BloodhoundBlog

There’s always something to howl about.

Author: Brian Brady (page 5 of 27)

Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

November 5, 2010

Facebook Works If You Work It. If You Won’t Work It, Just Play Farmville

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Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

Let me restate my case about Facebook; if you’re not using Facebook as a prospecting tool, you are most likely wasting your time and engaging in the ultimate procrastination scheme.  I don’t begrudge folks fun and Facebook can provide much joy.  You can reconnect with old friends and make interesting new friends there but if you plan to use it for business, you’ll most likely end up wasting hours that could have been better spent standing in front of a supermarket, handing out your business card.

Like this, from Agent Genius:

You don’t need a business page.  In fact, a business page is just one more time suck.  People rarely go to a business page to learn about real estate on Facebook; look at the metrics offered to prove that.   The author’s offered advice is just plain wrong:

You shouldn’t be using your personal profile page to promote business. It is against the guidelines on Facebook and just rude, regardless. I will share with you how you CAN use your profile effectively, but blasting out your market reports and new listings is a big NO-NO on your personal profile.

Huh?  I have no idea where the author found the “rule” about doing business on personal pages but can tell you, from a few years experience on Facebook, that telling your audience about your business is not only desirable but effective.   Posting listings isn’t rude, it’s your stock-in-trade.  If you’re only posting listings on your Facebook page, you’re likely to be branded as boring but listings are real estate porn, designed to slow down the gawkers and encourage a reaction from them.  Your “friends” will most likely be gawking at your listings if you’re interesting enough to be in their Facebook stream.

I have what I think is a low key way of occasionally including real estate into my status without it being obvious. I share parts of my day that include real estate in a personal light. For example: last winter I was showing REO property and put as my status update: “Showing Read more

November 2, 2010

Yelp-ing Real Estate Agents: The Online Bus Bench Advertisement?

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Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

Todd Carpenter introduced me to Foursquare, last year in San Diego, and I immediately saw how geolocation could change the game for the neighborhood real estate agent. I envisioned agents promoting their listings and open houses on Foursquare.  I’m a natural “spammer” so I started using it to “check-in” to my place of business.  I figured it was a natural way to promote myself in front of a crowd.  The problem with Foursquare is that the crowd was measured in the dozens and most of them were bar-hoppers as opposed to “citizens”.

Geolocation was quickly adapted by Yelp, then Facebook.  My rule of social media marketing is to go where the people are.  What I like about Facebook (it’s a BIG platform) didn’t quite work for geolocation marketing.  Check-ins get lost in a sea of status updates and it’s tough to “piggy-back” on the social proof offered by Yelp.

Yelp is a really good platform if you’re trying to find the “bus bench advertising” approach to neighborhood brand building.   It’s pretty simple idea (you write reviews on local businesses) and the geolocation service allows you to ‘check-in” when you’re at a business.  There is a little point game associated with check-ins but the hidden gem is, if you have the most check-ins at a business, your picture, and link to your Yelp profile, is prominently displayed (at least on the mobile version).  This is the modern day bench bus advertisement (and it costs nothing).   Combine your check-ins with reviews and you’re building an online brand as a neighborhood expert.

What Is A “Neighborhood Expert”?

We would like to think that the big hair and Cadillac agent model is dead.  It’s not ! How often do you meet recent buyers, who tell you that they used the agent, who advertises in the Pleasantville Courier-Post ?    They often describe that agent as “a big shot” or “successful”.  They may not comment about that agent’s ethics or service but people like to think they are dealing with the “biggest”  (which they sometimes confuse with well-known).  This is why so many agents spend money on “brand building”.  I prefer Read more

September 2, 2010

Those Who Can Not Learn From History Are Doomed To Repeat It

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Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

HUD announces it’s “First Look” program today:

The National First Look Program is a first-ever public-private partnership agreement between HUD and the National Community Stabilization Trust (Stabilization Trust). In collaboration with national servicers, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac, the First Look program is intended to give communities participating in HUD’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) a brief exclusive opportunity to purchase bank-owned properties in certain neighborhoods so these homes can either be rehabilitated, rented, resold or demolished.

On the surface, it sounds idealistic.  Who would be against local stakeholders being afforded the opportunity to improve their communities?  Don’t private investors do that, though? Maybe this program is targeted at those properties which even the scavengers avoid.

