Matthew Rathbun's Blog

$50,000+ For A Lender to REO a Property?

Matthew Rathbun ABR/M, SRS, e-PRO, SFR, GRI, SRES, Brkr (Coldwell Banker Elite) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:10:41 -0500

This report released in May of 2008 by the Mortgage Broker's Association says that it costs about $50,000 for a Lender to REO a property and as much as 30-60% of the loan value. It makes you wonder why they don't put more effort in working toward approving Short Sales... Read more to find out:

Mortgage Banker Foreclosure Update

View more documents from Matthew Rathbun.

Matthew Rathbun, Director of Professional Development

ABR, ABRM, AHWD, CSP, ePRO, GREEN, GRI, SFR, SRS, SRES

EcoBroker and EarthCraft Certified

Coldwell Banker Elite

Licensed Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia

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TheAgentTrainer.com

Do you "Resume"?

Matthew Rathbun ABR/M, SRS, e-PRO, SFR, GRI, SRES, Brkr (Coldwell Banker Elite) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:46:26 -0500

Recently while teaching a class, I mentioned that agents should be giving their clients Resume’s prior to the first meeting. One agent asked what I thought it should look like, so here’s mine, as an example.

It’s my belief that agents are essentially asking for a job when the encounter a potential client, so why wouldn't you send this to them? It will allow you to concentrate on THEM during the meeting, trusting that they will have a good idea of who you are before hand.

Resumes should be under two pages and very easy to read. One element that you may wish to add, that isn’t in mine, is an “Objective” paragraph talking about your goals when handling a client’s needs.

Rathbun Resume102009

Matthew Rathbun, Director of Professional Development

ABR, ABRM, AHWD, CSP, ePRO, GREEN, GRI, SFR, SRS, SRES

EcoBroker and EarthCraft Certified

Coldwell Banker Elite

Licensed Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Facebook.com/MattRathbun

Twitter.com/MattRathbun

TheAgentTrainer.com

The “Nigerian Investor Scheme”, the FBI and You

Matthew Rathbun ABR/M, SRS, e-PRO, SFR, GRI, SRES, Brkr (Coldwell Banker Elite) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:24:35 -0500

Back in January I wrote an article for www.AgentGenius.com, called The Setup, The Pitch and the (Agent’s) Stolen Identity. This outlined a new threat to agents who have active listing, wherein people took your listing information and fraudulently relisted the house as a rental on Craigslist. The post showed the email exchange between the victim, as well as a passport and rental agreement. At the time, the FBI was contacted and they advised that there was little they could do.

In June Sarah Stelmok journaled her interaction with an internet scammer, matching the same profile. You can read more at www.Sarahiouslyspeaking.com, in her article entitle “Internet Real Estate Scam Update”.

Needless to say, both of these articles are “must reads” so that you can better protect yourself and your clients. It’s important for agents to be far more vigilant than they currently are. Below is a Press Release from the FBI released in July that gives more information on this current trend.

Online Press Release

For Immediate Release
July 22, 2009
FBI Columbia
Contact: Public Affairs Specialist Denise Taiste
(803) 551-4200

New Nigerian Scheme Utilizing Craigslist
Scam Being Perpetrated in South Carolina

David A. Thomas, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in South Carolina, advises homeowners and/or prospective renters in South Carolina to be cautious of a new scheme being perpetrated by Nigerians utilizing Craigslist.

Homeowners list their homes for sale with real estate agents, who will list the homes for sale in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and also with public search websites, which allow individuals to query homes for sale via the Internet. Nigerian scammers find homes listed for sale on these public search sites, copy the pictures and listings verbatim, and then post the information onto Craigslist under available housing rentals, without the consent or knowledge of Craigslist, who has been notified.

After the posting is listed, unsuspecting individuals contact the poster, who is Nigerian, for more information on the “rental." The Nigerian scammer will state that they had to leave the country very quickly to do missionary or contract work in Africa and were unable to rent their house before leaving, therefore they have to take care of this remotely. The “homeowner” sends the prospective renter an application and tells them to send them first and last month’s rent to the Nigerian scammer via Western Union. The prospective renter is further told If they “qualify,” they will send them the keys for their house. Once the money is wired to the scammer, they show up at the house, see the home is actually for sale, are unable to access the property, and their money is gone.

This type of Nigerian scam is becoming more prevalent nationwide and recent reports indicate this scam being perpetrated locally in Charleston, Columbia, and Hilton Head, South Carolina. The South Carolina Association of REALTORS®, a non-profit trade association, provided information to the FBI on this scam.

David A. Thomas, Special Agent in Charge of the Columbia office of the FBI, is requesting that individuals who have complaints similar to this file an Internet crime complaint on www.ic3.gov with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to ensure the extent of this scheme can be accurately evaluated.

This is not a sign, as some have suggested, that agents should not aggressively market the listings on line. The benefits of good online presence far out weighs the potentially bad outcomes. However, like so many other aspects of real estate it does present a risk. Agents should be well aware of where their properties are being advertised. I give a few hints in the AgentGenius.com post.

