I received a copy of the following letter from my Broker/Partner written in his lawyer mode to the Michigan Attorney General. It points out that some people could be in a position of being given the wrong or misleading information by the law firms and lenders who are in the process of foreclosing on someone's home. Because we as Realtors are in a situation of being asked questions concerning the process, it is important we encourage clients and potential clients to understand their rights and to contact an attorney to make sure.

Below is a copy of the letter and a few more comments from myself to follow:


March 24, 2008

Hon. Michael A. Cox
Attorney General
P.O. Box 30212
Lansing, Michigan 48909

Re: Unnecessary Mortgage Foreclosures

Mr. Attorney General:

I am writing to bring to your attention a single incident which I fear may be being multiplied throughout Michigan. This is a situation that is likely causing many foreclosures which need not have occurred. This involves nothing inherent to subprime loans, loan avoidance by individuals who got themselves into bad loans because they mismanaged their finances or greedy mortgage brokers looking to make a fast buck with an unsuspecting consumer. The fact my experience relates to none of the more common maladies facing the real estate economy is what makes this an even greater concern to me as an attorney and as the principal Associate Broker for JTC Realty Group, LLC.

This incident resulted from a clients’ call related to the fact they had gotten behind on their mortgage as a result of circumstances they could not control. This was late on a Friday with the Sheriff’s Sale scheduled for the following Wednesday. Unlike many, they were not looking for a way to delay the sale. They had managed to obtain funds they believed sufficient to bring the mortgage current, including late fees, attorney fees, and additional costs incurred as a result of the foreclosure process. The problem they faced was trying to get the exact amount due.

My clients had contacted their lender for the figure only to be told they had to contact the law firm handling the foreclosure. Fair enough. They then contacted the law firm. I will not name the parties involved as, again, I do not believe this to be an isolated incident within the industry. Suffice it to say both the lender and the law firm are well known and prominent in the industry.

Upon discussing their dilemma with an individual, not an attorney, in the firm’s mortgage department, they were advised that it would take seven to ten days to get the exact figure. Obviously, with the Sheriff’s Sale looming, this presented a problem. I advised them to call the firm again on Monday as I was sure they had just gotten the wrong person with incorrect information or someone who clearly did not understand the issue being presented. Unfortunately, Monday brought the same answer.

Hon. Michael A. Cox
Attorney General
March 27, 2008
Page Two

I then contacted the firm and was placed with their mortgage department. I identified myself as an attorney. Again, this was not an attorney I was speaking with. I was advised, as had been my clients, that there was nothing they could do as my clients had waited too long to make the request. When I requested the opportunity to speak with the attorney handling the file, I was advised that she would only tell me the same thing. I asked to speak with her anyway.

I was connected with an attorney who was most pleasant and sympathetic to my clients’ plight. Sympathy aside, she, no doubt following the company line, proceeded to tell me the same story about the time it would take to get the information and that the Sheriff’s Sale would proceed as scheduled. She commented how they received requests to delay the sale all the time and they could not accommodate them. I reminded her I had not called to request a delay, I had called to get a number.

I will not bore you with the next five minutes spent with a logical progression of the steps involved, my clients’ rights and her client’s legal obligations. I did ask if she understood the insanity of my clients having to pay me money better spent on their mortgage to file litigation and request a TRO to stop the sale. To her credit, she did agree I would have little trouble getting such an order signed. Finally, she indicated she would contact her client and call me back. When we spoke the following morning, she indicated her client would delay the sale and provide my client with the appropriate figure.

While this resulted in a single happy ending, I am most concerned about the people who, upon being told they had waited too long to request a “bring current” number, gave up, resigned to the fact they were now going to lose their home. I suspect this represents a group large enough to be of a concern. This also represents an inexcusable breach of the public’s rights.

Should you or your office desire to discuss my concerns further, I would be most happy to do so.

Very truly yours,

JEFFERY L. FANTO
ery@prodigy.net
JLF/j


It's amazing how the lender and the law firm appear to feel it is okay to treat people in this fashion. How many Sellers have ended up just walking away after being turned away when trying to obtain information and couldn't? We all know in representing these sales what we go through to try and get a hold of the correct person who can give us the answers. It's next to impossible some times. We may as well talk to a wall. We as REALTORS are entrusted to help people that are facing a short sale or worse a foreclosure. Most of these folks don't know where to turn and look to us as experts in the field. We have some pretty large shoes to fill and definately need to ensure that our clients legal rights are not being violated in the process. While we are not are not qualified to give legal advice to our clients we should be able to identify when their rights are being violated. If something doesn't seem right.....it most likely isn't. Please, help your clients find proper legal representation.

