October 2010
Monthly Archive
October 22, 2010
An Attorney Talks ‘Real Estate Disarray’
By Nancy Colasurdo
Published October 22, 2010
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When I walk into attorney Frank Marciano’s second-floor office overlooking a vibrant intersection of Hoboken, N.J., he is on the phone with a potential client.
“It’s hard to tell you the one thing you don’t want to do is your best solution,” says Marciano, his compassionate eyes giving balance to his emphatic, booming voice. “Sell your house.”
Marciano has spent nearly a half-hour listening carefully and offering the same advice to this man who has nowhere to turn. He took out a loan a few years ago on the house he has lived in for over 30 years — once paid for — and cannot meet the steep payments that come with a 12% interest rate. He is a laborer whose income has dipped considerably in this economy and is hoping Marciano can assist him in his quest to refinance, but his troubles are tied to the credit problems he’s developed because of this bind.
“Walk away before this loan eats away at your equity,” Marciano says, heartened by the fact that he has triple the equity he needs to come out respectable. “If you wait, you’re going to be at ground zero and worse off. There are worse things than renting. Your mental health is the most important thing.”
Calls like this — what he refers to as “people in distress” — are the norm for Marciano these days. Often they’re people with first and second mortgages way over the value of the house. Often their credit is ruined because they haven’t paid their mortgage and, in turn, they have trouble getting a rental because of their credit.
“I don’t run an office that I just take people’s money and then deal with their problems,” Marciano says. “It’s just not right. So I try to really spend the time listening to people before. If I can’t help them, I won’t take them. About half the people who call with problems simply do not want to take the hard medicine they have to take, which oftentimes is to simply walk away from the property. Hand it over to the bank or take the result of what a foreclosure would mean on them. Half the people don’t come back. Half the people come back and there’s no foregone conclusion that it’s going to work out the way they want it to work out.”
What Marciano is essentially giving in a lot of those calls, then, is free advice that in some cases is likely a valuable second or third opinion.
“The nature of people in these transactions is the hope for a better day, but there’s no indication at all that this better day is coming any time soon,” Marciano says. “And what happens is that by people not falling on the sword now and getting hit with the hardness now, the amount they owe accumulates until the situation is even worse.”
According to a recent FoxBusiness.com article by Gerri Willis, “The numbers showed 816,000 homes have been seized through the first nine months of the year and banks are on track to seize 1.2 million by the end of 2010. Already more than 2.5 million homes have been lost to foreclosure since the recession started.”
The potential client Marciano was talking to when I entered his office wondered, like many, if he should hang on and maybe the economy would get better. Call it denial. Or maybe something else, the ‘H’ word.
“The whole promise of America is that things are always going to be better,” Marciano said. “Even though I personally support and like Obama, the problem is that the exact message that he sold, which is hope, the reality is that people are starting to not believe in hope. People want hope. They want it, want it, want it. But they’re losing it.
“The power of America is there’s destruction and then there’s rebirth. This is what makes America different from all the countries in Europe. The problem we have now is no one wants to have the destruction and allow the rebirth to occur. The more we wait and try to let it all work out instead of collapse and rebuild, we’re going to be in a stagnant position. There’s a lot more pain on the horizon for middle America.”
Marciano opened his practice in 1983, notes that he has been through the problems in 1988, ’93, and ’97, but has never seen the real-estate market in such disarray. There used to be a rhythm to closings. The real-estate process was somewhat procedural. Closings that used to take a month now take three months. His last three closings generated over 250 emails each; contrast that with maybe 30 per closing in the past.
“A lot of the emails are about the uncertainty, the anxiety the clients have about the back and forth with the bank,” Marciano says. “During the height of the real estate boom, literally I would joke with people that it cost more to buy a sandwich than it did to buy a $500,000 condo because they were giving 103% financing.”
Half of his clients buying new property now are from China and India and a lot of them are paying cash. Rentals are going up. There’s a patchwork of laws — i.e., tenant laws — designed to protect people that end up hurting others and affecting their ability to buy. There are banks forcing potential buyers to re-file every two months all the documents they already filed. Condominium associations have come to play a part in transactions with the bank that have nothing to do with the loan.
