From the official press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

BiggerPockets.com, the Real Estate Network, Hits 50,000 Member Milestone

Denver, CO – April 22, 2010 — BiggerPockets has reached the big Five-O!  50 thousand members and growing rapidly throughout the U.S. and dozens of other countries.

“This is an exciting time for BiggerPockets,” says CEO and founder Joshua Dorkin. “There is a lot of competition for people’s attention and time on the web, so when 50,000 members give us a vote of confidence, it shows that we are accomplishing our goal of serving the needs of our audience and that we’ve truly become one of the premier real estate platforms on the web.”

The formula for BiggerPockets.com‘s success, says Dorkin, is pretty simple in some ways: To cater to the interests of real estate professionals, investors, consumers and those just plain curious about how the world of real estate works.

The site offers tools to facilitate deal making, networking, education, marketing, and other transactional activities in the real estate realm.

“As happy as we are that we have reached this important milestone of 50,000 members, we are not content,” Dorkin says. “We are always working on new, innovative products to bring to our extended BiggerPockets family. In the very near future, we will be making some very exciting announcements that will rock the real estate world. Fifty thousand members is not an end point for us; it’s a starting point.”

BiggerPockets is a Denver based company, and a growing number of prominent news organizations and websites have turned to BiggerPockets for the expert advice it can offer.  BiggerPockets has been featured by the following news organizations and websites: The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, CBS News Radio, ABC News Radio, CBS4Denver,  The Denver Post, Long Island Newsday, USA Today, US News & World Report, Chicago Tribune, MSN Money, Reuters, Fox Business, and Google News.

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And sometimes when you search on the web, it can be difficult to get the information that you are looking for and it is tough to seperate what is really possible vs what used to be possible but isn’t really possible anymore.

Which is why I am putting together a collection of some of the best Arizona loan officers and asking them to contribute to our overall mortgage efforts.

Some of the great Arizona loan officers that now contribute to our family of sites include:

• Shane Hollenback at Prime Lending
• Ted Canto at Academy Mortgage
• Amy Simmons at On Q Financial
• Mike Jones at Sunstreet Mortgage

And we are not done finding and promoting great loan officers.

So if you are a Realtor and you love your loan officer, but wish he would start blogging — put him in touch with me and I will see if I can get him (or her) to be a regular contributor on one of our mortgage blogs.

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This blog is approaching its five year anniversary on Feb 1st, 2010. As I think about the coming milestone I wanted to share with you some changes that have been occurring on the back end recently.

At one point I used to update this blog on a daily basis.  There was a time when I used to be on the cutting edge of breaking news, information and home financing tips. However, I’ve slowed down a bit over the past few years. For starters I haven’t been even been in the industry since 2008, so you can understand why I haven’t been around. Aimee has been the primary blogger and for all intent and purpose was the “Arizona Mortgage Guru”.  She’s fantastic as a blogger, broker and everything else. However, things have not worked as we had hoped. In fact I’ve already made a few changes around here if you haven’t already noticed.

The first big change is this blog is no longer Aimee’s. It is now back in my (Shailesh’s) hands. So, I guess you can call me the “Arizona Mortgage Guru” again (but you don’t have to if you don’t want to). There are a number of reasons for this but I really can’t go into the details here right now. If you really want to know lets have coffee and I can tell you in person.

The other change to this blog is that I am blogging as a mortgage commentator not  a mortgage professional or broker. Since I was in the mortgage industry for a while and have intimate knowledge of the industry I can still share a lot about the industry. In fact I continue to follow the changes and events in the industry so I have expertise that I can share. Most importantly though, for better or for worse, I’m not tied to the industry. Hence am able to voice my personal opinions and thoughts freely.

There are more changes coming. I will be sure to update you as I make them. In the mean time continue to use this blog as a resource for all your home financing needs.

photo credit: Omer Wazir

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The Real Estate Blog Carnival rolled into Arizona this weekend and boy did we have a lot of fun. In fact with Valentines day coming up love is in the air.  It is no surprise that this weeks’ blog carnival is heavily influenced by cupid. With over thirty submissions this week my weekend was certainly occupied reading, evaluating and expanding my horizons. In many ways all these blog submissions reminded me of the valentine cards people send back and forth. So, who do you think is my valentine this week? With apologies to my husband Shailesh of course!

