Long Island Real Estate Market Blog

Overloaded REO Brokers & Agents Who Don't Know What They're Doing

Thomas McGiveron (Long Island Real Estate Market: Coldwell Banker Matherson) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 09:54:49 -0500

I recently posted on another AR blog post - Foreclosure U - which has over 100 responses and the topic for me, turned to "overloaded reo brokers".

This is what I wrote:

"Overloaded REO broker" - I like that.

I agree that "overloaded reo brokers" are difficult - or nearly impossible to contact or get a deal done with them. As a qualifier, I am fairly "new" to listing REO's. I have only been in the biz 3 years - and listing REO's and doing BPO's for about a year. But I'm very good at it. But with my "lack of experience", I guess take my comments with a grain of salt.

I believe you make a name for yourself in the reo circles. It's like anything else. Reports get done accurately and quickly - things start to happen. I get special requests from my BPO companies who can't find a good agent to do BPO'S in certain areas - high end areas! lol

Anyhow - the thing about "overloaded reo brokers" is - they are pros. They have staff that cut TO THE CHASE.

I don't have an office dedicated to my listings. it's me - and the front desk. What I see is soooooo many agents showing my reo's - and they have NO IDEA that they're completely wasting their time. they send me offers that are like 80k below asking. They spend countless time trying to contact me to "see what the bank wants.." blah blah blah.

The reo pro's - don't have time to call back some "schlub" (sorry but it's true) who makes 20k a year and doesn't know what they're doing to answer some silly questions.

I am a little nicer - but even with me - i have 4 reo's - 1 in full - another two a week away from full contract and 1 about to hit the market. And I don't return phone calls that start with..."yeah i have a few questions about your listing on..." - when i already have an at or above asking price offer and the thing is all but wrapped up and this agent calling me - in my little experience - is going to ask me stupid questions and then send me an offer that's 50k below asking price - when it's PRICED TO SELL AND PROBABLY BELOW MARKET - and they don' t know that.

That's THEY'RE problem. I worked hard and fast to learn this business. I read up on things and educated myself. I joined a broker who knew the business. I didn't waste people's time nor my own asking questions about things trying to get information for free on someone else's TIME.

So I think the reo pro's don't return phone calls - in general - or to a large point - because TIME IS MONEY. And the AM (Asset Manager) rep doesn't really care about the little deals that get messed up - they just want the product MOVED - PERIOD. (With REO broker's - usually a phone call here or there doesn't get returned and a deal here or there falls through - AM's don't care about this stuff at the end of the day.)

Emails are to the point - phone calls are minimal. Get it ready to list - list it - get offers - get highest and best - get it into contract - period.

That's the real deal with reo's. That's the "secret".

And to the larger point of the original post (how newbie's are screwing up the professionalism of the reo business) - I would say that the "newbie's" who don't get what I am writing about - or don't know how to perform an accurate bpo - will definitely fall by the wayside. once they realize how much work can be involved in doing a GOOD bpo - and they're getting paid $50 for them - they simply WILL NOT HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO continue.

For us - the agents/brokers that are committed - sky is the limit - now and for the future.

Launced New Website IslandForeclosures.org

Thomas McGiveron (Long Island Real Estate Market: Coldwell Banker Matherson) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:41:11 -0500

Due to the increased demands of foreclosures throughout Long Island and my increased inventory of foreclosured properties, I have officially launched ISLANDFORECLOSURES.ORG

Properties like this one:

This property is priced at $274,900 in Miller Place, New York.

We are facing a changing market. REO's and short sales are dictating market value more and more each month!

I'm hoping the site serves a need. We're under construction right now, but hopefully, we'll serve a purpose.

Thanks for your feedback in advance!

$15 a Month to "Upgrade" For Twitter Followers...What A Joke

Thomas McGiveron (Long Island Real Estate Market: Coldwell Banker Matherson) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:06:04 -0500

I'm not sure if the jokes on me. Maybe I don't get it. Maybe I'm just "not there" mentally to understand the whole Twitter thing...

Naahh - I understand. Just like anything else that doesn't make sense, people will gladly pay money for something as stupid as getting more followers on a website and charge it on their maxed credit card.

I visited a few websites like twollow.com and twitterspinner or something like this. They actually charge for certain "upgrades"...lol.

Again - maybe I'm the stupid one, but if you're actually out there paying for something like that, I mean, I just don't get it.

Frankly, I don't really get the twitter.com dynamic. You give people a status on what you're doing at a given moment in time - sure you can put links in there to your websites or something like this and it goes out to your followers - but are people actually paying attention?

I guess it's like anything else - You've got to bring a value to people. It's like these blogs on AR - if you're not writing something original or somewhat interesting, you won't get the responses from others.

Oh by the way, you can follow me at http://twitter.com/tommcgiveroncom

LOL...

