The Montrose Gold Team Blog

Economic Cleansing by Goldman Sachs in Greece?

Chris Ormsbee (Century 21 Action Realty) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:46:19 -0500

Economic Cleansing by Goldman Sachs in Greece? -

http://www.thinkbigworksmall.com/mypage/player/tbws/24241/1614413

Is this the new trend in "global warfare"?

Economic Cleansing as opposed to the less politically correct historic model of Ethnic Cleansing?

Geez - does this sound familiar to anyone else?

Do you feel we are just figuring out this happened or is happening to us right here at home in the United States of America?

Why not, take down the rest of the financial markets around the globe while they are on a roll?

Did you hear the good news about the new website http://www.preventloanscams.org ?

Do you think this will help prevent some people from getting scammed?

Check it all out an more at http://www.ThinkBigWorkSmall.com .

In my opinion, these guys are doing a great service to all of us getting the "real news" out to the world. What do you think?

Please let me know what you think!

Thanks Chris

Chris Ormsbee - Colorado Licensed Real Estate Broker/Realtor

Give me a Call - (970) 209-0252

Century 21 Action Realty - (970) 249-7777 - 1245 E Main St. Montrose, CO 81401

Check out the websites if you like:

www.SoldCORE.com - Western Colorado Real Estate, Community, and Demographic Information and Links

www.MontroseGoldTeamBlog.com - Information and Opinions about Real Estate, The Job of selling it, and the process of buying or selling a home or commerical property. Especially in Montrose Colorado.

www.C21ActionRealty.com/cormsbee - Search Western Colorado & Montrose Homes & Properties Here!

www.C21ActionRealty.com - The Century 21 Action Realty Website (search properties or find other agents in my office.)

www.YourCOREAdvisor - Blog with other information about buying and selling Real Estate.

It's Official, the New Good Faith Estimate Hurts the Consumer and the Industry!

Chris Ormsbee (Century 21 Action Realty) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:43:06 -0500

Larry has some good perspective on the problems of this new Good Faith Estimate... They must be trying to increase unemployment!

Via Larry Bettag - Cherry Creek Mortgage:

It's official:

The New Good Faith Estimate is causing real pain to

The Consumer and;

The Real Estate Industry

I've now spent two months working on this new good faith estimate. It's been implemented since January 1rst of 2010. So, without further adieu.....what is the problem with the new Good Faith Estimate?

THE CONSUMER

First, let's call it like it is. The government wanted to create a "new and improved" Good Faith Estimate that is "user friendly, easy to read, and would promote a fairness in comparison shopping for the consumer."    The consumer would be able to shop one lender against the other with such clarity that the Obama administration fully believed that the consumer would get better, clearer information and that the consumer would save about $700 per transaction.

THE RESULT?

1 The new Good Faith Estimate (or GFE) is anything but clear. Fortunately lenders are using the initial fees worksheet in conjunction with the new GFE. The New GFE is three pages long and discloses EVERYTHING, EVEN IF IT DOESN'T APPLY TO THE BORROWER. For example, the lender needs to disclose the title insurance in a purchase transaction even though the buyer doesn't pay for it in Illinois, the seller does. The title insurance becomes a "cost" disclosed to a borrower....but it is not a cost incurred to the borrower. The same can be said with most transfer taxes in Illinois. State and County transfer taxes are paid by the seller. Some munipalties have transfer taxes as well. Needless to say,

2) It is much more expensive for the consumer under the new Good Faith Estimate law for two reasons:

There are different categories on the good faith estimate. If the lender makes a mistake in certain categories, the lender eats it 100%. There are other categories with variances, but let's say that a lender fails to disclose a transfer tax that is charged to the seller, the lender eats 100% of it. It could be $1,500 up to $3,500 dollars. With a mistake like that looming over every lender, a smart lender will charge an extra few dollars to absorb mistakes on the loans that they don't get it right;

It's so much more difficult to get a loan done from start to close.  Ridiculous really compared to what it was. Sure it should be tighter, but it's so tight that all a loan officer does is look for ways to make things more palatable. Slam dunks? Few and far between. With more to do, lenders are not goint to want to be paid less. They are closing less, but their family expenses having gone down one bit. The cost to manufacture a loan is the same as always. With less loans closed per loan officer, invariably the costs need to go up. I just reviewed a Good Faith Estimate on a no cost refinance from Bank of America where the charges are just over $12,000. Wow!

FREAKS THE CONSUMER OUT...

WHEN THEY SEE HIGHER CHARGES THAN THEY'RE ACTUALLY PAYING.

Currently, I have a borrower who is buying a home with zero down payment. Needless to say, I have to approve the borrower by verifying over $8,000 of funds, when, in fact, the borrower only needs about $3,500 dollars to bring to closing. Getting this borrower approved has been rough because the borrower has to now play a game and show more funds than they'll need at closing because the government wants it that way. Can I say...."Where is the Truth in our Lending" anymore?

OUR INDUSTRY

This one is short and sweet. It basically cheapens our industry. The government has overcorrected for the actions of a few. The government should have prosecuted and punished those who were criminal. They didn't do so until there was a public outrage. Now, as a result, the government is punishing the industry, and, as a result the consumer who is supposed to benefit as a result of the new legislation.

Great loan officers will calculate for a borrower what he or she needs to bring to closing. If the good faith estimate is so far off, the loan officer will say,

"here's exactly what you'll need to bring to closing. "

"I know Mr. Borrower that the good faith estimate says our closing costs are X,Y and Z, but really they're not. You see that the seller's charges are on here. Transfer taxes are on here."

BORROWER: "Yeah, but your good faith says...blah, blah, blah."

Loan Officer "Just trust me."

Thus giving birth to the "Used Car Salesman"..."Just trust me"

Are you kidding me? We're supposed to be trusted advisors not sleazy used car salesmen. I'm not a used car salesman. But here's another conversation that I had with a realtor. I work with a Re/Max agent who is in the top 1% nationally.

Realtor: I got a call from Joe blow. He's confused on the fees.

Me: I know. I just got done meeting with him. I went through the good faith estimate and told him that the new government forms suck.

Realtor: Well he's concerned because it says that he needs to bring in $11,000 to closing.

Me: I know, but I calculated it out and he's really only bringing in just under $3,500. Blah, blah, blah.... (I'm now back to just trust me). GROSS!!!!

My trusted referral partner now has to hear the "pitch" from me, her 15 year partner in the business.

Normally I'd say that the Jury's still out, but in this case, the jury has returned, really quickly. The law has good intent, but the results? I'm sorry, but the results of this bill is a resounding guilty.

There are ways around showing the client the new Good Faith Estimate. I have spoken to folks who are legally getting around going through all the headaches of this bill. What they're doing is legal, but it' skirting the intent of the law. I guess my bottom line is this. Fix the bill before someone gets hurt. In this case the someone's are consumers, realtors and lenders....as well as our economy.
Larry Bettag - Regional Vice President, Midwest Region

Illinois FHA Specialist

630-417-7172





An Illinois Residential Mortgage Licensee

Chris Ormsbee - Colorado Licensed Real Estate Broker/Realtor

Give me a Call - (970) 209-0252

Century 21 Action Realty - (970) 249-7777 - 1245 E Main St. Montrose, CO 81401

Check out the websites if you like:

www.SoldCORE.com - Western Colorado Real Estate, Community, and Demographic Information and Links

www.MontroseGoldTeamBlog.com - Information and Opinions about Real Estate, The Job of selling it, and the process of buying or selling a home or commerical property. Especially in Montrose Colorado.

www.C21ActionRealty.com/cormsbee - Search Western Colorado & Montrose Homes & Properties Here!

www.C21ActionRealty.com - The Century 21 Action Realty Website (search properties or find other agents in my office.)

www.YourCOREAdvisor - Blog with other information about buying and selling Real Estate.

Sweet former Model Home - Available in Montrose's Bear Creek Subdivision

Chris Ormsbee (Century 21 Action Realty) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:24:59 -0500

Photo Gallery

Landscaped Yard

Two Car Garage and Driveway

Hot Tub Included

Small Backyard w Patio

Vaulted Ceiling in Kitchen and Living Room

Kitchen and Entry

Kitchen with Bar

Includes Oven and Microwave

Pass through to Dining

Two Car Garage

Hot Water Heat

Nice Laundry Area to Garage

Master Bedroom

Master Suite

Master Bath

Master Throne

Bedroom 1

Bedroom 2

Bedroom 3

Main Bathroom

Nice Living Room Vaulted Ceilings

Living Room

Fireplace

Living Room w Fireplace

Description

Motivated Seller! Do you, want to make an offer? Come take a look at this beautiful functional home full of extras and decide for yourself. It was a "model home" when this owner bought it so it is loaded. 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, split floor plan, separate dining room. Even includes the hot-tub and a gas fireplace for those cozy evenings on a cold Colorado night. Prefer advanced notice for showings, so call today to schedule your personal tour. Don't miss out on this one.

