We have close friends who have moved in and out of real estate investments very profitably over the past few years—and it was not unusual for them to be holding several properties at once. Good friends they are, but they never took our advice about mortgage financing.

Instead, they always used some loan hack who never returned phone calls, was late on all commitments, but somehow managed to get the loan funded—several days late. According to our friends, he could “get any loan funded.” And he did.

This hack has relocated from the Los Angeles area to San Diego and is now one of those non-responsive real estate phantoms who list foreclosures.

It’s deja vu all over again.

It absolutely baffles me that the very folk who helped create this mess are now being rewarded by the lenders they duped. I am amazed at the number of listing agents who are also former loan brokers and wonder how this came to be.

And like Brian Brady and other concerned real estate professionals, I believe that separate licensing should be required of mortgage originators and real estate agents—and that banks and lenders should be vetting their foreclosure representatives more closely.

Far too often, in my opinion, these foreclosure listings are being placed with Continue reading this post

On Tuesday we launched the premier of the “Ask the Experts” live real estate forum. Thanks to our terrific panel of experts, a great turnout and active participation from the audience, the forum was a success!

Overall, participants rated each of the experts with marks of excellence for presentation and content covered. Due to the positive response, we’ll be continuing the series, so stay tuned for future Ask the Experts!

If you weren’t able attend, here’s your chance to hear the valuable information and advice the experts gave out to real estate professionals.

Listen to the full version:

Or, listen to the individual experts here:

Continue reading this post

In just a few days, on Tuesday, August 12 there is a HomeGain sponsored event taking place that I wanted to make sure all you Realtors knew about. It’s a live phone forum called “Ask the Experts” featuring an exceptional team of experts!

Meet the Experts:

• Joseph Ferrara of Sellsius Real Estate Blog – “Blogging Advice”
• Brian Brady of World Wide Credit Corp – “Mortgage Advice”
• Mitch Ribak of Tropical Realty of Suntree – “Lead Capture and Conversion”
• Jay Thompson of Thompson’s Realty – “Online Presence”

It’s a free call where you’ll get sound advice – and be able to ask these experts questions that relate specifically to your business! There are already a couple hundred people registered, so we are anticipating an interesting and fun event.

See the full email invitation.

Sign up here and we’ll see you on Tuesday.

I annoyed a whole lotta folks on Bloodhound Blog. I told everyone that the parents were a better demographic than the kids and the RE.net cried heresy! Apparently, Web 2.0 agents have adopted the mantra of the very demographic I suggest they target;

Never trust anyone over 30.

That’s good advice for cell phone companies. If you’re in the real estate or lending business, you might focus your marketing efforts on the cash-heavy, real estate lovin’ Baby Boomers. Now I’m not suggesting you ignore the Gen X and Millennial demographics, I’m telling you they may not be worth your hard-earned marketing dollars until 2015. Ironically, Millenials may very well Twitter through their 20s, having conversations with agents, and turn to their parents for advice when it comes time to make the big home purchase. A Boomer-focused marketing strategy then could have double-barreled results.

Those darned Boomers influence EVERYBODY, don’t they?

I say, “if you you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” and it would appear that most online marketers (including Web 2.0 real estate agents) are doing the exact opposite.

I promised to talk about ways to target the Baby Boomers, in a series, and wanted to invite the HomeGain Nation to join in on the conversation before I return to the series on Bloodhound Blog. In Part Two, I reveal that there are actually TWO demographic groups among the Baby Boomer generation: one is pretty well off and one is filled with angst. You can profit from both of them but you better treat them differently. The cool part is that all Baby Boomers LOVE real estate, regardless of their sub-demographic. Continue reading this post

No recommendation until tomorrow. All eyes are on the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee today. At 2:15PM (EDT), 11:15 (PDT), they will release their interest rate decision and statement. The fixed income securities market believe there is a 43% chance that the Fed will RAISE rates to stifle inflation in August and that there is a 61% chance that the hike will come in November.

The eyes will be on the Fed’s commentary, though:

”We expect the Fed to keep the funds rate at 2% today but to shift to a more hawkish statement by placing more emphasis on inflation over growth risks,” strategists at Credit Suisse wrote in a research report. “The Fed will likely use this meeting as an opportunity to set the stage for a potential rate rise in August.”

If the Fed signals that rates could rise as early as August, expect mortgage rates to jump .25% higher, from today’s 6.375% 30 year fixed rate, over the next few weeks. If the Fed signals rate hikes are “possible” as a way to fight inflation, expect rates to stay Continue reading this post

Mortgage rates are headed higher. Lock all rates at application, regardless of closing date.

The trend is clear; the Fed believes it has done all it can to stave off the banking crises and is now focusing its efforts on inflation. This morning, retail sales were up and the dollar is strengthening. If stagflation is the fear, the current strategy of targeting core inflation may be abandoned for the more radical Paul Volcker-style approach to tame inflation.

While I believe the higher mortgage rate cycle will be shorter than the 80-s style interest rate hikes, it’s clear to me that Bernanke is talking differently than he did in 2006 and 2007.

The effect? We could see mortgage rates rise as much as 2% in the next two years. I still believe that a five year ARM will offer the best solution because interest rates move in cycles; I think we’ll see mortgage rates under 6% again in 2011. Today? The trend looks like we’re headed higher.

What then, should be your strategy? Continue reading this post