The housing front ain't pretty this morning check out the latest Loan to Lease Program from Fannie Mae, the lender of last resort (not coincidentally now the largest dealer of U.S. home loans) turned in a $19 billion quarterly loss yesterday. Surprise, surprise... its government receivership has made Fannie WORSE, as it is now forced to accept more bad loans and participate in foreclosure prevention programs -- the two major sources of its third-quarter loss.

Moments after its earnings announcement, Fannie asked the government for another $15 billion bailout. It'll get it, which will bring its taxpayer tab up to $60 billion. The company is eligible for up to $200 billion in bailout bucks before further congressional approval is required.

Now for the latest in their hair brain schemes.  They want to be in the property management business by allowing delinquent borrowers to deed the property to Fannie Mae and rent back their homes.  What do you suppose they will do when the "tenant" either can't or simply won't make the rent payment?  They will be left with no alternative than to go through a formal eviction procedure that will cost time and more money. 

Where is the money going to come from to manage, maintain, and repair these rentals. Any real estate property manager will tell you there are expenses involved on each and every property.  What will they pay us real estate professionals to manage these homes?  A whopping $250.00 per month to be on call 24-7/365, out all utilities in our names to insure proper care for the home and the tenant, carry HOA fees in necessary and wait for reimbursement, 30-60-90 days out.  Can you imagine the extra paperwork that will be involved in managing Government Owned Housing? How about California where property managers are being forced to be tax collectors too.  Who will pay for all this you ask...GET OUT YOUR CHECKBOOK AMERICA.

I for one will pass on this incredible offer from our Government who now owns, banks, car companys, and is now going to buy 150,000+ houses which is the estimate of the nuber of homes in the HUD programs that failed to meet the governments loan modification criteria which they themselves set up to fail.   

I recently posted a concern about how BPO's were being "snatched up" by agents with auto acceptance software after receiving several complaints from agents around the country.  I suggested that all the REOTrans agents write emails to the company about this problem.  Well one was forwarded to     Christopher L Saitta,CEO of REOTrans and here is his reply:

"I'm happy to have the opportunity to provide insight. Roughly four months ago we launched a CAPTCHA ("Telling Humans and Computers Apart Automatically") technology that requires Agents to read and enter a number to accept a BPO assignment. We've since monitored the BPO Board's environment variables and are certain there are no automated BOTS accepting the assignments. That said, there is incredible demand for BPOs and they do go fast. As you may know, we have 51 Lenders and Servicers using our REO Workstation but only have a handful of companies using our BPO Workstation. We're launching a few more very large BPO Companies in Q4 of this year that will put a large volume of BPOs through our system. I'm sure the additional volume will make it much easier to get BPOs through REOTrans."

WOW a company exeutive that actually noted our concerns and did something about it...CUDO's Mr. Saittta. 

He also shared a statistic you might be interested in if you want REO listings.  1.5% of all REOtrans agents have completed and paid for the Platinum Certification on their site and are being awarded over 35% of the listings from the Asset Managers that use this platform.  My recommendation to you all is "Go Platinum or Go Home" you should upgrade and take the Platinum Certification Course if you want to be moved to the head of the class.  Thanks again Christopher we do appreciate all your efforts on our behalf.

It is time to step up and shout "WE'RE MAD AS HELL AND WE ARE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE".  All I have heard for over a month now from REOTRANS agents is how frustrated they are when they get the email blast for a BPO and it is gone 30 seconds later before they can even log on to accept or reject the order.  I met with many of their top guys and gals at 5 Star last week who swore up and down that they are aware of the mining or spider programs that fish their sites and auto accept on behalf of agents and that they have put a stop to it.  Not so I just had it happen to me again this morning and so did another of my agent friends three counties south of me. 

We all need to go on a customer service email letter writing campaign to let them know we will not be paying for upgrades on their platform or zip codes next year until and unless they change their procedure from blast to rotation.  If they put out an email to the agents and they do not respond in 10 minutes then they would be locked out and the next agent would be given 10 minutes etc.  With all of our cell phones forwarding our emails that is ample time to either accept or reject an order.  This would give them 6 hits in one hour and I am sure that they would get an agent to accept long before the first hour is up.  I am sure their vendors and lender clients would not expect them to perform this task in less than an hour so the excuse that the lenders want it this way is not gonna fly for me.

HELP ME TO GET THIS PRACTICE CHANGED AND WE WILL ALL BENEFIT IN THE END.

How do you pay your TARP Money back, easy mess over the guy who pays his bills.  Latest in lenders bag of dirty tricks is to lower credit limits and increase your interest rates simply by changing your billing date to make you miss a payment and violate your contract. 

Here how it works.  You get your monthly statement and you do not notice that the due date has been changed.  You pay your bills on time (in your mind) only to find out that you are now past due, owe a late charge, and have violated your "preferred rate" and your interest skyrockets to 29.9%, which if you were a member of organized crime the FBI and IRS would indite you under RICO,  Then you try to use your card only to have it declined as maxed out.  You call their customer service hotline and they recite you a list from their script that states that we "review all our customers credit lines from time to time and we have the right to reduce or cancel you at any time".  Excellent customer service from institutions that sent you millions of junk mail offers for these credit cards in the first place dont' you think? 

