Idaho

Great Day in North Idaho!

03-09-12

Patsy Barten REALTOR Post Falls ID: Real Estate Agent in Post Falls, ID

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Office: (208) 818-6622

Progress on Frontier Ice Arena What a great day in North Idaho! Frontier Ice Arena has met the financial goal with the last $14,000 donation coming in the past week.

Work at completing the ice arena which is at 90% completion and is now moving forward towards opening day in June 2012. Our community has lots of kids and adults waiting to get on the ice to skate, play hockey and broom-ball. This new facility has space for birthday parties and other get-togethers so if you can remember to book your parties here at the ice arena it will help as they get up and running.

Frontier Ice Arena is located just off Seltice Way and Atlas in Coeur d’Alene and will be serving all the areas in North Idaho. This is such a great addition to our community as the traveling hockey teams come from all over the Pacific North West and will help our local economy. Will advise as to the opening day as soon as the information becomes available.

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Seasons of Sandpoint, Idaho - A Photographic Journal: Schweitzer Mountain Ski Resort

03-09-12

Gary Lirette-Sandpoint Real Estate

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Office: (208) 255-3474

Mobile: (208) 610-1384
Secondary: (800) 282-6880

This series of blog entries features the various seasons in and around Sandpoint, Idaho. Sandpoint, North Idaho, Schweitzer Mountain Ski Resort, and Lake Pend Oreille have been featured in the national news repeatedly over the last several years. Autumn of 2011 found Sandpoint, Idaho being voted America's Most Beautiful Small Town by Rand McNally, and in the winter of 2011/2012 Schweitzer Mountain Ski Resort was named the Best Ski Resort of the Season byUSA Today/Rand McNally.

Real Estate in Sandpoint has been on the rise approximately 7% a year for three years, much in part due to the decrease in pricing. That being said, I have had some success in the area of waterfront sales in Sandpoint finding great values for my clients.

I am Gary Lirette, REALTOR® for Tomlinson Sotheby's International Realty in Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene. I am also the host of the North Idaho Business radio show and the North Idaho Arts & Adventure radio show broadcast on the North Idaho Talk Radio Network. Locally, we are heard on KSPT 1400 AM in Bonner and Kootenai counties and KBFI 1450 AM in Boundary County and Canada.

These pictures are part of my hobbies of hiking, climbing, and biking. My pictures were featured prominently in this year's Sandpoint Visitor's Guide, and I have contributed pictures to all area Chambers of Commerce. This particular series features Schweitzer Mountain Ski Resort, January, 2012.

This year, Schweitzer Mountain Ski Resort was chosen as this year's best ski resort by USA Today and Rand McNally. This follows being named one of the Nation's Five Best Towns and America's Most Beautiful Small Town by Rand McNally in July as reported by ABC. Plus, just last month, Sandpoint was named to the Best Old House Neighborhoods 2012: Small Towns. Not a bad place to be.

When you are looking for a REALTOR®, you should want a local business owner and someone who is very connected to the community. Few here have interviewed over 1,200 business leaders, characters, charities, politicos, etc. My experience with the hidden gems of North Idaho, as well as intricate knowledge of this slice of paradise makes me your logical choice.

I hope you enjoy the pictures in this series.

Entering Schweitzer Mountain Ski Resort

View from Switchback #5 before entering Schweitzer Mountain Ski Resort

Schweitzer Mountain has over 2,600 skiable acres

Schweitzer Village

Skiing Schweitzer Mountain

The views of Lake Pend Oreille are spectacular from Schweitzer Mountain

Lots to do on Schweitzer Mountain

Sandpoint, Idaho, America's Most Beautiful Small Town below Schweitzer

If you have questions about North Idaho Waterfront or Sandpoint Lake Pend Oreille property, give me a call.

Gary Lirette, REALTOR®
Tomlinson Sotheby's International Realty
208-610-1384
garyplirette@gmail.com

or visit

www.SandpointID.net
www.SkiSchweitzer.net
www.LakePendOreille.org

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Seasons of Sandpoint, Idaho - A Photographic Journal: January 2012, 6th Edition

03-08-12

Gary Lirette-Sandpoint Real Estate

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Office: (208) 255-3474

Mobile: (208) 610-1384
Secondary: (800) 282-6880

I hope you enjoy the pictures in this series.

Schweitzer Mountain Ski Resort above Sandpoint and Lake Pend Oreille

The Torchlight Parade on Schweitzer Mountain begins

Fireworks on Schweitzer Mountain

If you have questions about North Idaho Waterfront or Sandpoint Lake Pend Oreille property, give me a call.