David Keith
JTC Realty Group LLC
Livonia, MI

I’ve observed for far too long now individuals writing their email in plain text format. You know who you are. Ultimately I guess there is really nothing I can do about this other than to vent my frustrations in a forum such as this. You might as well just use a typewriter, throw it in an envelope and send it off with your friendly postman. Aesthetically speaking there’s no difference between the two. Sure email is certainly easier but at this point in the game there’s really no excuse for sending boring plain text emails. Using HTML format in your email program opens up all kinds of opportunity for making an impact and creating business opportunities.

 

How many emails do you send in a day? As a REALTOR and part owner of a real estate office I send 100’s if not 1000’s of emails a month. My email is an e-board advertising my office and myself reaching my clients, co-workers in the industry, family and certainly not least of all my friends.

 

Starting with the basics:

 

Switch your format to HTML! In MS Outlook go to the Tools menu, select “Options” then select the “Mail Format” tab. Under that tab you will see “Compose in this message format: Under the drop down menu select HTML. Click the Apply button at the bottom left corner and you’re done! Outlook Express is similar. If using another email program there is most definitely a Help link or instructions from your email provider that will show you how to do the same.

 

Your email should contain a signature. What’s a signature you ask? Simply put it’s a way for you to place your contact information in every email that appears automatically every time you press the “New” button to write an email. Typically your signature will contain your name, your office address, phone number (s), fax number, email address and your website. Incidentally both your email and web address in HTML formatted email magically create a clickable link that anyone receiving your email can click on. That is especially nice for sending traffic to your website and/or your blog. There are many options using HTML to customize your signature as well. I won’t go in to this now though as it will be better to take baby steps.

 

Some other great benefits of using HTML as your email format are the ability to place images in your email, header graphics, backgrounds and interactive text. I wouldn’t recommend going too crazy with jazzing up your email as it will greatly increase the size of your email and you could run the risk of making your email a little too busy, especially if you are in a corporate setting. Definitely use graphics in moderation.

 

If you need some instruction on how to add a signature, create a link, or add a graphic, send me an email and I’d be happy to give you some pointers!

 

First things first though…..get that format changed to HTML!

 

David Keith

JTC Realty Group LLC

 

            There appears to be a great uproar over the fact that while some State Equalized Values (SEV) are going down (to the surprise of no one), the taxable value on the same homes are going up.

            "An outrage" they claim.  "How can I possible pay higher taxes on my home when its value has decreased?"  Even someone as presumably intelligent as Mitch Albom could not understand this dilemma as I listened to a portion of an interview he did the middle of March.  Adding to that, he feels that the ever elusive "something" must be done about this great injustice.

            Let me get this straight.  Aren't these the same folks who reveled for all they were worth in the fact the $80,000.00 they paid for their bungalow had turned into $160,000.00 without them lifting a hand?  Everyone was enjoying the ride of the unrecognized gain.  Some got out, only to buy that bigger house they probably had no business buying in the first place.  The rest never paid attention that their taxable value never got close to catching up to their SEV. 

            Because their taxable value remained capped, their SEV was $160,000.00 and their taxable value remained artificially low at $120,000.00 or so.  Now their SEV is down to, perhaps $140,000.00 and their taxable value got increased pursuant to the statutes.  The latter is still not close to the former, but that doesn't seem to be the point.  At least it's not the point everyone, including the esteemed Mr. Albom, appear to be focused on.  Instead, the focus is on the increase in the tax. 

            Admittedly, with everything, including the price of tea in China, appearing to cost more, an increase in your property taxes is not the most welcome bit of news.  But your taxes would have likely gone up even if nothing had changed.  Even if your SEV had gone up or stayed the same; they would have gone up.  Go ahead.  Take a look at your taxes the past five years.  They went up.  Take a look at your SEV.  It may have crept down towards the taxable value, but the odds are it still didn't come close. 

            Everything is relative.  Your value goes up, your taxes go up, you complain, but not too long or too loudly.  When the gap narrows, let the screaming begin. 

            But before some politician gets the great idea to come up with that "something", let's at least understand the system.  And understand that no one will be complaining that their taxable value will not keep up with their SEV when the market recovers a couple years down the road.

