Introducing The Fidelity National Title Luxury Package

Real Estate 101…. prospective buyers are overwhelmingly attracted to listings that:

Give an informative and VISUAL impression.
-Have top-quality images
-Have a wide variety of images and views
-A powerful visual presentation is that all important “first impression” of your

property that can make a difference whether your property is seen and sold! As buyers begin to search and narrow down the margins of their search, the key enticing element of their initial search will be a strong visual appeal with superior photos, tours, and print materials.

We are pleased to make available our EXCLUSIVE Luxury Package. The Luxury Package is available only through us, and only to Fidelity National Title Luxury Partners, at a huge savings! Let Fidelity help you stretch your marketing dollars; out-shine, don’t out-spend your competition!

Each Luxury Package To Include:

• Tours posted to Realtor.com, MSN, Google, Trulia, Zillow, Yahoo, Top Producer, Frontdoor, VisualTour, UniqueGlobalEstates.com, craigslist.org, Vast, Overstock, oodle, The Real Estate Book, & LuxuryHomeVideosOnline.com.

• 50 Premium Flyers 8.5X11 (2-sided, Full-bleed Color, UV Coated Front/Back, 111# Gloss Cover Stock)

• 100 Jumbo Postcards 8.5x5.5 mailed to 100 properties surrounding the properties. (2-sided, Full Color, UV Coated Front, 16pt Cover Stock)

• This tour is only available to Fidelity National Title Luxury Partners

Daytime Package:
FNT Price: $249.00* High Res Media Current Price: $539.45

Twilight Package:
Up to 5,000 sq ft
FNT Price: $390.00* High Res Media Current Price: $724.45

5,001-10,000 sq ft
FNT Price: $490.00* High Res Media Current Price: $824.45
* Must be ordered through FNT for discount to apply.


Get a one of a kind luxury tour for half the price you are paying now! Order a Fidelity National Title Luxury Tour Today, visit our website!

Buy-Fix-Flip - What is the Normal Return on Investment for a Foreclosure Property in the Phoenix Market?

We asked some of our key clients, contacts, stakeholders and industry experts to contribute to FNT Title Talk as guest bloggers. We are pleased to introduce Cari Dandy as our next contributor in our guest blogger series. Cari is a Realtor with Realty Executives Premier Marketing Group and provides valuable information about investment property in the Phoenix market.

If you want to know what the current normal return on investment for a foreclosure property in the Phoenix market, I have the latest news. Investing is RED hot! Resales recorded in the Arizona Regional MLS (ARMLS) were the highest ever in June 2011 with 11,125 sales compared to June 2010’s 9,809 sales – an increase of 13%! It is estimated that at least 40% of the properties sold were purchased by investors.

Investor traffic at auctions is growing! “On an average it takes 13 tries to get a property at auction before an investor can purchase one,” due to the amount of competition at the auctions and lower inventory, said Dustin Gaskey of Fidelity National Title. Gaskey was on a panel of foreclosure auction experts at last week’s NAHREP (National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals) Arizona Real Estate Marketing Conference. The panelists talked about their experience with helping investors purchase foreclosure properties at auction, the process of fixing and flipping, and the return on investment for a foreclosure property in the Phoenix market.





Along with Gaskey, the panelists included Frank Gerola with Posted Properties and Bobby Ghisolfo with Vineyard Homes. Posted Properties helps investors bid on properties at foreclosure auctions, along with checking out a property the morning of the sale for an investor, and providing other services like “cash for keys” to motivate an occupant to leave the property once purchased at auction. They partner with Fidelity National Title Insurance Company who checks lien positions, lis pendens, HOA liens, judgments, and IRS tax liens on every property. If there is an IRS tax lien the property cannot be sold until 120 days after investor purchase. Fidelity National Title also offers title insurance after the property is purchased, and the investor will receive a preliminary report before the property is actually purchased. Vineyard Homes has rehabbed hundreds of properties for investors throughout the years. They will get an estimate on properties within 48 hours. Rehabbing a property can certainly bring an investor more return on his investment. The average sales-to-list price for an investment property is 102% versus 94% for a non-repaired property. The average price for a property purchased at auction is about $143,000, said Gerola, and a typical investment to rehab might be $20,000 - $30,000.

Investors will need some capital to do a fix and flip. Buyers at auction can purchase with cash, or get a hard money loan with a typical interest rate of 18% with 20-30% down payment. The normal fee for origination is $800 - $1000, with a 6-month term with no pre-payment penalty. A hard money loan can be a great way to leverage your investment for your foreclosure property in the Phoenix market, but you want to be sure to purchase the property right with no big negatives – no power lines nearby, no major roadways; a relatively newer property is ideal (within past 15years is ideal) and look for one without add-ons to construction (these may not be permitted or done to code), said Bobby Ghisolfo of Vineyard Homes. Ghisolfo said that the average turnaround time for a fix and flip is 45-60 days from acquisition – to rehab – to resale.


