Hey Man, Want to Buy a Picture of My Sister Listing?

Realty Reality in San Francisco

Me, Barney, Freddie and Fannie

S.A.M.S.

Savings America's Mortgage System.  How?

Find out today 3:40 ET on CNBC as I appear to discuss how I think the mortgage system in this country can be reworked to benefit investors and consumers in light of Congressman Barney Frank's call for dismantling Freddie and Fannie.

Top Ten Reasons Consumers Hate Real Estate Agents

10. Facebook listings from agents who don’t know how to type, spell or understand Facebook

9. Teams are dumb and people know it

8. Almost everyone has a license, so you are not anyone special in their eyes

7. You still advertise in a newspaper that no one reads

6. You try to make them sign a buyer broker agreement when they walk into your open house

5. Dual agency.

4. You write agreements when the possibility of the client getting a mortgage is zero

3. Overpriced listings

2. See number 8 again.

1. And the top reason consumers hate real estate agents…….Bad hairdos from the 70’s on business cards

Haiti v China= American Win!

We are all disturbed by the tragedy in Haiti. The devastation, the destruction and the suffering are of course horrible and it is a earthquake that no one would wish on anyone.

But, let's look at this as an opportunity.

The U S is on the ground, in control of the airport and taking a lead roll on helping the people of Haiti survive and renew their hope.

Most of the people, though, have been very poor, sick and disenfranchised before the earthquake.

Can we as smart Americans in medicine, business and government come up with a Marshall plan for the country so in the future, this island in a warm climate can become say a destination for vacationers and a place to put factories to make the products that the Chinese have been making?

With China placing itself as the future super power in the economic world with no control from the US, we now have the opportunity to "control" a China-like economy.

Yes, the government has been a cash-stealing dictatorship for years and year, but we now have the chance to really make a go of it and help not only the Haitians, but send more money, profits, jobs and beach destinations to American.

Our best to the people of Haiti and let's look way forward!

Neg Am May Help the Housing Market!

Neg Am May Help the Housing Market!

Results of my CNBC interview on the solutions to the housing market!  Click here!

Negative Amortization Can Save the Housing Market

How so?

Find out today at 4:30PM ET when I appear on CNBC's Closing Bell.

Blow on it....

I showed a property in -10 wind chill the other days where the lock box (of course) was frozen.

I tried to heat the box without success so I called the listing agent to see if she had an extra key I could pick up.

Her answer? "Blow on the lock box"  I internally snickered.

This home has been for sale for almost a year, the price has gone from over $550k to $200 and it is now a short sale!

Additionally, this agent's voicemail says that she only returns calls from 3-4PM.

Questions come to mind.....Why are the Seller (and their bank) still comfortable that she can market their home?  Can this agent learn to return a call outside of those times since maybe everyone is not available then? Should there be a court that can prosecute agents who dramatically overprice a home in order to get listings?  Has the agent committed fraud? 

The public has no idea what kind of an agent you are if you don't tell them.

The plethora of crap that agents put in front of prospective Sellers showing happy, glossy people on the slick brochures just don't cut it.

Going on a listing appointment should be like asking for a date.  You are selling yourself, not a brochure.

This agent's company (a major brand-named Kool Aid type of chain) should be concerned how their brand is being portrayed, but they don't and they keep doing the same old same old because people fall for it.

To add insult to injury,  I sent her an email (to her 1998 yahoo.com account) yesterday morning and (of course) have not heard back.


The moral of the story is that real estate agents are not in the business of selling real estate, they are in the customer business.


The modern world is about communication with each other.  The cell phone is not acceptable when compared to Blackberrys, iPhones, etc.


You need to make sure that someone is going to be able to get into a property (try buying an electronic lock box or meet us there with a key), service your client (return calls and email promptly, not on "your" schedule and understand that the large franchise you work for is there to make Sellers think that the brand is going to sell the house, but in fact, it is not....it's all about you!

It's Official! The Bottom is Here!

Now that it is the end of the 2009 business year, let me know call for the self-named Glick Bottom!  Like Mark Haines of CNBC before him who called the stock market bottom, I see this as the zenith of low rates, low prices, tax credit and the beginning of job recreation.

So all of you that have been sitting on the sidelines as far as buying a home, I am declaring the end of the wait.

As you may know from my other writings, I am not the real estate cheerleader like a lot of agents are.


I will never answer the phone, "It's a great day at Nauseous Real Estate."  I give you more credit than that.


But back to reality.  Consumer confidence is getting better and better every day and because of that, more spending will occur and the jobs will come back.


Once the jobs come back, the housing market will reappear stronger because the builders, the foreclosures and the rental market has scooped up a lot of the over capacity.  Hey...the old supply and demand stuff!


Have a great 2010 and remember me when the market returns or throw stuff at me if it doesn't.


