The following is an article from his monthly newsletter

Over the last 18 months, the real estate industry has almost become dependent on government’s help. We hope that programs like the tax credit or the Fed’s purchase of mortgage-backed- securities will be extended in order to make our jobs easier. Well, the Fed has already announced that they are exiting the mortgage market as scheduled (March 31, 2010) and there doesn’t seem to be the political will to again extend the tax credit. That does not mean the market will dry up and blow away. We were given help to get through the toughest part of our challenge. Now it is up to us to step up and create business. Let’s give great advice to buyers and sellers and keep this momentum going.

Why do you want me to get pre-approved before I find a house I want to buy? This a question asked many times by buyers. So I thought I would take a moment to answer.

When a borrower applies for a mortgage before finding a house, and receives a written commitment from a lender to finance a suitable property when found, the buyer has several advantages, including:

House Hunting made easy: Pre-approval lets the home buyers know exactly how much home he or she can afford, then home finding is focused on a precise price range.

Cash buyer status: The buyer has the increased negotiating leverage of cash buyers status, because the mortgage is already in place.

Accelerate the mortgage process: Significant time is saved because a large part of the mortgage has already been processed.

“Could anyone guess how many were FHA Sales. (Goverment Lending).” A great deal of numbers were thrown out,  some of the agents came pretty close. The answer were 127 and they were selling at 96.74% list price to sales price. The next question was, “How many were  Conventional?”  The answer was 394 although they were selling at 91.84% list price to sales price.  Approximately 5% lower.

Next came “How many VA?”  (Veteran  Loans).” 65 were VA financing with 97.34% list price to sales price.

The Surprise to everyone, was the next question.  “How many were Cash?” The answer was 168 list price to sales price 86.12% This was a surprise as I don’t think any of the agents expected it to be as high as it was.  Which does tell us that there are cash buyers out there looking for good deal.There were a couple with Farmers Home, some listed as Other,which I can only assume was rent with the option to buy and some were owner financing.  Owner financing is a good option for the seller as he makes money with the interest rate, however, my caution is, you can only offer owner financing if you do not have a mortgage, or have the permission of the bank who is holding the mortgage to allow a second mortgage to be held by the seller.

The following article was written by Steve Haney from Keeping Current Matters.

The FHA 203(k) Renovation loan, available as a purchase or refinance, established in 1978 by the US Congress to revitalize our nation’s housing stock was ahead of its time by about 30 years.  The authors of this loan program must have seen this housing market coming.  The 203(k) allows an owner occupant home buyer to purchase a home in need of repair and get funding not only to purchase it but also to fix it up in one loan.  It allows the seller to sell and close a home “As-Is” no matter how bad the condition is.  A home could be condemned, it could have a cracked slab or damaged foundation, code violations, fire damaged, leaking roof, or no kitchen.   The buyer can close it “As-Is” and include funds to fix up the home in one loan.

 •MYTH #1: My bank wants me out of my house. My bank wants my home.

•Banks and other lending institutions do not want to foreclose.  They earn more money if you can make your payments. When they foreclose, they not only lose your monthly payments, but they also have the expense of foreclosing (attorney fees), rehabbing the home, and then selling it (agent commissions). In today’s market, there’s a good chance they’ll have to sell the home at a loss. This is all good news for you – it means the bank is highly motivated to make a deal with you.

Bad Credit Score

MYTH #2: My credit score is bad so I won’t qualify.

Unlike the option of refinancing out of trouble, which requires you to apply for a new loan, loan modification simply adjusts the terms and perhaps reduces the balance of a loan you already have. Your credit score is much less of a factor in determining whether you qualify for a loan modification. In addition, a successful loan modification can actually improve your credit score over time, especially if it prevents you from ending up in foreclosure or bankruptcy

Do I qualify for loan modification?

MYTH #3 I am not late on my mortgage payments so I won’t qualify. I have to miss a payment to be eligible.

