We have been requesting for quite awhile that the system needed a new field that would help not only locate but also possibly help our appraisers when doing there job.

The new field is labeled Special Conditions and includes items like Short Sale,. Foreclosures, Distressed, Bank owned property, Court Approval Reqd. Auction and Other see remarks.

The last box is Not Applicable, From the start of the of this new addition I have found it to be a great tool and can now search these fields for a client looking for that type of property. I am finding that a large percentage of today's buyers are only interested in the best deals and are trying to low ball the low ball,  Of course a number of these buyers are misinformed by friends and others including agents in thinking they can come in and even when shown that the loan balance is say 239,000 and the property is listed at 199,000  they feel that 150,000 is what they should be able to purchase these Homes for.

Granted the Time on the Market is a big factor in the offer amount we should be suggesting but when is low now to low ? I am finding remarks coming like a friend says I should offer 25% less than the Bank is asking or I would never pay the asking price on this property.

As an Agent I have watched some of these properties go from 269,000 down to under 200,000 over the last few months and still these folks continue to feel the bottom is not here yet ?  The new surround sound program looks to be promising but of course as with all of our efforts we will need the help of the media and as we know if things do start to look better they will go find another topic to spin about.

As I sip on my fresh cup of coffee and read through my daily news, It ac-cured to me that many of my fellow countrymen and women probably are or will be doing the same thing. As I am writing this, Thoughts of the future of our great Country keep interrupting my concentration and reminding me that there are thousands of young people who would love to be sitting at there computers just as I am now.

They are our military who for decades have woke up in strange hostile Countries around the world and faced yet another day of not having the simple pleasure of sipping a fresh cup of coffee, Relaxing with the morning news paper or just contemplating what to do today.

 And sadly as we all know many have not awakened at all, This is the time to honor those who have given there all so that we can continue to enjoy the simple things in life we all take for granted, It is a day to fly the flags at half mast and take a few moments of silence, Perhaps a prayer for those who are away now. 

Remembering loved ones that have gone before us and reflecting on a few happy memories of times had together safely stored in our memory banks to be retrieved on special days like today. I awoke today at 5:15 A.M. like most days, But unlike the others instead of thoughts of appointments and things I need to do I have spent the last hour daydreaming and remembering a special handful of people from the past.

Take the time to remember those who were dear to you,  Those who are not here with you, and most of all those who have given there all for you.  

I don't know about the rest of you but these e-fliers are starting to be a little bit much, They are coming to me from areas that I not only do not work in, But that I haven't even ever visited before.

Don't get me wrong here I think advertising is great but "come on" I am in Rimrock Arizona a small town in the Verde Valley and even though I would like to bring a client to your 5 or 6 million dollar listings I would have to bring together around 15 or 20 of my normal clients just to get the financing.

I am seeing quite a few of these fliers everyday and I have to say that maybe 10% even apply to the area I work in let alone the level of client I service. When deciding were to send these do the companies just flood say a State, County, or even a zip code or do they just send them everywhere ?

When spending advertising dollars would it not be hard to justify the expense and time spent on these things if they are not going to people that really are able to consider even looking at them ?  

The trigger for this rant was opening a fly-er this morning to find a 4 million dollar listing going up for auction today in an area 120 miles from me. I am going to jump in the car and race down to place my 300,000 dollar opening bid and I may go as high as 325,000 if necessary so wish me luck on this.

Have a Great Day you all deserve it.

Happy Saturday,

Just sitting here thinking about the whole "broken bubble" thing and I think I have it figured out.

What we need here is a change window at the mortgage company, When I go to a Casino in Vegas you see them everywhere so why not have them at the Banks and Mortgage companies.

Heres how it will work........The Government is the Casino and the Mortgage brokers are the cash windows.

And of course people are the players. When you pick your slot machine on the floor you go to the window and let the cashier know that you are going to be playing that machine because the person that was playing it "won allot of money" Oh and you will need to borrow the money to play.

To qualify for the money all I have to do is tell them My job as a Gas station attendant pays me 50,000 a year if I include the tips and of course I will pay them back even if I don't win.

The Cashier will then give you a loan that is based on how much you will gamble for the fist 80% of the day at say 7% return for them and a 20% loan based on what you do for the later part of the day say at 10% interest for them. Sounds good to me so far I'm not out any money and they are going to make a very good return on there money when I win.

