You’ve heard that real estate is about location, location, location. With plenty of major metro areas, attractions, and that whole…Hollywood thing, California’s real estate market is something to watch and avidly follow (with popcorn).

And normally, the differences between NorCal and SoCal’s real estate markets are immediately apparent, like the differences between skinny hipster jeans and surf shorts. I was gearing up to spend an entire week researching each metro area, noting the subtle differences and reporting my findings. But imagine my surprise when my extensive data pointed me to an unexpected conclusion: every major California market is trending in the exact same direction!

Our January Market Summary made a great case for why it’s a good time to buy, and that holds true if you live in California. But let me qualify that with a reason: interest rates and prices are the lowest they’ve been in ten years. That doesn’t mean that your choice of home inventory is going to magically improve, and I’m not saying there should be a frantic rush to buy. But, if you are thinking about buying a home, it’s no longer a “Home-Buying Armageddon” where you are rolling the dice on your future equity. Take your time, find a home you that suits you, and enjoy the home search. That’s the key element that most recent market reports are missing; it’s going to be Buying Season for the foreseeable future!

Our housing data shows that California price levels are essentially flat from the end of January 2011 to the end of January 2012—across all 15 major metro areas that we analyzed. However, inventory levels are anywhere from 20% to 70% lower during the same time period. We usually expect reduced supply to lead to higher prices – why hasn’t that happened? We consulted experienced California real estate agents, reviewed what’s going on with interest rates, foreclosures and government programs, and asked Siri (actually where to get a pizza at 11 pm) and came up with a few possible explanations for such peculiar market conditions occurring in California:

1. People are refinancing instead of selling.

Assuming your property value is above your loan balance, refinancing at 2011 interest rates saved California homeowners a small fortune. Let’s say you have a $200,000 mortgage rate at a 7% interest rate. That means your mortgage payment is about $1330/month. If you refinance to the current low rate of 3.96%, your mortgage rate falls to about $950/month. That’s almost $6000/year in savings—you can finally afford those granite counter tops you’ve always wanted.

• More support from big wigs.

It looks like President Obama is also trying to perpetuate the refinancing extravaganza.  In his recent State of the Union address, the President proposed letting underwater mortgage holders (meaning they owe more than their home is worth) who are current on their payments refinance their mortgages with government approval. It’s not a given that Congress will go along with this plan, but if it passes, it would keep even more owners in their homes.

1. Urgency to sell now reduced.

Dataquick is reporting that foreclosures are down 11.9% across the state of California, relative to the same time period a year prior.Excellent news, not just for the economy, but for my own delicate sensibilities whenever I read about foreclosure hardships in the news. Even Paul Krugman of the New York Times sees the economy improving. The magical flow chart of economic success is revving up, and that eventually means:

More Jobs > Less Unemployment > More Home Buyers > Higher Prices > More Home Sellers > Economy Boost > More Jobs> ∞

1. Sellers are waiting for the market to favor them.

It may be hard for sellers to hear, but it’s likely that the seller’s market won’t be thriving this year, as prices should continue to remain relatively flat (i.e. prices haven’t changed much and are not expected to). Also, the current homes on the market all across California are slightly bigger than last year at a price point of about 4% less than last year. This reduces the price per square footage 5-8% across the state, compared to the same time period last year. Not quite the upswing that sellers have been waiting for.

• Move-up buyers are out of the market.

Move up buyers make up the core of a healthy, strong housing market. They’re the ones buying bigger, better digs, which free up the smaller starter homes for first-time buyers. The recession has kept them stationary, and for that reason a good chunk of the best part of the market isn’t looking to buy.

1. Buyers don’t like the merchandise.

In a market with a smaller inventory, you would expect prices to rise (the laws of supply and demand usually dictate that as supply shrinks, price rises). That means that the real problem may lie on the demand side. Prospective homebuyers are either shunning what’s currently on the market (foreclosures, short sales, or maybe just some really ugly houses), or the overall economic forecast scares potential buyers out of the market. My bet is that it’s a bit of both.

• As further proof of potentially “bad” inventory, current sellers have dire motives.

