Every Tuesday, here at the CV Escrow website, we post Technology Tips designed to help you, the Realtor, grow your business, keep up to date on the latest technologies, and move you forward into the new era of Real Estate.

Earlier in the month, I did a post called “What is This Twitter Thing Everyone is Talking About? which defined Twitter and explained what it is.  This post is designed to express the value of twitter, and explore some of the potential uses for twitter for the real estate professional.

I’m often asked, why Twitter?  What is the benefit? Furthermore, how is this relevant to the Realtor?

Let’s start with the benefits of Twitter that I see and experience:

• Twitter is real time.  Twitter provides the opportunity for me to get an immediate pulse on news and events, often before the mainstream media can report on it.  For example, last month, there was an earthquake in Southern California.  The twitter conversation about the earthquake occurred within seconds of the earthquake.  It took several minutes before it appeared on the internet, and about a ½ hour before I could find the news reporting on it.
• I learn from Twitter...a lot.  People I choose to follow on Twitter often send out links to things that I’m interested in (blog posts, news stories, photos).  When they  send out a link, it is a basically a referral from them, and I’m often interested.  It helps me to stay current and informed.
• Trend watching:  By watching Twitter conversations, I stay current on the pulse of what is hot…current events, technology, public opinion, rates, weather, etc.
• Exposes me to a larger community: Realtors reach with traditional media is generally restricted by geographic distribution.  Because anyone can follow you on Twitter (it doesn’t require mutual agreement to “connect” as Facebook does), who you connect with is not limited by geography.
• I keep up with a geographically dispersed group of people, easily, and in real time.
• Twitter is easy to use and it doesn’t have to take a lot of time. 140 characters (the maximum allowable length of a tweet) is a pretty low commitment.  With the right technology, you can tweet from almost anywhere.  Real estate is a business of hurry up and wait.  If you have a client that is running late for a showing, why not send a tweet from your cell phone. It can be an efficient use of downtime.
• Twitter is fun. There are some funny things on Twitter.  I’m constantly amused.  It is a great way to be entertained and connect with others through humor.
• It’s a new communication channel I didn’t know I needed.  I suggest that Twitter is akin to email in this regard.  We were all living quite happily without email at one time.  Clearly, email is now a mainstream communication channel.  Twitter has the potential to be the same.  As a note, I’ve also noticed that as my twitter usage goes up, my email usage has gone down (not a scientific study, but a personal observation).

So then, given these benefits, how can the Realtor can use Twitter?  Here are 10 potential uses I see that, properly executed, could lead to expanded business for a Realtor.

1. Network & Make New Friends: Use 3^rd party sites and applications such as Twitter Search to find and watch for conversations related to things you are interested in.  Add active users that are saying things that are interesting to you.  Engage with them.  A Twitter acquaintance can be developed into a long lasting friendship.  And, in the immensely social business of real estate, where the adage “its all who you know” certainly holds true, we know that the more friends you have, the better.
2. Read News:  Keep up with the industry in real time.  Follow industry news sources such as Inman News as well as lenders who tweet about mortgage rates.  Learn about events industry events designed to teach you about social media and real estate like REBarCamp Orange County.
3. Attend, or Organize, Face-to-Face Meetings (aka Tweetups):  Use Twtvite to find or organize events with like minded individuals, or those who are interested in what you have to share (for example, you could host a first time homebuyers seminar and promote it via Twitter). Use Twitter as a catalyst to meet people in real life.
4. Build Your Referral Network.  One of the key benefits of twitter is the ease at which you can keep in touch with a geographical dispersed group of people.  There are LOTS of Realtors from all over the United States and the world on Twitter.  Connect and engage with them.  Think about the possible referrals!
5. Prospecting: I see twitter as the new-media equivalent of cold calling.  Because you don’t have to have mutual agreement to connect with people on Twitter, it is easy to make connections with complete strangers.  Unlike Facebook, where interacting with people you don’t know can be perceived as creepy, Twitter is set up to engage with anyone.  It is culturally acceptable.  And, there ARE clients to be found on twitter.  Take this example from Gary McNich, a Realtor in the Seattle, WA area:



