Gov Regulation Clogs Pipes w/ Home Valuation Code of Conduct #HVCC #realestate

It’s no secret that many facets of lending and real estate have changed as a result of the credit crisis. In addition to tightened lending practices that resulted from rising mortgage delinquencies, Washington has been heavily involved in altering the way lenders do business today.

Two individual pieces of legislation impacting our business need to be taken into account when determining closing dates for purchase transactions.

Home Valuation Code of Conduct – The Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) went into effect May 1, 2009. Intended to shield appraisers from undue influence from loan officers and lenders, this legislation installed a “firewall” between those individuals directly involved in the origination of the loan from the selection of and contact with appraisers.

HVCC also requires that borrowers receive a copy of the appraisal a minimum of three days in advance of closing. Part of the kicker here is that “received” is considered, in effect, three business days after the appraisal has been mailed to the borrower.As HVCC requires a firewall between the originator and the appraiser, the time to receive an appraisal has increased, in some cases by as much as two weeks or more. While this may not always be the case, it is important to take into consideration when considering closing dates. Today, conservative closing dates are mandatory to properly manage expectations of all parties.

Housing and Economic Recovery Act – The Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) amends and impacts several aspects of obtaining a mortgage, the disclosures required for borrowers, and the timing of their delivery. This impacts the minimum time required to close, and should any changes be made to a loan application that could impact the Annual Percentage Rate (APR), this could impact the closing date.

Other than paying for a credit report, lenders may not accept any additional fees from a borrower until four business days after disclosures have been provided to or mailed to a borrower. This has the potential to delay several aspects of the application process.

Finally, upon making application, a borrower is provided a Truth in Lending (TIL) statement, detailing the total expected costs that could be incurred over the life of the loan. Should anything change in the loan application that could change the APR by more than .125%, a new TIL must be reissued to the borrower a minimum of 3 business days before closing. Items impacting the APR could include a borrower accepting a higher interest rate than initially qualified by floating their rate at application, a change to the loan amount, a change in product, a change in closing date, and any changes to fees.

What Now? – While there is more we can discuss on the specifics of these legislative implications, I felt it important enough to let you know now that I would not recommend you write purchase contracts with short closing time frames.

This video can provide both my buyers and sellers the rationale behind not scheduling closing dates in advance of 30 days at a minimum and ideally not less than 45 days. If you want to see some Pres and Media on HVCC look here and if you wish to just sign the petition against it click here. You can also view signatures here.

This whole matter is a knee jerk reaction to abuses in the system, causing too much regulation and hence the clog, besides being generally impractical. Thanks for reading and commenting and, please pick up the phone and call me if you have more questions.

Sincerely,
Carlo

Your Money: A Day to Tackle the Financial To-Do List: Excerpts for VRN Readers

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Your Money

A Day to Tackle the Financial To-Do List

By RON LIEBER

Published: July 4, 2009

Taking time, 10 or 12 hours, to tackle ever-postponed money tasks and clear the books can be lucrative.

• HIGH-YIELD SAVINGS ACCOUNT Though Internet savings accounts that pay above-average rates have been around for some time, I haven’t needed one. Now that we’re keeping more cash around in case we want to buy a new place to live, however, it makes sense to enroll.I put our money in an account via SmartyPig, a Web-based savings program. It pays an industry-beating 2.75 percent, though it comes with certain restrictions, like the requirement that you put at least $10 in your account each month.

• INSURANCE PAPERWORK If you’re lucky enough to have health insurance, you’re probably constantly adrift in a sea of forms that make no sense. We’re no different, but a major snafu caused us to have to switch plans a few months into 2009, throwing everything into utter disarray.

On fiscal health day, I got all of the paperwork divided into about a dozen piles to begin our assault on the benefits office and the various insurance companies involved.

• CASH-BACK CREDIT CARD The new Charles Schwab Bank Invest First Visa pays a straight 2 percent back into our Schwab brokerage account. That’s 0.75 percentage points better than we were earning with our Capital One card. The Schwab card also levies no foreign exchange fees for use outside the United States.

SHOPPING SPREE Yes, you get to have fun on fiscal health day. Gather up all of your gift cards and spend the money that’s left on them. The longer they sit, the more interest Apple or Borders or the department store will earn from your money and bigger the chance you’ll misplace the card.

Read more

Seems that I do this once a week lately, but with everything on AutoPay; I am so much less stressed and able to focus on making commissions and fighting the good fight. – Carlo.

