http://www.desperateagents.com Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:09:44 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en In the Great Real Estate Blog War of 2008, a commenter named Bubble Sitter offers up some sage image branding advice in response to AZ mega agent Russell Shaw: And Russ Shaw putting up a picture on bloodhoundblog of someone giving the FU middle finger is professional how? What a disgrace. ... http://www.desperateagents.com/2008/02/24/the-new-sign-of-professionalism/ 2007 saw a record $414 billion of foreign investment in American companies and assets. Sovereign wealth funds, which are investment funds or companies owned by governments, accounted for over $21.5 billion of that investment in American companies last year. The concern is that supposedly free markets could be manipulated ... http://www.desperateagents.com/2008/01/20/the-great-wall-street-of-china/ Self-appointed watchdog, Rep. Henry Waxman, Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has invited three high profile, highly paid current or former CEOs to "get real" and "just own" their involvement in the current mortgage mess that is dragging down Wall St and the U.S. economy. http://www.desperateagents.com/2008/01/20/congress-version-of-the-dr-phil-show/ Ken "I Don't Care If It's Profitable" Lewis, CEO of Bank of America, finally pulled the trigger with Countrywide. While some in the financial sector were hoping the trigger was attached to something aimed at Countrywide's Angelo Mozilo, it laid to rest the rumors that have surrounded these two lending ... http://www.desperateagents.com/2008/01/11/bank-of-america-to-buy-countrywide/ Contracts on existing homes were down in November, prompting NAR to report that the market may not improve tomorrow. Head soothsayer for the National Association of Realtors, Lawrence Yun, in response to the NAR's Pending Home Sales Index report that showed a drop in the number of sales contracts entered into ... http://www.desperateagents.com/2008/01/10/lawrence-yuns-keen-sense-of-the-obvious/ Trulia, Yahoo and Zillow announced yesterday that they intend to develop a common weapon to fight each other for online eyeballs. Agents rejoice at opportunity to speed up their own demise. From Inman News: Nearly a dozen Web sites that aggregate for-sale real estate listings -- including Trulia, Zillow and Yahoo! Real ... http://www.desperateagents.com/2008/01/10/real-estate-portals-to-avoid-beta-vs-vhs-battle/ Move over, Al Yeganeh. New York's newest soup nazi is none other than Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis. In this CNBC video, Charlie Gasparino tells of a memo forwarded to him from a BofA employee informing the common folk there that recent cost cutting measures would mean that free ... http://www.desperateagents.com/2008/01/02/no-soup-for-you/ It has got to be tough trying to make a living as a real estate agent in a bubble market like San Diego. Think about it for a moment. Since August, prices dropped faster than autumn leaves, inventory ballooned from 3000 units in 2004 to close to 20k units today, sales ... http://www.desperateagents.com/2008/01/01/that-flushing-sound/ A story that started out as an obituary for yet another casualty of the housing downturn now plays more like a scene from Monty Python. On December 23rd, The Arizona Republic reported "Major real estate broker shuts down": RE/MAX 2000, based in Gilbert, is closing its 13 offices around the Valley. An ... http://www.desperateagents.com/2008/01/01/im-not-dead-yet/ After careful deliberation, it was decided that the inaugural post of this blog, and of the 2008 New Year, should be dedicated to the person who demonstrated the greatest degree of desperation as it relates to real estate in 2007. A vote was taken, tallied, and the result was... a ... http://www.desperateagents.com/2008/01/01/2007-desperate-agent-of-the-year/