“It’s obvious that the banks are just totally overwhelmed,” Marciano says. “It’s frustrating as an attorney because often it’s easy to blame us. No one can believe that the banks can act so unprofessional. The banks have so overreacted to all the problems they caused that they’re making their own problems even worse.”
Marciano is particularly saddened by those who saved their money, sacrificed, bought a house or condo and then find everything they worked for is gone.
“The whole premise of their life is brought into question,” Marciano says. “All the things you were supposed to do end up not giving a good result. What was the use of doing a good thing?
“You can see people getting sick over this, where they have children, wives, husbands. I tell them if they downsize their lifestyle, realize they cannot continue the way they are, and accept that, it’s more important to maintain a sense of balance and maintain mental health than trying to maintain a lifestyle that brings no joy to anyone.”
Like that troubled laborer. One can only hope he heard the message loud and clear.
October 9, 2010
Lexington
The best Congress money can buy?
For all the money sloshing around in American politics, you still cannot buy the results of elections
Oct 7th 2010
IT IS fair to say that the Supreme Court of Chief Justice John Roberts is not extravagantly admired by Democrats. Of all its conservative rulings, the one they find most enraging as November’s mid-term elections approach is undoubtedly its 5-4 decision in January in the case of Citizens United. This held that since the first amendment tells Congress to make no law abridging the freedom of speech, previous legislation that barred companies, unions and other groups from paying directly for political advertisements during election campaigns was unconstitutional.
Barack Obama was furious. This was a “green light” to a stampede of special-interest money that would enable “Big Oil”, Wall Street banks, health-insurance companies and other powerful interests “to drown out the voices of everyday Americans”. As the mid-terms have neared, the cries of “foul” have multiplied. David Axelrod, one of Mr Obama’s advisers, complained in September about “an audacious stealth campaign” by “powerful corporate special interests” using front groups to pour millions into misleading, negative campaign ads that could “tip the scales” in the coming election. The New York Times bemoaned “the most secretive election cycle since the Watergate years”.
Vast right-wing conspiracy, revisited
How valid are these complaints? This cycle has indeed seen the emergence of an exotic bestiary of organisations bearing innocuous labels such as Crossroads GPS, Americans for Job Security and Americans for Prosperity. These are raising lavish sums for pro-Republican political advertising, but the ads do not disclose the source of their funding. Voters would plainly see such advertising differently if they knew, say, that Crossroads GPS and its partner, American Crossroads, were connected to Karl Rove (George Bush’s former strategy guru), or that Americans for Job Security was formed by the insurance industry, or that Americans for Prosperity is funded by the billionaire Koch brothers in order (says Mr Axelrod) to “support their right-wing agenda and corporate interests”. An investigation by the Washington Post concludes that special interests have increased their spending fivefold compared with the 2006 mid-terms, and that the disclosed proportion has declined from more than 90% to less than half.
That said, the impact of Citizens United is in danger of being vastly exaggerated. The bipartisan Centre for Public Integrity reports that in recent weeks organisations with Republican affiliations have spent five times more than their Democratic counterparts. Add to this the message from the White House that vengeful, deep-pocketed businesses and shadowy special interests are poised to buy the November elections, and you might well conclude that money is destroying American democracy.
This is just not true. Consider, for a start, these two words: Meg Whitman. The former chief executive of eBay has by now spent about $120m of her own money on her campaign to become governor of California, and yet the latest polls have her trailing her Democratic rival, Jerry Brown, who says he has spent $11m.
This is not to say that possession of a personal fortune is a fatal handicap in politics. Michael Bloomberg’s three terms as mayor of New York and Jon Corzine’s victory in the New Jersey governor’s race of 2005 suggest the opposite. But Mr Corzine failed to buy his way to re-election last year. The moral of such stories, and the conclusion of a mountain of research, is that although money can sway the odd race here and there, it is generally subject to the law of diminishing returns. Once a candidate has spent enough to become known, the value of each extra dollar falls. A study by Americans for Campaign Reform in 2008 put that minimum at $700,000 for a crack at a seat in the House of Representatives.
