Archive for February, 2010

Arizona Homeowners: How Changes In Short Sale Rules Benefit You.

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

A short sale of real estate occurs when a property is sold and the lender agrees to accept less than is owed on the property. The lender agrees to release the lien that is secured on the  property upon receipt of less money than is actually owed on the home. Until recently, a short sale usually occurred when a homeowner could not make their payment on the property. Until recently….

Breaking news regarding short sales.

The rules are changing in regards to short sale.  In December, HUD announced that they will now insure FHA loans. If you are able to sell your house while you are current, you will no longer need to wait 2-3 years to purchase a home again. You can purchase immediately. In fact, in some instances, you can purchase a home 1 day after your short sale is completed.

Of course there are some rules

  • Must be current on your mortgage for the previous 12 months
  • Must have a case to move. You cannot take advantage of this program to financially benefit yourself. Acceptable reasons include divorce, job relocation, marriage, birth of a child etc…

Your short sale will in effect become a normal transaction.

More help for struggling homeowners

HAMP and HAFA

Housing Affordable  Modification Program: This  plan involves a straightforward trade-off. The government asks lenders to cut mortgage payments for eligible applicants by lowering their interest rates or extending the life of their loans. In return, the Treasury reimburses lenders for some of their costs. The lender will have to first reduce payments on mortgages to no greater than 38% Front-End Debt-to-Income (DTI) ratio. The treasury will match further reductions in monthly payments dollar-for-dollar with the lender/investor, down to a 31% Front-End DTI ratio for the borrower.

Millions of homeowners who are regular in their mortgage payments, but having difficulty making the payments and the borrowers who have already missed one or more payments may be eligible for loan modification.

Housing Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives

HAFA is part of the Home Affordable Modification Program or HAMP.  The Housing Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Act or HAFA provides incentives in connection with a short sale or a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure (DIL) used to avoid foreclosure on a loan eligible for modification under the HAMP program.

HAFA provides streamlined short sale rules and incentives for borrowers and lenders to work together to avoid foreclosure. The rules — in effect between April 5, 2010, and Dec. 31, 2012 — will speed up the short sale process.

To be eligible for HAFA, homeowners must first apply for a loan modification through the Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP. Owners who do not qualify for a loan modification or miss payments during the initial loan modification period qualify for HAFA.

HAFA requirements include:

  • Property must be a principal residence.
  • Mortgage must be originated before Jan. 1, 2009.
  • Mortgage must be owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
  • The borrower is delinquent or default is foreseeable.
  • The Homeowner demonstrates a hardship.
  • The Borrower’s total monthly housing payment must exceed 31 percent of gross income.
  • The unpaid principal balance must not exceed $729,750.

Because I work for a title company, I have the honor of working with some of the best Realtors in Arizona. If you are an Arizona homeowner and are considering a short sale please contact me for a referral to a CDPE (Certified Distressed Property Expert) Realtor that specializes in short sales. Thank you.

For All Your Markeing, Escrow and Title Needs


Branding Can Make Or Break Your Social Media Efforts

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

OK that’s it-you have had enough, you are going to shut everyone up that has been telling you to Blog or get on Facebook and Twitter and embrace the 21st century through social media.   You’re ready to go, you have waited so long. Now……WAIT!

In the rush to join the social media party you need to stop and think about a staple for any party-the “B” in B.Y.O.B..  Only this time the “B” is not for Beer but rather for BRAND.

A Brand is a set of emotional attributes that you want people to associate with you and your company or business. Specifically, a brand is used to stand out, a strategic set of actions that is necessary to distinguish or differentiate yourself from other Realtors or Loan Officers. Remember these?

“My bologna has a first name, it’s O-S-C-A-R / My bologna has a second name, it’s M-A-Y-E-R”

OR

“I want my baby back, baby back, baby back, I want my baby back, baby back, baby back / Chiliiiiiii’s baby baaack riiiibs / Barbecue sauce”

Rushing into social media could be at best-a waste of time and at worst-catastrophic if you don’t first do your research and develop a brand.

Why? According to “The Immutable Laws Of Branding” In today’s day and age, “most products (and services )are bought-NOT SOLD. “ Because of the Internet, A buyer or seller may choose your brand before you even meet, you may not have a chance to sell them.

