Silicon Valley has become a Sellers Market - 02/29/12 09:41 AM
I read yesterday that Case-Shiller is predicting a third dip (three peat) in housing prices.  The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices are the leading measures for the US residential housing market, tracking changes in the value of residential real estate both nationally as well as in 20 metropolitan regions.   A dip in prices may be true across the nation but here in Santa Clara Valley the market has swung to that now it is an aggressive sellers market. In a way this is too bad because at the same time in Silicon Valley rent prices have sky-rocketed. Higher rents will drive people … (0 comments)

FHA to raise Mortgage Insurance Fees - 02/28/12 03:37 PM
The article below is from Daily Real Estate News. This is a  BIG expense. The up front MI for a $350,000 mortgage just went from $3500 to $6125.00. FHA has historically done a poor job of approving loans and now they are making the new buyers pay for their poor decisions.
Home buyers with mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration will soon see a rise in fees, the agency announced Monday. 
The agency is raising its fees in an effort to try to recoup some of its depleted reserves*, which suffered from the rising number of home owners who defaulted … (0 comments)

Keep adjusting your sales plan until you find your key to great success - 02/27/12 05:59 PM
Suppose you have a goal of 2 sales units and to reach this goal your sales plan is to make 10 sales presentations a day. But you find that you are selling 0 units.   The choices:   Your presentation could be poor and if so then you need to learn to improve the presentation (take a sales class)   Perhaps the people you are calling on don't need the product. If that is the case then you need to find a better pond to fish in.   Or, perhaps you simply don't make enough calls and the 10 sales calls … (0 comments)

Things you can control: Attitude and Effort - 02/27/12 09:07 AM
I  suppose that there are some superstar sales people out there who rarely lose a sale. But, I think most of us know the disappointments and failures that can be associated  with the sales profession. Sometimes it seems we do everything right; we built rapport. We asked excellent questions. We were prepared and did a fantastic presentation.We even had the best deal for the customer - but sometimes we still lose the sale.   There are really only two things we can control.: Attitude and Effort.   Attitude- We must not only protect ourselves from those around us and the general … (2 comments)

Selling to Groups (some good advice) - 02/23/12 06:32 PM
 
We frequently have guest presenters at our office meetings; bankers presenting their product lines, or title companies, or credit repair agencies.   The norm is that the presenter will arrive just a couple of minutes early or a few minutes late. Then, it is rare for the  presenter to be prepared or use any sales skills at all.   For most of us it is a good idea to learn how to sell to groups and here are some tips.   1. Know the audience. If you can get a list of the attendees from the host. If you are going … (2 comments)

Prepare to Negotiate (to sell) - 02/23/12 10:13 AM
Professional negotiators always enter the negotiations fully prepared. As a commissioned sales person you are a professional negotiator and you are a professional speaker (more about that later).   So many sales people approach the client with a process not fully thought out. The next time you visit a client in a sales or negotiation situation prepare yourself with these questions.   What do I want out of this process? What does the client want- if I don't know - what are they likely to want? What is the least I will accept from this process? What problems could arise? How … (0 comments)

Put some fun in your sales - 02/22/12 08:44 AM
What do you have a passion about that you can tie into your business? My company is Mortgage Magic therefore mortgage + magic. As a sales person the number one thing you must do is simply get more and more people to know you; marketing expansion. Here is a fun clip about counting money from the opening of our Mortgage Magic TV show. Your Sales should be fun and successful. Make your clients and yourself happy- that is the biggest key to success.

Determine to have more fun in your job and allow the commissions to flow to you.
Doug Jones … (3 comments)

How to Close more Sales - 02/21/12 02:43 PM
The comments in this blog are so basic yet many sales people ignore the basics. There are 10 ideas here on how to close more sales. I am just giving you the basic idea and will let you figure out the "how" because that would take too much blogging. Here are 10 basic rules.   1. Get people to Like You (read How to Win Friends and Influence People) 2. Get people to Trust you ----no more hints you are on your own now 3. Make sure they need what you are selling 4. Get them to want it now. To … (0 comments)

Being a member of a Service Club is good for business - 02/21/12 09:29 AM
If you are self employed or a commissioned sales person it makes a lot of sense to become part of a service club.   There are excellent service clubs in every community in the United States: Rotary, Lions, Kiwanis, Optimists,  and the Exchange Club are just a few of the names that you will probably recognize. It seems every time I drive into a small community I see a banner, "Lions Pancake Breakfast" or "Kiwanis Casino Night". These are always fun events and they place money in worthy causes.   Service Clubs  are excellent for business. A fellow in my office … (1 comments)

