The Consensus Is: A Feeling of Hope

Optimism seems to be the mood of choice for home owners and potential buyers feeling that all signs point to a way out of the long-suffered housing slump.

In a recent column, Jed Kolko, the chief economist at Trulia, for Bloomberg detailed just how much home prices are rising. He points out that — even adjusting for seasonal patterns — all major home price indexes point to an upturn in prices.  Trulia’s asking-price index went up at an annualized rate of 3.3% in the second quarter of 2012, and rose in 84 of the 100 largest metropolitan areas. Trulia said 61% of people surveyed expect prices to continue to rise.  While this is cause for relief, Kolko points out it could be fleating — European economic issues may slow us down. But a tightening inventory could give a boost to home prices, he notes.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Federal Housing Administration are expected to announce guidance in the coming weeks that urges banks to loosen credit standards on government-backed mortgages, the Los Angeles Times reported. Mortgage lenders are adding underwriting requirements and program restrictions to avoid buyback claims, the article said.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac accept FICO credit scores of 660 to 680 while private lenders may demand scores 100 points higher. Private institutions, driven by uncertainty and overcorrection, are slowing up the market. “Since the two top agencies are trying to figure how to do this, homebuyers might see slightly less punitive "overlay" fees and underwriting later in the year,” the column said.

In our area specifically, foreclosure resales fell to 21.2% of total sales in Phoenix, the lowest percentage since January 2008, helping to push prices up for the 17th month in a row, reported DataQuick. The large gains in the median sale price recently reflect increased pressure on home prices as low mortgage rates pushed up demand at the same time as inventory is dropping.  Sales of newly built homes have been on a recent upswing, rising year-over-year for 12 consecutive months. June new-home sales rose 31.2% from a year ago.

Real estate agents feel the trend behind the strong market include growing confidence in the economy, pent-up demand by potential buyers and rock bottom interest rates. Mortgage rates, already at historically low levels, have fallen by a full percentage point over the past year, to less than 3.7 percent for a 30-year mortgage.

Sources: Jessica Huseman, Housingwire

Phoenix Wealth Builders Event

We are pleased to be hosting another great seminar by Phoenix Wealth Builders at our Hayden Ferry training room on April 25, 2012, 2:00 to 3:00PM.

Whether you are a first-time investor or a seasoned professional, Arizona real estate represents the best opportunity for appreciation and CASHFLOW. Why invest in Arizona real estate?

• With a diversified economy, an educated workforce, and one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation, Arizona is a magnet for corporations and workers alike.
• 2010 Census data reveals that Arizona’s population grew 24.6% from 2000 to 2010, and boasts a comfy population density of about 56 persons per square mile.
• There is a real estate investment opportunity just waiting to be snatched – vacant land, foreclosed homes, short-sales, discounted condos and flips are just a few prospects.

The Phoenix Wealth Builders team, Eddie Rosefield and Justin Colby will present their services:

• Full service, one stop shop, solution to your cash flow property buyers
• We take your investor and find them a property, rehab the property, fill it with a well qualified tenant, and place our property management company on top
• We effectively handle EVERY aspect of the ENTIRE process from start to finish.
• Investor sits back and collects a monthly check
• Through our resources of non-profits, asset managers, and other investors & wholesalers in town, we have the inventory that you may not have access to
• And YOU still make your 3% Commission!!!

This is an Invitation only event. Contact your Fidelity representative should you wish to attend.

Source: Phoenix Wealth Builders

Agent GPS With Alex Charfen

Does your real estate career feel like you’re working 2 full-time jobs … but only getting paid part-time? Fidelity is pleased to announce an outstanding and rare opportunity when Alex Charfen himself will be hosting and speaking, previewing his newest program for increased success, Agent GPS. This event is deeply discounted at an unheard of rate of only $199 (regularly $599) for Fidelity folks, using the promo code MAG003. Don’t miss this two-day event, May 21st & May 22nd. Registration begins at 8am, event at 9am.

