I had an interesting listing presentation last night. Everything went smoothly. I was well prepared with a ton of useful information for my prospective sellers, an empty nest couple in too much house. We all got along very well, the home was impeccable, we agreed on the fair market value for their lovely home, and then I asked the fatal question: where are you planning to move next?

Most agents are not particularly tech savvy, so when choosing a website for their business, the default choice is often one of the many turnkey systems that provide websites without requiring any technical expertise. Although it sounds good at first blush, not all systems are the same (although most look the same).

In the most positive report in almost two years, the labor department has reported the smallest job loss since the recession began.

The smallness of the bad news is extraordinary. Most experts agree we’ve emerged from the recession and expect mild growth next year.

What does this mean for real estate?

People that follow real estate trends by studying media reports and surfing diligently certainly can get a feel for the general state of a market. Unfortunately that general overview is only helpful if one is interested in macroeconomics. People that are looking at real estate in a given community are very likely to miss both the really big picture, and that special house.

As we go officially go into the holiday season (ignoring holiday creep: Halloween), this has been a tumultuous year for many, but do we have things to be thankful for?

Family and friends come first, off course, but then comes business. Can money buy you happiness? It can’t really, but it can buy you a boat big enough to sail right up to happiness and wave hello with a margarita in your other hand.

President Obama signed into law on Friday the extension of the first time home buyer’s tax credit, putting in our hands $24 billion of stimulus money. This is huge any way you slice it, but am I looking at a gift horse in the mouth?

Most home owners would not dream of selling their bedroom or the bathtub in their bathroom, but when they take out the equity in their homes, they are doing just that.

Some national lenders are dramatically scaling back their home equity loan programs (reducing the available credit or just downright canceling HELOCS). They have their reasons for doing this, but we should take notice, and know better if we can avoid it.

You’ll be reading about this all day!!!

Yesterday (November 4, 2009) the Senate officially passed a six month extension on the first time home buyer tax credit of $8,000, which is intended to encourage more people to buy homes and spur economic activity. The bill has expanded to include ‘trade up’ buyers (present home owners that have lived in their home for at least five years can get up to $6,500).

Thanks to everyone that commented on 'How Much Is My House Worth?' post. Certainly what one's home value might be is a topic near and dear to many people, but I was surprised at all your responses and kind words, thank you.

Use our live spreadsheet to see how your particular market performs.

As it frequently happens when I’m at a party, the subject of occupation comes up and when people discover I’m a realtor, the conversation usually gets very personal because people immediately want to know from an insider how they’ve been affected.

This weekend was no exception. We were at an excellent Halloween party (no you don’t get pictures of my costume) and the subject of a particular market came up. Although it seemed as if different price ranges were talking, the question was the same: What is my house worth and when will I get my money?

Unless you’ve been under a real estate rock, you’ve heard about the first time home buyers credit that’s about to expire. Unless that rock is under a larger rock, you’ve also heard about the $700 Billion dollar bank bailout (TARP).

What gets much less press is the Term Asset-Backed Loan Facility (TALF) which will cost the Fed $1.3 TRILLION. Does that affect real estate? You could bet what you can afford it does!

Regardless of market conditions, no buyer in the history of buyers has wanted to pay a dime more for a home than absolutely necessary**. In the equal history of sellers, no seller has wanted to sell their home for a nickel less than they possibly could get.

Traditional negotiating strategies have been less effective in tight markets. The answer is both simple yet for many elusive.

You'd have to pry Google away from me too, but how helpful is it for real estate searches? Needle in a haystack has better odds. Two problems crop up. We all know the first one, but it's the less obvious one that gets people every day!