Unfortunately some people just aren't as ethical as we would like them to be. During the past week, the office I manage (Alain Pinel Realtors in Morgan Hill) has received about five (5) fraudulent contracts...all from the same source.
I reviewed the contracts and noticed it was from FAR/BAR which is the Florida Association of Realtors and Bar Association. Agents were given appropriate guidance and then I placed a call into my legal contact at the California Association of Realtors (CAR) resulting in a formal RealLegal Update. Be on the lookout for more and if you have any questions please feel free to stop by or call me.
It is imperative that we keep our Morgan Hill Realtors and community in tune with everything in the real estate market...good or otherwise.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Morgan Hill Real Estate Dreams
As Martin Luther King day approaches, I couldn't help but think of "dreams". Everybody has dreams and most of those dreams include home ownership. 2010 could be a great year for many people to achieve their dream of owning a home. Interests rates are down (but expected to rise), the $8,000 first time homebuyer credit has been extended until April 30th, and there are some good investments out their due to the recent market decline and distressed property inventory.
Morgan Hill is a wonderful community with a wide variety of home options, including: single family homes, town houses and condominiums, ranches, gated estates and equestrian properties. If you are home buyer, seller of real estate in Morgan Hill or an investor looking for properties that can cashflow, have good capitalization rates and gross rent multipliers, or are looking for agricultural lands for farming or commercial agriculture purposes then Morgan Hill is a good place to start.
The community has significant amenities with recently built Aquatic Center, YMCA, Sports Complex, Anderson Lake and Henry Coe State Park to name a few. Easy commuting via Hwy 101, 85 and in close proximity to 280, 680 and 87 make it an excellent community with a small town feel but only a short drive to employment opportunities in Silicon Valley.
Live the dream!! Come home to Morgan Hill, you won't be disappointed.
Morgan Hill is a wonderful community with a wide variety of home options, including: single family homes, town houses and condominiums, ranches, gated estates and equestrian properties. If you are home buyer, seller of real estate in Morgan Hill or an investor looking for properties that can cashflow, have good capitalization rates and gross rent multipliers, or are looking for agricultural lands for farming or commercial agriculture purposes then Morgan Hill is a good place to start.
The community has significant amenities with recently built Aquatic Center, YMCA, Sports Complex, Anderson Lake and Henry Coe State Park to name a few. Easy commuting via Hwy 101, 85 and in close proximity to 280, 680 and 87 make it an excellent community with a small town feel but only a short drive to employment opportunities in Silicon Valley.
Live the dream!! Come home to Morgan Hill, you won't be disappointed.
Friday, January 8, 2010
New GFE rules in effect
2010 represents a couple of changes in the real estate and lending processes. As of January 1, 2010 there is a new good faith estimate (GFE) for the lending community. There are also changes to the Truth in Lending. These are documents that buyers and sellers in Morgan Hill real estate have questions regarding. Take some time to familiarize yourself with these changes if you are a Realtor as it will enable you to add more value to your clients. If you are a consumer, home buyer, seller or investor in real estate contact your local Morgan Hill Realtor for more information and to help guide you through the transaction process.
Happy 2010 to everyone!!
Will Klopp
Happy 2010 to everyone!!
Will Klopp
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
2010 Real Estate Predictions
Good morning Morgan Hill!!! This morning I say up in bed and had a few thoughts flash across my feeble brain. I wanted to share the thoughts because as home buyers, sellers or professional Realtors and real estate agents for that matter I think they may be applicable.
Being positive goes a long way in this exercise, and if you think it and believe it, then anything is possible:
1. 2010 will be the best year yet and I will be at the top of my game and achieve my goals (which of course infers that you all have a plan with goals for the year).
2. Everything happens through people. It has been my experience that if we are open and communicating with people around us they will help us achieve our goals. It may even be the person you least expect that introduces you to a "rainmaker" that changes your life. Be engaged.
