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Southeast Region Holds 17 Spots on Inc. Magazine's Top Real Estate Companies of 2012

2012-09-02T20:34:00.002-04:00

The Southeastern real estate companies have gained a big spot on Inc. Magazine's 5,000 fastest growing companies of 2012. Out of the 5,000 companies, 69 were real estate companies and out of the 69 total real estate companies, 17 were from the Southeast. It is not a big suprise as the southeast has consistently been on top of lists for most affordable housing markets bringing many to strongly consider pushing their funds towards a mortgage versus renting. View the full list of Inc. Magazine's top real estate companies.

Florida Woman Sets Up Fake Businesses For Multiple Mortgages

2012-08-29T22:01:00.000-04:00

Rose Marie Sandrie, is being charged with bank fraud a little over $1 million after she allegedly set up many fake businesses in order to attain multiple mortgages. She is currently being held in the Florida Keys jail on a $1 million bond.

Investigators have gathered information stating that two companies owned by her, Loansource Mortgage and Sunshine Title, were used between February of 2002 and February of 2007 to make escrow account deposits and fraudulent withdrawals from her mortgages provided by National City Mortgage/PNC Bank. Essentially, she was sending false information to National City Mortgage/PNC Bank to get mortgages and then depositing money into escrow accounts which would be later transferred to her own personal accounts.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/29/2973917/woman-held-in-1-million-keys-mortgage.html#storylink=cpy

This fraudulent activity caused National City Mortgage/PNC Bank a total loss of $825,361.67.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/29/2973917/woman-held-in-1-million-keys-mortgage.html#storylink=cpy

Changes in Mortgage Financing Standards

2012-08-22T21:38:00.004-04:00

It may get a little harder for some hopeful home buyers to qualify for a loan as Fannie Mae is tightening the standards. Some of the changes include:

Increased credit score required (up to 640 from 620)
More tax returns to be reviewed for self-employed applicants (up to two years from one year)
Change in maximum loan-to-value ratios for ARMs (down to 90 percent from 97 percent)

It is estimated that some of these changes could really affect a large percentage of people applying for loans, specifically self-employed and low credit score applicants. Some good news for borrowers is that some guidelines will actually be loosened such as:

Change in loan-to-value ratio for some fixed-rate loans on two-unit properties (up to 85 percent from 80 percent)
Down payment will drop for some co-op loans

Tips of the Marketing Trade: Part 2

2012-08-16T16:00:00.000-04:00

Earlier this week we shared a few ways to increase your website's results on the search engines. These include social media, comments and engagement, blogging and keywords. Here is Part 2 of this important list:

Start a YouTube Channel. It is free and is based through the second most popular search engine in the world with over 4 billion views per day! We all have some form of expertise to share and what better way to give advice, share tips and create a brand for yourself than through interactive videos? The key to these videos is to make sure they are not too long (3 minutes should be good) and that the focus is on the consumer and how you are helping them. Self promotion and easy plugs will lose people's attention and leave you with a lonely video channel.
Use everything Google has to offer. Since YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, you can guess who is number one. Yes, it is Google and being on the first page of it can mean major success. Google offer numerous sites and application such as Google Places, Google Adwords, and Google Plus, which should all be utilized.
Measure your success to ensure it continues. If there is only one thing that you do from this comprehensive list, do this: Set up an analytics account for your website and study what is working and what isn't. This is the best way to ensure that your keywords are optimal, your bounce rates are low, and your inbound traffic is steady, and hopefully increasing, from your external links. If you own and operate a website, you need to know what this all means and how to measure it. Google Analytics is a great, user-friendly tool that can be easily integrated into a website and Google Webmasters is a more complex tool for the tech savvy website developers.

Tips of the Marketing Trade: How to Get Your Website in the Top Spots of the Search Engines

2012-08-13T21:44:00.001-04:00

Being in the real estate industry means that you need to be persistent in your marketing efforts, specifically online. The era of door to door marketing is diminishing as more potential home buyers are starting their search online. It is estimated that nearly 70 percent of active lookers start through online search attempts. This statistics reiterates the importance of search engine optimization in relation to a real estate agents website. So how does one make their website rank high in the searches? There are numerous ways to aid in SEO but here are just a few to get you started:

