Tax Stimulus Party Big Success

The conference room was overflowing on Thursday night for the first of two presentations made to new home buyers. I would estimate that 15 of the 26 possible buyers (singles or couples counted as one buyer) that participated were successfully pre-qualified by Scott Thomas and two of his associates attending. Agents attending all picked up multiple buyers and I will follow up with a better count on the actual numbers later.

Several dozen more registrants could not attend, but two have already been assigned and more to be scrubbed or to come back for or next event.

Thanks to our sponsors, Scott Thomas of Harbor Mortgage and Jeff Hawley of Farmers Insurance.

Lender Tips - Courtesy of Marsha Copeland

From: "Barbara Coker"
Date: May 21, 2009 6:46:14 PM CDT

Lately, I have seen contract amendments which refer to specific items on the Buyer’s Inspection, by the exact paragraph number. But that then requires me to send the entire inspection to the appraiser and underwriter. In turn, they are forced to require other repairs listed on those inspections, just to CYA. They wouldn’t want to, but they now know more than they really needed to know.

Underwriters only care about appraiser required repairs, and any listed on the contract.

It’s safest to just list the specific repairs you want to have the seller agree to, without sending that inspection.

Also, if you want to ask the sellers to pay some funds towards closing costs in lieu of repairs, just put that amount in Item 4 of the amendment. Please don’t put wording in about “in lieu of fixing this item, or that item, seller to pay buyer $$$$.” Then the underwriter had to know what is wrong with those items.

I don’t like to wave red flags in front of underwriters who are already forced to be more conservative than in the past.

However, don’t forget that the type of loan the buyer is obtaining will limit the seller to a certain maximum amount of contribution. FHA’s limit is 6%, Fannie ranges from 3%-9% depending on the down payment. Also the survey is a separate expense on the contract, but must still be included in the maximum contribution limits.
You might need to actually reduce the price of the seller concession is more than allowed by the loan type.

Also, the increased loan volumes we are seeing (purchases, refinances, first time home buyers looking for that $8,000 credit), are pushing our normal turn times out a little. If you take the normal 10 days for the option period, it might be prudent to write a 45 day contract, rather than a 30 day. The new conventional appraisal system is taking a few more days, and the VA appraiser always gets 10 days. That way you don’t need to go through the hassles of extending the closing date. Remember, it does say “on or before,” and your lenders will work to close earlier if they can.

$8000 Tax Stimulus Party

Agents and guests are welcome to join us next Thursday at the Blanco office from 6:00 on for an evenning of education, drinks, and door prizes. Learn about the $8,000 tax credit available for "first time" homebuyers. The rules are tricky but the benefits are great and end on December 1st.

All our agents are invited. If you could rsvp on realsa.com/registration.htm - it would be greatly appreciated. If you could register a guest or two who might benefit - it will make the party more fun.

Our good friend Scott Thomas is sponsoring this event. He has been an awesome friend of our company and I hope we can get a great turn-out.

This is a great way to help our "first time" homebuyers get their "stimulus" money.

Canyon Lake and New Braunfels Web Sites

The web sites are up and the new web addresses are http://realcanyonlake.com and http://realnewbraunfels.com the San Antonio web address is http://realsa.com. - all sites have place to look for agents alphabetically.

May 28th - Company-Wide Event

Hi guys! Let's all the offices get together for a special event at the Hilton Homewood Suites. Here is the Stone Oak Locations web site link.

Lynn Nestor and others will be there to welcome all of our coming together and to provide some great training.

The time is from 9:30 to 12:30 with brunch being provided.

E-Team

Carolyn Price from Prudential will be here May 27th at 2:00 to provide Platform training and an update of the best practices for managing buyers and the Online Sellers Advantage. We will meet in the Blanco training room. This should be useful. We will have another training date for some of the additional methods used at Prudential Don Johnson at another date and time.

Prudential Press Release

For Immediate Release Contact: Kevin Ostler
May 18, 2009 (949) 794-7980
kevin.ostler@prudential.com


Prudential Don Johnson Co. Targets Canyon Lake and New Braunfels

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Prudential Don Johnson Co., REALTORS®, San Antonio’s oldest real estate firm, today announced it has expanded operations to neighboring Canyon Lake and New Braunfels. The company added two sales offices and 60 sales professionals in the process.
“We see significant growth opportunity in Texas real estate and we’re expanding to capitalize,” said Chief Executive Officer Bernie Johnson, Prudential Don Johnson Co. REALTORS®. “Our increased exposure in these popular markets will help us gain efficiencies and better serve customers throughout greater San Antonio. Of course, expansion helps us gain market share and grow as a company.”
Earl Lee, president of Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services, applauded the move and its timing. “Prudential Don Johnson Co., REALTORS® is well positioned for the long term,” he said. “This company has been in the Prudential Real Estate Network for 16 years. It’s known for great customer service but also for sound business decisions.”
Prudential Don Johnson Co., REALTORS® bases operations at 16845 Blanco Road, San Antonio. New offices are located at 1415 FM 2673, Canyon Lake; and 1551 N. Walnut, Suite 1, New Braunfels. The company, now with more than 100 sales professionals and staff members, specializes in residential real estate, property management and relocation services.
Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services, Inc. is Prudential’s integrated real estate brokerage franchise and relocation services business. Prudential Real Estate franchises are independently owned and operated. Companies are selected based upon outstanding performance records, high levels of customer service and shared business values with those of Prudential.
Prudential Real Estate provides franchises with business strategies using Operation Reviews as
well as numerous benefits, including access to Prudential Real Estate’s Online Seller
(more)
AdvantageSM program designed to provide real-time information to sellers with the touch of a keystroke. Prudential Real Estate is one of the largest real estate brokerage franchise networks in North America, with nearly 1,940 franchise offices and approximately 62,000 sales professionals in the franchise Network as of March 31, 2009.
Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader with approximately $542 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2009, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Leveraging its heritage of life insurance and asset management expertise, Prudential is focused on helping approximately 50 million individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth. The company’s well-known Rock symbol is an icon of strength, stability, expertise and innovation that has stood the test of time. Prudential's businesses offer a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds, investment management, and real estate services. For more information, please visit www.prudential.com.