I openly laud some of the principles behind MObamanomics, such as:

“It will not help speculators who took risky bets on a rising market and bought homes not to live in but to sell” and “It will not reward folks who bought homes they knew from the beginning they would never be able to afford.”

Speculators should understand and realize the risk of riding an asset up and down.

MObamanomics looks to be far more proactive than reactive too, allowing consumers to qualify for assistance before they default on their mortgage (and lenders take a loss).  Though not by design, mandating that a consumer default before receiving help actually incentivizes them to do just that.

This is by no means a comprehensive analysis, rather the parts I can wrap my head around for now.  For what its worth, President Obamas plan is more aggressive than I had anticipated and he should be commended for having the cajones to step out there where many wouldn’t.

Risky loans, these aint no stinkin risky loans…

MObamanomics will allow Fannie and Freddie to restructure and/or refinance consumers with higher (than 80%) LTV loans on their primary residence that are already within their portfolio.  This aspect of the plan will increase the size of the conforming loan pool where consumers can swim…and thats a good thing.

Fannie and Freddie are typically barred from lending above 80% of a homes value or purchase price without Mortgage Insurance attached (that adds significant dollars to ones monthly payment -more on this below-) because mortgages with LTV’s above 80% are deemed risky by ‘the industry’- Heh.  20% LTV’s are risky with poor underwritng standards.   I’m sure that every mortgage that gets modified under this program will come with a borrower that can prove their income, has a solid credit score, a job and a few months worth of payments in the bank…what a novel concept.

Curious to how the plan will accomodate consumers who find themselves in homes worth less than what they owe.  Whether Fannie and Freddie or any lender will restructure a mortgage that is worth 125% of a homes value remains to be seen.

$75,000,000,000 in grease money…

Part of the $75B in The Plan will be used to subsidize the reduction of a consumers mortgage payment to as low as 31% of their monthly income.  The lender will initially need to make enough in concessions to get the payment down to 38%, then the government will match the lender dollar for dollar to get the payment down to 31% of a borrowers monthly income.  Someone did their research here, ‘discovering’ that high payment to income ratios are the number one cause of mortgage defaults.

The methods a lender uses to get borrowers payments down to 38%/31% could involve stretching out the term (from say 27 to 40 years), lowering the rate and/or the principle balance.  How they do this on an individual basis, when numerous loans were bundled together and sold to investment vehicles like mutual funds seems like a challenge to say the least.

The money will come in the form of $1000 when a lender initially agrees to modify a loan with another $3000 available for the next 3 years.  Many pundits will scoff at the idea of feeding the hand that supposedly slapped everyone…but this is 2009, traditional public facing politically correct economic strategies aren’t likely to work.  Traditional back door politics are in order here, gotta pay to get them to play son.  In any case I applaud the transparency.

MObamanomics shall also subsidize the mortgage insurance premiums that are typically required for Conforming loans with LTV’s higher than 80% at no charge to the consumer.  If the consumer defaults, the government picks up the difference above 80.01% of the value of the home.   This is actually a good idea that will directly benefit the consumer.

Alas, if the cost to concede exceeds the cost to foreclose I can’t see a lender using their moral compass over their financial one.

Borrowers who have lost their jobs or make far less than they did when they initially acquired the mortgage, are probably beyond help.

In the end, its still a voluntary program…lenders can cherry pick the situations they want to work with.  I fear the only way to make lenders play above aboard is the real threat of granting bankruptcy judges (with proper education) the ability to mandate certain loan modifications.

$200,000,000,000 in new money…

Supposedly there’s $200B on the table (up from $100B) for Fannie and Freddie to lend out, increase their portfolio size and remain solvent.

I suspect there will be stringent underwriting guidelines, as there should be, but I would implore the regulators to consider such crazy ideas like lending up to 103% of a homes purchase price for primary residences.  This sort of forward thinking, IMHO, would really jump start the purchase market.

All in all, I like where MObamanomics is going, it represents some solid first steps. Now there is more than just hope, there is a strategy…

…and there will need to be many more such steps to pick up the slack from the STAGGERING list of lenders no longer lending through various channels…