Here is how I divided them up:

“It’s Not You Its Me”- I certainly don’t want to name names here, but there were about 15 or so submissions that for one reason or another I just didn’t connect with. It didn’t have the electric vibe I would expect. Now, don’t get me wrong, they were perfectly well written and in fact some were very technical. However, for one reason or another it just didn’t give me the butterflies. So, we had to part ways and believe me when I say it’s not you it’s certainly me!

“Let’s Stay in Touch” – There were 10 or so posts which I was certainly intrigued by and that made me stop and think. In other words I gave them a second glance. However, I’m certainly not ready at this point to say I would like to move things in any other direction other than at a professional level.  I could see us as casual acquaintances and I would love to subscribe to their blog just to learn from them. So, let’s stay in touch.

“How Does Italian on Friday Sound?” – There were three posts in particular which caught my eye for sure and defiantly are worthy of further conversation.  In “Buyers Psychology in Today’s Market” , Cece Blase provided a great analysis of buyer behavior. Everyone talks about a buyers market but, how many really know how to take advantage of it? Also, understanding the psychological disposition in this kind of situation is very helpful as well.

Dan Melson, in “Military Housing Allowance and Loan Qualification”, wrote a great technical guide for those receiving housing allowance. While his article was geared towards those in the military it can certainly apply to anyone who receives a housing allowance such as those in the clergy etc. Take a look at this one. You’ll learn something and be better for it.

Over analyzing the market can paralyze buyers and sellers and make fools out of both. Jonathan Dalton, our very own local real estate agent extraordinaire makes this point by using tell us that “You Can’t Outrace the Sunset”.  When you price a house with an expected “x” percentage fall in prices, guess what there is a chance the next house on the block will sell for less than yours. It’s because your “realistic” price is now a comp for the next sale and if the next guy does the same thing, then the market spirals down faster.  Just read Dalton’s take, he does a great job making this clear to readers.

“You Look Good In My Sweatshirt” - We would definitely work together in many settings and I liked the  styles of these posts.  I am a sucker for practical guides and people who get to the point right away. That is why I liked the users guide to selecting contractors and resolving any issues when dealing with contractors written by The Smarter Wallet. The posted titled “Home Improvement Contractor Problems: How To Resolve” is a great starting guide for those homeowners seeking to embark on a major home improvement project and need to seek the services of a contractor.

Loan modifications are a joke and I want to thank William Doom for emphatically say so on his post.  He provides a five step process to guide consumers seeking to do a loan modification. The best rule he gives is not to work with those loan modification companies, because as we’ve experienced here in Arizona, they’re a joke!

“Mom, Dad, This is…” – In the end it’s about honesty, authenticity and trust. What better way to reinforce this than by pointing out that those seeking to short sale their homes should be really up front about it from the very beginning. It’s pretty clear that not being up front about it only hurts the chances to quickly sell the home .  In her inaugural post at Rain City Guide Courtney Cooper makes a radical suggestion: honesty.Her post “Short Sale Listings: Leaving Out Key Details Is Like Telling A Lie.. “ is a great read and very insightful on how sellers should approach this difficult topic.  Honesty eh? Now that is something mom and dad can appreciate.

Have a great Valentines week everyone!

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I’ll catch up with you guys in a few weeks.

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I will let you know that even when I was the main writer for this blog, Aimee was the one who provided me with many of the ideas. So, this world is not entirely new to her. Also, since she has always been on the front lines – dealing directly with borrowers and their needs, she has a great feel for the type of issues being faced in today’s mortgage market. I have a sneaky suspicion this blog will be more than a hundred times better than its ever been! Which is to be expected from such a high caliber professional like Aimee.

Since the changes at CTX, Aimee has moved on to PrimeLending in Mesa, AZ. You can learn more about her at the “Meet Aimee” page on her website.

Please join me in welcoming Aimee to the blogosphere (or blogiverse, which ever you prefer to call it). I’ve told her many times that she’s going to meet some amazing folks by blogging and I hope you’ll show her that I wasn’t exaggerating.

So, take it away Aimee. It’s all yours!

