Lane's Blog - Looking out from the garage

Embracing and Embraced...

Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Diamond Dwellings Realty) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:16:42 -0600

I got a battery yesterday. It is an Optima Yellow Top. For people that are outside of the off-road or racing world... big whoop, right?

But there is a little backstory here.

I won the battery at an event called Mud4Blood. It is a blood drive in the Atlanta area off-road community. LifeSouth does the collection, and it is one of their largest one day collections each year. Part of the event is a raffle... and I won the battery. These aren't from the discount rack at the auto parts store up the street... these are almost $200... and they are vibration resitant and can't spill. (blah, blah, cool stuff, blah)...

Actually... I got a certificate for the battery... and promptly misplaced it in my office. It was good for 6 months... and the six months expired a week before I found the certificate. I mailed it off... I wrote a little note explaining what had happened... A couple of weeks later, I got a battery... yesterday.

They could have VERY easily denied the FREE battery... the certicate had expired...

This morning, I was wandering through my reading list and I hit upon a blog by Seth Godin. Embracing Lifetime Value. In the post, he talks about how companies toss away customers that deliver thousands of dollars in profit over their lifetime for just pennies.

To get a new customer, many companies will spend hundreds of dollars in marketing. That customer might be worth thousands of dollars in profit. And yet, instead of spending $20 to retain the customer... they clam up and send him elsewhere...

How many times have you dealt with the cell phone company, the cable company or the local auto dealer and had them lock down over nothing? I dropped a satellite provider. We were having a hard time with equipment and had been trying to get it upgraded to what they were giving new customers. It wasn't until we had signed up with a new company that they offered to do just what we had asked for to begin with... That was five years ago. How much have they lost in that five years?

Isn't it easier just to make people happy?

How can we apply this to real estate? What can WE do to make our customers want to stay with us? Optima sent me a battery... I didn't buy it, it was free... I won it. But they had an out and didn't HAVE to honor the certificate. Instead of a happy customer, they got a fan. How much might I be worth to them in the future?

I'd love to hear from you...

'Cuz Brad and Bobby SAID SO...

Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Diamond Dwellings Realty) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:41:42 -0600

A while back, Brad and/or Bobby Carroll made a VERY valid point about online identity... specifically, having a cohesive design theme throughout your sites.

I've crunched this over for a few months... looking at a few options... and finally started down the path of making several of my sites more complimentary in their design. Now I haven't built myself to the Mike Mueller level of FaceBook Fan Page design, nor the Dakno level of Posterous themeology, but my blog and my site are now almost seamless in their themes.

Posterous is presenting a little more of a problem for me. I am NOT fluent in .css... I can kind of muddle around, but to me it's like working on the Jeep in the dark. What I AM able to do is use a few key colors from my other themes so that there is a little cohesion. I'll call Dakno (not an affiliate link) when I'm ready to push that site to the next level...

On FaceBook, I don't have a prayer. I don't think there is a way to make the site all look like my other sites, but I do know that I can build a landing page that IS keyed off of my other sites. OK, I can't... For me that would be working on the Jeep in the dark without a flashlight. I'll call Mike Mueller (not an affiliate link) when I am ready to tweak out that presence...

The company that I have used for my Joomla (GarageHomesUSA.com) theme for the last few years has just started working WordPress themes. BOOyah! So, I have migrated LaneBailey.com over to the theme I have been using on GarageHomesUSA. After a little tweaking (and some EXCELLENT support from the staff at RocketTheme - affiliate link) I have something I really like. There are still a few things that I want to tune... but there are ALWAYS a few things I want to tune.

Finally... my ActiveRain blogs... On my "outside blog", GwinnettGarageGuy.com, I am working on tweaking it. There isn't as much control as I'd like... except for the Chameleon theme... which would be a bit dangerous (remember, I'm NOT fluent in .css). For the "inside blog", it is easier to tune the theme, but there are a LOT of restrictions. For example, I can't deploy a dark theme or add artwork in the text or sidebars. And unlike WordPress or Joomla, there aren't pallets loaded with themes sitting around on the virtual loading dock.

So, for the moment, I guess I'm fairly good. For the moment. Fairly.

***All of the links are different... some of them are pretty cool. The others are mine.***

I'd love to hear from you...

FHA 203K Streamline Renovation/Purchase

Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Diamond Dwellings Realty) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:16:05 -0600

Ken has knocked a few posts out of the park recently. This is another. The 203K may be a great option to make that house that is "almost" into a house that "is"... Ken and I have worked together and can get the job done for YOU...

Via Ken Cook, FHA Home Loans 678-439-8683:

So you or your client have found a home in a great area in the client's price range. Only one problem: it's in bad shape. The HVAC system is 50 years old, the roof is 40 years old and the windows may as well not even be closed. Plus the kitchen has vinyl floors in 3 different patterns and the counters are all laminate with burns and holes and scars.

Not to fear! Meet the FHA 203K Streamlined renovation loan.

Eligible Improvements Virtually any kind of improvement is eligible provided it becomes a permanent part of the real property and adds value.

Additions to the structure

Kitchen or bath remodels

Finished basement or attic

Patios, decks or terraces

Roofing and landscaping

Safety, energy efficiency and electrical upgrades

Handicapped accessibility improvements

Luxuryitems are not eligible

Swimming pools, hot tubs, tennis courts, gazebos, barbecue pits, saunas or alterations to support commercial use

The maximum loan amount must be within the FHA loan amount maximum for the MSA where the home is located and must include the purchase price and the renovation amount. The maximum renovation amount is $35,000 and the minimum is $5,000. Under $5,000 we can do with an escrow of repair funds. A minimum of 10% contingency reserve is required and must also fit into the FHA loan maximums for the area where the property is located. (Any balance remaining on the contingency will be applied to the principal balance and may not be used for additional repairs.)