As part of the fun if I don't pay it back by that night then tomorrow it will cost me 8% and 11% and this will go up by the day to a maximum of 12% and 18% but not to worry if by the third or forth day I am still not winning all I have to do is go back to the cashier and tell them I can't pay them the outrageous interest rate on the money I gambled away because they tricked me into signing up for the machine, Then of course they tell the Casino they loaned me the money and now the Casino will need to give them more money to make sure the window stays open "but from now on they won't lend me any more" and the machine I was playing will be turned into a penny machine instead of the dollar machine I played.

Oh and  my tips are really not as good as I told them at the Gas Station but I thought they would be better by tomorrow and I could just borrow more money at less interest and keep playing.

The Moral of the story is Borrowing all the money to gamble on and then blaming the casino for letting you do it is like Drinking a six pack of beer and blaming the brewer for getting drunk.

An Idol Mind is The Devils Workshop !!!!!         

In talking with a potential listing client yesterday we went over the current com parables and the other usual items that we talk about at the appointment.

The client of course had hoped for a higher price than I suggested so I ask him how much he had paid, He bought the Home in 2000 for $125,000. In today's market the same home would sell for around 199,000 (At least in our market right now) So I pulled out the calculator and added 6% per year appreciation and guess what that comes to 199,000 or so.

In a normal market before the big "Boom" we could expect 6-8 % appreciation in our area as the norm. So as I see it if you have owned a Home for more than 7 years you have stayed in a normal appreciation mode even with the downturn of today's market.

Of course this may not be the case in other areas but here in our smaller town I tried it with my personal Home and several others that work out to about the same. So at this point in time with savings accounts paying 1.5% and Cd's at 3.5% to 4.5% it still makes sense to invest in Homes for the long run.

These numbers only reflect my area but I would be interested to know if others have the same results ?

Have a Great Day today You never know what tomorrow will bring !

Mike

Hello everyone,

Its been awhile since I have posted but I do browse the headlines quite a bit and read some of the stuff posted here and elsewhere. I don't know about the rest of you but it is amazing to me how many great ways there are to make thousands of sells a year after only a few months in this business and even in a slow market.

The e-mails that come in everyday tell of fantastic results in the first year of real estate and how I sold 500 properties in my second year, Or how to get rich in a slow market without working after  5:00  "oh" and no week-ends. And I can be taught this for only $199.95

Or how to get millions of hits on my web-site and how only 1 sell will pay for the whole year of fees to make it all happen. Then of course for only a few hundred dollars I can get buyers and sellers who are looking for an agent to work with NOW in my little Home town of around 4,000 people.  I am just now filling out the credit application so I can go for it all. By next month I should be the only "Real Estate Agent" in the whole country getting leads, My web site will be number one on every search engine and I will be at the top of every front page in the WORLD.

This is why I am going to borrow  $100,000 dollars and sign up for every e-mail I get for the next 2 full days.

I hope it will be enough money.......    :)

Oh and I'm sorry in advance for stepping on all or your toes.

Love---- Mike 

Forgive Brothers and Sisters for I have sinned,

It has been 2 months since my last post,

 In that time I did manage to pass the Brokers class's and get through the State test. I had big plans to post updates on the road to getting the whole thing done but as is life, time just flew by. I wanted to let everyone who might be thinking of a designation to follow your name that after asking people here as well as customers and clients alike, The most recognized title that everyone knew was broker.

I knew I wanted something to follow my name but when you put up a few hundred dollars (Around $1,000 total for me including fees to the state ) for any of the designations you receive I wanted to make sure that the money was well spent. Even though I will stay at my current office and continue a great relationship with my Broker at the end of April when my Sales licence needs to be renewed I will activate my new Brokers license and add the title Assoc. Broker for all the world to see.

To rap it all up I would say that the class's are quite a bit harder than just getting the sales license but if you have been doing this business for a few years it brings back things long forgotten due to lack of use and really for me turned out to be quite fun. I had forgotten how much fun getting to know fellow classmates can be,  And a few will surely be remembered for years to come.

 As with everything in Life   GO FOR IT  if you want it.

Well its Tuesday and I'm on the way soon to day 5,

The first 45 hours of the Broker class covers finance and I for one really didn't have a clue about some of this stuff. I thought I had a fairly good idea of how the process works and I remember in the agent class's going over allot of it but now I realize that as an agent most of what we do involves staying out of trouble with all of the different agencies that watch us. Now going back and really digging into this some of this stuff is an eye opener for me at least,  I now know that I need to really be more diligent about taking care of my buyers and sellers. Not that I haven't done the best I could with each and every one of them but after going over this stuff again I can see where maybe I could have done better.

