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Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory?

First, here is a video…

The Thrashers played the Caps tonight. The Caps jumped out to an early lead, but the Thrashers came back to score 3 unanswered goals. Going into the 3rd period, the Thrashers had played great hockey, and controlled the game. They had a 3 – 1 lead, and looked to be in a position to hold it.

Here is a link to the game tonight

Then came the 3rd period…

The Caps scored 4 unanswered goals. Not just that… the Thrashers weren’t there. They were outshot 23 to 2. Keri Lehtonen just couldn’t keep up.

So, let’s talk about real estate…

I’m going to say something that many agents don’t want to say… If it is for sale, your house is in competition. Let’s think about it for a minute.

One of the first things almost every agent does is perform a Competitive Market Analysis, or CMA. We look at the other homes that are currently listed… the competition.

So, a good agent makes sure that the house is well prepared… staged. We make sure that it is well marketed. And we make sure that it is properly priced coming out of the gate.

If we fail at any one of these, we can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Here is the bottom line… A house that looks better than the competition, marketed better than the competition and priced to beat the competition… will be sold before the competition!

In this market, where only 1 of 3 or 4 or 5 or 10 homes that goes onto the market will end up selling during its initial listing period, if your goal is to get your home sold, call an agent that has the same goal. I look forward to your call. Take a look at GarageHomesUSA.com for the latest offers on new listings.

Newsletter #1 has been emailed!

And of course I found a mistake right after I hit the send button… but hey, I’m not perfect.  Ask my wife.

If you would like to be on the e-newsletter list, join.  On the top right side of this page is the subscription form.  I’m not going to spam you 10 times a month with junk.  I won’t send out more than a couple times a month (honestly, I don’t plan on doing a newsletter more than once a month…).

I will be altering the newsletter format as I find better products to use.

I’d love your feedback if you are one of the lucky readers that got on the list.

And remember, you can unsubscribe at any time.  Just shoot me an email and you will be off the list.  I don’t want anyone to have things in their email box that they don’t want… at least not from me.

Sellers, protect yourselves

There are a couple of stories in the last few days that have hit the same sour note.  And, if you are selling your home (with or without representation), you need to be aware of this situation.

Loan fraud is still rearing its ugly head.  Speaking at the Mortgage Brokers Association fraud conference:

Merle D. Sharick, vice president of sales for MARI, stated that Suspicious Activity Reports received by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network from federally regulated banks jumped 139 percent between 2006 and 2007. The jump in fraud will spell record losses for lenders, easily topping $1 billion, says the report. 

Georgia ranked 6th in mortgage fraud last year.  Most common types of fraud are still generally on the buyer side, things like mis-stated income, assets or debts.  However, that isn’t all.  The FBI is looking at mortgage fraud on several levels.

The FBI has assigned 100 agents to investigate corporate fraud aspects of the housing crisis, including subprime lending and insider trading. Another 150 are looking at related securities fraud, and 153 are looking at loan originations, says Neil Power, economic crimes unit chief of the FBI’s financial crimes section.

To break it right down to an individual level:

A Las Vegas couple is accused of orchestrating more than 400 sham real estate deals and cashing in on millions of dollars through a mortgage fraud scheme that involved inflated house values and straw buyers.

Eve Mazzarella, ABR®, GRI, broker and owner of Distinctive Real Estate & Investments in Las Vegas, and her husband, Steven Grimm, were indicted last Wednesday and charged with bank fraud, money laundering, and aiding and abetting, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada.

If convicted, they could face up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine on each of the six bank fraud charges. They could also face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the money laundering charge, according to the U.S. Attorney.

The couple operated numerous limited-liability companies and allegedly used them to engage in 432 straw buyer transactions and obtain control over about 227 properties at inflated values. The total purchase price of the properties was more than $100 million.

The couple defaulted on mortgage payments on many of the loans, which caused at least half of the properties to go into foreclosure, according to officials. The foreclosed properties have caused losses to the banks of more than $15 million. 

This is a little different from the buyer overstating their qualifications on a mortgage application.  It is also the type of fraud that sellers need to be tuned in to.  

One more than a couple of listings I have had offers presented that could be fraud.  Often, the other agent didn’t know that what they were asking for was fraud.  The offer would typically look like this:

  • List price of $300,000
  • Offer of $375,000
  • Seller to rebate the buyer $60,000
  • Preparation of two contracts
    • First contract to govern the deal between buyer and seller
    • Second contract to be submitted to the mortgage lender
  • In some cases instead of a rebate, the seller would pay a large amount to a contractor for renovation.  The contractor would be involved with the buyer.

As a seller, being involved in this type of transaction can land you in deep water.  Just as with the agents, appraiser and buyer (possibly the mortgage broker and closing attorney as well) there is a possibility of criminal charges for the seller.  Jail time.

So, the bottom line is that sellers need to make sure that they don’t fall into one of these schemes.  The offer might start out sounding normal, and then there is a call to change some of the terms.  Obviously, I would say that having a good agent is one way to stay out of this type of trouble.   You need to know and trust the person you are working with.  If in doubt, contact an outside party to see what they think.

Woo hoo… added some links

For a post I wrote on my Active Rain blog this evening, I pulled up a bunch of Gwinnett County and surrounding area recreational links.  Everything from Road Atlanta to the Gwinnett Braves.  So, take a look on the left sidebar.  Links and Gwinnett Info have just been expanded.  Look for more expansions in the future.

Here is the link to the A/R blog.

 Gwinnett is already a vibrant and active suburb of Atlanta, GA… and it is getting better all of the time.  Gwinnett will be welcoming the AAA affiate of the Atlanta Braves to the new stadium that is being built near Lawrenceville.  Formerly of Richmond, VA, the Gwinnett Braves will be playing here starting in April of 2009.

Crazy Idea? Brilliant Marketing Tool?

I am kicking around an idea.  Shocker, huh?

I was sitting in the living room of one of my sellers.  We were talking about his condo which I have had listed.  An idea just fell out of my mouth.  And then it just kind of stuck to me…

I have written different types of copy for this property.  We have had descriptions of the property.  We have tried lifestyle marketing.  There are lots of great pictures (if I say so myself…).  In each stage, I have gone to my “usual suspects” and asked them about the copy.  Each time they have thought that the place sounded great…

But they aren’t active buyers.

And that is the problem.  I need to spend some time with real, active, in the market buyers… that aren’t currently my clients.

What I am thinking about is doing a panel.  Providing drinks and snacks, and some other inducements in order to sit down a panel of buyers and talk to them about their motivations.  To get it straight from the real buyers.  What is exciting?  What would drive them to see a listing?  Contact a certain agent?

Honestly, the NAR does this every couple of years… but their results aren’t local.  I want to hear from people in THIS market.  Buyers in LA or NYC aren’t buyers in Gwinnett County.

So, two questions:

As a buyer, what would get you interested in participating?

Do you think a round-table discussion or survey would be more conducive to open transfer of information?

I am pretty sure I could get some input from a mortgage guru so that the information transfer wouldn’t be just one way or just about the sales part of the equation for buyers.

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