My Life as a Realtor

It has been a while! I closed 3 deals since we spoke last and got the Big Easy ans the Rock under contract. We should be closing them before the end of the year or in Feb. at the latest!

I have several new homes to talk about. One is fantastic! it is 5 beds and 4 baths. It sits on 2 acres and boast over 7300 sq ft of living space! It has a climbing wall built into the basement and a steam room in the master bath! You have got to see this place. It appraised 18 months ago for get this $1,425,000 an we are selling it for $785K and will be dropping the price $15K a week till it sells! Come on come all!

I have another one in Magna! it is 4 bed and 2 bath! It is 1852 sq ft and completely painted with a nice yard! this home is $173K and ready to move into!

Call me TODAY to see either one!

Got some interesting stuff for you so be ready to read, I also have the new market report for you to look at so get hold of me and I will send it out!

Tax Credit info!

1. Who is eligible to claim the $7,500 tax credit?

First time home buyers purchasing any kind of home-new or resale-are eligible for the tax credit. To qualify for the tax credit, a home purchase must occur on or after April 9, 2008 and before July 1, 2009. For the purposes of the tax credit, the purchase date is the date when closing occurs.

2. What is the definition of a first-time home buyer?

The law defines "first-time home buyer" as a buyer who has not owned a principal residence during the three-year period prior to the purchase. For married taxpayers, the law tests home ownership history of both the home buyer and his/her spouse. For example, if you have not owned a home in the past three years but your spouse has owned a principal residence, neither you nor your spouse qualifies for the first-time home buyer tax credit.

3. What types of homes will qualify for the tax credit?

Any home purchased by an eligible first-time home buyer will qualify for the credit, provided that the home will be used as a principal residence and the buyer has not owned a home in the previous three years. This includes single-family detached homes, attached homes like townhouses, and condominiums.

4. Instead of buying a new home from a home builder, I have hired a contractor to construct a home on a lot that I already own. Do I still qualify for the tax credit?

Yes. For the purposes of the home buyer tax credit, a principal residence that is constructed by the home owner is treated by the tax code as having been "purchased" on the date the owner first occupies the house. In this situation, the date of first occupancy must be on or after April 9, 2008 and before July 1, 2009. In
contrast, for newly-constructed homes bought from a home builder, eligibility for the tax credit is determined by the settlement date.

5. What is "modified adjusted gross income"?

Modified adjusted gross income or MAGI is defined by the IRS. To find it, a taxpayer must first determine "adjusted gross income" or AGI. AGI is total income for a year minus certain deductions (known as "adjustments" or "above-the-line deductions"), but before itemized deductions from Schedule A or personal exemptions are subtracted. On Forms 1040 and 1040A, AGI is the last number on page 1
and first number on page 2 of the form. For Form 1040-EZ, AGI appears on line 4 (as of 2007). Note that AGI includes all forms of income including wages, salaries, interest income, dividends and capital gains. To determine modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), add to AGI certain amounts such as foreign income, foreign-housing deductions, student-loan deductions, IRA-contribution deductions and deductions for higher-education costs.

6. If my modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is above the limit, do I qualify for any tax credit?

Possibly. It depends on your income. Partial credits of less than $7,500 are available for some taxpayers whose MAGI exceeds the phaseout limits. The credit becomes totally unavailable for individual taxpayers with a modified adjusted gross income of more than $95,000 and for married taxpayers filing joint returns with an AGI of more than $170,000.

7. Can you give me an example of how the partial tax credit is determined?

Just as an example, assume that a married couple has a modified adjusted gross income of $160,000. The applicable phaseout to qualify for the tax credit is $150,000, and the couple is $10,000 over this amount. Dividing $10,000 by $20,000 yields 0.5. When you subtract 0.5 from 1.0, the result is 0.5. To determine the amount of the partial first-time home buyer tax credit that is available to this
couple, multiply $7,500 by 0.5. The result is $3,750. Here's another
example: assume that an individual home buyer has a modified adjusted gross income of $88,000. The buyer's income exceeds $75,000 by $13,000. Dividing $13,000 by $20,000 yields 0.65. When you subtract 0.65 from 1.0, the result is 0.35. Multiplying $7,500 by 0.35 shows that the buyer is eligible for a partial tax credit of $2,625.

Please remember that these examples are intended to provide a general idea of how the tax credit might be applied in different circumstances.
You should always consult your tax advisor for information relating to your specific circumstances.

8. Does the credit amount differ based on tax filing status?

No. The credit is in general equal to $7,500 for a qualified home purchase, whether the home buyer files taxes as a single or married taxpayer. However, if a household files their taxes as "married filing separately" (in effect, filing two returns), then the credit of $7,500 is claimed as a $3,750 credit on each of the two returns.

9. Are there any circumstances for which buyers whose incomes are
at or below the $75,000 limit for singles or the $150,000 limit for married taxpayers might not be able to claim the full $7,500 tax credit?


In general, the tax credit is equal to 10% of the qualified home purchase price, but the credit amount is capped or limited at $7,500. For most first-time home buyers, this means the credit will equal $7,500. For home buyers purchasing a home priced
less than $75,000, the credit will equal 10% of the purchase price.

10. I heard that the tax credit is refundable. What does that mean?

The fact that the credit is refundable means that the home buyer credit can be claimed even if the taxpayer has little or no federal income tax liability to offset. Typically this involves the government sending the taxpayer a check for a portion or even all of the amount of the refundable tax credit. For
example, if a qualified home buyer expected, notwithstanding the tax credit, federal income tax liability of $5,000 and had tax withholding of $4,000 for the year, then without the tax credit the taxpayer would owe the IRS $1,000 on April 15th. Suppose now that taxpayer qualified for the $7,500 home buyer tax credit. As a result, the taxpayer would receive a check for $6,500 ($7,500 minus the $1,000 owed).

11. What is the difference between a tax credit and a tax deduction?


A tax credit is a dollar-for-dollar reduction in what the taxpayer owes. That means that a taxpayer who owes $7,500 in income taxes and who receives a $7,500 tax credit would owe nothing to the IRS. A tax deduction is subtracted from the amount of income that is taxed. Using the same example, assume the taxpayer is in the 15 percent tax bracket and owes $7,500 in income taxes. If the taxpayer receives a $7,500 deduction, the taxpayer's tax liability would be reduced by $1,125 (15 percent of $7,500), or lowered from $7,500 to $6,375.

12. Can I claim the tax credit if I finance the purchase of my home under a mortgage revenue bond (MRB) program?

No. The tax credit cannot be combined with the MRB home buyer program.

13. I live in the District of Columbia. Can I claim both the DC
first-time home buyer credit and this new credit?

No. You can claim only one.

14. I am not a U.S. citizen. Can I claim the tax credit?

Maybe. Anyone who is not a nonresident alien (as defined by the IRS), who has not owned a principal residence in the previous three years and who meets the income limits test may claim the tax credit for a qualified home purchase. The IRS provides a definition of "nonresident alien" in IRS Publication 519 .

15. Does the credit have to be paid back to the government? If so, what are the payback provisions?

Yes, the tax credit must be repaid. Home buyers will be required to repay the credit to the government, without interest, over 15 years or when they sell the house, if there is sufficient capital gain from the sale. For example, a home buyer claiming a $7,500 credit would repay the credit at $500 per year. The home owner does not have to begin making repayments on the credit until two years after the credit is claimed. So if the tax credit is claimed on the 2008 tax return, a $500 payment is not due until the 2010 tax return is filed. If the home owner sold the home, then the remaining credit amount would be due from the profit on the home sale. If there was insufficient profit, then the remaining credit payback would be forgiven.

16. Why must the money be repaid?

Congress's intent was to provide as large a financial resource as possible for home buyers in the year that they purchase a home. In addition to helping first-time home buyers, this will maximize the stimulus for the housing market and the economy, will help stabilize home prices, and will increase home sales. The repayment
requirement reduces the effect on the Federal Treasury and assumes that home buyers will benefit from stabilized and, eventually, increasing future housing prices.

17. Because the money must be repaid, isn't the first-time home buyer program really a zero-interest loan rather than a traditional tax credit?

Yes. Because the tax credit must be repaid, it operates like a zero-interest loan. Assuming an interest rate of 7%, that means the home owner saves up to $4,200in interest payments over the 15-year repayment period. Compared to $7,500 financed through a 30-year mortgage with a 7% interest rate, the home buyer tax credit saves home buyers over $8,100 in interest payments. The program is called a tax credit because it operates through the tax code and is administered by the IRS. Also like a tax credit, it provides a reduction in tax liability in the year it is claimed.

18. If I'm qualified for the tax credit and buy a home in 2009, can I apply the tax credit against my 2008 tax return?

Yes. The law allows taxpayers to choose ("elect") to treat qualified home purchases in 2009 as if the purchase occurred on December 31, 2008. This means that the 2008 income limit (MAGI) applies and the election accelerates when the credit can be claimed (tax filing for 2008 returns instead of for 2009 returns). A benefit of
this election is that a home buyer in 2009 will know their 2008 MAGI with certainty, thereby helping the buyer know whether the income limit will reduce their credit amount.

19. For a home purchase in 2009, can I choose whether to treat the purchase as occurring in 2008 or 2009, depending on in which year my credit amount is the largest?

Yes. If the applicable income phaseout would reduce your home buyer tax credit amount in 2009 and a larger credit would be available using the 2008 MAGI amounts, then you can choose the year that yields the largest credit amount.

I hope this answers a few questions!

Smart Money magazine names Salt Lake as a city ready to rebound

Salt Lake City is in great shape to rebound from the struggling real estate market, Smart Money, the monthly personal finance magazine from the Wall Street Journal, reported in its November issue. The article, noting that the national housing statistics are dragged down by boom-and-bust markets like Las Vegas, said there are signs that “the overbuilding and speculative pricing that inflated the housing bubble are working their way through the system.”

Salt Lake was named one of 25 cities poised for a rebound because of job gains in a variety of industries such as health care, education and natural resources. “That diversity has offset tough times for local home builders and information technology companies, keeping job growth in positive territory — and putting a safety net under home prices,” the article said. Citing an analysis by mortgage insurer PMI Group, the article indicates Salt Lake City has a less than 1 percent chance of home prices being lower two years from now than they are today.

And here are the Quotes!

"Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get"
-- Ray Kroc, Executive

"We are judged by what we finish, not what we start."
-- Anonymous

"Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance."
-- Samuel Johnson, Writer

"Skill and confidence are an unconquered army."
-- George Herbert, Priest

"if you care enough for a result, you will most certainly attain it"
-- William James, Psychologist

"Everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself."
-- Leo Tolstoy

"The way to become rich is to put all your eggs in one basket and then
watch that basket"
-- Andrew Carnegie, Industrialist

"Life is like a 10-speed bike. Most of us have gears we never use."
-- Charles Schulz, Cartoonist

"The ability to deal with people is as purchasable a commodity as sugar
of coffee, and I will pay more for that ability than for any other under
the sun."
-- John D. Rockefeller

"We cannot do great deeds unless we're willing to do the small things
that make up the sum of greatness."
-- Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States

"The pro is the person who has all the hassles, obstacles, and
disappointing frustrations that everyone else has. yet continues to
persist, does the job, and makes it look easy."
-- David Cooper, Sales Trainer

"These are not dark days; these are great days - the greatest days our
country has ever lived."
-- Winston Churchill

"Leaders must learn to discipline their disappointments. It's not what
happens to us, it is what we choose to do about what happens that makes
the difference in how our lives turn out. "
-- Jim Rohn, Motivational Speaker

"it is time to get back to basics: to self-discipline and respect for
the law, to consideration for others, to accepting responsibility for
yourself and your family, and not shuffling it off on the state."
-- John Major, Former British Prime Minister

"Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true
failure."
-- George Woodberry, Poet

"I never tried quitting, and I never quit trying."
-- Dolly Parton, Entertainer

"If we could sell our experiences for what they cost us, we'd all be
millionaires."
-- Abigail Van Buren, Advice Columnist

I hope that you enjoy my Blog! I would love feedback on how to make it better for you and if you would like more or less or leave it the same! Please go to my website and let me know by emailing or calling me!

