R TEAM

A Live Lesson in Branding

If you're in the real estate industry and social media, you may be aware of a lawsuit that has been filed by a local (Washington State) marketing company against a nationally known blogger for trademark infringement.   This is over a zebra.  Even if the Denise Lones of The Lones Group is victorious in court, bloggers from across the country and outside of the real estate sphere are talking about this case.  

I don't know Denise and I have just barely met Daniel (the defendent) and know of him though social media venues.  From what I know of  Daniel, I highly doubt he intentionally did anything to Denise nor did he cause her damages.  I'm sure that in this climate, her business marketing to real estate agents must be challenging--it is for all of us in the real estate field.  

Darin Persinger of Productivity Junkies recently posted an interesting video about this case and branding.  If you think your brand is a fancy logo...think again and watch this video.

Click here to make a donation for the Daniel Rothamel Legal Defense Fund

R TEAM Blog is in the Pink

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and to show support any way I can to in finding a cure to this disease, R TEAM, and my other blogs, will be in the pink.   Also, please visit my blogs every day to click the pink button with the breast cancer ribbon in order to help fund mammograms for women who cannot afford them. 

Mortgage Master, my office, lost two wonderful women to breast cancer over the past few years.  Both were young (close to 40 or younger) and neither had breast cancer in their family.   

Please consider doing what you can to help support - donate, blog, volunteer, GO PINK and DO YOUR SELF-EXAMS!  Spread the word.

By the way, with Typepad blogs (and I'm sure most templates), it's real easy to change the appearance with just a few clicks of your mouse.  No need to contact your webmaster!  (Yet another benefit of having your own blog).

Are you counting on a Down Payment Assistance Program?

If you have potential home buyers who are preapproved using a down payment assistance program, such as Nehemiah and AmeriDream, please be aware that FHA has made a ruling to ban DPAs.   Down payment asssistance programs allowed sellers to contribute beyond the buyer's requirement of a 3% minimum down, effective creating a zero down program if you had a willing seller.  HUD states that home buyers using DPA's are twice as likely to default on their mortgage. This takes effect as of October 31, 2007.   Link to HUDs ruling.

Of course Nehemiah and AmeriDream are not going down without a fight.   They've been through this before.   

More to follow!

Announcing R TEAM e-Newsletter

Earlier this week I sent the first issue of R TEAM eNewsletter.   I'm planning on it to be a monthly publication which arrives to you via email.   If you did not receive your issue and would like to be included on the R TEAM eNewsletter distribution list, please let me know.   This eNewsletter is not replacing R TEAM Blog or the R TEAM Blog subscription (which I suggest you do if you want to receive more information more often than once a month).

Help your clients understand what's going on in the mortgage industry

Here is an article that you're welcome to share with your clients.   Download CMPSMortgageSaga.pdf This helps explain what is currently going on with the mortgage industry in an easy to understand format.   

If you would like to have this article emailed to you so you can forward to your clients via electronically, please let me know.   I think it's very important that we're proactive with our clients instead of being afraid of being asked hard questions or brushing them off.  Not that any of  the professional real estate agents I work with would do that...I just think it's always better to arm yourself with as much information as possible. 

If you have a client who wants more information, they are welcome to sign up to receive my weekly Mortgage Market Guide updates.   There is a link on the left side of Mortgage Porter (under my big head).

The media feeds on fear and drama.   Let's do what we can to get as much solid information to our clients so they understand what's going on instead of being scared stiff. 

I'm here for you!

How to explain what's going on in the mortgage industry to your clients

I just posted this at Mortgage Porter...sorry to redirect you.  Hey...if you subscribe to Mortgage Porter...you'd all ready know what I'm talking about!   You can sign up to receive updates to any of my blogs in the upper right corner.   Just enter your email address and you'll receive an email to verify your subscription...it's that easy.

Do check out the post.  It's an article from the New York Times with a graph you can share with your clients that helps explain what is happening currently in the mortgage industry.  If you're not getting questions yet, you will.   Be in the know.   

Your loan ain't closed until the funding lady sings!

