The past few months have certainly been a challenge for me.  First my Mom dies in August in the middle of our relocation to Memphis.  The closing on the sale of my house in the Baltimore area is delayed over and over and over again ... depressing.  And then on top of all that I'm having to start marketing myself all over again.

I have this wonderful manager in my office ... very quirky but you have to love his sense of style and phrasing.  He tells me periodically that you don't have to learn to skin the rabbit (it may be some other animal) again but when you go into a new huntin' area you have to learn how to catch the rabbit.  So I am slowly but surely learning how to catch this rabbit.

I have two great listings .... one in the Midtown area which is an area that I am very familiar with and comfortable dealing with.  The other listing is in East Memphis and that is just as nice of an area. 

As the 2010 starts I am starting new chapters in personal life and my career.  I've joined the church of my childhood (they have a great Pastor by the name of Jarad Bingham who truly rocks) and started getting reacquainted with those of my youth.  It is a challenging time in my life.

The house in Baltimore closed finally.  The City of Baltimore which (if you've been keeping up with the news) is a mess in and of itself is even worse.  i'm taking things one day at a time and moving onward and upward.

I'll update my progress as I use a new Business Coach, a new model for doing business, and taking my life to all sorts of new levels and highs.

Dana

Ok, today I'm in a blogging mood ... what can I say!

My church, Shady Grove Presbyterian Church as 5530 Shady Grove Road (the corner of Yates and Shady Grove) has been around for about 52 years or so.  It has always been a very special place.  It is well known for being a leader in the Memphis community and I've always appreciated what the church had to offer to the community as a whole.

I grew up in this church.  My Mother was the second woman to be ordained an Elder in this church.  My Dad was Treasurer of this church (and they are still going in spite of that period).  This is a wonderful church that has gone through some tough growing pains and failed leadership in the past few years.

I just moved back to Memphis a couple of months ago.  I've been away for 20 years, but when I Mom died back in August, she had told me to make sure that her friends at the church knew about her passing.  I followed her wishes of course being the dutiful son that I am.

When I call the church who else would answer the phone but the Pastor, Rev. Jarad Bingham.  He talked with me for about 90 minutes or so as I was speeding back to Baltimore to mourn her passing.  One thing that Jarad asked me to do was to come by and see him when I got settled.

Well we got together.  He is a WONDERFUL person and I went back to Shady Grove to see if as a Minister he was that great.  Well, he's better than great.

But he has instituted a program on Fridays at 6PM at the church call Casual Fridays.  It's blue jeans or whatever is your casual mode.  For me on a Friday it is more about taking the tie off for the rest of the day.  It is so wonderful.  It is open to everyone and you don't have to be a member of the church.  It is a wonderful laid back, easy going, sort of gathering.  Nothing too much and nothing too less.  No big sermon (although that's not Jarad's thing, but musings and mumblings). It is certainly something you might want to try out and visit.

You can also check out more on it at Facebook.com/casualfridays.

See you there!

Are we out of this gray market yet or not?  There seems to be some conflict on where home values are headed in the next few months.  Among those issues are how much the houses are decreasing in value versus the perception of individuals related to the decrease in value.

In a recent survey, 49% of the respondents said that they believed their homes were decreasing in value and according to Zillow.com the percentage of houses that are decreasing in value is actually 72%.  So that is a 23% discrepancy in the report.  So what is really going on with housing values.  Are they going down, stabilizing, or are we seeing a shift in the market that is upward.

One of the age-old adages of Real Estate is .... drumroll please .... "All Real Estate is local!" And that truly is the case.  All real estate is local and we have to remember that real estate is a local commodity.  I had a client (a couple actually) that were looking several years ago at investment housing and a principal residence for themselves.  As we wrote offers on the various properties that they were looking at, they would low-ball the offers continuously.  Over and over until I let them find another agent.  Their rational, they were economists and they were looking at the statistics (which were declining in 2006) for the national market.  But they were not able to see the fact that real estate is local.  The DC market where they were looking was not experiencing the type of implosion that other markets were experiencing at that time.  What my clients didn't get was that they have to look at what is occurring in the local market and then apply the economic forecasts to the market in which they are buying.

I don't pay anywhere near the amount for gas, milk, eggs, etc in Memphis that I did in DC!  The cost of living here is lower and vis-a-vis it makes living here much easier.  These are the things that people HAVE to remember when dealing with the market.

This past Friday our Office Administrator sent out the August 2009 with 2008 comparisons of the Memphis real estae market  The one thing I noticed was tha overall the market is still down, even from 2008, but that prices in the market are a little higher in 2009 than in 2008.  That shows some improvement.

I'm not sure the impact that the Housing Stimulus, called the First Time Homebuyers Tax Credit, is having on the local market right now.  I think prices are up but we weren't seeing in August much of an increase in the number of individuals who are purchasing.  So I'm wondering what has been going on in the August market.  I'm thinking I'm probably going to find out in the coming month.

