Monthly Archives: July 2011

Live Music at Alderwood Mall for North-Enders

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Alderwood Mall has come a long way since I was a teenager. Growing up in Brier we used to take the bus to “the mall” and spend whatever money we had at the Squire Shop. Things are a lot different today. The mall has undergone a massive transformation w/the addition of their outdoor mall and structural redesign.

Another new feature is live music or as they refer to it; Alderwood Summer Concert Series. This caught my eye because the first band, Dudley Manlove Quartet, is one that I’ve seen live and they are good! They open the series at 6pm on July 21st in the Alderwood Terraces (Not to be confused w/the “Food Court” where your friends worked the Orange Julius counter). If you haven’t been to “the mall” in a while – this is as good a reason as any to go. It’s pretty impressive and a great asset to those of us still living in the North End area. Make a night of it – there’s fun for everyone!

Click on the link to see the full summer concert schedule.

Zip Realty eliminates rebates to buyers

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In what appears to be a cost saving move Zip Realty (ZIPR) has moved away from the model that launched the company to success back in 1999. According to Inman News, Zip has decided to eliminate all buyer rebates or closing credits for buyers. These credits have been central to the success of EZdigs as well.

A buyer credit or rebate – it’s the same thing whether you refer to it as a credit, rebate or commission refund – and it works as follows:

Buyer A purchases a $500K home using agent X. At closing agent X is paid a commission from the seller. Agent X then credits or rebates Buyer A with a portion of the seller paid commission. Since the commission is paid by the seller, it’s free money to the buyer. The credits can be for any amount but must conform with lender guidelines.

This is a great way for buyers to save potentially thousands of dollars. For example using the scenario above a typical EZdigs credit would net our Buyer $5,000 at closing! That can be tremendously helpful when buyers are already stretching to cover the down payment and all the closing costs. Imagine having money left over after closing – can you say patio furniture!

It’s sad to me that Zip is abandoning this model. The article referenced above also mentions that Zip shuddered 12 offices and laid off 700 agents in the first quarter and that the move is an effort to revive profitability. This market has been tough on everyone, big and small alike, but I don’t think eliminating buyer rebates is the answer. At EZdigs our agents are free to decide how they want to handle their transactions and rebates but this option will always be on the table for our clients.

Citi Joins Chase in paying homeowners to short sell their homes

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I currently have a short sale listing where Chase has offered to pay my client 20K after the successful short sale of his home. I have a copy of the letter and I’ve personally spoke w/representatives with Chase and they stand behind the offer – of course I’m skeptical but we’ll see. I’ll certainly report back once the condo is sold.

Now according to the article (click on the word “article“) CitiMortgage has announced that they are paying delinquent borrowers up to 12K upon completing a short sale. When you think about it – it makes sense from a purely financial perspectives for lenders to do this. And of course we all know that lenders think with their spreadsheets.