For First Time Home Buyers

Thomas McGiveron (Long Island Real Estate Market: Coldwell Banker Matherson) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:12:19 -0500

This is a great book to have. For $20 bucks - it's got a ton of information and really can take you through the buying process.

The Home Buyer's Inspection Guide

Tips For Maximizing The 1st Time Home Buyer Tax Credit

Thomas McGiveron (Long Island Real Estate Market: Coldwell Banker Matherson) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:14:17 -0500

I recently received an email from a colleague in the business with video link that features a ton of information about the first time home buyer tax credit.

This is incredible information and should be shared with all of your 1st time homebuyer clients.

If you're not using Continental Home Loans to close your deals, you may want to checkt them out. www.tonyauffant.com

http://www.tommcgiveron.com/first-time-homebuyer-tax-credit-information/ is the article - seriously - watch it.

Good luck.

So I see this article on the home page of Active Rain about how the RE Market's going to CRASH

Thomas McGiveron (Long Island Real Estate Market: Coldwell Banker Matherson) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:03:26 -0500

http://activerain.com/blogsview/1115258/realtors-are-you-ready-for-what-is-about-to-happen-realtor-coaching

I re-blogged it - check it out - leave comments here or there.

Realtors, Are You Ready For What Is About To Happen? | Realtor Coaching

Thomas McGiveron (Long Island Real Estate Market: Coldwell Banker Matherson) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:01:35 -0500

If you knew for sure that the darkest days for real estate were still ahead of us...what would you be doing now?

IDEAS: Price reductions, taking FAR more listings, stronger focus on pre-qualifying, master Short Sale listings (finally), become a REO listing agent, follow a schedule?....what would you do if you knew FOR SURE real estate sales were going to decline further? Heres a thought, how about getting the education that you know you must have to learn the skills that this market demands. Make you own list. That is your plan of action for NOW."

So this helps me re-affirm what I've known for the last 10 months.

Make no mistake, the "secrets" about becoming an reo agent aren't all that secret - sure you need to know where to go to get involved, but after that - it's work - lots of emails, phone calls and follow up - period...oh and BPO's too.

I didn't read this entire article because I know what it says.

Thoughts on the Long Island market????

I see SOOOOOO MANY agents out there - part-timers, moms and pops....they're all going to be done by January 2010. Period.

LIBOR membership is going to shrink another 10 to 15%.

But this is good. It's time the cream rise to the top and the rest go get a job some place else...

Via Tim and Julie Harris (Harris Real Estate University):

This is one of those posts that I Know will generate negative comments from our readers.

And I am OK with that.

We are criticized all the time for sharing info like this with our students..here is an example.

True Story: I received an email over the weekend from a Real Estate Coaching company whom many of you would consider a competitor of ours. The coach (who is a friend of mine so I wont use his name) was very critical of our blog…and the fact that we don’t pump the usual ‘Its a great time to buy a house’ propaganda.

“Tim, why do you post so much doom and gloom?”

He didn’t understand why we post articles like this one….

SO, for our competitors, our students and our future students…here is why we share info with you that may cause some of you to be alarmed and even angered with us.

We do it because no one else seems to have the courage to tell agents the truth about what may happen next in our respective real estate markets.

YOU SIMPLY MUST BE PREPARED FOR WHAT MAY BE COMING NEXT.

It would be vastly easier for us to tell you to ‘get back to the basics’ or ‘its all about how you think’. But, that would be a lie.

Selling homes, being a Realtor is an honorable profession. You are helping people solve a problem and accomplish an emotional and financial goal. Your job (as a Realtor) is to become a great sales person and an even better business person. When you are prepared for the worst but, hopeful for the best..you have an advantage. Once you have that mindset you will do a better job serving your real estate clients.

Here is the question we ask all of our Graduate Coaching students that I want you to ask yourself now: (Warning: reading what comes next may cause anxiety and doubt….but, if you read the whole thing you will find inspiration and strength).

Ask yourself…..

“What if I knew with 100% certainty that the real estate markets were going to get worse…far worse….in the next 6 months…what 3 things would I be doing differently NOW?”

Don’t be afraid of that question…take it seriously. If you KNEW that housing sales were going to plummet what 3 things would you be doing NOW…

If you knew for sure that the darkest days for real estate were still ahead of us…what would you be doing now?

IDEAS: Price reductions, taking FAR more listings, stronger focus on pre-qualifying, master Short Sale listings (finally), become a REO listing agent, follow a schedule?….what would you do if you knew FOR SURE real estate sales were going to decline further? Heres a thought, how about getting the education that you know you must have to learn the skills that this market demands. Make you own list. That is your plan of action for NOW.

Bottom line, Realtors are the only true hope for homeowners….this market is about agents with the skill set to serve and the mindset to be of service.

Next super tough revealing question….