Matthew Rathbun, Director of Professional Development

ABR, ABRM, AHWD, CSP, ePRO, GREEN, GRI, SFR, SRS, SRES

EcoBroker and EarthCraft Certified

Coldwell Banker Elite

Licensed Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Facebook.com/MattRathbun

Twitter.com/MattRathbun

TheAgentTrainer.com

RESPA FAQ’s for 2010

Matthew Rathbun ABR/M, SRS, e-PRO, SFR, GRI, SRES, Brkr (Coldwell Banker Elite) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:23:16 -0500

An FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) is a great way to get summary information about a topic. HUD has setup a website designed to answer some of our questions. RESPA’s changes have been chartered to start January 10, 2010 and some folks have concerns. Here is some information from the website:

The "New RESPA Rule FAQs" were comprised from industry questions and are posted to facilitate implementation of these new requirements.

New RESPA Rule FAQs

RESPA Final Rule

Withdrawal of Revised Definition of “Required Use”

Good Faith Estimate

HUD-1

HUD1-A

Regulatory Impact Analysis

Matthew Rathbun, Director of Professional Development

ABR, ABRM, AHWD, CSP, ePRO, GREEN, GRI, SFR, SRS, SRES

EcoBroker and EarthCraft Certified

Coldwell Banker Elite

Licensed Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Facebook.com/MattRathbun

Twitter.com/MattRathbun

TheAgentTrainer.com

What to Consider When Accepting a BPO

Matthew Rathbun ABR/M, SRS, e-PRO, SFR, GRI, SRES, Brkr (Coldwell Banker Elite) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:16:33 -0500

Lesley Lambert asked a question on www.AgentGenius.com about BPO’s. I’m not a big fan of the potential liability that exists with doing them. Lesley asked for the commenter’s thoughts and here was my answer:

Lesley,

This is a great question. I suppose there are a few questions that I would ask myself if faced with doing them again

1. Will doing a BPO take away from my marketing time needed to keep the funnel full of serious consumers, that may have a far higher return than this BPO?

2. Does my E and O Insurance cover me for doing them?

3. If I were to take my projected income for the year, divided by 2050 (number of work hours in a year based on 40 hour weeks) would the number of hours it takes to do a BPO be profitable? Example: Let’s say that I get paid $75 to do a BPO and it takes 2 hours (travel time and PC time to submit). If I wish to make $100,000 a year, that means my time is worth roughly $49 an hour. Already I’m in the hole and I haven’t include the cost of technology to handle submissions, gas, vehicle use etc…

4. Am I adequately trained to perform the requirements of the BPO? Typically they ask for what repairs are necessary and if repaired what would be the return of value. I’ve taught lots of GRI, Pre-Licensing and about 40 other topics. I don’t remember one of those curriculum ever teaching that information – save Appraisal training.

5. Do I have a resource to substantiate my suggested values of the property?

6. What is my Broker’s policy?

7. What is State Law?

8. What recent case law exists in my state regarding agents doing BPO’s?

9. Will doing the BPO for the Loss Mitigation Officer potentially yield a contract to do REO listings? Will this relationship be profitable for more than just the cost of the BPO?

Lesley also posted this survey on AG. Help her out with your answer, you may be surprised to see what others said.

Matthew Rathbun, Director of Professional Development

ABR, ABRM, AHWD, CSP, ePRO, GREEN, GRI, SFR, SRS, SRES

EcoBroker and EarthCraft Certified

Coldwell Banker Elite

Licensed Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Facebook.com/MattRathbun

Twitter.com/MattRathbun

TheAgentTrainer.com

Observations about Realtors in 2009

Matthew Rathbun ABR/M, SRS, e-PRO, SFR, GRI, SRES, Brkr (Coldwell Banker Elite) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:15:03 -0500

NAR Member Profile 2009

While preparing for the first night of our Licensing program, I decided to give the new agents some realities about the Real Estate Industry. To me it's not healthy to introduce a new agent to the business, thinking that everyone is making a million dollars and only working 30 hours a week. While reviewing this information, I decided to use some data from the National Association of Realtors 2009 Member Profile. This book is available for free as a PDF download at www.Realtor.org, under the Right Tools, Right Now campaign area. I've decided to put together a few points in this post, based on some of the information that I found there.

Every Realtor that I've ever spoken to, regardless of years of experience, say that there has ALWAYS been a desire to "raise the bar" in the Real Estate Industry. There have always been those agents who are good and those who just don't get it. Traditionally those who don't get it, end up leaving the industry after only a few years. While reading some of these statistics from the Member Profile, I found some information that debunks some of the thoughts I had about the current state of affairs. Below is a list of conversation starts. As with all statistics it's open to interpretation and also differs from region to region.

Hypothetical Commission and Breakdown

We all know that Commissions and Brokerage splits are negotiable, so let's use a 2.5% Buyer Agent Commission, based on a $250,00 Sales price and let's see what the average agent is going to make:

2.5% of $250,000 = $6, 250

$6,250 split 50% with Broker (Splits are Negotiable) = $3,125

$3125 (Brought over from Broker Split)
-$187 6% Franchise Fee (Varies)

$2938

-$588 20% for Taxes (recommended)

$2350

-$235 10% Business Savings (recommended)

$2115

-$846 40% Back into Business Budget (recommended)

$1269 = Personal Income after above expenses

The NAR Member Profile states that the median income, after tax and expenses, was $23,200 ($36,700 before expenses) in 2008. That means that you would have to sell 18.5 homes to reach the median income. By the way... The median investment by Realtors back into their business in 2008 was only $5,810 in that year. That explains a lot of the lack of marketing from agents. Of this, the median cost of personal development was only $690 and $720 for business marketing per agent in 2008.

