C J Johnson's Blog

The BPO Agent is NOT Your Enemy

Directors Realty — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:43:08 -0700

The BPO Agent is NOT Your Enemy:

I do not understand why agents/brokers get annoyed, delay the return call, or worse don't return my calls at all when I am trying to make an appointment to gain interior access to their listings. Especially when they are under contract on a short sale. If there is no lockbox I have no choice other than to contact you for access and you probably put youself down as the contact in Equator or to the lender in the first place.

You can not close your short sale without at least one outside BPO and perhaps multiple outside BPO's. We are not the enemy. On the contrary we are helping you to expedite your file to either a saleable price or to a closing on an open escrow. We are not trying to overprice your listing and steal your clients. Most full time BPO agents do between 100 to 1000 BPO's a month and like the lack of stress and guaranteed paychecks. Some actually make quite a bit more than agents do in the same market selling homes.

Here are some suggestions that could help us all:

1. Return Our Calls Promptly: Most often we are given very short turn around times.

2. Be Helpful: If you have no lockboxe then either meet us there or have the seller let us in. We are out in the field all day and most of us do multiple BPO's a day so it is important to be flexible on access.

3. Be Nice to Us: We are there to assist you in making a commission and we are being paid peanuts for our time so treat us with the kindness and respect we deserve. We will do the same in return.

4. Communicate: We will discuss your position on price and when the comparables work we will work with you to make this a win-win for you, your client, our vendor, and the investor.

5. Take A BPO Course: If you were more familiar with the restrictions and criteria you might see why we come up with what you thought was unreasonable. Rules vary from vendor to vendor even under NABPOP guidelines.

Remember, next time a BPO agent calls you it is for your benefit too!

My New Group- RADD-REALTORS AGAINST DISTRACTED DRIVING

Directors Realty — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:17:01 -0800

I was just looking at a wonderfully video produced by a fellow REALTOR on AR when I to my shock I noticed they were shooting a neighborhood tour from the Drivers Seat! This is the final staw. First, you placed and took calls on our cell phone, then you started reading and answering emails, followed by reading and replying to our text messages, and now your are actually shooting and sometimes even narrating videos while driving your car. Are you crazy? Think about what might happen when a child or an elderly person stepped off the opposite curb while you were looking distractedly at any of these devices or in the opposite direction.

We all condem anyone who drinks or uses drugs and drives a vehicle but we are just as imparied when we look down even for a few seconds and risk someone elses safety.

BTW your videos of your side and rear mirrors along with shots of your dash board do not really enhance the experience. If you team up with someone who can operate your video camera from the passenger seat you will be able to get better quality video with out giving us all motion sickness. A small flex tripod mounted on the dash board swung around from the passenger seat or even the back seat would be much preferred and of course much safer.

Please join my new group RADD. Maybe we could have RADD chapters all over the US and post them on our Facebook Pages, Twitter them out in Tweets, Link them in, etc. Anything to get the message across to stop this madness and remember that our cars are lethal weapons when we are distracted.

Equator Agents Initated 1.17 Million Short Sales?

Directors Realty — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 11:05:40 -0800

Equator Agents Initated 1.17 Million Short Sales?

On DSN this morning Equator reported that agents initiated 1.7 million short sales through their platform over the last 24 months.

Here's my question....How many resulted in a successful sale? I am sure their sofware can identify why a file was closed in the system, ie: sold, or closed without resolution.

They went on to say that 150 Billion dollars of assets (short sales and REO's combined) were processed over the last 8 Years. Ok now I am confused. 8 Years ago we was 2003-2004 in my world and I sure do not remember many short sales or REO's in the pipeline until 2007-2008. Am I wrong?

Is this just another hype to sell their new REvolution platform that may charge agents an annual fee or per transaction fee to process their Short Sales & REO's? Remember Platinum Equator membership that cost $500 annually?

What is your experience? As a percentage, how many of your Equator originated short sales have closed?

ATTENTION OCCUPY IDIOTS: GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL

Directors Realty — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:07:29 -0800

Attention Squatters

Go Directly To Jail

Attention Occupy Idiots: You are getting very bad legal advice if you think you will squat in any bank owned foreclosures. If I find you in my property here is what I will do, First I will have you arrested under a citizens arrest for breaking and entering and criminal trespass. When I rekey my properties on behalf of the lender I do a time stamped dated video log with a witness that shows the house is vacant and posted NO TRESPASSING ENTRY BY PERMISSION ONLY. So even if you tear it down I have a record I can take to court. Second, if you place utilities on at any property without the express written permission of the owner you are committing fraud, and again I will make sure you are prosecuted.