It almost feels like those brave sellers out there are doing it because they absolutely have to. What’s the logic behind that conclusion? Well, generally, you can get a sense of how sellers behave in a market by asking them over and over and looking at the results over time. That’s what the guys at Housingwire.com did, and you can see that only ~8% of people think that it’s a good time to sell. So, likely many sellers are obliged to sell for some reason or another (*cough*too many babies*cough*) and as a result, buyers aren’t loving what they see on the market.

1. 5.      Tight credit limits the number of potential buyers.

If you’re living in, say, Detroit, cash deals may not seem out of the ordinary. For Californians—especially in places like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego—cash deals don’t seem possible unless you’re Scrooge McDuck with a swimming pool filled with money…or Mark Zuckerburg making his face public. In a normal market, 18-20% of all home transactions are paid in cash; right now, a whopping 38% of home transactions are cash deals. Cash buyers (typically investors) are more of a “sure thing” than buyers who finance, which means that they are swooping up inventory while pre-qualified buyers pause to deal with various financing woes. The result is that there is less inventory available, while prices stay static.

Hopefully, this gives you a better understanding of California’s buying forecast (partly cloudy?) and the possible explanation behind such a dearth of inventory on the market.

Article and infograph from: 

Movoto Real Estate is a full service real estate brokerage located in San Mateo, CA. Movoto provides a unique online home-buying solution that combines innovative, easy-to-use research tools with ready access to a network of experienced local real estate agents.

Las Vegas-area

In December, 4,823 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the Las Vegas-Paradise metro area (Clark County). That was up 8.1 percent from November and up 3.0 percent from December 2010, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

A rise in sales between November and December is normal, given some buyers, especially investors, want to close their deals by the end of the year for tax purposes. On average, sales have risen 12.5 percent between those two months since 1994, when DataQuick’s complete Las Vegas region statistics begin.

In December, the number of homes that resold rose 1.7 percent on a year-over-year basis, marking the 12^th consecutive month in which resales have posted an annual gain. It was the highest number of resales for a December since 2009, and the second-highest since 2005. December sales of newly-built homes also rose from a year earlier, by 15.6 percent, but were still the second-lowest on record for a December. New-home sales have risen year-over-year for six consecutive months.

Total sales in December were 9.1 percent lower than the average number of homes sold in that month since 1994, while resale activity (excludes new homes) was 33.1 percent above average for a December. 

In all of 2011 a total of 55,409 new and resale houses and condos sold in the Las Vegas area, up 6.6 percent from 2010 and the highest since 55,522 sales in 2009. Last year’s total sales were the second-highest since 2006, when 80,388 sold. Over the past 10 years an average of 66,812 homes have sold annually. Resales totaled 49,926 in 2011, up 8.6 percent from 2010 but slightly below the 50,184 resales in 2009. However, 2011 resales were the second-highest for any year since 2005, when 61,016 homes resold.

Continuing a months-long trend, December sales were strongest in the lower price ranges. The number of transactions below $100,000 climbed 17.8 percent from a year earlier and made up 42.0 percent of all deals, compared with 36.6 percent of all sales in December 2010. The number of December sales below $200,000 rose 4.9 percent year-over-year, while the number above $200,000 fell 5.1 percent from a year earlier. Above $300,000 sales fell 14.1 percent from December 2010. 

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Las Vegas metro area in December was $115,000, the same as in November and virtually the same as each month since September last year. The December median was 7.3 percent lower than the $124,000 median in December 2010, and marked the 15th consecutive month in which the median has fallen year-over-year.

The December 2011 median was 63.1 percent short of the peak $312,000 median in November 2006.

The median’s recent decline to levels not seen since the mid 1990s can be attributed to several factors: home price depreciation; robust sales of low-cost foreclosures; robust sales to investors, who mainly target low-cost properties; extraordinarily low new-home sales (new homes tend to sell for more than resale homes); and higher-than-usual condo resales (condos tend to be the least expensive homes).

December’s new-home sales represented 11.1 percent of all transactions, compared with a monthly average of 28.3 percent of all sales over the last decade. December’s condo sales represented 18.1 percent of total Las Vegas sales, compared with a 10-year monthly average of 13.8 percent.

