Judge Blasts Bank's Foreclosure Conduct and Cancels Mortgage...
http://ping.fm/YQPRC

A Stimulus That Could Save Money...
http://ping.fm/b3bCg

Philadelphia Gives Homeowners a Way to Stay Put
http://ping.fm/EVrmU

Banks Starting to Shed Toxic Loans...
http://ping.fm/sZgnD

Bank of America seeks to foreclose on Maguire property in Irvine.
http://ping.fm/CkBFl

U.S. foreclosure program helping more people, but how much still unclear... http://ping.fm/tUm4m

Foreclosures Spread to Middle Class

Forget the subprime-mortgage borrowers. This latest wave in the foreclosure crisis is hitting homeowners hurt by unemployment.

And guess what? You don't qualify for Obama's loan modification program if you are unemployed.

Read more in this article from Newsweek => http://www.newsweek.com/id/220080

How to buy an REO

If you deal in REOs, like I do, then maybe this video hits home in a funny way. Anyway, it's hilarious.

Henry S. Miller Brokerage, auction firm to market distressed commercial properties | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Dallas Business News

Henry S. Miller Brokerage, auction firm to market distressed commercial properties | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Dallas Business News

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Get Started on the Path to Wealth

As investors, we all know that right now it is one of the greatest times in real estate history to create massive wealth. Everyone is searching for those perfect real estate deals that pay out over and over again each month.

Search no further, on Thursday, October 8th at 9 p.m., you will have an opportunity to grab that perfect deal. That evening, I'll be hosting a TURNKEY CASH FLOW webinar about some great property buying opportunities in this market that cashflow and have great returns on investment.

Register Here
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/217354602

On the call, you will be given the opportunity to purchase cash flowing properties well below the market value. These houses are totally rehabbed and come with tenants and property management included free for the first year.

Don't miss out, register now
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/217354602

Thursday, October 8th

• 9 pm est
• 8 pm cst
• 7 pm mst
• 6 pm pst

The most exciting part is that at the end of the webinar, you will be able to actually select your investment property LIVE!

Hope you decide to join us.

'See' you on the call

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/217354602

Mortgage Delinquencies - The Coming Storm

If you have been following recent news reports, the public is being told that the real estate market has bottomed out and we are now in recovery mode. Really?!? Well, here's an excellent article written by Jeff Georghan, a Pennsylvania real estate expert, on what has happened, is happening and what is going to happen regarding mortgage delinquencies.

This is one of those posts where I wish I didn't have to write it, but felt it was so important to my readers that I would be remiss not to at least talk about it.
Everyone out there probably knows somebody who is behind on their mortgage payments, looking for alternatives and likely also just finding out that their home's value has dipped below what their loan amount is. I know some within my own personal circles. It's a tough situation for me to advise them as a professional because it's such a personal challenge to their pride and self-worth, not to mention their plans and dreams for the family. The question we're asking is "when is this going to stop and where are we heading?"... read article here

State may invest in Florida real estate

Officials consider investing in Florida real estate to help boost the state's pension fund.

Stung by a $250 million Manhattan real estate investment that tanked, Gov. Charlie Crist and two other Cabinet-level elected officials want to see more of Florida's retirement pension fund invested in Florida real estate.

``What's the saying, `Buy low and sell high?' '' Crist on Tuesday told Ash Williams, head of the State Board of Administration, which oversees the pension fund.

Crist has never owned a home and has long rented a St. Petersburg condo, but he said ``acquaintance after acquaintance'' is buying residential real estate at rock-bottom prices across the Sunshine State.

``I can't remember a time in my life when Florida real estate has been such a deal, and it occurs to me that if you have cash, if you have equity, maybe a smart investment would be residential real estate in Florida right now,'' Crist said.

Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink agreed, saying the state will need more affordable housing in the future -- and now might be the time to acquire it.

Attorney General Bill McCollum, the Republican running for governor against Sink, a Democrat, chimed in to say he agrees it's a strategy worth considering.

Williams agreed to return to the next quarterly SBA meeting with a deeper look at how such a strategy might work, but he cautioned that there has been a ``mixed record'' in other states.
Tuesday's meeting was the first quarterly meeting between the three Cabinet members and the SBA, which they oversee. Sink requested quarterly meetings earlier this summer to ensure the state's investments and finances are in order.

The meeting covered topics that include strategies for long-term investing and the improved risk level of the state's Hurricane Catastrophe Fund. The fund is now about $7 billion short of what's needed to cover a major storm, compared with the $18 billion shortfall estimated in January.

Williams also said the value of the state's pension fund stands at $99.6 billion, nearly $10 billion more than it was the previous quarter. That puts the pension fund up 12.5 percent to date over last year.

The pension fund's uptick comes in spite of the recession and a major real estate investment that went sour. In 2007, the SBA invested $250 million in Peter Cooper Village, a residential real estate project built for World War II veterans. Williams, who was not leading the SBA when the state invested in Peter Cooper, told Cabinet members Tuesday that SBA officials thought the project was a potential moneymaker. But the project is in such trouble, the SBA is now valuing Peter Cooper ``as a zero on our books,'' Williams said.

BY SHANNON COLAVECCHIO
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau

The Social Media Revolution

Retrospective View of Real Estate Ownership in America

Homeownership is the American Dream for most of us. Why is it that we buy into the fact that you haven't made it until you own your piece of the American Dream? If you are like me, you probably never gave it any thought. It's one of those things that just is.

Here is an interesting article outlining the history of real estate in America written by Thomas J. Sugrue a professor of history and sociology...

The New American Dream: Renting

'A man is not a whole and complete man," wrote Walt Whitman, "unless he owns a house and the ground it stands on." America's lesser bards sang of "my old Kentucky Home" and "Home Sweet Home," leading no less than that great critic Herbert Hoover to declaim that their ballads "were not written about tenements or apartments…they never sing about a pile of rent receipts." To own a home is to be American. To rent is to be something less.

Click Here to read the entire article.




Fast REI Deals

Old FHA Loan Program Being Revitalized

Created 31 years ago, the Federal Housing Administration's 203(K) Loan Program is finding new life with owner occupants who want to purchase a home, refinance, or rehab their homes.
Eligible owners can get an all in one loan to purchase and renovate the property.

203k loans allow you to FINANCE the cost of the repairs in the new loan amount. (Not to exceed 110% of the after improved value determined by the appraiser and 203k consultant) What does this mean? I buy a house for 200,000 that needs 50,000 in repairs and I can borrow the extra 50,000? Too good to be true? NOPE. That’s it in a nutshell….
ok details please………http://www.buylowreo.com/?cat=5


Fast REI Deals

70+ Homes Nationwide to Be Sold Without Reserve During the “Live Televised Absolute Auction”

Auction to Broadcast Live on Dish Network Ch. 217 and DirecTV Ch. 347 and Can Be Viewed Globally on www.auctionnetwork.com
3:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m. EDT / 2:00 p.m.–6:00 p.m. CDT / 12:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m. PDT on August 22, 2009

More than 70 single family homes will be sold without reserve to the highest bidders during a live televised absolute real estate auction on Saturday, August 22, 2009 from 3:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. EDT. Auction Network (www.auctionnetwork.com) in partnership with Williams & Williams worldwide real estate auction (www.williamsauction.com) today announced that interested buyers from around the globe can bid in person, online or over the telephone on homes in Ohio, Florida, Missouri, Indiana, Arizona and other states across the country. The auction is expected to attract those looking to take advantage of the federal government’s stimulus tax credit of up to $8,000 for first time homebuyers, as well as real estate investors of all sizes.

“We are excited to present the second in our series of live, televised absolute auctions on the heels of our first successful event on June 20th,” said Auction Network General Manager Fontana Fitzwilson. “The format puts viewers at the front of the auction action allowing them to bid real time from the comfort of their home or office. This innovative format creates a whole new marketplace that few real estate sellers have been able to experience.”

