Crye-Leike, REALTORS is launching a grassroots effort to Stem the Flow of Foreclosures. Harold and Dick are calling on you, our agents & managers, to reach out personally and help a family facing foreclosure. Please read the letter below from our Cofounders and help us "Save The Dream" for as many homeowners as possible.
Dear Crye-Leike Family,
There are now hundreds of thousands of families all across America facing foreclosure because they simply cannot afford their mortgage payments, or they owe far more than their house is currently worth. To make matters even worse, the Mortgage Bankers Association reports that approximately 50% of home owners who do lose their homes to foreclosure have never once contacted their lender.
With this stark reality in mind, we are writing to you today to initiate a system-wide Call-to-Action to the more the thousands of brokers, managers and sales professionals who are affiliated with us. We are asking each of you to help "Save the Dream" of home ownership for just one family facing foreclosure. We believe that we have both an opportunity and an obligation to help our neighbors and our local communities by trying to prevent as many foreclosures from occurring as possible.
This "Save the Dream" initiative may require several hours or even a few days of your time, but we are confident the end result will be well worth the effort, both personally and professionally. Specifically, we are asking each of you to find just one family in your local community who may be facing foreclosure and help them reach out to their lender or a housing counseling agency so that they can begin the process of exploring a loan workout solution and hopefully stay in their homes. If you don't know of anyone in this unfortunate position, we're confident that you can use your networking skills to find someone who needs this kind of help and approach them in confidence and with great sensitivity to the situation. Collectively, we can make a difference.
Here are direct links to two of the best resource sites available that you can use both to educate yourselves and to share with people in need of learning more about how they can help themselves avoid foreclosure:
One thing we have learned during our career as real estate professionals is that we REALTORS® are very focused on community service. You spend time every year supporting a myriad of very worthwhile causes like Habitat for Humanity, Youth Villages, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Toys for Tots and Make-A-Wish, to name just a few. You know firsthand that doing good deeds is indeed good business. More than that, we know you care deeply about your communities.
America got into this foreclosure crisis one house at a time, and we need to resolve it one house at a time. Please help "Save the Dream" for someone today. Thank you.
Sincerely,Harold Crye and Dick Leike
View and share the full article at Help Stop Home Foreclosures - Save the Dream.
I did something fun today I am helping Toys For Tots!
It is always good to do something for your community so get in the Christmas Spirit earyl and let's help those kids get toys for Christmas!
My community does it every year and it is so much fun to see the toys given away by the Marines on the 2oth of December the smiles on their faces are worth more then money can buy.
I really hope everyone can get out their and help...it will make you feel so good to help....and please remember You win in Life by Helping Others!
As I was doing some neighborhood market research for a client recently, I found one MLS listing that was obviously in error. In a neighborhood where homes range in price from the $90s to the $140s, this listing was for nearly a million!
I checked the history of the listing, and found that the agent, when making a price adjustment, had inserted an extra 9 at the front of the price. The list price was thus roughly 10 times what it should have been. I sent the agent a brief email that said it looked to me like she had made a mistake when entering the price change.
Her reply was classic: "Thank you SO MUCH!!! I wondered why we were getting no traffic after the price change." I replied, "You are welcome. Maybe you can do the same for another agent sometime."
Just because we are in competition for listings and buyer sales does not mean that we cannot help other agents along the way. It seems to me that it is the right thing to do when the opportunity presents itself.
Maybe you have been the helper or the helped. Do you have a story that you will share?
Jim Gilbert, Sky Realty/Heart of Austin HomesLicensed to sell real estate in the State of Texas
I came across this article today. It got me thinking. Many of us face hardships in these troubled economic times. It varies person to person, family to family. When we're feeling sorry for ourselves, for whatever reason, we remember the saying "There's always someone worse off than you". We've all heard it many times throughout our lives. Every now and then, there's a reminder.
