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August 12, 2008

Introducing Jessica Wynn Horton, a once and future mega-producer

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

What do you do when you’re selling a thick slice of a billion dollars’ worth of real estate every year, when you’ve built your own RE/Max franchise from scratch, when you’ve hit the “30 Under 30” target at Realtor magazine?

Start over in another town, of course, and do it all again.

Today we add once and future mega-producer Jessica Wynn Horton to our roster of contributors.

In addition to her duties as broker, Jessica is hoping to replicate her earlier successes, this time with a decidedly Web 2.0 approach.

We’ll teach her what we can, but I think we’ll reap a good deal more from her experiences.

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August 11, 2008

Unchained lullabies: Splendor, squalor and war…

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Teri Lussier sent me this clip as a celebration of Unchained in Orlando:

That’s sweet, but I always think of this when I think of lullabies:

And that’s so brutal that it’s almost unimaginably brutal — until you look at this:

That’s the real face of war. Not well-turned-out soldiers with their bootlaces smartly tied, not bombers or aircraft carriers. War is your grandmother wailing because everything she has ever known has been burned to a cinder.

Julie Gold is a great songwriter. She wrote From a Distance, and Bette Midler couldn’t quite ruin it as a massively over-produced anthem. But Nancy Griffith, on her best days, can sing a simple song simply. This is a lullaby for the people who are not sleeping in Tbilisi.

August 11, 2008

Unchained Speakers, Ribak and Brady, on HomeGain “Ask The Experts”

by

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

Author website

Mitch Ribak spoke to the Barrys on Real Estate Radio USA last Friday.  Mitch started as an agent in 2001, opened Tropical Realty in 2005, and has grown his business to close 180 transactions, during the first six months of 2008,  in a down real estate market.

Mitch looks for newer real estate agents, who are personable, with a strong work ethic for his team.  He plugs them into his 100mphmarketing software after driving prospective buyers to his website from various pay-per-click campaigns. 100% of his buyer leads come from the internet (his referrals come from original internet leads).

Mitch will be opening membership in the E-Homes Realty Network later this week. What is the eHomes Realty Network?

Very simply, it’s a membership that gives independent Real Estate Brokerages the ability to have the same tools and training that the Big Franchises have for one very low monthly membership fee.  It’s your Franchise without a Franchise!

We started eHomes Realty Network after realizing that most Independent Brokers don’t have the resources, the knowledge or the time to test and determine which products will work best for their companies. It has also become clear that most Independents don’t have any formal training programs for their Agents.

If this sounds like an “Unchained” idea, it is. Mitch is offering the national exposure, training, and masterminding, to independent agents (and brokers) for forty bucks a month.  He has plans for an updated e-designation for network members.  This is what Sean Purcell calls “disbrokeration” at its finest.

Tomorrow (Tuesday), Mitch and I will be hosted by Home Gain on their first “Ask the Experts” segment at 10:00 AM (PDT).  There will be over 250 real estate professionals attending the webinar.  There is no charge for the webinar and you can register here.  I’ll be talking about mortgage financing but Mitch will talk about how to drive traffic to your website.

PS:  If you’re wondering why Mitch calls his software 100mphmarketing, you gotta hear him talk.  Listening to Mitch talk about internet marketing is like trying to take a sip from a fire hydrant; he gives THAT much good information.  Bring a pen Read more

August 11, 2008

May You Live In Interesting Times

by

Realtor, Rabble-Rouser

Author website

I am reminded again this year of just how much I love the Olympics.  In my opinion, there are few events that can be defined as uniquely human experiences.  National pride aside, I continue to learn from each and every athlete how unbridled commitment, sheer determination and raw tenacity can produce unimaginable results.

I can’t explain exactly why I get choked up when I watch the medal ceremonies – I just do.  Maybe it’s because, as a father, I think it is just an instinctual reaction.  How can you not be reminded of the times when overwhelming pride swells into your chest when your own child accomplishes something magnificent.  It’s a feeling you can’t necessarily describe in words – but it is a warm rush of emotion that sometimes spills over into tears.

I was truly awestruck by the visually stunning opening ceremonies at the opening of the 2008 games in Beijing – not just in appreciation of the magnitude of effort to coordinate such a moving spectacle, but I was touched by the deep metaphors which emanated from the vignettes that took place on the floor of the “bird’s nest”.   The messages were gracefully and beautifully communicated but profoundly powerful.  The sleeping dragon has been aroused – and it roared.