An alternative home-price gauge – the median paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses – dipped slightly in December to $65, down 1.5 percent from November and down 9.7 percent from a year earlier. December’s figure was the lowest since at least 1994 and was 65.8 percent below the peak $190 paid per square foot in May and June 2006.

In December, cash buyers purchased more than half – 50.9 percent – of the Las Vegas-area homes that sold. That was up from a cash-buyer share of 48.9 percent of sales in November and 50.6 percent a year earlier. The record was 56.7 percent in February 2011. Cash purchases are where there is no corresponding purchase mortgage in the public record.

Cash buyers in December paid a median $81,180 for a home in the Las Vegas area, down from $82,000 in November and down from $89,250 a year earlier.

Absentee buyers – mainly investors and vacation-home buyers – purchased a near-record 47.2 percent of all homes sold in December. That compares with 46.1 percent in November, 45.9 percent a year ago and a record 49.9 percent in March 2011. Absentee buyers paid a median $95,000 in December, up from $90,000 in November but down 7.8 percent from $103,000 a year earlier. Absentee buyers are those who indicated at the time of sale that the property tax bill will go to a different address.

Distressed property sales – the combination of foreclosure resales and “short sales” – again made up around two-thirds of the Las Vegas resale market.

Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 52.4 percent of the Las Vegas resale market in December – the same as in November and down from 56.3 percent a year earlier. Foreclosure resales peaked at 73.7 percent of the resale market in April 2009. The December and November level was the lowest since September 2010, when foreclosure resales made up 50.8 percent of the resale market.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 13.8 percent of the resale market in December. That compares with an estimated 14.8 percent in November, 19.5 percent a year ago, and 12.8 percent two years ago. 

In the wake of a new Nevada law that creates additional requirements for lenders trying to foreclose on properties, the number of notices of default (“NODs”) filed in Clark County plummeted in recent months. In December, lenders filed 921 NODs, down 28.1 percent from the 1,281 filed in November and down 81.9 percent from the 5,125 NODs filed in December 2010. The notice of default is the first step in the formal foreclosure process.

The number of homes lost to foreclosure in the Las Vegas region in December fell from both November and a year earlier. Lenders foreclosed on 1,744 single-family house and condo units in December, down 9.7 percent from November and down 22.6 percent from a year earlier.

In all of 2011, however, lenders foreclosed on 32,730 house and condo units in Clark County, up 12.8 percent from 2010. The peak year was 2009, when 33,833 homes were lost to foreclosure. The figures are based on the number of Trustees Deeds filed at the county recorder’s office.

(chart)

The initiative had come under fire from Republican Members of Congress even before its formal announcement. On the last State of the Union address, President Obama made mention to an outline to what he called “a blueprint for an economy that’s built to last.” Under the President’s proposal, some homeowners who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments would be eligible for refinancing at today’s ultra-low rates, something that does not sit well with Republicans. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the leading Republican candidate for the upcoming primary elections, has indicated his preference for letting foreclosures continue unabated. Republicans in Congress are likely to strongly oppose the President’s new plan.

Funding for the program is expected to be provided by taxes assessed against the nation’s major banks. The initiative could require between five to ten billion dollars. This isn’t the first time that the President asks Congress to levy taxes against the big banks that were bailed out by taxpayers in 2008 when they faced certain failure after the market for mortgage-backed securities collapsed. Those securities and other mechanisms that are thought to have precipitated the global financial crisis are now under scrutiny by a special task force convened by the President.

This is hardly the only initiative undertaken by the current administration to reduce the burden on American borrowers who were caught off-guard when the housing bubble burst during the George W. Bush administration, setting off an economic shockwave that lead to the Great Recession and the global financial crisis. The Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) has been the principal effort of the current administration in preventing foreclosures. When HAMP was announced in 2009, it was estimated that up to four million homeowners could be benefited by the program; however, statistics compiled by government agencies show that less than a million borrowers have been helped to date. Amid the remarks made by President Obama at the James Lee Community Center, he admitted that HAMP did not work as expected.

