Let’s talk about Mortgage Fraud. Now I’m not an expert on this but I do see it quite often in my market. Or at least, what would be fraud, if my Seller and I didn’t just say no. These are a few of my favorite lines:

1. “Don’t worry I have a good appraiser, he’ll make it work”.

2.”If the Seller can give the Buyer a personal check for $5,000 at closing, we’ll get this closed”.

3.”No, it can’t be on the HUD”.

4.”Don’t worry this Mortgage Broker does this all the time”.

5.”The Lender said the Seller can hold a 10% second, after closing they can just tear it up”.

6.”Can we raise the price $20,000 and give the Buyer money back at closing?

7. “I have a buyer willing to pay $20,000 more for that property, will you give me an assignable contract”.

8. “What size prison uniform do you wear?”

9. “Can we be cell mates at Sing Sing?”

10. “You look cute, do you need a friend?”

Ok, maybe not all of those. I am surprised though how many times I get asked by Realtors to do things that are just plain fraudulent. Now sometimes, I like to think it is just out of ignorance. They figure if the Mortgage Broker said it is Ok then it must be legal. Don’t fall for it. The best rule of thumb is, “If it ain’t on the HUD, it ain’t happening.” Remember this line and use it often. As Realtors there are no excuses for not being able to recognize Mortgage Fraud when you see it. You need to be able to protect your customers and clients from these practices. Not to mention, your license and life as a free member of society. No commission is worth committing fraud for. Below are links to a few web sites that may help.

http://realtytimes.com/rtcpages/20050216_mortgagefraud.htm

http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel05/quickflip121405.htm

http://www.click2houston.com/news/9584679/detail.html

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/housing/2005-10-04-fraud-usat_x.htm

So remember……….“If it ain’t on the HUD, it ain’t happening.”

I have heard numerous times over the last few months from Realtors wondering why their listing hasn’t sold. The usual comment is “it’s priced right”. Well is it really? My experience has been that any property will sell if the price is right. What is the “Right Price” in today’s market? Is it “Market Value” based on the last 6 months of sales? Is it based on homes that have sold in the last 30 days? Is it the “Appraised Value”?

The “Right Price” is the price that will sell your listing in 60 to 90 days. But what is this magical number and how do we arrive it? Well in my market (Poinciana, Fl) the right price is 5% to 10% below recent comparable sales. When Realtors are searching the MLS they may have 70-100 homes that meet their Buyer’s parameters. My Seller’s property, in order to sell, needs to be in the top 5 (preferably #1) properties on the list (by price) and it needs to have a competitive or better co-broke. If you can achieve this positioning you should have no problem getting the listing sold in a short period of time. Seller’s need to know this. It is very important when pricing a house to look at the whole picture that includes active, pending, withdrawn, expired and recently sold listings. I know this is Real Estate 101 but I have met with many Seller’s recently whose listings have expired and they have never even seen a “Market Analysis”. When asked how the Realtor arrived at the listing price they say “this is what we told him/her we wanted.” They used a little known technique to price their property it goes something like this:

Down payment for house I want to buy + moving expenses + credit card debt + closing costs + Realtor commission + current mortgage balance=“Market Value”.

Now I know this may be the new math but folks it won’t get your house sold. When hiring a Realtor it is important that that Realtor provides you with a detail analysis of current market conditions and counsels you on what it will take to sell your property. They need to be 100% honest about pricing. It may not be what you want to hear but it must be what you need to hear. Then and only then can you make an informed decision on how to list your house at the “Right Price”.

Got a call from a homeowner a few days ago. Seems he had received one of my solicitation letters that I send out daily to all expired and withdrawn listings in my market area. He was wondering why he got a letter since he had just listed his house on the market a few weeks ago. Well I got his address and phone number and told him I would look it up in the MLS and call him right back. When I checked the MLS he was currently active but had been withdrawn for one day and re-entered by the same office by a different Realtor. I called him back and gave him this information and had a nice chat with him. Very pleasant and knowledgeable young man. Wished him luck with the selling of his house and told him to feel free to call me if he ever had any questions or needed any help.

