Realtor Mar 09.p65 - Laguna Board of Realtors

REALTOR ®
www.lagunaboardofrealtors.com
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BOARD OF
DIRECTORS
2009
President
Wayne Woodyard
President-Elect
Bob Hartman
Vice President
Nancy Pooley
Secretary
Ed Brown
Treasurer
Michael Gosselin
DIRECTORS
Charles Brickell
Shauna Covington
Rick McIntire
Beverly Milosevic
Marcus Skenderian
Director for Life
Marie Thomas
LAGUNA BOARD OF REALTORS
939 GLENNEYRE ST.
LAGUNA BEACH CA 92651
Past President
Rick McIntire
COMMITTEE
CHAIRPERSONS
Affiliates
Caroline Haines
BORPAC/IMPAC Funds
Marie Thomas
Budget and Finance
Michael Gosselin
Community Events
Nancy Pooley
Education
Margie Hobbie
Government/Legislative Affairs
Gayle Waite
Grievance
Noel Johnson
Internet Technology
Gary Boisen
Long Range Planning
Rick McIntire
Meals on Wheels
Traudi Hansen
Membership Orientation
Charles Brickell
Multiple Listings
Shauna Covington
Professional Standards
Audrey Prosser
Programs
Susan Neely
Public Relations
Marcus Skenderian
Executive Vice President
Stephanie Lennon
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Letter from the California Association
of REALTORS®
Dear C.A.R. Member,
President Obama unveiled the
Homeowner Affordability and Stability
Plan, which will offer assistance to as many
as 9 million homeowners, while attempting
to prevent the destructive impact of foreclosures on families and communities.
The plan contains three main components, and only applies to primary residences. The loans referenced in the plan
cannot exceed Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae
conforming loan limits.
The first component is directed
toward homeowners suffering from falling
housing prices who still have equity in their
homes, but no longer have the 20 percent
equity needed to refinance. Under the plan,
homeowners who have conforming loans
owned or guaranteed by Freddie Mac and
Fannie Mae will be allowed to refinance their
homes, even if they do not have 20 percent
equity left in the house. The U.S. Treasury
Dept. estimates that about 5 million
homeowners will be helped by this portion of
the program.
The second component, known as
the Homeowner Stability Initiative, is
designed to assist homeowners who are
“underwater” on their mortgages. The $75
billion initiative will bring together lenders,
servicers, and the government so that all
stakeholders share in the cost of the modification. Primary mortgages would be reduced
to monthly payments that do not exceed a 38
percent debt-to-income ratio, with the costs
of doing so borne by the lender. The government and lender then would split the costs of
further reducing the monthly payments until
they were at a 31 percent debt-to income
ratio. An important aspect of the initiative
is that homeowners do not have to be
delinquent to participate.
The Homeowner Stability Initiative also will create incentives for
servicers, mortgage holders, and
homeowners. Servicers would receive an
up-front fee of $1,000 for every eligible
modification meeting the initiative’s
guidelines. Guidelines are scheduled to be
released by March 4. Mortgage holders
will receive an incentive payment of
$1,500, and servicers $500, for modifications made on loans that are current but at
risk of imminent default.
The final aspect of the Homeowner Stability Initiative is creating clear
and consistent guidelines for loan modifications. The Obama Administration plans
to work with federal agencies, banking
and credit union regulators, and the
private sector in order to develop loan
modification guidelines that can be
implemented across the entire mortgage
market. While adoption of the guidelines
will be voluntary for the private sector, all
financial institutions receiving Financial
Stability Plan assistance going forward
will be required to implement the loan
modification guidelines.
The government estimates that
between 3 and 4 million homeowners will
benefit from the Homeowner Stability
Initiative component of the plan.
The third component of The
Homeowner Affordability and Stability
Plan is supporting low mortgage rates by
See LETTER, Page 3
Affiliate Spotlight Russell Sarkin
Upcoming Events in 2009
Walsh Flooring and Window Coverings
W
alsh Flooring and Window
Coverings was established in
1964. Russell Sarkin has owned and
operated Walsh Flooring and Window
Coverings in South Laguna Beach
since 1993. The company prides itself
in offering the highest quality product
and workmanship, coupled with
exceptional customer service and
competitive pricing. The store
showcases an impressive array of
flooring and window covering
solutions. This includes but is not limited to residential and
commercial carpet, natural and engineered wood, granite stone,
marble, ceramic and porcelain tile and custom area rugs.
Window treatments are equally expansive to include custom rod
and draperies, woven wood shades, plantation shutters and the
entire portfolio of Hunter Douglas window coverings.