Learn the $10,000,000-per-Year Blueprint used by Inc. 500's #21 Fastest Growing Company and Transform Your Business in 30 Days or Less with “The AgentGPS System”!

AgentGPS is a “done-for-you” Contact-to-Close system that allows you to close more deals in less time and explode past your previous income level.

This system is founded on 3 guiding principles that were modeled after the top producers in the business, the vital areas of focus that allowed them to achieve sustainable top-tier success in the real estate industry…

Growth– If your business isn’t growing, it’s dying. Find out how you can make sure you’re concentrating on high-value growth activities that keep your income expanding even as other agents are working twice as hard to make half as much.

Profitability – Are you leaking money? AgentGPS will show you where to look to find the hidden costs in your business and how to quickly plug the leaks so your financial ship stays profitably afloat.

Stability – You don’t have to be a victim of market ups and downs any longer. While other agents are sometimes perilously overextended, you can stabilize your income and be protected against the business cycle with this powerful system at your command

Of course, we’re going to do a lot more than talk about high-minded principles when Alex reveals his precise methodology to you at the AgentGPS Seminar. We’re also going to cover how you will….

-Duplicate proven systems that allow your business to run without you

-Learn strategies that enable you to maximize every hour in every day

-Acquire tools to totally replace tedious tactical work

-Discover how to create leverage with your time and those you work with

-Be able to state exactly what you want from your business

Remember, both lead generation and business operational systems require constant focused activity.

Most agents don’t run both simultaneously and constantly lose business and opportunity. Overtime, even the best agents eventually experience burnout.

You don’t have to be one of them, with AgentGPS as your guide.

At This Exclusive 2-Day Live Event, Alex Will Also Reveal…

-Why many of the conventional real estate industry principles you’ve been taught are dead wrong (and how to use the AgentGPS principles to finally solve “The Agent Dilemma”)

-How to add hours of productivity to your day with the AgentGPS “True Dollar” method and finally break free from the burdensome day-to-day

-Hear the simple “5-to-1” rule that will make people want to bend over backwards for you to make your vision a concrete reality

-How to make your marketing go viral and generate referrals (who generate even MORE referrals) by developing your personal brand

-Discover the 3 essential components of a compelling personal story that sells AND sets you apart from other agents (so prospects think of YOU first)

-The single biggest mistake most real estate agents make that eliminates options and causes them to miss valuable business growth opportunities (and how you can avoid it!)

-How to organize your business so that it gives to you rather than taking from you, energizing you to accomplish more (because work no longer feels like work… it feels like fun)

-How to align your personal and professional goals so that achieving them feels easy and comes within your natural “flow”

-How the simple act of being a better leader translates into more leads, more sales, and less headaches in your daily business activities

-Learn how to stop missing out on lucrative growth opportunities by rising above the time-absorbing day-to-day operations of your business

-How to guide your focus so that YOU are in full control of your business activities (and not unknowingly at the mercy of outside interests)

-How to translate your existing organizational knowledge into codified systems that allow you to off-load stress and short-term problems

-The one question that top-producing agents ask themselves every day (and why the answer is going to fill your bank account with new commissions)

-What all star agents spend at least 20% of their time doing (hint: the answer isn’t “lead generation”)

-The 10 things you are probably doing right now that are KILLING your productivity, and how to reduce their impact or eliminate them altogether

-The 7 long-term strategic outcomes that top producers focus on and how to replicate them in your business without taking time away from essential “dollar-producing activities”

Find out where your deals are coming from so you’ll know why your business is growing and how to do more of what’s working (…and if it’s not, how you can correct that immediately!)

DON'T MISS OUT ON AN AMAZING LEARNING EVENT!
For more info:
http://www.charfengps.com/fidelity/

To register today:
https://infohost.infusionsoft.com/app/manageCart/showManageOrder

Source: Alex Charfen

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage SVP Shares Market Insights

At November’s Crystal Ball event, our esteemed panel shared with us their insights regarding the current market and what their respective companies are doing to aid consumers in this challenging time.