HUD’s NSP grantees, which include state and local governments and non-profit organizations, often find themselves competing with private investors for real estate-owned (REO) properties, which can hinder their efforts to stabilize neighborhoods with high foreclosure activity. With today’s announcement, HUD and the Stabilization Trust, working with national servicers, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac, will standardize the acquisition process for NSP grantees, giving them an exclusive option to purchase foreclosed upon homes in certain targeted neighborhoods.

Huh?  Competition is the engine which drives a functioning market.  This means that a government agency will specifically eliminate competition and deliberately sock banks with a loss.  How is THAT good?

HUD’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program was created to address the housing crisis, create jobs, and grow local economies by providing communities with the resources to purchase and rehabilitate vacant homes. NSP grants are helping state and local governments, as well as non-profit developers, acquire land and property; demolish or rehabilitate abandoned properties; and/or offer downpayment and closing cost assistance to low- to middle-income homebuyers. Grantees can also stabilize neighborhoods by creating “land banks” to assemble, temporarily manage, and dispose of foreclosed homes. To date, HUD has allocated nearly $6 billion in funding to state and local governments and non-profit housing developments. In the coming weeks, HUD will allocate an additional $1 Read more

August 26, 2010

Prospecting Your Way To Prosperity With Social Media

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Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

Most real estate agents and mortgage loan originators don’t know how to find business.  I fear that some of the social media strategies I’ve shared have morphed into a  “build it and they will come” approach to business development.  Greg Swann did a nice job of identifying this problem when he said that time spent on social media marketing is wasteful:

“Marketing” by social media is a huge waste of time. Selling is one-on-one, focused, time-consuming and goal-directed. Marketing, done properly, is broadcast, diffuse, time-efficient and passive and long-term in its goal-pursuit.

He’s absolutely correct.  The time investment required, to keep your social media current, never pencils out if you want to make six figures annually.  You will get some results but trust me when I tell you that you could have equaled or bested those results by handing out business cards at the swap mart (and yes, I’ve done that, too).  Here’s where his opinion gets a bit murky, though:

Even if you are really doing your best to market your services on-line, if you are doing it by engaging people one-on-one in fleeting media like Twitter or Facebook, you are almost certainly wasting your time.

That, I can tell you from experience, is only partly true.  Using social media to prospect can be exponentially more effective than cold-calling or handing out business cards at a swap mart because of the rich information users provide.  People buy from people they trust and connections help to build trust more quickly.    I’ll come back to this later but it helps to understand the difference between marketing and prospecting as lead generation tools.

Greg’s working definition of marketing (op. sit.) is a good one.   The long-term benefit of marketing is that it is scalable.   Online marketing, especially blogging, can be a workhorse, which generates inquiries from prospects for as long as the information is relevant.  The hour investment in a well-written blog post can attract tons of inquiries over time (I have a few blog posts that perform that well).  Likewise, a consistent display advertisement in the town’s weekly newspaper can trigger you to “top of Read more

August 17, 2010

Master Seller-Financing To Beat The Mortgage Market Freeze of 2011

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Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

I’m not so sure I want to play hockey against Bryant Tutas.  He thinks like Wayne Gretsky.

I cautioned about the coming mortgage freeze and asked what agents might do to prepare for it.  I’m a mortgage guy so I think in terms of institutional financing.  I completely forgot about seller-financing.  Bryant Tutas answered:

I’m ready for it. I just listed my 3rd property this month where the seller is offering financing. Seller financing is going to be very popular over the next few years. I’ve also been marketing to foreign investors with cash to spend. Once they purchase a home we turn right around and offer it for sale with financing. It’s a win all the way around.

Are you kidding me?  It’s so time-tested but underutilized it’s brilliant.  I forgot all about it!

What do you know about seller-financing?

First, you have to have a seller with some equity but…. ain’t nobody got no equity no mo’.  What’s a hustler to do?

Foreigners are looking to pay cash for U.S. homes and are finding great bargains at auction.  In San Diego, we see investors buy properties at auction and sell them for 20-35% higher, 60-90 days later.  The problem with some of those properties is that they aren’t appraising.  Seller financing doesn’t require an appraisal nor does it have  those pesky underwriting guidelines.  Bryant Tutas mentioned that he is prospecting foreign investors, to buy properties and sell them with financing terms.