This leads some to argue that instead of seeking to cap campaign contributions and spending, reformers should aim to help candidates across the magic threshold. A bill languishing in Congress, the Fair Elections Now Act, would offer public matching funds. Yet even that may be unnecessary. Gary Jacobson of the University of California in San Diego says the wielders of campaign funds have become expert at spotting competitive candidates and giving them the money they need to make a fight of it.
Besides, the Democrats are hardly penniless. The Democratic National Committee raised more than $16m in September, mainly from small donors, and has tended to do better at this than the Republican National Committee, whose mismanagement under the lackadaisical Michael Steele is one reason why Republicans are turning to outside organisations. And though outspent so far in the advertising war, trade unions (no less liberated than companies by the Citizens United ruling) have been working hard on the get-out-the-vote “ground war” at which they excel. Mr Jacobson expects the mid-terms to see many races between well-financed Democrats and Republican candidates with less money of their own but more help from outside organisations.
In other words: a pretty fair fight. Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution says that the Citizens United decision will no more determine the mid-terms than Mr Obama’s outspending of John McCain in 2008 swung the presidential race. That contest was determined by the fundamental politics (rejection of the Bush legacy, the charm of Mr Obama), as November’s will be (the jobless “recovery”, disappointment with Mr Obama). Bill Galston, also at Brookings, goes so far as to wonder whether the fuss about it might be a pre-emptive attempt to explain away a defeat.
Politics in the United States is contaminated by money in many ways. But if the Democrats are hammered in November, it will not be because of the judicial activism of a conservative Supreme Court. It will be because they have done too few things that voters admire, and too many they do not like. To that extent at least, American democracy remains in rude health.
October 8, 2010
3 Tips for Negotiating Short Sales
Short sale transactions can be complex to negotiate with lenders. Hence, real estate trainer and educator Kathy Mehringer’s definition of short sales: “A transaction where nothing is certain but for the uncertainty.”
Mehringer, director of risk management for Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, Southern California companies, offered tips to negotiating short sales during her session, “Short Sales, REOs and Foreclosures: Still Hot” on Wednesday during the California Association of REALTORS® Expo in Anaheim, Calif.
Mehringer, who often educates real estate professionals on short sales and foreclosures, offered the following negotiation tips at her session:
1. Don’t give up.
When a lender turns down your short sale offer, do not view that as the final answer. Too many real estate professionals assume that a firm “no” from a lender means they’ll never accept a short sale on that home.
“You can’t see ‘no’ as an answer — see it as an opportunity,” Mehringer said.
Follow up by asking the lender: “What will you accept? What can I do to make this offer better?”
Remember, the lender is supposed to get the highest price for the bank; “no’ is merely the beginning of negotiations.
2. Earn their trust.
Lenders don’t always trust real estate professionals when it comes to short sales negotiations. Mehringer has learned the reason for much of their distrust: They believe listing agents put a home on the market for a significantly lower price than what it is worth and then waste their time by submitting a ridiculously low offer and present it as the best possible offer for the home.
“Lenders think you underprice short sales,” Mehringer said. “We need to show them that we are trustworthy and properly demonstrate the value of the property.”
After all, your job when representing a seller — even in a short sale transaction — is to work to get the highest and best possible terms for your seller, she told attendees.
3. Lose the low-level clerk mentality.
Mehringer said that she often hears from real estate professionals that the lender isn’t cooperating. But how is your behavior toward them? Telling the lender such things as “if I don’t have an answer by 5 p.m. today, the buyer will walk” is not going to work in closing a short sale faster but will serve as a turnoff, Mehringer said.
“You will get more by being nice to people,” Mehringer said. “And being nice doesn’t mean that you have to be a push over either.” Always be professional and courteous in your contact with lenders.
Also, realize that a short sale is optional for a lender. “It’s a business decision,” Mehringer said. “A lender may elect to cooperate to save the expense and time of foreclosure … but it’s purely a business decision — it’s an algorithm.”
