Nine Useful Tools For Your Home Search - You're Welcome

There are a bewildering number of websites, real estate apps and software suites that enable a regular Joe to try to match the abilities of a professional at something. In music, recording studios have to compete against digital home recording studio software that costs 1/20,000th of the price.....

Tech can definitely level the playing field in a great many occupations, including Real Estate. With the advent of the big real estate portals, it seems like a person can find all they need to move out of their beaten-down apartment, and into the home of their dreams. As a Realtor, I use tech every day as well, to search MLS listings, unofficially pre-qualify a client, or even help them imagine what a sofa would look like placed in an empty room. I have an iPad full of tools, and an iPhone full of contacts hoping I use those tools correctly.

For instance, there is an app called BAO, or Business Analytics Online which allows you to quickly and easily get key demographic and market facts about any location in the U.S. The thing is, it's pretty easy to mess up and get bad data, and you wouldn't know it unless you knew the characteristics of a neighborhood really well. The app told me the median income in my neighborhood is over $80,000. I invite the makers of BAO to visit my neighborhood and see that unfortunately, that is not the case.

My point? Tech can lead you down the wrong path, with bad data from time to time, so never rely on one single app when making a decision.

So, with that caviat in mind, I have some great tools that many of my clients have found useful, starting with MY app. Self-serving as it is to start with that, my Keller Williams branded app pulls data from our local MLS, and ties that in with GPS, includes a mortgage calculator, and allows you to sort and save properties to a list you send to your agent for more information.

To get it, just text:  "kw1gzs81l" to 87778 (the last two characters are 1 and little L)

Now.. The rest:

Sometimes, communicating what style of home you hope to find to your real estate agent is impossible. Do you want a modern farmhouse, or an Andy Warhol-esque single floor? Grab the Houzz app, (iOS / Android) and browse the largest database of photos of homes you're likely to find. For that matter, you can even send a picture or two of an inside of a home....

When one person can't be present for a home tour, let the other one have a virtual presence, using Facetime on iPhones/iPads.. A wife can show her absent husband around the property and talk about what she is seeing at the same time...

Did you forget to bring a tape measure? EasyMeasure (iOS /Android) will get you pretty close measurements, by pointing your device at where the floor meets the wall...

If you are curious what a room might look like with the walls painted another color, try ColorSnap Studio (iOS/Android) With it, you can explore over 1,500 colors, get color inspiration from a photo or virtually paint your walls with the brush of a finger.

Walk Score (iOS/Android) is for renters. It will instantly calculate how close you are to nearby important amenities, such as schools, hospitals, coffee shops, grocery stores and bus lines..

Great Schools Finder (iOS)  Locate and see on a map nearby elementary, middle, and high schools. Search listings and view detailed ratings, reviews, and test scores.

HUD HOMES (iOS & Android) Official source for Government Foreclosures.


Once you get back home, and want detailed info on your neighborhood, visit the L.A. Times Neighborhoods for an overview of schools, crime, and general commentary about all the neighborhoods in L.A.

What about visiting the 800 lb. gorilla of the industry, ZILLOW?
Obviously the big real estate portals like Zillow and Trulia have pictures of properties and some data, but they are often outdated. They have little incentive to keep them completely up to date, and the "Zestimates" (Zillow's estimate property value engine) are often off by a large sum. A Washington Post article recently noted that:
"No algorithm, however sophisticated, can quantify the value of a kitchen that was remodeled just before a home was put on the market or a yard that is poorly maintained. It simply isn't possible for any AVM to predict the value of a home with a level of accuracy sufficient to make a housing decision."

Zillow even acknowledges that their pricing is within 5% of the correct value less than half the time!

I don't want to get off on a rant here, so I'll switch to design..
For design inspiration, I suggest you visit curbed.com. The site is one of the top 15 most influential real estate sites out there, with stunning photos of how to up your home's curb appeal, as a seller.

I will do a PART 2 on this topic in a couple weeks, as there are far too many cool tools to list in one report. If you have a GO-TO tool you recommend, hit the comments below and share!
-Chris Gallatin   www.gallatingroup.net

Homeowners Vs. Appraisers: A Genuine Meeting of the Minds

In January of this year, Housingwire.com had a post about Homeowner's valuing their properties differently than appraisers... For instance, if Jane in Los Angeles thinks her home is worth $400,000 and her appraiser sets the value at $440,000  the appraisers value is 10% higher than Jane's. A year ago, appraisers figures on typical house values were 6% higher than homeowners. That amount has shrunk to 3% as of November 2014, according to quickenloans.com (Western U.S. only).

