A HOUSINGPANIC MESSAGE TO THE WORLD

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http://housingpanic.blogspot.com/2007/05/housingpanic-message-to-world.html

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A taste of 60 Minutes

A preview of the upcoming 60 Minutes story on online real estate brokers can now be found on the CBS Website. It looks like they got a great shot of my former office mate Fadi doin his real estate thing.

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlueCollarAgentsBlog/~3/115993922/

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440 Employees Laid Off At LendingTree Today

The housing slowdown has hit another victim today, or should we say 440 victims, as Lending Tree is laying off 20 percent of it’s 2,200 employees. This news follows the announcment last month that LendingTree CEO Tom Reddin was leaving for family reasons.If I had to guess, there is going to be some rotten news [...]

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It's all coming out now. Read this mortgage
broker's declaration on the fraud, corruption, evil and boiler room tactics going on at Ameriquest

The out of control mortgage broker industry IS F*CKING SCREAMING FOR REGULATION. There were boiler rooms full of unethical conmen all over the United States these past few years, right under the noses of our bought-and-paid-for Congress and bankers who would buy up any loan on sight so they could sell it on to China, mutual funds and hedge funds.

And now we'll pay the price. This will end so ugly as it unravels, you'll tell stories to your children's children one day and they'll be amazed.

Here's the deposition from a reformed conman, in a desperate homedebtor suit vs. Ameriquest, in its complete and raw format. I've bolded the really sick stuff.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF MINNESOTA
LUKE RICCI AND TRACI RICCI, TERRI
SECK, and TERRI BAUMGARTNER, on
behalf of themselves and all others similarly
situated,
Plaintiffs,
v.
AMERIQUEST MORTGAGE COMPANY, a
Delaware corporation, and DOE
CORPORATION,
Defendants.
Court File No. 05-1214 JRT/FLN
DECLARATION OF
MARK BOMCHILL
1. My name is Mark Bomchill. I am over eighteen years of age and of sound
mind. I was employed by Ameriquest Mortgage Company at the Plymouth, Minnesota branch of
Ameriquest, from September 2002 through September 2003. My job title at Ameriquest was
Account Executive. There were approximately 20 Account Executives in the Plymouth branch
office. During my tenure at Ameriquest, I closed approximately 90-100 mortgage loans.
2. As an Account Executive my duties included but were not limited to,
soliciting potential customers to refinance mortgage loans, processing and closing said loans.
3. When I started my employment with Ameriquest, I received training
demonstrating and encouraging high pressure sales tactics. Such training included watching a
series of videos relating to mortgage sales tactics featuring Dale Vermillion. Account Executives
were also shown scenes from "Boiler Room," a movie about unethical and illegal high pressure
sales practices by a securities brokerage firm. Account Executives were also provided with
scripts, including those integrated within Ameriquest's computer systems such as the SNAP
system. The scripts were on such issues as encouraging consolidation of debt, and for
responding to objections by potential borrowers. I believe that all of the Account Executives in
Minnesota (and nationwide) received this same training and the same scripts.
4. During my tenure as an Account Executive, I also participated in
approximately 3-4 Ameriquest telemarketing training sessions for Account Executives that
involved phone call role playing, in which the person playing the borrower would make
objections to the loan, and I would need to respond. The role-playing would be followed by
critiques of my performance in dealing with the potential borrower and responding to objections.
I believe that all of the Account Executives in Minnesota (and nationwide) received this same
