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Mortgage Update: News You Can Use!

Posted: Thursday, August 28th, 2008
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As I announced last week, I’m pitching in to help Tim & Eric with the volume of the mortgage business right now (Tim’s my husband).  Tim is the branch manager for Alternative Mortgage, so I guess that makes him my BOSS!  (don’t tell him that I’ve realized that…it will be our little secret!)  Can you spell I-N-S-U-B-O-R-D-I-N-A-T-I-O-N?

Anyways…

Don’t forget, as of October 1st the seller funded downpayment programs like Nehemia and Ameridream will be GONE!  Several lenders have already announced that they will not close them anymore effective now.  They are afraid that if they close them now, they may have problems getting them insured by FHA. 

IF YOU HAVE BUYERS UNDER THIS PROGRAM…GET THEM A HOUSE AND GET THEM CLOSED NOW, DO NOT LET THEM SIT ON THE FENCE AND LOSE THEIR CHANCE (and your commission!)

On a different note, Tim just got signed up with a lender that is allowing seller held second mortgages  again!  This means that if your buyer doesn’t have  their downpayment money, the seller can hold a 2nd mortgage and get the house sold!  This is a perfect situation when the seller is willing to take 5-15% less than asking  price, this way they get full asking price AND a little monthly income from it! (remember, most houses right now sell for about 92% of asking price, so instead of discounting, your seller can get paid!)  We are approved to close loans in every part of Florida.

If you’d like some help setting up a transaction like this, or just running a scenario by us, call  407-831-2277 or email Tim@TimTolbert.com

How ‘Bout Team USA!

Posted: Wednesday, August 13th, 2008
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Are you watching the Olympics?

I’ve been watching some, and I’ve learned a few interesting things:

(first of all, you can watch EVERYTHING live and recorded at www.NBCOlympics.com)

1.  In soccer, statistically, the other team is more likely to make a goal in the 5 minutes after you make a goal.  Do you think that’s a technical fact? or do you think that’s a mental thing… “Oh no, they scored, we better kick it up a notch and score one on them!”  So let’s apply that in our business:  “Susie Realtor had 3 closings last month…I better kick it up a notch and score 4 so I can win the medal!…I mean so I get paid!”

2.  Horses in the equestrian events have their own “Horse Passports” and some horses travel more on airplanes than most humans!  Oh, and horses DO get jet-lag!

3.  “Trampoline” is an Olympic Sport!  (yes, the thing you bounce on!)

4.  So is Badminton

5.  One of the announcers for the Men’s Gymnastics made this comment after one of the (I think) Chinese team messed up.  He said:  “It matters more how you perform in your NEXT event, how you re-compose yourself, than it matters when you make a mistake.”  I saw that in one of the American’s floor excercises…he messed up on one of the stunts and then he lost his focus and got shaken up and then he messed up on several other stunts AND stepped out of bounds.  How do YOU react when you make a mistake? 

6.  Ping-Pong is also an Olympic sport.

7.  Maybe Wii Games will be next! (if you’re not hip, that’s the coolest video game system EVER!)
Keep Watchin’ and learnin’ about what TRUE dedication to your craft can look like and then look inside and see if YOU are truly dedicated.  If not, maybe it’s time to move on.  But don’t ever give up on your dreams.  This year there is a 67 year old Olympian competing in the equestrian events!  by the way, the equestrian competition is one of only 2 where men and women compete together (the other is yacht racing!)

Is 99% Good Enough?

Posted: Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
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Today I had a listing appointment with a client that was referred to me because of my skills in “Alternative Financing” and moving properties that nobody else has been able to sell. 

Anyway, as I printed the Mapquest to his house, there was an ad at the top of the printout that was for Genuine Hewlett-Packard Ink for your printer.  It said:  “1 out of every 4 refilled inkjet cartridges will fail. Trust HP inks for 99% quality” or something along those lines.  Their point was the they only have a 1% failure rate as compared to 25% failure rate among refills.

It reminded me of a handout that I shared with my Women’s Group  a while back, and I wanted to share it with you today .

First, look at your mindset and your business, what quality level would YOU accept if you were put in charge of a product or service?  90%? 95? 98? 99? How about 99.9%?  Many big companies think that a 99.9% quality rate is good, in fact, Motorola commits to acheive “Six Sigma” which is less that 3 rejects per million items produced!

Here’s some examples of what a 99.9% quality level would equal:

-12 newborns would be given to the wrong parents every day
-114,500 pairs of mismatched shoes would be shipped per year
-18,322 pieces of mail will be mishandled per HOUR
-2 Million documents will be lost by the IRS this year
-2.5 Million books would be shipped with the wrong covers
-315 entries in Webster’s dictionary would be misspelled
-20,000 wrong drug prescriptions would be written
-5.5 million cases of soft drinks would be produced with no fizz
-3,056 copies of tomorrows wall street journal would be missing a section
-880,000 credit cards in circulation would have the wrong info coded on the magnetic strip

Does that make you think a little differently about your acceptable levels in your business?  Just a thought!

30 Second Infomercial Revisited

Posted: Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008
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You may know that I am a big proponent of having a strong “Elevator Speech” or “30 second Infomercial”  basically that is how you answer the question: “What do you do?”
 
