Evernote is a great tool for real estate people. It’s a cloud-based storage platform with great organizing and collaborating capabilities. Let me see if I can be more descriptive about that:
You create ‘Notes’ in Evernote for anything you want to hang on to. It might be a line of text, a web page, an email, a video, an audio note, a PDF, a contract, a photo . . . really: any content viewable on your computer can be stored in a Note.
Your Notes are actually housed in the ‘Cloud.’ So they are viewable on any internet connected device and your content is always synced and up-t0-date.
There are also Evernote apps for Androids, Blackberries and Iphones which make it easier to use on a mobile device.
You can share specific Notes with other people you designate – so it’s a great way for you to keep on the same page with, say, a client.
Here’s a video showcasing how one Realtor uses Evernote. Unfortunately, there is a minute or two of dead space where he demos how he uses Evernote with a mobile phone, but I think you’ll get it from what’s here:
Everthing you put into Evernote on your computer can be viewed on your phone or tablet. You can also use your phone to add to Notes – by say, taking a photo or making a voice note.
By the way, Matt Rathbun, who made the video, has pretty good information on how to use some of the best technology available to Realtors on his website: theagenttrainer.com. Check it out.
And to learn more about Evernote, go to www.evernote.com and to the blog: blog.evernote.com.
That last post has me pre-occupied. I think the two graphs and the statement by Yun are dramatic. I keep asking, ‘How can this be? How is it in a time when most Americans have taken a 50% or more hit on their home equity (which is, for most, the biggest nest egg they have), that the Financial Industry is doing so well?’ I mean: aren’t these the guys who got saddled with all of these upside down loans who now have to cash them out for far less than they have in them? How is it they can be so profitable at a time like this?
I don’t claim to be an expert. I certainly am not. I tend to see complicated things simply, often missing the many nuances. And I don’t know the big answer to the question, HOW. But I know one of the ways. When Banks were failing right and left, the FDIC stepped in seized the assets and guaranteed the deposits (thank goodness!). Because the FDIC is not in the banking business, they then turned around and sold those assets to other banks. Among the assets were usually a big stack of bad loans, mortgages where the property was worth far less than the amount of the mortgage. Wow! How do you get somebody to buy something that’s worth-less? How about incentives and discounts.
So let’s assume that Bank A fails. The FDIC steps in and seizes the assets, including one $300,000 mortgage on a property currently worth $250,000. They then sell that mortgage to Bank B for $235,000 – which is the discount part (since the property is worth $250,000, they transfer the asset at a discounted value that makes sense to Bank B). Here’s where the incentive part comes in. Because we are in a declining market, the FDIC goes on to guarantee Bank B’s losses on the mortgage. They say, if you take a loss on this loan, we’ll cover you up to 80% of your losses. Hey, now this is sounding a little safer, a little better.
So Bank B goes on and forecloses on the mortgage (let’s not even consider the impact on the foreclosed family, their neighbors, area values and the economic climate). They ultimately sell the property for $220,000 to an investor. So you think: they paid $235,000 and got $220,000. That’s $15,000 in loss and the government is going to cover 80% of that, which is $12,000, so Bank B’s net loss on the deal is $3,000. That’s ok, we all have to do our part, and they probably made a little on servicing or something.
But that’s not the way it works. The ‘loss’ is calculated NOT from what Bank B paid for the asset but from the face value of the asset: $300,000. The ‘loss’ is the difference between $300,000 and $235,000, $65,000. And 80% of that is $52,000. Bank B gets $220,000 when they dispose of the asset plus $52,000 from the government (which is, by the way, you and me), so their take is $272,000 on a thing they paid $235,000 for: a net of $37,000.
I don’t know about you, but I’d take that deal all day long.
The infuriating thing is that We The People can’t afford this. We’re borrowing from the Chinese to pay for the stupid deals we made.
Here’s a little PR Fluff from the FDIC about this:
Profitability of the Financial Industry, 2,000 to present:
Monthly US Home Price Indes, 1991 to present (red line inserted by me at approximately the point at which Financial Industry profits turned around):
Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist for NAR, a couple of weeks ago:
The aggregate homeowners’ real estate equity stood at $6.1 trillion today versus $13 trillion in 2006 according to Flow of Funds data from the Federal Reserve. According to Census, there are 74 million homeowners. So on average, the average equity per homeowner in 2011 is $82,000, which is down from $170,000 in 2006.
So, who’s paying for the bad behavior of the Financial Industry that led up to the collapse of our economy? Well, I guess there’s no real surprise there.
And, by the way, when we talk about ‘redistribution of wealth,’ let’s be very clear about the direction in which the redistribution is going.
All the world over, so easy to see
People everywhere just wanna be free
Listen, please listen, that’s the way it should be
Deep in the valley, people got to be free.
Shout it from the mountain on out to the sea
No two ways about it, people have to be free
Ask me my opinion, my opinion will be
Nat’ral situation for a man to be free.
Below is a link to an interview with the young Google executive who was kidnapped and held hostage by the Egyptian government for two weeks as the protests began. He and others mobilized the power for the Internet, Facebook and Twitter in the wake of the killing of an unarmed man in Alexandria about a month ago. That event and the instant spreading of the word in its aftermath became a lightning rod for the protests.
I believe this is the face of the revolution. He is smart. He understands technology. I believe what he’s started is irresistible, unstoppable, inevitable. As you watch the fall of Mubarek on CNN, I hope you will marvel at the power of the Internet to quickly disseminate information, to put people in motion. For me, that is what this all about.