Work Behavior

I was very surprised that 73% of agents said they would stay in the business in the next two years. It seems in our market, that many from the very experienced to the very new, are contemplating jumping ship. The promises by many leaders seems to be more wishful thinking than based on reality. No one can promise an increase in business or even that it won't get worse. Even when there were a great many homes selling, there were still too many practitioners in the market place. The chart of most interest was the averaged hours worked... It appears that only 25% of Realtors work Full-Time hours. That means about 75% of agents do not work a full work week.

With 10 being the median years of experience per agent, it seems sad that so many are looking at getting out, after so many years invested in a career.

Agency

Here's the biggest surprise of the report. 41% of real estate agents still practice Dual Agency. How in the world can this archaic and anti-consumer practice be so pervasive in this industry?

Miscellaneous Notes of Interest for 2008

Brokerage specialists reported a median of seven transactions in 2008, compared to eight transactions in 2007.

Approximately 40 percent of REALTORS® completed at least one transaction involving a property in foreclosure.

60% of Realtors are Female and thus 40% are male (in case you couldn't do the math).

The median age of a Realtor was 54. Only 4% of Realtors are under 30 years old.

72% of Realtors are married (which is a better percentage than most churches)

Formal Education

Now, I am a huge fan of Education... It's what I do. I fully believe that agents should have frequent, RELEVANT and PRACTICAL education; but that is an effort to provide better service. There are a number of agents who wish to use formal education, such as a college degree as a tool to alienate others from a chance at this career. As the chart to the left shows, only 8% of current practitioners do not have a College Education. As hard as I've looked, I've yet to find one report that shows a collation between increased education resulting in decreased consumer complaints.

Even nefarious people go to college. A degree in English Lit had little to no impact on a real estate career. Proper pre-licensing training and Broker engagement is the answer. And no matter what else we do, if enforcement actions aren't taken, than the number of regulations are irrelevant.

What Held the Buyer Back from Buying?

Really all this tells me is that there is no confidence in the market or in the Federal Governments ability to turn the situation around quickly. No real surprises here...

Matthew Rathbun, Director of Professional Development

ABR, ABRM, AHWD, CSP, ePRO, GREEN, GRI, SFR, SRS, SRES

EcoBroker and EarthCraft Certified

Coldwell Banker Elite

Licensed Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Facebook.com/MattRathbun

Twitter.com/MattRathbun

TheAgentTrainer.com

Marketing with (free) Picasa for REALTORS®

Matthew Rathbun ABR/M, SRS, e-PRO, SFR, GRI, SRES, Brkr (Coldwell Banker Elite) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:11:44 -0500

One of the coolest tools I’ve been showing agents has been Picasa. It’s a fantastic tool that’s free from Google and installs on your computer. You can do such much with Picasa that will help your marketing efforts.

Here’s a few of the great elements:

Batch resizing of photos
Free website hosting
Batch renaming of photos
Effortlessly move photos from camera to computer
Easily Create a Video
Easily Create trendy photo mosaics

Watch this video for more!

Matthew Rathbun, Director of Professional Development

ABR, ABRM, AHWD, CSP, ePRO, GREEN, GRI, SFR, SRS, SRES

EcoBroker and EarthCraft Certified

Coldwell Banker Elite

Licensed Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Facebook.com/MattRathbun

Twitter.com/MattRathbun

TheAgentTrainer.com

Video Tutorial on Tweetdeck

Matthew Rathbun ABR/M, SRS, e-PRO, SFR, GRI, SRES, Brkr (Coldwell Banker Elite) — Mon, 18 May 2009 11:25:04 -0500

I personally found that once I had joined Twitter, it was far easier for me to enjoy once I began using a desktop application. As a Vista user I tried several and found that Tweetdeck worked best for me. Here is a quick video tutorial on some of the tools and features that Tweetdeck has.

Matthew Rathbun, Director of Professional Development

ABR, ABRM, AHWD, CSP, ePRO, GREEN, GRI, SFR, SRS, SRES

EcoBroker and EarthCraft Certified

Coldwell Banker Elite

Licensed Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Facebook.com/MattRathbun

Twitter.com/MattRathbun

TheAgentTrainer.com

Making Blogging Easy

Matthew Rathbun ABR/M, SRS, e-PRO, SFR, GRI, SRES, Brkr (Coldwell Banker Elite) — Sat, 16 May 2009 10:50:04 -0500

I am all about tools that will help you do things easier. You’ll really enjoy this tool, if you like blogging. You can download Windows Live Writer for free, HERE.

To see the video in full-screen mode, click the symbol to the left of “Vimeo”

Matthew Rathbun, Director of Professional Development

ABR, ABRM, AHWD, CSP, ePRO, GREEN, GRI, SFR, SRS, SRES

EcoBroker and EarthCraft Certified

Coldwell Banker Elite

Licensed Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Facebook.com/MattRathbun

Twitter.com/MattRathbun

TheAgentTrainer.com

Are “Admin Fees” Legal?

