Thoughts about the writing of our Declaration of Independence. He wrote it in 17 days. No electricity, no internet for research, no software, no cut, copy or paste. Only pen and ink, and candlelight to write at night. He was only 33 years old. And he did it alone, in two rented rooms of an otherwise occupied house… in the unairconditioned weather of mid summertime. And yes, it was on a deadline. There was a sense of urgency at that time, as we all remember. How does one prepare to write The Declaration of Independence? I’ve often thought about what it must have been like for Thomas Jefferson to do that. What pressure did he feel? What was his writing plan? There must have been an outline. What books and research documents, if any, were in that room with him? Did he have a copy of The Virginia Bill of Rights to review? Was Henry Lee’s resolution written before him? Were any of John Locke’s writings there? Was "Common Sense" on the bedside table?

Like most writers, did he think about his voice? Did he wait in ponder for days for his muse to come? How long did it take to get the opening sentence? Did he pace as he thought about it and worked out the document in his mind?

Did he awake from deep sleep, startled in the middle of the night by a thought that he hurriedly scrambled to put on paper before he might forget? Was Franklin and Adams, the Voice of our Revloution, in his thoughts as he wrote?

Did he know, as an extraordinarily young man for such a task, that in this room, at this desk, at this time, through his mind and by his hand that he was going to change the world?

It’s been said that our Declaration of Independence came from an open channel between Jefferson and the divine. Maybe so. The idea of the ideal of individual liberty was certainly not new. But what really went on in that room in Jefferson’s innermost thoughts, and those of his maker, we will never know.

Our freedom paper emerged out of it, a perfect synthesis of political philosophy and the evolution of human rights at that time. There was magic in the air.

It was in it’s way a selling document. A really profound one. It sold us as an independent nation, justified it persuasively, got bought by the Continental Congress, after much debate before it, but with little amendment after it, and was distributed first here in America and then throughout the civilized world. The separation deed was done. It was bought and paid for dearly. There was no turning back now.

Jefferson and our founding fathers certainly did long lasting, important and blessed things that had never been done before. They thought new thoughts, they tread new ground. There has never been such an array of extraordinary men of such extraordinary talent that came together at the same time in our country before, though those that lead us through World War II might have come close.

On this 4th of July day, 2007, I’m thinking about all of them, and thinking about them well.

A few things about the writing of the document: It was written between June 11 and June 28, 1776. Jefferson was one of a committee of five (Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston) that was asked to write the declaration. It was understood that it needed to list the causes for severance. An author at heart, Jefferson was the logical choice to write it. Adams made that choice.

Jefferson chose to be away from the distractions of the city to write the declaration. He rented two furnished rooms on the second floor in the home of Jacob Graff on the outskirts of Philadelphia, one was a sitting room, the other a bedchamber, with a bed shorter than Jefferson was tall.

The Graff house was surrounded by farm fields. There was a stable across the street. Horseflies from the stable pestered Jefferson constantly while writing it (could you imagine what that fly swatter would be worth today?). Jefferson had an account at the City Tavern while writing the Declaration. That obviously didn’t distract him.

The original Graff house was torn down in 1883. It has since been recreated and is an exhibit.

The Weather on July 4, 1776:
The weather the day that our Declaration of Independence was ratified was not has hot as one might think. Jefferson was a meticulous keeper of a weather journal. He had a thermometer with him. The temperature that day was 68oF at 6 a.m., 72oF at 9 a.m., and 76oF at 1 p.m. It was 11o below normal. Winds that day shifted from the north to the southwest with decreasing air pressure. The sky become overcast and cloudy by late afternoon.

As a day goes, normal it was by usual means, maybe a little cooler than most for July, but what happened on that day was not normal by any means. It shook, and still shakes this world! Do have a great 4th of July.

Why some South Lake Tahoe homes have virtual tours (VTs), and some do not!

Real Estate agents we know in South Lake Tahoe have two schools of thought about virtual tours: either they like them and use them in their real estate marketing, or they do not.

