Sample Copy RE_Agents Digest for 19 Jan 1997 ****Always Free********
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RE_Agents Digest for 19 Jan 1997
Topics covered in this issue include:
1: RE_Forums Market Place
by RE-Forums <Edi...@RE-Agents.com>
2:Re: Comments on MOORE Landmark and.....
by RE_Forums <Edi...@RE-Agents.Com>
3: Who's Doing The Raking??
by RE-Forums <Edi...@RE-Agents.com>
4: AOP Alert
by RE-Forums <Edi...@RE-Agents.com>
5: RE: CAN WE TALK ABOUT EARNEST MONEY?
by RE_Forums <Edi...@RE-Agents.Com>
6: Re: REAL ESTATE COMPUTER NEWS & VIEWS
by RE_Forums <Edi...@RE-Agents.Com>
7: HP12c's Are Not Dead!
by RE_Forums <Edi...@RE-Agents.Com>
8: Another Webway...
by RE_Forums <Edi...@RE-Agents.Com>
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1 Message:0001
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Subject: RE_Forums Market Place From: RE-Forums
<Edi...@RE-Agents.com> To: re_A...@marlowe.net,
* IRIS, LLC., Makers Of Lightning For Windows - Easy MLS Access
For Real Estate Professionals. Works With All Major Mls Systems.
You Rely On The Mls Every Day, Shouldn't You Be Using The Best
MLS Access Software? Call 714.261.8200, E-Mail In...@Irisnet.Com,
Or Visit Http://Www.Irisnet.Com For Answers And A Free Test Drive
Version.
* MARPAT,Inc. Offers Over 1200 Real Estate Software Products And
Business Consultation Services To Help You Grow Your Business.
Pat Soltys Is An Expert On Real Estate Business Development And
Operational Issues. 800-832-4508 Or St...@Marpat.Com
* Your Own Real Estate Web Site For As Little As $99 A Year
<November Special> And Up. Contact Pilgrim'S Pages For Details
Email <Pil...@Sanctum.Com>.http://www.marlowe.net/pilgrim/
* Send Real Estate Referrals To Refer-A-Gram at
http://www.re-agents.com/agents/1211.html#2
*Add Your Real Estate Business To RE_Forums Search Engine
http://www.re-agents.com/agentfinder.htm
For information on advertising in this forum please contact
http://www.re-agents.com/sponsor.htm
Address replies to: RE_A...@marlowe.net
Please remember our consultants for your local speaking
engagements. A current list is maintained at:
http://Experts.marlowe.net.
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2 Message:0002
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Comments on MOORE Landmark and.......
This message is from Charle P. Rueben Texa...@aol.com
RE: message from John Jackson <72510...@CompuServe.COM>
============================== FIRST..how come you haven't been
visiting the HOME FORUM on Compuserve sponsored by the California
Associations??? Agents from across the country are there helping
Consumers (and "networking"..I gave someone in N.C. TWO leads
last week gratis).CPR =================================== Is Pro
Match a windows client system?
--------------------------------------
...SNIP ((ACTUALLY...they are very speedy compared to the TI
Thermal jobbies I found when I landed in Dallas in 1990.)Some are
still working.) end SNIP
I'm paying extra to get the Moore Landmark SO CALLED WINDOWS
front end to their compass system, and it is pretty bad.
------------------------
We need to have a competition between
MOORE and IRC's Windows products. Perhaps "Mr. Blackwell" will be
the Judge..CPR
-------------------------------------------------------
I got a beta copy of MS Office 97 with no manuals, which includes
a brand new product I have never seen called Outlook, and I'm
using it daily. Office 97 is on the street now so I bought it,
but the manual for all four modules is tiny compared to what MS
used to ship, which probably has to do with the fact that manuals
are now the most costly thing in the box, and also, that you
don't need a manual with user friendly software and decent tool
tips, context sensitive help, point and click etc.
Office 97 has a helper cartoon like guy that pops up and talks to
you.