 

Be well.

Jeff Fanto

Associate Broker

JTC Realty Group LLC

Livonia, Michigan

 

Over the past several years unauthorized access in to a home has gone from a not so often experienced concern to a situation where many agents are giving lockbox combinations out to just about anyone you can imagine. It is a small percentage of agents overall that are doing this but it is that small number that create issues for all of us. When we sign a listing contract with a seller, be it a bank or an owner we are contracting to allow a cooperative real estate brokerage access as well. That arrangement is between the listing brokerage and a buyer brokerage only. To break this down and make it simple, the contract does not include our buyer clients alone, a home inspector, a contractor, our personal assistants or anyone else for that matter.

 

Did you know that anyone entering a home other than a REALTOR is considered to be trespassing and in breach of the listing contract? Did you know that you or your office can be held liable if something happens while any of those individuals are in that home while not represented by you or the listing agent?

 

What would happen if you gave a lockbox combination to someone and around the same time the furnace, A/C unit and all the plumbing was stolen?

 

What happens if someone you gave the lockbox combination to doesn’t secure the home when leaving and the home gets robbed or worse?

 

What happens if you give a lockbox combination to your buyer client, they go in the home, fall down the stairs and are seriously injured or even die from injuries?

 

Under any of these circumstances the authorities could or will get involved. If the authorities get involved, don’t you think they are going to request a record of who was provided access to the home, especially if there is no sign of a break in? Of course there won’t be a record of the unauthorized visitor but they will go down the list and question everyone who was given access to the home. Another logical question will be for them to ask if you gave it to anyone else.

 

How can you be certain that anyone you give a lockbox combination is not going to give it to someone else they know? There are just too many liabilities involved in passing around a lockbox combination.

 

There are some simple ways for you and your office to reduce the problem immediately. Some offices already have this policy in place. Speaking for our office, we will only use one method of contact for confirming an appointment and giving out a lockbox code, through your main office phone. If we get transferred to your cell, home office line or your personal desk line through that main office line, we’re ok with that. We will never authorize anyone other than a REALTOR to be in the home. Our office would expect the same treatment when showing one of your listings. The second part of that policy is to never ever give a lockbox combination out to anyone. If an appraiser, inspector, buyer client or anyone else needs access to a home we need to be there to ensure our client’s property is protected.   

 

Our profession is very much under attack. People are looking for all kinds of ways to discredit the usefulness of our profession. We need to do everything we can as representatives of our offices to uphold our professionalism, protect our clients, our offices and ourselves.

JTC Realty Group would like to extend an invitation to anyone in or around Livonia MI to stop by our open house.

When? Saturday November 10, 2007 from 12pm to 2pm

Where? 17280 Farmington Rd Livonia, MI

Light conversation and snacks will be served!

We'd love to get to know you better and of course want to let our Realtor community know we are here, open for business and look forward to working with many of you in the future.

Nothing formal just stop in and say hello!

Visit our website for further information http://www.jtcrealtygroup.com

 

Is there any? I am of the belief that any more, there is no longer any reason to pay the astronomical amounts the various newspapers and home books want to advertise in their publications. Here locally the real estate sections that consisted of both Real estate offices and Realtors has been shrinking tremendously. The last time I checked it covered about a 1/3 of a page in the real estate section of one news paper.

Do you see any value in advertising in any of these publications?

What does the future hold for real estate advertising in a newspaper?

Your input is greatly appreciated!

 

As recently posted I opened a real estate office along with my partner here in Livonia MI. We spent a lot of time planning the office but there are always things that are left by the wayside. We definately have our ideas what an office should provide. What kind of tools, marketing, technology,environment, office space, compensation models are the kinds of things I'm talking about. If you can think of others by all means please post them! This is the question:

What do you expect from your broker/office?

Thank you,

David Keith

JTC Realty Group Livonia, Michigan

http://www.jtcrealtygroup.com

Why yes.....we are! We are JTC Realty Group of Livonia MI

My partner and I hale from a C21 Office and quite frankly glad to be out of there! With Point 2 on our side and the other web marketing we do we feel that we offer our clients a level of service that is unmatched by the big boys. The only thing we are missing is a big corp site. You know the ones. All the rest is the same or better. We have a corp site as well www.jtcrealtygroup.com With the money we will be saving by not paying the "fees" we've got a lot more to put back into our business not the pocket of a corporation. Our new agents feel the same as well and are excited about the opportunity.

