A new rule created by the FTC to protect Idaho homeowners from mortgage debt relief scams may have an impact on real estate professionals helping clients with short sales.

In a nutshell the rule bans all upfront fees for renegotiating mortgage terms and mandates some disclosures are made to consumers if a short sale is negotiated with a lender for Idaho homeowners or when advertising short sale experience.

Companies or real estate agents advertising help with short sales are now required to include the following...Read more about the new short sales rule.

The Sendero condominiums centrally located in Boise, Idaho provides owners with modern day amenities and designer touches at an affordable price.

Residents enjoy the carefree lifestyle that the Sendero condominiums provide. With easy access to the freeway, shopping, dining and recreation the Sendero condominiums offer up the best of all Boise area provides.

EachSendero condominium includes:

• refrigerator
• microwave
• washer/dryer combo
• gas fireplace
• private patio
• community pool access
• garage or covered parking (subject to price and availability)

Whether you need a place to relax poolside on weekends or a home base to plan your next adventure, knowing everything will be taken care of while you're away, Sendero condominiums in Boise is where you can have is all.

Our sales office is open Monday - Saturday 10-6 and Sunday 12 - 6.

I've been reading High Trust Selling by Todd Duncan, and he poses this question in one of the chapters.  I had to stop and ponder a minute, okay, actually for a few days.  Not because I didn't know why I'm in real estate but why real estate altogether. 

There are a lot of other ways to make a buck, and if you're not certain why you're in real estate, it's a pretty good question to consider.

Without a doubt if you don't know the difference, your clients do, or they'll figure it out in short order.  So after a few days of deep thought I came to a conclusion.  There's a reason I work the long hours, spend time away from the family, and take a pass on any other job opportunity that comes my way.

I like helping people make sound financial decisions, either making a smart investment, or in the current market, and more often than not, limiting their losses.

It was great to take some time and reexamine what the driving force is behind what I do.  It gave me a new found energy to press on.

Do enough short sales and you're likely to get burned by a BPO agent or two.  The majority of agents I run into doing these are not what I'd call qualified to give market values in the first place.  The first issue is it stands for Broker's Price Opinion.  If you're an agent, Idaho State law says you're not supposed to be doing them anyway.  The problem, it's not being enforced.

So how do you handle a bad BPO

Here's a couple things that might make sense depending on how far you want to take it. 

1. If your laws are the same you could always let your real estate commission have a crack at him.

2. With a little less aggressive approach I've had pretty good luck with sending in comps to the negotiator to prove the BPO was out of line.

Keep in mind, the negotiator is not a real estate professional, you are. Sometimes you have educate them just like your clients about the realities of the market.

For 2010 I'm going to launch a couple new websites.  A burning question I've had is does it make a difference in how long I register it for?  According to Matt Cuts from Google, Nope, not really.  You should really focus on content and links before worrying about the number of years your registered.

There are varying opinions on this but I suppose I'm going to have to believe in the word from the top.

This looks like a great course for anyone working in or interested in getting started in the new construction market.

Click here for some more information about the Understanding Housing Markets and Consumers (IRM I) course.

Writing multiple offers on short sales in Idaho, what the law states.

Distressed properties have become such a large part of our market in Boise, Idaho that you almost can't turn around without bumping into a short sale or foreclosure.  With that comes a whole new list difficulties in how to deal with them ethically and legally.

It seems to have become a standard practice of Idaho short sale buyers to put in multiple offers on short sale properties and close on the one that gets approved the fastest.  A proverbial throwing at the wall to see what sticks if you will.  It sounds good in theory and knowing how long a short sale can take to complete, I can see why buyers of Idaho short sales resort to this.

The question becomes, is it legal to do so?  The answer is yes, so long as you disclose it to the seller.  Many buyer's agents are running around with a short sale addendum that gives them a false sense that it allows them to do this without disclosing it and the fact is they could be setting you up to be liable in doing so.