“What are you doing now that you would stop doing if you knew that home sales were going to become far more challenging”

IDEAS: Maybe you would stop waiting for the phone to ring (and make it ring), you would stop waiting for the sellers to ask for a price reduction and start listing homes with pre-planned and agreed upon price changes, maybe you would stop mailing stuff to homeowners in hope that some day…they will call. What 3 things would you STOP doing now if you knew for sure that the real estate markets were going to become much worse?

Maybe now you get it.

If you are prepared for the worst…and the worst never happens…you are in better position.

We don’t want the real estate markets to slide any further. Its truly horrible what is happening to our country. Nothing would make us happier than telling all of you that the worst days for the real estate markets are behind us. Until that day happens we promise to tell you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. If that offends some of you (and we know it does) we sincerely apologize.

Please don’t be afraid of whats next.

The fact is that if you are still in the real estate business (especially after the epic national washout of thousands of Realtors that took place over the last 2 years) you have already proven that you have the chops to make it through the end of this historic ‘correction’. Be mentally, emotionally and financially prepared for this correction to take another 3-5 years.

HREU Students (and future students) if you need any help…request a Free Coaching Call.

Here is the article from The New York Times.

As job losses rise, growing numbers of American homeowners with once solid credit are falling behind on their mortgages, amplifying a wave of foreclosures.

In the latest phase of the nation’s real estate disaster, the locus of trouble has shifted from subprime loans — those extended to home buyers with troubled credit — to the far more numerous prime loans issued to those with decent financial histories.

With many economists anticipating that the unemployment rate will rise into the double digits from its current 8.9 percent, foreclosures are expected to accelerate. That could exacerbate bank losses, adding pressure to the financial system and the broader economy.

“We’re about to have a big problem,” said Morris A. Davis, a real estate expert at the University of Wisconsin. “Foreclosures were bad last year? It’s going to get worse.”

Realtors, Learn How to become a REO Listing Agent. Watch the FREE Agent REO Secret video now. Next, grab your FREE Agent REO Secrets book.

Economists refer to the current surge of foreclosures as the third wave, distinct from the initial spike when speculators gave up property because of plunging real estate prices, and the secondary shock, when borrowers’ introductory interest rates expired and were reset higher.

“We’re right in the middle of this third wave, and it’s intensifying,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com. “That loss of jobs and loss of overtime hours and being forced from a full-time to part-time job is resulting in defaults. They’re coast to coast.”

Those sliding into foreclosure today are more likely to be modest borrowers whose loans fit their income than the consumers of exotically lenient mortgages that formerly typified the crisis.

Economy.com expects that 60 percent of the mortgage defaults this year will be set off primarily by unemployment, up from 29 percent last year.

Robert and Kay Richards live in the center of this trend. In 2006, they took a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage — a prime loan — borrowing $172,000 to buy a prefabricated house. They erected the building on land they owned in the northern Minnesota town of Babbitt, clearing the terrain of pine trees with their own hands.

Mr. Richards worked as a truck driver, hauling timber from a nearby mill. His wife oversaw the books. Together, they brought in about $70,000 a year — enough to make their monthly mortgage payments of $1,300 while raising their two boys, now 11 and 16.

But their truck driving business collapsed last year when the mill closed. Mr. Richards has since worked occasional stints for local trucking companies. His wife has failed to find clerical work.

“Every month that goes by, you get a little further behind,” Mr. Richards said.

Last June, they missed their first payment, and they have since slipped $10,000 into arrears. They are trying to persuade their bank to cut their payments ahead of a foreclosure sale.

Realtors, Learn How to become a REO Listing Agent. Watch the FREE Agent REO Secret video now. Next, grab your FREE Agent REO Secrets book.

From November to February, the number of prime mortgages that were delinquent at least 90 days, were in foreclosure or had deteriorated to the point that the lender took possession of the home increased more than 473,000, exceeding 1.5 million, according to a New York Times analysis of data provided by First American CoreLogic, a real estate research group. Those loans totaled more than $224 billion.

During the same period, subprime mortgages in those three categories increased by fewer than 14,000, reaching 1.65 million. The number of similarly troubled Alt-A loans — those given to people with slightly tainted credit — rose 159,000, to 836,000.

Over all, more than four million loans worth $717 billion were in the three distressed categories in February, a jump of more than 60 percent in dollar terms compared with a year earlier.

Under a program announced in February by the Obama administration, the government is to spend $75 billion on incentives for mortgage servicing companies that reduce payments for troubled homeowners. The Treasury Department says the program will spare as many as four million homeowners from foreclosure.

But three months after the program was announced, a Treasury spokeswoman, Jenni Engebretsen, estimated the number of loans that have been modified at “more than 10,000 but fewer than 55,000.”

Learn how to mod your own home loan now. Watch the FREE Agent Loan Mod Secrets video now. Lower your own house payment now..save yourself $100s per month and $1000s per year. Next, start your own Loan Mod Business. Make money helping others save money! Watch the FREE Agent Loan Mod Secrets video NOW.

