Why is RPAC Important to YOU? Becuase YOU Matter.

RPAC $20 (Nickel a Day) from Virginia Association of Realtors on Vimeo.

Builder Bailout Scheme

Here's the next brilliant scheme in our library:  A builder scheme.  Check it out:
1.  A builder offers incentives to buyers: such as cash back at closing or payment for mortgage or home-owner association fees.
2.  These incentives are not revealed to the buyer's lender.
3.  The builder provides the incentives after the sale has closed.

Many lenders put a cap on the value of incentives that a buyer can accept, so the fraud is surrounding disclosure here.

Another builder scheme invloves the builders offering a buyer incentive of a mortgage with no down payment.
1.  A builder wants to sell the property for, let's say $200,000.
2.  The builder inflates the price to $240,000 when he finds a buyer.
3.  The buyer's lender funds the loan of $200,000, believing that the downpayment will be paid at closing.
4.  The builder gets the $200,000 from the sale of the home, pays off his building costs, FORGIVES the buyer's $40,000 downpayment and keeps the rest as profit.
5.  The buyer's lender is lead to believe that there is equity in the home (in their eyes, the buyer put a 20% downpayment down).
6.  If the buyer forecloses, the lender has no equity and must pay all foreclosure expenses.

So...if you are working with a builder: ASK QUESTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Talk to other agents who  were involved in other transactions with that builder.  This is a HUGE reason why, even when purchasing a new construction home, it is important for buyers to have their OWN representation.

Agents are licensed professionals, they need to make responsible decisions.  As always: go into every transaction with your eyes open.

Up next: Reverse mortgage schemes.

Short-Sale Fraud #1

Over the next few weeks, I will share with you some of the latest frauds that are going on in the marketplace. Fraudsters are coming up with new frauds every day because the old frauds are being detected fairly easily. An amazing fact is that the FBI has investigated over 2,700 Mortgage Fraud cases in 2009, but has investigated over 3,000 in only the first four months of 2010! (Source: FBI 2009 Mortgage Fraud Report Year in Review).

Let's look at one of the schemes that is currently out there:

This scheme is a short-sale scheme:
1. The fraudster recruits a straw buyer to purchase a home for the purpose of defaulting on the mortgage.
2. This straw buyer secures a mortgage using false documentation and information.
3. Once the transaction is complete, the buyer stops making payments on the mortgage, causing it to default.
4. Prior to a foreclosure sale, the fraudster (not the buyer) offers to purchase the property from the lender through a short-sale.
5. The lender accepts this offer, not realizing that the short sale was premeditated.

What can you do to prevent becoming involved in something like this?
1. Use lenders you know and trust.
2. Research the chain of sales on each property you list.
3. If you think something is fishy, talk to the agents that were involved in the previous sales.
4. Know what your buyers can truly afford.
5. Go into every transaction with your eyes open: if it is too good to be true, it probably is.

Stay tuned next week for a builder scheme.

I'd love to hear what you think of this one!

Another reason why Long & Foster is the best place for Top Agents

I Was a Sailor Once

(Photo from knowledgerush.com)

I liked standing on the bridge wing at sunrise with salt spray in my face and clean ocean winds whipping in from the four quarters of the globe - the ship beneath me feeling like a living thing as her engines drove her through the sea.
I liked the sounds of the Navy - the piercing trill of the boatswain's pipe, the syncopated clangor of the ship's bell on the quarterdeck, the harsh squawk of the 1MC, and the strong language and laughter of sailors at work.
I liked Navy vessels -- nervous darting destroyers, plodding fleet auxiliaries and amphibs, sleek submarines and steady, solid, heavy cruisers, battleships and aircraft carriers.
I liked the proud names of Navy ships: Midway, Lexington, Bunker Hill, Saratoga, Coral Sea, Antietam, Valley Forge - - memorials of great battles won and tribulations overcome.
I liked the lean angular names of Navy "tin-cans" and escorts - -
Barney, Dahlgren, Mullinix, McCloy, Damato, Leftwich, Mills, Stickell, Noa, Paul, Coontz, T.C. Hart, Glover & Sullivan Brothers - - mementos of heroes who went before us.
And the others - - San Jose, San Diego, Los Angeles, St. Paul, Chicago - named for our cities.
I liked the tempo of a Navy band blaring through the topside speakers as we pulled away from the oiler after refueling at sea.
I liked Liberty Call and the spicy scents of foreign ports.
I even liked the never-ending paperwork and all-hands working parties as my ship filled herself with the multitude of supplies, both critical and mundane in order to cut ties to the land and carry out her mission anywhere on the globe there was water to float her.
I liked sailors, officers and enlisted men from all parts of the land, farms of the Midwest, small towns of New England, from the cities, the mountains and the prairies, from all walks of life. I trusted and depended on them as they trusted and depended on me - for professional competence, for comradeship, for strength and courage. In a word, they were "shipmates"; then and forever.