Today I want to revisit this topic for a few minutes and really get you to stop and think…how would YOU answer the question, “What do you do?”  Really, write it down quickly on a piece of paper…go on, I’ll wait.
 
Got it?  Good.  Now look at what it says.  If someone ELSE had just told you that exact same thing, would your response (with your inside voice of course) have been “Who Cares?”  I’m serious!  Think of how many people you meet every week that when they tell you what they do you think to yourself “Who Cares!”  You’ve just made the decision to never do business with them.  Ever.  Do you want people thinking that way about you?  Didn’t think so.  So here’s some tips:
 
You’ve GOT to get their attention and make a good impression…you don’t have SECONDS to convince them to do business with you, but you DO only have seconds to get them to want to learn more about you (i.e. schedule an appointment!)
 
People do business with people that they like and people like people like them.  Be friendly, smile big, vary the inflection of your voice (don’t be monotone) and be “approachable”  I also like to wear a color that stands out if I’m going to be in a large crowd.  This helps the visual people (like me!) find me later out of the crowd…”I’ve got to find the lady in the purple suit…I want to meet her!”
 
We use 30 seconds as a title, but you may have 10 seconds, 20, or 60, so be prepared to shorten or lengthen as needed.  One of the worst things you can do is go over your time, for example at a networking meeting where you each stand up and have 30 seconds to introduce yourself…if you take longer, the others in the room will have just lost a certain level of respect for you, and if you go WAY over, they’ll start groaning and then you will never get business from them.  Period.
 
And lastly, don’t tell them HOW to get in touch with you, tell them WHY they want to get in touch with you.  Keep this tip in mind when you’re ordering your next business cards too!
 
I hope these tips are improving your business…I recently read that 60% of your business in a down market will come from networking and from your sphere of influence.  I pledge to help you tap into that 60% and the next tool that I’ve found for you is coming up this Thursday at 3pm.  Larry Benet has “connected” with some of the top entrepreneurs in the world and he’s going to share his secrets on Thursday.  By the way, his vision is to raise $1 Billion for worthy causes through his “connections”.  Isn’t that awesome? 

New Laws All Over the Place!

Posted: Wednesday, July 16th, 2008
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This week I have an update on the HB 643 Foreclosure Rescue Law AND an update on some BIG changes in the mortgage market that were passed yesterday.  Both of these may have a HUGE impact on your business and it’s important that you become familiar with both.
 
First, HB 643.  Yesterday I went to a meeting led by Attorney Barry Miller and The Closing Agent.  Barry gave us some insights on the law as it applies to Realtors and what we need to do and know to stay out of hot water.
 
His overall consensus is that Realtors are PROBABLY excluded, although there is some weird wording they use in the exclusion.  One biggie that you might not have thought of though is this - if you have an unlicensed assistant or a secretary in your office perform any of the duties of “foreclosure rescue” which may in a loose interpretation include anything to do with the listing of a home in foreclosure, you may be violating the law.
 
HIS SUGGESTION:  When in doubt - disclose.  There is one disclosure that you will have to give them where you spell out the services you will provide and for what fee.  You will have to give them the disclosure one day before you ask them to sign it, and then they will have 3 days to change their mind.  You will need to give them a copy within 3 hours of signing it (just bring 2 copies with you!) and you won’t be able to collect any up-front fees.  (Please note, in this month’s Orlando Realtor Magazine the ORRA Legal Counsel, Jim Mitchell stated that the new law does NOT impact Realtors that are listing properties.  With so much disagreement that I’ve seen from the MANY attorney’s I’ve talked to and read articles by, I would err on the side of caution right now and disclose even if you may not have to - you’ll never get in trouble for OVER-disclosing!)
 
I’ll keep you updated as I get more info.
 
Second, yesterday the Federal Reserve approved a measure to change some of the guidelines about what types of loans can and can’t be made.  Here’s some of the highlights (or lowlights, depending on how you look at it!):
 
Prepayment Penalties will be restricted and can’t exceed 2 years.  I’m ok with this one.  I hated seeing people put in loans that would start adjusting after 1 or 2 years but had a prepayment penalty for 3 years so the folks couldn’t afford to refinance.
 
Lenders will have to verify both the fact that people make enough money to afford the house AND that they have the downpayment money.  This means that Stated Income/No Verification loans are now a thing of the past!  This is bad news for most of us in this industry that have PERSONALLY used stated income loans, myself included!  No More! These loans served a very good purpose, unfortunately got abused, and now they’re gone for all of us!
 
Mortgage brokers and the industry as a whole got a big gift in being able to still collect YSP or Yield Spread Premium.  This is the commission paid by the lender to the mortgage broker for bringing them the loan.  Many people think this is a bad thing, but in truth, without it, there would be NO such thing as a Zero-point loan because brokers would have to charge all their fees on the front which means more money out of the buyers pocket.

It also looks like they are going to require you to escrow your taxes and insurance from here on out.

Most of the changes go into effect on October 1, 2009 but some not until 2010.  Expect the mortgage industry to change and adapt and be ready for it - don’t worry!
 
Here’s a link to read a CNN article with some more details:

CNN News story to read

Marketing Lessons from the Beer Booth at the Sanford Fireworks!

