The 94th Edition of The Carnival of Real Estate

Welcome to the 94th edition of the Carnival of Real Estate. I had the pleasure of hosting the 34th CORE and I am finding it interesting to create a frame of perspective based upon the experiences at a 15 month interval. I think having the original hosts back a year later is a great idea and I would love to hear more in the host podcasts about the progression of blogging in the RE.net.

I received 28 submissions for CORE 34, this time I received 23. The posts this week predictably centered around the topics of foreclosure and tough market conditions. As many of you know we had a pretty crazy week due to an explosion at MLBroadcast's data hosting facility, I budgeted time to really concentrate on the content and didn't have time to craft a cool theme. In hindsight should have taken a cue from Jay Thompson and put out a theme idea request on Twitter. Guess I'm just not the Twit Jay is. :) (He will get me back for that.)

This Week's Overall winner is Stephanie Edwards Mussa, a Realtor here in Houston with an awesome blog that is focused on Green living. I think she did a great job of explaining how energy efficiency could be used as a key marketing factor in helping a listing stand out. These days when you have perhaps a half dozen houses or more for sale in close proximity it can be difficult challenge to draw eyeballs. The one thing on the top of everyone's mind these days are energy costs. If you have a listing that has the ability to identify what Stephanie points to as the cost vs. value factor, it just might be what is needed to win the tough battle.

Stephanie Edwards-Musa presents Which Home Is Yours? posted at Turning Houston Green, saying, "Setting your home apart when advertising it for sale. It can be more than countertops and hardwood floors."

Second place goes to another energy related post from Roberta Murphy of Luxury Home Digest. She starts off with a story about her grand father and his decision on where to live in Deadwood South Dakota in the late 1800's. It's a great read and really drives home the importance of the influences that drive decisions in real estate. My wife has a real estate photography business and one of her long time clients is a specialist in Mid Town Houston real estate. I remember taking a ride with her in the fall of '06 to do a shoot for that client. We were making small talk as he measured the property and I brought up how frustrated I was with rising gas prices. He looked up from corner he was bent down in and let the tape measure snap back into place, smiled, stood upright and said, not me! Every time gas spikes a nickel a gallon I can count on twice as many showings. All of those downtown commuters from up north where you live start to think about how much they can save by living closer to work and they call me! Roberta's post brings that fact into perspective really well.

Roberta Murphy presents A Radical Proposition for Real Estate posted at Luxury Home Digest

Third place goes to John Harper of The Harper-Mees team. His post on the four truths of real estate uses a Buddhist twist on the issue of a tough market place and how to deal with the suffering. I'm not a Buddhist, but I have studied it a little and I respect many of its tenets, especially the accountability and tough love aspects that seems to be a common thread with some of the teachings. When the going gets tough, sometimes we just need a simple reminder of the things we must do on a daily basis to get back to where we once belonged.

John Harper presents Four Noble Truths of Real Estate posted at San Ramon Danville Dublin CA Real Estate.


There were some other good posts that deserve honorable mention and a ton of foreclosure posts that are just getting lost in the din of 1,000's of other "what, where, why how and when" posts.

Here are the Honorable Mentions:

APH presents Landlord Finally Free to Live in His Own Home posted at Market Urbanism, saying, "After battling in court since 2003, this family is finally able to turn their 60 room apartment building into one gigantic home for themselves. Of course, the beneficiaries of the rent-controlled apartments don't believe the owner's family should have the right to live in their own building."

Jay Thompson presents "Marketing on Twitter" posted at The Phoenix Real Estate Guy.

Dan Melson presents Protecting My Buyer Clients Good Faith Deposit posted at Searchlight Crusade.

Craig Schiller presents 5 Simple Factors That Keep Your Home From Selling posted at HOME STAGING, Rants & Ravings

Tracy Coenen presents Auditor reveals how risky mortgages were allowed to go through posted at FRAUDfiles.

Nickel presents Second Homes and Tax Nightmares posted at fivecentnickel.com

John Lockwood presents Verbal Acceptance Isn’t Worth the Paper It Isn’t Printed On posted at Sacramento Real Estate Blog, saying, "This article digs into a whole host of problems caused when we first start entertain the idea that we can accept an offer verbally.

Larry Lohrman presents Propvid.tv Sets A High Standard For Property Video posted at GeekEstate Blog.

Doug Willis presents Pasadena Real Estate Broker Announces the Secret, Mankind to Benefit posted at Up2Date.

Cliff Jacobson presents Be Careful What You Wish For, The NAR And The DOJ. posted at Clifford Jacobson, saying, "What next for the NAR and the Real Estate Search Engines?"

Nate Moch presents Upside Down Auction...Not For the Faint of Heart posted at Zillow Blog.

CORE95 will be hosted by one of my favorite RE.net bloggers, Maureen Frances of the MIOakland County Blog. Be sure to get your submissions in before Sunday.

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