==============================================
1...The cartoon is " Bob's" Brother Billy. Gates likes to
"recycle" his failures. Reviews indicate that "Billy" has more
"smarts" than :BOB but... he is hardly a Wizard yet.
2. ALL the "manuals" for the MS '97 stuff, is on the CD rom
OR..in the Help Screens. It is all context sensitive help. Why
USE PAPER???? GATES is a reborn "tree hugger" because CD''s are
cheaper than paper. They only make a book now if they can sell it
in Retail and stuff the Big Cardboard Boxes with it.
3. . Office '97 has a totally rebuilt Contact Manager and PIM in
it. Before ANYONE wastes money on "Real Estate" software they
need to take a look at OFFICE. It is an understatement to say it
is "user friendly". If you can't use it,,,you need to take more
"hours" with Barney or Sesame Street.
4. Dallas is still on 9,600 bps modems. I could use the IRC DOS
software and a 5 slot IBM 8086 from 1984 for THAT..Even at 28.8,
IRC has got the merchandise Realtors need. Agents don't need more
than dumb terminals to get the MLS data. BUT..they need the
ability to port that data back to "ANY" piece of software on any
machine. Now that is not possible unless a Software vendor has a
"deal" with the MLS vendor OR the Boards. (its all about
"proprietary data" etc).
Best, Charlie Reuben,
Charles P. Reuben BS,MA Hancock Properties DALLAS 8600 NW
Plaza@Hillcrest S:3-C Dallas,Tx. 75225-4210 214-369-9502, or
f:369-9337
texa...@aol.com YEAR 2000 INFO: www.dfwdama.com (Dallas/FW area
Y2K efforts)
Member:The Gtr.Dallas Ch.of Commerce
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Who's Doing The Raking??
by Micheal J.Russer
In my travels and discussions with real estate companies all over
the country, both big and small, there seems to be a prevalent
attitude among management that the significance of the Internet
in the real estate industry is primarily just another marketing
channel to generate business. Most companies by now have either
created, are in the process of creating, or are thinking hard
about creating a company Web site. These companies typically view
their current or soon to be Web site as basically a new fangled
kind of lead generator that will rake in all that business off
the Net. The problem is, who's going to do all the "raking"?
In creating some sort of corporate Internet Vision, most
companies forget or discount the most important and powerful
aspect of any successful Internet strategy, the people who will
actually do the connecting with prospects and clients over the
Net (i.e. agents). Many companies have not allowed for any
Internet training whatsoever as part of their planning. Some
simply spend an hour or two introducing the company Web site
(under great fanfare!) and call that training. The truth is, the
vast majority of real estate agents, including those with
computers, don't know how to *appropriately* respond to even a
simple e-mail inquiry, much less use the Net to its fullest to
maximize return for their efforts.
I find it ironic (and sad) that management as a group (who tend
to be highly Internet "challenged" themselves) are clueless to
the fact that the majority of real estate sales revenue potential
on the Net can *only* come from highly trained agents, proficient
at using all of the tools available to generate business. There
is no doubt in my mind that a company with no Web site, but had
agents who were highly trained and motivated to use the Net for
business will easily outperform any other company of similar size
who has a *killer* Web site, but whose agents were not trained
and/or found the idea of using the Net for business intimidating.
So the first problem I see that is a huge bump in the road to the
Internet way of doing business has to do with management's
failure to address the issue of comprehensive agent Internet
training. The second problem I see, and this could actually be
the bigger of the two, is the *approach* to Internet training for
agents that is necessary to guarantee lasting, measurable
results.
Unfortunately, those few companies that have some semblance of
comprehensive training for their agents, are taking a
"techno-centric" approach. That is, they treat the Internet as
just another technology, and keep the focus on technology. As we
all know, most agents are techno-phobic and resist learning
anything new, especially if it has to do with technology.
