The nation’s leading mortgage lenders are extending extras for short sale transactions employed as an alternative to foreclosure – both in the form of monetary incentives for borrowers and streamlined procedures for real estate agents.

Wells Fargo says it has been making “enhanced financial relocation assistance offers” that can be as much as $10,000 or $20,000 to certain borrowers who choose to go through with a short sale or transfer the title back to Wells via a deed-in-lieu.

This extra incentive is being offered to distressed borrowers in Florida and other states where the foreclosure process is lengthening, a spokesperson for Wells Fargo explained. The exact amount of the relocation funds provided to individual borrowers varies based on a number of factors, the company says.

Wells Fargo noted that this type of additional relocation assistance is only available on first-lien loans that the company itself owns – which represent only about 20 percent of the loans Wells Fargo services. The company must follow investor guidelines for the remaining loans it services.

JPMorgan Chase is also offering a range of incentives to borrowers that agree to a pre-foreclosure sale “because if we can’t work out a modification, a short sale is a better result for the borrower, the servicer, the investor, and the neighborhood than a foreclosure,” the company said in a statement.

Chase says the amount of the offer “depends on a number of factors” but declined to share specific details on how much money it’s been providing to short sellers.

One agent in Florida confirms that he has indeed received a letter from Chase offering $20,000 to a borrower he’s representing in a short sale transaction.

Another agent in California says he closed a short sale with Chase where the borrower was paid $30,000 at closing for cooperating with the short sale.

“I have closed over 200 short sales and this was the most I have seen paid to a borrower,” the agent said.

Citi has confirmed that its average incentive offer is currently $12,000 for borrowers in cases where Citi owns the loan.

“Incentives are offered to customers experiencing financial hardship who need funds to proceed with the short sale,” a spokesman for the lender explained.

The amount, which is agreed upon upfront, varies according to the borrower’s individual circumstances and loan characteristics, Citi said. It is disbursed to the homeowner when the short sale is completed.

Bank of America says it is “committed to improving the short sale process” and has made procedural changes to cut some of the red tape for agents working with the bank on pre-foreclosure sales.

The lender now allows real estate agents to submit a backup offer on a transaction if the original buyer has walked away from the sale.

This means that agents no longer have to initiate a new short sale if the buyer changes, Bank of America explained. Instead, agents can move ahead with the original transaction in the Equator system, BofA’s short sale technology platform of choice, and continue to work with the same short sale specialist.

Bank of America says this policy change will save its agents time by not having to repeat a number of process steps.

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New Product Streamlines Short Sale Process for Real Estate Professionals

Denver-based Realis Real Estate Software (formerly REO Maestro) is launching a new software product for agents and brokers working with short sales.

The new program, Prelude, is designed to allow real estate professionals to manage multiple short sale properties efficiently and effectively.

“Prelude is both simple and elaborate, offering an easy-to-use software that incorporates all of the needs of the agent while being scalable to any size company without the confusing bells and whistles,” said Lauren Roberts, veteran REO agent and founder of Realis Real Estate Software.

Prelude will be available as a separate software platform and as an extension of Maestro, Realis’ flagship product.

The product includes a forms library, auto package generation, and borrower access.

The Backstage component of the program allows lenders, venders, and homeowners access to Prelude’s task management system.

“The volume levels continue to remain steady and in most cases are increasing as a result of the economy and housing market,” said Roberts. “But, agents and brokers must continue to be mindful of their profit margins, which are historically slim when specializing in REO and Short Sale management.”

“Agents and brokers must work smart, carefully controlling the growth of their administrative teams, while continuing to exceed the needs of their clients,” Roberts says. “This makes having a software platform that can streamline their workflow more critical to their bottom line than ever before.”

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The EIGHT Best Ways to Protect Smartphones

Have you ever received repeated cell phone calls from an unknown number? Or opened a text message offering an update to a phone app you don’t even use? These are just a few of the situations that should raise security red flags. The following tips will help you keep your personal information safe and dodge traps set by clever hackers.

When using social networking sites from your phone, skip the native apps – which know far more about your life than web browsers ever could – and access the sites through your phone’s browser. Also, use a password-protected screen lock to keep your phone secure.

Beware the false “update” link for apps! Verify the link you’re using to download an app before you click on it, or go directly to the company’s site to download the update. Sending fraudulent “update” links is a common method for directing users to sites where personal information can be compromised.

Clean up your apps regularly, removing those you don’t use. Some apps may be able to monitor and access various types of data on your phone, including your contact list. And if your phone has a SIM card, set a PIN code for the card — if the phone is ever lost, nobody can use the card.

Read the reviews of apps before you download, and choose reputable apps. Apps without many reviews and those that have been recently uploaded to the app market or app store are more likely to contain privacy and security problems.

Don’t trust Bluetooth! If you use a hands-free device to make cell phone calls, always use a wired headset. Bluetooth devices can be compromised and your personal data can be accessed or corrupted. If you do use Bluetooth, protect the connection with a longer, more secure password instead of a short PIN.

Watch out for apps that ask for too many permissions – if you’re installing a calculator app and it requests Internet and contacts permissions, that’s a bad sign. One way cyber-thieves exploit smart phones is by creating a good app with some extra code and overreaching permissions.

Log out of all Web services every time you’re finishing using them, or you may stay logged in indefinitely – even to sensitive sites like banking and email. On desktops, there’s a timeout period if you remain inactive, but not always with mobile access. If the phone is lost, anyone can access the sites you’re logged into.

Think twice before answering calls or text messages from unknown numbers, especially if you’ve received a call more than once. Phishing scams are often initiated through cell phone calls or texts. Google the phone number that’s calling you, and see if anyone has reported it as linked to a scam.

Someone once likened selling REO properties to rooting for the House at Blackjack.

There are many opportunities for selling agents, though. The volume of properties that banks have acquired has forced them to look at home values with clear eyes. In many ways, representing clients in the purchase of a foreclosed home is no different than helping them with the purchase of a home from a traditional seller.