In the first two months of the year alone, another 313,000 mortgages landed in foreclosure or became delinquent at least 90 days, according to First American CoreLogic.

“I don’t think there’s any chance of government measures making more than a small dent,” said Alan Ruskin, chief international strategist at RBS Greenwich Capital.

Last year, foreclosures expanded sharply as the economy shed an average of 256,000 jobs each month. Since then, the job market has deteriorated further, with an average of 665,000 jobs vanishing each month.

Each foreclosure costs lenders $50,000, according to data cited in a 2006 study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, so an additional two million foreclosures could mean $100 billion in lender losses.

The government’s recent stress tests of banks concluded that the nation’s 19 largest could be forced to write off as much as a fresh $600 billion by the end of 2010, bringing their total losses to $1 trillion. The Federal Reserve concluded that these banks needed to raise another $75 billion.

Many economists pronounce that assessment reasonable, while cautioning that it could become inadequate if foreclosures continue to accelerate.

“The margin for error is not that big,” said Brian Bethune, chief United States financial economist for HIS Global Insight. “It’s kind of like, ‘Let’s keep our fingers crossed that we’ve seen the worst.’ ”

Among prime borrowers, foreclosure rates have been growing fastest in states with particularly high unemployment. In California, for example, the unemployment rate rose to 11.2 percent from 6.4 percent for the year that ended in March, while the foreclosure rate for prime mortgages nearly tripled, reaching 1.81 percent.

Even states seemingly removed from the real estate bubble are seeing foreclosures accelerate as the recession grinds on.

In Minnesota, three of every five people seeking foreclosure counseling now have a prime loan, according to the nonprofit Minnesota Home Ownership Center.

Realtors, Learn How to become a REO Listing Agent. Watch the FREE Agent REO Secret video now. Next, grab your FREE Agent REO Secrets book.

In Woodbury, Minn., Rick and Christine Sellman are struggling to persuade their bank to reduce their $2,200 monthly mortgage on their five-bedroom home.

Mr. Sellman, a construction worker, found some work putting in asphalt driveways last summer, but he is now receiving unemployment. Ms. Sellman’s scrapbooking businesses shut down last summer. Since then, they have slipped $19,000 behind on their mortgage.

“We were always up on our house payments,” Ms. Sellman said. “You work so hard to keep what you have, and because of circumstances beyond our control now, there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Realtors, In this market you simply must know what is happening next. Read the latest, take action now real estate information on our blog. Updated as breaking real estate news happens. Read what is happening now.

Attention Agents: For Short Sales, Avoid This Bank

Thomas McGiveron (Long Island Real Estate Market: Coldwell Banker Matherson) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 22:51:55 -0500

Indymac.

Nightmare. They have no idea what they're doing.

Have a slam dunk short sale deal for them. Complete contract - conditional approval. Indy is eating less than 10k on it.

80 days - and it hasn't even been assigned to anyone at the bank yet. They have no idea what they're doing. Word to the wise.

So I Get A Call The Other Day...Guy Wants To "Buy" Short Sales

Thomas McGiveron (Long Island Real Estate Market: Coldwell Banker Matherson) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 06:21:32 -0500

I received a call the other day from an "Eric". He says he wants to buy short sales. I give him 10 minutes of my precious time to hear what he has to say.

He proceeds to explain that he has a company that negotiates short sales. But he "buys" them - and his company negotiates the short sale. He explains to me that any bank - they're "in and out in a few weeks". They get deals done super fast because they "know what they're doing".

I keep listening. He proceeds to tell me, in his contracts it says in bold print something to the effect: I PLAN TO MAKE A PROFIT FROM THIS TRANSACTION - or something along these lines - this of course "solves" the issue of the Home Equity Theft Prevention Act...of course. Meanwhile he's talking about achieving a 60% "spread" on the equity of the home.

He says, "the home equity theft prevention act....what equity. There is not equity..."

In my head I'm saying, then what's your "spread" mean???? If you "achieve" your "spread" - then there's equity...and you're stealing it.

Anyhow - he tells me he speaks with agents all over the country and so many of them "don't know what they're doing..." He tells me, "...everything we do is totally straight up" (yeah - someone's ars - I'm thinking to myself!).

He tells me if the spread isn't met then I am charged a 1% fee from my commission for their negotiating the short sale. Tells me - "oh it's better if the property isn't listed..." I'm sure it is!

By the time we got off the phone, I knew I wouldn't let this guy near any of my clients, nor would I even think about doing business with him.

Sick.

Now I'm sure there are people out there that are a lot smarter than I am - making a ton of money doing things like this - that may very well be legitimate. Who knows, everything this guy was telling me could be 100% ethical and legit. I'm not as smart as him...I don't know.

But my paps once told me: If it's looks like "IT", smells like "IT"...don't taste "IT".