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As promised here is a link to the Powerpoint presentation from yesterday. Additionally, I have posted the video of a class I did on setting up a WordPress blog at the Arizona RE Bloggers Network meeting last month.

Arizona Real Estate Bloggers Network Meeting – May 2008 from phoenixrealestatelive on Vimeo.

I do mortgages on the side to support my blogging habit, so please feel free to refer any clients who may be in the market and need a good quality lender! If you browse through this blog you’ll realize that Aimee and I certainly know what we’re doing and we have a history of providing 100% customer satisfaction!

Just a friendly reminder

Post Updated Monday June 16th. Here is the powerpoint slide from my presentation via SlideShare:

| View | Upload your own

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The highlight of the week for me was of course Thursday. I was the substitute presenter at the Arizona RE EV Blogging Networks monthly gathering. Jay Thompson, The Phoenix Real Estate Guy, was not able to do the kick off WordPress training and so I had the honor of stepping in. It was a lot of fun actually. I want to thank everyone for showing up and for your enthusiasm. It is always a pleasure to talk about blogging.

My presentation was a very basic over view of how to set up a WordPress blog and all that good stuff. It went well for the most part, but the area where I felt I was weak was in actually getting people to start a blog. A few people did end up setting up blogs, but many seemed to just want to listen and take notes. Which is fine. As promised I have uploaded my powerpoint presentation.

A lot of folks out there are hungry to learn about blogs and how to blog. If you have questions and concerns, why don’t you leave a comment on this post and I’ll try to answer it – or someone else could and that way we build a repository of information for agents and lenders eager to learn about blogging. You can still write to me directly if you wish too.

Some of the usual suspects were there – like Christoph, Nick and Doreen. Many thanks to Candace and Shelli for all their hard work in putting this meeting together. Also the our sponsors. Thank you all. See you next month.

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Now, what I just said is just a paraphrase of what is being reported across newspapers and T.V. news. But in a Web 2.0 world, I’m also interested in what local real estate bloggers have to say with the same numbers. This is because most of the time local area agents have a better understanding of the market and can shed better light on these numbers than the so called “experts”. Below is a sampling of what I found in some prominent local real estate blogs discussing the good news.

The Phoenix Real Estate Guy (Jay Thompson) says:

Beginning of a recovery? One time blip? Who knows. One YOY data point does not a trend make. But sales seem to be picking up steam, foreclosures are creating affordability, and absorption rates are falling. All of this seems to indicate we may be bottoming.

AllPhoenixRealEstate.Com (Jonathan Dalton):

Lower prices can be expected since it is the bank owned home sector fueling the current real estate market. And as I’ve said at least a half-dozen times, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

The biggest gem though comes from North Phoenix Agent (Heather Barr) who in the middle of April posted anecdotal evidence asking if the market was improving, some of her nuggets (which is being validated through improved numbers):

• I’ve also got 3 new buyers, money in hand, FICO score safely in the mid- to high-700’s, ready to buy this month
• My A/C guy is busier than he can keep up with, with new work based on home inspection findings
• His friend who does truss work for area builders, says he’s busy again after a 1-1/2 year lull
• A friend of mine who works for Pulte says their sales office is slammed; she’s working Saturdays again

So what does it all mean? It seems we’re getting our usual spring inventory increase. With an already bloated market full of too many under-improved and over-priced houses, this should be bad. But the good news it we seem to be selling it.

Way to go Heather. You nailed this one a month in advance.

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Well, now it looks like she’s taken the plunge. Last week she e-mailed and and told me she’s set up a blog on professional organizing and I was elated to hear that. Her blog is called “Overcome the Overwhelm” and already has some really good nuggets on getting organized, improving productivity and living a stress-less life. I already know this is going to be an awesome blog, and that is because I know that Jen is an awesome professional organizer!

The only thing I can say at this point is “watch out”, to the other bloggers who focus on professional organizing. You guys now have some pretty tough competition coming your way. However, as a blogger I know it’s not all about competition, but also about building community and interaction and relationships. So, on that front Jennifer is going to make a great addition to the already mushrooming professional organizing blogosphere.

Head on over to Jennifer’s blog and leave a note!

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