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		<title>Group 15 Blog</title>
		<description>Group 15 Real Estate and Property Management is a creative collaboration of Charlotte's finest resources: buying, selling, renting, lease purchase or investing.</description>
		<link>http://www.group15realestate.com/connect/blog?task=feed&amp;type=index.php%3Foption%3Dcom_lyftenbloggie</link>
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			<title>Distressed Sales.  Great Deals?</title>
			<link>http://www.group15realestate.com/connect/blog/2011/06/22/12-distressed-sales-great-deals</link>
			<guid>http://www.group15realestate.com/connect/blog/2011/06/22/12-distressed-sales-great-deals</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[Not a week goes by that I do not talk to some buyer prospect who states their interest in buying a distressed property.  Word on the street is that these foreclosures, short sales, estate sales, HUD and Fannie Mae homes and the like represent the best deals the market has to offer.  But is this true?  Here are some quick hit random thoughts that I usually end up discussing (in no particular order):
]]></description>
			<pubDate>Wed, 22 Jun 2011 12:36:53 +0000</pubDate>
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		<item>
			<title>Curb Appeal Has Never Been More Important</title>
			<link>http://www.group15realestate.com/connect/blog/2011/06/20/11-curb-appeal-has-never-been-more-important</link>
			<guid>http://www.group15realestate.com/connect/blog/2011/06/20/11-curb-appeal-has-never-been-more-important</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[When meeting with a new seller client one of the first questions they always have is: "What do I need to do to get my house ready for showings?"  Every house will have varying levels of de-cluttering, cleaning, painting, repairs and updating.  And most people want to stay focused on interior improvements.  But, the number one thing that every house needs is immaculate curb appeal.
 ]]></description>
			<pubDate>Tue, 21 Jun 2011 03:57:57 +0000</pubDate>
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		<item>
			<title>Answering Ten Economic Questions for 2011</title>
			<link>http://www.group15realestate.com/connect/blog/2010/12/22/10-answering-ten-economic-questions-for-2011</link>
			<guid>http://www.group15realestate.com/connect/blog/2010/12/22/10-answering-ten-economic-questions-for-2011</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[One of my favorite blogs, Calculated Risk, recently posed ten economic questions to ponder for 2011.  Here are my quick hit answers to some of those questions:
1. House Prices: How much further will they fall and will they bottom out in 2011? ]]></description>
			<pubDate>Wed, 22 Dec 2010 18:29:17 +0000</pubDate>
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		<item>
			<title>How much less than list price should I offer?</title>
			<link>http://www.group15realestate.com/connect/blog/2010/12/19/9-how-much-less-than-list-price-should-i-offer</link>
			<guid>http://www.group15realestate.com/connect/blog/2010/12/19/9-how-much-less-than-list-price-should-i-offer</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[The most common question I hear from prospective buyers is: "How much less from the purchase price should I offer?"  Conversely, sellers have the same question: "How much of a discount do buyers expect to get?  If I am willing to take $X, how much more than that should we make the list price?"
I consistently remind both buyers and sellers that this is not the right approach to negotiating a sales price.  I actually try to get my buyers to ignore the list price as much as possible.  Every house and every seller is different.  Perhaps the seller was shooting for the moon when they chose that list price or perhaps they listed it at a great discount to make sure they could sell it quickly.  Thus, it is best to actually set the list price aside and remove the guessing game of the seller's state of mind.  Instead, focus on two things:]]></description>
			<pubDate>Mon, 20 Dec 2010 07:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
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			<title>Mortgage After Foreclosure?</title>
			<link>http://www.group15realestate.com/connect/blog/2010/12/18/8-mortgage-after-foreclosure</link>
			<guid>http://www.group15realestate.com/connect/blog/2010/12/18/8-mortgage-after-foreclosure</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[Recently someone submitted a question to Bankrate.com and asked about the possibility of getting a mortgage after a foreclosure (read the full article here).  The article goes on to discuss how difficult it can be to get a mortgage after a foreclosure.  But, the sad part is that it is becoming that hard for many people to get a mortgage for many reasons other than a foreclosure.  Bankrate offers a solution that we here at Group 15 have been endorsing for a long time now: Lease Option! There are many advantages as a buyer to locking in on a Lease Purchase instead of just renting and paying your landlord's mortgage.  And you can take the steps necessary in the interim while you are in the midst of your Lease Purchase to then be able to exercise your option and get that mortgage that is elusive to you at this present time.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Sun, 19 Dec 2010 04:49:12 +0000</pubDate>
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		<item>
			<title>QE2, inflation and what it means for real estate.</title>
			<link>http://www.group15realestate.com/connect/blog/2010/12/15/7-qe2-inflation-and-what-it-means-for-real-estate</link>
			<guid>http://www.group15realestate.com/connect/blog/2010/12/15/7-qe2-inflation-and-what-it-means-for-real-estate</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[While I enjoy being a lifelong student of economy, I can easily see that there are a great many people way smarter than I am that are trying to make sense of our current set of circumstances.  For most of us, up until recently we may have thought that QE2 might be something akin to Carbon Dioxide.  But, if you have been paying any attention to the news lately you know that Quantitative Easing is all the hubbub.  And like any present day issue, it is, of course, highly politicized with its detractors and supporters.  Here's the 10 second elevator speech on QE2: "A lot of really smart people are concerned about inflation, but they are even more concerned about deflation.  So, they are going to print lots of money as an attempt to fight against deflation, even if it leads to higher inflation." Please comment below if you have a more refined or better definition that might shed some light on the issue.