Unfamiliarity with the differences, however, can lead to frustration, delays, unnecessary expenses and missed opportunities.

Low offers – few sellers—traditional or institutional—look forward to reviewing offers significantly below asking price. While a traditional seller may react emotionally to a low offer, a bank will not. In fact, they probably won’t react at all. In instances where a property has just been listed, your client may not even get a counter-offer.

Institutional sellers do their best to set a price at which their properties will sell within 90 days. An offer that is less than 90% of the asking price will rarely be considered during that period. In fact, REO homes are priced so competitively, it’s common to see multiple offers in the first two weeks of a listing.

Paperwork – Institutional sellers are big businesses that love procedures. Considering the huge volume of homes banks are disposing and that a typical asset manager handles 400 properties, it makes sense.  Most REO agents will include a checklist with every agreement they send to an agent for buyer signature. Please take the time to review it. Failure to follow it exactly almost always will cause delays and extra work. And “minor” changes to a seller addendum requested by your client or their attorney? Not going to happen.

Five Tips to Make Sure Your Seller Doesn’t Switch Agents

In the current real estate market, with home sales slumping like an injured athlete, many sellers are pulling out all the stops to get their homes to sell. One of the most common tactics is to change REALTORS® when the one they’re using isn’t getting the job done. However, one expert believes that there is another way.

“Switching REALTORS® every few months is not necessarily a strategy for success,” says Pat Hiban, a billion-dollar selling real estate agent and author of 6 Steps to 7 Figures, a self-help guide for realty agents. “In this market, it’s not uncommon for a home to stay on the market for many months. The problem with switching agents frequently is that sellers eat up a lot of time with the learning curve with each agency change. Every time a seller finds an agent, they lose their institutional memory with regard to their house and their situation.”

Hiban advises real estate agents to adhere to the following five steps to ensure their sellers don’t look to hire a different agent:

Be Proactive – Successful people are productive every morning. In sales, that means you need to make prospecting calls, do open houses, call contacts, write notes to people, make new contacts, and get in people’s faces. Instead of waiting around for the phone to ring, work every avenue you can.

Plan The Week – Set your agenda for the week, and make sure you are doing something every day to promote your property. Some REALTORS® tend not to pay attention to properties that aren’t generating a lot of excitement, and instead they focus on the properties that might be easier to move. Stay focused with an agenda every week, and you’ll increase your chances of being successful.

Get Busy – Activity breeds activity. It’s a universal truth that the more you push your flow out to potential buyers, the more inward flow of contacts you’ll generate. One thing really does lead to another, so even when the response is slow, keep plugging away. You never know when you’ll catch a break, but if you aren’t in the game and getting out in the community, you’ll never have a chance to find one.

Accept All Invitations – Networking can many times win the day, and real estate agents typically receive every invitation available to local networking and community events. When you attend these functions, everyone in the room could be a potential client or a potential buyer.

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Green Living: Low-Impact Summer

It gets so busy during the summertime. Sometimes it feels as though time has literally sped up. Softball games, family reunions, and camps mean running from point A to point B in a hurry. It’s easy to lose sight of the small things.

Little changes are how we make a big difference with the environment. From taking shorter showers to upgrading our appliances, there are ways each day we can help Mother Earth enjoy the summer as much as we do!

How can you have a low-impact summer? Our experts give us the following tips.

First, support your local growers. Get produce at your area’s Farmers’ Market. Buy fruits and veggies in the “grown local” section of your favorite grocery. This may not seem like a big deal, but it supports local commerce and reduces the amount of fuels needed to transport your produce.

The next step also pertains to our food. Grow it yourself! Growing a simple vegetable garden is easier than you think. Most of the work goes into good prepping. Periodic weeding and harvesting are simple manual tasks that deliver real fruits of your “labor.” Save money on your electric bill and contribute to a “new” way of living that is spreading across the country.

If you grow your own garden, consider being as natural or organic as possible. There are a plethora of wonderful products on the market that help keep bugs at bay.

Natural bug repellants are available for humans, too! Geraniums secrete a scent that drives mosquitos away. Mix a few drops of essential oils (citronella, orange, and rose geranium) into a spray bottle of water. Use this to spray down your legs and arms before any trip outside or to the garden. Not only will you smell good, you’ll be a “no bug zone.”

Are you looking for ways to save on energy and fuel costs? Start with your travel habits. Cars, even the most energy efficient models, consume mass amounts of gasoline, which has been refined from oil. The amount of energy and pollution that is involved in refining these products would astound you! Be organized and plan trips to the store. Also consider carpooling or using public transit! Your city may have HOV lanes, or high occupancy vehicle lanes. This means if there is more than one person in your car, you get a free pass around the rush hour traffic! If you have a walkable city, use your legs to walk or bike.

On the inside of your home you can save energy by upgrading your appliances. Newer Energy Star appliances use a fraction of the energy that their older counterparts did. You’ll be surprised how much your electric bill drops in the first month!

Keep your home and yard cool for years to come by planting shade trees. Trees give our environment so much. They deliver loads of oxygen, all while consuming our nasty carbon dioxide. They help to reduce global warming with this effect! And of course, the give us shade to enjoy those evening glasses of iced tea.

Little habits add up to big change. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Every day is a new day. Pick one thing to change today. Pick another next week and start a new habit.

When it comes to private mortgage insurance (MI), there are several myths that exist that make buyers reluctant to consider a conventional loan with MI as an option when purchasing a home. One of the more common misconceptions is that cancelling MI is a difficult—not to mention time-consuming—process.

The irony is that the majority of buyers don’t harbor those same beliefs or reservations about an FHA insured loan when, in reality, FHA coverage may be less easily cancelled, or take longer to cancel, than MI.

