Dan Polimino's Blog

The Associated Press, on Wednesday, released more information about the new FHA program to help homeowners who owe more than their home is worth. "The new program takes a different approach. It allows investors in mortgage-backed securities to evaluate their holdings and select borrowers who will be offered refinanced mortgages guaranteed by the FHA."

Potentially this is a great program that will help everyone. Realistically I think it will mirror the government's mortgage relief program. More people dropped out of the program than were helped. I anticipate mounds of red tape and borrowers to get gouged on the rate and fees. Why should they bother to be competitive when the client is locked in?

I had started talking to a potential client about the FHA Negative Equity program. Even though she is underwater on her mortgage, she wants to do the right thing. She does not want to walk away like some of her neighbors have done. She is trapped in a high rate arm and does not have over $50,000 to bring to the table to refinance. When I explained the new rules, she lost interest quickly. She told me she has talked to the bank for months and nothing has happened with her loan modification. She mentioned she never talks to the same person twice and the bank claims to have never received the documents.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Please let me know your experiences with this. Hopefully there will be success stories we can use to help people.

Best, Chip

Chip Allen

Crestline Mortgage Bankers

A Division of Universal Lending Corp

Direct: 303.947.2109

Fax: 303.987.0676

Loanchip@hotmail.com

Your Lender for Life!

When people you care about need a mortgage,

for purchase or refinance, please do not keep me a secret.

Seventy-seven percent of home buyers had a home inspection done last year. Why wouldn’t everyone want a home inspection? An example would be a contractor doing a fix and flip. The contractor may have already gone through the home, felt that it was structurally sound, plans on gutting it, and therefore does need a home inspection. The rest of us get a home inspection and it’s always a good idea to do so, but there are some tips to making sure you get a good one.

1)   Always hire a licensed inspector. At least you will be able to have some comfort knowing that they had to pass a core competency test on home inspection to conduct their trade. You can look for licensed professionals with the ASHI (American Society of Home Inspectors) badge or NAHI (the National Association of Home Inspectors) license.

2)   Always ask upfront about costs and shop around. Find out what is included with a home inspection and what’s not. In Colorado, most companies charge an extra fee for a radon test. Some states don’t have an issue with radon so it’s not even a part of their services. Also, ask if their services and inspection carry any type of guarantee.

3)   The average inspection for a home should take a couple of hours and even longer for large homes or older homes. Ask the technicians when you will get their report, and how it is delivered (fax, mail, email).

4)   Always be present at the inspection. Most inspectors don’t want you to follow them around from room to room. Most prefer to do their job quickly and efficiently and then sit down with you at the end to discuss what they have found. That’s also the best time to break out your list of questions.

5)   Finally, if you have more questions after you receive your report, don’t be afraid to contact your inspector for follow up. One cautionary note: everyone wants to know how much things are going to cost to repair. Some inspectors will give you that advice, but most are going to tell you to get a written estimate from a tradesman.

More and more realtors, as well as consumers, are using social networking these days as a way to market and sell properties. I am sure that by now, you have heard about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, Foursquare, and many others.

For most consumers as well as realtors, it can be overwhelming as well as confusing, but it is a must in going forward if you are buying and selling homes in this web 2.0 real estate world. It’s not enough just to have a profile on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You need to know how to leverage it, use it for marketing, and drive traffic. In the case of Twitter, people have to first learn the Twitter language before they can effectively use it and use it well. Most of all, once you have all of these profiles, you must have a marketing strategy on how to use them. Here is what I do and this may work for you as well.

I spend 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes at night on social networking and I follow this simple formula:

1. I make three comments on other people’s posts in Facebook.

2. I check my twitter account and reply to any @ mentions and direct messages. I then re-tweet three items of interest.

3. On Linkedin, I post my status update (connect that with twitter), respond to any messages in my inbox, check my groups, and comment on one discussion.

4. Last but not least, I open up Hootsuite, share three links on twitter (scheduled two hours part) and share three links on Facebook (scheduled two hours apart).

5. I repeat the exact method above later that night.

Move fast; you don’t need to get bogged down in social networking and have it take away time from all the other things you need to do. Remember that the majority of people are finding out about homes for sale through the internet and that’s why this is so important. Do not use this as your sole method for selling a home, but use it to compliment the other activities that you are already doing.