Tag Archives: real estate

More Real Estate Scandals! Long Beach

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I shouldn’t be shocked but it never ceases to amaze me the low ethics some people and companies exhibit in their businesses.

You’ve probably heard the latest scandal, or more exactly, the latest tip of the iceberg to be exposed through the Washington Mutual scandal. Here is more on the story.

Washington Mutual is being investigated by New York’s Attorney-General Cuomo for pressuring appraisers to inflate their report in order to benefit lenders. Nice way to think about your clients first. Guess where I am going next? A local Credit Union until they get too big :) Calculated Risk has a god cover on the story that will give you the lowdown. On another post:

““I wish I could say I am shocked by the discoveries made by the Attorney General and his staff. Sadly, what allegedly happened between First American and Washington Mutual is not an isolated incident. Rather, it is symbolic of a problem that has plagued the appraisal industry for years. As the allegations against First American show, the mortgage industry’s dirty secret has been that banks exert tremendous pressure to extort appraisers.”
Terry Dunkin, President of the Appraisal Institute Nov 7, 2007.” I guess kudos for saying it at last, Terry?

I can only imagine what we are not aware of? It’s easy to understand why people have such a distrust for the real estate industry, lenders, appraisers, Realtors, land promoters, etc. With news like this, coupled with decades of growing distrust, how can the consumer feel they can trust us? It’s sad that at least one third of my time spent on trying to make them understand I am an ethical and trustworthy person. It feels like an uphill battle against a few misguided people focused on short term profits.

What will it take for this industry to self-regulate on its ethics? Another forced code of honor? A few more people thrown in jail? A new law? How about doing what Ghandi said best, the change starts within.

Coaching And The Importance Of Successful Failure, Long Beach

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Another thing that hit me like a lightening rod over this intense week of traning in Denver was the importance of successfully failing.

Come again? Successfully failing? Failing is a normal step in any business or for any businessman’s successful evolution. I just didn’t know. The reason why was I had never experienced failure in business, until I moved out here. I am one of those lucky people, everything I touch turns to gold kind of guy. All of my business ventures were successful in one way or another, I always made a nice sum profit.

When we moved to California, I was burned from consulting in IT. The continuous vicious circle of Windows redundant failures forcing upgrades made me into the black bird messenger: “Sorry, that $5000 you spent last week on your brand news system, you need to dish out another $3000 to make it work.” made me wonder who was I truly helping. That, topped with the fact that I was the bearer of bad news and enriching an already very profitable Microsoft really made me question if I was helping my clients at all. Indeed, I wasn’t. So I decided to sell my business and turn to more people friendly ventures.

I went through a string of three business ventures the first four years that yielded nothing. Absolutely nothing. You can only imagine how frustrating it is for someone who had always faced obstacles and surmounted anything. It got to the point where I questioned my entire life, foundation. What was I doing wrong? What was wrong with me?

In the back of my mind, I knew all this would be helpful in the long run, but when? And just when I thought I had hit bottom, bang came another crushing defeat. And just when I thought I was raising my head from the mud line came another blow. And when I thought I could not sink any lower, I was hit even harder!

When I coached a fellow friend of mine that week in training, he brought light to my tunnel. He told me, had I not gone through these failures, he would never had taken me seriously and surely wouldn’t have related. And you know those “ah ha” moments? You know the ones you knew but didn’t make sense of them, all the sudden it clicked. I experienced failure in the most intimate ways, I could relate, I had experienced successful failure! I understand the pain, the shame, the questioning around one’ self. I can deeply relate to the failure my coachees might have experienced.

So there it was, four years reveled up into an absolute epiphany. I was seeing light at then end of the tunnel and it cemented the feeling that I would be a great coach one day.

It reminded me that “Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional.” What you experience, no matter how painful can be used as a great trampoline to spring you to higher success. It has been a great learning experience but the suffering is definitely optional.

Coaching As A Way Of Life, Long Beach

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One thing I got out of my coaching training but never anticipated was how much it has influenced my life.