The live event coverage will broadcast nationally on ION Television Network on Dish Network Ch. 217 and DIRECTV Ch. 347, and will be open to the public at ORU Golden Eagle Broadcasting Center or online at www.auctionnetwork.com. Buyers planning to bid remotely via the Internet are encouraged to pre-register. Bids can also be placed over the telephone during the live event by calling 1-866-231-8011. Virtual tours, pictures and complete property details can be found at www.auctionnetwork.com. Bidders interested in purchasing more than two properties during the live auction will need to secure authorization by contacting support@auctionnetwork.com or by calling 918-407-6556. Authorization must be obtained by Thursday, August 20, at 6:00 p.m. EDT.

“At Williams & Williams we are dedicated to facilitating real estate sales that are open, honest and result in real value,” said Pamela L. McKissick, President and COO of Williams & Williams worldwide real estate auction. “An ‘absolute’ auction provides the most transparent buying experience and gives bidders confidence that the high bidder will be the winner.”

Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Williams & Williams, the premier name in real estate auction, is a global auctioneer that offers turn-key solutions from property preservation to closing for all types of real estate including REO, Commercial, Farms and Ranches, and Premier Properties.
The company auctions more than a thousand properties every month and offers auction services throughout the United States, serving thousands of individual clients and the U.S.’s largest financial and investment firms and government agencies. (www.williamsauction.com)

Auction Network was founded in 2007 to create compelling interactive programming that merges the sport and spirit of live auction allowing the audience to not only watch but engage in the thrill of the bidding process from anywhere in the world. The success of Auction Network stems from one simple concept, giving people a front-row seat to the most exciting auctions from anywhere in the world, and the capability to bid in real time like they are there in person via the Internet or phone. Auction Network not only delivers live high-energy entertainment all in high definition but also gives viewers an inside look at the fascinating items for sale, exclusive interviews with owners, experts, designers and celebrities, the history and emotional stories behind the auction items, and live tours of the region where the auction is held. (www.auctionnetwork.com)

TULSA, Okla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)

FastReiDeals

Second wave of foreclosures possible

Article by Alan J. Heavens, real estate writer for Philly.com

As unemployment skyrockets, a second wave of foreclosures is building, economic observers say, fed by people with good credit who could lose their houses because they have lost their jobs and can't find work.

In this downturn, the experts say, the economy is not following the traditional rules, which is limiting solutions. And thus far, government efforts to deal with foreclosures remain focused on the subprime-mortgage mess that brought the economy to its knees but that, in reality, affected a small percentage of homeowners nationwide.

Although reduced or lost income has long been the major reason homeowners get behind on payments, the tsunami of subprime-mortgage failures that began inundating the Southwest, California, and Florida beginning in 2006 washed unemployment into the background.

By 2008, "it was subprime all the time," Steven Adamske, House Financial Services Committee communications director, told reporters last month at a meeting in Washington. "That situation has changed."

The Philadelphia region did not sustain as a big a subprime hit as other areas. During the real estate boom, housing prices here doubled while they were quadrupling in other parts of the country, so there was not a huge need to stretch finances to the breaking point to buy.

"For us, loss or decline in income has always been the major reason why consumers have sought us out," said Patricia Hasson, executive director of the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Delaware Valley.

"No matter what the cause, people tend to wait to act until the foreclosure process starts," she said. "Often, the best we can do to help is to show them that they are not alone."
Krystyna Buoncristiano, 45, of Northeast Philadelphia, might say that alone is just how she has been feeling.

A mother of two who has been unemployed for a year, Buoncristiano refuses to fall into foreclosure. She insists on paying her mortgage to hold onto her home of 13 years, paying off late fees and interest for the two months she was delinquent.

Buoncristiano said she's been advised not to pay. She said one nonprofit counseling agency she contacted early on told her to put her house up for sale because there was no way to avert foreclosure.

Then there were the scam offers to take care of her problem "for $2,000, with no guarantees." Those alternated with her lender, CitiMortgage, "asking if I had a job yet," Buoncristiano said.
Daily calls have subsided to twice weekly as Buoncristiano and Citi work to modify her mortgage.
But the lender has promised that before, she said.

For 13 years, Buoncristiano said, she paid on time and had money in the bank until she was laid off from her job as an administrative assistant. She even called Citi in October to warn of the effects of her prolonged unemployment, but was told nothing could be done until she was delinquent.

"The system wants us to fail," she said.

The current recession is unusual because it began with a housing crisis.

"For the first time in U.S. history, housing is the cause of a recession rather than a casualty of it," said Kevin Gillen, vice president of Econsult of Philadelphia. "The further we go into this bursting bubble, the deeper into uncharted territory we go."

Generally, foreclosures are at the tail end of a predictable cycle, "triggered by an economic downturn that leads to unemployment," said Rick Sharga, chief economist of RealtyTrac of Irvine, Calif., which tracks mortgage delinquencies nationwide.

"When this cycle started in early 2006, unemployment was at historically low levels, and the economy was growing," Sharga said. "There's no precedent to either the root cause of this meltdown or the back-to-back foreclosure waves, which makes addressing the problem complicated and difficult."

John Dodds, executive director of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project, said the government's response - modification or refinancing of toxic mortgages - is ineffective for people who are unemployed if their income is insufficient to pay even modified loan payments.

With the recession in its 20th month and long-term unemployment at its highest level since data collection began in 1948, more than 1.5 million workers are expected to exhaust their unemployment benefits by year's end.

And governmental budget troubles compound the problem. For example, Pennsylvania's Homeowners Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (HEMAP), from which Buoncristiano is seeking a loan, is not being funded at a level necessary to deal with the rising unemployment rate, Dodd said.

Stephanie Butler, senior counselor at Mount Airy USA in Philadelphia, said she was working to obtain a HEMAP loan for a state employee facing foreclosure.

But the Pennsylvania legislature's failure to pass a budget means the employee won't be paid until the funding problem is solved.

"And without proof of income," Butler said, "we can't get her the loan."


Florida REO and Wholesale Property

A Pushy Real Estate Agent

Florida REO & Wholesale Property

New Mortgage Solution: Own-To-Rent

Obama Considers New Mortgage Solution: Own-To-Rent

Is The Atlantic now the most influential magazine in America?
The most recent issue is pretentiously self-styled as “The Ideas Issue: How To Fix The World.” It contains a brief piece by Felix Salmon making the clever argument that the mortgage defaulters should be turned into renters. The idea does have an attractive symmetry: if one of our problems is that too many people who should be renters wound up taking out mortgages they couldn’t afford to become ersatz homeowners, why not just make them renters?

It's a brilliant reversal of the old idea of rent-to-own homes. But just because it's brilliant doesn't mean it would work.

Now Reuters reports that U.S. government officials are weighing a plan to do just that. The plan would let borrowers who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments avoid eviction by renting their homes. They’d give up all their equity—if they have any—and future claims on the equity, in exchange for getting to keep their homes.

There are lots of problems with this idea, including havoc it would create in securitized mortgages, that it would make the housing market even more illiquid than it is, and that it would create a huge incentive on the part of even more borrowers to default. Think about it: now you don’t even have to walk away.

Reuters also reports that officials are creating a “housing stipend” that would attach to unemployment, hoping to reduce the role in job losses in driving mortgage defaults. This would be either hugely costly or ineffective. (And it would really anger unemployed renters.)

By John Carney for The Business Insider



Florida REO & Wholesale Properties

Property Auction Info - Properties Near Jacksonville, Florida for Auction

Property Auction Info - Properties Near Jacksonville, Florida for Auction

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Florida REO & Wholesale Properties

Wholesale Home with Equity in Central Florida

Homeless vets get a place to call their own

A new apartment building will provide permanent housing for local homeless veterans.

The facility is the first of its kind in the state -- and one of very few in the country.
The 75 units in the Silver Star Apartments are scheduled to open in September. The apartments are located on the Battle Creek Veteran Affairs Medical Center campus and residents will have access to health care.