Matthew Rathbun ABR/M, SRS, e-PRO, SFR, GRI, SRES, Brkr (Coldwell Banker Elite) — Sat, 16 May 2009 10:47:46 -0500

Someone forwarded this article to me, from the Washington Post today. Tina Merritt also wrote about this at www.VARBuzz.com. I found it very enlightening…

Challenging Brokers' Add-On Fees

By Kenneth R. Harney

Friday, May 8, 2009

A federal district court has handed down a ruling in a class-action lawsuit that could directly affect the fees you pay to the real estate brokerage company at closing, whether as a buyer or seller.

The decision targets one of the most common practices adopted by brokerage firms in recent years: charging consumers "admin," "processing," "ABC" and other mystery fees ranging from $150 to as much as $500 per transaction. The fees are tacked on top of regular commissions and sometimes come as last-minute surprises on settlement sheets.

Typically, the charges are imposed by the brokerage company owners and go straight to them, rather than being shared with sales agents. When pressed about why buyers or sellers should be hit with hundreds of dollars extra at closing when thousands of dollars of commissions are already being charged in the deal, some sales agents say, "It's the broker's policy -- we don't get any of this money."

Brokers say they need the add-on fees to stay in business, especially when their commission splits with top agents can exceed 90 percent, sales volume is down and overhead expenses keep rising. Laurie Janik, the general counsel of the National Association of Realtors, defends the fees, arguing that brokers "ought to be able to charge what they need to make a profit."

But are these add-on fees legal? In a decision late last month that is sending shudders through the real estate brokerage industry, U.S. District Judge Virginia Emerson Hopkins in Birmingham, Ala., ruled that when a real estate firm charges clients an "admin" fee, for which no specific settlement services are performed, the fee violates federal law.

The case involved RealtySouth, one of the 20 major brokerage units of Minneapolis-based HomeServices of America, the second-largest realty firm in the country. RealtySouth was sued by home buyer Vicki V. Busby of Jefferson, Ala., when she was required to pay a $149 "ABC" fee -- an administrative brokerage commission. The court found no evidence that the brokerage company performed any services beyond those covered by the commission, thereby violating a federal real estate settlement statutory ban against "unearned" fees.

Other federal courts have interpreted the statutory language on unearned fees differently, so the RealtySouth case does not settle the issue.

Busby's lawyers estimate the class of affected consumers to number approximately 30,000 -- all RealtySouth clients who have paid ABC fees in recent years that were, based on the district court's ruling, illegal. Dana Strandmo, general counsel and senior vice president for HomeServices of America, said the company hasn't decided whether to appeal the decision. Strandmo confirmed that charging administrative fees "is a very widespread practice," not only in his firm's offices but throughout the industry.

Frank Borges Llosa, a real estate broker who runs Frankly Realty in Northern Virginia and an outspoken critic of what he calls "bogus admin fees," blames brokers and agents for their increasingly common use. In a posting on his blog, Llosa said brokers "are charging [these fees] because they can't make enough from the agents. Why? Because the agents are demanding [bigger] splits" of the commission dollar, leaving brokers with less and less.

Llosa provided this hypothetical example: Say an agent who currently gets a 60 percent split of the commissions he or she brings in -- the broker gets 40 percent -- is approached by a competing brokerage firm that will pay 70 percent, but also imposes a $300 administrative fee that either the agent or the client has to pay.

After switching to the new brokerage, Llosa said, the agent now tells clients, "Oops, sorry, this firm charges $300 more per deal, nothing I can do about it." Meanwhile on a $10,000 commission the new company gives the agent $1,000 more while charging $300 to the clients. "It's really despicable," Llosa said in an interview.

Janik of the Realtors group says brokerages need to move to a more standardized system of flat-fee-plus-commission compensation that is prominently disclosed to all clients. Listing agreements might, for example, indicate that the company's compensation includes a base fee -- say $500 -- plus a standard sales commission of X percent.

"If [brokers] do it that way and don't get fancy," she said, they should be immune from legal attacks over unearned fees, such as in the RealtySouth case.

What should consumers do? Number one, make sure you get full disclosure about all compensation and fees associated with any sale or purchase, upfront. If you don't like what you see, you can always take Janik's advice: "Walk down the street to another broker."

Kenneth R. Harney's e-mail address is KenHarney@earthlink.net.

Source: The Washington Post

Matthew Rathbun, Director of Professional Development

ABR, ABRM, AHWD, CSP, ePRO, GREEN, GRI, SFR, SRS, SRES

EcoBroker and EarthCraft Certified

Coldwell Banker Elite

Licensed Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Facebook.com/MattRathbun

Twitter.com/MattRathbun

TheAgentTrainer.com

NAR Releases Legal Opinion on “Admin Fees”

Matthew Rathbun ABR/M, SRS, e-PRO, SFR, GRI, SRES, Brkr (Coldwell Banker Elite) — Sat, 16 May 2009 10:42:19 -0500

Laurie Janik, NAR General Counsel (and amazing attorney) has released a memo regarding the recent court opinion against “Admin Fees”.