My Life as a Realtor

Hi Guys! What a beautiful place UT is. We were in the Mountains our beautiful Cabin in Timber lakes for this weekend. We were doing a sale up there and we got to be there for the changing of the aspens! It is amazing to see the mountains change from green to yellow to red in a mater of days. What an amazing experience it was.

Anyway, the sell didn't go as planed and we are going to be listing it today for about $100K under appraisal. We had the appraisal done last Mon and it came in at $457K. I also have many other properties for sale and many are great deals! Google my name and trulia so -- Brian E. Betts Trulia -- paste and click it into google and you will see the listings that are live now! I have a few more coming up in the next few weeks.

One of my properties was appraised at $1.4 mill 18 months ago and we will be selling this for a start of $830K and dropping it $15K a week until it sales! Another is the cabin I spoke of up top and another is a 4 bed 2 bath home in Magna. It will be listed about $175K. Keep looking for it and you will find it!

Enough about me, lets look at what is going on out there! Here it is and quotes are at the bottom. Call me for anything RE related! 435-513-0973

Market thoughts...

The Fed announced plans to create a market place for illiquid mortgage debt. This should do a lot of long-term good to help the housing and lending environment. As if that weren't enough, the Securities and Exchange Commission also placed a temporary ban on the short selling of 799 different financially related stocks.

After 158 years in existence, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy last Monday due to overexposure of high-risk loans in the mortgage arena. Then, the Fed gave insurance giant AIG an $85 Billion lifeline to keep it from going into bankruptcy, after initially stating it would not intervene. Then it was announced that Merrill Lynch is being acquired by Bank of America, which will save them from the same fate as Lehman Brothers, and now troubled bank Washington Mutual is looking for a buyer as well.

The government's announcements on Friday are great news for the overall health of our financial system, though they did cause Bonds and home loan rates to move away from their best levels of the week. All in all, Bonds and home loan ended the week slightly worse than where they began. Additionally, stocks had their most volatile week in history - but ended the week almost exactly where they started.

Over all we feel the Fannie and Freddie news will result in lower long-term mortgage rates. But there are bound to be bumps along the road and we are bouncing over one of them right now. As a result, rates are up currently but as stability returns they should move down.

Deals are out there, let me know if I can do anything to help you land them.

“The Bailout” is the biggest thing on everyone's mind this morning as we have watched the government get involved in the capital markets, again.

Unfortunately most of the sign point to the bill being passed, with the Democrats getting the voting cover they wanted from Republicans. (As a side note, I was disappointed to see that many Senator and House Members had added ‘Pork’ to the bill. What crazy times we live in when the government is so disconnected from the lives of every day people).

The biggest question people are asking is if the bill will result in there being little to no pain associated with the financial turmoil we are seeing in the markets.
And the answer is…… no one knows. And also no one is willing to stand up and tell us that either.

So here is our takeaway. The bailout and other moves that have happened and will happen will act to bring stability to the lending and credit situation. Banks will continue to lend money to people. And people will continue to buy homes.
As one expert said to me, “there were many homes bought with 10—20% down payments in the past and there will be many more in the future.”

Basically the markets might tighten even more, but we’ll come through it and hopefully the policy makers in Washington won’t bind us up some much that they also limit the upside in the future.

Today we are running business as usual.

F Y I:

Quick Analysis of GSE Takeover

As you know, in a truly historic event on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Paulson and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Lockhart announced that “FHFA has placed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship.” The government (FHFA) will now be managing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for the foreseeable future.

Below are our thoughts.

Overview

To stabilize and to stimulate the housing and financial markets, the Federal Government is taking the following key steps.

· The GSEs will be allowed to increase their MBS portfolios through the end of 2009

· Treasury will be initiating a program to purchase GSE mortgage-backed securities (through December 31, 2009)

· Treasury has established a new secured lending credit facility which will be available to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks

We believe that Treasury Secretary Paulson and the Bush Administration determined Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were unable to perform their housing missions at a time when they were most needed because the GSEs were trying (unsuccessfully) to address safety and soundness issues associated with raising capital. As a result of this plan, Treasury has indicated that the GSEs will now not be under any pressure to sell assets.

In the short-term, we expect mortgage liquidity should improve. Rates should decline as the risk spreads built into the GSE pricing (due, in part, to fear of potential GSE failure) should be reduced if not eliminated. The extent of the decline will depend on what happens to Treasury yields in the coming days.

Without capital constraints in the near term and based on Secretary Paulson’s comments (see below) , we believe the new Fannie and Freddie will likely rollback at least some of their price increases and loosen underwriting requirements to some extent. It will be curious to see the MI reaction to this government intervention as their tightening of guidelines will now be “front and center” in the effort to expand mortgage financing availability.

We also believe Secretary Paulson’s call to examine the guaranty fee structure could lower those fees across-the-board. It will be interesting to see if the government-controlled GSEs will implement a Ginnie Mae-type flat fee structure and at what level.

On a longer term basis, there will be a “heavyweight” debate next year and beyond about the future size and structure of the GSEs (e.g. public or private entities). That debate will not occur until the new Congress and Administration take office next year.

Why did Treasury/FHFA take this action?

It appears to us that Treasury/FHFA lost confidence in Fannie Mae and Freddie’s Mac’s ability to support the housing recovery while, at the same time, addressing their safety and soundness responsibilities by preserving and raising capital. Below are some of Secretary Paulson and Director Lockhart’s remarks which lead us to this conclusion.

Director Lockhart said:

(bold and italics added)

“Their market share of all new mortgages reached over 80 percent earlier this year, but it is now falling. During the turmoil last year, they (the GSEs) played a very important role in providing liquidity to the conforming mortgage market. That has required a very careful and delicate balance of mission and safety and soundness. A key component of this balance has been their ability to raise and maintain capital. Given recent market conditions, the balance has been lost. Unfortunately, as house prices, earnings and capital have continued to deteriorate, their ability to fulfill their mission has deteriorated. In particular, the capacity of their capital to absorb further losses while supporting new business activity is in doubt. Today’s action addresses safety and soundness concerns. … The result has been that they have been unable to provide needed stability to the market. They also find themselves unable to meet their affordable housing mission. Rather than letting these conditions fester and worsen and put our markets in jeopardy, FHFA, after painstaking review, has decided to take action now. “

Secretary Paulson said:

“I attribute the need for today’s action primarily to the inherent conflict and the flawed business model imbedded in the GSE structure and the ongoing housing correction”. He added that he has “long said, the housing correction poses the biggest risk to the economy”.

“Our economy and our markets will not recover until the bulk of this housing correction is behind us. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are critical to turning the corner” and that “the primary mission of these enterprises will now be to proactively work to increase the availability of mortgage finance including by examining the guaranty fee structure with an eye toward mortgage affordability”.

Comment

We have all seen the steps that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have taken to preserve and raise capital throughout this year. These measures have included raising prices on mortgages and tightening underwriting guidelines. As everyone is also aware, they have been aggressively trying to put back loans to seller-servicers who, in turn, are going back to originators.

Secretary Paulson in particular appeared to conclude that GSEs cannot serve two masters (i.e. its housing mission and its shareholders) during the housing crisis.

What does this mean?

To state the obvious, we are in uncharted waters. This plan is not a “silver bullet” that will address the underlying problems (i.e. record mortgage delinquency and foreclosures) that caused the need for this unprecedented action. MBA’s National Delinquency Survey last week indicated that over 9% of all mortgages are either delinquent or in the foreclosure process. While the new GSE approach to mortgage availability will increase the number of potentially eligible borrowers, it will likely not have any significant impact on affordability (borrowers must still qualify and make downpayments) in those markets where house prices increased the most during the “housing bubble” until house prices and borrower incomes are in line. With this as a caveat, below are our immediate thoughts.

· Short term goals

Two of the immediate goals of this action are: 1) “to increase the availability of mortgage finance” as Secretary Paulson said and 2) to lower mortgage interest rates through the Government guarantee of GSE debt.

· Long term objectives

On a longer term basis, the Government’s action yesterday raises the fundamental question about the government’s role in housing going forward. Secretary Paulson deferred the discussion of this question and the “flawed GSE business model” ( i.e. serving two masters ---public and private objectives) to the next Administration and Congress.

In this update, we will focus on short-term impact since the debate about the GSEs’ future structure and size will depend on who wins the election and the make-up of the Congress.

Short term Impact

For the housing industry, the short-term impact of the Government takeover appears to be positive.

· Mortgage rates should decline

· Liquidity should be increased

o GSEs should loosen standards (somewhat)

o GSEs should reduce fees including guaranty fees

· Some housing experts feel house price may stabilize sooner and the level of further house price decline will be moderated as a result

Potential Impact

· There could be a mini-refinance boom if the rate decline materializes.

o Hedging of servicing portfolios and pipeline problems will have to be addressed

· More aggressive GSEs could slow down FHA’s growth

o FHA appeared on the way to 50% market share later this year.

o What will be the impact on margins?

There are many questions to be answered in the coming days and weeks:

(Here are a couple)

· How will the MIs react?

o Their underwriting and pricing policies will be “front and center” if the GSEs take the actions we expect

· What will the new Fannie/Freddie management’s policy be on buybacks? Will they be more reasonable?

· On g-fees, will the GSEs a different approach (e.g. more like Ginnie Mae – uniform fees for all lenders)

QUOTES!

"Gauge your success by what you gave up to achieve it."
-- Eden Hampson

"A business is successful to the extent that it provides a product or
service that contributes to happiness in all of its forms."
-- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Professor of Psychology and Management

"The price of greatness is responsibility."
-- Winston Churchill, Former British prime minister

"A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make
tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He
does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the quality of his
actions and the integrity of his intent. "
-- Anonymous

"If you are going through hell, keep going."
-- Winston Churchill, Former British prime minister

"You can accomplish anything if you're willing to pay the price"
-- Vince Lombardi, American Football Coach

"Think of yourself as on the threshold of unparalleled success. A whole
clear, glorious life lies before you. Achieve! Achieve!"
-- Andrew Carnegie, Industrialist

"Set your goals high, and don't stop till you get there"
-- Bo Jackson

"Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies
solely in my tenacity."
-- Louis Pasteur, Chemist and Microbiologist

"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door."
-- Milton Berlet, Actor

"Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you
become what you believe"
-- Oprah Winfrey, Talk Show Host

"Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or
temporary defeat"
-- Napoleon Hill, Motivational Writer

"It takes the hammer of persistence to drive the nail of success."
-- John Mason, Writer

My Life as a Realtor.