3. Create relationships (a little take-off on #2) - Depending on what your industry or job description (sales, marketing, technical, etc.) take the time to build relationships. So many times I have seen people engage a client, perform their duties, slam dunk the deal and then they are never to be seen again. Build relationships. Relationships lead to long, sustanible paths that benefit everyone. Deals lead to an empty pipeline in search of the next deal. Ask yourself this: Do you want to make a sale or build a business? If you want to build your business, then start building relationships.
4. Everything happens when in Motion: People that get up out of bed, get the blood flowing and get in the game succeed. Motion causes action, reaction, waves, tremors in the force and people take notice. If you are up working, honing your skills and becoming the master of your craft people will see it, talk about it and utilize it. What better way to be found than by someone telling them how hard you work and how knowledgeable you are? Sure beats standing on your own soap box and singining your own praises. Think about it.
That was it for this morning. Nothing earth shattering, but certainly things worth considering. I wish you all the most amazing and prosperous 2010. Change your mindset, change your life!!!
Will
Being positive goes a long way in this exercise, and if you think it and believe it, then anything is possible:
1. 2010 will be the best year yet and I will be at the top of my game and achieve my goals (which of course infers that you all have a plan with goals for the year).
2. Everything happens through people. It has been my experience that if we are open and communicating with people around us they will help us achieve our goals. It may even be the person you least expect that introduces you to a "rainmaker" that changes your life. Be engaged.
3. Create relationships (a little take-off on #2) - Depending on what your industry or job description (sales, marketing, technical, etc.) take the time to build relationships. So many times I have seen people engage a client, perform their duties, slam dunk the deal and then they are never to be seen again. Build relationships. Relationships lead to long, sustanible paths that benefit everyone. Deals lead to an empty pipeline in search of the next deal. Ask yourself this: Do you want to make a sale or build a business? If you want to build your business, then start building relationships.
4. Everything happens when in Motion: People that get up out of bed, get the blood flowing and get in the game succeed. Motion causes action, reaction, waves, tremors in the force and people take notice. If you are up working, honing your skills and becoming the master of your craft people will see it, talk about it and utilize it. What better way to be found than by someone telling them how hard you work and how knowledgeable you are? Sure beats standing on your own soap box and singining your own praises. Think about it.
That was it for this morning. Nothing earth shattering, but certainly things worth considering. I wish you all the most amazing and prosperous 2010. Change your mindset, change your life!!!
Will
Friday, December 25, 2009
Debtor's Dilemma: Pay the Mortgage or Walk Away
In Down Real-Estate Market, Homeowners Are Deciding to Abandon Their Loan Obligations Even if They Can Afford the Payments
By JAMES R. HAGERTY and NICK TIMIRAOS (Wall Street Journal)
For full article and pictures click this link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126100260600594531.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories
PHOENIX -- Should I stay or should I go? That is the question more Americans are asking as the housing market continues to drag.
In good times, it would have been unthinkable to stop paying the mortgage. But for Derek Figg, a 30-year-old software engineer, it now seems like the best option.
Mr. Figg felt trapped in a home he bought two years ago in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe for $340,000. He still owes about $318,000 but figures the home's value has dropped to $230,000 or less. After agonizing over the pros and cons, he decided recently to stop making loan payments, even though he can afford them.
Mr. Figg plans to rent an apartment nearby, saving about $700 a month.
Strategic Defaults by State
View Interactive
See data on "strategic defaults" -- homeowners who choose to default on their mortgage even though they could still afford to pay it.
More interactive graphics and photos A growing number of people in Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada, where home prices have plunged, are considering what is known as a "strategic default," walking away from their mortgages not out of necessity but because they believe it is in their best financial interests.
A standard mortgage-loan document reads, "I promise to pay" the amount borrowed plus interest, and some people say that promise should remain good even if it is no longer convenient.
George Brenkert, a professor of business ethics at Georgetown University, says borrowers who can pay -- and weren't deceived by the lender about the nature of the loan -- have a moral responsibility to keep paying. It would be disastrous for the economy if Americans concluded they were free to walk away from such commitments, he says.
Discuss the Ethics
Developments: Is Walking Away FromYour Mortgage Immoral?
