Do You have a Plan for Success

So what is a business plan

Let us start with some thing very simple we do all the time . Let us assume you need to go to the Mall to buy a pair of Jeans. Let us see what steps we take.

1^st we know our Goal and have Vision which is where we are going and what are we will achive.

2^nd We make sure we know the directions to the Mall , so we know how we are getting there.

3^rd We know Approximately what are we going to spend, So we have Budget.

4^th We know about how long it will take us to get there and when we will be back , So we have Deadline.

Think about this on a simple thing like buying a pair of Jeans we had a complete plan but something as important as our carrier, our life, our livelihood we do not have a plan.

When a realtor starts the first thing they talk about is marketing themselves , sorry folks marketing does not come first it is one of the last things, I will write about a marketing plan but a lot later, you need to do a lot of research before you can start marketing.

.We go to the office thinking we will do A,B & C today but when the day ends we have done everything except what we intended to do, Why do you think that happens , We do not manage our time in a disciplined way, I will write about that a little later. I need to know my goals before managing my time to accomplish them.

Where do we Start then------ First start thinking This is your Business

If you read the books on business planning all of them say

                                                                                 Start With the End in Mind  

                               It is like playing golf your eye is not on the ball it is where you want the ball

Reverse Mortgage is it for you
Money to Cover Expenses. Funds to Achieve Dreams.

A QUICK Q & A GUIDE ON HOW TO OPTIMIZE RETIREMENT FUNDS WITHOUT SELLING YOUR HOME

What is a reverse mortgage?

· It's a special type of loan that enables individuals aged 62 or older to convert some of their home's equity into tax-free1 funds

· Unlike traditional equity loans, you receive payments instead of making them

Who is eligible?

· Homeowner(s) who are at least 62 years of age and occupy the property as their principal residence

· Eligible properties include single-family homes, condominiums and town homes, or a 2- to 4-unit dwelling

· The home must be owned free and clear or have a small remaining balance that can be paid off with the reverse mortgage

· No income, employment or credit requirements are required

How much can someone borrow?

· The amount that can be borrowed is based on a HUD formula that factors in the age of the youngest homeowner, the interest rate, appraised value, and the county where the property is located

What are some of the benefits?

· The reverse mortgage customer retains ownership and lives in their home

· Loan proceeds can be used for any purpose

· Loan proceeds are not considered income and will not affect Social Security or Medicare benefits. However, your monthly reverse mortgage advances may affect your eligibility for some other programs. Consult either your local program offices or your attorney to determine how, or if, monthly reverse mortgage payments might affect your specific situation.

What type of interest rate options are there?

· Reverse mortgages are available with either a fixed or variable interest rate

· Any adjustment in a variable rate mortgage has no effect on the amount or the number of loan advances you can receive, but causes the loan balance to grow at a faster or slower rate

What are the tax-free1 money options?

· Lump sum advances make funds immediately available

· Tenure plans provide fixed, monthly advances

· Line of Credit makes funds available upon request

What are the costs involved with a reverse mortgage?

· There are closing costs, which can be financed into the loan. These may include an origination fee, title insurance, appraisal, a mortgage insurance premium and attorney fees

· A deposit is usually required at application for appraisal

· The customer is expected to continue maintaining the property, paying the real estate taxes and hazard insurance premiums

How is the loan repaid?

· You do not need to repay the loan as long as you or one of the borrowers continues to live in the house, keep the taxes and insurance current, and maintain the property to FHA standards

· Please ask your reverse mortgage consultant for details about when repayment may be due

· Any remaining home equity belongs to you or your heirs - none of your other assets will be affected by the reverse mortgage

You are welcome to call me for more information at 718 982 1725 at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage or visit my web site www.rajmortgage.com

Credit has started to play a very important role in our lives

You go to get a serious job they will want to run your credit , if you go to get insurance some of the insurance company's want to look at your credit before giving you insurance , car loans and of course mortgages .With the new guide lines in place from FNMA and FHLMC, both the agencies that securities most of the mortgages in the country have risk based add on to the rates and points on prime loans which scores below 680 and down payment below 30%. You can lad up paying as high as 2 Points  if your score is at 620 and down payment is less than 30%.

I rarely see Buyers that have a 30% or more down payment , so the fact remains that most buyers that do not have scores over 680 will be impacted . so is credit important , sure if you want to get the best rate on prime as Sub prime is almost non existent . The gole is to get buyers pre qulified before looking at houses , and a lot of times I have asked my customers to pay of a small debt or may be even go and use a credit card which has resulted in a higher score which  means a better mortgage rate for you customer.

