Primary market
Challenging economic times call for new ideas; solutions and a commitment to helping communities solve their current problems and move ahead financially positioned for the future. In Wyomissing, Pennsylvania two diverse, yet intertwined companies are pooling their resources to meet the needs of the people they serve. VIST Financial Corp. recently announced it has created an initiative to offer low-interest mortgages to qualified homebuyers who purchase new homes with local homebuilders who are clients of VIST. The initiative will be offered through the company"s mortgage division, VIST Mortgage.
When you apply for a mortgage to buy a house, do you want to believe the "good faith estimates" of closing costs your mortgage broker or loan officer sends you three days later?
A friend who hosts a weekly real estate radio show had a grim warning for his listeners recently.
Bye-bye credit lines? Hello cashout refis? In the wake of the Federal Reserve"s quarter-point boost in short-term rates last week, floating-rate credit lines -- arguably the fastest-growing product category in the U.S. home mortgage market for the past three years -- are certain to be less popular among homeowners.
Nearly a quarter-million more families in high-cost areas throughout the country could qualify for financing if the federal limit was raised on mortgages that can be purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to a new report.
There"s probably no better time than the present to pull your credit report and scrutinize your creditworthiness, especially if you are considering a home equity loan.
Do you pay less for a home mortgage when you apply through a mortgage broker, or is it cheaper to apply direct to a lender? The answer -- at least as it applies to home buyers with less-than-perfect credit -- may surprise you.
Free credit and personal financial information reports aren"t the only provisions provided by one of the most sweeping regulatory reforms in consumer protection in decades.
Question: I have signed a contract to purchase my first home. Interest rates are currently low, and I am concerned that they may start rising in the near future. I have been researching available mortgages and have found a number of options -- from a fixed 30-year to a one-year adjustable. Because I plan to hold this house for a long period of time, I am not comfortable with an adjustable-rate mortgage. I fear that in the years to come, the interest rate (and thus my mortgage payments) will become prohibitive.
As you may or may not know (or care, for that matter) I started my very own mortgage company at the first of October. Yep, after nearly 10 years at the same mega-bank, I left the comfy confines of a big desk and leather chair to bootstrap my very own enterprise. I"m answering the phones, processing files, running documents … you name it. And guess what? I"m having a blast. Know what else? Some things simply haven"t changed in the loan business. I"ll tell you a story that may ring a bell with some of you.
Alan Greesnpan and his merry band of policy makers at the Fed did what everyone expected on September 20th -- he raised the federal funds rate by one quarter percentage point, to 1.75 percent. Specifically, the federal funds rate is the rate that banks charge each other for overnight funds. Banks responded by raising the prime lending rate to 4.75 percent, from 4.50 percent. We can now expect to pay a little bit more interest on credit card debt, home equity loans, and other consumer loans.
Question: My wife and I are looking at the possibility of buying a new home in Fairfax County, Virginia. It appears that the house we like will cost close to $850,000 if we include the upgrades we want. The builder"s mortgage company sent us a Good Faith Estimate using an 80-10-10 arrangement. The first trust is a 5/1 ARM with a five percent interest rate and a second trust of 5.375 percent. The total monthly payment will be around $4,800. We have enough cash to cover the 10 percent down payment and closing costs.
Question: We recently paid off our mortgage. The mortgage company sent us a release from the county in which our property is located. However, they claim that they do not have the original promissory note or deed of trust which we signed when we first obtained this loan. The lender has agreed to send us a copy of these legal documents.
A state attorney general is warning consumers to be wary of companies that offer to help save their home from foreclosure.
The term predatory lender just about says it all. These dishonest lenders literally hunt down their victims (homeowners) with one goal in mind: to take their home. Knowing how to avoid these unscrupulous lenders may keep you from losing your home.
Realtors, home builders and first-time home buyers got a potentially important new financial tool last week: An alternative credit score designed for consumers with minimal traditional banking and credit histories.
Rising interest rates are coming with a rising tide of advice to help home buyers and homeowners cope with the added expense.
Question: I purchased a home in Southern California with my sister and a good friend about six months ago. We are first-time home buyers and plan on selling the property in two or three years after the property has appreciated considerably in value.
