Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have announced that they will suspend foreclosure sales on properties that they insure over the Thanksgiving and December Holidays! Part of me wants to shout, “It’s a Christmas Miracle”, another part is truly thankful, and yet another part is angry because I wish they could extend that a bit further than November 26th through January 9th, 2009.This is great news for anyone who has a FNMA or Freddie owned loan that was going up for sale during this time frame. It doesn’t apply to all …

On November 7th, while I was at the NAR convention in Orlando, Fidelity surprised us all by announcing that it would be acquiring LandAmerica in an all stock deal valued at $128 million. This merger would have great the largest title insurance group with about a 45% market share. In terms of the agreement Fidelity had time till today, November 21st to back out of the deal based on their due diligence. Well, last night, Friday at 8:00PM Eastern time they did exactly that. The deals off!

I know most of you real estate agents and brokers are all over this but you may want to get this information out to your contact database and geographic farm.  I was recently asked by a couple agents if the relief covers years other than 2007, so I know that some of you may not be aware that this tax relief option is available for 2008 and 2009.
There are homeowners out there who should understand this relief plan and what they need to do to implement and take advantage of …

Every year the Swanepoel TRENDS Report identifies, analyzes and then details out the imminent changes that are expected to impact the real estate industry over the coming 12 – 18 months.The 2009 Report is currently in the final 60 days of research and writing and obviously with all the recent financial disasters, the energy crisis, the housing collapse and foreclosure catastrophe this has made 2008 the worst year in real estate and financial history.

Already thousands of hours of researching has been invested in drafting the 2009 Swanepoel TRENDS Report by …

Everywhere you look the news is grim.  Today there are record numbers of foreclosures.  Huge inventories of new and existing homes are being reported by nearly every media outlet.  The mortgage industry is in a state of chaos.  Many real estate agents are experiencing their toughest times ever in the business.  It is a very difficult time, and it is hard not to be discouraged.

I realize that this goes against what everyone is saying, but there IS good news!  Lots of good news!  First let me give you some numbers:

Real estate in your market area is affected by influences outside of your own region.  For example, when I sold real estate in Portland, Oregon, what was happening in terms of inventory, appreciation, and activity in Seattle, Washington had an effect on my own marketplace. The two metropolitan areas are less than 200 miles apart, and one influences the other due to the easy and frequent population movement between the two cities.

This is an updated version of a post that I sent out earlier in the year:

I have gotten the impression from many real estate agents that they are unaware of the effect of a Short Sale on their clients’ credit report. The common belief is that a Short Sale isn’t as bad as Foreclosure or Deed In Lieu of Foreclosure.

 It’s been fascinating to witness developments in the home staging industry over the past few years.  For my first few years as a staging instructor I had to define and explain staging.  Nowadays it is a phenomenon that has changed the way real estate is sold.  In 2004, I

Big Time Mortgage Industry History

Over the weekend the Bush Government seized the housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the largest mortgage bailout in global history. These two companies have lost some $14 Billion over the past year and according to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, “the intervention was necessary” to save the US economy.