2011 NAR Annual Google Communications Suite

…presentation and I haven’t had time to launch my new site yet.

Please click the link above to download the PDF.

Thanks to all who attended the session, I hope it delivers some value to you and your business.

~Jeff

a

2011 NAR Annual Google Communications Presentation

This site will redirect to my Google+ account, where I will publish any future articles as well as general life and thought streaming.

The move isn’t a statement against blogging, the merits of having your own site or any such nonsense.  It’s just a move that is right for me.  I know I don’t control what goes on over there and Google could take what I produce and lock me out, shut down and/or… whatever.  I’m not the type to worry about what I cannot control.

Google+ provides what I’m looking for: The ability to be found, a relevant audience and engagement in an elegantly simple user interface… and a couple other theories that I want to test myself, including what they do with some of their expected API’s.  We shall see.

I owe a lot to this personal publishing platform I started way back in August of 2006.

It has quite literally introduced me to every business opportunity I’ve had the honor of participating on since its launch and that I continue to participate in.

Most importantly it has introduced me to some amazing people, many of which I now consider close friends.

Over the past few months I’ve contemplated a complete site overhaul, total reinvention as well as simply starting to write again.  However, for one of a multitude of reasons, I haven’t done anything meaningful here since my last post back in December of 2010.  There is still a lot of valuable content in these archives, articles I’ve spent countless hours writing with passion and conviction.  Many of them will have a place to live once a suitable repository is identified.

In the end, The XBroker is depreciating rapidly and she deserves to be set out to pasture rather than sit idly by and collect dust… so it is- The End.

Peace out…

JeffX

a

The End

Instead of responding to numerous emails I’m reducing my quick and dirty thoughts to this post… so please excuse the mortgage speak without detailed explanations and definitions…

Move created a mortgage ‘decision engine’ that effectively processes relative financial, credit and other risk based factors to generate mortgage rates, their costs, as well as subsequent pre-qualifications and approvals for consumers.  They simply tweaked a different loan qualification system and turned it into a mortgage specific version.   They’re a big technology company that employs smart people, so I’m sure they’re doing a good job with that.  Move then passes this neatly wrapped exclusive lead to Cornerstone Mortgage, the licensed mortgage banker who processes the rest of the required paperwork and closes the mortgage with the borrower.

I’m sure they’re are all sorts of reality TV worthy details to air, but I don’t know nor do I care about Move and Cornerstone’s internal business relationship or how their offering screws with a given real estate brokerages internal lenders (since Move is integrating this mortgage tool with listings provided from real estate brokers & their MLS’s).

Automated mortgage qualification/decision/approval engines have been around for over 10 years, initially only used internally by those in the mortgage industry.  This class of technology has increased in efficiency and ease of use to the point where a slightly tech savvy consumers can now effectively ‘qualify’ themselves for a mortgage.  As such, mortgage lead curators like Google (Comparison Ads), Zillow & Lending Tree as well as bankers like DiTech and Quicken Loans have used variations of what Move is providing for quite some time… all in the name of capturing the Internet mortgage consumer.

The main degree of differentiation in Move’s offer to the general consumer is the exclusive relationship with a single mortgage banker, Cornerstone, allowing the pairing to monitor and control the consumer experience much more efficiently.  I suppose their user interface is real nice and fresh too.  Otherwise you’re not likely to find anything new or novel about MortgageMatch.

Let me explain in terms that are easier to understand, in dollars and sense.

Below are the rates & costs for a given scenario (highest credit quality, provable income and assets, low risk loan & property factors) on Mortgage Match:

MortgageMarket Rate and Program Quote

Points to note:

• 309,000 Loan Amount
• 4.5% interest rate
• Fee for 0.750 point = $2317.50
• Lender Fees & Closing Costs = $6060.20

Next are two examples of what was available directly from the wholesale market using the exact same given scenario- High quality borrower and property qualification factors, in the same zip code for the same 30 year fixed interest rate within minutes of pulling MortgageMatch’s quote.  (I can’t tell you who’s providing the info so as not to compromise my sources, however, table B references what was available from Citibanks wholesale division earlier today… do not call Citibank and ask for their wholesale department, they don’t deal with consumers directly):

A. Large Mortgage Banker Direct Pricing

B. Direct Wholesale Rate Mortgage Pricing

Please draw your attention to the 4.500% interest rate in each table.

