Second Century Acquires ePropertyData

 

Daily Real Estate News | March 10, 2008

Second Century Acquires ePropertyData

THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® has acquired ePropertyData, a major provider of commercial information exchange (CIE) services for the commercial real estate industry.

The acquisition was accomplished by NAR’s new for-profit subsidiary, Second Century Ventures LLC, a strategic private equity fund that was conceived to help support NAR members in emerging technologies and services.

“Through this acquisition, NAR will provide its members with two important new services — a robust national commercial real estate listing and transaction platform, and a broker-centric solution provider for the CIE industry,” says NAR President Dick Gaylord. “The national listings and transactions platform will give our commercial members national exposure for all their sale and lease listings and provide the industry with an excellent and trusted resource to search for properties across the country.”

For the past five years, ePD, based in Gig Harbor, Wash., has been providing CIE services to the commercial real estate industry. ePD operates two of the largest CIEs in the country, CommercialMLS.com, on behalf of the 4,500-member Commercial Brokers Association in Seattle, and CommercialGateway.com for the 2,000-member commercial division of the Houston Association of REALTORS®.

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The Automatic Homeowner

In his follow-up book to the bestselling The Automatic Millionaire, David Bach has taken his winning strategies to the next level with The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner, a guide to assist with building wealth through real estate. According to Bach, the plan is quite simple, it works in any market, and it has been thoroughly time tested to work. For years, Americans used their investment dollars in the stock market to grow at a steady pace. When drastic changes occurred, much of that money moved to investment in the real estate market. The purchase of primary residences, home improvement projects, and the investment in second homes all witnessed steady growth as people’s wealth became heavily tied to their homes. The bottom line of Bach’s process is to buy a home, live in it, build wealth, get great tax deductions, and retire rich. Sound too good to be true? The emphasis, however, is that to truly follow this philosophy, it is not about booms and busts in the real estate cycle or timing the market to take advantage of trends, and certainly not to get rich overnight. It is understanding the fact that real estate is not a passing trend, and “as long as you’re alive, you have to live somewhere.” The real wealth building comes from a lifetime of homeownership.

Unfortunately, people often are drawn to schemes and plans with the promise of doing little and receiving much in return. Sometimes it really works, but most of the time it ends up with less than the desired effect. Buyers who flocked to speculative real estate markets to purchase preconstruction homes in order to “flip” quite often found this out firsthand. These situations are what have received much media attention while those who use real estate wisely take the back seat.

So, how do you build real wealth in the real estate market without becoming overleveraged? The key is long term commitment, making sound decisions, and putting yourself in the right mindset.

Some basic action steps to getting on the right road are included below:

Meet with a mortgage professional, whether a mortgage banker (direct lender) or a mortgage broker (independent consultant who will shop your loan with various lenders). Find someone who is knowledgeable and who you trust.

Chose the right type of mortgage to meet your personal needs. There are many options available including fixed rate, adjustable rates, low money down, etc. Ask enough questions to know the pros and cons of each type.

Get the best deal on your mortgage. Shop rates. Know your credit score. Obtain your credit reports and review thoroughly for accuracy.

Find the right home for your situation. What kind of home are you interested in? Where do you want to live? Use the internet to assist in research. Give yourself a “dream with a deadline.”

Work with a great real estate agent. The key things your agent should do for you is listen, help you find out how much you can afford, narrow your search, educate you on the market, assist with price determination and comparable properties, assist you through appraisals, inspections and closing.

Make the mortgage payment automatic. Paying off a mortgage early can save an extraordinary amount of money in interest fees. For example, splitting a monthly mortgage payment into two biweekly payments can cut 5-7 years off of the length of a 30 year mortgage and save tens of thousands of dollars in interest. The difference in your monthly budget will be so gradual, but the payoff is immense.

With negative real estate tales at the forefront in the media, Bach gives a final bit of advice to “bubble proof” your real estate plan and survive potential downturns. First, make sure you can afford your mortgage. Don’t depend on possible sources of additional income or hope that adjustable rates will not rise. Make sure you have financial resources in place to ride out a cycle. Next, think local. Always keep in mind that the national market is irrelevant to you. Then, always get the facts. Know the local market inventory, prices that homes are actually selling for, and the amount of time that homes are staying on the market. Also, never purchase just in order to “flip” the home in hopes of a quick profit. Finally, know that in most cases, time cures all. Patience is the ultimate virtue in real estate.

Robyn Erlenbush is owner of ERA Landmark Real Estate (with offices in Bozeman, Big Sky, Livingston and Clyde Park) and Intermountain Property Management. She can be reached at robyn@eralandmark.com.

Visit us at http://www.eralandmark.com/ & http://www.StuartandSally.com

Thanks to Robyn!

Recreation, retirement keep demand up in Bozeman

 By Christine Dugas, USA TODAY

Bozeman, Mont., is not a magnet for business, so its housing market doesn’t tend to gain much of an influx from families who move for job-related reasons. Still, the city, which is the county seat of Gallatin County, home to Montana State University and an agricultural community, has long been a desirable place to live.

Bozeman attracts home buyers who favor outdoor recreation. And they get plenty of it there, from skiing and fishing to hunting and mountain biking. Bozeman is situated in a high mountain valley, about 90 miles from Yellowstone National Park.

Many people who grow up in Bozeman and move away to pursue careers eventually return to raise families, says Tricia Bailey, president of the Gallatin Association of Realtors.

Some who move to Bozeman find they can continue to work, via the Internet, at jobs based in other states. Other employees may fly to jobs in other locations; the city has a busy airport with many private jets. And Bozeman is a small but emerging high-tech market, says Robyn Erlenbush, owner of ERA Landmark Real Estate.

Couples sometimes move to Bozeman for retirement and then buy homes there. Last month, it was selected as one of the top 10 places to retire by U.S. News & World Report.

This year, despite the mortgage credit crisis, Bozeman has avoided a sharp downturn in sales. The city has suffered few home foreclosures, Erlenbush says. And it hasn’t endured any serious industry downturns or job losses.

The market has slowed a bit largely because of stricter standards to qualify for certain kinds of mortgages. “But I would say that home sales have been much better than we expected,” Bailey says.

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