This house does not belong to you nor are you going to be allowed to squat there and wait around to be evicted because I for one have a copy of the laws on the books you are violating and I guarantee you will have a roof over your head and bars on the doors and windows.

All you REO Brokers and Agents out there need to get copies of both statutes for B & E and Criminal Trepass and do not take the local PD's spin that this is Civil. It is a criminal act and you should make them lock these morons up.

GSE's Don't Use GPS, Mapquest, or Maps For That Matter

Directors Realty — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 19:17:03 -0700

It appears as though technology has escaped our Government Service Enterprise vendors at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and HUD. Why are they still by passing qualified Brokers & Agents that would do a far superior job servicing their REO's in favor of Brokers and Agents from over an hour from the property? Yet their spokesman and women tell us all at 5 Star, REO Insider, AREAA/NAHREP, REOMAC, etc conferences that they do not allow listing agents to be more than 10 miles from the property and promise to add more qualified agents to their selection process only to have us fill out countless applications and provide tons of paperwork and then freeze us out again . Wonder what mapping system they are using. Even MY CROW DOES NOT FLY THAT CROOKED!

How many of you are seeing this same continued practices in your area?

Is The Government Stealing Our Equity?

Directors Realty — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 09:21:28 -0700

Recent reports put the shadow inventory of foreclosures at near 6 Million units. Of those the Governments Service Enterprises Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, HUD, and alike own approximately 48% of those foreclosures.

What I have seen in the past 30 days is alarming. Those houses are flooding on to the market at between 20-30% below the last sold comparable in the same neighborhood. They are not trashed beat up fixers. On the contrary if they are in poor condition these agencies are hiring contractors to put in new appliances, carpet, paint, and do many other repairs to meet minimum FHA standards.

It also appears that there may be other back room deals which have the banks that took bailout and TARP money. Bank of America was allowed to sell thousands of their non performing Countrywide loans to Fannie Mae and others. The non GSE lenders appear to have slowed their foreclosure processes and release of REO homes to a crawl. Do we think that this may have to do with the blow out the Government is now pushing their REO's to the head of the pack?

Is this happening in your town? Check your MLS and see how many GSE homes came on the market in the last 30 days and take a look at the asking prices.

He Who Lives In Glass Houses....

Directors Realty — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 11:25:23 -0700

I was reading an AR blog this morning about how much a Short Sale Specialist thinks BPO Agents are pricing property incorrectly. My comment back was He Who Lives In Glass Houses Should Not Throw Stones. Who prepared the CMA to list the short sale in the first place? What makes that different from the BPO? There are no rules to a CMA. It is completely up to the agent who can pick and choose which properties to include. I am a member of multiple MLS systems and only around 10-20% of the current Short Sale properties on the market are even remotely close to market value as compared to the comparables. When a Short Sale Agent under prices a property to get it shown it is not only a violation of our Code of Ethics it borders on lender fraud. It throws off all the statistics for that area. I get why you do it, it is difficult to ask a buyer to wait months for an answer from the lender unless you give them a screaming hot deal as an incentive. That being said please note that BPO agents must follow rules similar to an appraisal and we MUST bracket our comparables or our BPO's ot they will not be accepted which is why many of our appraisals are coming in lower than the offer price.

I think every agent should take an appraisal class taught by appraisers. This would give both the CMA and BPO agent more knowledge of how the appraisal process works. This would go a long way to having intelligent conversations with the appraisal review at the underwriter level when your apprsisal comes in low. An appraisal can be corrected if your case is strong enough. I have done it on many occasions. So know your stuff and speak their language is my suggestion. If you get two appraisals on the same property will they use the same comps? Will they be the same price? Absolutely not. Appraisals are still an "opinion of current market value based on historical data". It is not an exact science.

If a seller is about to loose thousands of dollars on a low appraisal or low BPO then they might just want a second opinion and pay $450 for a second appraisal to back it up. Heck for that matter they could hire two BPO agents for $50 each and submit that to strengthen their position.

As for BPO agents not pricing property correctly. The SELLER still prices the property no matter who the SELLER is, not the agent in the end.

Why Won't You Show Me Short Sales?