I'm a big boy, I can take it!

Happy Birthday Ralph (our mascot!)

CNBC Visit!

Today, I get to visit the studios of CNBC and see what the Mother Ship looks like.

More to follow and possibly pictures from inside!

Stay tuned!

Fed Should Buy More Mortgages= No Inflation

Simply, the Fed should consider purchasing more mortgage backed securities.

The effect can only help the economy and not effect inflation.

Here's the quick down and dirty by going backwards:

Fed buys Fannie Mae paper
Fannie Mae buys loans from XYZ Lender
Lender buys loan from Broker
Funds given by buyer to seller
Seller pays off existing mortgage and walks away with very little money from sale.

So, seller is released from debt they could not pay, jobs are being created by the broker, lender and Fannie Mae employees getting paid.

New buyer gets an affordable payment on a home that now pays for paint, furniture, etc.

How about a refi so say?

Simply, the borrower gets a cheaper payment or cash out to spend.  That stimulates and economy.

And the Fed gets the principal back AND interest.  It's not a bailout and it does not push inflation.

And until the institutions that become satisfied that they are buying what is promised, the Fed must be the  buyers of mortgages to keep rates low and flowing.

The Great Faith Estimate!

If You Loved HVCC, You're Going To Love the New GFE from HUD

Bailout Ben, Big Al, a Sick Porcupine and Beavis & Butthead

♻ G-Tweet

It looks like Ben Bernanke is getting re-elected and the American people don’t get a vote.

A porcupine with a bad head cold taking excessive amounts of tranquilizers after watching a 24 hour marathon of Beavis and Butthead episodes could have figured out that keeping interest rates low was a good thing to do recently.

Then again, Big Ben learned from the person who really caused this mess and that is his predecessor, Big Al Greenspan.

Bailout Ben, as he may get to be known in the future, does not deserve the chance to continue.  It’s time for new leadership that comes from outside of the inside of the financial world and government as we know it.

Al and his briefcase, that probably had a baloney sandwich in it, kept rates very high earlier in the decade and then did not see the regulations that needed to be put into place to keep the economy real late in his term.

He just kept his smugness going after knowing that he could control stock prices by his irrational exuberance quote.

From then on, he thought he was more important than Jesus (sorry, John Lennon).

We will look back on this decade as a time that we were lucky we didn’t get into trouble earlier but hopefully, we can get out of it and return people to work, have them buy homes and give them logical loans.

BTW, It’s been written that Greespam (not a misspelling) actually had an Option Arm on his house. Makes you wonder.

General Motors and Tiger Woods versus Sweden

I wish to personally apologize on behalf of the people and the government of the United States to the people  of Sweden.

First, Mr. Woods did not live up to his promises to his wife and now the Management of General Motors has finally realized that they did not make Saab become a better, more popular brand and have therefore decided to close it down.

We know the Swedes did not start this.  In fact, they have given us great athletes over the years to watch like Annika Sorenstam, Nick Lindstrom, Henrik Zetterberg, Nicklas Backstrom, Mats Sundein, Peter Forsberg, Daniel Alfredsson, Bjorn Borg, Mats Wilander, Stefan Edberg, Ingemar Johansson and my new favorite outspoken golfer (and glad he got rid of the hat) Jesper Parnevik.

The beautiful Northern European country has contributed Ingmar Bergman, Greta Garbo, Maud Adams, Ingrid Bergman, Max von Sydow and Alfred Nobel to the world.

Good luck to them in the next decade.  Hopefully, things will get better and global warming will make their winters more comfortable.

Bank of America Locks Out Homeowner Over Holiday:

(from Mortgageledger.com)


A New Jersey woman returned to her home after spending Thanksgiving away with her family only to find that she had been locked out days after she managed to avoid foreclosure.

Nina Morra, 57, recently fell behind on her mortgage payments to Bank of America and was facing foreclosure due to hospital stays and health concerns related to a stroke she suffered back in January.

Mora was eventually placed in a repayment plan by the bank on November 19 though it didn’t seem register in time. After taking a week-long trip over the Thanksgiving holiday to visit with relatives, Morra returned to her Trenton home only to find that the locks had been changed.

"I couldn't open the door and I couldn't realize what's going on with my home," Morra said.  It took Morra and a realtor friend of hers an additional three days to make sense of the ordeal and to gain access to the home. It was also discovered that the utilities had been shut off as well. Apparently Ms. Morra’s paperwork for the repayment plan was not cleared through the bank’s system in enough time to stop a bank inspector from changing the locks while she was away. 

Spokeswoman Jumana Bauwens says Bank of America takes full responsibility for the mix-up and will put up all costs to repair the situation.  Morra called the incident a “nightmare that didn’t have to happen.”

