3.26.2012 Monday News you can USE

Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected.
- Steve Jobs

Buying a Home Cheaper than renting in 100 major cities. WOW!

Month of Supply of Shadow inventory by State - I don't know how they measured it (does it include just REO's or those in pre-foreclosure) but it's still pretty dramatic

No wonder why we're confused:  Opening Sentence is in direct opposition to the headline:  What??  This is why your clients need you - to interpret the data.

Bank of America Testing a new program - forgive debt and let homeowners rent the house back from them! Small case study now but who knows?

How to know when theres a housing recovery?  Here

Canada - Busy Spring!  Wait.. is it spring there yet?? ;)

Testing!

Testing to see if this works:

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Real Estate Sales 101

Real Estate Sales 101:
Find People who want to Buy or Sell
Qualify them by asking Questions
Set a job interview appointment
Educate CLEARLY so they understand (it's 24 degrees Celsius doesn't educate)
Close for the signature
Provide them excellent Customer Service (Educate some more)
Close the deal
Continue to keep in touch with a Database Program (Educate some more)
Reap rewards of Repeat and Referral business

- Repeat the above as often as needed to meet your goals

3.19.2012 Monday News you can USE!

Here's something to think about: How come you never see a headline like 'Psychic Wins Lottery'?
- Jay Leno

Think Glink!  An interesting view of the real estate market :  More of the Same

Prudential Survey:  Homeownership still very important

Dan Pink Favorite Tools (maybe to make your KANBAN on?):  Ginormous Stickies

And a great way to use the Big Stickies:  Skills Training from last THURS.... recording

Do you do ShortSales?  HAFA Changes Explained Here - YouTube video

The pig is starting to move through the python:  Foreclosures likely to increase per CNN

Canadian Statistics for February: Here

Canada due for a downturn?  TD Bank Group says yes

ABOUT TIME !

Thanks RIS Media....

New Real Estate Poll: Americans Increasingly Optimistic about Homeownership- Posted By susanne On March 15, 2012 @ 3:15 pm

^[1]Americans are significantly more optimistic about homeownership than they were a year ago. That’s according to a new national survey released this week from Prudential Real Estate, a Brookfield Residential Property Services company. According to the second-annual Prudential Real Estate Outlook Survey, a full 60 percent of Americans have favorable views toward the real estate market. That’s up 8 points since last year.

The survey shows that signs of increasing optimism are widespread:

• With interest rates at historically low levels, 96 percent agree or somewhat agree that now is a good time to buy.

• A full 70 percent of respondents have some degree of confidence that property values will improve over the next two years; with an 8 point increase in those very confident or confident compared to last year.

• 63 percent believe that real estate is a good investment despite the recent market volatility; that’s up 11 points from last year.

The survey confirms that despite the recession, homeownership remains a central part of the American Dream. Eight in 10 respondents said homeownership is very important to them; only 15 percent said the economic downturn made homeownership less important.

“Respondents told us what our sales professionals see every day that, despite recent market volatility, homeownership remains integral to the dreams of most Americans and that consumers’ confidence in the housing market is returning,” said Earl Lee, president, Prudential Real Estate. “This is good news for home buyers and sellers, communities and our economy as a whole. As more people look to take advantage of historic interest rates and prices, we believe the foundation for a sustainable recovery is in sight.”

The survey also highlighted strong ties between homeownership and the community: 77 percent agree that homeownership strengthens a sense of community with 87 percent agreeing or somewhat agreeing that neighborhood comprised of homeowners have a stronger sense of community than neighborhoods made up mainly of renters. This is critical in an environment where two in three respondents believe community feelings in America are declining.

Among the generations, 94 percent of respondents believe that finding the right home and community are crucial to helping their family be happy. Only a small minority of older Americans said the recent housing crisis made homeownership less important to them. Nearly half of Gen Y respondents said it made homeownership more important. Gen Y’ers are particularly optimistic about the road ahead with 72% expressing favorable views about the residential real estate market.

“Characteristically, many of these consumers, particularly Gen Y, share a firm sense of family and community,” Lee said. “It’s not surprising now that they’re embracing homeownership to build on that sense.”

The survey also highlighted consumer caution in a recovering real estate market: 93 percent of respondents said that the housing crisis reminds them that they must be more careful about buying and selling property. More than 90 percent of respondents said a good real estate sales professional can help them make the right choices about homes and communities; and 71 percent believe good agent representation is more important than ever, up 4% from last year’s survey.