Full Time Vs. Part Time Agents

Thomas McGiveron (Long Island Real Estate Market: Coldwell Banker Matherson) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 06:01:44 -0500

http://activerain.com/blogsview/336292/real-estate-agents-full-time-vs-part-time

I couldn't reblog this but I just answered some guy who was really condescending. Thought I'd share it - feel free to weigh in.

Short Sales: Dodging The Inevitable

Thomas McGiveron (Long Island Real Estate Market: Coldwell Banker Matherson) — Sun, 31 May 2009 08:48:07 -0500

The ever-increasing number of short sales on Long Island doesn't really surprise me anymore. In fact, nothing really does. With major banks like Citi trading at under $5.00 (as of this day) and as low as .97 in the last 3 months, what's there to be surprised about?

Well, in order to achieve some shock value (because that's what good writing is all about), I'm going to focus on what we know about the local Long Island real estate market and how short sales are shaping up to be a great challenge. Below is a chart of short sales on Long Island. The chart is split into each respective zone, showing how many short sales there are as of April, 2009 (note: this is all from the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island - if a short sale is marked, as it should be with a Y for Yes in the listing, that's what these numbers represent. What these numbers may not represent is real estate agents who don't know their listing is a short sale or they don't correctly upload the listing and check of Y for short sale). Another words, figure these numbers are larger.

CLICK

IMAGE

ENLARGE

If you do not know which zone your town is located, feel free to call me at 631.587.1700, ext. 51.

What we see in this chart is clear, with over 3700 short sales on Long Island and only 262 sales in the previous 90 days (that's only 87 short sales sold per month), sales are lagging. So I'll use the stats from this chart and divide the short sales available with the short sales sold over a time period of 90 days, and the scary thing is, there is over a 43 month supply of short sales on Long Island.

That means, at the current rate of sales, it would take...

Finish the article here

The State of The Long Island Real Estate Market: April 2009

Thomas McGiveron (Long Island Real Estate Market: Coldwell Banker Matherson) — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:35:38 -0500

I am conducting buyer and seller seminars throughout Long Island and I am continually hearing people tell me what they think about the Long Island real estate market. I hear things like, "Oh, the market's going to pick back up soon." I also hear things like, "The market is crashing and all prices are going to go down another 50%..."
It's usually sellers saying the first thing and buyers saying more of the latter. Obviously.
Now my website is directed entirely towards educating sellers and buyers on the Long Island real estate market. I do not dress up the information and I pull no punches when it comes to taking a good hard look at what's going on. At least in my opinion, my information is transparent in as much as the information presented is as accurate as I can make it.
To specifically address what has happened to the Long Island real estate market, I decided to take a look at all the zones of Long Island, which includes in this article: Queens, Nassau and Suffolk. I took a look at the most current data available via the Multiple Listing Service Of Long Island. I measured April 2008 and April 2009 respectively. What I found was shocking, even to me.

Long Island is comprised of zones, which cover multiple hamlets. If you have a question about what zone you are in, please call me at 1.877.765.3123, ext. 51 and I'd be glad to review this with you.
These statistics do not lie. When a seller tries to tell me that the market isn't "as bad" as what I say - I refer to this chart.
I was recently at a friend's party and his father-in-law was trying to tell me that the average home in Suffolk is selling for $415,000. I promptly told him that information was inaccurate and proceeded to tell him that prices have dropped 17.5% in the last twelve months and the average selling price in Suffolk County is currently around $370,000.
Well, I was the party-pooper. Hey, there's a first time for everything!
So if you're buying or selling, please refer to this chart. I will do my best to update it every month, so keep checking back in monthly to see where we're at. To me, this is a great way to stay on top of where the market is.

So where is the market going? Well, the above slide is pretty clear on that. With over 33,000 listings for sale (inventory) and less than 1500 sales, we have a long way to go toward leveling the supply of homes on the market. This point is irrefutable. These numbers do not lie.
Are there signs that things are improving? Absolutely, but the improvements are slow and small (which is a lot better than nonexistent). Now what does this mean for buyers? It means, for the time being, that home prices will not be increasing anytime soon. However, as I always say, interest rates are at historic lows so getting in now is an incredible time.
If you would like to learn more about one of our seminars or would like to sit and review more market information, please do not hesitate to contact me at 631.831.9048.

Long Island Real Estate Market: Buyer Fear Is Market’s Greatest Challenge

Thomas McGiveron (Long Island Real Estate Market: Coldwell Banker Matherson) — Wed, 13 May 2009 12:27:11 -0500

Share
"The Long Island Real Estate Market Scares Man to Death!" I can see the story newsline now! A friend of mine wants to buy a home. He earns a very good salary but at the end of the day, he's scared to death of...just about everything, from losing his job to his wife not ever finding employment.