training.
5. The branch manager and area manager constantly pushed Account
Executives to make as many phone calls as possible to solicit loan sales. Every day, there were
numerous "Power Hours" during which the Account Executives were required to only make
phone calls. The area manager was responsible for at least several branch offices within
Minnesota.
6. Account Executives were required to make at least 100 sales calls per day
if we had a significant number of applications in process. Otherwise, we were required to make
150-200 sales phone calls per day. I recall on at least one occasion, that the regional manager (to
whom the area managers reported) came to the Plymouth branch and told the Account
Executives that we needed to be closing at least 8-10 loans per month in order to get any
promotion.
7. Additionally, in the context of describing performance expectations, I
recall on at least one occasion that an area manager made light of, and even bragged about, the
high turnover rate among Account Executives when they failed to close the requis ite number of
loans per month. The area manager was responsible for at least several branch offices within
Minnesota.
8. Ameriquest's compensation plan was structured so that Account
Executives would not make any significant amount of money until we reached a certain sales
volume. For example, there was one bonus for the number of closed loans. Originally, Account
Executives would receive this bonus for closing 5 loans in a month. During my tenure at
Ameriquest, the quota for this bonus was increased to 8 loans a month and then to 10 loans a
month. Additionally, commissions were based upon revenue generated through closed loans.
Account Executives had to generate substantial revenue before they could earn any significant
commission. The sales goals and quotas at Ameriquest were aggressive, and far exceeded the
typical sales volumes at Household Finance, where I worked as an account executive prior to my
employment with Ameriquest.
9. Ameriquest's corporate office in Orange, California, sent all Ameriquest
Account Executives daily telemarketing leads through Ameriquest's computer system. I believe
Ameriquest started using the SNAP system at some time after I began working with Ameriquest
in September 2002. When the SNAP system was used, the leads were loaded into the SNAP
system. Prior to that, telemarketing leads were available through the computer system that
Ameriquest used at the time.
10. Ameriquest also provided Account Executives such as myself with scripts
to use in convincing customers to go through with a loan transaction. When the SNAP system
was in use, Ameriquest's scripts were included within the SNAP system. Prior to that, scripts
were available through the computer system that Ameriquest used at the time.
11. During my tenure at Ameriquest, the vast majority of the mortgage loans I
completed were "2/28s" ? an adjustable rate mortgage loan that is fixed for 2 years and then
adjusts upwards based upon the LIBOR (the London Inter-Bank Offer Rate, i.e., the interest rate
that banks charge each other for loans, and which is officially fixed once a day by a small group
of large London banks). These loans also had a 3-year prepayment penalty provision that would
subject borrowers to a penalty payment if they attempted to refinance out of their loan before
three years had expired.
12. Ameriquest taught and encouraged Account Executives through scripts
and otherwise to promote mortgage loans as a means of consolidating existing unsecured debt
(including even such debt as automobile loans) with Ameriquest, and to mislead customers into
believing that such loans would save them money when they would not.
13. Ameriquest trained and encouraged Account Executives through scripts
and otherwise to encourage borrowers to take cash out from their mortgage loans for things such
as home repairs or vacations, in order to increase the total loan amount.
14. Ameriquest taught and encouraged me and other Account Executives to