334. Perfect FHA – Wholesale
333. EquiFirst
332. Residential Loan Centers of America
331. CU National Mortgage
330. Colonial National Mortgage – Wholesale
329. U.S. Mortgage Corp. – Retail
328. First Interstate Financial – Wholesale
327. Realty Mortgage Corp.
326. Vertice
325. USA Home Loans – Wholesale
324. SunTrust Mortgage – FHA Wholesale
323. New South Federal Savings Bank – Wholesale
322. First Federal – Wholesale
321. 21st Mortgage – Wholesale
320. J.B. Nutter & Co. – Wholesale
319. Homebridge Mortgage Bankers – Refinance.com
318. 1st Republic Mortgage Bankers
317. Superior Mortgage Corp – Wholesale
316. Wall Street Financial Corp – Wholesale
315. Fairfield Financial Mortgage Group
314. Chase Prime – Wholesale
313. Sunshine & Madison Mortgage Corp
312. Liberty One Lending
311. Frontier Investment Co.
310. BankUnited – Wholesale
309. Solstice Capital Group – HSBC
308. MortgageIT
307. HCL Finance Inc. – Wholesale
306. LIME Financial Svcs. – Wholesale
305. Mortgage Network Inc. – Wholesale
304. Fortes Financial – Wholesale
303. HSBC Mortgage Corp. – Wholesale
302. CBRE Realty Finance
301. Franklin Bank, SSB
300. Mortgage Lion, Inc. – Wholesale
299. HMS Capital, Inc.
298. American Sterling Bank – Wholesale
297. CTX Mortgage Co. – Retail
296. Equity One Commercial
295. Coldstream Financial Svcs.
294. Banco Popular North America – Wholesale
293. Ace Mortgage Funding, LLC
292. E-Loan
291. Gateway Bank, F.S.B. – Wholesale
290. First Call Mortgage Co.
289. Downey Savings and Loan – Wholesale
288. Prospect’s Metrocities Mortgage – Wholesale
287. ComCor Mortgage – Wholesale
286. Chevy Chase Bank – Wholesale
285. Washington Mutual – Retail and Warehouse
284. Hometown Commercial Capital
283. Mid Atlantic Capital LLC
282. Kemper Mortgage, Inc.
281. Liberty Mortgage Funding Co.
280. Freddie Mac
279. Fannie Mae
278. Pacific Community Mortgage, Inc. – Gold Reverse, Inc.
277. Homecomings Financial, LLC
276. Thornburg Mortgage
275. CSB Mortgage
274. Carteret Mortgage Corporation
273. Accredited Home Lenders, Lone Star Funds – Wholesale
272. Western Residential Mortgage
271. Liberty Home Lending
270. Equipoint Financial Network, Inc.
269. Ideal Mortgage Bankers, Ltd. – Wholesale
268. Silver State Bank – Wholesale
267. Irwin Union Bank & Trust Co. – Wholesale
266. SunTrust Bank Equity Wholesale
265. Wachovia Mortgage, FSB – Wholesale
264. Lehman Brothers SBF
263. IndyMac Bancorp
262. Mortgages Ltd.
261. Wilmington Finance – Wholesale
260. Accredited Home Lenders, Home Funds Direct
259. Assured Lending Corp. – Wholesale
258. Homewide Lending Corporation
257. Vanguard Mortgage & Title, Inc.
256. Chase Home Equity – Wholesale
255. Chase Subprime – Wholesale
254. Evergreen Investment & Carnation Banc
253. Casa Blanca Mortgage/Shearson – Wholesale
252. Guaranty Bank – Correspondent
251. Citi Residential Lending
250. Montgomery Mortgage Capital Company
249. E*Trade Wholesale Lending
248. Shearson Financial Network, Inc.
247. American Bank Mortgage Group – Wholesale
246. AmeriBanc Corp.
245. Washington Mutual – Wholesale
244. Century Bank, F.S.B. – Wholesale
243. Diversified Mortgage, Inc.
242. National Wholesale Funding
241. Centennial Mortgage and Funding, Inc./Award Mortgage
240. Fidelity Home Mortgage Corp.
239. LMI Funding, Inc.
238. Millennium Mortgage – Wholesale
237. Origen Financial, Inc. (Correspondent)
236. CitiMortgage – Home Equity Wholesale
235. Bear Stearns Residential Mortgage
234. East West Mortgage Co. of VA
233. New Vision Residential Lending
232. Washington Savings Bank, F.S.B. – Wholesale
231. Macquarie Mortgages USA Inc.
230. Global Mortgage, Inc.
229. Unique Mortgage Solutions (UMS, LLC)
228. First Franklin – Merrill Lynch
227. First National Mortgage Sources
226. Resource Mortgage (Wholesale)
225. KH Financial
224. Lydian Mortgage
223. OMG Wholesale Lending
222. Saxon Mortgage (Wholesale)
221. Beazer Mortgage Corp.
220. Allpointe Mortgage (Broker Program)
219. Popular Warehouse Lending
218. Allied Lending Corp. (Wholesale)
217. BF Saul Wholesale Lending
216. Community Resource Mortgage
215. Lehman/Aurora Loan Services
214. Residential Mortgage Capital
213. Maverick Residential Mortgage
212. Countrywide Financial Corp.
211. First NLC Financial Services
210. First American Bank (Wholesale)
209. Soma Financial
208. National City Corp. (Wholesale)
207. Heartland Wholesale Funding
206. Homefront Mortgage Inc.
205. PNC Bank H.E.
204. Family First Mortgage Corp.
203. First Fidelity Financial
202. BSM Financial
201. 1st Choice Mortgage
200. Wescom Credit Union
199. Coast Financial Holdings/Coast Bank
198. WaMu (Subprime)
197. First Madison Mortgage
196. Southern Star Mortgage
195. TransLand Financial
194. Secured Bankers Mortgage Company (SBMC)
193. ComUnity Lending
192. Delta Financial Corp
191. BayRock Mortgage
190. Empire Bancorp
189. Option One – H&R Block
188. Citigroup – FCS Warehouse
187. Charter One (Wholesale)
186. Wells Fargo – Home Equity
185. Paul Financial, LLC
184. Webster Bank (Wholesale)
183. Fieldstone Mortgage Company
182. Tribeca Lending Corp. (Wholesale)
181. WAMU Comm. Correspondent
180. Marlin Mortgage Company
179. Countrywide Specialty Lending