We are in historic times in the mortgage industry.   Mortgage bonds are be reclassified to lower ratings and Wall Street has lost their appetite.   They are calling margins due and lenders are having a difficult time finding buyers for their loans.  What does this mean to you and your buyers?   

You may be hearing terms such as "credit crunch" and/or "liquidity crisis" in the news about mortgages.   Oh and by the way, it's not just subprime anymore, this crisis has spilled over to prime and alt-a products too.   Lenders are not able to find buyers on Wall Street leaving their credit lines with loans they cannot sell.   Much like a maxed out credit card, they lender is stuck and cannot fund anymore transactions.  Many borrowers were left in lurch at closing last week when American Home Mortgage was no longer able to fund their loans...this is just the beginning.  There is a massive domino effect that is taking place right now and it's more important than ever that you select a Mortgage Professional to work with your clients.   

Here is what I recommend:

• Contact every lender on your transactions that are in process whether you are the listing or selling agent.   Confirm the buyer is still approved.   
• Find out what program the buyers on your transactions are utilizing for their financing.   ARMS, Interest Only, Stated Income, NIV and higher loan to values and JUMBOs (loan amounts over $417,000) are being hit the hardest right now.   Even conforming ARMs.   I had rate sheets from major lenders yesterday where ARMs were priced out of the market.   I'm talking just your regular 5/1 or 7/1 ARM! 
• Encourage your buyers to lock in their loans ASAP.   Conforming fixed rates may be heading down, however, guidelines are tightening up.   A locked loan may provide some (very little) security of the lender honoring the buyer's program.
• Don't drive around anyone without them being fully approved.   Many of the loans we did just a few months ago are no longer available.   Get your buyers to a qualified Mortgage Professional to be preapproved ASAP.   
• Be prepared for some buyers to take longer to become preapproved.   There are higher standards now.   You may want to have a longer financing contingency in your contracts. 
• Work with a Mortgage Professional who is a Correspondent Lender.   This means their company has a line of credit to fund loans from and allows them to be more nimble than a broker or banker.   If the bank your client is working with is no longer able to fund loans and you're at closing...your client is up a creek.   If they're with a broker, the broker can find another lender to quickly re-submit the loan to, however, it may take days or weeks for this to happen.   If they're with a correspondent lender, less time will be required to salvage the situation.

We are in for some messy times.   Lenders are pulling back products and reacting to this market.   The more you know, the more you can help your clients through these uneasy times.

Please share this with other agents you like working with.  We need to be looking out for each other.  I will continue to post articles regarding this for agents on R TEAM and Mortgage Porter.   

If you want to stay up to date without revisiting this site, you can subscribe by entering  your email address in the upper right corner.   

I'm not going to Inman Connect

Half the writers from Rain City Guide are going to Inman Connect in San Francisco to meet up and learn from other real estate bloggers.   It should be a fantastic event.   I'm hanging out here and have been invited to a shin-dig that KOMO is putting on the "KOMO-TV/Blogger Meet-up". 

Instead of networking with real estate bloggers from across the country (I do wish I was there...especially after the Blog Tour USA event) I'll be meeting about 200 Seattle area bloggers.   What?  You think I'm a geek?!!   Consider this...

• These consumers share the same passion for blogging that I do.  We have something in common right off the bat.
• They are computer literate and probably communicate via email (which I prefer).
• I'm assuming that most are entrepreneurs and probably successful ones.
• They are intellegent...didn't you know?  It's proven that blogging makes you smarter.  You have to stay sharp in order to be an expert in your field.
• This is networking at it's best!

Here's a bit from the invite:

KOMO-TV is interested in getting to know bloggers in the area, and what better way to do that than with a little party? Again, this is a social event; there's no agenda for the station other than helping facilitate this meet-up. Fisher Communications recognizes the significance of the personal media revolution, and they want to listen and pay attention to what you're saying. I think this is a good way to start.

I'm really looking forward to this and will let you know how the event turns out.  Hey, I get to have my picture taken with Kathy and Dan in the anchor booth...whooo hoooo!

When are you going to start blogging?