The Timeline Cover  

Facebook allows you to create a custom designed tab for branding purposes.  You can set it up where new visitors (or non-fans) will be directed to that tab first and that’s a good thing.  The problem is when they come back to your page; they will land directly on your wall where you can’t control what they will see.  Also, there is no branding going on, except for the tiny 5 photo strip images at the top of the page, where you don’t have enough real estate to do much with.  The Timeline Cover, will give your brand page a much larger space to play with and design your marketing message that you want your fans and visitors to be exposed to.

Ability to highlight and feature your favorite posts

• A post from a happy, satisfied client thanking you for getting him into his dream home with the best possible rate and quality service.
• A post from a Real Estate Agent, stating how your professionalism and knowledge saved him a deal that he definitely thought he was losing. 
• A question or concern from a prospect that you answered, showing your expertise.

These are what I call, ‘Testimonial Posts’. Unfortunately, you don’t get them every day, yet when you do, they get buried relatively quickly in the sea of other posts.  If you can get these testimonial posts to be featured and shown on your wall a lot longer… that alone is a huge win for you!

These are just a few of the many ways that you can leverage your Timeline to your advantage.  If and when it arrives, there will be a lot of creative ways on how best to use it and profit from it.  Marketers will be appearing to profit from this ‘New Look’… so, be ready!

To get my “How to Profit From Your Fan Page”  Worksheet & Check list, Click here.

As a real estate or mortgage professional, being online is now a requirement and no longer a suggestion.  However, simply showing up online is not enough.  Your social media efforts require that you not only engage an already over stimulated society but increase your bottom line through fresh, relevant content.

The problem with many marketers is the theory that you will simply build it and the fans will come.  It’s just not realistic within the online world.  It takes time, commitment and creativity to cultivate a community.  Building a content strategy or even a content calendar is an excellent way to keep you focused on the needs of your subscribers, fans and followers rather then bouncing day to day without direction.

Social Media Content Strategy

Multi Media

1.What niche or program can you spotlight?  Whether it is you on screen or a screencast of your latest PowerPoint, connecting with your audience through video is imperative.  A free program to create and share your screencast is Screenr.  Just click “record now” and within seconds you are recording anything you can see on your screen.  Then choose where you want to share your video instantly! Choose from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and more!

2.Record an interview with a vendor such as an appraiser, inspector or plumber and talk about homebuyer concerns, challenges, tips and quick fixes.  The amount of 60-90 second snippets you could create is endless!

3.Create a video where you answer buyer and seller frequently asked questions.

4.Discuss current events and explain what they mean to homebuyers and sellers. 

5.Choose locations in your area and pass along fun facts and trivia.  Pick a location to video yourself in front of and use it as a “Where’s Waldo” type of trivia question.  It should be fun and easy to identify.  The idea is an easy way to create a conversation with your Facebook fans and Twitter followers.

6.Record testimonials from your clients and post to your blog as well as your email marketing campaigns as a way to boost credibility.

Step-by-Step Guides:

1.Walk buyers through the 10 Mistakes Homebuyers Must Avoid or sellers through the Steps to Selling Your Home in a Down Market.  Turn your article into a pdf and offer as an opt-in incentive on your website. 

2.Take frequently asked questions and offer an instructional guide

How-to’s and Tip’s

1.Offer insight into the home buying process and what a buyer can expect.   What common issues does our industry deal with?  What problems/challenges can we offer tips on?

2.What are the benefits of:

• Homeownership
• Investment Properties
• 2^nd Homes
• Staging Your Home

3.Weekly Tips or Tricks

4.Share slides from a recent presentation on slideshare and then within a blog post.

5.Share thoughts, takeaways and your most important clips from conferences, seminars, educational trainings etc. through slideshows, screencasts and slideshare.

Blog & Social Media Content

1.Discuss highlights and share insights from recent industry events you have attended

2.Promote your videos by syndicating to 25 video sites at once through TubeMogul and then track your results through their detailed analytics dashboard.

3.Create weekly webinars related to FAQ

4.Revive past content by reposting videos, articles and trainings to Facebook, Twitter and Social Bookmarking sites.  If you are a WordPress user, a great way to revive old blog posts is through Tweet Old Post.