Yes, it takes a little longer to close an FHA203k Streamline loan than it does to close a standard FHA loan. If you are an agent and you are concerned about that extra couple of weeks just think of it this way: You may make a sale you would not have otherwise made. You may help a buyer get into a home in the area where they wanted to live instead of where they "had" to live. You can be a real hero for someone.

If you are in Georgia I can help you with the necessary paperwork and give you a short class in how to use the FHA 203K Streamline Rehab loan to purchase, sell or represent homes in today's economy. Never hesitate to call me at any time and I'll be happy to answer your questions.

Ken Cook - Georgia - FHA, USDA, VA and Conventional Home Loans (678) 439-8683

I'd love to hear from you...

Catch a Wave or Make a Plan?

Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Diamond Dwellings Realty) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:38:35 -0600

I've talked about it, as have many others...

Social Media Plan...

But is it even possible?

During this morning's Social Media Breakfast - Atlanta, one of our members was talking about social media planning... and something occured to me. Just moments before, we were talking about how social media tools had changed dramatically in just the last few months. So...

How can we make a plan for a rapidly changing landscape?

Can a surfer make a plan for the wave? Or does the wave unfold and he reads it and responds?

It would seem obvious that while a surf has an idea of what he wants to accomplish, and generally how he wants to accomplish it, planning the steps can be a trap. The wave will probably break one way... but may break another. The wave may offer a tube opportunity, or it might close up and trap you. Or you might just sit on a board all afternoon waiting for a good opportunity...

But, you can't sit on the beach and decide how it is going to go... and you can't even paddle into the wave knowing exactly what you are going to do... You have to rely on guts and experience. And you have to be ready to change everything you are doing at any moment.

I think that is a WHOLE lot more like Social Media than planning a marketing campaign...

Settle for an idea...

Maybe a destination...

Perhaps even the board...

But know that the scape you are looking at from the beach won't be the one there when you are sitting in the water. And the waves that pass you by won't be like the one you try to ride... and it will change every inch of the way to shore.

FaceBook changed everything > Twitter changed everything > Posterous changed everything > ???

I'd love to hear from you...

Short Sales, Bank Owned Properties and Credit Pulls

Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Diamond Dwellings Realty) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:55:17 -0600

A few days ago I wrote about how the purchase offering process is having issues… issues that are especially apparent on Bank-Owned Properties (we call them REOs).

Banks are often requiring that ALL offers be accompanied by pre-qualification letters from specific approved lenders (perhaps even from their own loan department). In other cases, the brokers representing the properties are interjecting this “requirement” on their own.

This morning, local (and nationally syndicated) radio talk show host, Clark Howard mentioned one of the reasons that these things chap my hide. The specific reason he doesn’t like them is that the “credit pulls” for the pre-qualifications can actually damage the credit of the offeror (buyer). It isn’t one or two credit pulls that will likely be a problem (unless one is marginal to begin with)… but rather repeated pulls after multiple attempts to buy properties.

I have worked with buyers that offered on 7 or 8 properties prior to having an offer accepted. There is a tremendous amount of competition for these properties in some instances. A buyer might get lucky and get a house right out of the gate… or they might have to go through multiple offers on properties and several pre-qualifications before getting an offer accepted.

There is also the fact that the buyer has to deal with the inconvenience of going through pre-qualification over and over. My buyers have already been pre-approved by their own chosen lender, so the pre-qualification is unnecessary.

And there is yet another issue here… The reason for the requirement is that it gives the specified lender an opportunity to get the loan business. That would be good, except that on more than one occasion, the specified lender has been nothing but a delay; in some cases unable to follow through on promised rates, and in other cases not being able to match the timelines of the seller that their own lender could meet… resulting in the loss of earnest money (we ended up finding a better house and saving WAY more than the lost earnest money).

I’d love to see this practice stopped… The problem is that consumers can’t control it. The properties are good deals, and if someone passes on the deal because they don’t want to have their credit penalized, there will be a line behind them willing to take the risk.

from LaneBailey.com

I'd love to hear from you...

Implementation Day...

Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Diamond Dwellings Realty) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:41:13 -0600

One of the things I find useful after a great day of tech training is to take a day to concentrate on implementation.

#VREBC... COOL!

Hundreds of "tech forward" real estate professionals around the country took time out of their schedule to attend one or more of DOZENS of webinars for Virtual rebarcamp. But it doesn't matter if the event is an rebarcamp, REtechSouth, RainCamp or something else... the idea is the same.

Learning is cool... but IMPLEMENTATION is KEY!

Taking a decmpression day is a good idea. When I am done, I have hundreds of ideas and notes and possibilities swimming around in my head. Without a techstaff and a grant, there is no way to do everything. So having a little while to step away from it all allows me to boil it down to what REALLY needs to be done.

Last night I didn't look at my notes. I didn't make any radical changes. I did a few things, but none of them were a direct result of #vrebc. But today is a little different... Today will be an implementation day. I will be making at least 6 important changes to my primary websites. I'll also be looking at about a dozen websites to see what I can take away from them...

And there are still several sessions from #vrebc that I didn't get to see... I might try to see if those are available yet. I know that at least one of those will be causing major changes in my web presence (Posterous).

So, here is the drill:

Get ready to learn... have the notebook, netbook, paper and pen... whatever...
Learn, take notes...
Meet new friends...
Step away from it for at least a few hours, but not more than a couple of days (I like one day)...
Sit down and concentrate on implementing the cool techniques and technologies...
Look at ways to make the implementations better...

Get ready to learn...

And so the process begins again.

Remember...

Learning is great, but if you don't implement the cool stuff that you learn, you wasted your time learning it.

I'd love to hear from you...

To Do List with recurring tasks...

Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Diamond Dwellings Realty) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:17:30 -0600

I have found the weakness in Thunderbird and Lightning (Thunderbird's calendar component). It is something that Outlook does exceedingly well...

