Well today I passed 100,000 active rain points.  I was planning on making a blog post advertising with this post .... But the points were rewarded for a contest I entered on trust.    I have been very busy in many different directions... Even real estate has picked up... I have 4 really good leads.  One an old listing, one a potential new listing, one a zillow lead and last but not least one I picked up from my last listing.... This is pretty exciting because I have been busy with my dad's research project.  Some research for my state legislator.   I just must make sure I convert at least a few of these into real business.  Other then that I am being pulled in so many directions that real prospecting is out of the question but a least I have time to work.  I wonder if something is paying it forward for helping dad....

The last  story for my state representative This one happened in 2011....

Judith and Sam,

Judith and Sam are friends of mine.  I was at their wedding.   Their story is a little different They only had one mortgage and it was for a mobile home on a rented lot.  They bought their home right after the marriage for $59 K… Things were going OK even thought they were paying over $900/ month for their mortgage (payment) and lot rental…Then Sam lost his job.  He was unemployed for over a year.  They did some things to try to keep body and soul together.  A paper route and a home day care business. But it wasn’t enough. Plus they had 4 children.  I heard though the grapevine that they were in trouble and I got involved.  After 10 years of owning their home they still owed $57K on it and it was worth $30 K. Molbile homes are on rented lots are different.  They are repossessed like cars but they are really homes that people live in.  All the laws to protect homeowners do not seem to apply to these people.   I asked 3 0r 4 lawyers for opinions. 

I talked to the bank.  They were most unhelpful.  I tried to get them to modify the loan.  I suggested that they lower the principal and put the mortgage at 8%.  That would bring the payment down to place they could afford.  The banker kept saying that they could afford their mortgage.. They could not…  They had 4 children, the youngest a newborn.   I then suggested a deed in lieu of foreclosure The banker seemed to sneer over the phone line.   I set up a plan with a charitable group.  They had offered help with the deposit and some rent.  I suggested we needed a lawyer to give pro-bono work for a bankruptcy and that the charitable group  would pay the fees.  They could also help with the deposit Time passed and the phone rang.  It was another banker and she offered a deed in lieu of foreclosure and gave them 2 months to move out and $300.  I also had them agree not to go for the deficiency so they did not need the bankruptcy lawyer J.    Despite all of my friends problems the only item they were behind on was the payments for the mobile home. 

Without the negotiation my friends would have been hit with a deficiency judgment and forced to declare bankruptcy.  

Deficency judgement continued....

Aisha

In October of 2011 I showed a house for a buyer.  The owner was home.  She is a lovely lady who developed breast cancer.  She was paying her mortgage until she couldn’t work because of the cancer.  Aisha is a single mother who now has a reasonable job.   She tried to get a loan modification but her bank wouldn’t talk to her.  They tried to tack on all sorts of fees and call it a loan modification. Aisha has two mortgages.  

When her home either short sales or is foreclosed on she will get a deficiency judgment for the second mortgage.  So first you get sick. Then you lose your job. Then you lose your home. Then you get slapped with a deficiency judgment for the entire second mortgage.

I was asked by my representative at the Idaho Statehouse to tell stories of hardship.  The stories are real and the names have been changed:

John

I listed the home in February 2008. It is probably what drove me to my run for Congress. It made me mad enough to run. It was a short sale with Wells Fargo. John is a school teacher.  He and his wife took out a second mortgage on his home. The home appraised for $30K more then the home was ever worth.  Five months later, his wife left him.  He didn’t know he was upside down until he tried to refinance according to the divorce decree. He tried to pay the mortgage but released that he was selling everything he owned make the payments.  Without his wife’s income he could not make the payment.

I listed the home and dropped the price to $185K.  In April I had a good offer at asking price.  The bank would not let me call in and talk to a negotiator.  In the end they rejected the offer even though it appraised for 98% of the offer.  That is very good for a short sale.  They didn’t tell me they canceled the file for over a month.  Everyone I talked to gave me a different story.  One person said it was that the second wouldn’t settle.  My client would have settled a bit  of money to make the deal go fast (we were within the 3 month window of nonpayment of the mortgage).  We upped the price and never got another offer.  My seller was so upset that he moved before the foreclosure.   The home foreclosed in February of 2009 and the bank sold the home in May of 2009 at $165K.  During the summer a company called him asking for a $70,000 deficiency judgment.  At this point I became involved again.  The company was willing to settle for $7000 but John didn’t have the money.  We went and saw a bankruptcy lawyer.  We offered the bank $3000 at the end of summer school.  They said they needed the money right then.  I explained that he wouldn’t have the money until he got his summer pay.  

In the end John, who only had the mortgage against him, had to declare bankruptcy.  

I was contacted my State Representative, Sue Chew and was asked if it was true that the banks were double dipping when they gave a deficiency judgement.  She was told that Bank of America was gauraunteed by the feds that they would lose no money.  She was wondering if the  banks were collecting from the feds and trying to collect from the home owner. 

Also if there were to be protective legislation on deficiency judgements what would be the best practice to protect those with real hardship while not allowing a benefit for strategic defaults.  Any opinions you have would be appreciated.  Any thoughts?

