Washington Mortgage Planner-straight up mortgage advice and commentary

Good morning all: And a beautiful morning it is. Highs should be in the 70's here. I was thinking last night (always a dangerous concept!) about how even in our area it seems that most of the sales are short sales, foreclosures, or REO's. That's not completely true as these amount to about 35-40% of our market. I would hazard to guess the rest are mostly first-time homebuyers taking advantage of lower prices and interest rates.

In Seattle, we've been hit but probably not as hard as other parts of the country. Still, it seems to me that most of the move-up buyers and a large percentage of first-timers are interested in what they perceive as deeply discounted property. In some cases, that's true although you'll never convince me that bank-owned real estate is a bargain. Why do I say that? It could be that one of my contacts in my database is a banker who's in charge of REO's. And this particular bank doesn't seem that interested in disposing of what they have for 50 cents on the dollar or anything like that.

On the other hand, I've got several clients wanting to make offers on short sales. Alot of it is from builders who are upside down and feeling the heat from their bank. This year I expect more of these to come to fruition. If the bank can agree to taking less than what is owed, they don't have to own it and the builder can potentially keep that relationship when he needs to build again.

What are you seeing in your market? I know these types of transactions can often take months to complete. I know this is trying your patience along with the fact you may not always earn your full commission if the deal is too tight. How are you dealing with this changing market? I think we still have a way to go. The bottom line is there is still a ton of inventory out there and very little new is being built. Until we reduce what we have, I don't expect the market to change much. I am seeing increased activity out there and wish you well this year. Thanks for reading! If you're not up-to-speed with short sales, etc, I suggest for now that you get educated. Have a great day!

Hello all: I hope you're enjoying your weekend. Here in Seattle, it's beautiful.

I was wondering this morning about virtual offices and how they work for you. Increasingly, I see people working from home. I know quite a few realtors who have adopted this model. Some I think because it's less expensive. Others do it because they are more productive and may actually have less distractions by working from home.

I have the ability to work from home and occasionally (2x/month during the  week) like doing it. It allows me the luxury of not commuting and sometimes I need the peace and quiet. The rest of the time I need the support that my home office provides. Is that then the answer? That most of us would like to have our cake and eat it too?

I do believe this. A person really needs to be a self starter to work from home a majority of the time. Especially if you have a family still at home. I'm curious what works best for you. What do you prefer? I think it's the wave of the future although it will never replace our need to interact with our peers in person! Have a great day.

Good morning all: Tomorrow, I'm pleased to announce our next class, "Short Sales and Foreclosures-Demystify the Process", will be taught from 10 a.m.-12 noon at Renton Technical College. Rebecca Haas and her team from Re/Max Metro. Realty will be covering a very hot topic these days. Cost is $10. We hope you can join us.

Rebecca Haas is a Certified Distressed Property Expert and has extensive knowledge of the short sale and foreclosure market. If you don't already have plans, stop in and catch up on the latest news. I hope to see you there! Have a great day!

Good morning all: Today is the third day of HVCC, better known as the Home Valuation Code of Conduct. Until our internal company memo. last Thursday, I honestly didn't know how the new appraisal law would be implemented. Now I do.

In my company, all appraisals will be ordered by one of our senior executives from an approved list. My appraiser is really disappointed. I think his reasoning is all the relationships he built over time (including the one with me) are gone for now. I personally think the good appraisers will do just fine with the new system. Let's face it; they're busy right now.

But as Russ Ravery pointed out here on Active Rain, the new HVCC law will slow down the process and will probably be more expensive for the consumer.  If an appraisal comes in below the value needed, what does a person do then? We probably order a second appraisal increasing the cost and time needed to do the transaction.

To me, it's interesting that the system was correcting itself without intervention. It usually does. Recently, I had to have a client pay for two appraisals as the lender didn't like the first one due to its model. With home values still on the decline, appraisers were often getting very conservative with their reports. It will be interesting to see how long it takes before HVCC is tweaked. I give it about a year. In the meantime, all of us lenders will be utilizing different methods to determine value. Realtors: you may be fielding a few calls from me to see what you see before I submit a loan.

As always, I welcome your feedback. What do you think? What are you seeing? Have a great day today!

Hello all: It came to my attention that even though I spend time online, it doesn't take away from my  most productive activity; face-to-face, email, mail, or over the phone marketing to my database.

Don't get me wrong. I blog. I post. I believe it's important to be optimized and to be up-to-date with the latest trends. But I was having a conversation yesterday with our top producer this year. He's been in the business for 9 years and is having a phenomenal year so far. What he said I agree with. He built his database and markets to it. Whether it's a mailer, email, or personal phone call, he is doing something right. I haven't talked to him about his online presence and plan to. I would bet he doesn't have alot of time right now.

I joined Active Rain to connect with my smarter peers; I needed to learn. Then came Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter. I take the time to post, usually once/day in the early morning or late evening. I'm curious what you think about being online. How has it benefitted you? I don't think I've done any business to date. I've had a few referrals and understand about branding. I still don't think an online presence replaces what else we can be doing. I welcome your feedback. Tell me your success stories! Thanks! Have a great day!