A Calendar with recurring tasks...

It seems so simple. Being used to Outlook, I took the simplicity of making recurring task items for granted. In fact, much of my online activity is driven by the simple lists of recurring tasks...

Active Rain posts
LaneBailey.com posts
LaneBailey.info posts
GarageHomesUSA.com posts
LilburnDwellings.com posts
FaceBook Fan Page updates
Social Media Breakfast Atlanta meetings
Club Meetings
... you are getting the idea...

Especially for items that I only do every few days, I count on the task lists to stay on top of everything.

Not enough to dissuade me...

Since moving to Thunderbird, I have been able to "upgrade" to IMAP mail sync instead of POP. The primary advantage of IMAP is that when I recieve mail on my phone and read it, it is flagged as read on my computer. Another benefit is that email is delived immediately, not on a schedule (every 10 minutes, or whatever the user sets...). The email client stays connected to the email server.

There are also custom tags I can apply to my mail... and a lot of other little things. I'm still thinking that I want to stay with Thunderbird, BUT...

Does anyone know of a free "To DO List"?

I'm looking for something that supports recurring tasks. I want to set some up to recur each weekday. Others need to happen every 4 or 6 or 10 days. Others recur monthly or on the "first Saturday of the month" or similar...

Ideas?

I'd love to hear from you...

Job Loss/Mortgage Payment Insurance for Buyers!

Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Diamond Dwellings Realty) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:54:09 -0600

We are pleased and excited to announce the roll-out of a new program for buyers... Job Loss Insurance.

This is a cool program to take a little bit of apprehension out of buying a home. In effect, it is an insurance policy that protects the buyer in case of job loss. The policy will make up to 6 payments during the first year of ownership if you lose your job involuntarily (two periods up to 3 months each). It is available with coverages up to $2000/mo.

In addition to the year of job loss/mortgage payment protection, the policy also offers two years of other benefits, including foreclosure mitigation.

This program is offered exclusively through Lane Bailey of Diamond Dwellings Realty and Ken Cook of AmericaHomeKey, Inc. mortgage to qualified buyers as well as on selected properties represented by Lane.

For further program details, contact Lane or Ken.

Now may be the right time to buy.

Prices are excellent. Many areas in the Atlanta market have seen declines from last year, but have stabilized in recent months.
Interest rates are still near lows we haven't seen in decades, and structurally can't go much lower... and with the increased federal government borrowing, are almost certain to rise.
Inventory levels are down from last year, but still pretty high... this means that selection is generous.
There are tax credit programs for many first time home buyers AND move up buyers.

So, with great prices, lots of choices, excellent terms and even tax credits for buyers, this is a great time to buy, and with this new job loss protection, may be a great time for YOU to buy.

Lane and Ken can't offer this program at no cost to buyers for long. The tax credits from the federal government are set to expire in just a few months. And here in the Atlanta area, the best bargains seem to be between November and January. Don't delay.

from LaneBailey.com

I'd love to hear from you...

Go ahead and get mad now...

Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Diamond Dwellings Realty) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:07:22 -0600

It doesn't matter whether you agree or disagree... You'll probably be mad about this, so go ahead and get fired up.

The vast majority of real estate agents are honest, ethical and hard-working. But there are some that don't hit all of those points... either by choice or by circumstance. And those people need to be rooted out. Their behavior needs to be corrected or they need to find another line of work.

One very easy way that incompetent or unethical agents show themselves in in the presentation of offers.

§ 10-6A-5. Duties and responsibilities of broker engaged by seller
    (a) A broker engaged by a seller shall:
        (2) Promote the interests of the seller by:
           (B) Timely presenting all offers to and from the seller, even when the property is subject to a contract of sale;

I added the bold, and this is a passage from the Georgia Code defining Real Estate Brokerage. Please note what this DOESN'T say. It doesn't say:

Present offers after we think sufficient time has passed to hope that there will be other offers.
Present offers after we make sure that we don't have a buyer of our own to present.
Present offers after making sure that the buyer jumps through a pantload of hoops first.
Present the offer we like.

If there is a shortcoming to the rules, they aren't specific. Any lawyer and most brokers will know that there isn't a definition to "timely"... It is left to the court to decide during a lawsuit. And the lawsuit is tough because we don't know when the offer is presented to the seller.

Heck, in many cases we don't know IF the offer was presented to the seller.

There needs to be a mechanism...

Every offer should get two written acknowledgements.

Acknowledgement of receipt by the seller's agent, showing when it was recieved and when it was forwarded.
Acknowledgement of receipt by the seller, showing disposition if it isn't accepted.

These reciepts should be emailed (or faxed for those in the "fax age") immediately upon acknowledgement, and sending the receipt should be the noted time. This would prevent the selling agent from fudging the times or dates "by mistake".

Part of the reason for this is that institutional sellers are notorious for ignoring the deadlines on offers. And their agents have become just as notorious. Those are also especially prone to ILLEGALLY refuse to present offers without requiring buyers to complete extra steps.

Sellers can require that a buyer pass certain tests, such as pre-qualifying with a specific lender (although they cannot be forced to use that lender), but for the purposes of the offer, any agent or broker refusing to present the offer is breaking the law. The same goes for "lender packages" and other superfluous paperwork or requirements.

I have told seller clients flat out that I am bound by law to present every offer. They obviously don't have to accept any offer... but they are going to see it. And despite having sellers on other continents or vacationing, the longest it took me to get a client an offer was one and a half business days. (He was 75, didn't use email, and had moved to Italy. I had to send the offer to the local US Consulate for him to pick up.) I had an answer within 3 business days... Sorry, but dealing with a "monster mega bank" shouldn't be harder... they have a department.

And this whole business of requiring buyers to complete pre-qualifications is out of hand. With the large number of REOs that are getting multiple offers, a buyer might have to get pre-qualified several times before getting an offer accepted. All of these credit pulls aren't great for the buyer... Not to mention that his personal information is with not just one, but maybe five or six different lenders.