Features

Bedrooms: 4Bathrooms: 2Parking Spaces: 2Year Built: 2006Subdivision: Bear CreekLot Size: 5447Garage Size: 2 CarSchool District: MontroseSquare Footage: 1801Agent Name: Chris OrmsbeeBroker: Ninah HunterMLS #: 636067Agent 2: Diane Haynes

Location

1508 Animas Street Montrose CO 81401

Chris Ormsbee - Colorado Licensed Real Estate Broker/Realtor

Give me a Call - (970) 209-0252

Century 21 Action Realty - (970) 249-7777 - 1245 E Main St. Montrose, CO 81401

Check out the websites if you like:

www.SoldCORE.com - Western Colorado Real Estate, Community, and Demographic Information and Links

www.MontroseGoldTeamBlog.com - Information and Opinions about Real Estate, The Job of selling it, and the process of buying or selling a home or commerical property. Especially in Montrose Colorado.

www.C21ActionRealty.com/cormsbee - Search Western Colorado & Montrose Homes & Properties Here!

www.C21ActionRealty.com - The Century 21 Action Realty Website (search properties or find other agents in my office.)

www.YourCOREAdvisor - Blog with other information about buying and selling Real Estate.

Proof of Funds - What will work?

Chris Ormsbee (Century 21 Action Realty) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:55:37 -0500

What is Proof of Funds?

What Proof of Funds will actually work and which ones won't?

Just about every REO Home, Bank Owned Property, Foreclosed Home, Short Sale, etc. will require some proof of a Buyers ability to perform.

This blog post is as much of a set of questions as answers for your tips and suggestions on how to overcome this potential road block to a deal.

Before we get going. I know what a basic proof of funds letter from a bank or credit union looks like.

But what if you don't have a bank?

What if you have CASH in a more pure or secretive sense?
What about a retirement account?
What about foreign funds?

My Dilema:

I have a buyer we will call him Joe.

He is an older guy and he doesn't really like banks. He works on more of a true cash basis (nothing illegal), Joe just doesn't have a bank account or keep any money in it.

Joe does own several properties, residential rentals and a couple pieces of commercial dirt with a few minor improvements on it.

Joe has lots of friends. Lots of Joe's friends want his dirt. Lots of Joe's friends want to lend him money and secure it with this dirt. He explained to me that he would quit claim the dirt to his friend and not record it and then if he paid his friend would give it back, otherwise his friend would go file it.

I explained that this is kind of like going all in with a pair of 2s in your hand playing Texas Hold-em and that the proper way would be a NOTE and a Deed of Trust.

Joe doesn't want to do that, he want to do it his way. So I said fine, do it your way, just be aware you are risking your entire piece of dirt for potentially pennies on the dollar and based strictly on trust and a hand shake.

Joe put an offer in on a Bank Repossession (REO property in Montrose Colorado) the other day and told me to write the offer up CASH close in 5 days or as soon as he gets proof of clear title. No further inspection, appraisal, etc. No bother countering, final and best offer. (BTW I like this approach, of final and best offer, with people but it doesn't prove too effective with banks in my experiences.)

I told him I would write it up for closing in 10 days because no bank will move fast enough to close in 5. I based every date my date table x days after MEC (Mutual Execution of Contract).

We submitted an offer about 15% below the asking price and said the deal was CASH we would put $15,000 (his number not mine, they were only asking for $1,500) down as earnest money and we would put up the rest of the CASH to the Title companies trust account for proof of funds, prior to close.

The banks computer immediately kicked the offer back and said they need proof of funds within 24 hours or they will cancel the offer.

I called Joe and told him and he went on about how ridiculous it was and I said listen "if you want to play with banks you have to play their way." I also explained the banks have been burned many times before and told someone had cash when they didn't and that is why they ask for it.

I suggested that he should just get the cash and put it into an account that he could have a bank or other financial institution issue a proof of funds letter... The typical means.

He said No. If I pull that money out of my sources, then it will cost me a months interest. Here is what we will do. Joe is buying the home for his son Tom. He said I will write the letter and "be the bank" for my son Tom.

I said that sounds good, but they will likely just come back and ask you for proof of funds and we will be back here again. I said, "But we will try it". We typed up a letter that basically said he was the father of the buyer and going to provide the cash for the purchase and he was going to get this cash from his "private money lenders" and his various assets. But to them and for this purchase it would be cash and we could produce said cash and place in the Title Companies Trust Account for verification within 24 hours of MEC.

Unfortunately we didn't get to see if it worked. The bank (or their computer) countered back a mere $2,500 below the asking price after they just told the listing agent to take and advertise they were taking any reasonable offer.

What has been your experience of acceptable proof of funds?

Have you successfully used "private money" proof of funds letters?

Thanks for any tips or suggestions you might have.

Chris Ormsbee

(970) 209-0252

Montrose Gold Team

C21 Action Realty, 1245 E Main St. Montrose, CO 81401

www.c21actionrealty.com/cormsbee

www.soldcore.com

www.yourcoreadvisor.com/blog

Chris Ormsbee - Colorado Licensed Real Estate Broker/Realtor

Give me a Call - (970) 209-0252

Century 21 Action Realty - (970) 249-7777 - 1245 E Main St. Montrose, CO 81401

Check out the websites if you like:

www.SoldCORE.com - Western Colorado Real Estate, Community, and Demographic Information and Links

www.MontroseGoldTeamBlog.com - Information and Opinions about Real Estate, The Job of selling it, and the process of buying or selling a home or commerical property. Especially in Montrose Colorado.

www.C21ActionRealty.com/cormsbee - Search Western Colorado & Montrose Homes & Properties Here!

www.C21ActionRealty.com - The Century 21 Action Realty Website (search properties or find other agents in my office.)

www.YourCOREAdvisor - Blog with other information about buying and selling Real Estate.

Real Estate Agent - Hard Times Call for Desperate Measures.

Chris Ormsbee (Century 21 Action Realty) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:09:25 -0500

Real Estate Agent - Hard Times Call for Desperate Measures.

Was watching ABC's Nightline program on 2/1/2010... The menu was as follows

Psychic in Denver that talks to Dead Relatives.
10 American Missionaries Arrested in Haiti.
America's first "Legal" Male Prostitute/Gigolo

I saw the lead in after the local news on www.KJCT8.comand thought wow! That's an interesting
sounding program. I thought ok, I will watch it. And yes I said "Nightline" - not "Hollywood Access".

My analysis of the show:

1. The "Psychic" seemed like a nice lady and like she helped people,
not a weird robe/hat and crystal ball. (not that I have any thing against
any of these folks, I just wouldn't ever pay for their services myself as
I don't believe in their abilities. I definitely wouldn't pay $500/hr as many do.)

2. The arrested folks in Haiti are in more trouble than they think, in my opinion. I wish them well and while they surly mean and/or meant well, it does seem they may of been a bit overzealous in their efforts. As a UNICEF individual stated, (loosely para-phrased)

"We have to make connecting these children with their natural parents job number one."

"Can you imagine being a mother, separated from your child, unsure of their where-abouts, only to find out they had been adopted out of the country to another family or place" and (my thoughts) because you are poor you would have no means to do anything about it.

I agree with the UNICEF, guy... Protect, love and care for the children, but find their parents, only if after this whole mess is sorted out and the parents are confirmed dead should the children be adopted out.

I believe in adoption (I have two adopted children myself) and I believe it is a well intentioned act, but one must respect the children's existing family if one exists, they must want or need to give the child up.

Even this skirts on questionable if the parents are "promised a LOT" or paid a "lot" essentially bribed to sell their child off to save or help their others... To me this is wrong!

3. Now for the funny part... Mr American Gigolo...

Forget his name, but he did have nice abs... (tinge of jealousy).

Former Marine, a bit "cocky" you might say.

Anyway, the funny parts to me were as follows: while interviewing purveyor of the "ranch/farm/brothel"...

She says she may expand in the future and add more guys. She continued, and it wont be hard to find more guys...

We had over a hundred applicants for the position.... she lists off various people and careers... and ends with "and even a couple of real estate agents". (at least she didn't say "Realtors")

I laughed and nudged my girlfriend like hey hey... but then I thought why do we really need more mud slung our way...

I know times are tough and I gotta say, it doesn't sound like this would be too "hard of work". Still why mention your a "real estate agent" on your application?

Do Real Estate agents ooze sensuality and sizzle?

Then the news reporter asked how many people he had slept with and he said only three... The reporter questioned if his lack of experience didn't concern him. This number 3 struck me as odd and made me try to remember the formula from "Failure to Launch" or some movie... but at the end of the interview they said he had already had 4 clients so far (4 women mid 30s to 40s who each booked a 2 hour session at I think $350/hr), plus he had earlier mentioned what a good deal it was for him cause he had been homeless on the streets of LA after a failed Porn Career.

He didn't elaborate on how that Porn Career had failed... but he probably didn't have a good agent representing him and they took his "performance and package" and never paid the guy and said "too bad so sad, sue us".

Anyway, not really a big deal, I just thought it first funny, then kinda sad...

It is at least something to write about. I guess it also points out that as Real Estate agents or especially as Realtors, we probably ought to think about the consequences of our actions to the fellow members of our community. (But I refuse to be PC or keep my opinions to myself in blogs, sorry...)

On the lighter side I suppose any publicity is "good publicity". It might also make light of the fact that many Realtors are struggling and have second jobs in retail, waiting tables or bar-tending. I suppose it could bring a new meaning to "closing gifts" and "personal service", but I don't want to go there...

Nobody is perfect. I don't even expect them to be. But maybe we should put forth a good effort and try to use our heads and think about the consequences of our actions, not just silly stuff like this but everything.