6. Follow Local Discussions: Use 3^rd party sites like TwitterLocal to search out discussions about your area and watch those discussions.  Gain a pulse on what the hot topics are in your area.  Use this as an information source for blog posts or general conversations with clients.
7. Get Feedback: Twitter is a great medium for asking a question, and getting answers.  Want to know what people think about why buyers are sitting on the fence, or what they think of the new website you just put up for you listing?  Maybe you want some feedback about a vendor you are considering hiring.  Ask the twitter-sphere and you will get all kinds of answers.
8. Direct Traffic to Your Blog or Website:  A very powerful part of twitter is in the links that you can include in your tweets. When you send out a link, it is a referral to somewhere.  And, if you have built a network of people on twitter who trust you, you have a great chance that your followers will view your link, which will effectively drive traffic to your website and/or your blog.
9. Extend Your Personal Brand: Your profile page, and the content you tweet, says something about you.  Twitter provides a great opportunity to extend the brand that you have built in off-line marketing materials onto the web and into a social network.  If done properly, you will position yourself as a trusted advisor and have an easier time utilizing twitter to enhance your business opportunities.
10. To Broadcast: This is my least favorite Twitter usage suggestion, but if done in moderation, after building a following that trusts you, Twitter can be a way to promote your services or your listings. However, WORD OF CAUTION, if not done properly, using Twitter as a strictly broadcast medium will be perceived as spam and you will not only loose followers, but damage your credibility and reputation in this social network. It is really about tone and frequency and this strategy is not the first you should embark upon when joining Twitter.  I’ll discuss more about this in a future post.

Curious enough to give Twitter a try?  If so, start by following me (@staceyharmon) and CV Escrow (@CVEscrow).  Watch how we use twitter and start interacting with us.  We look forward to the Twitter conversation with you!

Interested in what you are reading? To automatically receive these Tuesday Technology Tips in your email box, subscribe to these articles at the top right corner of this site (www.CoachellaValleyEscrow.com) in the box titled “Subscribe via Email”.

One of an escrow officer’s simpler jobs is calculating the amount of property tax that is payable by the buyer and the seller on any given real estate transaction. One of the agent’s tougher jobs can be explaining to the buyer why they may get an official property tax adjustment bill months after the sale is done. Let’s wade into the arithmetic and explain the situation.

Property Tax Defined

Every property gets assessed by the county assessment office every year, establishing the amount of tax due on that property. At the time of a sale, it’s a simple matter for the escrow agent to find out the property’s tax for the full year, and apportion the correct amount to the seller for the year to that date, and the right amount to the buyer for the remainder of the year.

Say, for example, the property tax of the year is $1200, and the transaction closes on May 1. The seller pays $400 for the first 4 months, and the buyer pays $800 for the last 8 months. These numbers show up on the closing statements.

Sale Triggers Assessment

The complication arises because a property sale triggers a new assessment. This assessment happens according to the schedule and timetable of the county assessment office; this means it could happen months after the transaction has closed, when the buyer has long since thought the sale over and done with.

When it eventually occurs, the property has a new assessed value – and a new tax burden – retroactive to the date of the sale. It might be more or less than what the buyer paid on the closing statement, but chances are good that it will be different. Therefore, the assessment office will issue an adjustment notice. If it’s a tax increase, the buyer needs to pay more. If it’s a decrease, each county handles the situation differently. Check with the links below for your own area’s procedures.

Escrow Works With The Numbers

The escrow officer’s job with prorating property tax is just to work with the existing numbers. They use the property tax amount provided to them by title at the time of the escrow (the current property tax amount).  They take this current tax information and allocate the charges to the parties accordingly.