Lets explore the "why not" first.
There are a few different schools of thought here too. No matter how professionally a virtual tour is shot, there is always some distortion of the images in the tour. This can often be seen in bowed walls, for example, or curved deck railing in particular. Some agents do not feel this best represents the house they are responsible to sell. (Some Sellers may think so too, and actually instruct their agents not to use VTs on their house.)

Another reason some agents choose to not use virtual tours is interesting, and subject for debate: some feel that virtual tours offer too much information about a house. The rationale goes something like this, "if I show too much of the house, a prospect might say no… before I get a chance to get them into the house… and use my skills to try to sell it."

There is another reason some agents don’t do virtual tours, of course, and we don’t like to talk about it, but the truth is some agents would rather not spend the time and the money to do it properly. (Hows that for taking the high-road to address "lazy"?)

Virtual Tours: How they are Done
A decent virtual tour (with minimal distortion) requires a camera and specific set-up, knowledge of PhotoShop and superior photo stitching software, and someone with experience to shoot it. Though we can do this ourselves, we believe it requires a professional photographer, with a professional light package, to shoot a decent virtual  tour.

Shooting a virtual tour is rather simple conceptually. One either stands in place, or better yet mounts a camera on a tripod, and shoots virtical images one after another in a 360 degree circle. Each image must overlap the last image by some 20% or more.

When shooting a virtual tour inside of a house, lighting becomes far more important than shooting a exterior tour.  Lighting becomes particularly more important when shooing interiors if the room has lots of windows. Cameras with auto flashes, for example, will flash when the camera sensor determines  it should, and won’t when not. This often results in images in a virtual tour having vastly different lighting in one part of a tour compared to another.

A Pro, or not?
We have the means to shoot virtual  tours ourselves. All it takes is a camera, a piece of software to "stitch" the images together (we have access to "mosaic"), a means to mount the tour online… and the will to do it. But we are not professional at it.

Here’s an example of a virtual  tour package we recently shot on a rush for a Buyer. Yes, that means virtual tours were not provided as part of the marketing package by the listing agent. (When representing a buyer, we do what it takes, within reason, to make them as comfortable as possible, while being as informed as possible.)

As one can tell by our example, one can easily see first hand why we say we are not professional at it. Walls are bowed, deck railings are ridiculously curved, images are lit differently, the stitching of one image with the ones beside sometimes do not line up correctly… all of that! (But the Buyer in question says they do not mind, and the tours give them a much better idea of the house.)

We do not provide virtual tours on every one of our listings, but we do provide virtual tours that are imbedded in a custom web site for every one of our high-end listings. Here’s who we use to do that. (Peter Tye and 2 View Media shoots and produces as good a virtual tour as it gets.)

As one can see from our example, and those of the pro, there is a real difference in the quality of a virtual home tour.

Welcome to South Lake Tahoe’s premier organization for the arts.

The Tahoe Art League is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting fine art and art education on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe since 1964. They provide free monthly art demonstrations for the public, art workshops, classes, summer outdoor shows, fine art exhibits, college scholarships and many other activities.

South Lake Tahoe Chamber of Commerce

Summer Movie Series - Enjoy new releases & family classics in the plaza on the big screen every Thursday through August. Snuggle up under the stars with your friends & family. All movies start at Dusk in the Village Events Plaza, weather permitting.

• Starts: 8:30pm on Thursdays.
• The Village At Squaw Valley USA, 1750 Village East RD, Olympic Valley, CA- Call: (866)818-6963 or (530)584-1000 for information.

Source: Lake Tahoe Events Calendar

This is the third post in a series we did before about real estate marketing and advertising in general, and how it relates to South Lake Tahoe, CA in particular.

The first post in this series is about the impossibility, and futility, of selling an overpriced listing in todays market. You won’t pay too much for anything these days, and nobody else will either!

This is especially true here in our South Lake Tahoe Market. We took a humorous look at this in our post about our failure to sell Crest toothpaste for $35 a tube (here).