The more important thing out of all of this as far as it relates to the state of Real Estate across America, is probably the "actual line up" of Nightline, a once news worthy show in my opinion. I don't watch much TV and I probably haven't watched the show in 5 years or so and not steadily since Ted Koppel was the host.

It seems, the apparent lack of media attention or debut in typical media shock and awe type fashion means they are being paid to keep it hush hush till it gets past, then they can start blaming one another and no one will know what really happened (seriously) and everyone will be pointing fingers. Sorry to tell ya, but its not the people or the person. Its not Bush or Obama or Reagan or Kennedy, its the process and the decisions being made that have got us here and are going to destroy us if we don't stop them... (bad decisions and their resulting consequences). In my opinion, President Obama is a very successful "Puppet of the Rich" (I mean the "uber wealthy"), in their hands, the combination is very dangerous. On camera and in his words he is all about the people, and change and this and that other BS just like every other politician (republican or democrat), then they get to work and the advisors come in and say "ok great job on the speech" now lets get to work, the way this is really going to go down is as follows... Nothing like what was promised. Often semi-legitimately, due to complications, like a budget. Other times based on out right lies.

Wouldn't it be interesting to hook the Politicians up to a lie detector machine while they were giving campaign speeches and ads?

e.g. Vinny over at the Union says they need some favors in Chicago and as your "advisor" I am supposed to remind you that if it doesn't work out, it won't be pretty and its going to cost you a lot on your next re-election campaign... If it does work out, they will be fully behind you in the next election. Then we hear in the next speech, "Together we are working to rebuild Chicago's inner cities for people who need it the most, people like you and I, struggling just trying to get by day to day. We are going to create Jobs by providing housing." The reality is Vinny's uncle owns a construction company with tons of Union employees, they are stacked to get the job... They do get the job... it ends up costing probably 2-3 times what it would of cost in the private sector (that means 1/2 to 1/3 as much housing as could of been built.) But the Union bosses, the Union Plumbers, Carpenters, etc. that happened to be employed there are the ONLY Union people to benefit (that are just like you and I). The fat goes to the Fat Cats making the back room deal... This is just a made up movie type version, but I am convince more and more every day I read and open my eyes that this type of thing goes on not just daily but 24-7. We need a UNION to protect us from our own Government, not our employers anymore.

Don't be quiet, be loud, be heard. This 4 Trillion Dollar Budget is up for vote (they hope quietly and without much voter opinion).

Thankfully, someone was running commercial spots in the middle... of the program (even the networks will tell the truth if you pay them). I didn't catch who paid, but I liked it. Thank You!

That's a 4 TRILLION dollar budget proposal, when we are in a country that is already broke and facing huge deficits.

I am no politician, and no economist, but I know we need jobs more than anything, especially more than more bank bailouts. I heard unemployment for white males hit 25% (those are depression like numbers). Even if this number is wrong, things are bad on the employment front. I am having to warn clients not to buy in Montrose, Colorado, or anywhere for that matter, unless they already have a good job lined up. If I didn't I would be unethical in my opinion.

I think if we had jobs, everything else would fall back into place.

The only highlight from President Obama's budget that sounds worthwhile based on what I heard on the local (Montrose, Colorado) news coverage at www.KJCT8.com is that they have proposed tax cuts for small businesses to encourage them to hire new employees... (jobs) that sounds good to me! BUT if the "health care" and other fat regulations and taxes are placed as a mandatory burden on small or large business as well, then the "cut" probably won't even offset the increase.

If a 4T Dollar Budget passes, I think we are all doomed and I think, I better start working on my CIPS (Certified International Property Specialist) certification, because we will probably have a large migration away from this country (of working people and entrepreneurs, the wealthy may stay and be supplied essentially slaves as part of the "enlightened or enabled" class, we that stick around will be the slaves. In many respects we already are... How free are you?)

Once saddled with this debt and the resulting ridiculous taxes... there would be zero attraction for a company opening up to do business here in the USA. Just like the reason Amercian companies have been leaving in groves for foreign lands to open their manufacturing and distribution plants and taking their jobs with them. Its not just cheap labor its regulation and taxes as well.

It really equates to FAT government!

We need some severe pruning to keep the tree alive... The disease, of empire and resume building, ridiculous procedures, crooked campaigns and votes influenced strictly by lobbyists, owed favors or backroom secret "insider" deals, abused positional power, abused absolute power, different laws policies or services for the regular guy, but something else for us...

How is the public represented by this crap?

But hey that's just my opinion! For all of you believers out there, you will surely get lots of immigrants to replace us from socialist nations (that have now evolved) where they are or were used to hand outs. But if you are a Realtor, I am not sure how you are supposed to get paid! If all the houses are "free" and owned by the government. Hopefully the government will have a relocation division and will be hiring unemployed Realtors, but I bet they pick their unemployed banker friends over us...)

Eventually when no one works and everyone has their hand out for a free government hand out, it will fail.

No production = No nothing, Nada, Null, 0

How do you tax that?

If you agree write your congressmen and senators and tell your friends and family to do the same...

If you disagree I respect that as well, still write your congressmen and senators...

Be heard, its the best we can do. If we don't speak up and demand they do the right thing, probably what they promised to do when they got elected, then they seem to do whatever the lobbyist tell them to.

From where I am sitting, I don't think they have MY Back!

Chris Ormsbee

(970) 209-0252

P.S. - Sorry no pics on this one, all copyrighted stuff...

P.P.S. - Write or call your local representatives...

www.MontroseGoldTeam.com

www.SoldCORE.com

www.c21actionrealty.com/cormsbee

Chris Ormsbee - Colorado Licensed Real Estate Broker/Realtor

Give me a Call - (970) 209-0252

Century 21 Action Realty - (970) 249-7777 - 1245 E Main St. Montrose, CO 81401

Check out the websites if you like:

www.SoldCORE.com - Western Colorado Real Estate, Community, and Demographic Information and Links

www.MontroseGoldTeamBlog.com - Information and Opinions about Real Estate, The Job of selling it, and the process of buying or selling a home or commerical property. Especially in Montrose Colorado.

www.C21ActionRealty.com/cormsbee - Search Western Colorado & Montrose Homes & Properties Here!

www.C21ActionRealty.com - The Century 21 Action Realty Website (search properties or find other agents in my office.)

www.YourCOREAdvisor - Blog with other information about buying and selling Real Estate.

How are YOU Handling Sellers Who Want You To Over-price Their Homes?

Chris Ormsbee (Century 21 Action Realty) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:04:35 -0500

Paula from NY just posted up this great blog about right pricing in todays market. I thought it was worth a re-blog here to make sure all my followers saw it.

It is very critical in this market we face today.

Via Paula Hathaway (Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate):

How are you handling sellers who want you to over-price their homes? It may seem that the owner who insists on a couple of hundred thousand more in their asking price should be accomodated, especially if you are not the only broker on the hunt. But pricing properties properly should be priority #1

As we all know, if a seller wants to sell their property sooner rather than later, you are really doing them no favor if you are not totally straight with them---things are not like they used to be in real estate. Most sellers have an idea of how the recession has affected real estate prices; most however, still believe their house is the best house in the neighborhood and should get more money than the next guy's. This is not the time to acquiesce just to get the listing.

HOW ARE YOU HANDLING SELLERS WHO WANT YOU T O OVER-PRICE THEIR HOMES???

This is where we come in as professionals; it is first and foremost the priority of all of us to price properties properly. If we don't inform the seller that his price has to be the most sharply priced in order to sell before his competitors, we have not done our job. Here's what I do to educate my sellers:

Always do an in-depth comp search---go as far afield as possible to make sure your final price decision is achievable.

Make an appointment with the seller to take him out and drive past recently sold properties---bring along all printed materials that substantiate your information.

Make it clear that you must be in control of where the price will be--you will listen to them but you need to have the final say on the price or you won't take the listing.

Give him/her a quick tutorial on how an internet search is done by a customer--just in case they have never looked. If a price is just a few thousand dollars over the available comps, they won't come up in searches and they won't get the potential buyers attention.

Give the seller other reasons to choose you to market their property---including testimonials from other clients/customers.

If you have done all of the above, you should have no problem telling them all about the houses you have listed--and sold recently!!!

My last experience with an over-priced property was a disaster--and I lost my customer because he was left with the idea that I was not working on his behalf. I was handling the buy side of a deal that was listed by someone in my office who has established that he "always gets the highest prices for his sellers!" This agent is on the record for over-pricing properties to achieve that---It used to work....in a "hot" market.

Now there is no way that an over-priced property will even get shown, much less get sold!My buyer was reluctant to bid on the property which was priced $2million over the market--but he went ahead and told me to put in his bid. I did and the listing agent presented it--I was not privy to the negotiations with the seller but the best the listor got was a small drop in price---this was last year. The property is still there, and still over-priced! No other offers and no compromise to get the house sold on the part of the seller....My buyer threw up his hands and walked away after coming up significantly in his offer and getting a low ball response.

PROPERLY PRICING A PROPERTY IS CRUCIAL TO GETTING IT SOLD!! This is no secret---there has to be reason to list a property in this market--This is no time to "test" the market, since almost everyone who is buying now is looking for a good price and in most cases that is the only way deals are getting done!