In table A. the price next to the rate is 100.706.  In table B. it is -0.721%.  Two different formats but similar results that state this 30 year fixed 4.5% interest rate will yield or pay .706% and .721% (respectively) of the loan amount to the borrower.

Let me make this even clearer.

The price in Table A  yields or pays $2181.54 to lock this 30 Yr-Fixed 4.5% interest rate.   Borrower must still pay 3rd party closing costs.

The price in Table B yields or pays the borrower $2227.89 to lock this 30 Yr-Fixed 4.5% interest rate.  Borrower must still pay 3rd party closing costs.

In MortgageMarkets offer, they are charging the borrower .750% of the loan amount or $2317.50 for their 30 Yr-Fixed 4.5% interest rate.  Borrower must still pay 3rd party closing costs and additional Lender Fees.

So, MortgageMatch is really making ~$4500.00 plus additional Lender Fees, not 2317.50 plus additional Lender Fees (and 3rd party closing costs).

That’s expensive.

For me, its always been about unfiltered access to wholesale mortgage rates, directly from the source, subject to no manipulation by any 3rd party… pure information of the highest integrity… radically transparent.  Good customer service is expected, I want to know exactly what rates I qualify for and at what cost.  I want to pay a fair, clear fee for value received from a mortgage professional.

Show me what I truly qualify for and set the fee to process my mortgage in simple dollars rather than ambiguous ‘points’ that have nothing to do with the interest rate.  If Joe Mortgage charges $2000 and John Mortgage charges $4000, John has to justify his larger fee with a tangible explanation and he’s gotta back it up with references.

This dynamic still does not exist in the marketplace and until it does all these ‘new’ offerings are doing nothing but increasing the velocity of the same old convoluted, untrusted mortgage model.

I really look forward to the day when the greater mortgage industry implements technology and practices that comply with true full disclosure policies rather than financial charades.  In the meantime, if you need a reference to a mortgage professional who discloses things as I’ve described, hit me up.

a

Move Launches MortgageMatch- Same Cat, Similar Spin

I guess it just sounds like the right thing to do since banks and ‘Wall Street’ are behind this, and they’re all greedy evil sons-a-bitches so they must be trying to rip someone off.

This situation is really about A. The process of paperwork, specifically establishing proper chain of title to property, and B. Having a human being actually review documents they represented they have through notarization.

In regards to A. it is vital to establish a clear chain of title when a property changes hands to insure the claims against it (in this case a mortgage evidenced by a promissory note) are properly released or transferred.  If a clear chain of title cannot be established (or is broken) claims may be rendered void, or in the alternative a property may seem to have a clear title when in fact someone has a legitimate claim against it.

The chain of title issue at hand revolves around a system called MERS, which for all practical purposes electronically facilitates the recording of title transfers. Back in May, some clever individual filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Government in California against MERS and some very large banks like Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and GMAC, alleging they bypassed local recording requirements and prohibited borrowers from knowing who really owned their mortgage.  Because of this procedural defect, any subsequent actions like foreclosure would be initiated using ‘fraudulent’ documents and thus should be thrown out.  This is called following black letter law… if you didn’t do X then the consequences are Y, period.

In regards to B… At the same time, there has been such a crush of new foreclosures entering the system that banks were essentially having notaries rubber stamping foreclosure files as fast as they could without reviewing the files to insure they contained the actual documents and figures they were supposed to.  One lender was using 7 or 8 notaries to notarize over 18000 files per month, obviously they couldn’t be thoughtfully reviewing that many files.

A bunch of attorneys who smell blood have since played pile on to the above lawsuits and in certain cases they are prevailing, thus the reason for the foreclosure pause.

Banks are going to take a month (or two) to clean up what amounts to procedural defects in their processing of foreclosures or there will be substantive precedent setting lawsuits that completely sack the housing market.  If banks were to lose their interest in properties and the ability to foreclose they would go belly up, all of them, and fast.  Our economy would implode.

This isn’t going to happen… so what will?

IMHO- Delays, Long Delays.  Then business as usual.  I for one was convinced that the market was being primed to have copious amounts of distressed property pumped into it, this puts a damper on that prediction.