Price Increase or Unearned Fee? How to Protect Your Bottom Line

Laurie Janik, NAR General Counsel

April 29, 2009

A federal district court recently ruled in Busby v. JRHBW Realty, Inc. d/b/a RealtySouth that an administrative brokerage fee (“ABC Fee”) of $149.00 paid by a home buyer to the brokerage firm that represented her was not sufficiently related to any specific settlement service performed for her benefit, resulting in a violation of Section 8(b) of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (“RESPA”). Section 8(b) prohibits charging for “real estate settlement services” unless the fee charged is for “services actually performed.” Click here to read a summary of the court's decision.

The court found that the ABC Fee represented an additional charge to the buyer to defray the overall costs of the brokerage services she received, including the broker’s overhead and administrative costs. However, because the ABC Fee was separately itemized on the settlement statement from the percentage brokerage commission, and not specifically justified as compensation for other discrete “real estate settlement services” provided, the court viewed it as a duplication of the percentage commission charges, thereby rendering it an unearned fee in violation of RESPA.

In my view, this unfortunate holding is incorrect because the court’s analysis of RESPA is flawed and because the court misapplied the mandate previously handed down in this case by the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals. It is undisputed that RESPA is not a fee-setting statute. Since a brokerage may charge a percentage based commission or a flat rate for its services, there is no principled basis to construe RESPA to prohibit charging a percentage plus a flat rate.

The court’s confusion likely stemmed from the fact that the total compensation was shown in two places on the settlement form, with each bearing a separate label (percentage commission and ABC Fee). These two factors caused the court to reject the brokerage firm’s explanation that the ABC Fee represented nothing more than a price increase being charged for the firm’s brokerage services. Believing the firm had already been paid for the brokerage services by the percentage commission, the court was looking for a different, specific service or set of services of benefit to the buyer in return for the ABC Fee. Finding none, it concluded that no settlement services were provided for the ABC Fee.

This case had previously been certified as a class action.

In light of this decision, brokers should review how they characterize their compensation. Placing separate labels on what is all compensation to the brokerage firm exposes the firm to the same claims asserted against the defendant here. It allows the conclusion that each separately labeled charge represents a fee for a separate service. Likewise, disclosing separate components of the broker’s compensation in different parts of the contract with the consumer or on different lines of the settlement statements creates risk. Disclosure of the brokerage firm’s compensation should clearly indicate that both the commission- based component and the flat fee component represent payment for services provided by the brokerage. These combined amounts should be disclosed in the 700 section of the HUD-1 as the broker’s compensation. Finally, do not create the impression that any particular fee is for a separate service if that is not the case.

The final chapter in this case has not yet been written. An appeal is likely after other proceedings in the case are completed, and certainly warranted in order to reverse this most unfortunate decision. A clarification from HUD on this issue was requested by NAR months ago and is long overdue. In the meantime, be cautious and protect your hard-earned compensation.

Matthew Rathbun, Director of Professional Development

ABR, ABRM, AHWD, CSP, ePRO, GREEN, GRI, SFR, SRS, SRES

EcoBroker and EarthCraft Certified

Coldwell Banker Elite

Licensed Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Facebook.com/MattRathbun

Twitter.com/MattRathbun

TheAgentTrainer.com

Six things Every Realtor Should Know About the new 8k Tax Credit

Matthew Rathbun ABR/M, SRS, e-PRO, SFR, GRI, SRES, Brkr (Coldwell Banker Elite) — Tue, 05 May 2009 21:59:13 -0500

1. The Credit is for the lesser of 10% of the purchase price or $8000.00. If the home is $75,000 the credit would only be $7,500.00. Not too big a concern in the DC metro area.

2. The Credit is for First Time Homebuyers, buyers who haven't owned a home as their primary residence for the last 3 years.

3. The Credit is refundable, meaning that even if you paid less than $8,000.00 in Federal Taxes you can claim the entire credit.

4. The Credit does not have to be re-paid if you own the property for at least three years.

5. There are income limits - you cannot take full advantage of the credit if you are individual who makes more than $75,000.00 or a couple that makes more than $150,000.00. The credit begins to phase out beyond that.

6. It only applies to purchase between January 1 2009 and December 1, 2009. The date of purchase is considered the day that the title is transferred. Looks like I'll be staying home for Thanksgiving this year and doing lots of closing at the end of November.

Realtor.org has a great chart on the credit with room in the corner for you to add your own logo, if you'd like.

Ekko Title

Matthew Rathbun, Director of Professional Development

ABR, ABRM, AHWD, CSP, ePRO, GREEN, GRI, SFR, SRS, SRES

EcoBroker and EarthCraft Certified

Coldwell Banker Elite

Licensed Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Facebook.com/MattRathbun

Twitter.com/MattRathbun

TheAgentTrainer.com

Fanniemae Education for Real Estate Agents

Matthew Rathbun ABR/M, SRS, e-PRO, SFR, GRI, SRES, Brkr (Coldwell Banker Elite) — Tue, 05 May 2009 21:56:31 -0500

Would you like a quick overview of the Fanniemae Shortsale program and how it relates to REALTORS®.

