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Real Estate and Multiple Social Networks 2007-10-31 02:01:24 For-sale-by-owner website adds home listings to social media sites at no cost to clients. Miami Beach, FL (PRWEB) October 31, 2007 — Fizber.com, a for sale by owner website, announces its partnership with leading social networking sites in an effort to increase online exposure for its clients. At no additional cost, Fizber.com will submit each home listing to several popular social networking sites such as Technorati.com, Digg.com and YouTube.com. According to a study done by comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, the expansion of social networking across the globe has grown dramatically during the past year. A variety of social networking websites showed up to a 774% increase in a one-year span. By adding home listings to popular social networking sites — those with established visitors, links and search engine rankings — Fizber.com hopes to give their clients a greater opportunity for exposure to serious buyer ...

Fizber.com is Zooming in on Homes for Sale by Owner 2007-10-31 01:58:59 FSBO site lets prospective buyers virtually visit new neighborhoods. Miami Beach, FL (PRWEB) October 25, 2007 — This winter, buyers looking for the perfect home won’t have to set foot outside to check out neighborhoods in some of the nation’s hottest real estate markets. That’s because leading real estate for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) site Fizber.com has just added Street View to its line-up of free services to buyers. Initially available to those interested in homes in San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas, Miami and Denver, Street View allows Fizber.com visitors to see high-quality images of neighborhoods in those cities. As more cities are added to Street View, more Fizber.com listings will feature Street View tours. “We are proud to announce we are launching a new feature that will further enhance home-buyers’ ability to understand unfamiliar neighborhoods through images: Google Maps Street View,” expla ...

View the Street Before Moving There 2007-10-31 01:53:26 For sale by owner listings go with street level photos. Miami Beach, FL (PRWEB) October 21, 2007 — Ever felt like you wished you knew more about your street before moving there? Fizber.com new service hopes to answer that need by displaying street photos next to a property listing. Fizber.com, a for-sale-by-owner website, gives home buyers street maps, hybrid views, and even satellite photos of a neighborhood. Now, Fizber.com has launched a new feature that allows home buyers and renters get a more complete picture of where they could live (to check out the new feature, please visit http://www.fizber.com/216590 Home buyers now want to see more than just the front of the house. Buyers also want to get a look at the street the house is situated in. Street photographs are powerful bait. Good ones can encourage buyers to visit the home; bad ones can turn them away. “Without a street picture I am much less likely to go see a house,&rd ...

Fizber.com Launches 24/7 Support 2007-10-31 01:51:46 FSBO site is able to meet customers’ needs and to deliver 24/7 services between all 50 states.’ Miami Beach, FL (PRWEB) October 17, 2007 — Fizber.com, a for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) website, will now offer 24/7 support to its customers free of charge. By simply dialing a toll-free number, home sellers and buyers will have access to real estate specialists who can answer a variety of FSBO related questions any time of day. Fizber.com recognized home owners and buyers alike at times have questions that arise outside the typical 8-5 business hours. “We take customer service very seriously,” said Julia Foster, Fizber.com PR manager. “Questions and critical issues don’t always surface during regular business hours. That’s why we provide customer service over the web and through our toll-free number 24/7. We are here to help. If at any time there are any problems with your accounts, simply give us a call or open a support ticket and a customer supp ...

Fizber.com Introduces Climate Watch 2007-10-31 01:47:37 Real estate FSBO site helps buyers narrow home search based on weather. Miami Beach, FL (PRWEB) October 16, 2007 — Leading real estate for sale by owner company FizBer.com is at it again. The company has just announced another exclusive service for homebuyers: Climate Watch, a free tool that allows users to see the weather and climate at any given moment, anywhere in the country. “Climate Watch allows homebuyers to check what the climate is like in another town or city year-round, before they move there,” stated FizBer.com PR manager Julia Foster. “We designed the feature to help people avoid potential problems and disappointments when they move to a new town, city or state and make it easier to enjoy a relaxing, stress-free life in the climate that best suits their needs.” What kind of weather can they expect this time of year? Can one pursue favorite pastimes there, like gardening or hiking? Those are important considerations. ...

What Would You Do if You Were Zillow Getting into Mortgages? 2007-10-30 22:12:45 Zillow announced a while back that they are launching a new mortgage service for the users of their site. They must be getting close, because they are currently recruiting for an industry relations director for their new mortgage opportunity. Todd Carpenter over at Lenderama started a discussion about what possibilities this new venture holds for Zillow and the mortgage industry. He opened up his blog for feedback and discussion and says that he has some ideas of his own that he’s holding on to for the time being as the conversation develops. The crux of the question is how does Zillow do mortgage? To further expand the conversation here is my take on Zillow’s move in to mortgage and some thoughts on what they could do to make a difference in mortgage lending. What’s Wrong Right Now with Mortgage Shopping Online 1. Misinformation 2. No filter 3. Bait-and-Switch 4. Lack of Transparency 1. Misinformation. The primary problem with existing web-based lead generati ...

Why would I buy Sub2 from you? 2007-10-30 16:33:58 I got into a conversation with one of my friends why would someone buy a house from me Sub2. Let’s look at the deal like this: $5,327 down and take over payments of$1,307 per month, you will buy $14k worth of equity. Which in essence means, that you are taking over payments on a mortgage which stays in seller’s name, you paying $5k out of pocket for a house worth $163k with the loan balance of $144k. So what other ways can you purchase this house? The conventional way would be to go to the bank and get a loan. But wait, there is more. With current situation in lending industry the best deal you will get will require you to put at least 10% down and your interest will be somewhere in 9-10% range. So you will need about $15k to put down and you monthly payment will be $1,140 just for principal and interest. Add taxes and insurance and you are looking at $1,400+ per month. So the conventional way you need more money to put down and your payment is higher. Also you can go and b ...

