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Post by The Goodman Group.

Don’t Let Your Reputation—or Your Wallet—Fall Prey to Scam Complaint Site

A Web site of suspicious origin is misusing the REALTOR® trademark in what seems to be an attempt to get money from real estate practitioners.

The site, Realtor-complaints.com, supposedly publishes consumer complaints about real estate agents. However, an investigation by the New Jersey association of REALTORS® showed a string of complaints against its members, all using similar phrasing. “This leads to suspicion that these are not all public-submitted complaints,” says Lauren Castellano, director of communications for the New Jersey Association of REALTORS^®.

Not only that, when agents who have been the subject of a complaint attempt to make contact, the site offers them the “opportunity” to pay to have the complaint and their name removed from the site, says Michael Thiel, an attorney for the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.  NAR legal staff checked the WHOIS record for the site and discovered it’s hosted on servers located in the Seychelles. “It’s recorded as having been initially registered on Jan. 1, 2013,” Thiel says, ”which makes the site’s claim of having been around since 2002 very suspect.”

Thiel’s office has received a number of calls from members who’ve been informed, via e-mail, that their name is listed at the site. NAR attorneys are investigating and, if necessary, will take steps to have the site shut down. But it’s important to approach with caution any service that claims to either track or burnish your reputation.  Online reputation management—and reputation trashing—is a growing enterprise, and there are simple steps you can take to manage your own reputation online:

• Make sure all of your profiles (on social media sites, at REALTOR.com, and so on) are complete, up to date, and consistent.
• Be proactive in asking customers for reviews in legitimate forums, such as Yelp and LinkedIn.
• Search Google and Yahoo for your name and your company’s name. Save each search as a browser favorite and check them daily.
• Sign up for Google Alerts so that you’re notified when your name appears in a search. Also set up alerts for variations of your name, your company name, and other keywords.
• Ask your customers where they’ve gone to search for information about real estate and other professionals.

Correct errors quickly. Immediately contact the Web site and be willing to prove your case with information from your MLS or other sources. But don’t be tempted to pay to have information removed. “It’s hard to imagine a legitimate site requiring you to pay to take down false information,” Thiel says.

Here is the link http://speakingofrealestate.blogs.realtor.org/2013/01/10/don%E2%80%99t-let-your-reputation%E2%80%94or-your-wallet%E2%80%94fall-prey-to-scam-complaint-site/

Buying Investment Properties In Nashville TN

With so many distressed listings and foreclosed homes on the market right now, the idea of investing in real estate seems to be gaining popularity. If you’re wondering whether you’re cut out to be landlord youll have to decide.Here are two helpful links to all the Nashville TN HUD Homes List and the Nashville TN Foreclosed homes list

Advantages of Owning Rental Property

Owning real estate certainly has its pros and cons. Let’s start with the good stuff: It can be very profitable. Real estate is a tangible asset that you control and everyone needs a place to live. You can make money with real estate in two basic ways—cash flow and appreciation:

Cash flow or income results when the rent you collect from a tenant exceeds your total expenses. Expenses for a rental property may include the mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance, maintenance, and repairs.
Appreciationis the increase in value that a property can experience over time.

How to Make Money on a Rental Property

You might buy a property in a good neighborhood that needs repair. If you’re handy and like doing fix-up work (or have enough profit in a deal to hire a contractor), you can make the repairs and sell it for a profit, or keep it for a rental. Some people like to invest in multi-family properties that are already making money or one where they can live onsite in one of the units. Or you could buy a vacation home that you rent out on a weekly or monthly basis and use for yourself part of the year.Of course the other side of investing is flipping properties if you dont wont to be a landlord.Buy a cheap price for cash put some love into it and sell it...I

f you have a mortgage once you pay off ,it can be a nice source of extra income while you’re still working or during your retirement. So, how you structure a real estate investment depends on your resources, how long you intend to own the investment, and the features of the property that you buy.If you have any questions about investing in the Nashville TN Real Estate market give me a call at 615-476-2953 to discuss your options.