EQUATOR AND BANK OF AMERICA....Agents, get ready to do somebody elses work too!! AND PAY TO GET WORK AS WELL!!!

Short sales for Bank of America and some other banks will now be handled through Equator, a privately owned company that will profit from selling subscriptions, areas of influence, certifications, and other services to the Real Estate Agents, (that is if they are interested in working with this banks....they could also find a different job).
The following are some of the goodies that we will be looking at:

EQUATOR requires the Borrower/seller to describe their hardship, if the seller has an undue hardship like military relocation or death, there is no way to input that information into the system...hardships are all the same to the system.

SELLER needs to upload their financial docuements (statements, etc...) Equator doesn't care if the seller does not have a scanner. Each of the documents have to be scanned and cataloged for Equator, so the bank has everything served at the table when they decide to consider it. Obviously this job will have to be done by the Agents.

AGENT needs to all input all the figures in the HUD statement and spend time figuring out all numbers, just to be asked to UPLOAD THE HUD sheet at the end, meaning: more work for the agent and complete disregard for his/her time;

There is no information for the agent as to what is expected to be input in different fields, for example: "SETTLEMENT FEES" do they mean ESCROW CHARGES OR THE SETTLEMENT CHARGES TO SELLER? OR SETTLEMENT COSTS, What does it mean (all costs??)

Asks for closing date. (if only we knew when they will approve??), we have an offer with BofA in my office that has been negotiated for ONE YEAR, vice-presidents come and go, I have lost 3 or 4 buyers, and still these guys cannot approve or reject the short sale.....closing date, yeah right!

IN THEIR "hud" There is not a field for NHD that is required by law.

Why is the commission is always 5% when the industry standard is 6%, and recent legislation HAMP and HAFA has determined that if the loan belongs to Fannie Mae or Freddie mac the Commission shouldn't be reduced. Why should we reduce our commission when we need to wait 4 to 12 months for the short sale to be approved??? We should reduce their salaries instead, they are the ones that are incompetent, bureaucratic and ineficient.

AGENt is required to know the first 5 digits of the Buyer's Social Security; phone number; address and Birthdate. Who gives that information??, the buyer is not the negotiating agent's client, tell me if you would give a stranger these numbers? doesn't it scream like identity theft?

AGENT is asked to upload photo and MLS# and in the same window is asked to upload the MLS Sheet that includes photo and MLS#. (Just for the sake of making agents work a little more, who cares)

When a message is sent to us through equator, and we try to reply, we get the e-mail back undelivered = GENERIC.BACI@BANKOFAMERICA.COM. Meaning: This system does not work yet, or nobody is looking at your answers!

The assigned tasks are supposed to triger an e-mail to the Agent to login to equator, but it doesn't, we need to check it every day, to see when someone decided to give us a break.

Equator sells registration to each zipcode so if an agent wants his client to be able to pick him out of the agents that are "suggested" or authorized by Equator, he HAS to pay for that zipcode, then better pay extra to get your photo in there, or even more if you want to be certified so the banks pick you, and even more if you want the banks to see your resume and be in a "prime" position..... and this is just the beginning of what will be the way banks work, doesn't this look unfair for the agents?, where is our Department of Real Estate, or our Boards of Realtors to protect us from this huge plan to extract money from us, in order to be able to work?

Investors offering to negotiate the short sales for free??? Be aware!