Pay attention to keyword details. Years ago the trick was to saturate your website with an abundance of keywords for search engines to pull from but now this can actually harm your website's rankings as the search engine's algorithms have become more advanced and detect repetitive keywords. Choose a list of 5-10 keywords that really speak to your target market, whether they are geographical, product/service orientated, or niche related. Then embed these keywords in numerous, yet appropriate places on your website. To add to this, if you have numerous websites or social media platforms, use these keywords as your anchor text for links between the sites.
Social Media and Blogging is IMPORTANT. Social media and blogging are not always understood by industries across the board but when you are thinking about increasing your online marketing efforts, they are essential for success. Many of the social media platforms have contracts with corresponding search engines which means their sites are crawled through for active posts, customer engagement and number of external links. This also means that just having a page is not enough. The pages need to be consistently updated, every day if possible, in order to get the return you desire from the search engines.
Incorporate reviews, comments and social sharing on your website. Getting people to be interactive and comment is the best thing you can have when providing a service to clients. This will enhance your brand recognition and create a following from potential clients. The more people you can get to say great things about your services, the more you can get them to share with their friends, and so on and so forth. Internet marketing is all about making something viral.

Stay tuned for Part 2 later this week on how to get your website in the top spots of search engines.

Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac Showing Profitds and No Longer Needing Bailout

2012-08-11T10:17:00.003-04:00

During the 2008 collapse of the housing market, Fannie Mae and it's brother company, Freddie Mac were seized by the government after they nearly feel into bankruptcy. Four years later, Fannie Mae is reporting a second quarter profit of $5.1 billion and no longer requires federal bailout money.

One of the major causes of this increase in profit? The up and coming real estate market that is projected to continue to increase throughout 2012.

Another reason Fannie Mae is not seeking federal bailout is that the losses from the subprime era loans its acquired were much lower than expected; therefore, Fannie did not need to allocate their funds to future losses.Freddie Mac is right behind it's sister company with second quarter profits of $3 billion, resulting in no need for federal bailout funds.

The current debt held by both Fannie and Freddie equals close to $142 billion, dropped down from the $188 billion total amount of federal bailout they have received over the past 4 years.

Top 15 Real Estate Websites

2012-08-08T21:26:00.001-04:00

If you are a real estate agent, using the right website to promote your properties is key to being successful in an era where most home buyers search online first. Check out the following list to see where your favorite website ranked in the top 15 real estate websites ranked by EBizMBA Rank according to Alexa Global Traffic Rank and U.S. Traffic Rank.

15. FrontDoor
14. Rentals
13. ForRent
12. ApartmentRatings
11. ApartmentGuide
10. HotPads
9. Apartments
8. ZipRealty
7. RedFin
6. Rent
5. Homes
4. Realtor
3. Trulia
2. Yahoo! Real Estate
1. Zillow

Large Mortgage Insurance Companies Under Investigation for "Kickbacks"

2012-08-04T12:29:00.001-04:00

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has recently served subpoenas to MGIC Investment, Genworth Financial, Radian Group and American International Group - four of the top mortgage insurance companies servicing American home buyers.

The investigation deals with the alleged transfer of billions of premiums from the insurance companies to the banks which made the loan. These premiums were charged to mortgage borrowers and then given to the banks in exchange for more insurance business. These kickbacks are illegal and an unethical practice.

Unfortunately, these type of referral situations can be easy for banks as borrowers typically head the advice of their lenders regarding which mortgage insurance company to use. This is where it becomes increasingly important for borrowers to take a well rounded look at their options and decide which insurance company is right for their situation. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact our mortgage experts at www.aapexfinancial.net

Where Should You Invest?

2012-07-31T20:31:00.001-04:00

Thinking about investing in some real estate? The National Associate of Realtors has compiled a list of the top cities of 2012 so far to purchase your next property. The list is a collaboration of cities based on statistics such as the unemployment rate, property inventory level and median days on market. Below are the top five:

1. Tucson, AZ
Median List Price: $170,000
Inventory Level: 6,600 homes for sale
Median Days On Market: 86
Unemployment Rate: 7.8%

2. Austin, TX
Median List Price: $229,500
Inventory Level: 8,329 homes for sale
Median Days On Market: 77
Unemployment Rate: 6.1%

3. Kansas City, MO
Median List Price: $134,150
Inventory Level: 7,539 homes
Median Days On Market: 103 days
Unemployment Rate: 7.7%

4. Baltimore, MD
Median List Price: $239,500
Inventory Level: 13,053 homes
Median Days On Market: 120 days
Unemployment Rate: 7.5%

5. Fort Worth, TX
Median List Price: $160,000
Inventory Level: 8,242 homes
Median Days On Market: 79 days
Unemployment Rate: 7.1%

Return of the Foreclosures?