5.Ask via your social networks what the needs of your audience are and do this consistently.  It’s an easy way to stay topical and on target with the information your fans and followers are hungry for.  Then take this information and write a blog Q&A that responds to their questions or concerns.

6.Explain what a current event or topic means to our audience by either offering a unique perspective or offering the who, what, why and how behind the topic including the impact it will or could have on the industry.

7.Take common RE or mortgage myths and offer facts surrounding common misunderstood topics

8.Promote company news including changes, events, updates, promotions, new hires, etc to allow the community to feel connected to the brand

9.Survey your community through Survey Monkey or a Twtpoll about real estate questions. Top concerns, market myths and common misconceptions within the process and then use this information through an informational video or blog post.  Share information in a way that solves a challenge, fulfills a need or offers support.

10. Share pictures as often as possible.  If there’s an event or conference, I need pictures as often and as soon as they can be sent.  We want our audience to become engaged in who we are and where we are at all times.

11. Ask hypothetical questions to identify needs

One last thought I will offer is the importance of tracking your efforts and consistently evaluating the effectiveness of your message through social monitoring tools such as SocialBro, Hootsuite, Twitter Counter and Crowd Booster.

What would you add to this list?

Rebekah Radice is an active loan officer and mortgage industry speaker lauded for her Social Media and Marketing workshops.  A self-proclaimed social media junkie and avid blogger, Rebekah has trained thousands of industry professionals on how to build, maintain and grow their online and social media presence.  Contact Rebekah online at www.rebekahradice.com or via phone 719-387-1368

An inquiry into the practices of mortgage loan GSEs conducted by the National Public Radio and independent journalism organization ProPublica has revealed that, on more than one occasion, Freddie Mac has engaged in profitable financial strategies that essentially amounted to betting against the possibility of American homeowners refinancing at lower rates. The multi-billion dollar trades involved financial instruments known as mortgage-backed securities, the same instruments that are believed to have been a major factor in precipitating the global financial crisis and the subprime mortgage meltdown in 2008. The U.S. government eventually placed both home mortgage GSEs under conservatorship, and thus Fannie and Freddie are now owned by taxpayers.

The trades in question are lucrative and legal, but nonetheless controversial. They work on the concept of leverage; increasing the potential of realizing immediate gains, but also raising the exposure of a securities portfolio to financial risk. The way these investments work is as follows: When a mortgage company GSE guarantees a home loan, it essentially purchases that loan from an originating entity that usually continues to service it. These mortgage loans are then bundled into securities that are further divided into portions that are supported by the principal amounts of the home loans and by the interest payments made by the borrowers. Securities backed by the principal amount of mortgages offer a relatively lower rate of return, but are nevertheless attractive to investors who eschew volatility in the markets. Securities backed by the interest paid on mortgages are far more lucrative, but carry a substantial amount of risk. In 2010 and 2011, Freddie Mac chose to purchase billions of dollars worth of securities backed by high interest payments, also known as inverse floaters.

A GSE conducting the above-described trades is essentially betting that homeowners will not be able to refinance into lower rates, thereby realizing higher profits. The current credit and underwriting guidelines make it nearly impossible for many borrowers to refinance their mortgages, something that increases the rate of return in a mortgage securities portfolio, but also increases financial risk since borrowers are more likely to default on high-interest home loans. Should economic conditions worsen, thereby increasing the incidence of mortgage defaults, Freddie would be in a tight spot in regards to its mortgage securities portfolio. It isn’t clear whether the home mortgage GSE has a contingency plan or hedge strategy in place to avoid losses in case of massive defaults.

www.TheNicheReport.com

Press accounts this week charge Freddie Mac with a conflict of interest that penalizes struggling U.S. homeowners and retards the recovery of the housing market. The ostensible revelations actually come as little surprise, but they do highlight the ambiguous status of Freddie and its sister agency, Fannie Mae.

Freddie (like Fannie) has a dual mission. Its main business is guaranteeing mortgage credit risk, a function that ensures money is available when Americans want to purchase a home. But the company needs profits to stay in this business, as well as to minimize the cost to taxpayers, who have been subsidizing the agency since it was placed in conservatorship in 2008. To earn money it trades in residential mortgage-backed securities—and herein lies the conflict.