I have been approached by a ton of these "Investors", and have given a lot of thought to this, trying to figure out if it is the right thing to do, here is my personal opinion:As a Real Estate agent representing a seller in a short sale, it is your fiduciary duty to best represent your client's interests. What these investors in general do, is they formalize a contract with the seller (directly), this contract authorizes the investor to record an irrevocable option to sell the property, meaning that they are the only ones authorized to sell the property, even if the investor will continue dealing with the agent, at a given point, he has the right to sell even beyond your listing agreement expiring. This is not the best part, if the bank wants to the property to sell before foreclosure, they don't have a choice but to deal with the investor, even if this investor is offering a ridiculous amount for the property, it is either take it or foreclose it.The investor does not give a crap if the offer is unreasonable, the only thing he will care about is the profit he is getting, so he forces the purchase price to insure a hefty profit.If the bank decides to foreclose, the investor does not care, he has other properties.What happens with your client and your fiduciary duties? they went down the drain.What happens if the seller had refinanced or had a HELOC or a recourse loan? He probably will be hit with a 1099 and deficiency judgements at some point in the future and guess what.....He will see the records that the property sold NOT FOR THE AMOUNT THEY SIGNED but maybe $100,000 more!!!! Guess what they will be thinking then?..........LAWSUIT, MAYBE?

Bank tapes ----Urban legend?

Is this for real?, I have been chasing "Bank Tapes" for my investors for many months....Everybody talks a lot about them, nobody really "has" anything, everybody wants proof of funds, letters of intent, non disclosure and confidentiality agreements and in the end, they have nothing, everybody is trying to resell something that somebody else told them they have....To me, these bank tapes are URBAN LEGEND.
Rules that all these "contacts" should consider:
Who would sell houses at 50 or 60 cents on the dollar, when the market right now is hurting for more inventory?, when houses can be sold at 1 dollar per dollar?
If this was real, don't you think it would already be in Wallstreet? returns on this kind of investment are astronomical.
Why don't you see these deals closing?

NEW WAVE OF FORECLOSURES?? I don't think so.

I personally think that REOs will not be coming back in a huge volume, inventory will continue to trickle while the Banks concentrate in the big new trend with HAMP and HAFA, which basically means "short refi"; what they should have done from day one. They didn't because they are huge entities and cannot react fast enough to the problem.We will see an increased volume of short sales, because most people will try to short refinance their home that now is worth 50 cents on the dollar. If they don't qualify, they will be issued a payoff approval to short sell their home. All this will bring tremendous liquidity to the market.On the other hand, we need the job market to improve, and I think it will, (at a huge cost to taxpayers) sooner or later.We cannot, as a country, tolerate a huge foreclosure wave as you and I selfishly would like, I know we would make a ton of money, but our economy cannot tolerate it, it is about National Security, and Government priorities.You can rest assured that the wave you are waiting for will not happen. Not in this cycle.I recommend you continue to take advantage of the trickled REOs that will continue to be available for a couple of years, but get yourself focused on the areas that make sense, THEY HAVE MOVED OUR CHEESE AGAIN.The only thing you will find in the REO market, is people wanting to squeeze money out of you, vultures that will promise to deliver "THE SECRET" in exchange of "A FEW DOLLARS"Conventions are only trade shows, Certifications are just tags that are worthless, if you want to learn something, buy a book, talk to other agents, don't pay for people to BLOW SMOKE UP YOUR.....

GOOD NEWS FOR THOSE THAT ARE FACING FORECLOSURE SOON!

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will suspend foreclosure evictions
from December 19, 2009 through January 3, 2010. To help
struggling families over the holidays, both owner-occupants and
tenants living in properties foreclosed upon by Fannie Mae will
not be evicted. Freddie Mac's suspension of evictions will be
limited to properties up to four units.
In a similar move, Citigroup Inc. will suspend foreclosure sales
and evictions for 30 days through January 17, 2010 for loans it
owns. Citigroup's foreclosure moratorium, however, does not
extend to loans it services on behalf of other investors. Given
these developments, other lenders may follow suit, so check with
the lender if appropriate.

Call me or email me if you are facing Foreclosure soon, or if you have
received a Notice of Default, I can really help you avoid it.

It's getting better all the time!! BETTER, BETTER!!

