About Miami's Kendall

BORROWER BEWARE…

…of APPRAISAL MANAGEMENT COMPANIES

What is an Appraisal Management Company (or AMC)?

There is an appraisal code of conduct that all Lenders must follow, called the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (or HVCC). Many lenders have created, or have an equitable interest in, AMCs as a way to profit off of the HVCC rules by forcing appraisals to be ordered through the AMC of their choice. This is done at the borrower’s expense.

AMCs get to keep more than half the money for the appraisal, and the actual appraiser doing all of the work gets the balance. Most AMCs charge $400-$450 per appraisal, and the individual appraiser gets an average of $150-$200 for doing all the work. The AMC simply profits the balance while not doing any work or even being a licensed appraisal company. This has led to less than adequate appraisal reports. Many individual appraisers refuse to join an AMC because of lack of payment equal to the job required.

There is no licensing requirement to own an AMC!

The forced use of the AMCs by lenders is under tremendous public and private scrutiny. It is being reviewed by the Government and HUD with the potential to remove the HVCC code completely from the reverse mortgage industry. Most importantly, YOU as a homeowner can not even order your own appraisal other than for personal use. It will not be accepted by any LENDER because it was not ordered by the Lender at an AMC of THEIR choosing.

Little pay + No accountability = Bad finished product = low appraised value for the client, YOU

How are we different? We ARE the Lender!

We pick our appraisal system we want to use. We are NOT forced into AMCs. We maintain 100% compliance with the Home Valuation Code of Conduct. HUD clearly specified in its Mortgagee Letter 2009-28 that, “FHA does not require the use of AMCs or other 3^rd party organizations for appraisal ordering.”

How do we order appraisals? Our advantage is your advantage!

We have a random rotation of appraisers that we have done business with in the past, they all provide superior service, and are all licensed and insured and fully HVCC compliant. We have absolute trust that they will give our clients the actual value and best possible service that can be delivered. WE DO NOT USE AMCs! This provides a high level of local knowledge and work product, especially since all of the money you pay goes to the individual appraiser themselves.

I feel that this will provide the best possible work product for you. I have case studies and client testimonials that can confirm that the use of a non AMC appraisal will deliver better quality than lenders that require AMCs.

How can you be sure this is true? It’s all on the internet…

All of this can be researched online. Just look for blogs or articles from Realtors, Appraisers, and Mortgage Professionals complaining about AMCs that have made their clients lose properties or mortgages. The idea and concept of the AMC has been an incredibly disappointing change that is not required by HUD but being forced by the individual lenders. This is single handedly hurting homeowners, like yourself, with unjust and sub par work product.

Thank you for taking to time to learn more about how the process will work for you!

Home Tweet Home…Using social media is no longer simply a hobby for Real Estate & Mortgage Professionals who are more technically inclined; rather it has become the backbone of marketing for many. For those of us on Active Rain, we have seen the power of blogging as one part in the social media frenzy. But there are others like Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, and more.

Twitter can be used in many ways to gain new clients, which came as a huge surprise to me. How can writing a sentence on Twitter bring you client? I always hear about famous people tweeting an update about themselves, like football players saying they are injured or moving to another city via trade. But it seems that Twitter has many aspects that can improve your business as well.

Whether it be tweeting about your location or buildings and areas that you specialize in or farm, or using twitter’s marketing avenues to find when someone is tweeting about your farm area. You can look for people using certain keywords like the ones in bold inside this tweet: “On my way to get a mortgage pre-approval in Miami,” or “I’m finally ready to buy a house.” This would be a great signal to a Realtor that maybe they need to contact this person. Either way, it’s a great tool to be able to gain new buyers, borrowers, or clientele. There are even Twitter networking events where people write posts to each other while all logged in at the same time. It’s almost twilight zone type stuff, a bunch of people interacting virtually as opposed to being in the same room together for networking.

Facebook is one that can be used not only for farming your friends, but also as a way to branch out to others in any demographic you choose. I have used the pay per click ads on Facebook and had many hits and new people who “like” my Reverse Mortgage Expert site. I will admit that I am not using FB to its fullest potential, but as I grow and learn it will be part of everything I do.

I recently read an article in the Miami Herald (also the source of the title of this blog) and it mentioned how some South Florida Real Estate agents are using Foursquare as a way to generate clients. One in particular has spent the better part of a year building his profile on Foursquare, which is a location based platform. He has become “Mayor” of several condo buildings, which means that when a potential buyer goes on Foursquare and looks for properties that they find that Realtor immediately. Wouldn’t this make you look like the expert for that building?

Here are some examples where the future of technology and social media will take us. I recently attended a free Johnnie Walker tasting (very nice!), and to check in you needed to answer a survey on one of the 20 or so iPads they had outside the entrance. I thought to myself, this is the future of events and marketing. Then I read an article in the Miami Herald that talked about a cocktail/open house event at a condo building in Downtown Miami. At this event, about 500 guests were directed to become fans on the building’s facebook page on computers inside the building. The building’s marketing manager predicted 5 news sales from those 500 people, mostly Real Estate agents. Of course, they realize that keeping those fans top of mind is what would achieve that success, and the platform is facebook.