The bottom line is that WE (real estate professionals) need to clean house or lawmakers are going to do it for us. And since they don't know or understand the business, there will be a LOAD of unintended consequences.

I'd love to hear from you...

First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit... Extended and Expanded

Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Diamond Dwellings Realty) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:41:20 -0600

The First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit isn't just for First Time Home Buyers anymore.

Previously the credit only applied to purchasers that hadn't owned a home during the previous 36 months, and that restriction still applies for crediting the full $8000. Here is a little bit about the old credit.

The new credit was expanded:

It is still 10% of the purchase price, up to $8000 for first time buyer and up to $6500 for move-up buyers.
The income limits have been raised from $75,000 up to $125,000 for singles or $225,000 for couples.
The deadline is now April 30th, 2010 to be under contract, with closing to be completed by June 30th.
Purchase price must be under $800,000.

That might seem like a long time, but lending guildelines have become a bit more snug, and even with the additional five months, short sales aren't certain to be completed on time. And in the Atlanta area, spring is usually prime buying time, so there will be more competition for good entry level homes.

from LaneBailey.com

I'd love to hear from you...

Foreclosure Stripping?

Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Diamond Dwellings Realty) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:16:48 -0600

Clark Howard was talking about this a couple of days ago, and Fox News is talking about it today. And it doesn't involve a pole...

Foreclosure Stripping...

In effect, some folks that are losing their homes are "fighting back" in their own little way. Prior to departure, these folks are looking to get as much cash from the house as they can before they are out. They are removing items from the home and selling them via Craigslist and other means:

Appliances
Countertops
Cabinetry
Flooring
Light fixtures
Wiring
Plumbing... including copper pipes
Wood from the deck

Most of us in real estate have been in a house like this. The refrigerator, dishwasher, stove and a bunch of light fixtures are gone. In some cases it might be legal... in other cases, the home owner might be committing a crime.

Items that aren't built in, like clothes washers and dryers, refrigerators and window air conditioning units belong to the home owner as personal property. In effect, they have the right to sell them at any time. They aren't part of the property.

But, items that are built in are part of the property. Things get a little murkier here. Some sources are saying that BEFORE actual foreclosure proceedings, the home owner has the right to sell them. Other sources are saying that they are part of the home, and therefore are part of the security of the mortgage and the homeowner can't remove them unless he is replacing them with similar items.

After the home has been foreclosed, the (now former) home owner definately doesn't have the right to sell attached items.

Obviously, people that come into a foreclosed home and strip the wiring and copper plumbing out of the walls are breaking the law.

Good deals or big trouble?

So, if you are looking for a deal on lightly used appliances or fixtures, you need to be careful. What you don't want to be involved in is buying stolen property. You could lose both the item you bought AND the money you bought it with. It is possible that you could even be charged with possession of stolen property.

Lose-Lose-Lose

This is a losing issue for neighboring home owners. Removing the fixtures from the home lowers the price it will sell for, depressing values in the neighborhood.

Obviously it is a loser for the banks and investors that owned the mortgage. They see a larger loss on the loan than they would see otherwise. It also likely means that the property is on the market longer.

It is a loser for buyers. The reduction in price often doesn't make up for the damage done by the removal of the fixtures. And since the fixtures generally need to be replaced before the home can be occupied, many buyers are locked out of purchasing the home. Often, cash is needed up front to rehab the property and stretched buyers can't afford to come out of pocket even more at purchase.

And actually it is a loser for the home owner. They may take a bad situation and make it worse. Not only are they losing their home, but they might also end up facing criminal charges...

I feel bad for everyone in the situation... except the banks. As a home owner, I have watched prices pushed down in my own neighborhood. As a buyer's agent, I have seen people really want a home, but not be able to buy it because the deal couldn't be structured. In some cases an FHA 203k might be the solution, but not always. And my heart goes out to the home owners facing foreclosure. In addition to the tragedy of losing their home, they are usually facing other things like job loss or health issues that are underlying causes.

But the bank issue is deeper. I have a hard time mustering pity for an industry that has sucked almost a trillion dollars in taxpayer money to fix problems they haven't seemed to address yet. HOWEVER, the final effect of increasing the cost of the bad loans is that they will push rates higher and they will make qualifications tighter for lending. That means that good people with good credit will NOT be able to buy homes. That means that everyone loses even more!

Be careful out there...

I'd love to hear from you...

We Received Your Payments On Time but are Foreclosing Anyway!

Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Diamond Dwellings Realty) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:00:54 -0600

Oh my God. This is should be unbelievable. Unfortunately... I don't have any problem believing it. What should be happening here is that the lender should be getting sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The down-payment on that should be the lender forgiving the mortgage...

Via Larry Bettag - Cherry Creek Mortgage:

I'm really seeing something wierd going on here:

Mortgage Compaines blowing up.

Mortgage companies thriving.

Clients are making the shift. Big box lenders are so big that they're collapsing on top of their own clients.

I'm dealing with a top three lender rignt now...

As an Attorney!

I've been contacted by the client. The lender had been accepting the mortgage payments, cashing them in and, oh yes.....reporting to the credit bureaus that they hadn't made a payment for nine months and therefore the big box lender began the foreclosure process.

I've spent hours upon hours with the client getting disconnected repeatedly. I'm an attorney looking to help my client, but many disconnections....we called again and again and the bank representative gave us their name and number. Each time we'd call back and invariably each extension was invalid, or surprisingly enough, "Crystal doesn't work at this extension."....can you say....

C'mon now!!!!