Directors Realty — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 09:57:57 -0700

Let's start with the fact that around 80% of the short sale listings should not even be on the market for the reasons listed below and more. This weekend I showed several properties. The clients had found a short sale listing on the Internet that I was not going to show them for several reasons as follows:

1. Agent is part time and has done exactly 4 transactions on the last 2 years.

2. Seller is non owner occupant and is involved in a buy and bail, eaving the house in half finished remodel.

3. Agent has two offers that they did not reveal and left the property active while going away for a long weekend.

4. When questioned agent revealed that they did not even have a negotiator and had not submitted any paperwork.

5. The propery is priced lower than current market value.

Of course this is the ONLY house that the buyer is remotely interested in buying because it is such a "great deal"

It is hard enough to make a deal rock in this market but when you add all the reasons listed above there is little chance that the buyer will do anything but waste their time. They will get so wrapped up in this property that when it falls apart they will blame, you guessed it, me the buyer agent. They will either buy nothing or move on to someone else. I tried to explain as politely as I could that this is NOT my hobby. Selling real estate is what I do to feed my family.

Buyers: You are not being misrepresented if your agent will not show you a certain property. We are only looking out for you financinally, emotionally, and fiscally. Wasting your time and ours is just that a waste. We can smell a bad short sale from a mile away. Trust us we do this for a living all day, every day.

Web Site vs Blog Site

Directors Realty — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 09:20:48 -0700

Quick question:

How many of you have dropped your old static web site in favor of an interactive blog site?

What's a Buyers Agent To Do?

Directors Realty — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 00:57:57 -0700

I passed my brokers exam back in 2001 after having practiced real estate for over 10 years working for franchises, chains, and independent brokers. Once I struck out on my own I needed to figure out not only how to make a living but also how to make a difference. The National Association of REALTORS offers many different Designation Courses so I looked at each one to see what would benefit both my business and my clients.

The first Designation I obtained in 2001 was the CRS -Certified Residential Specialist which required both educational and experiential qualifications. This took me about two months to complete and I was then and am still proud as a peacock to join what I feel is a very elite group who take their career in real estate seriously.

It was not until I obtained my second Designation also in 2001 which was my ABR -Accredited Buyers Representative that I truly found my niche and passion. Buyer Representation is a very overlooked specialty. A Buyers Representative has to be more creative and resourceful because they do not have listings to use to locate a buyer.

Face Book Posts, Blogging, B2B contacts, Homeownership Seminars, Attending Any and All Local Government Meetings ie: City Council, Board of Supervisors, Board of Education, wearing your badge and ABR pin are just a few ways to get the word out that you want to represent buyers.

Any other buyers agents out there that would like to give us some new ideas on this specialty? How do you find buyers other than open house or advertising a listing for sale? What special services do you offer? Which Social Media works best for you?

Training, Training, We Don't Need No Stinking Training

Directors Realty — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 19:43:11 -0700

Depending on what State you live in it takes more than 1500 hours to become licensed to cut someones hair. Yet recently we have had resistance and difficulty getting real estate professionals to sit still for one day to learn a new skill or work on improving their current skills. You would have to attend 250 of our one day workshops to get the same level of training that your stylist does when they take a pair of clippers to your head. My personal stylist goes to hair shows and conferences to learn new ways to cut, color, and style my hair not only to keep current but to make more money learning new processes.

Back in the dark ages (20 years ago when I was learning and hoaning my real estate skills) I attended workshops, seminars, events, retreats, etc that were 3-5 days long and cost thousands of dollars. The trainers were not always selling me some program or coaching but when there were I was glad to buy. For every dollar I spent over the years I am 100% certain I made thousands of dollars in return. It is my tradmareked slogan and I believe it with all my heart "LEARNING EQUALS EARNING".

Brokers and Managers tell me that they will not support outside trainers because of their exceptional in house training but in the very next breath they tell me how their agents are independent contractors and that they can not force them to attend the company training all while they are also telling me how much their businesses are off because of the bad market. ARGH. Sure the web provides much in the way of information for free. Death By Powerpoint Webinars are wonderful for quick specific subjects but without live interaction, role playing, practice, and questions and answers you may just be short changing your real esate career and your earning potential.

First rule of Real Estate, Location-Location-Location, First rule of earning success Training-Training-Training.

Just Say No to Low Ball BPO's

Directors Realty — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 11:09:18 -0700

This morning I received an offer from Raj at Incubator, Inc to do BPO's for $18.00. Are you freaking kidding me? I am a professional and I do not work for minimum wage.