Posted: Wednesday, July 9th, 2008
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OK, every year Tim & I volunteer OUR 4th of July to work a beer-booth as a fundraiser for the Sanford Rotary group.  Every year, we work our tails off, because EVERYONE loves an ice cold Bud on a hot July day. 

Except this year.  Our booth was DESERTED!!!  No buyers!  Lots of Sellers (us volunteers)!  Felt kind of like the real estate market.  The ironic thing?  Out of 3 couples assigned to our booth (6 people), 4 of us are in real estate! Ha Ha :)

At first we complained a little, (ok, a LOT) and blamed it on our location.  They had intended to put 2 beer trucks right next to each other (they’re like u-haul trucks with beer taps sticking out the side) but our truck actually got put kind of BEHIND the other one, so nobody knew we were there.  It was frustrating because we would see 10 people waiting in line at the OTHER truck, and we had no customers.  After a while of moaning (and sampling our profits!) we decided to take control!  Here’s some of the lessons that might be transferable to real estate in today’s market:

1. Location! Location! Location!  It is very hard to overcome a bad location (but not impossible!).  If you have a listing that is in a bad location, have the discussion with them EARLY in the process.

2. Acknowledge your weaknesses and counteract them.  In our case, I asked “WHY” our truck was positioned so badly and the BUD guy told me it was because he had to put it there so he could tap into the power pole.  You see, the other truck ran on a generator to keep it cool.  So my new “unique selling proposition” was that our beer was colder because we were hooked straight into the power grid of Sanford and didn’t need to worry about a generator kicking off and on every time the temperature got above a certain point.

3. People do business with people they like.  We were very friendly, smiled at the customers, wished them a happy 4th, chatted with their children, made jokes, asked where they had come in from, sound familiar? like every sales course you’ve ever taken?  Anyways, we had several people tell us they came back to us because they liked us better!  One guy was FLOORED when he came back for a refill, commented on the great band playing, and I said “They don’t have anything like this in Winter Park, do they? you have to come to Sanford!” He was shocked that I had remembered where he said he was from!

4. Go Make Customers…Shout it from the rooftops if you have to!  We even sometimes walked out in the crowd and drove them over to our booth, and I went to some of the other vendor booths and DELIVERED them a cold brew!

5. Don’t cut your marketing budget.  We found some BUD flags and zip-tied them to the front of our tent to get people’s attention.  They can’t buy from you if they can’t see you there!

6. Give the People what they want.  We quickly found out that the OTHER truck didn’t have Mich Ultra, which is the low-carb beer.  So that gave us an edge, and we made sure to mention it to EVERYONE!

By the way…we didn’t drop our prices.  Not until the show was over and people were leaving and we realized we only had ONE LAST CHANCE to sell off the inventory we had.  At that point, you cut the prices to a Buck and call it pure profit, because the beer is already paid for either way!
Hope you’ve enjoyed my little story…next year you’ll have to come visit me on the 4th!

Speculation About the Effects of the New Foreclosure Law are All Over The Place…read a few…

Posted: Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
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Here are several articles that I’ve located discussing the new foreclosure law…most are written by attorneys and how they may not take cases any more that relate to a homeowner in foreclosure, including filing bankruptcys for them!

WOW!  Did any of the lawmakers that voted for this ever even read it?  I’ll keep you posted as I get new info!

Click Here for Article #1

Click Here for Article #2

Click Here for Article #3

Click Here for Article #4

Those articles are all from the eyes of the attorneys, but did you notice in one of them it says that the ORIGINAL text of the bill excluded attorneys, real estate brokers, and mortgage brokers, but that those exclusions were STRICKEN from the final version?

Here’s a whole ‘nother player that’s scared about the ramifications of this new law…Title Companies!  First American has already circulated a memo to their companies that there may be risk involved for the title company handling the closing of any property involved in foreclosure!

Wow!  If the attorney’s won’t represent them, and the title companies won’t close them, and the Realtors won’t list them, and the mortgage companies won’t refinance them, and the investors won’t buy them… I guess there’s no such thing as selling your house once the foreclosure is started!

Now, I don’t think it will really come to that extreme…I’m sure the attorneys are already working on pushing through a “fix” to the law, but stay tuned…it may only cover THEIR tails, not ours!

FHA Releases New Pricing Based on Credit Score and Downpayment

Posted: Tuesday, June 17th, 2008
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On June 11th, HUD released Mortgagee Letter 2008-16 which changes the mortgage insurance premium costs for borrowers. It addresses a few other things too, such as refinances, but today I’m going to cover purchase transactions for you.

The new policies go into effect on Monday July 14th. If your buyer has a property under contract and their lender orders the FHA Case Number prior to the 14th, they will be locked in at the old terms (unless they change properties… case numbers go with the house).

