BloodhoundBlog

There’s always something to howl about.

Archives (page 98 of 372)

January 23, 2010

Why Stop With the Bath Water When You Can Throw Out the Baby At No Additional Charge?

by

Database Marketing Expert

Author website

Full disclosure: I’m neither Democrat nor Republican. I’m neither Mortgage Broker nor Mortgage Banker. I am a consumer – just like you.

I haven’t been over here to play as often as I’d like because of some other projects I’ve been passionately pursuing.  My bad, because this is still the place to be for people with a take.  And I’ve got a take:

What the American public doesn’t know is what makes them the American public, alright?

– Dan Akroyd as Ray Zalinsky in the movie “Tommy Boy”

For the rest of this article to make sense, I’d ask that you take 2 minutes to read this letter authored by Sen. Jeff Merkley to Fed Chair Ben Bernanke dated Dec. 24, 2009.

Here’s the cliff’s notes version the way I read it:

  1. Mortgage brokers are crooks.
  2. The subprime debacle happened because consumers were “tricked” into loans they couldn’t afford to repay.
  3. Eliminating the Yield Spread Premium (YSP) will fix our problems.

To support his argument to kill YSP, Merkley cites a NY Times editorial piece painting the mortgage broker as unethical and the root of the subprime debacle.  Here are a few questions I’d like to pose to the pound for thought and discussion:

  1. YSP existed in its current form up until Jan 1, 2010 – when the new Good Faith Estimate and RESPA rules took effect .  By the way, is there still such a thing as a “subprime loan”?  What banks are writing “subprime loans” today?  Six months ago?  A year ago?
  2. Did it EVER make any sense that a bank would knowingly extend a loan to a borrower who had demonstrated a propensity to default and thus would be more likely than normal to default on their mortgage?  Where is the mention of the “stated income” loans in Merkley’s letter.  Certainly THAT didn’t contribute to the subprime mess, right?
  3. FACT:  today, the mortgage broker CANNOT earn YSP.  YSP belongs to the borrower and may only be rebated to the borrower.

I’m going to repeat that for effect.

  1. Senator Merkley, less than one month ago
  2. Authored a letter (co-signed by approximately 20 other Senators)
  3. In the guise of consumer protection
  4. Calling for the elimination of Read more
January 22, 2010

Barney Frank: “I believe this committee will be recommending, abolishing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in their current form and coming up with a whole new system of housing finance.”

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

To say anything at all would be way too much. From the Wall Street Journal:

“The remedy here is…as I believe this committee will be recommending, abolishing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in their current form and coming up with a whole new system of housing finance,” said Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.), the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

His comments initially rippled through bond markets on concerns that the government might pull away from the mortgage market. Many believe that’s unlikely and that any revamp would include continued government involvement. The government took over the companies in September 2008 as loan losses mounted.

Some Republicans have argued that the companies should ultimately be reduced in size and privatized, while at other end of the spectrum, some analysts have recommended turning the companies into government agencies. But several industry groups and academics have suggested that the government is likely to continue playing at least some role in the future of the companies.

One such report came from analysts at Standard & Poor’s this past week. “It’s hard for us to imagine” how enough capital could be attracted to replace Fannie and Freddie with stand-alone private companies that would be able to offer low-cost funding for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, the analysts wrote.

Some analysts have argued that starting from scratch could create more problems than they would solve, in part because Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee around half of the nation’s $11 trillion in home mortgages. “Blue sky ideas are great, but they take a long time to happen,” said Mahesh Swaminathan, senior mortgage strategist at Credit Suisse, at a conference last month. “When you have $5 trillion of agency mortgages, you can’t really orphan them.”

Mr. Frank, who didn’t elaborate on forthcoming recommendations, said last month that one possible revamp could merge some functions of Fannie and Freddie that overlap with the Federal Housing Administration into the government mortgage-insurance agency.

January 22, 2010

My “Jim Casey” take on the FHA’s Policy to Address Risk and Strengthen Finances

by

Mortgage Systems Samurai

Author website

“Before I knowed it, I was sayin’ out loud, ‘The hell with it! There ain’t no sin and there ain’t no virtue. There’s just stuff people do. It’s all part of the same thing.” – (Preacher) Jim Casey / Grapes of Wrath

Here’s my take on the FHA 1/20/10 press release and the 1/21/10 Mortgagee letter as posted on my blog on January 21st, 2010:

FHA ANNOUNCES POLICY CHANGES TO ADDRESS RISK AND STRENGTHEN FINANCES

PRESS RELEASE: January 20th, 2010 – Deciphered into (highly biased and subjective) English by me on January 21st, 2010.

