News
- REALTOR® Tour of Skyline High School:
Join the district on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. for a tour of the new Skyline High School at 2552 N. Maple.
Ann Arbor Public School District Facts:- Employs over 3,000 full- and part-time employees;
- Ranks first in Michigan in the number of Merit Scholarships;
- Over 85% of graduates enter a 4-year college
- 74 different languages are spoken.
For more information about the Ann Arbor Public School district, visit their website.
> > details - May 2008 MLXchange Class:
MaryAnn Baer from MarketLinx will be at the Board office on Wednesday, May 21, from 1 to 4 p.m. so that you can learn all the ins and outs of CMA/Report Writer in MLXchange 4.0.
This class is FREE for AAABoR members, but you MUST register online.
Register online (registration instructions)> > details
**Important Note: Please ensure that your online registration is complete - Click the "Add to Cart" button AND the "Register Now" button, to generate a "Receipt" on the final page. - Cool Things for Websites:
- Going Mobile. With its extraordinarily sharp screen and innovative user interface, Apple Inc.'s iPhone has marked the advent of serious web browsing using mobile devices. Some real estate pros have taken notice of this by making sure their site will look good on any size screen. Mobile-compatible sites sense when a mobile device is viewing them and serve up an optimized version.
- Offering dynamic calls to action. Most real estate websites don't use calls to action, which makes you stand out even more when yours does. Calls to action or irresistible offers are the main ways your site can powerfully engage visitors so that casual inquiries are more likely to turn into closed transactions. The key to maximizing effectiveness is to make your calls and offers relevant to the context of what your visitors are viewing.
- Providing real-time, accurate CMA services. Scott Williams, of Santa Barbara, California has a unique website. Among its other features, this site enables home owners to interactively create a real-time CMA of their property that takes into account differences in square footage, condition, time since sale, and other factors from comparables found in their neighborhood using a Google Map interface.
- Encouraging custom Google Map property searches. It seems as if everyone these days is using some sort of Google Map-based property search tool. However, many are uninspired. Linda Craft of Raleigh, N.C. has a unique and fun Google Map property search. In addition to the usual home icons, the interactive map also features entire neighborhoods, great for relocating buyers, and distinguishes condos from single-family residences.
- Serving RSS feeds for listings. Instead of the traditional approach for emailing listings to a visitor, some sites are now providing new listing feeds via RSS. This will especially appeal to the highly tech-savvy Generation Y buyers who seek especially efficient ways to receive information that is important to them.
- 2008 Tour of Remodeled Homes:
By attending the tour, REALTOR® members will get an opportunity to gather information from some of the area's finest remodeler's and discover for themselves many ideas for making changes to homes, which they can share with perspective buyers.
Show your pocketcard to receive these $10 tickets at half price!
Tickets and tour books are available at each tour home, sponsor locations (see flyer), online at www.narisemich.org or by calling 734.622.9999.
> > details - Affordable Ways to Makeover Bathrooms: Remodeling magazine says the average price of a mid-range bathroom remodel in 2007 was $14,445. But $500 worth of nips and tucks can upgrade the room, says Lytel Young, host of HGTV’s "Save My Bath."
"There are three important things in a bathroom," Young says. "Clean, simple, and orderly. That's the key for every budget, whether it's $500 or $40,000."
He recommends these inexpensive steps to sellers whose baths need a facelift:
- Rip out the dated medicine cabinet and replace it with a big mirror.
- Replace the lighting with new sconces on both sides of the mirror plus a new overhead fixture on a dimmer.
- Re-caulk the tub and shower.
- Repaint with a neutral color, but decorate with big, fluffy colorful towels.
- Hang some framed art.
source: Realtor.org> > details - Get Your Listings Exposed Online: What about the other 14 percent? They started using the Internet after they started looking, but before they contacted a real estate agent.
Internet buyers spent on average, just over 4.5 weeks doing research before ever contacting an agent. The traditional buyer? They spent just over 1.5 weeks with research. One final statistic: 97 percent of Internet buyers said they would use the same agent again! Curious about the traditional buyers? Only 50 percent said they would use the same agent again.
MLXchange 4.0 provides a way for you to have a professional Website so your listings have that important online exposure.