I liked the surge of adventure in my heart, when the word was passed:

"Now set the special sea and anchor detail - all hands to quarters for leaving port," and I liked the infectious thrill of sighting home again, with the waving hands of welcome from family and friends waiting pier side.

The work was hard and dangerous; the going rough at times; the parting from loved ones painful, but the companionship of robust Navy laughter, the "all for one and one for all" philosophy of the sea was ever present.

I liked the serenity of the sea after a day of hard ship's work, as flying fish flitted across the wave tops and sunset gave way to night.

I liked the feel of the Navy in darkness -- the masthead and range lights, the red and green navigation lights and stern light, the pulsating phosphorescence of radar repeaters - they cut through the dusk and joined with the mirror of stars overhead. And I liked drifting off to sleep lulled by the myriad noises large and small that told me that my ship was alive and well, and that my shipmates on watch would keep me safe.

I liked quiet mid-watches with the aroma of strong coffee -- the lifeblood of the Navy permeating everywhere.

I even miss the screaming winds of the North Atlantic machine-gunning sleet and frozen bow spray into my foul weather gear as I stood lookout watch on the starboard wing.

And I liked hectic watches when the exacting minuet of haze-gray shapes racing at flank speed kept all hands on a razor edge of alertness.

I liked the sudden electricity of "General quarters, general quarters, all hands man your battle stations," followed by the hurried clamor of running feet on ladders and the resounding thump of watertight doors as the ship transformed herself in a few brief seconds from a peaceful workplace to a weapon of war -- ready for anything.

And I liked the sight of space-age equipment manned by youngsters clad in dungarees and sound-powered phones that their grandfathers would still recognize.
I liked the traditions of the Navy and the men and women who made them.

(Photo from julianstockwin.com)

I liked the proud names of Navy heroes: Halsey, Nimitz, Perry, Farragut, John Paul Jones and Burke. A sailor could find much in the Navy: comrades-in-arms, pride in self and country, mastery of the seaman's trade.

An adolescent could find adulthood.
In years to come, when sailors are home from the sea, they will still remember with fondness and respect the ocean in all its moods - the impossible shimmering mirror calm and the storm-tossed green water surging over the bow. And then there will come again a faint whiff of stack gas, a faint echo of engine and rudder orders, a vision of the bright bunting of signal flags snapping at the yardarm, a refrain of hearty laughter in the wardroom and chief's quarters and mess decks.
Gone ashore for good they will grow wistful about their Navy days, when the seas belonged to them and a new port of call was ever over the horizon.
Remembering this, they will stand taller and say, "I WAS A SAILOR ONCE AND I WOULD DO IT AGAIN."

Market Watch: Based upon August numbers:

Your Business Plan

I’m sure you would agree that productivity is never an accident! Wouldn’t you agree that it’s usually the result of a commitment to excellence, through intelligent planning and focused effort? Here are just some of the thoughts you can use in as your planning objectives.

Do you have a written Business Plan in place?

How many transactions are you going to close this year?

What is your average sales price going to be?

What is your average commission percentage per transaction?

What is your buyer to seller ratio going to be?

What kind of expenses are you going to have?

We've got Relocation Covered!

Community Shred 2010

Online Lead Generation Strategies and Principles #12

This image from the article, "Chasing the Long Tail" at the LeftClick Blog


The Business “Long Tail” Concept Part 1

The Long and Short of It: In Business ‘The Long Tail’ concept states that you can sell more, ‘less popular’ items than you can of popular items.