I approached the training as though I had an innate ability to be good at coaching and I was going to absorb techniques like a dry sponge. And did I ever! The first day of training was slow for me, very slow. The second day picked. The third day hit me like a ton of bricks. I was already burnt from the studying, the role playing, the learning and I felt like a complete failure, inadequate in every way. Thursday I felt somewhat better about myself as the techniques seemed to flow more naturally but Friday everything clicked together. I completely let go. I completely surrendered. I was free flowing and all I had learned was there. I let the space happen and my coachees had not only enough room to discuss what was on their minds but achieved breakthroughs.

Saturday felt great and it was more of a recap and slow down day. I got back home on Sunday, emotionally tired, intellectually drained, and exhausted. However, I was listening. I was there. I listened to Virginia with full intent, completely poised in the present. It felt invigorating and at the same time calming. I asked questions but didn’t butt in with my opinion. It was wonderful. I got out of my way.

All of this didn’t dawn on me until I had a phone call with an eventual real estate client of mine. He was a little frustrated with how lease options are handled in this state. Instead of explaining anything to him, I let him talk. I let him explain everything that was on his mind and asked a few simple questions. It was a question of minutes till he felt comfortable again and was eager to work with me on this deal. And all I did was let him talk and understand his feelings. this is true real estate, understanding what people are looking for so that you can better serve them. Sounds corny and cliche but how true.

It was a great feeling and I noticed I develop that quality even more in me, listening. I usually can sense what people think and feel but listening is an art.

To Fed Or Not To Fed, Long Beach

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I will stray from the no-prediction principle of this blog but I agree with Seeking Alpha, I find it unlikely the Fed will cut rates again. You never know, I grant you but I don’t see a clear case for it.

Why? Exactly, why? Why should they? The stock market is doing OK. It’s not good but it isn’t bad. By now, I hope we understand that lowering rates does not effect us in real estate and the mortgage industry in the positive ways we anticipated. Case in point, last rate cut did not stop mortgage rate from going up.

So, with this in mind, I give you, Seeking Alpha.

The Role The Media PLays in The Real Estate Industry, Long Beach

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I’ve said for a while now, news media headlines play a part in the mess we are in.

Reading about more finger pointing and the blame game in this article, I wondered about the other industry that gains from it all, the media.

The news media is supposed to be, after all, impartial. We all know, they are far from that. Fox is a cheerleader for conservatives and CNN does the same for the opposing camp. Then, you have the local papers who have corporate vested interest into nationwide political games and with local ones.

When it comes to real estate and its news, nothing good seem to come up lately. All you hear is that lenders are crooks, Realtors are second behind. Buyers don’t trust sellers. Sellers don’t have a clue as to the current market conditions. Buyers are still waiting for the headlines to come true, prices going down. The news media stands to win big from maintaining a state of urgency by continuing the ongoing stream of bad news. After all, how else will people buy newspapers and watch TV? But I feel it is now slowly backfiring.

Thanks to the latest July scandals and ultimately implosion of the lending market, the general economy is finally hit. Consumer confidence is not optimistic, to put it mildly. Despite some reassuring statistics here and there, what professionals see face first and not through aggregated numbers is that business owners and consumer moral isn’t very high. With that in mind, I see less and less spending in advertising in local newspapers. That same advertising that drives revenues for mass media, remember?

So lately, the news has been a little more straightforward. With less advertising, newspapers are starting to feel the squeeze which coincides with headlines being a little more straightforward. Still many sellers are either not motivated to sell or just not realistic when pricing their homes. Most buyers still believe prices will drop and will only have to scoop to pick up properties. There is obviously a world of difference between the two and the effect is a stand still. Add to that harder loans to get and you have a squeeze.

The bottom line is, sellers who have to sell have two choices. Be realistic and offer their home at a good price, which means lower than most sellers expected from last year’s prices, which, of course have nothing to do with the current market, or hope their enthusiastic prices will find buyers, go through three Realtors, lower the price and incur stress, aggravation and months of false hopes. Buyers can continue to hope prices will come down but the question, as with any investment is where do you draw the line? Do you drawn on fantasies or what you can truly afford now?

It is going to be an interesting end of the year. What we will watch out for now are political clues as well as where the Feds are trying to hold the boat together.

Volitile Markets

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Another insightful article Chad Brand wrote in Seeking Alpha. I can’t say I agree with everything but he makes good points.