178. UBS Home Finance
177. MortgageIT-DB (Retail)
176. Edgewater Lending Group
175. ResMAE Mortgage Corp.
174. Citimortgage Correspondent (2nds)
173. AMC Lending
172. Liberty American Mortgage
171. Exchange Financial (Wholesale)
170. FirstBank Mortgage
169. Bank of America (Wholesale)
168. Diablo Funding Group Inc.
167. Honor State Bank
166. Spectrum Financial Group
165. Priority Funding Mortgage Bankers
164. BrooksAmerica Mortgage Corp.
163. Valley Vista Mortgage
162. New State Mortgage Company
161. Summit Mortgage Company
160. WMC
159. Paragon Home Lending
158. First Mariner Wholesale
157. The Lending Connection
156. Foxtons, Inc.
155. SCME Mortage Bankers
154. Aapex Mortgage (Apex Financial Group)
153. Wells Fargo (various Correspondent and Non-prime divisions)
152. Nationstar Mortgage
151. Decision One (HSBC)
150. Impac Lending Group
149. Long Beach (WaMu Warehouse/Correspondent)
148. Expanded Mortgage Credit Wholesale
147. The Mortgage Store Financial
146. C & G Financial
145. CFIC Home Mortgage
144. All Fund Mortgage
143. LownHome Financial
142. Sea Breeze Financial Services
141. Castle Point Mortgage
140. Premium Funding Corp
139. Group One Lending
138. Allstate Home Loans / Allstate Funding
137. Home Loan Specialists (HLS)
136. Transnational Finance Wholesale
135. CIT Home Lending
134. Capital Six Funding
133. Mortgage Investors Group (MIG) – Wholesale
132. Amstar Mortgage Corp
131. Quality Home Loans
130. BNC Mortgage (Lehman)
129. First National Bank of Arizona
128. Chevy Chase Bank Correspondent
127. GreenPoint Mortgage – Capital One Wholesale
126. NovaStar, Homeview Lending
125. Quick Loan Funding
124. Calusa Investments
123. Mercantile Mortgage
122. First Magnus
121. First Indiana Wholesale
120. GEM Loans / Pacific American Mortgage (PAMCO)
119. Kirkwood Financial Corporation
118. Lexington Lending
117. Express Capital Lending
116. Deutsche Bank Correspondent Lending Group (CLG)
115. MLSG
114. Trump Mortgage
113. HomeBanc Mortgage Corporation
112. Mylor Financial
111. Aegis
110. Alternative Financing Corp (AFC) Wholesale
109. Winstar Mortgage
108. American Home Mortgage / American Brokers Conduit
107. Optima Funding
106. Equity Funding Group
105. Sunset Mortgage
104. Nations Home Lending
103. Entrust Mortgage
102. Alera Financial (Wholesale)
101. Flick Mortgage/Mortgage Simple
100. Dollar Mortgage Corporation
99. Alliance Bancorp
98. Choice Capital Funding
97. Premier Mortgage Funding
96. Stone Creek Funding
95. FlexPoint Funding (Wholesale & Retail)
94. Starpointe Mortgage
93. Unlimited Loan Resources (ULR)
92. Freestand Financial
91. Steward Financial
90. Bridge Capital Corporation
89. Altivus Financial
88. ACT Mortgage
87. Alliance Mortgage Banking Corp (AMBC)
86. Concord Mortgage Wholesale
85. Heartwell Mortgage
84. Oak Street Mortgage
83. The Mortgage Warehouse
82. First Street Financial
81. Right-Away Mortgage
80. Heritage Plaza Mortgage
79. Horizon Bank Wholesale Lending Group
78. Lancaster Mortgage Bank (LMB)
77. Bryco (Wholesale)
76. No Red Tape Mortgage
75. The Lending Group (TLG)
74. Pro 30 Funding
73. NetBank Funding, Market Street Mortgage
72. Columbia Home Loans, LLC
71. Mortgage Tree Lending
70. Homeland Capital Group
69. Nation One Mortgage
68. Dana Capital Group
67. Millenium Funding Group
66. MILA
65. Home Equity of America
64. Opteum (Wholesale, Conduit)
63. Innovative Mortgage Capital
62. Home Capital, Inc.
61. Home 123 Mortgage
60. Homefield Financial
59. First Horizon Subprime, Equity Lending
58. Platinum Capital Group (Wholesale)
57. First Source Funding Group (FSFG)
56. Alterna Mortgage
55. Solutions Funding
54. People’s Mortgage
53. LowerMyPayment.com
52. Zone Funding
51. First Consolidated (Subprime Wholesale)
50. SouthStar Funding
49. Warehouse USA
48. H&R Block Mortgage
47. Madison Equity Loans
46. HSBC Mortgage Services (correspondent div.)
45. Sunset Direct Lending
44. Kellner Mortgage Investments
43. LoanCity
42. CoreStar Financial Group
41. Ameriquest, ACC Wholesale
40. Investaid Corp.
39. People’s Choice Financial Corp.
38. Master Financial
37. Maribella Mortgage
36. FMF Capital LLC
35. New Century Financial Corp.
34. Wachovia Mortgage (Correspondent div.)
33. Ameritrust Mortgage Company (Subprime Wholesale)
32. Trojan Lending (Wholesale)
31. Fremont General Corporation
30. DomesticBank (Wholesale Lending Division)
29. Ivanhoe Mortgage/Central Pacific Mortgage
28. Eagle First Mortgage
27. Coastal Capital
26. Silver State Mortgage
25. ECC Capital/Encore Credit
24. Lender’s Direct Capital Corporation (wholesale division)
23. Concorde Acceptance
22. DeepGreen Financial
21. American Freedom Mortgage, Inc.
20. Millenium Bankshares (Mortgage Subsidiaries)
19. Summit Mortgage
18. Mandalay Mortgage
17. Rose Mortgage
16. EquiBanc
15. FundingAmerica
14. Popular Financial Holdings
13. Clear Choice Financial/Bay Capital
12. Origen Wholesale Lending
11. SecuredFunding
10. Preferred Advantage
9. MLN
8. Sovereign Bancorp (Wholesale Ops)
7. Harbourton Mortgage Investment Corporation
6. OwnIt Mortgage
5. Sebring Capital Partners
4. Axis Mortgage & Investments
3. Meritage Mortgage
2. Acoustic Home Loans
1. Merit Financial