I call the president of our company and told him of the fiasco. He found a high up contact in that top three fortune 500 mortgage company to investigate the my client's allegations. What's such an paradox is that they're suing a client for foreclosure claiming that she's failed to make payments. In the mean time she's provided all the statements and cancelled checks to prove that she's never been late with them. As an attorney, I've told her that she has a cause of action against this mortgage company since they they're destroying her credit by reporting he not only as late, but also in foreclosure when the proof is contrary.

But Now??? How about an Update!!!!!

The latest as of this week???? This big box today agreed....to an extent and said the following...

We acknowledge that you've made your payments and made the payments on time. We just don't know where the money is within our company.

Are You Friggin Kidding Me!!!!! That's one caring mortgage company.

"We acknowledge that you've paid on time, but we're not ready to clear your credit or stop the mortgage foreclosure until we can figure out what we did with your money?"

There's a Major Shift Gooing on with Consumers now!!!!

Mortgage Companies are shooting up the list of the top 100 even in a market when big box lenders are collapsing and more are poised to collapse, great companies are rising to the top. Why? Because consumers are begging for someone to care about them.

It used to be that consumers wanted the lowest rate on the block. Now they want a good rate, a really good rate, but for the biggest financial transaction of their lives, they'll trade a little rate to have qualified people investing in their families. They want a relationship. They don't want crappy service for a lower rate.

There are a lot of great companies out there that offer great rates and exceptional service. They might not be the lowest rate in town, but they're fair and they will create a relationship with the client that will inevitably end up with a client for life. Big box???? Transactional, not relational. I'm sorry, I'll take relational over transactional any day. It may not be the cheapest rate in town, but to the client, it's a lot more cost effective. And with the biggest investment in your life isn't it good to have a relationship as well as a point of contact?
Larry Bettag - Regional Vice President, Midwest Region

Illinois FHA Specialist

630-417-7172

An Illinois Residential Mortgage Licensee

I'd love to hear from you...

Increasing Home Sales with the FHA 203k Streamline

Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Diamond Dwellings Realty) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:53:38 -0600

Garage Guys like to play... We like the challenge of a rehab. This is a great option. Find a cool place and make it cooler. Turn the basement into a cool car themed pub. Add a home theater to play Bullit and Gone in 60 Seconds.

You can't add a garage under the rules... but you certainly can do a lot of other things. Imagination is the limit. OK, the FHA rules are the limit, but they allow some creativity.

So, on to Ken's post...

Via Ken Cook, FHA Home Loans 678-439-8683:

"Oh I don't want to mess with all that trouble", the agent said to me during a phone conversation. She meant she did not want to mess with selling a home that needed a new roof, some plumbing repair, new carpet and new appliances which I could finance into the loan amount.

I asked, "why not? What trouble?"

It seems she had a few misunderstandings about how this powerful purchase loan works. The truth is it doesn't involve any extra work for her than a regular FHA loan. What it does it take an unsellable home and turn it into a sale. Conventional loans do not allow for some of these types of repairs on an "as is" home sale. Even there it increases the sale amount by the mere virtue of dealing with a homeowner financing the property instead of an investor paying cash for the property.

The FHA 203k Streamline purchase loan is perfect for the large majority of homes in the US. Any home that qualifies for a standard FHA home loan, the 203b, also qualifies for the FHA 203k if it needs less than $35,000 in non-structural upgrades or repairs. So what CAN you do with an FHA 203k loan?

Repair or replacement of roofs, gutters and downspouts

Upgrade of plumbing and electrical systems

New flooring or floor covering

Exterior decks, patios and porches

Minor remodeling (no structural such as room additions)

Paint and wall covering

Weatherization including storm windows, storm doors, insulation and weather stripping

Purchase and installation of new appliances

Disability access improvements interior and exterior

Basement finishing and remodeling

Basement and crawl space moisture control and waterproofing

Window and door replacement

Exterior residing such as replacing old, defective siding

Septic system or well repair or replacement

One caveat which we don't understand is the FHA 203k Streamline does not allow for completion of a home which was started in construction but not completed. This is one they really need to take a look at because I get at least one call every month or so with this exact question which tells me others get it, too!

Repairs cannot take any longer than 6 months and there are only 2 draws available regardless of how much the contractor(s) beg. Your contractor will need to be able to fund the job for up to 60 days out of pocket while they wait on the draw from the bank.

Most lenders require the contractor to be licensed in the state where the property is and do not allow the home owner/buyer to do the work their self. You *may* be able to find a lender who will allow the work to be owner performed *if* the owner can prove they are a professional in that type of work. My company does not allow this.

Plan on a little extra time to close these loans because of the necessary underwriting. There are a few documents extra which are needed which I will not disclose here because while I enjoy helping the general public I have to be careful about educating my competitor's and their inexperienced loan officers.

When you need an FHA 203k (or any other mortgage) call me. My team is the best of the best and if it can be done we'll get it done or let you know as soon as we know differently.

Ken Cook - Georgia - FHA, USDA, VA and Conventional Home Loans (678) 439-8683

I'd love to hear from you...

Edit, Edit, Edit...

Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Diamond Dwellings Realty) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:24:46 -0600

I'm making some modifications to another one of my websites... This is when it would be really nice to have a staff like the AR folks to design scripts to convert terms and so forth with the theme change.

But the end product will be worth it.

And yes, this is a tease... Here are some of the ingredients...

I am ready to make a change on my WordPress site...
Brad and Bobby Carroll (Dakno Marketing) have made a very good point that sites need to carry a brand identity...
I have a LOT of content and I would like for more of it to be "caught" by site visitors...

Posterous. WordPress. Joomla. RocketTheme.

Flickr. Twitter. YouTube. FaceBook.

Are you curious? I am...

I'd love to hear from you...

Hyper-Local... and the Long Tail...

Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Diamond Dwellings Realty) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:21:52 -0600

I just ran across a video referenced by a Seth Godin Blog post. In effect, Seth was saying that you don't want "everyone"... you want "someone". Even more, you want a special someone... and I'm not talking about dating, I'm talking about business.