Current Return on Investment: Investors need to have realistic expectations. Because of the amount of competition for investment properties in the Phoenix market, and the rising prices at auction, whereas investors used to see a 20% or more return on investment a few years ago, now it is more normal and realistic to see an 8% - 10% return on investment, said Gaskey of Fidelity National Title. If an investor would rather buy and hold the property, look for a property with a cap rate of 10%. If you purchase a property for $100,000, you should be able to get $1000a month for the rent.

Some other interesting information I learned? “Most homes will have the sale date postponed at the auction 3-4 times before the property actually sells,” said Gerola. And the fastest selling properties are condos and townhomes – many being purchased by Canadians looking for a great little winter retreat.
Investing in foreclosure properties in the Phoenix market can bring a nice return on your investment – with the right team of experts to help you. Use a Realtor who knows the area to give you relevant comparables and information, a bidding service to help you get the right property for your business model, a title company such as Fidelity National Title, and a great contractor to get the most return on your investment.

For more information contact Cari Dandy, Realtor, GRI, ABR at Realty Executives Premier Marketing Group, 480-980-3577 or cari@caridandy.com.

FNT: The Next Generation

A sneak peak to what's coming in Q3 2011

June Coffee With Melissa

On Thursday, June 30 Melissa Shapiro, AVP/Director of Sales for Fidelity Phoenix, held her monthly "Coffee With Melissa". Melissa provided an invaluable REO Market Update on:

 What’s happening in the Market Right Now
 New Information from REO EXPO June 2011
 The “Inside Scoop” on Working with the Banks
 Diversifying your Bank Business
 Becoming a Marketing Liaison for the Bank

Below is a recap of what was discussed.

• 203k loans are now able to be obtained easier and take only a little longer than a regular loan

• Short Sales are here to stay:
o The process has gotten easier
o Banks are listening more
o FNT can escalate your short sale files with major banks and guarantee an immediate response from executive level management
o FNT has an 85% success rate in the escalation process – it’s matter of getting to the right person and creating relationships which FNT has done
o Consider building a Short Sale division in your business

• What constitutes an escalation? It’s a roadblock with a legitimate offer

• How to be successful with Short Sales:
o Use and collaborate with other agents
o Join organizations and attend their events
o Leverage your partnerships and their resources – FNT has a master asset management list

o Build a good portfolio (resume & business cards)
 Always include history in your resume and current group involvement
 Make sure your business cards show all certifications
 Putting together specialized resume gives credibility

o Align yourself with property preservation

o Make it known you are a team, not just one person and have special certifications

o If you are a minority or a women-owned business there are government programs and tax breaks available – educate yourself!

o Apply everywhere especially local banks as local banks are leading listings on ARMLS

o Create a system to track everything you do including expirations

o Enlist help if needed to stay organized and on top of action items

o Leverage your social networks to better market your REO listings

• Commercial Distressed Assets is a wave coming in the future. Banks are starting to build their commercial agent list. This is an opportunity to act on NOW!

• REOMAC has opened their application process –
o Must include 3 lender referrals
o REOMAC has small ratio of agents to lenders and banks

• Asset management companies are graded and will grade agents so you must know your success

Part 2: Active Rain Best Practices

One of the keys to effective use of social media for business is engagement with your peers and targeted demographic. Besides the great relationship building it does, because your comments on others’ pages, profiles, etc., are indexed by the search engines and increases your ranking, it’s also one of the fastest ways to build your business and get referrals. Think of your comments as active links to your Active Rain profile. Some tips when it comes to commenting:

>NEVER include links in your comments on others profiles and pages, and never, EVER advertise. Hard sell simply doesn’t work in the social media sphere.

>Make sure your comments add VALUE, no generic “great post!” comments. Adding value positions you as a beneficial source of knowledge.

>Answer questions, be helpful.

>Ask questions, and don’t be afraid to take an opposing view, just be non-adversarial in your manner.

In terms of creating business from your own profile posts and content, again, the key is to add value for your industry and targeted demographics. Tips for posting:

>Post multiple times a week. But again, adding value. Don’t post just for the sake of posting.

>Incorporate low-demand keywords that are relevant to you and your business expertise into many, but not all of your posts.

>Change things up from post to post. Maybe an industry-related post, followed by a personal post about life, family, hobbies – you may be surprised how you will connect with other gardening lovers if you talk about your garden!

>Write with personality, humor, etc., especially on the personal posts. Let folks get a real sense of who you are.

>Post one new testimonial each week. And as discussed in a previous post, the more specific the testimonial speaks to how you helped in a difficult transaction, or to resolve an issue or sticky situation, the more effective.

With any social media, the more you GIVE, the more you GET BACK!

FNF CEO, George Scanlon, Visits With Fidelity Phoenix on West Coast Tour

Our corporate office recently had the privilege to visit with George Scanlon, CEO of Fidelity National Financial (FNF). On a road trip to several of our corporate offices in the West, Mr. Scanlon shared company wins and challenges and also opened up the floor to employee questions and concerns.

