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Loan modifications: salvation or scam? Premium Content

By Bernice Ross, Monday, August 3, 2009.
Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thetruthabout/3190643332/">TheTruthAbout...</a>.

Financially challenged property owners have become a huge target for scam artists. Loan modifications can be especially risky. As a responsible Realtor, what can you do to protect your clients?

I recently interviewed Julie Harris who trains Realtors on how to assist homeowners with the loan modification process. At the National Association of Realtors' midyear conference, the speakers on risk management insisted that Realtors who do loan modifications are illegally practicing law. It was a practice to be avoided.  more...

Secrets to scoring multiple offers

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Monday, August 3, 2009.
Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/brian_gautreau/497142122/" target=blank>bgautrea</a>.

I travel a fair amount, and am always curious as to how standard real estate practices vary in other areas. On a recent trip to New York City, I was surprised by the number of buyers who said that it was the norm for buyers to simply work with whomever the listing agent was, and that even buyers who had their own agents had never been in the car with their agents!

While I know this is trending toward the norm in many areas, I'm a buyer's broker and still do drive my clients around on buyers' tours. Sure, it's a high-touch service point, but more importantly, the time we spend in the car between stops is extremely valuable feedback time.  more...

Consumer protection plan worries some

By Jack Guttentag, Monday, August 3, 2009.

Among the Obama administration's proposals for Financial Regulatory Reform (FRR) is one for a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). It is designed to replace the existing system of consumer protection where authority is fragmented among different federal agencies plus 50 states, where some nondepository firms are regulated loosely or not at all, and where regulators generally give higher priority to protecting the solvency of financial firms than to protecting consumers.

I have a strong predisposition favoring this proposal because I view it as the best and perhaps the only way to make mortgage disclosures useful to borrowers. The major shortcoming of existing mortgage disclosure rules is that critical information that borrowers could use often is not disclosed ...  more...

Multiple home inspections pay off

By Dian Hymer, Monday, August 3, 2009.

Buyers often assume that if a house is new there's no need to inspect it. What could possibly be wrong with a brand-new house? You'd be surprised.

Following the 1991 firestorm that destroyed thousands of homes in the hills above Oakland, Calif., contractors from around the country moved into the area to take advantage of rebuilding opportunities. The planning department was overwhelmed. Inspectors rushed from one job to another.

Problems that showed up mere years after these new homes were completed were often due to faulty installation of windows and doors, improperly flashed decks over finished living areas, and lack of proper ventilation.  more...