Awhile back I posted some blogs about national franchise vs independant. It seemed to spark a lot of interest and there were a lot of great comments regarding that topic. It was very helpful in assisting in our decision. In addition to all the comments I spoke to several independant brokers around the country to find out just how they were doing as an independant. All were more than great. Thank you all so much for your input! In addition to that research we kept track of our clients and how they'd feel hiring an independant broker. Mainly us. All of our current clients came over with us "no questions asked". Biggest response.....we hired you not your office. Whether it was a referral or by some other means this was the most common answer. Going after new business we are not finding any trouble either. It's great! Wish we would have done this a lot sooner.

 

I just posted a comment to a previous post regarding MLS #'s and usage on Point2. There seems to be some confusion as to whether this is allowed or not. Here are the latest requirements regarding this issue. 

Handshake will accommodate Non-MLS listings in the following way:
- Must be represented by a licensed real estate professional
- Co-Broke fee must be specified
- Co-broke fee must be specified for non-mls listings
- Opt available for non-mls listings
- Handshake rules over the co-broke fee (ie. accept only listings that have > x % or dollar value)

Non-MLS listings that meet the above criteria will be able to be syndicated by licensed real estate professionals.

 Some additional New requirements regarding Handshake

Only licensed real estate professionals can participate in Point2 NLS Handshake and syndication
- We are going to require license number
- We are going to verify members via credit card

We will show members that are verified but will not display their license numbers by default
- Displaying license number will be an option

 In my opinion, why not allow handshake on your site? It's a huge selling point for your listing presentation. How many agents can advertise your home on 100's if not 1000's of other agent's websites? Not to mention a potential buyer visiting your site. If you participate in handshake they will have far more to choose from. What's the consequence of that? They stay on your site longer and might even find a home they like! It's really a win win for everyone. I don't know why there is such a lack of cooperation with this.

Yes, positive news has come for Michigan. Last night the Michigan Senate Republicans shot down Gov Granholm's attempt to add yet another tax to Michigans already struggling economy. The 2% tax that was proposed would have been on services. Realestate transactions would have been included and Michigan would have been the only state in the country to have an income tax, real estate transfer tax and if passed the tax on services. Wholly cow, what's wrong with this woman? Taxing Michigan further is not the answer! The vote went down along party lines with all Republican Senators voting against the Governor’s tax proposal joined by one Democrat, Senator Glenn Anderson (D- Westland), a REALTOR® member. While working through the night they were able to cut the budget $600M which I am sure might be just a start. Democrats vow to continue the fight to increase revenue for the state. There were over 4900 emails sent in by Realtors across Michigan which did help the lawmakers tremendously they said. If your a realtor in Michigan you should be involved in this and all future issues of this magnatude. You can sign up to receive emails directly from MAR, NAR and from your local board regarding these issues in your account area on the individual sites. Most of them will contain a link such as "Tell your Senator what you think." There will be many more of these to come and I would encourage you to get involved and voice your opinion for Michigans Sake! The middle class is under attack and the only way to protect ourselves is to let your voice be heard.

I am sure that some of you supported Jennifer Granholm in the recent Michigan Governor Election. Why, personally I don't know. But we are all entitled to our opinion and vote. Here are a few interesting factoids and a link to a website if you are interested in getting involved. For Michigan's sake she needs to go. 

Over the last couple of years it seems as though Michigan just keeps continuing on this downward spiral in to the great abyss.We've been awarded with so many honors and they seem to continue. Worst economy in the country next to Louisiana....at least they have an excuse, highest foreclosure rate in the country amongst many other great honors. With the recent election there was a glimmering hope that maybe just maybe there might be hope for Michigan but in typical Michigan style the unions and manufacturing peeps supported our fine governor and unfortunately re-elelected her. Too bad. I am sure you can guess I voted for the other guy. Instead we have or continue to have a useless governor. Instead of coming up with a real solution she, in true democratic fashion is just going to raise taxes in a number of ways which in the end will truly hurt the economy even more. This new tax on "services" should be interesting and probably will usher in many more increases in tax in many other areas. What does the future hold for Michigan? Does it get better? Or does it get much worse?

I am interested in learning the effects of this economy on other Michigan Realtors and Realtors outside of Michigan that might be working with people that have left Michigan to go to other areas of the country.