inflate the stated value of the customer's property for the purpose of qualifying them for a
refinance loan. I recall an Ameriquest area manager indicating that appraisal values should
regularly be pushed by at least 10-15%. This area manager oversaw at least several Ameriquest
branches in Minnesota. Ameriquest taught and encouraged me to use its relationships with
certain appraisal companies to request specific (generally inflated) appraisal figures, and the
appraisal reports I received usually reflected such figures. Ameriquest made it clear that they
would not continue to give business to appraisers who did not come in with the "right" appraisal
values.
15. It was a common and open practice at Ameriquest for Account Executives
to forge or alter borrower information or loan documents. For example, I saw Account
Executives openly engage in conduct such as altering borrowers' W-2 Forms or pay stubs,
photocopying borrower signatures and copying them onto other, unsigned documents, and
similar conduct.
16. The culture at Ameriquest encouraged Account Executives to engage in
any conduct necessary to close the loan, to close the loan as quickly as possible, and to maximize
the total loan amount.
17. I was taught and encouraged to close loans without regard to the
customers' financial ability to make payments on the loan.
18. Ameriquest taught and encouraged Account Executives to close loans
under any circumstances. In fact, Account Executives were commonly told to "say anything" or
"do anything" they needed in order to close loans. It was common practice and part of the
culture at Ameriquest to mislead borrowers in at least the following ways:
a. Account Executives regularly lied to and misled borrowers about
their credit scores. Account Executives were encouraged to tell customers that their credit score
was so low that they could not get a better loan anywhere else, and to imply that Ameriquest
was doing them a favor by giving them a loan or that the loan was a stretch;
b. Account Executives regularly concealed or obfuscated the
existence of the prepayment penalty in Ameriquest loans ;
c. Account Executives regularly concealed or obfuscated that a loan
was an adjustable rate mortgage, rather than a fixed. In fact, it was common practice for
Account Executives to refer to adjustable rate loans as "fixed adjustable" loans ;
d. Account Executives regularly concealed from borrowers that the
payoff for the borrower's existing loan included a prepayment penalty, and often this meant that
the borrower would receive less cash out of the refinance than promised;
e. I was taught and encouraged to conceal or obfuscate specific loan
terms and specific figures, including the amount of fees, the interest rate, and the monthly
payment amount;
f. I was taught and encouraged not to disclose the fact that a
customer's loan did not include monthly escrow payments for property taxes and insurance, and
to let customers believe that the monthly payment amount included such payments;
g. If potential borrowers discovered the existence of the prepayment
penalties or had other objections, I was taught and encouraged to mislead them by telling them
that Ameriquest would waive the prepayment penalty if they refinanced within the next 6
months;
h. I was taught and encouraged to tell customers that they could
qualify to refinance at a better rate in the near future if they increased their credit score, when in
fact they could not (and the refinance would be subject to a prepayment penalty within the first
three years); and
i. When borrowers sought to exercise the right to cancel within the
one-week period Ameriquest represented that it offered to its borrowers, Account Executives
regularly told the borrower that the time to cancel had passed, and that he or she no longer had
the right to cancel.
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of Minnesota, that
the foregoing is true and correct. Signed this __ day of January, 2007, at _______________,
Minnesota.
______________________________________
Mark Bomchill