Why brand yourself?

Building a personal brand for your real estate business will help you:

  • Focus and drive your efforts
  • Make yourself more “relevant” to the people who are searching for your real estate services
  • Establish yourself as the expert in the real estate industry
  • Extend your influence so your credibility is accepted and your reputation precedes you.
  • Makes it easier for your market (sphere of influence) to market for you.
  • Branding reduces the sales cycle by pre-selling your real estate services to your customers.

Scott Bedbury Starbucks former Vice President of Marketing controversially admitted “Consumers don’t truly believe there is a huge difference between products” which proves that successful brands need to establish emotional ties with their customers.

Branding is serious business.  Take note of these failures.

Brand Failures by Matt Haig- 7 Deadly Sins Of Branding.

  • Brand Amnesia: Occurs when a brand forgets what it’s supposed to stand for and tries to create a new identity. Example: The New Coke. Enough said.
  • Brand Ego: Occurs when a brand overestimates it’s own importance and capability and ventures into other markets for which its ill equipped.
  • Brand Meglomania: A result of an inflated Ego. When it occurs, Brands attempt to take over the world and venture into every product category (or market)  imaginable. “Call me for your Short sale, Land, REO, Carryback, Leasing, HUD homes needs”
  • Brand Deception: Covering up the reality of your brand. This often leads to lies.
  • Brand Fatigue: Occurs when you get tired of your brand and fail to maintain it.
  • Brand Paranoia: Occurs when a brand faces increased competition. This often results in a willingness to reinvent the brand every 6 months and a longing to imitate your competitors. (I have seen this one over and over in the real estate and Title industry)
  • Brand Irrelevance: Occurs when the market changes and the brands associated with it risk becoming irrelevant or obsolete. Example: REO and Short Sale Branding. These markets wont be here forever. Plan ahead!!

Steps to personal Branding

  • Discover
  • Create
  • Communicate
  • Maintain

As you can see, branding is serious business.  It takes time to look inside to find your Unique Selling Proposition (USP), your passion, goals and expertise. As your brand grows, you will need to maintain it or risk being irrelevant (invisible).

Call me If you are a Realtor or loan officer in the Phoenix Metro area and need help with your personal branding.  I can help or refer you to someone that will help you discover your brand.

For All Your Marketing, Escrow and Title Needs

Realtors: Blog, your Business Depends On It. Well, At Least Half Does

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

I’m a title rep.  That’s what do. I help Realtors and Loan Officers increase their business with the hope that they will use my company, Old Republic Title Agency in Arizona for their escrow and title needs.  2 years ago a meeting with a potential client went something like this:

Client: “Hey Stephen, Can you help me with some flyer’s and postcards for my new listing or house I just sold?”

Fast forward to today. Now I usually get:

Client: “Hey Stephen, Can you help me with some flyer’s and postcards for my new listing or house I just sold?”

No your eyes are not playing tricks on you, it is the same question.

That’s the point. In today’s day and age the biggest challenge I run into is surprisingly not getting Real Estate professionals to work with me.  No, the challenge I run into is finding a way to make them understand that their traditional method of marketing is less successful-if it works at all.

If you are like me you open your mail in the kitchen, over the garbage can. Why….easier to dump all the junk mail.

If someone doesn’t know you, or what you represent, or your product, or your service, than regardless of how glossy and beautiful and full color and JUMBO your postcard or flyer is, it most likely will end up in the garbage.  Its true. Even if a potential buyer or seller was to save your beautiful flyer or postcard-what are the chances they will remember it or even better-find it when they need it? I know I wouldn’t (you should see my desk!)

So what can you do about it?  BLOG.

87% of us-You, me, your past clients, your future clients go to the Internet when they are looking for real estate.  They probably don’t say “I want to sell my home, now where is that beautiful-Jumbo-full color postcard Joe Blow sent me 6 months ago?” We deal with immediate gratification and immediate gratification comes in 2 words: Search Engine.

One of the things I leave a potential client with at the end of our meeting is “If you are not blogging, (or using social media) you are leaving money and deals on the table”. I always tried to explain that but never had the data I needed to support it.

Until now.