I have watched the fee for BPO's drop like a stone over the last 3-4 years. We were paid $50-100 which was a reasonable fee for our time and information. I attribute this low ball practice to starving agents that are willing to work for less than minimum wage rather than go out and actually prospect for business. Now our Association's have come up with a BPO Certification Course that costs $125 + $199. What a deal! If we are true professionals we would ALL turn down this work and tell these bottom feeders to take a hike. Which BTW is exactly what I did. Another brand name company is offering $15.00 for what they are calling desktop BPO's. They want 5 comps listed and 5 sold comps accompanied by full agent detail MLS printouts (in most areas completely against the rules of the MLS) for each one, again bracketed comps. Do you really want to sell your MLS info that you pay dues and fees annually and monthly to do proper market analysis and marketing for $15.00?

This coupled with bracketed AVM model that actually drive a BPO agent to tweek the comps to serve some alternative purpose than actual neighborhood value by skipping the house next door and jumping to the next area that fits makes this a loose-loose proposition. California agents beware, this activity is against the law. It is illegal in CA to prepare a false BPO so not only is this low ball practice costly it may be illegal.

Stop the madness and JUST SAY NO to low ball BPO's. On Independence Day I asserted my Independent Spirit and I told Incubator to "hatch a new plan", if you know what I mean. Happy 4th to you all.

"I WANT A HOUSE"

Directors Realty — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 20:58:26 -0700

Step back in time to 1986. You may remember that Yolena Bonner, wife of the famed Soviet dissident Andre Sakaroff came to this country for heart surgery, not available in what was then the USSR. As she was ending her convalescence and pondering her return to rejoin her husband in exile, she wrote about a house...a house that lived only in her dreams.

"I WANT A HOUSE"

Yolena Bonner understood that living in this country where the widespread ability to own property is so great. It is truly one of the blessings of liberty.

Americans do not want war. What Americans want is a house. No matter their place on the social ladder,they want a house of their own. They want a house and the ground it stands on, that's all.

But you know, I'm 63 and I've never had a house. Not only that, I've never had a corner I could call my own.

I want a house. My dream...my own house...is unattainable for my husband and myself...as unattainable as heaven on earth. But I want a house. If not for me, then for my son and his family in America.

A house is a symbol of independence both spiritual and physical. The American feeling about his house expresses the main traits of Americans.. Their desire for independence and privacy.

And that attitude gives rise to a third trait; "My house is my pride and joy." And from that comes, My city, my state and my country is my pride and joy.

It is an attitude that is open, kind and caring, both toward the house and everything it stands for. And I say, this shows that Americans care about the land in general, and the whole world.

I don't want war, I want a house. Americans don't want war, they want a house.

The founders of our nation understood the importance of private property ownership. What was clear to them then, is still clear to us today. That owning real estate is the basis of stability, the foundation of values, and the source of personal freedom. Now all we have to do is continue to keep the dream alive. The next time someone complains about their negative equity (mine now exceeds $100,000 and I am NOT giving my home to the bank I will keep it no matter what it takes) show them this article and remind them that it is a HOUSE not a financial cash cow. It is a place to live, love, laugh, dream, and create memories that will last our entire lifetime.

Reprinted with permission thanks to my friend Kay Wilson-Bolton.

Really BofA? Anoyone Else Hear About Their New SS Policy?

Directors Realty — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 20:47:27 -0700

I received this message today on AR from an old post and felt that I needed to ask if anyone else has heard the same?

"Bank of America has taken another step into the Real Estate Field. With the New Coporative Short Sale test progam in Arizona and Nevada. Letters go out to the owners suggesting they contact and list the home as ashort sale with a re/max agent. I called the Third party vendor that services this program and they informed me that this was mandated from Bank of America. Why would anyone send Bank of America a Loan other then Re/max agents??"

Has anyone else heard this? Could it be true? Do you want your Platinum Equator money back?

Do You Suffer From Eeyore Syndrome?

Directors Realty — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 21:16:14 -0700

Do YouSuffer From Eeyore Syndrome ?

Do you know an Eeyore? Are you one yourself? He is Winnie The Pooh's sad blue donkey friend who always had his head hung low and says "oh whoa is me". If you walk and talk like Eeyore and blame all your troubles and lack of business on the on the market you will undoubtedly attract like minded people.

I was on a training call today and I told the trainer that I had run into a gentleman last week in my offices parking lot who knew me and he said how sad he was for me that the market was soooooo bad. I wish I had a camera for the look on his face when I said that the market was one of the most interesting ones I had seen in my 20+ years in the business and that both my investors and first time buyers were elated to be able to land some of the best deals in a decade. You could have knocked him over with a feather. He said that I was the FIRST real estate person he has talked to in months that did not say "the market stinks, if something does not change I am going to be in foreclosure myself, or I am gonna quit real estate and get a real job", etc.