There is a way out of this dilemma, that is radical, exciting,
and most importantly, effective. It has to do with using a
"People-Centric(sm)" approach to Internet training that
eliminates most of the problems associated with traditional
training. More on this in a later post, I invite any comments to
the ideas posted above.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Michael J. Russer V: 805.882.1170 RUSSER
Communications F: 888.837.1244 1124 Las Olas Ave.,
Suite 100 Santa Barbara, CA 93109 E:
mru...@quadran.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
National Internet Training Seminars, Workshops,
Keynotes, Consulting - For The Real Estate Industry
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AOP Alert
This message is from Robb Russell Ro...@sanctum.com
The following message was brought to my attention by Karen
Stefani. The proposal by AOP will end up having many drastic
affects on business and will force those that remain domain
owners to further charge outlandish fees to justify the cost of
their domains.If such a measure were ever approved this would
actually force only the biggest players in the internet business
and then being controlled to conduct commerce at their fees.The
reason the internet is so inexpensive today is the competition is
too great to compete with millions of channels instead of tens,
hundreds or thousands.Thus the fees like online access and web
pages remain low.
Can you imagine your private real estate office paying an
additional $2500 to $20,000 in unnecessary fees because it owns
its private domain!! I urge everyone to join this list and voice
their concerns.
Contact InterNIC with a request that the proposal not be
implemented. See internic mailing address in message below.
Thank you Karen for pointing this out -Editor
===========================================================
AOP
Alert Wednesday, January 15, 1997
============================================================
The following is a legislative alert from the Association of
Online Professionals, the leading association of Internet Service
Providers and other professionals who manage online services.
Please give it the widest possible distribution:
=============================================================
AOP
Opposes Network Solutions ARIN Proposal
=============================================================
This week, Network Solutions, Inc. proposed the formation of a
new entity that would charge ISPs from $2,500 to $20,000 per year
for registration of Internet IP addresses. This fee would be in
addition to fees already charged for registration of domain
names.
Under the proposal, an American Registry for Internet Numbers
would be created as a non-profit entity to collect the fees and
assign the addresses. The new entity would replace the
government- sponsored InterNIC IP group. Companies who wish to
participate in policy-making as members of the group would pay an
additional $1,000 per year.
Information regarding the proposal may be found at
http://www.arin.net.
The Association of Online Professionals has serious concerns
about the proposal, and urges all North American Internet service
providers and their subscribers to oppose the measure until these
concerns are addressed:
** There is no indication in the proposal as to why the fees are
needed.
** The proposed non-profit has no published goals, mission or
other information beyond its structure and fees.
** The fee structure will cost the industry millions of dollars,
yet there is no information as to how the money will be spent or
how it will benefit the Internet.
** The assertions that the fees would not affect subscribers are
incorrect, as these fees would have to be passed on to consumers.
** The assertions that ISPs can afford the fees as a cost of
doing business reflects a poor understanding of the current
economics of Internet access services. The proposed fee
structure would have a devastating effect on small ISPs as well
as non- profit, hobbyist and public access providers.
** It is unclear under what authority Network Solutions would
impose the fees. The Internet exists as a public resource, and
as such should not be subjected to the arbitrary control of any
small group of individuals or entities.
AOP has generally supported efforts to bring organization and
structure to the Internet, including the imposition of fees to
cover the cost of assigning and maintaining domain names.
However, AOP cannot support the current proposal until more
information is provided and a meaningful dialogue established to
ensure that the proposal is more than an attempt to wrest control
of the Internet for a select group of self-proclaimed
authorities.
Please do the following immediately:
1) Contact InterNIC with a request that the proposal not be
implemented.
Comments are being taken only on the Internic listserv. To make
comments, you must first join the listserv by sending mail to
list...@internic.net with SUBSCRIBE NAIPR in the body. You may
then post comments to na...@internic.net.
2) Urge your subscribers and business associates to reject the
proposal.
AOP will make every effort to obtain answers to the questions
raised, and will strive for meaningful conversations with Network
Solutions on these issues. If you have comments that would help
us build a consensus for these discussions, please direct them to
ex...@aop.org.
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RE: CAN WE TALK ABOUT EARNEST MONEY?