I was left with a deep appreciation for the Chinese people, their heritage and the clear intertwining influences of their culture – its affect on daily life – how they view the world and their role within it.  As the dancers danced across the floor creating the images of nature, it was profoundly clear that in Chinese culture, there is little distinction between the art and the artist – they are not mutually exclusive, a concept which defines the psyche of the average Chinese citizen.

Upon longer reflection, I became uncomfortable with the bigger picture I was left to interpret.  I can’t help thinking – just look at what our interest payments have accomplished.  This world event is full of metaphors.  Have we passed the torch to the Chinese economically?

To think that this event was masterfully orchestrated in seven years.  In that same period, Read more

August 11, 2008

Is It Harder to Get a Mortgage?

by

Mortgage Officer

Author website

If you’ve been reading this for a while, you’d know that it’s been getting harder to get a mortgage.   Well, today we have proof of it for all to see.   This chart is courtesy of the Federal Reserve (by way of the Big Picture). Some commentary after the chart:

Now for some thoughts:

1. See the line that represents prime mortgages?   Yep, it’s gone continuously up since this started a year ago.

2. See the line for “non traditional?”   Remember back late winter where things sort of “eased off” in terms of credit?  Yep, that’s when those loosened up again.   Well, that’s changed again.

3. Subprime – well, let’s just say that subprime is going the way it should – up so that only those with large downpayments can get them and they end up paying more for them.

So what should you take away from a chart like this?   A couple of suggestions:

1. If you are planning on buying a house or building a house, you better plan on being able to document your income and your assets completely.

2. If you have something “marginal” about your financial profile (income isn’t quite enough, documentation is challenging, credit is spotty) you can expect to have to come up with more of a downpayment and work through more details.   You also might want to consider moving your timeline up and trying to do it now rather than next spring – it’s looking like it’s going to be harder then…..

3. If you are looking to buy a house for the first time, you might have to rent a little longer and save up a little more of a downpayment than you would have.

All is not lost, the mortgage world is not dead, just a bit harder than it used to be.   Call me if you’d like to chat about it.

Tom Vanderwell (616) 292-7559

August 10, 2008

Dogs in Disneyville: The BloodhoundBlog Unchained curriculum in Orlando and how it will differ from next Spring in Phoenix

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

We have a venue in Orlando, very comfortable with lots of hi-tech support, but I don’t want to announce it yet. Whether or not by malicious intent, the NAR has dominated every available meeting space near the Orange County Convention Center, so we had to think way outside the doghouse to find what we needed. Suffice it to say for now that it’s within easy walking distance of the Convention Center, it has ample parking, and it’s probably closer to your hotel room than the NAR Convention itself.

We’ve also decided on a curriculum for Orlando. Of the 20,000 Realtors who will be going to the NAR Convention, almost none of them are already working in our world. Many of them are not even in the wired world at all, but there’s not a lot we can do about that. What we can do is go through everything that is a part of our world in detail, building a repeatable, duplicable Web 2.0 real estate practice.

In other words, we’re going to do eight solid hours on what to do and how to do it: How to use your net.presence to attract prospects, harvest leads, manage them through time and convert them, one-by-one, into real-world real estate transactions — producing real, spendable income. If you already live in our world, some of this will be pretty basic for you. But we’ll have plenty of brand new practical ideas to make Unchained Orlando worth your time.

At BloodhoundBlog Unchained in Phoenix, Geno Petro, Teri Lussier and others asked for something like this. From the inside, all of this stuff seems obvious to me, even though Brian and I approach it from somewhat different directions. But in discussions we’ve had since then, both here and in email, we’ve come to see the benefit of building a whole program of ideas, step-by-step. Think of it as Social Media Marketing meets The Millionaire Real Estate Agent. We have room for 500 students, and I would love to send 500 very dangerous real estate agents back to their home markets.

