By Jennifer Cavendish

I had the distinct pleasure of piling on a bus with a group of Nevada REALTORS® on Wednesday afternoon and heading to Capitol Hill to meet with not one, not two, but five Nevada representatives - the entire Nevada delegation. These politically active REALTORS® have been visiting their Congressmen and Congresswomen for years as part of the NAR Midyear meetings. Their dedication to the issues and to being a part of the political process was undeniable, and it certainly seems to have earned them a great deal of respect from their politicians.

Continue reading "An Afternoon on the Hill" »

Posted on May 15 at 01:25 PM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

Continue reading "Managing Editor John Frank in California" »

Posted on May 1 at 11:13 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

By John N. Frank

It’s always important to be vigilant in your business dealings and to be on the look out for unscrupulous clients and vendors, but maybe more so in tough times that bring out flim-flam artists preying on people in difficult situations.

Real estate pros I spoke with this week in Sacramento mentioned two schemes they think their fellow professionals should be aware of.

Continue reading "Take More Care in Tough Times" »

Posted on May 1 at 11:04 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

By Mariwyn Evans

I’m writing this on the plane, coming back to Chicago after watching members of the Columbus Board of REALTORS® get tips and practice in working with the media. (Watch for the story and video in the August REALTOR® magazine and Web site.)

The experience of watching REALTORS® answering a trainer’s questions before a camera got me thinking about how important it is to see the media as a conduit for sharing all the wonderful things about home ownership instead of as an adversary.

Continue reading "Nice Begets Nice" »

Posted on April 14 at 11:33 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

By Stacey Moncrieff

When they're facing foreclosure, what should home owners do?

A Washington Post story we picked up for our daily news e-mail last week showed that a sizeable number do nothing. According to the story, 53 percent of loans backed by Freddie Mac that went into foreclosure involved borrowers who could not be reached.

Naturally, opportunists are springing up everywhere. On Feb. 29, The New York Times ran a story by John Leland, “Facing Default, Some Walk Out on New Homes.” It mentioned a new San Diego company that helps owners walk away from unaffordable mortgages. The company is aptly called You Walk Away.

I encourage my kids to confront issues with friends and teachers head on, and I think borrowers should do the same with their lenders. That's why it was refreshing today to see a Webinar invitation at Facebook from RealTown blogger Frances Flynn Thorsen, e-PRO, SRS, that calls on real estate practitioners to help Americans keep their homes. (You have to be registered with Facebook to view the invitation.)

In comments, Thorsen says she'll post the recorded Webinar online and follow up with home owners who've avoided foreclosure. The Webinar is free and it takes place March 6 from 4 to 5 p.m. Eastern time. I'll be there.

Posted on February 29 at 05:04 PM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

By Robert Freedman

It's true that the days when lenders were tripping over one another to hand 100-percent LTV loans to even credit-risky borrowers are over. But if your customers are reasonable credit risks, there remain options for them in today's tighter lending climate. I spoke with two lenders on the front lines to hear what borrowers can expect. Here are highlights of what they had to say:

Continue reading "How Your Customers Can Find Home Loans" »

Posted on February 22 at 11:11 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

BY ROBERT FREEDMAN

Whenever chief executives of important organizations speak publicly you can bet their remarks are heavily scripted to ensure only market-tested messages get out. That’s why it was so refreshing to sit in on remarks made by Freddie Mac Chairman and CEO Richard Syron the other day.

He spoke before a few hundred politically active REALTORS who were in Washington, D.C., Feb. 5, to learn about today’s key federal real estate issues and get pointers on grassroots activism.

Syron spoke without notes — always a good sign that things might get interesting — and stayed to answer a few questions.

The upshot of his remarks is that we’re in a new kind of housing downturn this time around. Without mincing words, he said we’re probably in the worst housing crisis in the last 80 years because the cause of the crisis has novel components to it.

First is China’s role as the world’s largest emerging market, which has been exporting huge amounts of capital into financial markets while at the same time exporting huge amounts of low-cost labor. Thus, you have unprecedented liquidity (from its capital exports) in an environment of low inflation (from its labor exports).

Second is the securitization boom, which married the creation of novel mortgage financing instruments with a market of hungry investors worldwide.

Those two trends are the ones Syron says are novel to this downturn. Two other components —

Continue reading "Candid Remarks on Housing From an Executive Who Knows" »

Posted on February 5 at 02:29 PM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)