Title companies are refusing to insure title on a home that was recently foreclosed on by lenders who used the MERS system or are in some way implicated in the procedural processing defects, at least until they have an acceptable remedy.  Insurance companies aren’t in the business of actually paying claims and don’t want the unnecessary risk that they may have to, so this is an issue.  Banks will not lend on a property that does not have title insurance… so the sales cycle grinds to a halt on any property thats been through the foreclosure process as the legality of such is called into question.  The real question is how far back do you go?  3 months, 6 months, 3 years?  (Looks like the groundwork to getting this issue resolved is being laid)

Being a service provider like a Realtor or mortgage professional is hard enough in the current environment, their sales cycles just got longer on any property that has gone through foreclosure or is in the short-sale process.

A common question I hear involves whether foreclosed properties that reside in a judicial or non-judicial state are more or less effected.  It really doesn’t matter, however judicial states are likely to act quicker to remedy the issues since a judge must sign off on foreclosures.

The average time to foreclose from date of first default is already over 400 days, expect this to increase.

The main reason this mess must be relatively temporary is that the housing market simply cannot afford to slow down anymore than it already has.  A protracted ‘foreclosure freeze’ would be very bad for the overall housing market (and economy) as it would further stagnate inventory thats already stuck in a quagmire.  It would also negatively effect insurance companies, pension funds and other private investors.  The cost of credit would rise as well, as banks and investors pass on the costs of holding inventory to new buyers.   Unfortunately political agendas will surely play a part in all of this, what politician or other elected official wouldn’t love to stand up to the voting public around election time and represent he/she is ‘helping to stop foreclosures’.

Consumers who are going through foreclosure did not pay their mortgage for 1 of a 1000 reasons, this mess isn’t about banks foreclosing on the wrong people.  I’d be shocked if someone can prove they’ve suffered actual material damages from ‘Robo-signing’…but that won’t stop attorneys from trying, after all- A lawsuit need have no merit to file.  This is about improper procedure with respect to certain aspects of the foreclosure process, which is very important to correct.  However- improper procedure of this sort, even if it is black letter law, cannot and ultimately will not be a remedy to a creditors claims.  If it were to be, there is no amount of money that could bail out these financial institutions, as stated, they and our economy would crash hard and fast…there aren’t enough printing presses in the world to foster a bailout of that size.

Meanwhile, enjoy the conjecture laced fireworks around this topic…It’ll be bulletin board material until people have a chance to wrap their heads around it.

a

The National Foreclosure Moratorium Robo Sign Housing Debacle-ism

While there were many threads of thought that could turn into policy when Congress is presented a proposal in January 2011, I rub my Conjecture Ball and foresee:

The Government sponsored artists currently known as Fannie and Freddie shift from hybrid private/Government controlled entities to straight up Government controlled.  OK, it’s not really speculation when Timmay Geithner states: “We’re not going with a system where private gains are subsidized by taxpayer losses.”  Anyway, they abandon the practice of implicitly guaranteeing (~90% of all) mortgages today in favor of an explicit guarantee that reads like an insurance policy.  So, the Government will provide mortgage insurance for a fee instead of the Freemium model currently enjoyed by financial institutions.  That model didn’t work out real well for anyone except big ass banks.  Our Government hasn’t been real savvy when it comes to financial engineering…free really shouldn’t be the new business model, with all due respect to Chris Anderson.

Government Sponsored Mortgage Insurance (GSMI).  This is interesting, really.  The premiums for something like GSMI would be paid by the individual mortgage holder and the policy would insure the actual asset, not the business entities that hold them…suitably addressing Mr. Geithner’s statement above.  Fannie and/or/nor Freddie can thus go back to performing the duties they were essentially created to carry out: To create affordable housing for the masses and mitigate risk on their behalf.  They could still maintain, even increase their influence on the market whilst scaling back on the actual buying of mortgages…insuring parts thereof instead.  Theoretically this shift would provide enough incentive and security for the private sector to gradually re-enter the mortgage space and fill any vacuum created by the Governments very, very gradual decrease in purchasing mortgages.  A new fee like GSMI means other fees and current tax deductible benefits currently innate to a mortgage take a hair cut…like the mortgage interest deduction.