List courtesy of The Mortgage Lender Implode-o-Meter

a

Obamas Aggressive Mortgage Recovery Plan is Unveiled

And…I’m back, with my longest title and quite a rambling, yet thoughtful post.  Although I could have posted here and there, I just haven’t been compelled to do so.  When the itch would hit, I’d often read well articulated similar opinion else ware.  Anyway…

Before I get started, a quick note:  Inman Connect NYC 2009 is just around the corner (…this Wednesday, Jan 7th 2009, this post has been sitting on draft for about 2 weeks, whoops…).  No, I’m not speaking, but I will be there so if you were on the fence about going, you can officially go buy your tickets now.  The day prior to Connect NYC 2009,  REBarCamp NYC is a go as well at the Mariott Marquis on Jan 6th.  <<–A Cannot Miss.

So, I’ve been running my mouth about this word called ::Transparency:: for a few years now.  When you wax philosophic on a topic for so long, watching it manifest in the main stream elicits redemptive emotions.

What is Transparency?  The word has a far reaching and fascinating taxonomy depending on what the corresponding topic is. Generally, its a noun that suggests that the given topic can be seen and understood clearly with little left to the imagination. Transparency fosters a greater sense of awareness around a given topic.  Most people will say that greater transparency regarding a given topic is generally a good thing.

So, is Transparency a good thing for business?