2012-07-28T15:01:00.001-04:00

This year's second quarter marks the first time since 2009 that foreclosures are back on this rise. It is speculated that this is due to the majority of lenders now tapping back into the default loans they put a halt to during the robo-signing era of 2010.

Just over 300,000 new case of foreclosures have sprouted up this year and a large amount of them are from entities you wouldn't expect: large banks. Deutsch Bank, J.P. Morgan and Citibank are a few examples of banks who have failed to pay HOA maintenance fees on properties they reclaimed from delinquent homeowners and now, these banks are finding themselves in court foreclosure cases.

We all know the devastating effects of foreclosures such as the value decreases it causes on comparables in relative areas but what about how it affects those living in HOA controlled developments? In this situation, delinquency of monthly dues can cause the maintenance bill for all other paying homeowners to rise while at the same time reducing the amount of amenities available to them.

What Kind of Place Can I Get For $300,000?

2012-07-25T21:53:00.000-04:00

Real Estate prices clearly range acorss the different regions of the U.S. In fact, they can range from one neighborhood to the next. It can be very interesting to see the price differences, especially when looking for a new place to settle down or invest. Here is a little showcase of what kind of dwelling you can attain for $300,000 in different areas:

Charlotte, NC
4 bd, 3 bath single family home
Built 2009
Granite counters
Wood flooring throughout

Detroit, MI
8 bd, 6 bath single family home
Built 1927
Attached garage

New York, NY
1 bd, 1 bath condo
Brick building
Fireplace

Los Angeles, CA
3 bd, 1 bath single family home
Built 1921
Gated yard

Portland, OR
3 bd, 1 bath single family home
Built 1938
Large back yard

Chicago, IL
3 bd, 3 bath single family home
Built 1957
Large, fenced in back yard
Fireplace

Miami, FL
1 bd, 2 bath condo
Built 1964
Beach views

Add Value to Your Home Through These "Fixes"

2012-07-22T10:37:00.000-04:00

Thinking about selling your home? If so, you may want to take a look at this comprehensive list of "fixes" you can make to your home to increase its value:

Make your appliances match: Many time older homes may have gone through a series of appliance changes. Sometimes this means that they do not always come from the same manufacturer or even the same style. If you don't have the budget to buy all new appliances, you can order matching face panels.
Update the bathroom: All home buyers have a strong interest in the bathroom and an old, dingy room can easily steer them away. Update the floor with new vinyl which can be as easy to install as placing it right on top of the old flooring. If the bath tub really needs an updated look, a prefabricated tub can often be cheaper then trying to fix the weathered area.
Storage area is important: Many old homes lack closet and storage space, an increasingly important feature home buyers look for. Adding extra units into bedrooms, offices and even hallways is worth the extra money.
Add another bedroom: Some homes have a loft area which looks over the downstairs area. This can be a nice feature but what will add even more value to a home is adding a full wall to the loft and calling it an additional bedroom.
Pay attention to the front of the home: A house should be sound throughout its structure with no sign of peeling siding or unfinished carpentry but if the budget is short, at least make sure the front of the home looks fantastic. This is the first thing the home buyer sees and first impressions are everything.

Wall Street Journal Announces New Global Real Estate Section

2012-07-19T21:51:00.002-04:00

The Wall Street Journal, one of the United States top newspapers, announced it will be unveiling a 16 page real estate spread this September or October. The spread will be available in both print and online and will focus mostly on high-end real estate.

The section will have a variety of topics focused on the real estate industry such as family finance, home repairs, and well known neighborhoods and properties. Slideshows and interactive videos will be included on the website for easy showcasing of properties.

The WSJ believes their real estate section will surpass the New York Time Company's real estate section as it's content will be broader.

Wells Fargo to Pay $175 Million to Minority Homeowners

2012-07-15T19:31:00.001-04:00

Wells Fargo will pay $125 million to African American and Latino borrowers who were allegedly discriminated against in their loan process. Wells Fargo has stopped funding independent brokers this past Friday as the loans that were considered to be unfair and biased were originated through these brokers.

Wells Fargo was accused of leading about 34,000 minorities into sub prime mortgages with higher interest rates and fees, according to the Department of Justice. The large lender has agreed to pay a total of at least $175 million to settle the case.

In addition to the $125 million to paid, Wells Fargo will be giving $50 million in homeowner assistance grants in numerous U.S. metropolitan areas. These grants can be use as renovation financing, down payments and closing costs.