Now while the past few months have been extremely busy for many real estate agents (contrary to common belief), many of us talk amongst ourselves and we are still seeing many buyers on the fence. There is indeed a huge pent up demand out there waiting to strike.

The only problem is, they're scared [DUH].

Like my friend, buyers today are just unsure about the market, employment, and the world in general. As a therapist, an obstacle to someone moving forward in their lives, by changing what they do and how they manage their lives, is called an impasse. An impasse is the fear of the unknown - the fear of what may occur if changes take place that alter how one deals with their lives. Take for instance, a woman who stays with an abusive husband (or vise versa). From the outside, we judge that situation and say, "Why doesn't she just leave him?"

Impasse.

Buyers right now, are the "abused" spouses...so to speak. They're used to landlords taking their money and feel more comfortable with this current situation - they know what to expect.
Until fear is replaced with some form of confidence in the market and job security, I firmly believe that 5 in 10 qualified buyers will remain on the sidelines, watching...waiting.

This image is where buyers are right now. With mortgage interest rates so low, buyers are riding a see-saw or sorts. Trying to balance out the perfect time to buy. One thing is for sure, and it's that right now, interest rates are at an all-time low and I've written extensively on mortgage interest rates.

Even with a fantastic 1st time home buyer tax credit (dollar for dollar credit - ask your cpa), many buyers are still not pulling the trigger.

But...more are starting to and this means, that as a buyer, the homes that are prime buys, could be all dried up by the time the most fearful come around and start to get involved. What's now on the market, if it's a "good" buy, will be long gone six months from now.

The greatest challenge for people facing an impasse is moving forward when every part of their body and mind is telling them to pull back. Hopefully, if you're reading this and you want to buy, you'll consider signing up for a listingbook account to at least find out what's out there.

Just a message to the group:

Thomas McGiveron (Long Island Real Estate Market: Coldwell Banker Matherson) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 19:03:41 -0500

It would be great to have more members. While the 32 we have is great, it would be better if more people from your office joined up or just others on AR that aren't in here could join in on the forum conversation.

Thanks!

What books to read that might help you get to where you want to be

Thomas McGiveron (Long Island Real Estate Market: Coldwell Banker Matherson) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 08:15:10 -0500

The title kind of says it all.

You're Broke Because You Want to Be: How to Stop Getting By and Start Getting Ahead

The Millionaire Real Estate Agent: It's Not About the Money...It's About Being the Best You Can Be!

Mastering the Art of Selling Real Estate: Fully Revised and Updated

21 Things I Wish My Broker Had Told Me: Practical Advice for New Real Estate Professionals.

Awaken the Giant Within : How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny!

Now I said "might help you" - because it's all relative based on several factors, primarily:

1. Your personal dedication to making things happen.

2. Your background (you may not need these books at all - I found I didn't "need" them, but reading books on sales and self-improvement sure can't hurt).

3. Your belief that "you can do iiitttt!"

Good luck!

Should Short Sales Stay on the Market Long To "Prove" Market Value?

Thomas McGiveron (Long Island Real Estate Market: Coldwell Banker Matherson) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:42:21 -0500

I recently sat through a class for improving CMA's and the topic of short sales came up.

Multiple agents in the class suggested that short sales should stay on the market for over 3 months in order to help "prove" fair market value to the bank. A few agents said that if a short sale is on the market for less than a month, and you submit an offer to the bank, it will be assumed that the home is priced under market.

I couldn't disagree more. In my opinion, whether a home is a short sale or a "regular" listing, pricing is everything. And in a market where buyer demand is far less than supply, an accepted offer and fully executed contract in less than 40 days represents market value (with few exceptions).

With short sales, it's vital to get a qualified buyer to make an acceptable offer as fast as possible. With a short sale, the CMA is extremely important.

You've got to know how to price your product in a manner that is not less than market value, but not too high in the same respect.

Thoughts?

Your Short Sale Listing Not Selling?

Thomas McGiveron (Long Island Real Estate Market: Coldwell Banker Matherson) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:48:38 -0500

"Time and time again, I continually run into agents that are advertising a "short sale" listing and the property is sitting on the market idly...not selling."
Case in point: I make a solid offer on a property with great buyers who are conditionally approved. The property is a short sale in West Babylon, being serviced by...a part-timer who doesn't know what they're doing and broker just as inept.
We make the offer, in writing and I continually try to ascertain how the offer is going to be presented to the bank. I push the agent to tell me exactly how her client is being represented, whether an attorney is handling the short sale or if she or her broker are handling the negotiations.
I push to get the binder to contract. Trying unsuccessfully to schedule an inspection.

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Long Island Short Sale Listing:
Priced at ~~$318,000~~ $299,900
***SOLD*** Details: Owed nearly $400,000. Sale Price: $280,000
Home features 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, large eat-in-kitchen, formal dining room, den, living room, inground pool, legal accessory apartment, and one car garage.