“It's getting better all the time” is the key refrain to the Beatles' song Getting Better. That sentiment would have been foolish if it had been sung this time last year. Today, though, it appears to hold true, particularly now that we have finally received the break we have all been anticipating – a drop in unemployment.
On that front, the nation’s employers have stopped eliminating jobs en mass. The unemployment rate dipped to 10% in November. Many forecasters – and forecasting is a perilous endeavor, to be sure – believe hiring will hit stride late in the first quarter of 2010. If they are right, the employment recovery will come quicker compared to the previous two recessions (1991 and 2001) despite the greater severity of the current downturn.
More jobs, in turn, will help reduce the number of homeowners on the brink of foreclosure, which, by the way, has dropped for a fourth-straight month. One in every 417 homes received a foreclosure-related notice in November, but that is down 8% from October, according to numbers released by RealtyTrac.
We are not out of the woods yet. RealtyTrac expects foreclosure filings will post a second-consecutive record in 2009, with 3.9 million notices sent to homeowners in default, compared to 2008's 3.2 million. However, if employment continues to improve, chances are good we will see a substantial reversal of that trend in 2010.
The drop in home values is another trend we expect to see reversed in 2010. According to real estate Web site Zillow, total home values in the U.S. declined by $489 billion in the first 11 months of 2009. That sounds like an astronomical figure, but it is actually an 87% improvement over the $3.6 trillion in lost homeowner value suffered in 2008.
More jobs could also reverse the trend in mortgage rates, pressuring rates to rise as loan demand increases. Though not showing signs of rising yet, mortgage rates have been at a plateau. Bankrate.com's recent lender surveys suggest the downtrend is abating, with its most recent survey posting marginally higher rates than the previous week's survey.
Economic Indicator
Release Date and Time
Consensus Estimate
Analysis
Producer Price Index(November)
Tues, Dec. 15,8:30 am, et
Finished Goods: 0.7% (Increase)Core: 0.2% (Increase)
Important. Rising producer prices will raise inflation concerns.
Industrial Production(November)
Tues, Dec. 15,9:15 am, et
0.3% (Increase)
Moderately Important. Production is increasing to meet renewed consumer demand.
Housing Market Index (December)
Tues, Dec. 15,1:00 pm, et
19 Index
Important. Confidence is expected to receive a boost from extension of the homebuyer's tax credit.
Mortgage Applications
Wed, Dec. 16,7:00 am, et
None
Important. Purchase and refinance applications rise as the decrease in rates slows.
Consumer Price Index(November)
Wed, Dec. 16,8:30 am, et
Finished Goods: 0.3% (Increase)Core: 0.1% (Increase)
Important. Consumer prices remain subdued but could be pushed higher on rising producer prices.
Housing Starts(November)
Wed, Dec. 16,8:30 am, et
560,000 (Annualized)
Important. Starts should rebound strongly after October's decline.
Federal Reserve FOMC Meeting
Wed, Dec. 16,2:15 pm, et
Federal Funds Rate: 0.0% to 0.25%
Very Important. The Fed is expected to hold short-term rates steady through the first quarter of 2010.
Leading Indicators(November)
Thurs, Dec. 17,8:30 am, et
0.6% (Increase)
Moderately Important. The indicators suggest the recovery remains on track.
Are We There Yet?
We cannot say for sure, but we think we are darn close. Of course, we are speaking of the bottom in mortgage rates. Last week we explained how the Federal Reserve has influenced the market with its massive purchases of mortgage-backed securities. This week we offer statistical support for our contention that rates are at least close to bottoming, if not likely to reverse soon.
Calculated Risk, an insightful Web site that tracks the comings and goings of the housing and mortgage markets, supplied the evidence. Calculated Risk has noted (as have we) the close relationship between the 30-year conventional fixed-rate mortgage and the yield on the 10-year Treasury note. Based on statistical analysis reprinted on Calculated Risk's Web site, the 30-year conventional fixed-rate mortgage is expected to rise to 5.4% based on the current 10-year Treasury yield of 3.45%.
We must be careful; statistics imply a certitude that does not always exist, but it is worth noting that the aforementioned model has a determination coefficient (statistic-speak for predictive value) of 0.97, which is very high. Today's 30-year fixed-rate loan is lower than 5.4%, but Calculated Risk opines that the difference is due to prepayment speed and randomness and to the Federal Reserve's purchases of mortgage-backed securities, which we expect to taper off considerably in coming months – and that's key. When the Fed starts throttling back on theses purchases, look for mortgage rates to throttle higher.

