America’s One Teams Offers EpropertySites
America’s One Title is now offering high powered, online marketing to their clients with EpropertySites. This gives mortgage and Realtor clients access to Epropertysites services sponsored by America’s One Title. Epropertysites is based in Aliso Viejo, CA. and is the leader in Property Marketing Systems, Property websites, Virtual tours, Text messaging with call capture, and so much more. Their simple yet powerful marketing system will give Realtors and Mortgage lenders some serious marketing horse power when advertising homes for sale, creating high quality website & virtual home tours. Clients can leverage these tools for their listing presentations & lead generation as well as creating traditional marketing materials like fliers and brochures! Thanks to America’s One Title you can build your real estate or mortgage business with these terrific tools at a fraction of the cost! Contact America’s One Title today to find out how.
Cautiously Optimistic: Yep, That’s It!
People ask me all the time: Home owners, Realtors, Title professionals, etc…”so, are we thru the worst of it?” Of course, they are referring to the downturn in real estate values and low demand for existing home purchases…and the economic implications of our real estate recession on those areas. And as of late, I say “Yes”. I do think we are through the worst of it. Seems like almost everyone I talk to lately, is generally more optimistic regarding MI real estate.
Sure, we all are wondering how pent up buyer demand, foreclosure “shadow inventory”, new home pricing, baby-boomer housing demands and lending rules will impact our markets…but nevertheless, the tone and feel is certainly more positive than it was a few months ago; and even more positive than a few months before then too! So cautiously optimistic is how I feel. I’m looking forward to real estate in MI in 2012…how about you?
New Homes Sales Hit 7 month high, but…
It seems like much of the internet RE buzz lately contains a little good news, then something not so good. As if the one declaring the good news must then follow it up with some bad news in order to be taken more seriously OR is it just a CYA move on the part of the author – so as to save face later on, if things don’t quite go like they’ve said. My thought? Just say it…good or bad. Sometimes we’ll have good news to report and sometimes not. Give the reader the respect they deserve and let them sort out how the news impacts them.
The below article is one of those – good news but not entirely – kind of articles that seem to be everywhere. It’s worth reading as it reports that sales are up. But we know that RE is in a slump nationwide. We get it! So let’s enjoy for the moment that sales are up. Do we really need reminded that we don’t know what the future holds AND that compared to some other time in our past, the numbers we should be celebrating today are not as good???
Initial Foreclosure Filings Down
An interesting article written with RealtryTrac information was published on MLIVE today. Initial foreclosure filings are down 17% year over year. However, the bottle-neck of foreclosures previously on hold appears to be opening as more foreclosures are now advancing in the process as that number grew by 33%.
Read the whole article – click here…
Foreclosure Pipline is Full & Getting More So…
Check out these impressively scary Foreclosure stats…This will certainly have an impact on markets…but when is is the question?
See full article RIS below
“The average home entering the foreclosure process today won’t house new owners until the next president has been inaugurated and in office for three months.
New data from LPS shows that payments have not been made on the average loan in foreclosure in a record 599 days, or 20 months. Of the nearly 1.9 million loans that are 90 or more days delinquent but…” Read full article
Goldman Sach’s Withdrawing “Robo-signed” Mortgage Foreclosures
GS said it will withdraw those foreclosures where the Aff’s were signed by the now infamously coined phrase, “Robo-signer’s”. They have to return property back or pay damages. Basically, robo-signing is large banks outsourcing mortgage paperwork to processing companies who then hired unqualified people to sign thousands of mortgage Aff’s without reviewing loan documents. The practice is illegal.
This is another development in this goofy foreclosure debacle of late…now Title insurer’s will need to be looking not only for MERS (see my past blogs) problems but watching for foreclosures somehow being “withdrawn” too. We’ll be watching for this stuff – so you don’t have too!
Read the full MSNBC article below!
“NEW YORK — Goldman Sachs’ mortgage subsidiary agreed Thursday to stop many of its controversial mortgage-related practices in a settlement with a New York state banking regulator.
The New York’s Department of Financial Services and Banking Department said the settlement was a condition to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s sale of its Litton Loan Servicing subsidiary to a mortgage company Ocwen Financial Corp.