JK Huey, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Senior Vice President REO and Short Sales, is a 29-year veteran of the mortgage industry. Huey cited many positives at Wells Fargo, regarding the current market:

- WFHM maintains a strong performing loan level; about 94% of loans they service are not delinquent.

- Over 700,000 WFHM loan customers have been helped to remain in their homes and not lose them to foreclosure. This has been accomplished with loan modifications, including principal forgiveness and deferral. Huey cited that WFHM has forgiven about $4 billion in home loans, and deferred about $2 billion.

For the other 6%, the delinquent accounts, WFHM continues to make concerted efforts to help home owners keep their homes. Those 150 or more days delinquent are most at risk of liquidation. WFHM works with these homeowners to find an alternative to foreclosure, such as short sale or deed in lieu. Huey cited their Home Preservation events and centers that help educate homeowners about all available options and opportunities to avoid foreclosure.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a viable alternative to foreclosure in every situation. However, some good news for Arizona residents, Arizona is no longer in WFHM top ten states for late stage delinquency and REO. Additionally, WFHM’s REO inventory is down 71% since the first part of 2011. Huey feels strongly it is die in large part to WFHM’s strong commitment and effort to help homeowners keep their homes, as well as more and more being liquidated through short sale as agents become more knowledgeable of and utilize that option for their clients.

Contracts Canceled As A Result Of Low Appraisals

Walt Molony of the National Association of Realtors reported that as recently as October, one in 10 member agents said they'd had a contract canceled as a result of a low appraisal, 13 percent said they'd had a contract delayed, and 16 percent said they'd had a contract negotiated to a lower sales price as a result of a low appraisal.

New and proposed federal rules governing appraisals, changes in the way appraisals are conducted, and a still uncertain housing market have hit the appraisal part of the home buying and selling process in a way that is adding to housing market instability.

The world of home appraisals changed on May 1, 2009, when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac adopted the Home Valuation Code of Conduct. These new rules prohibited lenders from hand-picking appraisers. To comply with those rules, many lenders have started using appraisal management companies that afford them an arm's length relationship with the appraiser. The appraisal management companies hand out assignments to their participating appraisers on a random basis. And they get a significant slice of the appraiser's fee, cutting the amount that actually goes to the on-the-ground appraiser.

It's not an arrangement that traditional appraisers -- who may have built long-term relationships with brokers and lenders -- like. "They want appraisers to produce a product and we provide a professional service," complained Francois Gregoire, a Saint Petersburg, Florida, veteran appraiser. "And they want it turned around in 24 or 48 hours. All those personal relationships that I built over the years are out the window."

Gregoire, who has stopped doing mortgage appraisals because he says they are no longer profitable, asserts that the new rules are resulting in a reliance on appraisers who are inexperienced and willing to travel significant distances to conduct those home inspections. And that results in appraisals that are less sensitive to neighborhood nuance, and less useful to borrowers and lenders.

Borrowers are watching their "locked in" low rates expire -- while they pay for one appraisal after another. Lenders are afraid to trust the appraisals they get, and are ordering more and more of them. Underwriters want more comparables. They want more narrative and more photos. Meanwhile the clock is tick tick ticking on your loan. The appraisers themselves say they're being paid less to work faster in a more confusing market than they've ever faced.
The lenders say they are just playing defense, in order to ensure that the value of the collateral supports the loan amount.

The biggest issue for appraisers, lenders and ultimately, borrowers, is how to evaluate properties in neighborhoods with foreclosures, short sales, and not enough solid sales to provide comparable data. The question becomes, when appraising a market that is so volatile and different from anything ever seen, with one-third of the neighborhood in foreclosures, and another third is short sales, and another third is regular, how do you even determine what is fair market value?