Read The Full Article:
http://housingpanic.blogspot.com/2007/05/its-all-coming-out-now-read-this.html

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It's all coming out now. Read this deposition on
the fraud, corruption, evil and boiler room tactics at Ameriquest

The out of control mortgage broker industry IS F*CKING SCREAMING FOR REGULATION. There were boiler rooms full of unethical conmen all over the United States these past few years, right under the noses of our bought-and-paid-for Congress and bankers who would buy up any loan on sight so they could sell it on to China, mutual funds and hedge funds.

And now we'll pay the price. This will end so ugly as it unravels, you'll tell stories to your children's children one day and they'll be amazed.

Here's the deposition from a reformed conman, in a desperate homedebtor suit vs. Ameriquest, in its complete and raw format. I've bolded the really sick stuff.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF MINNESOTA
LUKE RICCI AND TRACI RICCI, TERRI
SECK, and TERRI BAUMGARTNER, on
behalf of themselves and all others similarly
situated,
Plaintiffs,
v.
AMERIQUEST MORTGAGE COMPANY, a
Delaware corporation, and DOE
CORPORATION,
Defendants.
Court File No. 05-1214 JRT/FLN
DECLARATION OF
MARK BOMCHILL
1. My name is Mark Bomchill. I am over eighteen years of age and of sound
mind. I was employed by Ameriquest Mortgage Company at the Plymouth, Minnesota branch of
Ameriquest, from September 2002 through September 2003. My job title at Ameriquest was
Account Executive. There were approximately 20 Account Executives in the Plymouth branch
office. During my tenure at Ameriquest, I closed approximately 90-100 mortgage loans.
2. As an Account Executive my duties included but were not limited to,
soliciting potential customers to refinance mortgage loans, processing and closing said loans.
3. When I started my employment with Ameriquest, I received training
demonstrating and encouraging high pressure sales tactics. Such training included watching a
series of videos relating to mortgage sales tactics featuring Dale Vermillion. Account Executives
were also shown scenes from "Boiler Room," a movie about unethical and illegal high pressure
sales practices by a securities brokerage firm. Account Executives were also provided with
scripts, including those integrated within Ameriquest's computer systems such as the SNAP
system. The scripts were on such issues as encouraging consolidation of debt, and for
responding to objections by potential borrowers. I believe that all of the Account Executives in
Minnesota (and nationwide) received this same training and the same scripts.
4. During my tenure as an Account Executive, I also participated in
approximately 3-4 Ameriquest telemarketing training sessions for Account Executives that
involved phone call role playing, in which the person playing the borrower would make
objections to the loan, and I would need to respond. The role-playing would be followed by
critiques of my performance in dealing with the potential borrower and responding to objections.
I believe that all of the Account Executives in Minnesota (and nationwide) received this same
training.
5. The branch manager and area manager constantly pushed Account
Executives to make as many phone calls as possible to solicit loan sales. Every day, there were
numerous "Power Hours" during which the Account Executives were required to only make
phone calls. The area manager was responsible for at least several branch offices within
Minnesota.
6. Account Executives were required to make at least 100 sales calls per day
if we had a significant number of applications in process. Otherwise, we were required to make
150-200 sales phone calls per day. I recall on at least one occasion, that the regional manager (to
whom the area managers reported) came to the Plymouth branch and told the Account
Executives that we needed to be closing at least 8-10 loans per month in order to get any
promotion.
7. Additionally, in the context of describing performance expectations, I
recall on at least one occasion that an area manager made light of, and even bragged about, the
high turnover rate among Account Executives when they failed to close the requis ite number of
loans per month. The area manager was responsible for at least several branch offices within
Minnesota.
8. Ameriquest's compensation plan was structured so that Account
Executives would not make any significant amount of money until we reached a certain sales
volume. For example, there was one bonus for the number of closed loans. Originally, Account
Executives would receive this bonus for closing 5 loans in a month. During my tenure at
Ameriquest, the quota for this bonus was increased to 8 loans a month and then to 10 loans a
month. Additionally, commissions were based upon revenue generated through closed loans.
Account Executives had to generate substantial revenue before they could earn any significant
commission. The sales goals and quotas at Ameriquest were aggressive, and far exceeded the
typical sales volumes at Household Finance, where I worked as an account executive prior to my
employment with Ameriquest.
9. Ameriquest's corporate office in Orange, California, sent all Ameriquest
Account Executives daily telemarketing leads through Ameriquest's computer system. I believe
Ameriquest started using the SNAP system at some time after I began working with Ameriquest
in September 2002. When the SNAP system was used, the leads were loaded into the SNAP
system. Prior to that, telemarketing leads were available through the computer system that