I have been with my bank since 1987. I have 9 open accounts including personal and business accounts ,multiple checking accounts, savings accounts, credit cards, my first mortgage, and my motor home all with the same lender.  When I suggested that perhaps they no longer wanted me as a customer since they would do absolutely nothing to assist me with this issue they gave me an address to write a complaint and the customer service associate actually started to LAUGH at me when I told her I planned to pull all my accounts.

I pay my bills on time, I pay my taxes which is where you got the money in the first place in TARP and I am personally sick and tired of being the scapegoat for deadbeats and executive cheats that take advantage of people just like you and me. 

I am a customer, I am a taxpayer, I am a REALTOR, and I can certainly stir business away from you so look out. We are a large group that can make a serious dent in your institutions.  If you are being treated this way I suggest the next time the local loan officer asks for business you send them to the customer service department of their own institution and see what they say to them about this practice.

If you are one of the big gun REO listing agents that are not returning buyers agents calls, not submitting outside agents offers, not marking your properties pending or at minimum using the MLS to alert cooperating agents that the property has offers accepted subject to ratified contracts, removing keys or not placing them in the lockbox in the first place, or any of the other completely unethical practices we are now seeing out here...BEWARE we have long memories and so do the buyers. We also have boards and associations that have professional standards panels that would love nothing more than to sink their teeth into a nice fat Code of Ethics Case. 

Two wrongs do not make a right.  We will not stop showing your properties because it would not be ethical or may violate our fiduciary responsibility, but we will remember. We willl explain your behavior to the buyers and ask them if they want to work in that manner.  Buyers are getting angry and they will revolt!  No buyer wants to waste time and energy on property they have no chance of procuring.  No buyer wants to work with or against an agent that is not playing fairly and ethically.  They will be the sellers of the future and you will be remembered. 

Just wanted you to know that we and the buyers are up in arms over your bad behavior and you give our entire industry a black eye.  Yes I know not all REO agents do this but I have personally experienced this in the last 24 hours and have spoken to over 800 students in my workshop's all over CA in the past few months that have had the same exact experiences.  So just a heads up agents/brokers we know who you are and we will remember.

Ok gonna vent a bit here.  Just got a call from the buyers agent saying his buyers "contractor" and his clients were at the house that we have in escrow and he was on his way to meet them shortly and could I just give him my code so they could go in unaccompanied.  NO!.  First problem he is not with the buyers.  Second problem I don't know who this buyers "contractor" is and if they have a license, or are any liability insurance.  Last problem is that they felt it was Ok to just pop in unannounced since it was vacant and the only reason he called in the first place was to see if I would give him a code so they could troop around the house without any of us present. 

It is my opinion that it is the sellers house (even when it is a bank) until the close of escrow and it is my responsibility to protect that house from damage,  No one cares if the contract states that the buyer will step up to pay for and hold the seller harmless if damage is done during an inspection, you can not get blood from a stone.  If the "contractor" is not one, or if he has no insurance and causes damage or gets injured on the property then we all GET TO GO TO COURT,  Not my goal, ever. 

Buyers agents please call and make appointments to go to the property with the listing agent even when it is in escrow. That is the professional way to do business.  Listing agents pull your lockboxes immediately when the offer is accepted and make them go through you for entry and they you can decide if you want to be present. It is my decision how I will run my business not yours and I have the right to expect you to make an appointment each and every time you go to the house.  Sorry if that messes up your busy schedule but I really think we are never too busy to be courteous and professional. 

Also please remember wether the house is occupied or vacant it does not belong to the buyer until it closes.  The seller has the right to their privacy and to protect their asset.   

ATTENTION SELLERS... 

Acting too quickly to accept offers may be reducing your bottom line. Yes that's right even in a buyers market if you under sell your property you leave money on the table that should have gone into your pocket.  What's the RUSH?  Why don't you ask your agent to have the property on the market for at least a week with one weekend in between to allow buyers agents the time to contact their clients and make appointments.  It could net you more money in the end.  Lenders who own foreclosures are doing this and have been doing this for years.  If you rush to take the first offer that comes your way and it comes in the first 24 hours you may have acted too quickly. You may have also taken a much lower offer than the open market would garner.

Here's the scenario.  An agent takes your listing and sees that you are wanting a quick sale so they price the property below market value to create a "buyers frenzy" but then they immediately bring you a FULL PRICE offer.  Sounds great. Not so fast my friend.  There are many agents out there that have clients who work to be able to qualify and will not be available to see your house immediately and with the one week, one weekend rule you will have at least have given the property some exposure.  Often many web sites like REALTOR.com don't even get the property uploaded by the time you have already accepted an offer and the buyer that would have paid more did not even get a sneak peak at the your home. 

I guarantee many agents are not going to like this post.  I am not saying that they should not bring you an immediate offer I am only suggesting that they wait one week to insure that the property got some  exposure.  If their buyer wants the house they will not walk away because you have not accpeted their offer in split second, they might even offer more....what a concept! 