Many mortgage brokers contend that appraisers should mark up the value of homes when comparing them to foreclosures and short sales, because many of those distressed properties are in disrepair or are so complicated to buy that they command unrealistically low prices.

Further complicating the process, appraisers who for years mainly faced pressure to preserve deals, now are facing pressure in the other direction from lenders who want to make sure they have enough equity to cover them even if home prices fall further. Mortgage rates have been near record-low levels, and lenders don't want to commit to bargain rate deals unless they are a sure thing.

Home buyers and refinancers can't always fight the troubling appraisal. Pros are telling consumers to peer carefully over the shoulders of those appraisers. It's important to look at the comparable sales that were used, and if you don't think they are reflective of market, make the lender aware of that, and be more involved in the process.

If an appraisal comes in too low, you can appeal it, and order up (and pay for) another one. However, as many have found out, you still may not be able to get the loan you want.

On December 2, several U.S. regulatory agencies issued new guidelines for appraisals used in mortgages which originate from federally regulated banks, along with a statement noting "financial institutions are responsible for selecting appraisers and people performing evaluations based on their competence, experience, and knowledge of the market and type of property being valued." The statement also noted that these guidelines might be rewritten once again, once the Fed's rules are made final.

Source: Linda Stern, Reuters

Highly Anticipated 2012 Crystal Ball Conference

Where, on November 3rd, will you find 600 of the top thought leaders in the real estate market, as well as the top 25 brokers and the top 50 agents in Arizona? At our Crystal Ball Conference! You won't want to miss this amazing event!

For the first time in history, every major bank, servicer, and asset manager will be participating on a speakers’ panel, sharing their thoughts regarding the future of distressed property in Arizona for the next 12 months.

This is the most highly anticipated real estate event of the year! You’ll gain insight into how servicers and banks are liquidating property in Arizona. New programs, philosophies and trends of the Arizona distressed market will be discussed. Inside tips and information on how to navigate the REO short sale and pre-foreclosure market will be shared.

The illustrious panel includes:

Bill Borda, Senior Vice President with Bank of America’s Short Sale, Deed In Lieu and Real Estate Owned organization. Bill’s team is responsible for gathering voice of customer data and using that data as a catalyst for process, policy and technology changes to close more short sale transactions and improve the real estate agent and homeowner experience. Bill’s team is also responsible for conducting education on the Bank of America short sale process for real estate agents.

Bill has been with Bank of America for 12 years and served in a variety of sales, marketing and process design roles at the bank. His key accomplishments within the Home Loans organization include building a broker loyalty program, transitioning more than 5,000 banking centers from a mortgage origination channel to a referral channel and earning his Six Sigma Greenbelt Certification. Bill is a graduate of the University of Delaware and earned a Masters of Business Administration from the University of North Carolina Charlotte. He is based in Charlotte, NC, where he lives with his wife and four children.

Alex Charfen, Co-founder of the Charfen Institute, LLC, is an entrepreneur, teacher, author, speaker—and is on a mission. Has made a career out of helping agents grow their businesses by learning to cope with shifting markets and better serving their clients. Since the Institute's inception in January 2008, tens of thousands of real estate professionals have attended his education courses and achieved the Certified Distressed Property Expert® (CDPE) designation, making it the fastest-growing designation in real estate industry history.

Charfen Institute continues to set the pace for the real estate industry by leading the next wave in the market – real estate investment. The company made history again in October 2010 when it launched the only designation specifically addressing the needs of residential real estate investor clients, the Certified Investor Agent Specialist™ (CIAS) Designation.

The CIAS Designation trains real estate agents to find, create, and close with residential real estate investors, providing the necessary tools and strategies to help them make sound investment decisions for their future.


Reginald H. Givens, Foreclosure Assistance Administrator with the Arizona Department of Housing. Currently Reginald is working on the implementation and continuing development of the State’s foreclosure prevention program, Save Our Home AZ, which is part of the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Hardest Hit Fund.

