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Dec

22
2008

Making Headlines

By Inman News, Monday, December 22, 2008.

Over the last few weeks, Inman News has retooled our free headlines e-mails in an effort to highlight our top real estate news stories and content at Inman.com.

We want to know what you think. Your feedback is important: Please email us at readeropinion@inman.com with any comments.

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Title insurance biz 'highly concentrated' Premium Content

By Matt Carter, Monday, December 22, 2008.
<a href="http://cache.inman.com/files/stories/titleinsurancemarketshare12states.jpg" target=blank>Click here for larger graphic</a>.

According to accountant and author Steven Bragg, one tool the Department of Justice uses to assess whether mergers and acquisitions will result in a potentially anti-competitive concentration of market share is the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, or HHI. The basic calculation ain't rocket science: You square all of your major players' market shares, and add them up.  more...

A real estate 12-step plan Premium Content

By Bernice Ross, Monday, December 22, 2008.
Flickr photo by <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/kyknoord/1442045860/" target=blank>kyknoord</a>.

Gary Keller, author of the new book "Shift" and founder of Keller Williams Realty, is no stranger to market downturns. He started his real estate career in the 1980s recession and started his franchising operation during the recession in the 1990s. In his recent seminar at NAR, Keller recommended 12 different ways to put your business on the road to recovery.

1. You can run towards or you can run away from the market
Agents who are succeeding in today's market are embracing short sales, foreclosures and REOs rather than running from them.  more...

Broker won't lower rate after locking

By Benny Kass, Monday, December 22, 2008.

DEAR BENNY: I recently purchased a new home. Before I wrote an offer to the seller, I contacted three mortgage brokers to get a loan. After meeting with the brokers ("A," "B," "C"), I chose broker "A" and went through the application process, and was approved for the loan. I signed a lock-in agreement to make sure that the interest rate would not change before closing.  more...

Top reasons home won't sell

By Dian Hymer, Monday, December 22, 2008.

It's a challenging home sale market for sellers in many areas around the country. Sellers who are having difficulty selling have several options.

The first goal is to find out why your home isn't selling. Ask your listing agent for information about listings similar to yours in your neighborhood that sold within the last three to six weeks.

You need to know the facts about listings that have sold and closed and those that went pending during this period. A pending sale is one where the sellers have accepted an offer, but the sale has not yet closed.  more...

FDIC loan mod plan flawed

By Jack Guttentag, Monday, December 22, 2008.

"Do you have an opinion about the FDIC plan to jumpstart loan modifications as a way to reduce foreclosures?"

Yes, I admire FDIC, under the leadership of Sheila Bair, for taking the lead in attacking the root source of the financial crisis: the vicious cycle of declining home prices and foreclosures. I share FDIC's view that the way to break that cycle is to modify mortgage contracts in ways that enable borrowers in distress to return to good standing and stay there -- AND to do enough of them to make a difference.  more...

Home values by we, the people

By Inman News, Monday, December 22, 2008.

Officials at real estate brokerage company ZipRealty see a serious side to a real estate guessing game that allows its clients to weigh in on home values.

The company's Web site now displays the average price estimate of its community of users for specific homes alongside automated home valuations from real estate sites including Zillow.com, Cyberhomes.com and Eppraisal.com.  more...

Mortgage brokers sue to block RESPA

By Inman News, Monday, December 22, 2008.

The National Association of Mortgage Brokers is going to court to block implementation of changes to the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), saying the Department of Housing and Urban Development failed to assess the impact on small businesses.

HUD's RESPA rule changes include a standardized Good Faith Estimate form, which requires the disclosure of yield spread premiums paid by lenders when borrowers take out loans with higher interest rates. The GFE also requires that the rebates be credited to borrowers.  more...

Rebuilding trust, image in downturn Premium Content

By Matt Carter, Monday, December 22, 2008.
Related Podcast/Video: 
Roadmap to Recovery Audio Town Hall

Falling home prices and mortgage rates could get many would-be home buyers off the fence in 2009, but many will continue to be wary of "catching a falling knife" or won't be able to get financing if they're ready to buy.

It will be up to a shrinking cadre of knowledgeable, tech-savvy agents and brokers to rebuild trust with consumers by providing "value added" information and insight to clients while finding ways to cut their own costs ...  more...