1 – The government forces all delinquent/underwater mortgages to be modified? Those of us who do pay our mortgages look like suckers.

2 – Retirees cannot retire.

3 – The 30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage goes away?

4a – QRM becomes law -

The proposal would allow participants to avoid the 5% requirement when they securitize “qualified residential mortgages (QRM),” deemed relatively safe from default by borrowers. To fit this category, a mortgage would require a borrower with a solid credit rating who will make a down payment of at least 20%. Studies have shown that borrowers are less likely to default if they have made large down payments, which represent equity that would be lost in a foreclosure. Many of the bad loans issued a few years ago required little or no down payment.

4b – I know I’m simplifying this, but if a buyer is required to have some skin in the game, why shouldn’t the lender? From the NAR:

NAR also has concerns about the proposed risk retention regulation under the Dodd-Frank Act that requires lenders that securitize mortgage loans to retain 5 percent of the credit risk unless the mortgage is a qualified residential mortgage (QRM). High down payment requirements are being proposed by federal regulatory agencies as part of the QRM exemption. Most Americans still consider having enough money for down payment and closing costs to be the biggest obstacles to buying a home. According to NAR estimates it could take as many as 14 years for the average family to save for their down payment. Higher down payments do not have a meaningful impact on default rates; NAR supports a reasonable and affordable cash investment requirement coupled with quality credit standards, strong documentation and sound underwriting.

4c – Let’s not forget one of the main reasons we got in the mess we were/are in: (I originally noted this in 2007)

The key reason the Subprime problem exists as it does today has to do with the wanton disassociation of risk inherent in the machine that churns out Subprime loans. Unlike the S&L crisis of the 1980s, the mortgage lenders of today aren’t taking their own balance sheet risk when underwriting loans. These brokers get paid for quantity REGARDLESS of quality. The balance sheet risk is transferred through three entities in less than 90 days from origination. The originator will originate ANYTHING he can sell to a whole loan buyer to pass the hot potato on. Whole loan buyers are simply the aggregators of loans at the Wall St. firms that aggregate, package, tranche, and sell as quickly as they possibly can to the clueless buyer. This transference of risk is the crux of the Subprime situation. Just think about it…if you were a 20-something making mortgage loans in California using someone else’s balance sheet and being paid per loan (with no lookback to performance of the loan), how many dubious loans would you underwrite?

5 – There is so much fraud in our systems that no one cares and/or no one knows what to do about it.

This revelation, that HUD audits of the biggest servicers over a mere two-month period, showed extensive fraud, is proof that abuses were extensive. It also establishes that the effort by Tom Miller to settle the 50 state attorneys general investigation quickly and and the recent “see no evil” Federal consent orders are a cover up. The fact that HUD found extensive misconduct over a similar time frame as the Foreclosure Task Force, which Assistant Treasury Secretary Michael Barr described as a ““11-agency, 8-week review of servicer practices, with hundreds of investigators crawling all over the banks” proves that the latter to be pure regulatory theater.

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Why? Why????

This is the sort of thing I’d like to see Congress and the National Association of Realtors address. The inefficiencies created by needing wet signatures are tremendous. Printing, signing, scanning/faxing. Only to be told at the last minute that the lender needs “original” signatures (faxed are ok), when an electronic signature can be far more secure than a faxed signature, which could be signed by anyone.

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Simple.

I don’t spam. Never have. But some people still use bogus names when registering for the home search tool on RealCentralVA.com. And then someone said to me – you know what you mean when you say, “no spam,” but they don’t know what you mean.

Transcript:

Hi, Jim Duncan with Nest Realty and realcentralva.com here in Charlottesville, Virginia talking about the spam policy on realcentralva.com with respect to my home search tool. I think my detailed home search tool is pretty sweet. It’s why I got it a couple of years ago because I wanted to help people be able to search for homes effectively in Charlottesville and I have a policy on there that says: “no spam, ever, period,” and for me, that’s simple. It means I’m not going to send you unsolicited e-mail, messages, Facebook, texts, anything, phone calls, etc., just because I hate spam too and I mean it when I say: “no spam period.” When you sign up, you’ll get an automated e-mail saying “thank you,” and I do mean it. It’s automated, but I mean it, and that’s it. I won’t contact you in any way, shape, or form every again.