Market, market, market, market, market, market youself - 02/18/12 02:09 PM
If you are a Realtor or MLO then most of us have to market, market, and then market some more. To me the key is don't hide the light under the bushel...let everyone know what we do. I have a company called Mortgage Magic; hence mortgages and magic.
On Super Bowl Sunday I did a show for the Chinese American Biopharmaceutical Society in Foster City. We celebrated Chinese New Years and there were eleven acts during the day; mostly excellent musicians of various sorts. My show was approximately 20 minutes and I did the following acts:
Pulled the color red from … (1 comments)

Ideas to test...the proof is always in the pudding - 02/18/12 01:37 PM
Here are some classic quotes. They are especially valuable to the sales person or the self employed person.   "Our brain and nervous system cannot tell the difference between a 'real' experience and one which is vividly imagined."     - Maxwell Maltz   "It is a well known fact that one comes, finally, to believe whatever one repeats to one's self, whether the statement is true or false."  - Napoleon Hill   "The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind."  -  William James   "I was 52 years old. I had diabetes … (2 comments)

MCC is back for Santa Clara County - 02/17/12 12:29 PM
MCC is back. Applications will be accepted beginning Monday February 20th at 8 am. It is expected that this allocation will last between 2-3 months.          MCC Applications are processed each Friday in the week the application is received.   Program Description
The Mortgage Credit Certificate Program (MCC), authorized by Congress in 1984, provides financial assistance to first-time homebuyer's. The Santa Clara County MCC tax credit reduces the federal income taxes of qualified Borrowers purchasing qualified homes; thus having the effect of a mortgage subsidy. The current tax credit rate is up to 15% of the interest paid to the Lender on … (0 comments)

How much is the MIP for a Reverse Mortgage? - 02/17/12 08:15 AM
The Reverse Mortgage is an FHA loan and like all FHA loans it requires an insurance premium. The up front premium for the basic FHA loan is 1% of the loan amount so for a $107,000 loan the premium would be $1007.   I used the $107,000 loan amount for a reason. I just closed a Reverse Mortgage for that loan size; but in the case of the Reverse Mortgage the insurance premium was $3080.00. More than three times the normal FHA premium. Why?   First, the required premium for the Reverse Mortgage is 2% of the appraised value of the … (1 comments)

FHA Fact - 02/16/12 01:19 PM
From Home Guides Demand Media
Primary Residence When you close on your FHA loan you must sign a statement indicating you will occupy the home as your principal residence within 60 days after closing. If you don't occupy the home within that period, are violating your signed statement. This could lead to civil and possibly criminal penalties under the federal Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.
One Year Occupancy You clearly must move into your home immediately after closing, but FHA rules let you rent an FHA-insured home if you have lived in it for at least one year.
Doug JonesMortgage Magic … (2 comments)

Does your club need a speaker? I offer several choices.... - 02/15/12 11:34 AM
Talks available to service clubs - other subjects available
 
 
Fun With Magic-  I show the audience some simple magic tricks. I teach them a trick and someone gets the chance to win $1000 (not-- the chances are the same as if the Harlem Globe Trotters lose a game)
 
Member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, The Society of American Magicians, and the Fellowship of Christian Magicians
 
------------------------------------------------------------
 
Crazy Economy - a spoof filled with magic about how I "discovered" a secret math used by the Government. Filled with truths, half- truths, downright fiction.
 
Small Business … (0 comments)

Home Affordable Refinance Program 2.0 is here - 02/15/12 10:33 AM
HARP 2.0 is here and I can't seem to get excited about it. The original HARP was to have assisted 5,000,000 people and ended up assisting less than one million. Of course that is fantastic that almost one million were assisted. But if I were to project a number to my company for a sales result and only hit 20% I would be fired or at least not taken seriously for a long time. HARP hit just under 20% of the projected number.   What HARP 2.0 (Home Affordable Refinance Program) does is removes the 125% value cap. It does not … (1 comments)

Gift Taxes - 02/14/12 07:13 PM
This blog is not to be confused with Estate Taxes. The rules regarding estate taxes are completely different than gift taxes. For this blog the examples will be cash but any item of value can be used as a gift.
Suppose a married couple has $4,000,000 cash and three children. Each parent can gift to each of the children $13,000 per year and pay no taxes. The married couple together can gift up to $26,000 per child each year and pay no taxes. The $13,000 is based on the amount for 2010--this amount changes and in 2008 the number was $12,000.
… (2 comments)