HPA Makes Cancellation Clearer
When it went into effect as a new federal law, the Homeowners Protection Act (HPA) of 1998—which applies to both FHA and MI insured loans—required lenders and servicers to provide disclosures regarding MI for residential loans obtained on or after July 29, 1999. Prior to this, consumers were responsible for requesting MI cancellation if they met two factors: one, their loan balance was paid down to 80 percent of the property; and two, they had a good payment history.

While many lenders obliged consumer requests to drop MI coverage, consumers had sole responsibility for keeping track of their loan balance.

The HPA established three different times when a lender or servicer must notify consumers of their rights.

At loan closing, lenders must disclose:
• The right to request MI cancellation and the date on which the request can be made
• The requirement that MI be automatically terminated and the date on which this will occur
• Any exemptions to the right to cancellation or automatic termination
• A written initial amortization schedule for fixed-rate loans only

Each year, loan servicers must send borrowers a written statement that discloses:
• The right to cancel or terminate MI
• An address and telephone number to contact the loan servicer for determining when MI may be cancelled

When MI coverage is cancelled or terminated, lenders must send a notification to borrowers stating:
• MI has been terminated, and the borrower no longer has MI coverage
• No further MI premiums are due

Termination of Coverage
Under the terms of the HPA, mortgage lenders or servicers must automatically cancel borrower-paid MI coverage when the mortgage has amortized to 78 percent of the original property value, with all unearned premiums returned to the borrower within 45 days of the cancellation or termination date. This provision also requires that the borrower be current on mortgage payments required by the terms of the loan, and if the loan is delinquent on the date of automatic termination, a lender must terminate the coverage as soon as the loan becomes current.

Cancellation of Coverage
Also under the HPA, a homeowner has the right to request MI cancellation when the mortgage balance reaches 80 percent of the original property value. All payments must be current, meaning a homeowner must not be 30 days late on a mortgage payment within one year of their request, or 60 days late within two years.

However, a borrower can only initiate a cancellation request for FHA based on their prepayment of the loan, and even then, it can only be requested beginning five years after the loan origination date.

With MI, homeowners can request cancellation based on prepayment of the loan, as well as an appraisal. Despite falling property values, it’s possible for homeowners to gain enough equity in their home to request cancellation in less than five years based on a home appraisal.

Why This Matters to Agents
By understanding these rules and what they mean for homeowners, real estate agents can educate their buyers to help them better evaluate allof their home financing options based on facts rather than myths.

This is even more important considering the FHA’s recent price increase, which has reduced buyers’ purchasing power and increased monthly mortgage payments.

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What’s in Store for Summer – Is It Auction Season?

Summer is renowned as the ‘vacation season’ where even thriving companies tend to slow down. Real estate is notoriously sluggish during the summer months, but with the consistently high number of foreclosures flooding the market, could this be a potentially lucrative season for real estate auctions?

According to last year’s data, PropertyAuction.com had a plethora of listings in summer 2010. The month of June saw 5,044 listings of both commercial and residential auctions combined, July came in at 5,649 total auctions, and August proved to be a very busy month with a total of 9,912 auctions listed. None of the summer months were at the bottom of the inventory list—the lowest amount of auction listings were in January, February and April, respectively.

It’s a well-known fact that the increasing foreclosure rate continues to depress the housing market. After last year’s robo-signing scandal, the foreclosures held back in 2010 are making a reappearance, which places a great burden on traditional sales. Msnbc.com reports, “foreclosures are expected to remain elevated through the year as homeowners contend with stubbornly high unemployment, tougher credit standards for refinancing and falling home values…The decline will push more borrowers underwater on their mortgages. Already, about one in five homeowners with a mortgage owe more than their home is worth.” Some could speculate that this can possibly trigger a substantial inventory of real estate auctions.

Dan Mahaney, accredited auctioneer of real estate, has seen that certain types of auctions excel at different times of the year. “Spring and fall are busy times for land sales. Fall is always the busiest time of the year. Sellers are looking to convert assets into cash before the end of the year,” he says. “It just seems there are never enough weekend sale dates in the fall to accommodate a seller’s request.” As for the summer months, Mahaney states, “Vacation homes always sell well during the peak summer travel months in destination locations. Colorado summer sales are always strong due to the increase in outside traffic, especially with buyers from Texas looking to escape the Texas heat. Midwest farm ground still appears to be the hottest asset in demand. Strong commodity prices make this a strong hold, at least for the time being.”

This proves to be true: Farmers National Company is already posting their June land auctions in Nebraska, Missouri and Iowa. On upper-tier listings, luxury property auction companies such as Grand Estates Auction Company, J.P. King, and Premiere Estates Auction Company each have several key properties slated for June.

In short, the summer season can still be a tough read for the real estate auction business even at mid-Spring, but as of now industry professionals are planning on keeping pretty busy.

As a real estate professional you know that you must have a website. There are many options for creating a website, such as a company sponsored site, a custom website, or a real estate website template with hosting. Regardless of where it came from, how do you get visitors to your site now that you have one? I say, let’s throw a party and invite them!

Here are five steps that you can do immediately that will bring more buyers and sellers to your website. And more importantly, these steps will keep them coming back for more! Think of this as getting ready for a big party!

1. Clean house for your guests: Be sure your website is search ready, or what is referred to as “Search Engine Optimization” or SEO for short. In a nutshell this means to have keywords on your website that visitor’s will be searching for when looking for a home for sale, or sellers might search for when looking for an agent. You can add these words to the website directly, such as in the introduction, in the articles on your site and also into the “Meta Tags”. If you are not sure what this means, you may want to get some help with this one from your website developer or office guru.

2. Create an Event: You probably wouldn’t invite your friends or associates over for a party without proper preparation or planning. And if you did, and they got bored, would you expect them to come back for the next party? Probably not. So, you might think about food, games, and activities that will entertain your guests. Let’s treat our website the same way. We need to have valuable content on our website to entertain, educate, provide a valuable service, or all of the above. Add neighborhood updates, property information, charity events, anything that has a value to your potential guests. We want to offer enough value to keep them coming back for more, again and again!