I basically cut out a lot of the stuff that doesn’t matter and tried to just talk about what will affect you. If you really want to torture yourself, here’s the original release.

The FHA statement in italics – My translation looks like this…easy to read. Ready? Cool, let’s get down to business then….

New Measures Will Help FHA Better Manage Risk, While Maintaining Support for the Housing Market and Access for Underserved Communities

FHA is hemorrhaging cash due to fraud, rapidly rising defaults and basically because the sleazy sub-prime guys ran around announcing that FHA was the “New Subprime” when everything collapsed in 2007 after Wall St. decided to take the stance that it wasn’t a good idea to allow brokers, lenders and loan officers to give away loans to people that couldn’t afford the payments (even though they started the whole damn thing in the first place).

Who would have though that would come back to haunt them huh? (file this under “ya think?”)

WASHINGTON – Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Commissioner David Stevens today announced a set of policy changes to strengthen the FHA’s capital reserves, while enabling the agency to continue to fulfill its mission to provide access to homeownership for underserved communities. The changes announced today are the latest in a series of changes Stevens has enacted in order to better position the FHA to manage its risk while continuing to support the nation’s housing market recovery.

Ok, blah, blah, blah…We’re making changes to FHA to make it more expensive to get an FHA loan so that less Read more

January 21, 2010

Gaining control of your schedule just got easier with TimeDriver

by

Rust Belt Realtor

Author website

So this is the year that time management is going to be crucial for me. If I cannot gain control over my time, then I’m likely to stay mired in my own particular mode of real estate mediocrity, and that would suck rocks.

But, not to worry for I have found a tool that I think will be helpful to Realtors, and while I’m just getting started with TimeDriver, the response from clients and colleagues is “Wow! I love that.” And that’s plenty reason to keep a tool around, but I’m beginning to see how I could use it for a lot of real estate applications. Bloodhound Disclaimer: I don’t get any kickbacks for sharing this. There’s no affiliation program that I’m aware of, and I’m not in contact with the company except I signed up and use it. I simply want to share a tool that I’ve found useful.

TimeDriver is called a personal scheduler. From their site:

TimeDriver is a revolutionary appointment invitation system that will compel your customers and community to schedule time with you. By embedding a “schedule now” button in email messages and on Web pages, you’ll drive more appointments with fewer hassles than ever before.

Basically, it’s an online calendar that you set up to schedule time as you want. Your clients can then access the calendar through a unique url, and they can schedule time with you themselves, bypassing the flying email and phone tag time sink. It gives the client control and that’s a good thing in a real estate transaction, right? You can also push clients to schedule their own appointments with “Schedule Now” embeddable buttons. TimeDriver will then sync the appointment with your Outlook or Google Calendar, with plans to bring SalesForce and Lotus Notes on board as well. Butwaittheresmore! TimeDriver will then send you an email, alerting you when an appointment is scheduled, and reminding both of you when the appointment is approaching.

The first time I saw TimeDriver was when I called a photographer to schedule an appointment. She sent me the link to her TimeDriver calendar. It was an empowering experience to schedule Read more

January 21, 2010

They are Smarter than you, Better than you and they Know More than you

by

Mortgage Systems Samurai

Author website

I’m a mortgage guy.  Mortgage guys (and gals) will often talk about how highly they regard and respect the professionalism and expertise of Real Estate Agents, and they paint thise adoration with a very broad brush.

Real Estate Agents have a big ‘ole brush as well as they sing the praises and glory of how efficient, communicative and quickly Mortgage folks do their job to ensure a speedy and worry free transaction.

(The sarcasm should be about waist deep by now)

And you know what? (this applies to both groups)  They are Smarter than you – at marketing to their services to thier prospects, they are Better than you – at doing their job, and they Know More than you do – about their business (most of the time!).  Here’s the kicker….we have the exact same clientele.

Here’s a question: What can you learn from someone that’s not in your line of work that will make you better, smarter and cause you to innovate?

A couple of years ago I read a book called the Medici Effect that quite effectively makes the case that true innovation is realized at the intersection of different disciplines.  There are no new ideas, only new ways of looking at things that already exist…maybe just not in your world.

If you think about it, mortgage types and agent types are different disciplines.  Some people can pull off both and make a good living at it, for the most part however, these are two different personality types.

The very best in one field of the Real Estate profession is rarely the very best in the other field as well.  We’re not talking about having competence in either discipline.

I’m talking about being cutting edge, innovative, kick-ass, gonzo marketing fools.  This isn’t vanilla agent or loan officer stuff we’re talking about.  I’m talking about raising the bar and being a thought leader in your market.