My name is Jim Duncan. I write realcentralva.com. My phone number is (434) 242-7140. My e-mail is jim@realcentralva.com. If you get some sort of unsolicited communication from me, please, call me, e-mail me, contact me and tell me because more than likely I don’t know about it. It’s some automated process that’s set up and I’ll fix it. So please, search for homes at your heart’s content, even you Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Saddam Hussein. I’d rather you use your real name. It just makes me feel better, but that’s it. My name is Jim Duncan. I hope you have a good day.

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As much as I love, love, love what I do, I love my family more.

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Got this in the email the other day:

Update 12 April 2011:

Ben Davis with Ryan Homes sent me this email after he and I talked.

“It was great speaking with you on the phone today.  As a long time reader of RealCentralVA I wanted to provide some follow up information regarding your post on 3/28 “100%”.  The email was a great visual representation of satisfied Ryan Homes homeowners.  However, you are correct in that it did not provide any raw data to back up the claim.  In a short and to the point marketing piece it is hard to show raw data in the piece without compromising the visual appeal.  I sense from your posts that you and I both enjoy looking at data and proof sources, so I’ve attached some data that does back up the claim in the email.  The data shows the results of our “Customer Satisfaction Survey”** that is sent to every customer approximately 60 days after settlement.  The ratings are on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the highest.  I’ve crossed out the name of an employee that is no longer working in Charlottesville since I do not have their position to share this information.  You’ll see on the far right hand side the % of customers who would recommend Ryan Homes to a “Friend or Family Member”.  I speak for our entire Ryan Homes Charlottesville team when I say we take customer service/quality very seriously and are proud our survey results.  It’s pretty remarkable that out of the 43 results shown, not one employee has an average below 9.2 out of 10.  The numbers represent the 43 customers who returned their surveys within the past 3 quarters not every customer that has moved into their home.  We encourage every customer to return a survey (Secured email to the customer); however, not everyone returns a survey.  In the attached data sample 43 of the 80 customers who closed on their home during this time period have returned a survey as of this morning (4/2/2011).
 

We are all very proud of the level of customer service and quality that we provide while serving the Charlottesville Area market.  I guess what the headline should have read was “100% of Ryan Homes Customers who moved in their home and returned their “Customer Satisfaction Survey” by time the ad was created said they would recommend a Ryan Home to a friend or family member.”  I’m being facetious here, but I get the point of your post.  We’ll be sure to add an explanation at the bottom of similar emails in the future.  You have my number and email below, I’m happy to provide you with any information that I have available in the future.  I encourage you  to post the attached results and/or this email as a follow up to the “100%” blog entry.

 
Thanks again for your time on the phone today.  I look forward to speaking with you again soon.

 
Take care,

 
**The survey is our “Report Card” on how well we served our customers in the Charlottesville Area Market.  They get a chance to rate their experience with our sales staff, production team, quality of construction, completeness of the home at the final walk through, and whether or not they would recommend Ryan Homes to a friend or family member.  To ensure that the home lives up to our quality standards they also get another survey at 10-12months after our 30day and 10month scheduled service appointments.  As you know, all new homes will acclimate to its surroundings in the first year due to expansion and contraction of the main building material: Wood.  For example, a door may become tight, a window may become hard to open, and there may be “nail pops” in the drywall.  It happens in virtually all new homes so we offer our customers a 30day , 10 month service,  as well as  a one time drywall and paint touch up at no added cost.”
 

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(bolding mine)

From Data Center Knowledge:

Verizon will acquire colocation and cloud hosting provider Terremark for $1.4 billion in a deal that will accelerate the telecom provider’s push into cloud computing. Verizon will pay $19.00 in cash for each share of Terremark, about a 35 percent premium to the stock’s closing price of  $14.05 a share.

Verizon (VZ) said the acquisition will accelerate its “everything-as-a-service” cloud computing strategy by adding a portfolio of secure, scalable cloud solutions, along with Terremark’s large base of business and government customers. Verizon also gets Terremark’s global network of 13 data centers,  including the NAP of the Americas in Miami, the NAP of the Capital Region data fortress in Culpeper, Virginia and facilities in Silicon Valley, Dallas, Amsterdam and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Verizon plans to operate Terremark (TMRK) as a wholly-owned subsidiary, retaining the company’s brand and current management team.