3. Write the invitations: You can’t expect people to show up at your party if you have not invited them, right? The best way to invite people is to write articles or blogs on one of the highly trafficked real estate blog sites such as RealTown, ActiveRain, or Trulia (or any other with high traffic volume). These are usually free or with a premium subscription for higher visibility. It’s well worth it!

4. Get Social: Use virtual tours on all your listings with links to your website. Add one of your neighborhood videos to your virtual tour. Add personal narration to the virtual tour and mention your website for more information. Create a YouTube video. Add a “widget” on your site with links to all your virtual tours. Or better yet, find a virtual tour service that utilizes the latest technologies, social media, social networking, and integrates these services in an easy to use platform so you aren’t spending a lot of time learning something new on top of everything else. After all, it’s your party and you want to enjoy it along with your guests, right?

5. It’s party time! When your guests arrive, you want to offer refreshments and let them look around. You want them to get comfortable and enjoy themselves so they want to come back again. You can offer the typical Home Search and Information for Buyers and Sellers, but let’s also offer them something special and unique. Add some local flare, where to dine with reviews by yourself or even your guests, and maybe a video of the neighborhood or the parks, libraries, schools. Add your own personal video welcome!

And when the party is over, don’t let your guests leave without something to bring them back the next time. You can offer a “Custom Property List” or “Hot List” of fresh homes on the market if they are home buyers, or you can offer them a “Neighborhood Newsletter” or your next “By Invite Only –Open House” event. How about an Ice Cream Social at the neighborhood park? Be sure they “check back often” for your announcements. And by all means, don’t let them down! Keep content on your site fresh, update it weekly and stay connected. It’s your party, be a good host and your guests will come back for more every time!

Remember, the most recent National Association of Realtors statistics show over 90 percent of home buyers said they looked online for their home before purchasing! Are they looking at your website?

Reasons For Qualifying the Buyer

Thoroughly qualifying Buyers is really the most important factor in deciding whether or not to work with a prospect. I also find that too many Agents err in judgment by working with lower probability prospects than they should. We often are more willing to work with lower probability prospects because they are all we currently have. We work them in hopes that their motivation, time frame, commitment level, and even financial qualifications will change. This investment in low probability prospects is at best, optimistic thinking and at worst, delusional.

The objective of qualifying can be segmented into four categories.

1. Separate qualified and non-qualified prospects.

The faster we can separate qualified from non-qualified, the more resources we save for other prospects. We must design our qualifying process with the objective of quickly separating these two groups.

2. Eliminate or refer non-qualified prospects.

Being able to remove or disengage with non-qualified prospects frees you up to work with or find better qualified prospects. As you reach the Champion level in skills, ability, and mindset, you open the possibility of referring prospects. Maybe these prospects don’t meet your standard for clients, but they might meet another Agent’s. Those other Agents might be willing to work with lower quality, longer time frame, or lower motivation prospects. Don’t automatically throw a lead away if it doesn’t meet your personal standard. Start by referring this business to people in your office. Then, if you feel this is happening frequently (I would define frequently as around 4 to 6 times a month, depending on the convertibility of the leads), you might need to consider starting your journey to build a team.

3. Trade commitments with qualified prospects.
In the risk and reward arena of real estate sales, the exchange of commitments is the cornerstone of compensation. We set up that exchange of commitments at the qualifying stage. This is especially true with a Buyer. Sellers have been educated that they must be exclusive to a Real Estate Agent, but there are still many Buyers who don’t feel the need or haven’t been show the benefit of an exclusive relationship with an Agent to represent their needs and interests. Through qualifying, we need to determine their willingness to exchange commitments or exclusivity for our service.

4. Provide counsel to qualified, committed prospects.
On the last of these four steps, we begin to enter the servicing part of our relationship with the prospect that has now turned into a client.

Our fear of prospecting can shape our decision to work leads that are lower grade. Because we have leads, we excuse ourselves from prospecting for the day, week, or longer. We focus so much on a lead (or a few of them) that, when they don’t pan out, we put ourselves in dire straights quickly. We end up wasting our time with people with a low return. The time we invest is really the opportunity cost of the real estate business. In evaluating the Buyer opportunities, we find that a typical Buyer will, on average, take 3 to 4 times more investment of our time than a Seller.

I often ask audiences when I try to drive this point home, “If you have a $300,000 Seller and a $300,000 Buyer, which do you make more money from?” The shout from the audience is always the same: “THE BUYER!” I usually ask them again, and a few start to get it. The truth is the commission dollars are the same; the difference is in the time you must invest to earn the income. The variable is the time in the analysis.

The quickest way, when working with Buyers, to determine their qualifications and motivation isn’t asking them all of the qualifying questions. The quickest way to determine their motivation is to ask for an appointment. The last place on earth a low motivation Buyer wants to be is in front of a salesperson. If you don’t want to buy a car, do you want to go to a car dealership and talk with a salesperson? For most of us, that’s the last experience we want in life.

No matter the indication you get on their motivation and probability of doing business with you or any Agent, you must ask them for an appointment. Every prospect you meet must be driven to a face-to-face meeting or presentation. A qualified Buyer prospect has to meet your requirements to work with you. Are they worthy of your investment of professional resources?

Almost three years after a series of government bailouts began, what many feared would be a deep black hole for taxpayer money isn’t looking nearly so dark. The brighter picture is highlighted by the outlook for the bailouts’ centerpiece—the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. “It’s turning out to cost a lot less than what we all thought at the beginning,” said Ted Kaufman, a former U.S. senator from Delaware who heads the congressionally appointed panel overseeing TARP.

In mid-2009, the program was projected to lose as much as $341 billion. That’s been reduced to $25 billion—partly because of the controversial decision to pump much of the TARP money into banks instead of launching a large-scale purchase of securities backed by toxic subprime mortgages.

There is now broad agreement that the bailouts worked, stabilizing the financial system and preventing an even deeper crisis.