Make the most of the money you’re already spending on newspaper ads and glossy marketing pieces by investing at least a portion in your online marketing. Need a few more reasons to make the switch? How about: Agents who utilize online marketing and have Internet buyers are more liked, more highly regarded, more likely to have a repeat sale with the client. Internet buyers previewed just under 7 homes on average with their agent (they’d already eliminated the homes they did not wish to see). Traditional buyers previewed almost 15.5 homes on average with their agent.
source: Realtor.org/MLXchange
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- April 2008 Field Report: The Property Tax Reform Advancing provides an income tax credit to homebuyers equal to the amount of the “pop-up” in their property taxes. The Michigan Business Tax (MBT) includes a 22 percent “surcharge” that could hurt the commercial industry and the chance for businesses in Michigan. The Agency Responsibility Act (ARA) aims to clearly indentify the basic duties and services owed under an exclusive agency agreement.
Legislation to strengthen the regulation of the mortgage industry in Michigan is official with the passage of the “Loan Officer Licensing” legislation. The MSHDA’s “Save the Dream” program allows the Michigan State Housing Development Authority to create a loan program to assist homeowners facing adjustments in their interest rate is waiting the Governor’s signature.
> > details - 5 Foreclosure Laws You Need to Know: Notification of intent to foreclose. Many states require that a lender notify the borrower in advance (30 days, for example) before obtaining a court judgment to foreclose.
Nonjudicial foreclosure. Many states permit (including Michigan) to add a clause to a mortgage document that permits the lender to foreclose and sell the property without obtaining court approval.
Deficiency judgment. Some states permit (including Michigan in some instances) a lender that forecloses on a mortgage to file a judgment against the borrower entitling the lender to collect from the defaulted borrower any amount of the outstanding mortgage not covered by the sale price.
Right of redemption. Some states permit (including Michigan) a defaulting borrower to satisfy the loan default and recover the property if done within a specified amount of time after the property is sold.
Military service. If the borrower or the borrower’s spouse is on active military duty, the Civil Relief Act of 2003 prohibits a lender from foreclosing on the mortgage. In addition, the borrower may qualify for an interest rate reduction or even a temporary suspension of mortgage payments.
Don’t forget the HOPE Now Alliance. This new private-sector program negotiated by the federal government should help borrowers with subprime adjustable rate loans that will reset in 2008 or 2009 avoid foreclosure.
The voluntary plan encourages lenders to help qualified subprime borrowers refinance their loans into an FHA-insured or other more affordable mortgage without prepayment penalties. Lenders may also freeze the interest on ARM products at the introductory rate for five years to assist borrowers who are unable to qualify for refinancing. Learn more…
Download the free “Learn How to Avoid Foreclosure and Keep Your Home” NAR brochure (text-only version).
> > details - Code of Ethics Fallacy: Example: Procuring Cause.
Misunderstanding: Showing a property proves procuring cause and entitles you to a commission if your buyer purchases the home.
The Real Story: Procuring cause is a complex issue, and no one action ensures that you’re entitled to compensation after a sale. Appendix II to Part 10 of the Code of Ethics and Arbitration Manual gives a basic definition of procuring cause as “the uninterrupted series of casual events which results in the successful transaction.” Neither showing the property nor having a buyer’s representation agreement with the purchaser automatically demonstrates procuring cause.
> > details - 5 Hot Legal Issues:
- The risk of identity theft.
A 2007 study by Javelin Strategy & Research found that the average identity theft victim lost $5,270 to fraud. Access to clients’ confidential information makes brokers attractive targets for identity theft. To protect yourself, institute document management policies for paper and electronic files. Learn more from the Federal Trade Commission… - Sham affiliated business arrangements.
As a recent crackdown against real estate licensees and title company agents in Minnesota demonstrates, both state-level law enforcement and HUD are ready to play hardball against affiliated business arrangements that function only as shells for illegal kickbacks. - Outlawing rebates and incentives.
While the dozen or so state laws that prohibit REALTORS® from paying incentives to consumers aren’t new, the recent focus on the legality of such statues by the U.S. Department of Justice in states such as Kentucky have put this marketing practice under the microscope. Learn more from NAR… - Disclosure obligations when a seller faces financial woes.
As declining home prices make short sales more common, the issue of how, when, and how much real estate professionals must disclose to other brokers and prospective buyers is getting a lot of attention. Do you have to tell cooperating brokers that they run the risk of a bank cutting the offered commission in the MLS? Will doing so breach your duty to a seller? Learn more from Greg McClelland’s 2007 Legal Update, “Foreclosures and Short Sales”… - The persistence of mortgage fraud.
Current price instability in many local real estate markets provides an easier opening for fraud and makes it more challenging for appraisers to assess value. Brokers and REALTORS® who are eager to close deals and help pressured sellers may be tempted to turn a blind eye to one price on the HUD1 statement and another on the check. More recent fraud schemes include both foreclosure experts who take the title to the home without satisfying the loan and those who offer fraudulent reverse mortgages to hard-pressed seniors. Remember that even if you don’t profit and you’re only trying to help, it’s still fraud.