Walking away isn't risk-free. A foreclosure stays on a consumer's credit record for seven years and can send a credit score (based on a scale of 300 to 850) plunging by as much as 160 points, according to Fair Isaac Corp., which provides tools for analyzing credit records. A lower credit score means auto and other loans are likely to come with much higher interest rates, and credit card issuers may charge more interest or refuse to issue a card.
In addition, many states give lenders varying degrees of scope to seize bank deposits, cars or other assets of people who default on mortgages.
Even so, in neighborhoods with high concentrations of foreclosures, "it's going to be really difficult to prevent a cascade effect" as one strategic default emboldens others to take that drastic step, says Paola Sapienza, a professor of finance at Northwestern University. A study by researchers at Northwestern and the University of Chicago found that as many as one in four defaults may be strategic.
Driving this phenomenon is the rising number of households that are deeply "under water," owing much more than the current value of their homes. First American CoreLogic, a real-estate information company, estimates that 5.3 million U.S. households have mortgage balances at least 20% higher than their homes' value, and 2.2 million of those households are at least 50% under water. The problem is concentrated in Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Nevada.
Josh Cotner, who owns an insurance agency, says his mortgage balance is about $100,000 more than the market value of his home in Gilbert, Ariz. Mr. Cotner could rent a bigger home nearby for $600 a month, far below the $1,655 he now pays on his mortgage, home insurance and property tax. He says he recently stopped making mortgage payments because his lender wouldn't help him reduce the principal on his loan under a federal program in which he believes he is qualified to participate. Given the sometimes lengthy legal process of foreclosure, he may be able to stay in the home for at least another nine months without making any payments.
Banks warn they may get tough with strategic defaulters by pursuing legal claims on a borrower's other assets. "We will try to reduce people's payments if they have a hardship," says Thomas Kelly, a spokesman for J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. "But we have a financial responsibility to get people to pay what they owe if they can afford it."
Steven Olson, a loan officer and roof installer in Roseville, Minn., defaulted in 2007 on a plot of land in Florida he had bought as an investment. "I thought I could move on with my life," he says. But the lender, RBC Bank, a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada, sued him, seeking to make him pay more than $400,000 to the bank to cover its losses on the loan. Mr. Olson has hired a Florida lawyer, Roy Oppenheim, to resist the claim. An RBC spokesman declined to comment.
States where lenders generally can pursue such legal claims include Florida and Nevada but not California and Arizona, where laws generally prohibit lenders from pursuing other assets of mortgage borrowers. A new Nevada law will protect many borrowers from these judgments if they bought a home for their own use after Sept. 30, 2009.
Another risk for defaulters is that banks could sell the rights to pursue claims to collection agencies or other firms, which could then dun the borrowers for up to 20 years after a foreclosure. Such threats appear to deter some borrowers. A recent study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond found that under-water borrowers were 20% more likely to default in a state where mortgage lenders can't pursue claims on other assets than in those where they can.
Journal Community
Vote: How much of your home's value do you owe on your mortgage? Brent White, an associate law professor at the University of Arizona who has written about this issue, says homeowners should make the decision on whether to keep paying based on their own interests, "unclouded by unnecessary guilt or shame." He says borrowers can take a cue from lenders that "ruthlessly seek to maximize profits or minimize losses irrespective of concerns of morality or social responsibility."
But it isn't just a matter of the borrower's personal interest, says John Courson, chief executive of the Mortgage Bankers Association, a trade group. Defaults hurt neighborhoods by lowering property values, he says, adding: "What about the message they will send to their family and their kids and their friends?"
From the Archives
Confessions of an Underwater Homeowner American Dream 2: Default, Then Rent In Mesa, another suburb of Phoenix, low prices are helping to draw buyers who may walk away from other homes. Christina Delapp bought a house out of foreclosure in July for $49,000 in cash. She says she will stop paying the mortgage on another home she still owns in Tempe if she can't sell in the next few months for more than the $312,000 that she owes.