This is the ultimate form of private financing.  Before you embark on this strategy, you might advise your sellers to require the following when considering offers:

  • a tri-merged credit report– you definitely want to check for tax liens, judgments, and large charge-offs.  All of those can become liens on title
  • It’s a good idea to require some income documentation– if your buyer’s housing expense doesn’t exceed 50%, you’re kosher in California but it’s probably a good idea to make sure that all of his/her debts don’t exceed 50% of gross monthly income
  • A down payment is going to assure your buyer has something to lose if the deal goes sour.  I might suggest Read more
August 11, 2010

Sometimes ya just gotta say, “WTF-nutsville?”

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Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

The Obama Adminstration’s henchmen are whining about the proliferation of new media , in a Vanity Fair article and I just couldn’t resist poking some fun at the irony of their complaints and the foreshadowing of the “perfect business” in an economy they “design”

First, they bitch about the stamina required to work in the West Wing:

“There’s a relentlessness to this that’s unlike anything else, especially when you come into office in a time of crisis,” says Obama senior adviser David Axelrod. “We did not exactly ease into the tub. The world is so much smaller, and events reverberate much more quickly, and one person can create an event so quickly from one computer terminal.”

The State hates the internet; we all know that.  Rather than ignore the brays of  pajama-wearing boys, blogging in their parents’ basements, they long for a more genial, controlled speech:

Emanuel calls it “F****nutsville,” and Valerie Jarrett says she looks back wistfully to a time when credible people could put a stamp of reliability on information and opinion: “Walter Cronkite would get on and say the truth, and people believed the media,” she says.

Maybe,  just maybe, these people in The West Wing are…old.

Not old  in chronological age but definitely in hipness.  Despite the hip-hoppity nature of the campaign and his addiction to Blackberry, the President thinks young people need to turn off their iPhones.   The President doesn’t sound so hip anymore.  He sounds like a humbug father of two tween daughters.

Maybe it’s just a philosophical desire to be in control of everything, including the choices consumers make.  Forget the health insurance hijack or the nationalization of the residential real estate finance industry, the West Wing Big Dawgs dream of a business suitable for any Soviet Republic:

It got so bad last December that President Obama and Emanuel would joke that, when it was all over, they were going to open a T-shirt stand on a beach in Hawaii. It would face the ocean and sell only one color and one size. “We didn’t want to make another decision, or choice, Read more

August 10, 2010

That Giant Slurping Sound is the Mortgage Market Drying Up

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Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

Ken Montville asked the nagging question about the future of the mortgage market:

Unfortunately, even Congress — that bastion of liberalism and home of the bailout — is tiring of pouring good money after bad into the two mortgage giants that have been sucking up all the mortgages — good and bad — that private industry is willing to create. To paraphrase one-time third party Presidential candidate, Ross Perot: That giant sucking sound you hear is taxpayer money subsidizing home mortgages.

Now, the big questions remains: What will happen next? If there is no Fannie and Freddie to buy up all the mortgages, who will do it? Will the lenders who originate the mortgages be forced to keep them on their books and won’t this further inhibit an already tight credit market?

I outlined, a year ago, how the government is retarding a private mortgage banking recovery but I said it again for Ken’s benefit:

“If there is no Fannie and Freddie to buy up all the mortgages, who will do it?”

Nobody will…or everyone will. I’m a “lowly retail mortgage originator” with some formal education (and lots of informal education) in economics so consider my opinion with that qualification.

To use a BawldGuy axiom, lenders lend. Unfortunately, the government, through TARP and artificially subsidized mortgage rates, is creating a situation where lenders prefer arbitrage to lending. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to borrow guaranteed money at 1% and lend it (with a guaranty) at 4.5%. This is the systemic problem that is distorting the market and arresting any chance of a recovery in lending.

