Foreclosure Alternatives Program

This is a link to an article on the www.Realtor.org site. This article covers some of the current challenges with short Sales and some of NAR’s concerns. At the end it touches on the Obama Administrations Foreclosure Alternatives Program which is expected to start at the end of July. There are two helpful links to the Foreclosure Alternative Program, and to NAR’s Short Sales Incentive Summary at the bottom of the article.

Denver Water Board Change

Just a heads up. As of July 7th, 2009 the Denver Water Board is requiring the sellers
forwarding address and buyer’s telephone number before a final water
bill can be ordered.  If you can provide this information for properties in the Denver Water district it will help prevent delays in ordering the final bill from Denver Water, and make for a smoother closing.

For more information on the Denver Water Board please visit their site.

June Technical Bulletin

This months Technical Bulletin is the first of two on avoiding closing delays. These are great resources on some of our standard policies and procedures. Also, it is a great item that you could forward to your clients prior to a closing. This one covers: payoffs, wires, property taxes, POAs’, mailouts, and what your clients should bring to closing.

Just a heads up

I have been receiving some goofy messages in my Facebook inbox from my friends. It sounds like there was a phishing attack that started on Friday.  If one of your FB friends sends you something that is addressed to a lot of people and it seems specific to you, I would delete it. I received a message in my inbox a couple of weeks ago stating that one of my friends had a hilarious video of me and that I should go check it out. I noticed that the message was sent to numerous individuals so I deleted it. Just a heads up.

Real Estate BarCamp

REBarCamp is a One-Day event where passionate real estate industry experts come together to share their knowledge on a peer to peer basis. Sessions evolve based on whatever topic one wants to share and whoever wants to learn. This is a great networking opportunity and great opportunity to find out about what is new and exciting in the world of real estate. RSVP’s for this event have increased so quickly that they had to change the location of the event.

This event is being held on Friday, May 22nd at DPPA Event Center.

First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit – Materials

The $8,000 Tax credit has been a popular topic of discussion the last few months. My customers have requested marketing pieces that they can use to send to their clients and prospects. Land Title has produced a couple of pieces that you can send out to your customers. First is the May Tech Bulletin, this is a great informational piece that can be emailed to inquiring customers. This piece answers the most common questions surrounding the tax credit.

The second is a post card. You can import this image into Publisher, Word or whatever program you design your post cards in. We can also help you produce and mail them to a FARM area or SOI. Shoot me an email for pricing.

Feel free to use these pieces, and let me know if you have any questions.

New service on www.LTGC.com

Land Title has recently added a very easy to use property search tool to their website. You can use this tool to find property details, plat map links, sold comps, and more. One of my colleagues, Jim Renshaw created a five minute tutorial on how to use this system. So far the feed back from our clients has been very positive. Let me know what you think of it.

April Technical Bulletin

Here is the Technical Bulletin for April 2009, “Hold Opens”. This piece describes what a hold open is and the cost savings it can produce for you or your buyers. This product is great for investors and short-term ownership.

 

Here is how it works. If your buyer is purchasing a property that they plan on selling in the next 24 months, they can pay a fraction above the premium the seller has agreed to pay and we will hold the policy open. The policy will stay open for 24 months until the property is sold to a new buyer. Holding the policy open provides a substantial cost savings to the middle buyer because we are not issuing a policy to the middle buyer. When the new buyer purchases the property we issue the policy to them.

 

If you have any questions regarding this topic please feel free to email me, or post your question in the comments section of this post.

Map Multiple Locations

I have been asked recently by some agents how to map multiple locations on a map. I found a site that allows you to copy addresses into it and it will map multiple locations. This is great for mapping out a group of houses your are going to show to one of your buyers. You could also use it to show all of the properties that fit your clients criteria and then they can see them on a map to get a visual on the location.

One of my customers sends it out to his client so they can get a general idea of the areas that fit their criteria. You can download ASCII files right out of MyMls and copy that file directly into this site, and it will covert it to a KML file that can be opened up in Google.

Once you do your first map you will be able to produce them quickly

Fannie and Freddie Rules for Refinances

This is a great article by Kenneth R. Harney with the Washington Post.  It covers the overall rules to refinance a Freddie or Fannie loan. A couple of key highlights. These refi’s are not exclusive to primary residences. Second homes and “small” rental properties are eligible in some cases.

These loans are designed to help the 4 million to 5 million home owners with Fannie or Freddie Mortgages. They will help them  to lower rates even though they would normally not qualify because of a decrease in the property value.

Funding of these loans is scheduled for early April.  There a some key exceptions to the traditional requirements as well. For example: Credit Scores, & Second Mortgages. Check it out, it’s a good one!