The apartments will meet a distinct need in the community, said Ed Kettle, public affairs counsel for Medallion Management Inc., which develops and manages residential communities in Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin. There is a lack of facilities that offer long-term housing for homeless veterans, he said.

"There are very few places in the country that couldn't use facilities like this," he said.
Construction, which totaled about $10 million, was funded by HOME funds administered by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, the sale of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, and a bridge loan.

There are about 330 homeless veterans in Calhoun County, said Medallion Management President Mark Wester.

New residents must earn less than a maximum income but they won't be kicked out of the building if they start making more after they move in. Residents must contribute 30 percent of their incomes for rent. The remainder of housing costs will be covered by vouchers from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

About 40 people have already submitted applications to live in the apartments, Wester said. The first notices letting people know whether they've been accepted will go out in the next couple of weeks. Decisions will be based on veteran status as well as credit and criminal histories.
U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow has advocated for this project for about two years. She toured the facility Monday.

"I can't think of a more important project than one for people who have no home but have fought for our homes," Stabenow said.

By: Annie Martin for Battle Creek, The Enquirer



Florida REO & Wholesale Properties

Setting Your Financial Goals

by William Bronchick, Esq.

I bet you wrote down your goals in January 1st this year. Is that all? Did you re-think them this month and write it down again? If you don't know what your goals are, how are you going to measure whether you've reached them. And, I would bet that if you didn't write them down at all, you are in the same financial position as you were on January 1st. Ouch!

Is it time for a change of strategy? Maybe so, read on...

Take the most accurate archer, the best in the world. I guarantee that I can do a better job of shooting than he can...IF...you first blindfold him and turn him around a few times. You might think, why that is ridiculous. How is he supposed to hit a target he cannot see? Here's a better question: How are YOU supposed to hit a target you don't even HAVE?

When investing in real estate, in order to succeed, you need to set financial goals. Here's how to go about it.

Make sure your goal is something you really want, not something that just sounds good. People say they would like a yacht. But do you really? Many yacht owners joke that a yacht is a hole down which you pour tons of money.

Be specific. Wrong: I want lots of money. Right: I want to be earning $5,000/month by one year from now.

Be detailed. When the subconscious mind has detailed instructions, miracles happen.

Shoot for the moon, but, at the same time, be realistic. “I want to make $500,000 the first year will most likely take a miracle. Five figures (on the high end)is much more realistic

Make your goal measurable. What gets measured gets done.

Write your goal down. This sets an unconscious process in motion to get your goal accomplished.

Write your goal in positive, not negative, terms. Write down what you want, not what you don't want.Wrong: I want to leave my present job. Right: I want to replace my current income so I can work from home.

Include a deadline for achieving your goals. This prevents procrastination. It also separates your goals from your dreams.

Having pictures of the things you will have and do with the money you make helps. Use a scrap book with color pictures of cars, homes, vacations, etc. you want.

Your goals should be action-oriented. What steps do you need to take to reach your goals?

Break down your goal into manageable steps. With each activity, ask yourself: Does this activity take me closer to my goal?Keep your goals to yourself. You avoid any negative people around you who might sabotage your efforts. Some people cannot stand to see you succeed. And some spouses hate the idea of making a change, believe it or not.

Motivational tapes, played in your car on the way to work, can help dramatically. The ones by Nightingale-Conant are especially good.

Be prepared to review and restate your goals, as you reach a certain level, or your situation changes, and you realize that you have not reached high enough.

William Bronchick is a Nationally-known attorney, author, entrepreneur and speaker.




Florida Investment Property

Condos are Hot…take care you don’t get Burned

By Sandra Negron - June 17, 2009

The condominium market in Florida is finally ripe for the picking. Over zealous developers have been left with a bunch of unsold units and as a result, many of those developers are "fire saling" those units. In addition, units that have reverted back to the bank, the lender wants to get rid of them at deep discounts.

It seems like a perfect match for the ready, willing, and able investor, but before you jump into buying up bunches of distressed condos, you need to do some due diligence.

For one thing, distressed condo units are most likely also part of a troubled and struggling condominium association. By that I mean, the condo association may have several delinquent owners who are not paying their condo fees. Delinquent owners put a strain on the condo association to operate as a corporation with financial obligations.

Condo fees are the life blood of a condominium association. It is how the association pays the landscape contractor, maintenance staff, water, trash, and cable bills, condo insurance, the on-site manager, etc. The condo association is a business and like all businesses you need a steady, constant flow of income to offset expenses.

Before you purchase that great condo deal, you will want to know how many owners are delinquent on their condo fees for more than 30 days, and if there are an special assessments brewing. Also, make sure you see the yearly budget and a current financial statement including a year to date budget vs. actual report.

The condo governing documents is another must have. Make sure you read them because they will tell you what you can and can't do with your condo purchase. For example, how often you can rent out your condo in a year, and the minimum lease period, the number and size of pets permitted, and if you can place a sign to advertise for sale or rent. Condos are notorious for rules so make sure you know what they are before you buy or you'll find yourself dealing with the condo commandos.

If you are considering buying bulk properties, here is another thing to be aware of. In some states, a bulk condo investor can be also perceived to be a developer. In Florida, bulk is 10 or more units in the same condo association. This is important to know because if the condo owners had issues that were never resolved by the developer, you could become what is called a 'developer in lieu' and become legally responsible for unresolved condo problems. Property taxes and condo insurance are other huge areas where bulk investors have a potential to get hit heavily from large annual increases.

All said and done, this is probably the best time ever to purchase condos at unbelieveablly great prices. Just make sure you cover your bases and ask the right questions or it could turn out to be more than you bargained for.



Florida Investment Property

Real Estate in Detroit Has Hit An All Time Low

Interesting article from the American Chronicle

Will the Stimulus Package Help Struggling Real Estate Markets?
by Jill Black

The mortgage crisis has created a ripple of upheaval throughout the nation. There isn't one major city that hasn't been impacted by foreclosures and unemployment in these tough economic times. Foreclosures and the high jobless rates present risks and challenges for a troubled economy. The stimulus package is intended to be instrumental to mitigate these risks and challenges.
Below are several cities that are considered the riskiest in which to invest in today's market, and how the stimulus package will impact each.

1. Detroit, Michigan - Real estate has hit an all-time low, let me repeat, all time of all times low in Detroit. You can't build a house in this city for as cheap as you can buy one. Heck, you can't build a shed for as low of a price that you can buy a house. Of course, at these very low prices, it's hard to imagine that they could sink any lower. The auto industry has suffered, and people are moving out of Detroit. Some businesses are, too, and taking their jobs with them. Whole neighborhoods are being blighted. Detroit is, indeed, in need of an extreme makeover. It might be worth the risk, however, to invest in some of that real estate - whole blocks of it! As far as the stimulus goes, it looks like it will boost the city's slouching economy through the tearing down of old buildings, funding to create new jobs and a boost to the city's bond ratings with a $75M rainy day fund.

2. Orlando, Florida - Tampa's vacancy rate is one of the highest in the nation - at 7.4%. Orlando's foreclosure rate is at 1.9%. Job growth halted in 2007 and continued to flat line in 2008. In 2008, however, Orlando was ranked eleventh in the nation for the best-performing city overall out of 200 of the largest metro cities nationwide. Adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) are heavy in this market, making this city at further risk for foreclosures should interest rates take a jump. Look for those deals, though, they're scattered throughout the city. Of course, the stimulus package is intended to help those who are facing foreclosure, so many in this market may definitely benefit from it.

3. Cleveland, Ohio - Just like all other metro areas in the country, this city fell to foreclosures in 2008 after experiencing several months of slowdown in the home buying industry. Foreclosures hit a 3% rate in 2008, sixth worst in the nation. To make matters worse, Cleveland has not experienced job growth since August of 2006, which was only 0.1%. Vacancy rates are at an all-time high, so you could find some really good deals in this market. Cleveland is getting $43.3 billion in stimulus. The intent is to create an abundance of jobs, so maybe new jobs will bring in more residents to advance the slumping housing market.