Most of the loans for people with bankruptcies on their credit reports typically fall into a standard description; most likely the borrower was self-employed, had good credit, something bad happened, then the bankruptcy. Rarely do I see a bankruptcy on a credit report that reflected a general disregard for the credit system altogether. That means a steady history of bad pays, judgments and collection items. No, most bankruptcies are isolated events. There was good credit leading up to the bankruptcy (that"s how the borrower got credit in the first place) and good credit after the bankruptcy.
You recall a few years ago when you had a dispute with that car finance company? The one that said you owed more money than you thought when you didn"t pay your late fee? After several months of bickering you finally got it resolved, although in the end you still paid the fee.
Question: Having read your column on Realty Times I was encouraged to write and appeal to your no nonsense wisdom. My father passed away a year ago and left his three sons (including me) a rental property in the U.S. My brothers are not interested in holding the property and I have offered to buy them out. The property is owned free and clear and generates about $2,000 per month in rent. I have enough money to purchase my brothers" interest in cash but would prefer to put a mortgage on the property. What is the process for a non-resident (foreigner) to obtain a mortgage? Do I need to own assets and bank accounts in the U.S.? (I currently have a stock and bond portfolio in the U.S.) Can I qualify for a mortgage based on the income generated from the monthly rent? Any advice would be very helpful.
With mortgage interest rates rising so quickly -- more than 0.25 percentage points in the past week -- getting an interest rate that sticks has taken on greater significance.
The mortgage business is a nice business to be in. We, as loan officers, find personal satisfaction when we help people get money to buy a home. My daughter is awfully proud of the fact that her daddy “gives money to people to buy a house.” While I don’t do exactly that, it is true that loan officers can experience the well being of helping a scared first time homebuyer. Or to help a credit-challenged client to overcome obstacles and put them in their very own home. I will never forget the eyes of a young lady whose tears welled up in her eyes as I told her “congratulations, you’re approved.”
Q: My husband and I will be closing on a “no-cost” refinance next month. However, we have run into some unforeseen costs. The key issue is the overlap between our old loan and our new one. Our new lender will issue funds after the federally-mandated three-day rescission period ends, and thus interest on the new loan will begin on the fourth day after closing. Our settlement attorney will then send a live check – via express overnight mail – to our old lender to pay off our current loan.
Question: I own two rental townhouses worth about $140,000 each, thanks to skyrocketing property values. The mortgage balances are only $50,000 each at 7.50 percent. With today"s low rates, I think it"s foolish to tie up so much money in the equity in these homes and I"m considering buying another property that"s on the market for $100,000. It needs quite a bit of cosmetic work but it"s well priced. In fact, you could say that the property has been "trashed."
Let’s see. Do I want to refinance now or wait until I finish with my home improvements? Or do I go ahead and get a construction loan, complete my addition, then refinance both my mortgages when the addition is complete? Do I need the value of my new addition to increase my appraised value? These are questions many in America area asking, improve now or refinance now? Why not do both?
A point by any other name is still a point. But whether is can be deducted on your income tax return depends on the circumstances of how and when you paid those points. And, while the interest you pay on most home equity loans is deductible, there are circumstances which could preclude your claiming these deductions. This column will address both issues:
What"s going to happen to mortgage money this year? Should you wait a few months before refinancing, hoping to get an even lower rate? Should you speed up your home search, fearing rates will run away and make buying a home more expensive?
How much do you qualify for? Don"t go shopping for a house unless you know how much you"re qualified for. Get qualified first. Make sure your debt ratios are in line. 38%. No more. Blah, blah, blah. Guess what? Qualification by ratios, once an art form, is now dinosaur meat.
Question: I read your LIBORMANIA column with great interest. What especially intrigued me is the interest only feature on a mortgage program with such a low rate. I have a similar situation in that I have a 5/1 Adjustable Rate with a balance of $300,000 at six percent. My current principal and interest (P&I) payment is $1,799. Is it true that if I refinanced to a LIBOR ARM at 3.50 percent my interest only payment would only be $875? It seems unbelievable. I"ve got three kids and a very small college fund. This program would allow me to save an additional $924 per month. Do you think this is a wise decision? Also, everybody keeps saying that the stock market will eventually go up again and now is the time to start investing. I would like your thoughts on this. Thanks.