Fanniemae Shortsale for REALTORS®

View more presentations from Matthew Rathbun.

Matthew Rathbun, Director of Professional Development

ABR, ABRM, AHWD, CSP, ePRO, GREEN, GRI, SFR, SRS, SRES

EcoBroker and EarthCraft Certified

Coldwell Banker Elite

Licensed Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Facebook.com/MattRathbun

Twitter.com/MattRathbun

TheAgentTrainer.com

Seeking Peer Advice on ActiveRain

Matthew Rathbun ABR/M, SRS, e-PRO, SFR, GRI, SRES, Brkr (Coldwell Banker Elite) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 13:35:15 -0500

THE Awesome Bob Stewart asked me to post this here on AR. This is a post I wrote for AgentGenius.com. You can go HERE, if you wish to comment.

Wondering Around Makes My Head Hurt

nfortunately I am going to pick on Activerain here for a bit. Not because it’s an evil entity, but because it’s where I find the WORST real estate advice being given by “peers”. I have no issue with Activerain charging fees, I have no issue with the point system, nor do I care that writing to other agents is a waste of time…..wait, what!?!?! Oh, never mind….

My issues with Activerain are the users. The community as a whole, seems to just abuse the system and each other. Friday night I went on a tangent on Twitter about what I was reading on Activerain. Yes, I wondered in there, because as I wanted to know what was on our local agent’s minds; so that I could better develop programs. I hate when I wonder into Activerain (if it were some other venue like it, I would hate it too.) My issue is not the sharing of listings or marketing ideas, but rather the sharing of advice - very bad advice - that should be coming from Brokers and attorneys to agents (usually new agents).

Increasing Your Liability for 100 Points

in this very litigious industry, agents open themselves up to even more litigation when they express their lack of knowledge in an open forum. When an agent goes out and shares information about a particular transaction, in order to ask a question, they often times violate their mandated confidentiality and proceed with telling the world that they haven’t a clue what they are doing. So, if you’re an attorney out there, that has the privilege to sue an agent for negligence, please go search their posts on Activerain as evidence that they hadn’t a clue as to what they are doing!

How Do You Define Peers?

On Friday night I read a post asking for counsel on a certain practice of real estate. I found the post after 70 comments had been made and frankly only read the first five. The first five violated two laws in Virginia, 2 local MLS policies and had 3 Code of Ethic violations. Grant it, the advice givers may not have been licensees and not Realtors, so the Code of Ethics wouldn’t apply; but that just proves my point.

I believe in the counsel of peers, but how are you defining peers? Here’s what I think you should consider:

Are they licensed in your same state? (and competent)
Are they bound by your company’s policies (and competent)
Are they bound by your MLS policy (and competent)
Are they bound by your Code of Ethics (and competent)
…Are they going to be sitting next to you in the court room?

If the above questions aren’t clear enough, let me say this - counsel from anyone who isn’t your Broker or Corporate Counsel (an attorney as staff or retainer, hired to protect your business) they aren’t peers and it’s just noise. If your Broker isn’t competent - you’re in the wrong brokerage and need to leave. He he or she is competent, than why do you feel the need to ask for legal advice from other “bloggers”?

But I Like To Help Others

You may be asking how I can write this on a blog designed to give advice to agents. Easy, if I am going to give legal advice, it’s going to have a reference to it, such as title such-in-such of such-in-such has this to say…. and then let the reader decide.

Otherwise, I think that sharing marketing ideas, new technologies, sales approaches and such is far different than how to handle disclosure issues or what terms to put in an offer to purchase.

Just to Be Fair

The premise of my post is not just targeted to Activerain, but to the “Breakfast Clubs” that exist at so many companies. I’ve been to many offices where there are a contingent of nefarious gossips, who have moderate business coming in and typically use the office as a place to meet other sycophants who sit around bad-mouthing whoever is not in the room, complaining about the market and showing no real interest in engaging those not in their clique. You know the types….they do all this, but still consider themselves the sages, because they’ve been licensed for 300 bazillion years. (Listen, if you do it wrong for 30 years - it’s not right today) Honestly, if these folks knew so much about real estate - how do they have so much time on their hands? The good part is that these bad-advice-givers typically are only in the office from 10-1 and then go to lunch together and then home to watch the o’Reilly Factor….

You can go HERE, if you wish to comment.

Matthew Rathbun, Director of Professional Development

ABR, ABRM, AHWD, CSP, ePRO, GREEN, GRI, SFR, SRS, SRES

EcoBroker and EarthCraft Certified

Coldwell Banker Elite

Licensed Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Facebook.com/MattRathbun

Twitter.com/MattRathbun

TheAgentTrainer.com

I could use YOUR Vote!

Matthew Rathbun ABR/M, SRS, e-PRO, SFR, GRI, SRES, Brkr (Coldwell Banker Elite) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:32:56 -0500

Look, I think the Virginia Association and Fredericksburg Association of Realtors have really got a great grasp on advancing their agent's careers in the technology world. They are leaders in how the Associations should be reaching out to their members.

Ever so often Ben Martin at VAR likes to run something called the Blog Brawl. You need to see it to understand it, but I am hoping you'll pop in and vote for www.TheAgentTrainer.com and www.CarolineVABlog.com.