Next we discussed the difference between marketing and advertising, and detailed the nine pieces of the marketing pie, advertising being one of them, that have to work together to produce a successful marketing result… a sale! (here)

Much more below.

Nobody has been in the real estate business long enough to know everything, but we’ve had our real estate practice here in South Lake Tahoe long enough to know a little. Plain and simple, some advertising works… and a whole lot of it doesn’t. So now lets take a look at advertising in and of itself… the “getting the word out” piece of the marketing pie. We’ll look at traditional advertising, and you just might be somewhat surprised at the outcome. We know we were.

TRADITIONAL REAL ESTATE ADVERTISING: (remember, advertising is "getting the word out.")
Some call the following “marketing”, but it’s all advertising. Most everybody will recognize each of these “traditional” advertising methods to sell a house. Generally they are not as effective as one might think. (The statistics below are from the National Association of Realtors® profile of home buyers and sellers from 2004 to 2006.)

The Local Television Show:
Every market has a few of these. We have about four that appear here in South Lake Tahoe. This is normally a weekend show featuring an agent talking about one or more of their listings.

The Fact: Only 1 out of every 100 Buyers finds the house they buy from a local television show, 99% do not.

What’s Good: Some Sellers have a “perception” that a local real estate television is effective. As such the local television show is good for the agent(s) involved. It attracts listings from future sellers, but rarely do they produce sales.

The Open House:
Virtually every real estate market in the country uses the open house. Here in South Lake Tahoe, they are normally held on weekends, and may be promoted in the local newspaper, and/or by direct mail, or not. We have tried every method, and all seem to produce similar results, or traffic. We meet new people, and often not, which is good, but not once for us in the last 6 years has an open house produced a direct sale.

The Fact: Only 2 out of every 100 Buyers finds the house they buy from an Open House, 98% do not.

What’s Good: The Open House is good for the agents involved. It creates opportunities to meet, and make a good impression on the neighbors. It also creates opportunities to meet Buyers, who normally buy elsewhere (98% of the time). If direct mail is used, that too increases the opportunity for the agent to make an impression on those that receive it. Rarely does an open house benefit the Seller as much as it does the agent.

The Newspaper:
This includes both space ads and classified ads. Increasingly print advertising of any kind is becoming less effective when compared to online media. This is particularly true in resort markets, like ours here in South Lake Tahoe, whose real estate demand is primarily fueled by out-of-town Buyers… who do not take nor read the local newspaper.

The Fact: Only 10 out of every 100 Buyers finds the home they buy from a newspaper ad, 90% do not.

What’s Good: Newspaper ads are more effective than a local television show and an open house, though not by a lot. The news print ad can have longer shelf life, though the newspaper ad too seems to help the agent in the long run more so than the Seller of the house in the ad. We have not seen a newspaper ad produce a direct sale for us in 6 years. (They have brought more than 150 people to our real estate seminars, which have produced listings that have sold.)

Local Real Estate Magazine:
Every market has these. They are usually free, found in racks around town, and are glossy, color monthly or bi-monthly publications containing ads for current listings. Here in South Lake Tahoe this is “Homes and Land”, “Premier Homes”, “Homes”, and “Luxury Homes”, among others.

The Fact: Only 3 out of every 100 Buyers finds the home they buy from a local real estate magazine, 97% do not.

What’s Good: Some Sellers have the perception that this is an effective advertising strategy, but like most traditional real estate advertising methods, this too has greater benefit for the agent than a particular Seller.  Ads in local real estate magazines produce more listings for an agent, again as a result of future Seller perception, than direct sales.

The Yard Sign:
The yard sign is more productive than the other traditional forms of real estate advertising. It is certainly more effective in neighborhoods that are conducive to drive-by activity than those that are not. For example, gated communities, and resort areas, have far less drive-by activity than do suburban subdivisions. As such the yard sign works better in busy neighborhoods in primary home markets, and less so in markets driven by out-of -town demand, like ours.

In South Lake Tahoe, of our 40 or so neighborhoods, there is one that is far more conducive for Yard  Sign produced sales than any other. That is The Tahoe Keys. Most all other neighborhoods have significantly less drive-by activity.

