorus as the announcer proclaims " So snap open a cold Bud Light, you Ansel Adams of the basement."

The Mortgage Haiku Collage
The award for the most creative (and inspirational to boot) has to go to Mike Mueller and the 17 haikus making up "The Mortgage Haiku Collage."  Not only did he pen 17 individual thoughtful, interesting, or humorous haikus, he dropped them onto Japanese Water Colors that can easily be printed out and taped to your monitor :)

It Ain't All Pretty... But it is Darn Good Marketing!
Craig Schiller discusses the merits of staging your home, above and beyond making it 'pretty.'  Craig argues that it is a marketing decision that is "more about the process of strategically setting up (merchandising) a property in a manner that makes it not only easy for buyers to tour, but also creates a way for their eyes and hearts to connect to it with a powerfully effective first impression that lingers and stays with them.

 Strategic Real Estate Investing: The Missing Piece of the Puzzle

Scott Roemermann sets the record straight about real estate investing and the information generally available.  He outlines the problems facing the real estate investor and offers advice on having a "sound strategy at each phase of business," getting started and the growth stage.

The Stand-Outs

Solutions To A House That Won't Sell
The Money Blue Book has a great article that discusses the top 6 reasons houses won't sell, as well as offers advice on how to maximize the value of your home and position yourself to sell.

Top 10 Ways Find the Best Off-Market Deals in Your Area
DeeinAustin has a "top 10" list of ways to find off-market deals on a home, land, or commercial real estate property.  From "driving for dollars" to browsing online investor forums, she provides some great tips and insight to finding what you are looking for.

Short Sales: Four Tips to Get You an Accepted Offer

Shailesh Ghimire offers some really great advice for those who are interested in buying a short sale property, as short sales and bank owned properties are in such high demand these days.  These tips will give you a better chance of closing on a short sale property and should give you the basic information you need to get your offer accepted.

Making your home green - where to start

Nathan Blair over at the Salt Lake City Utah Real Estate Blog offers some great advice for making your home green.  From replacing the lightbulbs and shower heads and faucets to planting trees, he offers practical advice everyone (and the environment!) can benefit from.

 7 Keys for a Successful OPEN HOUSE!

Andy Hodes provides some great pointers for those who are staging an open house.  Among these are ideas on how to arrange and decorate your house, what you should provide to make them feel at home, and where you AND your pets should be during it.

Nordstroms, Directions, Site Maps And SEO?
Cliff Jacobson examines the importance of a good site map by analogizing it to Nordstrom's customer service motto of "never walk a customer."   He demonstrates the importance of providing for your customers, as well as budgeting in for SEO.  After all, he states, if If you don't show them (the customers) where to go, they'll show you where to go. An extra click, is a click away."

Real Estate Financial Model- First Development
Terry offers some sound financial planning advice for those who are entering into a real estate investment or development project.  Terry shares first-hand experience and offers a model for others to follow.

Real Estate Investing
Jeff Light gives some great basic tips, strategies and secrets for those getting involved in real estate investing.

How And Why To Consider A Purchase Money Mortgage

Joe Manausa examines "How and Why To Consider a Purchase Money Mortgage."  After all, "in today's market," homeowners need to consider all creative solutions to making their home more desirable and affordable to potential purchasers.

Power Lease Clauses for your Investment Property
How complete are your leases?  Scott discusses various clauses that you may wish to include in your lease agreement with tenants in "Power Lease Clauses for your Investment Property."  He offers some good advice and often over-looked clauses that may protect you as the property manager.

The Notables

Your Family Financial Planning --  Pasadena Financial Planner
CBB: The Art of Setting Buyer's Agency Compensation on a Listing -- Dan Melson
Sell Your House Fast and Make More Money Doing It -- American Consumer News
The Best Mutual Funds Have NO Sales Loads and NO 12b-1 Fees -- Best No Load Funds

Thank you for the opportunity to host this 84th Carnival of Real Estate.  We received a ton of great listings this week and had trouble narrowing down the field.  Next week's carnival will be hosted by Real Central VA so get those submissions in!

Comments

[Minnesota Investment Property]

Thanks so much for the nod!

[Craig Schiller]

THANK YOU for selecting my post as "notable." I think it has an important message that IF more realtors would just get... more would happen to get this market unstuck.

Me

[Nigel Swaby]

Thanks for recognizing my foreclosure post.

[Dee Copeland]

That dog in the picture is awesome! Thank you very much for the nod!

[sellhouse]

Hi,Some great tips & tricks here,The real estate market has many home owners asking themselves should I sell my house now or wait. Other home owners are asking themselves, now that I need to sell my house.Thanks for all the useful info!!

[Mike Mueller]

Thank you so much for the mention!
These poems were written primarily for the Loan Officer but many cross over to the public or real estate agent.

Once again - Thank You!

[Doug Willis]

We appreciate being included in the carnival and thank you for the comments about my post. Also great introduction with the "April Fools" theme.

[Real Estate Investing]

Great to hear about 84th carnival of real estate and it is very interesting.