Thanks in advance!

Matthew Rathbun, Director of Professional Development

ABR, ABRM, AHWD, CSP, ePRO, GREEN, GRI, SFR, SRS, SRES

EcoBroker and EarthCraft Certified

Coldwell Banker Elite

Licensed Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Facebook.com/MattRathbun

Twitter.com/MattRathbun

TheAgentTrainer.com

How to embed YouTube into your PowerPoint

Matthew Rathbun ABR/M, SRS, e-PRO, SFR, GRI, SRES, Brkr (Coldwell Banker Elite) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:22:32 -0500

Matthew Rathbun, Director of Professional Development

ABR, ABRM, AHWD, CSP, ePRO, GREEN, GRI, SFR, SRS, SRES

EcoBroker and EarthCraft Certified

Coldwell Banker Elite

Licensed Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Facebook.com/MattRathbun

Twitter.com/MattRathbun

TheAgentTrainer.com

Teaching Today's Learner

Matthew Rathbun ABR/M, SRS, e-PRO, SFR, GRI, SRES, Brkr (Coldwell Banker Elite) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:11:26 -0500

I did a short session at our school today on the premise of using technology with the Adult Learner. Here is the presentation, and below is the handout.
Teaching Today's Real Estate Agent - Free Legal Forms
Matt's PD Notes - Free Legal Forms

Matthew Rathbun, Director of Professional Development

ABR, ABRM, AHWD, CSP, ePRO, GREEN, GRI, SFR, SRS, SRES

EcoBroker and EarthCraft Certified

Coldwell Banker Elite

Licensed Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Facebook.com/MattRathbun

Twitter.com/MattRathbun

TheAgentTrainer.com

The Principals of Marketing (non-technology) Presentation

Matthew Rathbun ABR/M, SRS, e-PRO, SFR, GRI, SRES, Brkr (Coldwell Banker Elite) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:08:13 -0500

Here is the presentation I did for our basic marketing principals class, done for the Success Series at the Real Estate Career Academy. This is a part of a larger series and does not cover the in depth internet marketing of a later session. The world of Real Estate is ever evolving and ensuring that marketing is client centric, rather than agent-centric is important.

Matthew Rathbun Real Estate Marketing Basics

View more presentations from mrathbun. (tags: marketing real)

Matthew Rathbun, Director of Professional Development

ABR, ABRM, AHWD, CSP, ePRO, GREEN, GRI, SFR, SRS, SRES

EcoBroker and EarthCraft Certified

Coldwell Banker Elite

Licensed Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Facebook.com/MattRathbun

Twitter.com/MattRathbun

TheAgentTrainer.com

Google Webmaster Tools and Wordpress.com

Matthew Rathbun ABR/M, SRS, e-PRO, SFR, GRI, SRES, Brkr (Coldwell Banker Elite) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:59:32 -0500

I've been a huge fan of Google for a long time. There are a few basic tools that all agents should use to help promote the "Search Engine Optimization" efforts of your webpage and blogs. I am not, at all, a SEO expert. However, I know that adding your URL to Google, is a good start. You can do so by going To Google's Add URL site . I've also found substantial value by using the Google Webmaster tools . I maintain a few different blogs and typically use self hosted Wordpress blogs, but I have a personal faith-based blog at www.KingTribe.Wordpress.com . This was a bit more challenging to setup, since I could verify it in Google Webmaster Tools. I found very useful information on setting up a Wordpress.com site at http://mattdabbs.wordpress.com (Hat tip to Matt Dabbs)

Matthew Rathbun, Director of Professional Development

ABR, ABRM, AHWD, CSP, ePRO, GREEN, GRI, SFR, SRS, SRES

EcoBroker and EarthCraft Certified

Coldwell Banker Elite

Licensed Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Facebook.com/MattRathbun

Twitter.com/MattRathbun

TheAgentTrainer.com

Some Great Real Estate Links

Matthew Rathbun ABR/M, SRS, e-PRO, SFR, GRI, SRES, Brkr (Coldwell Banker Elite) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:50:01 -0500

I've updated my list of webpages that I think are useful for Real Estate Agents. I've been collecting it for years. In addition, you should also check out the great free tools that Realtor.org has just released, as part of their Right Tools, Right Now Campaign.

Powerful Internet Links for Real Estate Agents

View more documents from mrathbun . (tags: tools internet )

You can visit my site at http://www.TheAgentTrainer.com

Matthew Rathbun, Director of Professional Development

ABR, ABRM, AHWD, CSP, ePRO, GREEN, GRI, SFR, SRS, SRES

EcoBroker and EarthCraft Certified

Coldwell Banker Elite

Licensed Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Facebook.com/MattRathbun

Twitter.com/MattRathbun

TheAgentTrainer.com

How to do a Facebook Video - Easy

Matthew Rathbun ABR/M, SRS, e-PRO, SFR, GRI, SRES, Brkr (Coldwell Banker Elite) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:45:37 -0500

Special thanks to @Ines and @ResPres for teaching me the value of posting videos on Facebook. Recently a friend asked me how it was done, so I decided that it was easiest to do a screencast of how easy this is to do.