Methodology: Interviews with 1,251 Americans who are “in the market” to buy or sell a home were conducted online by Palisades Media Ventures and Penn Schoen Berland, between Feb. 10 and 20, 2012. Respondents are aged 25-64 with a household income of at least $50,000, and either recently bought/sold a home or are considering buying/selling a home. The margin of error is +/- 2.8% for all respondents and higher for subgroups.

For more information, visit http://www.prudential.com/realestate

It's recovery time... If it doesn't get messed up...

by Steve Murray While those in Washington move merrily along trying to correct the housing market, the housing market is doing its best to do that without any help at all. And the help that is now in place (courtesy of Washington) is the kind that we will wish we could FedEx back to them. Markets across the country are beginning to percolate. When the REAL Trends Housing Market Report is released shortly, it will likely show the biggest year over year gain in unit sales in six years. And it will be the seventh month in a row of increased unit sales on a year over year basis, most months in double digits. So what is happening now? You guessed it. Shortages of inventory are popping up all over. Here in Denver overall we have less than two months of homes left to sell at current sales rates and that which we do have is in the higher price brackets which is not where the demand is. We hear the same in nearly a half a dozen markets from every region of the country. How is Washington making this worse? They stuck it to the “big” banks so much so that the rumored millions of foreclosures won’t likely be hitting the streets any time soon. They have so totally scared the appraisal management industry so that there is no real market price mechanism to adjust demand with prices. They have tightened the screws on who can get a mortgage such that investors have a leg up on those families that want to own a home. They have intimidated the mortgage industry about giving mortgages to anyone who can’t prove they can pay it back while also screaming at the same lending institutions for not giving low income families mortgage credit. The list goes on. Just because the Feds and Congress don’t have a tight grip on the residential brokerage business (yet) doesn’t mean they don’t have us all by the throat. They control who, what and how anyone can get credit. They are controlling the prices of homes that need to be financed. They can now exert incredible influence over supply (shadow inventory anyone?). Enough for the rant. As my friend Mike Staver has said, “don’t panic, get back to work”! The great news is thus far it looks like demand is strengthening just as many knew it would as jobs and incomes started to rise again. Americans still prefer to own over renting. Even those who aren’t able to get into ownership now will want to as soon as they can. Hard to believe now that everyone knows housing is a bargain at these prices and these mortgage rates, right? Now is the time. Welcome to spring 2012. The first time we will have a housing comeback without enough inventory at the right price points and with a government controlling the prices of homes that people want. Author Bio: Tracey C. Velt is a writer, blogger and editorial strategist who specializes in the business of real estate. For the past six years, she's been writing and editing for REAL Trends. Prior to that, she served as an editor for Florida Realtor magazine and continues to contribute to multiple real estate publications, both in print and online.

3.12.2011 Monday News You can USE!

A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.
Colin Powell

This article is full of some great statistics: Foreclosures Ramp up
1) Foreclosures sold in 2011 = 907,000
2) In 4th Quarter of 2011 Foreclosures were 25% of all closings!
3) Short Sales increased 15% in 2001
4) Average discount for a short sale (versus a non-foreclosure home sale) was  21% - acerage discount for a foreclosure - 36% -15% more!!!!
5) There are 4 million delinquent loans and 2 million in foreclosure!!

CNN says those upside down - 11.1 Million

Bank of America Principal Reduction??  BofA plan  Only valid on its loan - non Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae or VA or FHA - and it's already identified the 200,000 and will reach out to them soon. If you know someone that has an offer from BOA, please let us know the details!

No surprice, but it's official! The best time in this history of mankind to buy a home: Affordability at record high!  Affordability

Interesting thoughts and business model from our Canadian Neighbor:  More Service  (Note especially all the comments posted - fun to read)

14 year old girl buys investment property... why aren't you?

Willow Tufano, landlord.

Meet Willow Tufano, age 14: Lady Gaga fan, animal lover, landlord.

In 2005, when Willow was 7, the housing market was booming. Home prices in some Florida neighborhoods nearly doubled from one month to the next. Her family moved into a big house; her mom became a real estate agent.

But as Willow moved from childhood to adolescence, the market turned, and the neighborhood emptied out. "Everyone is getting foreclosed on here," she says.

After the collapse, Willow's mom started working with investors who wanted to bid on cheap, foreclosed homes. Sometimes Willow tagged along.

 

One day, she went to a house that an investor wanted to flip. "It was filled with all kinds of stuff!" Willow says. "I was like, 'I can sell this stuff if he'd want to let me have it.' "

That was fine with the investor. So Willow sold the furniture and appliances from the house on Craigslist. She did the same thing with a bunch more houses. After a while, she was clearing about $500 a month, and saving a lot of it.

