Here’s To A Glass Half Full, Genuinely Prosperous New Year
Posted on Dec 31st, 2011 
2012 is shaping up to be an UNusual year, and the prognosticators are out in full force with the usual blood and guts headlines about falling home prices and foreclosure activity. I say we skip those and in the tradition of Pollyanna Whittier see what we can conjure up with a round of “The Glad Game”. The [...]
Accepting ‘pre-approval letters’ that aren’t worth the paper they are printed on -OUCH
Posted on Nov 19th, 2011 Someone recently commented to me that some 19% of all real estate transactions are falling apart during the approval process never to get to the closing table. Ouch! The failure stems in part, from “ the acceptance of ‘pre-approval letters’ that aren’t worth the paper they are printed on”, according to a Realtor friend of mine [...]
One mother’s story of how Veteran’s Day impacts her today -God Bless you and your family Kate
Posted on Nov 11th, 2011 11.11.11 Veteran’s Day. My e-mail is filled this morning with marketing pieces for Sales. I saw one that said Happy Veteran’s Day. (I struggled to connect the dots between Happy and Veteran’s Day.) Lacking a personal connection, for some today is just a day off; a federal holiday. Others think of the date as [...]
FHA 203k streamlined Repair and Rehab Loans: A Primer
Posted on Nov 3rd, 2011 FHA has a purchase/rehab program designed to allow a buyer to buy and have cosmetic improvements made on a house they purchase. Often an MLS listing agent will not list “FHA” as one of the choices available on a property. This is especially true on bank owned properties. Yet, when asked, an asset manager may [...]
Refinances Possible For Many Millions Underwater On Their Mortgages
Posted on Oct 28th, 2011 The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates the activities of Fanniemae and Freddiemac, announced this week that they would make refinances possible for many more millions of people who are substantially underwater on their mortgages. The devil is in the details which are not very well defined just yet. This is what we do know(see [...]
Underwater Refinance Program Expanded
Posted on Oct 28th, 2011 At a campaign stop in Nevada on Monday, President Obama announced an expansion of the HARP (Home Affordable Refinance Program) which would eliminate the current maximum LTV of 125%. The initiative is being looked at as a way to reward those homeowners who have been good payers of their mortgages but, because of declining home [...]
Sales Is And Will Remain, A Contact Sport.
Posted on Oct 21st, 2011 A few simple things I’ve learned after much trial and error: Websites need to provide authentically valuable information and tools because that’s what people are searching for on the Internet. They don’t have to be overly complex, but the reason they call Google and Bing search engines is because that’s what they’re used for…searching. For [...]
Are Your Customers Purposefully At The Top Of Your Org Chart?
Posted on Oct 14th, 2011 I know you want your customers to be happy but are your customers purposefully at the top of your Org Chart? Our stated business goal is to exceed our customer’s expectations 100% of the time. As my boss always says, “you can’t manage what you don’t measure.”At closing, we do a simple survey. Circle a [...]
We Still Have A Market That Is Tilted In Favor Of Buyers
Posted on Oct 7th, 2011 A friend of mine has been taking advantage of these sunny, dry days to harvest his corn crop. With the wet spring and early frost, he says it won’t be quite the bumper crop he’d hoped for but he’s glad to get it in before the weather starts to change. “This fall may be the [...]
Tips To Present a Stronger Mortgage Application
Posted on Oct 6th, 2011 by Dean Hartman KCM Crew on October 6, 2011 As underwriting guidelines for lenders become more stringent, we need to re-examine what a good mortgage application looks like. As home buyers begin their search for a home, there are a few items they should be aware of that they can do to help get their [...]