Credit to Brian Brinkley for this posting, www.brinkleycommercialcapital.com

When will the housing market recover?

Housing will not fully recover until 2012. That is when the glut of backlogged foreclosures is expected to be phased out of the market.

Housing will recover by the end of the year. Now that inventory has contracted to average levels for what constitutes “normal” regional markets in major metropolitan areas where prices have declined as much as 50% in the past three years, and month to month sales have steadily increased over the past six months, demand has realigned with supply to arrest the freefall in values.

The housing recovery began in early 2009. Median price increases in some markets indicate that even while many pundits were openly wondering when the bottom of the market would appear, it was actually several months in the rearview mirror.
Many factors and variables, and just as many divergent opinions to boot. So many, in fact, that you almost have to choose amongst the purported experts to determine whether you fall in the half empty or half full category. Job rates, interest rates, unemployment rates … psychiatric rates, for spending too much time poring over the data and extrapolations will render one in need of a head exam. Overanalysis 101.You don’t need flow charts to tell you where things stand at the moment. You won’t need a market report to tell you when things are better.You’ll know the market has recovered when you no longer dread the trip to the mailbox or evening phone calls.You’ll know the market has recovered when you can confidently re-enable automatic bill pay from your checking account instead of prioritizing which ones get paid this month by how far past due each is.You’ll know that the market has recovered when you don’t have to decide whether you or a loved one is really ill enough to warrant the cost of a trip to the doctor.You’ll know the market has recovered when you no longer have to explain to the kids why you can’t go to the zoo or stop for ice cream today. You’ll know the market has recovered when sleep comes as readily as worry formerly did.You can stop looking to someone else to tell you when the market is fully healed as the housing implosion is the root of these greater ails. It’s far easier to take stock of your own life, and those of your friends and family, to see where along its arc the pendulum is currently settled. As the finance/housing sector dragged our economy into the muck, it will again lead us back to dry ground. No need to watch the stars for celestial clues. Just do what no pundit can and watch your own life for improvement. You’ll know housing has recovered when both of your own feet are planted squarely on terra firma. Most importantly, beware the forecasts that don’t jive with your own internal index. Those who would adamantly assert the rosiest or bleakest prognosis are likely more interested in influencing your behavior than in your well being. “Buy now before prices shoot back up!” “Sell now before prices erode further!” When you stop listening to yourself, you risk placing all of your trust in the megaphones of those who have a vested interest in your fear.Is the housing market improving? Is now the time to buy? The time to sell? For months, I have been asked to provide the answers to these questions. I have dutifully provided my vague predictions with the obligatory caveat that no one truly knows how a free market will behave from one day to the next. I realize, though, that in supplying answers to those who actually give the market context, that we have all been looking at this thing from the wrong perspective. It makes zero difference where I think the market stands at present, and where it is headed. The very consumers who ask me these questions are the ones who will ultimately provide the truth or fallacy to my various hypotheses. So I turn the tables and ask the consumer, the actual authority, the very same question.
Credit for this article: Paul Slaybaugh, Scottsdale AZ Real Estate

Tax Credit Extension until April 2010?

Looking to buy? How about some help from Uncle Sam?
Senators agreed to extend the homebuyers tax credit.
Key Points:
1. Extended the tax credit to June 2010.
2. Available to individuals earning up to $125K, or $250K for couples, up from $75K for individuals and $150K for couples
3. Expanded to include current homeowners.
Why?
Government understands the need for an end to falling home prices. This is designed to inject $10 billion into the housing market. This should help and support a rebound in housing.
Total Cost? $10 Billion Dollars
The Impact?
This is good news. Home sales dropped recently as the end of the initial homebuyers credit was ending. It's very clear the housing recovery is critical to the end of the recession. This move will certainly add buyers to the market and should benefit the housing market.