The Fact: About 15 out of every 100 Buyers finds the house they buy from a Yard Sign, 85% do not.

The Good: While the Yard Sign does better than other traditional forms of real estate advertising, it still provides greater benefit for the agent than it does for a Seller. Agents will traditionally create more opportunity from the neighborhood good will and recognition from a sign, which creates future listings, than from the sale of the house that has the actual sign.

SO WHAT WORKS (kind of)?
We have found that DIRECT MAIL works better than any other form on traditional advertising. It works for listings primarily, not for finding Buyers. It is also costly. Many books have been written about it, and there is much to know about how to best execute direct mail campaigns. For our purposes here, for direct mail to be effective it must::

• be short, clear and to the point.
• offer something of interest or value.
• appear consistently over time.

SO WHAT REALLY WORKS?
Online maketing; 85% of all home buyers shop for a home first on the internet! It’s here where we find Buyers.

• The MLS (the best real estate advertising by a landslide, nothing else comes even close, online or not!)
• The Agent Blog (like this one, and its the best buyer activity and attraction model we’ve ever seen)
• Active Rain (a real estate industry blog of some 150,000+ real estate professional members)
• Agent and Brokerage websites
• Major independent websites (realtor.com, trulia.com, zillow.com, and a host of others that do essentially the same thing)
• Social Networking (facebook in particular, and twitter to a lesser extent)
• Craigslist

South Lake Tahoe, CA central for quality quilting and fashion fabrics.

Maxene, my better 7/8ths, is a regular here. They specialize in helping people. Classes and special orders are a forte. In particular they helped with an important recent school fundraising event that featured two custom quilts that Max made… that raised $1,500 alone for the schools (we raised more than $50,000 gross in total).

Ask for owners Sheri or Jerry. You’ll be pleased.

Fabrics Unlimited is South Lake Tahoe’’s only full line fabric shop. They carry quilting cottons, fashion fabrics, art quilt supplies, ribbons and trim, yarn, and notions, as well as a large supply of buttons and thread. They also stock Vogue and Kwik Sew patterns as well as a tremendous selection of quilting books and patterns.

South Lake Tahoe Chamber of Commerce

Naughty School Girl Night - Enjoy smooth tequila while you listen to the Naughty School Girls play live music at the Cabo Wabo Cantina inside Harvey’s Casino.

• Starts: 9:30pm-1:30am every Wednesday.
• Harvey’s Casino Cabo Wabo Cantina, HWY 50 at Stateline AVE, South Lake Tahoe, NV- Call: (775)588-2411 for information.

Source: Lake Tahoe Events  Calendar

We also posted this one almost two years ago, and it was the second in the series of us trying to sell Crest toothpaste for $35 a tube.

As of today our Crest article has been featured twice nationally in the real estate blogosphere. Some 150+ real estate professionals from across the country have commented on this post via our social real estate network blog. Most all seemed to appreciate the overpriced message… from personal experience (check out all the comments here, then scroll to the bottom of the post and click "Comments‘.).

Below is what we reported then, and its just as true now.

We did a tongue and cheek post yesterday about not being able to sell Crest for $35.00 a Tube. There were really two main points that we thought about when putting together this satirical tale. The first was about the impossibility of selling overpriced listings in today’s real estate market.

Our second, and perhaps most salient point is the difference between marketing and advertising. Many professionals know this difference, but it has been our experience that some don’t, and that some Sellers and Buyers are not as aware of the difference as one might think.

Lets Define Marketing:
It’s the planning and execution of business methods and activities to sell a product.
 
How to Think about Marketing:
Think of Marketing as a Complete, Luscious Strawberry Pie.

• There are Nine Pieces to the Pie.

• Some Pieces are more important than others. (Price is the most important component of Marketing by far.)

• All the Pieces Have to Work Together, and Independently to Complete the Marketing Pie.

• The Pie won’t work unless you can eat the whole thing!