Remember gang "Like Attracts Like". My wise trainer told me many years ago that if you lay down with turkeys you will never soar with eagles, and I replied yes and you will get turkey poop all over you too!

The Foreclosure Market is Over...NOT!

Directors Realty — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 12:34:40 -0700

If you read any the headlines this morning after the current administration announced it's intentions to run for another term you would think this headline was correct. The fact of the matter is that there were less than 4500 Successful HAFA transactions completed in February nationwide. Woopie, oh no wait a minute. When your consider that 870,000 loans are seriously delinquent and another 445,000 are in some stage of foreclosure then 4500 seems a bit low, don't you agree?

There was a slight decline in defaults filed. Not necessarily because all those folks are paying their payments once again but because the lenders are holding back on filing in many areas of the nation. In California we are now exceeding 550 days on average for a foreclosure with what is now estimated as over 1 million vacant homes and many in homes for 2-3 years without paying mortgage or property tax.

More bad behavior. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were scolded for paying top executives a combined $35 million in 2009 and 2010 while bankrupting both institutions. The former chief executive of failed mortgage lender Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. pleaded guilty to making false statements and fraud conspiracy charges in a $1.5 billion fraud case. A Senate subcommittee report investigating the subprime crisis will be released soon and The Wall Street Journal from recently "found" documents showing government bail out firms knew exactly what they were doing when they sold less than sold MBS'

Here are some sobering facts:

**Shadow is at 1.8 Million

Current Breakdown of the 1.8 Million in Shadow Inventory (January 2011)
*870K serious delinquent
*445K some stage of foreclosure
*470K in REO

Loan modifications and short sales may reduce shadow inventory by 50%, however due to the low borrower homeowner confidence rate this may make the impact of those programs very small.

An additional 2 million negative equity loans are currently more than 50% upside down and are not accounted for in the 1.8 million Shadow Inventory. This is far from over.

What's Your On Line Reputation?

Directors Realty — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 16:32:40 -0700

Did You Check Zillow Reputation Yet?

Yesterday I was speaking with a highly reputable cooperating broker associate in my area and she was near tears over a review written about her on Zillow. This is one of the most upsetting "tools" in Zillow's too box if you are not already aware of it you need to check it out.

I logged on to Zillow this morning and I wrote my own review and posted it from my husbands email account and of course he made me sound wonderful. Did anyone check the validity of that post? NOPE. Then I read several reviews that were all raves about other agents and low and behold they had all been posted within 72 hours of each other. Again none verified and could have been written by the agents themselves. Again just a check box away from liar, liar, pants on fire.

So my criminal mind immediately springs into action with this thought, what if my competitor wants to go on line and slam mt reputation into the dirt? All they would have to do is look up the address of your sold listings and recent sales and make up email addresses (which you can get hundreds of for a very low price) and off they go. Not only will need to spend countless hours arguing to Zillow that you are an honest and upright individual and that these posts are bogus but these "bad reviews" once posted will be out there for all to see on many other sites you may or may not ever be aware of or find until you look.

Please do a few things to protect your "Internet Reputation". First, go on to Zillow and make sure you ask all your past clients to post honest reviews. Second, Google you name and company often. Last, consider an On Line Image Manager like the one seen here: http://www.onlinereputationmanager.com/?gclid=CMfhsK6E6KcCFQEKbAod6kA3cA Not recommending this particular site just the concept.

Let's all encourage our leadership at NAR and CAR to get on the ball with some sort of campaign to protect our reputations. Perhaps a cute funny commercial showing someone like "PEGGY" would help to show the public that what they see on the Internet may or may not be true.

Fannie Mae has over 160,000 REO's

Directors Realty — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 17:36:08 -0700

Fannie Mae has over 160,000backlog of REO Inventory

"Fannie Mae repossessed more than 262,000 single-family homes nationally last year, and as of Dec. 31, its inventory of single-family REOs was almost 163,000". Source RIS Media 3-19=11

Many agents ask me if there is really a shadow inventory of REO properties being held back. If Fannie Mae has over 160,000 how many do you think Freddie, Ginnie, and HUD have? Now add all those in the lenders and investors inventory and we are looking at 3-5 more years no matter if defaults fall off to zero, which is not going to happen in the very near future.