Still, many people are worried about the long-term effects of the government actions. They said that in demonstrating a belief that some companies were too big to fail, the government set a dangerous precedent, opening the door to future crises.

Those critics also said that hundreds of billions of dollars in bailout money from TARP, the Treasury and the Federal Reserve will not come back, mainly because of the rising tab for seized housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which combined have consumed $150 billion in taxpayer money so far. “We’re not going to recoup those losses,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee monitoring the bailouts.

Fannie and Freddie, which the Obama administration recently proposed to shut down, are the main reason most recent estimates of losses for all the various bailout efforts range from $238 billion to $380 billion. But Treasury officials think those estimates might be too high. They said the cost of all the financial interventions is likely to be less than $140 billion, or 1% of the United States’ $14-trillion annual economic output.

That’s less expensive than the federal losses from the savings and loan crisis in the late 1980s and early 1990s, which cost an estimated 2.4% of the nation’s annual economic output at the time, an International Monetary Fund study found.

The decision by former Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson in fall 2008 to shift TARP from its original mission kept the government from taking ownership of hundreds of billions of dollars in securities backed by bad mortgages. “It was clear in the fall that you didn’t have time for that because the crisis was too great and moving too quickly,” Timothy Massad, TARP’s acting manager said. If money had not been pumped directly into the largest banks, he said, “I think you then would have been presiding over a collapse of the financial system and potentially a second Great Depression.”

A study last year by Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, and Alan Blinder, a Princeton economist and former Fed governor, concluded that TARP “has been a substantial success.”

A stronger housing recovery could mean Fannie and Freddie would need only about $71 billion more, the report said. Zandi said it’s possible those bailouts could also cost less than anticipated. “The script on Fannie and Freddie is still being written,” he said. “We could end up saying Fannie and Freddie didn’t cost us all that much either.”

But the bailouts have been deeply unpopular. Critics point to them as a symbol of costly overreach and as proof that the government thought some companies were too big to fail.

In a Newsweek poll last fall, 63% of respondents said the government’s actions to rescue the banking and financial system were bad for the country. But some of that anger appears to be fueled by misconception, Kaufman said. He cited a Bloomberg poll last fall in which 60% of respondents said they thought most of the TARP money would not be recovered.

A good chunk of the money was never spent. Just $410 billion was distributed. And because the program formally ended last year and only its existing initiatives can continue to be funded, it will not spend more than $475 billion.

Massad said Treasury officials understand why the program has been so reviled, but added that the public should focus on the bottom line. “We did what we had to do, it worked better than people thought, and it’s been far cheaper than people thought it would be,” he said.

FIVE Easy Ways To MERGE Video into Your Marketing Efforts

Real estate professionals know that success is, in part, driven by how well they can create a connection. One way to do that is to integrate video into your marketing campaign. With today’s technology, it is easier than ever to capture great video. What previously required a studio, a green screen and professional media equipment can now be done with a handheld video camera and a computer. More importantly, video has the ability to increase your business, build better relationships and amplify your credibility. Here are five easy ways to integrate video into your marketing efforts (Tip: Keep your videos under two minutes for maximum effectiveness):

1. Make a Video Testimonial. What sells you better than having real clients raving about how invaluable you were in the process of buying or selling a home? At the closing, set your camera up on a tabletop tripod and simply ask the client to talk about their experience working with you. Try to get a variety of testimonials that showcase various clients and types of homes. These testimonials can be posted on your YouTube channel, your Facebook page, LinkedIn and even mentioned on Twitter.

2. Create an Agent Bio. An agent bio is a “must have” for working both Internet leads and personal referrals. Video offers you a way to create a highly-personalized experience for a potential client and enables you to add a personal touch to your introduction. Keep the introduction simple, focusing on your expertise and why selecting you will benefit the client. Keep it light, short and be sure to let your personality shine through. Make it a part of your signature, and consider hosting it separately on a private video resource like www.easyagentvideo.com where you can market the video directly with no ads.

3. Showcase Your Expertise in the Marketplace. You can provide information on market trends, short sale and foreclosure tips or interview an expert (i.e. lenders, title professionals, home inspectors). For example, you can interview a home inspector highlighting what things to look for before buying a home. Create an editorial calendar of the content you would like to provide, identify who you will team up with (if necessary) and ask them to participate.

4. Create Neighborhood Tours. This is a true low-hanging fruit opportunity to become the dominant video source for your area. Create lots (dozens) of area tours showcasing fun and exciting things about your area, such as the local farmers market, the town square, best restaurants and great shopping. Tag these and introduce your real estate business on each one. They don’t have to be real estate ads, just organically and authentically show why you love your area and why it is such a great place to live. As viewers find these videos, they will find you too!

5. Create a Just-Moved Buyer Tour. Offer to create a short video for your client showing highlights of the buying experience, the excitement of moving in and your client’s top remodeling projects. Your client will send the video to family and friends, which can generate referral business for you.

Homebuyers relying on FHA-insured financing will still be able to buy homes that have changed hands in the last 90 days, thanks to a decision by the Federal Housing Administration to extend a temporary waiver of its “anti-flipping” rule through the end of the year.

The anti-flipping rule, a 90-day waiting period implemented to protect the FHA’s mortgage insurance program from losses, already included an exemption for homes repossessed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and state- and federally chartered financial institutions.

But last year, FHA took the additional step of waiving the waiting period for all resales — including homes purchased and rehabbed by private investors.

Since the broad waiver went into effect on Feb. 1, 2010, FHA said it has insured 21,000 90-day property flip loans worth more than $3.6 billion that would otherwise not have qualified for financing.

The Obama administration believes the waiver may be helping stabilize home prices and neighborhoods that have been heavily impacted by foreclosures.

An analysis of property-flip loans suggests they carry no more credit risk than others insured by FHA, although they were often missing documentation needed to support valuations, the government said in a notice announcing an extension of the waiver until Dec. 31, 2011.