The Nine Pieces of the Marketing Pie: (not necessarily in order of importance, but in order of business execution)

• Market Research (reveals Price)

• Product Price

• Sales Strategy

• Media Planning

• Public Relations

• Advertising

• Distribution

• Customer Support

• Community Involvement

Let’s Define Advertising:
A public message paid for by a firm to promote the sale of it’s product.

How to Think about Advertising:
Advertising is only one piece of the Marketing Pie.

• Advertising never works if the product is overpriced. (That’s why we can’t sell Crest for $35.)

• Advertising is the piece of the Pie involved with getting the word out only.

• Advertising involves strategies for ad placement and frequency.

• Advertising often involves various media: (more and more so these days, real estate marketing is done online only)
  • Print Media (magazines and newspapers)
  • Direct Mail
  • Billboards (we don’t have any to speak of in our market)
  • Television
  • Radio
  • Internet (85+% of all US Buyers shop for here for homes first)
• Advertising is the the most expensive piece of the Marketing Pie (presumably it has more strawberries). Public Relations is a close second, and Market Research is not far behind.

A South Lake Tahoe Family Law Firm… and a Babe Ruth coach to boot!

Joe Laub recently coached our son’s Babe Ruth baseball team. We also know Joe, and his most attractive family, through the recent high school baseball team… that came in second in the Nevada State Championships. What we liked most about Joe is his always positive attitude. Like in baseball, that can’t hurt with practicing law either.

Here’s the lead off the family law firm’s website:

A Family Dedication to Justice and Effective Legal Advocacy Since 1965

Since its founding in 1965, the Law Firm of Laub & Laub has offered dedicated, effective legal services to clients throughout California and Nevada. Our passion for justice and dedication to results work to the benefit of our clients. Ethical conduct, perseverance, client-service, and seasoned legal advocacy continue to be the cornerstones of our firm’s success.

We offer legal services in all of the following practice areas:

• Family law: including divorce and child custody
• Criminal law Area: DUI defense, drug crimes, theft, juvenile law, domestic violence/ restraining orders
• Bankruptcy
• Business law
• Personal injury
• Real Estate
• Wills, Trusts, and Probate

South Lake Tahoe Chamber of Commerce

Star Spangled Fourth - Lights on the Lake 2009 - Largest synchronized fireworks display west of the Mississippi. Starts at approximately 9:45 PM. The simultaneous music broadcast can be heard on local stations KRLT-FM 93.9 and KOWL-AM 1490.

Fireworks are shot from a barge on the Lake at the end of Stateline Avenue. You can park at the back of Harvey’s or the Horizon casinos and walk about a block to Stateline Ave. and then toward the lake. They will start about 9:15pm-9:30pm or when it is dark and last about 45 minutes.

El Dorado Beach which is about 1 mile past the CA/NV border on the CA side and across from the campground, is another great viewing location. Get there early, about 3:00pm or 4:00pm if you want to secure a picnic table.

Tahoe Queen and MS Dixie are also great vantage point for viewing the fireworks, with July 4th Dinner and Dance Cruises - contact (888) 896-3830 for reservations.

• South Lake Tahoe, CA- Call: (530)544-5050 for information.

Source: Lake Tahoe Events Calendar

Toothpaste, it seems, does have something to do with South Lake Tahoe Houses… and Sellers!

We posted this one in August of 2007, and its as true today as it was then… perhaps even more so. We thought you might appreciate its message, and there are two different South Lake Tahoe Sellers right now who could well learn its lesson!

This article was featured nationally, twice, in the national real estate blogosphere, and we hope you enjoy.

Article in its entirey below.

Procter and Gamble just fired us. They gave us the right to sell Crest for $35.00 a tube for the last six months and we didn’t get one offer. The market is bad, we knew that, but we advertised the hell out of it. They said we’re through, and now they’re going to give this opportunity to someone else (oh darn!).

“But we do advertising better than anybody”, we told them. “You didn’t produce”, Procter growled as Gamble snarled through grimaced, Crest -streaked pearly whites, “You didn’t advertise it Right!” (They are such a lovely couple.)