4. Saint Louis, Missouri - Ranked fourth on the list of the riskiest markets to invest in, St. Louis has been known for its diminished home values for the past three years. In December 2008, home prices had fallen 14.8% from the previous year. The drop was greater from 2006 to 2007 - a 20% decline. This city suffers from a 6.9% jobless rate and suffers from a foreclosure in the ballpark of 1.2%. This market could use a good boost from some aggressive investors. Not only will the stimulus package for this state promote jobs, but it will promote professional jobs, and assist low income families with weatherization, or energy efficiency.

5. Miami, Florida - Homeowners have been slashing prices as the number of homes on the market has steadily climbed. Job growth continues to decline in Miami and has since 2006. Foreclosure numbers in this market are ranked eighth in the nation. ARMs are heavy in this market, too, which means this city could be prime for a foreclosure fallout should interest rates climb any time soon. If that happens, this market would be a setup for amazing real estate deals. Law enforcement will benefit most from the stimulus to this market, although, that still should bring buyers to bang out some new home buys.

Senate to Approve a Bill Harmful to Real Estate Investors

June 9, 2009

U.S. Senate Seizing Control of Real Estate Investing

“PLEASE READ EVERY WORD ON THIS POST”

The U.S. Senate is considering a bill that would severely limit the way you do business as a creative real estate investor and, more importantly, is an inexcusable infringement of the property rights of all Americans.

HR 1728, which you can view in its entirety here, deals with a plethora of mortgage-related issues, mostly around limited terms and fees on residential loans.

But the heinous piece of the legislation is in section 101(3)(e), which defines the affected principals as:

(E) does not include, with respect to a residential mortgage loan, a person, estate, or trust that provides mortgage financing for the sale of 1 property in any 36-month period, provided that such loan -

(i) is fully amortizing;(ii) is with respect to a sale for which the seller determines in good faith and documents that the buyer has a reasonable ability to repay the loan;(iii) has a fixed rate or an adjustable rate that is adjustable after 5 or more years, subject to reasonable annual and lifetime limitations on interest rate increases; and(iv) meets any other criteria the Federal banking agencies may prescribe;

Yeah, I know, confusing.

But here’s what it says:

You are NOT subject to the law as long as you DON’T sell more than 1 property with owner financing every 3 years!

Or, to put it another way, you ARE subject to the limitations of the law if you DO sell more than one property every 3 years via a land contract, owner-held mortgage or wrap-around mortgage… and who knows if they’ll define lease/options as owner financing, too?

So what does it mean to be “subject to the law”?

Well, at the very least, it means that you will have to comply with a long, confusing, and penalty-filled piece of national legislation.

Here are the types of transactions that you would be restricted from doing more than once every 36 months:

Selling YOUR OWN HOME using a land contract or owner-held mortgage so that you can get a quicker sale, higher sale price, or better rate of interest than is available in other investments

Carrying back owner-held second mortgages on investment properties that you sell

Doing any kind of installment sale on residential properties including homes, condos, mobile homes, and even raw land that is zoned residential

Yes, there will undoubtedly by ways to “get around it” - some have suggested that getting a mortgage broker’s license and then learning and following the vast new set of regulations would circumvent the “problem”.

But the bottom line is, this law has to be stopped and it has to be stopped NOW.
Here’s why:

Congress is trying to regulate the wrong thing.The deals we make are not “loans” - they don’t involve the transfer of money, or points or closing costs or adjustable rates or any of the other things that caused the mortgage crisis to begin with. They are INSTALLMENT SALES.

We don’t give money to the “borrower” and wait for it to be paid back: we give a property to the borrower and wait for it to be paid off. Regulating this will have no effect on the foreclosure crisis.

It is a completely unacceptable infringement on private property rights.When I own a piece of property and I find a ready, willing, and able purchaser, I should be able to control the sale of that property within the existing laws of my state, which already regulate the interest rate that I am able to charge and some of the terms of the sale.

The government does not have the right to tell us that we need special licensing to sell our own properties; nor do they have the right to further regulate the terms under which we can sell or burden small investors with a new set of rules that we can’t comply with.

Not only will this new law, if passed as written, effectively choke off owner financing as an exit strategy for you, it will also take away housing choice for your buyers. The millions of Americans who’ve been through foreclosure in the last 3 years can’t buy a house in any way OTHER THAN to negotiate owner financing with a seller - and HR 1728 would greatly reduce the number of properties available in this way.

Millions of potential home owners who would otherwise be able to re-start the process of paying off a home, and get the tax advantages of ownership, will be reduced to renting until they are able to qualify for bank financing.

Here’s What to Do Right Now:

This bill has already passed the house and is waiting for Senate approval. Please contact your senator via email and snail mail to let him know that this law MUST NOT PASS in its current form. You can get your senator’s contact information here:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

As always in cases like this, you have an automatic handicap to overcome… the fact that you are a real estate investor and are therefore viewed as part of the problem. So when you write, don’t emphasize the nature of your business, just that you and your buyers would be greatly aversely affected by the new law.

We need THOUSANDS of these communications to go out in the next few days to have a CHANCE of stopping this in its tracks. So whether you’re a new or experienced investor, PLEASE take the time right now to write your elected representative!

Here are some sample letters or emails…

IF YOU HAVE A REAL ESTATE LICENSE:

Dear Senator [name];

My name is [insert name here] and I am a life-long resident of [insert city name here].
I am writing you to encourage you to vote NO on HR 1728, the “Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act”.

While many of the provisions of the act are positive steps toward mortgage reform, the inclusion of private owners in the act (see section 101(3)(e)) will enormously reduce the housing choice of [Ohioans] and the ability of home owners to sell properties in this already-slow market.
As a real estate broker, I have seen several dozen cases in the past year of home sellers and buyers coming to an agreement for an installment sale on a property that the owner desperately needed to sell (often to avoid foreclosure) and the buyer desperately wanted to buy, but could not raise the downpayment needed for conventional financing.

In all cases, these sales turned out to be win-win deals for the buyer and seller; the seller was able to get rid of an unwanted property to a buyer who loved it, and the buyer was able to get his new home at an affordable payment and interest rates with none of the usual costs (points, application fees etc) inherent in more conventional mortgage transactions.

In [Ohio], these transactions are already regulated by state law: a low maximum interest rate is already in place, and both the buyer and seller are protected by other regulations at the state level.
In defense of private property rights, owners should be exempted from the burdensome and unnecessary rules that this law foists upon them. In its current form, it would all but shut off the “owner financing” market that is the only way that many sellers can sell and many buyers can buy right now.

PLEASE DO NOT LET THIS RESTRICTION ON PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS PASS THE SENATE. It is unnecessary to stop private buyers and sellers from transacting business that is beneficial to both of them-they are not the problem that the bill seeks to solve. HR 1728 would be extremely harmful to thousands of your constituents.
It will exacerbate the problem OF foreclosure, as fewer sellers will be able to sell their homes to avoid it, and CAUSED BY foreclosure, as fewer buyers who have recently experienced foreclosure will be able to re-start the process of home ownership inexpensively and easily by negotiating owner financing.

Thank you for your consideration;
Insert NameLicensed Real Estate Broker license #Phone #email


IF YOU SELL HOUSES WITH OWNER FINANCING:

Dear Senator [name];

My name is [insert name here] and I am a life-long resident of [insert city name here].
I am writing you to encourage you to vote NO on HR 1728, the “Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act”.

While many of the provisions of the act are positive steps toward mortgage reform, the inclusion of private owners in the act (see section 101(3)(e)) will enormously reduce the housing choice of [Ohioans] and the ability of home owners to sell properties in this already-slow market.
As a professional housing provider, I sell several houses each year to home buyers on installment sale [or, if you have not purchased a property, add here: "I had planned to sell several houses this year on installment sale]-a practice that would become impossible under this law in its current form.