 ]]></description>
			<pubDate>Thu, 16 Dec 2010 03:17:09 +0000</pubDate>
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		<item>
			<title>Charlotte's Economic Growth Potential</title>
			<link>http://www.group15realestate.com/connect/blog/2010/08/23/6-charlottes-economic-growth-potential</link>
			<guid>http://www.group15realestate.com/connect/blog/2010/08/23/6-charlottes-economic-growth-potential</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[Do you live in Charlotte?  Do you have the impression that Charlotte will be a leader in economic growth, middle of the pack, or lagging behind?  The Charlotte Business Journal reported a story last week from Business Facilities magazine that Charlotte is faring well in some regards.  Charlotte is ranking #5 in economic growth potential and #5 in most wired cities.  The state of North Carolina on the whole also ranked well for economic growth potential, work-force training and business climate.
]]></description>
			<pubDate>Tue, 24 Aug 2010 04:25:50 +0000</pubDate>
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			<title>Who benefited from the Tax Credit?</title>
			<link>http://www.group15realestate.com/connect/blog/2010/08/17/5-who-benefited-from-the-tax-credit</link>
			<guid>http://www.group15realestate.com/connect/blog/2010/08/17/5-who-benefited-from-the-tax-credit</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[In response to our last blog post about the tax credit I had a good discussion with one of our friends on facebook.  She asked, "who really benefited from the tax credit: the buyer or the seller?"  Of course, the general idea behind the tax credit was that the buyer would be getting a house at current market value AND would be getting $8,000.  But, what if the prices were instead just inflated by $8,000 or more?
As soon as the tax credit expired, it was my premise that, in fact, the price had simply been inflated.  So, any buyers that I had looking to go under contract after 04/30 I looked at the comparable sold data from the past 6 months and then deduct $8,000 from that price to reach my suggested offer price.  Some real estate agents didn't get it, others disagreed and others just got angry.  And at the time, there was not enough data to know which of us was right.  But, that was my premise.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Wed, 18 Aug 2010 00:48:41 +0000</pubDate>
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			<title>Tax Credit.  Now What?</title>
			<link>http://www.group15realestate.com/connect/blog/2010/08/13/4-tax-credit-now-what</link>
			<guid>http://www.group15realestate.com/connect/blog/2010/08/13/4-tax-credit-now-what</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[It has now been over three months since the tax credit contract date has expired.  So, what has the market done since then? In the three months leading up to the tax credit there was an average of 8 total showings on each listing in Charlotte.  That was not a lot, but it was a surge at the time of people trying to get in to get under contract before 04/30 to be eligible for their $6,500-8,000 from the government.  The idea was for this to "jump start" the slumping real estate market and propel it forward and upward into the summer months.  In order for that to be true these buyers needed to be people who were not going to buy otherwise in the near future.  Did it work?
]]></description>
			<pubDate>Sat, 14 Aug 2010 02:26:57 +0000</pubDate>
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			<title>Offer Incentives or Lower the Price?</title>
			<link>http://www.group15realestate.com/connect/blog/2010/02/02/3-offer-incentives-or-lower-the-price</link>
			<guid>http://www.group15realestate.com/connect/blog/2010/02/02/3-offer-incentives-or-lower-the-price</guid>
			<description><![CDATA[We did a survey asking what our first blog topic should be and the  consensus was to discuss alternative sales techniques.  In this buyer's  market it helps to think of creative ideas that can set your house apart  from your competition.  I was reading one article last week that  discusses five wacky ways to sell your house:

Let prospective buyers sleep over
Hire house sitters
Offer incentives, incentives, and more incentives
House trading
Sell to a builder

Now, some of these are indeed pretty wacky and have their pros and  cons.  Offering incentives has become fairly commonplace, but does it  work; and if so, which ideas work the best?  The most common incentive  is to offer to pay closing costs.  But, in this market buyers now expect  to receive some seller paid closing costs, so offering it does little  more than communicate the seller's "real" asking price.  Other popular  incentives are things like paint, carpet or appliance allowances.  There  is a big problem with this in today's market.  Right now buyers are  either looking for an absolute steal of a deal or they are looking for a  fairly priced home that has all of the nice finishing touches.  This  means that sellers really need to decide in which of these two  categories they will fit.  And with so many bank-owned distressed  properties with which to compete, most sellers will need to compete on  the market as a nicely finished move-in ready home.  And a seller cannot  compete effectively in that market if there is paint, carpet or  appliances that need to be replaced, even with an offered allowance.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:33:31 +0000</pubDate>
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