GETTING THE DEAL DONE!
Paula I. Hathaway, LBA, Prudential Douglas Elliman

Top Producer, Diamond , Gold and Chairman's Circle Awards

Chris Ormsbee - Colorado Licensed Real Estate Broker/Realtor

Give me a Call - (970) 209-0252

Century 21 Action Realty - (970) 249-7777 - 1245 E Main St. Montrose, CO 81401

Check out the websites if you like:

www.SoldCORE.com - Western Colorado Real Estate, Community, and Demographic Information and Links

www.MontroseGoldTeamBlog.com - Information and Opinions about Real Estate, The Job of selling it, and the process of buying or selling a home or commerical property. Especially in Montrose Colorado.

www.C21ActionRealty.com/cormsbee - Search Western Colorado & Montrose Homes & Properties Here!

www.C21ActionRealty.com - The Century 21 Action Realty Website (search properties or find other agents in my office.)

www.YourCOREAdvisor - Blog with other information about buying and selling Real Estate.

What's a HUD Home?

Chris Ormsbee (Century 21 Action Realty) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 10:41:00 -0500

What's HUD and What's a HUD Home?

What is HUD?

It might be a short texting acronym for How yoU Doing.

It is actually The Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Check them out yourself here: www.hud.gov

What exactly is a HUD Home?

HUD is a government agency. The Department of Housing and Urban Development. They back up FHA Loans and when these default, HUD can end up liquidating the assets on the open market or through other channels. They also promote home ownership, so they can offer first time home buyers some good options through their various program. In addition in these tough times they are heading up the government directives like "Making Home Affordable" program.

Learn more about Making Home Affordable here: http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/

According to their web site:

"HUD's mission is to increase homeownership, support community development and increase access to affordable housing free from discrimination. To fulfill this mission, HUD will embrace high standards of ethics, management and accountability and forge new partnerships--particularly with faith-based and community organizations--that leverage resources and improve HUD's ability to be effective on the community level. "

So what does this mean to you?

Well HUD works with FHA, The Federal Housing Authority, which is actually a part of HUD itself. When someone defaults on their FHA guaranteed Loan or Mortgage, then the house can end up going back to HUD to liquidate if it hasn't been successfully sold previously by the bank or the home owner in a short sale.

If a house is very upside down, it may be destined to go back to HUD's liquidation department, because FHA has minimums they are allowed to take in a Short Sale. These minimums are based on the original purchase price, appraisal and loan amount. So if a house was way over-priced a couple years ago or has really declined in value, no buyer will be willing to pay what FHA is required by law to take as a minimum amount. Then the home goes back to HUD to liquidate, they have the leeway to go below these minimums and meet the markets price.

HUD uses MCB - Michaelson, Connor and Boul, for the State of Colorado and in Montrose as a REO asset management and liquidation company.

MCB handles all liquidations for HUD in a region of the United States including Colorado. http://www.mcbreo.com/st_comain.htm

According to their website, MCB covers the following states for HUD:

Arizona
Colorado
Michigan
Montana
Nevada
Utah
Wyoming

HUD hires one Real Estate agent for a very large multi-county region, they get a small amount of money for listing each of the properties in the MLS.

For the Montrose Colorado area this agent is Marilyn Hammar. Please don't call her. She just puts the listings into the MLS for the Government. She doesn't do photos, she doesn't inspect the properties, she doesn't have knowledge of them beyond what she is provided...

Here is a link to a list of all the local listing Brokers for MCB REO in Colorado. Use these names for your local agent to easily search (by agent) all the HUD homes in an area...

http://www.mcbreo.com/colorado/collb.htm

In cold regions and seasons, HUD will typically have the homes winterized and secured with a standard key that is the same for all HUD homes in an area. This allows any agent to show the home (as long as they have a HUD key in their office).

A Real Estate office and its Broker Owner (here at Century 21 Action Realty in Montrose Colorado, that is Ninah Hunter - www.c21actionrealty.com ) must be registered with the company responsible for liquidating HUD assets in your region in order to make offers on properties.

Registration is not hard but does require some paperwork. Once a company is registered any of the employed agents or brokers can submit HUD offers on behalf of their buyers.

Sometimes HUD properties will be featured in auctions, online or offline. Here in Colorado MCB allows electronic bidding online.

Just like with Bank Owned properties don't expect HUD to fix a lot of things for you. You are better off documenting the need and reducing your offer price and then taking care of these things yourself.

HUD/FHA do offer a "K" Loan (a smaller streamlined version of their 203K Rehabilitation Loan). The "K" Loan allows a buyer to finance in and escrow the repair costs for the home. The repairs must be cosmetic and not structural in nature and are limited to $35,000.

The FHA 203K Loan will handle structural repairs but it is a lot more paperwork.

The "K" Loan is perfect for repainting, replacing carpet, tile or linoleum, etc.

The 203K Loan grown up version can be used on a complete gut and remodel, an addition, etc.

Both the "K" Loan and the 203K Loan lend based on the "after repaired appraised value", then the draws for repairs or improvements are handled like a construction loan. Here is a link to the governments page about these loan programs. Check them out if you are a buyer, a Realtor, or even an owner stuck with a property in need of a lot of rehabilitation.

http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/203k/203kmenu.cfm

So what are you waiting for go out and buy a HUD home today... Just kidding, but it sounded good.
If you are in the market already for a house and you are looking for something that might need a little work, a HUD home is a great place to look...

But a Realtor is really the best place to start, because they will have HUD homes, REOs, short sales, desperate sellers (divorce, illness, death), retail secondary market, new construction, etc. They allow you the best shot at looking at the whole market. But it never hurts to look around a bit on your own.

Check out my websites for properties, homes and information about the Montrose Colorado area.

www.SoldCORE.com

www.COrmsbee.c21actionrealty.com

www.MontroseGoldTeamBlog.com

Hope this helped you get a better understanding of what a HUD Home is and how you might go about looking at one.

If you want to buy or sell a home in Western Colorado, especially in Montrose and the surrounding areas, give me a call.

My name is Chris Ormsbee and I can be reached on my Cell phone at (970) 209-0252.

Chris Ormsbee - Colorado Licensed Real Estate Broker/Realtor

Give me a Call - (970) 209-0252

Century 21 Action Realty - (970) 249-7777 - 1245 E Main St. Montrose, CO 81401

Check out the websites if you like:

www.SoldCORE.com - Western Colorado Real Estate, Community, and Demographic Information and Links

www.MontroseGoldTeamBlog.com - Information and Opinions about Real Estate, The Job of selling it, and the process of buying or selling a home or commerical property. Especially in Montrose Colorado.

www.C21ActionRealty.com/cormsbee - Search Western Colorado & Montrose Homes & Properties Here!

www.C21ActionRealty.com - The Century 21 Action Realty Website (search properties or find other agents in my office.)

www.YourCOREAdvisor - Blog with other information about buying and selling Real Estate.

A Simultaneous Moan and Toast to Technology and Real Estate

Chris Ormsbee (Century 21 Action Realty) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 02:21:36 -0500

Moan and Toast to Technology and Real Estate

Technology actually probably brings out these emotions in most people not just Realtors.

We are:

Excited about what it can do for us,
Scared of how hard it will be to implement and use,
and even More Scared about how hard it will be to integrate with our other technology tools and what it will cost us in time and money.

It seems that every week a new technology and platform or application comes out. And most of them are very cool and innovative ideas, and their marketing is getting more creative as well.... Try a dumbed up version for FREE.

It is a great sales pitch, (wish we could use it on homes), kind of the traditional "puppy dog close" where the pet store owner sends the small child home with a puppy and tells them if their parents say its not OK, they can bring it back.... But it doesn't work as eloquently as it always should... or we don't have time to play with it and it sits on our disk... These marketers know this and are starting to let you use it free for 1-2 properties rather than unlimited for 30 days, but both options are out there.

Another "moan-able trait" of technology is the Internet itself. It, "The Internet" or more specifically"The Web" and its "crawling" or "Surfing Tools" like IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, etc. are our windows into this virtual sea of information, "It" is a truly amazing and I believe life changing technology... It has definitely changed and will continue to change the Real Estate Business.

(BTW - Its perplexing to me that we evolved from "crawling" to "surfing"... I mean I get the connection of the original Internet interfaces and transfer rates were definitely "crawling" slow", but how come we didn't change the name of the "web" to the "wave"? You know the "World Wide Wave" we all surf on! Yet the analogies of getting stuck in a web and the interconnected fixed IP addresses and their links look like a web, yet we seem to surf it in waves and to some extent this is encouraged by search engines. A popular site becomes more popular...)

Still "It", the Internet-Web-Wave, is full of a lot of garbage, very creative and persuasive sales people and marketers all trying to capture the eyeball and proverbial click.

I mean what is "Google juice"? I was throwing this term around the office today telling my partner Diane why she needs to blog on Active Rain and my partner complained it sounded like or reminded her of "bug juice" and grossed her out. Yet when I showed her how she could leap frog like 15 agents with a couple blog posts, she was hooked and I was there teaching... (non-productive, non-money making time).

Basically, we all want eye balls, we all want clicks, we all want customers, this translates to we want a lot "Google Juice" cause we can toast to the "FREE Traffic"it will bring us. Is it really FREE? Probably not, you either need to invest the time, or pay someone to do it for you to get the "Google Juice" up. As Google is the number one used search engine followed up by Yahoo and Bing. That too, could change with time as all things do.

