The Carnival of Real Estate Edition 8

Welcome to the 8th Edition of the Carnival of Real Estate with 24 excellent submissions in total. It was an educating experience to read many of the posts this week, Nubricks is very proud to be the first European property blog to be hosting the Carnival and we hope you find the following real estate articles as interesting as we did.

The penthouse post is the Nubricks post of the week, the rest are in no particular order!

Whilst toasting his achievements in the penthouse, Dave Gooden from pineneedlelawn asks Is Ely Minnesota the next Aspen? He gives an excellent explanation of why he thinks this could be a good real estate bet for the future, the signs seem to be there!

Dave, the drinks are on you

So, continuing the theme of penthouses apart from the stunning marina views on the sixth floor we have two bloggers discussing Real Estate Industry News.

Joel Bursem over at thefutureofrealestatemarketing asks where do you get your real estate news? He discusses the options at present but as a fan of social networking believes there needs to be one central source for real estate news and asks if anyone wants to set this up?

As an extension of this post, Rob from pittsburghhomesdaily stepped up and has released Housing News *very beta*. Housing News is a new digg-like social networking / bookmarking site for real estate news. He needs our help to develop it, so take 5 minutes to go over there and setup a profile.

On the floor five, the following bloggers discuss Websites, Blogging and Print.

Jim Cronin at realestatetomato brings us an interesting analogy between Starbucks and many realtors. In summation he makes the point that Starbucks do not take advantage of promoting their website when advertising, in particular on their white paper cups. Realtors are very similar and often fail to promote their website address well on marketing material that they produce for clients usually hiding it on the back with their contact details.

Jay Thompson from buygilberthomes looks at Template Sites: The Good; The Bad; and The Ugly and explains the pro’s and con’s of a template site and how that can affect a great source of leads, those infamous search engines.

Greg Swann over at bloodhoundrealty shows us that words are important when writing listing copy, it may help you sell more homes!

Marlow Harris from 360digest writes a post about Website Hijinks. If you are too lazy to design and pay for your own content and images then beware as mischief and mayhem can result.

Jim Duncan from realcentralva asks us why use print? Print doesn’t allow you to easily measure response, where as online there are hundreds of metrics tools out there to get a real idea on how much business / traffic it generates for you.

The fourth floor is full of bloggers educating each other on different Real Estate topics.

The Landlord over at lordingtheland states in plain English the ins and outs of a lease. He tells us where to go for templates for writing your own lease and breaks down the sections you need to consider when writing one. Point to note: most US states have slightly different laws, so bear this in mind.

Are you in a rush to sell your home? Well property auctions could be for you. However be warned Anthony Floriani of homethinking explains with examples why you need to err on the side of caution when going down the auction route!

Bill from askunclebill adds his thoughts on when a bubble isn’t a bubble. San Francisco may not be the best place to invest at the current time.

Spencer Hill of hillspersonalmanagement breaks down the securitization of real estate into the three primary types and explains that you don’t have to own property to invest in real estate.

Dan Melson over at searchlightcrusade provides a real life example and tells us why there is money in fixer properties. Points to note: Don’t get emotional, understand the implications of going over your original budget and if refurbished well you can make a healthy profit over time.

Frugal from 1stmillionat33 makes a hypothetical case for payment shocks from option and interest only adjustable rate mortgages. The figures are daunting, but surely it’s the responsibility of lenders to do their due diligence so that borrowers don’t get into difficulties 3 months into repayment?

Joshua Dorkin from biggerpockets tells us how to find Foreclosure & Pre-Foreclosure Properties. In summary, the following should be exercised: search Public Records, go Online, search Newspapers, find Asset Managers and find government foreclosures.

Michael of michaelemilio answers questions on the subject of condo hotels and highlights some projects available in his area.

Rick from landlordshmandlord discusses how flood risks can change over time, potentially costing the property owner a lot of money, with examples and some pictures, which tell the real story. Very pertinent in today’s world facing the climate change issue.

Bryant Tutas, a blogger from the activerainnetwork states his sales pitch confidently and explains why 45 day listing agreements work for him.

On the third floor bloggers thrash out the ongoing debate of the Real Estate Market, bubbles and all.

Jonathan J Miller of the Matrix presents us with the (Mis)State(Ment) Of The Housing Market: Following The Arrows. Many professionals and economists have a view on this subject, but Jonathan asks who should we believe and what really is the current state of the real estate market?

Daniel Rothamel from charlottevillerealestate points out that greed may play a part in the slow down of the real estate market. Some vendors are unrealistic about what their property is worth and then wonder why it hasn’t sold 9 months later.

Wenchypoo over at wenchwisdom has a different take on what led to the housing bubble, the tragedy of house bling. Well actually she makes some good points, including the property question of the day; do we really need granite countertops in our bathrooms?

One from the bottom, the Next Big Thing is being discussed.

Cliff Jacobson from webhomeusablog brings the subject of Zillow And The Google Playbook to our attention. He explains how Zillow has used the lessons of Google to fashion the best in home search to become the Google of real estate.

Finally on the first floor, bloggers go head to head with traditional media and developers.

Douglas Heddings of truegotham replies to a piece by the New York Times on whether Manhattan will become an island of the rich. He focuses on a particular building up for sale, which has had interest from many rich and wealthy real estate moguls and that fact that this is happening more often means the many working and middle classes are being pushed out of the area.

Rudolph d. bachraty III from sellsius tells a story of the power of blogging entitled Blog Readers Save Bell Labs: Developer Plans World Class Site.

That concludes this, the 8th carnival edition, I hope you enjoyed reading the contributions this week. To submit your article post to the next edition held at Real Estate Tomato, please use the following carnival submission form. For previous and future editions of the Carnival of real estate visit the site here.