| September 2008 | Weekly Motivational
Ideas! Inspirations that I hope will help you make more $$!! |
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Dear
Sam, The financial saga continues...
Buzz words that you heard from politicians and others over and over again
last week was the need for more 'transparency' and 'oversight'.
In case you are curious as I was to the definitions that these entail in
terms of the relevancy to the financial crisis, here goes...
Transparency - the full, accurate, and timely disclosure of
information.
Oversight - Overseeing the performance or operation of a person
or another group.
I am glad that these things are being put in the language of the bailout
plan expected to pass today to help our industry and our economy as I am sure
you are too.
These are extraordinary times and hopefully history will show that we got
it right with swift and decisive action with controls and actions to help people
on Main Street while helping and controlling Wall Street so this problem does
not reoccur again.
The sooner the better so we can start selling a
ton of houses with increased consumer confidence!
__________________________
__________________________
Thanks for your business.
 Senior Mortgage Advisor President's Club Member 2007 Mortgage Services
910-489-6918 or
843-230-7929
__________________
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Swooping down on FSBOs - There is another way! | |
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 Just like these buzzards
circling the scent of their next meal, many realtors are circling FSBOs
too!
There is another way to
work with "For Sale By Owners" that I promote from what my colleagues
are doing in other markets too. Instead of asking for their listing, ask if you
can help them by getting all of their prospects pre-approved before allowing
prospects to see their house! Mention to your FSBOs that your favorite Mortgage
Advisor (me, I hope!) just did another study of his prospects and year-to-date,
he had the following results.
Out of 509 applications
taken in this market Jan-Oct, 48% of the borrowers had a credit score lower than
to 580 meaning they cannot get a loan right now. 15% were in the grey area
between 580 and 619 meaning they might be able to get a loan if they have good
compensating factors and if they can pay off their collections, charge-offs and
judgments. But only 37% had a 620 credit score or higher meaning they have a
shot at getting approved.
For this 37% of home
shoppers in our market, less than half have any money for the down payment and
closing costs and of those, many do not have an urgent need or strong desire to
buy. Also, many have contingencies too.
Based on this, only around
1 out of 10 prospects are really a "qualified" buyer. In other words,
the FSBO is going to be wasting a whole lot of time with people who will not be
buying their home.
So, work up a flyer with
your contact information and offer to give your FSBOs some suggestions on how to
sell their home and ask them to tell anyone that contacts them to call you so
you can screen them. When you start getting prospects, call me and I'll try to
get them pre-approved and I'll keep you posted on my progress.
Then we can
work together to try to get the borrower to use you if they decide they do not
want that house!
And by staying in touch
with these sellers, when they do decide to buy, YOU are the one getting your
FSBOs' listing!
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 Want to jazz up your website? Add the "get approved" graphic
below and then put my website link in the properties of the image as follows.
Call me if you need help with this.
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Weekly Tip - Working for your sellers! | |
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 Are you doing this for your sellers?
One of my favorite agents does. She
also de-clutters, stages with her own furniture, puts out flowers in and outside
of the home and cleans the houses that she has listed on a regular basis.
This realtor told me is that she wants to work for her sellers and earn her
commission. The better her listings look, the quicker they'll sell and this is
working for her and her sellers.
The flowers work in attracting buyers. Moving her furniture around from
house to house works and keeping the homes clean works.
Not only are her listings selling, but she is getting a strong reputation
in the city for being a great listing agent. Beyond the obvious, she feels
better about her service to her sellers and this gives her a lot to update the
sellers on that keeps them happy with her service for them.
Lastly, by spending more time
at your listings, you are going to see more neighbors and run into more
prospective buyers and others are going to see you there too, all helping your
business. This exposure can be huge, depending on the location of the home and
the networking that your seller does in talking about
you!
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Weekly Mortgage Commentary Snippet | |
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Weekly Rate Lock Advisory - Monday, Sept
29th.
 This week brings us the release of five monthly economic reports for the
bond market to digest. August's Personal Income and Outlays is the week's first
data and will be released tomorrow morning. It gives us an indication of
consumer ability to spend and current spending habits. This is important to the
markets because consumer spending makes up two-thirds of the U.S. economy.
Rising income generally indicates that consumers have more money to spend,
making economic growth more of a possibility. This is bad news for the bond
market and mortgage rates because it raises inflation concerns, making long-term
securities such as mortgage related bonds less attractive to investors. It is
expected to show a 0.2% rise in income and a 0.2% increase in
spending.
The next is Tuesday's Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) for September. This Conference Board index will be posted at 10:00 AM and gives us a measurement of consumer willingness to spend. It is expected to show a decline from last month's reading, indicating that consumers are less likely to make large purchases in the near future. This is good news for the bond market and mortgage rates. Analysts are calling for a reading of approximately 55.0, down from August's 56.9. If we see a larger than expected decline, we should see the bond market move higher and mortgage rates drop Tuesday. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) will post their manufacturing index for September late Wednesday morning. This index gives us an indication of manufacturer sentiment. Analysts are expecting little change from last month's 49.9 reading. The 50.0 benchmark is extremely important because a reading below that level means more surveyed executives felt business worsened than those who said it had improved. This data is important not only because it measures manufacturer sentiment, but it is very recent data. Some economic releases track data that are 30-60 days old, but the ISM index is o nly a few weeks old. If we get a smaller than expected reading, I expect to see the bond market rally and mortgage rates fall Wednesday morning. The next release is Thursday when the Commerce Department will post August's Factory Orders data. This manufacturing sector report is similar to last week's Durable Goods Orders release, but includes orders for non-durable goods. It can usually impact the financial markets enough to change mortgage rates if it varies from forecasts by a wide margin. Current forecasts are calling for a decline in new orders of approximately 1.8%. An unexpected rise could drive mortgage rates higher, while a weaker than expected reading should push them lower Thursday. The Labor Department will post September's Employment report early Friday morning. This report will reveal the U.S. unemployment rate, number of new payrolls added and average hourly earnings. These are considered to be very important readings of the employment sector and can have a huge impact on the financial markets. The ideal scenario for the bond market is rising unemployment, falling payrolls and a drop in earnings. Weaker than expected readings should help boost bond prices and lower mortgage rates Friday. However, stronger then forecasted readings could be disastrous for mortgage pricing. Analysts are expecting to see the unemployment rate 6.1%, a decline in new payrolls of approximately 90,000 and a 0.3% increase in earnings. Overall, it is going to be a very active week in the markets and mortgage rates. The most important day will likely be Friday due to the employment report being scheduled, but Tuesday's and Wednesday's data can also fairly heavily influence mortgage rates. With important data being released each day of the week, I would recommend maintaining contact with your mortgage professional. If I were considering financing/refinancing a home, I would.... Loc k if my closing was taking place within 7 days... Lock if my closing was taking place between 8 and 20 days... Lock if my closing was taking place between 21 and 60 days... Float if my closing was taking place over 60 days from now... This is only my opinion of what I would do if I were financing a home. It is only an opinion and cannot be guaranteed to be in the best interest of all/any other borrowers. |