If the GSEs were allowed to fail, and FHA disappeared, lending would halt…for about 3-4 months. The recovery would be robust, sustainable, and at rates somewhere in the high 5s or lower 6s. Wall Street is taking chances on 5.75%-6% non-guaranteed, mortgage yields right now; there is interest in betting on the American homeowner. Low down payment loans would most likely be gone for about a year. Read more

August 4, 2010

Joe Ferrara, Real Estate Attorney & Founder of Sellsius Real Estate Passes

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Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

Joe Ferrara, Manhattan real estate attorney and founder of Sellsius Real Estate, passed away from an aggressive brain tumor yesterday.  Joe, often credited as one of the pioneers of the online real estate community, explained and lampooned our industry from his home site.  A ubiquitous presence, Joe offered advice to real estate agents, about online marketing, for Home Gain and Inman News.

Joe had a vision of an online marketplace; a Craig’s List of sorts for the real estate industry.  While the RE.bots expended their energy and capital to aggregate listings, Joe thought his site might provide transparency for the NYC rental market, mostly dominated by the two, closed-system real estate boards.  Ultimately, Joe thought Sellsius might encompass products and services for the dwelling and all that was in it.

Joe was an accomplished real estate attorney, practicing in Manhattan.  He had a creative eye towards marketing and was a fountain of new ideas.  His presentation of the inane, zany, and funny, real estate-related topics were addicting and his coverage of the technology sector, and how it might aid the real estate professional, was comprehensive.  Joe had the gift of detachment and could present ideas to the layman with the knowledge only an industry insider might have.

Joe had a sense of justice.  He willingly acted when he believed that the equilibrium of fair play had been imbalanced, regardless of the personal consequences.

Joe Ferrara had a paradoxical understanding that, amidst the rush to introduce technology to real estate solicitation, personal relationships would play an increased role in the industry.   Consumer introductions however, would be atypical with our past marketing efforts.  Joe believed that the broad reach and deep content, a real estate blog might have, would attract more quality customers to the best and brightest in the real estate industry.  He felt, like I feel, that real estate agents should develop a worldwide, professional referral network..  Joe acted on that belief with then partner, Rudy Bachraty (now of Trulia.com), to organize Blog Tour USA.  The “Sellsius Boys” set out to personally meet as many industry professionals as they could, in the summer of 2007.

The Read more

July 23, 2010

Where Would David Gibbons Go?

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Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

Home, of course.

Anybody who followed his World Cup trip to South Africa saw the glow on his face, in his Facebook pictures, and the longing in his heart, on his Facebook status updates.  Social media are interesting platforms.  They have the power to bring you much closer to people you’ve met or allow you to learn more about those you’ve yet to meet.   I “met” David on Active Rain, was drawn to the Zillow brand because of him (and Drew Meyers), and am grateful to him for supporting  the inaugural real estate social media marketing conference.

I’ve battled with, yelled at, drank beer with, collaborated with, and tried to support David Gibbons for a number of reasons but, in the end, it’s all about mentschkeit.  David G from Zillow is the type of guy you want on your team….and you want to play on his team, too.

I”m not going to cry about his departure because between  Skype and Facebook, Seattle is not much farther than Jo-Berg.  My goal today is to remind you of the single most important lesson we learned, from David G:  What Would David Gibbons Do?

The WWDGD lesson is to represent yourself  positively online and always sell your brand.  The trick is in the delivery.  David G. never skulked and pounced, like a sleazy corporate pitchman.  David G. was always part of the conversation, offering ideas, debating, and developing best practices.  If there was ever a spokesman for the ” RE.net“, Davig G would be that guy.  Why?  He lives in our world.

So I’ll just say “Hamba Kahle” to David G.  I’d say I’ll miss him but I doubt I’ll notice he’s moved.

July 18, 2010

Race Balanced Elections?

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Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

I wrote a satirical piece last August about how life might be if the Federal Government increased its power.  I suggested racial balancing might be a consideration in elections:

President Menendez was elected by a sweeping margin when he ran against former Senator Mel Martinez in the first ever race-neutral Presidential election.  Former President Obama signed the Neutrality in Elections Act of 2013 and it was agreed that Presidential elections would be held with a specific race/ethnicity as the qualifying factor, every eight years, so as to offer opportunity to all Americans.  We  The G.O.P originally nominated George P. Bush but his ambiguous ethnicity disqualified him for this particular election; he’ll have his chance in 16 years.

Crazy?  One commenter thought I might have gone a bit too far:

There was a time when I was warned about my on line reputation. After reading this blog for the past couple of months I look tame.

race-neutral Presidential election? …Sheesha!