The video is almost 13 minutes long, but I will tell you that I think it is well worth watching. And it is worth it on several levels...

Check out this guy's enthusiasm for what he does. Is this the vendor you want to deal with? He know and loves his product. Is this the kind of vendor YOU are?
He rejected the ordinary and popular in order to specialize in the unique and obscure. And in doing so, he IS the market for those products. You can buy a Coke anywhere... but not a Double Cola. Are you ordinary and replaceable by any of a number of others?
He put the needs of his customers above his own. Instead of stepping outside of his area of expertise and providing a "me too" product at a premium price, he refers people to where they can get a better deal... and continues to be the specialist for what others won't carry. Do you let go of what you aren't to be better at what you are?

I'm a Coke drinker. I always have been, even when I lived in Pepsi country. I "failed" the Pepsi Challenge. BUT, that doesn't mean that I don't recognize specialty products in that category. When I was in Ecuador, there was a soda called Tropical. I loved that stuff. Couldn't get enough of it. I have never found it since (I just found it on Galco's site...WOW!). Heck, even on last week's road trip I was looking for a Cream Soda.

The point...

If you are looking for a Coke or a Pepsi, you can find it in just about ANY store. In fact, you can probably get one in a furniture store. If you are looking for a Tropical, Sweet Blossom Rose Soda or a brewed Ginger Beer... you have to go to the specialist.

If your ideal client is looking for a cookie cutter home in a replicable neighborhood, they can find an agent anywhere... maybe even while they are at the furniture store. But, if they are looking for a special home, maybe a special agent is in line...

Be special.

I'd love to hear from you...

OpenOffice... FREE Office Suite...

Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Diamond Dwellings Realty) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:04:52 -0600

For those that weren't aware... I had a wreck. Luckily it wasn't a garage toy... it was my computer. Hard drive crashed... data and programs lost.

I still have a valid license for MS Office Professional 2003, but they are such a pain in the butt... and there are a couple of generations since my version of Office was new. So, I was faced with a few choices.

Hang out on the phone convincing Microsoft that I needed a new User Key...
Buy an upgrade of Office for a few hundred bucks...
Wait until the new version comes out. There are rumors Office 2010 might be out of Beta before long...
Make a radical change...

Well, CHANGE is in the air, right?

I decided to try out OpenOffice. In effect it is an Open Source office suite. This isn't a bunch of college students hacking together asecond rate copy... This is sponsored by Sun Microsystems, Google and IBM. And it's FREE.

Here is an idea of what it includes:

Writer - Word Processing (Word)
Calc - Spreadsheet (Excel)
Impress - Presentation (PowerPoint)
Draw - Sketching (Paint)
Base - Database (Access)

There are also charting and formula applications that live in Calc. What it doesn't have is a direct stand alone application like MS Publisher. However, there are options like Scribus which offer all of the features... albeit, without the integration of a specific suite.

But... the rest of the package IS designed as a suite and is supposed to be fully integrated.

And the advantage of an open source product is that there are a lot of folks tuning it to their purposes. Some of them are quite brilliant and creating specific little modifications that can be very useful. I've run across this with GIMP, which is an alternative to programs like Photoshop.

We'll see if the product makes the cut. I've knocked out a few documents with it, and it has been very similar to MS Office. It also can convert documents from MS Office (and other options) as well as convert TO other types of documents. In that way it is a bit more flexible than many commercial options.

I'd love to hear from you...

Thunderbird... Like Outlook... but more support.

Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Diamond Dwellings Realty) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:36:17 -0600

For some it is rebellion against Microsoft. For others it is extensibility. And yet others make the choice because they are cheap.

What could I possibly be talking about...

Probably the most popular Mail Application on computers is Microsoft's Outlook. It is pretty flexible and since so many people use it, its shortcomings are accepted. But of course, it isn't the only answer to the question of "How can I get my email?"

Just as Mozilla has made major inroads into the browser market with FireFox, they have also managed to make a dent (albeit much smaller) in the dominance of Outlook with Thunderbird.

Just as the usefulness of FireFox is in the user created extensions, Thunderbird also has an active and creative community building cool extensions to enhance its capabilities.

In my view, the biggest drawback for Thunderbird was the lack of an integrated calendar function. About 4 minutes later I was adding in Lightning, a calendar and tasking function that can either be a stand alone or integrated software. Next up was a plug-in called "Provider" which allows two-way integration with a Google Calendar.

Speaking of Google, I added Zindus, which is a Google Contacts/Thunderbird Contacts sync tool. It keeps my contacts sync'd between the two applications... combined with Google's sync tool for my Blackberry, ALL of my contacts are available on my phone and computer all of the time. I don't have to break out the wire and do a manual sync.

I am in the process of adding a few more extensions to make Thunderbird a little more personal. I'm setting it up with RSS capability. I'm also digging the ability to tag mail with labels like "To Do" or "Blog Idea"... Of course, there are a few things I'll miss, I had added Xobni and Eurekaware for Outlook to my computer before the crash. I haven't found anything that replicates all of their functionality... yet.

Check it out if you need a new mail solution... Did I mention that Thunderbird is FREE and open source?

I'd love to hear from you...

And Now For Something Completely Different... and Flat

Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Diamond Dwellings Realty) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:40:46 -0600

Do you know who “ Flat Stanley” is? Ours is actually a “Flat Garrett“, but the idea is the same…

He is traveling the world, in an envelope. We set up a website at FlatGarrett.info to chronicle the visits Flat Garrett makes between now and Spring Break.

Right now, Flat Garrett is hanging out with Bob near Ann Arbor, Michigan. He will soon be heading back to Seattle, Washington, where Flat Garrett may get to hit a Sonics game and go up in the Space Needle. In mid-February, he will be visiting Lisa in New Orleans for a ride on a Mardi Gras float.