I find that in today’s slow market, the best way for me to help buyers who desperately want to become homeowners, but who cannot raise the downpayment or meet the other terms needed for conventional financing, is to allow them to make payments directly to me.
These sales are win-win deals for both the buyer and myself; I am able to turn over homes that I’ve bought and rehabbed (often from foreclosures) to buyers who love and can afford them, and the buyer can get his new home at an affordable payment and interest rates with none of the usual costs (points, application fees etc) inherent in more conventional mortgage transactions.
In [Ohio], these transactions are already regulated by state law: a low maximum interest rate is already in place, and both the buyer and seller are protected by other regulations at the state level.

Without the ability to sell homes in this way, I will no longer be able to invest in and renovate any of the tens of thousands of vacant, ugly houses placed on the market by the foreclosure crisis, and my small-but-beneficial business will literally be in ruins. Perhaps more importantly, the homeowner-buyers that I serve will be forced to rent rather than moving toward the American dream of home ownership.
In defense of private property rights, owners should be exempted from the burdensome and unnecessary rules that this law foists upon them. In its current form, it would all but shut off the “owner financing” market that is the only way that many sellers can sell and many buyers can buy right now.

PLEASE DO NOT LET THIS RESTRICTION ON PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS PASS THE SENATE. It is unnecessary to stop private buyers and sellers from transacting business that is beneficial to both of them-they are not the problem that the bill seeks to solve. HR 1728 would be extremely harmful to thousands of your constituents.
It will exacerbate the problem OF foreclosure, as fewer sellers will be able to sell their homes to avoid it, and CAUSED BY foreclosure, as fewer buyers who have recently experienced foreclosure will be able to re-start the process of home ownership inexpensively and easily by negotiating owner financing.

Thank you for your consideration;
Insert NamePerfect Properties, inc.Phone numberemail


IF YOU BUY HOUSES WITH OWNER FINANCING:

Dear Senator [name];

My name is [insert name here] and I am a life-long resident of [insert city name here].
I am writing you to encourage you to vote NO on HR 1728, the “Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act”.

While many of the provisions of the act are positive steps toward mortgage reform, the inclusion of private owners in the act (see section 101(3)(e)) will enormously reduce the housing choice of [Ohioans] and the ability of home owners to sell properties in this already-slow market.
In the past year, I have purchased and renovated several homes-made possible only because the sellers of these homes were able to sell to me using owner financing in an unrestricted way.
For many of these property owners, seller financing was the only way to unburden themselves of an unwanted property that, in some cases, was headed toward foreclosure before I purchased it.

Without this ability, I can not continue to buy and renovate properties in the neighborhoods that so need me and my colleagues to invest our time, energy, and money in rehabbing properties. Bank financing is not an option for these properties because of the condition; only financing carried by the sellers will suffice.

Section 101(3)(e) would keep my sellers from utilizing this method of getting rid of unwanted properties in today’s market, should they have more than 1 to sell.
In defense of private property rights, owners should be exempted from the burdensome and unnecessary rules that this law foists upon them. In its current form, it would all but shut off the “owner financing” market that is the only way that many sellers can sell and many buyers can buy right now.

PLEASE DO NOT LET THIS RESTRICTION ON PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS PASS THE SENATE. It is unnecessary to stop private buyers and sellers from transacting business that is beneficial to both of them-they are not the problem that the bill seeks to solve. HR 1728 would be extremely harmful to thousands of your constituents.
It will exacerbate the problem OF foreclosure, as fewer sellers will be able to sell their homes to avoid it, and CAUSED BY foreclosure, as fewer buyers who have recently experienced foreclosure will be able to re-start the process of home ownership inexpensively and easily by negotiating owner financing.

Thank you for your consideration;
Insert NamePerfect Properties, inc.Phone numberemail


Thanks to Peter Conti for article content & for bringing this to my attention.

Florida Investment Property

HUD Lets Virgin Homebuyers Use Their $8K Upfront

Cash or Credit: HUD Lets Virgin Homebuyers Use Their $8K Upfront
By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, MA, Esq., nationally syndicated real estate columnist- Fox News Blogs

We’ve been having lots of big days and big announcements in the real estate world lately. A few weeks ago, it came out that the number of existing home sales had skyrocketed over the first quarter in the areas hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis: they were up 117% in Nevada, 81% in California, 50% in Arizona and 25% in Florida, year-over-year, and Virginia and Minnesota also had double digit increases.

Then, we heard that even prices were starting to creak upwards, perhaps really signaling that we’d hit (and passed) the national bottom – from January to February, prices rose a tiny, but encouraging, .7 percent, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s monthly index.

Last Friday, though, we got a massive announcement: the Secretary of HUD announced new federal guidelines which allow First-Time Homebuyers (FTH) to monetize their $8,000 Obama Tax Credit upfront, for use toward their down payment or closing costs, rather than only after close of escrow.

How will this work? No one really knows yet – federal lending guideline changes usually take a month or so to manifest into concrete checklists and phone numbers you can call to take advantage of them. But it looks like state Housing Finance Agencies and HUD-approved nonprofit organizations will be involved, and will provide the upfront funds to borrowers (for a small fee, of course), which they’ll be reimbursed at tax time next year.

Of course, as with any new announcement from any administration, there are detractors. I haven’t heard anyone actually suggest that the upfront monetization of the FTH tax credit won’t be effective at stimulating home sales. On the contrary, the National Association of Home Buyers’ projections show that about 160,000 homes will be sold as a direct result of this new incentive. But there are folks who don’t like it, and their arguments tend to focus on the worry that no-skin-in-the-game borrowers are the sort of problem homeowner who created the market madness by just walking away when their homes devalued. The naysayers posit that we might be returning to the bad old days of 100 percent financing.

Some folks need to naysay – it’s just what they do. But if you want the real deal on this upfront monetization thing from someone who works with buyers and FHA loans every single day, here it is:

This is a new era of mortgage lending than the stated income days of old (old =2005). It wasn’t no-skin-in-the-game borrowers who walked away and created the foreclosure crisis, it was no-skin-in-the-game borrowers who couldn’t afford their escalating mortgage payments who were the problem children of the real estate market. The upfront monetization of the $8,000 tax credit will only be available for FHA loans, which require full documentation of income, impose strict and low debt-to-income ratios and are characterized by low, 30-year fixed interest rates and payments. This is not a return to the subprime era, when you only needed to be human and alive to get a loan (notwithstanding those few times we saw the deceased and the canine get mortgages).

On careful reading of the few details we do have on this program, it’s clear that it does not, in fact, reduce the amount of down payment funds that need to be deposited by the buyer to get an FHA loan. The $8,000 credit cannot, under current law, be used to meet the minimum 3.5% down payment requirement (although gifts from relatives can). The upfront $8K is available for buyers to use as extra down payment money (to buy more or lower monthly payments), to pay discount points (reducing their interest rates) or to defray closing costs. That’s it.

This program changes the time frame in which First-Time Homebuyers who close escrow by December 1, 2009 will be able to benefit from their tax credit. Frankly, I’d imagine this will mean lots more folks will put the funds into their homes and into making their loans more affordable, as opposed to blowing it all at Pottery Barn (which I know lots of folks were planning to do), because they couldn’t get their hands on it until after closing. If you ask me, that promotes responsible homeownership, not vice versa.

Florida REO & Wholesale Properties

The 5 Best Cities for Military Families

Article by Danielle Babb

It's a buyers market. Many areas are seeing home prices decline or stabilize. We now have low prices, record low interest rates and tax credits for buying a home, particularly for first time home buyers ($8,000 this year.)

But military families are in many unique situations that make moving to the most ideal areas difficult in some situations. The Babb Group and researchers Danielle Babb and Shane Hill have done their homework to take some of the guesswork out of your decision and offer some suggestions on cities with a heavy military population that you may want to consider buying a home in.

