Ken Montville -- the MD Suburbs of DC

It's not what you know....

You know the rest of that saying, right? Well, through the magic of Active Rain and one of my Outside Blogs, I got to know New Jersey Home Stager Extraordinaire and Social Media Maven, Juliet Johnson. Who knew it would eventually turn into an appearance on Blog Talk Radio?

Sure. It's not exactly Oprah but, hey, it was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the banter with Juliet and the other guest, New Jersey heavy hitter, Robert Northfield.

Hey, I know you're dying to give it a listen. I mean, who wouldn't be? Here's the link: just Click Here and you can hear Juliet's wonderful British voice introduce moi.

For some of us who can remember the days when FHA mortgages were to be avoided like the plague it almost seems like a quaint notion that Sellers and Buyers didn't have to worry about appraisers coming in behind home inspectors to do a home inspectors job. The FHA, it seems, wants its appraisers to hunt down "health and safety" issues in addition to their regular job which is simply to ascertain value for the mortgage company or bank.

This may be all to the good in a "normal" market. When the market is a hot Seller's market, no one touches FHA because of the dreaded appraisal issues. Even if the Seller is willing to make repairs or provide a Buyer credit because of the results of a thorough home inspection, they may have to make more repairs - non-negotiable repairs - because of an appraisal. So FHA went by the wayside during the huge selling frenzy of the early 21st Century.

As a result, FHA toned down their requirements for appraisers to look under every nook and cranny to find "health and safety" issues. It seemed that FHA wanted to attract borrowers back into the fold. No more dreaded VC sheets. Only the most glaring issues would show up on the appraisal.

Fast forward to today. FHA is about the only mortgage available to moderate income (mostly first-time) home buyers. If a home buyer doesn't qualify for a VA mortgage then FHA is the way to go. Lenders really like the government backing and borrowers like the low down payment and flexible credit guidelines.

However, now the monster appraiser is back on the scene!

Even though most of the homes that are available to moderate income (mostly first-time) home buyers fall into the bank-owned or short sale category, the FHA appraiser is out there looking for chipping paint and loose handrails so that the buyer will need to jump through hoops, dance a merry jig and stand one their head clucking like a chicken in order to get to settlement. Oh! Since appraisers are so busy nowadays with the new and improved re-finance boom, they don't get their report in to the lender until the week before settlement.

Why does the buyer have to worry about this? After all the "health and safety" issues in the appraisal are supposed to protect the buyer.

It's because in the case of bank-owned homes or short sales, the seller is not going to make any repairs, let alone something an appraiser found. Home inspections are performed for "informational purposes only" and allow one decision to be made after an inspection -- move forward or void the contract. So, in 99% of the cases out there the Seller isn't going to do anything so the buyer needs to get into the house to touch up the paint or install a handrail or move a stove out of an "illegal" downstairs kitchen some previous owner installed for their mother-in-law or renters.

Then the appraiser needs to come back and "re-inspect" to make sure the house has been repaired properly. Gone are the days when the appraiser determined value. Now, in addition to jumping thorugh all the mortgage documentation and verification hoops, all the tighter, more stringent credit underwriting guidelines the buyer may need to do a little "fix-up" even before they go to settlement and move-in.

FHA is not kinder and gentler. Bank owned and short sales may not be "the deal" some people are looking for, especially if they have to do repairs before they own the house.

Has anyone noticed the proliferation of eBooks hitting cyberspace lately?

It has been said that everyone has at least one book in them. It seems that with the advent of superior desktop publishing tools and Adobe Acrobat that, yes, everybody, indeed, has a book in them and sometimes two or three or four.

Don't get me wrong. Some of the information conveyed in the eBooks is timely and useful. Some are even written well. However, I find eBooks to be even more difficult to read than "real" books that come with paper and binding and everything. Sure, I know I can print out the eBook to read it (as long as it isn't attached to an e-mail that says, "Please consider the environment before printing..."). But reading an eBook on 8.5" x 11" paper from my computer printer vs a nice trade or mass market sized paperback just isn't the same.

I suppose the cost is a factor. You can produce an eBook for pretty close to free and distribution is pretty close to free. I suppose that's why the vast majority of eBooks are given away for free.

"Sign up for my 'Make a Million in a Month' newsletter and get my free eBook: 'How to Make Two Million in Two Months' "

I've seen really cheesy, really short eBooks and I've seen full length, 200+ page properly formatted eBooks. I've seen them where they were very little text and very heavy on graphics and I've seen them with hundreds of URLs of supposedly relevant links to a variety of websites.