So … our part of the state will soon have Fiberlight’s fiber optic network (presumably to DIA and NGIC) and Verizon’s buying a huge data center?

For some reason, these two announcements make me think that things may be looking up. Now … how does a real estate agent in Charlottesville capitalize on such developments?

More at Mashable.

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What do you think?

Astonishingly, Qwiki picks up that the City of Charlottesville and County of Albemarle are separate entities, something that takes quite some time to realize for newcomers.

And then you have Albemarle County, via Qwiki.

Did you know that Albemarle has 4 square miles of water?

And the Charlottesville MSA:

Impressive:

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But if we’re not trying new things, what’s the point?

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View from the fifth floor.

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If the Albemarle Board of Supervisors does pass Places29, without fundamental changes (including real consideration of a bypass option), we believe VDOT will continue to press the arterial standards.  If forced to meet this “new” standard, many approved developments may not be able to be achieved.

Places29 will then be nothing more than an expensive book of pretty pictures that hindered rather than enhanced development opportunities in the development areas.

Just build the Western Bypass, already. 29 North was never designed to to be an artery where pedestrian activity was encouraged, was it?

Start reading about the Western Bypass, and understand that, like most infrastructure improvements in our area, nothing will ever get done.

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View Nest to … in a larger map

Why in the world would I drive to show this house if I’m already at my office?

* I rode the wrong way on that one-way street rather than go around the block

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As a consumer, would you agree to Single Agent Dual Agency if you were informed about its’ true limitations?

This bill in the Virginia General Assembly, boldly recommended (and worked on for years) by the Virginia Association of Realtors would accomplish at least two things:

1 – Protect and inform the consumer

2 – Help to emphasize the value of representation of buyers and sellers.

3 – Nothing about dual agency’s perils changes; the only change below is that the limitations are spelled out – for everybody – for the buyers, the sellers, agents …

What is single agent dual agency? Whereby the same real estate agent “represents” the buyer and the seller in the same transaction … kinda like hiring the same divorce attorney for both parties.

The only one who benefits from Single Agent Dual Agency? The Realtor.

The highlighted portions are new:

A. A licensee may not act as a dual representative only with unless he has first obtained the written consent of all clients parties to the transaction given after written disclosure of the consequences of such dual representation. Such written consent and disclosure of the brokerage relationship as required by this article shall be presumed to have been given as against any client who signs a disclosure as provided in this section. (i) shall be writing and (ii) may be given to either party at the time prior to the commencement of dual representation. The disclosure shall contain the following provisions:

1. That following the commencement of dual representation, the licensee will be unable to advise either party as to the terms, offers or counteroffers; however, the licensee may have previously advised one party as to terms prior to the commencement of dual representation;

2. That the licensee cannot advise the buyer client as to the suitability of the property, its condition (other than to make any disclosures as required by law of any licensee representing a seller), and cannot advise either party as to repairs of the property to make or request;

3. That the licensee cannot advise either party in any dispute that might later arise relating to the transaction;

4. That the licensee will be acting without familiarity with the client?s needs, client?s experience in the market, or client?s experience in handling real estate transactions unless he has gained that information from earlier contact with the client; and

5. That either party may engage another licensee if he requires additional representation.

B. Such disclosures shall not be deemed to comply with the requirements set out in this section if (i) not signed by the client or (ii) given in a purchase agreement, lease or any other document related to a transaction. Any disclosure and consent that substantially complies with the following shall be deemed in compliance with this disclosure requirement:

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A small-business bill poised to become law includes new tax reporting requirements for rental property owners and a second provision calling for steep increases in fines for any person or business who fails to furnish correct information to the IRS, such as 1099 forms for services and purchases.

The two provisions are tucked inside the Small Business Lending Fund Act, which passed the Senate Thursday. A report issued last week by the Joint Committee on Taxation calculates that the two provisions combined would raise about $3 billion of the overall $30 billion cost of the legislation.