1.) Oceanside, Calif.
First let’s look at Oceanside, Calif., just outside of Camp Pendleton. The estimated median household income in 2007 was about $54,000 -- up from $46,000 in 2000. This is also about $5,000 higher than the median income in the state of California. In 2007 an average house would cost you about $500,000. Today though the price is about half this, at $250,000. You can get a great deal, and it's on the coast. Watch out for new higher income and sales taxes though, which make California an overall expensive state to live in. The nearby, sleepy beach town of San Clemente is another area to look for some good deals on the coast.

2.) Norfolk, Va.
Norfolk, Va, near the Naval Station Norfolk, offers some good opportunities with far low prices than California. Median income is about $41,000 -- up from $31,000 in 2000 after adjusting for inflation. The mean home price in 2007 was about $200,000 and is holding relatively steady, making it a bit less risky than other areas. New prices leveled off at about $180,000 as the mean price.

3.) Ft. Walton Beach, Fla.
Another option is near Eglin Air Force Base in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. Estimated income climbed about $12,000 after adjusting for inflation in seven years, which usually bodes well for markets. Mean house prices spiked at nearly $400,000 in 2007 and dropped off dramatically down to about $150,000. Obviously there are some good deals here, but as with the rest of Florida, we don’t really know if this market has further to decline.

4.) Killeen, Texas
For awhile now I’ve been a fan of Killeen, Texas, near Fort Hood. Texas in general fared the real estate storm quite well. Household income has grown about 25 percent in seven years, and prices stayed relatively stable with only about a 5 percent dip in price down to about $135,000. This is a good solid growth area that -- while growing slower in other parts of the nation -- is generally stable and provides a benefit when the investment is your own home.

5.) Portsmouth, Va.
We also have solid median income growth near the U.S. Coast Guard Station in Portsmouth, Va. The average income there is about $44,000, up from $33,000 in 2007. What's more, there substantially lower home prices in Portsmouth than in the rest of Virginia. The median for the state is about $250,000 for a home. You can buy one for about $160,000 in Portsmouth.) We have also seen more than three consecutive quarters of stable prices in homes in this area, which is a good sign that you won't risk losing money your investment if you buy here.

To get more information about PCSing or Home Buying, visit Military.com's Finance channel.

Florida REO & Wholesale Properties

Commercial Real Estate Pros Still Glum

Most real estate professionals remain gloomy about the prospects of the commercial property market turning around this year and predict further price declines, according to a recent poll.

There have been few large property sales since the credit market froze last summer. Only a third of the 1,500 respondents to a survey taken by online property listing service LoopNet, however, said they expect sales activity to recover in 2009.

Most of the survey's respondents, 42%, are not expecting the market to pick up until 2010. A large number of the respondents, 26%, are even more pessimistic. Those commercial real estate investors, brokers and owners don't expect to see a recovery until 2011.

Prices have to come down 10% or more from current levels to restart the market, according to two-thirds of the respondents. Many think the market will come down farther than that. About 37% of the professionals predicted prices will go down as much as 20% while 30% said values will go down more n 30%

As a group, owners are more optimistic, both in terms of the timing of the recovery and the expected level of price declines, than are investors and brokers, LoopNet said.

-- Roger Vincent
Los Angeles Times

Florida REO and Wholesale Properties

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Hold Raffles

Bargain Hideaways
By KAREN HUBE for Barron's


Snag swanky summer digs at a discount while you can, before the sector snaps back. And, frustrated sellers resort to creative means to move their mansions.


AS MANSIONS SIT ON THE MARKET FOR MONTHS, a growing number of frustrated sellers are trying their luck with raffles and auctions.

Miles Brannan of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has a 6,000-square-foot home with a billiard room and water frontage that has been on the market for a year at $3 million. Burdened by mortgage payments and the cost of upkeep, Brannan is selling 300,000 raffle tickets at $10 a pop, and offering the home as the prize.

"When times get tough you do what you have to do," says Brannan, a real-estate agent whose business has been hit by the housing slump. He has sold about 15,000 tickets so far.

But a raffle or auction is no easy out. It takes aggressive marketing, and there are legal matters to consider, which vary by state. Typically, a homeowner must team up with a nonprofit organization, which gets funds from the raffle in excess of the property's appraised value.

Dean Kent, a real-estate investor planning to raffle his $2.6 million oceanfront home in Norfolk, Va., with 30,000 $100 tickets, hopes to minimize the hassle of the auction by hiring Raffle Mansion Charity Promotion, one of a handful of new national organizations to crop up lately to facilitate raffles.

The risk to homeowners in raffling a home is failing to sell enough tickets. Owners typically hope to raise enough to cover the appraised value of their home. If the proceeds fall short, there are usually two options, depending on how the raffle was structured: Give refunds to ticket holders, or award a cash prize for the amount raised in the raffle.

Ticket buyers face a danger of their own: "The fair market value of the property must be reported as income on your tax return," says David Oswald of Smith Elliott Kearns & Co., a Hagerstown, Md., accounting firm.

For Dennis Weaver, winner of a successful raffle of a $380,000 home in Hagerstown last year, the tax hit was $135,000. Weaver, the circuit-court clerk of Washington County, Md., took a second mortgage on his primary home to cover it, then sold the property for a deeply discounted price of $279,000 and still managed to pocket $100,000. "My first question when I won was, 'Do I have to take it?' But it turned out OK," Weaver says.

When a property won through an auction is ultimately sold, the cost basis on the home is its fair- market value when the prize was awarded, not the raffle price, Oswald says.

Auctions can be equally difficult. Fire-sale auctions in which there is no reserve price -- the minimum for which an owner will sell -- typically draw bargain-hungry shoppers, but when there is a minimum price, few bidders show up, says Elizabeth Blakeslee, associate broker at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Washington.

IBidcondo.com, a company founded early this year, plans to be the first to offer no-reserve auctions on the Internet. Conceivably, bidders will be able to bid as little as $10 for a property. The company, which is holding its first auction -- a $690,000 condominium in Austin, Texas -- on May 26, is selling seats at $100 each to cover the price of the property. Of the money that comes in from the bidding, IBidcondo.com keeps 10% and, after certain expenses, the rest goes to charity.

Eugene Marchese, IBidcondo.com's founder, said he has already received inquiries from owners looking to unload multimillion-dollar homes. "We are going to start with condos and possibly move on from there," Marchese says. "This is a revolution, and all revolutions take time."

Florida REO and Wholesale Properties

First-time Homebuyers Still a Minority

First-time homebuyers still a minority locally, Realtor says
Tampa Bay Business Journal


Residential sales are riding the highest in nearly two years, but attributing that jump to an increase in first-time homebuyers might not be accurate, according to one Tampa Bay real estate company.

“Given that the average household income in Tampa is right around $45,000, it seems highly unlikely that first-time homebuyers dominated either the cash-purchase or conventionally financed categories,” said Peter Murphy, president of Home Encounter LLC, in a release.
Groups like the Florida Association of Realtors said the low home prices, the stronger availability of loans through the Federal Housing Administration and the first-time buyer tax credit helped fuel sales in the region. However, first-time buyers likely represented far less than the 43 percent of sales they did in 2008.

Realtors reported that cash buyers purchased more than 41 percent of all sales this year at an average purchase price of $121,400. At the same time, 33 percent of all sales were financed through conventional means, which typically requires a 30 percent down payment. With those sales averaging $232,000, more than 74 percent of overall sales in the region needed at least $70,000 cash in order to buy.

The three categories that usually contain a lot of first-time homebuyers — new FHA loans, new Veterans Administration loans and assumed FHA and VA loans — only accounted for 23 percent of all the sales so far this year.

“Even if we assume that half of all conventionally financed sales were purchased by first-time homebuyers, which is highly improbable given the average price of these homes, first-time buyers will would still represent no more than 40 percent of all buyers year to date,” Murphy said. That would also be a 3 percent drop in first-time homebuyers from 2008 while national sales had 53 percent first-time homebuyers.

It’s not typical for first-time buyers to pay cash for their real estate, Murphy said. Instead, investors and repeat buyers are snapping up deals right now that might be attractive to them but not exactly the best price for first-time homebuyers who don’t have a high enough income to really wheel and deal in the current market.