Clearly the effects locally are obvious with the amount of homes on the market and forclosures. Wayne County alone has over 40,000 in foreclosure. 1 in 21 homes here is in foreclosure. Oakland county is not far behind.  

My addition to this post as far as how I am doing. All things considered I am doing ok but I will say that I have added many hours to my work week.

This is kind of a follow up to  another posting relating to feedback and a few other things technology related.

Feedback is very important to our seller's and I tell you my rate of getting feedback is at best 10%. My feedback system is totally automated and very non-intrusive. It is done through my appointment system and automatically sends an email the evening of the showing and also sends a fax to their office. I agree that calling an agent 10 minutes after a showing is rediculous. But a buyer's agent who does not provide feedback is also rediculous. It's part of the job and if you can't do that maybe you should chosse another profession. It's a least a professional courtesy to provide it. I anymore don't go to extremes to get the feedback. If someone is not interested in a home that's fine but is there something wrong with the home? These types of things or comments do help sellers to improve their home if there is common issue that keeps appearing. Maybe the price is too high, maybe the house smells like smoke. If we don't get the feedback we can't tell them these types of issues that may be present. As a seller's agent it helps me to present my case to get a price reduction if all the agents showing the house say it's over priced. Again it's a professional courtesy.

Another issue that I am seeing in my area is agents that don't have email addresses, websites etc. Another thing I don't quite understand. Isn't this another requirement? Or is this sort of a natural selection type thing? I for one am tired of faxing (receiving) it's old out of date technology that was or has been used for ever and never has been a great thing. Scanners these days and electronic docs are becoming the standard and it would be nice to see these technologies adapted. Scanners are cheap too. After all what good is a purchase agreement you can't read? You might as well drive the thing on over.

It's seems the industry as a whole has become very unethical and the courtesy as a whole has disappeared. Maybe it's just my area, I don't know. It would be interesting to hear how others feel.  

 

Thank you point2 for continuing to be the industry leaders in web creation and management for the Real Estate Industry. I have been a member as an agent for a few years and now have my office on the system as well. It's a great system and as far as I'm concered everyone should be on it!

We are on the edge of something that could be HUGE.  A national MLS system, While it's not a new idea it's great because it's already part of our websites and costs us nothing additional. I'd like nothing more that to see the likes of realtor.com fall off the map. Point2 NLS is the first player in a long time that could have the possibility to do this. There has to be 100% participation on these handshake listings. Like another post on this forum I am close to 600 that are not participating in agent handshake. Very foolish on there part. There is absolutely no reason to not be involved int the handshake program. My only guess is those folks are just to ignorant to realize what they are doing. I have a hard time explaining ignorance. This is the kind of thing that will keep the Point2 NLS system from being all it can be....non participation. So anyone reading this that isn't participating you might want to think about it again. Why would you choose not to provide your clients with the maximum amount of exposure? Do you think they'd still list with you if they knew that?

 

Appraisals aren’t fact

Value is in the eye of the beholder.

Q: I represented a buyer who, even though I advised him not to, made a full list price offer of $479,900 on a property. The offer was accepted by the seller, but the bank appraisal put the value of the home at only $454,000. The listing agent and the seller received copies of the appraisal, but the seller refused to lower the price. The contract was terminated.

The listing agent continued to market the house at $479,900. She later told me that she had used active listings, not closed listings, to determine the suggested listing price. She also went outside of the market area for comps. Did the listing agent violate the Code of Ethics by not disclosing the $454,000 appraisal (as a material fact that might affect a subsequent buyer’s decision to make an offer) to agents representing other buyers?

A: An appraisal is generally considered a professional opinion of the market value of a property, not a fact. Although it’s both legally and ethically necessary to disclose a material fact, the same requirement doesn’t apply to an opinion. Article 2 of the Code focuses on pertinent facts, not opinions: “REALTORS® shall avoid exaggeration, misrepresentation, or concealment of pertinent facts relating to the property or the transaction.” Because an appraisal is an opinion, the listing agent isn’t violating Article 2 by not disclosing it.

The only area of possible concern is in how and why the listing agent completed the market analysis. Standard of Practice 1-3 says, “REALTORS® . . . shall not deliberately mislead the owner as to market value.” If the agent used market data she knew was inaccurate to deliberately mislead the owner simply to acquire the listing, then she would be in violation of the Standard of Practice 1-3.