We all know about Reg-Z, ECOA, RESPA and numerous other laws that effect our business on a daily basis but after going over all the FHA Title programs especially Title II programs available,  VA information and a boat load of other (stuff) I really am glad I decided to go for this. 

I think the most important thing we can do for ourselves in today's market is take the time to re-educate and strive to improve so we can stand out in the crowd.

Starting next week its the Law class's oh boy I can't wait   :- {

Have a Great Day all and Take Care

Talk about information overload,

I'm over 50 and although I would like to think I'm not slow yet, Man did I have to pay attention today. Things that I learned in the agent class's and haven't seen since were brought up as well as things I've not had to know because they are not used here in Arizona kept me wondering what in the world I was thinking signing up for this.

But after the dust cleared and I was driving Home I felt better just knowing that I am doing this for exactly this reason.........Because I didn't know these things and I want to. The class includes National and State information so even though I may never need some of it I will at least have an idea.

Today was the Anatomy of Financing Documents I knew some of the information that I have had to deal with in transactions but there was a ton of information I did not know and will have to study to try and keep it in ( which is what I will be doing today) of course that's after I deliver some flyer's, Get a copy of a termite report and deliver it to my buyer, Pick up the keys hidden for a late showing of a listing, Check and answer e-mails, Post this blog and whatever else comes up today.

Next class is Tomorrow and I can't wait its Money and Interest / Financing Law should be fun (NOT).

Take care and Have a great day.

For the past year after reading these posts and wondering what to do next in my Real Estate career as well as trying to decide which if any designations should follow my name, And listening to all of you smarter than me people, today I am starting my brokers class's.

The assoc. Broker designation is what I have come to decide will be the most productive to follow my name and as I have no plans to go out on my own it is more for knowledge and recognition that I am doing this. My Broker is a great lady that I have total respect for and I feel this is a way to possibly help out more by being available as her back up should anything happen that requires it.

I plan to post comments as I go along perhaps to let other agents like myself know whats involved in the process.

Today's class is on the Anatomy of Financing Documents comments coming tomorrow.

Have a great day all.

During the past week our small office has been visited by three different loan officers all with the same message, They have money to loan....

It would seem that the news and headlines have people thinking they can't buy a Home, but in fact the people I've talked with this last week all say the same thing. Some have FHA and one had RD loans that make it possible to get in a Home with not much money in hand so is it a great time to be buying ?

I'm thinking it is, With such a high inventory and so many choices what will it take to get the public to believe that they can qualify and buy now ?  Also they all say that these are 30 year fixed loans so when you get your payment that's your payment period....If you can afford the fist one then your all set for the life of the loan.

I suggested that these people need to advertise more about what they have to offer, Should we be putting more information on our listings about financing without naming any names of course or should it be there job to inform consumers ? 

In Real Estate as with many aspects of our daily lives it seems that we have gone to a society that is so politically correct that its hard to talk to someone with out thinking in the back of your mind will this offend this person.

The wording on our listings and response to e-mails as well as any conversation with whom ever, Must be thought out carefully so as not to offend someone. Have we gone so far with this that soon we will need someone to proof read all our material or listen and advise us in conversation.

I know I'm rambling but today I received an e-mail about the new $1.00 coins and guess what they don't have on them ?   They do not say In God We Trust, the first time in modern history that this has happened. I am bothered by this because I think we are going to far trying not to offend some but not caring about offending others. The same applies to Real Estate we can't say so many things even though we are not trying to offend anyone but because someone had a problem once with something now all must stop.

Maybe its time to rethink a few things and get back to getting along as a country. (JMHO)

Happy Sunday everyone,

I had a finance class on Friday with a Banker/Broker and thought I would relay a bit of information that I was not aware of.

First of all did you know that a Fico score over 720 does not get you any better rates on a mortgage ? 

The teacher of this class has been around for over 25 years in Real Estate and finance so I have to assume he knows what hes talking about, He told us that as far as a mortgage goes the very best rates are given at the benchmark 720 and although impressive anything over that will not get you any better rates, I found that interesting to me as an agent because I have always believed the higher the better. I have clients with 850s that I have told would get a better rate with those scores so now my wording will change to (If you are over 720 you will get the best rates ) I am sure some of you already know this information but I did not, So now everyone who reads this will.