Currently, buyers pay 1.5% of the loan amount in what’s called the Up Front Mortgage Insurance Premium (UFMIP) which can be paid in cash or rolled into the loan, as well as what’s called Monthly MIP that is calculated by taking the loan amount times .5% (1/2 of a percent) which gives you the annual rate. Just divide by 12 to get the monthly premium payment. (Ex: $200,000 x .5% = $1,000 annually divided by 12 = $83.33/month)

Under the new guidelines, the borrower will pay different premium rates based on 2 risk factors:

Credit Score:

-No Score / Non-traditional
-300-499 (minimum 10% down)
-500-559
-560-599
-600-639
-640-679
-680-850

Down Payment / LTV (Loan to Value):
Less than 90% LTV (10% or more down)

-UFMIP Ranges from 1.25%-1.75%
-Monthly MIP is .5%
90.01-95% LTV (5-9.99%)
-UFMIP Ranges from 1.25-2.0%
-Monthly MIP is .5%
95.01+ LTV (Less than 5% down, remember, most buyers use 3%)
-UFMIP Ranges from 1.25-2.25% (the highest, 2.25%, can be reduced to 2.0 with housing counseling)
-Monthly MIP is .55%

As you can see, for the majority of your borrowers, both the UFMIP and the monthly will go higher. Another major change is that borrowers with less than a 500 credit score will now only qualify for FHA financing if they put down at least 10%.

But don’t freak out about these increases… on a $200,000 loan, the raise from .5% to .55% will only change your client’s payment by $8.33 per month.

These changes will help to bring FHA into the current market and ensure that the program will be around for many years to come… something we all will appreciate going forward as FHA loans continue to be the loan of choice for today’s borrowers (it’s estimated that 65% of all loans closed in 2008 will be FHA insured!)

Your Attitude Determines your Altitude!

Posted: Wednesday, June 11th, 2008
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This week we are going to discuss how your attitude determines your success, this takes shape in many different ways, but today we’re going to cover one of the more critical ones:

Self Talk:  If a five year old child heard every day “you’re stupid, you’re worthless, you’re never going to amount to anything” do you think that would hurt their chances of being a successful adult?  Of Course!  So why do we do it to ourselves every single day?  When someone makes a mistake they say “I’m so stupid” or when their business is not going well “I’m never going to be successful, I shouldn’t have even tried”  they are setting themselves up for failure just like that 5 year old.  Can you imagine if every day that 5 year old heard “You’re so smart, you’re going to be very successful when you grow up, the world is lucky to have you”  Do you imagine that child might turn out a little differently?  Certainly!  What are you telling yourself every day?  The next time you make a mistake, say “Hmmmm, that’s interesting, what can I learn from that?  or better yet, the next time you catch yourself doing something right, celebrate it!  Say “Wow, I’m a genius!  The world is lucky to have me!” and see how your outlook changes.

Exercise:  For one week, celebrate everything that goes GREAT in your life, whether it’s a big commission check, getting a great parking spot at the mall, having a good hair day, or seeing a beautiful sunset.  Celebrate It!  At the end of the week I think you will notice a difference and will continue to celebrate the successes forever!

House Bill 643 Passes on May 28th, 2008.  Foreclosure Fraud in Florida Law.  How will it change YOUR business?

Posted: Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008
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I’ve read through this law several times, and I’ve still got some MAJOR questions about its interpretation.  But here’s the one thing that is NOT open to interpretation:

It Already Passed!

It goes into effect October 1, 2008, so that gives us about 4 months to get our attorney’s to interpret it, advise us, and get our disclosures in order for transactions after that time.

If you haven’t read it yet, at the bottom of this box I’ve given you the link.  Read it and then keep your eye on my emails as I get updates for you.

Here’s some of the highlights
(I guess I should say Lowlights!):

1. A person in foreclosure on their primary residence will have 3 days to change their mind when selling their house.  This also means there will be new disclosures and new deadlines to keep track of on your transactions.  Also, many agents have listings they don’t know are in foreclosure…you may now be responsible to find out!

2. Some agents and investors will just choose not to help people in foreclosure because of all the extra potential liability.

3. It will limit the ability to collect any up front fees, which means some of the short sale negotiation companies that charge a fee to get started (and more of them are starting to), the seller will be restricted from paying them.

4. The way they wrote the “exclusions” is kind of weird, in one way it looks like real estate agents are exempt, but in another way it looks like they are not, so we will need to wait for some clarification.

5. It will eliminate “subject to” on a primary residence in foreclosure.
Keep watching as I keep you updated!

Click Here to read the new law.

How do you measure success?

Posted: Wednesday, May 28th, 2008
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This is a question that I can’t answer for you - so I want you to really think about it.

When we were kids, most of us were measured in many ways - our height was “ticked” on a door frame or our grades were compared to the others in class, but now that we’re adults, how do we measure?

Especially right now when many in the real estate industry are not measuring “growth” or “success” but rather survival.

Right now, you may not even see the improvements happening in the market because you are so set on focusing on “survival” (by the way, what you focus on is what you get, so you will only get “survival” level if you focus on it).

Some of the other ways you might think about measuring success against right now:

1.      Am I using down time in my business to educate myself for when it turns?
2.      Am I giving each client 110% of my attention and giving the GREAT customer service?
3.      Am I focusing on other parts of my business other than just “more revenue” like more free time, setting up systems, outsourcing?

You are sitting at the edge of a HUGE opportunity in our industry, I hope you’ve not become one of those people that “can’t see the forest for the trees” and you’re ready to get back on the horse.

I get emails every day from agents across Florida, and for every one that says “I don’t have $49 for a seminar” I have another one that says “thank you, Andy, I’m having my best year ever, even in a down market!”

Which one of these emails will YOU write me?  That’s up to you!