“This action enables our borrowers, especially first-time buyers, to take advantage of this opportunity and buy a home that has recently been rehabilitated,” said FHA Commissioner David Stevens in a statement. “It will also help to move more foreclosed properties off the market and reduce the number of vacant homes in neighborhoods throughout this country.”

To protect FHA borrowers against predatory flipping — resales of properties at inflated prices — the waiver continues to be limited to arms-length transactions, and does not apply to the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) for purchase program.

In cases in which the sales price of the property is 20 percent or more above the seller’s acquisition cost, lenders must justify the increase with a second appraisal or supporting documentation verifying that the seller has completed renovation, repair and rehabilitation work to substantiate the increase in value.

The lender must also order a property inspection and provide a copy of the report to the purchaser before closing.

In analyzing 17,114 90-day property flip loans insured between Feb. 1, 2010, and Oct. 31, 2010, FHA found the early payment default rate was 0.03 percent — less than the 0.15 percent rate for the 1.2 million purchase loans insured during the same period. Borrower debt ratios and credit scores were also nearly identical.

But a further review of a subset of those loans found they were more likely than other purchase loans to have problems with valuations. Nearly half had unacceptable valuation reviews, with a majority of the problems that were discovered related to documentation compliance issues, such as a missing inspection report or second appraisal.

For Your Clients: Common Impediments to Selling and How to Overcome Them

Even with the economy improving overall, it would be false to say the real estate market is booming, especially for home sellers. Unfortunately, negative financial headlines are causing some potential sellers to needlessly hide in fear. For many, it truly is not the ideal time to put their home on the market. But, even in a less-than-robust economy, you might be in the right—perhaps even the ideal—situation to sell. Unfortunately, some common impediments may make you run from doing so. Here are a few of those mental roadblocks, and how to overcome them:

I know my house is too big and expensive to maintain, but it’s filled with good memories. A lot of people, specifically in their 50s and 60s and beyond, are reticent to sell a home, because it’s where they raised their kids. At holiday time, that pull becomes even more powerful, when family comes back to visit. While memories are extremely important, they can keep people in a home that’s too expensive to maintain and too large for them, for too long. And, what’s worse, sometimes young adults pressure their parents to hold onto a home. If you’re one of those folks who’s just left the nest and you suspect that your parents are hanging onto the home just for memory’s sake, a little conversation goes a long way. Let your parent or parents know that you want the best for them, and if that’s a newer, easier-to-maintain home, that’s OK by you. Often, giving a parent gentle encouragement to move on, frees them up to make the decision they know they should make: to sell and downsize.

There’s so much inventory out there. Who’s even going to stop to look at my house? It’s true: in this market, there are a lot of options out there for buyers. But sellers who lament a flurry of potential competition often use this as a bad excuse not to sell. Many real estate professionals these days know a lot about preparing a home for sale, including conducting a home inspection to clearly understand the condition—and value—of your home. Speaking with a real estate professional can give you inspiration and ideas that you never imagined regarding how to distinguish your property. That’s the thing about selling your house: you don’t have to go it alone. In the best case, you can enlist a team full of great ideas.

The housing market’s down. The Federal Reserve recently noted that after losing ground in the spring, Americans’ wealth grew 2.2% throughout July-September, and household net worth rose to nearly $55 trillion. But despite this, the value of real estate holdings sank 3.7%. It’s true, the real estate market truly hasn’t fully recovered, and it would be disingenuous to sugar-coat it and say that you’ll easily get your ideal asking price in a week if you sell. But still, too many people read the second statement above—home prices are down—without taking it in stride with the first: things are improving overall. A lot of us focus on bad news without looking at the good. Home values have not fully rebounded. But the increase in Americans’ wealth means there are more people with cash freed up to buy. Also, these figures don’t take geographical areas into account. Your area might be doing better than the national average; values aren’t depressed in every single market. The best way to know what’s best for you is to ask a trusted real estate professional. Communication is the key to success, rather than hiding when you see a negative headline.

Best Cities for Home Values: San Diego Ranks 5th

San Diego homeowners have something to cheer about.

A new Forbes list predicts that America’s Finest City will be among the 10 cities where home values are expected to rise the most in 2011.

San Diego is not the only California city rounding out the top 10 – markets in San Jose and Santa Ana, are also expected to see a boom.

Forbes enlisted the help of Local Market Monitor (LMM) to track 315 American real estate markets. “They then analyzed key economic factors that directly affect housing markets: unemployment and job growth rates, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.”

Currently, the average home price in San Diego is $336,679 and a 2% increase is expected over the next 12 months. The list also predicts a 2% increase over the next three years.

With prices on the rise, Forbes encourages prospective homebuyers in San Diego to act fast.

Southern California home sales turned in another lackluster month in March, the result of a fussy mortgage  market, slow job growth and a continued wait-and-see attitude among potential buyers and sellers. There were signs, however, that the market was a little less dysfunctional than in recent months, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 19,412 new and resale houses and condos  sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino  and Orange counties  in March. That was up 35.1% from 14,369 in February, and down 5.2% from 20,476 in March 2010, according to DataQuick. The San Diego firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

Sales always increase from February to March. Last month’s sales count was 21.4% below the 24,706 average for all the months of March since 1988. Sales so far this year are 20% below the norm. During the last half of 2010 sales were 25-30% below average.

Sales of newly built Southland homes totaled 1,144, the lowest March in DataQuick’s statistics, which go back to 1988. The peak March was in 2006 with 7,205 sales. The March new-home average is 3,661.

The median price paid for a Southland home last month was $280,500, up 2.0% from $275,000 in February, and down 1.6% from $285,000 for March a year ago.

The median’s low point for the current real estate cycle was $247,000 in April 2009, while the high point was $505,000 in mid 2007. The peak-to-trough drop was due to a decline in home values as well as a shift in sales toward low-cost homes, especially inland foreclosures .

“As an indicator of upcoming trends, the month of March is actually pretty reliable. We got off to a slow start with sales this year and it doesn’t look like that will change anytime soon. Two of the likely game changers in the short run would be a surge in job creation or another round of price corrections,” said John Walsh , DataQuick president.