For the past few years I have belonged to Vistage, an Executive Coaching and Business Leadership group that promotes “better leaders – decisions – results”.

My group is made up of 12-15 CEOs  from different businesses and industries and we meet once a Read more

January 21, 2010

Heckuva Job Brownie

by

Realtor, Rabble-Rouser

Author website

I believe in change.

I do not believe in politics as usual.

Horse trading behind closed doors isn’t change.

Has Scott Brown’s election defied the norm that all politics are local?

Yup.

Does Scott Brown’s victory represent change?

Jury hasn’t even been seated.  However, I suspect it may actually be the first green chute to all of this change business.

I can honestly say that I was pleased with the results.  Not because I am in alignment with his Republican cohorts, but because voters sent a message – not just locally, but nationally.

Now I openly profess that I voted for Obama despite the Neo-Con rhetoric bombarding me at home.  In my short few months living back home in Texas, my father has almost convinced me that our President’s name isn’t Barack Hussein Obama, but God Damn Obama.  While he hasn’t quite branded me with the cast iron “liberal” prod on my backside, he has broadly casts his brush to paint me with the same blue color – “you and your liberal friends” … needless to say, perhaps I put a smile on my father’s face after admitting Brown’s victory was a good thing.

I think I am more in alignment with the 51% of Massachusetts voters who identify with the Independent political affiliation … they are still in Massachusetts, let’s not kid ourselves – perhaps they’re not blue – maybe light blue.

I’m happy with the results because I want change.  I buy that health care reform is a priority, but the option(s) presented by Congress today represent neither change nor reform.  Again health care reform is important.  I personally agree it’s a priority, yet under our current economic turmoil, is it job number one?

No.

In this morning’s Dallas Morning News I read an interesting article that may share a common theme with Scott Brown’s victory defying the politics is local norm – maybe all real estate is NOT local.  While it doesn’t come as any surprise to all of us – except perhaps Congress – jobs do play a fairly significant role in driving the housing market.  In fact, when people are employed, they tend to purchase homes.

Fascinating.

According to the Read more

January 20, 2010

Honored To Be Here…

by

Breathtaking Real Estate Photographer

Author website

So the problem is this:  When Greg Swann visits your blog, comments favorably and asks if you’d like to write for Bloodhound, you get excited.  In a good way.  You consider how Greg and the other contributors to this forum have helped shape your thought process as a real estate professional and you feel a sort of rush come over you.  Greg has invited you to write anything you like and assured you that it will be published and consumed by a large national audience.  You feel an obligation – to yourself, to your industry, to your mother.  You hit the reply button and type “Yes!  Count me in!”, because that is the right thing to do.  And it feels good.

A bio and a headshot later you get another email from Greg:  “You’re up.  Post at will.”  Again, excitement – but this time different.  More like anxiety, really.  More like “everyone – and I mean everyone – who writes for Bloodhound is so literate, so intellectual, so experienced…so prolific and poetic, both!”  It’s easy to wonder what you can possibly write that won’t pale in comparison to the posts being submitted by everyone else.  It’s easy to wonder what you can write about that anyone will want to read – or that hasn’t already been written more elegantly by someone else.

My name is Harry Bisel, and I am honored to have been asked to contribute occasionally to this space.  Honored and just a bit terrified.  I am a professional real estate photographer, which is the perfect mash-up of my two previous careers – commercial photography and residential real estate, where I had the pleasure of serving as an agent, a managing broker, an MLS Board member and a coach (although I was never comfortable with that title).  Real estate has been very good to me and I am grateful to those who gave me the opportunities I enjoyed so much along the way.

Having followed my passions away from the management side of real estate and back to photography, I now have two missions.  To create a profitable business, clearly.  But more Read more

January 20, 2010

10 Creative Business Card Ideas

by

Marketing Provocateur

Author website

Not all business cards are created equal. Good ones burn into the brain. Start a relationship. And build your brand. The best ones turn a simple intro and some bare info into lasting commitments and customers for life.

Some cards are better than others as this recent article from Inc. shows. Use it to ignite your marketing imagination. And make your own card an ace.
__

P.S. Already have a great business card? Or one you admire? Do share…

January 19, 2010

Vendorsluts, Foundations And Articles Of Faith

by

Instigator, anthill kicker.

Author website

Why are we in business?  Why are we doing anything.  A company that is just in business to make a buck is as compelling as a man that’s just alive to eat his next meal.  I heard horror stories–from the guy that paid $20,000 for a web design only to find that the designer retained copyright–to a guy that was unable to cancel a monthly fee after months of trying.   When I started getting beyond “helping people sell stuff,” and getting to the big damn “why” question, I found myself carving a different spot from other folks.  I want to be better (not just different).