Do the math:

Foreclosureradar.com reported over 8000 REO's going back to lenders in the last 120 days in Riverside & San Bernardino County, California.

5 Business Days in a week = 20 Business Days in a month = over 100 REO's A DAY going back to the banks. Have you seen 100 REO's come on the market in your MLS in the last 120 Days? No? Neither have I.

Recent headlines show slow downs of defaults and trust deed sales filed in February but do you wonder as I do if the lenders and GSE's are simply holding off filing before they clear out the backlog? Time will tell but I expect we will see many more REO's in MLS before the end of 2011

Pending Home Sales Fall For Second Straight Month

Directors Realty — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 13:27:02 -0800

Pending Home Sales Fall For Second Straight Month

WASHINGTON -Pending home sales fell in January, the second straight monthly decline, a real estate trade group reported Monday. The pending home sales index fell 2.8% in January, close to market expectations, the National Association of Realtorssaid. However, sales in December were much weaker than first thought. Sales in December were revised sharply lower to a fall of 3.2% versus the prior estimate of a 2% increase. The index is 1.5% below January 2010 but 20.6% above the trough hit last June after the homebuyer tax creditexpired. Pending homes sales fell in the Northeast, the Midwest, and West but rose in the South. The index is based on sales contracts on existing homes. The NAR also reports on sales of existing homes once the sales close, usually six to eight weeks later.

Not trying to be a doom and gloom gal just trying to point out, once again, real estate IS local. Your local REALTOR knows the market. This is why we can't sell homes on the Internet, or Internot as I like to call it. Zillow, Trulia, Redfin, and now even NAR can't seem to get a handle on the reality of realty in today's confusing market. More foreclosures are in the pipeline than ever before, FHA short sale refi's cost us the taxpayers 8 Billion (yes Billion) dollars to refinance 40 HOMES! HAMP is being terminated as it should be, and HAFA did an amazing 700 transactions in 7 months.

Where and when is the bottom? Well if we has that crystal ball we would all be rich. Until we get back to pre-run up prices with normal appreciation we will more than likely not see a stabilization. Go back to your MLS and look up prices at the bottom of your last market probably circa 1996-1997 now add 2-3% appreciation to today. It is an interesting study. Sure prices have fallen 40-60% from 2005-2006 but those were such over inflated prices that we can not use them in a "real world" scenario.

Will the market continue to decline? Probably. Will the market bottom out? Definitely. Will the market go back up? Eventually. It is not all about value. Home ownership is about stability, neighborhood, family, friends, and yes an investment in the end. Hang in there everyone. As Kenny Rogers says "You Got To Know When to Hold , Know When to Fold ...."

California Foreclosure Update

Directors Realty — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 00:06:43 -0800

California Foreclosure Update

Recent articles are once again alarming in the REO world. California had a huge jump in Foreclosures once again after the lifting of annual holiday moratoriums combined with Robo Signing & Mers obsticles. Here are a few reasons you need to get some REO training if you want to survice in 2011 and beyond selling RE in CA:

THIS JUST IN. 4 FED PROGRAMS TO BITE THE DUST

On the chopping block are the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), HUD's Neighborhood Stabilization Program, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Short Refi Program, and the Emergency Homeowner Relief Fund passed under the Dodd-Frank Act.

If you have read any of my blogs you will not be too surprised to hear I TOLD YOU SO when it came to HAMP. I will not shed a tear as a matter of fact Hip Hip Horray! I guarantee this will add to the REO pool but at least we will not longer be attempting to cut our arm off with a butter knife!

YEAR END 2010

Foreclosure sales accounted for 26 percent of U.S. home sales in 2010, with those properties selling for more than 28 percent less, on average, than homes not in the foreclosure process, data aggregator RealtyTrac said in its latest report.

RECENT INCREASE IN DISTRESSED PROPERTY SALES

Distressed Homes Accounted for Nearly Half of January Sales "Already in January of 2011, in the key state of California, the survey found distressed property transactions account for 66 percent of the market".At the end of 2010 a total of 831,574 U.S. residential properties either owned by banks or in some stage of foreclosure sold to third parties in 2010. By: Carrie Bay DSNews 2-22-2011

THE FUTURE OF REO'S IN CA & USA

The catch-22 for 2011 is that while accelerating foreclosure sales will help clear the oversupply of distressed properties and return balance to the market in the long run, in the short term a high percentage of foreclosure sales will continue to weigh down home prices," said RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio.