A common example is that Netflix rents more niche movies than popular ones.

So what does this mean to real estate agents? That you can make a business in marketing niche markets and that it can be often times more profitable.

The #1 real estate related website in the United States is Realtor.com. Knowing the Google keywords people use to find Realtor.com will tell you a lot about online consumer behavior and will give you a lot to think about in your own online lead generation efforts as they relate to niche markets.

Your next tip is part 2 of The Business “Long Tail” Concept.

The Online Marketing Sieve

By consolidating as many listings as possible from Realtors and Brokers throughout the country and then providing these value added tools and information, real estate related websites make money by directing online consumers to OTHER agents, brokers and service providers that pay to be featured or otherwise highlighted and linked to.


What does this mean to the Realtor and Broker whose listings are attracting the online consumers to these websites in the first place? It means they are losing a large percentage of the traffic and leads that they could be getting if they were the one providing the other information that they want.

In your next tip I will share information with you on the “online marketing funnel”

Call me today and I will support you with your online lead generation strategies.

Lem & Blake Show Episode 5: Property Disclosure Law 2010

Lem & Blake Show Episode 5

4 Tips on Converting Online Leads

To convert the greatest number of online leads, your online marketing should include the following:


• 1. Around 6 good quality pictures of the property (Not 2 and not 25!)

• 2. Basic information of the property (condition of the foundation not needed here!)

• 3. Multiple search tools and local information to increase buyer response (a link to your homepage or a virtual tour is great, but not nearly enough)

• 4. Multiple reasons and ways for the buyer to contact you (just an email and phone number is not enough)

The goal of online marketing is to whet the appetite of likely buyers and then give them the tools, reasons and ways to contact you. By following these principals, just like the big corporate websites, you will find, as brokers and agents have before you, that there is a lot of business easily found online.

In your next tip I will share with your #1 online marketing tool “listings”

Call me today and I will support you with your online lead generation strategies.

Is it the right time to buy? New video for our agents to use!

Neighborhood Videos the right way.

One Click It

People love it when answers come easy. And people much prefer clicking to typing. You know what is hot in your market. Don’t make buyers go somewhere else looking for this information! Include links to predefined IDX searches for a few of the hottest or interesting markets in your area to really get buyers clicking on your online marketing and not typing their way somewhere else.

Downtown Condos $200-$250,000


Hayes Valley Homes $800-$1.2m


Foreclosure and Banked-Owned


$5,000,000+ Homes


Local Farmer’s Markets

Include a few searches for the hottest markets in your area with hyper links to your website where the appropriate IDX search will be displayed along with ALL the rest of the tools and information that buyers are looking for online. By giving buyers the easy answers you know they want at a click, you will start to get your share of this 35% of potential buyers and get the opportunity to continue the conversation further increasing your chances of converting more leads.

In your next tip I will share with you information on “Free form marketing websites”

Call me today and I will support you with your online lead generation strategies.

Give buyer’s MORE Value: Local Search and Local Information.

Buyers begin their online home search looking at property listings. This is why having your property on as many relevant websites as feasible is always good. But buyers also want information on the neighborhoods, the schools and even unique things like the history, farmers markets, and more so they can make an educated decision in the home buying process. This is where local brokers and agents can really shine and put themselves at an advantage over others in their market. Put these tools and information in front of buyers when they are most likely to ‘convert’, when they are looking at property detail information of your listings on the Internet. Trulia, Zillow, and Realtor.com do this, you should too.

In your next tip I will share with you the “One Click It” Strategy

Call me today and I will support you with your online lead generation strategies.

The latest Market Information

Market Information for April 2010

Sale of the Century?

From; http://www.matthewferrara.com/rssfeed/sale-of-the-century/

Posted by Matthew Ferrara;

REALTORS must plant harvest seeds this Spring: Only they can decide whether the summer market will be the worst in decades, or become the sale of the century.


By summer time, the government’s home buyer tax subsidy will be history. Changes to FHA lending requirements will affect marginal purchasers. Consumer credit will remain tight – and tighten further – as credit card companies reduce existing open limits in the face of persistent unemployment. Add two million foreclosure housing units to the supply, and housing markets across the country are likely to stutter, and stall.



