Dan Chapman

I have been asked the question a fair amount over the years. “How do you get more referrals from your clients and referral relationships?” There are really several ways and I could say its complicated but it really is not. You can network and have several referral partners such as CPA’s, financial planners and realtors. I only work with a select few so the majority of my referral’s come from my clients. But the referral partners I do work with trust me and know when I am working with one of their clients, I make sure they are given first class service and advice. I have found over the past 11 years that being honest and treating clients the way I would want to be treated is of utmost importance. It’s really pretty simple when you look at it that way. It is important though to not treat them as another transaction but a real person who is important. Of course you must also be an expert in your business as well.

One of my favorite Business/Life books is The Go-Giver. In the book the authors Bob Burg and John David Mann cover the Five Laws of Stratospheric Success. The main characters in the book teach this young “Go Getter” named Joe how to open himself up to the power of giving. The first law is the Law of Value which says ” Your true worth is determined by how much more you Give in Value than you take in payment.” This is a great starting point to being successful in business. The law of value is really a great way to start so apply this law today! This is just the tip of the iceberg so to speak, part 2 coming soon.

Your Personal Lender,

Great news House Passed the extension of the Home buyers Tax Credit today.

By a margin of 409-5, the House of Representatives today passed a bill (H.R. 5623) that would extend the closing date for the first time homebuyer tax credits by three months to September 30, 2010. The Senate could vote on the bill as early as tomorrow.

The Senate voted Wednesday to give homebuyers another three months to settle on their contracts and take advantage of a popular tax credit that sparked a rush of activity in the housing market.

The Senate, with a vote of 60-37, accepted an amendment by Democratic Leader Harry Reid that extends the closing deadline to Sept. 30 for buyers who met the April 30 deadline to have a signed contract.

The current deadline requires buyers to close by June 30 to get the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers.

Existing homeowners buying a new primary residence are eligible for a $6,500 credit.

Reid offered the measure as an amendment to a bill that would extend some popular business tax breaks and extend unemployment insurance benefits for jobless workers.

The proposal would not have a significant impact on future home sales as the extension would be only for home buyers who already had a contract in hand by April 30.

The popularity of the tax credit has caused some anxiety because settlement offices are inundated with buyers trying to close on transactions by the end of this month to get the tax break

For those of you who have clients who are in contract on a property that was signed by April 30th you may be in luck if you are cutting it close to the June 30th deadline for the tax credit. Congress is considering an extension of the Home Buyer Tax Credit for those that are having trouble ( usually by no fault of their own) closing by the end of June.

This would be a huge relief for many borrowers and real estate agents who are having trouble because of a long drawn out short sale negotiations and issues on bank owned properties which are the big issues holding closings up right now. I have heard of nightmares of big banks like Wells fargo and Bank of America not being able to keep up with the huge rush to close these loans by June 30th too.

Check out the article below

http://tiny.cc/bnydk

The Federal Government's pressure to get loan servicers and investors to reduce homeowners loan balances is getting heavier but the two biggest owners of mortgages are not listening.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac who are controlled by the Government are not in the business of lowering the principal balance on the loans they own. They may modify your loan and lower the interest rate though. The Obama Administration has said they would require loan servicers to "consider" lowering balances on troubled homeowners mortgages.

Essentially Fannie and Freddie would have to use tax dollars to supplement the losses of the write downs. Is this fair? Should we pay for this over and over? It seems we are in more ways than one.

Keep in mind if you have a Fannie mae or Freddie Mac owned mortgage and your loan to value is maxed out you may still be able to refinance. They are allowing first mortgage refinances up to 105% loan to value and if you have a second up to 125% loan to value. This of course is a temporary program.