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Real Estate Professionals In California By Richard Brazil California real estate is the most sought after and expensive real estate in the United States. It has a wide variety of diverse properties, from condos to vacation homes to single-family residences to apartments. Therefore, while searching home or commercial property in California, having real estate professionals by your side will make your search easier.
Generally, real estate professionals in CA include real estate agents, realtors, broker, and lender. Buyers and sellers more often need them at the time of buying or selling.
1.Real Estate Agents A Real estate agent is either a person or an organization whose business is to market real estate on behalf of clients. There are buyer’s agent, seller’s agent and dual agents who work for both seller and buyer. Their main function is to look for suitable houses, negotiate price and terms on behalf of both, and prepare a standard purchase or selling contract.
2.Realtors They work with their customers to define their needs and identify suitable alternatives. They are the total real estate solution providers starting with identifying the property to closing the deal.
3.Mortgage Broker These professionals have specialized in the entire loan processes and help their customers in getting the best loan to fit their needs. They are either companies or individuals who work closely with lenders to provide a wide variety of loan schemes to their customers. They act as a mediator between lender and customer. They are ready to assist you with your lending needs. They will help you through the process and requirements-from home inspection to insurance.
4.Mortgage Lender They are the companies who actually finance the loan to the customers through the brokers.
Proposed RESPA Reform
Mortgage brokers may have some intrusive rules from HUD to deal with.
When I read the news on HUD?s proposed reform of the Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act (RESPA) I was skeptical. Cathy from Sequim challenged me to read the 96-page federal register document so we could all figure out what?s going on. I am here to tell you that there is one very good change coming out of this proposal. In fact, it?s so good that I am borderline hopeful that this change might do what legislation is suppose to do and what HUD forgot to do when they signed the original version of RESPA in 1974. But first, the changes that will have many, but not all mortgage brokers screaming bloody murder:
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Neocon-omics
How much can the Fed and the U.S. government do in the face of declining housing prices?
That?s been my worry since I saw the housing bubble peak in 2005. Historically, declines in housing prices take 3-4 years to bottom, which means we still should be at least half a year away. But after that, the economy doesn?t rebound instantly. It yo-yos for a bit - essentially running horizontal.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have entered into cooperation agreements with New York?s attorney general to only purchase loans that meet a new home valuation protection code, the state announced. The code is effected on Jan. 1, 2009. Under the new code, mortgage brokers and loan originators are prohibited from choosing or communicating with appraisers.
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Choosing Second-best
How to leverage your second choice into seller concessions and a better deal.
So, rather than competing for the best house and paying top dollar, you can use it as leverage to get a lower price and seller concessions on a home that could be even more ideal for you ? after you do a little work.
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Price Depression
A forecast for more housing price depression.
My theory is that housing prices will continue to wilt as long as large levels of foreclosures and new home inventories run high. These are not traditional homeowners, and are motivated to slash prices, thus continuing to depress prices.
You should try to get pre-approved by a lender prior to shopping for a home. A pre-approval is a strong marketing tool when making an offer that may contain many a number of seller concessions. Telling a seller that you are already approved for a loan makes the acceptance of a low offer or one where he may be paying the closing costs much more palatable.
US News and World Report implies (hopes?) we may be nearing a bottom in housing prices but with a mountain of resets coming in the next few months, it?s difficult to see how a bottom can be seen or even predicted.
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Strike One
A look at role of mortgage insurance in FHA loans.
Regarding the second point: By not raising the loan limits they fail in one of the 11 ways they can help. I believe they will fail in almost all, but let us have hope. To be specific as to why I support this: FHA is not a government gimme. It is a government guarantee the mortgage will be paid or the lender compensated for losses. The program pays positive cash flow to the government in that there is a type of mortgage insurance fee charged the borrower. It is reasonable and more than pays for the reimbursements made to the lenders that suffer a default.
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Who's To Blame
Mortgage brokers share the blame with the rest of the industry in the current real estate mess.
Who is not to blame for the mortgage mess? Take one step back. As lenders, money was flowing from the spigot like there was no tomorrow. As mortgage brokers, there was money to be made by cranking the faucet, and it was a foot race to see who could get to the sink first. As agents, we sang the ?Houses are expensive, but money is cheap? refrain until we were blue in the face. And, as for the consumer, it really doesn?t matter in the final analysis whether they were motivated by necessity, opportunity or unadulterated greed. We all helped make this bed in which we now must lie.
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Trying To Move
Hard to move when you're house loses value.
I will continue to work from Los Angeles while we work on selling our house, which unfortunately is bad timing as housing prices have taken a bit of a dive around here. Once we have things settled over here, we?ll pack our things and move up to Seattle.
What else can you say to such a ridiculous report, such obvious sensationalism? The sad thing is, many people will read this wild hyperbole and imagine that the TV station?s salacious report has a ?point? to it.
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Home Buyers Returning This Fall
This blogger says lower mortgage rates will drive buyers to the residential real estate market soon.
Ten days ago after the Fed calmed the markets' credit panic with a 1/2 point cut in the Discount rate, I postulated that home buyers will come back this fall when the Fed finally drops the Fed Funds rate, and mortgage rates drop. It's now almost certain to happen. Here are the parameters in play now:
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Lead Scrub Rates
A look at the cost of a lead for a mortgage broker.
Joel has a good interview with Dave Wengel of TargusInfo around Mortgage lead scrub rates. Specifically that lendingtree and lowermybills have a 15% scrub rate whereas the free ipod guys (lure people in with promise of a free ipod but they and their friends have to signup for credit cards, netflix and talk to mortgage brokers to get it) have around a 50-60% scrub rate.
Having been an FHA lender I can attest it is a pain at times. FHA requires annual financial audits of the mortgage brokers financial condition and more. We always have survived the several day pain, and the expenses tied to it, but only FHA drags brokers through this. The actual banks that sponsor the mortgage broker go through even more red tape and grief. Loan officers have to know more rules. FHA doesn?t rely on the easy automated underwriting or the quick answer from a subprime lender. FHA restricts how the borrowers pay for certain expenses and how much the lender can charge.
In the past, lenders were almost banks and saving& loan associations. Due to their limited options in lending, many different types of lenders have joined in this field. Today, most bankers act as wholesale lenders. They offer loans at a lower rate of interest than banks. brokers deal with these lending institutions that have wholesale loan department for their customers.
Hence, it is a team work of all agents, realtors, brokers and lenders to provide better service to their customers. By effectively using their own resources, they can co-ordinate with
Richard H. Brazil, Jr. wears many hats; Broker, Agent, Businessman, Mentor... Inventor. Being a part of the Real Estate Industry for 20 years, Brazil has seen technology evolve and grow exponentially over the years. In April 2007 he filed a patent, and founded the American Agent Online Corporation a breakthrough technology that enables customers locate and chat with real estate agents LIVE in Real Time.Click here to check out.
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