By Don Dunning | March 12, 2011
Yesterday, I had the battery backup on my alarm system replaced. This is an item I don’t spend any time thinking about. When I received a letter from my alarm company advising I change out the battery, my initial reaction was that this was a sales ploy. If the alarm works, then the backup battery […]
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | March 3, 2011
Part of marketing a real estate listing is posting exterior and/or interior photos of the property online along with other details of the home, including the address, on the Multiple Listing Service, virtual tours, agent and real estate company web sites. Problem is… everything that goes online, stays online… sometimes forever. Not many agents and […]
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | February 8, 2011
As time goes by, the number and types of disclosures that must be made by a seller and/or his agent continues to expand. Many of these have resulted from lawsuits; all are meant to avoid legal disputes in the purchase of a California home. The California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.) “Sales Disclosure Chart” contains 39 of them for various property types.
When I am called to review a case as an East Bay and Bay Area real estate expert witness, the question arises as to whether the non-disclosed item was a “material fact.” This is defined as information needed to help the buyer decide whether or not to purchase and how much to pay.
Many sellers and a surprising number of agents seem not to understand the importance of full disclosure; this can turn out to be an expensive mistake.
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | January 16, 2011
We love living in the East Bay. A few days ago, my wife, Sonia, and I stopped for lunch at Bakesale Betty’s recently opened, second location (2228 Broadway; original shop is at 5098 Telegraph Ave). At either location, the lines are nearly always out the door. After picking up the rightly famous fried chicken with […]
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | January 3, 2011
If not yet here, the time is quickly approaching when Internet browsing and social networking will allow the most aggressive real estate companies and agents to make “identity sales” with information they purchased about you.
My experience, after 31 years in the business, is that clients often get chosen by the salesperson rather than the reverse. This trend, which has caused woe to an untold number of buyers and sellers, will continue at an accelerated pace.
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | December 12, 2010
“Syndicating” means receiving listings from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), or the listing broker, then transmitting them to a myriad of accessible sites. The problem is not in finding real estate data, but in locating accurate, reliable sites.
A 2008 study of third-party real estate sites found a range of incomplete and/or inaccurate data from 20 to 92 per cent. This includes the largest and most well known ones and is creating some negative consequences for consumers and real estate practitioners.
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | November 29, 2010
Banks continue to make innocent consumers the victim of their past mistakes with credit rating agencies exacerbating the problem. A recent Washington Post article, “Realtors Group Lobbies Against Credit Score Hits Once Equity-line Limits are Cut,” describes the damage being done to folks whose credit scores are, unknowingly, cut after their equity-line or credit card […]
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | November 4, 2010
Wednesday began the winter meetings of the National Association of Realtors. I am here representing East Bay Regional Data Inc. as chair of our regional Multiple Listing Service. Judging from the activity in the French Quarter late into the night, tourism is alive and well in the Crescent City. Bourbon Street and others nearby were […]
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | October 31, 2010
My wife and I went to a fantastic Halloween party last night. The entire house and gardens were decorated straight out of a Hollywood horror movie: tombstones; full sized skeletons, spooky lights and eerie sounds. Down to the door mats, towels, and cobweb-covered bed linens, everything kept to the Halloween theme. The groaning board of […]
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | October 25, 2010
There are endless examples of how owners of distressed homes have had their situations made worse by unthinking, unfeeling, uncaring banks. An online New York Times article today on Yahoo, “Owners Seek Short Sales as Banks Push Foreclosures,” provides further documentation of this problem. The article explains how lenders often accept fewer dollars by foreclosing […]
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