DC Broker Owner Commits Fraud & Coughs up $25,000 - 08/28/07 06:26 PM
Some agents think it’s the other guy who gets caught. According to an editorial in Real Law Central,District of Columbia Broker Owner Richard Jenkins became aware of  a property whose owner had Alzheimer’s disease and that would need to be sold in order to pay for the owner’s extended care requirements. Broker Jenkins secured a verbal okay from the Owner’s brother, Benjamin Strauss, put the house on the market, found a buyer, put the buyer’s home on the market, prepared a sales agreement that provided for the seller to pay off the buyer’s Sear’s account - $5,900; a commission for selling … (2 comments)

Wall Street Journal Sub-Prime Score Card - 08/28/07 08:32 AM
Sources: SNL Financial, National Mortgage News, MortgageDaily.com, Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter, WSJ.com research … (4 comments)

Should Realtors be Loan Officers too? - 08/06/07 04:40 PM
I hope I don’t step on too many toes with this topic, but I say yes! 
Too many new and experienced Realtors are clueless about pre-qualifying, assessing whether or not their buyer (client?) is being offered the best range of products; have no idea when or how to pinpoint that the loan is going down the tubes until it’s too late and then are ineffectual in helping to pick up the pieces. Too many Realtors are absolutely dependent on loan officers for understanding when a client is qualified for a particular type of financing and don't know when their  client … (12 comments)

A boost for Credit Scores?? - 08/04/07 05:56 AM
Did you know that more than 50,000,000 people have Capital One Credit cards? I have two of them. After many years of refusing to disclose, Capital One has now agreed to report borrower balances and limits. So what’s the big deal? For some people, it could mean the difference between having a 6.59% 30-year fixed loan versus having a 7.68% loan! If you are someone who maintains low or no balances on your credit cards, the credit bureaus view that as positive money management and raise your score. In this instance, from 659 to 700. In the past, the credit bureaus … (6 comments)

Have you received an approval letter from AHM for one of your listings or your buyers? If so that letter may be worthless. - 08/02/07 09:09 AM
On the last two days of July fundings did not occur.
One of my favorite lenders, a competitor of AHM, sent me the above headline this morning. It certainly got my attention and no, thank goodness, I don’t have any deals dependent on AHM for a mortgage. On July 31, shares in American Home Mortgage were halted at market opening, after the company said it had “bad news”, which would adversely affect the value of its shares. Prior to the opening bell, the shares had tumbled nearly 50% in pre-open trading.
At the present moment, AHM is “evaluating how the … (1 comments)

Mineapolis - Real Estate services after a disaster or during a community "lockdown"? + New 9/11 Stamp - 08/02/07 05:43 AM
Looking at events yesterday and over the last decade, we have seen some very devastating events from a major bridge collapse to hurricanes to cities hiding in fear of being shot. I remember very well a few years ago in the fall of 2002, when we were going through the DC Area Sniper shootings. During a period of 40 to 50 days, no one was going out for other than essentials. Any thoughts of the housing market opportunities took a back seat to being caught up in the horror of 10 people being randomly murdered and three others wounded.
I … (4 comments)