As a member of the Laguna Board of REALTORS®,
we welcome you to visit our beautiful showroom at 30912 South
Coast Highway, Laguna Beach. You can contact us at 949-4995366 or fax 949-499-0336.
May 14th
Taste for Charity
June 3rd 6th
C.A.R. Business Meetings in
Sacramento
September 14th
Pet Parade/Chili Cook-Off
October 7th 10th
C.A.R. Business Meetings in San
Jose
The REALTOR® News is published
monthly as a service for the members and affiliates of the Laguna Board
of REALTORS®. Although considerable effort is made to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information published, The Board does not
guarantee the accuracy or assume liability for the use of any information
published. Any by-lined articles published are the responsibility of the
contributing writer. Submitted articles
may be edited due to space requirements.
Type/Design
Ward C. Blackburn
Tradewind Publications • (949) 487-7313
wardblackburn@aol.com
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5 Tips ffor
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“Borrowers are going to have to prove they are the
borrower they say they are,” says Keith Gumbinger, vice
president of HSH Associates, a mortgage-industry publisher in Pompton Plains, N.J. Gumbinger says
homebuyers should consider these things before they
apply for a loan.
1. Down payments are critical. Borrowers should expect
to put down at least 10 percent for a “conforming loan” –
a mortgage that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will purchase.
2. Credit scores count. A 720 on the 850-point FICO
rating scale will get a borrower access to the best rates.
Rich Bira, branch manager of FCM Direct Lender in
Chicago, says: “A score between 720 and 739 gets 0.125
percent added to the rate, a score between 700 and 719
gets 0.375 percent added to the rate, and a score between
680 and 699 gets 0.5 percent added to the rate.”
3. Consider VA and FHA. Borrowers without down
payments or with less than stellar credit scores should
consider these government-insured loans offered through
the Federal Housing Administration of the Veterans
Administration.
4. Unearth the records. Before applying, borrowers
should organize tax, banking and other records that prove
income, savings and debts. They should also expect to be
patient about what may seem to be endless requests for
information.
5. Get rid of debts. Limiting debts, including what
borrowers expect to pay for the mortgage, to less than
43 percent of gross income is important.
The New Etiquette of Effective Lead Capture
Real estate professionals who want to generate business through their Web sites and blogs need to make
visitors want to provide their contact information.
Experts say e-mail addresses should never be captured
without the visitor’s permission or knowledge. There
are several incentives sales pros can offer on their sites
to persuade visitors to contact them or provide e-mail
addresses.
For example, the site should feature an e-mail link and
phone number on every page, a “Call Me” button to
immediately connect prospects to the practitioner, and
a widget to sign up for reports if information fields are
restricted by the agent’s IDX.
They also should offer special reports and in-depth
market statistics via e-mail.
LETTER Continued . . .
strengthening Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Treasury Dept. plans to
increase their Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements with both Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac from its current $100 billion in both entities to $200 billion in
each. The Treasury Dept. also will continue to purchase Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac mortgage-back securities in order to help promote stability and
liquidity in the marketplace.. Additionally, the Treasury Dept. will increase
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s portfolios by $50 billion, for a total of $900
billion. The Obama Administration will work with Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac to support state housing finance agencies in serving home buyers, such as
CalHFA. Funding for this will not come from TARP money but from the
Housing and Economic Recovery Act.
While some of the details still are being developed, such as the modification guidelines, the Obama Administration plans on using programs and
funding already allocated for The Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan
and will need little legislative approval for programs under the plan.
Sincerely,
James Liptak
2009 President
California Association of REALTORS®
GALLERY OF FAME
March
The Laguna Board
of REALTORS®
and Affiliates
Charitable
Assistance Fund
Encourages
Your Donations
All donations are welcome
and will be used specifically to
help a member in need.
If you would like to
contribute, please deliver to
the Board office or mail to:
LBR/CAF
P.O. Box 4084
Laguna Beach, CA 92652
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Tempo Tips
continued . . .
ever web-based community of qualified buyers and
sellers, brokers and agents and home service professionals. Listingbook was founded in 1999 and has
agreements in place with MLSs in North Carolina,
Michigan, Florida and California now totaling 86,000
agents, who will have access to this private real
estate community portal. For more information about
Listingbook™, visit www.listingbook.com.
Going Green Pays off with DocCentral™ for
SoCalMLS Customers
The environmentally friendly DocCentral™ is designed as a simple, intuitive costeffective opensource tool that allows real estate professionals to
manage and organize their documents. Documents
are stored on secure servers and accessible online
24/7 by agents and their clients and vendors. By
taking transaction documentation off real estate
specialist laptops and out of filing cabinets,
DocCentral™ eliminates redundancy, safeguards
information and ensures there will always be enough
space for even the largest document files. With
DocCentral™ unnecessary postage and shipping cost
are a thing of the past.
