Moody's Analytics

(Celia Chen, senior director, Moody’s Analytics) Sales of U.S. existing homes marched upward in January, maintaining a trend that started in the second half of last year. Slow, but steady gains in existing-home sales, falling inventories, and softening in the median house price depreciation all point to a good start for 2012.

The fundamentals that drive the demand for housing are looking more positive. Job growth is gaining traction and consumer confidence is lifting. Moreover, housing remains highly affordable, with mortgage rates near record lows and house prices still declining in many regions of the country. Pent up demand for homes has also built up. These forces will all help home sales to continue improving this year. Distress sales will also help bolster existing home sales—although these sales will keep house prices from appreciating until late this year.

With each positive economic release and with policymakers still working to bolster the housing market, the downside risks for housing are diminishing. However, rising gas prices, troubles in the euro zone and the possibility that some recent economic and housing strength is weather-related  mean those risks have not disappeared. Recall that 2011 began on a similarly positive note, but that conditions quickly deteriorated.

Pinterest

(TheNicheReport.com) As social media continues to evolve so do the tools.  Stepping up to the plate with a fierce vengeance is the new social media darling Pinterest.  Haven’t heard of it?  Let me give you a quick description before we dive into the “why” behind using Pinterest within your business.

What is Pinterest

Pinterest is a simple way to capture and save any picture you find on the web.  Now before you think it’s just another version of Facebook, let me explain.  Pinterest is at its core a visual experience.  It takes magazine clipping online by offering a way to explore the web, consolidate your favorites and then share your eye-catching photos with your network of followers.

While Facebook has a wall, Pinterest has “boards” that are nothing more then buckets of similar content.  For example, you might create a board titled “Kitchen and Bath Designs” and then add content by pinning (capturing) pictures of kitchens or bathrooms that you find attractive.  As you pin items onto your boards, anyone following you is able to see that pin and either LIKE it (sound familiar?), comment on it or re-pin it onto their own board.

Being used to capture pictures and articles on everything from planning a wedding to your next vacation; Pinterest has an endless amount of uses!

Why Use Pinterest for Business

If you’re currently using Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn for business marketing, Pinterest is a new tool you will want to strongly consider.  Growing at lightening speed, Pinterests numbers are impressive to say the least.  According to recent statistics, Pinterest has over 10 million registered users, nearly 12 million monthly unique visitors each month and over a fifth of their users connecting through Facebook.

Oh, and did I mention that each “pin” leads you directly to the website where the pin originated?  Think of the possibilities!

Pinterest Marketing for Real Estate

1. Tell a story about your city - This is a great way to use pictures you’ve taken around your city and highlight some of your favorite locations. Give buyers relocating into the area a good look at what certain neighborhoods or communities in your city look like.
2. Home Styles & Architecture - Architecture and style are so different from one state to the next. Whether the homes in your area are New England colonial, Spanish Revival or Cape Cod, providing pictures will allow buyers to connect with the look and feel of your city.
3. Historic Locations – Historic locations such as buildings, churches and monuments are a fun way for anyone new to your area to better understand the history.  What “insider” details can you share that offer unique insight into your towns past?
4. Local Business Spotlight – Create a board that shares your favorite vendors such as local supermarkets, gas stations, hairdressers, pet store, auto repair, plumbers, electricians and more!
5. Top Things to Do in Your Area – Spotlight fun things to do or attractions to see within your area. Choose the top sites exclusive to your neck of the woods.
6. First Time Homebuyer Tips Pin your blog posts or links back to pages on your website.  What questions do first time homebuyers have?  Answer those on your blog and you have ongoing content for this Pinterest board!
7. Tips to Prepare Your Home For Sale - If you are selling a home, what do you need to know?  Help prospects make an informed decision by answering questions about prepping their home for sale, how the appraisal process works, specifics about the community and how to correctly price their home.
8. Curb Appeal – Curb appeal means different things to different people.  Pin colorful landscapes, cascading waterfalls and lush gardens to display the various looks within your area.
9. Staging Tips –  Pin pictures of stunning before and afters that encourage re-pinning (think of retweets on Twitter) and paint a vivid picture of what a sellers home should look like to offer maximum appeal to buyers.
10. Mortgage process – The stages of the mortgage process can leave anyone swimming in a sea of questions.   Offer answers to FAQ about the loan application process, what to avoid and how to make an informed decision.
11. Guide to your city – Create a guide by pinning your favorite parks, museums, neighborhood restaurants and nightlife .  This can be anything you deem awesome enough that someone new to the area would want to visit.
12. Pet friendly locations – As a dog lover and someone who frequently travels with my two little guys, I am always on the lookout for pet friendly places to hang out.  Pin restaurants, hotels, coffee shops, bars, dog parks and any other pet friendly location in your community.  Believe me, they will love you for it!
13. Decorating on a dime – Everyone is looking to save wherever they can these days.  Offer home decorating “do it yourself” tips that are easy and affordable.  You can also pin shops within your area that sell unique but inexpensive home décor.
14. Home improvement ideas – From a complete kitchen makeover to DIY; pin home improvement projects that inspire and advise!
15. Gardening tips –  For new homeowners, learning basic gardening skills is important to the care and upkeep of their home.  Provide tips on how to cultivate a stunning garden and landscape.
16. How to make a move with children - If you look at moving as an exciting adventure full of fun and new possibilities, your children will be more apt to get on board.  Help clients moving into your area go through this change minus the drama by offering the how-to’s of a smooth move.
17. Cool coffee shops in your area – As a self diagnosed coffee addict, I am always on the lookout for local coffee shops with a cool, funky vibe.  I love anything with big, comfy chairs and a quiet atmosphere. Where do you enjoy spending your time?  You can bet your clients will too!
18. Moving day tips –  When you’re making a move, you can use all of the tips you can find.  From checklists to supplies, planning a move is a huge undertaking.  Pin tips on how to find free boxes, how to best pack breakables and how to budget for all moving expenses.
19. Things to do for free within your city – What sites can newcomers enjoy for free in your city?  Whether it’s a museum or a beautiful garden in the heart of the city, pin colorful pictures of your favorite locations.
20. Pictures of annual activities – Pin pictures of popular annual events such as fundraisers, school events and town hall meetings that someone new to the area might be interested in attending.
    