This message is from Jim Lee <gri...@usit.net>
>Here's the situation: You are a Buyer's Agent, and we all know
>you have a profound obligation to promote and protect the
>client's interests. You are writing an offer, using the State
>approved Contract. That contract clearly states in several
places that if something >happens through no fault of the Buyer
and the sale does not close, the Buyer gets their earnest money
back without a further writing - Right! Does the Buyer
automatically get their earnest money back? NO.
Here's another earnest money scenario I found interesting: Buyer
and seller agree on a $65,000 sale price, contract is contingent
on buyer getting a 90% conventional loan for $58,500. House
appraises for $64,100. ($64,100!!!, obviously they had the
world's greatest appraiser to come up with such a precise
defination of value, but I digress). Lender says we'll loan you
90% of $64,100 or $57,700. Buyers says "no, I don't want to buy
the house anymore since it didn't appraise for as much as the
sale price". Seller offers to reduce sales price to $64,100 so
buyer can still get a 90% loan, buyer still says no and asks for
earnest money back, seller refuses. Buyers sues for earnest
money and loses because the court ruled she was acting in bad
faith, the court said the intent of the parties and show of good
faith on each party had as much to do with the contract as the
specific language. The court also said the seller's offer to
reduce the sales price by $900 was a benefit to the prospective
buyer and her apparent reluctance was a show of bad faith on her
part. Buyer appealed and lost again in appelate court. Earnest
money amount, while immaterial to this concept, was $7,000!
James R. (Jim) Lee, CRS,GRI Realty Executives, Knoxville, TN
1-800-662-2488 email: gri...@usit.net
http://TN.Living.net/Realtor/10097235
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REAL ESTATE COMPUTER NEWS & VIEWS
This message is from "Beth Guth" <beth...@realtyexecs.com>
> I've mentioned Web Whacker software as an excellent way to grab
your Web > site for showing without having to connect to the
Internet
Just a note, I bought Web Buddy and it does not work well with
Internet Explorer, only Netscape. BUT---I discovered Internet
Explorer does what I wanted Web Buddy (and Web Whacker) for. I
wasted $49.
To grab web pages and view (or show-off) the pages off-line (like
at a kitchen table...Yes, you will get the sounds, cgi,
javascript and full motion video too) Here's how:
1. Use Internet Explorer 3.0 for Windows 95 (free for the
downloading-no shareware, no time limit)
2. Click on "GO" along the top to activate the pull down menu
3. Click on "Open History Folder" There you will see displayed
all the web sites you have been to. Click on the Globe that
precedes the site you want to revisit and the site will be
displayed. Once in a while a site has failed to come up.
Confirm that your site is ready to go before a crucial
presentation.
4. HINT-for a site you will show often (ie-your very own home
page) add it to Favorites Clicking on favorites will look for the
web page in your cache first (cache is the aforementioned
"history")
5. HINT-running out of space on your hard drive? Decrease the
amount allocated to this cache by: a. Click View, then Options
b. Click the Navigation tab c. Decrease the number of days
pages are stored in history d. Now click on the Advanced Tab
1.Under "Temporary Internet Files" Section, click Settings 2.
Adjust slider to optimize the amount of your hard drive for these
stored pages
NOTE TO THE PARANOID OR THOSE THAT SHOULD BE.... While teaching
an internet class recently, I was demonstrating the above. I was
shocked (ok, surprised and amused) to find the history folder
filled with a record of visits to erotic sites like Babe-a-rama,
playboy, penthouse et al. A word to the wise, if you are using
someone else's computer or don't want someone to know where
you've been CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF. On the other hand, if you
have a 15 year old son...
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HP12c's Are Not Dead!
by Robert M. McGregor, Copyright 1997
I've recently dusted off my Hewlett-Packard hp12c, and written
some short useful programs. As much as I rely HP 100lx's built
in spreadsheet, and the nested @if functions for doing the most
accurate good faith estimates. However, the 12c has speed
advantage when you only want a single answer. Absolute accuracy
isn't a requirement -- within a few dollars is good enough for
most conversations and really nice to have in my pocket. (Let's
see your laptop do that!)