Sorry it's been a few. I have been really busy. I picked up 4 more listings since we spoke last. One in magna that has already sold. One in Downtown that goes live today, one in Lehi that goes live Friday and one in West Valley that goes live Monday. I am working with a few new buyers and living the Dream. There is a LOT for you to read today. I hope you enjoy it all!

Call me if I can help you, your friends or family with any real estate related matters!

Market thoughts...

If you’ve even skimmed the content in this section over the past 12 months you know we have been bullish on the direction of the market in Utah. And you also know we feel the national outlook has unfortunately cast a shadow over what should be a consistent and climbing housing market here in Utah. Mortgage woes aside.

Well the national media is finally catching on to what we have been saying. If you link out this article from Forbes you’ll see the experts are now predicting that home prices are going to rise here in Utah sooner rather than later.

We are ranked number 6 out of 10 for markets they are forecasting growth from in the next year. This really means the drum we have been beating about homebuyers getting to buy now as opposed to waiting has been ‘pitch perfect’ as the pundits would say.

Utah has strong fundamentals and a great base for improvements in the housing market. As in the past we encourage you to tell clients this is not the time to hang on the edge and not make a housing decision. Now is the time to buy.

On a side note, there is a bunch of activity around re-instating Down Payment Assistance. Don’t be surprised if a new bill is passed and the President signs it into law shortly. The loss of DPA has caused more than a few ripples in the industry.


Real Estate Outlook: Recession Fears Put to Rest
by Kenneth R. Harney

The latest national economic growth numbers should finally put to rest
fears of a recession that could choke the real estate recovery now getting
underway. Second quarter Gross Domestic Product (or GDP) came in at an
upwardly-revised 3.3 percent -- far above the 1.9 percent the federal
government had previously estimated. Key reasons for the robust economic
performance: Exports, which have been riding the weak dollar to record
levels, and lower imports because the prices of foreign-made goods have
been priced higher. Why should anyone interested in real estate care about
GDP? Well, number one, when the economic growth rate accelerates, consumer
confidence in the economy rises. That, in turn, pulls potential buyers off
the sidelines and opens the door to higher housing sales. And sure enough,
the consumer confidence numbers for August, released last week by the
Conference Board, are up by 5 points. We're already seeing some impressive
jumps in home sales in places that haven't seen positive news in two to
three years -- central Florida and even some of the hardest-hit parts of
California. According to a new report from the real estate tracking firm,
DataQuick, sales in southern California jumped 16.7 percent in July over
June, and were 14 percent above the pace of July the year before. Another
encouraging sign: Last week's mortgage rates dropped to 6.39 percent for
30-year fixed rate loans, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of
America. Fifteen year rates are still just under 6 percent. Applications
for loans to buy homes jumped by 6 percent for conventional loans and an
impressive 19.9 percent for FHA mortgages. The federal government's latest
quarterly survey on home prices reveals that the best price appreciation
performances are now coming from areas that barely got noticed during the
hottest years of the housing boom -- markets like Charleston, West Virginia
( up 6 percent for the year), Greenville, South Carolina (up 5.8 percent),
Tulsa, Oklahoma (up by nearly 5 percent) and Scranton, Pennsylvania, where
values were up by 4.7 percent.. All these markets -- and there are dozens
more spread through Texas, the Midwest and the South -- never experienced
the wild days of double digit appreciation. They offer affordable housing
prices and moderate - but steady and slow - price growth. They're not
flashy -- never have been, probably never will be -- but that's why they're
still producing positive appreciation numbers, while the boom to bust
markets are not.

Published: September 9, 2008

Frank says HUD supports compromise bill
By Matt Carter, Wednesday, September 10, 2008.

Inman News

STOCKTON, Calif. -- A last-ditch effort to head off an Oct. 1 ban on the use of seller-funded down-payment assistance with FHA-backed loans is picking up steam as a compromise bill, that would mend rather than end the practice, gains momentum.

HR 6694, which would allow home builders to continue funneling down-payment assistance through nonprofit groups to home buyers using FHA loans, is certain to pass the House of Representatives and has the blessing of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said at a hearing on foreclosures this weekend.

The influential chairman of the House Financial Services Committee urged those attending a committee field hearing in Stockton Saturday to lobby the Senate -- which shoehorned language banning seller-funded gifts into HR 3221, the sweeping housing bill signed into law July 30 -- in support of the bill.

HR 6694 would automatically allow qualified borrowers with credit scores of 680 or above to use seller-funded down-payment assistance on FHA-backed loans, Frank said. Borrowers with scores between 620-680 who relied on seller-funded gifts might be subject to higher insurance premium fees.

Borrowers with scores below 620 would be excluded from using down-payment assistance until mid-2009, when HUD would be permitted to expand the program to include them if the Secretary of Housing determined it could be done without putting a dent in FHA's insurance requiring taxpayer subsidies.

HUD has sought to end the use of seller-funded down-payment assistance with FHA loans outright, claiming the practice artificially inflates home prices and that borrowers who relied on the gifts are more likely to default.

Although FHA loan guarantee programs have always been self-sustaining -- they are funded by premiums paid by borrowers, and not taxpayers -- HUD said the enormous growth in the use of seller-funded gifts and the poor performance of the loans threatens to put the insurance fund in the red.

Nonprofits that funnel payments from home builders to lenders to help borrowers meet minimum down-payment requirements on FHA loans dispute HUD's claims and have filed lawsuits that delayed HUD's implementation of a rule change banning the practice (see story). But the passage of HR 3221 made those court challenges moot.

Home builders -- many of whom relied on seller-funded gifts to close 20 percent to 30 percent of their sales in the second quarter -- have been bracing for the end of the program, and some lenders have already stopped processing such loans.

Frank said the bill that would give seller-funded gifts a reprieve, HR 6694, has the support of HUD Secretary Steve Preston because it also addresses an issue near and dear to the department's heart -- risk-based pricing.

In an effort to make FHA's loan guarantee programs operate more like private mortgage insurance, HUD on July 14 began giving borrowers with good credit a break on their upfront insurance premiums, while charging those with spotty credit more (see story).

Opponents of risk-based pricing maintain it places an unfair burden on low-income borrowers who rely on FHA loan guarantee programs. The Senate inserted a one-year moratorium on the use of risk-based pricing into HR 3221, which begins Oct. 1 and ends Sept. 30, 2009.

Under risk-based pricing, the upfront premium for FHA mortgage insurance ranges from 1.25 percent to 2.25 percent, depending on credit score. When the moratorium on risk-based pricing takes effect Oct. 1, FHA will begin charging all borrowers an upfront premium of 1.75 percent. Before the introduction of risk-based pricing in July, FHA had charged all borrowers a flat 1.5 percent upfront premium. In returning to a one-size fits all pricing structure, HUD said it was forced to raise premiums for all borrowers by 25 basis points to keep the program self-sustaining.

HR 6694 would allow HUD to continue risk-based pricing for borrowers with lower credit or FICO scores, but mandate refunds of some or all of the additional premiums paid if borrowers make timely payments.

HR 3221 had no provisions banning seller-funded gifts or risk-based pricing until it got to the Senate, Frank said, recounting the intense debate that took place around the massive housing bill. The bill's most hotly debated provision was a $300 billion expansion of FHA loan guarantee programs to help troubled borrowers refinance into more affordable loans (see story).

"The FHA loved the ban on down-payment assistance (but) hated the ban on risk-based pricing," Frank said at Saturday's hearing. "That seemed to me to offer an opportunity. So (HR 6694) will replace both bans with middle ground -- and it will pass the House, I can guarantee you. What you want to do now obviously is talk to your senators. We think it will go through there -- it has the approval now of the Secretary of HUD."

A HUD spokesman said he could not confirm that Preston supports HR 6694, and that HUD is still reviewing the bill.

"We understand that Congress is working on legislation related to seller-funded down-payment assistance, but our primary focus is on implementing the recently passed housing bill," the spokesman, Lemar Wooley, said in an e-mail. "Throughout this process, our number one priority is to ensure FHA's insurance fund remains sound and does not require taxpayer dollars."

At Saturday's hearing, Merced Mayor Ellie Wooten said the down-payment assistance program offered by Nehemiah Corp. of America was "heavily used" in Merced County.

"We are an agricultural community, and (farmworkers) are solid people, but many people don't have bank accounts with the 20 percent down payment," Wooten said. The minimum down payment for FHA guaranteed loans is now 3 percent, and is being raised to 3.5 percent on Oct. 1.

Wooten, a Realtor, said the Nehemiah program helped many borrowers get into homes, and "they made their payments and there was no monkey business. When the Nehemiah program was (banned), it knocked out quite a few very good qualified buyers. It has hurt us."

Democrat U.S. Rep. Dennis Cardoza, a former Realtor who represents Merced, Modesto and Stockton, also said down-payment assistance programs are "critical" in the region. "We have low-income folks who still have the ability to pay but don't have the ability to bring large down payments. When I was a Realtor, I had hundreds of folks tell me that's how they got into their house."

If Congress does take action to preserve FHA's ability to accept seller-funded down-payment assistance, it would have to move quickly. Although the ban mandated by HR 3221 doesn't take effect until Oct. 1, builders like Lennar Corp. have set a Sept. 23 deadline for loan applications involving seller-funded gifts.

Nehemiah President and CEO Scott Syphax, who also attended the hearing, said he believes HR 6694 -- currently awaiting a hearing in Frank's Financial Services Committee -- can emerge from the House and Senate in time to beat the deadline.

In a telephone interview before the hearing, Syphax said there's been a grassroots effort to preserve down-payment assistance programs.

"What's happened with this is the people have taken this over from us," Syphax said. "We are not in control at this point. Across the country, folks are forming groups on their own, making their own fliers. These are everybody from homeowners who have received a benefit, to people working in the real estate space. They are the ones turning this around -- it's not us."

Nehemiah and other supporters of down-payment assistance programs, including the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, the National Association of Black Mortgage Brokers and the National Urban League are planning a rally in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.

Bailout of mortgage giants should result in lower mortgage costs and make credit more available. But lending standards will stay tight and risky borrowers will still pay extra fees.

Sunday's federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will likely translate into lower mortgage rates and greater availability of credit, experts said. Rates could drop by 1 percentage point from the stubbornly-high 6.39% for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage.

"This could be good for would-be homeowners," said Tom LaMalfa, managing director, Wholesale Access, a research and consulting firm. "It would reduce the cost of financing at the new and improved Fannie and Freddie."

But the news isn't all good. With Friday's report that foreclosures and delinquencies are at all-time highs, Fannie and Freddie are expected to maintain - if not ratchet up - tighter lending standards. And the fees they have introduced for borrowers with weaker credit histories won't go away anytime soon. Lenders are demanding credit scores above 700 these days, up from 620 in the past, and downpayments of 20%, up from zero in some cases, experts said.

F Y I:

Quick Analysis of GSE Takeover

As you know, in a truly historic event on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Paulson and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Lockhart announced that “FHFA has placed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship.” The government (FHFA) will now be managing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for the foreseeable future.

Below are our thoughts.

Overview

To stabilize and to stimulate the housing and financial markets, the Federal Government is taking the following key steps.

· The GSEs will be allowed to increase their MBS portfolios through the end of 2009

· Treasury will be initiating a program to purchase GSE mortgage-backed securities (through December 31, 2009)

· Treasury has established a new secured lending credit facility which will be available to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks

We believe that Treasury Secretary Paulson and the Bush Administration determined Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were unable to perform their housing missions at a time when they were most needed because the GSEs were trying (unsuccessfully) to address safety and soundness issues associated with raising capital. As a result of this plan, Treasury has indicated that the GSEs will now not be under any pressure to sell assets.

