RTD Director Kent Bagely said that only 20% of the budget comes from fares. The rest is sales tax subsidized

SMDRA is hosting Littleton Councilman Phil Cernanac’s town hall meeting today

What are consumers looking for?

Today’s homebuyers and sellers have long since transcended the need for locating information. In that regard the Internet changed that paradigm. What they however do still want, and need, is assistance and guidance from a trusted real estate professional.

 Consider the following responses from the California Association of Realtors^® Survey of California Home Buyers, which explored what buyers are asking for:

 · A better understanding of the direction of the market;

· An improvement in the agent’s negotiation skill; 82% were dissatisfied;

· More assistance in the mortgage approval process;

· A good understanding of purchasing distressed properties;

· A faster response time from the agent.

So, even though consumers have all the information, 54% of them still think the information they gathered on the Internet was less useful than that provided by their real estate agent.

At the same time, the housing market dynamics have shifted from prior years when conditions were more favorable for sellers to conditions now that have buyers realizing the increasing power they have over the home-buying process. As a result, it is critical for agents to clearly understand the buyers’ expectations and deliver accordingly, and that comes with a price.

The market and consumer knowledge/expectation are commanding more and more of the real estate agent’s time and as a result, the business-as-usual approach has, for the most part, become obsolete. Consumers have a good idea of what they want – trust, confidence, transparency, interpretation of information and additional services (mortgage, home warranty, inspection, etc.), all of which takes time.

The Value of Designations

 REALTORS® who pursue professional designations have a distinct competitive edge as a result of their increased expertise and marketability. Based on 2009 survey data, the median income of REALTORS® without a designation was $28,400 and the median income of those with at least one designation was $57,700.  The difference between the two is $27,300.

Mark you calendars now for April 10 and 11 for N.A.R’s National Open house. I will provide more information soon

Tyrone, Tess and Maggie from CAR stasff recognized for receiving RCE. Great job

SMDRA leadership attending the Colorado Realtor Association winter meetings. So many quality programs that benfit our members-it’s awesomw

On the ethics of “strategic default”…

Strategic default: When homeowners make a “business decision” to walk away from their underwater mortgage (and home), not because they can’t afford it, but because it’s no longer in their financial interest to keep paying on it.

At least two recent media pieces have focused on that practice, and are worth a read/listen.

The first is from the NYT (January 23). An excerpt:

…millions of American homeowners are “underwater,” meaning that they owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. In Nevada, nearly two-thirds of homeowners are in this category. Yet most of them are dutifully continuing to pay their mortgages, despite substantial financial incentives for walking away from them.

A family that financed the entire purchase of a $600,000 home in 2006 could now find itself still owing most of that mortgage, even though the home is now worth only $300,000. The family could rent a similar home for much less than its monthly mortgage payment, saving thousands of dollars a year and hundreds of thousands over a decade.

Some homeowners may keep paying because they think it’s immoral to default….

But does this really come down to a question of morality?

A provocative paper by Brent White, a law professor at the University of Arizona, makes the case that borrowers are actually suffering from a “norm asymmetry.” In other words, they think they are obligated to repay their loans even if it is not in their financial interest to do so, while their lenders are free to do whatever maximizes profits. It’s as if borrowers are playing in a poker game in which they are the only ones who think bluffing is unethical.

The second is the January 29 edition of NPR’s Planet Money podcast. The attorney interviewed in that podcast asserts that defaulting is not against the law; that violating a contract is not illegal; that courts have never allowed punitive damages for breaking a contract.

And yet…I’m having trouble squaring the notion of “strategic default,” of breaking a contract simply because it’s no longer in one’s financial interest, with the fact that the person gave his word that he’d repay the loan.  Do his financial interests trump his word? Does the fact that it’s a business deal give him an out?

As one of my Mississippi REALTOR® friends suggested to me the other day, “Our whole civilization is built on agreements. If we stop keeping agreements, we stop being civilized.” And she added, “It’s bad to be without assets, but it’s worse to be without self respect.”

What do you think?

Can’t get the loans closed?

“you are either using the wrong lenders or working with the wrong clients”  that was just said to me by a top producer.

  Isn’t that great? try using a super lender who is a SMDRA Affiliate.  Have greater success

Professional Standards Training

Every year SMDRA  holds a Professional Standards training with Oliver Frascona as instructor.  We have many of our top brokers, members of our board of directors, and members of the Professional Standards Committee.  Each of these people invest their personal time in order to provide excellence to NAR’s Professional Standards system here at SMDRA.  If our members only understood that this is “how we get paid”. It is what levels the playing field between members and makes all members accountable to the public.  How could our industry survive without this awesome process.