By Melissa Dittmann Tracey for REALTOR® Magazine online
October 8, 2010
October 8, 2010
Mortgages Hit Lowest Levels Since 1950s
Thirty-year fixed mortgages slipped to 4.27 percent this week, the lowest on records dating back to 1971, from 4.32 percent last week.
A drop in interest on 15-year loans to 3.72 percent from 3.75 percent, meanwhile, was the lowest on records dating back to 1991. Freddie Mac also reported that the five-year adjustable-rate mortgage fell to 3.47 percent from 3.52 percent last week, and the one-year ARM dropped to 3.40 percent this week from 3.48 percent.
Source: Chicago Sun-Times (10/08/10)
October 7, 2010
Posted by meredithmortgageteam under
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States With Highest, Lowest Property Taxes
Where do Texas, New Hampshire, and Hawaii fall on the list? The answer may surprise you.
Read more > |
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NAR Still Advocates Flood Insurance Reform
Congress just passed a one-year extension of the National Flood Insurance Program, but more changes are needed, NAR says.
Read more > |
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Mortgage Rate Sinks to 4.32 Percent
Average rates for both 30- and 15-year mortgages met or exceeded all-time lows this week.
Read more > |
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Where the Smart Folks Live
Generally speaking, the better educated the people, the higher the income. With that in mind, what areas have the most college graduates?
Read more > |
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90-Day Delinquencies Fall Again
For the fifth-straight month, delinquencies of 90 days or more on single-family mortgages declined, Fannie Mae says.
Read more > |
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More Extended Families Sharing a Home
In the latter half of the last decade, millions of people moved in with their relatives, representing a significant demographic shift.
Read more > |
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Where do Texas, New Hampshire, and Hawaii fall on the list? The answer may surprise you.
Read more > |
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NAR Still Advocates Flood Insurance Reform
Congress just passed a one-year extension of the National Flood Insurance Program, but more changes are needed, NAR says.
Read more > |
|
|
Mortgage Rate Sinks to 4.32 Percent
Average rates for both 30- and 15-year mortgages met or exceeded all-time lows this week.
Read more > |
|
|
Where the Smart Folks Live
Generally speaking, the better educated the people, the higher the income. With that in mind, what areas have the most college graduates?
Read more > |
|
|
90-Day Delinquencies Fall Again
For the fifth-straight month, delinquencies of 90 days or more on single-family mortgages declined, Fannie Mae says.
Read more > |
|
|
More Extended Families Sharing a Home
In the latter half of the last decade, millions of people moved in with their relatives, representing a significant demographic shift.
Read more > |
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October 7, 2010
Posted by meredithmortgageteam under Uncategorized
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REALTOR® Insider DC News and Events Report
NAR President Participates in Obama Administration Conference on the Future of Housing Finance
Federal Reserve Board Publishes Proposed Rule under TILA to Enhance Consumer Disclosures
Federal Reserve Board Publishes Proposed Rule on Escrow Requirements for Higher-Priced Jumbo Loans
Federal Reserve Board Requires Notice to Homeowners When Mortgages Are Sold
Federal Reserve Board Issues Final Rule to Limit Loan Originator Compensation
Federal Reserve Board Issues Interim Rule Requiring Disclosures of How Mortgage Payments May Change
Commercial Finance Report
Small Business Lending Fund Bill Signed Into Law
Conventional Residential Lending Report
Congress Extends Loan Limits
Federal Tax Report
New Reporting Requirements for Landlords
REALTOR® Insider DC News and Events Report 
NAR President Participates in Obama Administration Conference on the Future of Housing Finance
NAR President Vicki Cox Golder participated in a HUD-Treasury Conference on the Future of Housing Finance held on September 27, 2010, in Cleveland, as a member of the panel titled “Housing Finance Reform and Broader Housing Policy Goals.” She emphasized that “Homeownership Matters” and that there needs to be a government role in housing finance to assure that mortgages are available in all types of markets. She also strongly defended the 30 year fixed rate mortgage and the mortgage interest deduction. The panelists all agreed that the current market, where Federal Housing Administration, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac loans comprise more than 90 percent of the market, is not healthy. In a break-out session on managing risk in the financial system, NAR expressed concern that there needs to be more lending to qualified, creditworthy borrowers, consistent with sustainable homeownership, to help the housing markets recover.