Here's the bottom line for me: I have the same amount of time to read an eBook as I do to read a "real" book. The difference is that with a "real" book I have some hope that it's been past an editor and proofreader. I can also kick back in my La-Z-Boy, read for awhile and then put a bookmark in it to catch up tomorrow.

Maybe I've been ruined. I'll red a blog post in a heartbeat if it seems interesting and isn't too long. I'll read about 25 - 40 pages in any one sitting with a "real" book. It's just something about reading an eBook on my computer screen or on letter size paper that doesn't do it for me.

Any opinions on eBooks? Authors and readers: shout it out!

Many months ago I wrote a blog post about why I didn't Twitter (or tweet or whatever). I couldn't understand the appeal. I mean, what can you say in 140 characters or less and who cares?

Well, since then I've been to my first REBar Camp in Fredericksburg, VA and got introduced to Twitter and why I should be there. So I signed on and started. Soon it almost became like a Facebook or Active Rain. It wasn't so much the content as it was the amount of information....and how many friends or points or, in the case of Twitter, followers could I accumulate?!?

Hey, I wasn't the most popular guy in high school and I mostly kept to myself in college but NOW I have gazillions of friends and more and more followers everyday. I'm sought after! I'm loved! It's almost better than AR points (almost).

Most of the folks both on Facebook and Twitter (that connect with me) are fellow real estate professionals. There may be a referral in there somewhere but I won't hold my breath. There are also a lot (and I mean a lot) of affiliate marketer types that want you to go to thier website and buy something, anything, so they can make a few pennies. ("See how I made $40,000 my first year!!!)

What I am finding out is that there is a whole industry around Twiiter. In the same way that SEO was the major buzzword of last month, this month it's anything that starts with a TW that can be used to optimize my presence on Twitter whether it's to get 20,000 followers in 90 days or check on my "influence" on Twitter or whatever. It's absolutely amazing.

All those computer science majors who holed up in the computer labs with their pocket protectors and taped together eyeglasses were not wasting their time. They are the ones making the big bucks today. Geeks are the studs (and studettes) of the 21st Century.

I'm still feeling my way around Twitter and trying to see how it can be used to grow my real estate business. I guess I'd like to "monetize" Twitter by getting it to help make me some money. I'm still real new to Twitter and I have to say I like Jeff Turner's approach to YEO (You Engaging Others) as seen on his AR blog as it pertains to social media, in general, and Twitter in particular. I met Jeff at the REBar Camp in Fredericksburg and he's a real down-to-earth guy and pretty knowledgeable, to boot.

Stay tuned. If I get really good at this thing maybe I'll write an eBook or something......

which is grist for my next blog post.

I admit it. I'm a bit on the cynical side. Lately, I've been overwhelmed with all this GREEN stuff that is floating all around and I'm not talking about money. I know Earth Day is coming up sometime this month but, geez, give me a break.

I'm really beginning to think this whole GREEN thing is taking on a lot of the aspects of the now debunked and defunct Adkins Diet. You remember that, don't you? Everybody and their brothers were on the thing. Companies were falling over one another to affiliate themselves with Adkins. The Adkins name was licensed to various food companies and all kinds of endeavors because, for whatever reason, the diet craze/fad just took off.

Now, it seems to me, the same thing is happening with GREEN. There are GREEN real estate designations (with NAR, of course, coming late to the party with their own "official" designation). Grocery stores are selling (not giving away) re-usable bags, the TV networks are all saying how GREEN they are (can't figure that one out).

The ones I love the best are the bills that come in the mail that tell me I should sign up for paperless invoicing (I did and they still send me the paper invoice) or the company where I hide what little stock portfolio I have left telling me I can get my statements on line (I signed up and they still send me paper anyway). Inside all these bills and statements are more little pieces of paper that tell me how GREEN they're being by doing this or that and then sending me a note about it on nice four color glossy paper.

I guess awareness is a great thing. Yet it seems we can't do anything without overdoing it in the extreme. Does anyone stop to think that by telling me over and over and over about how GREEN they are makes me even more suspicious and less trusting?

I guess not.

Happy Earth Day. Maybe we should change the name to GREEN day (oh, wait, the name's already taken by some punk band. sorry.)