Ameriquest used at the time.
10. Ameriquest also provided Account Executives such as myself with scripts
to use in convincing customers to go through with a loan transaction. When the SNAP system
was in use, Ameriquest's scripts were included within the SNAP system. Prior to that, scripts
were available through the computer system that Ameriquest used at the time.
11. During my tenure at Ameriquest, the vast majority of the mortgage loans I
completed were "2/28s" ? an adjustable rate mortgage loan that is fixed for 2 years and then
adjusts upwards based upon the LIBOR (the London Inter-Bank Offer Rate, i.e., the interest rate
that banks charge each other for loans, and which is officially fixed once a day by a small group
of large London banks). These loans also had a 3-year prepayment penalty provision that would
subject borrowers to a penalty payment if they attempted to refinance out of their loan before
three years had expired.
12. Ameriquest taught and encouraged Account Executives through scripts
and otherwise to promote mortgage loans as a means of consolidating existing unsecured debt
(including even such debt as automobile loans) with Ameriquest, and to mislead customers into
believing that such loans would save them money when they would not.
13. Ameriquest trained and encouraged Account Executives through scripts
and otherwise to encourage borrowers to take cash out from their mortgage loans for things such
as home repairs or vacations, in order to increase the total loan amount.
14. Ameriquest taught and encouraged me and other Account Executives to
inflate the stated value of the customer's property for the purpose of qualifying them for a
refinance loan. I recall an Ameriquest area manager indicating that appraisal values should
regularly be pushed by at least 10-15%. This area manager oversaw at least several Ameriquest
branches in Minnesota. Ameriquest taught and encouraged me to use its relationships with
certain appraisal companies to request specific (generally inflated) appraisal figures, and the
appraisal reports I received usually reflected such figures. Ameriquest made it clear that they
would not continue to give business to appraisers who did not come in with the "right" appraisal
values.
15. It was a common and open practice at Ameriquest for Account Executives
to forge or alter borrower information or loan documents. For example, I saw Account
Executives openly engage in conduct such as altering borrowers' W-2 Forms or pay stubs,
photocopying borrower signatures and copying them onto other, unsigned documents, and
similar conduct.
16. The culture at Ameriquest encouraged Account Executives to engage in
any conduct necessary to close the loan, to close the loan as quickly as possible, and to maximize
the total loan amount.
17. I was taught and encouraged to close loans without regard to the
customers' financial ability to make payments on the loan.
18. Ameriquest taught and encouraged Account Executives to close loans
under any circumstances. In fact, Account Executives were commonly told to "say anything" or
"do anything" they needed in order to close loans. It was common practice and part of the
culture at Ameriquest to mislead borrowers in at least the following ways:
a. Account Executives regularly lied to and misled borrowers about
their credit scores. Account Executives were encouraged to tell customers that their credit score
was so low that they could not get a better loan anywhere else, and to imply that Ameriquest
was doing them a favor by giving them a loan or that the loan was a stretch;
b. Account Executives regularly concealed or obfuscated the
existence of the prepayment penalty in Ameriquest loans ;
c. Account Executives regularly concealed or obfuscated that a loan
was an adjustable rate mortgage, rather than a fixed. In fact, it was common practice for
Account Executives to refer to adjustable rate loans as "fixed adjustable" loans ;
d. Account Executives regularly concealed from borrowers that the
payoff for the borrower's existing loan included a prepayment penalty, and often this meant that
the borrower would receive less cash out of the refinance than promised;
e. I was taught and encouraged to conceal or obfuscate specific loan
terms and specific figures, including the amount of fees, the interest rate, and the monthly
payment amount;
f. I was taught and encouraged not to disclose the fact that a
customer's loan did not include monthly escrow payments for property taxes and insurance, and
to let customers believe that the monthly payment amount included such payments;
g. If potential borrowers discovered the existence of the prepayment
penalties or had other objections, I was taught and encouraged to mislead them by telling them
that Ameriquest would waive the prepayment penalty if they refinanced within the next 6
months;
h. I was taught and encouraged to tell customers that they could
qualify to refinance at a better rate in the near future if they increased their credit score, when in
fact they could not (and the refinance would be subject to a prepayment penalty within the first
three years); and
i. When borrowers sought to exercise the right to cancel within the
one-week period Ameriquest represented that it offered to its borrowers, Account Executives
regularly told the borrower that the time to cancel had passed, and that he or she no longer had
the right to cancel.
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of Minnesota, that
the foregoing is true and correct. Signed this __ day of January, 2007, at _______________,
Minnesota.
______________________________________
Mark Bomchill