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Time.com Quotes of the Day

[clearspring_widget title=”Time.com Quotes of the Day” wid=”491cae4a5db36d0d” pid=”4a3fc4b599a31638″ width=”300″ height=”250″ domain=”widgets.clearspring.com”]

As a blogger I have always appreciated TIME Magazine delivered to my home to read through the traditional paper pages, particularly before bed. Its on the nightstand. But I also relish the online search engine and ability they give me as a blogger to share it online, so I’m glad they spoil us both ways. This posting is self updating.

“It is either sublime or ridiculous that one of the most important tools available to Iranians protesting the June 12 presidential election is Twitter… Twitter is basically a toy for flirting and telling people what your cat is doing. But in one of the Internet’s great Velveteen Rabbit moments, the toy has become real.” this week in TIME. Gotta love it.

Share this posting please as it will open minds to what human consciousness is thinking. Isn’t it about TIME.

Credit for Early Termination and FREE Curve if switch from ATT or Verizon to SPRINT Nextel

Image via CrunchBase

In Los Angeles I use and fully endorse SPRINT Nextel and exclusively for my T-mobile and AT&T readers that switch to SPRINT Nextel my buddy Jeff can get you:

• A FREE Blackberry Curve this JUNE!

•Any reader porting from T-mobile will get a $200 credit!
2 year contract required. Other porting credits avail on a case by case basis especially for medium sized and larger companies.

•Any reader porting from AT&T or Verizon gets a $100 porting over credit with a free 1st month of SPRINT Nextel service.
2 year contract required. Other porting credits avail on a case by case basis especially for medium sized and larger companies.

*On average SPRINT Nextel customers save $980 annually over AT&T and Verizon.

SPRINT Nextel Simply Everything $99 VS. AT&T equivalent for $174 monthly
SPRINT Nextel Simply Everything $99 VS. T-Mobile’s $139 monthly
SPRINT Nextel Simply Everything $99 VS. Verizon’s $164 monthly

How? Contact SPRINT Nextel Senior Account Executive jeff.t.feldman@sprint.com

Make sure your mention that Carlo or Visionary Realty News (VRN) referred you for Jeff’s full attention and service!

And if you have existing SPRINT Nextel Service for use with the Prē or want to Accessorize or buy your Palm Prē product no matter what service you have then do so with my full recommendation at the official Palm Store.

Everyone Wants a Lower Price, But What About the Impact of Interest Rates?

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When shopping for a home, the natural tendency of any buyer is to want to pay the lowest price possible maybe even buying a foreclosure. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that the sales price is not the only factor that determines what the monthly payment will be. In fact, the impact of higher interest rates can easily nullify any benefit of waiting for a lower price.

Why Should I Rush to Buy?
While you may have heard discussions in the media about the decline of property values in many markets, the rate of decline appears to be stabilizing.

That being said, it would not be unreasonable for buyers to want to hold out for an additional decline of 10%, hoping to capture the best possible price. However, as property values have declined in many areas to 2003 levels or lower, waiting longer to pull the trigger could be a mistake. Many markets are reporting that lower property values have been bringing out investors and the result has been multiple offers on many properties. Properties priced correctly are not declining and, in fact, are creating a lot of interest.

Interest Rate Complacency
The problem is that many home buyers have been lulled into a sense of complacency because of extremely low interest rates. Since the Federal Reserve initiated its program of buying mortgage-backed securities, which control the rates people pay for their home loans, rates had been range bound, bouncing between 4.50% to 5.00% for a 30-year fixed-rate loan.

But buyers shouldn’t be confused by this. These rates are artificially low! Historically, interest rates have been above 6.00%. And any rate obtained below this number is a great deal, especially on homes with price tags from 2003!

Markets are Unforgiving
The last two weeks of May showed just how unforgiving the markets can be for people who choose to procrastinate. In just five days, interest rates from many lenders increased anywhere from .50% to 1.00% as fixed-income investors demanded more for their money.

For anyone who was waiting for prices to drop even more, a 1.00% increase in interest rate would bring a higher monthly principal and interest payment on a home, even if the price of that same home had fallen an additional 10% in value.

If you are waiting for prices to fall even lower, be aware that while holding out for a lower price may help you win the battle, you could lose the war in terms of monthly payments and overall affordability. With the Federal Reserve scheduled to end its buying of mortgage-backed securities this year, rates only stand to go higher for those that wait. In fact, interest rates are already on the rise and could go higher from here.