The recession is over. A Reuters news wire story last week, quoted "an elite economic panel," which pinpointed November/December 2001 as the bottom of the recession. We"re on the way up as far as the economy goes – but here"s the proviso (and there"s always a proviso): We just don"t know if we"re going to have a "double dip" recession or not.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has officially increased the limits on single-family mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration.
Santa Claus may make two trips to your house this year. One for being nice, the other for providing you with additional tax deductions you may not be aware of. Who would have thought?
Record low mortgage rates have been a boon to home sales, refinancing activity, equity loans and, as a result, Myers Internet Inc."s bottom line.
For a long time adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) have been described as more risky for consumers then standard-issue fixed-rate loans, but should borrower"s stay away from ARMs in today"s marketplace?
While practically everyone in the mortgage business is trying to come up with a better term to describe abusive lending practices, California"s lawmakers might just have solved the problem.
There"s a new credit line in the pipeline.
I recall a few years ago when a certain national lender offered a mortgage loan that let the borrower make a choice of whether or not to pay any principal. Just interest. It hit the markets with a resounding splat. No one was interested. “You’re wasting your time” they said. “You’ll never have any equity” they said. “It’s only good for the lenders, why do you think they’re pushing it?” they said. Well they’re not saying it now.
Freddie Mac has instructed lenders to be more cautious in underwriting would-be borrowers who have been late with their housing payments.
The Internet is a fantastic arena in which to conduct business. It allows us to spread our marketing of properties and ourselves to a larger prospect base. The creation of a web site allows us an inexpensive entry into the world of 24-hour marketing. It is a tool all Agents should add to their toolbox. The more tools we have, that we know how to use properly, the more skilled craftsmen we are.
Recently, I was listening to a series of cassette tapes published by direct response marketing legend Dan Kennedy. While there were a great many valuable lessons that I learned while listening to the tapes, one particular story caught my attention as being something that applies to a great number of real estate agents in our industry.
It"s absolutely critical for Realtors to maintain a positive attitude throughout the entire sales process.
Are there any advantages to specializing in a certain area of the real estate market or, is it better to be a general practitioner? This is a question that certainly faced another professional organization a few years back -- doctors.
According to Classified Intelligence editor Peter Zollman, newspapers are doing little to hold on to, or grow their classified franchises, losing recruitment, automotive, real estate, and other ad revenue to online competitors.
Imagine for a minute you had the resources to send out 100,000 questionnaires to buyers and sellers from across the nation, people that had actually closed a real estate transaction in the previous 12 months!
National Association of Realtors Chief Economist David Lereah has startling news -- almost a third of the current housing boom is second homes. Who are these second home buyers and what"s driving them?
Recently, while contemplating relocation to Virginia, and searching the internet as a consumer, I was surprised at how many agent and company listings do not post additional listing photos or virtual tours. I was shocked at how many listings, including the high upper end market, do not even have a listing photo displayed. That was very hard to believe. Could you imagine a seller entrusting their home for sale to an agent or brokerage if they knew it would be without any online marketing or effort?
Last weekend my son-in-law , Kevin, and daughter Kara bought a home from a for-sale-by-owner for six percent over appraised price, and could not be happier.
The migration has begun.
The listing presentation is not just for the seller"s benefit. It is also an opportunity to demonstrate your ability, and get the listing. It is your chance to differentiate yourself and place yourself above the competition for consideration.
There is a sense that converting rentals to condominiums, better known as the rental conversion market, is around the corner. The reason: growing demand for lower price housing and increasing rents.
Here"s a great marketing idea for new agents that doesn’t cost a lot of money. I thought long and hard about this idea before I decided to share it. After all, good ideas are worth money. Ok, I’m going to sum it up in one word, then prove my point.
How many times have you walked onto a property that a client has just enlisted you to sell only to find the yard riddled with children’s toys, old bicycles, and/or a hibachi sitting on the front stoop? Then, when you walked into the home you are greeted with sights of chaos, grime, and decorating styles reminiscent of early yard sale specials. While this example may seem extreme, the reality is that properties that look rough command 10-15 percent lower sales value then comparable properties that have had some cosmetic work to make them more appealing.