But on a good note, our office is seeing increased numbers over last year.  In September 2008 we had 119 sales and in September 2009 we had 145.  That is an 18% increase which shows that in East Memphis (where our office is located) something good is happening.  Also we have been tracking the number of appointments that our wonderful Appointment Center process each week. Those numbers are up as well.  So we are seeing an improved market at Crye-Leike Quail Hollow, it just seems right now that we aren't seeing it over the entire market.

Make sure you follow the link at www.REALTORS.org and contact your Federal Elected Officials and let them know we need to have another year of the $8000 like it is this year.  I got an e-mail from Sen. Robert Corker (R-TN) the other day and he is supporting the initiative and I know that our Congressman from Memphis, Rep. Steve (a really good guy) Cohen, (D-TN) is also supporting extending the tax credit.

And don't forget that in reality we have only about 9  DAYS LEFT for a Purchase Contract to go through underwriting, appraisal, and get to the closing table by November 30.  Your transaction turns into a pumpkin on December 1!

There was an interesting article in the Memphis Commercial Appeal.  In this article, it stated that of the 12 Federal Reserve Regions, 11 of them were beginning to show a robust return to business as usual.  The one region not reporting this wonderful and good news was the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank.

An interesting historical footnote to this post. Memphis is the bankruptcy capital of the U.S.  In fact, it was U.S. Congressman Walter Chandler (a future Mayor of Memphis) who initially introduced bankruptcy creation legilation.  Mr. Chandler was succeed years later by his adopted son, Wyeth, who would serve many years and go on to be a Circuit Court Judge until his death.

But with the first paragraphy in mind there are lots of foreclosures, bank sales, and short sales to be had in Memphis, They are very difficult but they are there.  Well while the St. Louis region of the Feds is not rebounding, the real estate market in Memphis is beginning to rebound.  Pending sales are up at 8% and listings are down 3 %.  That is good The inventory is shrinking and sales are growing.

So the ST. Louis FEd Reserve may be having problems, we we in this ae dan't yet.!

Dna

There was an interesting article that I've just read regarding Lenders and Fannie Mae Policies.  Apparently in a local situation (like may be declining market or something else) the lender can ask for certain waivers on policies of Fannie Mae to adjust to th elocal market.  In fact, they are so anxious for REALTORS to understand the policies they them online for us at eFannieMae.com.  Isn't that just darn sweet of them.

What Fannie Mae says apparently that many times they are the scapegoat for the policies of the Lender and not necessarily Fannie Mae.  One of the more heartening things to read about in this article is that it states that when you file an exception to a Fannie Mae rule (which can be done online) that what happens is that it is reviewed and a decision is made typically within 24 hours (not bad for government work).  But they say many times the boon doggles that we get mired in are not anything to do with Fannie Mae but with the policies at the Lender.

So when you are tyring to get an exception to a Fannie Mae rule find out whether or not it can't be done because of Lender rules or is it a Fannie Mae block.  If it is a Fannie Mae block request an exception (you'll probably get it since it is based on local info) and if it is the lender's policies or the lender refuses to do the right thing and apply for the exception, then find another lender. 

Most of the lenders I have spoken with tell me that they would understand the situation and it gives them an ample point as to why there needs to be more flexibility in their rules.

Good Luck!

Dana

Well here we go again ... with an issue in the real estate community that is needed  (badly), but not one that has been given enough thought, enough effort, and has failed, miserably, to include the people at the table that NEED to be at the table.

Following the downturn and collapse of the real estate market in the past couple of years, it was decided by New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo that something needed to be done.  Well I agree with that.  So Mr. Cuomo filed a lawsuit on the behalf of the people of New York about the appraisals that were done during the heyday of the market.  That is fine and good, we need to have conscientious people that are looking out for consumers.  After all we have licensing laws for Real Estate professionals, Home Inspectors, Appraisers, in an effor to protect the public from less than seemingly individuals.  Licensure is a good thing.

The crux of the situation, during the vibrant market that recently brought the market to it's knees, is that many houses were being over-valued.  Now in the time that I've been selling real estate, I have to admit that I have been rather realistic and pragmatic with my approach.  I had a seller who wanted to list his home for an OUTRAGEOUS amount of money ... I told him we'd try it for a week and then we'd price it smart.  Fortunately while it was price insanely we didn't get any lookers but once we got the price to where a studio in SW Washington, DC should be priced ... we got a GREAT offer! 

There were appraisals that were done drive-by because the appraisers had so many that they had to complete in a day that they weren't able to get inside the property to look around.  One of the drawbacks of such a vibrant market.  Real Estate professionals and the mortgage people were working tirelessly to get these properties closed in a timely manner.  We all worked hard.