Good morning! I was thinking today that our goal as real estate professionals should always be to educate our clients. What brought this thought on? It could be that I'm on tap to teach the class "How to get a loan today" at Renton Technical College in a few hours. Wish me luck!

But even if I weren't teaching today, I think it's important to be educating our clients throughout. Let's face it. What we do is often mysterious to our customers. It's a huge decision for them and, oftentimes, they seem pretty frazzled by the whole experience. Think back for a moment when you purchased your first home. It wasn't enough that we were leading otherwise busy lives. Then we decided to buy and all of a sudden they're asking us for all of our blood!

That's why it's so important to educate our clients about our business. When I entered the mortgage business 3 years ago, my goal was to make people better understand what I did. Franky, I share everything. There should be no mystery about what we do. And in this day and age, I think the customer appreciates it.

What does educating your client do for you? It gives you credibility. Your customer looks to you as the real estate source. Today our customer is looking for reassurance. We can be their source of inspiration. So what are you doing to let your client know you care? Are you going the extra mile to educate and inform? I'm curious what you're doing that's working. I don't know about you but I'd rather have a client who knows what's going on. In fact, even if they choose not to use me, they're better informed about our occasionally murky world! Have a great day!

Hello all: Happy Wednesday to you! I just wanted to remind you that our next set of real estate classes at Renton Technical College will be underway this Saturday from 10 a.m.-12 noon. Cost is $10. Previously we taught "Should I Buy or Sell Now" and Rebecca Haas of Re/Max Metro. Realty did a great job. Thanks again Rebecca!

This Saturday I'll be teaching the class "How to Get a Loan Today". Expect an in-depth look at the market today complete with credit scoring information, underwriting guidelines and time frames, and how to shop for your best loan. Rebecca and I both believe in education so expect to leave with the knowledge necessary to secure your next home loan when it's right for you.

If you have further questions, contact either myself or Rebecca Haas at reba@teamreba.com. For class sign up, go to www.rtc.edu and look under classes or call the college directly at (425) 235-3453. Thanks again for reading. Wish us luck!

 

Good morning all: I'm going to shamelessly self-promote here. Today I expect to mail 200 copies of my brand new quarterly newsletter "McFadden's Mortgage Minute" to a select database. Let me know if you'd like an extra copy.

In "McFadden's Mortgage Minute" expect to find helpful information for you on the local real estate market. The current edition will cover not only up-to-date news on the mortgage market but also an announcement of our classes currently in session at Renton Technical College.

So, again, if you're interested, contact me and I'll get you your free copy! Thanks for reading. Have an incredible day!

Good afternoon all! You may have seen this trend already in your neck of the woods. Up here, I'm starting to see practically every appraisal submitted get questioned. Not necessarily are the lenders requiring new appraisals or reviews but it definitely throws a kink into things.

Today I got an email from my underwriter questioning an appraisal for one of my clients. This is after I checked value ahead of time. The bottom line is we need to order a second appraisal. Obviously the client isn't thrilled but needs to refinance. This follows another appraisal done recently where it was questioned because the adjustments on the comps. were too big!

I haven't been in this business that long (3 years) and have never had an appraisal questioned until recently. I think it's a sign of the times. Just when we think there's a little daylight there's another hurdle to get over. If you're an appraiser, understand these times too shall pass. I know you're working extremely hard to get your reports done in a timely manner and I appreciate it. Don't get too frustrated if your report is questioned or reviewed. I expect this trend to be commonplace in the neat year. Let me know what you're seeing out there and for everyone's sake check value ahead of time if possible! Have a great day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good afternoon. I just commented on Lewis Poretz's post about how it used to be so easy to figure out when mortgage interest rates were going to be lower. It was almost always when the stock market went down. Now, that's not always the case. It appears there are a number of variables at work these days.

The biggest one is our government's intervention in guaranteeing the buyback of mortgage backed securities and the toxic assets of banks. The numbers are staggering. To date, I believe it's at or near $1 trillion dollars in guarantees. Although all this has led to a nice uptick in our business, I still wonder if there's another shoe to drop.

Let's face it. I'm a free market guy. I know several smart financiers such as Warren Buffett were saying the government bailout had to be done. But if you look closer at why they were saying this, it appears they stand to profit hugely from this plan. Put another way, if this plan weren't put into effect, all these smart guys would lose their shirts! I'm not sure where I read this but I think it was by Paul Krugman, the columnist and noted economist for the New York Times. Not everyone is a fan of Paul but he stated that the government bailout probably wouldn't work and lifetimes of people would be paying for these follies.

What do you think? I think alot of us know there's still bad news out there that hasn't been disclosed. We also know that recovery isn't right around the corner. It begs the question what if we had just left everythign alone? Would we all have fallen off a cliff? Have a great day!