Extreme Home Makeover, Woodland Park Style
Posted: 3:43 PM Oct 25, 2008 Last Updated: 12:23 AM Oct 26, 2008 Reporter: Eric Lupher-KKTV
She's lived in Woodland Park for over 25 years. It's home for Michaela Christianson. For over two years, she's shared her home with her 31-year-old son, who suffers with a flesh eating bacterial disease. Medical bills have emptied out her pocketbook, and the house she's lived in for so long is falling apart. If something breaks, Michaela can't afford to fix it. Thanks to some friends from Summit Salon and Beauty School, that could all change. A donation can sits at the front desk of the beauty salon in Woodland Park. A small can, with big implications. Part owner of the salon, April Babin, and other close friends, have teamed up with American Craftsman Homes. They plan to raise 300,000 dollars to fix up Michaela’s home. "She is so giving, and she doesn't want to receive this,” said Babin with tears in her eyes. The money would go toward a complete restoration of Michaela’s home, which definitely needs some work. Whether it's haircuts for donation, or a can sitting on a desk, a community is coming together to help someone who needs it most. Summit Salon and Beauty School need your help. They’re asking for volunteers and donations. Planned Fundraiser’s:Nov. 8thHaircuts For Donations, Summit Salon and Beauty School, Woodland Park, 9 A.M.-4 P.M.Spaghetti Dinner, Fire Protection Station #1, Northeast Teller County, 3 P.M.-7 P.M. Is there something YOU could do to help?
She's lived in Woodland Park for over 25 years. It's home for Michaela Christianson.
For over two years, she's shared her home with her 31-year-old son, who suffers with a flesh eating bacterial disease.
Medical bills have emptied out her pocketbook, and the house she's lived in for so long is falling apart.
If something breaks, Michaela can't afford to fix it.
Thanks to some friends from Summit Salon and Beauty School, that could all change.
A donation can sits at the front desk of the beauty salon in Woodland Park. A small can, with big implications.
Part owner of the salon, April Babin, and other close friends, have teamed up with American Craftsman Homes. They
plan to raise 300,000 dollars to fix up Michaela’s home.
"She is so giving, and she doesn't want to receive this,” said Babin with tears in her eyes.
The money would go toward a complete restoration of Michaela’s home, which definitely needs some work.
Whether it's haircuts for donation, or a can sitting on a desk, a community is coming together to help someone who needs it most.
Summit Salon and Beauty School need your help. They’re asking for volunteers and donations.
Planned Fundraiser’s:Nov. 8thHaircuts For Donations, Summit Salon and Beauty School, Woodland Park, 9 A.M.-4 P.M.Spaghetti Dinner, Fire Protection Station #1, Northeast Teller County, 3 P.M.-7 P.M.
Is there something YOU could do to help?
It was about this time last year that I realized that what I do really makes a difference.
It started out as a basic property time call with a couple wanted to see a house. So, like any Realtor who likes to eat and sleep under a roof, I called the showing company and made an appointment to see the house later that afternoon. Upon arrival a met a lovely young couple with their two darling little boys ages 3 and 5. I new right away it was love a first sight. They were sure they would be writing a contract, but they needed to contact his mom in New York as she would be assisting them with the purchase. Later that evening, wife called to say they wanted to make an offer and she needed to give me some background history. Great I thought, this is where I hear about the bankruptcy and goodness knows what else. Well, I was wrong. This is where I heard that mom was offering to purchase the house because they had been spending all of their money on medical bills because wife, who is in her twenties, by the way, has stage four breast cancer. Wow, how do you respond to that. Obviously, I said, "Oh my gosh, I so sorry."
The next day we met I my office to write up the contract, sign the papers, and pray for a house and a miracle. The sellers countered my clients and my clients couldn't afford to go any higher. But, they were willing to take the house as is no repairs. So, I countered again with the offer of as is no repairs, same price. I also told the listing agent (with my client's permission) why they had to get the house. I was hoping he would share with his client and guilt him into accepting the offer. I don't know if the client was informed, but the offer was accepted.
We did repairs and everything was acceptable. Mom was approved for the 1st loan and waiting on approval for the second loan. We waited and waited and waited and waited. The clock was ticking fast. I requested an extension for the loan approval. The seller agreed and the next day he also accepted a back up offer. NO MORE EXTENSIONS would forthcoming. So here we are sweating bullets and still waiting for this tiny little loan to be approved. As the days ticked off I'm calling everyone at the bank trying to get REAL ANSWERS. I enlisted the help of the listing agent. He also started calling the bank. Next, the escrow officer began calling the bank. We were done the the 11th hour when the bank's VP decide it was in the bank's best interest to roll in the full loan and shelve it. At 6:30 pm central time, I call "mom" to tell her we needed her to fly in to sign the papers.
The next day we waited 3 hours at the closing table for the documents to be prepared. We joyfully waited for those papers. Those papers meant that this young family that had suffered so much, were finally getting a house to call home--their home. I have never been more proud to be a Realtor as I was that day knowing that I truly made a difference in a family's life.