NAR’s Homeownership Matters Initiative
Jeff Lischer 202-383-1117, Tony Hutchinson 202-383-1120
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Federal Reserve Board Publishes Proposed Rule under TILA to Enhance Consumer Disclosures
On September 24, 2010, the Federal Reserve Board (the Fed) published a proposed rule under the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) designed to enhance consumer protections and disclosures. The deadline for comments is December 23, 2010.
The changes would improve consumer disclosures for reverse mortgages, establish rules for reverse mortgage advertising, and prohibit specified unfair practices in the sale of financial products with reverse mortgages.
For all mortgages, the rule would improve disclosures related to a consumer’s right to rescind certain mortgages transactions and clarify the creditor’s responsibilities if the consumer rescinds. It would also ensure that consumers receive new disclosures when the parties agree to modify key terms of an existing mortgage. In addition, consumers would have time to review loan cost disclosures before they are obligated for fees, by requiring lenders to refund fees if a consumer decides to withdraw the application within 3 days of receiving disclosures. The proposed rule would make a number of additional changes.
Fed Announcement
Proposed Rule
Jeff Lischer 202-383-1117, Tony Hutchinson 202-383-1120
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Federal Reserve Board Publishes Proposed Rule on Escrow Requirements for Higher-Priced Jumbo Loans
On September 24, 2010, the Federal Reserve Board (the Fed) published a proposed rule to revise the escrow account requirements for higher-priced, first-lien “jumbo” mortgage loans. The rule implements a provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that increases the annual percentage rate (APR) threshold used to determine whether a lender must establish an escrow account for property taxes and insurance for first-lien jumbo mortgages. Jumbo loans are those with a principal amount that exceeds the limit for purchase by Freddie Mac ($417,000 or up to $729,750 for high cost areas). Dodd-Frank applies the escrow requirement only if the loan’s APR is 2.5 percentage points or more above the prime offer rate. The current trigger is 1.5 percentage points. The deadline for comments is October 25, 2010.
Fed Press Release
Final Rule
Jeff Lischer 202-383-1117, Tony Hutchinson 202-383-1120
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Federal Reserve Board Requires Notice to Homeowners When Mortgages Are Sold
On September 24, 2010, the Federal Reserve Board (the Fed) published a final rule in the Federal Register to confirm a change to the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) that requires that consumers be notified within 30 days after the date their mortgage loans are sold or transferred. There are several exceptions. This notice requirement has been in effect since May 20, 2009, and this final rule and an earlier interim rule provide additional clarity. The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) has a parallel requirement for notice to a consumer when the servicer of the mortgage has changed.
Fed Press Release
Final Rule
Jeff Lischer 202-383-1117, Tony Hutchinson 202-383-1120
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Federal Reserve Board Issues Final Rule to Limit Loan Originator Compensation
On September 24, 2010, the Federal Reserve Board (the Fed) published a final rule in the Federal Register to protect mortgage borrowers from unfair, abusive, or deceptive lending practices that can arise from loan originator compensation practices. The rule prohibits mortgage brokers and loan officers (loan originators) from being paid more if the borrower accepts an interest rate higher than the lender requires (commonly referred to as a “yield spread premium”). Loan originators may continue to receive compensation based on a percentage of the loan amount. Loan originators that receive compensation directly from a consumer may not also receive compensation from another party. The rule also prohibits loan originators from steering a consumer to accept a loan that is not in the consumer’s interest to increase the originator’s compensation. The final rule takes effect April 1, 2011.
