Change is a Coming

We have been reading about it for months and now we are five months away from the big RESPA  Reform due to go into effect January 2010.  Have you taken time to review the changes?  From a lender perspective, it will greatly change the way some of you have been doing business. The new time line requirements for TIL and final TIL prior to closings will make it difficult for us to close at the last minute.  The “variance” limitations on the amount  the fees can differ from the GFE, may cause some issues at the closing table.  From my perspective, this puts the title companies in a very difficult position of explaining any differences and begs the question “will we be required to inform borrowers of their rights to not close due to extreme pricing variances”?

In my opinion, this is real change that we all need to be on the same page.  Are all of us, and I mean the Realtors, lenders and title companies, prepared for this change that is coming?  I am reading as much as I can about it and hope you are as well.  Check this blog site that is a nice forum for RESPA discussions.  http://www.respaready.com/

Mixed signals

I may spend too much time reading the tea leaves in order to determine what to expect in the Real Estate Market in the next few months, as it is beginning to cause me to have quite a headache.  Everyone has an opinion and none of them are the same.  Construction starts too slow = not turning around anytime soon, yet sales in new construction is up….go figure that one out.  Seems to me that this is good news, means that inventory is being reduced which is what we need to have happen… I think so anyway!

Interest rates are going up = bad news for us in the Real Estate business. Maybe that is exactly what we need in order for  buyers to realize that rates will never come down to 3.5%…isn’t 5% still considered a really good rate?  If not, then we suffered from a horrible case of memory loss.  Just because it was at 4.5% a couple of weeks ago doesn’t mean that 5% is a horrible rate.  Some of us remember 12% interest rates and thought it was a good deal, maybe some folks need to revisit the history of our industry.

Nobody has the crystal ball, and all I am saying is that the market has been through a struggle, a cleansing process, but we are going to be fine.  Sometimes it takes a positive outlook as opposed to being negative everytime  we turn around.

100 Degrees and business is booming

Well it is officially very hot here in Central Arkansas and so is the real estate business.  At least that is what we are seeing so far. I don’t know if the rise in interest rates caused this spark or if we are seeing a bit of a rebound in the overall industry.  I can tell you that purchases are picking up and the refinances are levelling out. To me this is all good news… we can’t afford to put all of our eggs in one basket, that being the refinance market.  Of course, we take what we can get; however, we must keep looking for ways to expand our market.

Realtors, let me know if you are seeing your business picking up.  It is beginning to feel like a typical summer with the purchases beginning to roll in.  Let’s hope it continues for a couple of months!

Summer is Here

Well, it is beginning to warm up here in Arkansas, a sure sign that Summer is here.  It also marks the beginning of the Real Estate selling season.  Based on the first two weeks of June, we are in for a good summer.  The bump in the interest rates may have been the trigger for many folks to get off the fence and either buy or refinance. 

Have you seen an increase in your business?   Are you ready for the summer selling season? I hope so, because it sure was a long cold winter!!

Is it possible to be paperless?

I tell you we are trying our best to reduce the paper use in our office, but it is difficult to go completely paperless.  Maybe the term should be “Less Paper”.  We have not made a copy of one closing file since we opend our doors in Little Rock on March 1, we have provided copies of all closing docs on a flash drive.  Which has been surprisingly well received in our market!  We are a step closer to “less paper” office, now if we can get the digital signiture peice in place, then I can see how close to a paperless office we can become.  Of course, if our customers are not willing to accept this direction we are headed, then we could be going through this exercise for no reason at all!!

Spring is Here

After a few thunderstorms rumbled through the last couple of weeks, we have sunny skies and warm weather.  The flowers are blooming and the grass is ready for the first mowing.  And the Real Estate Business seems to be picking up, as it typically does at this time of year.  In spite of the news, we still have a real estate market that is alive and doing okay.  It is traditionally this spring season that kick starts the activity in the real estate markets.  I see this is true today, even in the current climate.  The low rates have caused an increase in refinances, but at the same  time, there are still people out there looking for homes.  I am hearing from our customers, that this is in fact the case, and the purchase market is picking up. 

Do you see this in your market?

Paperless Closings

I am trying to go “Green”!!  No more paper…is it possible in the real estate biz?  I think it is and I am testing the waters.  In this new venture I am starting, we are going as paperless as we can from the very beginning.  Using tools such as myfax/efax is a start.  We do not have a fax machine, everything is scanned and emailed or faxed out through our electronic faxing provider.  All files are “worked”  via an electronic file in the software we utilize and we plan to scan all closed files immediately upon closing.  No more storage rooms!!  So far so good.  

Next step will be to conduct a paperless closing…can it be done?  Yes, it has been done in other states and it appears to work just fine.  There will be some that will require paper documents for filing at the courthouse and some lenders/banks will require a “wet” signature on documents, but we many will accept the digital signature.  Heck we sign a signature pad for almost everything we buy now, why not real estate?  I will keep you in the loop on our time line, hopefully in 30 days we can have a true paperless closing.

Now, if I can get this accomplished in other areas of my life!

Have we hit the bottom??

I wonder of we have hit the bottom of the Real Estate bust?  It sure appears to me that real estate activity has increased these past four weeks, homes are being shown, refinances are on the rise, and all of the folks I talk to say they are busy.  Does this represent the bottom?  I speculate that we are dragging along the bottom, waiting for the proverbial “bounce”!  I am not expecting a huge bounce, but we may have a little more spring in our step come this summer. 

I hear some of the big lenders may show a profit for the first quarter, i.e. Bank of America, Countrywide, and a few others.  If this is true, will that increase our confidence in the Real Estate markets?  Not sure about that one…but should show us that you can get a loan and that the markets may have adjusted.  All we can do is keep our heads down and keep focused on our task at hand, whether that is selling real estate, making loans or closing deals.  Our work ethic is the ONE thing we can control!!  Those who do this, will be successful, no matter the conditions of the market.

New Technology Part 2

I wrote about the new buzz words/gadgets in technology last fall, things such as Sumo Text,Twitter, myspace and facebook.  Now it appears that these are now all of the rage in the Real Estate Biz.  In fact, I have gone so far as to get active on facebook (great to find old high school classmates…not sure how it will create new business opportunities) and myspace (appears to be suited for musicians), and even have established myself on Twitter! It all seems to me to be part of the big “Social Networking” world that may, some day, find its way into the business world.  I guess one should never underestimate the power of your network!

Starting a new title company, National Closing Corp, I have decided to give this new way of networking a try.  It certainly can’t hurt our business, and we may even find a group of customers out in cyber space that prefer this way of communication with businesses.  I am going to focus on linking all forms of cyber communications to the blog and web sites we have established.  Seems to me that some quick updates, which includes links, will be the most effective way to drive folks to us. 

Let me know if you have ideas or suggestions that have worked for you.

www.NationalClosingCorp.com

End of the Quarter

From my seat in this game of real estate, we finished the first quarter on a high note.  We have seen a nice jump in orders and activity these past three weeks, which we hope will continue as we roll into April.  I have said all along that we here in Arkansas have a nice middle of the road real estate market….never gets too high nor drops too low!  We have our peaks and valleys, just not as dramatic as the rest of the nation.

How do you see your business these next couple of months heading into the summer?