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MLS-Office
Presented in a colorful and intuitive interface, MLSOffice offers all the features you need at no extra cost!
Internet lead capture tools, action plans, letters and text
templates, contacts manager, schedule, showings
manager, activity report for your sellers and buyers,
birthday notifications, market report, mileage report,
calendar 2.0,automatic showing scheduling, listings
manager and more! It is team ready if you work as a
team and it can be synchronized with your PDA for a
small extra fee.
Status Change
All status changes to your listing must be done within
24 hours. You cannot keep a listing as activate if you
have a signed offer. The listing must be changed to
backup.
If your seller wants to keep the listing out of the
MLS you must have them sign the waiver form and send
a copy to the Board office. If this is not done you are in
violation of the MLS rules.
Photos in Listing
SoCal MLS requires all listings to have at least one
photo. If you have a problem downloading your photo
you can e-mail it to us and we will download it for you.
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Tempo Tips
Tempo Tip = Find Box
When on the Tempo MLS system from any screen
press the Ctrl & F keys simultaneously to bring up a
Find Box, type the word or a portion of the word you
are seeking to find then press the Enter key or Next
button, you will be taken to the first word on the
screen that matches what you are looking for.
This comes in very handy when adding and editing
your listings! For a Calendar of all SoCalMLS FREE
Classes on-line and classroom style, go to:
http://socalmls.frogpond.com/DispCalendar.cfm
Listing Book Hundreds of thousands of Agents are
using Listingbook Nationwide!
Listingbook™, the leading service for connecting real
estate agents with their clients, dramatically reduces
agents’ workload by automating, tracking and analyzing client activities and competitive activity in an
agent-managed, real-time environment. The
Listingbook™ client-servicing product complements
SoCalMLS’ Tempo MLS and allows secure access to
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MLS data only when an agent provides a client
account for a buyer or seller. The agent is then able to
supply reliable, personalized, current market information, and interact with buyers and sellers while
guiding and monitoring their activity.
Listingbook™ allows agents to work more effectively
with buyers and sellers; sellers can see the number of
times their homes are viewed and, with their agent,
view real-time competitive information like price
changes and new listings in their area. Buyers feel
empowered with Listingbook™ because they can
search, select favorites and keep track of homes they
have viewed to find their dream home quickly.
Listingbook™ places the agent at the center of the
process, allowing seamless collaboration with clients
that facilitates efficient and enjoyable transactions.
About Listingbook™– Listingbook™ LLC, based in
Greensboro, N.C., is an online service that connects
real estate agents and their clients through an integrated platform of client management, sales productivity and direct marketing tools. Listingbook has
qualified users who gain access only through their
licensed real estate agent. Listingbook™ is the firstContinued, Page 9
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MARCH CALENDAR
of events
Welcome New Members
Wednesday, March 4th
Marketing Meeting at the Woman’s Club 9:00 a.m.
LB Broker Preview 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Thursday, March 19th
Marketing Meeting at all Park Pizza 8:15 a.m.
L.N. Broker Preview 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
REALTORS®
Thursday, March 5th
Marketing Meeting at all Park Pizza 8:15 a.m.
LN Broker Preview 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Wednesday, March 25th
Marketing Meeting at the Woman’s Club 9:00 a.m.
LB Broker Preview 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Burt Teplitzky – Surterre Properties
Sunday, March 8
Daylight Savings Time Begins
Thursday, March 26th
Marketing Meeting at all Park Pizza 8:15 a.m.
L.N. Broker Preview 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Donna Williams – Team Laguna
th
Wednesday, March 11th
Marketing Meeting at the Woman’s Club 9:00 a.m.
LB Broker Preview 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Amy Calvert – First Team Estates
Diana Aguilar – Re/Max
Monica Mukai –Coldwell Banker
Friday, March 27th
Board of Directors Meeting
Thursday, March 12th
Marketing Meeting at all Park Pizza 8:15 a.m.
LN Broker Preview 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Affiliates
Tuesday, March 17th
St. Patrick’s Day
Jamie Luck – Equity Title
Brandon Burton – Northwestern Mutual
Kimberly Toonen – Parker Rose Design
Wednesday February 18th
Marketing Meeting at the Woman’s Club 9:00 a.m.
LB Broker Preview 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Save the Date!
Thursday, May 14th
Taste for Charity Fundraiser
From 5:00p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at Tivoli Too!
Admission is $25 per person, includes 6 taste
tickets.
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