Monthly Archives: September 2007

7 Ways to Make an Impact

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Getting people to visit your website and read your blog post is interesting, but the most successful bloggers I see seem to get a kick out of having an impact on the industry. With that in mind, I came up with seven ways to make an impact by blogging:

1. Be more consumer-focused: No one loves an argument about buyer agency more than Ardell DellaLoggia (Here’s her first post on RCG a year-and-half ago to give you some perspective). While she may appear to loose an argument with real estate insiders from time-to-time, she always comes out ahead with consumer by arguing for what she consistently believes is their best interest.

2. Be more principled: Whether it be refusing to accept Brad Inman’s gifts or going out of his way to disclose meager earnings from his site, Greg Swann insists on taking the high ground. Add a prolific personality and the ability to say the right words at the right time, and Greg has clearly earned his reputation as a leader in the RE.net.

3. Be more consistent: Whether your interest is real estate blogs or the architecture of doors; Whether you are Beattles’ person or a Dylan person; Whether you like Odd & Crazy or Odd & Ends, Hanan Levin has been searching out the edges of the internet to return with blogging gold. Despite threats to quit and/or move to New Zealand, he continues to delight with multiple updates every day.

4. Be more fun: Is there a business plan behind traveling the country and playing with photoshop? Who cares. The Sellsius boys have shown us all how to make a huge impact by simply having more fun that the rest of us!

5. Be more credible: Whether taking on short sales, professional status, or subprime lending, Jillayne Schlicke always finds a way to offer the voice of reason by providing an interesting perspective filled with interesting solutions…

6. Be more unexpected: With stories ranging from the real estate happenings of Sanjaya, little towns in Austria with unusual names, and hard-hitting coverage of Redfin, one can never know what you’ll get when you land on a post by Marlow Harris… except that it will be interesting and probably provocative.

7. Be more up-to-date: No one else follows the online real estate industry better than Joel Burslem of the Future of Real Estate Marketing. Whether he is analyzing the new guys like Terabitz or the old guys like Zillow, he never misses and interesting story and consistently does a top-notch job putting developments in perspective.

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If you’ve made it this far, then I might as well tell you the genesis of this article…

After my presentation a few weeks ago in Austin, TX, the folks at KW asked if I’d like to submit an article on blogging for the next issue of the KW newsletter. Rather than succumb to the usual “5 reasons you should blog” type article, I thought I’d try to be a bit more interesting and profile some of the bloggers that have made the largest impact on me.

I still haven’t figured out how I’m going to deal with the links (which obviously don’t translate well to a written article). I think I’ll just add one link for each individual back to their blog, and include some text that says the article is best viewed “blog” format on Rain City Guide with a link back to this article. If someone has a better solution on how to deal with lots of links within a printed article, I’m definitely open to suggestions…

As always, I’d love to get your feedback. Should I re-phrase things? Should I include another blogger who has made a strong impact on you?

And, no surprise, I put off writing this article until almost the last minute (the article is due by the end of the month!), so if you have some suggestions, you’ll need to make them soon in order to get into print! 🙂

Worthy of the public trust?

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[photopress:money_kid.jpg,thumb,alignright]I think this comes under the category of “Out of the mouths of babes”.

I happened upon this description of a real estate agent apparently written by the young man pictured here as a school project for “career day”.  Recently I have been evaluating a large number of agents who are currently with the Company, as well as several asking to join us.  I’ve always been told that my standards are too high.  That my bar is not realistic. 

As I read the young man’s description of what a real estate agent is, or should be, I was stunned by some of the key realities this young man depicted.

“Real estate agents help people buy and sell houses.  They must be able to say approximately how much money a house is worth…Real estate agents work for real estate brokers. Real estate brokers manage real estate offices…They help the seller set the price for the house. To do this, they must know what the house is like. They must also figure out what people would be willing to pay for the house so that it will sell quickly…Good real estate agents also spend time away from the office finding out more about the houses in their town that might one day be up for sale…They should deal honestly with people and have good manners.”

This is just a small excerpt.  I’m thinking of making this young man’s depiction of who we are and what we do required reading for all agents.  More and more I find my standard to be “worthy of the public trust”.  Someone you might hire to help your elderly mother buy a home.  Someone you might seek out if you don’t speak English very well, and need someone who you can trust to have your back. 

More and more I see people using “assistance to savvy buyers” as the benchmark for all that an agent needs to be.  I just don’t see it that way.  A savvy buyer can’t be the benchmark, though options should clearly exist for the savvy buyer.  Lower cost options.  But I think the standard of hiring and retaining agents has to be someone who is worthy of the public trust, because you really can’t forget the people who need an agent most, when setting your standards.

Deceptive Radio Advertising in Mortgage Lending

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Because of the enormous amount of deceptive direct mail, Internet, and email spam advertising currently taking place in mortgage lending, for this blog article, let’s focus on radio advertisements.

Every city I visit, loan originators and brokers complain about deceptive radio ads running continuously, making claims that may or may not be true, slamming the competition, and barely if not at all complying with advertising requirements set forth in the federal Truth-in-Lending Act. When I was in Vancouver WA recently, LOs told me there’s an ad running that says something like this: “If your mortgage broker charges any fees at all, they’re predatory lenders.

Employment Ideas for Laid Off Mortgage Workers

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Current estimates project the number of mortgage industry workers that will lose their jobs to be 100,000 or more. Here are some job hunting ideas for those resilient folks who love mortgage lending and want to ride out the storm by making a lateral move within the industry.

Consider looking deeper into the big three information service companies (we use to call them the title insurance companies: Firstam, Fidelity, Landam) and check out all the job openings in your state.