On paper, as an ideology, Transparency represents practices performed in a more truthful, enlightened and thus positive light.

In practice, in real life, Transparency tends to compromise established industry’s, institutions and individuals ability to continue to function as they traditionally have, more often than not with extreme deleterious consequences to a rigid status-quo.

You can’t handle the truth! - Colonel Nathan Jessup.

Copious amounts of raw disseminateable data, a byproduct of our progression into the The Information Age, has catalyzed the virility of Transparency creating fast moving paradigm shifts that corporations and industry stalwarts are simply unprepared to handle.  Transparency exacerbates underlying ‘issues’ and causes rapid disintermediation to legacy industries like ::wait for it:: real estate (and mortgage).

The writing has been on the wall for years now:

• From 1997, Clayton Christensen’s The Innovators Dilemma articulates that a ’successful company with established products will get pushed aside unless managers know when to abandon traditional business practices.’
• From 1999 Blown to Bits states that “the Internet and other technological innovations are changing the basic structures of most industries and simply destroying the remainder.” and “Increasingly, your customers will have rich access to a universe of alternatives, your suppliers will exploit direct access to your customers, and your competitors will pick off the most profitable parts of your value chain. Your competitive advantage is up for grabs.”

Transparency has brought many an industry to its knees.  While it seemed like a good idea at the time, it’s clear today that the money that was printed to create the Mortgage Backed Security Market created a bubble that popped.  Consequentially bubble based business models are taking it on the chin, drawing out the knee jerk reaction of indiscriminate cost cutting.  As a business, trimming unnecessary fat is very prudent right about now, but what shouldn’t be ignored is investing in the type of innovation required to compete for future discerning consumers (and agents).

Today, more than ever, its time to ‘abandon traditional business practices’ if you want to stay in business much less maintain a competitive advantage.

Back in late 2007, I quickly rambled about three topics that represent vanguard of the future of real estate:

1. Compensation reformation or divorcing real estate commissions is coming, since inter-broker compensation can be handled outside of the traditional MLS…A different version of the same thing isn’t a viable solution and mass adoption of isn’t probable considering the openness of the technology landscape, 2007-08 forward.
2. Zillow and Trulia aren’t it either…Both well funded 3rd party destination real estate information websites business models revolve around advertising. Advertisers pay money to players like Z & T because consumers are carousing their sites, not an agents or brokerage, so it would seem fair to say that both entities would like to keep the consumer there. This isn’t a knock against either company, they do what they do and make no bones about it, however their respective agendas don’t line up with the individual agent…
3. An application (technology, widget, et al.) that allows for a real estate professional to ’share’ their valuable information and market their services to others within similar spheres, while insuring an acceptable assurance of reciprocity has yet to be identified…though it should involve a strategy that implements an open Social Networking Optimization framework that allows birds of a feather to flock and fly together…

1)  Compensation reform (initially) on the Broker to agent level (CGI splits, desk fees) is manifesting out of brute downward pressures on the market: depressive home values, heavy inventory and lack of credit.  These conditions are pushing many agents out of the industry and causing the best agents to become rather brand or franchise agnostic, perpetually asking:  What have you done for me lately?  Loyalty means little in a Bear market.  Broad compensation reform between agent and consumer is an inevitability.

2)  My overall point that the agendas of the Zillow’s and Trulia’s of the world don’t line up with the individual agent brokerage is shared and expounded on (far better than I could) by my very smart friend Rob Hahn. How long is it before a critical mass of the best agents adapt to open their own (very virtual) brokerages, adopt these types of sites as primary marketing channels, utilize their superior products and services in place of the expense of affiliating with a broker-franchise-brand that provides diminishing, even negative value?

3)  The ‘open web’ proliferated by the likes of Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connect offer the ‘open Social Networking Optimization framework’ described above on highly scalable and cost effective levels.  Aggregating and sharing granular information has never been faster, easier or cheaper with free communication syndication platforms like blogs, Twitter, FriendFeed and FeedFuze.  Agents that have learned to harness these tools and services don’t need to work for a major brand to succeed.  They are becoming the brand.

Instead of dismissing these thought threads and seemingly diminutive products and services, real estate Franchises and Brokers would be wise to listen, adapt and adopt before they trip the line irrelevant.  Over the past couple years a new position within the social spheres of the online real estate industry has popped up:  Director of Social Media.  It’s a fancy name for someone who knows how to communicate online using the products and services mentioned above.  Broker-Franchises should also seek ‘Social Media Directors’ and promote them from within their current contingencies.  They represent a worthy investment as these folks have learned how to leverage information and create conversation around themselves and/or their business far more effectively than traditionally expensive marketing campaigns…they represent the future of real estate.

