The Agent Center Blog

The flagship loans of the U.S. Small Business Administration--as well as a new loan created as part of the federal government's big economic recovery initiative--are available to individual practitioners, SBA has clarified.

The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® sought clarification from SBA after hearing that lenders in some jurisdictions were making the loans to practitioners while others were not.

Having these loans available to individual real estate licensees without ambiguity potentially gives a shot in the arm to practitioners who are struggling with high business-related debt. The new loan program, called ARC (For America's Recovery Capital), is an interest-free, deferred payment loan of up to $35,000. One of its intended uses is to help businesses get out from under ruinous debt.

Thus, if practitioners have maxed-out business credit cards (it has to be business-related debt; personal debt won't qualify), they can pay that debt off with the far-more attractive SBA loan.

SBA's two flagship loans, known as the Section 7(a) and Section 504 loans, are also open to individuals. The terms of these loan programs have been made more attractive recently, so practitioners have additional loan options that they might want to consider.

On the 7(a) loans, the SBA says, "To assist small businesses during the economic downturn, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act authorizes SBA to temporarily reduce or eliminate loan fees for borrowers . . . and raises the loan guarantee from the current level to 90 percent."

More information on the loan programs is included in a REALTOR Magazine video interview with NAR Government Affairs.

--By Robert Freedman for REALTOR® Magazine Online

How in the world can any one person stay on top of never ending laws trickling down from multiple state and federal organizations?

Oh… here is another one and it’s a doozy.

As of July 1st 2009 you must register with and have been issued and maintain a certificate of registration from the Department of Justice, Attorney General's Office, in order to engage in the foreclosure consultant business.   Attorney General Memo

The foreclosure consultant application requires an $850 processing fee and a $100,000 bond of which is nearly impossible to get…I made the calls. So if you can’t get the bond your only other option is to put up $100,000 hard earned cash and the state of California will be nice enough to hold it in its bank account for you. That would be a bank account belonging to a state in financial crisis that is currently dealing out IOU’s.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not “in support” of scrupulous companies taking advantage of anyone, that even includes my dry cleaners. But I am concerned when a law rolls out with tons of grey areas yet carries whopping fines up to $25,000 per incident and jail time. With limited state resources, how will violations be monitored? We all should be fearful if it all circles around a consumer complaint…oh my!

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Even real estate agents need to be concerned...
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For instance, a real estate agent representing a short sale listing (acting as an authoritative expert) doesn’t need to register but if your listing receives an NOD during the process and you give advice to your homeowner or help with a sale date extension  you become one of these “foreclosure consultants” requiring Attorney General registration.
And there’s more…

Where do you draw the line…more importantly where do they?

This is exactly why The Agent Center exists and why so many agents are crazy about it.
Get the liability off of me and my agents!

Vital reading…
Full Report “CA Foreclosure Consultant Guidelines”

Christina Inman, the CEO of TheAgentCenter.com, has been a real estate industry specialist, author and broker for 17 years.

The percentage of price reductions has continued to increase month-over-month for the past three months. The total value slashed off active listings now totals $27.8 billion. The average reduction was 10 percent from the original price.

Cities showing significant increases in the percentage of listings with price cuts from June 1 to Aug. 1 were:

• Fresno, Calif.: 67 percent
• Colorado Springs, Colo.: 27 percent
• Kansas City, Mo.: 25 percent
• Oklahoma City, Okla.: 24 percent
• Albuquerque, N.M.: 22 percent.

Cities with significant declines in the percentage of listings with price reductions included:

• Dallas: -42 percent
• Las Vegas: -33 percent
• Louisville, Ky.: -33 percent
• Los Angeles: -19 percent
• Washington, D.C.: -17 percent

Source: Trulia.com (08/14/2009)

Here’s more evidence that housing is turning around. Forbes magazine identified 161 of the country’s largest metro areas where sales activity has increased compared to 2008, and where foreclosure sales as a percentage of total sales, are low.

The magazine considers these markets as on the road to recovery.
1. Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
2. Lincoln, Neb.
3. Colorado Springs, Colo.
4. Salem, Ore.
5. San Luis Obispo, Calif.
6. Bremerton, Wash.
7. Denver, Colo.
8. Redding, Calif.
9. Santa Barbara, Calif.
10. San Jose, Calif.

Source: Forbes, Matt Woolsey (08/13/2009)

Bank Failures

The FDIC has taken over many banks since the start of 2008, including the largest ever failed bank in history.

Here's the list so far.

The Federal Reserve ended its policy-making meeting Wednesday with the declaration that the recession is ending and it would move toward more normal policies.

The Fed said, “Economic activity is leveling out.” It added that it expected inflation would remain “subdued for some time.”

The Fed said it will keep the short-term key interest rate near zero, but it will end its program to buy $300 billion worth of Treasury bonds by the end of October. Buying bonds was one of the Fed’s efforts to drive down the cost of home mortgages.

“In a way, it’s more of a thumbs-up than if they had said they were continuing the Treasury-buying,” said Edward McKelvey, an economist at Goldman Sachs. “They’re saying that things are going according to plan, and that the policy is O.K.”

Source: The New York Times, Edmund L. Andrews (08/12/2009)

Washington D.C.-area Long & Foster associate Juliet Zucker made multiple offers on a condominium on behalf of a client, but none of them were successful. Finally, she wrote an offer that ended in the number “18,” which in Hebrew symbolizes “chai,” which means life. The ploy was successful. Her client signed a contract for $384,118.

When Margaret Rome, a Baltimore-are practitioner, began selling homes 20 years ago, she drove a Porsche 944. In its honor, she ended the price on her first listing with 944. It sold within a week. Since then she has used the number for every property.

Glenn Kelman, CEO of Redfin, says there is truth in picking the right number. Redfin research shows that homes with a list price ending in “500” sell for more than properties whose price ends in three zeroes. They also spend slightly less time on the market.

Why is this? Nobody knows for sure. "You shouldn't sweat the weird stuff, because it will just drive you nuts,” Kelman says.

Source: Washington Post, Ylan Q. Mui (08/08/2009)