When homeowners refinance, RMBS returns go down. Thus the credit-risk side of the company could potentially help keep profits up by making refinancing harder. This looks bad at a time when millions of households are struggling and mortgage rates are at record low levels; and worse given that policymakers are encouraging refinancing as a way of shoring up the housing market.

The story is less sensational than it appears: Freddie’s potential conflict has long been recognized, and the agency operates its two businesses independently of each other. Yet the issue does highlight a broader problem with both Freddie’s and Fannie’s current status: Neither fully public nor fully private, they serve neither interest well. The nation would be better off if their investment arms were spun off from the rest of the company. Congress needs to chart a course for the agencies’ future, and the sooner the better.

Bend, OR:   For Jim Mazziotti, the principal managing broker and franchise owner of EXIT Realty Bend, working “outside the box” is common place.  Back in 2000, when Mazziotti lived in a small rural community in Iowa, he was one of the innovators and  leaders for a community project that then Governor, Tom Vilsack, called, “the posterchild for community and state government collaboration I have ever seen,” with the goal of building the first of its kind “Enrichment Center,” or what Mazziotti called “a one-stop community complex that would house elements supporting health, education and the arts  to help bring business and industry to a struggling community in the heartland.  A dozen years later, and 10 years after Mazziotti left his Iowa hometown, the Enrichment Center was built and is thriving. It includes a day care facility, performing arts hall, state-of the art fitness facility and more.  Yes, Mazziotti is an entrepreneur and innovator.

In 2002 he moved to Bend with the goal to do business differently than usual.  “First, I recognized that I needed to associate with a leader and with an innovator….so it was a perfect fit when I learned of EXIT Realty, the fastest growing real estate franchise in history,” said Mazziotti.  And it appears he made the right choice to accomplish it.  In 2006, the founder of EXIT Realty Corp. International, Steve Morris, was named as one of “The Top 25 Thought Leaders” in the real estate industry. In 2007, EXIT Realty Corporation International was named “The #1 New Franchise Brand” by the esteemed Swanepoel Report and in 2010, EXIT was crowned as “The Most Innovative Company in North America” by the Stevies, recognized as one of the world’s premier business awards. “Let me be clear, said Mazziotti.  I am no Steve Morris. Morris is a genius.  But Steve Morris and the EXIT model allows me and even encourages me to think….I mean, really think. Our goal is to outflank the competition…and I love what the brand stands for.”

In 2010 Mazziotti was featured in Realtor Magazine, the publication of the National Association of Realtors and read by more than 1 million real estate agents around the world, for his innovation and after learning of the first ever “56 Hour Open House” that was streamed live on Internet TV to thousands of viewers around the world.  “Yea, it’s true.  To my knowledge it was the first event of its type ever to be done in the United States, “ Mazziotti said. 

Its that kind of thinking that has driven Mazziotti to do a live monthly Internet Real Estate Show on Ustream.tv, available to viewers anywhere on earth with an Internet connection, the first of its kind “Home Sold In A Week” auction event that has brought as many as 150 buyers in a single weekend to view and bid on Central Oregon homes, and now….. his next journey.

Mazziotti, who has 17 licensed real estate professionals in his Bend, Oregon office, invited his agents who are part of an intensive training system to embark on something that he believes has never been done anywhere, but certainly not in Central Oregon.  The goal: to meet with every licensed real estate agent in Central Oregon for a 1 hour time period to….well….talk.  “The technology tools that are, for the most part, a result of the Internet have achieved more than what most of us ever thought possible. The Internet itself, Facebook, Google, text messaging,  Iphones, IPads, ooVoo, Ustream, Faxes and email have given us incredible ways to communicate, but at the same time, have given many of us the ease (or excuse) of not needing to talk to one another face-to-face.  I mean, I see my kid’s texting their friends while they are sitting in the same room!  I am concerned that some of us are losing the ability to look into the eyes of another human, communicate and to shake hands to consummate an agreement or exchange a sign of friendship,” he said.