Happy Halloween? 2007-10-30 15:16:06 Thanks to my boy Mario for the tip and Happy Halloween to all the Blown Mortgage readers! Share This ...

Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism Interview 2007-10-30 11:51:21 In this edition of the Blown Mortgage Podcast Interview series we talk with Yves Smith, author of NakedCapitalism.com. Yves, a Harvard Business School graduate and frequent contributor to top business publications around the globe, joins us to talk about Structured Investment Vehicles, what the Fed will do tomorrow and much, much more. If you wanted to learn why what happens on Wall Street affects mortgages on Main Street this is an interview that you don’t want to miss. Our thanks to Yves for his amazing insight which you can get every day over at nakedcapitalism.com If you’d like to download a copy of the MP3 please click here and save the file to your desktop. As always, music licensed under the Creative Commons license, The Streets of Miami performed by Dokapi. Share This ...

Fed Trick or Treat? 2007-10-30 08:11:38 Coming upon us tomorrow is one of the most critical Federal Reserve Board meetings arguably since the one held after 9/11 as markets watch with anticipation to see if the Fed cuts rates or holds them pat.  Most people are betting on a quarter-percent rate cut; but others aren’t so sure. To be honest, after last meeting’s surprise half-point cut I’m not sure what they’ll do.  I do know one thing - if they don’t cut tomorrow stocks are going to get killed.  The market has been run up with a Fed cut already priced in to the market; and any change from that stance is going to take a lot of money off the table in stocks. From Market Watch: Many economists and players in the financial markets expect the Federal Open Market Committee to lower the target on the federal funds rate to 4.50%, down from 4.75% currently. The FOMC panel cut the target rate by half a percentage point on Sept. 17, saying aggressive action was needed to preempt a serious downturn in th ...

Sky’s the limit for Bloor and Yonge 2007-10-30 02:56:34 In a city afraid of heights, the advent of an 80-storey condo tower can be counted on to set off howls of outrage. Yet if history is any indication, once the screaming has subsided, Torontonians will be lining up to buy units in One Bloor East. The $450 million project on the southeast corner of Bloor and Yonge will get underway at the end of the year when the leases in existing buildings expire. Demolition will start and after that, by next September, construction. If all goes according to plan, the first residents will arrive in late 2011. The developer, Bazis International of Kazakhstan “? yes, that’s right, Kazakhstan “? has no qualms about investing in the Toronto condo market. “We believe prices of real estate are still undervalued compared to world cities,” says Bazis president Michael Gold. “Yonge and Bloor is the most important corner in Toronto. We wanted to address it and do something for Toronto. The city has been tough, but supportive ...

Americans for Prosperity Lead Coalition Against Subprime Bailout 2007-10-29 21:46:04 A consumer-advocacy group called the Americans for Prosperity is spearheading a coalition effort of approximately 15 groups in an anti-government subprime mortgage bailout campaign. The campaign kicked off with a letter to all members of Congress calling for the government to resist bailing out home owners who took losing gambles on subprime mortgages. From the letter (read the whole thing here as a PDF): We specifically oppose creating or expanding programs to provide explicit government loan guarantees, allowing government-sponsored enterprises (which enjoy an implicit taxpayer guarantee) to purchase more loans, direct-aid to borrowers, granting bankruptcy judges the power to rewrite mortgage contracts, and new regulatory requirements that go beyond disclosure to determinations of suitability. Sub-prime mortgage lenders and their customers entered into agreements both understood to contain certain risks. Lenders and holders of mortgage-backed securities knew their risk was the possi ...

Leverage, Leverage, Leverage 2007-10-29 17:46:43 Recently I had a discussion with a friend about differences of investing in stock market versus real estate. Buck for buck historically stock market wins, but there is a really big but. That big rear end is called leverage. Leveraged real estate outperforms any other kind of investment hands down. Leverage is ability to use OPM - other people’s money. You can put 10% down on a house and borrow 90% of the purchase price to buy a house. Try going to the bank and borrowing some money to invest into stocks. I have not met anyone who has succeeded. So lets look at a simple example. I have $100k in and John has $100k. I go out and buy 10 houses worth 100k putting 10% down on each. Now I have 10 houses worth 1 million. John goes out and buys $100k worth of stocks. Lets say that John’s stock portfolio earns him a whopping 20% return on investment and after a year he has $120k. My real estate portfolio on other hand is not doing so well, it is growing at a pathetic 5% rate, but beca ...

More Fun with Loan Officer License Plates 2007-10-29 15:03:38 After my MAX FEES encounter I’ve had my eye out for more loan-related license plates. There have been plenty, but I’ve had a hard time capturing them for one reason or another. Well, I finally got one worth sharing. I think that many of these license plates will end up like bad tattoos - they somehow seemed like a good idea at the time, but now that you’re delivering pizza they make you look like an idiot. Share This ...

More banks shut down wholesale 2007-10-29 12:22:47 There has been a lot of furor over my “Dead Man Walking” post which outlines my opinion that mortgage brokers are marching towards extinction.  It was written a week before Bank of America pulled the plug on their wholesale lending channel; and today a friend of Blown Mortgage lets us know that another bank has pulled out of wholesale. It’s with a great degree of sadness that I need to inform you that First Bank has decided to cease their Wholesale Operations (retail in other locations are unaffected by this decision) effective Wednesday, October 31st.   This past Friday, the 26th, was our last day to receive loan submissions. It has been a great ride but as many great rides go……  this one has come to an end. Hopefully our paths will cross again.   Until then take care and thank so much for all your business over the years. I don’t know the size or scope of First Bank’s wholesale operations; but it is just another example of lenders pu ...