Fed Press Release
Final Rule
Jeff Lischer 202-383-1117, Tony Hutchinson 202-383-1120
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Federal Reserve Board Issues Interim Rule Requiring Disclosures of How Mortgage Payments May Change
On September 24, 2010, the Federal Reserve Board (the Fed) published an interim rule in the Federal Register to implement provisions of the Mortgage Disclosure Improvement Act (MDIA) that require lenders to disclose how borrowers’ mortgage payments can change over time. So consumers will understand risks of payment increases before they decide on a mortgage, the rule requires lenders to include a summary in the form of a table with (1) the initial interest rate and monthly payment, (2) for adjustable rate loans, the maximum rate and payment during the first 5 years and a “worst case” example over the life of the loan, and (3) the fact that consumers may not be able to refinance their loans to avoid higher payments. The rule requires disclosure of other risky features, such as balloon payments and negative amortization loans. The final rule applies to applications received by the lender on or after January 30, 2011.
Fed Press Release
Final Rule
Jeff Lischer 202-383-1117, Tony Hutchinson 202-383-1120
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Commercial Finance Report
Small Business Lending Fund Bill Signed Into Law
On September 27, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010 (H.R. 5297). The U.S. Senate voted, 61-38, to pass the bill on September 16, 2010, while the U.S. House approved the measure, 237-187.
Under this bill, which NAR supported, the U.S. Treasury would be authorized to lend up to $30 billion to interested community banks to further expand lending to small businesses. As an incentive for participating community banks to increase small business lending, their interest rate would be adjusted relative to the amount of their small business lending activity. It is estimated that community banks could use the $30 billion lending fund to leverage up to $300 billion in new loans to small businesses. Additionally, the small business lending bill enhances Small Business Administration (SBA) programs and provides $12 billion in tax breaks for small businesses. Below are some of those provisions.
Notable Improvements to SBA loan programs:
* Raises loan limits from $2 million to $5 million for SBA 7a loans.
* Raises loan limits from $1.5 million to $5.5 million for SBA 504 loans.
* Allows use of SBA 504 loans to refinance short-term commercial real estate debt into long-term, fixed rate loans.
* Provides a temporary increase in the SBA’s 7a loan guarantee to 90 percent.
* Eliminates fees for all SBA 7a and 504 loans through December 31, 2010.
Noteworthy tax breaks include:
* An extension allowing first-year depreciation for 50 percent of the basis of certain qualified property.
* Extension of Section 179 expensing and increase of the maximum allowance from $250,000 up to $500,000 for tangible personal property.
* For the first time, investors may expense up to $250,000 of qualified leasehold, restaurant, and 2010 retail property improvement costs.
* Self-employed individuals may deduct health insurance costs for themselves and their families when they compute their self-employment tax, but only for the 2010 tax year. Premiums continue to be deductible for income tax purposes.
* Removes employer-provided cellular phones from “listed property” so their cost can be deducted or depreciated like other business property, without burdensome recordkeeping requirements.
Vijay Yadlapati 202-383-1090, Megan Booth 202-383-1222, Daniel Blair 202-383-1089
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Conventional Residential Lending Report
Congress Extends Loan Limits
Before leaving town Congress passed legislation extending the loan limits for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (the GSEs) and FHA. Under the bill, which has been signed by the President, the current loan limits will remain in place through September 30, 2011. Extending the limits now (well before the December 31, 2010 expiration date) was necessary to avoid market uncertainty. NAR championed this issue through letters, visits, and a targeted FPC fly-in.
Megan Booth 202-383-1222, Tony Hutchinson 202-383-1120, Jeff Lischer 202-383-1117
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Federal Tax Report
New Reporting Requirements for Landlords
The Small Business legislation (HR 5297) recently signed into law includes a new revenue provision that will createadditional burdens for anyone who receives rental income. Under current law, property managers are generally required to provide Form 1099 on many of the expenditures they incur as part of their management of rental property. The new law expands this rule so that ANY person who receives rental income (not just property managers) will be required to report all expenditures of more than $600 to anyone from whom they purchase services.