By contrast, the curriculum for Unchained in Phoenix next Spring Read more

August 9, 2008

Redemption is egoism in action: In support of Mike Farmer, even if other people are criminal, I am not — but I will not cause them to become good by becoming a criminal myself

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Not completely off topic, but well above the normal fray. I wrote this ten or twelve years ago:

 
What I want to discuss is Socrates’ question about whether it is better to inflict an injury or to have an injury inflicted upon you. It’s a favorite of sophists and sophomores, I know, but I think it strikes at the very core of justice. The justice I seek and seek to defend is not “out there”, apart from myself. Justice (or injustice) is not what others do to me, it’s what I do to myself and to others. Where I find myself availing myself of the fallacies tu quoque or two wrongs make a right, I am rationalizing injustice, and the worst havoc I am wreaking is upon my own ego.

The Nazarene’s answer to Socrates was this: It is better to have an injury inflicted upon you, because redemption is still possible to one who has not inflicted injury upon another. I don’t believe in an afterlife and I don’t believe redemption hinges upon any one event. But I do believe that a “justice” that is itself unjust is vain at best and evil at worst.

We can make a joke by saying, “Political philosophy is the means by which ethical systems betray themselves.” There are actually a host of reasons for this, and all of them are amusing to me. For one, a political system has a meta-goal apart from the ethical system in which it is rooted: It must function in the real world.

Moreover, the political system itself has a meta-ethical or even extra-ethical goal in that its proponents will tend to imbue it with what they view are essential survival characteristics even if these betray the ethical system in which the political philosophy is putatively based. Any form of argument that the polity can or should or must do what it would be immoral or criminal for any individual to do is a form of this error. The counter is, but if we don’t inflict this injury, the polity won’t survive. And the counter to that is that a dispute resolution Read more

August 9, 2008

There’s more to the mortgage relief bill than just mortgage relief

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link).

Notes for insiders: The legislative thumbprint of the National Association of Realtors is churn. The NAR is not necessarily for or against any legislation. Instead, their lobbyists will look for ways to introduce short-term incentives to churn real estate — artificial inducements to buy or sell real estate now rather than on the consumer’s own timetable. In this bill, getting rid of seller down-payment assistance, introducing the new-buyer tax-credit and revising the capital gains exclusion rules all promote short-term churn. What about the long-term? The NAR knows it will be able to lobby for new real estate-churning legislation next year — at every level of government. This is just another example of the fundamentally anti-consumer character of the NAR.

Here’s another thought: Wouldn’t it be great if, instead of regurgitating Zillow’s gee whiz press releases, the real estate reporters of the mainstream media actually reported on what is really going on in real estate?

 
There’s more to the mortgage relief bill than just mortgage relief

Having trouble making your mortgage payments? You might be able to make a change in your loan, thanks to the mortgage relief bill President Bush recently signed into law. Under the bill, you can convert your high-interest adjustable-rate loan to a lower-interest fixed-rate note if you meet what might, in a declining market, seem to be Catch-22-like guidelines: Your payment must be more than 31% of your income, and your new loan cannot exceed 90% of your home’s value. Help is available — provided you don’t need it.

Starting October 1st, seller-paid down-payment assistance grants will be outlawed for FHA loans. This is bad news for lower-priced neighborhoods in Metropolitan Phoenix, where as many as nine out of ten homes are being sold with down-payment assistance. Expect to see a flurry of this activity in the next two months.

But the left hand gives where the right hand takes away: Buyers who have not owned a home for three years can take a $7,500 “refundable” tax-credit if they buy between April 9, 2008 and July 1, 2009. The credit Read more

August 8, 2008

Friday Afternoon Fun: Can anyone tell me what the hell this bowl of tossed jargon-salad says — if anything?

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

This came in my spam this morning, and I gave it nine seconds of my full attention: Babbling jargon-filled nonsense, probably with a well-hidden chokepoint to spill coins into the author’s pockets.

That was my instant take, but the truth is I don’t actually know what it says. To the extent that I actually tried to read it, it was too painful for me to pursue.

It could be you have more patience than me. If so, you might take a stab at figuring out what it says. It doesn’t actually matter, since the meatballs atop this sticky bowl of word spaghetti are the same ones who brought us Realtor.com and all the other big-hit NAR disasters. If anyone actually believes these wheezing antiques can outrun the VC-funded Web 2.0 world, I have a few dollars I might be willing to wager. The NAR will solve every problem it confronts by force of arms, as always.

But: That doesn’t mean you can’t have some Friday Afternoon Fun trying to parse the mangled prose that makes up this proposal. Plus which, I’m inclined to be very generous if you should unearth the chokepoint.