In the short-term, we expect mortgage liquidity should improve. Rates should decline as the risk spreads built into the GSE pricing (due, in part, to fear of potential GSE failure) should be reduced if not eliminated. The extent of the decline will depend on what happens to Treasury yields in the coming days.

Without capital constraints in the near term and based on Secretary Paulson’s comments (see below) , we believe the new Fannie and Freddie will likely rollback at least some of their price increases and loosen underwriting requirements to some extent. It will be curious to see the MI reaction to this government intervention as their tightening of guidelines will now be “front and center” in the effort to expand mortgage financing availability.

We also believe Secretary Paulson’s call to examine the guaranty fee structure could lower those fees across-the-board. It will be interesting to see if the government-controlled GSEs will implement a Ginnie Mae-type flat fee structure and at what level.

On a longer term basis, there will be a “heavyweight” debate next year and beyond about the future size and structure of the GSEs (e.g. public or private entities). That debate will not occur until the new Congress and Administration take office next year.

Why did Treasury/FHFA take this action?

It appears to us that Treasury/FHFA lost confidence in Fannie Mae and Freddie’s Mac’s ability to support the housing recovery while, at the same time, addressing their safety and soundness responsibilities by preserving and raising capital. Below are some of Secretary Paulson and Director Lockhart’s remarks which lead us to this conclusion.

Director Lockhart said:

(bold and italics added)

“Their market share of all new mortgages reached over 80 percent earlier this year, but it is now falling. During the turmoil last year, they (the GSEs) played a very important role in providing liquidity to the conforming mortgage market. That has required a very careful and delicate balance of mission and safety and soundness. A key component of this balance has been their ability to raise and maintain capital. Given recent market conditions, the balance has been lost. Unfortunately, as house prices, earnings and capital have continued to deteriorate, their ability to fulfill their mission has deteriorated. In particular, the capacity of their capital to absorb further losses while supporting new business activity is in doubt. Today’s action addresses safety and soundness concerns. … The result has been that they have been unable to provide needed stability to the market. They also find themselves unable to meet their affordable housing mission. Rather than letting these conditions fester and worsen and put our markets in jeopardy, FHFA, after painstaking review, has decided to take action now. “

Secretary Paulson said:

“I attribute the need for today’s action primarily to the inherent conflict and the flawed business model imbedded in the GSE structure and the ongoing housing correction”. He added that he has “long said, the housing correction poses the biggest risk to the economy”.

“Our economy and our markets will not recover until the bulk of this housing correction is behind us. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are critical to turning the corner” and that “the primary mission of these enterprises will now be to proactively work to increase the availability of mortgage finance including by examining the guaranty fee structure with an eye toward mortgage affordability”.

Comment

We have all seen the steps that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have taken to preserve and raise capital throughout this year. These measures have included raising prices on mortgages and tightening underwriting guidelines. As everyone is also aware, they have been aggressively trying to put back loans to seller-servicers who, in turn, are going back to originators.

Secretary Paulson in particular appeared to conclude that GSEs cannot serve two masters (i.e. its housing mission and its shareholders) during the housing crisis.

What does this mean?

To state the obvious, we are in uncharted waters. This plan is not a “silver bullet” that will address the underlying problems (i.e. record mortgage delinquency and foreclosures) that caused the need for this unprecedented action. MBA’s National Delinquency Survey last week indicated that over 9% of all mortgages are either delinquent or in the foreclosure process. While the new GSE approach to mortgage availability will increase the number of potentially eligible borrowers, it will likely not have any significant impact on affordability (borrowers must still qualify and make downpayments) in those markets where house prices increased the most during the “housing bubble” until house prices and borrower incomes are in line. With this as a caveat, below are our immediate thoughts.

· Short term goals

Two of the immediate goals of this action are: 1) “to increase the availability of mortgage finance” as Secretary Paulson said and 2) to lower mortgage interest rates through the Government guarantee of GSE debt.

· Long term objectives

On a longer term basis, the Government’s action yesterday raises the fundamental question about the government’s role in housing going forward. Secretary Paulson deferred the discussion of this question and the “flawed GSE business model” ( i.e. serving two masters ---public and private objectives) to the next Administration and Congress.

In this update, we will focus on short-term impact since the debate about the GSEs’ future structure and size will depend on who wins the election and the make-up of the Congress.

Short term Impact

For the housing industry, the short-term impact of the Government takeover appears to be positive.

· Mortgage rates should decline

· Liquidity should be increased

o GSEs should loosen standards (somewhat)

o GSEs should reduce fees including guaranty fees

· Some housing experts feel house price may stabilize sooner and the level of further house price decline will be moderated as a result

Potential Impact

· There could be a mini-refinance boom if the rate decline materializes.

o Hedging of servicing portfolios and pipeline problems will have to be addressed

· More aggressive GSEs could slow down FHA’s growth

o FHA appeared on the way to 50% market share later this year.

o What will be the impact on margins?

There are many questions to be answered in the coming days and weeks:

(Here are a couple)

· How will the MIs react?

o Their underwriting and pricing policies will be “front and center” if the GSEs take the actions we expect

· What will the new Fannie/Freddie management’s policy be on buybacks? Will they be more reasonable?

· On g-fees, will the GSEs a different approach (e.g. more like Ginnie Mae – uniform fees for all lenders)

Congress weighs reprieve for seller-funded gifts
Read Article


Here are the Quotes!



"We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid
of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. "
-- Martin Luther King Jr., Civil Rights Activist

"Tell a person they are brave and you help them become so. "
-- Thomas Carlyle, Scottish Essayist, Satirist, and Historian

"You must have long-term goals to keep you from being frustrated by
short-term failures."
-- Charles C. Noble

"Don't argue for other people's weaknesses. Don't argue for your own.
When you make a mistake, admit it, correct it, and learn from it
immediately. "
-- Stephen R. Covey, Author and Speaker

"A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something. "
-- Frank Capra, director

"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad
people will find a way around the laws. "
-- Plato, Philosopher

"We are what we repeatedly do."
-- Aristotle, Philosopher


"Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things."
-- Peter F. Drucker, Author and Management Expert

"Justifying a fault doubles it. "
-- Charles de Gaulle, French president

My Life as Realtor

Hi guys, More info on the market and of course some quotes!

Market thoughts...

Sales of existing homes rose 3.1 percent in July, easily beating Wall Street’s expectations, as buyers snapped up deeply discounted properties in parts of the country hit hardest by the housing bust.

The National Association of Realtors reported Monday that sales rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5 million units. Sales had been expected to rise by only 1.6 percent, according to economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR.

If we look further into the data we see that in the West 9.7 percent. This means buyers are snapping up housing that is under priced.

Many Realtors we speak with continue to mention that buyers, especially investors are moving to pick up inventory in today’s market. We experience that right here in Utah with homes selling at a steady pace.

Yes we are off the rocket-ship ride of the past few years, but homes are moving. And prices for homes are also rising. Again not at the break neck pace of the past, but they are rising.

We encourage you to tell your buyers that this is the market they have been waiting for. Get them qualified and into a home. While there is a bunch of inventory on the market, deals are out there to be made.

The Bonds

We are still riding the roller coaster. You may have noticed an uptick in negative economic news world wide. This will continue to drive investors towards quality, which is bonds. So, bonds should rise and rates should fall. But we aren’t seeing that happen as much as it should. We’ll keep you posted.

The quotes!

"No amount of ability is of the slightest avail without honor."
-- Andrew Carnegie, Industrialist

"I think what separates a superstar from the average ballplayer is that
he concentrates just a little bit longer."
-- Hank Aaron, Baseball Star

"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity"
-- Albert Einstein, Theoretical Physicist

"Four short words sum up what has lifted most successful individuals
above the crowd: a little bit more. They did all that was expected of
them and a little bit more. "
-- Lou Vickery, American Business Writer

"Help others get ahead. You will always stand taller with someone else
on your shoulders. "
-- Bob Moawad, Business Speaker

"Luck is when preparation meets opportunity."
-- Brian Tracy, Author

"The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little
'extra'."
-- Jimmy Johnson, American Football Coach

"Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it is the only one you
have."
-- Emile Chartier, Philosopher

"A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way. "
-- John C. Maxwell, Author and Speaker

"It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan."
-- Eleanor Roosevelt, Former First Lady

"Successful people form the habit of doing what failures don't like to
do. They like the results they get by doing what they don't necessarily
enjoy. "
-- Earl Nightingale, Motivational Speaker

"Many things difficult in design prove easy in performance."
-- Samuel Johnson, Writer

My Life as a Realtor

FED Rate Change Update

Holding Pattern…

After having lowered the FED Funds rate at seven consecutive meetings the FED has again left the rates in a holding pattern. Citing ‘uncertain’ inflationary signals in the marketplace and the FEDs desire to let the market forces continue to work they are standing pat with their current rate.

What this means is that mortgage rates will continue to be mainly influenced by the overall market. If the FED had chosen to raise the FED Funds rate, mortgage rates would have reacted to the downside, since raising the FED Funds rate is an anti-inflationary move.

Remember, Mortgage Bonds and Mortgage Rates have an inverse relationship. So, we need to focus on what moves the bonds to anticipate how rates will react. Therefore with a status-quo move by the FED we should see bonds stay in the holding pattern as well.

However, bonds will also be pushed and pulled by the broader economic market. That is why today we see them sell off because Freddie Mac reported a larger than expected loss.

We’re watching the reports and tracking the FED. We’ll let you know what information pops up that will impact rates in the long term. But for right now, if you have borrowers who think rates are going to fall in the near future our advice would be for them to lock sooner rather than later.

With changes to FHA in the new Housing Bailout Bill, and now the FED holding steady it is time for buyers to get off the fence.

Here are the quotes!

"Necessity is the mother of taking chances. "
-- Mark Twain, author

"Follow your instincts. That's where true wisdom manifests itself. "
-- Oprah Winfrey, Talk Show Host

"One person can make a difference. You don't have to be a big shot. You
don't have to have a lot of influence. You just have to have faith in
your power to change things."
-- Norman Vincent Peale, Clergyman

"A leader, once convinced a particular course of action is the right
one, must have the determination to stick with it and be undaunted when
the going gets rough. "
-- Ronald Reagan, 40th U.S. president

"No one can defeat us unless we first defeat ourselves."
-- Dwight Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States

"If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember this whole thing
was started by a mouse."
-- Walt Disney, Animator, Film Producer

"Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs.
Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do
the little jobs well, the big ones tend to take care of themselves. "
-- Dale Carnegie, Author

"The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become
obvious. "
-- John Sculley, Former CEO of Apple

"Winning isn't everything. Wanting to win is."
-- Catfish Hunter, Baseball Player

"Perfection consists not in doing extraordinary things, but in doing
ordinary things extraordinarily well. "
-- Angelique Arnauld, Abbess of Port-Royal

My Life as a Realtor.

What a great Life we have!

Yesterday was great! We got or DOG! Mojo is in the building. At 8 weeks old he was 18 lbs and he will be huge!

I just thought I would let you all know. Now on to RE!

We just picked up a smoking deal on a home. We are willing to asign it for 130K. It has a tax value of 184K with renters that are willing to pay 850 monthly. If you know of anyone that wnts a cash flow property, call me today and I will give you all the back story.