That’s why, in an appreciating market, a buyer can get an additional tax bill, months after the sale, when they thought it had already been covered. And that is why, in a depreciating market, the potentially reduced taxes on the home cannot be determined and applied at escrow.  For specific tax questions related to a particular parcel, further information can be gained by contacting your county’s tax recorders office:

• Riverside County
• Orange County
• Los Angeles County
• San Diego County

Every Tuesday, here at the CV Escrow website, we post Technology Tips designed to help you, the Realtor, grow your business, keep up to date on the latest technologies, and move you forward into the new era of Real Estate.

You may have noticed that when you log into Facebook this week you see this message at the top of the page:

Have you claimed your username yet?  If not, you should do so! It makes it easier for friends, family, and clients to connect with you on Facebook.

Last Friday night, Facebook gave users the opportunity to claim a “vanity URL” that represents their profile on Facebook.  Over 6 million people have already registered their username (as of Sunday).  This optional process gives Facebook users a distinct web address for their profile and makes it much easier to share and promote your Facebook presense with others.  If you haven’t registered your username, the URL for your profile looks like the before picture below.  After you register your username, the URL for your profile will look something far more friendly (see the after image below).

To claim your username, go to http://www.facebook.com/username and follow the simple process that Facebook has set up.  You can select a username that Facebook suggests or create your own. Select “Check availability” to check for available usernames. If the desired username is available, click “Set Username” in order to confirm your choice.

A few notes:

• Facebook usernames are permanent.  In other words, they cannot be changed or transferred!  This is an important consideration.  How are you branding yourself?  Are you using facebook for business or personal use, or maybe for both?  Should your username be your full name or something more tailored to business (staceyharmon vs. RealtorStacey).  Only you can make that decision.  But, keep in mind that it cannot be changed.  So choose wisely and make sure it is a username that will represent you over time.
• Your username must be at least five characters in length and only include alphanumeric characters (A-Z, 0-9), or a period or full stop (“.”)
• Once you have your new friendly “vanity URL”, consider adding it to your email signature to encourage those you deal with to interact with you on Facebook.
• It is possible to also have a vanity URL for a fanpage, but you must have over 1,000 fans and have registered your page before May 31, 2009 in order to qualify.  More details can be found here.

Interested in what you are reading? To automatically receive these Tuesday Technology Tips in your email box, subscribe to these articles at the top right corner of this site (www.CoachellaValleyEscrow.com) in the box titled “Subscribe via Email”.

Real estate transactions, and the escrow processes that make then happen, sometimes have a level of industry jargon that can be confusing or intimidating to buyers and sellers who aren’t familiar with the meaning behind the words.

This is the first in a series of definitional posts designed to better inform buyers and sellers about the escrow process and the terminology used during the course of a transaction.

Escrow

The escrow procedure, at its core, is where a neutral, trusted third party holds onto an item for sale until something happens, usually until the buyer pays the seller. As real estate transactions have grown in complexity, so has the business of escrow. Now an escrow agent watches over all the details of the sales agreement, facilitates the transaction paperwork, and coordinates the interests of many different parties with an interest in the sale. They also make sure that the seller gets their proceeds, and the buyer gets their title, when all is said and done. For a detailed explanation of escrow, see this earlier post.

Deed of Trust

In many states, including California, this document takes the place of a mortgage. The Deed of Trust places a property’s title in the hands of a Trustee, usually a title company, along with the specifics of the buyer’s loan and repayment provisions. If the owner defaults on the loan, the Trustee has the legal right to foreclose, and give the lender the proceeds. When the loan is paid off, the Trustee reconveys the title to the owner.

Lien

This is a legal claim on a property by someone the owner owes money to. In real estate transactions, the lender will attach a lien to the property title, saying any money from sale of the property will first be used to pay off the loan.

Prorations

In a real estate deal, the escrow agent will need to figure out the buyer’s and seller’s portions of expenses that get paid according to a certain date – eg taxes, interest or utility bills. The agent will pro-rate the expense, doing the arithmetic based on the transaction’s closing date.