FHA Refinance Updates

Posted: Tuesday, May 20th, 2008
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Last week I wrote about the FHA Purchase updates and reminders for you. This week I’m covering the refinance side. This info may be for you personally, a friend, or a client, so I thought it was Critical that I get this info to you right away…

• Up to 95% Cash Out or 97% without cash out (rate and term)
• “Declining Market” does not apply
• Will allow OVER 100% CLTV, means the first can be 95 or 97% and the second can take it over 100% of value
• Property is no longer scrutinized under a microscope. Major health and safety issues will need to be repaired, but most cosmetic and minor issues will be ok to close
• No more mandatory well, septic, and flat roof inspections
• No minimum credit score required. No score is OK too (must build alternate credit)
• 2 years out of bankruptcy, 3 years out of foreclosure (exceptions in rare circumstances) NOTE: they can be IN a Chapter 13 and can still refinance.
• Loan limits have been increased through 12/31/2008, examples:

o Central FL = $353,750
o Sarasota = 442,500
o St Lucie = 375,000
o Tampa area = 292,500
o Jacksonville = 387,500
o Melbourne = 291,250

• Condos MAY be spot approved as long as it is under 50% rental occupied.

FHA Secure: This is the FHA Bailout program that you’ve been reading about. It’s been around for 9 months and has closed over 180,000 loans so far, helping get homeowners into stable, fixed rate loans and out of their risky adjustables. Here’s the Key: If a borrower COULD afford their payments and only fell behind BECAUSE they suffered a payment adjustment, FHA will still refinance them even if they are currently delinquent on their mortgage!

Even if they owe more than it’s worth, if their current lender will write-down the balance or will hold the rest in a 2nd mortgage, they may still be able to get a new, low fixed rate, FHA 1st.

Of course, this is not intended to make you the all-knowing guru of FHA loans, but I want you to think outside the box when it comes to helping your clients and your neighbors. Everyone’s situation is different, so make sure you refer them to someone very knowledgeable in financing to see what fits for them now.

It is estimated that 35% of all loans closed this year will be FHA, so it is absolutely CRITICAL that you know how to handle them as a real estate professional.

I also wrote a complete review and update on FHA funding in an upcoming article on AgentDirectNews.com…watch for it!

FHA Purchase Updates

Posted: Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
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I’m going to bullet out the high points that I believe you will be most interested in right now. 2006 saw a lot of changes to FHA guidelines, so if you haven’t done one in a while…here’s a refresher:

• 3% downpayment. Can come from savings, gift from a parent, employer or union, grant from non-profit
• “Seller Gift Charities” are still OK for now. This is where the seller “gifts” 4% to a charity which in turn “grants” 3% to your buyer
• No more seller-paid non-allowable junk fees. All closing costs are negotiable between buyer and seller except the $75 tax service must be paid by seller
• Property is no longer scrutinized under a microscope. Major health and safety issues will need to be repaired, but most cosmetic and minor issues will be ok to close
• No more mandatory well, septic, and flat roof inspections
• They’ve made the 203k Rehab loan easier to work with, so your buyer can roll repairs into their purchase loan.
• No minimum credit score required. No score is OK too (must build alternate credit)
• 2 years out of bankruptcy, 3 years out of foreclosure (exceptions in rare circumstances)
• Loan limits have been increased through 12/31/2008, examples:

o Central FL = $353,750
o Sarasota = 442,500
o St Lucie = 375,000
o Tampa area = 292,500
o Jacksonville = 387,500
o Melbourne = 291,250

• Condos MAY be spot approved as long as it is under 50% rental occupied.

It is estimated that 35% of all loans closed this year will be FHA, so it is absolutely CRITICAL that you know how to handle them as a real estate professional.

I also wrote a complete review and update on FHA funding in an upcoming article on AgentDirectNews.com…watch for it!

Lessons from the 134th Derby.

Posted: Monday, May 5th, 2008
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There were a couple of lessons in the bitter-sweet 134th running of the Kentucky Derby. I don’t know if you watched it or not…but Tim and I did. You may not know it, but I actually come from a “horsey” family, in fact one of my horses as a kid was a direct descendant of the 1956 Derby winner “Needles” (Her name was Needle Fly Adams, but we called her “Cupcake”)

Anyways, back to this years race…there were many beautiful stories this year, the trainer in his 70’s that this was his first time in over 40 years of training that he had a horse make it to Churchill, or the jockey that is racing for his son who is deaf and going blind, or the owner that just 10 years ago was broke, addicted, homeless, and left with a young baby girl after her mother was killed in a robbery. Or the 2 Cuban refugees now living the “American Dream”, or the filly trying to be only the 4th to ever win the Derby (a filly is a girl horse).

Yes, many stories of overcoming adversity and challenges to make it to the “big time” Right now, our real estate market has some adversity and challenges that we need to overcome. The first lesson I want to share is that you shouldn’t give up…you shouldn’t let what other people are saying about the market get you down, and we CAN and WILL win this challenging market we are in. All it takes is dedication, training, and a whole lot of confidence, in fact, My secret success formula is simple:

Why + Tools + Action = Success

That’s how Big Brown won the race…even though he started in THE worst position; he had the heart and the talent to win it. But I want to point out the other lesson, the one that isn’t so pleasant…You’ve still got to balance out your work and your personal life…don’t be a workaholic! That’s the Story of Eight Belles, the filly that gals everywhere, including Hillary Clinton, were pulling for. She ran a beautiful race, and actually came in second, but then after the race she broke both front ankles, collapsed, and had to be put down on the spot. Some will say she raced TOO hard, raced her heart out, but at what price?