I’ll admit that I have an active imagination but sometimes life imitates art:

Voters in Port Chester, 25 miles northeast of New York City, are electing village trustees for the first time since the federal government alleged in 2006 that the existing election system was unfair. The election ends Tuesday and results are expected late Tuesday.

Although the village of about 30,000 residents is nearly half Hispanic, no Latino had ever been elected to any of the six trustee seats, which until now were chosen in a conventional at-large election. Most voters were white, and white candidates always won.

Federal Judge Stephen Robinson said that violated the Voting Rights Act, and he approved a remedy suggested by village officials: a system called cumulative voting, in which residents get six votes each to apportion as they wish among the candidates. He rejected a government proposal to break the village into six districts, including one that took in heavily Hispanic areas.

You just can’t make this stuff up….even when you try.

July 14, 2010

Ashley Dupre, Manhattan Real Estate Broker ?

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Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

Remember Ashley Dupre?  We visited her two years ago, when her tryst with New York’s #1 John hit the front page:

Who is Ashley Dupree and why do we care about her? Ashley is a budding songwriter and singer with a compelling story. She was cast into the limelight as Eliot Spitzer’s paramour; taking a few large a month for companionship. Now I don’t want to comment on the morality of prostitution; in 49 states, it’s illegal. Whether you’re an Emporer’s Club “provider” or a sex worker trolling Grand Central, the State of New York considers prostitution a crime. The allegations against Ashley have not been proven in a court of law and frankly, I don’t care if she did it or not. Why?

I said then that she could reinvent herself:

Memo to Ashley Alexandra Dupree: America is the land of “reinventing yourself”. Ask Sidney Biddle Barrows, Vanessa Williams, Donald Trump, or even Daryl Strawberry how forgiving the American public is. Americans crave drama, revere celebrity, and have a sense of justice about them.

Ashley followed the”fifteen minutes of fame” plan.  She moved to LA, posed for a centerfold, and stayed away from jail.  She moved back to Manhattan and is pondering a career in…real estate brokerage!

The Post’s sultry sex columnist has moved back to town from the West Coast and immediately decided to enroll in a real estate course at NYU. The course is required to apply for a New York broker’s license — but Dupre said she isn’t quite ready to become a full-time real estate dealmaker yet.

She told us, “I recently moved back to New York from Los Angeles. Since being home, I took and passed the accelerated Real Estate Salesperson Course at NYU.

Only in New York.   Her future colleagues seem to think she fits in quite well:

Sources told us Dupre fit in well at NYU and “made a ton of friends. She dressed very cute to class, hung out with Read more

July 10, 2010

Are Old Blog Posts Useless?

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Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

“How much traffic could you reasonably expect from blog posts that are a couple of years old?” asked Kaiholo Hale, a Maui vacation rental expert.

My answer?  A bunch of good traffic if the blog post is relevant.  I’ll show you two of my little workhorses:

  • Google “Apartment Loans San Diego” and you’ll see that my post from December, 2006 is ranking second or third.  I’ve funded about ten loans, most of them second mortgages, in the past 3 years from that blog post.  I only make about $1,000 from each loan but they’re really easy to do.  Few mortgage brokers have access to the capital I have to make these loans.
  • Google “Short Sales and PMI” to find that I rank first for that term.  The information on that post is some 10-12 years old so I need to update it.  Still, this post generates about a dozen inquiries every month.  I had to figure out how to make this post pay me so I built an opt-in email list for people who sold their homes via short sale.  That led to another list for people who lost the home through foreclosure.  Last fall, I stratified the lists by sale date so that I can “tickle” them as we approach their qualification date.  Over 200 people have signed up for these newsletters but only s few dozen are still reading them.  I add about five each month and expect that only one of those five will be “with me” in 2-3 years.

Two little work horses should produce $50,000 annual GCI for me in 2011. I can do much better than that. Greg Swann once remarked that you can return to old blog posts and “polish them up”.  You can update them, double check your grammar and spelling, and try to add some conversion tools or calls to action so that they can turn into GCI for you.  Let’s see what I might do with my two:

The apartment loans post is a quick conversion.  People landing on that page want a loan and they want it quickly.  I think I can add some Read more

July 9, 2010

Active Rain Says TANSTAAFL To Founding Members’ Uproar

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Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

The Active Rain Real Estate Network is charging a fee.  I’m not surprised.  The network has been trying to find ways to monetize its business since inception.  It tried a referral network and advertising and now it’s faced with the hard decision of pay-for-play.