Appointed CEO of FNF in October 2010, Mr. Scanlon is charged with Investor Relations and handling the corporate budget in addition to his numerous other duties and responsibilities as he leads a Fortune 500 company. He stressed that no matter what we as a company face, integrity is always at the heart of all we do.

Although there were some challenges industry-wide coming into 2011, he shared his philosophy that “adversity creates opportunity.” Embracing that philosophy, the company as a whole and specifically Fidelity National Title(FNT) has experienced a strong year. Some of the highlights include:

• Consistently and historically FNT continues to lead the market
• In our industry we have some of the strongest reserves and strongest partners
• As the company continues to look ahead to the 3rd and 4th quarter of 2011 and 2012 the outlook is very positive
• Refinances are showing strong increases while the Commercial Market is having a great year with confidence being high

CRE Finance Council June Convention, New York City

By Kerrie Addante-Jacobs, Distressed Commercial Sales for FNT

The announcement that we have already experienced, on a national level, the worst in the commercial real estate market created a positive energy surrounding the convention. Commercial real estate values appear to be stabilizing, and the debt capital markets have become far more accommodative over the past several months.

The uncertainty that surrounds the ability of maturing loans to be refinanced is still a major concern to many legacy CMBS (Commercial Mortgage-Backed Security) investors. The “maturity wave” has already begun to ramp up.

-Nearly $60 billion of fixed–rate CMBS loans have matured since 2009, including $6.4 billion in 2011.

-An additional $26.8 billion is scheduled to mature before year end, with another $47.2 billion slated to mature in 2012.

-Whether these maturing loans perform, default or are modified, they will most certainly impact a large amount of CMBS investments over the coming years.

-Although lenders will likely continue to focus on debt yield when resizing loans, they may place more emphasis on DSCR (Debt–Service Coverage Ratio) if commercial mortgage rates begin to rise.

Different property types are recovering at varying rates, but the path is decidedly positive for net operating income.

-Office vacancies have fallen from 17.6% to 17.5% in the first quarter of 2011. This is the first time in three years this sector recorded a dip nationally.

-Retail properties continue to remain slightly distressed with shopping center vacancies at 10.9% nationally, a 19-year high. However, with retail sales picking up due to increased consumer spending, this should be beneficial to retail tenants. Retail properties may need another quarter or two before occupancy rates stabilize, but are still considered a great investment with tenants locked into long term leases.

-Multi-family properties vacancies declined sharply in 2010 to 6.6% from a 30 year high of 8.0%. Vacancies are expected to dip again to 5.5% by the end of the year.

-Rent growth for some supply-constrained submarkets may exceed 10%. There is a concern due to the positive press for multi-family assets that bidding wars may be more common and lead to the temptation to overpay.

Overall, commercial real estate properties are expected to generate total returns of about 9.3% per year from 2011 to 2015. Being cognizant of market trends and property types and focusing on assets that provide the optimal blend of returns from income gains and value appreciation are the basic rules of good real estate investing.


*Figures provided by Trepp and Citi Investment Research and Analysis

Active Rain Best Practices - Part 1

For you active rain users, in terms of your profile page, did you know:

… that your profile gets indexed and ranked by the search engines?

… that links most often go to your profile page?

… that Google sends traffic to your profile page?

… that prospects read EVERY word of your profile to determine if you are someone they want to consider working with?

… that agents who don’t already know you will read your profile to help determine if they want to refer business to you?

So if you hastily dashed off a profile page when first setting up your active rain account, it’s pretty important, based upon the above points, that you give thought to developing a more robust profile page; one that truly speaks to who you are as both an Agent and a person. Beef that profile page up!

To help with indexing, consider using the first and last name fields in a slightly different manner, by incorporating keywords relevant to you and your business. Put both your first and last name into the first name field. Use the last name field for a very short tagline using those keywords relevant to you; i.e. Phoenix foreclosure specialist... or Scottsdale retirement community expert.

The opening of the description field should compel readers to WANT to know more about you, and the remainder of it should indeed give a great picture of who you are, both professionally and personally. Be professional, but be YOURSELF, let it show through your writing.

Your contact information should include ALL means they can contact you: office and mobile phones, email address, and links to all your social network pages, including active rain, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Use video if possible – and as much as possible. People LOVE video, and will view it before reading text. When placing video, be sure to place it so it falls ½ above the page fold, and ½ below. That helps to ensure the reader scrolls and sees everything on the page.

We can all tell the world all about our expertise, ethics, etc. all day long, and the reality is, it won’t hold a candle to the impact that third-party testimonials provide. Use as many as possible. Make sure they are as detailed as possible, not the generic, “Joe Agent did a fabulous job selling our home!” If they are detailed about how you truly helped in a sticky or difficult situation, they are far more impactful to readers.

Next week, we’ll discuss how engaging with your peers on active rain can help build YOUR business!