Still, there are some indicators that the summer of 2010 could turn out to be the sale of the century – if the real estate industry can shift gears fast enough.

Traditional sales cycles are going to slow; much of the summer purchasing has already been completed as the tax credits simply “moved forward” planned purchases to the first quarter.



The piling on of rising fuel prices, high food costs and youth unemployment exceeding 20% are likely to shut off the flow of first time buyers for quite some time. Gen Y’ers will simply decide to move back home with parents or stay in school over the summer months. Move up purchasers are keeping n eye on steadily rising mortgage rates, threatening to hit levels that, while historically low, touch the psychological level that makes seller-buyers consider staying put a while longer. The long-awaited double-dip will be a likely result as banks try to clear inventory, ramping up short-sales and flooding markets with cheap foreclosures.



Yet in pure economic terms, such conditions will mark the absolute best time to buy real estate.





The golden rule of commodity markets is buy low, hold, then sell high later. This summer’s housing market will represent the greatest time in a generation for the first part – buying low – to occur. The seeds of great wealth are on the verge of being planted.



Unfortunately, the average real estate company and agent are ill-prepared to work in this kind of commodity market environment. Only a rare few agents have been trained to find the kind of buyers such a market requires. Hardly any brokers have within their sphere of influence the likely candidates with both money and risk-tolerance to make the summer of 2010 a launching pad for the wealth explosion of the next decade. Just who are these buyers?



Investors.





While the DOW recently breached 11,000, many market observers continue to point to the trillion-dollars-plus that institutional investors are holding in cash, unsure of the next big play. Even smaller investors – home builders, rehabilitators, rental management groups – have waited for the proverbial bottom to make a move. That time is now.



If they don’t act fast, most real estate agents are likely to be left out of the party. Most were never taught to tap into the investor segment of the real estate marketplace. For the majority of agents, sales training focused them on their “friends and family” sphere of influence or “local neighborhood” farming areas. Their experience has revolved around the “personal” buyer of one commodity unit (with marginal cash and credit to do so). whose ability to move in this summer’s market will be greatly curtailed, if not entirely calcified. So few real estate companies have the personal connections to high-net-worth buyer networks with the liquid funds necessary to absorb both excess and existing inventory when the sale of the century hits this summer.



Plenty of capital, tolerance for risk and stamina has been sitting on the sidelines waiting for this sale. These are the purchasers who think long term – renting, rehabilitating, even building what will turn out to be this century’s greatest asset investment – over the next decade or two. Cyclical rising energy costs or even moderate but sustained unemployment are merely one-eyebrow-raised-pauses for long-term investors. When all of these conditions collide with two million extra supply units, the rushing sound we’ll hear in the industry won’t be equity escaping but investment dollars pouring in.



There still is time for real estate agents and brokers to prepare for the sale. But it will take a radical shift – not just in marketing and making connections, but in their heads, too. Right now everyone is focused on “short sales” and mortgage modifications. Countless hours are being sapped in making offers on foreclosures one-at-a-time. And in a commission-based business, it all translates into more work for less income. That means the timing is right for both investors and REALTORS to get together, to shift gears towards more sales outcomes. Financing won’t be the issue with investor-buyers; cash talks.



If real estate agents can start searching, befriending and building relationships in the Spring, it might turn out to be the greatest sale of the century throughout the summer market to come.

Wanna know about Short Sales? Here's a great video...

Wall Street Jornal article on new Federal Rules on Short Sales.

Click on the link above for more information!

Federal Short Sale Rules take effect on April 5th...what's it about?