This short program returns a fast estimate of closing costs.
Simply punch in the loan amount (not sale) press [Enter] and
press the R/S key. The window blinks once and gives you the
answer, points and all.
I've written the instructions in key stroke order, press the
buttons in the EXACT order. Once you get this working, go back
and determine the closing costs and the variable factor that
applies to your area. I've used the square brackets [] to
indicate a key and the print (white) or the blue subscript or the
yellow superscript on the HP12's keys. Into each of the following
locations enter the following.
First the Set Up: ---------------- Keystrokes
What it does.
[1][3][4][9][sto][.][0] Store "hard" closing costs
[.][0][1][0][5][sto][.][1] Stores Variable Closing costs
[.][0][1][sto][0] Store 1% origination fee.
-------- NOTES -------- "Hard" closing costs will not vary for
most loans. In our Area this totals $1349.00. This includes
appraisal, credit report, doc prep, underwriting, flood
certification, survey, Tax Service fee, courier, recording fee,
termite report and the basic lender side of title insurance. I
carry in my head that for Conventional loans the appraisal is $75
lower and that on FHA and VA the seller has to pay the required
fees. I also know that once in awhile I have to add for a septic
check and a safe well test. Figure your "hard" costs for the type
of loan you most frequently use.
"Variable" costs in Florida include .0035 for doc stamps and .002
intangible tax -- both on the mortgage amount. In addition,
title insurance on the buyer's side adds about 1/2% beyond the
basic flat charge as the loan increases. In Florida these
together .0035+.002+.005= .0105
"Points" Include Origination and discount. This is probably the
only memory location you may need to change as you do a
calculation. I leave mine to a default value of 1%.
Recording the Program --------------------- Keys Line#
Display What it does [CLX] 0000's Clears the
window [f] [R/S] 00 Makes sure you are at the
beginning and [f] [R/S] 0000 and the second time
returns to ready mode. [f] [R/S] 00- [PV] 01-
13 Stores the loan amount into PV [RCL][0] 02- 45 0
Recalls the "points" [RCL][.][1] 03- 45 48 1 Recall the
"Variable" factor [+] 04- 40 Adds the two,
results in a total factor. [RCL][PV] 05- 45 13 Recall
the loan amount [X] 06- 20 Multiplies the two.
[RCL][1] 07- 45 48 0 Recalls the hard closing costs. [+]
08- 40 Stops to display the Estimated Closing
Costs. [g][gto] 09- 43,33 00 Ends the program [f][R/S}
000's Returns to normal mode.
Test ----
key in $50000 Press [Enter] Press the [R/S] answer should be
$2,274.00
Using the Program ----------------- Change the points in location
"0" if necessary. Key in the loan amount (not sale) Press [Enter]
It is important that [Enter] is pressed to avoid combining the
loan amount with another value already in memory. Press the R/S
key. The window blinks once and gives you the answer, points and
all.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| Robert M. McGregor, B...@homebankers.com Listmaster,
Homebankers | | And a Loan Officer with Premier Mortgage
Bankers, | | part of the First Tennessee Bank
Family | | Personal Res:813-862-5216; Personal Fax
813-862-8757 |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
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Another Web way...
This message is from "Larry Daniel" <real...@cland.net>
Another way to view Web sites is to save the HTML and the images
to a diskette or hard drive in their own directory. It may be
necessary to change the <IMG SRC= tags to the used directory,
i.e.; ./ but when you have it right the pages and images load
correctly, and quicker than a 28.8 modem.
Good Luck, Marilyn & Larry Daniel, REALTORS 'helping people find
the right place' http://www.cland.net/~realest8 for our Web pages
http://www.cland.net/~realest8/webvideo.html for our new Video
"Using the Web to Increase Your Real Estate Net"
mailto:real...@cland.net for e-Mail or 1-800-743-4476 to have
us paged Billy Long, KELLER WILLIAMS Realty; Springfield, MO
65804