Are you working TOO hard in your business? Don’t lose sight of what it’s all about…in fact, this week, I want you to take an afternoon off. Take your spouse on a REAL date, take the kids for a walk in the park, get a massage, or just sleep in late one day.

What Image is your Email Address Sending?

Posted: Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
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bobsdad @ yahoo.com … realestateguy72 @ hotmail.com … sexychick @ Aol.com

What message are you sending every day as you email potential clients, hand out business cards, and pay good money for advertising? Everyone knows that they are free email services, so right off the bat they know you won’t invest in your own business, and the “sexychick” one speaks for itself…(what business ARE you trying to promote, anyway?)

I often mention this in my trainings, and I often get questions from you about HOW to set it up, and how expensive is it, anyways? So today’s tip is called…(drum roll please…)

Get a Real Email!

I’m going to share some quick, simple steps to getting a great, professional email address in just a matter of minutes!

The company I use is probably one of the least expensive AND easiest to use. Here’s the simple steps to getting YOUR professional email up and running:

1. Click on the link at the bottom of this article.
2. Choose your package/Product. You can choose from several, but starting out, these 2 are probably good enough:

A. For ONE domain name and 5 different email names on that account (no web hosting included) Click on “mail” and then select “continue” under “Instant Mail” then click “sign up” and then you will come to the screen to select your domain name. I would suggest starting with your name first, such as AndyTolbert.com (capitals don’t matter!) If it’s available, select it. Then follow the instructions for setting up your new account. Your total cost will be $18.87 per year, that’s a nickel a day! I find more than that on the floor of the vacant houses I go see!

B. For more than one domain and to have actual Web Hosting where you can post a website or a blog and get 600 email names instead of 5, instead of clicking “mail” click on “web hosting” and select the plan you want. Please note, don’t get a bigger plan JUST for the extra domains…it’s cheaper to just buy add-on domains for $6.99 each per year. It’s more about the extras. Probably the Beginner will be enough. It will run you $47.88/year. Once you’ve chosen, go through the same steps of choosing your domain name as above in “A”

Please Note, if you are a real estate agent, NAR has restrictions on using the word REALTOR in your domain name, please be careful with what you choose. I also would try to focus on YOU not your company, because you may not always be at the same place!

3. Once your new account is set up, you will log in to your “control panel” where there are 2 main tabs at the top, go to “administration” then click on the “email” icon then click “new”

4. Type in the email name that you want, such as “listings” @ and then select your domain name from the dropdown list (if you have more than one). you are now setting up an email called “listings @ yourdomain.com”

5. Select “type” either “mailbox” which will create a mailbox for you or “forward” which will just forward it to another email that you already have (like your aol.com email, but remember, if you need to ever REPLY to a client they will see your aol if you use it as a forward) then create and verify your password. You can also select an additional forward, for example, every email you receive at “listings@” will also copy to your assistant. This can be very handy for followup.

6. Now hit “OK” and you’re done! Your new email, “listings @ yourdomain.com” is ready to go!

7. To check your email, you can use their built in web-email login OR you can use the Pop3/imap/smtp servers to set up in outlook, gmail, and other email servers. (can’t help you with that part, it all depends on how you have your computer set up, but there is some great customer support online in your control panel, or you can call for support, they’ve always helped me when I called!)

It’s not even really 7 steps, but if you knew just how easy it is, you’d kick yourself for not doing it sooner! (Thanks to Lee for giving me the idea for this weeks lesson!)

Click Here to go to the site where I buy my domains and run MY emails.

*If your name is not available, try for something that tells about your business (or an extra domain name) for example, besides AndyTolbert.com, I also own AndiTolbert, AndreaTolbert, Realestateinvesting123, REOdomination, turbohousebuyers, and many more. Maybe you would like something like Orlandowaterfronthomes.com, Miamicondos.com or something that spells out your niche. You can even buy a street address for one of your properties and put up a simple one page site for each. it only costs $6.99 per year per domain, and when you sell the house you can cancel it, or better yet, transfer it to the new homeowners!

Hope you have fun with all of your new domains and emails…but don’t get bogged down, just pick one and go out and sell something.

Florida Foreclosure Market Stats

Posted: Tuesday, April 15th, 2008
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WARNING!!! Some of these numbers are about to floor you, so please make sure you’re sitting down.

I’ve tried and tried to show the positive side of everything that’s happening in our market, but when you see numbers like this it’s a little tough. The only positive side of this is if you are specializing in the Pre-Foreclosure or REO niche you will be jumping for JOY at these numbers, mainly because your niche is showing NO signs of slowing down anytime over the next few years. Here they are, in all their glory:

All stats are through the First quarter of this year (January, February, March) in FLORIDA

Number of houses already taken back by the bank this year (will be on the market soon with Realtors as REO’s) 18,055

Number of new foreclosure filings (LP’s) so far: 118,301
Percentage of all Florida households filed on in 1st quarter: 1.87%
If you multiply that by 4 (quarters) we are on track to be 7.48% of the whole state by the end of the year! Yes, 7 and a 1/2% of ALL Florida households will be filed on this year!