Gary Lirette, REALTOR®
Tomlinson Sotheby's International Realty
208-610-1384
garyplirette@gmail.com

or visit

www.SandpointID.net
www.SkiSchweitzer.net
www.LakePendOreille.org

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Las Vegas loses standing as mortgage-fraud capital

03-07-12

Suzi Boyle

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Office: (208) 321-4300

Mobile: (208) 859-3303
Secondary: (888) 735-7326

Las Vegas loses standing as mortgage-fraud capital

Posted: Feb. 29, 2012 | 2:01 a.m.

Las Vegas, once identified as "ground zero" for mortgage fraud, is no longer among the nation's top five regions for mortgage fraud per capita, according to an analysis by CoreLogic, a consumer financial information and research firm.

The CoreLogic Fraud Index shows that overall fraud risk for the mortgage industry has stabilized nationally and remained flat throughout 2010 and most of 2011, said Tim Grace, senior vice president of data and analytics at CoreLogic.

Nevada has been supplanted by California, Florida, New York, Illinois and North Carolina as the top-ranked states for mortgage fraud, according to the Santa Ana, Calif.-based company.

The flat trend is continuing into 2012 based on early indications from the index, Grace said.

"Like all criminal activity, mortgage fraud never completely goes away," he said. "It can be difficult for buyers and sellers to see fraud because it's often perpetrated behind the scenes."

Advances in fraud detection technology and a strong focus on mortgage fraud by banks and law enforcement agencies curbed the fraud growth that spiked in 2007, Grace said.

CoreLogic estimated that fraud-related residential mortgage originations totaled $7.4 billion in 2011, a decrease of nearly 40 percent from $12 billion in 2010.

Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto formed a Mortgage Fraud Strike Force in 2009 to take action against predatory "mortgage rescue" companies and individuals claiming to offer services to stop foreclosures. Since its inception, the task force has successfully investigated and prosecuted numerous cases.

Still, home sellers and buyers must protect themselves from mortgage scams, Grace said. Sellers should get more than one opinion on the value of their home from qualified sources before accepting an offer, especially an unsolicited offer, he said.

"Buyers should beware of get-rich schemes involving real estate investment," he said. "We also encourage all consumers to check their credit reports for unauthorized accounts."

The most prevalent types of mortgage fraud identified by CoreLogic are undisclosed debt obligations, inflated property values, misrepresentation of assets, false or stolen identity used to apply for a loan, and misrepresentation of income or employment.

Rick Piette, manager of Premier Mortgage Lending in Las Vegas, said mortgage fraud proliferated in Las Vegas during the "weird" years of 2004 to 2008, when just about anybody who could fog a mirror was getting a loan.

"I think the elimination of the low-doc loan is the main thing that helped fix the problem," Piette said. "When the borrower had the ability to just walk in and state his income and assets, it just opened up the box. Now we verify absolutely everything."

Piette said he's starting to see more companies improperly fixing credit reports to qualify borrowers for loans. They'll dispute a debt with credit rating agencies such as TransUnion and TRW, and get someone into a home loan during the 90-day appeal period when the problem doesn't show on their credit report, he said.

Mortgage fraud is also starting to show up in short sales, or lender-approved sales for less than the principal balance, which accounts for about one-fourth of existing home sales in Las Vegas.

Fast, highly profitable reselling, commonly known as "flipping," can occur when lenders are unaware of higher offers on a property or the buyer has initiated resale before completing the initial short sale.

A 2011 short-sale research study by CoreLogic estimated unnecessary losses related to risky short sales at $375 million annually. Alerts of potential property fraud grew 262 percent last year, likely due to an increase in short-sale fraud, Grace said.

For example, a borrower owes $120,000 on a home with a market value of $100,000. Rather than go to foreclosure, the bank agrees to sell the home at market rates. The listing agent gets an offer of $97,000, but tells the bank the only interest came from an investor willing to pay $85,000.

In the first transaction, the bank sells the property to a "straw buyer," often an associate of the listing agent, for $85,000. The straw buyer then sells to the actual buyer for $97,000. The $12,000 difference is shared between the agent and straw buyer, with the bank suffering the loss.

Las Vegas is target-rich for short-sale fraud, Grace said. CoreLogic's 2011 U.S. Housing and Mortgage Trends report shows Las Vegas leads the nation in loans that are 90 days delinquent (25.4 percent) and third in the nation for mortgages that exceed current property value (25.1 percent

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Eagle Idaho Parade Home Tour

03-07-12

Trey Langford (BuildIdaho.com)

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Office: (208) 724-9636

Mobile: (208) 724-9636

This home tour of John Flaherty's 2010 Parade home in The Shores is a great example of elegance and luxury. I walked this home back then and if i remember it sold in just weeks after completion. John is currently building two custom homes. If you are looking for a custom home builder with expansive experience and a long list of successes, give John Flaherty a call.

Learn more about

Flaherty Custom Homes in Eagle Idaho

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