Kevin Sandridge - Winter Haven Mortgage Broker

We see them every day... in fact it's almost as if a new Web 2.0 gadget or software tool gets pushed in front of us faster than we're able to take in and fully utilize the last one. In this post, I've selected five (5) tools I think will remain useful for a while, even if new and improved also-rans show up.

As Mortgage and Real Estate Professionals, we're concerned with two main concepts: Networking and Marketing - mostly as they go hand in hand. We count on these areas of our business for our survival! So, it’s easy to see how we can be lured by new technologies that promise to spread our good news, stuffed in warm and fuzzy envelopes, to the masses with ease.

In the end, what we realize is that it's not the tool, it's the professional that matters. Tiger could whip any one of us using the worst clubs on the market, because he works his ass off. Likewise, the guy with a base level LG will outperform you with your new 3G iPhone every day of the week if you expect that phone to do all the work for you!

I've chosen to talk a bit about Twitter. Mainly because I just love this damn tool. It may be little, but it's mighty! And everyone from tweens to corporate execs are using it to spread the good word about, well... whatever they want! The only way I can say it so you'll get it is this:

I GOT A FEEVA... AND THE ONLY THING THAT CAN CURE IT IS MORE TWITTA!

What is Twitter and... Most Importantly, How Can it Help Grow My Business?

First and foremost - like most good Web 2.0 apps - Twitter is a free. And free is good! This web-based “micro-blogging” service lets you blast 140 characters of text to folks who have elected to follow you - known in Twitter-speak as your “followers."

Your short messages - or, Tweets - jump into the "twitterverse" via the www.twitter.com website interface, via your cell phone, or through countless web-app add ons like Twitterfox, for example. Those folks you choose to "follow" can be tracked via your web browser, add-ons, your cell phone, through an RSS aggregator, and most likely 10 other sources I've failed to mention. Here’s a great video from our friend Lee Le Fever explainng a bit more about how Twitter works.

How it Benefits You

This one's easy. Twitter helps make you a real live person! "But I'm already a real live person!," you say. True - but do your clients and contacts truly see you that way? When they think of you, do they wonder how your kid did in her first ever soccer game as goalie? Do they even know you have a kid? True - some may not care. But some will.

This is a big deal, because much of what we know about social networking involves getting past the storefront and moving into the home front. Oh, and there's no reason you can't announce things like open houses (with links to well-written and engaging landing pages) or block parties you are hosting. Trust me, this level of connectivity with your clients... or even prospective customers will make sales for you at some point. It really does happen!

Will everything you "tweet" be awe inspiring and groundbreaking? Will each little bit of banter score you a new client? No. But remember, people do business with people they know. How well do your clients know you?

I bought my Winter Haven lakefront condo back in 2004 for under $90,000. Since then, it's market value has gone up as high as $150,000 and has fallen to as low as $109,000 since then. Thanks to the fact that my upper floor balcony looks over one of the biggest lakes in our chain of lakes system and will maintain its unobstructed view indefinitely (no more building allowed behind us), it's hovering in a moderately stable range of $129,000 to $139,000 at the moment.

I count myself as being very fortunate. When I bought the place, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Luckily, I was coached and mentored about the purchase by Linda Dees, of Mary Myers Realty - who I really need to thank more often for helping me find that place! Contact her via email, or by phone at (863) 206-3993. She offers phenomenal personal service of the highest caliber.

I have no idea what my equity picture will look like three to four years from now, but the good folks over at the Center for Economic and Policy Research do... at least for the Tampa Bay area - which is not too terribly far from me.

If you haven't seen it already, be sure to take a look at the CEPR's April 2008 report entitled The Cost of Maintaining Ownership in the Current Crisis: Comparisons in 20 Cities. It's a basic look at whether folks in specific markets would be better off getting out of their homes now versus taking what amount to some pretty hefty write downs over the next four years (depending on the area).

Tampa works out better than most metro areas surveyed. Based on this report, a family who purchased a lower-cost 3-bedroom home in Tampa in 2008 may expect to accumulate approximately $38,751 of equity in their home by 2012. Other cities posting positive equity numbers in four years include:

• Atlanta $46,314 in positive equity
• Cleveland $31,613 in positive equity
• Detroit $38,126 in positive equity
• Houston $65,525 in positive equity

Note: As James Thorner over at the (Un)Real Estate Blog states, the positive equity for Tampa, Florida works only if you purchased your home at around 75 percent of its median value, which for Tampa puts the price at approximately $150,000. Florida looks pretty healthy by 2012 (well, except for the Miami area), compared to other parts of the country, as the graphic below shows via purple circle bands for positive equity and red ones for negative.

Click Image for Larger View

Now, some might say that's not an extremely great ROI numbers (though I'm not sure who....), but take a look at what's liable to happen in the following metropolitan areas (Bring on the Pain...)

• Baltimore $32,409 in negative equity
• Boston $95,797 in negative equity
• Chicago $22,478 in negative equity
• Denver $23,974 in negative equity
• Las Vegas $32,060 in negative equity
• Los Angeles $271,851 in negative equity
• Miami $31,319 in negative equity
• New York $175,616 in negative equity
• Philadelphia $358 in negative equity
• Phoenix $24,072 in negative equity
• Sacramento $107,621 in negative equity
• San Diego $203,803 in negative equity
• San Francisco $346,898 in negative equity
• Seattle $116,290 in negative equity
• Washington $115,731 in negative equity

So, How Does This Information Help Us Improve our Business?

Great question, and I'm working on that angle. Perhaps one thing we can do as Realtors and Mortgage folks is to keep up on what happens with the FHA Housing Relief situation coming into action on October 1, 2008. It's possible we all have at least one or two past clients or associates who might take solace in being able to refinance their home at a 90% write down.Under the program, certain borrowers facing difficulty with their mortgage will be eligible to refinance into FHA-insured mortgages they can afford. The program will be implemented on October 1, 2008.