New Mortgage Disclosure Forms to Hit the Market

2012-07-12T21:53:00.001-04:00

Whether you are a loan officer, real estate agent or previous home buyer, you know the confusion and aggravation mortgage disclosure forms can bring. The paperwork is lengthy, the signatures are vast and the figures are everywhere. It can be especially overwhelming for a new home buyer who is not familiar with all the rates and payments which is why the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau just shared their plan to simplify these disclosure forms.

One of the new disclosures may be named the Loan Estimate and would merge information from the initial lending act and Good Faith Estimate regarding closing costs and terms. The borrower would also get a Closing Disclosure three days before their closing which would hold information from the final lending act and HUD-1.

Normally when new rules come into action, creditors get a year to get into compliance and since the bureau is still gathering comments and testing the new disclosures, it is estimated that these new forms wont make it out on the market until at least 2014.

Man Uses 62,000 Pennies to Pay Off Mortgage!

2012-07-07T12:46:00.001-04:00

Is it possible to pay off your mortgage with spare change? Yes, in fact one Massachusetts man did just that with pennies he saved over the years.

Thomas Diagle first received his loan 35 years ago when he bought a house with his wife in Milford, MA. Right after signing the loan documents, Diagle found a penny on the ground and made a joke with his wife that they could use it to start paying off their mortgage. Who would have thought that one day they would in fact pay the remainder of their loan with 62,000 pennies!

"I never saved anything in my life but pennies," said Diagle. All this saving and rolling paid off when he walked into his local bank, Milford Federal, and delivered the 50 cent rolls of pennies he had collected over the last 35 years. According to Milford Federal, it took 2 full days to unroll the pennies to put them toward the loan.

Celebrate!

2012-07-04T11:33:00.000-04:00

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!! Aapex Financial would like to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday.

Celebrity Real Estate For Sale - 50,000 Square Feet!

2012-07-01T21:26:00.001-04:00

As stated in our previous post, luxury real estate is on the ups. Naturally, this means luxury property owners are taking advantage of the thriving market and putting their places up for sale in hopes that now will be the time they will get purchased. Here are a few well-known sellers with luxury properties on the market:

The Beach Boy's Mike Love: $5.9 million Tuscan style home in Pebble Beach, CA

Ryan Phillippe: $6.9 million zen inspired home in the Hollywood Hills

50 Cent: $9.9 million 48,515-sq-foot Connecticut home

Luxury Real Estate Market Is On a Roll

2012-06-28T19:19:00.001-04:00

The debate continues, is the real estate market picking up or not? Well, new statistics from NAR and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development show that the luxury real estate market buyers have really gained back confidence and have began putting serious money down on properties.

Overall, exsiting homes priced at $1 million or more have seen a 17 percent increase in sales when comparing April 2012 to April 2011. The Miami market has seen a 16 percent increase in sales over the first quarter and New York's luxury market has seen a rise in condo purchasing.

Have your own luxury real estate success story? Let us know about it by leaving a comment!

Foreclosure Can Be Valid Without Holding the Mortgage Note

2012-06-24T21:57:00.001-04:00

New foreclosure updates from the state of Massachusetts highest court - a foreclosure can be valid even if the foreclosing entity does not have the mortgage note but as long as they have proper authority to act on behalf of the note holder. This new decision was made by the MA Supreme Judicial Court, overturning the lower court.

The entire basis of this recent decision by the Supreme court started with a foreclosure law case at the lower court level between Fannie Mae and Henrietta Eaton of Rosindale, MA. Eaton's claim was that Fannie's foreclosure lacked validity as they were not holding the note of her property or the proper authority to act on the foreclosure. This is believed to be a step forward for homeowners as it will put more due diligence on the servicer and allow homeowners to understand who exactly owns their home loan.

View the court case Eaton v. Federal National Mortgage Association

Real Twitter Success Stories

2012-06-21T22:12:00.001-04:00

By now we are almost all social media believers, well almost all of us. One of the most misunderstood social media channel is Twitter. People find it hard to comprehend how a measly 140 character blurb can gain any true potential of a lead. Here are a few real Twitter success stories to prove it:

Tim Ayers, Realtor - Sooke, BC

Wins 3 clients from one simple Tweet

Jay Thompson "Phoenix Real Estate Guy" - Phoenix, AZ

Top RE professional ranking on top of the Real Estate blogs
Uses Hootsuite to set up alerts for the words "moving" and "Phoenix" in order to offer polite advice to newcomers and gain their business

Kurt Opray, homeowner - California

Sold his CA bungalow for a whopping $1.05 million using tweets along with videos and blog/website postings

Who Attends Open Houses........