Here is some facts on the bonds. The bonds determane mortgages.

This week brings us the release of only three pieces of economic data that are likely to affect mortgage rates. However, the biggest event of the week will be the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting Tuesday. We may see some pressure in bonds today as investors prepare for the meeting, but most traders will likely make their moves post-meeting Tuesday.

The first important release is June's Personal Income and Outlays data Monday morning. The Income & Spending report helps us measure consumer ability to spend and current spending habits. Forecasts called for a decline of 0.1% in income and an increase of 0.5% in spending. Results were an increase of 0.1% in income and 0.6% increase in spending.

Bonds bounced lower on the immediate news but have rebounded off the lows of the trading session. What this means is that mortgage interest rates will rise as the bonds continue to fall.

The FED is meeting right now discussing the economy and any changes to the FED Funds Rate. Analysts are predicting a 93% chance of no change to the rate. Inflation remains the major topic of concern with the bonds reacting negatively to the better than expected news. Read The News section for more information. Bonds look to stay on the roller coaster for now.

Here are some quotes!

"No man who continues to add something to the material, intellectual and
moral well-being of the place in which he lives is left long without
proper reward. "
-- Booker T. Washington, educator

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more
important than any other one thing. "
-- Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States

"Success is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well. "
-- Jim Rohn, Motivational Speaker

"Do more than is required. What is the distance between someone who
achieves their goals consistently and those who spend their lives and
careers merely following? The extra mile. "
-- Gary Ryan Blair, Author and Motivational Speaker

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."
-- Eleanor Roosevelt, Former First Lady

"People never improve unless they look to some standard or example
higher and better than themselves. "
-- Tyron Edwards, American Theologian

"People with goals succeed because they know where they're going"
-- Earl Nightingale, Motivational Speaker

"If you only care enough for a result, you will almost certainly attain it."
-- William James, Psychologist

"People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things. "
-- Sir Edmund Hilary, First to reach the summit of Mount Everest

My Life as a Realtor!

It is one hot summer! I mean Temp and Real Estate! We have gone from a 11.5 month inventory in the Market to less than 9. That means in a couple of months we will be back at a regular, strong market. There has been a new bill signed by Bush. He inked the bill this morning. On top of the government bailout on the sub-prime mortgage and good hardworking people who got a bad mortgage between Jan 2005 and Dec 2007, they will be able to refi into a government loan such as a FHA. If you need help with this, please call me today!

With this bill that passed there will be a stop edge with the no money down program. What this is a gift from the seller to a 3rd party non-profit such as Nehemiah, AmeriDream and Heart. If you miss the deadline of Sept. 30 2008 you will need to come up with your own money down. But still FHA is only 3% of purchase price. If you act now we can still get you the full 6% from the seller. 3% for down payment and 3% for closing cost.

Check out this article.

If you or any of your buyers are planning on buying FHA with the down payment assistance, get moving! As of right now the last day for the down payment assistance will be October 1st of 2008 – after that they must have a 3% down payment or a gift from a family member. Pass this along to your friends.



Down payment assistance: Soon a thing of the past

The housing rescue bill, soon to be a law, bans down-payment assistance programs such as the ones offered by Nehemiah and AmeriDream. The ban goes into effect Oct. 1.

Down payment assistance programs took advantage of a loophole in the way the FHA treats down payments. To get an FHA-insured mortgage, the homeowner has to make a down payment of at least 3%. Homeowners don't have to save even that much; the 3% can come as a gift from family members or nonprofit organizations.

Regulations don't allow the home seller to provide the down payment money. That's where down payment assistance programs come in. They are nonprofits. That allows the seller to give the 3% down payment money to Nehemiah or AmeriDream, and then Nehemiah or AmeriDream can turn around and "give" the down payment to the home buyer as a "donation."

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac don't allow sellers to indirectly give down payments to buyers. But the FHA has allowed this type of transaction for years. The FHA has long complained that down payment assistance programs artificially inflate house prices and that loans using down payment assistance are more likely to default. But prominent congressional Democrats have protected the down payment assistance programs on the grounds that they allow many minority families to become first-time home buyers.

House Democrats wanted to keep the loophole open, and Senate leaders wanted to close it. With this law, the Senate won.

I will make sure you are taken care of in this trying time. You need someone to trust. Trust me to take care of you. Let me know if I can help you today!

Here are the quotes!

"The fixed determination to have acquired the warrior soul, to either
conquer or perish with honor, is the secret of victory."
-- George Patton, General

"One's only security in life comes from doing something uncommonly well."
-- Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States

"It is a peculiarity of man that he can only live by looking to the
future. And this is his salvation in the most difficult moments of his
existence, although he sometimes has to force his mind to the task."
-- Viktor Frankl, Austrian Neurologist

"The most delightful surprise in life is to suddenly recognize your own worth."
-- Maxwell Maltz, Surgeon

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls
and looks like work."
-- Thomas Edison, Inventor

"I will study and prepare, and someday my opportunity will come."
-- Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States


"Of course you want to be rich and famous. It's natural. Wealth and fame
are what every man desires. The question is: What are you willing to
trade for it?"
-- Confucius, Philosopher

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all
progress depends upon the unreasonable man. "
-- George Bernard Shaw, Playwright

"In the end it is important to remember that we cannot become what we
need to be by remaining what we are."
-- Max Dupree, Author

"The difference between intelligence and education is this: Intelligence
will make you a good living."
-- Charles Kettering, Social Philosopher

"The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a
man's foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher."
-- Thomas Huxley, Biologist

"The difference between intelligence and education is this: Intelligence
will make you a good living."
-- Charles Kettering, Social Philosopher

My Life as a Realtor!

Hi again. I've got the stats for the State of UT. If you want them then you have to ask! We had several spots with a deprecation and many with appreciation! Sandy went up by 19%! Isn't that awesome?

I subscribe to many different RE publications so you don't have to. I will always try to give you the most updated information that I can find! If you have any questions, please call me!

Here is a forecast from Adrian Van Eck's Mortgage and Property Hotline.

AS YOU NO DOUBT HEARD YESTERDAY EVENING OR AT LEAST WHEN YOU AWOKE THIS MORNING, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES EARLY LAST NIGHT FINALLY PASSED THE BIGGEST HOUSING AND BANKING RESCUE PLAN SINCE THE 1930'S. BOTH THE SENATE AND THE WHITE HOUSE HAD EARLIER AGREED TO THE TERMS OF THE BILL IN WHAT BECAME A GRAND COMPROMISE. IN A BILL LIKE THIS ALL DEBATE IS STOPPED. IN ITS PLACE THERE IS AN AGREEMENT THAT GOES LIKE THIS: YOU TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT IN THE FINAL BILL AND I WILL ADD IT IN. IN RETURN I WILL TELL YOU WHAT I WANT IN THE FINAL BILL AND YOU WILL ADD IT IN. I PROMISE NOT TO TOUCH A WORD OF WHAT YOU WANT ADDED IN.

THIS IS THE WAY THINGS HAVE BEEN DONE IN WASHINGTON, D.C. SINCE THE EARLY DAYS OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC. (THE ONLY TIME AMERICA STOPPED FORGING GRAND COMPROMISE BILLS LIKE THIS, THE UNION BROKE APART AND A NEARLY FOUR-YEAR LONG CIVIL WAR RESULTED. THAT EXPERIENCE TAUGHT POLITICIANS THAT IT WAS BETTER TO SWALLOW SOME THINGS THEY DID NOT LIKE IN ORDER TO GET SOME THINGS THEY DID LIKE. PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, WHO HELPED MAKE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BIGGER AND MORE POWERFUL, CALLED THIS PROCESS LOG-ROLLING. THIS EXPLAINS HOW A GOVERNMENT THAT STARTED OUT SO SMALL AND SIMPLE AND INEXPENSIVE IN 1789 HAS GROWN TO BE SO BIG AND COMPLICATED AND COSTLY IN 2008.

I EXPECT THAT THE SENATE WILL SPEEDILY VOTE AYE AND THE PRESIDENT, AS HE PROMISED IN RETURN FOR GETTING WHAT HE AND THE TREASURY SECRETARY WANT FOR FANNIE MAE AND FREDDIE MAC, WILL ADD HIS OWN SIGNATURE TO THE BILL AND TURN IT INTO LAW. I ASSUMED ALL THIS WOULD HAPPEN, SO I STAYED UP LATE INTO THE NIGHT YESTERDAY AND RESEARCHED THE VARIOUS DRAFTS OF THIS BILL, STUDYING ALL THE ITEMS GRAFTED ON SINCE IT BEGAN TO TAKE SHAPE IN CONGRESS WEEKS AGO.

NOT THAT IT MATTERS AT A TIME LIKE THIS, BUT I THINK YOU KNOW BY NOW MY OWN SENTIMENTS REGARDING THIS GRAND COMPROMISE OF 2008. I HAVE STUDIED THE ACTUAL SITUATION IN REAL ESTATE AND BANKING FOR MANY WEEKS, AND RECENTLY I REALIZED THAT WE WERE QUITE CLOSE TO AND MAY HAVE IN SOME REGIONS OF AMERICA HAVE ALREADY REACHED A NATURAL BOTTOM IN THE RECENT TROUBLES. IN OTHER WORDS, IF THIS WAS NOT A PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION YEAR OR ANY ELECTION YEAR AT ALL, EVENTS MIGHT HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO MUDDLE THROUGH TO A BASE AND TURNED UP ON THEIR OWN.

YES, THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE PAIN AS WE RUSHED TO THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT. SOME BANKERS AND MORTGAGE LENDERS WHO WERE RECKLESS AND EVEN FOOLHARDY IN THEIR CONDUCT WOULD LOSE THEIR JOBS AND EVEN SEE THEIR CAREERS IN FINANCE TERMINATED. SOME SHYSTER TYPES WHO CUT CORNERS TO MAKE AN EXTRA BUCK OR TWO WOULD BE EXPOSED AND HUMILIATED AND WOULD FIND IT HARD TO ATTRACT NEW SUCKERS. SOME OF THEM MIGHT EVEN GO TO JAIL. SOME DEVELOPERS AND BUILDERS WHO SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER BUT WHO ALLOWED SPECULATORS TO SIGN UP FOR TWO OR THREE OR FIVE OR MORE SINGLE-FAMILY HOMES OR CONDOS BEFORE THEY WERE EVEN STARTED, THINKING THAT BY THE TIME THEY WERE FINISHED THEY COULD FLIP THEM AT INFLATED PRICES AND MAKE LOTS OF EASY PROFITS, WOULD FINALLY PAY THE PRICE AND POSSIBLY EVEN GO BROKE.

ANOTHER 400,000 OR MORE HOME BUYERS – SOME OF WHOM SIGNED UP FOR VERY EXPENSIVE MCMANSIONS WAY ABOVE THEIR INCOME LEVEL, THINKING THE HOMES WOULD KEEP GOING UP 20% A YEAR IN PRICE AND BY NOW COULD BE SOLD, MAKING THEM A 50% PROFIT - AND ALSO MANY PEOPLE THAT WERE RECRUITED FROM WELFARE ROLLS AND INVITED TO BUY THEIR FIRST HOME, WITH NO ABILITY OR EVEN INTENTION TO MAKE MORTGAGE PAYMENTS FINALLY WOULD HAVE RUN OUT OF TIME. BUT NOW LOBBYISTS AND POLITICIANS HAVE COMBINED TO WIN FEDERAL MONEY TO TURN THE CLOCK BACK AND RESCUE ALL OR MOST OF THE PEOPLE DESCRIBED HERE.