First of all, I'm surprised that homeowners have ever felt their homes were less valuable than their appraisers. I join those who welcome this latest trend of similar valuations, but wonder why it is happening. The report only shows the changes in differences of opinion over the last month, and not the actual values. Are the appraisers lowering their figures, or are homeowners raising theirs due to the stabilization of the housing market after the foreclosure crisis?

The article suggests that if the trend continues, the numbers will flip, and homeowners will become troubled that their home is appraising for less than they will think it should. That will seem "normal" to me, although the article suggests that's a problem. I don't see why. Do you?

Disney's Golden Oak Ranch: A Peek at Those Remarkable Backlots

In the quietest of news releases way back in 2011, Disney and ABC Studios announced completion of  two state of the art backlots on the Golden Oak Ranch. The 42 storefront urban district was constructed entirely with filmmakers in mind, and its presence in the formerly scrub-brush filled plateau just southeast of Newhall is breathtaking.

     The lots allow any filmmaker to re-create 1920's Chicago or present-day New York, and everything in between. They've also constructed a residential street, consisting of 14 homes, each embodying a different architectural style on a curved road. Over the years (since 1950 in fact) they've been acquiring more land, and this has brought the total to just under 900 acres. While they only plan to use a small portion of the land, it is plenty impressive. Who knew how much they had going on back there on Placerita Canyon Road?

The film industry is growing increasingly important to Santa Clarita with annual revenues now approaching $56 million. Many have remarked that Santa Clarita is doing so well because it is able to look like almost any city in the U.S. Filming permits and days of work were up 23% year over year for October, and sound stage vacancy rates remain low, so the ranch will be plenty busy for years to come.  For example, Glee''s production crew was at Golden Oak Ranch last month.

I've grabbbed a few of the picturesque shots from the Disney development, and made a quick photo gallery here. A more extensive set of pictures was posted in May 2013 including:

The Truth About Business Vampires

We've all heard the sentiment:

"DON'T lend money to friends!"

If a friend or family in need is asking you for money, then help with no strings attached in a genuine way or don't do it at all.

The point I'm going to make here is that I've had the amazing privilege and honor to do business with my friends. Heck, the majority of my business is with just friends!

I am grateful for the trust, and respond to a friend's need to invest in real estate with the utmost care. Does it ever go wrong? It can when the person asking for help is actually insecure about what they want to do.

Here's what happened......

A friend asked me to help them find an investment property. For 4 years, I busted my butt. Time and time and time again, deals slipped right by..After 4 years, I realize that they are insecure about making a decision and had been consulting dozens of other people on what to do...Oh my gosh, I'm exhausted just remembering this. Why oh why did I waste so much time! .(Yeah, I held on for that long because I thought I owed my friend this amount of hard work and many many hours for nothing..) 

This person was what we call " an emotional vampire." In this case, we're talking about an emotional/financial vampire. 

"Whether or not they know it, vampires are driven by insecurity and weakness, infirmities that impede goodwill. This doesn't excuse their predatory acts." - Judith Orloff, M.D.

Dear Reader, if you're working with a Realtor who is a friend or family connection, ask yourself this first: why are you working with them?

Is it because you respect what they do and trust them? Then proceed full throttle forward!!

BUT if you yourself have fears and doubts about making a real estate investment, then please do your friend a favor, and be honest and say you're not ready. It is absolutely ridiculous, and ruinous to a relationship to waste a professional's time with your fantasies of being a real estate investor.

Proudly, I can tell you that I have repeat business with friends and have helped them make money on income properties... I love that part of my job the most!

If a friend of mine owns a business, I go to them first because I'd rather support a friend. 

Not because I want a discount. No, actually that makes me feel uncomfortable, I support them because I trust and respect what they do. Period. So if there are any other vampires out there, my door will always be closed.

10 Years In Business.... Day 1 On Blogger: Here We Go!

Hello,
I hope to inform and entertain anyone who drops by, looking for information about the Santa Clarita Real Estate market (just like they taught me in Journalism School at the University of Colorado).