First let me say I am extremely passionate on this subject so I might get a bit SNARKY.  I have been teaching an REO workshop all over California over the past 2 years and this is one of the loudest fights I hear at each and every workshop. I know it is a Statewide problem.

Most MLS systems have a rule regarding the use of electronic Keysafes/Lockboxes that their service has as the approved method of showing property with the seller permission. Then the REO agent can add the lenders combo box for inspections, contractors, utilities, and emergencies.  The fact that many REO agents refuse to place both types of lockbox on these properties,or better still, place them on the property with no key is both unethical and against the MLS rules.  It is your right and more over your obligation to turn in these agents. When agents complain to me about this practice I tell them to report the violation to the Broker & the MLS. Their reply comes back that if I turn them in they won't show the bank my offers.  Newsflash#1, THEY AREN'T SHOWING THEM TO THE BANK NOW" if this is the way they practice.

I practice in a State that does not yet have a Statewide MLS and many keysafes are not compatible even a few miles from where i practice. This means that I must pay to join multiple MLS's and have access to those keysafes to show property. It's called the cost of doing business.  When agents call insisting I give them my combo to show the property I refuse. Newsflash #2 NOT GONNA HAPPEN!  On more than on occasion we have gone to show one of our properties only to run into a buyer with our key in his hand and no agent present.  We have heard horror stories about agents giving out combos and then the REO agent does their weekly property inspection to find that an illegal tenant is now living in the house that has been rented to by some crook from Craigs List. 

Here are a few methods that might work if you are showing outside of your own MLS. If you are going to show the property and do not belong to the MLS where the property is located try the old fashioned method of actually driving to the agents office with a business card to get a key and returning it at the end of the showing or see if they can meet you at the property to gain access.  A second simple alternative is to refer the buyer to the listing agent and take a referral fee. A third method would to be to work out a cooperating compensation and co-list the buyer.  Put your buyer under exclusive representation contract and then the other agent could only show them other properties with your permission.

 I am afraid this is just an old fashioned house of cards and with one good wind it will all blow down.

While I want to be positive and I want the market to recover having cheerleaders from the media, the administration, and our industry mis-quoting the so called real estate recovery makes me very nervous.

Here are some fast facts:

•  Of the 150,000 Loan Modifications filed in the newest version of the  admisistations revised Hope for Home"Making Home Affordable" Program only 3560 were successful   * Typical success rate of a government program.
• There have already been over 1.4 Million NOD's filed since January 1st 2009 which represents a foreclosure filing every 13 seconds (SCARY)
• Unemployment is in the double digits in many States
• Next wave....ARM resets with the largest number of ARM resets in history coming next year
• Lenders are holding back REO inventory for a multitude of reasons
• Moratorium after moratorium has only delayed the inevitable
• Over 70% of Loan Modifications are now back in default status after just 6 months

How with this knowledge can we tell our clients honestly that this is the bottom? Many low end properties are seeing multiple offers from cash investors and buyers that want to take advantage of the $8000 carrot that the Fed is dangling but this is not an indication of a recovery in most neighborhoods.  In fact it can have the opposite effect as it drags the middle and higher end down.  A wise man once said "Beware of Wolves in Sheep's Clothing" and that's exactly how I feel about all the hype that is currently surrounding this so called housing market recovery. 

No matter what market we are in we are all in this TOGETHER. Let's examine Article 3 & 16 of The REALTOR® Code of Ethics. Article 3 REALTORS® Cooperate with other real estate professionals to advance their clients’ best interests. Don't get me wrong I understand Fiduciary relationships very well and what I do not see anywhere in either the law or the code is where it is written we should try to cut our fellow real estate professionals off at the knees during a negotiation. Call me crazy but I thought the goal was to sell the property. That only takes a meeting of the minds. More of my deals lately fall apart when the listing agent is busy justifying a price and the selling agent is justifying an offer both of which don't mean a hill of beans if the negotiations fall apart. The above Article certainly does not mean that the negotiations need to be adversarial or ever have one side of the transaction take advantage of the other side.... ...and then there is this pesky little issue: Article 16 REALTORS® Respect the exclusive representation or exclusive brokerage relationship agreements that other REALTORS® have with their clients. Perhaps some listing agents should practice what they preach. You told your seller to hush up and not make the buyer uncomfortable by following them around during a showing but then you try to control the showing by doing exactly that. If your seller insists that you be present during a showing fine but I am a full grown licensed professional and I had the good sense to bring the buyer to see the house and would appreciate your respect as the article above indicates. Simply open the door shake my hand and offer to answer any questions either my buyer or I may have and then leave us alone for crying out loud. I hate to quote him but "Can't We All Just Get Along"? Remember the words in our Preamble "Realizing that cooperation with other real estate professionals promotes the best interests of those who utilize their services, REALTORS® urge exclusive representation of clients; do not attempt to gain any unfair advantage over their competitors; and they refrain from making unsolicited comments about other practitioners. In instances where their opinion is sought, or where REALTORS® believe that comment is necessary, their opinion is offered in an objective, professional manner, uninfluenced by any personal motivation or potential advantage or gain" I think that sums it up nicely, don't you?