Note that this deeply heartfelt manifesto appears on a page full of advertising. Classy… Inman “News” dipped its pen in this spittoon, of course, but that’s such an obvious outcome it’s not even worth making jokes about… Oh, fine. Here’s one, just because it’s Friday:

Q: What do you need to get fawning, uncritical attention for your press release from Inman News?

A: A press release.

Read carefully and I expect you will discover how the NAR hopes to rape agents and consumers over the next decade. But remember this as you read: Divorce the commissions and every bit of this nonsense goes away, as it should.

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August 8, 2008

Mortgage Market Week in Review

by

Mortgage Officer

Author website

So, it’s Friday again and what has this week been like for the mortgage world? Well, it’s certainly not been boring, that’s for sure! We’re going to talk about six different things in today’s Mortgage Market Week in Review:

Freddie Mac – They started the week’s major news by announcing on Tuesday that they had lost a LOT more money than the market had expected in the last quarter, like $821,000,000 in 90 days. That works out to approximately $380,000 per hour in losses. The markets started worrying about the likely that the government will actually have to bailout Fannie and Freddie. The credit markets get nervous (or more nervous depending on your viewpoint).

The Fed – on Tuesday it would appear at first glance that what they did was a big fat nothing. I’ve done a fair amount of reading and studying of Bernanke and his views and I think I’d have another take on it. What the Fed said on Tuesday was (my paraphrase ) “The economy has some risks on both sides, the risk of recession and the risk of inflation, we’ve made the moves we’ve needed to make, we will continue to monitor things to make sure that the outcome we’re planning on happens, we think it might be a bumpy landing, but we’re confident we’ll be fine.” So rather than a “do nothing” statement, it was more of a “Things will come out okay, just be patient” statement. Does that make sense?

AIG – Not to be outdone by Freddie, AIG announced that during the second quarter, they lost $5.36 billion (that’s $5,360,000,000 or $2,481,000 per hour). Their losses were in collateralized debt obligations (aka CDO’s) that were mainly fancy packages of mortgage debt. Hmmm, that’s a pretty big number.

Unemployment Claims – Initial claims for the week came it at 455,000, the highest since 2002. That’s not a good number.

Pending House Sales – depending on whether you listen to the mainstream media or some of the analysts who look at the numbers behind the numbers, the report is either: 1) A sign that the housing market Read more

August 8, 2008

How You Gonna Keep ‘Em Off Of The Web, And Make Them Watch N-B-C

by

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

Author website

Henry Blodget reports that Chokepoint Charlie is upset:

We view the Olympics as a global sporting tradition and consider ourselves citizens of the world, so we don’t have much patience with country-specific broadcasting rights. Thus, we’re happy that we (and you) can watch the Olympics live right here on on SAI.

(Frankly, we wish we could watch the Olympics on NBCOlympics.com, because their feed is marvelously crisp, but of course NBC is doing everything it can to prevent that. Specifically, NBC is trying to make us watch tonight, on tape delay, when the opening cermonies will be as stale as yesterday’s bread. And when they do broadcast events on NBCOlympics.com, of course, they’re not about to let us embed them.)

NBC views the 2000+ year-old global Olympic tradition as its own personal entertainment show and is therefore doing everything it can to prevent you (and us) from watching them live. For example, check out these takedown notices on veetle.com:

You don’t have to take it.  Watch the Olympics LIVE, from your computer, here .

August 7, 2008

Unchained melodies: Take Five

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

I’m with John Rowles — and then some — on the true, mostly unrealized, power of branding in real estate. I’ve been meaning to write about it, but I’m sick for the second time this summer, and it’s left me beyond stupid at the end of the business day.

Other matters: We are that close to negotiating a space for Unchained Orlando, this despite the best efforts of the NAR to dominate every meeting space. I may have an announcement tomorrow.

But for tonight, Al Jarreau and three fingers of Irish cough syrup. G’night.