The powers that be are focused on providing suitable, affordable housing…just not necessarily through home ownership.  As such, rental market dynamics are being primed for adjustments. Multi-family housing loans made accessible and desirable due to favorable GSMI terms seems highly plausible.  There are likely to be other subsidies into the rental market from initiatives like PETRA to help shore up this sector of affordable housing.

If you continue to listen closely and look closer, the landscape is being primed for The Ultimate Fix…

“The only way to fix it is to flush it all away.”

One of my favorite bands goes by the name of Tool.  They create deep, dark, complicated music, but they are an acquired taste…not for everyone.  The following is a verse from one of their songs appropriately named ‘Aenima‘  **Bad Language Warning**  Skip down if you are offended by profanity.

Some say the end is near
Some say we’ll see armageddon soon
I certainly hope we will
I sure could use a vacation from this
Bullshit three ring circus sideshow of  Freaks
Here in this hopeless
fucking hole we call L.A.
The only way to fix it is
to flush it all away
Any fucking time, any fucking day
Learn to swim, I’ll see you
down in Arizona Bay.

So, nix the reference to Los Angeles and ‘Arizona Bay’, fill in metaphors of choice and it sounds like they’re waxing philosophical about the economy, the housing market specifically.   Rather prophetic too since this is whats about to happen…actually its already started.

Over the next six or so months the housing market will continue to tank as financial institutions release huge amounts of distressed (shadow) inventory into the market creating supply that far exceeds the ability to consume.  This will exert extreme downward pressure on property values.  The number of banks will continue to contract.  Homeowners will continue walk away from their houses.  The National Association of Realtors will continue to tell anyone who is listening that its a great time to buy.

These sour conditions will be amplified with the seasonal slowdown to such a point where everyone is clamoring for additional Government ‘intervention’ or stimulus or Print More Money!!  Except I don’t think there will be much, if any, of that.  There really isn’t much left to be done except to allow the existing system to flush itself and prepare for what comes out the other side.

Whats on the other side of this economic enema?  Explicit Government guarantees via the artists formerly known as Fannie and Freddie to keep the cost of credit within reach of the qualified rather than the entitled, increasing private money participation, and a retooled rental market system to support all the displaced homeowners.  Dead inventory will be channeled off through a series of initiatives like HomePath.  The housing market and property values drop below this ‘double dipped’, false floor we’ve been dancing on for almost 2 years…and there is no where to go except up.  Which equates to a real recovery and sustainable growth which will lead to inflation and all those other problems that we can worry about that sometime post 2012, assuming that whole Mayan prophecy thing doesn’t absolve us of any future responsibilities.

This painful process constitutes a necessary de-leveraging of an economic system thats based on a debtor society which has been taught to borrow/spend beyond it’s means.  While it may hurt and otherwise cramp our very American style, its really not the end of the world as we know it.

a

The Ultimate Fix

John Paulson was an interesting figure in the whole SEC vs Goldman Sachs stink-eye contest, which ultimately ended up with Goldman getting slapped on the wrist with a fine and restitution to damaged investors for ‘making a mistake‘.  Looks like J-Paul managed to stay out of range of any collateral damage and made billions by helping build the elegant piece of financial engineering that enabled Goldman to make their ‘mistake’…directly contributing to the housing bubble and subsequent *pop*.

Former Treasury secretary and Goldman Sachs exec Henry ‘Hank’ Paulson (of no relation to John) donned his 20/20 hindsight glasses for the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.  Too bad he didn’t practice what he preached while he was in the middle of it all…

Ben Bernanke the Federal Reserve Chairman warned about warning of pending warnings as to what the Feds future economic policy changes may look like.  This ‘no surprises’ strategy is intended not to spook investors and/or cause knee jerk reactions.  Unfortunately well prepped domestic policy changes wont do much to reduce the anxiety of investors as global headline news continues to cause such spooky, knee-jerk reactions…but thanks for the warning ahead of the warnings about your read and react strategy Ben.

More in line with the real estate (and mortgage) markets proper, I started a series about how some real innovation was required in the aspects of business and cost modeling for the industry’s to change in meaningful ways.  New sexy search UI’s and social media are fun and all but they do little to address the core problems at hand.  Beauty is only skin deep and the insides of these industries are nothing short of fugly.