But there is a lot of time for Flat Garrett to make new friends and have new experiences before March. Do you have something cool planned that you might want to take a small visitor with you? He doesn’t take up much room, and he eats even less. All he wants is for people to take some pictures of him having fun and (if they want) to write a blog post for his website about his visit.

It is a great opportunity to talk about some of the cool events and places in your city… and maybe even get a few good backlinks. Even more important, it could make for a happy (not Flat) Garrett. If you are interested, shoot me a message lane [at] lanebailey [dot] com.

I'd love to hear from you...

But with the Tax Credit Extension... I can wait to buy...

Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Diamond Dwellings Realty) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:54:37 -0600

AgainWell, yes, you can.

The question is "Should you?"

There are a few things to keep in mind as you decide about timing on purchases using the First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit (up to $8000)... and Move Up Buyers Tax Credit( up to $6500).

How is the inventory in your local market? Will it be going up or down over the next several months?

Here in the Atlanta area, inventories generally increase in the spring and decrease around the holidays. This means that there are more homes to choose from during the spring and early summer.

What about buyer competition? Will there be more buyers competing for the available properties in the future?

Suppy and demand has two variables. Demand is the other one. Here in the Atlanta area, there are generally more buyers in the market during early spring until mid-summer. The buyers in the market around the holidays are generally more serious...

Will interest rates move up or down?

That is always a tough call. Many experts have been expecting increases for the last several months. So far they have been wrong, but the basics of why they are expecting increases is still valid. There is increasing competition for the available capital because of increased governmental borrowing. Also, low rates often cause currency devaluation, so there is an expectation that rates will need to be increased at the federal funds target level.

What about prices?

Again, with the Atlanta market, prices tend to be stronger during the spring and summer and weaker during the fall and winter.

Of course, each year and each market can be radically different. But...

Does it matter if there are more homes on the market if you find one you REALLY like?
If you are buying when there are fewer buyers, you have more power.
Can interest rates go much farther down?
Do you really expect prices to move down? Keep in mind that on many attractively priced properties there are multiple offers.

You need to make your own decision. I think it is a good time to buy, but I'm not the one signing the contract... So, do your own research. When you are done, feel free to give me a call.

I'd love to hear from you...

Staging with Storage

Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Diamond Dwellings Realty) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:24:44 -0600

One of the things that is challenging for families selling homes is dealing with toys and other things that clutter up the house. We still have to live in the home, but we also need to make it attractive for buyers. In the video are some great tips for accomplishing both goals.

We can even do this in the garage... same idea, we still need to be able to work on the toys, but we need to keep it neat and presentable.

from LaneBailey.com

I'd love to hear from you...

Are you automatically sending your blog posts to Twitter? Should you?

Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Diamond Dwellings Realty) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:02:11 -0600

The first question is quite common. I've seen it several times here on Active Rain, and there are even plugins for WordPress, a check box for Active Rain and websites like TwitterFeed for making it easier... and automatic.

Obviously, getting your posts on Twitter is a great idea. It broadens the opportunity to expose them to new readers. But the question revolves around the automation...

Is it a good idea to automate?

From an efficiency standpoint, obviously it is... Automation is great.

You never forget to do it...
You don't have to take the time to do it...
It's consistent...

But there is a Dark Side... In the rush to play with all of the new tools that make this whole social networking experiment easier and more efficient, we forget that the automation removes the personal element. There are too many accounts on Twitter that seem to be nothing more that blog post announcements.

Just Posted on Active Rain...

That isn't a call to action for many Twitter users. In fact, the only call to action it invites for them is "Unfollow". Imagine looking at a Tweetstream for someone and only seeing blog announcements. Does that seem like a good person to interact with? Does that seem like a person that even interacts?

Wouldn't it be better to manually post the blogs? Perhaps jump in and do a little interacting with people. Maybe even vary the intro text in order to get a higher conversion rate...

BTW, I have been meaning to turn off the auto-posts for a while. Now I just have to figure out where it is coming from (and more importantly, the password and account info... I haven't touched it in over a year).

I'd love to hear from you...

rebarcamp - RDU... rocked.

Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Diamond Dwellings Realty) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:05:32 -0600

Are you familiar with rebarcamps? What? You aren't? And you call yourself a blogging real estate professional?

But seriously... rebarcamps are popping up all over the country. From the simple beginnings the day before Inman Connect in San Francisco, 2008, now there are events in every corner of the country. I haven't been to as many rebarcamps as some, only three... and each has been unique and incredibly informational.

#rebcrdu was certainly no different in that regard. Elizabeth, Pam and the whole crew did a wonderful and amazing job from front to back, start to end and top to bottom. Literally from registration until dinner after the event, everything fell into place. At any given time there were 5 or 6 different sessions going, but the change-over was smooth and trouble free. And they had almost 300 people show up... That is GIANT.

As with each rebarcamp I have been to, the highlight for me is getting together with the people that usually only "live in my computer." Hanging out in the hall talking with Jim Crawford. Talking at dinner with Jeremy Blanton. Having Susie Blackmon pop into my session. Snarking in the back for a few minutes with Lori Bee and Nanette Saunders. Shaking hands with Brad and Bobby Carroll. Crusing with Debe Maxwell, Connie Harvey, Patty Keller, Thom Abbott and Kathy Drewien.

The sessions were excellent, too. Dakno ran a live stream so that people that weren't there could still grab some REBC magic. David Patterson, the Real Estate Zebra, Jim Crawford, Susie Blackmon, Bobby Carroll, and many others put on great discussions.

There is a very high bar, and the whole #rebcrdu crew worked very hard to push that bar a bit higher.

The next time there is a rebarcamp within driving distance... GO THERE. It will be a day VERY well spent. In addition to the fantastic knowledge, the networking opportunities are amazing. They are also downright fun... Who knows, you might get to play Lynchburg Squares. Just invite the lovely and talented Nanette Saunders to your event. I've heard she is ready to take it on the road...