Reginald successfully coordinated the State’s Your Way Home AZ program which is part of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Additionally, Reginald works on the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling program, designed to help homeowners facing foreclosure by providing them with much needed loss mitigation counseling. Through the combination of these programs, Reginald is helping to bring stability back to our housing market.


Bob Hora, Short Sale, Deed In Lieu, Real Estate Owned, BAC Field Services & LandSafe Default Executive for Legacy Asset Servicing, Bank of America Home Loans, one of the world’s leading financial services companies and the nation’s leading mortgage servicer. He leads a team of approximately 5,000 associates dedicated to assisting customers with property liquidation and foreclosure prevention strategies.

Mr. Hora has more than 27 years of leadership experience in the financial industry. Most recently, he served as Vice President and Officer for Default Management at Fannie Mae. In this role, he was responsible for supporting Fannie Mae’s servicing portfolio managing loss mitigation caseloads and preferred loss mitigation strategies, as well as managing foreclosure, bankruptcy, and retained attorney activities and related third-party support.

Prior to joining Fannie Mae, Hora was Senior Vice President at GMAC ResCap. His responsibilities included managing the special servicing and subprime loss mitigation platform for first and second liens, including instituting the HAMP program.

JK Huey, Senior Vice President REO and Short Sale, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage REO and Short Sale, headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. In her role, Huey is directly responsible for managing all REO, Short Sale and Deed-in-Lieu activities for the servicing channel.

Huey, a 29-year veteran of the mortgage industry, joined Wells Fargo in 2009. Prior to joining Wells Fargo, she was the servicing manager at IndyMac Bank and held senior management positions with Washington Mutual and HomeSide Lending. Huey has managed Customer Service, Default Management, Escrow Administration, Cash Management, Investor Reporting, Acquisitions and Retail Production.

Along with being a Certified Mortgage Banker, Accredited Mortgage Professional, a member of the MORPAC and Loan Administration Steering Committees with the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, Huey was the President of the Texas Mortgage Bankers Association from 1998-1999, the past Chairman of multiple committees, and the recipient of the Young Mortgage Banker of the Year in 1992.

Brent Taggart, Senior Vice President of business development and client relations at Green River Capital LC (GRC), a leading REO asset management and loss mitigation provider.

The real estate and mortgage trading industries are familiar ground for Taggart, who has more than 14 years experience. Before joining GRC, Taggart was the SVP of trading at 406 Partners where he was responsible for pricing, business development, and client management. He also worked for Credit Suisse in New York, where he managed pricing, due diligence, portfolio management and the portfolio’s servicing oversight as vice president of Scratch and Dent Trading.

Taggart began his career at Fairbanks Capital Corp., where he discovered a penchant for the mortgage business and began to learn the fundamentals of default servicing. He quickly moved up the company from operations to the analytics department, becoming a senior analyst who meticulously dissected large data sets for clients as well as the senior executive team and served on the Pricing Committee.

Facebook Best Practices

We previously shared 5 of our 20 Facebook best practices and today we share the next 15 best practices.

#6: Put a fan page widget on your blog or website: You’d be amazed at how many people simply don’t know about your fan page. Putting it on your website (i.e., your home base) will get it in front of all of your website visitors. My favorite example of this is from Klout. It got me to Like them!

#7: Customize your fan page URL: Vanity URLs are a fantastic way to make your fan page memorable. Check this awesome fan page http://facebook.com/awesomefanpage. Vanity, baby!

#8: Put your fan page URL on your business cards: Combine offline and online by letting the people you meet IRL know about your fan page.

#9: Put a link on your personal Facebook profile: Put this under the “links” section. This is a “soft sell” of sorts, letting your friends passively know about your page. You might have forgotten that people actually check that part of your profile!

#10: Harness the power of your team: Have everyone in your organization put your fan page link on their personal profile.

