Real Estate Industry Blog

Did you know the word blog was recently the most looked-up word in Merriam Webster’s online dictionary? Clearly, people are interested in blogs – but why? The word blog is short for Weblog, and refers to a website that contains an online journal with views, reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer. A [...]

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and are now ready for the new year of 2009. I’m so ready for the new year, and embrace it with both arms wide open. I wanted to post the 3 properties I will be marketing as an REO property. I will have pictures shortly for these properties. [...]

Happy Holidays everyone. One of the most common objections I face in selling Top of Mind Networks comes from the “do it yourselfer” who prefers keeping CRM activity in-house.  What follows is a brief overview of the main reasons people typically give me for doing it themselves along with my rationale for outsourcing as much [...]

COUNTRYWIDE AND PROM. NOTES ARGH!!  I just finished about a 2 week long battle with Countrywide.  They wanted the Seller to sign a promissory note to approve the short sale.  This is of course after 3 months of getting to this point.  After going back and forth with them and begging and pleading my client’s [...]

Investors looking to add Florida homes to their portfolio should consider pulling the trigger sooner than later.  I say this with all candor as Florida home values are continuing to drop, but the cost of acquiring them may very well increase.  Great values are still out there to be found.  For example, there are a [...]

Florida Home Sales to Slow Through Superbowl Existing US homes inventory would take just about one year to clear out based on recent data showing the national ‘used homes” sales rate sitting below the 5-million unit mark – a stat that hasn’t been met in more than a year.  This is reflected here locally as [...]

We have now introduced our newest program that provides you Private Funds to use for Flipping A-B, B-C Short Sale and REO Transactions. You can negotiate a short sale with a profit spread and then line up a pre-approved buyer who has agreed to purchase the home. Then our Investor will provide the Cash to [...]

Many Real Estate professionals feel that open houses are too time-consuming. Frankly, they are time-consuming but is a great way to obtain many new buyer leads.  I can provide assistance as a mortgage professional on hand to field many questions for you regarding financing options. Even in a booming market, homes don’t sell themselves. I [...]

Press Release  Dec. 22,2008: Type A: A tendency towards tenseness, impatience, and aggressiveness. Type B: A tendency towards a relaxed manner, patience, and friendliness. Both of these personality types have their merits, and both tendencies exist in all of us to some degree. But when it comes to homebuyers, Type As are the ones you [...]

In nearly all things financial, watching for specific market trends really does pay off.  Take Florida mortgage rates today, for example – they’re way down as a result of the Fed’s most recent rate cut.  Normally they trend up when the Fed cuts its rate, but not in this case.  So, if you’ve been watching [...]

Yesterday, the Fed took an unprecedented move in dropping the Fed Funds rate to a range between zero and .25%. We have already started seeing interest rates near or below 5%. Interest rates have fallen to all-time lows. In the face of the declining economy, the Fed has pulled out all the stops to help [...]

I don’t think it’s right to just talk about success stories in a blog.  I think there’s just as much, if not more, to be learned with our failures. Top of Mind Networks’ Surefire System features a component we call our “One to One” email solution.  This solution features three email “Themes”, each with quarterly frequency: Theme #1:  [...]

When rates get down to where they are now, many Florida homeowners tied to higher rate adjustable or even fixed-ate mortgages seek refuge in a little something we here in the “High-fangled Florida Home Loan Financial Biz” like to call a Refinance. When you refinance your Florida mortgage, what you’re essentially doing is paying off [...]

I know this is something that us, that our Lakewood residents don’t want hear. I can tell you though that first time home-buyers are snatching up a lot of these properties. I also have investors calling me up to search for 2beds/1bath Single family homes here in Lakewood to rent out. These are not flip [...]

In order to understand the condition of the housing market it is important to understand some of the more common measures and indices used by economists who track its performance.  So, from time to time I will explain some of the more frequently cited indices.  A popular index used by the California Association of Realtors [...]

As you might be aware, many real estate companies are closing their doors or filing for bankruptcy as the real estate market has declined over the last year and a half.  Many Las Vegas Real Estate Firms were unable to get through the tough times financially as many of their real estate agents got out [...]

Distressed property listings in Orange County, California comprise 66% of the market.  This is divided between REO and short sale listings.REO listings for under the conforming loan limit of $417,000 are listed below market and are selling within a week with multiple offers.  Short sales are taking longer to get listings because buyers and selling [...]

Short sale success factor # 7 – fraud – Did you commit fraud in any way previously? Did you lie and/or exaggerate in any way on your loan application in any way? Did you default on your loan in the first six months? If you answered yes to any of these you either committed fraud [...]