Read The Full Article:
http://housingpanic.blogspot.com/2007/05/its-all-coming-out-now-read-this.html

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A 'chicken way' to bet on a housing recovery

From Bloomberg News today ...

Investors who don't have the guts to buy housing stocks just yet are betting on a U.S. residential rebound before it happens -- by buying shares of home- improvement retailers and makers of tools and tape measures.
``It's our chicken way of playing the housing recovery,'' said Robert Hagstrom, manager of the $5 billion Legg Mason Growth Trust in Wayne, Pennsylvania. He bought Home Depot Inc. shares this year.
Black & Decker Corp., the biggest U.S. power-tool company, and faucet-maker Masco Corp. say retailers are boosting orders, a sign the worst housing decline in 16 years may be near an end.
Masco said last week its biggest customers, which include Home Depot and Lowe's Cos., are buying more Delta taps and Behr paint, sending the Taylor, Michigan-based company's shares 9.5 percent higher. Shares of Black & Decker and hand-tool maker Stanley Works gained more than 16 percent this year.
Shares of Atlanta-based Home Depot and Lowe's, the world's largest home-improvement retailers, aren't doing that well yet. Home Depot's stock dropped 3 percent to $38.95 this year, and Lowe's shares are down less than 1 percent at $30.93.
They have, however, outperformed house builders, and analysts including Danielle Fox of Merrill Lynch & Co. predict Home Depot shares will rise as much as 18 percent in the next year. Hagstrom now holds about 750,000 shares of the retailer.
The expectation that the worst of the housing slump is over is helping drive the rise in the toolmakers' shares and the predictions of similar gains to come for home-improvement retailers. Housing starts rebounded in February and March from a nine-year low.
``It's safe to assume things are stabilizing,'' said Sovereign Asset Management's Sarah Henry. Her firm owns 200,000 shares of Home Depot and has more than $2 billion under management. ``The long-term demographic trends still support home improvement.''

Both Black & Decker and Masco have significant O.C. operations. To read more, CLICK HERE

Read The Full Article:
http://blogs.ocregister.com/lansner/archives/2007/05/a_chicken_way_to_1.html

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A day in the life of New Century Mortgage (hide
the children)

video details and more



Read The Full Article:
http://housingpanic.blogspot.com/2007/05/day-in-life-of-new-century.html

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Stop the Sharks in Tucson

[Hat tip to MR for this one!]A number of organizations have banned together in Tucson to put together Stop the Shartks, an anti-predatory lending website, and sponsor a  workshop on May 16:Come to our Tucson workshop to learn about our community’s vulnerabilty and discuss what we can do to end shoddy lending practices in [...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/HousingDoom/~3/115950315/

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Divide and conquer for real estate wealth
creation.

Virtually every market in the country has a specific opportunity for wealth creation waiting for whoever is intelligent enough and aggressive enough to go after it.  It is simple to identify, easy to understand and surprisingly painless to bring to fruition.  Don?t just blow it off when you hear it how simple it is. People [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.middleclassmillionaires.com/blog/2007/05/11/divide-and-conquer-for-rea
l-estate-wealth-creation/

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Real Estate Q&A - an Overview

TruliaVoices launches today - at its roots, it's a Q&A system that supportsinteraction between Trulia's consumer traffic and its real estate agentadvertisers. I'll be chronicling Trulia Voices reviews here.

Ok, online Q&A is about as simple as community can get. The Q&A startedsimply, first asbulletinboards / newsgroups and then within forums - the classic online discussionconstruct typified by series of threaded user-generated posts. But even forumstend to be complicated in finding the answers being sought (try searchingthrough one). The Q&A is easily searchable and the questions are more"granular", or to the point, than forum categories.

I analyzed real estate Q&A services while working with Trulia on themarketing of Trulia Voices(disclaimer:I co-founded Domus Consulting Group and we were engaged by Trulia last month.Also since the Voices product is brand new, we're making assumptions in thisarticle).

It's non-scientific, but I noted there are three categories of questions askedin real estate Q&A -

• Inquiring specifically about a subject, a "google" type question
  
• How-to question - How do I interview a real estate agent?
  