Ms. Delapp, who has been jobless for 18 months, says that the new home is part of her survival strategy. "I feel very fortunate," she says. "Regardless of what happens to my credit, we've managed to put together the best safety plan that I possibly could."
Mr. Figg says that deciding to default on his loan was "the toughest decision I ever made." He worried that if he ever loses his job he would be marooned in a home that he couldn't sell for enough to pay off his loan, limiting his ability to find work in other parts of the country: "I couldn't move up. I couldn't move down. I couldn't move out of the city. It was a very claustrophobic situation."
By moving to an apartment, Mr. Figg expects to lower his costs by about $700 a month. He plans to put that into his savings account and says he is willing to rent for the next five years or so.
Lenders are guilty of having "manipulated" the housing market during the boom by accepting dubious appraisals, Mr. Figg says. "When I weighed everything," he says, "I was able to sleep at night."
Write to James R. Hagerty at bob.hagerty@wsj.com and Nick Timiraos at nick.timiraos@wsj.com
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A22
By JAMES R. HAGERTY and NICK TIMIRAOS (Wall Street Journal)
For full article and pictures click this link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126100260600594531.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories
PHOENIX -- Should I stay or should I go? That is the question more Americans are asking as the housing market continues to drag.
In good times, it would have been unthinkable to stop paying the mortgage. But for Derek Figg, a 30-year-old software engineer, it now seems like the best option.
Mr. Figg felt trapped in a home he bought two years ago in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe for $340,000. He still owes about $318,000 but figures the home's value has dropped to $230,000 or less. After agonizing over the pros and cons, he decided recently to stop making loan payments, even though he can afford them.
Mr. Figg plans to rent an apartment nearby, saving about $700 a month.
Strategic Defaults by State
View Interactive
See data on "strategic defaults" -- homeowners who choose to default on their mortgage even though they could still afford to pay it.
More interactive graphics and photos A growing number of people in Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada, where home prices have plunged, are considering what is known as a "strategic default," walking away from their mortgages not out of necessity but because they believe it is in their best financial interests.
A standard mortgage-loan document reads, "I promise to pay" the amount borrowed plus interest, and some people say that promise should remain good even if it is no longer convenient.
George Brenkert, a professor of business ethics at Georgetown University, says borrowers who can pay -- and weren't deceived by the lender about the nature of the loan -- have a moral responsibility to keep paying. It would be disastrous for the economy if Americans concluded they were free to walk away from such commitments, he says.
Discuss the Ethics
Developments: Is Walking Away FromYour Mortgage Immoral?
Walking away isn't risk-free. A foreclosure stays on a consumer's credit record for seven years and can send a credit score (based on a scale of 300 to 850) plunging by as much as 160 points, according to Fair Isaac Corp., which provides tools for analyzing credit records. A lower credit score means auto and other loans are likely to come with much higher interest rates, and credit card issuers may charge more interest or refuse to issue a card.
In addition, many states give lenders varying degrees of scope to seize bank deposits, cars or other assets of people who default on mortgages.
Even so, in neighborhoods with high concentrations of foreclosures, "it's going to be really difficult to prevent a cascade effect" as one strategic default emboldens others to take that drastic step, says Paola Sapienza, a professor of finance at Northwestern University. A study by researchers at Northwestern and the University of Chicago found that as many as one in four defaults may be strategic.
Driving this phenomenon is the rising number of households that are deeply "under water," owing much more than the current value of their homes. First American CoreLogic, a real-estate information company, estimates that 5.3 million U.S. households have mortgage balances at least 20% higher than their homes' value, and 2.2 million of those households are at least 50% under water. The problem is concentrated in Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Nevada.
Josh Cotner, who owns an insurance agency, says his mortgage balance is about $100,000 more than the market value of his home in Gilbert, Ariz. Mr. Cotner could rent a bigger home nearby for $600 a month, far below the $1,655 he now pays on his mortgage, home insurance and property tax. He says he recently stopped making mortgage payments because his lender wouldn't help him reduce the principal on his loan under a federal program in which he believes he is qualified to participate. Given the sometimes lengthy legal process of foreclosure, he may be able to stay in the home for at least another nine months without making any payments.
