New Technology!

Mindy & I are always are always on the lookout for new technology that will not only make us stand apart from the competition, but make our Client's lives easier & the transaction as stress free as possible. We also work with a lot of investors, many of whom are out of state. These investors will submit many offers on different properties. In the past, it has required a lot of signing & faxing or scanning & emailing the paperwork back & forth to get the deal done. This can be challenging for some people.

Then Mindy found Docusign. It is an online site that allows you to obtain electronic signatures. I know this sounds crazy & gushy, but I'm in love! It has made such an impact on our business. No more faxing & scanning & going back & forth. We can now type up the offers, scan into Docusign & email out to all the participants in a deal. We are now able to highlight where each individual needs to sign, initial, date & fill in info if needed. We had a contract that was fully executed in 15 minutes the other day. If I had done it the old school way, I would have had to send it to my Seller, wait for it to come back, then send it to the Selling Agent, wait for her to send it to her buyer, get it back, THEN send it to me. Instead, I emailed to everyone & had it back in 15 minutes!

If you want more info on Docusign check out http://docusign.com/ or on Twitter @docusign

We can't say enough about what a difference it has made for us & how much our Clients have appreciated the convenience of the service.

Stacy

Mortgage Disclosure Changes

As of July 30, 2009 the HERA Mortgage Disclosure Improvement Act is in effect. This Act is designed to make the lending process more transparent and amends the Truth-in-Lending Act (TILA).

Biggest changes that I can tell are as follows:

• No upfront fees are allowed. The only fee that lenders is allowed to collect prior to borrowers receipt of initial disclosure is a reasonable credit report fee.
• There is a new 7 day rule that requires a waiting period of 7 business days from the time initial disclosures are issued until the time of the closing.
• An additional waiting period is now required if their is a change in the APR of 1/8 or more. So, any increase in the APR that is larger than .125% from what was quoted on the Truth-in-Lending Disclosure requires a new Truth-in-Lending Disclosure. The borrower must receive this new Truth-in-Lending statement 3 business days prior to closing.
• Borrowers must be supplied a couple of their appraisal a minimum of 3 business days prior to closing.

As real estate professionals we need to be in close contact with our client's lenders to make sure that we negotiate ample time for the mortgage process in our contracts. This will prevent last minute changes in the APR which sounds great in theory but would also backfire in the event that a borrower wants to do a last minute buy-down of their rate.

Celebrate the 4th in Decatur GA!

The saying is that Decatur GA is "when Mayberry meets Berkeley." Well on the 4th of July, I would say it is mostly Mayberry. Starting with the Pied Piper Parade that winds itself through downtown Decatur. Decorate your bike, scooter, you can skate or walk...anyone can participate! This year the parade line up begins at 5:30 at the First Baptist Church in Decatur (the big one on the corner of Clairemont & Commerce). The parade begins at 6pm.

After the parade there is a concert on the square. It begins at 7pm and feature the Callanwolde Concert Band. Bring your picnic & lawn chairs!

The fireworks begin at dark. I have gone for several years & they are some of the best I've seen! You can see them from pretty much anywhere in Decatur. They are shot from the top of the Dekalb County parking deck. You can find me in the greenspace next to Agnes Scott on College! See you there!

Stacy

A Great Way To Buy Foreclosures!

Mindy & I have recently had the opportunity to work with a few home buyers who have been interested in pursuing foreclosures. There are few challenges that these home buyers face, but certainly nothing that can’t be overcome!

One of the main challenges has been that many of the properties that have been foreclosed on are in pretty rough shape. Either they are homes that were in need of work to begin with, or they have been broken into & had items stolen such as HVAC components or the copper plumbing. It is very difficult to finance properties that the banks would consider to be in “poor” condition. Poor condition, meaning, they would consider these properties to be uninhabitable.

One way these buyers have found to alleviate this issue it to finance the home with the FHA 203k program. This program finances the home & up to $30k in repairs. All the homebuyer needs is their 3.5% down & a good contractor!

Some more specifics to the loan are:

Max repair amount is $30,000

Contractor must be licensed, bonded & insured

All repairs must be completed w/in 90 days & once the loan closes the scope of work cannot change

This is one loan, one time closing

Appraisal is completed “subject to” repairs & final inspection

1-4 unit owner occupied properties are allowed

Certain improvements are not allowed: “luxury improvements like Jacuzzi’s, landscaping, moving load bearing walls, additions, repair of structural damage…any work that could not be started w/in 30 days & completed w/in 90 days of closing.

2 draws are allowed during the process. 1 at closing & 1 upon final inspection.

Borrower must assume responsibility for selecting a contractor & getting the appropriate paperwork turned into the Lender. This is typically the slowest part of the process. Allow minimum of 30 days from binding agreement date for closing, if possible, I would go for 45 days.

I have seen great success with these deals. Many of our Buyers end up with equity even after purchasing the property & renovating. It’s a good deal!

Stacy

New law protects renters from foreclosure

I saw a statistic this week that 40% of recent foreclosures were inhabited by renters. That is a heck of a lot of folks that had their lives in upheaval.

Here at Roost we have have several current tenants that came from foreclosed properties. One of our tenants came home to the sheriffs note on the door. She had been paying her rent on time each month but her landlord had not been paying their mortgage and gave her no notice of the impending foreclosure.

The housing law that was signed by President Obama in late May includes provisions to protect renters. The law allows tenants to remain in their foreclosed rentals through the end of their lease and then 90 days after that before being forced to vacate by the lender. Renters without leases will have 90 days. Prior to this law foreclosure proceedings automatically ended any lease that was in place.

This is wonderful news for tenants. I am curious to see how banks will handle rent collection.

Only 1 picture, really?

As Stacy can attest, I often lament over the job that other agents are doing for their sellers. Too often I am horrified by mistakes or just plain old laziness that I see.

I have many pet peeves in this realm but I think my number one is the number of pictures that listing agents put on their listings. For many years there would be NO pictures on a good portion of listings. None! Finally, our local MLS systems cracked the whip and now have a rule that there must be a minimum of 1 picture on the listing.

In the Atlanta we have 2 MLS systems that serve our market (don't even get me started!) FMLS allows us to have 12 pictures and Georgia MLS lets us upload 16. I can not understand why agents would not take full advantage and upload as many pictures as we are allowed. Think there are issues with a property? Then why not go ahead and upload the pictures and let consumers decide for themselves. Properties do not have to be 100% perfect to benefit from pictures.

Foreclosures almost always have only one picture (of the exterior). I really wish that Realtors would get out of this practice. You already have someone going there to take the exterior shot,how much longer does it take to snap a few more? I'd be willing to bet that more pictures would result in greater results. I'd think our banks would be mortified if they knew how some of there properties were being marketed to the public. Or at least they should be.

Seeing Orange

Part of my normal morning routine is checking the market. What is new, what is pending (under contract) and what closed.

Pending contracts are listed in Orange. The great news is that more and more orange is popping up. As you may have heard we have had an abundance of inventory. Seeing orange is a great thing as that inventory begins to move through our system.

Across the entire metro Atlanta market we've seen slight shifts upward. In specific Intown neighborhoods we are seeing spikes. I am excited to see the numbers at the end of June.