RESPA (Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act) is a law passed by Congress in 1974 to curb unethical practices and consumer abuse in real estate settlement charges. Before RESPA, real estate professionals and closing service providers routinely abused consumers with unnecessary fees to close on their homes. RESPA requires servicers of home loans, mortgage brokers, or…
All Real Estate Articles - Page 20
The 6 Types of Stigmatized Property
A stigmatized property is a house, dwelling, or place of occupancy that buyers or tenants avoid for reasons unrelated to its physical features or condition. These include the death of an occupant, murder, suicide, ghost sightings, and more. As you can imagine, selling a stigmatized property can be a challenge. In fact, according to a…
How to Become a Notary & Start Your Own Notary Business
A notary business is quick to start and some notaries can earn upwards of $30,000 per year of additional income, and requires as little as $200 to begin. Just filling out an application, meeting your state requirements, completing a few courses, securing a bond, and filing your paperwork will get you up and running. In…
Home Staging in 10 Steps – The Ultimate Guide
Home staging is when a home seller intentionally prepares a residence exterior and interior to be desirable to as many potential buyers as possible, positioning the home to sell quickly, and fetch the highest possible price. Staging is a strategy. While sometimes clients are reticent to change elements about their home because of emotional attachments,…
The Best Cities to Become a Real Estate Agent in 2018
Becoming a real estate agent can be a very lucrative profession. The Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the best real estate agents in the country earn over $100,000 annually. On top of a potentially high income, the job offers other attractive benefits including a relatively low barrier to entry, independence, few office politics, a…
Real Estate Door Hangers – Leads From Front Door Marketing
Joshua Smith, voted the 30th top real estate agent in the country by the Wall Street Journal in 2013, started out listing 7-15 homes a month from placing 10,000 door hangers in his farm area. The technique was so successful for him that he ended up closing 463 listings worth $49 million in one year….
Real Estate Resume: Templates, Samples & How to Write
In this guide, I’ll explain the best practices for writing a real estate resume both for new agents and experienced agents, and provide you with a free downloadable real estate resume templates and samples you can copy and edit for your resume. To get started, here are two resume templates, one for new real estate…
What Is a Multiple Listing Service (MLS)?
A multiple listing service (MLS) is a database of historic and current real estate listings in a local area. This database is created, maintained, and paid for by local members of the National Association of real estate agents. It was established to allow greater cooperation between listings agents and buyer’s agents who may work at…
Building a Real Estate Team in 2018: 16 Tips From the Pros
Let’s face it. A great real estate team will outperform a great individual agent every single day of the week. Even if you’re a rainmaker, you’re still going to have to turn away leads you don’t have time for. Learning how to build a real estate team will mean you can work every single lead…
What Is a Realtor?
The terms Realtor® and Realtors® are registered trademarks. They’re collective membership marks that identify a licensed real estate professional who is an active member of the National Association of Realtors (called NAR for short) and subscribes to its Code of Ethics. Realtors work as residential and commercial real estate brokers, salespeople, property managers, appraisers, counselors…
How to Break Into the Luxury Real Estate Market: 21 Tips From the Pros
The average real estate agent earns $45,737 per year, according to Payscale.com. In luxury real estate, you can earn that in just one deal. Who doesn’t want bigger commissions, name recognition, publicity, and business opportunities? Here are 21 tips from top producing Realtors on how to break into the luxury real estate market. 1. Be…
How to Become a Real Estate Agent in Alaska
In this guide you’ll learn all the details you need to know to get your license and become a real estate agent in Alaska. You’ll learn the basic real estate licensing requirements in Alaska, information about the exam including pass rates and test prep, reciprocity rules, county by county breakdowns of the most expensive real…