Next we had a speaker that specializes in FHA loans who really kinda floored the class with his information, He informed us that the FHA does not look at FICO scores at all, And he prefers people with no credit at all for his loans over people with lower scores. He did 15 FHA loans last month alone and was quite up beet with his delivery while talking to us. He said that it is the Banks and lenders that put FICO scores in there process for loans that are insured by FHA, While I find this kinda strange it does not surprise me. He has done loans with 320 scores in the past 90 days. Also with the FHA loans buyers can be gifted money to close by anyone who wants to give it to them.

In our tight slower market the main speaker suggested we look more at offering to pay Buyers closing costs over a reduction in pricing, Especially when looking into FHA financing which I found was probably a wise thought since reducing the price is the last thing the seller wants to do even though it is probably the right thing to do. He put it like this to us If you drop the price of the home say 5 to 10 % in an effort to bring someone it will cost the sellers whatever amount that is, However if your seller offers to pay the buyers closing costs it would probably be around  3 to 5 %.

 Again some of you already know this stuff but I thought it was worth talking about today in hopes that it might shed a little light on the real market and ways of getting people back to the tables. Oh and there are grants available to help folks with the down payments as well. Farm loans for single parents and lower income folks are still strong but people are not applying for them according to our local rep. we need to let these folks know they still have hope when it comes to owning a Home. 

Today Is the first day of the rest of my life as the saying goes.

In today's market with 12 month or more inventories and ever slowing sales, With price reductions daily and time on the market increasing isn't it time for a wake up call. What is it going to take to get people to listen when we have to tell them that " yes" your neighbors Home did sell a year and a half ago for more than I'm telling you today but that was the Days of Wine and Roses and today has become Beer and popcorn.

Everyone can afford to have a beer but the joys of a fine glass of wine are becoming harder to enjoy, Even though the wine is available everywhere the cost will keep out the beer drinkers. In my area we enjoyed the beer drinkers for many years until all of the sudden a few wine drinkers came here and started turning the beer into wine which caused our beer drinkers to try and become fine wine drinkers.

They wanted the wine and did whatever they could to get it. Even though they really could not afford the wine they kept buying the bottles in hopes they could sell there bottles for better bottles. After awhile of course everyone had a bottle so no one wanted anymore. Well we all know that wine can turn into vinegar if not taken care of properly and now the beer drinkers are trying to sell there wine before it turns into vinegar.

Of course the first wine drinkers have now moved on to another trend  "Stocking up " which has caused that market to break records "But that is another story".

Meanwhile we now see these Former beer drinkers turning there wine back into beer and some even losing the bottles of Wine they worked so hard to get. And the fine wine drinkers are getting there bottles back turned into vinegar which is causing these people to ask for help from the brewers.......

Yesterday was a good showing day for me but !

Out of town buyer came back with the wife and spent a good amount of time (camera in hand) checking this and that.The seller was home and she answered all the wife's questions while myself and the husband checked out the small work shop. Manly thing to do and all, While we were walking around the phone rang, Normally I would not have answered but the buyer says go ahead and answer that if you need to so I did.

On the line are buyers that I have been showing properties to for around 4 months and they are in town to see a new listing I have (drip e-mail is great) and so I let them know it could be a while depending on the people I am with.  This is fine and they will drive around until I am available all good so far right.

Well we get to the end of our showing and the buyers that I am with let me know they will check on there financing and get with me today Monday to discuss the offer, Of course the next question is How "low" do you think she will go for a cash offer ? (oh man) I inform them I can not recommend any kind of offering price because it would be a conflict of interest to do so and they would just have to decide what to offer and I would present it as written. They ask if she might take less to which I have to say lets write up the offer for what you decide and we'll see what she says.We parted company at that point.

On to the next buyers I go. They like the Home I just listed a week ago yesterday but we did look at one other as well. As in the past they tell me they will give me a call after they talk about it and we part company.

About an hour later the call comes, Well we really like the Home and want to offer them 30% less than they are asking (That's about 50K less) what do you think? will they take it ? (oh man) So again I say to them I don't know what they are prepared to accept but I did do the comps and the price is at or even below the market so I have to recommended to you that you offer a bit more than that. To which he tells me to call them and find out what there bottom is before we write up a contract.

I am going to call the seller today as instructed and let them know about these buyers but the sellers are going to ask me what I think, and I will have to let them know that its up to them to decide what they are willing to accept and that because I represent the buyers as well I really can't advise them on this matter.

I'm thinking about a happy place right now and its far far away.