The generation that will pull this recession up from the depths knows nothing but the internet and how to communicate with the world using its cornucopia of social products and services.  Tech savvy consumers will only connect with similarly tech savvy real estate professionals.

To tie this all together, I don’t believe the real estate market will simply correct without major Transparent changes from and by the people who serve it.  With money continuously being printed and infused into our economy, when things do turn inflation will be hard to control.  Real estate is usually a sound hedge against inflation, as real assets typically rise in value in relative correlation with inflation percentages.  These aren’t ‘usual’ times.  When real estate values do stabilize (aka bottom out), monetary inflation will likely increase at a hefty tick, further diminishing the buying and borrowing power of most people.  Tough times are still ahead, there is no quick fix.  Consumers will demand (and need) great service for less cost, or they simply won’t buy.

The agent and business who ends up succeeding in this market will be the one who kept one eye on cutting costs and the other on investing in innovative resources, specifically industry relative content syndication applications like the examples mentioned above, and other similar technologies that promulgate Transparency.  On the upside, these tools and technologies are rolling out cheaper and better than their predecessors…evaluate, adapt and adopt…or start looking for a new career.

::Done Rambling::

a

Pending Death and Future Living. Transparency, Technology, Social Media, Business Strategy, With Some Economics Sprinkled On Top

Not saying that there shouldn’t be advertisements, but if I’m taking the time to fill consumer quotes within their community, I don’t want to see this type of generalized, ambiguous, borderline misleading advertising from another lender usurping my time and participation…and it doesn’t coincide with Zillows process of:

Get Custom Mortgage Quotes

1. Create a Loan Request

You are anonymous to lenders — no name, phone, or SSN required

2. Receive Quotes

Get personalized mortgage quotes from confirmed lenders

3. Contact the Lender Review quotes, profiles, and ratings. Then you contact them, they don’t call you.

Click through on ING’s advertisement and they immediately want name, address, SS# etc:

-

If you’re gonna talk it, you should walk it and make others who want to play walk with you…Just Sayin…and David likes this stuff

Photo courtesy of Agent Genius and Kristal Kraft…

a

Apparently Zillow Wants All The Cake

My heartfelt condolences to Bill and the rest of Sheila’s friends and family.

From The Phoenix Real Estate Guy, Jay Thompson:

Some of us are chipping in money to help Bill and his son get through the next few days by setting up food deliveries from local Philadelphia area restaurants/deli’s. If you’d like to contribute, you can click on the donation widget in the right side bar (on Jays site).  Excess donations will be sent to the American Cancer Society.

Services for Shelia will be held on Friday August 8, at 10:00am Eastern time.

Goldstein’s Rosenbergs Rafael Sacks Funeral Homes
310 Second Street Pike
South Hampton, PA 18966

If you’d like to mail Bill a card, email me or leave a comment and I’ll get you his address.

a

In Memory of Sheila Lublin

So, then I took the time to ask Todd some questions and read more about the entire shebang.  Turns out the real estate portion of the event is a conference within a greater conference, one that promises to offer advice that rides the progressive edge of New Media (blogging, vlogging and other interactive web technologies) period…not just real estate.  It’s called REBlogWorld and it promises to be enlightening, at the very least, for anyone attending.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love going to the traditional real estate dog and pony shows, but there’s a slim chance that I’m going to actually learn about anything that’s eye-popping new…I may pick up the occasional kernel of knowledge but I’m usually there to share my experiences, meet with people and probably peddle a product for my own selfish reasons

REBlogWorld is tech and New Media first, niche industry second.  Its a place where you can go to experience the next new thing.  From the site:

BlogWorld & New Media Expo is where online influencers, leaders and innovators will be looking for resources including: Blog Publishing Software, Designers and Communities, Podcasting, Internet TV & Radio Services, Equipment and Networks, Social Media Technology and Communities, Badges, Widgets and Plug-ins, Computer Hardware, Software and Peripherals, RSS Services, Advertising Networks, Affiliate Programs, Mobile Blogging and Vlogging Technology and Devices, Broadband, Wi-Fi and ISP’s and much more…

This is the sort of stuff that you may hear about on the traditional real estate and mortgage circuit next year (or a few years from now).  Fortunately Todd and Jason Berman had the foresight to carve the ‘RE‘ into BlogWorld so uber-geeks such as myself can immerse themselves in ‘Whats Hot’, as well as bringing real estate and mortgage into the forefront of overall New Media/tech industry conciousness…thanks guys!