My friends at Hubspot just tweeted me (yes I tweet too-@MyTitleGuy follow me!) an interesting post regarding blogging.

They looked at data from 1,531 HubSpot customers (mostly small- and medium-sized businesses). 795 of the businesses in their sample blogged, 736 didn’t.

The data was crystal clear: Companies that blog have far better marketing results. Specifically, the average company that blogs has:

  • 55% more visitors
  • 97% more inbound links
  • 434% more indexed pages

Hubspot.

Hubspot Link Data

Hubspot Indexed Pages

Blogging is really not that hard, look at me, I just did it- and you just read it.

I look forward to the day when I ask “Do You Have A Blog” and the answer isn’t “a what?”

If you are a Realtor or Loan Officer in the Phoenix Metro area, lets talk.   I would love the opportunity to earn your business. Besides…Your Title Rep didn’t tell you about this.

For All Your Marketing, Escrow and Title Needs

“MyTitleGuy” Has Moved To Old Republic Title Agency

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

I’m sure you have heard all about the accelerator problems some Toyota models are having where in select instances, the car accelerates out of control.  I knew about the gas pedal problems but I was not aware of a steering problem?

So, there I was driving my wife’s Toyota Sequoia  from “that other company” minding my own business expecting to head south on the 202 to my home in Chandler when all of a sudden, the truck headed north on the 202 then west on the 60, exited at Val Vista, and took me to Old Republic Title Agency!

OK, well that didn’t actually happen.

But this did: On Monday February 22nd 2010, I resigned from well, “that other company” for a sales executive position with Old Republic Title Agency.

2010 marks my 8th year in the title industry.  Before working for “that other company” I worked many years for LandAmerica Transnation Title Company in Gilbert.  Many of the former  Arizona administrative and executive teams are now running Old Republic Title Agency so in a way this is a home coming for me, a chance to work with some of the people that helped me over the years to get to my next level.  Its very exciting and strangely, not scary at all……changing title companies usually is.

Why Old Republic Title Agency?

In addition to the familiar faces, Old Republic Title delivers exceptional service from the beginning to the end of your transaction. At each stage of the process, highly skilled, experienced experts will assist you

Competency & Experience

Their standards are high. They recruit and hire people with the knowledge, ability, skills, and experience in the title industry. Whether state or regional counsel, title officers, title searchers, underwriters, or escrow officers…all their employees are dedicated to unsurpassed excellence. Old Republic Title has been in Arizona for over 40 years and is one of the largest title insurance groups in the United States.

Back in my old stomping ground

I’m Back! I will be working for one of Old Republic’s premier offices in Dana Park.  Located on the N.W. corner of Val Vista and Baseline roads in Mesa.

Old Republic Title Agency

Old Republic Title Agency
1744 S. Val Vista Drive Suite 213
Mesa, AZ 85204
Office 480-892-2306
Fax     480-892-2680

The branch manager is Kelly Johnson, Kelly and I opened Land Title Agency of Arizona  together in Gilbert.  Kelly is extremely customer focused and knowledgeable about all types of transactions. Short Sale, REO, Land, Carryback…resale.

I look forward to assisting you with your marketing, escrow and title needs.

Thank you,

Stephen “MyTitleGuy” Garner

For all your Marketing, Escrow and Tile Needs

SMUrcle. The How To Get Business With Social Media

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

SMUrcle

You’ve heard all the statistics before “There are over 400 Million people on Facebook”, “Over 10,000 people are joining Twitter every day”, “12% of people have blogs” on and on and on.  You have also most likely attended a class on Facebook or Twitter in the last year, maybe the instructor you had was rookie enough to try and explain them both in the same class.  Regardless of how many classes you have attended about social media, you most likely left feeling like you were trying to drink out of a firehose and the class likely focused on WHY you should be using  social media.  What about the HOW?

There is just so much to learn and lets face it, you have so little time.  You are out listing and selling properties! Not that time is the only challenge you have….Do you actually know anyone that is getting leads or closing deals because of Social Media?  Probably not.  Lets face it, there is really  no incentive for a competing Realtor or loan officer to show you how to generate leads using social media.  Remember the old saying “teach the man to fish or give the man a fish?”

Introducing SMUrcle.

What Is SMUrcle?