BloodHound s have a meme.  There are lots of parts to it, and I don’t know ’em all (and probably don’t agree with everything, either).

So, together with Ian, we came up with a meme.  My company is called Flat Rate Web Jobs, and we are Flatties.

What flatties believe:

We believe in accountability.  Everything we provide has a 100% money back, “no dirty looks” guarantee.

We believe you are in charge of everything.  You own the copyright on all of the work we do for you, and you can use our work however you see fit.

We believe you must measure ROI in social media.  Everything we offer helps you increase your return.

We believe in adding to everything we touch.
We believe you should understand exactly what you’re buying, what your benefits are, and when to next steps will take place.

We believe in small businesses, salespeople and professionals.  It is our honor to serve you.

We believe it’s our duty to put our customer’s interests first.

We don’t believe in fads.  We don’t try to make a quick buck on buzz.

We believe in including more than you thought you paid for, every time.

We believe independent thinkers create the best work.

—

So, that’s my company.  We currently have a decent array of products we sell.  The point is the “we’ve got your back,” ethos that I love.

The point is that we’re different.  All people are invited to come figure out why–I’m doing a free “hands on” webinar on how you can make boss google around and Read more

January 19, 2010

Unchaining a Bloodhound Pup

by

Mortgage Systems Samurai

Author website

It’s funny, I am almost never at a loss for words. I have an opinion on just about any topic and am usually a passionate conversationalist….but put me in the yard with the Big Dogs and I’m feeling a little puppyish (you’ll find that I like to make up words).

To introduce myself I want to tell you about the path that led me here.  I found BHB right as things started to really get hairy in the third and fourth quarter of 2007.

I have to admit I had trouble understanding much of what I read here about technology, SEO and Greg’s passionate dissertations that seemed like they were written in Greek (come to think of it, maybe it was Latin).

I could not resist being drawn to this incredible community of creative, innovative and free thinking professionals sharing openly their trials and their triumphs as they searched for answers when we really didn’t know exactly what the questions were, or what they would be.  It was a true mastermind of master minds.

When I found out about Bloodhound Unchained in 2008 I spent every cent that I had to buy a plane ticket and book a seedy hotel to be there.  I still remember, the cheapest hotel I could find was about a mile and a half from the Heard Museum.  I grew up on a farm in Michigan and figured “a mile and a half, no problem – i can do that in my sleep!”…and I don’t recall any mention on the announcement for Unchained about Arizona heat.  Even in April it was about 109 degrees!

So I showed up every day, lugging my $300 Fry’s laptop that someone lent me the money for, soaking wet, looking like I swam to the event like that dumb Michael Phelps Subway commercial they keep playing during the football playoff games.

I had already read about, and implemented fully without completely understanding,  long tail SEO strategies posted by Greg on the blog.  I was almost blinded by the innovation in the conference and found solace at a time when everything seems like an uphill battle….we’re talking Everest Read more

January 19, 2010

What is the Apple “tablet” computer going to look like?

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Some semi-informed speculation from the Financial Times:

The name and functions of the new machine are not known, but intense speculation and leaks from component manufacturers and business allies have pointed to a number of expected characteristics.

The consensus is that the tablet will have a large screen, perhaps 10 inches on the diagonal, and run the same operating system as the iPhone and iPod, as opposed to the Mac computers.

That means that it would be able to handle many of the more than 100,000 applications – or apps – that are designed to run on the smaller gadgets. A touchscreen would be a significant feature.

Video game manufacturers expect the device to have strong appeal for their audience.

The iPhone and iPod are already challenging portable products from Sony and other console makers as popular gaming devices.

Among the big unanswered questions are what internet connectivity will come with the tablet and what other forms of entertainment it will provide.

Apple has been in discussions with cable network channels about carrying bundles of video for a monthly fee.

Book and magazine publishers, meanwhile, have been hoping that Apple might enliven their electronic formats.

Time Warner recently showed off a conceptual version of an electronic, full-colour Sports Illustrated magazine that allowed for fast-flipping, zooming and other functions in need of support from new hardware.

Don’t Vook now, but dedicated device makers might want to slash prices on standing inventory — and cancel those reorders. AT&T told us yesterday that they’re going to be in the game, so figure 3/3.5/4G wireless plus Wi-Fi. This is going to rock.

January 18, 2010

Adding two hounds to the pound: Introducing Harry Bisel and Scott Schang

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

As promised, I’m adding two new writers to our pack today.