Politics tend to get in the way of meaningful change when it comes to the real estate industry, evidenced by the strong aversion from real estate professionals to offering consumers a peek into their professional track records or ‘report card‘.  The Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) launched an Agent match product that was by most accounts very benign in regards to the information being displayed for public consumption.  Nonetheless they had to take the product down within 48 hours of its official launch because inmates run the asylum in real estate-land.  Thats sad.  I applaud Bob Hale of HAR for having the guts to push for this type of initiative and believe he is 100% correct when stating: ‘It will happen outside of the industry, and everybody will be mad’.

Another Captain Obvious moment- Alan Greenspan.  The former Fed Chairman really stepped out on a limb recently by prognosticating that another dip in home prices could cause a double-dip in the overall economy.  Never mind that no one can agree on what really constitues a double dip recession, outside of the notion that the economy shrinks, then grows, then shrinks again, then…doesn’t the economy do this all the time?  Double dip, W-shaped, recession, depression, correction…all economic semantics for:  Our economy is going nowhere fast with long term issues like high unemployment, shadow inventory and mortgage underwriting standards so tight you couldn’t pull a pin out of a lenders ass with a John Deere tractor…

——————————————–

All real estate, economics and the unimportant aspects of life aside-

A dear friend, peer and overall great human being passed away last evening.  Joe Ferrara may have lost his battle with cancer but he won the hearts and minds of countless people through his unselfish nature and consistent nurture.  While I mourn your death, I celebrate your life.  Rest in peace Joe…

a

Honest Mistakes, 20/20 Hindsight, No Surprises, Real Innovation and Double Dip ‘Psycho-Semantics’

I decided to present on ‘3 Strategies to Futureproof Your Business’…hoping the cliche-ish title would draw in a few extra attendees.  During my discussion group disguised as a presentation, I spat off a myriad of names of businesses, vendors, websites, and applications that would assist in such ‘Futureproofing’, which I promised to put online for reference.

So, here’s Part 1 of a very general recap of the three ’strategies’ with links to the resources intertwined the best I could.  Actually I’m going to break this into 3 posts rather than cram a 4000 word mini-novel and worry about your head hitting the keyboard as you zone out or pass out…

Strategy #1- Establish Your Blogsite as the Hub of Your Marketing Efforts.

We start at the top of the funnel with Marketing.  REBarCamps are dominated by Social Media presentations since thats what most agents who attend Bar Camps are interested in learning more about.  Give em what they want.

**Disclaimer:  I am not in any way compensated by any company mentioned in this article, outside of the occasional drink…

A Blogsite or Hubsite or content management system (CMS) is an extensible website, one that can be dynamically changed to reflect the current look, feel and opinion of its main proprietor.  Architected thoughtfully, built by a quality engineer using the right parts, a blogsite can be developed into the hub of a potent interactive marketing ecosystem.

Wordpress is the de facto CMS for the real estate and mortgage industries due to the sheer amount of developer support for the open source platform, specifically in the real estate arena.  Yes, you can DIY depending on how how well you understand what is effectively a second language and how much time you have.  In most cases working with a professional will yield far better results far quicker.  I’ve seen the work and know the principles of  Dakno, Real Estate Tomato and Virtual Results, all are well versed in working with Wordpress and Real Estate/Mortgage professionals.

Whatever provider you decide to use, keep your hubsite as aesthetically clean and simple as possible…less is generally more.  You can implement anything below in a well organized, uncluttered manner…take time to funnel and categorize your content thoughtfully.  75 buttons and links and other bling-flair flashing on every single page is more often a distraction than a call to action.

CMS’s with sound interactive marketing (Social Media) strategies should contain some flavor of the following:

Opinion- Have one, please.  Although we’re talking about content management systems and strategies, people don’t hanker for ‘content’.  You’re going to upset 50% of the crowd most of the time so get used to trolls and other nill wishing folks when you actually form and articulate an argument instead of regurgitate what the talking head on the TV said.

Listings- Listings used to be #1 in importance but the industry has evolved to where they are almost ubiquitous.  Its not if you show all the listings and accompanying information anymore, its how and how to get found because of them.  The how resides in User Experience which is paramount to an effective IDX solution.  Certain IDX providers (like Diverse Solutions) include an ‘Indexable‘ option where listings are converted to SE friendly content which creates organic traffic to your hubsite.