> > detailssource: realtor.org
- The risk of identity theft.
- Prove You’re Not Like the Rest: To snag the customer, you’ve got to find a way to stand out, experts say. Real estate is an emotional business and, because the market has changed so much, visibility is as important as ability. Appeal to emotions. To distinguish yourself from the competition, create a brand that makes an emotional connection with your target audience.
Be consistent. An agent’s brand, once established, should be applied consistently in all of their marketing media in order to attract business, entrench brand recognition, and keep the agent in the forefront of house-hunters’ minds.
Market your specialty. Consumers think that all real estate agents are the same. Because they don’t see any differentiators, they don’t see the perceived value, and are more likely to want to pay less if they think they can get the same thing somewhere else. But when you’re a specialist, you have a unique value and are known for something specific. Position yourself as a specialist and market yourself as such to get the business.
Source: REALTOR.org.> > details - 5 Papers You’ll Need to renegotiate a Troubled Mortgage:
- Loan number and recent payment history.
- A brief explanation of their circumstances. Are their financial problems temporary (for example, a cut in job hours or the illness of a family member) or permanent?
- Recent income documentation, including pay stubs or tax returns
- A list of household expenses – utility bills, food, insurance
- A list of other debt obligations – credit cards, car loans
For more information on avoiding foreclosure, visit the Federal Housing Administration Website.
> > details - 6 Clues a Lender is a Predator: Here are some tips from the NAR brochure “Are You Having Trouble Paying Your Mortgage?”
- Excessive service fees. Lender fees of 1 percent are common on many mortgages – significantly higher percentages may be a red flag.
- Teaser rates and balloon payments. Borrowers must understand what their payments will be when the rate is raised.
- Delayed closing. Unscrupulous lenders may delay a closing so that a more favorable loan rate expires.
- Overinflated appraisals. Higher values allow for higher fees to the lender and added cost to the borrower.
- Prepayment penalties and other barriers to refinancing. Penalties for prepayment try to make it too costly for borrowers to get another loan at a more favorable rate.
- Unexpected settlement costs that make the fees charged at closing significantly higher than those disclosed earlier.
Download the free predatory lending brochure (text-only version).
> > details - Principal Residence Exemption Forms Now Available:
As a follow up to last week’s e-news alert regarding the Passage of Public Act 96 (see article) which enables home sellers to retain 2 principal resident exemptions for property still on the market after the seller has moved elsewhere in the state, the “Conditional Rescission of Principal Residence Exemption Form #4640 form from the Department of Treasury is now available.
Public Act 96 enables a person who has established a new principal residence to retain a Principal Residence Exemption (PRE) on property previously exempt as the owner’s principal residence that is not occupied and for sale by submitting a Conditional Rescission of Principal Residence Exemption Form #4640. The conditional rescission allows an owner to receive a PRE on his or her new property and on previously exempted property simultaneously if certain criteria are met:
- the property is not occupied,
- the property is for sale
- the property is not leased
- the property is not used for any business or commercial purpose
*The opportunity to apply and qualify for a conditional rescission begins for the 2008 tax year and is not retroactive to previous tax years.
To qualify for the conditional rescission in 2008, Form #4640 must be submitted to the assessor of the local unit of government where the property is located on or before May 1, 2008. The Board of Review has no authority with regard to a conditional rescission and cannot institute a conditional rescission on behalf of an owner if a deadline is missed or for previous tax years. An owner must annually submit Form #4640 on or before December 31 to verify to the assessor that the property for which the PRE is retained is not occupied, is for sale, is not leased, and is not used for any business or commercial purpose.
The Department of Treasury is in the process of developing a Frequently Asked Question sheet to address various issues related to the new conditional rescission. They hope to have those questions posted on the web some time next week. Form #4640, which includes an instruction page, can also be found at www.michigan.gov/taxes.
If you have any questions regarding conditional rescissions, please feel free to contact the PRE Unit at (517) 373-1950 or email Patrick Huber, Manager of the Property Tax Exemption Section, at huberp@michigan.gov.
> > details - A Scam Has Surfaced, Be Aware: He requested detailed costs of renting a property including the costs of utilities, etc. He further stated the sponsor would be paying fees up front and later provided a cashier’s check to the agent.
Immediately, thereafter the agent was again contacted by the individual. He stated he’d had a family emergency and could not make the trip without some of the original funds being returned to him.
Later, the cashier’s check was declined. Please be aware of this type of fraud as you do business with anyone requesting a partial or entire refund. Always postpone any reimbursements until any checks have cleared the financial institution.
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