Online Newsletter for the Week Ending October 1, 2010

QUOTE: "I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body," --Winston Bennett, University of Kentucky basketball forward.


CRITICAL LEASING INFORMATION: There are more leases being written than ever before and care MUST be taken to protect your owners and more importantly YOU - BEFORE a tenant moves into a property. You MUST do a walk through on the property and get the tenant’s agreement as to the property condition and have them accept the condition of the property IN WRITING BEFORE THEY MOVE IN. To protect YOU and your OWNERS you are strongly encouraged to take your digital camera along and photograph any damage, areas that need repairs, etc. This will not only protect your owners it will also protect the tenants from being required to repair items upon termination that were pre-existing prior to occupancy. Make certain you upload all documents to paperless including deposit checks, final walk thrus, lead base paint disclosures, mold & mildew disclosures and yes Residential Property Disclosures on properties that you list (even though the Real Estate Commission does not require it on rentals – the Market Center does). ALSO AS A REMINDER, whenever you list a property as a lease, YOU NEED TO INCLUDE THE LISTING AGREEMENT ADDENDUM to insure you are in compliance with the REALTOR Code of Ethics.

HOMETOWN FRONT PAGE: Just put your mouse on a city anywhere in the world and the newspaper headlines pop up... Double click and the page gets larger....you can read the entire paper on some if you click on the right place. You can spend a lot of time here. Click on readable PDF to make paper easier to read. http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/ Also, if you look at the European papers, the far left side of Germany will pop up as The Stars & Stripes (European edition, of course).. AND, this site changes every day with the publication of new editions of the paper.

REALLY SCARY QUIZ: This is a terrific test. And it shows results in a number of ways. It sure indicates that the majority of Americans don't know what's going on. No wonder our politicians take such advantage. Interesting and simple test. Its astonishing that so many people got less than half right. These results say that 80% of the (voting) public doesn't have a clue an that's pretty scary. http://pewresearch.org/politicalquiz/quiz/index.php

NEW CPR TECHNIQUE IS MUCH SIMPLIER. Thank you from Dr. Tom Hill. This new CPR technique is much simpler, and certification is not required. Below is a video regarding the latest CPR procedure. Forward this link to your friends and family. You never know, a life may be saved utilizing this new procedure. Go to: http://medicine.arizona.edu/spotlight/learn-sarver-heart-centers-continuous-chest-compression-cpr

10 WAYS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES TO USE LINKEDIN: From Lowe’s: http://rismedia.com/lowes/8355/9055

THOUGHT DEDICATION. YOU DECIDE WHAT TO THINK AND HOW TO REACT. Article by Jeffrey Gitomer you do not want to miss, it could make a significant difference in your tomorrows. With all that is going on in government and the world, it is extremely easy to wake up and feel bad about everything; almost all of which neither one of us has any control over. Jeffrey puts it all into perspective in this article. When you finish reading the article, make a promise to purchase and more importantly read and study Gitomer’s book, The Little Gold Book of YES!Attitude; you won’t regret it. Maybe one of the best books ever written that could change the way you think about life, family and business. http://www.gitomer.com/articles/ViewPublicArticle.html?key=ajcdMibak3PxJtI5%2Bb3pZg%3D%3D

New FHA Mortgage Changes H.R. 5981

Beginning October 4, 2010, new FHA Mortgage changes will be coming through, due to bill H.R. 5981 signed into law August 11th, 2010.

Credit scores. The FHA has never used credit scores as one of its approval metrics, until now. It’s proposing to implement a minimum credit score of 500.

Monthly fees. This charge will likely rise from 0.55 percent of the loan balance annually to 1.5 percent. On a $200,000 mortgage, this change would raise the monthly insurance premium from $92 to $250. 


Upfront fees. The higher monthly fee will be offset by a lower upfront insurance fee. The FHA has said it will drop its current upfront fee of 2.25 percent to 1 percent. This change reduces the upfront fee on a $200,000 mortgage from $4,500 to $2,000.

Down payment. There has been some talk of raising the FHA mortgage down payment requirement from 3.5 percent to 5 percent across the board. However, it looks as though the agency will only raise it for borrowers with credit scores that fall between 500 and 580. These people will pay as much as 10 percent down, which equates to $20,000 on a $200,000 loan.


Seller contributions. The FHA currently allows home sellers to contribute up to 6 percent of the selling price to an FHA buyer. Typically, the seller would cover some of the upfront closing costs, and additionally make an adjustment to the sale price. Now, the agency wants to reduce this seller contribution cap to 3 percent. FHA policymakers believe that sellers were artificially inflating home prices to award the contribution. Doing so puts the FHA at risk and ultimately costs the borrower more.

10 REASONS TO BUY A HOME

Time magazine is being overly pessimistic in its recent cover piece that called into question the benefits of homeownership. In fact, now is a great time to buy. And, what's more, tomorrow will be a great time to own, because the fundamental strength of homeownership hasn't changed.

Why is now a great time to buy? Here are 10 reasons:

1. You can get a good deal. Prices are down 30 percent on average. They're at a level that makes sense for people's income.

2. Mortgages are cheap. At 4.3 percent on average for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, your costs to own are down by a fifth from two years ago.

3. You can save on taxes. When you add up the deductions for mortgage interest and others, the cost of owning can drop below renting for a comparable place.

4. It'll be yours. The one benefit to owning that never changes is that you can paint your walls orange if you want (generally speaking; there might be some community restrictions). How many landlords will let you do that?

5. You can get a better home. In some markets, it's simply the case that the nicest places are for-sale homes and condos.

6. It offers some inflation protection. Historically, appreciation over time outpaces inflation.

7. It's risk capital. If the economy picks up, you stand to benefit from that, even if you're goal is just to have a nice place to live.

8. It's forced savings. A part of your payment each month goes to equity.

9. There is a lot to choose from. There are some 4 million homes available today, about a year's supply. Now's the time to find something you like and get it.

10. Sooner or later the market will clear. The U.S. is expected to grow by another 100 million people in 40 years. They have to live somewhere. Demand will eventually outpace supply. (Wall Street Journal, Brett Arends)