One of the big questions today is what do you do with the "Proverbial Click"? Hopefully at a minimum you capture a name and email, or at least try to, for further contact, but for Real Estate its even better if you can capture a phone number and give them a call back as soon as possible. Balancing the free info, desired free info (behind door number one - if you give us your first name and email) and the irritation and often accompanying fear we all can get from being asked to register for a million things.

Know this though, on these mailing lists... most of these sign-up auto-responder lists are all Can-Spam compliant, so on any message they send you, you can un-subscribe, so don't be too afraid to try a few out.

So while Technology promises much Greatness, Realtor Leads and Resulting Riches.... most of us, me included, don't have all the pieces tied together in an optimal way, so we get new inefficiencies where the technology took away old inefficiencies, it introduces new ones...

I guess my best advice is plan out a path to your strategy of finding leads on the Internet and converting print ads to leads on the Internet, hopefully so they come "to you" rather than the floor agent, then stick with it for at least 6 months evaluating if it is working. Don't fall for jumping for every new technology and gadget that comes out, unless you are sure it fills a need in your plan.

FREE trial - is free in the sense that you get to try it out or continue to use a dumbed up small version of the product and if you only have one or two listings and nothing better to do, go for it... But if you are a full time agent with at least 10 listings then I would suggest that you closely analyze it and the alternative solutions before you jump to try it.

Don't forget about all the time you spend... playing with the new technology... takes away from time you could be finding clients, closing deals or even fishing. If you like playing with it, like I do, more power to ya, but its like an addictive substance, you need to ration its consumption of your truly productive and income producing time...

Good luck and may you have more Toasts than Moans with your next dose of Technology.

BTW - It also helps to go with proven "Google juiced" techniques... like Active Rain. I highly recommend it if for no other reason than to extract the "juice" but hopefully also extract useful tips, ideas and thoughts, to keep your own creative juices flowing... But like everything... We even need to ration our use of Active Rain with our productive time.

Chris Ormsbee

Century 21 Action Realty

Montrose Gold Team

1245 E Main St. Montrose, CO 81401

(970) 209-0252

www.MontroseGoldTeam.com

www.MontroseGoldTeamBlog.com

www.C21ActionRealty.com/cormsbee

Chris Ormsbee - Colorado Licensed Real Estate Broker/Realtor

Give me a Call - (970) 209-0252

Century 21 Action Realty - (970) 249-7777 - 1245 E Main St. Montrose, CO 81401

Check out the websites if you like:

www.SoldCORE.com - Western Colorado Real Estate, Community, and Demographic Information and Links

www.MontroseGoldTeamBlog.com - Information and Opinions about Real Estate, The Job of selling it, and the process of buying or selling a home or commerical property. Especially in Montrose Colorado.

www.C21ActionRealty.com/cormsbee - Search Western Colorado & Montrose Homes & Properties Here!

www.C21ActionRealty.com - The Century 21 Action Realty Website (search properties or find other agents in my office.)

www.YourCOREAdvisor - Blog with other information about buying and selling Real Estate.

Google Tweaking Google Suggest – Bad Side Effects for the Little guy? A SEO Nightmare…

Chris Ormsbee (Century 21 Action Realty) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 03:24:42 -0500

Nice Post by Shane about how google is likely hurting us little Realtors with small Adwords budgets.

Thanks Shane!

Via Shane O'Gorman Eau Claire Wisconsin Real Estate Agent & Realtor- Buy or Sell (Eau Claire Realty, Inc.):

Google is adding some different functions to Google suggest. If you aren’t sure what that is it’s when you are typing in the Google search box and it “suggests” what you might be looking for. This seems harmless at first glance because how a suggestion could hurt anyone? Well what if the suggestions were paid suggestions?! Now the added functions are suggested links to sites (hopefully only when you type the site name into the box) and ads (thanks we needed more)

But wait. Ads? Yeah this is the kicker. Now Google is adding PPC ads to the search suggest which means the big dogs are going to get even more traffic to their sites and you are going to need a huge ad budget to compete. Why? Because the click through rates are going to be through the roof on these and people will pay enormous amounts of money for this. The reason for this is that Google is suggesting these sites to people so they don’t have to pick through 10 suggestions. Instead they just click on the suggestion. So instead of competing for the top 10 slots on the search results (serps) there might only be one suggestion. So whoever pays for this spot might see a massive amount of traffic and those who can’t afford this spot might see a huge slump. So far it’s only rolling out to a few test sites or test advertisers. Hopefully it breaks and results are poor so that this doesn’t see a massive rollout. I know I don’t have the budget (mine is $0) to compete with the other companies in my area.

Here is a word from Google as well.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/faster-is-better-on-google-suggest.html

Looking for Eau Claire Homes For Sale?

Check out my Eau Claire Real Estate Agent Website!

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Buy or Sell, I'll Treat You Well!
(In case you do not agree with something I said or feel that my blog or my beliefs could be construed as libelous I hereby declare that my entire blog is meant as a joke. I consider myself to be a comedian and everything I say or have said should be considered comedy. I want nothing I say to be taken seriously and if you do take it seriously take a break. If you do not think what I said is funny then that is your opinion. But for anyone who wants to sue me everything I said or say is meant purely as satire.The only thing that is not a joke is this disclaimer.)

Chris Ormsbee - Colorado Licensed Real Estate Broker/Realtor

Give me a Call - (970) 209-0252

Century 21 Action Realty - (970) 249-7777 - 1245 E Main St. Montrose, CO 81401

Check out the websites if you like:

www.SoldCORE.com - Western Colorado Real Estate, Community, and Demographic Information and Links

www.MontroseGoldTeamBlog.com - Information and Opinions about Real Estate, The Job of selling it, and the process of buying or selling a home or commerical property. Especially in Montrose Colorado.

www.C21ActionRealty.com/cormsbee - Search Western Colorado & Montrose Homes & Properties Here!

www.C21ActionRealty.com - The Century 21 Action Realty Website (search properties or find other agents in my office.)

www.YourCOREAdvisor - Blog with other information about buying and selling Real Estate.

The Federal Reserve - On a Roll?

Chris Ormsbee (Century 21 Action Realty) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 23:21:57 -0500

The Federal Reserve - are they on a roll or headed for an abrupt end?

Based on what I have read and heard, not just based on the link I am about to give you but also in various news sites, newsletters, various books, facebook posts, rumors, consipiracy theorist sites, etc.

My personal opinion is... We the People of the United States of America - need to take back our country and the control of it.

I think step one is to Audit the Federal Reserve Bank to determine, just what shenanigans have taken place. And based on this article we should go back to Kennedy's proposed US Treasury backed "Silver Certificates".

I have not validated the facts on this page but many seem to correlate to my recollection of what I have read in other places.

Its your brain so you decide for yourself, but I think it is worth the 5 minutes of reading required.

It does have music playing in the background so turn down your speakers, be sure to scroll down through the page to the links at the bottom.

Thanks Mary for your website and asking us all to share it.

Check it out here.

http://www.wtv-zone.com/Mary/BIGGESTSCAMINHISTORY.HTML

Chris Ormsbee

(970) 249-7777 x22

Montrose Gold Team

Century 21 Action Realty

Montrose, CO 81401

www.SoldCORE.com

www.YourCOREAdvisor.com

www.C21ActionRealty.com

www.MontroseGoldTeamBlog.com

Chris Ormsbee - Colorado Licensed Real Estate Broker/Realtor

Give me a Call - (970) 209-0252

Century 21 Action Realty - (970) 249-7777 - 1245 E Main St. Montrose, CO 81401

Check out the websites if you like:

www.SoldCORE.com - Western Colorado Real Estate, Community, and Demographic Information and Links

www.MontroseGoldTeamBlog.com - Information and Opinions about Real Estate, The Job of selling it, and the process of buying or selling a home or commerical property. Especially in Montrose Colorado.

www.C21ActionRealty.com/cormsbee - Search Western Colorado & Montrose Homes & Properties Here!

www.C21ActionRealty.com - The Century 21 Action Realty Website (search properties or find other agents in my office.)

www.YourCOREAdvisor - Blog with other information about buying and selling Real Estate.

FHA Change on the Horizon.

Chris Ormsbee (Century 21 Action Realty) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 22:12:05 -0500

Are there FHA Changes on the Horizon?

Sounds like changes to FHA are inevitable and probably good, but also probably somewhat painful for Realtors.

Here is an excerpt of an email I got from a local Mortgage Banker. Chris Reichman. You know hes a good guy cause his first name is Chris. Just kidding but he really is a good guy.

Chris' message:

Hello all. As many of you might be aware the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) loan program has been under a great deal of scrutiny from congress lately due to losses sustained over the past few years. The congressionally mandated 2% insurance reserve that the agency is required to keep on hand has dwindled to around .53%. We have been watching closely as the FHA interacts with congress to develop certain reforms to the current FHA loan package. This is impactful for us since the FHA loan program is heavily utilized, particularly for first time / younger home buyers. Although the official announcement has not come out yet, we have learned of some of the expected changes that will be taking effect this year. Definitely nothing too alarming here...just want to keep you all in the loop. Some of the highlights to watch for are listed below. Please feel free to call me if you have any questions at all. Thank you.