Matthew Rathbun, Director of Professional Development

ABR, ABRM, AHWD, CSP, ePRO, GREEN, GRI, SFR, SRS, SRES

EcoBroker and EarthCraft Certified

Coldwell Banker Elite

Licensed Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Facebook.com/MattRathbun

Twitter.com/MattRathbun

TheAgentTrainer.com

This is how I feel as an instructor....

Matthew Rathbun ABR/M, SRS, e-PRO, SFR, GRI, SRES, Brkr (Coldwell Banker Elite) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 08:36:21 -0600

Matthew Rathbun, Director of Professional Development

ABR, ABRM, AHWD, CSP, ePRO, GREEN, GRI, SFR, SRS, SRES

EcoBroker and EarthCraft Certified

Coldwell Banker Elite

Licensed Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Facebook.com/MattRathbun

Twitter.com/MattRathbun

TheAgentTrainer.com

"Green" Agent's Starter Kit

Matthew Rathbun ABR/M, SRS, e-PRO, SFR, GRI, SRES, Brkr (Coldwell Banker Elite) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 08:45:11 -0600

There is a countless number of resources and items of information out there about Green Real Estate. The consumer has become more and more interested for either Eco-Chic or reduction of their Ecological Footprint, in Green buildings. The weekend real estate shows on TV are packed with ways to go Green and cost effective ideas. Agents need to become more aware of these programs and tools. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X8EgthqsQ0 Here are a few tools and references that will help you prepare for the growing Green trends of home buyers. Walkability of a House Location

Environmental Protection Agency

Smart Growth Resources

Green Real Estate Remodeling Guidelines

Green Building Revolution (Video)

LEEDS for Homes Guidelines

LEEDS FAQ for Green Homebuyers

RE Green Program

NAR GREEN Council

Green Appraiser classes

Appraisal Institute podcast on valuating green homes: The Appraisal Journal Article on ICF construction valuation: The Appraisal Journal Article on general green information and ICF:

HUD FHA Energy Efficient Mortgage

Matthew Rathbun, Director of Professional Development

ABR, ABRM, AHWD, CSP, ePRO, GREEN, GRI, SFR, SRS, SRES

EcoBroker and EarthCraft Certified

Coldwell Banker Elite

Licensed Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Facebook.com/MattRathbun

Twitter.com/MattRathbun

TheAgentTrainer.com

Making an Awesome Wordpress Post

Matthew Rathbun ABR/M, SRS, e-PRO, SFR, GRI, SRES, Brkr (Coldwell Banker Elite) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 20:47:39 -0600

Benn Rosales, the founding father of the most excellent www.AgentGenius.com did a screen-o-matic post on how to create a Wordpress post. This is one of the best tutorials I've seen on how to make a WP post, and I wanted to share it with you. I get a lot of questions on how someone like the award winning www.AgentGenius.com creates their format, and here it is:

Matthew Rathbun, Director of Professional Development

ABR, ABRM, AHWD, CSP, ePRO, GREEN, GRI, SFR, SRS, SRES

EcoBroker and EarthCraft Certified

Coldwell Banker Elite

Licensed Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Facebook.com/MattRathbun

Twitter.com/MattRathbun

TheAgentTrainer.com

To Follow, or not

Matthew Rathbun ABR/M, SRS, e-PRO, SFR, GRI, SRES, Brkr (Coldwell Banker Elite) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 20:44:55 -0600

To Block or Not to Block Recently I've engaged in a few conversations about when you should unfollow someone on Twitter and what parameters I use to decide if I want to follow back, those who are following me. With Qwitter you can now signup to find out when someone stops following you and what your last twit was, before they unfollowed. I've found great value in my friends on Twitter and highly recommend this tool. However, in some rare occasions I've found that I really need to unfollow a Twitter'er because they were simply ruining my experience and frankly I don't have to tolerate it on Twitter. So when do I unfollow?

Excessive Vulgarity
General Abuse (example: one twit after another of "decoding a bug", t"transfer of gig-frame quadry cypher geek talk")
Lying about anything
Using twitter to perpetuate cyber-bulling
Generally being inappropriate

Really I'm fairly laid back and in a year's time, I've only unfollowed and blocked three people. I found out later that LOTS of other Twitter'ers did the same to this folks. Reciprocal Followers The easy part is who to unfollow. The harder part is knowing who not to follow, in the first place. I get tons of follow requests every day, just as most of you do. Some are pretty easy to decide to not allow to follow, some others will require you to read the past 24 hours of posts, first. Here are my clues that a Twitter User is not worth following back:

They have one single comment and its a link to their webpage
They haven't updated in six months
The series of comments are related to some male enhancement drug
Some female is telling how "ready" she is for you to visit her site (for a fee)

Anyone, in general, who's sole purpose is to sell me something The follow requester has 2,500 people that they are following and 10 people are following back So, now that I've shared, what clues do you use to ensure that you're Twitter time is enjoyable?

Matthew Rathbun, Director of Professional Development

ABR, ABRM, AHWD, CSP, ePRO, GREEN, GRI, SFR, SRS, SRES

EcoBroker and EarthCraft Certified

Coldwell Banker Elite

Licensed Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Facebook.com/MattRathbun

Twitter.com/MattRathbun

TheAgentTrainer.com