The landlord will file IRS Form 1099 with the IRS and with the person who provided the service. Thus, any landlord who purchases such services as plumbers, yard or garden workers, electricians or any other service will be required to report payments any time the total expenditures/payments to a particular vendor in one year exceed $600. The new requirement goes into effect as a permanent feature of the law starting with expenditures on or after January 1, 2011.
NAR conducted a Call for Action opposing this proposal in May 2010. Congress nonetheless adopted it as part of the “pay fors” of the small business benefits the legislation created.
During 2010 Congress has enacted two different 1099 reporting requirements. A link summarizing those rules is attached.
NAR Issue Brief: Information Reporting IRS Form 1099
Linda Goold 202-383-1083, Samuel Whitfield 202-383-1131
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Last Updated: 10/01/2010 Bira de Aquino
October 7, 2010
October 7, 2010
Foreclosure Reviews Could Lead to Costly Delays
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called for a federal investigation of foreclosure sales and evictions.
Observers say that if the government gets further involved and millions of foreclosures need to be re-processed, it is unclear how long the job will take and how costs will be allocated.
Lenders are rushing to review their own situations. At GMAC Mortgage, a unit of Ally Financial Inc., a spokeswoman said, “The vast majority of these affidavits will be resolved in the coming weeks and before the end of the year,” And a spokesman for J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. said the company’s review process is expected to take “a few weeks.”
But fixing the problems won’t be that simple if the reviews uncover missing documentation or other serious problems that are likely to trigger more legal challenges.
The bottom line is: “It’s very hard to see how the servicers can avoid reimbursing the trusts for losses caused by taking short cuts,” said David J. Grais, an attorney in New York who represents investors.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, Robbie Whelan and Ruth Simon (10/06/2010)
October 7, 2010
4 Ways to Ramp Up Your Marketing
Make your marketing standout by taking advantage of several technology tools to help you quickly create professional materials and expand your marketing reach, James Dwiggins, chief strategy officer with Realty World Northern California and Nevada, told attendees at a Tuesday session at the California Association of REALTORS® Expo in Anaheim, Calif.
Here are four of his tips:
1. Make sure to have leave-behind materials.
Customers aren’t going to remember everything you tell them when they’re interviewing you for the job to represent them, Dwiggins said. So make yourself more memorable by having a personal brochure all about you and the services that you provide, which you can leave with them to review later.
“For your brochure, think of it from a buyer and seller perspective: It’s not about you but what you can do for them,” Dwiggins said. Imprev is one company that can help you create professional brochures, as well as your other marketing materials so they all have a consistent look, Dwiggins said.
2. Ask for reviews.
Set up a profile page on review sites such as Yelp or Angie’s List, which can help generate word-of-mouth marketing. On these sites visitors can post reviews about your business. Ask for your clients to write reviews of your services by having a link to your Yelp page in your e-mail signature, Dwiggins suggested. (How about if you get a negative comment? Learn tips here on how to respond to negative reviews.)
3. Create professional CMAs.
Make a good impression with buyers and sellers with fancy, customized CMAs (comparative market analysis). Instead of just handing MLS sheets about all of the listings during buyer tours create a buyer tour presentation, such as through ToolkitCMA.com, Dwiggins said. The program will help you to quickly produce a professional report that features the type of property the buyer is looking for as well as details and photos of all of the listings viewed on the tour. Another CMA builder, Cloud CMA, also can make creating professional CMAs simple, Dwiggins said. You can even use it to create reports from your smartphone.
4. Find ways to incorporate video.
The audience online for videos continues to grow so get your marketing before more prospects by incorporating video into your business, such as by featuring a video of you talking about the services you offer or a city video tour that sets out to establish you as a community expert.
If you need production assistance, Wellcome Mat contains a searchable database of videographers so that you can find someone in your area to help you film your video, Dwiggins said. The company also will help you distribute your video online.
If you already have the photos and video footage, you can try Animoto. You upload your photos and videos and Animoto then will create a professional video of your media synched to music.
Dwiggins also suggested using TubeMogul, which will automatically syndicate your videos to multiple video distribution sites all at once.
By Melissa Dittmann Tracey for REALTOR® Magazine online
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