Facing Foreclosure: talk to a FREE counselor

If you are facing Foreclosure, please, do not work with a "counselor" who charges you money. HUD (the Department of Housing and Urban Development) provides counseling services for you FOR FREE. Click on the attached link to get to the home page...it will make all the difference in the world.

http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD/topics/avoiding_foreclosure

Market Information Video for March 2010

Quick Questions and Contrarian Thoughts about Real Estate 2010 by Matthew Ferrera: a segment from his post:www.matthewferrara.com/rssfeed/qa_contrarian/

Q. How do you see the real estate website of the future?

A. One thing is for sure: it won’t be based upon the Sears Catalog mentality. Today’s websites still base their approach to selling real estate around a “database” of listing sheets. And as you know, I’ve written many times that the listing sheet is pathetic. It forces everything into a flat space, that is little more than a “retread” of a printed sheet of paper. Even online, with a few dozen photos and a fish-eye-lens virtual tour, the entire approach is flat, columnar, and ugly. And most of all, it’s not “interactive.” Now, go look at the Mercedes-Benz website and see how they sell cars: The database portion only serves to help you “find” a model. After that, Mercedes does everything it can to get you into the driver’s seat. It’s a simulated driving experience, with video, sound, music all geared towards your emotions. Even their virtual tours let you look around the car from the “driving” position, as if you were turning your head and touching the leather, the controls, the wheel. It’s time to move away from the “you can print out a listing sheet” model and get people emotionally involved in properties. The future real estate website will look more like YouTube and less like a glorified database. Otherwise, Gen X and Gen Y will totally tune out.

New FHA Changes Coming April 15

New FHA Changes Coming April 15

Posted using ShareThis

Matthew Ferrara Understanding Re Generational Differences

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Matthew Ferrara Understanding Re Generational Differences

View more presentations from Matthew Ferrara and Company.

Market Statistics Video: What fun!

Long & Foster's New Video Channel: Awesome

Long & Foster has just rolled out their newest marketing tool: Long & Foster's very own video channel.  This site is packed full of videos that agents can use in marketing themselves, their property listings and prospecting.  More videos are being added every single day: check back often.

Short Sale Fraud is here. Guess what these banks are doing now...

If you find yourself in this situation...speak with your broker, legal department, settlement agent or consult this blog.  It's illegal to participate, but these banks make it so hard to refuse (especially when its your buyer's dream home on the line).

From CNBC:

The New Code of Ethics: Effective January 1st

Quite a few ammendments and newly addopted standards are now in effect for REALTORS throughout the nation.  Here's a summary of these changes so you are on the ball.

Amendnents:
Standard of Practice 3-2: Now says:

To be effective, any change in compensation offered for cooperative services must be communicated to the other REALTOR prior to the time that REALTOR submits and offer to purchase/lease the property.

This amendment just changes the way this paragraph is written...the basic requirements are still standing, but it is much easier to understand, now...So, this is going to create some issues with our local MLS (MRIS) which doesn't have the ability to annotate a "true" change in compensation.  It also will present an issue because, most of the time, the commissions are not "re-negotiated" until right before settlement.  In a short sale, this might be 2-6 months after an offer is first submitted.  I think we are going to have to include a disclosure with our home packets, flyers and attach it to the listings in MRIS (yes, you can do this, now).  The disclosure will simply state that there is a chance that the commission may change, that the other REALTOR understands this and is in agreement to any change that may occur.  Our Long and Foster attorneys will have to work on this one.

Article 11: Now says

The services which REALTORS provide to their clients and customers shall conform to the standards of practice and competence which are reasonably expected in the specific real estate disciplines in which they engage; specifically, residential real estate brokerage, real property management, commercial and industrial real estate brokerage, land brokerage, real estate appraisal, real estate counseling, real estate syndication, real estate auction, and international real estate.

 REALTORS shall not undertake to provide specialized professional services concerning a type of property or service that is outside their field of competence unless they engage the assistance of one who is competent on such types of property or service, or unless the facts are fully disclosed to the client.  Any persons engaged to provide such assistance shall be so identified to the client and their contribution to the assignment should be set forth.

Here they added "Land Brokerage" as a specialty.  Not sure why it wasn't there before, but it's there now...so if you are not a land specialist...find someone who is to refer your business to.  You'll be glad you did (and so will the clients and the other agent!)