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August 7, 2008

Sleazy Option ARM Advertisements

by

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

Author website

I wrote this article on Active Rain, about two months ago.  It’s got legs in the comments’ thread over there.  You’ll see that the REAL reason I’m worked up is that the “new sleazy option ARM advertisement” is to claim that you KNEW it was bad for the customer. The opposite is actually true

I’m pretty high-touch with my neg-am borrowers.  I keep in close contact with them quarterly.  I just received notice that one of them had a notice of default filed against them for non-payment.  The borrower lost his job and elected to use the “side account” he established, from the monthly cash-flow savings, to rent a new home rather than to “feed the depreciating asset” (his words).

Before you comment on the article, you might read all of Dan Green’s “Mortgage Planning” articles.  if you haven’t the time to read all of them, read:

If Low Downpayments Are More Risky To Banks, They Must Be More Safe For Home Buyers

I’d argue the same logic applies for negative-amortization (rising mortgage balances).

Here’s the article:

Remember the “sleazy Option ARM advertisements“?

They’re back but with a whole new twist:

This is why I never did option arms.  This is part of the reason why we are in the housing mess we are in.  Yes, borrowers have to claim responsibility, but every Bank that pushed neg am as a financing alternative deserves the billions in write downs and losses in stock options that they are mired in.  I have no sympathy for them…only contempt!

Oh, brother! If I see one more loan hack Monday morning quarterbacking this mess I’m gonna puke.  There is nothing wrong with negative amortization loans; there was something drastically wrong with the way they were prescribed.  The “new neg-am” advertisements are “posited indignation” and they’re just as sleazy as the original advertisements.  They prey upon the opposite of the greed motivation; fear.  That ain’t helping anybody!

Let me try to break down the negative amortization loan for you:

  • There is an interest rate charged; it may be adjustable monthly, annually, or for a specified period.
  • There are payment options.  One option is LESS than the interest assessed for Read more
August 6, 2008

A-C-C-O-U-N-T-A-B-I-L-I-T-Y Find Out What It Means To Me

by

Realtor, Rabble-Rouser

Author website

Honestly, I think Aretha got it right – stick to seven letters, melodically I think it just works better.

Anyway – in my family I’ve been labeled “you liberal” – the second youngest of eight kids.  Accountability, Responsibility, Discipline and Consequences were not just words, but codes of conduct – drilled into my skull – in The Hall Household, not at all surprising considering my dad is a ’53 West Point grad.  Punishment was a given – or should I say consequences were always delivered.  Spankings were called “reminder taps” – mind the pun – for at times, taps held near dual meaning if you catch my drift.

I typically save controversial or political discussions for funerals, weddings or family renuions because, being usually void of any emotional energy, I find that people are compelled to share their views in rational discourse – no such events planned in my near future so I am forced to share my views in the emptiness of cyberspace.

Is it me or have others noticed – in reading the headlines, blogs and other online sources, I am struck by the lack of consequences and accountability due to poor judgment – a lack of management shakedowns at some of the largest companies that I suggest are at the crux of the housing debacle.

Starting at the top at Bear Sterns, haven’t heard but a blip regarding heads rolling.  No news of foreclosures on Upper East Side Townhomes or penthouses – no sheriff warrants issued in The Hamptons – no learjet repos.  Government bailout – yep.  Significant management changes due to the consequences of poor judgment?  Nope – just talk of a takeover.

Seems that same is true over at Countrywide – more “seasoned” managers have been moved around and the CEO simply retired – B of A put their guy in charge of mortgages.  Plenty of seasoning but little grilling.  Wamu’s shareholders sought accountability and won a majority of votes to remove the chairman and CEO positions – but not a great deal more – in fact senior executives’ bonuses were shielded from the loses attributed to the mortgage-related business.  I Read more

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Inventing Real Estate 2.0

Welcome to BloodhoundBlog, the national real estate industry marketing and technology weblog written by, for and about real estate professionals. Better yet, welcome to the wired world of real estate. We are busily inventing Real Estate 2.0 – technology, marketing, service and salesmanship. Like all Bloodhounds, we are smart, frisky and fiercely independent. We've built a spot on the earth – beloved over all – where each one of us can be who we are, no matter who that might be. We are committed to an idea of excellence that will flush the bums, the con-men and the crybabies out of the real estate industry. If you yearn to have your failures excused, your moral lapses absolved or your boo-boos kissed, seek elsewhere. But if you are sick to death of mediocrity – welcome home. Read all about us, subscribe to our feed and steel yourself for the hunt. We work hard, we play hard, we learn everything we can – and we bow to no one.

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