Welcome to the Co-Op Philadelphia (Part 1)

Living in Center City Philadelphia is a delightful experience for many people.

From students to retirees, the gamut of people that enjoy walking to shops, restaurants, bars, entertainment, schools and cultural events is growing.

There is a new and exciting real estate ownership/location/experience that people are unaware of and have questions on how it works.

It is the Co-Operative.

What is it?  What does it mean?  What will I have to go through?

Manhattenites are experienced with this type of ownership, but Philadelphia only has a few buildings.

Most of the buildings have a waiting list and the Co-Op actually buys the units and then resells them.

But, the William Penn House at 1919 Chestnut Street (just one block from Rittenhouse Square has changed the dynamic.

The units are for sale directly to the public through real estate agents.  (Full disclosure, I do have a unit listed and have sold units in the building).

Here are the simple differences between a condo and a co-op.

In the condo, you own a percentage interest in the building and are allowed to transact and live in a particular unit.  It is a real estate ownership situation.

In the co-op, all you own is stock and are allowed to live in a particular unit.  Vague difference, but it effects your ability to finance.

Another difference is costs.  In the condo, you pay an association fee that cover expenses of the property and sometimes utilities, but you pay real estate taxes seperatly for your unit.

In a co-op, there is one tax bill for the entire building, so you pay your percentage interest in the monthly fee.  Usually, it ends up lowering your cost!

Stay tuned for more details in my next post.

Fratto v Glick

Tony Fratto  ((Former White House Press Secretary) on a Facebook post and my response:)That 25% of those in the Admin's anti-foreclosure program will re-default shows banks are trying to help too many, not too few homeowners.

As both a mortgage and real estate broker, I have first hand knowledge of the situations that homeowners are facing.

Briefly, if there was a very simple method (without tons of paperwork) that was required like the old days where banks did a recast and if the banks allowed people that know how to put packages together (mortgage brokers), the redoing of loans would have happened much sooner with better results.

That would have lowered the number of foreclosures, stopped the decrease in property values and would have saved jobs,

The other issue is people that have great credit and a good income that can't refi because their loan is upside down.

How about letting them save a couple hundred a month and stimulate the economy?

Also, as it looks like we are going that way with FHA, have the government insure all mortgages with an insurance fund so we won't see banks collapse, just individual loans be rescued.

OK, Tony. For more, let's debate on CNBC, MSNBC, Fox or anywhere you'd like!

Wastebook

Can you people please stop Facebook real estate postings?

No posts about that you want to help people find a home or what your latest and greatest overpriced listing is helps you.

In fact, all you do is blend in or even look bad because that’s all you do.

Your post with your 1977 over-photoshopped picture and the wording that says that you are in a certain market does not make people call you.

Advertising is about being persuasive, not just throwing out generic blah.

I am sure you spend good money to learn basis social media skills from people who are as creative as a beige rug but guess what?  They got it wrong.

Facebook is turning into Wastebook.  What did people do before this?

Think about the other side of the fence.  What do the readers want to read?  What do you want to see when you log in?

It probably bothers you that the X-Max Superduper agent team from the Southern Hollie area posts their new listing with nausiating adjectives and a postlet link followed by the next post that tells you what kind of ice cream they are having a Baskin and Robbins.

Who cares?

How about an engaging chat about what can really help a consumer other than “Call me about the $8000 tax credit.”    Let them know that a new store is opening nearby, help them understand what is in a contract that they may be signing that could help help, tell them about the history of snakes in the neighborhood (that one’s for you, Sean).

In other words, let people learn from you, not just hear you talk.

It's Time...

Mortgage rates are low but applications and housing starts are down.

It's time to understand that jobs are not back, mortgages are tough to get because of HVCC and ridiculous guidelines.

It's time to have a new national policy to redo the entire industry so that people who can afford it and have good credit can refi WITHOUT an appraisal, monotize the tax credit (and make it so that you have to pay it back) and put the remonitization into jobs.

HVCC Needs a Mid Course Correction

How is the HVCC like the Apollo missions?

In case you have not had a transaction in the mortgage world since last May, the HVCC is not working (understatement).

Now, it's time to explore how to make the fraud stay away in the financial world balance with people getting accurate values of their home.

Some have said, let's do HVCC like VA where the apprasier is just chosen by a computer.

Others say that since the original reason HVCC was done was because of a company and loan officers that don't exist anymore, so dump it.

The appraisers themselves have had their incomes slashed and the Management companies (some owned by the Lender themselves) have gotten richer.

To quote someone, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."  Well it is broker, so let's fix it.

If New York Attorney General Cuomo is a real leader, he will take the lesson from NASA during the moon shots and make a mid-course correction and fix what is wrong or the HVCC capsule will end up in deep space!

Mortgage Licensing