Here’s the top 10 (worst) counties:

#1 Osceola: 3,127 filings, 5.13% of households, on track for 20.52% for the year, that’s 1 out of every 4.87 households will be filed on this year! The “on track” is if the rate of foreclosures stays exactly the same for the rest of the year, if it increases or reduces the rate later this year, these numbers will be off.

#2 Lee: 7,981 filings, 4.23%, on track for 16.92% or 1 out of every 5.91 households
#3 Flagler: 882 filings, 4.14%, on track for 16.56% or 1 out of every 6.04 households
#4 St Lucie: 2,799 filings, 3.64% on track for 14.56% or 1 out of every 6.87 households
#5 Walton: 454 filings, 2.74% on track for 10.96% or 1 out of every 9.12 households
#6 Broward: 16,872 filings, 2.58% on track for 10.32% or 1 out of every 9.69 households
#7 Dade: 19,720 filings, 2.54% on track for 10.16% or 1 out of every 9.84 households
#8 Pasco: 3,685 filings, 2.50% on track for 10.00% or 1 out of every 10 households
#9 Hernando: 1,272 filings, 2.29% on track for 9.16% or 1 out of every 10.92 households
#10 Orange: 7,671 filings, 2.28% on track for 9.12% or 1 out of every 10.96 households

Did #1 shock you? 20% of the whole county will be in foreclosure this year?!?! Holy Cow!

Short Sales MAY STILL OWE Income Taxes!

Posted: Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
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This is a topic that I hear over and over every time I’m meeting with agents and investors, and it is a big misconception that the tax law changed and ALL short sales don’t have to pay taxes. That is absolutely NOT true! I have reprinted this article (with a little more in-depth explanation for you, so even if you already read it, please take a minute to read it again) and I will probably re-print it every quarter until we’re out of this mess! Please feel free to forward it to the other agents in your office, title companies, mortgage companies, everyone that you feel might benefit!

On December 20th, Bush signed into law a measure that will change the tax effects for a homeowner in foreclosure. These are critical changes that may change your client’s outlook on a deal (in fact…maybe you lost a deal last year because of this tax burden…it may not be too late to call that client back and revive the deal!)

In a nutshell: If a homeowner who was in foreclosure worked out a short sale agreement with their lender, the amount of debt that the lender “wrote off” is considered as ordinary income to the seller. That means if you negotiated a $50,000 reduction in the payoff to help get the property sold, that seller would have to claim that $50,000 as taxable income on their tax returns (resulting in a potential tax bill between $7,500 and $17,500). Some sellers decided NOT to sell on a short sale for this very reason…but that’s where this new law comes in!

It makes that “income” from written off debt NOT TAXABLE to the seller under certain circumstances! Here’s some key points:

- Only applies to their principal residence, not 2nd home/vacation/rentals/speculation. So many of our clients that are in an upside-down situation on non-owner occupied properties may still owe income tax.

- Effective for debts discharged between Jan 1, 2007 and Dec. 31, 2009

- It applies to debt for acquisition, construction, or substantial improvement to the property. This means that if someone had refinanced and taken cash out or paid debts off, then the forgiven debt WILL be taxable. Think about it…they DID get cash out of the property that they never paid taxes on…..now they will have to.

- Forgiveness is limited to $2,000,000 (I think we’re OK there!)

- The amount of forgiven debt will be reduced from the sellers basis in the house. Most sellers will still be able to sell with no capital gains bill as long as they’ve lived in the house for at least 2 years, but people in their homes less than 2 years may still have a surprise! And for investment properties, they will either pay long or short term capital gains based on how long they held the investment.

Cool Part of the Law #2: Another thing that was in this new law that you will probably like…an extension of the tax deductibility of Private Mortgage Insurance (you know, that monthly bill your clients pay when they don’t put down 20% on a home mortgage!). This extension is good through Dec 31, 2010, and again is only applied to acquisition mortgages on a “qualified residence.”

Cool Part of the Law #3: And one last part that might apply to your clients…if a client’s spouse dies, they now have 2 years from the date of the death to sell that home and take the full $500,000 exclusion for a couple in a primary residence. After that time, they will only be entitled to the single person’s $250,000 exclusion on the gain they received from the sale. It used to be only in the year of the death, which would be difficult if they passed away towards the end of the year.

Please remember, I am NOT an accountant, and I am not giving you or your clients legal or accounting advice, and neither should you! Anytime you have a client that asks you about the tax ramifications of ANY deal, refer them back to their CPA or attorney for advice.

How Would Andy Do In Jail?

Posted: Tuesday, April 1st, 2008
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Well, not me, but my guest, JT Foxx, almost went to jail Sunday! I was just going to get the ticket. Let me tell you the story before you jump to WORSE conclusions…

You see, JT Foxx, Host of a radio show in Chicago, was in town Saturday for a speaking engagement, so I invited him to go on the St Johns River on my jet-ski’s Sunday. We were having a grand old time, we stopped at a restaurant right on the water and had Sunday brunch, and then headed towards the house. Now, right in front of our house is this section where the river widens and it’s a great place to jump some wakes put off by the big boats coming through. Tim had been driving and I was passengering and JT was on the other bike. Tim and I had just switched so I was driving and I was having a good old time jumping some waves, right up until the blue flashing lights showed up behind me… Uh Oh!