Fear is king right now, and big time. People are not sure where the market is going and prediction run wild. As I have pointed and argued many times before, predictions are just that, predictions. There is very little science involved. It’s a guessing game trying to figure out how people will react in the future. Remember, people make the markets, not the newspapers, not Wall Street.

Chad’s article just hit it right on the nail. “…investors are scared and are selling indiscriminately, regardless of what companies are actually saying their exposure is.” This is so true in the finance world and even in real estate. A wise investor stays in control of his emotions and strictly abides to a discipline. That’s it. That’s all there is to it. Oh, and yes, you lose some, you gain some.

Beware of rumors. They run rampant. You heard about the iPhone rumor that, supposedly didn’t sell quite like Apple predicted? Guess what happened to Apple’s shares the day after? They went down. Same thing with Beazer Homes, amongst others, who suffered a 40% drop next day. Rumors are started by tthree types of people, those who have good intentions but can miss the mark, those who will prey on panic and the malattentioned ones. In Apple’s case, who would stand to gain fro the rumor? Most likely Microsoft.

You just have to be careful and do the thinking yourself. Which makes me think, I don’t really challenge anyone to think by writing the way I do. I’ll work on that.

Is NAHB Losing Touch?

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We all wonder, we all question their unbridled enthusiasm but when David F. Seiders, chief economist of the National Association of Home Builders, said the unexpected weakness in recent months had caused him to shave his forecast for housing construction this year, makes me wonder what statistics he must have. Have I been reading the wrong news all this time? Hasn’t the market seriously dipped and obvious for anyone to see?

With sales of existing homes still falling 3.8% for the fourth consecutive month compared to levels last seen in November 2002 before the low interest rate frenzy, makes you seriously question these folks.

Again this casts a poor light on those bodies that represent us “professionals”. Still I can’t help but wonder how this professional find this “unexpected”…

Here is the original article.

Latest News, Mortgage Company Out

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This is actually sad but American Home Mortgage has thrown in the towel. I just learned this while reading NewDay.

What’s sad is for some of the lenders who were actually good people. What is also sad is high ranking officers will probably leave with filled pockets, leaving the lower ranks out cold.

This is the beginning of what we should expect to see in this industry as more and more companies will face the consequences of those last exuberant years.

So what do you do if you have a mortgage with them or are in the middle of a transaction? I will look into this.

The Difficult Balancing Act The Fed Reserve Have, Long Beach

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It’s nothing short of difficult to be aware of the true nature of things and have the obligation of explaining the reality of it without sending an entire nation into a panic. Well, that’s how I see the Federal Reserve, balancing a tricky act of informing without spreading panic.

The Feds probably understand the market, at least how volatile it can get. That’s why, plenty of times, people either brush them off as not saying like it is or go and try to read in between the lines. If they say it like it is, plenty of folks will panic and send the market tumbling. If they don’t, no one will trust them. So they are caught in a balancing act, spoon feeding us until they admit, slowly, the nature of the economy. If you’ve watched them this past twelve months, they went from denial to being realistic. They are finally admitting that things are not as rosy and the the real estate market is somewhat of a drag on the economy.

Seeking Alpha (yes, again) had a great article submitted by Tate Dwinnell where he recaps how we are now being told the ways things are and even worse, fears of things to come.

If you have been reading my blog, you will remember how I said the first four to five months would have been great months in real estate had the news headlines been not so dramatic. Sending buyers into a wait and see attitude and sellers into a let’s-get-yesterday’s-prices, it was a stalemate. I think the door of opportunity is closing. Boy, how is that for pessimistic on my part. But it is based on my personal observation in the field as well as the specialized news.

Definitetely a good time to be a Realtor for those who do it out of passion. Tough times for those in it for the money.

The A Team Van Auctioned

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Do you remember the A Team? That 80′s show about a few military renegade out to right the world’s wrongs? Do you remember their van? Here, have a look at it.

Some actually plumped down $18,032 for it. Proving there are cars for everyone, buts for every seats and a lot of money to go around.

As I’ve said before, the collector car market goes through, somewhat the same wave real estate goes through. It has peaks of wild enthusiastic fever buys where anything can be bought at incredible prices. And then it comes down, leaving a few with overpriced automobiles.