I love real estate. Going to check out open houses is as actual hobby for me and Barry. But I’ll tell you, I’ve never been in a rotating house. This mansion in San Diego is truly stunning.
A SWAT team stormed my house
Feb. 16 started like any typical Friday night. My husband and I decided to stay home, grill chicken and make a salad for dinner. At about 6:45 p.m., we heard some loud rumbling overhead.
We walked onto the back patio and two police helicopters were overhead — shining lights all over our property, and a recording echoed, “Police. You are under arrest. Stay right there and I won’t shoot you.”
As I looked across the fence, a swarm of armed members of the Phoenix SWAT Team with a few dogs were circling our property. One of the guys said, “Yeah, there’s a jammer right here.” He picked it up. I leaned over the patio and asked, “What’s going on?”
The police told me to go inside
A SWAT member said, “Ma’am, A South American gang is targeting homes to steal from. The jammer says you might have been next. Do we have permission to enter your property?” I said, “Yes!” and then he asked something like, “If we find anyone, will you pursue charges so we can arrest them?” I replied, “Of course!”
I opened the driveway gates to our property and the guest house while Barry tossed the police keys to open the security gates. It turns out that when the gang saw we were home, they likely diverted their attention to the house next door. A house four doors down from us wasn’t so lucky.
The homeowner left at 5 p.m. to have dinner and got a notification his security cameras were offline at 5:05 p.m. He thought the internet went down. The gang broke in and took $25,000 in cash and valuables worth $100,000. They were in and out in less than 10 minutes.
How are they getting away with this?
The gang places cellular and Wi-Fi jammers around the homes they’re targeting. This way, security cameras and phones are useless. A Phoenix police officer told me the gang probably noticed nothing was down in our house.
Our home’s security cameras and internet are hardwired. Even when the thieves tried to jam the Wi-Fi signals, the security camera’s red lights showed they were recording everything. We also still have a landline.
But how frightening is that? Your phone doesn’t work. Your cameras aren’t recording anything. On the upside, the gang doesn’t carry guns. If caught, they’ll spend about six months in jail before being extradited back to Chile.
If you’d like to watch the action captured by my security cameras, I showed them during a Kim Komando Today video stream. I am so thankful for our police force.
Are home prices way up or down in your city?
It’s a strange time in real estate. Interest rates are high, borrowing costs are too expensive for a lot of folks and depending on where you look, the market is doing very different things.
Zillow’s latest research, analyzing home values from July to August, found five cities where home values are up — and five where they’re down.
🏠 More accurate than Zillow: Ever driven by a beautiful house and wondered how much it cost? Find its sale price on your county assessor’s site. These government-run sites list the buyer, the square footage and, yep, how much a house last sold for, too. Here’s the Maricopa County assessor’s site. To find yours, search “[your county] + assessor.” Happy snooping.
Dangerous online real estate mistake
Selling your home? Virtual tours are expected these days, but there’s something you need to know before you post one. I’ve got the details, in 60 seconds.
🏠 Phony landlords: Scammers are flooding Facebook Marketplace with fake rental listings. They use real addresses and legit-looking pics at prices that seem like a steal, and they’ll even let you check it out in person. Major red flag: They’ll demand an application fee upfront via PayPal, Venmo or Zelle.
Zillow’s Zestimate guesses how much your house (or any other house) is worth. How many data points does Zillow factor in? Is it close to … A.) 100, B.) 500, C.) 7.5 million or D.) 20 million?
10 most affordable cities
In the U.S. are primarily in the South and Midwest. McAllen, Texas, takes the top spot, with home prices averaging $275,000 (paywall link). Rounding out the top three: Wichita, Kansas, and Little Rock, Arkansas.
PRIVACY 101: How to get photos of your home off Zillow, Redfin and Realtor.com
Are you thinking of selling your home? Hopefully, you’ve used some of your time to spruce it up. If not, it’s never too late. You don’t need to spend a lot of money, and even minor changes can add considerable value to your sell price later. Tap or click here for five tips on boosting your home’s value.
Overnight success? Nope, but it was worth the work
Have a passion for homes and architecture? Rob Kallick did and ran with it. Now he runs a team of real estate agents that closed $200 million in deals last year. Whoa.
When I heard about Rob, I couldn’t wait to share it with you. If you know someone trying to make it in real estate, you need to share this story with them.
Up to 23%
That’s the discount you can get on houses listed as “priced to sell.” Sellers, don’t forget buyers are also drawn to the term “energy-efficient.” Those green features can boost your listing’s value by around $8,200. So smart to know.
Busted by a bot: A New York judge roasted an expert witness who used Microsoft’s Copilot AI chatbot to assess the damages in a real estate case. The witness couldn’t explain how it works, forgot the prompts he used and didn’t know where the info came from. When the court tested it, they got three different estimates. Nail in the coffin: The bot itself says outputs should always be verified by experts. D’oh.
Buying a house or wiring money? A former Mastercard exec nearly lost $100,000 after scammers got into her real estate agent’s email account. They posed as a title company, requesting an “accelerated” payment (paywall link). The wire instructions had the same letterhead and typography, but the phone number and email were off. Luckily, she called the original number and dodged the scam. Always double-check the details.
If your house is on the market: Take a good look at what’s posted online. One study reviewed 44 virtual tours, and every single home had at least one piece of private information — a diploma, a photo, a letter — on display. Steps here to remove photos from the major real estate sites.
🚨 $400K MIA: A Silicon Valley woman nearly lost her down payment when a scammer infiltrated the email thread between her and her real estate broker. They convinced her to wire the money to a new account. It took banks five months to get it back. If you’re buying, talk through the wire instructions upfront with your broker, and when it’s time to send, call to confirm the details.
🏠 Real estate therapy: Browsing Zillow is the new way to manage stress (paywall link). Some folks look at homes within their budget, imagining what could be. Others browse properties worse than their current digs to feel grateful. I have my old homes and rentals saved so I get alerts when they change hands. It’s fun to track!
🚨 Homebuyers, beware: A New Jersey couple was duped out of $32,500 when trying to buy their dream home. Scammers faked an entire email thread with their lawyer, the seller’s lawyer and the real estate agent. They wired the down payment to crooks. The scam email addresses were one letter off from the real ones. Wowsie, watch out if you’re buying or selling a home.
$295 million asking price
That’s for a nine-acre compound home in Naples, Florida. It includes three homes and a private yacht basin — and would set a new real estate record if it sells for even close to the asking price.
Protect your privacy: How to remove your home's photos from Zillow, Redfin and Realtor.com
If you’re not trying to sell your home, there’s no reason to leave interior photos and other details on real estate sites like Realtor, Zillow and Redfin. Just think about how valuable your floor plan might be in the wrong hands.
Here's where experts say the housing market is getting pricey again - And where you can expect to find deals
On the market for a new home? You’re not alone, but now might not be the time to invest. However, you might be in luck if you’re selling a home.
Zillow, one of the top platforms for buying and selling property, just released its value and sales forecast for March 2023. One major prediction: a decline in total sales, around 4.3 million as opposed to last year’s 5 million.