Engagement- There are essentially five mediums to engage someone:  Online Comments, Instant Message, Text Message, Email and Phone.  Readily implement each one into your hubsite, giving everyone their own preferred way to contact you.  If someone writes an article that stimulates you to write a post, link back to them.  Give what you get, the law of reciprocity lives and its great for your interactive ecosystem.

Market Statistics- Probably the most underutilized resource of data available to the professional and consumer.  Up until not too long ago, crunching the information required to accurately gauge where a local market was performing and giving qualified advice on the best value for a given property amounted to ordering an appraisal and going off that. The Case Shiller Home Price Index reports on where certain markets were 3 months ago.

Fortunately there are companies like Altos Research that do a great job summarizing local real time housing data, they’ll even generate custom reports for your hubsite.  Look for new market stats providers from initiatives like RPR to MLS’s directly, this field is about to get white hot as vaults of data are being opened for interpretation and presentation.  Visually augmented information of this quality makes you look really smart, is hard to negotiate against and should help better set expectations between consumers and professionals when it comes to establishing sales/buy values for housing.  Of course, add some of your own opinion to the mix.

Social Network Integration- Other places you ‘hang out’ that are extensions or syndicators of your hubsite…and each should tie back in some way, shape, form or fashion.  There  many (many) opinions on how to engage the communities below down to a very (very) granular level, I’ll leave that to the respective authorities…for this posts purpose, I’m identifying how a few of the more popular venues can interact with your hubsite for communal benefit.

Facebook- ‘Like’ your way to engagement with their syndication button, make sure you (or your developer) implements the ‘Like’ button on your hubsite so people can push your content for you.  Create a Fan Page (for business) and explore using some of the widgets on your hubsite.  There is a strong engagement factor with Facebook, it’s reach is deep and potent to a very relevant audience.  There’s so much more to Facebook, I know this.  Check out LoCo Heather, Mike Mueller, Derek Overbey of Roost or JB140 for some killer Facebook advice.

Twitter- Include a link/button to this text message based social network so potential clients can follow you.  Consider placing your twitter stream on your hub.  ’Social Media’ etiquette (who ever sets such policy) says that tweeting your listings or mortgage rates or anything to do with business is a faux pas, but you are looking for business right?

While I’m sure consumers are interested in where you’re headed for dinner, enjoy that witty sense of humor and general life musings in 140 characters or less…they’re also very interested in what it is you do for a living and what your insights are…thats why they followed you.  If I’m following you and you’re a mortgage broker, I’d like to know where rates are trending, what you think of the market on your blog or other relevant opinion.  As an agent, I would expect to hear about new listings or market news from you.  Your true friends will understand if you occasionally engage in business speak…Im getting tangental, time to move on.

ActiveRain- The largest and most active social network in the real estate space.  ActiveRain is probably the most important social network for you to participate in if you are relatively new to ’social media’.  The sheer volume of information and generally altruistic membership offers tremendous support to those who seek it.  Since 2006 I’ve made some of the most important relationships, both business and personal, on or because of AR…I’m deeply indebted to the community.

AR ranks very well in Search Engine Result Pages (SERPS) for longer tail real estate search queries.  Longer tail search queries (anecdotally at least) suggest a consumer who is much further along in the buying process.  Put one and one together and…you should at the very minimum cross post your opinion within the AR network.  I’ll typically post an article here on my hubsite and post the same into my AR account ~24+ hours later, linking back to my site somewhere in that post.  If you don’t want to deal with the point seeking ‘Thanks for sharing’ comment spam and inbox stuffer, turn off the comments and direct them to engage you within your hubs commenting system.

Some people say AR is just Realtors talking to Realtors, which is what it looks like.  However, people, like consumers people, may not be commenting but they are watching.  I’m routinely contacted via email regarding articles published on AR and know many others who have derived a good bit of business from their engagements on the network, even if it is as simple as outlined above.

An agent/professional would be doing well to have a hub where a given article generated 10,000 page views.  Have a post featured on AR and this is normal, thats 10,000 potential very relevant visits to your hub.

I could give you 5 other reasons why its a good idea to make AR a part of your marketing strategy, similar to FaceBook, but I’m really trying to keep things brief. For more on AR, go sign up or login to AR…theres plenty of people ready to help you around.