;^ )

I'd love to hear from you...

Aggregation, Syndication, Integration... Part III

Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Diamond Dwellings Realty) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:24:04 -0600

in·te·gra·tion Pronunciation: \ˌin-tə-ˈgrā-shən\

1 : the act or process or an instance of integrating: as a : incorporation as equals into society or an organization of individuals of different groups (as races) b : coordination of mental processes into a normal effective personality or with the individual's environment
2 a : the operation of finding a function whose differential is known b : the operation of solving a differential equation

source

This is the content collection end of a social networking and social media strategy. After creating content for various social media platforms, we can integrate the content into our websites, pulling in more SEO (Search Engine Optimization) power, as well as keeping fresh content appearing on the site.

Whether the medium is videos (via YouTube, WellcomeMat or other video sites), photos (via Flickr, PhotoBucket or other photo sharing sites), microblogs (such as Twitter) or other content (FaceBook, FaceBook Fan Pages, RSS feeds and a million others) the goal is to bring together in one place a myriad of content types into one place... aggregation... The difference is that instead of bringing together the content created by others, for you to keep up with; it is bringing together your own created content in a neat package for others to consume.

There are many different types of integration tools. Every network has several third party tools that can use API calls (basically, automated scanning) to collect the content you put there and bring it to the collection site.

Through the use of integration tools, I have YouTube videos, Delicious bookmarks, Tweets, FaceBook Fan Page wall posts and even blogsites being promoted on my various websites. Much of this content is built automatically. Other content requires me to filter it manually... A great example, just to the right of this post is the blog widget. It is promoting the posts I have on one of my WordPress blogs.

So... after spending all of the time building these great social networks using social media platforms, use the content to build a community through integration into your primary websites/blogs.

I'd love to hear from you...

Aggregation, Syndication, Integration... Part II

Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Diamond Dwellings Realty) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:21:53 -0600

syn·di·cate Pronunciation: \ˈsin-də-ˌkāt\

1 : to subject to or manage as a syndicate
2 a : to sell (as a cartoon) to a syndicate or for publication in many newspapers or periodicals at once; also : to sell the work of (as a writer) in this way <a syndicated columnist> b : to sell (as a series of television programs) directly to local stations

— syn·di·ca·tion \ˌsin-də-ˈkā-shən\ noun

— syn·di·ca·tor \ˈsin-də-ˌkā-tər\ noun

source

Syndication is another part of a solid social media and social networking strategy. One of the biggest pitfalls of social media and social networking is maintaining a presence in many locations. It can be a serious time suck. Updating a bunch of site individually could take hours... Even just keeping up with all of the profiles could be more than many people could handle.

Luckily, there are some tools that can make life WAY easier. Posterous, AtomKeep and FriendFeed are three that come to mind...

Since we recently talked about FriendFeed, as an aggregator, we can start there... It is unique, in that it both aggregates AND syndicates on multiple platforms. Through FriendFeed, you can make a post from Twitter show up on FaceBook, and dozens of other sites. You can also have posts or activity from other sites reflected onto Twitter (or where ever... Twitter is used as an example). Bringing in the data from a bunch of sites is aggregation, while putting the collected information out to a bunch of sites is syndication.

AtomKeep is unique in that it is designed to only handle one aspect of your social media presence... your profile. Through AtomKeep, you can write the profile once and then syndicate it out to many sites. Updating can be done in one step, rather than individually updating dozens of profiles... There are limitations, since the least flexible platform rules all others, but it is a great way to handle to platforms on which you are least active.

Finally, the new kid on the block is Posterous. It also has an aggregation capability, but the cool part is that you can email anything to Posterous and have it automatically routed to the appropriate sites (on which you participate). Pictures to Flickr, FaceBook and Twitter. Videos to YouTube. Blog Posts... you get the idea.

The key to maiing effective use of social media and social networking is to be efficient. Getting your message out to multiple platforms in one step is part of that efficiency...

However... Another aspect of an effective social media presence is INTERACTION. Don't just spam your message all of the time. Remember to spend time interacting on the sites to which you are paying the most attention.

I'd love to hear from you...

Aggregation, Syndication, Integration... Part I

Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Diamond Dwellings Realty) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:15:32 -0600

Aggregation...

ag·gre·ga·tion Pronunciation: \ˌa-gri-ˈgā-shən\

1 : a group, body, or mass composed of many distinct parts or individuals
2 a : the collecting of units or parts into a mass or whole b : the condition of being so collected

source

Aggregation is one part of a social networking and social media strategy. Simply put, in order to keep up with the rush of infomation, we need to collect, classify and filter it. This allows us to spend the most time on the most important information, and skip the rest.

With Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, Flickr and a zillion other networks, aggregating feeds can be quite challenging. There are some tols that can help, though.

To start with, within some of the applications there are ways to bring in other info... Through tools like FriendFeed and Ping.fm we can get a lot of our monitored feeds into just a few places. I think that FriendFeed might be the best of these tools. Plaxo is also an excellent way to stay on top of multiple networks.

Specifically with Twitter, tools like TweetVisor and TweetDeck are great for keeping up with large numbers of followees (the people we follow) so that we can interact with them. TweetDeck, for example, can allow us to run various streams at the same time with different groups or hashtags (like #activerain).

Finally, there is another tools that can be used to aggregate more feeds than any of the others I have run across so far. It is also more effective as a filter, allowing the user to determine how much they want to see, although it doesn't filter based on actual content... it filters based on the user's input. It is called Gist.

Keep in mind...

Any of these tools would be worthy of a write-up longer than this whole post. To find out more, it would be advisable to check out their sites and see what they are about.

Feel free to share YOUR experiences in the comments. Your fellow Rainers would love to see opinions other than mine...

I'd love to hear from you...