You"ve flipped through the paper and seen real estate ads so bad that they make you cringe to be part of the same profession. Favorites include hokey glamour shots that look more appropriate on a matchmaking ad. Others are so full of hype that they could have been written by a TV evangelist. Meanwhile, the houses these agents are promoting look like an afterthought by comparison.
Realtors and advertising portals that use listings can reach a more productive and profitable accord by determining what the true value of a listing is - to both sides.
Will you earn personal referrals with your expertise in:
Over the past five years, I have taught thousands of real estate agents. In every class I teach, I ask them how they prospect. Do you know that nearly all real estate agents tell me that the types of prospecting they do are primarily restricted to past clients, family and friends, and their sphere of influence? There are also a rising number of Internet buyers, open house buyers and ad/sign call clients who are becoming an agent’s source of bread and butter business.
Dear Mr. Internet:
With all the new regulations impacting telemarketing, you may be looking for a different way to use the phone in your business. With businesses looking for other alternatives to travel, teleconferencing either by regular phone or by videoconference is now the hot way to hold meetings. If you have never considered how leasing your own teleconference line could benefit your real estate business, here are seven great ways to use teleconferencing to strengthen your customer service as well as to prospect in an entirely new way.
Tuesday, September 11, four planes, carrying people to long-anticipated celebrations, others to important business meetings, some to see new and wondrous sites, were taken over by madmen and became instruments of grisly destruction.
Market conditions are booming in one Texas town, where new construction and a growing economy thrive.
Every real estate professional should be looking at a program to work on expired listings. More and more will be available because of the changing real estate economy and agents’ inability to stay ahead of the trends. This is a valuable resource for building your listing inventory because the sellers want to sell.
Emphasizing no additional costs to its customers, Realtor.com is introducing exciting new improvements to its website and enhanced listings offerings that promise to help individual Realtors compete with national information providers on the Web. Increasingly, consumers want more information than home listings, they want detailed "community information, school comparisons, local interactive maps, recent home sales and published expert commentary from agents," among other features.
Just in time for the National Association of Realtors" (NAR) annual mid-year legislative meetings May 14th through May 19, 2007, the trade organization has released its annual Member Profile for 2007.
In an urgent plea for help, the National Association of Realtors® is calling on all Realtor organizations and members to assist recovery efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Three states have been largely affected, but others will also need to rally as thousands of realtors and millions of homeless move out to other cities and states to begin life anew.
It isn"t often that the National Association of Realtors (NAR) seeks an expansion of federal regulatory powers and activities, but when it comes to predatory lending, an exception to the rule prevails.
Since it opened a little over a year ago, The National Association of Realtors" sponsored exhibit "Within These Walls" has become one of the National Museum of History"s most popular attractions and online destinations, says staff.
Homebuyers will be able to access more comprehensive information about residential properties over the Internet as the result of a new policy governing the display of real estate listings adopted today by the National Association of Realtors®.
Realty Times, parent company of Mobile Callback, and the National Association of Realtors announce the newest REALTOR VIP Alliance. Mobile Callback, a new personal monitoring safety service that works through mobile phones, is the first safety product to be selected by the NAR as part of its ongoing initiatives to promote Realtor safety.
As a REALTOR VIPSM partner, Chrysler/and Jeep allow Realtors to take advantage of special bonus savings on the purchase or lease of select, new Chrysler and Jeep vehicles.
FedEx Express and FedEx Ground have joined the REALTOR VIP(SM) Alliance Program as premier partners of the National Association of Realtors®, bringing significant benefits to NAR members.
One of the best ways for real estate professionals can keep abreast of the latest trends in the marketplace and issues surrounding our industry is to attend conventions, seminars and educational events whenever possible. One of the best such events is taking place next month and expects to draw some of the top leading minds in commercial real estate.
Real estate analysts disagree on whether the troubled condo sector has hit bottom yet in places like south Florida, Vegas and Manhattan.
The stock in resale units is dropping in Toronto, meanwhile rentals are at the lowest vacancy rate in seven years, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Meanwhile, new units are continuing completion, but the tightening market has pushed the average rental rate up 1.8 percent for a 2-bedroom unit.