Flickr- Online photo sharing and organizing social network.  Rumor has it that Flickr provides for great SEO juice to your hubsite if your business happens to depend on photographs…real estate sales depends on photographs, preferably very good photographs.  For some succinct advice on how, click here.

Posterous- Mobile life streaming, content syndication platform that can seamlessly integrate within your hubsites domain.  A novel way to keep business speak and more personal musings on separate channels within the same soapbox.  Post links, opinion, podcasts, video and pictures from your mobile phone/PDA through Posterous to your hubsite, FaceBook, Flickr and/or Twitter.  They also have a web based platform to manage everything from.

Oh, yeah…create a LinkedIn profile and link back to your hubsite too…

With any social network or 3rd party community, its important that you make it evident where else you ‘hang out’ and give obvious directions as to how to get there.  In other words…loud calls to action on at least the Contact page of your hubsite.  OK, thats it…

Next…Strategy #2: Customer Relation Management and other integrated information systems.

a

3 Strategies to Future Proof Your Real Estate or Mortgage Business

To qualify for the tax-credit, borrowers had to have an approval from a qualified lender and files submitted, effectively gone to contract, by April 30th 2010. This much has not changed.

It remains to be seen if the 90 day extension to the end of September is enough time to alleviate the back log considering the extreme labor contraction in the mortgage industry. The underwriting staff that’s pushing these loans toward the closing table are either overworked or lack sufficient experience causing the delays.

With approximately 180,000 potential home buyers who met the April 30th deadline, simply waiting for their files to clear the underwriting log jam, losing up to $8000 in tax-credits could’ve caused many to walk away from the transaction. This subsequently could have caused a significant negative ripple effect on the housing market with a sudden surge in supply and decreased sales, torching professionals and consumers alike.

Demand for mortgages are already at rock bottom despite historically low rates. New mortgage applications are at their lowest point since 1997, suppressed by increasingly stringent mortgage qualification guidelines. Throw those facts in the bag with the lingering bank owned shadow inventory that needs to be released into the marketplace, and you have a recipe for protracted depressed home values.  Extending the closing deadline to September 30th was the right thing to do and surely caused a collective sigh of relief for real estate professionals and mortgage professionals everywhere.

a

Senate Extends Home-Buyer Tax Credit Closing Deadline

Well you can throw all that logical shit out the window.

There are days when stocks rise and rates fall.  There are days when rates rise and stocks fall.

I pride myself on staying pretty up to date with what goes on in the financial markets, particularly their actions subsequent effects on prevailing mortgage rates…and I have no f*cking clue where mortgage rates are going on a daily or weekly basis, no one does.  Anyone who says they do is guesstimating at best, and my guess is that even the best market prognosticators are maybe 50% correct 50% of the time.

Its pretty safe to say rates are going to trend upward at some point because they can’t get any lower.  Like any other instapundit I can tell you why they moved the way they did after the fact.  When money en masse moves into Mortgage Backed Securities, rates go down.  When money moves out of MBS positions en masse, rates go up.  Outside of that, there are so many variables effectuating the market, I hereby deem predicting the short-mid term direction of mortgage rates with any sort of consistent accuracy logically impossible.

For example, the Euro has taken a beating because its connected to the troubled economies of PIIG countries (specifically Greece), subsequently strengthening the dollar causing investors to move to the relative safety of US backed Treasuries.  Couple that with the ban on naked short selling in Germany because financial institutions were creating mortgage investments that are (secretly) designed to fail and you have market conditions to keep mortgage rates low.  Yeah, that shit was easy to foresee.

FTW!

Markets are emotionally supercharged akin to an estrogen laced PMS’ing bitch, effected by wide ranging global events and as such there is simply no logical way to predict if rates are going to rise or fall on the short and mid term.  Rational economics left with the industrial age and technical investing is quickly following.  Floors, ceilings and other traditional technical investment indicators are being shattered and/or crushed.  These are the days of behavioral economics where cognitive biases rule over rational decisions.  When emotions run high, there’s no telling what happens 4 minutes from now let alone 4 weeks.

a

Estrogen Infused Markets Equals Unpredictable Mortgage Rate Forecasting

From the Daily Show with Jon Stewart:

Posted via web from JeffX Surf Files

a

Our Government is The Worst Loan Shark Ever…