Well lo and behold he called me two days later and asked if I could come by and see him because he was thinking about changing Realtors. Sounded good to me so I made an appointment and went to see him the next day. He had a great  house! I had a look around and sat down with him and his wife to go over market conditions and give him my opinion of what his house was worth and what it would take to get it sold. He was currently listed at $215,000 with a 4% commission. My suggestion was $195,000 with a 6% commission. While talking with them I discovered a few things 1. They had never seen a Market Analysis 2. They had never sold a house before 3. The wife had been transferred and they wanted a quick sale 4. They had never heard from their Realtor since being placed on the market. I left them with all the information I had prepared for them and told them to keep me in mind if things didn’t work out with their current Realtor.

Called me the next day to let me know they had fired their Realtor and wanted me to place their home on the market with me. They said they slept great the night I left knowing there was hope and that they now had the information they needed to make a good decision. I now have a beautiful new listing with great Sellers. “Range Priced” at “Market Value” ($189,000 to $209,000) and a 6% commission so we can offer a good Co-broke. All these Sellers ever wanted from their Realtor were the facts. I have now connected them with a Realtor found through ActiveRain to help them purchase in Arkansas, for a referral fee of course. The Sellers are confident about their relocation. I am happy with my new listing that’s priced right and had two showings as soon as it hit the market. And their previous Realtor…………….?

The facts Jack. Nothing but the facts.

Do these words make you cringe? Do you just want to leave before they go any further? The best way to tell a racist is when they say “I’m not a racist but……”.

Meeting with potential customers on a regular basis it doesn’t surprise me when I hear this but it does surprise me how often I hear it and who’s saying it. As Realtors we cannot go there! We must nip this conversation in the bud before it goes any further. There is a little law called the Fair Housing Act that we must abide by. How do we do this? How do we continue to work with this person? Do we just ignore it and move forward? Do we lay the law down?

I must admit that this always places me in an awkward position. I usually move forward at the speed of light then ignore it but I can never seem to forget it. It changes my relationship with that person. My dream is that someday we will learn to appreciate people for who they are not despise them for the color of their skin. I live in the great State of Florida and one of the best things about Florida is that it’s very multicultural. I wish all people would see it that way.

I’m not racist but…………..I do have a vision.

Had another successful closing a couple of weeks ago. Seller was a repeat customer of mine from Scotland. I had sold her the house six years ago as a vacation home in Poinciana Florida. Since I had the property “Range Priced” it sold for more than full price in about two weeks. Average days on market in Poinciana right now are about 75. Anyway that’s not the purpose of my post but thought I would throw a “pitch” in here. The closing was very easy with no complications. The Seller being in Scotland closed by mail away and gave the Title Company instructions to wire her funds to an offshore bank on The Isle of Man. Well here we are two weeks later and the funds are lost in cyber space. Needless to say my Seller is a little upset since we are talking about $200,000. As her Realtor I am very frustrated because I have no control over this and I am at a loss at what to do. Fortunately my Seller is very understanding and realizes this is out of my control. Hopefully the trace that has been ordered will locate the funds.

Has this happened to you? Was the money located? What can we as Realtors do to ensure these wires go smoothly and in a timely fashion? Are these types of transactions covered under the FDIC? Oops! Sorry I got to go my Seller is on the line wanting to know “Where’s my money?”

Took a listing a couple of weeks ago. Seller is an out of area Investor who had bought a new home to flip for a profit. Fortunately he bought right and this can be achieved. Contacted me off an expired listing mailing. He had been on the market for about 9 months with no offers. I pulled up his details in the MLS and it looked like the house was priced right at $205,000. So I told him I would go out and have a look to see why it hadn’t sold.

When I pulled up to the property I was shocked! The lawn was a good 4 feet long and full of weeds, the Real Estate sign was laying on the ground with the post still standing albeit a little crooked. I used the current Realtor's lock box and tried to place the key in the front door after several attempts I was finally able to jiggle it to get it in. Opened the door and I was overwhelmed with dead cock roaches, spiders, crickets and other critters I was not able to identify. And the smell!!! Well let's not go there but we know how Realtors treat toilets sometimes. The vinyl flooring was covered in scruff marks from all the Realtors and Buyers who had obviously been looking at the property. This was evidenced by the stack of 40 to 50 business cards displayed all over the kitchen counter. This new never before lived in home was totally disgusting. Of course the marketing remarks in the MLS said “brand new home in excellent condition ready for new owner”.