As part of the deal, the Goldman subsidiary said it will stop… see full article
For Buyer’s Agents, Thanks Dave Ramsey
This Enews from Dave is from MAY, but still valuable information. Thanks to the Dave Ramsey organization. I couldn’t agree more…it’s likely that the downward pressure on home pricing is compelling buyers and sellers to attempt a real estate transaction without a Realtor, but the statistics reflect…we are always better off using a professional.
Dave Ramsey Article Link
More MERS Mess Explained
So…the MERS mess continues. Here is some more information so that you may be more informed on the matter impacting our industry. The recent case referenced of late is Residential Funding LLC v Saurman. The court held that MERS is not: the owner of indebtedness, the servicing agent of the mortgage or the owner of an interest in the indebtedness secured by the mortgage.
So what does this mean? MERS can’t foreclose in its own name or as nominee for the lender. If MERS is named as the lender or nominee, it must assign the mortgage to the owner of the debt, or the servicer AND the assignment must be dated prior to teh first publication of the notice of foreclosure, as well as, recorded prior to the date of the sale.
Practically speaking, in this case there was no innocent third party purchaser AFTER the foreclosure in question, therefore the court didn’t address what happen if there had been one. Either way, as a result of this court decision thousands of titles have been unsettled or clouded. Recently, thousands of REO sales have been cancelled and many foreclosures will need to be re-done.
There are several different potential solutions that Title Insurer’s can employ depending upon the details of each situation. Too many criteria need to be reviewed and considered by your title agent, such as; does the new owner have an Owners Policy…was there an assignment from MERS…if so, when was it dated, etc to go into details in a blog format. Suffice it say, that your Title Agent will be going back several years scrutinizing the foreclosure which may result in requirements in order to protect the new insureds going forward. As you encounter this, work with your Title Agent and rely on their knowledge and expertise. At America’s One Title we will explore all solutions available AND work diligently to help our clients resolve any foreclosure concerns as quickly as possible…that’s a promise!
America’s One Title would like to thank Meredith Weingarden, Fidelity Insurance Co for much of the foregoing information.
NetWORK for Growth
Would you like more qualified appointments each week? Would you like to list or sell more properties? Would you like to make more loans? I would love to have more title orders every week! So, we have to ask ourselves…Are we networking enough? Are we actively engaged with a specific purpose to “meet” new people every week? Remember though…it’s netWORK….not netPLAY or netTRY or netHOPE!
Professionals who wish to leverage their presentation skills and/or grow their personal business must attend general and exclusive networking events or clubs. Some people tend to prefer face-to-face networking over online based networking because the potential for higher quality relationships are possible. Many individuals also prefer face-to-face because people tend to prefer actually knowing and meeting who they intend to do business with. Face to face business networking is often facilitated by referral networking clubs.
Social networking can be effective too, but you must be engaged & relevant…and of course, Social! However, it can’t end there. You must take your online connections to a higher level in order for it to generate business. Ask for the face to face appointment or referral.
Businesses are increasingly using business social networks and regular Face to face networking clubs as a means of growing their circle of business contacts and promoting themselves online and in the real world. In general these networking tools allow professionals to build up their circle of business partners they trust and who will refer clients onto them. Through introductions, the members can get in contact with new prospective business partners which will help them build their business.
So…are YOU networking enough?
REDUCE YOUR COSTS with America’s One Title
America’s One Title is constantly looking for ways to ADD VALUE to our clients. We are excited to provide you, our valuable clients, access to EC PURCHASING discounts.
EC Purchasing was established in 1999 to help reduce expenses for businesses in the real estate industry. They are able to offer significant discounts on an expanding list of companies that now includes:
AT&T DELL VERIZON STAPLES OFFICE MAX UPS FED EX …..& many, many more!
Members in EC Purchasing do not pay annual dues or membership fees, and are not required to purchase a minimum quantity of product or service from any of our business partners.
Contact America’s One Title at 616-365-4100 for information on you can take advantage of these discounts. You can keep more of your hard-earned income! Thanks for choosing America’s One Title Agency.