The upfront mortgage insurance premium will be raised from 1.75% of the loan amount to 2.25% (this can be rolled into the loan) sometime this Spring.
FHA has asked Congress for the authority to raise the monthly mortgage insurance premium. This is only a request posed to Congress at this point, so no timeframe on when/if this will end up happening.
Maximum seller contributions have been lowered from 6% to 3%; expected to take effect early summer

The good news...the general down payment (at least for the time being) will remain 3.5%. It had been proposed to raise the minimum down payment to 5%. As of now that is not going to happen.

Chris Reichmann

Mortgage Banker

Republic Mortgage

909 South Townsend Avenue, Suite A

Montrose, CO 81401

Office: (970) 249-1615

Fax: (970) 240-7931

Mobile: (970) 417-7677

Thanks Chris for the email and the info.

Hope this helps you keep on top of the change...

Chris Ormsbee

www.SoldCORE.com

www.C21ActionRealty.com/cormsbee

www.MontroseGoldTeamBlog.com

Chris Ormsbee - Colorado Licensed Real Estate Broker/Realtor

Give me a Call - (970) 209-0252

Century 21 Action Realty - (970) 249-7777 - 1245 E Main St. Montrose, CO 81401

Check out the websites if you like:

www.SoldCORE.com - Western Colorado Real Estate, Community, and Demographic Information and Links

www.MontroseGoldTeamBlog.com - Information and Opinions about Real Estate, The Job of selling it, and the process of buying or selling a home or commerical property. Especially in Montrose Colorado.

www.C21ActionRealty.com/cormsbee - Search Western Colorado & Montrose Homes & Properties Here!

www.C21ActionRealty.com - The Century 21 Action Realty Website (search properties or find other agents in my office.)

www.YourCOREAdvisor - Blog with other information about buying and selling Real Estate.

NEWS BLAST - HUD Waives 90 Day Hold Period for FHA Loans Effective 2/1/2010

Chris Ormsbee (Century 21 Action Realty) — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 04:32:58 -0500

HUD Waives 90 Day Hold Period required for FHA Loans.

HUD realizes that the 90 day hold period "Seasoning" requirement for an FHA Loan is hurting buyers, especially first time home buyers more than the investors and rehab flippers (that they thought were getting rich by preying on the helpless homeowner (BTW some were))...

David H Stevens the Assistant Secretary for Housing - Federal Housing Commissioner Signed a a 1 year waiver into effect on January 15, 2010

Check out the actual text here...

http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/waivpropflip2010.pdf

My Summary of the Waiver:

For just about anyone with Arms Length Transaction and Fair Marketing Effort.
If More Than 20% Increase from Acquisition to Flip Price - then need Justification and or documented rehab, Second Appraisal and Inspected to meet FHA and HUD Standards.
Does not apply to the Home Equity Conversion Program.

The Brief 90 Day Hold Policy History:

June 7, 2006 - Waiver that let Government Agencies, Revitalization Efforts, Non Profits, Relocation Companies and Disaster Areas have an exemption from the 90 day rule.
Foreclosing have a waiver to dispose of assets.
June 8 2008 - Waiver exempting 90 day Hold for sales of REO properties acquired by Mortgagees
My two cents for what its worth.
May 15, 2009 - Extension of REO Mortgagee Waiver to May 10, 2010 (sounds like an REO liquidation deadline or another extension will come and I believe this Waiver will cover them till at least Feb 1, 2011.
Sep 14, 2009 - Waiver granted exempting sales of properties that had been previously foreclosed or abandoned by for-profit or non-profits in HUD's Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP).
January 15, 2010 - This Waiver granted, effective February 1, 2010, exempting just about everyone.

Basically the Department of Housing and Urban Development has realized that with the flood of foreclosure properties on market, their 90 day seasoning or anti-flipping rule is hurting short sale efforts and first time home buyers and other buyers that could otherwise buy affordable housing that has been bought up and rehabbed or at least inspected and certified to be HUD approved and a few other things... that it is OK to flip that house out to a buyer with an FHA HUD Guaranteed Loan.

This should aid re-absorption of these homes to first time home buyers as opposed to landlord/investors or other investors who are planning to ride it back up and sell the homes for a profit after the market rebounds, after renting them for a few years, even if it is at a loss. There is no doubt in my mind that the houses caught in this mess are best made into homes for first time and other home buyers, the people of the United States of America that need the lower down payment required by FHA, than from a conventional mortgage.

If the average home costs $200,000 in an area FHA requires 3.5 percent down which would be $7,000. The 10 or 20% required for some conventional loans would be $20,000 to $40,000. Everyone can see how this prevents or at least dissuades home ownership. Even if someone has the $20,000-$40,000, I contend they are better off going with a smaller down payment and keeping a reserve emergency fund, rather than completely depleting their savings and moving into a new home.

Don't get me wrong, I am not anti-investor, but I think an investor play here is to be or finance/partner with the "rehab guy" swoop in, bail out the troubled home owner, clean the place up a bit, maybe carpet/paint/minor repair and flip it to a new home owner... now they can qualify with an FHA loan 3% down. If your a long or longer term investor, I think the play is to do the above but then to finance the houses for the buyer (that can't even qualify for an FHA loan - like me), with no shorter than a 5 year balloon - give em a chance to perform... and lending should return to more of a normal state by then to where they will hopefully have a little equity to refinance and pay you off.

I know there are pundits out there that think that "risky borrowing" has led us here... I disagree, that was a component of course, but it always exists and has existed. Without risk there is no reward!

I suppose you could even use the Alan Greenspan term of "irrational exuberance". But from where I was sitting in Montrose Colorado, it was the drying up of the money supply that killed the construction and job base of our town. From what I understand this mess was caused "more by" the Banks "irrationally exuberant" bets on derivatives (a highly leveraged and speculative investment - essentially a hedged bet on interest rates and currencies from what I understand (an option on a futures contract)). This coupled with some investment bank's unscrupulous "packaging" of loans to make them look less risky then they were so they could be sold off as A or B paper when they were really C. The market was essentially "manipulated" by banks so they would have bigger profits. Were they risk takers? Yes. Was it "irrationally exuberant"? In my opinion Yes at best irresponsible and criminal.

Were the small contractors and builders of Montrose Colorado risk takers, yes, of course, but they were calculated seemingly smart risks they were taking... We didn't have whole subdivisions of 50 or more spec homes built to sell to no one. In Montrose, we had small family men and women that worked in the construction trades slowly cranking out one house at a time for the next family that wanted to move to a beautiful place in Western Colorado with Great Upstream Water as I like to call it. To some extent they, these people moving to Montrose slowed down, but often they just couldn't get a loan or couldn't sell their house, but they wanted to come. These small builders only need one house not to sell for a year or so and they can go under... They use the profit from one home to obtain the loan for the next home. Risk takers? Yes. Irrationally Exuberant? No.

Regardless of who's fault it is we need to figure out how to re-build America and the USA... Create jobs and put people back in homes, rather than on the street or in apartments. For us Realtors of the world we need to figure out how to increase the number of transactions (currently lacking the buyer component of the equation...)

I realize not everyone can own a home... If I didn't own a home already, I as a Realtor couldn't buy or own a home right now, because I don't have a W-2-ed steady paycheck and job... I live commission to commission and the banks and lenders consider that risky... Can't say I disagree, but I have never defaulted on a single loan in 46 years and don't plan to start... Due to complicated and lengthy tax returns, I have used the "evil liars loan" stated-loan programs of yesteryear for my last three real estate loans. So for those of you that are screaming here we go again, wave two... I think you are wrong.

The banks and AIG should have been left to fail and this mess would of cleared faster than it will with all the bank and insurance company bail outs... (Know why AIG was going down, an otherwise extremely profitable "Insurance Company"... because they were insuring the Bank's Derivative Bets that went bad... and then they couldn't pay up, if they didn't pay, the bank failed.) How they (AIG) were ever convinced to risk their butts for the Banks behalf without making them jump through the hoops and pay the "actuarialized safe house bet" premiums, that we would all have to for any kind of insurance is beyond me, but it happened.

So what do we do... blame and punish the average guy, who might have been framing houses, dry up the money supply and essentially freeze lending and tighten up credit so none of these people can get jobs or loans and then they will lose there houses and the press will blame their loss on their risky borrowing and over-zealous budgeting and income expectations.

I ask you this? Who's job is stable today? I dare you to name more than 10 that are essentially guaranteed (I can't even think of 10 at the moment...) I mean think of it, lawsuits, mergers, bankruptcies, bank failures, government cuts, city job cuts due to reduced tax base, etc. There is little that is safe other than being self employed in something with a relatively stable demand, but even then you are constantly battling off change, the big guy and the government itself...

There are no guarantees, there are just challenges and opportunities.

This "Hud Waiver" is a welcome change and I believe it will provide opportunity and greatly help many people from new families, to old ones starting over or upgrading homes, etc. It will even help investors, and contractors that go into rehabbing properties rather than building homes...

Chris Ormsbee

Century 21 Action Realty

The Montrose Gold Team

www.C21ActionRealty.com

www.C21ActionRealty.com/COrmsbee

www.SoldCORE.com

www.MontroseGoldTeamBlog.com

www.MontroseGoldTeam.com

PS - Share this news with your fellow Realtors, so they can educate their buyers and investors about the change. Plus you might seem "smart" to them... Feel free to reblog as well. Thanks for reading my long worded rant - news blast.