“The foreclosure issue is going to be with us for a good while. But mortgage availability, or rather the lack thereof, is key. If a well-crafted home loan program comes down the pike, it’s going to make some lending institution the dominant player, at least for a while,” he said.

Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) accounted for 7.8% of last month’s Southland purchase loans, up from 7.7% in February and 4.9% a year ago. While still at a low level, last month’s ARM usage was the highest since 10.3% in August 2008. Over the past decade, a monthly average of about 42% of purchase loans were ARMs.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 15.9% of last month’s purchase lending, up from 15.6% in February and the same as a year earlier. In the months leading up to the credit crisis  that struck in August 2007, jumbos accounted for 40% of the market.

Foreclosure resales – properties foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – made up 36.4% of resales last month, down from a revised 37.0% in February and down from 38.3% a year ago. Foreclosure resales hit a high of 56.7% in February 2009 and a low of 32.8% last June.

Short sales  – transactions where the sale price fell short of what had been owed on the property – made up an estimated 18.5% of Southland resales last month. That was down from an estimated 19.6% in February but up from 18.0% a year earlier and 12.2% two years ago.

Absentee buyers – mostly investors and some second-home purchasers – bought 26.0% of the Southland homes sold in March, paying a median $205,000. The absentee share of the market reached a peak in February at 26.4%. Over the last decade, absentee buyers purchased a monthly average of 16.3% of homes.

Cash purchases accounted for 30.5% of March home sales, paying a median $205,250. The cash purchase share was down from 32.3% in February, the all-time high, but up from 27.9% a year earlier. The 10-year monthly average for Southland homes purchased with cash is 13.3%. Cash purchases are where there was no indication in the public record that a corresponding purchase loan was recorded.

Government-insured FHA loans, a popular low-down-payment choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 32.0% of all mortgages used to purchase homes in March – the lowest level since August 2008, when 26.8% of purchase loans were FHA. Last month’s FHA level was down from 32.2% in February and 36.5% in March 2010. Two years ago FHA loans made up 36.5% of the purchase loan market, while three years ago it was just 10.5%.

Last month 19.2% of all sales were for $500,000 or more, up from a revised 18.7% in February and down from 20.3% a year earlier. The low point for $500,000-plus sales was in January 2009, when only 13.8% of sales were above that threshold. Over the past decade, a monthly average of 26.9% of homes sold for $500,000 or more.

Viewed differently, Southland zip codes in the top one-third of the housing market, based on historical prices, accounted for 35.8% of total sales last month. That was up from 34.8% in February and up from 35.2% a year ago. Over the last decade, those higher-end areas contributed a monthly average of 37.0% of regional sales. Their contribution to overall sales hit a low of 26.2% in January 2009.

Last month the%age of Southland homes bought and re-sold on the open  market within a six-month period was 3.2%, the same “flipping” rate as the month before but down slightly from 3.3% a year ago. Flipping varied last month from as little as 2.5% in Ventura County  to as much as 3.5% in Orange County.

DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.

The typical monthly mortgage payment that Southland buyers committed themselves to paying was $1,185 last month, up from $1,174 in February and down from $1,220 in March 2010. Adjusted for inflation, current payments are 48.0% below typical payments in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. They are 57.4% below the current cycle’s peak in July 2007.

Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity remains high by historical standards but is lower than peak levels reached over the last two years. Financing with multiple mortgages is very low, and down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

SOURCE: http://www.nuwireinvestor.com/articles/home-prices-down-in-southern-california-57177.aspx

While affordable housing prices, ample inventories, and historically low interest rates signal ‘buyer’s market’ for investors or move-up buyers in many U.S. markets, inexperienced first-time buyers may not know if the time is right to make a move into real estate.

“It’s not about timing the market. It’s about time in the market,” says Steve Berkowitz, chief executive officer at Move, Inc., a leader in online real estate. “Once you know how long you expect to own a home, look at the historical value performance of properties in the neighborhood. Be confident about your own job security, down payment resources and tolerance for upkeep, as well as the lifestyle you want today and in the near term. While homeownership may not be for everyone, it is the right choice for hundreds of thousands of people. Today’s housing market, especially for first-time buyers, makes it almost impossible not to think about the possibilities.”

To help first-time buyers know if they’re ready to look for the home of their dreams as we head into this year’s home-buying season, the experts at Move have created a ‘reality checklist’ designed to help them decide if the time is right.

Get your financial house in order:  Before you decide to buy a home, it’s essential to make sure your credit is in good shape and repair any damage previously done. Know your credit score: thirty-five percent (35%) of successful buyers recently reported they didn’t know their credit score when they went house shopping, according to a national survey fielded for MortgageMatch.com. Having enough money set aside for a down payment is a key component to making sure you are ready to purchase a home. Also, it’s important to not put all of your money in the down payment as other fees or unexpected expenses often arise after closing.
Don’t fall in love with a house you can’t buy:  Find out how much you can afford: establishing your purchase power upfront, including how much money will be required for a down payment and closing costs, is a must for first-time buyers. Look for special loans available from FHA and government sponsored loans for first-time home buyers that reduce the amount of money required to get into a home.

Learn the lingo:  Since first-time buyers are new to the market and will finance a significant portion of their purchase, it’s important to get familiar with the processes and terminology associated with home-buying. Here are a few key terms from MortgageMatch.com to add to your vocabulary:

Bait rate:  Misleading mortgages with low rate promises and no contingencies generally for those with extraordinary credit. Rates are based on: credit, debt-to-income and loan-to-value ratios, the size and type of loan, property location and the day you lock your rate, etc. The loan isn’t locked until the application is accepted. By then, it may be too late to find a better rate from another lender.

Basis point:  A term used in the mortgage industry which simply means 1/100th of 1%.