• Fact finding question - I need a list of the most productive agents in my area...
• Transactional question- who pays for title insurance in Los Angeles?
• Inquiring about a location
  
• Locational question - why is Phoenix growing so quickly?
  
• Community question - where are the best schools in Los Angeles?
  
• Specifically requesting a contact with a solution
  
• Outreach question - can anyone help me find a good contractor?
• Referral question - can anyone in my network refer me to Zillow to make a presentation?

During my beta testing on Trulia Voices, I tried to answer questions for thecities I know - San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City, but  I couldonly answer a few credibly. I realized a simple truth: anyone can ask aquestion... but it's hard to find the answerer because the answerer must haveconfidence in his/her response based on expertise and local knowledge. Forexample, the question, "Does the buyer pay for title and escrow fees in SanJose?" requires one to know a lot about title practices in Santa Clara County. Atitle rep in San Jose can easily answer this, but an agent in San Franciscomight not.

So, growing the Q&A system becomes a numbers game - the objective of marketing aQ&A system is to maximize visibility to the set of Answerers! And that's one of the principal goals of the Voices' launch.

Here is my chart analysis of four Q&A products, one from professionalnetwork Linked In thatBrian Brady cluedme in as having a robust real estate oriented Q&A in their Answers product,and the other three from Zillow, Trulia and Localism. (Pink shading added tohighlight the product's differentialdistinction).

Type of question
LinkedIn Answers / real estate Zillow's "HomeQ&A" Trulia Voices Localism Q&A
How-to?
Most questions are more abstract (how's the market doing?) than practical (I have a problem...)
Questioners tend to ask about property details
Consumers inquiring about transaction details
Most questions posted by consumers and pertain to details of real estate transactions
Locational
Rare
Mostly Q&A on individual properties
Q&A on neighborhoods, community and cities, akin to "Yelp"
Not as prominent
Outreach
Seeks individuals within their network who know answers or can provide solutions
Hyperspecific. If question is posed to homeowner, seeks answer from homeowner
Seeks answers from local agents
Seeks answers from local agents


LinkedIn
Zillow
Trulia
Localism
Questioner
Questioner usually inquires within own network
Either an agent who seems to use the question for their marketing purposes, or a consumer asking the homeowner
Mostly consumers because Trulia gets a lot of consumer traffic
Mostly consumers requiring solutions to their real estate transaction problems
Answerer
Contacts internal to the network, or real estate agents using the Q&A ice-breaker to "Link In" to Questioner
Answering questions specific to a house is difficult unless you're the homeowner or neighbor
Potentially, any local person can answer a community question. Agents will answer more specific real estate related questions
Only agents with specific knowledge of the locale and its  local real estate customs
How does the real estate agent market themselves within the venue?
Used as a professional social network
Comments on properties and then markets as neighborhood expert
Answers questions, recommends good local restaurants, etc. and develops local marketing presence
Answers specific how-to questions and introduces self in one-on-one dialogue
Any additional benefits to the agent?
Potentially can grow professional network via LinkedIn
Hyperlocal marketing presence on Zillow can work now because few agents are taking advantage
Recognition on an Answerer leaderboard, direct link from Trulia Voices profile page to agent website for SEO purposes
One-on-one dialogue that may turn into a lead
Evaluation
LinkedIn Answers seems well used and the real estate related questions are strategic and interesting
Problem making a match between questioner and answerer of a specific property
Launching today
Useful forum connecting consumer questions with Active Rain answerers
Final note
Power of networks are utilized to give credibility to the answerers ?a good thing for real estate professionals Zillow may need to expand their Home Q&A to blocks and neighborhoods to achieve greater relevancy
Trulia's consumer user base will dictate how Voices evolves... its content could be much more than straight real estate
Localism Q&A credibly matches up consumers with agents

Linked In
Zillow
Trulia
Localism




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Read The Full Article:
http://transparentre.com/2007/05/10/future-of-real-estate-qa.aspx

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