Up to now I have not gone full force into any of these except for blogging on Active Rain. I have my website up and running, so now I need to focus on the other areas of Social Media and my Wordpress blog. As a Reverse Mortgage Lender, there is very little competition in the social media landscape. This is very fortunate for me because that means there is more for the taking. But it also means that the few of us who are here must pioneer ways to navigate social media and make it work.

So the term Home Sweet Home has a new ring to it, and Home Tweet Home is more fitting in today’s age of social media and internet driven marketing.

The value limit, or loan limit, for the Reverse Mortgage has been extended again. In February 2009, President Obama signed the stimulus package, which included an increase in the Reverse Mortgage loan limits. Well not really the loan limit, but the value we use to then figure the loan amount was increased by 150%. The value limit had previously been set at $417,000, and the new limit is $625,500. This was supposed to expire at the end of 2009, and then was extended until the end of 2010. Now congress has signed another extension lasting 9 more months, which should finally come to an end at the close of Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, or October 1, 2011.

I truly hope that this isn’t the case. The raised loan limit has helped me close several clients with higher home values, which means more people with the need can take advantage of the Reverse Mortgage Program. Here in South Florida, there are many people will with $1,000,000 homes or 600k, 700k, or 800k homes. There are people who are 62+ in these homes and either need or want to be able to use the Reverse Mortgage. There may be areas in the United State that won’t be affected by this, but South Florida will absolutely be one of those that ARE affected. This is a sector of the population that also has needs, and this limit should not come back down.

If you would like to see how much you could receive with today’s rates and limits if you were to do the Reverse Mortgage, please click on the link below. I will get back to you as soon as possible:

REVERSE MORTGAGE CALCULATOR

What a seesaw ride the last few months have been in the Reverse Mortgage Industry. Much of the news has been doom and gloom. First, we waited for congress to sign the $250 Million appropriation that FHA was asking for, but it never came. FHA needed this money to supplement and diminishing Mortgage Insurance Fund, but congress only allowed for $150M and then reduced it to $140M. This in turn caused FHA to announce that they would lower the Principal Limit for Reverse Mortgages a second year in row.

What exactly does this mean?

In 2009, FHA announced a 10% reduction of the loan amount that a borrower receives for the Reverse Mortgage starting FY 2010 (which was Oct 1, 2010). So imagine falling values only compounded by a lower amount that can be used for seniors in need, but wait cause it gets worse! Then because of the failed appropriation I mentioned above FHA was talking about another reduction for FY 2011 to be anywhere from 5% to 20% in addition to the FY2010 reduction of 10%.

WHOA!!! WAIT A MINUTE!!! UP TO 20%???

Fortunately, this did not happen, but imagine what would have happened to the people who NEED the Reverse Mortgage and couldn’t do it! So finally FHA said it would be a sliding scale based on age. Those who are 62 would get about a 2-3% reduction and those in their 80s and 90s would get 7-10% reductions. Not bad considering the majority of Reverse Mortgages is now done by people in their 60s & 70s.

BETTER NEWS!

Then only 2 weeks before FY 2011 (Oct 4, 2010) FHA announced a drop in the “floor rate.” OK, another explanation. The rate of 5.5% would give the borrower the highest possible loan amount or highest percentage of their value. If you went lower it didn’t change the amount they receive, but if you went higher they would get less. So by dropping the floor rate to 5.0% the borrower can now get even more money or a higher percentage of their value. IF YOU HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING ME AT ALL AND YOUR EYES HAVE NOT ROLLED TO THE BACK OF YOUR HEAD, YOU WILL REALIZE THAT THIS WAS/IS A VERY VERY GOOD THING!

So with all the doom and gloom, the outcome was even better than if there were no change at all. Borrowers are actually getting higher percentages in FY 2011 than they were n FY 2010, but not as much as in FY 2009. Well, I can’t have my cake and eat it too, so I will be happy with the changes. The only downside is that the cost of the Reverse Mortgage's yearly MIP has increased, but this was also almost completely offset by the rate reduction.

SO,

A Reverse Mortgage now gives you more than before = GOOD NEWS!

If you would like to see how much you could receive with today’s rates and limits if you were to do the Reverse Mortgage, please click on the following link. I will get back to you as soon as possible:

REVERSE MORTGAGE CALCULATOR

Thanks!

In February 2009, President Obama signed the stimulus package, which included an increase in the Reverse Mortgage loan limits. Well not really the loan limit, but the value we use to then figure the loan amount was increased by 150%. The value limit had previously been set at $417,000, and the new limit is $625,500. This was supposed to expire at the end of 2009, and then was extended until the end of 2010. Now congress has signed another extension lasting 9 more months, which should finally come to an end at the close of Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, or October 1, 2011.

I truly hope that this isn’t the case. The raised loan limit has helped me close several clients with higher home values, which means more people with the need can take advantage of the Reverse Mortgage Program. Here in South Florida, there are many people will with $1,000,000 homes or 600k, 700k, or 800k homes. There are people who are 62+ in these homes and either need or want to be able to use the Reverse Mortgage. There may be areas in the United State that won’t be affected by this, but South Florida will absolutely be one of those that ARE affected. This is a sector of the population that also has needs, and this limit should not come back down.

If you would like to see how much you could receive with today’s rates and limits if you were to do the Reverse Mortgage, please click on the link below. I will get back to you as soon as possible:

REVERSE MORTGAGE CALCULATOR