Below are some of the New Media darlings from real estate and mortgage who will be participating in the RE section of the three day conference:

• Dan Green
• Daniel Rothamel
• David Smith & Rich Jacobson
• Dustin Luther
• Jason Berman – Event Organizer
• Jeff Turner
• Jim Duncan
• Kelley Koehler
• Mariana Wagner
• Matt Fagioli
• Meet our moderators. Jan O’Brien, Kevin Boer, & Pat Kitano
• Michael Price
• Mike Mueller
• Morgan Brown
• Teresa Boardman
• Todd Carpenter – Event Organizer

I’ll be there participating in a group called ‘The Pitch’, where I am pitching my product (duh), RateSpeed, to a panel of highly qualified pundits. Should be very interesting as a bunch of A-type personalities try to impose their will on everyone else…

REBlogWorld takes place on Friday, September 19th 2008 from 10am to 6pm with the general conference running Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 20th and 21st).

Register soon, tell your friends to book that trip to Vegas they’ve been putting off…Like I said, now you have a legitimate reason to go play in Sin City

a

REBlogWorld, Be Part of The Worlds Largest New Media Expo

The Department of Justice (DOJ) settled its case with the National Association of Realtors (NAR) primarily because neither side had much to fight for.  The policies that the DOJ had issues with simply became irrelevant with the increasing ubiquity of ‘cheap technology’ and the social media dynamic.

Real estate blogs, other ‘Web 2.0′ centric real estate sites like Zillow and Trulia and especially brokerages like Redfin have effectively achieved what 3 years and untold millions of dollars couldn’t do in court…vanquishing NAR’s ability to ‘restrict competition and consumer choice in real estate services, and discouraging low-cost services.’

NAR lost its hands on this wheel awhile ago, fighting the DOJ in court while Ivory Tower technologists disintermediated the industry from underneath them.   Dissension from the large trade organization is rather en vogue right now for the once tightly locked constituency, so you gotta figure they cut their losses and settled out of an irrelevant and expensive lawsuit, hopefully to address bigger problems and spend their war chest on items that may keep them viable, going forward. If I was a tax paying Realtor, I’d be doubly pissed since I would have theoretically paid for this lawsuit on both sides…

This should be a lesson carefully studied by the mortgage industry.  Before everyone goes all legal on each other, consider one of my favorite Twain quotes:  ‘History may not repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme’.  The industry of real estate traditionally runs about 5-7 years behind the rest of the world when it comes to implementation of progressive practices and technologies, pretty bad until you consider the industry of mortgage lags a few years further behind it.

It’s a matter of time before the release and adoption of similar technologies and progressive practices achieve what the perpetual mortgage circle jerk will only fumble through…achieving greater transparency and refined business structure within an industry that has internal conflicts of interests, misalignment of objectives and a slew of other appropriate cliché’s [Insert Y0ur Favorite Here]…

a

DOJ vs NAR Lawsuit Turned Into an Exercise in Irrelevancy

Also See:

Redfin The Transparent Real Estate Brokerage

The Psychology of Property Listings and Interest Rates

a

I Said I Want to See ALL The Listings

• Ate at Roscoes Chicken and Waffles prior to the party, which was sooo good despite the odd combination of foods.  Not the healthiest meal but…
• The venue (The Vanguard on Hollywood Blvd) was Chic, as advertised.  Many geeks inside, as advertised.
• There was an open bar all night.  It’s a good thing the conversation was good, inhibiting me from pouring more alcohol down my throat, which would have lowered my inhibitons, which would have caused next day embarassment.  Too many cameras around to act a fool.
• Mike Arrington looks like he’s lost weight.
• Perry Ferrell of Jane’s Addiction fame was the DJ, I had no idea that it was him until Jeff Turner pointed it out via his Flickr account.  He’s really toned his look down (Perry that is, Jeff’s still flambouyant as ever).
• Lot’s of smart people with great ideas.  Lot’s of head scratching stuff too, not going to call anyone out here as I appreciate the entrepreneurial dream.

Hung out around ‘the couch area’ of the club which looked like VIP but was for anyone to sit and chill, with Dustin Luther, Jeff Turner, Justin and Robert from DiverseSolutions.com (plus all their lovely wives), ‘Jessie B’ (thats what everyone called him, not just Jessie) an enigmatic guy who has a striking resemblance to Dennis Miller both in looks and smarts.

Jessie B. has some interesting ideas, one of them called ReTrove an aggregator of the listing aggregators, for lack of better description.

It’s still in early beta (= a little slow and glitchy, but cut it some slack) yet the concept is clear: To become a singular starting portal for consumers looking to Search real estate related information, mainly listings.