Social. Media. University. rcle.

In a world where everyone wants to talk about the WHY, SMUrcle is the HOW.

How to implement Facebook and your Blog
How to Blog for business
How to implement Twitter in your business.
How to syndicate your content
How to write content
How to write to rank in Google and Bing and much more.
SMUrcle is How to DO.

You already know that you should be using facebook and facebook fanpages, and twitter, and YouTube and Vidler and RSS feeds and landing pages and blogs and widgets and well you get the point…. you know you should be using these tools to generate business but you may not know HOW.

SMUrcle is a 4-6 week series taught by industry professionals that ARE getting leads and ARE closing deals using social media.  SMUrcle consists of professional bloggers- some outside of the real estate industry, SEO professionals, custom website/blog designers, Realtors, Loan Officers and a title rep (guess who that is).  SMUrcle is a series of 1 hour classes that address the HOW.  You bring your laptop and you learn HOW.   The best part, It’s FREE. (that’s the #1 trigger word….we will address that too)

SMUrcle classes start in March 2010.  Visit SMUrcle.com to

  • Ask questions about our classes,
  • Find out about our instructors,
  • Learn more about our technology references,
  • Schedule a private class for your brokerage, or
  • Just tell what kind of job we’re doing getting the word out about Social Media and RE classes.

For All Your Marketing Escrow and Title Needs

HAMP-Housing Affordable Mortgage Program-January 2010 Results

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

The Home Affordable Modification Program or HAMP allows for loan modifications for those that can no longer afford to make their monthly mortgage payments. You may qualify for a loan modification under HAMP to make your payments more affordable. Millions of borrowers who are current, but are having difficulty making their payments and borrowers who have already missed one or more payments may be eligible. Under HAMP the borrower must answer these 5 questions:

HAMP

“The Home Affordable Modification Program site then helps to determine if you are eligible, but only the servicer of the loan can tell you if you qualify. To qualify, you will generally need to show that you have adequate income to make the reduced payments on an ongoing basis and that modification is an appropriate option given the characteristics of your mortgage and the value of your home.”

Servicer Performance Report Through January 2010

Mortgage servicers have recently increased efforts to change trial modifications to permanent status under the Obama administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), nearly doubling the number in just over one month.

The U.S. Treasury released it’s January report on Wednesday that showed 116,297 homeowners were in permanent modifications as of the end of January 2010.

76,482 more have received offers for a permanent restructuring. The Treasury said the data “marked record progress.” January marked the first time that the pace of permanent conversions exceeded that of new trials – most likely proof of intense pressure placed on the servicers by the Obama administration over the last few months to increase permanent modifications.

From December to January, Permanent modifications jumped 75 percent. During the same period new trials rose by about 9 percent. To date there has been nearly 1.3 million trial modification offers extended to struggling homeowners since the program began almost a year ago, Treasury officials say HAMP is on pace to meet its goal of helping three to four million borrowers hang on to their homes by the end of 2012.

The Treasury department estimates there are 5.6 million homeowners who are currently 60 days behind on their payments.  1.7 million of them are eligible for assistance through HAMP, according to the Treasury’s figures. The number of HAMP-eligible homeowners is expected to grow over the next three years, officials said, as delinquencies increase.

The January Treasury report shows that 60,476 trial modifications have been canceled, and 1,005 permanent modifications have been terminated, an indication the borrower may have failed to stay current on the new payment

Modification Results

According to the January report, the monthly payment reduction for borrowers enrolled in the program is $522.  According to the administration, 100 percent of the permanent modifications have reduced the interest rate, 42 percent have extended the loan term, and 27 percent have included principal reduction.

As of the end of January, CitiMortgage and GMAC Mortgage have provided modifications to 50 percent of their eligible borrowers. Citi has converted 10,929 modifications to permanent status. GMAC has converted 11,494 of its home loans to permanent status as well. Saxon Mortgage Servicing has 48 percent of its eligible borrowers in a trial or permanent modification, completing 5,312 permanent modifications.

JPMorgan has made 11,581 modifications permanent, and has 17,959 pending. Wells Fargo has completed the most permanent conversions, with 17,652. Bank of America has put 22 percent of its eligible borrowers into modifications and made 12,761 permanent.