Grant Deed

This is the actual document of the real estate sale. It states that the seller, or Grantor, is selling the property to the buyer, or Grantee. It states the specifics of the property, and that the seller has revealed any liens or encumbrances. The Grant Deed is usually notarized and recorded.

HUD-1 Statement

This is the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s official settlement form, used in most real estate transactions to detail exactly what settlement costs occur in the sale, and whether the buyer or the seller is paying them. You get this form at or shortly before the closing. It represents a complete accounting of every cost of the transaction.

Title Insurance

This is an insurance policy for buyers that protects them against unanticipated defects in the property title. These could be anything from hidden liens, ex-spouses, unrevealed heirs, or recording errors, to forgery. Title insurance policies carry different specifics and exceptions, so examine yours carefully.

Additional terminology will be defined in future posts.  If you have a term you would like clarified or definied, leave us a note in the comments section of this post.

Every Tuesday, here at the CV Escrow website, we post Technology Tips designed to help you, the Realtor, grow your business, keep up to date on the latest technologies, and move you forward into the new era of Real Estate.

In today’s post, I wanted to bring to your attention one of the most outstanding resources out there for Realtors who are looking to stay informed on all things technology in our industry:  MyTechOpinion.com.

Their tagline says it all “Technology for Real Estate”.  Topics covered range from Blogging, to Hardware, to Marketing, to Software, to Social Media and beyond. In their own words:

At MyTechOpinion we dig through ALL those technology offerings to identify key products and services to benefit your real estate business. Let us be your real estate technology knowledge base.

Some of my favorite posts include (and ones that I think are particularly useful for today’s Realtor):

• 10 Social Media Lifeskills for Real Estate Professionals
• 4 Ways to Access Your Files Remotely (having trouble getting all your files in one spot?)
  
• A Real Estate Presentation in the Palm of Your Hand (highlights small, hand held projectors – digital listing presentation anyone?)
• How Neat Are Your Receipts? (discusses a product called Neat Receipts which helps you stay organized – think write offs!)
• Some Like it Hot [But Your Laptop Doesn't] (think an inexpensive laptop cooling pad might be helpful with that Desert heat?)

They also have a great resource list for those who are ready to get started in social media marketing.  Make life easy on yourself…they’ve already done the hard work for you and presented the best social media sites and technologies in an easy to understand list which sifts through the junk and highlights the best.

The authors of MyTechOpinion (Nicole Nicolay, Reggie Nicolay, and Chad Johnson) are recognized social media pioneers and respected industry professionals.  In my opinion, this is one site that should be on the radar of any Realtor looking to keep up with technology today.

Interested in what you are reading? To automatically receive these Tuesday Technology Tips in your email box, subscribe to these articles at the top right corner of this site (www.CoachellaValleyEscrow.com) in the box titled “Subscribe via Email”.

Closing fees are a prickly part of any real estate deal. This is where everybody involved in the sale and transfer – lenders, lawyers, government agencies, and the escrow company – add their numbers to the bottom line. Perhaps the worst thing about closing fees is that they often seem to come as a surprise. This can lead to anger and frustration for the buyer and seller, and inconvenience and headache for agents.

Escrow fees are part of a deal’s closing costs. Let’s explore the typical fees that can show up on a buyer’s closing statement, and help to avoid future cases of sticker shock.

Buyer’s Escrow Costs

Escrow Fees

This is the fee for the escrow service itself, usually a certain amount per $1000 of the sale price. With the escrow fee you are paying to make sure:

• The escrow agent is properly licensed in your state
• They have the knowledge, training and expertise to handle supplemental and unusual escrow situations
• Your escrow process follows all applicable laws, and the sale will be legal and valid
• The escrow agent is an independent third party, competent and trustworthy to caretake and disburse your money.

Loan Tie-in Fee

This fee provides for the escrow company’s time and supplies to print out lender documentation, comply with various lender requirements, and fill out and submit the forms and applications requested by lenders to facilitate the transaction.

E-Document Fee

More and more documents are being sent to escrow companies over the Internet, however they still need to be printed out in order to be archiveable and useful. This fee helps to defray document printing costs.