Trick #1: Get a Human on the Phone
Small-scale investors who own condo units are facing tougher financing challenges as the biggest players in the market are imposing new restrictions -- worse, it seems, every month.
Imagine sitting at any TV or computer screen surfing a "real time" two-week channel guide as fast as your remote will fly. The Steelers are on; you select it, and put it in the corner to monitor as you continue scanning the guide. Wow, Shrek is on at 2:00 a.m. next Tuesday. You touch the record button and your system automatically cues it up to record and save it in "My TV" recorded file.
If you haven"t yet been pitched the idea of replacing your standard phone service with Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) you certainly will, and likely sometime in the near future. With the promise of lower costs and aggressive marketing (particularly member to member referral schemes) VOIP is clearly a future force to be reckoned with.
The U.S. Commerce Department is reporting that housing starts gained for the first time in 8 months. The gain was 22.2 percent. This was the first increase since June.
Looks like the keyboard is on its way out -- next thing we"ll be tossing our monitors!
Dear Mr. Internet,
With constant advances in technology, the most difficult question facing the average real estate agent today is exactly which technologies they should take advantage first, which come last, and which ones might be a waste of time altogether.
Dear Mr. Internet,
Everyday in the real estate business, we are inundated to buy products that will improve our careers. The pitch goes "Want more leads … more closed deals, and … want to make so much money you won"t know what to do with it?" The hawkers cover the entire technology spectrum from Internet companies, software vendors, pay for exclusive territories, pay-for-click Web placement, Web positioning, and Internet websites. They claim they have a solution for us. We can reinvent ourselves, the way we do business, and transform our careers with a single purchase! They pitch relentlessly to us via e-mails, flyers, mail, seminars, office meetings, and convention or business retreats! They"ll even call us at home or on our cell phones! They all have the same pitch. "You"ll make more money with our product -- we have the latest technology, the best Web placement, and the world"s best coaches, etc."
Just before the Thanksgiving holidays, one of the Internet"s top three search engines changed its algorithms, the search criteria by which its engine "spiders" peruse websites and select them for results pages. Results are based on websites" relevancy to search keywords.
Sometimes you want to provide your e-mail address in a web form to get some information you want -- like a password to a site you would like to visit -- or a report you can use. Or perhaps give it to a new acquaintance. But you don"t want it followed by a ton of Spam.
What was once a crowded competitive field of real estate Web site vendors has been reduced to a few remaining players. Just as the investment climate has changed in the stock market, your investment strategy should change as you choose which Web site vendor to work with. So here are a few criteria you can use to judge whether or not a vendor and its products are right for you and your Internet marketing strategy.
Keyword navigation is the latest must-know-about term in Internet advertising. Keyword searches can now bypass portal searches and take users directly to advertisers" Websites. How does it work for local Realtors? An international keyword navigation and pay-for-click service provider, CommonName, has volunteered to help Realty Times" readers understand the process.
Imagine having a magical "Geek" that you can call upon any time day or night, for just about any kind of computer problem. Better yet, this
Are you buying a used domain name for your web site, instead of registering a brand new one? How did the previous owner use that web address? If its history has been spotty, you might be buying a domain name already penalized by search engines.
Dear Mr. Internet,
Like everything else, real estate is changing quickly. These days, many homeowners begin researching and planning up to 24 months before they actually buy or sell a home, with most of that research performed online. After that, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reports that 74 percent of homeowners list their property with the first agent they interview.
As the junk e-mail (SPAM) problem continues to grow, a new problem that presents itself is the blocking of legitimate email messages. When such an e-mail is labeled as SPAM and blocked, this is known as a false-positive.
By now, just about any serious computer user owns a digital camera,
These people at Google are changing the way the world surfs the Web! Now
It’s frustrating when you have a problem with your hardware, software or your marketing strategy and there’s no one around to ask for help. You can always contact tech support at the company whose products you’re using, but sometimes that can take longer than expected. You may have to pay for support, in some cases. When you need quick advice it’s nice to turn to peers. But what if you are the only one in your office who uses technology?