Closing costs:  The fees required to process and close your loan. They’re a cash obligation running from 3-5% of the purchase price. Motivated sellers might pay a portion of these costs.

FHA:  Federal Housing Administration, the Federal Government Agency that oversees the U.S. Housing market. FHA Loans are loans insured by the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development.

FRM and ARM:  A Fixed-Rate Mortgage Loan (FRM) is a loan where your interest rate stays the same for the life of the loan. ARMs are Adjustable-Rate Mortgages with variable interest rates that fluctuate based on an agreed-upon index.

GFE:  The Good Faith Estimate (GFE) is a document explaining all costs involved in getting a loan.

TIL:  The Federal Truth-in-Lending Form is a document that spells out the costs and fees of the loan.

Lis pendens:  An official notice that there is a pending lawsuit over real estate.

Per Diem interest:  Interest you pay per day, from the day you close to the last day of the month.

Underwriting/underwriting fees:  Underwriting is a process the lender performs to qualify a borrower for a loan and the fee is what you pay the lender at closing to cover evaluating the risk involved with loaning you money.

Warranty deed:  A legal document guaranteeing the seller has a right to sell a property, which is very important if you are considering a distressed or discounted property.

Mortgage Knowledge:  While national rates on 30-year-fixed-rates mortgages have risen slightly this year, they are still at historic lows not seen since 1980, according to Freddie Mac. “Buyers who prepare themselves financially before they start looking for a home will have a better chance of succeeding,” says Sue Stewart, senior vice president for Move, Inc. “If you want to land the best mortgage that fits your needs, start early, educate yourself on your financial situation, get your documentation together and find a lender you trust.”

Find a REALTOR® and go shopping:  For those ready to buy, REALTOR.com® has the tools and tips to help you find a REALTOR® and, ultimately, the right home. Finding a licensed real estate professional in your area will make the process smoother and easier to understand. Once you find an agent, share your realistic budget and what you’re looking for in a home. Stay in constant contact with your agent and look for homes whenever you have a spare moment.

First-time home buyer resources:  For more tips designed to help the first-time buyer navigate the home buying process, the experts at Move have provided an abundance of helpful information that’s just one click away:
-Reality checklist – Are you sure you’re ready to buy? Here’s how to know.
-How-to Guide: Buying Your First Home – Everything you need to know about buying a home
-Get Prequalified Now – Get prequalified for a mortgage before you begin shopping
-Realtor.com Blogs– Connect with REALTORS® to help you navigate the market
-MortgageMatch.com News – Answers questions about finances and mortgages
-Move.com Home Finance – Equips first-time buyers with tools, guides, advice, and more

If now isn’t the right time, prepare for your future purchase:  If now isn’t the right time to buy a home, make a plan with a target date for when you expect to be ready. Improving your credit, paying down debt, stabilizing your work history and calculating exactly how much you can afford, are the best ways to prepare for your future home purchase. It’s also important to refrain from making any new large purchases or applying for new credit.

Build a Brand

To get attention, your best bet is to be the logical solution to a client’s problem. Survey your market and then look at yourself. Do you do something extremely well? Do you have a passion about something? Jump on it. Use it to brand your business, but remember these adages:

The first to claim a niche owns it. So if there’s already a condo queen in your market, then you’re not it. Come up with something else. I know a speaker who was well known for wearing outrageous hats. We called her the hat lady. You don’t want to own a niche that anyone can own easily. And your niche doesn’t have to be a certain type of property or neighborhood; it can be defined any way you want it to be.

Align yourself. Once you decide what your personal values and your niche are, be sure to align yourself with an organization that best aligns itself with your personal values.

Use clever public relations.  Think creatively and think news. Great PR starts with an outrageous claim. For example, if you send a release that says, “Housing demand is up on the west side of town, and oh, incidentally, Office X opened its fifth office there,” that gets noticed. Strategic press releases can get your name out there and build your brand.

Despite the uptick in sales of homes worth one million dollars or more last year (up 18.6% in 2010 according to DataQuick) the average American homebuyer is still proceeding with a large degree of caution. Below are six reasons why even qualified homebuyers are holding out on the decision to purchase a home.

• ATTITUDES: Attitudes toward homeownership are shifting. It is no longer viewed as an investment with a guaranteed positive return. Healthcare, education and other costs are rising so much faster than incomes, making it difficult to picture a future where you can afford both a mortgage and these other essential costs of living.

• SAVING FOR A RAINY DAY: Individuals don’t want to tie up their funds in an illiquid asset if they don’t have a commensurately large amount of liquid funds to weather difficult economic times. In addition, many people’s retirement funds were decimated in the economic and stock market downturn of the Great Recession, making saving for the future even more important and challenging.

• CONFIDENCE: While an individual or couple may be able to afford a home today, uncertainty about the economy and the stability of jobs have many holding back until the economy stabilizes. The Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University reports that real median household incomes across all age groups under 55 have not increased since 2000. It’s been posited that this will be the first decade in 40 years where real median household incomes will end lower than where they started. Simply, many Americans just don’t feel comfortable about their financial futures and are choosing to hold off on homeownership until they feel more secure.

• THE CREDIT HOOP: Credit remains tight and lenders are making borrowers jump through hoops in the credit application process. For those who are not really sure about their decision to buy or if they are likely to find something they like in their price range, jumping through hoops for credit may present a significant barrier to getting the home-buying process started.

• TIMING: Potential buyers are unsure if housing prices have hit bottom yet. Home values are expected by many experts, including Yale Economist, Robert Shiller, to continue falling in the short term by as much as 15-25% more. With the job market still on very rocky ground, the foreclosure crisis continuing to unfold and the homebuyer tax credit gone, it’s anticipated that demand for middle market homes will remain relatively weak.

• MOBILITY: Americans realize that moving in order to attain or keep a job is more likely when economic times are tough vs. when jobs are plentiful. In this regard, home ownership offers far less flexibility than renting.

http://rismedia.com/2011-03-20/why-even-qualified-homebuyers-are-standing-still/