We can’t, for the life of us, figure out why it didn’t sell. Lets see how we advertised it, and maybe you can tell us where we screwed up.

Internet:
85% of all people with a toothbrush look here first. So this is where we targeted our advertising first.

• We hit all of the usual and customary sites, including Who’s Who in Luxury Toothpaste and Luxe Dental Portfolio.
• We even put it on Craig’s List.
• A also did a custom Website with a virtual tour of a good mouth brushing and a Dental Tips Blog.

The Dental Registry (DLS):
We’re all over it, and Dental.com (DAR) too.

Television:
We did co-branded television and print campaigns. They were saturative, and based on focus group findings of what people most expect in their high-end toothpaste.

• Campaign spokesanimal was Bugs Bunny.
• Footage of Bugs had starlight filters on his two front teeth, which sparkled aplenty from every angle.
• Featured celebrity endorsements from Mr Ed, Francis the Talking Mule, Bucky Beaver and a cable television special targeted to the youth demographic of Butthead getting his braces off. (Like Butthead, we still couldn’t score.)

Magazines:
Coordinated print campaign that ran concordant to television spots.

• Bugs was featured first, with teeth prominent in all print ads. (Starlights added graphically to teeth.)
• Included Scratch and Sniff Pages in Vanity Fair, Cosmopolitan and other high profile publications.

Newspapers:
National PR campaign to generate news, plus “Name That Rabbit” contest in local newspapers.

Direct Mail:
Postcard campaign to everyone in our data base who has a mouth.

Grocery Stores:

• Point of Purchase Displays.
• End Aisle Free Brushing stations w/ teaser samples.

Whew:
We were exhausted when it was all over. No stone was unturned in our effort, yet no sales.

What Did We Do Wrong?
That is the question. And we have no idea.

• With everything we did, why could we not sell Crest for $35.00 a tube?
• What can we do to stop Procter and Gamble from giving someone else this opportunity?
• What does selling Crest for $35.00 a tube have to do with selling a house?

We appreciate your feedback.

Click Here (for something cool)

Our Bolero Button? (Yep, you can listen to it when you visit. Scroll down in left sidebar to find it.)

South Lake Tahoe is always a Photography Wonderland!

This was written by Lisa Hori, spousal associate of the photographer. Currently, she guesses one can title her the webmaster of Dirk photoZ/ Dirk Yuricich Photography.

We present our images at our gallery, at art festivals and shows, and on the internet as fine art photography. It’s a constant work in progress; we are constantly adding images. But at least we have the all important, Internet presence.

Since our primary photographer is Dirk Yuricich (photographs are signed with the Croatian spelling, Juricic) , we call ourselves Dirk photoZ or Dirk Yuricich Photography. Dirk’s passion is travel, so travel photography makes up a fairly large portion of the images. To further qualify the term travel photography, most of the photos are either artistic or photojournalistic in nature (rather than documentary or abstract). Having lived 11 years in Japan, we’ve built up a good collection of beyond-the-average-tourist view of Japan images. We also have a large selection of Ecuador and Bali photos, a broad spectrum of Europe images, and of course Lake Tahoe/ mountain images. Dirk now lives (as do I) in the United States at Lake Tahoe, on the Nevada side.

South Lake Tahoe Chamber of Commerce

Live Jazz - On the casino floor outside of Conrad’s. Enjoy beautiful music from this 3 piece jazz ensemble while dining at Conrad’s or playing on the casino floor. Come see what everyone is talking about!

• Starts: 6-10pm on Sundays.
• Tahoe Biltmore, 5 HWY 28, Crystal Bay, NV- Call: (775)831-0660 for information.

Source: Lake Tahoe Events Calendar

Does the new Home Valuation Code of Conduct  (HVCC) affect South Lake Tahoe?

In a word, yes it does, but South Lake Tahoe appraisals may not be affected as one might think. We did a post yesterday about appraisals (here), and we almost immediately got a comment on Facebook from an appraiser we know.