As major players (Prudential, Realogy etc) submit their listings to the Zillows and/or Trulias and/or Roosts etc, I as a consumer must visit multiple sites to find all of the listings in a given area.  ReTrove is attempting to address this problem.

Type in your city and state, related links populate the page from many of the larger aggregators.

Searching Irvine, CA I received results back that included: Zillow, Realtor.com, Cyberhomes, Movoto, and Windemere (2873 links total).  The number of indexable pages the ReTrove is creating must be massive, thus creating some serious SEO juice as the site matures.  Looking forward to seeing how ReTrove evolves.  Jessie B says late July is his target for greater site refinement and a broader announcement to the world.

Finally, a big thanks to Loren Nason (FutureofRealEstateTechnology.com) for organizing the TC get together, it was a blast.

a

TechCrunch Party In Hollywood, The XBroker Post Party Review

Hoping my new Lumix TZ5 arrives by tomorrow.

Other re.net regulars attending:

Loren of www.futureofrealestatetecnology.com  (h/t to Loren for the h/t about the party)

Robert of www.diversesolutions.com

Justin of www.diversesolutions.com

Dustin Luther of 4realz.net

Jeff Turner (?) www.realestateshows.com

Matt Dunlap (?) www.realEspace.com

Anyone else?   Drop me a comment.

a

TechCrunch Party In Hollywood

Stating the obvious…what Zillow has created is a community for mortgage professionals (Mo-Pro), a community that requires said participating professionals be of a certain grain of salt, checking their state licensing information as well as a social security number for a cursory level personal background check.  These two stop-gaps insure a baseline quality standard and validate the community as (more) trusted and viable for a consumer as opposed to them walking into the many lender traps that currently exist on the web.

Zillow does not aggregate consumer data to then sell them as leads to the mortgage hounds.  Thank God (Yahweh, Jehovah, Muhammad, Buddha, Jesus, et al).  Joel has the best remedy for this ad nauseam dinosaur age practice made sickeningly popular by LowerMyBills, LendingTree et al…if he can drag them behind the shed, I’ll pull the trigger.  Because of their well funded and non-conflicting business model as an advertising and media company, Zillow can afford to do this and should be properly recognized for staying outside of this black box.

Rating the mortgage professional based on service and rate/price quote accuracy is another positive aspect, a stop-gap to cap bait and switch and other traditional Mo-Pro smarmy marketing strategies.

Anonymity.  Love it and consumers will too.  However, consumer anonymity can and will cause participating Mo-Pro’s to chase their tail as rate voyeurs flood the system.  It will be interesting to see what the client conversion ratio is.  How many ‘leads’ will it take a Mo-Pro to respond too before they convert to a dedicated and paying client?  Is it 10-1, 20-1, 100-1?  While the ‘leads’ may be free, they will be cost heavy using the metric of time.

Consumers are notorious voyeurs.  I’m one of them.  I submitted my anonymous info to Zillow today and received 3 quotes in less than an hour. The info I provided was extremely attractive and easy to qualify:

692 FICO, $390k loan amount, 76% LTV, Full-Doc, low debt to income ratio, plenty of liquid assets…in other words a straight up automatically underwritten conforming loan scenario.

The responses I got (all 30 Yr Fixed Interest Only products) varied from 5.5% with ~$4900 in lender fees to 5.75% with ~$6200 in lender fees.  The lowest quote came from a major bank, the highest quote came from a broker.

The three Mo-Pro’s that responded took one look at my info and undoubtedly shot over quotes without thinking twice within < 3 minutes. Not alot of time invested for nothing in return.  No harm no foul.

So my questions are as follows:

How many scenarios as easy (and far more difficult) as mine will a mortgage professional have to spend time on to pull an actual client?

If this quote to client ratio is too high, will top notch professionals continue to troll Zillow’s community in hopes of fishing out a real deal?

If this ratio is too high, and the scenario is more difficult to place, how much real time will a professional spend taking the time to qualify and price the situation correctly?

If the anonymous scenarios are more complicated than my submission, which they assuredly will be, how will consumers respond to the resulting latency in information exchange?

Im going to pause here (for today) and end with stating that Zillow’s mortgage community is a (very) positive step in the right direction, but it needs something else…latent information can be perceived as misinformation.

Mortgage professionals are not equipped to handle what Zillow is throwing at them, not yet.

Also See:

BHB

FoREM

Zillow Blog

Blown Mortgage

Lenderama

3 Oceans

Drew Meyers

TechCrunch

a

Zillow Launches Mortgage Community. The Consumer is Ready, But is The Mortgage Professional?