[photopress:fired_1_2.jpg,thumb,alignright]If you are an underwriter, consider becoming an independent mortgage compliance consultant. You can help existing mortgage firms move up a notch with training and compliance. But that would mean you will actually have to talk with retail mortgage salespeople and pretend like you are enjoying the conversation. This would be a daily thing and requires your blood pressure and HDL/LDL cholesterol readings to be at or within a healthy range or, alternatively, you should prepare to show an active prescription for Lipitor. If you can’t stomach working directly with retail mortgage salespeople, then consider a position in auditing and compliance at a major bank or lender in your hometown. Someone will have to help write and enforce the ever-changing tighter lending guidelines. However, your real talent may be of use as an independent expert witness for law firms in mortgage broker and shareholder lawsuits. Underwriters, don’t leave the business. We need you now more than ever. Besides, who’s going to help re-assess the risk on all those collateralized debt obligations? Nobody knows what anything is worth right now. You ought to be cashing in on those jobs.

If you are a loan processor, consider joining an independent contract processing company, or forming your own company. If you are a really good loan processor, consider becoming a retail mortgage salesperson yourself. The very best loan originators start out as processors. You will be better than the competition in your hometown because of your knowledge in state and federal laws governing mortgage lending. Trust me on this.

If you were an entry-level worker, such as an assistant or receptionist, you might seek employment as an assistant to a top-producing retail mortgage salesperson or real estate agent. Title companies routinely hire entry-level folks and a background in lending will help. In fact, you might even know more about title insurance than some of the sales reps. If you’re good looking, and by that I mean “hot,” consider a job as a title rep. Am I being too cynical? I don’t think so. But maybe title isn’t the place for you. If you have masochistic tendencies, perhaps escrow is more up your alley.

Traditionally, when the retail side of lending turns soft, jobs open up on the other side; the dark side of mortgage lending. Consider job openings with trustee service companies (these are the companies that help lenders foreclosure), or check out opportunities for jobs in the foreclosure and loss mitigation divisions of local banks and loan servicing companies. Also, there are bound to be job openings for default counselors with non-profit associations. Start by going to HUD.gov, click on the link “talk to a housing counselor

New Mortgage Program for Helping Out Family Members

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Finally there is a mortgage program available that are designed for when someone is buying a home for another family member.   Previously, if someone wanted to buy a home to have their elderly parents live nearby, unless it could be classified a second or vacation home, the borrower would need to use non-owner occupied financing (much more expensive in rate and cost than owner occupied or second home financing).   

In addition to helping out the folks, this new program, the Family Opportunity Mortgage, works for parents buying a home for their college student and parents who would like to help their disabled adult child buy a home. 

Here’s the skinny:

Assisting a College Bound Student

  • The child must be enrolled in college.
  • The property must be located close to the college the student is enrolled.
  • Property must be a reasonable distance from the parents home.   
  • Property cannot be rented and the child must occupy the property for a minimum of one year.
  • Parents cannot own another second/vacation home in the same location as the student’s home.
  • Parents qualify for the loan, the child does not.   If the child is old enough, they can be on the mortgage with the parents, however it’s not qualified required.

Assisting an Elderly Parent

  • Elderly parent must have insufficient income to qualify for a mortgage or be unable to work.
  • The individuals qualify for the loan.   The parents can be on the mortgage although it is not required.
  • There are no distance requirements between the elderly parent and the individuals (their child).

Assisting a Disabled Adult Child

  • Disabled adult child must have insufficient income to qualify for a mortgage or be unable to work.
  • The parents qualify for the loan.   The parents can be on the mortgage although it is not required.
  • There are no distance requirements between the elderly parent and the individuals (their child)
  • Disabled adult child occupies the property as their primary residence.
  • Parents may all ready own their own primary residence.

It’s about time!  🙂  

Ba-Ba-Ba-Benny and the Fed

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Aw come on and sing along with me (Benny and the Jets).   Ben just surprised many by dropping both the Fed Funds and the Discount Rate by 0.50%.    It’s too soon to tell how this may impact mortgage interest rates…however it (the Fed Funds rate) directly drops the rate home equity loans are based on to 7.75% (Prime Rate).    You can see by the chart below that waiting on rate reductions from the FOMC to impact long term mortgage interest rates may not be the move for you to make.

[photopress:SeptAlertChart.jpg,full,centered]

Chart compliments of Loan Tool Box

The Fed based this reduction due to ” the tightening of credit conditions has the potential to intensify the housing correction”.   To read the entire press release, click here.

Taking on KING/KONG…

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Yesterday I was interviewed by a KING-5 reporter, Kim Holcomb, and which I had written about on my blog at this post.  I had jokingly referred to taking on King Kong but only because the news segment was shown on KING-5 and KONG-6 last night.

King Kong

The news story was about how the market here is changing just a bit to more of a stabilized market.  At the beginning of the report a seller talks about it being a “buyer’s market” but I wouldn’t necessarily agree with him completely.  We’ve still got room to move before that happens and if anything we’re more balanced than the past 5 years.  The segment did run on both KING and KONG stations and, from what my business partner tells me, it is one of the most viewed and forwarded links from the KING-5 website today.  Here is a link the actual news story about the Seattle real estate marketplace along with pieces of my interview.

It seems we’re (Team Reba) getting a lot of press lately.  I was interviewed in July for a story on blogging for the RE/MAX Times back in July (released in September) and just last week I was interviewed for a real estate investment magazine which will be printed in the November/December time frame.  Now, if I could just get the interviewers to pronounce my name correctly…. 🙂