    Pinterest for real estate Business

Most importantly, have fun with it!  While we all know that using social media as a business-marketing tool is exciting, injecting ‘you’ into your social efforts is vital. Yes it’s great to connect with your past clients and prospects in an environment where you lead the conversation, but simply “pushing” out business info isn’t enough.

Pinterest gives you one more way to find and connect with your target audience and offers a little insight into your personality.  What are your likes, your hobbies, your passions?  Don’t be shy to share!

Get Started!

Rebekah Radice

Rebekah Radice is the Manager of Industry Engagement for Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. 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.

The Other Mortgage Settlement

(TheNicheReport.com) The recent $26 billion settlement agreement signed by the five major mortgage lenders (Including Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, HSBC, Metlife Bank, PNC Mortgage and Wells Fargo) over robo-signing and other unethical foreclosure practices is not the only event that homeowners can get relief from. Back in April of 2011, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) initiated an investigation against ten mortgage servicing entities that were also suspected of unfair practices when it came to handling defaulted loans and foreclosures. The number of servicers investigated by the OCC in this regard now stands at 14.

The mortgage companies targeted by the OCC include mortgage giants Bank of America and Wells Fargo, as well as the highly controversial Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS) and smaller servicers like Aurora Loan Services. The OCC began conducting reviews of the foreclosure practices of these mortgage companies in the fourth quarter of 2010. The reviews revealed questionable practices such as the continued processing of foreclosures after loan modifications have been requested, a practice known as dual-tracking. Back then the OCC directed the mortgage servicing entities to retain the services of third-party investigators to look into these patterns of abuse.

During 2009 and 2010, the mortgage companies investigated by the OCC carried on more than 4 million foreclosures. All those foreclosures are now eligible for independent review, and depending on the level of wrongdoing perpetrated by the mortgage servicing company, the borrowers may be entitled to financial relief. Some of the common irregularities noted by the OCC and the independent consultants include improper fees and railroading borrowers into a fast foreclosure and eviction without due process. In some cases, borrowers may be entitled to an amount of financial relief that is equal to the losses they incurred by the illegitimate foreclosures.

The OCC settlement could potentially bring greater relief than the more publicized $26 billion settlement, since the latter settlement pay a maximum $2000 to homeowners who were wrongfully foreclosed upon. The OCC settlement, however, seeks to compensate borrowers for specific losses, regardless of whether they lost their homes or not.

Borrowers who think they are entitled to relief under the OCC review and enforcement must present a claim against the servicer, even if they have not yet been evicted. To qualify, the borrower must have been involved in a foreclosure proceeding between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2010. The process for independent review is free to qualified borrowers, and the website that contains the claim forms and additional information is http://www.independentforeclosurereview.com/.

Home Depot Results for Q4 up 32%

(Yahoo News) Home Depot (HD) is in the news this morning after earnings grew 32% in Q4 2011. The nation’s largest home improvement retailer reported fourth quarter earnings results that surprised the Street on both the top and bottom line, though guidance was in-line with expectations.