Chris Ormsbee - Colorado Licensed Real Estate Broker/Realtor

Give me a Call - (970) 209-0252

Century 21 Action Realty - (970) 249-7777 - 1245 E Main St. Montrose, CO 81401

Check out the websites if you like:

www.SoldCORE.com - Western Colorado Real Estate, Community, and Demographic Information and Links

www.MontroseGoldTeamBlog.com - Information and Opinions about Real Estate, The Job of selling it, and the process of buying or selling a home or commerical property. Especially in Montrose Colorado.

www.C21ActionRealty.com/cormsbee - Search Western Colorado & Montrose Homes & Properties Here!

www.C21ActionRealty.com - The Century 21 Action Realty Website (search properties or find other agents in my office.)

www.YourCOREAdvisor - Blog with other information about buying and selling Real Estate.

Is Walking Away from Your Mortgage Morally Wrong?

Chris Ormsbee (Century 21 Action Realty) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:36:10 -0500

Is Walking away from your Mortgage Morally Wrong?

It depends.

I just saw a great article and video on Yahoo Finance.

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/walking-away-from-your-mortgage-is-morally-wrong-and-financially-stupid-says-mcardle-407319.html?tickers=xhb,len,kbh,ms,bac,wfc,c&sec=topStories&pos=9&asset=&ccode

Megan McArdle puts it very nicely how and why she feels it is very wrong for people to just walk away unless they are in circumstances that provide them no other option.

She points out how "flippant disregard for promise to pay" will change the face of lending as we know it.

Check it out and you decide.

In my personal path, I have only run into people that have lost their home or decided to let it go, because they have no other option. Megan McArdle - agrees that these people that have no other choice should immediately contact their bank about a short sale and help the bank sell the home and minimize the losses.

Chris Ormsbee

www.SoldCORE.com

www.MontroseGoldTeamBlog.com

www.C21ActionRealty.com/cormsbee

Chris Ormsbee - Colorado Licensed Real Estate Broker/Realtor

Give me a Call - (970) 209-0252

Century 21 Action Realty - (970) 249-7777 - 1245 E Main St. Montrose, CO 81401

Check out the websites if you like:

www.SoldCORE.com - Western Colorado Real Estate, Community, and Demographic Information and Links

www.MontroseGoldTeamBlog.com - Information and Opinions about Real Estate, The Job of selling it, and the process of buying or selling a home or commerical property. Especially in Montrose Colorado.

www.C21ActionRealty.com/cormsbee - Search Western Colorado & Montrose Homes & Properties Here!

www.C21ActionRealty.com - The Century 21 Action Realty Website (search properties or find other agents in my office.)

www.YourCOREAdvisor - Blog with other information about buying and selling Real Estate.

Google Wave to Revolutionize Real Estate?

Chris Ormsbee (Century 21 Action Realty) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:55:20 -0500

Google Wave to Revolutionize Real Estate?

I have been watching the developer presentation from Google about their new wave platform.

Google wave is what they are calling Web 3.0. The "Wave" merges many of the current Web 2.0 applications that many of us use to communicate into one easy to use convenient platform that can both originate communication or view it on top of other existing tools.

From a high level each wave is a communication stream of events... comments, messages, email equivalents, pictures... in the Real Estate World - hopefully contracts at some point.

Traditionally when working on a project (in our realm a contract or a property search or a marketing plan) we traditionally meet exchange words or converse, then we usually type up or write notes or take action on the conversation. With todays systems we then email and instant message or call or text meaningful bits of related information back and forth between us.

The "Google Wave" is essentially that thought stream to the extent it is put into something tangible, like a note, message, photo, contract, etc. The members of a wave can collaboratively add to or edit the messages, documents or conversations.

The really cool thing about Google Wave is that they offer a playback feature, so not only do they group all of these related little mini exchanges or conversations together in a wave, they allow you to manage them and evolve them into something useful. The "playback" feature allows an existing or more importantly a new member of the wave to play back the evolution of the current state of the wave.

So if Barb edits Johns message or note and then Elise sees it and adds something else, then George opens it. They all see the same thing, but they all have the option of playing it back from its origin, step by step, change by change to see how it unfolded to get to its current state.

Its kindof like a living organism with instant replay.

I have included a link to the developer video explaining the features "straight from Googles mouth".

I personally could see how Google Wave could make transaction management and effective communication much more efficient and accurate for Real Estate transactions.

I don't think Google Wave will make Realtors extinct except maybe to the extent that those that choose not to endorse this or other technological advances may get left behind with the similarly dusty clients that only want to do everything the old fashioned way.

I am excited to give it a test drive and my mind is racing with ways it could revolutionize our business and how we interact with clients, inspectors, appraisers, lenders and each other.

So tell me what you think. Are you going to catch the Wave?

Chris

PS. If you want to request to be invited to be included in the Beta release go to this link.

https://services.google.com/fb/forms/wavesignup/

Also can get to tons of questions and answers at googles help forum at:

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/wave?hl=en

Chris Ormsbee is a Realtor and is a licensed Real Estate Agent in the State of Colorado. He is part of the Montrose Gold Team and works for Century 21 Action Realty in Montrose Colorado. Century 21 Action Realty is located at 1245 E Main St. Montrose, CO 81401 and our phone number is (970) 209-0252.

Chris Ormsbee is NOT a Technical Advisor, Lawyer, Accountant, CPA, Surveyor, Structural Engineer, Financial Advisor, Judge, Jury or a Normal Guy, but he does occassionally sleep at a Holiday Inn Express.

Besides Commenting here, you can Contact Chris Ormsbee (especially if you want to buy or sell real estate):

Chris' Cell Phone is (970) 209-0252

Chris can be friend-ed on Facebook. His user name is Chris Ormsbee

Chris also has other blogs pertaining to Real Estate:

http://www.YourCOREAdvisor.com/blog

http://www.MontroseGoldTeamBlog.com

Chris is also "diverse" and has

http://www.TheDivorceWorkshop.com - a divorce counseling and advice site.

http://IdeasThoughtsWhatevers.blogspot.com/ - a discussion about Internet Marketing Ideas and trial "sales pitches", wild wacky opinionated ideas and politics abound and some content may be oriented to adults - surfers beware!

Chris Ormsbee - Colorado Licensed Real Estate Broker/Realtor

Give me a Call - (970) 209-0252

Century 21 Action Realty - (970) 249-7777 - 1245 E Main St. Montrose, CO 81401

Check out the websites if you like:

www.SoldCORE.com - Western Colorado Real Estate, Community, and Demographic Information and Links

www.MontroseGoldTeamBlog.com - Information and Opinions about Real Estate, The Job of selling it, and the process of buying or selling a home or commerical property. Especially in Montrose Colorado.

www.C21ActionRealty.com/cormsbee - Search Western Colorado & Montrose Homes & Properties Here!

www.C21ActionRealty.com - The Century 21 Action Realty Website (search properties or find other agents in my office.)

www.YourCOREAdvisor - Blog with other information about buying and selling Real Estate.

What Kind of Soil Does Your Home's Foundation Sit On?

Chris Ormsbee (Century 21 Action Realty) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:52:07 -0500

What Kind of Soil Does Your Home's Foundation Sit On?

You might be thinking...

"Who cares?".

Think again!

The soil and foundation combination are the most important parts of your home. They hold up your entire home and keep it square and hopefully level as well. But square and intact is the most important.

You really don't want your foundation to move at all, but if that is not feasible or cost effective you can at least design it to move in unison.

So how do you know what kind of soil you have or what type of foundation or what shape it is in?

Investigation, research and a professional opinion. Here the "professional opinion" should not be your Realtor's.

You need a Geotechnical Engineer or a Geologist and then a structural engineer for the foundation.

What can YOU look for before hiring an engineer?

Foundation cracks
Sunken areas around foundation where water settles.
No gutters or gutters with spouts dumping right along the foundation.
Signs or smells of mold or mildew.
Drywall cracks
Uneven or sloping floors
Doors that don't close or line up properly
Windows that don't open and shut properly
Things that look out of Square with one another (e.g. Door Trim Above door looks crooked)
On raw ground - look for cracks, wet areas, white areas (especially in Montrose Colorado), slide areas, rock fall hazards (are you under a cliff or steep slope with big rocks on it. - BTW I have seen boulders bigger than cars halfway in houses in Telluride CO. - they fell/rolled down the hill and crashed into the unsuspecting home), etc.
Ask your Realtor if he/she sees anything funny looking, but don't rely on their opinion, just use it for clues to potential further investigation by the professional.

What does all this really mean if I see or smell problems?

Typically it means there has been movement of some type. How recent and the cause are what is most important to determine. Is it still moving? Has the problem been fixed to stop or minimize further damage or movement? Is the foundation structurally damaged where the crack is causing further strain and stress on adjacent components?

These apply to new or existing homes.

These soil and foundation questions are all very important to ask, whether you own your home now or you are just thinking about buying it.

Planning to Build a New Home or Addition?

Step 1 - Get a Soils Assessment Study

It is critically important to protect your investment when building a new home to have a soils study done, unless it is just so obvious, like solid rock, that you are certain you don't need it. Even then I would say it was worthwhile (good insurance), because it is Step One.

Step 2 - Give the Soils Data to the Structural Engineer

Give the Soils Data to your foundation engineer so they can determine the bearing capacity of the soil (how much weight can it hold before it will give).