What do you think….Does HAMP go far enough to save struggling homeowners?

For All Your Marketing, Escrow and Title Needs

FaceBook-The New Google?

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Last week Facebook announced that it now has over 400 million active users,  Let me say that again……Facebook has more than 400 Million users. Even more amazing…..225 million of those were added in the last 12 months!  To put this statistic in context, the population of the United States is a little over 300 Million. We all belong to the country of Facebook.

These days you would be hard pressed to meet anyone that does not have a facebook account.  In fact, I can tell a-lot about someone that does not have one, to which my usual reply is “They still make you?” I guess I can understand if you are in the Witness Protection Program, probably don’t want your “friends” to know where you are…..everyone else; “not so much”.

According to Web measurement firm Compete Inc., Facebook has passed search-engine giant Google to become the top source for traffic to major portals like Yahoo and MSN.  Some believe social media sites could become the web’s next search engine. If you pay attention to the changes Facebook has made recently, you have noticed the search bar.  Search used to be limited to searching just Facebook, not anymore.

Facebook Search

15 percent of traffic to major Web portals like Yahoo, MSN and AOL came from Facebook and MySpace. Most of that traffic, 13 percent came from Facebook. A quick search for “MyTitleGuy” within Facebook produced the following results:

MyTitleGuy Search

As a Realtor or loan officer, all this really doesn’t mean much unless you know how to use Facebook to drive traffic to your website or Blog. Problem is, whether you are using outbound or inbound marketing techniques, most sales people don’t know where there their leads come from.  I can tell you that as much as 20% of traffic to my blog comes from Facebook. To demonstrate this in terms relative to you, I searched within Facebook for Chandler Real Estate. See below.

Chandler Real Estate

Whether you work for a large or small brokerage, there is not much incentive for a competing Realtor to share the benefits of Facebook and social media as a whole with you…a competitor. Me on the other hand, I believe in the old Brian Buffini saying “Give it out in slices and it will come back in loafes”

So…..who wants a slice?

Call or email me for a

For All Your Escrow And Title Needs

When It Comes To Marketing, Are You In Or Out?

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Well, are you In or Out?  Don’t worry, I’m not trying to get you to join some double secret probation group, I’m talking about Marketing. Is your marketing an example of Inbound marketing or Outbound Marketing?

# 1 In the Real Estate and sales industry we have been conditioned to work with Outbound Marketing. Examples of Outbound marketing are

  • Telemarketing
  • open houses
  • Email blasts
  • direct mail campaigns
  • TV & Radio Ads

The problem is that our customers are doing everything they can to block our marketing efforts. Look at the list again

  • Telemarketing=Do Not Call List/Caller ID
  • open houses
  • Email blasts=Spam blockers, junk folders
  • direct mail campaigns
  • TV & Radio Ads=TiVo/DVR  Satellite Radio

The methods above are characterized as Interruption Marketing (Marketing that disrupts potential customers activities). Now, let me tell you that I have nothing against Outbound Marketing IF it’s working. Question is: Is it? I recently saw a statistic from NAR that said “87% of buyers used the Internet as an information resource during the buying process. 33% of them said they first learned of the home they purchased on the Internet”. With the advent of social media, (Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In, Blogging, Digg, Zoo-Loo, (I could Go On and On) I would expect those numbers to continue to rise significantly. The Internet has afforded us a new way to generate business. It’s called Inbound marketing.

# 2 Examples of Inbound Marketing are

  • Search Engine Optimization (S.E.O.)
  • RSS Feeds (Real Simple Syndication)
  • Blogging
  • Social Media
  • Videos (You-Tube, Viddler)
  • Analytics
  • Landing Pages

These methods of marketing are considered Permission Marketing (Obtaining customer consent to receive information). Simply put, Outbound: You Find Them. Inbound: They Find You.

So, which one are you?

Personally I would love to be found by my customers, its a lot cheaper than the alternative.

If you are a Realtor/Lender in the Phoenix Metro area and your a # 1, lets talk.