I NOTE THAT LATE NIGHT TRADING IN A LIST OF STOCKS SHOWED THE GRAND COMPROMISE IS BEING WELL RECEIVED. SO MAYBE WE CAN ALL STOP TALKING ABOUT A NEW DEPRESSION AND FACE UP TO THE FACT THAT THERE ARE NOW MANY POSITIVE ELEMENTS IN THE WORLD OF REAL ESTATE AND BANKING, EVEN WITHOUT WASHINGTON'S HELP. FOR ONE, THE SURGE IN EXPORTS IS BRINGING MANY BILLIONS OF DOLLARS INTO AMERICA AND THIS IS ACTING LIKE A MASSIVE BLOOD TRANSFUSION. MORE NEXT WEEK HERE AND IN OUR UPCOMING MONTHLY LETTER. ADRIAN VAN ECK.

This is some great information for anybody! I also subscribe to edsforecast.com. here is what I got from him!

Should I Buy or Rent? Should I Sell my House and Move Up?

You can ask just about anyone these days whether it is a good time to buy or sell and if they are not an experienced investor they will say it is best to hold off since most markets are slowing or decelerating. Well I am the first one to say this is absolutely incorrect and a very dangerous assumption. It is an assumption that costs a prospective buyer a LOT OF LOST MONEY. So to convince anyone who is a skeptic, I decided to provide a financial calculator that displays easy proof on how a delay in purchasing is almost always costing you. USUALLY A LOT OF MONEY... Hundreds of Realtors are using this calculator on edsforecast.com. This really is an eye opener.

http://info.edsforecast.com/Newsletters/0708buyvsrent.htm

Best Regards,

Ed Ross, Best Selling Author, and president of Edsforecast.com

I hope you enjoyed the read! I hope to have more next time for you!

Here are the quotes!

"Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success. "
-- Henry Ford, automaker

"Success is the maximum utilization of the ability that you have."
-- Zig Ziglar, Motivational Speaker

"My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my
life there."
-- Charles Kettering, Social Philosopher

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."
-- Mario Andretti, Car Racer

"Kind words do not cost much. They never blister the tongue or lips.
They make other people good-natured. They also produce their own image
on men's souls, and a beautiful image it is."
-- Blaise Pascal, Writer

"You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be
the best thing in the world for you."
-- Walt Disney, Animator, Film Producer

"Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. "
-- Vince Lombardi, Football Coach

"No one can cheat you out of ultimate success but yourself."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Poet

"An amazing thing, the human brain. Capable of understanding incredibly
complex and intricate concepts. Yet at times unable to recognize the
obvious and simple."
-- Jay Abraham, Marketing Expert

"Nurture your mind with great thoughts for you will never go any higher
than you think."
-- Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield

"Goals are dreams with deadlines."
-- Diana Scharf Hunt, Author

If for any reason you are unhappy with the content on my blog, please call me!

Check out my name on Google Brian E. Betts Thank you so much for you trust and loyalty!

All "Betts" on Brian! The only Realtor you want!

My Life as a Realtor!

I thought that this statistic was pretty impressive. We hear all this doom and gloom about the Market. Everyone is in Foreclosure and the world is coming to an end. On the flip side to this we hear that you can go out and find a foreclosure on every street in the nation. This what I heard today might change your mind. I have been telling you that there are not a lot of homes in foreclosure for months. Now RealtyTrac has my back.


Foreclosure Numbers For May!


RealtyTrac reported their May Numbers for foreclosures nationwide. And it is not pretty on the surface. According to them, “foreclosures were up 48% in May from the year earlier to a record of 261,255- which is up 7% from April. That represents 1 in 487 homes.”


And if we just listen to the headlines we think, WOW, this is bad. But do the math for a minute, divide 1 by 487-you get .21% right? That means 2/10ths of 1% of all homeowners in this country are in some stage of foreclosure process. That number is surprising isn’t it?

Yes, 99.8% of ALL homes nationwide are NOT in foreclosure! WOW.

Can you hear me now? GOOD!

Now I'm not one to gloat, but I Told You So! If you are the one that is in some sort of the .21% let me know so I can help you out before it gets to late to save you and to keep your home out. You know you can trust me.

Here are the quoats! Have a great day.

"The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their
commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor."
-- Vince Lombardi, Legendary Football Coach

"How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young,
compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant
of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been
all of these. "
-- George Washington Carver, Botanist

"No matter what accomplishments you make, somebody helped you."
-- Althea Gibson, Tennis Player

"There's only one direction you can coast."
-- Brian Tracy, Author

"All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with
another, and regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change
you. The only thing blame does is to keep the focus off you when you are
looking for external reasons to explain your unhappiness or frustration.
You may succeed in making another feel guilty about something by blaming
him, but you won't succeed in changing whatever it is about you that is
making you unhappy."
-- Wayne Dyer, Teacher

"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look
things in the face and know them for what they are. "
-- Marcus Aurelius, Emperor

"If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astonish
ourselves."
-- Thomas Edison, Inventor

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have
imagined."
-- Henry David Thoreau, Author, Philosopher

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."
-- John Kennedy, 35th President of the United States

"There are risks and costs to a plan of action. But they are far less
than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction."
-- John F. Kennedy, 35 President of the United States

"A good plan is like a road map: It shows the final destination and
usually the best way to get there."
-- H. Stanley Judd, Writer

"Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it. "
-- Henry Thoreau, Author

"Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success. "
-- Henry Ford, automaker

My Life as A Realtor.

I've been a busy boy this last week. I have over 3 mil in inventory and 675k under contract right now. I have been trying to contact some old leads that I have been working in the past and getting homes sold. It's going to be HOT today we are looking at 100!

We had a great, but busy, weekend. Sat. I went fishing and caught many catfish. Went to a wake. Deb you are so strong! We love you. Then went to a Birthday party for one of my clients oldest daughter. Happy Birthday again! We had a blast and got home a little late. Rested on Sun.Back to work on Mon.

Let me know if I can help you in your Life.

All "Betts" on Brian! The only Realtor you want!

Here are the quotes!


"Worry is interest paid on trouble before it comes due."
-- William Ralph Inge, writer

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."
-- Albert Einstein, Theoretical Physicist

"Nothing will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must first
be overcome."
-- Samuel Johnson, Essayist, Lexicographer

"The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is
the man who will win."
-- Roger Bannister, Runner

"The man who chases two rabbits catches neither."
-- Confucius, philosopher

"Many of us spend half our time wishing for things we could have if we
didn't spend half our time wishing."
-- Alexander Woollcott, Critic and Commentator for The New Yorker magazine

"Fix your eyes forward on what you can do, not back on what you cannot change."
-- Tom Clancy, Author


"Cherish your visions and your dreams, as they are the children of your
soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements. "
-- Napoleon Hill, Pioneer of Personal Achievement Philosophy

"The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word "crisis." One brush
stroke stands for danger, the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be
aware of danger--but recognize the opportunity."
-- John Kennedy, 35th President of the United States

"Success is often achieved by those who don't know that failure is
inevitable."
-- Coco Chanel, Fashion Designer

My Life as a Realtor

Another beautiful day in the Salt Lake City area! We just got some smoking deals for you out in Herriman. Most of these are 40-50 Cents on the dollar. I can make it happen! The one that I put under contract was a 6220 sqft home on .73 acers for $357,100.00. If you want that kind of deal, you have to call me!

Here are some quotes!

"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of
life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be
enthusiastic about."
-- Charles Kingsley, Clergyman

"You are accountable for what you do, and no one else is accountable."
-- Edith Martin

"Chance favors the prepared mind."
-- Louis Pasteur, Chemist

"If you have accomplished all that you have planned for yourself, you
have not planned enough."
-- Edward Everett Hale, Clergyman

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and
become more, you are a leader."
-- John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States

"The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your
goal, you can get there if you're willing to work."
-- Oprah Winfrey, Talk Show Host

"Try not to become a man of success, but rather a man of value."
-- Albert Einstein, scientist

"Make a habit of dominating the listening and
let the customer dominate the talking."
-- Brian Tracy, Author

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like
wrapping a present and not giving it."
-- William Arthur Ward, Scholar

"Success is merely the process of fulfilling your own hopes and
dreams--not the standards set by society, but by the standards set by
you."
-- George Pataki, New York governor


"It's better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret."
-- Jacki Joyner-Kersee, Athlete

"All who have accomplished great things have had a great aim and have
fixed their gaze on a goal that is high--one that sometimes seems
impossible."
-- Orison Swett Marden, Motivational Writer

Here is a great way to live your life!

"Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows it has to run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a LION or GAZELLE: When the Sun comes up, You had better be Running!"

Try to live your life like that for 1 day. If you don't like it, then Stop running!

Good luck and God bless!

My Life as a Realtor!

What a great life we have! I love this country! No where else in the world can you make this kind of money legally!

Right now I have 6 listings, working with 3 buyers and tomorrow I am in a Keller Williams Golf Tourney. Should take 1st place.

Listings:

One of the Last true loft conversions. 991 SQFT 1 bed/1 bath. 5th floor overlooking downtown SLC and a great shot of the mountains. $450,000.00

Great home on the east side of SLC. 1600 SQFT 2 bed/1 bath. Sitting on a quiet street and in a great neighborhood. $212,218.00

Secluded Cabin on 20 acres. 1024 SQFT 3 bed/1 bath. You cant find this kind of price any where for the land! $280,000.00

Private club on State St. in Lehi. 5200 SQFT. 2 levels. This is fully equipped with all! 60K in stage and sound equipment. Business licences included. $1,100,000.00

Private Club on State St. in Midvale. 2400 SQFT. 1 level. This is a turn key business. Business only. $220,000.00

Billiards and Beer bar on State St. in Midvale. This is also a Turn Key business and has a snack shop. Will be working a deal for all tree clubs. $220,000.00

If you want any more info on any of these properties, please call me. My office, cell and email is on my website. http://betts.yourkwagent.com

Sky's are clear in Real Estate! Call me if I can help in any way!

Here are the Quotes!

"Flexibility in a time of great change is a vital quality of
leadership."
-- Brian Tracy, Tracy


"See luck when it is with you; and act responsibly when it is not."
-- C.P.G. von Clausewitz, Major-General

"It does not matter how slowly you go up, so long as you don't stop."
-- Confucius, Philosopher

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to
please everybody. "
-- Bill Cosby, Comedian

"If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always
gotten."
-- Anthony Robbins, Motivational Speaker

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that
you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover."
-- Mark Twain, Author

"Contentment comes not so much from great wealth as from few wants."
-- Epictetus, Philosopher

"Only free people can hold their purpose and their honor steady to a
common end, and prefer the interests of mankind to any narrow interest
of their own."
-- Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States

"We must look for the opportunity in every difficulty instead of being
paralyzed at the thought of the difficulty in every opportunity."
-- Walter E. Cole, Korean War Hero

"Comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the house a guest, and then
becomes a host, then a master. And then it becomes a tamer, and with a
hook and whip it makes puppets of your larger desires."
-- Kahlil Gibran, Poet, Visual Artist

"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best night and
day to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle
any human being can fight and never stop fighting."
-- E.E. Cummings, American poet

"Effort, not ability, makes the biggest difference in achievement."
-- Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States

"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them. "
-- George Bernard Shaw, Playwright

"It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved
in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it."
-- John Steinbeck, Author

"When you're riding, only the race in which you're riding is important."
-- Bill Shoemaker, Jockey

"People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with
mediocrity."
-- Andrew Carnegie, Industrialist

My Life as a Realtor

Oops, We Did it again! Now we are on Zillow.com and 100 other websites. There is no other Real Estate Co. that are as linked up as we are! Check out this artice from Inman News.

http://www.inman.com/news/2008/05/14/keller-williams-sending-listings-zillow

We are still going strong. I am currently working with 1 buyer and my buyers agent is working with one too. I have those listings that I keep getting calls on. My investor and I went and looked at this one home that was MOLDY. It was a health issue of it's own.