Yesterday I found a political ally has changed his views and is now working on legislation I strongly oppose.   As Democrats in Idaho we have very little influence in how our state is run.  When the Idaho’s education secretary proposed then succeeded in passing three laws that hurt Idaho’s children and teachers there was a bi-partisan outcry among the populace.   The outcry was so great that the laws are up for a vote in December.  Most of my ally’s and some of my usual political adversaries were working to change the laws.  Yesterday I found that my friend is now going to be working for the other side.  I am very sad.  I was hoping that my friend would have helped us get rid of the bad legislation. 

So this leads us to how we handle disappointment.  In our field of real estate there is a lot of it… We have it in our personal life… We have it in our political life… So far I will admit to a pretty dismal start of my new year… 

I had my suitcase full of money client where I could taste that commission check.  I had a client decide it isn’t time to buy a home.  I had a listing fail inspection and the buyer walked.  I had to pull the listing and wait for repairs.  My father had a stroke and needed help on a project.  The old dog is peeing on the carpet again and her cough is coming back.  I have no obvious clients in the pipeline…  I was handling everything but my dad pretty well.  But today I am disappointed.  Perhaps I am sad because my friend seems to be what others have said in the past… But I thought better of him.   What can I do?  I need to think.  

How do we handle disappointment in our lives and our business?   Usually I just shrug it off and move to the next project…  I go to the next client but as February begins I enter is with a heavy heart.  Sometimes it is the move of one person.  Maybe it is the accumulation.  Maybe later today I will have figured out and have a new client.  Maybe I will work harder to help with the voter referendum.   Maybe I will drop everything and help dad in Israel in a month or so (or just visit him and his wife).  I wish I could get paid for political or social work but alas I am a democrat in Idaho and the jobs are few and poorly paid.  There is so much that could be improved if we had more money.   I guess that is true in my real personal life.  If  I sold more houses I would have a more solid future.  So how do I handle my disappointment and get on with my life and business?

I will get through it... I usually just suck it up and get on with it.  I imagine that is what I will do today... I will go to the office and try to prospect for a bit.  Does it hurt to make public disappointment?

So if you want someone who would serve you well give me a call.  I can help with their real estate needs and I will be too busy to be disappointed and my outlook will change.

Wow!  That is such good advice for our time off.... I usually give my stuff to my broker who sometimes spreads it out.  Sometimes we forget that we are people too who need tie off in order to appreciate life.  I am much fresher after some time off than I am when I work for days straight and do not take it. 

Activerain guidelines help us to create a professional blog which helps build our community.  It is a place to safely learn to blog.  Experiments are encouraged.   It is here I learned how to use U-tube and to plug my Virtual tours into my blog posts.   I sometimes talk about things other than real estate and people are usually respectful.  I also try to be respectful in my comments.   I appreciate the  activerain guidelines and think that it helps define a wonderful community of real estate professionals that have a lot of varied knowledge and expertise to share.    I feel that I have learned a lot about real estate here and I might have been able to share a litlle of my knowledge too.

With my dad just having a stroke and going to Israel I sort of wanted to be able go there quickly.   I looked at my passport and noticed the expiration date of 5/2012…. That wasn’t good…. The airlines don’t always let you on if your passport is about to expire…  Also some countries won’t let you in.  By the way Israel will let you in if you have a return ticket.   I was in a quandary.. By expediting my passport there would be a 2-3 week window where I can’t travel.  I guess in an emergency I could go to Seattle (500 miles away) and throw myself at the mercy of the passport agency…So it is time to renew the passport…

So I googled the instructions…. They were really easy.    

In 5 minutes I had the form printed out.  Then went for my passport photo at Walgreens.  Photocopied everything at the office.  Made an envelope of my check, the application (with my photo) and my old passport.  Then I will go to the post office and hopefully have my passport in 2-3 weeks.  Note without expediting it takes $70 less but 4-6 weeks…. In an emergency you can go to the nearest passport office (with proof of travel (ie. Airline ticket)) in less then 2 weeks) and get it in 1 day.  You do need to make an appointment.  

So happy traveling... With luck my passport will be here in a couple of weeks.

OK I now have spent a week on Calcudos (Dad's research project) and very little time on my business... Some of the work is finished but there is going to be a lot of work while dad is traveling.  They offered to take me but as a landlord I am loath to leave when the rent is due.   It is hard to leave in this business but if they need me I could go later.  My housemate and I have worked very hard with dad and the programmer.  Yesterday we tested the program and came up with user suggestions.  I also found an error on calculating age.  We are going to be asking the doctors to use the program voluntarily and it must be as user friendly as possible.... I can only make suggestions since I do not know how to program.  I am a spreadsheet whiz and a scientist but not a programmer.  I did succeed in getting a lot of redundant entry gone (or at least I hope I did).  I was asked why I didn't do this 6 months ago and I said I hadn't worked the program 6 months ago.   I have until 11 AM to call my own since I am the only one involved that gets up in the morning.... OK that is an exaggeration but they are set to meet at 11 AM and I will have been to my office and kept my coffee appointment by then.

I think my housemate has some really great ideas and could be very useful if we get to the stage that the program is making a profit.  She has already suggested grant writing.  We just have to make sure dad has control of the project.  The problem is that if something happens to dad the project will not ever move forward.  With the right resources this could help in medical practice and help hold down medical costs.   The work is worthy....

Well we will see what happens.... If I am going to get to my office today I sort of have to go NOW....