Well I gave the Owner a quick call and told him the condition and said I would list the property and that I was going to arrange a professional cleaning crew and lawn service ASAP. I will pay the bill and he can reimburse me at closing. It cost a total of $275.00 to have his property spit shined, carpets cleaned and set up on monthly lawn service. I had his house back on the market within 48 hours looking like a brand new house and “Range Priced” from $195,000 to $215,000 with a 4% Co-broke. Needless to say Realtors and Buyers are now knocking the doors down to see this house and we have already had offers. Unfortunately they were not from “truly” qualified Buyers but that will have to be another post.

Again it’s another case of a Realtor taking a listing and then just abandoning it. The Seller was completely agreeable to whatever needed to be done to get his house sold but was never advised by his Realtor or heard from him for that matter. As professional Realtors we must provide honest straight forward advice to our customers and clients. To do anything less is unethical. So be proactive. Clean it up and sell it! 

Hi folks. I was browsing through some of my older posts today and found this little ditty about FSBOs (For Sell By Owners). To fully appreciate this post you really have to pop over and read the comment stream on Jeff’s post. YOWSER!!! 

Jeff Turner posted “For Sale By Owner: Raise the price then call a REALTOR®” a couple of years ago. Jeff’s post was basically reposting a question that a FSBO had placed on Twitter. The question was: “Got a buyer for my condo. They want me to hold the mortgage. Any advice?”

Jeff’s post was not only a Public post but it was also a Featured post. It received over 70 comments. The comments, from REALTORS® included statements such as:

• * ……this guy is seeking free advice? After he doesn’t want to compensate a professional?

• Never ceases to amaze me how people with little to no experience buying or selling houses seem to “wing it.

• My advice to the seller’s, don’t reinvent the wheel, always deal with professionals.

• …..just another example of an ignorant homeowner who thought they were doing themselves a favor and “saving” money.

• This guy is a certified idiot.

Now, in all fairness, there were some pretty decent responses, as well, but in my opinion, the majority of the comments were just reprimanding this guy for not wanting to use a “professional”. Folks, if you think those PUBLIC comments make you look like professionals then you are sadly mistaken. Whether this FSBO made a good choice, or not, he was really just asking for some advice. If you don’t want to give him any….then don’t.

But make no mistake about it….him choosing to “go it alone” does not make him an idiot! One commenter summed it up nicely with this comment: “All sellers have four choices, don’t sell it, sell it yourself, list with any old Realtor, or hire an experienced one.” The key word of course being CHOICES. It’s the Seller’s choice…not ours.

If you want to try and win their business then have it…but demeaning their decision to “go it alone” will only accomplish making yourself look foolish. Not to mention the damage it does to our profession’s reputation. What say you?

Do NOT be foreclosed on! Avoid foreclosure. Short Sales DO close.

Want to find out more? www.CentralFloridaShortSales.com

***I am NOT an Attorney nor do I play one on TV. Click the button below for my Bio.

Copyright © 2010 http://www.brokerbryant.com/ | All Rights Reserved

That’s right. By far, the overwhelming majority of Homeowners in this country are NOT losing their homes. They either own their properties free and clear or are making their payments on time.

It’s hard for us to see this because we are in the business. If you are like me you live and breathe Real Estate. We talk to people all day long who are struggling and it’s very easy for us to forget that most Homeowners are living in and enjoying their homes.

I’ve mentioned many times over the last couple of years how more than 85% of the real estate closings in Poinciana Florida are distressed sales. But what I don’t mention is that there were only 1,654 sales for 2009 out of 20,700 properties. About 8%. So 92% of the folks in Poinciana stayed put. That’s right in line with the National average.

From what I could find online there are approximately ****129,400,000 homes in the US. Depending on where you look only 7-10 mil of these are in some stage of default. That’s roughly 7%.

Approximately 93% of the Homeowners in this country are doing OK. That makes me feel good. How about you?

****I spent about an hour this morning pulling stats and data and there really are no numbers that agree. So for the purpose of this post I just used averages. If you want more precise figures then feel free to do your own research.

Do NOT be foreclosed on! Avoid foreclosure. Short Sales DO close.

Want to find out more? www.CentralFloridaShortSales.com

***I am NOT an Attorney nor do I play one on TV. Click the button below for my Bio.

Copyright © 2010 http://www.brokerbryant.com/ | All Rights Reserved