Florida REO & Wholesale Deals

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FL REO and Wholesale Deals

5 Steps to Thinking Big and Living Grand

This is a great article that I wanted to share with you written by Ali Brown, the EzineQueen. Enjoy!

“5 Steps to Thinking Big and Living Grand”
by Ali Brown

I know what it’s like to think that the lifestyle I want is out of reach. Just 10 years ago, I would lie on my bed in my tiny 400-square-foot studio apartment and flip through magazines, wishing I could have the luxurious lifestyles I read about.

Despite that negative, nagging voice in my head that reminded me I could barely afford rent, I’m now living a beautiful life I created for myself from scratch. Instead of moping around an apartment I can barely afford, I now have the means to travel and to inspire others. Last year I took a solo retreat to Maui, and this year I vacationed at an exclusive beach resort in Cabo San Lucas.

How’d I do it? By deciding not to settle for being average and thinking BIG. Changing your mindset can be a challenge, but the rewards are well worth the cost. Here’s how you can get started…

1. Eliminate negativity. This includes negative self-talk, too. Why would the universe bring you a better life if you don’t appreciate what you already have? Show gratitude for everything in your life now. Those seemingly bad days happen for a reason, so whenever you find yourself thinking, “I can’t do this” or “that’s impossible,” reframe it as the opposite. “I can do that, that is possible…” You owe it to yourself to give yourself the love and support you need to succeed.

2. Document your dreams. Earlier this year, I wanted to manifest a new house, so I listed all of the qualities in my dream home: a 3-car garage, workout room, walk-in closets… (Don’t censor yourself! Anything is possible, even if it seems silly now.) I also bought some real estate magazines, cut out pictures of homes I love, and created a collage. I’m constantly updating my “dream board,” which is now proudly displayed in my new house!

3. Surround yourself ONLY with supportive people. I only shared my house dream with friends and family I knew would support my decision. (NOT those prone to phrases like “Are you crazy? Who do you think you are? Ms. Trump?”) Your true friends and family will be happy to share in your dream. If you don’t have anyone else to support you, then it’s time to make new friends – join a networking group or a mastermind.

4. Decide, believe, and watch for clues. It’s not enough to make a decision to work towards your dreams. You must also truly believe in them! Don’t worry about HOW your dreams will manifest themselves. Watch for clues, and the HOW will find you, perhaps in the form of a new business partner or a new client. But remember that the dream comes before the HOW.

5. ACT on opportunities when they appear. Action involves risk. You might have to hire more people to help with a new client. You’ll need time to research that prospective business partner. Or figure out how to hire that amazing new mentor. But it’s up to YOU to take action when the path is revealed. The universe is supporting you, and each step will bring you closer to your dreams.

Online entrepreneur Ali Brown publishes the award-winning ‘Highlights on Marketing & Success’ weekly e-zine with 36,000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.AliBrown.com

FL REO & Wholesale Properties

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Some Nations Make It Easier for Nonresidents to Buy Property

Governments Loosen Restrictions to Stimulate Local Economies; International Resort Developer Gets a Boost

By CHRISTINA S.N. LEWIS, The Wall Street Journal

Like many developers of resort Caribbean real estate, David Johnson is facing the daunting challenge these days of selling ultraluxury Caribbean property at a time when the economy is tanking and buyers are in retreat.

But he is getting some help from a powerful ally: the government of the British Virgin Islands, which has agreed to ease some restrictions on foreign real-estate buyers.

Qualified buyers willing to pay $2 million to $25 million for a lot in Mr. Johnson's Oil Nut Bay, an 88-home, low-density development under construction in Virgin Gorda, will benefit from a new 90-day automatic approval for a landholder license. The government also is expanding the local airport and is providing better cellular service and high-speed wireless access for smart-phone use.

"The government realized, given the current economic climate and given that we live by tourism, that we want to have these investors come in," says Clyde Lettsome, permanent secretary for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Labor.

As property markets fall world-wide, one of the few consolations for real-estate investors is that some governments have become more open to nonresident property owners. A growing number of them are considering loosening or temporarily suspending foreign property-ownership restrictions in a bid to stimulate their real-estate markets. In January, for example, Beijing issued a one-year suspension of a one-year residency requirement for foreign nationals buying a house.

The Cayman Islands and Australia have also recently loosened their rules. Meanwhile, the issue is being discussed in numerous other countries, including the Philippines.

Loosening foreign-investment restrictions isn't new. Governments have been attempting to stimulate foreign investment for years in response to swelling interest from international investors. In 2005, India began letting foreigners invest directly in Indian residential and commercial real-estate development. And in late 2006, the government lifted a required 10-year lock-in period on repatriating property sale proceeds, although it's limited to $1 million a year.

Slumping property sales has given the issue renewed urgency, as countries strive to find ways to stimulate local economies. Last month, the historically foreign-investment-friendly government of the Cayman Islands temporarily lowered rates on their real-estate transfer "stamp duty" taxes, including a reduction to 5% from 7.5% on waterfront property. At the same time, the country's real-estate brokers group, Cayman Islands Real Estate Brokers Association, announced a 20% rebate on commissions. The discounts last through Sept. 30.

Restrictions on foreign ownership exist mainly in emerging property markets. Most Western European countries, including the U.K., France and Italy, don't restrict foreign nationals from owning real estate. (Notable exceptions are Switzerland and Austria, which have established some foreign-buyer quotas to keep prices down in some ski towns.) The U.S. doesn't restrict foreigners from buying property.

Ways to restrict foreign investment aside from outright bans include high transfer taxes and limits on when and how much money investors can repatriate. Rules can differ depending whether the purchase is a residence or an investment.

To be sure, not all countries are choosing to loosen regulations. Some may crack down on foreign investment, blaming it for driving prices to unsustainable levels, says Danny Bance, managing partner of U.K.-based International Property Investment Network, a research and investment services provider for investors.

But many governments believe that foreign investment spurs infrastructure development, which spurs economic opportunity, says Mr. Johnson, 59 years old, of Detroit, who got his start developing luxury property in Michigan, including a large Lake Michigan resort. He says he helped convince the British Virgin Islands government to loosen curbs on foreign investment partly through his willingness to hire local residents for senior management positions.

Oil Nut Bay is Mr. Johnson's biggest solo project and his first in the Caribbean. He bought the undeveloped 300-acre peninsula in 2006 for an undisclosed price and has spent millions on infrastructure, roads, electricity, the arrival dock, the beach club and other structures.
Yet sales are slow. After about four months of marketing, he says he has sold about eight lots of the roughly 45 for sale at "founders" prices, ranging from $1.9 million for a "ridge villa" one-acre lot to $25 million for 10 acres with 360-degree views. Nevertheless, he says he isn't strapped for funds.

Oil Nut Bay's beach club is slated for completion in December and construction costs are expected to total $500 million for the full project, including what buyers will pay to build their houses and the cost of shipping in 5,000 metric tons of sand to create a sandy beach.

There is still a market for unique, luxury development, Mr. Johnson says, despite the recession. He admits, however, that there are fewer buyers than there used to be. He notes: "If we had 1,000 units [to sell], I would be scared to death."


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Value perceptions move closer to reality

April 26, 2009 - by BILL CUNNIFF - Sun-Times Staff Writer

Fifty-seven percent of American homeowners believe their own home lost value over the last 12 months, says an online survey.

This is markedly more than the 38 percent who believed their home's value was declining when asked during the second quarter of 2008.

In reality, 76 percent of all U.S. homes lost value in 2008, according to analysis by Zillow.com.
When asked what the near future will bring for their homes, most homeowners expressed optimism. Two-thirds believe their home's value will either increase or stay the same in the first six months of 2009. Thirty percent believe it will decrease.

"It's clear that the 'not my house' sentiment that was so prevalent in earlier surveys is waning, and homeowners are opening their eyes to the unfortunate reality of significant losses in home values across most of the country," said Stan Humphries, Zillow's vice president of data and analytics.

