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Obama renews push for regulatory reform Premium Content

By Inman News, Monday, September 14, 2009.

President Barack Obama marked the one-year anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers by renewing his push for an overhaul of the financial regulatory system, which would include the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency with broad power over mortgage lenders.

"This crisis was not just the result of decisions made by the mightiest of financial firms," Obama said. "It was also the result of decisions made by ordinary Americans to open credit cards and take on mortgages."  more...

In love with home, not location

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Monday, September 14, 2009.
Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mugley/3034518506/">mugley</a>.

I never understood the appeal of the accident-and-explosion genre of television show. You know, those hour-long, testosterone-mongering episodes comprised of scene after scene of car wrecks, airshow disasters and building demolitions gone wrong. In fact, while showing houses last weekend, near a street known for amateur (read: illegal) auto racing, my client and I witnessed one of these underground racers cause a six-car crash worthy of one of those shows.

I heard the vroom of his engine and hesitated to make my turn; good thing, too -- about four seconds later ...  more...

Real estate's new karma economy

By Bernice Ross, Monday, September 14, 2009.
Flickr image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/luc/1659321885/in/set-72157605210232207/">luc legay</a>.

If you're into social media, one of the best ways to meet like-minded real estate professionals is to attend a real estate BarCamp. Today's column shares some of the best strategies from the Real Estate BarCamp held at Trulia, as well as Real Estate Connect San Francisco.

1. Getting started
Gahlord Dewald in his keynote address suggested that an excellent way to get started is "to aggregate good resources for the community." The process is simple. When you find a post or a tweet that is appropriate for one or more of the people in your network, resend it to them.  more...

Early mortgage payoff protocol

By Benny Kass, Monday, September 14, 2009.

DEAR BENNY: I am going to pay off my 30-year mortgage at the end of this year, which is 10 years early. When I contacted the mortgage company to ask for a payoff amount, they said there would be some fees included. Someone else told that there should be no fees and to refuse to pay them. What should I expect when paying off my mortgage? Should I also get the original deed? --Jay

DEAR JAY: Permit me to explain the mortgage process. When you first obtained your mortgage (also called a deed of trust) 20 years ago, among a large number of papers involved, you signed a promissory note and a mortgage (or deed of trust). The note is the IOU -- "I promise to pay the lender XXX dollars, at YYY interest rate, due in full in 30 years."  more...

Is now a good time to downsize?

By Dian Hymer, Monday, September 14, 2009.

Interest rates are low. Prices have come down in many areas. More buyers are deciding it's a good time to buy, even though it may be a while before the housing market stabilizes.

Buyers who have a house to sell face a more complicated situation than they did when they bought their first home. They may not be able to afford to buy a new house before selling the old one. And, it may be more difficult to find a home to buy, because many sellers are not selling now due to current market conditions.  more...

Deserters and discounts in a downturn Premium Content

By Inman News, Monday, September 14, 2009.
Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29233640@N07/3802805764/" target=blank>Robert Couse-Baker</a>.

The collapse of the housing market has caused numerous heartaches and left promises unfulfilled for some homeowners and cities and towns across the nation.

Some builders and developers have left a trail of unfinished houses and projects, bankruptcy filings, roads to nowhere, homeowners with subcontractor liens on their homes and homeowners forced into foreclosure.  more...

New tool simplifies mortgage shopping

By Jack Guttentag, Monday, September 14, 2009.

As indicated last week, the annual percentage rate (APR) that the law requires mortgage lenders to disclose alongside the interest rate is not a useful measure of cost to the borrower. Expressed as a percent, it makes no intuitive sense to most borrowers, does not yet cover all costs, and does not take account of differences in borrower time horizons, tax rates and opportunity costs. A much more useful measure is the "time horizon cost" (THC) that is described below.

The THC is the total cost of the mortgage in dollars over the period the borrower expects to be in the house. I will illustrate it with the example I used last week of a borrower choosing between a fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) at 5.125 percent and zero points, and another at 4.25 percent and 4.4 points.  more...

DocuSign gets iPhone app

By Inman News, Monday, September 14, 2009.

A new iPhone application from Smart Mobile Solutions allows real estate professionals who use DocuSign to track, view, revise and electronically sign documents on the go.

The ESIGNControl iPhone app provides mobile access to DocuSign's capabilities, allowing real estate agents, mortgage brokers and others who rely on the company's e-signature services to close deals from anywhere they have a data connection.  more...