Clock is Ticking on Free Money
If you have clients who are planning on purchasing their first home this year, be sure to let them know that they need to take possession before 12/01/2009 to be eligible for a tax credit of up to $8,000. In a survey conducted in March by Move.com, nearly 50% of home buyers are currently unaware that this free money exists in the marketplace. And since over 50% of all buyers are first-timers in today’s market, this could impact a lot of your clients.

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Expressions and gestures are a reflection neurocircuitry.

Cover via Amazon

Paul Ekman
By Jill Bolte Taylor

Information about the external world streams in through our senses and is then processed and integrated by our brains into thoughts, words or deeds. And accompanying those forms of communication are facial expressions and the physical responses we call body language.

Thanks to Paul Ekman and his work on facial expression, emotion and deception, we have a better understanding of how the expressions and gestures we display on the surface are a direct reflection of what is going on in the neurocircuitry deep inside our brains.

When I experienced a severe hemorrhage in the left hemisphere of my brain in 1996, I was aphasic — incapable of understanding verbal language. But thanks to my right hemisphere, I could read the facial expressions and body language of the caregivers and medical professionals who were tending to me.

Ekman, 75, has turned the ability to read the reactions that flicker across our faces into a fine science. Through his books, including Telling Lies and Emotions Revealed, along with his role as an adviser for Lie to Me, the Fox crime series based on his work, he has brought to the general public his understanding of how we communicate with one another in the absence of words.

His research will make a tremendous contribution to the worlds of law enforcement, counterterrorism and crowd management. It also has the potential to change how we communicate with those who are aphasic. But perhaps most important, in a society in which dissemblance and evasion have become commonplace, Ekman is teaching us how to recognize the subtle signs of truth. And in the sales business I couldn’t think of a better tool.

Taylor, a neuroanatomist, wrote My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey after fully recovering from her stroke and was a 2008 Time 100 honoree

Recession Shopping: 10 Things to Buy Right Now – Stuff For Your House

Bargains in a Bad Economy:
By DAN KADLEC
Going out of business signs have been popping up all over the country at mom-and-pop furniture stores as well as at giant home furnishing chains like Linens N’ Things, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year. Inventory reduction sales on furniture and decorative items typically lead to 50% to 70% savings and give you the ability to buy at or below the wholesale price. You can also do well with second-hand goods. “A quick scan of any community’s Craigslist unearths a seemingly endless supply of high-end used furniture,” notes Dannielle Kyrillos, editor-at-large at DailyCandy.com. Some of the best deals, she says, are in high-end bedding and towels, which can be found online at her site and others like Overstock.com and OneKingsLane.com. Another broad bargain area is flat-screen TVs. A Sony 52-inch Bravia HDTV was recently available on Nextag.com for $1,650 — less than half of what a 42-inch version cost just a couple years ago.

Blogger says: Washers and Dryers also have been slashed and usually have free delivery too. And of course, invest in your home with home improvements.

Source

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Recession Shopping: 10 Things to Buy Right Now – Housing

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Bargains in a Bad Economy:
By DAN KADLEC
We all know the story. Housing got way too hot a few years ago, and when the bubble burst it took down the whole economy. Well, as housing recovers so too will everything else. Dire forecasts persist. Some argue that home prices will not begin to recover before 2011. But this is a long-term investment. What’s a few years — especially if you can drive a hard bargain now? Besides, there are modest signs that the turn could come much sooner, and when it does the deals will go away. Prices have fallen by 50% or more in parts of Florida, Nevada and Arizona. That’s a stunning discount which when coupled with low mortgage rates makes housing today more affordable than it has been in many years. You can now buy the median house with 37% less income than you needed two years ago. Meanwhile, the government is offering up to $8,000 in tax credits this year for first-time buyers — an amount that would cover nearly half of a standard down payment on a typical home priced at $165,600. You can get below-market financing on new homes from builders like Toll Bros. (recently offering a 3.99% 30-year fixed rate mortgage) and Lennar (3.625%), and you can find deep discounts in the foreclosure market. Vacation properties have undergone an equally dramatic decline. Beach houses that once cost $3 million are now available for $1.5 million, according to the National Association of Realtors. The typical second home now runs $150,000, down from $204,100 at the peak, NAR reports.

Blogger says: The best thing in the meantime is to protect your credit rating and check your credit as often as possible.

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