"That said, there's a curious optimism for homeowners when asked about the future. Most seem to believe we've hit a bottom and the worst has passed," he said.

"Unfortunately, the data tells another story. With year-over-year home value losses continuing to accelerate, most areas of the country will see housing values get worse before they begin to stabilize,"

Meanwhile, homeowners' optimism for the future does not extend to their neighbors' homes. While 70 percent of homeowners think their own homes' values will increase or stay the same in the first half of 2009, only 52 percent believe home values in their local market will increase or stay the same during the same time period.

Affordable new homes

With record low mortgage rates and declining home prices, 55 million families -- or half of all U.S. households -- can afford today's $200,000 median-priced new home, according to figures released by the National Association of Home Builders.

"That's an increase of 17 million households from conditions just two years ago and the best housing affordability number we have seen in years," said NAHB chairman Joe Robson. "We are now seeing the first signs that buyers are returning to the marketplace. These are encouraging signs that the housing market may be finally reaching a bottom."

A typical family today can purchase a house with $20,000 less in household income and save nearly $500 per month on their principal, interest, taxes and insurance, based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The figures compared home prices, mortgage rates and minimum income needed to purchase a median-priced home in February 2007 and February 2009.

Another sign that consumers are considering jumping back into the housing market is the growing interest in the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit included in the recently enacted economic stimulus package. During February and March, 1.5 million visitors logged on to NAHB's consumer Web site, www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com, to learn more about the tax credit.

A new survey commissioned by Move Inc. found that nearly 20 percent of those who plan to purchase a home this year are doing so to take advantage of the tax credit, which expires at the end of November.

Housing is a critical component of the U.S. economy, accounting for about 15 cents of every dollar spent in this country, so any upturn in the housing market should be viewed as good news for the overall economy, said Robson.

Childless households

Half of all American households included children in the 1980s, but only a third did by 2000, according to a published report.

"Our calculations are that within the next 10 to 15 years, 75 percent of those buying homes in this region will be childless," housing trend analyst Jeffrey G. Otteau told the New York Times.


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Housing Recovery Hits Florida Real Estate First

In what is an unprecedented move, Florida is pulling out of the housing downturn first, according to a new report by Housing Predictor.
(EMAILWIRE.COM, Headline Press LLC, Mike Colpitts, April 21, 2009 )

Destin, Florida -- In an unprecedented turn of events Florida is pulling out of the housing downturn first, according to a new report by Housing Predictor.

In previous real estate depressions California has been the first state in the nation to signal a turn around in the housing market. But higher home and condo sales in Florida that have lasted for more than a half year and increasing buyer inquiries signal the Sunshine State is making a turn for the better in real estate.

Record population growth in Florida may contribute to the more promising market after nearly a four year slow down in home sales, which started after the state was battered by a series of hurricanes and the financial crisis. As a result home sales turned sluggish in Florida before any where else in the country.

However, nearly two-thirds of all sales are foreclosures and short sale properties, many of which are not counted by real estate agents since they are sold at auction or by banks directly to home buyers. The new trend demonstrates better times are on the horizon for housing markets troubled by the credit crisis.

More banks in many Florida housing markets are beginning to make mortgages, especially locally based lenders, and nearly a fifth of all sales are owner financed.

Housing Predictor forecasts more than 250 local housing markets in all 50 states, and regularly tracks markets from coast to coast. Search foreclosures, check your market forecast and other real estate news at http://www.housingpredictor.com/

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Trump Investing in Commercial Real Estate

Trump: I'm Buying Commercial Real Estate

Posted By:CNBC.com

Iconic investor Donald Trump offered CNBC his take on the economy, financials and the state of real-estate investing.

The author of "The Art of the Deal" said the economy still looks moribund, as the flow of liquidity has not resumed.

Trump said this stagnation is largely due to banks that received "billions and billions" in TARP money from the government — but are not lending it as was expected. He says it behooves the Obama administration to act on this.

"The policy makers have to make the banks loan the money that they're giving to the banks," Trump said.

'Fast Money' Traders: Buy Commercial Real Estate?

Trump, who also hosts NBC's* Apprentice series, said he is investing in commercial real estate — but cautioned that a bottom may still be elusive.

"The only problem with buying [now] is you just don't know how low is low. The only positive I see, frankly, is that the stock market is going up — but I just don't know why the stock market is going up."

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Chinese eye bargain U.S. real estate

WEALTHY CHINESE EYE BARGAIN PRICES IN THE U.S. REAL ESTATE MARKET

BY TIM JOHNSON
McClatchy News Service

BEIJING -- Amid a downturn in real-estate prices, some wealthy Chinese are signing up for home-buying tours to the United States, and Chinese media tout the trend as another sign of strength from what's now the world's third-largest economy behind the United States and Japan.

''The real estate prices in America have gone down drastically,'' said Yin Guohua, a partner in a law firm who recently returned from an 11-day U.S. tour with a group of Chinese elite. ``It's a good option for Chinese people who want to buy for investment.''

On a recent broadcast, China Central Television's popular Oriental Horizon program dedicated half an hour to the topic of house-hunting tours to the United States. The tours also have been the subject of numerous newspaper articles, some of them suggesting that the buying power of newly rich Chinese might help salvage U.S. real estate woes.

''We'll probably take more than 10 groups this year,'' said Vincent Mo, chairman of SouFun Holdings, one of two companies known to be organizing the house-buying trips. ``There are more than 500 people applying to go with the SouFun team to look at property in the United States.''

Not all of those on the tours are serious property investors. Some want a quick look around the United States. Others want a son or daughter to obtain a U.S. education and think that buying property will help get a foot in the door.

Mo acknowledged that he doesn't know if anyone among the first group of 40 Chinese investors, who traveled to the United States in February, bought property.

The U.S. real-estate slump has made property in major cities seem cheaper than in China's larger cities, real-estate professionals said.

''If you take a brand new apartment in a first-tier city, like Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou, you can buy a lot more equivalent in the United States,'' said Anna Kalifa, a vice president of business development at GTC Real Estate China, a development arm of the Kardan Group, based in the Netherlands.

`BANG FOR YOUR BUCK'

In a city such as Washington, she said, ``you can get more bang for your buck, square meter per square meter.''

Luo Jie, a tour organizer, agreed: ``You can buy a much better home in America for $400,000 or $500,000 than you can buy here.''

Luo pulled out a promotional folder written in Mandarin with numerous listings of foreclosed properties in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and New York.

''There are more and more foreclosed properties on the market,'' Luo said, adding that his firm, China Swan International Tours, will take an initial tour group within a few weeks.

Luo acknowledged that Chinese investors face hurdles in getting their wealth out of the country. The Chinese currency, the yuan, is not fully convertible in currency markets, and can be exchanged only under certain conditions for trade, tourism and other purposes.

Those difficulties may be the reason few Chinese taking part in the tours speak to the media. Holding wealth out of the country may raise questions about tax evasion or how the wealth was amassed. Some participants also appear to be government officials who want to avoid explaining how they got wealthy.

The Oriental Horizon program said 7.5 percent of U.S. residential property sold to foreigners last year went to investors from mainland China, Taiwan or Hong Kong.

ALL HYPE?

One real-estate commentator, Wang Shitai, downplayed the significance of the tours.

''In times of crisis, entertainment is needed,'' Wang told the TV program. ``News about people buying houses in America has strong entertainment value. Agents want commissions, and the media focus on the topic.''

Organizers of the tours, however, say that they satisfy a need. Few Chinese dare to venture on their own to buy a house in the United States because of the language barrier and lack of familiarity with legal procedures.

''They need an organization like SouFun to consolidate professionals into one place,'' Mo said. ``We have the broker agents there, and the law firms and insurance companies standing by.''
Yin said some Chinese think the slide of the U.S. real estate market may continue.

''Some people think it's still not time to buy. In some places, the prices haven't gone down so far yet,'' Yin said.

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