Standard of Practice 11-1: Now reads:

When REALTORS prepare opinions of real property value or price, other than in pursuit of a listing or to assist a potential purchaser in formulating a purchase offer, such opinions shall include the following unless the party requesting the opinion requires a specific type of report or different data set:

1) identification of the subject property

2) date prepared

3) defined value or price

4) limiting conditions, including statements of purpose(s) and intended user(s)

5) any present or contemplated interest, including the possibility of representing the seller/landlord or buyers/tenants

 6) basis for the opinion, including applicable market data

7) if the opinion is not an appraisal, a statement to that effect

Here, they added the statement "Unless the party requesting the opinion requires a specific type of report or different data set."  This is in response to the BPO's, BPA's, ERC's, BMA's, etc that are all over the place right now (and will be for a while to come).  These are opinions of real property value but may not contain all 7 items a "traditional" CMA would require.  The lesson here; make sure you include these 7 things when putting together your CMA's for both your buyers and sellers.

Standard of Practice 12-5: Now reads

REALTORS shall not advertise nor permit any person employed by or affiliated with them to advertise real estate services or listed property in any medium (e.g., electronically, print, radio, television, etc.) without disclosing the name of that REALTOR's firm in a reasonable and readily apparent manner.

Here they added  "real estate services."  So...this means that, if you are advertising a service you provide, you still need to disclose your firm name (and other disclosures your state requires) in a manner that it is obvious you are affiliated with that firm.  I guess they just needed to clarify that you have to do this all the time...not just when you are advertising listed property.

Standard of Practice 15-2: Now reads:

The obligation to refrain from making false or misleading statements about competitors, competitors' businesses, and competitor's business practices includes the duty to not knowingly or recklessly publish, repeat, retransmit, or republish false or misleading statements made by others.  This duty applies whether false or misleading statements are repeated in person, in writing, by technological means (e.g. the Internet), or by any other means.

Here they added the word "publish."  Wow...so it wan't unethical to publish misleading information about our competitors until now.  Call me crazy, but my morals would stop me here (shows you there is a difference between Ethics and morals).  I'm glad they made it clear, now, and I hope there wasn't that much of an issue with it before this change was made.  Keep in mind, you cannot "retransmit" this information: be careful on Twitter doing a RT's: you may violate this Article by simply hitting the wrong button on your i-Phone or Blackberry.

Standard of Practice 16-20: Now Reads:

REALTORS, prior to or after their relationship with their current firm is terminated, shall not induce clients of their current firm to cancel exclusive contractual agreements between the client and that firm.  This does not preclude REALTORS (principals) from establishing agreements with their associated licensees governing assignability of exclusive agreements.

This basically says the same thing as the old one, the words are just moved around to make it more clear: it used to say: "prior to or after terminating their relationship with their current firm."  Now it says "prior to or after their relationship with their current firm is terminated."  Thanks for the clarification NAR!

New Adoptions:

Standard of Practice 3-9: Brand new!

REALTORS shall not provide access to listed property on terms other than those established by the owner or the listing broker.

So...if you are showing a property to your clients and someone else shows up (off the street) also wanting to look: watch out...you could be in violation of the CoE (and you could also be putting yourself and your clients in danger).  This standard is for everyone's protection. There have been too many murders and scams surrounding people other than the owners or agents having access to homes (especially vacant homes) and we don't want you to be a victim.

Standard of Practice 15-3: Brand new!

The obligation to refrain from making false or misleading statements about competitors, competitors' businesses, and competitors' business practices includes the duty to publish a clarification about or to remove statements made by others on electronic media the REALTOR controls once the REALTOR knows the statement is false or misleading.

So...if you are blogging about your competitors...you might want to go back and delete the posts that are misleading or incorrect.  Personally, I think it is disrespectful to blog about your competitors: you should be blogging about why you are so good, not why they are so bad.  I turned down working at a brokerage because their broker's recruitment presentation was all about how bad the other brokerages were...what a huge turn-off.  Be a gracious competitor and do what's right. Morals, people, Morals.


It is important for our Code of Ethics to change with the times and the fact that it is a working document is one of its benefits.  The Code is what sets REALTORS apart from all other Real Estate Agents and we need to cherish the Code, live the Code and adapt with the Code and it will do the same for us.

Questions?  Visit Realtor.org for more information.  Who knows what changes will come about this next year, but if you think something should be done, your voice will be heard!

Have a great 2010!