Scary part is banks go to college campus and give out credit cards with out teaching them how to manage credit

That what can make them a customer for life , as it shows you care  

Last few days have been a Roller Coaster ride for the Stock and Bond Market. Yesterday we saw an almost 600 point swing in the stock market and a large enough movement in the bond market which caused the mortgage rates to first move down to as low as Low 5s in the morning and ending in High 5s this evening . that is a lot of movement is 36Hrs. The killer is how do you explain to a buyer that, while the fed cut rates by .75 the mortgage rates have not only not gone down but have moved up slightly. Even though you can explain that the mortgage rates follow 10 Yr Treasuries and MBS ( Mortgage backed Securities) a regular consumer has a hard time understanding it.

The fed rate cut however does impact HELOCs or home equity line of credit , or a car loan, the rate you get on your savings account and CD etc  Some good and bad news

Every day we here another lending institution lost money as the continues lenders have started to change guidelines , one of the segment that got hit hard is Home Equity loans  We have used home equity loans in the past to avoid PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) , on thee loans that Had less than 20% DOWN PAYMENT. Now you have 2 options of course one is pay standerd PMI or the second one is called LPMI or lender paid PMI, I work for Wells Fargo and we are running a promotion on LPMI , on a 300,000 loan it is almost $100 cheaper than standerd PMI it may help you qualify an extra buyer.  Look into it or contact me for more information . www.rajmotgage,com 718 982 1725 Raj

Looking at the NAR data with average appreciation of 7% per year there is no better long term investment. Here is why

Let us asume  you buy a house for $100,000 all cash and hold it for 30 years at the above return the house will be worth approximately $760,000 after 30 years  that is about a 600% return now think about it if you you had a 10% down payment and financed 90% which means you invested $10,000 only after 30 years your return on money is over 7000% . WoW

With the above in mind it is a lot easier th convince the buyers that are on the fence , people that are buying to live in the house for long term there is no better return then real-estate whether it is stocks or CDs you compare it to. And you get a palace to live along the way. Paying rent dos not have any return on your money, you are paying some one else's mortgage , Let us go out and SELL SELL SELL

In the last few days we are seeing mortgage rates improve, yesterday 30 Yr fixed rates dropped all the way to almost 5.5%. this can be great news for the Real Estate industry, It definitely will help a lot of people that are holding those ARM mortgages to refinance and bring there payments down . I am hoping that can help lot of people keep the home that they were close to loosing because there rates were resetting higher and they were having a hard time with the payments , it also means less foreclosures , and price of homes stabilizing.

It will definately push a  lot of buyers that were on the edge to buy a house , to move towards buying  because of lower mortgage payments. If the trend of dropping rates continues I feel we will see a lot better 2008 then anticipated. To a Great 2008.

I am trying to get in to Realtors heads as to how, I can  define a perfect lender , your comments will help me to provide what Realtor expects for a mutually profitable relationship.

What is important when choosing a Lender ?

What are your Expectations from your Lender ?

What are some of the problems you face from your Lenders ?

What Niche programs/Services do you expect from your Lender ?

How can your lender help you with your business development ?

How can you lender help you with Lead Generation ?

If there was one significant improvement from your Lender what would it be ?

Do nor restrict your self to the above questions , you are welcome to make any other suggestions that you may think are necessary qualities in a Lender Thanks

Sales Figures

Here are some of the sales figures in Richmond County Talking to a lot of different Agents form different offices stating the Sales are slow , I am looking at some Charts I tried to understand the numbers from a Chart Courtesy Staten Island Board of Realtors

Now If we closely look at the numbers in Closed sales the units sold dropped les than 10%, the Median sales price is almost same , so the concern the values are dropping is almost not Valid in Staten Island base upon the figures from SIBOR, only change I see is the number of days the properties are staying in the market, It is a possibility after we see the 4th Quarter numbers the picture may be very different , but till I see those numbers I am sticking with, We are doing good in Richmond Count compared to the rest of the county .

Now Look at another chart from 2004 -2005 , Amazing the Numbers are way up

In 2005 we only closed 1132 units at a average sales price of $385,000 compared to 2007 as of October we had already closed 3058 units at average sales price of $425,000.

I do not understand Did someone say it is Slow  and the prices are dropping . Not according to this  data. I say Sales are up almost 300% from 2005

2007 is almost over , It started great but towards the end new challenges started to crop up, The SUB Prime mess as every one calls it , then we saw it filter down to A mortgages , Foreclosures started to inch up and before we realised the entire country had more Foreclosures. The banks started to loose money and the secondry market started shrinking which forced some lenders to go out of business and other banks and  lenders started to change there lending guidelines.

As the values pull down and lending guideline's change , new challenges will start to appear in 2008, some more lender may leave the business and we will also see some Real estate agents as well as some offices leave the business.

So pump up that marketing and PR work as you will have to be very visible to pick a bigger portion of the Pie of the shrinking market in in 2008.

 Good Luck and happy New Year