Couple Home Depot’s results with impressive performance by both the Home building ETF (XHB) -up 17% ytd- and typical laggards like Pier 1 Imports (PIR) -up 50% from last October- and the question must be asked: Have we finally marked a long-awaited bottom in the American housing crisis and, dare to dream, the U.S. economy as a whole?

Noting “signs on life” in housing starts and analyst ratings, Blodget suggests the economic recovery may have caught some flatfooted. In the case of the home building sector, simply not getting worse is tantamount to a huge upside surprise.

“At least we’re back to average,” he says about house prices, relative to what people are earning and the cost to rent.

An improvement in housing overall doesn’t mean an end to the glut of unsold homes. Just like politics, all building stats are local. Regions carrying out-sized inventories of housing such as Las Vegas aren’t going to see a boom in housing starts. Despite the continued gloomy outlook for the worst communities, a revival in building in areas with constrained supplies make the overall picture look better than it is.

Read full article from Yahoo Finance

FHA Loansand Their Risk

Data from the FHA’s Neighborhood Watch Early Warning System indicate that the number of FHA-insured loans that were seriously delinquent jumped again in January. According to report on the EWS for servicers who combined have an “active” FHA servicing portfolio of over 7.33 million loans, 732,775 of these loans were seriously delinquent at the end of January. While this report does not exactly match the SDQ numbers reported in various monthly FHA reports (which have not yet been released in January, it tracks the “official” numbers pretty closely. These data, combined with other data from the EWS (not shown here), suggest that the performance of the FHA’s pre-2010 book has continued to deteriorate significantly.

Based on this report, I estimate that the serious delinquency rate on FHA’s SF book in January (as measured by the FHA Monthly Outlook and/or FHA Monthly Report to the FHA commissioner) jumped to around 9.9% last month, up from 9.59% in December, 8.18% last June, and 8.89% last January.

As I noted last week, the pace of FHA loan modifications slowed dramatically in the latter part of last year, while the pace of property “conveyances” was shockingly low given the large number of seriously delinquent/in-foreclosure loans. Obviously, the slow pace of problem-loan “resolutions” has been at least partly behind the sharp increase in the number of seriously-delinquent FHA loans.

Many find it moderately disturbing that HUD Secretary Donovan has of late been working mainly on the big “mortgage settlement” — and even worked to have part of the mortgage settlement money go to FHA – and has been “jawboning” Fannie and Freddie to “embrace” principal write-downs, while at the same time FHA’s problem-loan resolution activity plunged and the number of seriously delinquent FHA loans has surged. However, headlines such as “Donovan Fiddles as FHA Burns” seem a bit strong – but I used it anyway!

Fannie Mae

WASHINGTON, DC – The 2012 outlook is improving modestly from a disappointing 2011. Economic growth picked up in the fourth quarter of 2011 to 2.8 percent and is expected to come in at 2.3 percent for 2012, up from 1.6 percent growth for all of last year, according to Fannie Mae’s (FNMA/OTC) Economic & Strategic Research Group. However, the year-end growth rate was due largely to a positive swing in business inventory growth, which is not indicative of underlying consumer demand or the overall health of the economy. Nevertheless, consumer spending improved modestly and manufacturing and services activity expanded at a strong pace. Importantly, labor market conditions continued to improve with nonfarm payroll job growth increasing nearly 250,000 across many industries, including construction. The unemployment rate dropped to 8.3 percent, down from 8.5 percent the month prior, as the large increase in employment outweighed a growing number of people joining the work force – indicating a genuine improvement in the labor market. If we continue to see this level of positive data, the Group notes, the labor market may become an upside determinant for an improved outlook.

Housing also showed signs of improvement late last year with existing home sales rising in December for the third consecutive month. Indicators point to some good pickup in construction of apartment buildings and modest pickup in single-family construction in some locations. Overall, housing is expected to add to gross domestic product (GDP) for the first time in seven years, albeit by a very modest amount. Near-term improvement in housing sales is expected to be quite modest due to the current very low level of sales and continued expected declines in home prices, which remain a challenge to the housing market.