Now let me tell you, I’ve been riding these waters for 4 years, and never had a problem, and here I have a VIP guest with me and I get pulled over. I pull over to the officer’s boat, and he is FUMING mad, I mean you can see the veins in his forehead and his voice is cracking when he talks- mad if you know what I mean…he starts shouting about $63 tickets and accidents and we’re going to kill ourselves and then he points at JT (who has now pulled over closer to us to see what’s going on) and says “and him, I should take him to jail right now, I could call his behavior a misdemeanor and take him in right now!” (veins pop, voice cracks, HELP! I need bail money!)

But then Tim and I practiced some very simple negotiation and crisis management techniques…
1. Calm them down, do whatever you can to get their attention OFF of the crisis. How did we do that? We kept our voices and tones very calm and collected, and spoke just a little slower than normal.
2. Whatever you do, don’t argue with them. We were very polite, apologized, asked what was the RIGHT way to maneuver in this area, etc.
3. Give them what they ask for. When he asked for our license and registration we gave it to him (he actually dropped one of the registrations in the water, so now HE felt kind of bad, which helped us even more as we said “don’t worry, mistakes happen”)
4. Try to change the subject to something more pleasant. Tim started asking him about speed limits on the river. Now he got to show US his knowledge level.
5. Apologize for making his day harder. We said something like “I’m sure you don’t want to be out here dealing with a bunch of yahoos and drunks on the water on such a nice day like this” to which he quickly agreed. (please note, we had NOT been drinking, unless you count iced tea!)
6. If all else fails…blame it on the tourist from Chicago!

Seriously though, how many of these lessons can you use with a seller who is irate over a low offer? or a borrower that’s just been turned down for a mortgage? or a client with a house that just appraised low? These are solid techniques that you can use in your real estate business, and they’re not too bad to keep JT out of jail too!

After our initial fear had passed, we joked a little about what our time in jail would be like…”so, what are you in for?”…”I killed 4 people because they looked at me funny, how about you?” … “me, I rode my jet-ski too fast” How would Andy do in jail? I’m sure I’d make the most of it, I’d catch up on my reading, lose a few pounds, and probably buy a few houses from my fellow inmates!

By the way, when it was all over, I turned to JT and said “this is going to be on your radio show, isn’t it?” he quickly replied “Yep! first thing!”
Till next week, stay out of jail!

How yummy do your houses look?

Posted: Wednesday, March 26th, 2008
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The other day I stopped in to KFC for lunch when Tim & I were out looking at some properties to put offers on. I don’t know about you, but when I go to a fast food restaurant (which isn’t very often anymore) I usually tend to order the same thing, so I don’t need to look at the menu. But this day was different…Tim was outside on the cell phone, and I stood for about 10 minutes staring at the menu board…it wasn’t because I was trying to decide what I wanted, it was because I was enthralled by the fancy new LCD TV screen menu boards. Yep! They were actual big-screen TV’s up on the wall that were changing images and scrolling through the different menu items. I was in a trance, and I didn’t even know why!

Then it hit me…the bucket of chicken on the TV actually had hot, tasty steam coming off it! The graphics were amazing, and there was actually a little puff of moving steam on the chicken! I wanted to order the bucket because it LOOKED so amazing, even though there were only 2 of us! It was almost like subliminal advertising…I wasn’t even in the market for a bucket, but I was actually craving it because they made it look so yummy!

Are your buyers experiencing the same thing when they look at your houses and listings?
Does the house look SOOOOOO Yummy that they want to buy it even if they weren’t in the market to buy a house? If not, maybe that’s why it’s not selling. Let’s look at some little things to see if you’re “yummy” enough…

Curb Appeal: When they pull up to your house (or look at pictures) does their mouth start to water and they WANT IT! If you don’t see anything wrong with the curb appeal, invite a disinterested 3rd party over to give you a review. When I was a “regular” buyer, I remember not even getting out of the car with our Realtor if I didn’t like the looks of it from the outside.

Tickle all of their senses: at KFC, I was already hungry, then I smelled the fried chicken, then they visually showed me the food in an appealing manner. Are YOU prepping your houses to hit all of your buyer’s senses? Plush carpet that they sink into, vanilla-scented air fresheners in several parts of the house (avoid florals, some people are allergic), a beach ball floating in the pool, nice music playing, a romantic fireplace, an (empty) bottle of wine and 2 glasses on the counter…are you getting the picture?

Make it easy to do business with you: Isn’t it easy to just order a #5? Make it that easy to buy your house too. Some ways you can do that are:
Have the house pre-inspected- this assures them that what they’re buying will not cause them problems in the future
Refer them to a GOOD mortgage broker if they don’t already have one
Offer owner financing to make their lives easier (in their eyes)
Make it easy to track you down if they need further info
Have the house ready to move into (is your whole punch-list finished?)

And here’s the thing to remember…you DON’T need to be the lowest price in the market to sell, you need to be the BEST for the money that you’re asking.

Happy Selling!