Now the appraisals are being referred to  Appraisal Management Companies (AMC) that are referring the appraisals out to the individual appraisers.  One aspect (a good one) for the situation is that the HVCC states very clearly that the appraiser has to have a knowledge of the area.  That is so very true. The style of home and community here in Memphis is different that of Jackson, TN which is about 70 miles up the road.  Jackson is a lovely area, community oriented, many great universitites have campuses or branches in the Jackson area ... but it doesn't have the population of Memphis so I think an appraiser from Jackson trying to do a home in midtown Memphis might have some challenges that they are facing. 

So here is what is going on ... the appraisals have to be routed through one of these AMCs if the loan is going to be sold to Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae.  The AMC appoints the appraiser, often without any consideration I'm told as to what the experience of the appraiser is for that area.  I recently had an appraisal in Virginia ... the Appraiser got the appraisal like 2 days after we submitted the contract to the bank ... they contacted the AMC and it was assigned.  This was an extremely precarious short sale ... extremely precarious!  We were to close on the house on a Friday ... that was so the new owners would have time to get into the house ... the problem was the appraiser didn't get the appraisal done until Thursday afternoon.  Since it was a VA appraisal it was much more writing and such than a non-VA or non-FHA appraisal.  So what happened ... we didn't close on Friday.  Monday came and the bank who had agreed to the short sale is threatening to pull approval because my clients are in default of the contract at this time.  This is a disaster in the making!  After going MANY levels above the loan officer (I prefer dealing with loan officers who have offices in my locale that I can "visit" them in) we got an okay to close.

So what was the problem .... the appraiser wasn't from the part of Virginia (bustling Northern Virignia) and he wanted to wait until he got at least 5 appraisals in the area.  That is ridiculous.  This almost cost my client's the new home that they loved so much.

Yes, we need to have appraisals done!  Yes, we need a Code of Ethics for the Appraisers rather than a Code of Conduct!  But what we need rather than these AMCs (which did I mention that many of these are owned by financial institutions in whole or part) running the appraisals, we need a clearinghouse for appraisals.  Maybe something owned and operated by the Federal Government or a consortium that is independent of banks, real estate professionals, etc.  This would be a place where the underwriter or loan officer could order the appraisal and then it would be randomly assigned. 

Mr. Cuomo has started something that we all need to be thinking about to make the industry better, but right now the plan that is in place is fraught with errors and problems.  There needs to be something else!

Good morning!

Yesterday at 1:27PM I lost my mother.  Not only did I lose my Mother, I lost my BFF as they put it.  There are so many memories of her and I loved her dearly.  Mother was always here ... when I took my first real estate test exam, there she was waiting patiently and confidently (that I would do outstanding) in the lobby of the building.  In subsequent events (when I was in DC I was licensed in 3 jurisdictions) she was there with me.

When I had my first closing ... there was mother on the phone with me because she knew I was nervous.  When I was defending my doctoral dissertation proposal, I was working in Atlanta and had to travel back to Tampa to defend (part of a process).  As I was walking through the huge Atlana airport, who was there to keep me company on he flight down ... Mother.  She never asked how I did ... she just ALWAYS assumed that I did well ...

When I got my driver's license ... there she was .... individual music competitions had my Mom right there either in the parking lot or "volunteering" as a helper.

Mother had been ill for over a year.  I had cut back on my real estate career to take care of Mother.  She would have done the same for me.  I had to use all my savings to help her with the enormous medical expenses she was incurring.  It was so much!  But I did it because after all she's my Mom and my BFF.  Now I have to figure out how I'm going to go on.

Mother loved reading the rain.  She found the info useful, informative, humorous at times, and just so much fun. 

As of yesterday Mother had left the rain and she has left a large hole in our group for me!

Dana

So I made the move home!  It is amazing how many people I still know from High School and College in the area.  I also have family friends from living in the Memphis area for 30 years.  But I'm still facing the fears of starting over.

So here goes ... I'm like a very experienced Rookie in real estate now.  I'm starting with no hopes and no leads and have to start building from there.  Additionally I am having to ake care of a very ill family member who lives with me also.  So we will see how it goes.  I'm working with my Coach, Billy van Raaphorst at Buffini and Company to make this transition.

Stay tuned and suggestions are always welcomed!

Dana

I've been watching, quietly from the sidelines if you can believe it, the new rules that are being laid out for lending.  It is creating confusion and havic for some lenders and REALTORS, but in essence the rules are good.  I think it is a good thing for buyers that they have to be given notice if the interest rate goes up .125% prior to closing. I know how many time, when we have gotten to closing, that the buyer was shocked and dismayed at the amount the interest on their proposed loan was going to be.

The new HUD forms are easier.  I like that there are now time limits set in stone for the GFE.  It is unfortunate that we have to scuttle many of the quick closings that I have been so famous for in my career.  But these new rules are better for everyone concerned.

Also, the new rule about appraisers being local ... yea!  That is a good one.  Too often I've had appraisers asking me questions about the area ... the trends in the area ... always a problem.  This new rule is making things easier.

Good luck and enjoy the new rules!