Homeowners May Already Be Eligible For Assistance

Families should not wait to seek mortgage relief. Right now, homeowners can determine if they are already eligible for mortgage assistance through FHASecure, FHA's existing refinancing program. They can obtain information through either of the following options: (More Info here)

1. Contact a local, HUD-approved housing counseling agency at HUD.gov 2. Contact the HOPE NOW Alliance at 1-888-995-HOPE

Would love to hear your thoughts as to how you might use your area's negative equity forecast for 2011 and turn it into a chance to boost your reputation and perhaps your bottom line. Drop a line and share! In this environment, it really does take a village (i know... puke... but I had to say it!)

When the going gets tough, the tough do in fact get going. An article posted today on RIS Media entitled "Florida Real Estate, the Entire Story for Owners, Buyers, and Sellers" relays some poignant stories of families getting out of homes they overstretched to get into and others who are able to purchase them through short sales at savings of up to 40%.

As a mortgage broker, I was happy to read that more Lenders are increasing their speed to action when it comes to renegotiating mortgages for folks in trouble or working hard to facilitate short sales (Realtors, you know how painful a process these can be).

It's not something you'd beg to have listed on your credit report by any means, but an effectively executed short sale looks much better to creditors than an all out foreclosure does. Based on numbers provided by The Coloney Group of RE/MAX in Fort Lauderdale, a short sale negatively impacts a person's credit for 12 to 18 months and typically knocks down their credit score by 75 to 125 points. This may seem like a lot - but it's a mild alternative to foreclosure, where a score in the 730s can be blasted down to the mid to low 400s.

Perhaps the fact that more lenders are willing to work with folks when short sales are requested is a sign that we're slowly moving toward corrective thinking.

By being a bit more "creative" with their solutions - bending their previously stated rules so to speak - banks do seem to be salvaging much more of what they'd otherwise lose. I mean, a restructured loan worked into a short sale - even if the seller has to come up with a few thousand to make the deal work seems much closer to a win/win for the bank and customer than a foreclosure, right? Any thoughts?

OK folks, we're in for a fight on this one... and WE NEED YOUR HELP! Heck - YOU NEED YOUR HELP!

If you believe in DPAs and the good they do for American families - not to mention American Realtors and Mortgage Brokers - Then you must act on this now. The following excerpt comes straight from the www.dpaGroundSwell.org website - sponsored by the Nehemiah Corporation. Please read it and take action by contacting your respective congressional representatives.

I'll be heading up a planning session this Saturday in Clearwater, Florida along with John Lamberg, of the Nehemiah Corp. We're gameplanning a live action demonstration in front of our Florida Congressional Reps. Please contact me if you're in the area and have an interest in participating!

RELATED POST: August 14, 2008 Downpayment Assistance Plan Conference Call with John Lamberg, Florida Area Manager for the Nehemiah Corporation.

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Support H.R. 6694 to Reform and Save DPA!

(From www.DPAGroundSwell.org)

President Bush signed H.R. 3221 Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 into law on July 30, 2008. Included in this bill was the elimination of downpayment assistance (DPA) programs. Borrowers who are credit approved prior to October 1, 2008 can receive downpayment assistance and have their loan FHA-insured.

While H.R. 3221 was intended to “rescue” the housing industry, the elimination of the DPA program will have the exact opposite effect of its intended purpose. Not only did it eliminate DPA programs, it also instituted a downpayment requirement increase from 3 percent to 3.5 percent. This combination is a recipe for disaster and will further hurt the already crippled housing market.

Preserve downpayment assistance programs for families who are credit-worthy, but lack the savings necessary to fulfill their homeownership goals, protect the already fragile economy, improve the current housing market, and save jobs.

Currently, roughly 40 percent of the monthly FHA loan origination volume utilizes downpayment assistance to help lower-income Americans meet the previously mandated 3 percent downpayment requirement. It is estimated that 10-25% of potential homebuyers (approximately 50,000 nationwide) will have no way of securing homeownership without DPA programs. With the stroke of the president’s pen, millions of deserving Americans are now left with zero alternatives for attaining homeownership.

In order to save downpayment assistance programs, we need to come together NOW to convince Congress to pass H.R. 6694 that allows downpayment assistance to continue indefinitely.

On July 31, 2008, a new bill, the FHA Seller-Financed Downpayment Reform and Risk-Based Pricing Authorization Act of 2008 (H.R. 6694) was introduced by several members of Congress. Representatives Maxine Waters, Gary Miller, Al Green and Christopher Shays sponsored the bill that if passed and signed into law will allow downpayment assistance to continue indefinitely.

ACT NOW! Contact your elected officials and urge them to support H.R. 6694 that allows downpayment assistance to endure. Failure to act now will ensure the death of all private downpayment assistance programs.

Buying a new home? Don't rely on the previous owner's tax bills to estimate what you'll be paying! According to Florida Statute 689.261, titled "Sale of property; disclosure of ad valorem taxes to prospective purchaser,

"A prospective purchaser of residential property must be presented a disclosure summary at or before execution of the contract for sale. Unless a substantially similar disclosure summary is included in the contract for sale, a separate disclosure summary must be attached to the contract for sale."

Specifically, prospective home buyers must be furnished with a disclosure that states that they should not rely on a seller's current property tax statement to gauge the amount they themselves will have to pay the following year. This change in ownership triggers a reassessment of the property, which may (or may not) result in an increased tax bill.

If you're buying in Polk County, contact the Polk County Property Appraiser website and locate their Tax Estimator to find out what you may be in for tax wise.