Early on, this was true. In fact, some early eligibility requirements stated that you had to be 61 days delinquent in order to qualify. In other words, you would have had to have missed two full payments. The truth is that the eligibility requirements are constantly changing and differ among lenders. Many lenders are now working out loan modifications with borrowers who are up to date on their payments. It’s difficult to determine whether you qualify until you actually discuss your situation with the lender or with an attorney who is knowledgeable and experienced in loan modifications.

Myth 4 Would I be better off walking away than Modifying my loan?

Walking away from the home and filing for bankruptcy are certainly two options, but they are rarely the best options when you are facing foreclosure. If you simply walk away, the lender is unlikely to pursue legal action against you, but in some jurisdictions, the lender can & will pursue a deficiency judgment against you to collect the difference between what the lender receives for your home at auction and what you currently owe on the balance of the mortgage. Filing for bankruptcy may be better than just walking away, but it can leave a blemish on your credit history that makes it difficult to borrow money in the future. A successful loan modification is almost always a more prudent choice.

Is It’s to Late?

MYTH #5: It’s too late. I have already received a foreclosure notice.

As long as you still reside in the home – that is, you didn’t voluntarily abandon it, and the home hasn’t been sold at a foreclosure auction – you may still have time to work out a loan modification with your lender. The sooner you take action, the more options you have available and the more time you have to pursue the best option, but you can still negotiate late into the process. By contacting the lender or, better yet, having your attorney contact the lender on your behalf, you demonstrate a good faith effort to work out a solution and can often buy yourself extra time to negotiate a loan modification.

Marketing ourselves and the Listing presentation was our focus with the ten steps Marketing Program.

First. What is the current situation? When we visit a prospective seller would we look more knowledgeable more experienced if we had this already typed up for them to see? We have to look at the current situation, what is the ratio of sale in our market today, how many on the market in that price range, in area and in subdivision, this information is imperative when pricing homes in the market today.
If the plan is on how to market yourself, you have to look at your current situation as a realtor today and how have you changed doing things since the market changed

Next let’s work on the goals with the Seller. Let them guide and direct the goals on selling the house what will they do if they don’t sell. Does your personal marketing plan include your goals, not just financial but the things you would like to do in your life? What do you hope to achieve?

The third step is to look at what you are selling how we help the client solve a problem, what services are you providing. What client need do we need to fill?

For your personal plan, you need to be very clear on why a client will benefit from using your services, what are the three or four benefits to the consumer when they use your services?

What is your target audience for this home, who lives in the neighborhood? Where can you find these people?

The discussion continued emphasizing that our plan has to include our knowledge of our competition and what resources we have that sets us apart from our competition. Configure a marketing message with an objective and a set of activities that should be performed and the reasons (benefits) for each individual activity. Set a calendar and know your budget for all of these activities. It is important not to spend your entire budget up front. Spread it out and track what works and what doesn’t. These steps are important as with anything else you have to have a system in place in order to succeed.

We had eight new sales since last week at a total of $1,441,500. Seven of our agents have done 3 or more transactions and The Costa Group had seven or more transactions for the month of July so far.

Leah Odom from Carolina One Mortgage reminded everyone about the pep rally tonight for our office kickball team that we hope will have a victory. She also spoke about the current housing bill that was passed in congress that will eliminate downpayment assistance for buyers that don’t have the funds.

Our caution of the week was for the agents to make their buyers that are putting in offers on a short sale property that there are no guarantees they will get bank approval. The buyer may pay for an inspection and appraisal but if the bank may get another offer that is more money and therefore the bank will get more of their money back and reject the other offer. (A short sale means the seller’s lender is accepting a discounted payoff to release an existing mortgage. Just because a property is listed with short sale terms does not mean the lender will accept your offer, even if the seller accepts it.)

As we always we wrapped up the meeting with the Star of the Week award. Randall Sandin, last week’s star, passed it on to Syd Powell an agent in the Folly Beach office.