Banks warn they may get tough with strategic defaulters by pursuing legal claims on a borrower's other assets. "We will try to reduce people's payments if they have a hardship," says Thomas Kelly, a spokesman for J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. "But we have a financial responsibility to get people to pay what they owe if they can afford it."
Steven Olson, a loan officer and roof installer in Roseville, Minn., defaulted in 2007 on a plot of land in Florida he had bought as an investment. "I thought I could move on with my life," he says. But the lender, RBC Bank, a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada, sued him, seeking to make him pay more than $400,000 to the bank to cover its losses on the loan. Mr. Olson has hired a Florida lawyer, Roy Oppenheim, to resist the claim. An RBC spokesman declined to comment.
States where lenders generally can pursue such legal claims include Florida and Nevada but not California and Arizona, where laws generally prohibit lenders from pursuing other assets of mortgage borrowers. A new Nevada law will protect many borrowers from these judgments if they bought a home for their own use after Sept. 30, 2009.
Another risk for defaulters is that banks could sell the rights to pursue claims to collection agencies or other firms, which could then dun the borrowers for up to 20 years after a foreclosure. Such threats appear to deter some borrowers. A recent study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond found that under-water borrowers were 20% more likely to default in a state where mortgage lenders can't pursue claims on other assets than in those where they can.
Journal Community
Vote: How much of your home's value do you owe on your mortgage? Brent White, an associate law professor at the University of Arizona who has written about this issue, says homeowners should make the decision on whether to keep paying based on their own interests, "unclouded by unnecessary guilt or shame." He says borrowers can take a cue from lenders that "ruthlessly seek to maximize profits or minimize losses irrespective of concerns of morality or social responsibility."
But it isn't just a matter of the borrower's personal interest, says John Courson, chief executive of the Mortgage Bankers Association, a trade group. Defaults hurt neighborhoods by lowering property values, he says, adding: "What about the message they will send to their family and their kids and their friends?"
From the Archives
Confessions of an Underwater Homeowner American Dream 2: Default, Then Rent In Mesa, another suburb of Phoenix, low prices are helping to draw buyers who may walk away from other homes. Christina Delapp bought a house out of foreclosure in July for $49,000 in cash. She says she will stop paying the mortgage on another home she still owns in Tempe if she can't sell in the next few months for more than the $312,000 that she owes.
Ms. Delapp, who has been jobless for 18 months, says that the new home is part of her survival strategy. "I feel very fortunate," she says. "Regardless of what happens to my credit, we've managed to put together the best safety plan that I possibly could."
Mr. Figg says that deciding to default on his loan was "the toughest decision I ever made." He worried that if he ever loses his job he would be marooned in a home that he couldn't sell for enough to pay off his loan, limiting his ability to find work in other parts of the country: "I couldn't move up. I couldn't move down. I couldn't move out of the city. It was a very claustrophobic situation."
By moving to an apartment, Mr. Figg expects to lower his costs by about $700 a month. He plans to put that into his savings account and says he is willing to rent for the next five years or so.
Lenders are guilty of having "manipulated" the housing market during the boom by accepting dubious appraisals, Mr. Figg says. "When I weighed everything," he says, "I was able to sleep at night."
Write to James R. Hagerty at bob.hagerty@wsj.com and Nick Timiraos at nick.timiraos@wsj.com
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A22
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Christmas Eve in Morgan Hill
Hello Everyone, it is the day before Christmas and everyone is bustling about the town of Morgan Hill doing their last minute Christmas shopping and errands. It is a cool but sunny day and it feels like Christmas. My two boys are electric with anticipation of the big day. I am leaving the real estate office and going to spend some much needed time with my family. We all need to keep that balance in life, even Realtors. Besides, tonight is Christmas Eve and that means (in our family) you get to open one gift before the Big Guy in Red flies in late to deliver the rest of the presents. Always a fun time...though tough to get the kids to bed after.
Merry Christmas and God Bless.
Merry Christmas and God Bless.
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