STOP FORECLOSURE.
Contact me at 631.831.9048

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 19th, 2008 at 12:22 pm and is filed under Short Sale Listings.

Researching Foreclosures With Curious Buyers

Thomas McGiveron (Long Island Real Estate Market: Coldwell Banker Matherson) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 16:20:26 -0500

I love the buyers who come to me and say they want to buy a foreclosure.

I basically just refer them to a website to do their own research. 9 times out of 10, they're just curious.

So to wet their whistle - I send them to a site like www.foreclosures.com or www.lispendensbytown.com

It kind of keeps them interested and once they find out that finding a foreclosure isn't that easy - they come back and get serious.

I never discourage people from buying a foreclosed home - but if they're 1st time buyers - they really need to educate themselves about it.

Long Island Real Estate Market: Prices Are Dropping?

Thomas McGiveron (Long Island Real Estate Market: Coldwell Banker Matherson) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 08:36:27 -0500

I recently sat with a homeowner to discuss the fair market value of their home and to talk with them about the Long Island real estate market. We sat to talk and started talking about the market. She had lived in her home for 35 years and was curious about selling.

As we talked, I showed her all the information that I normally review. This information contains the latest insights from experts in the real estate industry as well as my expert analysis of the Long Island market.
Halfway through our discussion, she said, "Oh, so prices are dropping?"

This interaction helped me realize that I, and my colleagues in the real estate business, have our work cut out for us. There are a number of homeowners out there that just do not pay any attention to what's happening. And there are some that do listen and know a little, but still think Spring will bring higher prices.

With nearly a 28% drop in prices since 2006, Long Island real estate [NEWSFLASH] prices are dropping. This graph shows just how different the Long Island real estate market is today as opposed to the 1990's. I recently had a discussion with an investor in Babylon who told me, "We've been through this before in the 90's. We'll ‘bounce' back." Well this graph breaks down both the 90's and now and what you see is that long line going down...we're over 200% worse off now than we ever were in terms of lost equity/value. The depreciative numbers are staggering.

The current inventory, as of February, 2009, for homes available for sale on Long Island was 32,746 homes for sale. As for demand (buyers), 2486 closings ocurred in February, with Suffolk county seeing the most sales at 905 units sold according to the Multiple Listing Service. And remember, those closings are homes that went into contract most likely in November/December, 2008 and some in January of 2009.

Click here for more information on Inventory and how it's affecting price.

Another Protected Class

Thomas McGiveron (Long Island Real Estate Market: Coldwell Banker Matherson) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:33:28 -0500

Directly From MLS:

Rental Programs Deleted From Stratus

The "Rental Programs" data fields on rental listings have been removed. These data fields will no longer appear on Stratus. This change has been made due to the current law in New York City and Nassau County making "source of income" a protected class. Although "source of income" has not been classified as a protected class in Suffolk County, due to the current legal trend it is prudent to delete this data field for all counties.

As you know, there can be no discrimination in housing based on a protected class. Now that "source of income" has been classified as a protected class, a realtor shall not discriminate based on a person's source of income. The "Rental Programs" data fields have been eliminated so not to have the appearance of distinguishing between sources of income. It is crucial not to discriminate on the basis of a protected class for the fines and penalties can be severe.

Is it me, or is this just getting crazy?

Option ARM Mortgage Defaults Hitting Long Island In 2009

Thomas McGiveron (Long Island Real Estate Market: Coldwell Banker Matherson) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 20:15:10 -0500

For the past 3 years, we've heard about mortgage defaults and lots of people talking about the "subprime loan crisis" but Option ARM mortgage defaults will shortly become the unfortunate talk of the town. Option Adjustable Rate Mortgages are mortgages that reset after a specific time to a capped mortgage rate and they adjust with market pricing. Watch the video to get a better insight into these and similiar loans.

Now if you watched the video, you'll get a sense of doomsday. Others that I've talked to about the next wave of mortgage defaults and foreclosures say the government will solve the "problem" by mandating massive loan modifications and just buying more banks. Let's take a look at some information first before we say the government can solve the problem.
If you look closely, you'll see that the subprime mortgage crisis is "behind us", although we're still feeling the pinch from this because many of those borrowers have their homes on the market as a short sale or have already foreclosed. However, looking forward, you'll notice a gigantic increase beginning halfway through 2009 and through 2011, that Option ARM loans and Alt A loans will see their resets begin to occur. This means those homes (many are already behind on their mortgages) will see an increase of their mortgage payments (that they can't afford now).
The amount of these loans that were written are astounding as well. Option ARM's make up nearly 18% of every mortgage in America (that's nearly 2 out of every 10 household). If that doesn't make you scratch your head and say, "Hmm", you're either brain dead, simply really don't understand (call me), or you don't care. And to get to the point of the title of this article, while I don't have statistical data as of yet, it's a very well-known fact that "a ton" of these types of loans were written here on Long Island. That's where a lot of people, made a lot of money.
When you think about 50% of these loans being unable to be paid, that's alot of loans in default. And to touch on the point about the government "saving the 'victimized' people from losing their homes", who's to say that after the government "saves" them, that they'll continue to pay the mortgage or maybe people who are paying their mortgage will scratch their head and say, "Why am I paying my mortgage...