Mazziotti and 6 of his agents have agreed to take part in what they have named the “CONNECT 1400” project; to meet with more than 1400 real estate agents in Central Oregon to share ideas, creatively work to solve problems, address how real estate agents can continue to improve and provide value and benefit to their clients, to address changing trends and the use of technology to take their businesses to the next level.  “Sure, there are those out there that say we are crazy to meet one-on-one with 1400 agents.  Some don’t see any value in meeting to learn from one another and to network.  Frankly, it isn’t the first time naysayers have rolled their eyes when I suggested to act on an idea.  I’m guessing people like the Wright Brothers, Nelson Mandela, John F. Kennedy and even EXIT Corps. founder, Steve Morris, had their naysayers, right?”

Over the next year, 6 EXIT agents, Julie and Rich Fountain, Jeromy Cockrell, Jack Cornell, Juana Beede and Katella Bahr will reach out to set appointments with every licensed real estate agent in Central Oregon. Each will meet with those on their list, about 240 or so.  Mazziotti will work to meet with every agent along side of his “CONNECT 1400” team. For his agents it is about setting up and meeting with about 240  agents.  For Mazziotti it is about meeting with all 1400.  If accomplished, Mazziotti believes he could spend more than 1200-1500 hours meeting with agents, which equates to thirty five, 40 hour work weeks to accomplish his goal!  All this, above his full time position in working with all of his agents, training and running and continuing to build his real estate firm.  “Honestly, an EXIT Realty Corp. trainer, Johnny Loewy, inspired us to move forward with this idea during his training to our company. He sparked the idea and I’m just running with it, Mazziotti concluded.

Mazziotti began the project in the second week of December and looks to complete the project by December of 2012. 

For more information on Jim Mazziotti’s “CONNECT 1400” idea, contact him at his Exit Realty Bend office                                          or catch him on Facebook at wwwfacebook.com/exitrealtybend.

Private equity firms are jumping into distressed housing as the U.S. government plans to market 200,000 foreclosed homes as rentals to speed up the economic recovery.

GTIS Partners will spend $1 billion by 2016 acquiring single-family homes to manage as rentals, Thomas Shapiro, the fund’s founder said. That followed announcements this month that GI Partners, a Menlo Park private equity fund, expects to invest $1 billion, and Los Angeles-based Oaktree Capital Management LP will spend $450 million on similar housing.

“It’s a massive market,” Shapiro said in a telephone interview from New York. “We’re starting to see this as a billion dollar opportunity to buy rental housing.”

Creating more single-family rental properties is one of a series of programs introduced by President Barack Obama’s administration aimed at reviving the housing market. An S&P/Case-Shiller index (SPX) of property values in 20 cities has dropped 33 percent from its peak in July 2006 and 12 percent of homeowners with a mortgage are either delinquent or in foreclosure. Last week, the administration revised its Home Affordable Modification Program, offering government incentives for mortgage investors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (FMCC) when they forgive debt on homes that lost value as a way of preventing delinquent borrowers from losing their houses.

Increasing Rentals

Increasing rentals may reduce lenders’ losses on foreclosed and surrendered properties and curb declines in home prices, according to a Federal Reserve study Chairman Ben S. Bernanke sent to Congress on Jan. 4. Private equity funds began focusing on these investments in September, after the administration asked for proposals to sell the government’s inventory of foreclosed homes — about half of all houses seized from delinquent borrowers.

The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 cities declined 3.7 percent from November 2010 after falling 3.4 percent in the year ended in October, according to data released today. Economists projected a 3.3 percent drop, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey.

Even as prices dropped, the “seeds to a recovery are being planted,” Karl Case, co-creator of the measure, said today in an interview on Bloomberg Radio’s “Bloomberg Surveillance,” with Ken Prewitt and Tom Keene. “Efforts are underway to deal with a backlog of foreclosed properties,” he said.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac, plans to complete initial transactions in the first quarter of this year, offering some of the 180,000 foreclosed homes in their inventory to private operators as rental properties, Corinne Russell, a spokeswoman, said in a telephone interview.