While The Gallatin Group has been in existence for 10 years, and authored plenty of opinions on Trulia.com as well as Yelp and Zillow, this is my first BLOGGER post...
Below is a quick composite of thoughts first written on the other sites, starting with a simple meek reply back in 2009, from Sona Gallatin, Lead Realtor:

A reader asked about DOM and DCOM on the MLS...

Our simple answer:
DOM = Days On Market
CDOM= Cumulative Days On Market

PLEASE check the stats of your listing with your agent and see just how long and how many times a property has changed status. This is SO important!
Cancelled escrows? Property on and off "Hold".... This is a problem, and if you're trying to do a short sale, this is seriously what you need to be looking at.
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Another post spoke about Realtors in general, back in 2012:

ALL SHOW AND NO GO

There are many RE agents on Trulia who claim to be best-selling agents and top real estate professionals. But what you really have to look at is not the words they say themselves but the words of others who have worked with them. For instance, recommendations are what can really show you who is to be trusted and who is to be avoided. Recommendations are to real estate what Oscars are to actors.

 Dozens of agents in the Santa Clarita Valley are represented here, but how many have garnered any recommendations?

When someone is willing to take their time and create a recommendation on the site it speaks volumes. So, in true Oscar fashion, I'd like to thank those who have made this all possible, such as the professionals at Kingway Properties, Keller Williams and my clients, who have sought to find the home of their dreams

Are you really gonna buy a house using this guy?

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A post from 2013 urged prospective buyers to pick a side: mover or sitter...

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE
No one wants to remember much of anything about the year 2008. Those that sold their homes that year certainly don't, and as an agent, I don't either. They stayed on the market for dozens, sometimes HUNDREDS of days. Fast forward to May 2013. They are on the market for dozens, sometimes hundreds of HOURS.


The moral: If you get in, GET IN. Be ready to move, to scramble, to......make offers, accept offers, make counters, accept counters. Sellers, your prospective buyers are bidding on multiple homes: don't take them for granted.
Buyers, your sellers are receiving multiple offers: be ready to make yours, if you want that property. It is a feeding frenzy out there, with sellers purposely listing their homes for bargain prices, and watch the bidding war ensue. You need an agent who moves fast, and you need to be ready when they are.
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A post from a year ago reminded people that we are in a "Golden Age" of interest rates:

Interest Rates Up .005? Who Cares?
We are in a comparative "Golden Age" when it comes to interest rates... The infographic below reminds us that rates actually sat above 12% during our lifetimes! I don't know how buyers were able to pull the trigger on a purchase with rates like that... So if you are one of those who loses it when you see the rate jump around from 3.45 to 3.49... Look at the bigger picture and select something more important to fixate on, such as.... Well... that list would go on and on and on....

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And finally....in March 2014, When I heard about the upcoming merger of Trulia and Zillow, I got on my high horse:

Legwork: The internet only takes you so far.
Business Week has an article about the Trulia-Zillow merger.. It talks about how the combined company will begin to streamline the home-buying process.. the founder of Zillow, Rich Barton, basically demolished the travel agency industry, with his previous site, Expedia. I am sure there are a lot of travel agents who would like to shake his hand... (Not really.)

He realizes that the real estate industry is different-- for now. He hopes to supply so much information online that the need for agents and brokers is eliminated. He has to realize one big thing stands in his way: LEGWORK.

No iPad is going to take the place of an agent who physically goes to a property for you in advance, hears the neighbors next door screaming at their barking dog, while tossing a bag of trash out on their porch to be dealt with later. That iPad won't caution you that the house down the street has been on the market for 180 days because the owner won't sell their house until they find a house that has a 40 foot high oak tree on the property, and they're willing to wait. No iPad can... well, you get the idea... Agents do these things for their clients.. At least the good ones do. A house is part of a NEIGHBORHOOD, and no website yet in existence is capable of digitizing an entire neighborhood.

People who read the article commented that 70% of the listings on Trulia and Zillow are outdated and misleading, while others say that agents are the outdated item. No iPad has to go through hundreds of hours of classes, exams and licensing renewals either...

These are just a few thoughts we've published over the years that we don't want lost when we switch to a brand new website... Hope this post finds you well...
-Chris Gallatin