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Foreclosure Sites

President Obama: Insert Foot In Mouth

Thomas McGiveron (Long Island Real Estate Market: Coldwell Banker Matherson) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:57:48 -0500

"So this guy I know is a real downer..." Ever talk about someone like that? Every time they open their mouth you kind of ask to yourself, "Oh boy, now what?"

I think President Obama is that kind of guy. He can't help himself from using sensationalistically fatalistic language when talking about the economy. It's like, "Okay dude, we get the picture - banks are hurting, people are hurting..."

It's like the local news at 10pm - "We've got bad news. More bad news. Extremely bad news - oh and now the weather. Okay more bad news. Now sports. And more bad news at 11..." - only with Pres. Obama, it's like local news on steroids, namely because he's the president and anything he says is magnified.

I speak to more people who increasingly say, "Man, that guy (President Obama) won't shut up about talking down the economy."

Conservatives like Rush Limbaugh, got flack for saying they don't want him to succeed. Well it's kind of like the president doesn't want the US economy to succeed.

Here's a hint Pres....try not to insert foot in mouth - keep it shut for a few days. Talk about the flowers on the East Lawn or something. Give out some more DVD's or something. Watch a happy movie. Chill...

Activerain - Please Feature My Post About Unemployment

Thomas McGiveron (Long Island Real Estate Market: Coldwell Banker Matherson) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 15:51:44 -0500

I'm going to make this short and sweet because I'm busy making money. While I appreciate the opportunity to have exposure on activerain for free and while I appreciate with their search engine rank help with my websites, I have to complain (of course) about their unwillingness to feature blog posts.

My last blog post entitled How many People Do You KNow That Have Lost Their Job In Past Few Months, has about 5 comments.

In my humble opinion, I think it has great potential to get alot of replies if Activerain featured it because the unemployment rate is going to be front and center during the next year or two. It is going to impact the real estate market directly in an alarming manner.

Please visit the post. I kept it short and sweet, basically asking people to write a comment about how many people they know who are unemployed - then just add it to the previous poster.

The number of people unemployed (who people on activerain know of) went from 5 to 42 in just 6 posts.

ATTENTION ACTIVERAIN PEOPLE WHO SUPPOSEDLY READ THESE POSTS AND CHOOSE WHICH TO FEATURE:

Please consider featuring that article.

Thanks.

Those who aren't activerain people who supposedly read these posts and choose which to feature - please visit the link and give some feedback along with how many people you know who lost their job recently.

How Many People Do You know That Have Lost Their Job In Past Few Months?

Thomas McGiveron (Long Island Real Estate Market: Coldwell Banker Matherson) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 23:22:14 -0600

I'd like to see how many people respond to this post.

Do me a favor - after you've posted how many people you know - please ad up the total and post the total number at the very end of your post.

So this should work like this:

I finish my post with a number "5".

then the next poster's number is a 4. He then adds them up and puts a 9 at the end of his post. Next poster knows 1 person who lost their job in past few months - they put a 10 at the end of their post.

so how ever many people you know that lost their job - say "I know X amount of people" etc. - then at the end of the post add up the previous poster's last number and your X and put that at the very end of the post.

Let's see where this goes.

My brother-in-law lost his job in December - working for a major bank - plus I know 4 other people - some clients and a friend that lost their job in past 6 months. So my number is 5.

SO NEXT PERSON WHO POSTS - PLEASE AT THE END OF YOUR POST - PUT THE TOTAL NUMBER (NUMBER OF PEOPLE YOU KNOW WHO LOST JOB + MY NUMBER (5)

ALSO - Please bold and center the last number. Hope this makes sense and people respond.

Long Island Unemployment And The Impact On The Real Estate Market

Thomas McGiveron (Long Island Real Estate Market: Coldwell Banker Matherson) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:58:41 -0600

Strange thing. I hear on the news about all this unemployment and it slowly creeps into your backyard. I know several friends and some family members who have lost their job. So I started to pay closer attention to what's going on in our backyard here on Long Island. I decided to write about the Long Island unemployment rate to inform my reaqders of what is about to happen to the Long Island real estate market.

First I must state that I am personally concerned about what is going to happen with our local economy.

I am doubly concerned about how this economy is going to impact the Long Island real estate market in general.

As a Realtor, I see it as my personal mission to help educate the public not only about this or that house, but about the overall picture of what is going on and the unemployment rate increasing by 36% in one year in Suffolk county is something that raises my eye brow...alot.

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