TIME TO GET SOME REO TRAINING? COME LEARN HOW THE REO MARKET WILL IMPACT EVERY ASPECT OF YOUR REAL ESTATE CAREER IN THE NEXT 3-5 YEARS.

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UPCOMING LIVE REO WORKSHOPS - REO 101 & 102

Is Your MLS For Sale? How About Your Soul?

Directors Realty — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 14:57:56 -0800

IS YOUR MLS FOR SALE? How About Your Soul?

I recently received this notification from a vendor who will remain nameless to protect me from being sued:

Dear Real Estate Agent/Broker:

(Un-named Vendor) is now offering a new product, please read the descriptions below and update your fees:

"Subject Data Report: Focuses entirely on the subject property and asks for 10+ exterior subject photos, Subject MLS with photo gallery and completion of a brief questionnaire about the subject and subject market area. If interior access is obtained, 20+ interior photos should be provided of all rooms, damages, needed repairs and upgrades. A value determination will not be required. No comparables necessary. Turn-time will be 24-48 hours.

Subject Data Report - Exterior - $20.00
Interior Data Report - Interior - $30.00

Comparables Data Report: $15.00- Focuses entirely on comps for the subject property and asks for the best 15 comps in the subject market and full agent MLS "WITH" photo galleries in PDF format to be submitted for each completed report. Preferred 10 sales and 5 listings. No visit to the property is necessary. A value determination will not be required. Turn-time will be 24 hours.

Subject Data Report with Comps: $35.00-$45.00- This report will be a combination of the Subject Data Report and the Comparables Data Report. Turn-Time will be 24-48 hours".

Where do I begin? 10 Exterior Photos of the Subject, really? Do you want a picture of each tile on the roof too? Next, Comparable Data Report, full agent MLS, this "agent" report is reserved for participants and/or subscribers of the MLS and distribution of this report to outside parties is a direct violation of most MLS rules and regulations but I guess if we can make a whopping $15 bucks it's OK to break the rules.

Are we really so desperate that we will sell our MLS & our souls to these vendors? These are the same gangsters that own two of the three largest title/escrow companies directing 80% of the REO business, and who also charge us referral fees which may be a direct violation of RESPA rules, not to mention fees for administrating the escrows they already have directed to their companies, technology fees to use their software that never works correctly for tasks and reimbursements, and processing fees for invoices that were advanced our own money on the clients behalf by the agent who then try to get back their own money back less the processing fees.

Once you pay for your fuel (nearing $4.00 a gallon), your car payment, insurance, maintenance, MLS dues and fees, and all your other expenses trying to stay in business this new product will probably make you less than $5.00 an hour. Oh yeah BTW get this back to them in 24-48 hours. They will of course be assigning this on Saturday at 1:00PM so you can work all weekend while we have a nice Monday holiday 3 day weekend off and no human will actually be here to either accept this report or worse reject it because after you do all the research you don't fit the computers AVM.

If we want to be treated as professionals we need to JUST SAY NO, STOP THE INSANITY, and LET THEM KNOW WE ARE MAD AS HELL AND WE ARE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE! Turn down these underpaid assignments. Go hug a grand kid, kiss the dog, or so something else you like instead. You will find this more rewarding both emotionally, and dare I say financially, in the end.

Watch Your Words: Expert, Specialist,Certified, Etc.

Directors Realty — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 12:23:27 -0800

Watch Your Words: Expert, Specialist, Certified, Etc.

Just returned from CAR business meetings and in the Risk Management Forum one of our Attorney's pointed out that it is wise to watch your marketing words carefully. Using terms like Expert, Specialist, Certified, etc. can not only be misleading if you do not hold those authorized designations from NAR but could also raise your standards of practice when brought into question.

As you can plainly see I have a sea of alphabets behind my name from many sources including NAR, CAR, and Certified Course completions. I believe in each and every one of them. What I want to convey and encourage is that anyone taking courses to obtain Designations & Certifications continue to study those subjects long after the ink dries on them. Continue to take workshops, courses, webinars, and any and all training you can get from any and all sources you can. I personally set aside $300 a month for training in my budget every year. This means that I can buy books, take multiple courses, or even attend high dollar events like Annual Conferences both inside our REALTOR organizations and from outside providers as well.