Her comment follows:

"HVCC opens the door for out of area, inexperienced appraisers to work our very specialized market. Thanks for providing the stats, opening the dialogue and being there as a resource. I appreciate it."

This personifies, we think, the real issue for us, and you, as it relates to the new HVCC standards that went into effect on May 1st (see below). It is true that South Lake Tahoe is a specialized market. One really does have to know this market to value a property here, and even then it is sometimes about as difficult as it gets to do so. Some properties are just that unique.

The usual and customary standard for anyone to do a home evaluation is by comparison, yet about once or twice a year we get asked to help with a home evaluation… that has literally no comparison. When this happens there is no substitute for experience in this market. Period.

In the past few months since the new HVCC standards have gone into effect, we have had numerous calls from out-of-area appraisers asking us for help in evaluating a property (ones we do not represent). These appraisers come to us via, and because of  this blog, and the well-known statistics and market reports herein, but that’s not really the point here.

We are certainly happy to help any real estate professional in any way we can, but the point is this is what happens when inexperienced people come to serve an exceptionally unique, non cookie-cutter real estate market. One then has to trust a real estate agent, and with us they can because our stats here are the actual numbers (without agenda). But what happens when an inexperienced appraiser asks for help… from an inexperienced agent? Well, this we think is absolutely part and parcel of the actual appraisers sentiments above: all sorts of problems and pitfalls can happen due to a lack of experience… with anything!

How it Works Usually:
We never contact an appraiser on an actual sale. Once agreement is reached on the sale of a house, and it goes into escrow, it is always the lender that  both orders the appraisal and selects the appraiser to do it. Usually the appraiser is found on the lenders list of approved appraisers. (In other words, the new HVCC standard does not affect us.)

Usually the only time we contact an appraiser is to help a Seller come to terms with current market reality, or to add one more layer of professional service to help a buyer understand that they are not paying too much. In each case the appraiser works for the client, never for us. In each of these scenarios, after the appraisal is produced, we do not have access to it without the client’s expressed permission.

The Bottom Line:
So the bottom line of our discussion is this: it is not necessary for us to talk to an appraiser about an actual deal, so whether there are new standards or not about an agent talking to an appraiser, the point is moot. What’s important to us as it particularly relates to our clients best interests is that any appraiser picked by a lender ought to be one that knows this market.

 What’s below is found on the website for the National Association of REALTORS®

Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC)

The Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) establishes standards for solicitation, selection, compensation, conflicts of interest and appraiser independence. It is effective May 1, 2009, for any mortgage that will be sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac; Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) mortgages are not covered in the agreement.

How HVCC Affects the Appraisal Process

REALTORS® and mortgage brokers are prohibited from selecting appraisers. Lenders are may use “in house” staff appraisers to conduct appraisals. However, the loan production staff is prohibited from:

• selecting, retaining, recommending, or influencing the selection of an appraiser; and,
• conducting any substantive conversation with an appraiser or appraisal management company regarding the appraisal assignment.

For the consumer, the appraisal process has remained largely intact. However, consumers may find the process takes longer than and may be more costly than it has been in the past.

For More Information

NAR’s HVCC Myths and Facts Flyer  (PDF: 345K)

Complete Home Valuation Code of Conduct (PDF: 28K)

Our recent experience with Lake Tahoe Master Framing was one of Excellence!

It’s true, we went to Lake Tahoe Master Framing to mount and display some 2 dozen full sized, and oversized posters we did for an important fundraising event for our local Nevada schools. Their work was as suberb as their service was helpful and cheerful. Their work was on time, and we got a great price!

Lake Tahoe Master Framing is the largest provider of vintage Tahoe photos on South Shore, also Tahoe prints, posters, and large format photographs of the area by JT Ravize. In stock or order Lake Tahoe prints, photos, posters and local art.

Largest selection of frames in Tahoe, specializing in recycled materials.  We are the greenest frame shop in Tahoe!! Locally family owned and operated.

South Lake Tahoe Chamber of  Commerce