Scott Schang is a long-time contributor to our comments threads. Scott has come to both of the BloodhoundBlog Unchained events held in Phoenix, and he may be the best success story to come of Unchained so far. Scott has devoted his attentions to honing his prospecting and conversion systems, and he’ll be talking to us about that and more.

Harry Bisel has led a rich, full life. A commercial photographer who made the shift into real estate, and then shifted aback out into real estate photography. Harry’s photos are simply breathtaking, awe-inspiring, everything real estate photography should be.

Both of these gentleman have a ton to teach us. I’m delighted to have them writing with us.

January 17, 2010

What does “information wants to be free” really mean? It doesn’t matter how long you spent making that mudpie, it’s worth nothing to me.

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Reflecting on Jeff Brown’s post on economics, which in turn referenced an argument by Malcolm Galdwell, I made a short movie explicating the meme “information wants to be free.”

Cliff’s Notes: When a market good is so redundantly abundant as to be, essentially, ubiquitous and unavoidable, its market price will tend to plummet to zero. It doesn’t matter what the sellers of those goods might want to earn. All that matters, in this context, is what buyers are willing to pay. If the discounted probability of procuring an acceptable alternative is very high, then the price will tend to be very low.

Ordinary information is ubiquitous and unavoidable, and, therefore, the market price it can command is effectively zero. What the sellers or anyone else thinks about that is irrelevant. I have no reason to pay even a penny to you if I can get “just as good” next door for free.

That in turn references the very first post I wrote for BloodhoundBlog:

If almost-as-good is free or nearly free, what is the market value of slightly-better?

The answer? Almost always zero.

In the clip I talk about the difference in the paywalls of the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. Ironically enough, there comes news this morning that the Times plans to finish off its slow suicide with yet another tilt at a paywall. Much good may it do them.

Here’s the video:

January 17, 2010

Google’s Challenge to China’s Communist Party

by

IDX Search Entrepreneur

Author website

Google’s 2006 decision to enter the Chinese market on the Chinese government’s terms, which include censorship, is often held up as the symbolic moment when its mantra of “Don’t be evil” conflicted  with a hard business reality. In the end, pragmatic capitalism won out over principle, and Google.CN was launched.

Google’s rationalization that censored access to Google was better for the Chinese than no access to Google has always rung hollow to me. “Don’t be evil unless it is going to give competitors an edge in the world’s biggest market” still has “Don’t be evil” in it, but slippery slopes are paved with caveats. With that decision, Google merged off of the high road, joining the rest of the multinationals on the highway to the Chinese market.

Now, the Chinese government has turned its significant cyber warfare skills, honed by years of attacking US government and military networks, on Google in order to track dissidents and critics.

Google has,  surprisingly and righteously, reacted like Ralphie towards the end of A Christmas Story. The company wheeled around on the bully Chinese government and boldly defended itself by publicly stating that the Chinese governement is a hacker, and that censorship is wrong. It looks like they may well take the Google-logo colored exercise balls strewn across their Chinese operation and go home.

Cynics have pointed out that Chinese Internet users don’t engage in a lot of eCommerce so Google may be taking the opportunity to abandon a drain on its resources while repairing some of the PR damage its decision to go into China caused in the first place.

I doubt it. The lure of the sheer size of that market is still very strong. Last year Chinese consumers bought more cars than American consumers, and you don’t hear Microsoft (whose decision to grant the Chinese government access to Windows source code is the genesis of the Chinese cyber warfare program) talking about pulling out.

Chinese consumers are following the American consumer’s trajectory but with the huge booster of digital technology and our map:  Today, they are hooked on the freedom of the automobile the way we were in Read more

« Older posts Newer posts »

Inventing Real Estate 2.0

Welcome to BloodhoundBlog, the national real estate industry marketing and technology weblog written by, for and about real estate professionals. Better yet, welcome to the wired world of real estate. We are busily inventing Real Estate 2.0 – technology, marketing, service and salesmanship. Like all Bloodhounds, we are smart, frisky and fiercely independent. We've built a spot on the earth – beloved over all – where each one of us can be who we are, no matter who that might be. We are committed to an idea of excellence that will flush the bums, the con-men and the crybabies out of the real estate industry. If you yearn to have your failures excused, your moral lapses absolved or your boo-boos kissed, seek elsewhere. But if you are sick to death of mediocrity – welcome home. Read all about us, subscribe to our feed and steel yourself for the hunt. We work hard, we play hard, we learn everything we can – and we bow to no one.

Media Contacts