Still on course and helping people in and out of homes. I have a referral in WY, one in Southern UT and one in AR. I can find you a great agent anywhere in this great country of our and in Canada. Let me prove this to you, your family and friends.

Here are some quotes!

"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever. "
-- Napoleon Bonaparte, French emperor

"Your company's most valuable asset is how it is known to its
customers."
-- Brian Tracy, Author

"No one lives long enough to learn everything they need to learn
starting from scratch. To be successful, we absolutely, positively have
to find people who have already paid the price to learn the things that
we need to learn to achieve our goals."
-- Brian Tracy, Author

"Every great man of business has got somewhere a touch of the idealist
in him."
-- Woodrow Wilson, 28th U.S. president

"Parents can only give good advice .but the final forming of a person's
character lies in their own hands."
-- Ann Frank, writer

"A major stimulant to creative thinking is focused questions. There is
something about a well-worded question that often penetrates to the
heart of the matter and triggers new ideas and insights."
-- Brian Tracy, Author

"We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing.
Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates
action."
-- Frank Tibolt, Author

My life as a Realtor.

Again, it's been a while. I graduated the SMART program with top honers. I was in the top producing group with $22 mill in transaction in a 7 week period. I was awarded the leadership award for being the asst. leader of our top producing group and I received the All Star award for Exceptional Productivity. There were only 8 out of 73 people that got that!

I have been really busy. I just picked up two more bars to go for the package deal for the Big. All tree bars are now listed and we will let all three go for $1.5 mill. For these bars bringing in aver $20k a month we are letting them go for a song. If you have anyone that is interested in this, please let me know!

So far I have closed $962,500.00 in Transaction and have $1,820,000.00 in inventory and that's not all. I will be picking up a $450,000.00 Loft condo downtown on the 1st of June. This property is a green built and ready to move into.

I also picked up a 3/1 cabin on 20 akers that we are letting go of for $280,000.00. We have had a lot of interest on this property, but we can't get into it yet. Me and the owner are going up to fish this weekend and we should be able to get into it. We went up weekend before last and there was still 2 ft. of snow on the ground.

Let me know if there is anything I can do for you, your family or your friends! I have attached a few articles and of course the Quotes!

Enjoy! More later!

"Don't worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of
recognition."
-- Abraham Lincoln, 16th U.S. president

"A successful individual typically sets his next goal somewhat but not
too much above his last achievement."
-- Kurt Lewin, Psychologist

"I have found no greater satisfaction than achieving success through
honest dealing and strict adherence to the view that, for you to gain,
those you deal with should gain as well."
-- Alan Greenspan, Former Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve


"If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If
you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever
good things we build, end up building us."
-- Jim Rohn, Motivational Speaker

"In matters of principle, stand like a rock; in matters of taste, swim
with the current. "
-- Thomas Jefferson, third president

"Ideas must work though the brains and the arms of good and brave men,
or they are no better than dreams. "
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet


"Man must search for what is right and let happiness come on its own. "
-- Johann Pestalozzi, educator

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph
over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who
conquers that fear."
-- Nelson Mandela, Civil Rights Leader

"If you are interested, you never have to look for new interests. They
come to you. When you are genuinely interested in one thing, it will
always lead to something else. "
-- Eleanor Roosevelt, first lady

"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even
though checkered by failure than to rank with those poor spirits who
neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight
that knows not victory nor defeat. "
-- Theodore Roosevelt, 26th U.S. President

"I learned that we can do anything, but we can't do everything.. at
least not at the same time. So think of your priorities not in terms of
what activities you do, but when you do them. Timing is everything."
-- Dan Millman, Author


This is from Forbes.com


Nationally, home prices are falling, unemployment is on the rise and the economy is expected to grow slowly--or even contract--in the first half of the year.

But some cities are doing just fine.

Take Oklahoma City, Okla. With falling unemployment, one of the country's strongest housing markets, and solid growth in agriculture, energy and manufacturing, it looks best positioned among the nation's largest metropolitan areas to ride out the current crisis.

Affordable home prices that continue to rise. Its industries are growing; it can't hurt that the new AT&T (nyse: T - news - people ) was formed when San Antonio-based SBC Communications swallowed the old AT&T Corp. and BellSouth.


The others holding steady or improving include Austin, Texas; Houston; Charlotte, N.C.; Dallas; San Jose, Calif.; Raleigh, N.C.; Salt Lake City; and Seattle.

Behind The Numbers
To find them, Forbes.com examined the country's 50 largest metros and looked at several key measures.

We examined unemployment data supplied by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for the year ending in February 2008 to see which areas are most adding or subtracting jobs. Next, we looked at the BLS data on job growth in non-farm payrolls, through February 2008, for construction, education and health services, financial activities, information, leisure and hospitality, manufacturing, natural resources and mining, professional and business services, trade, transportation and utilities, and the BLS's catch-all category, "other services."

We also took into account median home price data from the National Association of Realtors--from the fourth quarter of 2006 to the fourth quarter of 2007--to see which areas posted the largest annual gains. Our data don't account for the impact of declining sales in the first several months of this year.

Finally, our rankings were adjusted using data from a November 2007 report, "U.S. Metro Economies: The Mortgage Crisis," by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. It lists each city's estimated gross metropolitan product growth by projecting how rising foreclosures and falling home prices would affect overall levels of productivity in local economies.

Sunny Southern Skies
Texas cities fared best under these measures. San Antonio, Austin, Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth have benefited from historically lower home prices, which have been affordable to a large segment of the population. The availability of land--and, in some cases, little zoning--helped keep prices in these cities low. Instead of competing for homes, Texans could move to a new subdivision a little farther out.

What's more, all four boast falling unemployment rates, with Austin dropping from 3.8% to 3.6% and San Antonio from 4.3% to 4%

Cities that are expected to see growth in non-farm payrolls include Raleigh, which is expected to see 7.4% growth in professional and business services and 6% growth in education and health. In Salt Lake City, where the median home price rose 2.5% and unemployment, at 3.1%, is below the 5.1% national average, growth in education and health services is expected to be 5.5%.

How are you planning on weathering the impending recession? Weigh in. Add your thoughts in the Reader Comments section below.

Some cities have seen increasing home prices but otherwise continue to struggle. Buffalo and Rochester, N.Y., have seen home price growth (from a low base) but still contend with high unemployment--around 6%--and slow-growing or shrinking industries.

And in the San Jose area, the median home sale price is over $830,000. That's 11% higher than it was in the fourth quarter of 2006, helping to land the area at No. 4 on our list. Problem is, that growth has since cooled, and it remains to be seen whether pricey homes coupled with a 5.3% unemployment rate will cause trouble for homeowners this year.

To be sure, even in the most resilient cities, the mortgage crisis has caused suffering. People everywhere got into bad mortgages. Similarly, even in the most battered cities, the majority of people are employed and making their mortgage payments. The extent of recession or resilience is very much in the eye of the beholder, and this list represents only one of many ways to take a snapshot of economies that are standing tall.

In his statements to Congress' Joint Economic Committee earlier this month, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke predicted the economy would possibly move into recession in the first half of 2008 but begin to rebound in the second half.

6. Salt Lake City, Utah

Median home price: +2.5%

Unemployment: 3.1% (from 2.6%)

Key growth: Education and health services, +5.5%

Though Salt Lake City's unemployment rate is rising, it's still among the lowest of the country's 50 largest cities. The state is still creating jobs, just not as quickly as its labor force is growing. A November 2007 report from the U.S. Conference of Mayors projected that Salt Lake City would be one of the few large cities in the country not to suffer a decline in gross metropolitan product from the mortgage crisis.


This is from The Wall Street Journal


The Housing Crisis Is Over

By CYRIL MOULLE-BERTEAUX

May 6, 2008; Page A23

The dire headlines coming fast and furious in the financial and popular press suggest that the housing crisis is intensifying. Yet it is very likely that April 2008 will mark the bottom of the U.S. housing market. Yes, the housing market is bottoming right now. How can this be? For starters, a bottom does not mean that prices are about to return to the heady days of 2005. That probably won't happen for another 15 years. It just means that the trend is no longer getting worse, which is the critical factor.

Most people forget that the current housing bust is nearly three years old. Home sales peaked in July 2005. New home sales are down a staggering 63% from peak levels of 1.4 million. Housing starts have fallen more than 50% and, adjusted for population growth, are back to the trough levels of 1982. Furthermore, residential construction is close to 15-year lows at 3.8% of GDP; by the fourth quarter of this year, it will probably hit the lowest level ever. So what's going to stop the housing decline? Very simply, the same thing that caused the bust: affordability. The boom made housing unaffordable for many American families, especially first-time home buyers. During the 1990s and early 2000s, it took 19% of average monthly income to service a conforming mortgage on the average home purchased. By 2005 and 2006, it was absorbing 25% of monthly income. For first time buyers, it went from 29% of income to 37%. That just proved to be too much. Prices got so high that people who intended to actually live in the houses they purchased (as opposed to speculators) stopped buying. This caused the bubble to burst.

Since then, house prices have fallen 10%-15%, while incomes have kept growing (albeit more slowly recently) and mortgage rates have come down 70 basis points from their highs. As a result, it now takes 19% of monthly income for the average home buyer, and 31% of monthly income for the first-time home buyer, to purchase a house. In other words, homes on average are back to being as affordable as during the best of times in the 1990s. Numerous households that had been priced out of the market can now afford to get in.

The next question is: Even if home sales pick up, how can home prices stop falling with so many houses vacant and unsold? The flip but true answer: because they always do. In the past five major housing market corrections (and there were some big ones, such as in the early 1980s when home sales also fell by 50%-60% and prices fell 12%-15% in real terms), every time home sales bottomed, the pace of house-price declines halved within one or two months. The explanation is that by the time home sales stop declining, inventories of unsold homes have usually already started falling in absolute terms and begin to peak out in "months of supply" terms. That's the case right now: New home inventories peaked at 598,000 homes in July 2006, and stand at 482,000 homes as of the end of March. This inventory is equivalent to 11 months of supply, a 25-year high – but it is similar to 1974, 1982 and 1991 levels, which saw a subsequent slowing in home-price declines within the next six months.

Inventories are declining because construction activity has been falling for such a long time that home completions are now just about undershooting new home sales. In a few months, completions of new homes for sale could be undershooting new home sales by 50,000-100,000 annually. Inventories will drop even faster to 400,000 – or seven months of supply – by the end of 2008. This shift in inventories will have a significant impact on prices, although house prices won't stop falling entirely until inventories reach five months of supply sometime in 2009. A five-month supply has historically signaled tightness in the housing market.