Sure it is tough out there but the investment in my knowledge base brings me more revenue than all the advertising and marketing I spend combined. When the consumer wants to list with Certified Residential Specialist, buyer wants to buy with an Accredited Buyers Representative, a builder or consumer needs a New Construction Homes Sales specialist I am there. When a lender needs a Certified BPO/REO Specialist they can call on me to know my market and the state of the REO industry in my service area who has years of experience in the field which makes everyone a winner in the end. Due to my continued time and financial commitment to my profession I am all that and more.

Bank of America Back in Foreclosure Mode

Directors Realty — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 22:14:57 -0800

Bank of America Back in Foreclosure Mode

While Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac take the holidays off the second largest lender servicing over 500 investors along with their own REO portfolio who pulled out all the stops to stall the foreclosure procedure are now back in the game. No surprises here. Mystery solved in AZ, CA, NV, OR where they ceased foreclosures in non-judicial states during the so called MERS/Robosigning controversy. Why? There is still so much dual shadow inventory they can hardly keep up. It also makes the numbers look better to wall street and main street both when there appears to be a drop in the amount of foreclosure filings.

Failed Loan Modifications combined with Failed Short Sales again will result in record numbers of foreclosures in 2011 and beyond. Over 50% of all loan mods are back in the foreclosure pipeline already and are once again 60 days or more past due. Does anyone think this is because the only people who can qualify for a loan modification are those who are potentially the highest risk for foreclosure in the first place? Here’s a thought STOP rewarding bad behavior and help those who actually pay on time instead with a principal reduction coupled with current fixed interest rate loans, even when they are 30-60% upside down on their value. Somehow they still take their credit rating and home security seriously enough to continue to pay twice as much as their neighbors. If we put hold on, or at least a slow down, the sstrategic foreclosures by modifying principal and interest on a one time only basis and freeze the principal at today's market value we might actually put a dent in this crisis. BTW a smart Congressman actually has this on the table but it will never fly in the current political environment. The program could sunset on a specific date like the $8000 tax credit for buyers. Remember what that did to the market? This program would not cost the taxpayers a dime. The lenders would keep 90% of their mortgages active and we could take all the extra money and pump it back into the economy and create jobs. This would probably solve 75% or more of our current and future foreclosure problems.

But then again that would make sense and we do not want to do that now do we?

New Hybrid BMA?

Directors Realty — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 22:54:25 -0800

Are you getting as frustrated as I am with BPO's being kicked back because you actually used a "comp" home in the same neighborhood that did not fit the AVM? Maybe we need a new product. How about this we combine a BPO with a CMA and make a new report called a BMA. This would be a more accurate product that could not only show the lender/investor the real value of their REO but it could also actually show them a realistic asking price. Let's leave past cast property valuations to the Appraisers and lets get back to doing what we do best selling homes, no matter who owns them.

BPO vs Appraisal- Vote NOW!

Directors Realty — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 12:06:39 -0800

I just got off a Linkedin Blog discussion where an Appraiser who is also REALTOR chided us for doing BPO's. Really? Should we stop doing CMA's too? Thanks to HVCC many appraisers come from over an hour away and do not even have access to much of the local data yet they charge 10X what we are paid for a BPO. Sure it is much more work but is it really more accurate in this situation? Often times the Appraiser never steps foot into any of the homes he or she has used on their appraisal but the local REALTOR who has access to the homes and is asked to do the BPO has seen or even show these properties and gotten feedback from potential buyers which is after all what determines value in the end not what the seller, REALTOR, Lender, or Appraiser's opinions may be.

By the way Mr Appraiser if you can wear two hats why can't we? You said you "shredded" several REALTORS in court over what you determined were bad BPO's. Looked at the Code of Ethics lately? Remember you told us you were a REALTOR. Perhaps you should not be so quick to try to slam another professional. Sure there are less than accurate value opinions from agents & brokers, but there are also many Apprentice Appraisers trying to get their hours that may be using less than accurate info too. "He who lives in a glass should not throw stones"

BPO's are no substitute for Appraisals and I do not have one REO Vendor that does not order both. They are simply trying to judge the collateral damages in a foreclosure or short sale and in the end there will be at least one Appraisal maybe more before the property is ever sold.

What do you all think? Should REALTORS be allowed to perform BPO's?

C J Johnson's Blog

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Pending Home Sales Fall For Second Straight Month

Source: Greg Robb Copyright © 2011 MarketWatch, Inc. reprinted by permission.

California Foreclosure Update

Is Your MLS For Sale? How About Your Soul?

Watch Your Words: Expert, Specialist,Certified, Etc.

Bank of America Back in Foreclosure Mode

New Hybrid BMA?

BPO vs Appraisal- Vote NOW!