The first road test of the new The TC1000, Hewlett-Packard"s new Tablet PC, was at the NAR’s annual convention in New Orleans last week. Introduced to the public on November 7, Realtors were the first mobile professionals to play with the new PC, and they voted yes with their pocketbooks.
After my last column that dealt with what you should look for in a digital camera, I received a large number of e-mails that said "Specifically which camera would YOU recommend for real estate?"
Dear Mr. Internet:
What kind of digital camera should you buy? Is one brand better than another?
When we create a real estate Website, or purchase one, all too often we may limit our Web content and exposure by not having the right materials or links that may be of interest to our Web viewers. A common mistake of most agent and company websites is that they extol service and product, but offer little of anything else for the viewer.
The latest buzz around IDX has been the several hundreds of implementation options when it comes to providing IDX data on a Web site. The possibilities and choices are endless, but they are all built around two very distinctly different implementations. If you are to have a successful IDX web site that generates qualified leads and makes you money, you must be sure you try to avoid one of the most common of them if at all possible- "Visible Frames".
E-mail is the greatest low-cost farming tool ever - if you can get prospects to open your e-mails.
The web is upending lots of traditional notions about what works and what doesn"t work in real estate. Is farming next? It is for one agent who claims that traditional farming methods are too costly for the return.
Strategic alliances are back in fashion, looking a lot like the mid-90s again. Three real estate-related companies plan to combine their strengths online with new opportunities for real estate professionals.
Pick any excuse, but I was about a month late renewing my driver"s license. Worse, there seemed to be no upcoming breaks in the calendar for me to go stand in line at the driver"s license bureau. Then I heard that Texas has done something incredibly progressive - making driver"s license renewal, along with a host of other resident services, available online.
“Pay Per Click” is a term that will have an ever-increasing place in your overall Web strategy. Simply put, it means that your site’s ranking in search engines that follow this practice depends on how much you pay the search engine each time a viewer clicks on your listing. You deposit a certain amount of money with a search engine, and each time a viewer clicks through to your site money is deducted from your account. The higher your “bid” (what you’re willing to pay per click through), the higher you’re ranked on that search engine.
Dear Mr. Internet:
How would you like to blow the socks off your competition as well as your potential buyers and sellers?
According to Advertising Age with the recent launch of BarbieLatina.com, Mattel is not only expanding the
In the first report of its kind, the National Association of Realtors" (NAR)
If you"ve been surfing the web for any number of years, then chances are good that you"ve accumulated more Favorites or Bookmarks in your browser than you could ever keep up with.
When it comes to Section 1031 (ten thirty one) tax-deferred real estate exchanges, investors are getting some decidedly mixed signals.
Brokers everywhere are being inundated with technology business solutions by eager Internet vendors. The attraction for many brokers is coupling client, office, agent and transaction management efficiencies with lead generation. But some tools, such as multiple Web sites and transaction management platforms, may be solutions in search of a problem, say some. As a broker, how do you know where to put your money?
Every time a new program becomes available in BETA format I receive emails from users who have installed the software and are now experiencing problems with their computer system and are in need of help. This leads me to believe that many people do not really know what a BETA software release is.
Progressive Endeavors/Websuite has had plenty of problems getting its new Internet certification program going, but a few were cleared up last week. Among the hurdles, Progressive had to fulfill its contract to service the stranded NAR ePRO customers and wait for its noncompete agreement with the NAR to expire June 22nd, before launching sales of its new Internet certification program for Realtors.
Dear Mr. Internet:I have all kinds of new marketing ideas for my business, but never seem to have the time (or skills) to implement them —help!
Reciprocal links and banner exchanges are essentially, “I’ll link to you if you’ll link to me”
While there is no rhyme or reason to it, there are people out there who are willing to destroy all your files for the sheer fun of making mischief. E-mail viruses have become a plague on the Internet, and they prey on the naivete of people to open contaminated e-mail and forward it to others. Some viruses are so insidious that they can forward infected viruses to your entire e-mail database without your knowledge.
In anticipation of one of the most expensive summers on record due to escalating energy bills, Realtors and homebuilders are joining forces with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to help homeowners cut high fuel costs while doing some savvy marketing to consumers.