If it is lower, they may have you over-excavate and backfill with good compacted material, or use piles, pad and pier, post tension slab, waffle slab, etc.

If it is high, like solid rock - they may be able to save on foundation design and costs. (e.g. When I did communication towers for a living... we anchored some directly into solid granite or other rocks atop mountains by drilling holes and using epoxy to secure the anchor bolts directly to the rock. - no foundation necessary.)

Step 3 - Make sure your Contractor Builds What was Designed!

The best design in the world is worthless if it isn't used during the construction. Not all but some contractors I have witnessed show blatant disregard for the "directions" - they just do it their way. Maybe their way has worked on the last 100 houses, but if your house is set on special soil conditions, it may have some special directions that need followed to protect your home.

Buying an Existing Home or Already Living There?

It is also important to know these things for an existing home. I don't recommend rushing out and spending thousands on soils studies and boring samples if you are already living there or just shopping for a new home. However, become as knowledgeable as you can. You are or will be the "Manager" of the home responsible for it's care and maintenance, so you need to understand some of its complexities. You should also try to get at least somewhat educated by your home inspector and/or inspection report, as to how things work, what maintenance needs done regularly.

So before you spend money especially if you are already there I would recommend the following:

Look for signs listed above.
Ask your neighbors, friends that have lived in the area a long time and maybe heard stories of people having trouble with their homes. Where did they live? etc.
Check with your government authorities. City, County, State and Federal. They have tons of data. It covers a good baseline and definition for the general area, but don't rely on just this. "Hidden Dangers" can lurk below. For example if there was an old drainage - natural or man-made that has been improperly filled in without a drainage system, that fill area will continue to carry the same water it did before it was filled. This could cause problems either by erosion, compression or swelling.
Google it for that matter. Google: Soil Types Areas and Maps in Montrose Colorado

Then unless your comfortable that you have no problem, Hire the Professional.

Are you thinking? "Oh come on, how could little water hurt my foundation? Think again.

Think of a hydrolic jack. You cannot compress water. So in clay soils that are more plate like, the water is attracted to and gets im-between the plates and causes them to swell or expand, then when it drys out they shrink again. Natural Nano-technology that we don't want.

Still don't want to get the professional! Do more of your own research till you convince yourself that you are willing to risk hundreds of thousands of your dollars on YOUR judgment.

Resources for Colorado and the Montrose, Telluride, Ouray, Olathe, Delta Areas:

http://soils.usda.gov/survey/online_surveys/colorado/

http://soildatamart.nrcs.usda.gov/Manuscripts/CO675/0/WSS-San%20Miguel.pdf

http://soildatamart.nrcs.usda.gov/Manuscripts/CO676/0/uncompahgre.pdf

Realtors - Listing or Selling a Home

What if it where your home?

For most homeowners a home is the biggest investment they will ever make, your fiduciary duty is to help them get the best deal on their investment, this includes avoiding uneccessary risks.
The foundation is the most critical part of this investment.
The dirt or soil that foundation sits on is critical to the foundation.

So whether you want to be a geologist, love dirt or rocks or you hate them. You need to know enough to advise your clients to seek out expert help, especially if you see or know of a problem that might exist.

If you know you are listing a home in a "bad soils" area or that the Sellers has had problems, then suggest to the homeowner that if they don't have engineering information and soils reports, that they may want to essentially "pre-inspect" and supply this to the buyer. If there is damage, it similarly may be worth the investment of having a professional inspect and recommend repairs even if they haven't been completed.

Obviously many of the same potential risks could be here as they are with a seller paying for inspections, appraisals, etc. Some fear the "professional" will be swayed by the person paying them. This logic makes sense to me, but I haven't witnessed its abuses first hand.

I think most professionals are professional! But throw a couple lawsuit happy lawyers in the mix and that perception could change in a hurry. So if you provide these seller paid inspections or reports make sure there is a disclaimer that the buyer should investigate themselves and they are being provided as a courtesy.

Similarly for buyers, if you suspect something suspicious or know the area is at high risk of water table problems or foundation problems, mold problems. You need to make your buyer aware and at least let them decide if they want to spend the money to further investigate. That is our job.

Who are the Professionals?

Realtors - of course but here we need to be professional and tell people they should hire more professionals.

Structural Engineers - They make sure it stands up. They are very smart people. They can do all that complex math and physics calculations to determine live and dead loads of the structure and how they will be distributed to the soil and if they know rather than guess the soils bearing capacity, then they can design the "proper" foundation. They can also help you figure out how to best fix your home to make sure the money you are spending doesn't go to waste and have to be repeated. They need to factor in building weight, snow load, wind load, occupancy load, etc.

Soil's Engineers - Geologists - Geotechnical Engineers - These guys are very smart too, but since they love rocks and people say "dumb as rocks" you would think it wouldn't be that hard. But as it relates to your house they have to understand both physical and chemical properties of the soils and the interaction with the environment (typically water is the key problem, variable or component of change.)

Civil Engineers - Design infrastructure - to some extent foundations, but typically storm drains, surface drainage, dams, roads, utilities, site layout, etc.

Architects - They make it look good and draw pretty pictures - understand quite a bit about Structural but largely are more about functional, practical and efficient space. Aesthetics and flow. And they like to party!

Interior Designers - Can sometimes do the work of an Architect and draw plans, depending on their background, typically though they are used for "interior design" how should the kitchen cabinets be laid out, what surface will look right and yet maintain its function. What floor coverings? What Finishes? Color Selection and Coordination.

Lawyers - Keep everyone honest under the threat that if they decieve or cheat or harm, they will be sued. Seriously though, in the real estate transactions they typically try to ensure the client is protected from a legal perspective and that all the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed.

Accountants/Book-keepers - Tell us if we can afford to hire the other professionals, and track all the home interest deductions, help us figure out tax credits or special rules.

Today we had a Professional Visit our Staff meeting - guess what she talked about!

This morning at our weekly staff meeting we were visited by a local geologist from a local full service environmental and engineering firm (Buckhorn Geotech in Montrose Colorado).

http://www.buckhorngeo.com

She was discussing our situation and our varied soils in the area. As a very general rule there are different types in different areas. In reality, each home site where the home will sit should have a soils test to be sure there is no anomoly. (e.g. here there used to be old drainages, they were filled in and built over... this isn't a good thing cause the water still goes through there).

I usually tell clients everything to the East of the River is Adobe Clay Soils and everything to the West of the River (the Uncompahgre River) is usually more gravel type soils and Alluvial deposits. She agreed that as a general rule of thumb this was accurate, because the river has moved east and left these alluvial gravel deposits on top of the shale where spring creek mesa and behind sunset mesa lie.

But what I learned new today is that even where there are the gravel areas, there is shale below this. Shale turns to adobe clay soils when exposed to the elements. It also once wet swells and "holds" water or keeps it from soaking in and draining - rather the water moves horizontally along the top of the Shale layer till it can find a crack to escape out of or it just saturates the soil above it. If this shale is causing a high water table then a septic system must be engineered to avoid ground water contamination.

The shale was under an ocean at one point she explained and the sandstone layers were basically beaches at one point.

And what I was raised to call the Hog Back to the West of the City of Montrose, is not a hog back at all, but truly a mesa. So it makes more sense to me now that they renamed the "hog back" to "Sunset Mesa" and that it is.

Our desert Mountain Valley is in the center of two uplifting plates. Most of the ground to the West of the river has in fact had the shale eroded away and or had river deposits placed on top as the valley was eroded and the river was pushed to the east as the plate on the Uncompahgre Plateau rose.

I hope I got all that right. My geologist buddys would probably rip it apart.

As it relates to Real Estate in the Montrose Colorado area or anywhere for that matter is that if you are buying an existing home or building a new one, it is important to know what kind of soil is under your foundation. Are there any special hazards or risks associated with that soil.

Many of the Developed soils in the Colorado area present expansive problems. What this really means is that when the soils gets wet it swells. Then when it drys back out it shrinks. It is this movement that affects or can damage a home if not properly managed or designed.

Our guest also explained that some of our soils can also be compressive or not hold up under load and sink or slide. The cause of this is essentially, that the clays are electrically attracted to water, so the water can leach the clays from the soils leaving voids in some areas. This is essentially a "sink hole". As water flows through the soil it takes the clay with it and then leaves a void. These voids grow over time and can present real dangerous holes under the surface that can collapse when loaded.

You are probably all saying Too Much Information... Needless to say, I took most of what she told us and regurgitated it with what I already knew and wrote this blog.

May the foundation of your house and your life be SOLID and ON SOLID FOOTING!

Have a great day! Chris

Chris Ormsbee - Colorado Licensed Real Estate Broker/Realtor

Give me a Call - (970) 209-0252

Century 21 Action Realty - (970) 249-7777 - 1245 E Main St. Montrose, CO 81401

Check out the websites if you like:

www.SoldCORE.com - Western Colorado Real Estate, Community, and Demographic Information and Links

www.MontroseGoldTeamBlog.com - Information and Opinions about Real Estate, The Job of selling it, and the process of buying or selling a home or commerical property. Especially in Montrose Colorado.

www.C21ActionRealty.com/cormsbee - Search Western Colorado & Montrose Homes & Properties Here!

www.C21ActionRealty.com - The Century 21 Action Realty Website (search properties or find other agents in my office.)

www.YourCOREAdvisor - Blog with other information about buying and selling Real Estate.