According to the bill’s proposed new rules on rental property, owners who pay $600 or more for a service such as plumbing, landscaping or painting, would be required to issue 1099 forms to the IRS and whoever provided the work.

Think: maintenance folks, landscaping people, plumbers, etc.

Read more at the Washington Examiner.

Hat tip: Real Estate Bloggers

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2010 – Last year was five years of blogging about real estate.

2009.

2008.

What is done here is so much more than “blogging,” and it starts with this:

New tip for newbie real estate bloggers: work to be a great agent first, blogger second.

My clients rock.

I’m undertaking a redesign. A revamp, a freshening, a re-invention if you will. Stay tuned. Suggestions welcome.

The content – the method, the message, the dedication – will remain the same.

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From the Times Dispatch:

A Charlottesville man who stripped down to his underwear at Richmond International Airport to protest security-screening procedures was charged with disorderly conduct Thursday, airport police said.

Airport police identified him as Aaron B. Tobey, 21. He told police he was a student at theUniversity of Cincinnati. The incident occurred at 2:17 p.m. at Checkpoint B, the busier of the airport’s two checkpoints, said airport spokesman Troy M. Bell.

Bell said police reported that when they arrived at the checkpoint, they found Tobey, “absent of pants and shirt in full public view, exposing language regarding the Fourth Amendment written on his chest and abdomen with marker or crayon.”

The message read, “Amendment 4: The right of the people to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated,” Bell said.

And The HooK.

Note the Code of Virginia: “§ 18.2-415. Disorderly conduct in public places.”

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What follows is a post I wrote and never published. If you’re buying, don’t do so because of fear. Same goes for selling.

There are a lot of reasons to buy a house in Charlottesville now; fear shouldn’t be one of them. And, if you’re buying from a builder’s employee …

I just received this email from a builder … bolding mine.

5 Reasons Why You Should Purchase BEFORE December 31,2009!

1- Increased Closing Cost Assistance*: $8,000 vs. Our Regular $3,000 Offer… Thats an Additional $5,000!

2- Interest Rates at Historic Lows: Leading Authorities Warn of Potential Interest Rate Increases Ahead, Which Could Increase YOUR Monthly Payment!

3- FHA Down Payment Requirements: A Proposed House Bill, The FHA Taxpayer Protection of 2009, Would Increase The Minimum Down Payment Required from 3.5% to 5%!

4- Historically Low Home Prices: As the Housing Industry Continues its Recovery, Increasing Prices Cannot Be Far Behind!

5- $8,000 Tax Credit*: In Order to Receive the Tax Credit, You Must Settle by June 20, 2010!

1 – ok. Just missing an apostrophe.

2 – Who exactly are the “leading authorities”?

3 – True.

4 – Naturally. Fear sells, right?

5 – The fine print says “June 30″ – so is it June 20 or 30?

From the Text of H.R. 3548: Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009:

(a) Extension of Application Period-

‘(2) EXCEPTION IN CASE OF BINDING CONTRACT- In the case of any taxpayer who enters into a written binding contract before May 1, 2010, to close on the purchase of a principal residence before July 1, 2010, paragraph (1) shall be applied by substituting ‘July 1, 2010’ for ‘May 1, 2010’.’.

* Love those asterisks

*Federal tax credit up to $8,000 for first-time buyers and $6,500 for move-up buyers available on homes under contract as primary residences by 4/30/2010 and settled by 6/30/2010. $8,000 tax credit is for first-time buyers or those who have not owned a primary residence in 3 years. The $6,500 credit is Available to Move-Up Buyers who have maintained the same principal residence for any 5-consecutive year period during the 8-year period ending on the date of the settlement. Income limitations and other restrictions apply. We suggest you consult a Certified Public Accountant and IRS.gov for tax advice and official requirements. Prices, financing and other offers subject to change without notice. See sales representative for details. MHBR #56. All incentives are tied to the use of (our mortgage company).

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2011 is going to be the year of functional, accessible, useful data.

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Happy reading.

Short story – (and this is what I tell my clients): nobody knows exactly what happened, what’s happening and what 18 months will bring. If anyone says otherwise, they’re probably lying or are trying to sell you something.

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Should I take my home in Charlottesville off the market over the holidays?

Maybe. It depends.

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