Many pundits claim that house prices need to fall another 30% to bring them back in line with where they've been historically. This is usually based on an analysis of house prices adjusted for inflation: Real house prices are 30% above their 40-year, inflation-adjusted average, so they must fall 30%. This simplistic analysis is appealing on the surface, but is flawed for a variety of reasons. Most importantly, it neglects the fact that a great majority of Americans buy their houses with mortgages. And if one buys a house with a mortgage, the most important factor in deciding what to pay for the house is how much of one's income is required to be able to make the mortgage payments on the house. Today the rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage is 5.7%. Back in 1981, the rate hit 18.5%.

Comparing today's house prices to the 1970s or 1980s, when mortgage rates were stratospheric, is misguided and misleading. This is all good news for the broader economy. The housing bust has been subtracting a full percentage point from GDP for almost two years now, which is very large for a sector that represents less than 5% of economic activity.

When the rate of house-price declines halves, there will be a wholesale shift in markets' perceptions. All of a sudden, the expected value of the collateral (i.e. houses) for much of the lending that went on for the past decade will change. Right now, when valuing the collateral, market participants including banks are extrapolating the current pace of house price declines for another two to three years; this has a significant impact on the amount of delinquencies, foreclosures and credit losses that lenders are expected to face.

More home sales and smaller price declines means fewer homeowners will be underwater on their mortgages. They will thus have less incentive to walk away and opt for foreclosure. A milder house-price decline scenario could lead to increases in the market value of a lot of the securitized mortgages that have been responsible for $300 billion of write-downs in the past year. Even if write-backs do not occur, stabilizing collateral values will have a huge impact on the markets' perception of risk related to housing, the financial system, and the economy.

We are of course experiencing a serious housing bust, with serious economic consequences that are still unfolding. The odds are that the reverberations will lead to subtrend growth for a couple of years. Nonetheless, housing led us into this credit crisis and this recession. It is likely to lead us out. And that process is underway, right now.

Mr. Moulle-Berteaux is managing partner of Traxis Partners LP, a hedge fund firm based in New York.


This is from Van Eck>;<B< span>r>
Adrian Van Eck's Mortgage and Property Hotline
For: Thursday, May 1, 2008

NOW THAT BANKS HAVE BEEN STABILIZED WITH AN INJECTION OF FUNDS FROM THE FEDERAL RESERVE, ATTENTION IS BEING TURNED TO THOSE WHO WISH TO BUY A HOME OF THEIR OWN. PERSONAL SAVINGS IN AMERICA ARE MUCH LARGER THAN MOST PEOPLE REALIZE, SO THERE IS AMPLE CASH WAITING ON THE SIDELINES TO COVER FHA-INSURED MORTGAGE DOWN PAYMENTS AND CLOSING COSTS. THE REASON NO ONE KNOWS OF THESE LARGE SAVINGS ACCOUNT BALANCES IS THAT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ISSUES EACH MONTH A REPORT ON AMERICA'S NET SAVINGS RATE. THEY DID SO JUST TODAY, FOR EXAMPLE. THEY SAID THAT NET SAVINGS LAST MONTH DROPPED FROM 0.4% (FEBRUARY RATE) TO 0.2%. WHAT THEY DO NOT TELL YOU IS THAT THE REASON FOR THE DECLINE IS THAT THE FEDERAL DEFICIT EXPANDED LAST MONTH.

THE GOVERNMENT IN WASHINGTON HAS BEEN BORROWING MONEY AT A SCARY RATE, DESPITE CONSTANT PROMISES THAT THE DEFICIT WILL BE CUT IN HALF WITHIN A FEW YEARS. THEIR BORROWING IS DELETED FROM A DIFFERENT MEASURE, THE ONE CALLED NET PRIVATE SAVINGS. THERE YOU WILL FIND TENS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS. AS I SAID, THE SAVERS IN OUR SOCIETY HAVE ALWAYS FINANCED THE BORROWERS. BUT WHEN THE GOVERNMENT RUNS BIG DEFICITS THAT TIPS THE BALANCE. IT PROBABLY ALSO ACCOUNTS FOR SOME PART OF THE PRESSURE HOLDING UP LONG-TERM INTEREST RATES, INCLUDING MORTGAGES… ALTHOUGH TO BE FAIR MORTGAGE RATES ARE STILL IN THE LOWER END OF A RANGE GOING BACK YEARS.

THE BIGGEST PROBLEM TODAY, OTHER THAN THE FACT THAT POLITICIANS RUNNING FOR OFFICE ARE SCARING THE DICKENS OUT OF PEOPLE WITH FALSE WARNINGS THAT WE ARE HEADING INTO A NEW GREAT DEPRESSION, IS THAT BANKS ARE HOARDING EVERY PENNY THEY CAN – JUST IN CASE THEY MIGHT NEED THE MONEY LATER ON. WE HAVE ALREADY SEEN HOW BANKS ARE PULLING OUT OF THE FEDERALLY-INSURED STUDENT LOAN PROGRAM. THIS CAUSED A PANIC ATTACK IN CONGRESS AND THERE WAS PRESSURE ON THE FED ITSELF TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

AS WE HAVE BEEN TELLING YOU FOR MONTHS, THE LEGISLATION THAT CREATED THE FED IN 1913 GAVE THE FED AWESOME POWERS AS A LENDER OF LAST RESORT. THEY HAVE THE POWER TO LEND MONEY DIRECTLY WHENEVER THEY DECREE AN EMERGENCY SITUATION TO BE IN FORCE. THIS CERTAINLY WOULD SUFFICE AS AN EMERGENCY. BUT CHAIRMAN BEN BERNANKE WOULD LIKE TO AVOID DECLARING ONE, IF THAT IS POSSIBLE. IT MIGHT TEND TO SCARE PEOPLE AND UNDO EVERYTHING HE HAS BEEN WORKING TO ACHIEVE.

SO I WILL TELL YOU WHAT, IN MY OPINION, THE GOOD CHAIRMAN IS LIKELY TO DO NOW. HE IS MOST APT TO QUIETLY SEND THE WORD TO INDIVIDUAL BANK CEO'S, HINTING THAT HE WOULD PERSONALLY BE PLEASED IF HE GOT WORD THAT THEY HAD LOOSENED UP AND HAD STARTED LENDING MONEY TO THOSE WHO CAN PASS NORMAL CREDIT MUSTER. WHY WOULD THEY RSP0ND TO SUCH A GENTLE REQUEST? I'LL TELL YOU WHY. THEY KNOW THAT HIS QUIET MANNER IN PUBLIC COVERS UP A PERSONA CAPABLE OF ICE-COLD ACTION. HE ONCE TOLD A REPORTER THAT AFTER SERVING AS CHAIRMAN OF AN IVY LEAGUE ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT, THE IDEA OF RUNNING THE FED SEEMED ALMOST LIKE CHILD'S PLAY.

THE FED DID NOT PASS MONEY OUT TO BANKS LIKE LOLLIPOPS. THE CASH WAS FORWARDED UNDER STRICTLY TEMPORARY CONDITIONS THAT CAN BE RENEWED AT THE FED'S DISCRETION. THERE IS COLLATERAL INVOLVED. BUT SOME OF IT MAY BE, SHALL WE SAY, OF QUESTIONABLE QUALITY.

BANKS HAVE BY NOW HEARD THAT BERNANKE FANCIES HIMSELF AS A MODERN DAY VERSION OF THE FIRST MAN TO HEAD THE FED IN 1913. THAT MAN, ACTING AS THE TOP AIDE TO J. PIERPONT MORGAN, HAD PERSONALLY ENGINEERED THE TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF THE ONCE-HUGE AND FAMOUS KNICKERBOCKER TRUST DURING THE 1907 PANIC. ONCE HE DID THAT, THE OTHER BANKS JUMPED TO OBEY ANY SUGGESTIONS HE AND J. P. MORGAN MIGHT HAVE FOR THEM.

I DARE SAY NO BANK WISHES TO BE THE ONE BERNANKE USES AS AN EXAMPLE OF HOW RUTHLESS HE CAN BE BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. IF HE WITHDRAWS THE FED MONEY LOANED TO ONE OF THESE BANKS, HANDS BACK THEIR COLLATERAL AND TELLS THE PRESS WHAT HE HAS DONE, THEY MIGHT EXPERIENCE A DISASTROUS RUN BY DEPOSITORS – ENDING THEIR DAYS. SO MORTGAGE MONEY WILL BEGIN FLOWING AND HOMES WILL START SELLING AGAIN. OUR LATEST REAL ESTATE LETTER SAYS WE THINK THE FIRST MONEY WILL FLOW OUT TO REALTORS TO BUY EXISTING HOMES. THE NEXT STEP WILL BE TO FINANCE THOSE WHO WANT TO BUY FORECLOSED HOMES, CLEARING THEM OFF THE MARKET. AND THIRD WILL COME MONEY FOR THE PURCHASE OF NEW HOMES.

NOW I REALIZE THIS GOES COUNTER TO THE CONSENSUS THINKING ON WALL STREET AND ELSEWHERE. I AM SORRY FOR THEM. THEY – FOR THE MOST PART - DO NOT HAVE A CLUE WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT. MOST OF THEM WERE SUPER BULLISH ABOUT HOUSING AT THE VERY PEAK OF GREENSPAN'S HOUSING BOOM IN 2005. WE WERE BEARISH, AS YOU KNOW – PREDICTING A "TIME-OUT" IN HOUSING, WITH HOME PRICE DECLINES. WELL, THE TIME-OUT HAS DONE ITS JOB AND NOW I BELIEVE YOU WILL SEE THE FIRST SIGNS OF A RETURN TO NORMALCY.

WE ARE IN A SITUATION THAT REMINDS ME OF THE BOTTOM OF THE LAST HOUSING RECESSION. WALL STREET WAS NOT ALONE IN 2002 IN EXPECTING HOUSING TO SLIDE FURTHER IN SALES AND PRICES, EVEN AFTER THE RECESSION LOWS WERE HIT. THE SHOCK OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 WAS STILL VERY MUCH WITH US AND THUS MADE MANY PEOPLE FRIGHTENED OF WHAT COULD BE COMING IN THE ECONOMY.

BUT THEN A STRANGE THING BEGAN HAPPENING. PEOPLE BEGAN FLOCKING ONCE AGAIN TO OPEN HOUSES AND PUTTING MONEY DOWN ON HOMES THEY CHOSE. THE VIEW REPORTED IN THE PRESS WAS THAT THIS COULD NOT LAST, AND THAT IT WOULD GIVE WAY TO A SERIOUS COLLAPSE BUT THAT DID NOT HAPPEN. SLOWLY BUT SURELY THE DEMAND FOR HOUSING EXPANDED. AND THAT EXPANSION – SLOW BUT SURE – WOULD LAST FOR YEARS. UNFORTUNATELY, NEW SPECULATIVE ELEMENTS CAME INTO THE MARKET IN 2003 AND CAUSED A RAPID ESCALATION OF SALES, MANY OF WHICH PROVED TO BE UNWISE AND UNREAL. TODAY WE ARE HALFWAY THROUGH DIGESTING THE EXTRA HOMES BUILT IN THAT SPECULATIVE PERIOD. AND NEW DEMAND COULD FINISH THE JOB. MORE NEXT WEEK. ADRIAN VAN ECK.


As you all can tell, I stay up on whats going down in the market place. If you want a true pro to help you buy or sell your home, why don't you give me a call.

The only realtor you will ever want!

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