S.E.C. Real Estate Observer

The client is desperate to transact the listed property to get off of the loan payments and get enough cash to solve some other issue. The listed price is $600K, but the current market will only bring $500K and the client is still in yesteryear on values. The loan is $350K. An S.E.C. broker knows that there are many ways to get people to their objectives over the resistance of advisors, lenders, third party influence, etc. One solution is to disguise the fall in value and avoid the seller’s lack of reality.

The TV ad for Priceline “pick your own price,” using humorist William Shatner of “Boston Legal,” encourages the consumer guy to “no, no, don’t settle, keep negotiating,” until the guy gets the $250.00 hotel room for $99.00 = “Now you’re negotiating!” …Probably the same advice is appropriate for today’s real estate market. What was a GREAT deal two years ago is not even close to a FAIR deal today. The few left with cash and credit are sitting on the sidelines and don’t know what to do, or they want both your daughters and your mistress or they won’t play.

Determining the “value” of real estate is akin to predicting US. Gross National Product for 1978. So many variables affect it (each of which demands a subjective value judgment) that appraisal is more state-of-the-art than a science.

Now that cash is king again because there is only 20% of what earlier was available to do real estate transactions compared to 2006 as sources for a lot of the prior available cash have been cut off by the “crisis” (i.e., less equity = no equity loans, no buyers = no cash out = lowering prices = no speculation = major reduction in interest in real estate as “upside” isn’t assumed anymore). So, some owners have increased MOTIVATION to get a SOLUTION [...]

Now that a year has passed since brokers realized the 12 years of free-flowing cash and lenders has disappeared from the R.E. market, some have learned to be good client counselors in order to be able to put closed transactions on the table. The first multi-leg transaction I ever put together (right after taking weeklong “The Reno Class” = Modern Real Estate Exchanging, which was a requirement in those days for an invite to S.E.C.), caused me to name the technique “STONE SOUP”. [...]

Diamond merchants have promoted diamonds as the greatest gift to show true love. Many great “love of life” relationships have been cemented with Zircons without anyone knowing the difference. A few might wonder where a guy with such short supply could find the where-with-all to produce a 1 1/2 carat stone [...]

A brochure for the first EXCHANGE COUNSELING one-day seminar given reminded me of a couple of cheerleading concepts we proffered upon the “great unwashed” [...]

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in the November 1973 issue of the Real Estate News Observer.
Since 1966, the real estate industry seems to be facing trends in supply, demand, and availability of loans that change more rapidly and more drastically than before. Changing our approach to brokerage to compensate for or benefit from each [...]

I have been railing at meetings that not enough COAGULATION thinking is used in creating transactions. So… I guess I’d better tell you what I mean so you can utilize the strategy.
The concept is simply combining more than one person’s transaction desires and capabilities to cause the required benefits to go to all involved. (It’s [...]

When I was first into investment real estate brokerage (having taken all the numbers courses before CCIM was invented), I would find what I thought was a really good buying opportunity, make a list of my 10 best clients/investors, and present my analysis. The usual response was, “Let me mull it over,” or some such [...]