Lani, at Agent Genius reported that one founding member deleted all of his content in protest:

This week, Active Rain inadvertently makes for heated conversation again by going back on their promise to founding members (the first users of the service) that they would never have to pay to participate because they evangelized for free and promoted the service making it what it is today.

Real estate blogger Jay Thompson, one of Active Rain’s original users and long time advocate of the brand noticed along with many other bloggers today that despite ActiveRain’s promise to grandfather in “founding members,” he was asked to pay an annual fee before he would be allowed to continue participating.

ActiveRain allegedly fudged notifying founding members and moved forward by only allowing active members to be grandfathered in. Thompson’s argument is not only one that he and others did not receive proper notification, but he and others comment frequently and despite being on a points based system tied to each user’s account, it is not considered to be “participation.”

Thompson’s response? He deleted all of the content he had ever written and I suspect he and others will no longer refer to ActiveRain in their frequent seminars, courses and speaking engagements.

I don’t know if I would have chosen to delete my content there.  Like any advertising model, it might have been useful to really analyze the costs and benefits.  I can think of three benefits to paying for membership in the network:

  • Back links to my home site– I can’t quantify what that benefit is but I know it helps my SEO
  • Traffic- I get some 200 visitors monthly from Active Rain URLs
  • Conversion- I receive 1-2 GOOD inquiries monthly, directly from the Active Rain contact forms.

This isn’t too hard to quantify.  The Read more

July 3, 2010

PACE Solar Program Slows Chances of Economic Recovery

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Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

Residential real estate finance is ill and getting worse.  I cautioned that the elixir that got us into this mess should be removed for a robust private market solution but the mix makers upped the dosage.  It’s gonna make us even more sick.

Last year, I saw an opportunity to finance energy efficient improvements, specifically solar panels.  My motives weren’t a political demonstration but rooted in financial analysis.  Often, an investment in a solar panels installation returns as much as 15% annually through cost savings.  Prescient building contractors reworked business plans to meet the expected demand. The global warming religion heightened awareness to self-produced energy systems and California consumers want in.  The challenge is that little if any home improvement capital exists in the mortgage market; that spelled opportunity for me.

I taught some of these contractors how to structure, price, and make junior loans, to finance their work.  Armed with my database of investors, I started a small secondary market for these “solar loans”.  The contractor would make a loan, hire me to sell that loan to an investor, and pay me a  fee for arranging that sale from the proceeds.  The loan was cross-collateralized by the subject property and an assignation of tax credits to the lender. The loans averaged $25,000 and I intended to build up a servicing portfolio, earning a fee to collect payments and remit them to the investors.

What I didn’t realize was that I had a competitor, a competitor that had a lot more money and influence than I did.  This competitor is able rewrite laws to its advantage, so that it had a first lien position, which is assumable by a purchasing homeowner.  My loans were junior liens with a due-on-sale clause.  That competitor is the PACE program, armed with $150 million of Federal money and the borrowing power of states and municipalities.

That’s a formidable foe for a small-town mortgage broker and his retired golf-buddy investors.  Needless to say, I abandoned the idea last month.  Today, there’s hope for my little venture.  The PACE program forgot that the existing secondary mortgage market doesn’t take kindly to Read more

June 16, 2010

Should Redfin Be Renamed Right-Fin ?

by

Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

A La Jolla real estate broker noticed an article on Gawker.com, about a listing Redfin published, offering a currently occupied home (that isn’t for sale).  From Coastal Real Estate Stars:

A new listing appeared on Redfin this weekend….1600 Pennsylvania Avenue!

Now, in fairness to the Redfin folks, garbage in= garbage out.  Much of the FSBO data they aggregate comes from Owners.com. Obviously, some prankster listed the White House on Owners.com, which the RE.bots (including Redfin) picked up.  Still, one has to wonder if last night’s speech caused Glenn & Co to take matters into their own hands 🙂

Clearly, Redfin.com has the best real estate search site on the internet but the glaring marketing lesson here is at the bottom of the post.  JR Sullivan saw this as a great opportunity to showcase his own IDX search engine.

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