2012-06-17T21:43:00.002-04:00

An open house can be a great asset for real estate agents, and their sellers, for placing their homes on display. However, sometimes the people who attend are not always the prime target market and this is something any real estate agent will attest to. Zillow.com published a great story about this very subject which shares the 5 top kinds of people who attend open houses. There are as follows:

Real Buyers - The top of the list are the people that an agent actually wants to see at an open house. They may or may not be fully ready to take action yet but they are certainty open to negotiation.
Noisy Neighbors - Everyone has that neighbor you catch peering in your windows when they think your not looking. They are curious to see what color you have on your walls, how you decorated your foyer, what style furniture you decided on for your living space. This is their chance and they will be there.
Buying Agents on the Prowl - Many times there will be buying agents attending open houses on behalf of their clients. As long as the are respectful and keep their opinions to themselves, they should not be worried about.
Curious Listing Agents - Sellers will sometimes interview and use the advice of many listing agents before settling. Some of these listing agents may drop by the open house to see if any of their long consulting hours had any affect on the seller.
Old Inhabits - An open house will undoubtedly bring forth people who used to live at this property. They are interested in seeing how the house looks currently, what changes have been made and what memories they can evoke by setting foot on the property.

Thinking About Retirement? Check out These Places!

2012-06-13T22:00:00.000-04:00

Are you thinking about retiring in the near future? Or maybe you just want to evaluate a few places you may want to eventually settle down? We have compiled a list of areas that may be of interest according to geography, property value, climate and other factors:

Pensacola, FL

Average house value: $215,000
Sales tax: 7.5%
Crime rate: 5.45%
All over warm climate, beach atmosphere and close proximity to urban living

Boone, NC

Average house value: $216,000
Cost of living average: 93.4 (U.S. average is 100)
Average appreciation rate over past 10 years: 6.30%
Mountain living with plethora of outdoor activities

Walnut Creek, CA

Average house value: $657,000
Open acreage available: 2,704
Amount of retiree population: 36 percent of the population is 55 or older
Open green area equipped with a downtown area full of high end shops and restaurants

Santa Fee, NM

Average house value: $421,000
Amount of homes built after 1970: 60%
Average appreciation rate over the past 10 years: about 5%
Diverse culture and old city charm

Lincoln, NE

Average house value: $155,000
Amount of violent crime per 1,000 residents: 4.9%
Lowest unemployment rate: 3.5% in 2010, added more than 15,000 jobs since 2000
Great opportunity for those seeking additional hobby work

Texas Helps Their Firefighters Through Real Estate Assistance

2012-06-10T13:41:00.000-04:00

Goldwasser Real Estate from Austin, Texas has joined forces with the Texas State Firemans and Fire Marshal's Association to develop a home buying and selling program for firefighters. Goldwasser real estate will give 20 percent of their typical 3 percent home sale commission to each firefighter who uses them to buy or sell a home. The Texas Wildfire Relief Fund will then be given 5 percent and the other 15 percent will be given to the firefighter.

This has started a trend with a few other organizations contributing such as Proficio Mortgage Venture of Dallas and Capital Title Company of Austin. Proficio's State Heroes program discounts closing cost on purchase and refis for firefighters nationwide and Capital Title will donate $500 to the Wildfire Relief Fund for every closing.

Eventually this service is hoped to also reach police officers, veterans and corrections officers.

Social Media Tools for Real Estate Agents

2012-06-07T18:41:00.001-04:00

The National Association of Realtors distributed statistics recently quoting that 90 percent of Real Estate Agents use some sort of social media. This is no surprise as one log into Facebook will uncover a plethora of agents placing property pictures and success stories all over. Even so, there are a few avenues that agents may not be utilizing that could prove beneficial:

Google Alerts: This allows you to insert particular keywords for industry information to share with your clients or potentials. Then Google will search online for this information for you and send you a list of relevant news topics.
Google Analytics: If you have a personal website for your properties, hooking up an Google Analytics is one of the best free analysis tools you can use. It will show you demographic statistics of your readers, hits per page, suggested keywords, etc.
Hootsuite: This is a third party content distributor which means that when you post something on this site, it will automatically post it amongst all of your social media sites for you. This can help reduce time but keep in mind if you are looking for page rankings for your social media sites, automatic postings can slightly minimize the points you get with search engines.
RealBird: A Real Estate social media platform that has a Facebook application that allows you to add a "Home for Sale" tab on your business page.