$8000 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit Agreed To Be Extended!

Great news came across the newswire today about the First-Time home buyers tax credit. It looks like Senators have agreed in principle to extend the credit although it still has to be inserted into a bill & voted on by the house. Headlines across the nation are slightly confusing on whether or not this will go through, but many feel that it will surely pass.
“Senators agreed to extend the existing tax credit for first-time homebuyers while offering a reduced credit of up to $6,500 to repeat buyers who have owned their current homes for at least five years, said Regan Lachapelle, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
The tax credits would be available to homebuyers who sign sales agreements by the end of April. They would have until the end of June to close on their new homes, according to a summary of the legislation being circulated among lawmakers.”

SAN DIEGO REAL ESTATE MARKET RECAP
The U.S. economy continues on its path to salvation. Retail sales, an arbiter of economic activity, declined 1.5% in September, which would seem a step back at first glance. On second glance, the numbers suggest sales are improving nicely. Stripping out autos (which everyone knew would decline after the “cash-for-clunkers” program expired) and volatile gasoline and building materials, sales actually increased 0.5%, building on the 0.7% increase in August.
Just as important, people are not just buying more here, but abroad too. World trade is accelerating, evinced by the dollar value of exports, which rose 0.2% in August. Signs of an upward turn in world trade are good news for us, because they will spur an increase in production and hiring in exporting sectors that are plagued by high unemployment.
Unemployment remains “the” ongoing concern, but concerns are also rising over housing's ability to deflate an inflating economy. Integrated Asset Services reported house prices declined 0.2% in August, the second month of declines after a fourth-month-long rally that brought a 2.8% increase. This piece of data has led a few pundits to speculate that we are headed for a double-dip – a return to falling home prices.
We are unconvinced that is the case. It is worth noting that IAS also reported price increases of 0.7% in the Midwest and Northwest, while New York City and San Diego both posted 1.3% month-over-month increases. Yes, pockets of price deflation persist: namely, in the South and West, which reported declines of 0.1% and 1.2%, respectively, but those percentages were influenced by concentrated trouble spots, such as San Joaquin County in California and Lee County in Florida .
The price-deflation believers also point to the market-propping effect of the $8,000 first-time homebuyer’s tax credit, set to expire on November 30. The credit has helped support prices, to be sure, but we should not overlook the impact of an improving economy. Besides, we still think odds favor a credit extension, though we cannot say for sure how long the extension will last, or what bells and whistles will be added.
We also think that odds still favor a rising mortgage-rate environment, which is tougher to refute, considering gold traded at over $1,070 an ounce last week. Treasury yields moved slightly higher, and so did mortgage rates, though they are still very good. Zillow.com showed the state average remains below 5.15% in all 50 states. We will say it again: If you are looking for a mortgage loan, there's no better time than the present.

Here is another interesting fact to suggest price volatility is the norm: Since 1979, residential real estate prices have had two 10-year long cycles where prices have risen significantly, then retreated approximately 15% to 20% over the subsequent two years. This tendency to increase then tumble back has kept housing appreciation more or less on pace with inflation over the past 100 years.
Mortgage rates have also demonstrated spurts of volatility. In 1977, the prime 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 8.8%, spiking to 13.7% in 1980 before topping out at 16.0% in 1982. From 1984 through the present, mortgage rates have steadily trended lower to today's unprecedented levels, with no significant spikes in the interim. Does that mean mortgage-rate volatility is a thing of the past? All we can say is that it is worth heeding the late economist Hyman Minsky's admonition on stability. According to Minsky, the longer things are stable, the more likely they are to become unstable.