Here's why: In Idaho, if your agent is aware that you do not intend to perform on each short sale contract, according to the definition of adverse material fact, you are required to disclose it to the seller.

Adverse material fact, what's that? 

"Adverse material fact is a fact that would significantly affect the desirability or value of the property to a reasonable person or which establishes a reasonable belief that a party to the transaction is not able to or does not intend to complete that party's obligation under a real estate contract."

It's a better idea to disclose it up front than risk legal recourse for something you might not have even been aware you were doing.  The laws regarding Idaho short sales are changing almost as quickly as lending standards, it's important to protect yourself. 

I finally heard back from the negotiator on one of my short sales today.  One thing I always like to do is establish some rapport with them and see what kind of insights I can glean from them about their process and best practices in working with them.

This particular one has been extremely difficult to get hold of and although I've been persistent in my efforts, I've been careful not to cross the line to obnoxious.  I couldn't resist asking him to tell me what's the best way to a negotiator to respond.

Apparently the answer is not repeated attempts throughout the day.  This negotiator informed me that he had 42 emails from one agent in the same day.  I bet you can guess what a passive aggressive negotiator's way of dealing with such an annoyance is.  Those emails get deleted or go unanswered.

While I don't have a problem being firm with a negotiator when the need arises or escalating a file to their supervisor when warranted I'm always respectful.  While it may not seem like it sometimes, there are humans on the other end of those phone lines and they're extremely overwhelmed. 

Being an ass is likely to land your file at the bottom of the stack and when they're 300-500 deep it may be a while before you get a response.

At the end of our conversation, he thanked me for the way I conducted myself and my professional approach to my communications with him.  Personally I'd rather have a friend than a foe when it comes to getting short sales closed. 

One of the hardest things for me to do is goal setting.  Something about it always feels contrived or insincere.  I always agonize over what to write down and if there's a chance someone else might see it, I feel it has to be profound and insightful.

Well, I've decided to approach it the way I do most things, head on.  So in my determination to become better at expressing my goals and stating objectives, I decided I would do some research and write a blog about it.

First I wanted to find a definition of a goal that made sense to me.  I've been through many workshops and goal setting activities but I've never clearly defined what a goal is.

Here's what I came up with:

"A GOAL is an overarching general statement that provides guidance toward something to be learned or a desired result.  A target or level you desire to reach or achieve."

Okay so now we've got a definition of a goal, but what about objectives, you tend to hear them stated as if they are one in the same.

While they are often used interchangeably they are in fact not the same thing.  As with a goal, I found I also needed to define what an objective was.

Here's what I came up with:

"Objectives are specific and measurable steps taken to achieve a desired goal." 

Think of objectives as the resources, skills, and knowledge you will need to acquire in order reach your intended goals.  While goals tend to be stated broadly objectives should be clear, concise, and measureable.  Objectives can be tweaked as you move along the path to along the path to your goals.

One way I found that really made sense to me for setting goals and objectives is to use the SMART mnemonic.

S              Specific

M            Measurable

A             Attainable

R             Relevant

T              Time-bound

I also like to learn through by applying it, so let's see how it goes when I use what I've written here.

Goal: To maximize the lead generating potential of my Active Rain blog.

Objectives:

1. Set up a custom Active Rain outside blog.
2. Write two posts per day with "hyper local content."
3. Read Brad Andersohn's blog "How to create a blog post for customers and search engines.

Well as it turns out, goal setting doesn't have to be so difficult after all.

"Have you ever noticed how folks instinctively know that creating wealth is much more fun than spending it, yet they dream more about spending it than they do about creating it?"

I liked this one.  My sister sent it to me and it really is an interesting predicament we put ourselves into.  It started me contemplating on just how useful it is to focus on bills, mortgages, car payments.  Sure you have to pay those things but does focusing on them really benefit you in any way. 

How much more would you benefit by shifting your focus to things like lead generating, your systems, and your clients.  These are the areas of focus that will help you to take care of all the others.