MyTitleGuy

Strategic Default, The New Reality

Monday, February 15th, 2010

In an economy where hundreds of thousands of people are losing their homes to foreclosure, It comes as a surprise to many that some are intentionally walking away from their homes, called strategic default.  A strategic default is an intentional decision by a borrower to stop making their mortgage payment. What’s interesting with a strategic default is-the borrower can usually afford to make their payment but strategically choose not to because they believe it’s better for their finances. Strategic default usually happens when there is a substantial difference between what is owed on the home and what it’s actually worth, commonly known as being “underwater”.

Strategic default is a relatively new term in the real estate industry, and is somewhat confined to boom states like California, Florida, Nevada and yes, Arizona.   Nationally there appears to be an upward trend in strategic defaults. A study by Experian and Oliver Wyman reports the number of so called “strategic defaults” more than doubled, to 588,000, from 2007 to 2008.  Another 2009 survey found that more than a quarter of all existing defaults were strategic.  An increasing number of academics are praising the financial benefits of walking away. “Homeowners should be walking away in droves,” Brent T. White, a University of Arizona law school professor, said in a recent paper. “The financial costs of foreclosure, while not insignificant, are minimal compared to the financial benefit of strategic default.”

White uses the following example to demonstrate how many borrowers are better off defaulting: A young professional couple with two children pays $585,000 for a three-bedroom, Salinas, Calif.-home in January 2006. At $4,300, monthly payments on their no-money-down, 30-year fixed mortgage with an interest rate of 6.5 percent represent a tad less than 31 percent of their gross monthly income. Toss in taxes, student loans, health care, food, and other essentials, and finances quickly get tight.

After the historic housing bust, their home is now worth $187,000, but they still owe $560,000. Other homes in their neighborhood, of course, have plummeted in value as well. And if the couple was to purchase a similar, nearby house listed at $179,000, their monthly payments would be less than $1,200. That’s a huge savings over their current $4,300 monthly mortgage bill. But since a foreclosure on their credit report is likely to prevent them from buying a home in the near-term, they may have to rent. And about $1,000 a month gets them a comparable rental property in their neighborhood.

“Assuming they intend to stay in their home ten years, [the homeowners] would save approximately $340,000 by walking away, including a monthly savings of at least $1,700 on rent verses mortgage payments, even after factoring in the mortgage interest tax reduction,” White writes. “If they stay in their home, on the other hand, it will take [the homeowners] over 60 years just to recover their equity—assuming, of course, that they live that long.”

The argument against strategically defaulting is based upon your word: You promised to repay the loan when you took out the mortgage, it’s your responsibility to do everything possible to respect that obligation. Avoiding the guilt and shame that can go with a foreclosure is one of the top reasons struggling homeowners don’t strategically default.

What do you think, Is strategic default a good option? Is there any shame attached to strategic default?

MyTitleGuy

Do you want more business?

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

No it’s not a trick question. Do you want more business?  Maybe you are too busy. Question: Are you busy with activity or are you busy with deals?  I ask this question because its really easy for me to think that I am busy when in fact I may not be doing anything that will help me increase my business.

What are you doing today that will produce results in the future?

Where do you go first when you are looking for a product or service? The internet?
I can’t remember the last time I used a phone book for its desired purpose.

Some facts about Real Estate to consider:

87% of buyers start their home search on the internet.

When a client meets you for the 1st time guess what….They Google you.  What will they find?

If you are not online you are losing ground to your competitors.

Take your online marketing campaign seriously. If you started a direct mail farming campaign today, how long would it take you to see results? 1 year? 2 years? 3? The same is true for social media. You must be committed to the process to see results.

Because of the Internet, You don’t have to spend a lot of money to get a lot of buzz. In the past if you wanted to brand yourself you’d spend a lot of money on calenders, glossy magazines, park benches, billboards, postcards, flyers and even grocery carts. These days all you need is time, a consultant and a plan. To create a lot of buzz you have to get serious about your social media plan.

I want to help you establish and maintain an online presence.  Are you interested?  Did I mention it’s Free? Well, it will cost you your escrows, but you will want to give them to me when we are done.

I have clients right now generating business using Blogging techniques, Youtube, Facebook, Facebook Fanpages and Twitter.

Would you like to know how?

Call me for a one-on-one appointment.

MyTitleGuy

MyitleGuy

Contact Me

Stephen Garner
Phone: 480-223-8113
Fax: 480-892-2680