Loan rates to increase February 21, 2012 - 02/14/12 01:32 PM
On December 23, 2011, President Obama signed into law the Temporary Payroll Cut Continuation Act of 2011.  Among its provisions, this new law directs the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to increase guarantee fees charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. 
Due to these changes,
Any conforming or high balance loans currently locked that require an extension after February 21, 2012, will have an additional 45 basis points fee added to the normal extension fees.
This includes relocks and all other extension scenarios FHA and Jumbo Loans are excluded from this additional pricing hit Effective Date: Immediately
Action Taken:
Rate Sheet … (1 comments)

Multi Family real estate to rebound - 02/13/12 02:05 PM
The real estate market expects there to be a rebound in multifamily real estate. The comments below come from Bloomberg.   The state of the housing sector has been a key impediment to a faster recovery,” Bernanke told the annual convention of homebuilders in Orlando, Florida, on Feb. 10. “Homebuilding remains depressed in most areas,” he said. “In contrast to the situation for owner-occupied homes, rental markets around the country have strengthened somewhat. Rents have been increasing and the construction of apartment buildings has picked up.” A lack of investment in residential real estate subtracted 0.03 percentage point from economic growth … (1 comments)

Customers: ASK your Realtor or Loan Officer - 02/09/12 11:12 AM
The Internet is wonderful but information can be wrong and certainly dated. Someone may read a blog that I wrote two years ago and in the blog I may mention that the conforming jumbo loan limit is $729,750 and take that number as the current guideline and it would be wrong. Blog information is current when the blog is written but web site information should be updated and accurate.   I have seen web sites that are so professional with data and clicks and links into the hundreds but yet some of the basic information is out dated. This morning I … (1 comments)

Basic FHA Loan Requirements - 02/09/12 10:28 AM
FHA loans are the easiest type of real estate mortgage loan to qualify for. The FHA loan requirement guidelines for loan qualification are the most flexible of all mortgage loans and only require a 3.5% down payment.
Basic FHA loan requirements for Qualification
Two Years of steady employment, preferably with same employer. Last two years Income should be the same or increasing. Credit report should typically have less than two thirty day late payments in last two years with a minimum credit score of 640 or higher.. Bankruptcy's must be at least two years old, with perfect credit since discharge. Foreclosure's and Short … (1 comments)

Down Payment Assistance in Santa Clara County - 02/09/12 12:33 AM
The Housing Trust of Santa Clara County's Mortgage Assistance Program (MAP) is one of the four loan products currently available from the Housing Trust, and is a conventional second loan. Funds are currently available.
   
Who it Helps First Time Home buyers earning up to 120% AMI who have not owned a home in Santa Clara County in the last three years. As shown above, the household income for a four-member household cannot exceed $126,000; or the income for a single-member household cannot exceed $88,200.
How it Helps The Housing Trust has established the Mortgage Assistance Program to help home … (1 comments)

White House Value continues to slide - 02/07/12 02:25 PM
Below is a blog that I wrote two years ago in February. Today Zillow estimates the White House at $261,132,100. It has dropped another $26,638,900 these past two years. If it keeps going down it may become underwater and if they sell we may have to look at a short sale.
Last year I looked up the White House on Zillow and it showed a value of over $300,000,000. Today the value has dropped to $287,771,000. The White House is more than an acre in square footage at 55,000 and has 16 bedrooms and 35 bath rooms. It was built in … (0 comments)

Can you write off the interest if you are not on the loan? - 02/07/12 12:29 PM
This is actually a blog I posted last February but I really do get the question and here is the answer.
This is a question I get every year and you may get it as a Realtor or Lender. The question is if someone makes the mortgage payment and they are not on the loan; can they write off the interest? The answer is "No" but here is a 1 minute video that explains more fully.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g1cjR17FL8
Doug JonesMortgage Magic NMLS 286668doug@mortgagemagic.com
 
… (0 comments)

Hat's off to the mortgage brokers - 02/04/12 09:42 AM
Hats off to all the mortgage brokers who are still in business and doing well. I am a mortgage broker and am proud to be a mortgage broker. I work under the California department of real estate which means I had to pass my real estate exam...then to be a Mortgage Loan Originator I had to pass the National and the State Secure and Fair Enforcement Act exams; three exams.I teach students to pass the SAFE act exams and will say without doubt that the National exam is by far the most difficult of the three exams.I never had my real … (2 comments)