One day, Willow's mom, Shannon, saw a two-bedroom, concrete-block home on auction for $12,000 — down from $100,000 at the peak of the bubble. Shannon was telling her husband about the house, when Willow piped up.

"I was like, 'What if I bought a house? That would be crazy,' " Willow says.

Willow wound up splitting the house with her mom. Willow plans to buy her mom out in the next few years, and put her name on the title when she turns 18.

The place was a mess when they bought it — "like there was a riot or something," Willow says.

They cleaned it up and rented it out to a young couple for $700 a month.

As I was working on this story, I kept thinking that when a 14-year-old kid can buy a house, the market must have hit bottom. I kept saying this to Willow, and she'd sort of vaguely nod.

But it's hard for Willow to see herself as symbolic of anything. To a 14-year-old kid in Florida, the housing collapse is basically the only world she's known. It's the landscape. It's a Craigslist hobby.

She's thinking she may save up for a second home.

Chana Joffe-Walt/NPR

Willow and her tenants, in front of the house Willow bought with her mother.

Are you a duck, or an Eagle?

No one can make you serve customers well.....that's because great service
is a choice. Harvey Mackay, tells a wonderful story about a cab driver that
proved this point.

He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the
first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright
shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed
black slacks, the cab driver jumped  out and rounded the car  to open the
back passenger door for Harvey ...

He  handed my friend a laminated card and said: 'I'm Wally, your driver.
While I'm loading your bags in the trunk I'd like you to read my mission
statement.'

Taken aback, Harvey re ad the card. It said: Wally's MissionSta ement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

As he slid  behind the wheel, Wally said, 'Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos  of regular and one of decaf.' My friend said jokingly, 'No, I'd prefer a soft  drink.' Wally smiled and said, 'No problem I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.'
Almost stuttering, Harvey said, 'I'll  take a Diet Coke.'

Handing him his drink, Wally said, 'If you'd like something to read, I have
The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated andU USA Today.'

As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card,
These are the  stations I get and the music they play, if you'd like to
listen to the  radio.'

And as if that weren't enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the
airconditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him.

Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that
time of day. He also let him know that he'd be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.

'Tell me, Wally,' my amazed friend asked the driver, 'have you always
served customers like this?'

Wally smiled  into the rear view mirror. 'No, not always.. In fact, it's
only been in the last  two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day.

He had just written a book called You'll See It When You Believe It.

Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day,
you'll rarely  disappoint yourself. He said, 'Stop complaining!
Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don't be a duck. Be an eagle.
Ducks quack and complain. Eagles  soar above the crowd..'

'That hit me right between the eyes,' said Wally. 'Dyer was really talking
about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my
attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their
drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the
customers were unhappy. So I decided  to make some changes. I put in a few
at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.'

'I take it that has paid off for you,' Harvey said.

'It sure has,' Wally replied. 'My first year as an eagle, I doubled my
income from the previous year. This year I'll probably quadruple it.

You were lucky to get me today. I don't sit at cabstands anymore. My
customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on
my answering machine. If I can't pick them up myself, I get a reliable
cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.'

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab.
I've probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the
years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their
cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and
told me all the reasons they couldn't do any of what I was  suggesting..

Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking
like ducks and start  soaring like eagles.

How about us? Smile, and the whole world smiles with you... The ball is in
our hands! A man reaps what he sows. Let us not become weary in doing good,
for at the proper  time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up... let
us do good to all people.

This is a wonderful lesson that everyone should follow. Even on a dark,
cloudy day, wake up and say "What a beautiful day"

Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar!

Have a nice day, unless you already have other plans...

Which is better to pay for a home... $228K or $195K?

Case Study...  IN MY MARKET AREA...

In 1985 you could buy a NICE older home for about $65,000
You put down 5% down for FHA
The interest rate was 12% and discount points were about 7%.
You put down $3250
The discount point cost was $4,550
NORMAL commission was 7% $4,550
Other costs were around 1% $650
Total: $13,000
YOUR PAYMENT WAS $635 plus taxes and insurance = $228,600 total payments

TODAY you can buy a NICE older home for about $120,000
You put 3.5% for FHA
Your interest rate is 3.875% and discount points are NONE in most cases.
You put down $4,200
No discount point cost is $0
Normal commission is 6% $7200
Other costs are still around 1% $1200
Total: $12,600
YOUR PAYMENT TODAY IS $544/mo plus taxes and insurance = $195,840 total payments

IT'S NOT THE PRICE, IT'S HOW MUCH DOWN AND HOW MUCH A MONTH...

Are you using RealBird?

If not, sign up for free now... I'll show you want to do with it next week!

 

http://www.realbird.com/?refID=31042