“Risks to the forecast are more balanced between the upside and downside since our January forecast,” said Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan. “The economy appears to be more resilient than in previous months, and should be less vulnerable to shocks, including any spillover from the European sovereign debt crisis. However, economic growth will remain constrained by various headwinds, such as a potential spike in oil prices due to tension in the Middle East; an expected decline in net exports from the global slowdown; and an expected increase in fiscal drag, including the fading of federal spending from the stimulus and a decline in defense spending for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Announcement CMB

BALTIMORE, Oct. 18, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Consumer Mortgage Bureau is pleased to announce that they have developed two new designation programs to define the Mortgage Industry in the wake of the S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008; the Registered Mortgage Professional (RMP) and the Licensed Mortgage Professional (LMP). On July 30th, 2008, the President signed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (H.R. 3221) into law to stabilize the housing market and help alleviate the financial crisis. Title V of the Act, the Secure and Fair Enforcement (S.A.F.E.) for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008, is specific to the registration and education of mortgage loan originators across the country to aid with consumer protection and fraud reduction. The S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing Act mandates that all loan originators be identified through the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry (NMLS) and establishes uniform minimum national standards for testing and education. The Consumer Mortgage Bureau’s new designations give added credibility to the professionals, while giving consumers additional security, comfort and general “peace of mind.”

The Registered Mortgage Professional designation is used by Mortgage Loan Originators who are an employee of a depository institution (including credit union) regulated by a federal banking agency (OCC, OTS, FDIC, FRB, NCUA), a subsidiary owned and controlled by a depository institution and regulated by a federal banking agency, or an institution regulated by the Farm Credit Administration. The Registered Mortgage Professional (RMP) designation means that the individual is a certified member of the Consumer Mortgage Bureau and has met all of the organizations qualifications and agrees to adhere by their strict Code of Ethics. The RMP is the mark of those who have met the following criteria: registered in the National Mortgage Licensing System with a unique identifier (starting January 2011); fingerprinted; background check; working for a depository lender, bank or credit union; education (internal); profile accessible in www.consumermortgagebureau.org.  

The Licensed Mortgage Professional designation was developed for Mortgage Loan Originators who work for non-depository lenders, mortgage bankers and brokers. Just like the RMP, the Licensed Mortgage Professional (LMP) designation means that the individual is a certified member of the Consumer Mortgage Bureau and has met all of the organization’s qualifications and agrees to adhere by their strict Code of Ethics. In addition, all LMPs are approved in the NMLS (National Mortgage Licensing System); possess a NMLS number (unique identifier generated by the NMLS); completed initial pre-licensing training; completed National and State examinations; participate in continuing education; fingerprinted; background check; profile accessible in www.consumermortgagebureau.org.  

Read full article from MSNBC

Here are a few things that you can do to prepare for the timeline rollout:

Design Your Cover Photo In Advance

Your cover photo is a great piece of real estate to market your business. This photo should be at least 720 pixels wide. The optimal dimensions should be 850 pixels wide by 350 pixels high. It’s a great idea to start on your cover design now. This will make it easier to upload as soon as possible whenever your mortgage or real estate fan page switches over to the timeline format.

Decide on Your Important Milestone Events Now

An advantage with the timeline layout is you can feature important milestones in your business. This can be any significant milestone that you choose. This gives your fan base an opportunity to comment, ask questions or celebrate your milestone(s) with you. This example below is a personal milestone but you get the idea for your business page.

Prepare An Announcement For Layout Changes

There have been questions about landing tabs or welcome pages and if we will still have these options. You may need to re-direct your fans if content has moved around. It is not definite on the exact design but there will be a Facebook Marketing Conference on Feb. 29, 2012 that could shed some light on this topic. This conference will be streamed live to so be sure to bookmark this link for the breaking news.

Have you noticed less interaction on your real estate or mortgage fan page? Stay tuned for my next article on Facebook’s algorithm Edgerank and what actions you need to take for more engagement.

Send me a tweet now to let me know you read this article!

Tweet to @NaomiTrower

Naomi Trower
My Niche Report Bio
Real Estate Broker
Social Media Strategist
Are you a FAN?

http://fb.com/RealEstateSocialMediaMarketing

Just a few weeks ago, we posted a HARP 2.0 Video Class where Dan Moralez, our resident mortgage expert for www.MortgageCurrentcy.com answered the questions loan officers ask on www.facebook.com/mortgagecurrentcy.

Welllll….YOU asked even MORE questions, so we’ve decided to hold another class called

                 HARP 2.0 – You’ve Got More Questions–We’ve Got More Answers

You can register for the FREE Class here.

Here’s an example of the some of the questions…

• How can you add or remove people from a HARP loan?
• If the home is listed for sale, will it qualify?
• Can an automated underwritten file be turned into manual underwriting?
• What is the minimum credit score?
• Do Jumbo loans qualify for HARP?
• …and 11 more.

Free Download:  “How to remove a Borrower from a DU Refi or DU Refi Plus Loan”

If the link above does not work, please use this one:  http://www.ezmeetingsonline.com/karendeis/?do=registration&webinar_id=25p1zIUARdjBJvA1

By the way, when you attend the class, you’ll get two answers–one on Fannie’s rules and the other on Freddie’s rules. 

 Karen Deis, Publisher