Processing Fee

Very few escrow situations come without any supplemental or unusual needs. Spouses, ex-spouses, grantees, trustees, business partners, extra government agencies or authorities, all may need to be dealt with in order to facilitate the escrow. All of these contacts take time and documentation. Most escrow companies include one or two added contacts in their escrow fee; a significant number of added contacts will result in a processing fee.

Archive Fee

Legal escrow documents need to be stored by the escrow company for a minimum of five years. This fee helps with the storage and retrieval of the large volume of paperwork involved.

Seller’s Escrow Costs

The seller’s closing statement contains escrow costs as well. The seller will have the same Escrow fee as the buyer, the same Processing and E-Document fees, and an Archive fee.

Closing costs from the escrow company are not a mystery, and don’t need to be a surprise, either. With a little bit of preparation and a phone call or two, both buyers and sellers can know in advance what their closing costs will be, and clear a potential obstruction on the way to a completed sale.

Every Tuesday, here at the CV Escrow website, we post Technology Tips designed to help you, the Realtor, grow your business, keep up to date on the latest technologies, and move you forward into the new era of Real Estate.

A year ago, when I would introduce “twitter” to a group of agents, it would be the first time Realtors had heard the word.  Today, thanks to an explosion of twitter users in the media and entertainment world, most have a least heard the term.  But, I still usually get the question, “What is Twitter anyways?”.  And, once I explain twitter, many are left trying to figure out if it is relevant for use in their real estate business.  This post is designed to define what twitter is.  Future posts will discuss what the value is in twitter and investigate if there is any value for real estate agents.

What is Twitter:

I like to explain twitter as “broadcast texting“.  Basically, you type a short message, and when you hit send, it broadcasts out that message to everyone who chooses to “follow you” (people can choose to receive your twitter updates).  So, if you have 200 people following you, that one message will simultaneously go to all 200 people.

Some important details to understand about Twitter:

• Twitter is a social network
• Messages are called “tweets”
• Messages/Tweets are limited to 140 characters (Twitter is often defined as “micro-blogging.  For a better understanding of blogging, check out our post on What is a Blog & How Does it Relate to Real Estate)
• Tweets answer the question “What are you doing” (Twitter asks this on the website)
• You can use twitter from both the web and from your cell phone.
• The service is free.  Note however, that if you use the service via text from your cell phone, you may have charges associated with it depending on the texting plan you have with your carrier.  Once I started really getting into Twitter, I invested in an unlimited texting plan on my cell phone.

If you are still not clear about what Twitter is, other’s have done a great job explaining Twitter.  Here are some links to others explanations:

• Common Craft has a video explanation of Twitter that appears on the Twitter website.
• About.com answers “I just don’t understand Twitter“
• Tweeternet answers “What is Twitter and Why Does it Keep Following Me Around“
• Real-Tech Guy does a nice job of explaining how to get started with twitter

Also, Nicole Nicolay of MyTechOpinon.com has written the definitive guide on using twitter for Real Estate.  It is a free ebook you can download and it is outstanding.  If you are ready to get started with twitter, or already have an account and want to learn how to best use it for real estate, you won’t find a better source.

This post lays out a definition of what twitter is.  I can tell you that twitter is my absolute favorite social network.  Twitter provides me a new form of communication I didn’t know I needed and it has transformed my business communication and networking activities.  Future posts will expand on the value that twitter provides and introduce strategies to successfully use it in real estate.  For now though, if you want to get started with twitter, go to Twitter.com and sign up for an account (it is very easy and requires minimal information from you).  Then, follow me (my twitter id is @staceyharmon) and follow CV Escrow (@CVEscrow).  By watching our twitter accounts, you’ll start to get a feel for what twitter is all about!

Interested in what you are reading? To automatically receive these Tuesday Technology Tips in your email box, subscribe to these articles at the top right corner of this site (www.CoachellaValleyEscrow.com) in the box titled “Subscribe via Email”.