#11: Ask fans to post a link: Ask all of your current fans to post a link to the fan page on their personal profile. As long as you don’t ask this often, I’ve found that people love to help out. Leverage the power of your existing audience and get results! For instance, at Monk Development, we simply asked everyone to post a link to our company fan page on the same day. We doubled our average daily Likes because of one simple step.

#12: Put a tag in your YouTube videos: If you make compelling videos as a part of your content marketing strategy, throw in a well-timed fan page link at the end of your YouTube videos. The Gregory Brothers, the geniuses behind “Auto-tune the News,” are some of the best social marketers around. They always include a link to their fan page (and other social networks) at the end of every video and make it a welcome addition to their content.

#13: Put your fan page URL on your Twitter profile background: Lots of tweeters still use the web-based version and your profile background is a prime piece of web real estate. Cross-advertise and use one social network to promote another! CenturyLink does a great job of this. If you go to their Twitter page, you can clearly see where their fan page is located. They don’t make you guess, which leads to conversions!

#14: QR codes for your page: I bought the furniture for our house mostly because the store used QR codes to get me to their fan page. Once I got to the fan page, I was welcomed with a custom landing page that welcomed me to the store. It wasn’t elaborate, but it was creative and it worked! They engaged me as a customer both online (QR code leading to fan page) and offline (sales agents in the store), making sure I knew I was welcome. Smart!

#15: Use your fan page: Use the “Tell Your Fans” feature. With the tools built in to the fan page, Facebook allows you to import a contact file or import your contacts from Hotmail, Yahoo, etc. Good for when you’re just starting out and want to tell people you already know.

#16: Add a Like box: Place this in your blog/website sidebar. This is a given. A must. But when you do this, make sure you set the options to include face pile. That way, your Like box will show your readers how many of their friends like the page as well. Genius.

#17: Use targeted keywords in a Google AdWords: Use a keyword-based ad and direct people to your fan page. This is like Facebook ads on steroids. If you’ve never used AdWords before, it’s fairly straightforward.

#18: Redirect your webinar guests to your fan page: If you use GoToWebinar, you can choose to send registrants to a URL of your choosing after they sign up. This is where you let them know of the awesomeness that is your fan page.

#19: Put your fan page URL in your Keynote/PowerPoint slides: When I present, the last slide I show is my contact info, complete with our organization’s fan page. Most people are already on Facebook, so it’s a no-brainer to give them an easy way to connect with you.

#20: Last, and certainly least, invite all of your friends (if you must): This is at the end for a reason. Pester your friends only as the nuclear option. I’ve given you 19 other ways to let people know about your fan page. Give your friends a break!

Don’t let the list stop there. There are hundreds of different ways to let people know about what you and your online community are up to on Facebook. Why not get creative and start a list of your own? What are some of the most interesting ways you’ve seen people or businesses promote their fan page? Let us know; share what you’ve found!


Source: Social Media Examiner, Justin Wise

Now is the Time to Buy and Hold Real Estate

As part of our Guest Blogger series we're pleased to introduce James Guajardo, Managing Partner with Arizona Equity Partners LLC. James provides his insights on the Arizona investment market.

Dow Jones Loses More than 500 Points August 4th 2011 yet Arizona is a “Bull Market” in Single Family Cash Flow Investments..
National investment strategists eye the Arizona single family cash flow investment market.

Now is the time to buy and hold real estate. Why? Rent rates are stable and the ability to buy single family homes at liquidated values makes for very promising investment returns of up to 25% not including the future appreciation potential plus depreciation expense on your taxes!

How does this make for a perfect real estate investment market? Answer: The increase in foreclosures and the tightening of lending standards has created the greatest opportunity for positive cash flow investments in our lifetime.

This decade long cycle will have long term financial impact on our next generation of college graduates as well as current baby boomers who are renting and not buying.

So, which side of the fence are you on?


James Guajardo
Managing Partner
Arizona Equity Properties LLC
www.azequityproperties.com
480-588-2211 ext. 9