Read Full Story

www.TheNicheReport.com

Are you suffering from this same disease; mistaking the time you spend on Facebook and Twitter as making meaningful connections? Don’t get me wrong—both communication and connection are essential today. But let’s not mistake our activity on Facebook and Twitter as real connection and building relationships in your business. You may be saying to yourself; “but Iamconnecting with people on Facebook.” Really? How many of those so called ‘Friends’ or ‘Likes’ have you ever spoken with or met in person? I will venture to guess it is less than five percent.

You see, everyone communicates but few people connect. The Social Media tools we all know and use today have enabled us to communicate virtually anywhere, anytime with almost anyone. Communicating with people is in our DNA. We have been communicating since the dawn of mankind and that will never change. What has changed are the tools we use to communicate. Social Media is simply another tool which, like any tool; when used incorrectly can hurt you.

Too many people mistake fans or followers as having real connections. It is the vocabulary of Social Media – the more ‘Likes’ or ‘Friends’ you have the greater your perceived status. Connecting with people either online or offline is about quality over quantity. You can use tactics to drive up your ‘Likes’ or ‘Followers’ but unless you are providing true value you have simply increased your contacts and not your connections.

I think true connection happens face to face, heart to heart, live and in person; sharing an experience together. You have undoubtedly experienced the difference between meeting in person versus a conference call, email—or the one-dimensional experience of reading a Facebook update or a tweet.

Recently I heard a wise person say: there are only a dozen or two relationships that will take you to whatever level of success you want.

Not ten thousand, or one thousand or even one hundred. Ask Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Richard Branson or Oprah Winfrey, and they will tell you that no more than two dozen relationships contributed to their achievements. Ask your agents; “what are the most important relationships that have led to your current success and why?” See yourself as being one of those two dozen key relationships and watch your business transform. 

You do not want to converse like a 19 year old kid on prom night – you want to build a relationship. To succeed you cannot just communicate; you have to connect through actively nurturing deep and meaningful relationships. How does a Mortgage Professional do that in today’s market? Ask yourself these questions: What percent of your loans are local; within 20 miles of your office? What or who is the main source of prospects and closed loans for you? What percentage of your business is purchase vs. refinance?

If most of your loans and your source of loans is referrals, including purchase deals from Real Estate Agents – and you want to grow your purchase loans from Agents – need to step-up your local game.

Stepping-up your local game means getting off your computer and into your local market. If your business is mostly local, you have to start building your offline social equity by becoming a known brand and leading authorityamong your local Real Estate Agents and within your local community. If you have local Agents already following you on Facebook or Twitter, reach out and set up a meeting with a few each week. Your ideal process should be to engage and connect offline first – then engage and connect online. You’ll see higher levels of engagement and response by connecting the two.  

Here’s a sample script for calling agents to set-up a coffee or lunch meeting:

“Hi (Agent Name). This is (Your Name/Company) I’m calling because I am looking to connect with a few top agents in the area like yourself {appeal to their ego} to find out what is your biggest current business challenge? I am helping agents gain more control over their transactions, close more deals and thrive in today’s market. Perhaps we can develop solutions that may help you too. I would like to schedule a meeting, perhaps a morning coffee, to discuss a synergistic business relationship.”

You get the idea? The goal is to just get the meeting and show up with your mind, your ears and yes – your heart; open to learning more about this person and how you can help.

You, of course, want to be prepared with some questions to guide you along. The real key is not how many questions you ask but that you are authentic in your discovery and not just reading a script. To help you get started, we have posted a list of sample questions on my blog you can download and use.

Relationships are built by putting the other person’s needs, want and challenges ahead of yours. You build trust and connection by taking a personal interest in what is most important to the other person right now and in the future. Go ahead and try calling a few agents and arranging these connection sessions. Worst case, you will have another agent in your roster. Best case, you will have a real connection which could be the beginning of a mutually beneficial and profitable relationship.  

When you have a real connection, people will actively engage with you online by ‘liking’ your posts, leaving comments and sharing your content with others. You will now have both engines of communication with connection working for you – and you will beamazed by the results.

Geoff Zimpfer is the Chief Content Officer for Loan Officer MarketingTV and author of Speed Marketing™ for Loan Officers. Get your FREE Connection Questions Template with 50 questions to ask your agents here: www.LoanOfficerMarketingTV.com