Ken Horst's (khorst) Blog

Home values, free house values, house values, CMA, comp check, etc.  these area just some of the ways we refer to a homes value. As most of us have seen, there are different versions and reasons to seek out home values.  One web site has based it's business on the belief that consumers will want ...

Back in the old days the only way to find a home for sale was to drive around in your car until you found a “For Sale” sign, or call a Realtor and wait for them to call you with what they found for you.  Not the worst system in the world but it took a lot of time and the home shopper had little c...

I received a call recently from a past client who was asking about her escrow for tax and insurance. She had been talking with a friend who suggested to her that she try to close the escrow account and pay her property taxes and hazard insurance separately on their own. Her friends biggest reason...

Recently I found a cool web site which helps agents and others develop a sustainable competitive advantage in their market place.  This is obviously very important to people in our industry as it seems that for many home buyers and sellers we all appear to offer the same services and therefore ap...

Recently I attended a meeting regarding down payment assistance in Minnesota presented by Nehemiah, the nation’s largest privately funded downpayment assistance program.  They showed us how to work with Minnesota real estate agents and Minneapolis Realtors to put together offers to buy homes that...

In a previous post I listed 10 search terms that are being typed into Google with more frequency, using a combination of the terms “mls” and “map”.   Here is an updated list of search terms used in Google since that post.  In addition to the search terms I already listed, here is a list of addit...

Trying to build back your credit score after you have dropped into the low 500's is a lot like trying to get your web site from the 10th page on Google to the first page.  Both systems use an algorithm and both algorithms are more dynamic than static.  If a person has a basic understanding of the...

While I'm on the topic of links, here is another good one that is free, easy to use and has good school information for most public schools and many private schools all over the country.http://nces.ed.gov/globallocator/ This is a government site so there is no advertising or useless distractions....

Frequently I find myself on city or county web sites digging up community information for clients or looking for property records or tax appraised values on county web sites.  I have saved most of the county and city sites that I use in my favorites but it occurred to me that if I am constantly h...

Washington Mutual announced yesterday that it was shutting down it's wholesale lending division.  I personally didn't do a lot of business with WaMu so it doesn't really affect me but I know many loan officers who had solid working relationships with Washington Mutual and they will have to invest...