Pandora Radio & Internet Radio Need our Help!
Hi Happy Readers,
It has come to our attention that Internet Radio and Pandora Radio needs our help and if you are as huge a fan as I am of Pandora Radio won’t you take just a minute of your time and call your Senator and put in a positive plug? If you live in our area we have included the phone numbers of Barbara Boxer & Diane Feinstein below. Follow this link for your Senator if you live outside our wonderful area, not that your area isn’t nice too.
Hi, it’s Tim from Pandora;
Today, thanks to the extraordinary support of many Pandora listeners, we
took a giant step forward when the House of Representatives supported
Pandora and Internet radio and passed the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008.
Now we need your help so that the Senate will pass it also – and quickly…
The finish line is in sight!
After a yearlong negotiation, Pandora, SoundExchange and the RIAA are
finally optimistic about reaching an agreement on royalties that would save
Pandora and Internet radio. The legislation would give us the extra time we
need to finalize the deal.
Please call your Senators Monday morning starting at 9:00 (Eastern) and ask
them to support the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008.
The person who answers the phone in your Senator’s office may ask for the
bill number – it’s H.R. 7084 (if they ask for a Senate bill number, you can
assure them that in this unusual case, the Senate is actually voting on the
House bill number).
Senator Barbara Boxer: (202) 224-3553
Senator Dianne Feinstein: (202) 224-3841
If the phone is busy, please try again until you get through. These calls
really do make a difference.
Thanks so much for you ongoing support.
Tim
Foreclosures, How do we stop the bleeding.
Okay, so you are probably as sick as I am of the continued increase of banks taking back the only thing they ever had as security for the ridiculous loans that they allowed. Yes, I am again talking about the sub prime debacle of 2004-2006. Wha? It went on that long? How did we let the blood sucking pariah’s latch onto the delusional buying public that long?
Well, I think we all know how and why, now we need to figure out if we are in a tunnel with a little light at the end or if we have caved in and everyone forgot to bring a shovel. I continually read about the $700 billion the Bush administration wants to throw at the problem. Wow, BILLION, can anyone really fathom what a billion of anything is?
Now let’s think about what is happening locally with all these homeowners who are giving up, walking away or have been told by the family Real Estate expert (not really an expert he/she just sold a house once) that they should just walk away from the bad investment….What? Isn’t Real Estate a long term investment with ups and downs? People stop listening to your idiot friends and relatives and listen to a trusted ethical Real Estate professional.
Let us look at what some of these banks and their hired loss mitigation rejects are doing. Mr. Homeowner contacts the loss mitigation department they are told they need to be at least 3 months behind on their mortgage before they can start any kind of negotiation. Mr. Homeowner stops paying the mortgage and spends the money on stupid stuff, Whoo Hoo! Mr. Homeowner is now 3 months behind and really all they want to do is work out some sort of deferment of interest owed or a reduction in payment and be able to keep the home and pay on the mortgage until this market changes again and then refinance.
Loss mitigation dude/dudette says their is nothing they can do except send them the forms required to do a Short Sale. Homeowner wasn’t really looking to do a short sale he/she is looking to save their property and continue being a homeowner. Now, Homeowner is six months behind and has their home on the market in the feeble attempt to do a short sale. An acceptable offer comes in. Remember the homeowner negotiates the sales contract and then negotiates with the loss mitigation dude/dudette for the reduction in the mortgage amount to cover the sales price and closing costs. And, oddly enough after another 4-6 months the loss mitigation dude/dudette, (more commonly known as Sh@# H*^d) denies the sales price and homeowner who now cannot make up any of the back payments because they spent all the money moving to their new rental or in with their parents is left with a vacant home not worth what the first accepted contract was for.
Look at it this way, homeowner owes 300k, home sells for 180k in the short sale, short sale is denied and home is now worth 145k, Bank forecloses and a few months later puts the home on the market for 129k and sells it for 150k. Sound smart? NO! They never had to foreclose in the first place had they just worked with the homeowner keeping them in the home and making payments on the adjusted mortgage. I’m not saying reduce the mortgage amount or forgive the debt or anything like that. I know the investors want their money back and are they getting it back under the current scenario?
How about this? If the Bush administration really wants to help with the bleeding, put a moratorium on the banks and investors and stop the foreclosures completely. We can’t make any headway digging out of this if the water is coming in faster than we can bail. Oh, I know, sniff, sniff, sniff, cry, cry, cry, Kelly you don’t understand the complexity of the situation. Really? I understand you can’t take the security instrument back that is no longer worth the mortgage amount and stay in business.
What do you say? Is there a better way than throwing $700 billion we really don’t have at the problem?
And I know we have to throw some amount to keep things rolling forward.
Tell us what it is please. I think the public is ready to listen.
Oh, and one more thing….Fire the loss mitigation department and have the REO department take over so there is only one hand, one mind, one decision where the banks are concerned. Banks are selling foreclosed properties for far less than the contract amount when the homeowner was attempting the short sale.
Quit it already!
Kelly…
Bill Clinton on Letterman
Wow, I have to say I was quite impressed with President Clinton last night on the Letterman show. If you are interested follow the link above. I believe President Clinton made some very accurate comments on the economy and what needs to happen in order to get us back on track.
Kelly…
First time buyers and the down payment assistance program.
Doesn’t a down payment assistance program (DPA) sound like a wonderful way for first time buyersthat don’t have a down payment or access to help from parents for that down payment to buy a piece of the American Dream? I think it is and it isn’t and let me try to explain.
It seems that part of the reason for this down turn in the Real Estate market and the economy is that lenders made it possible for people to grab that glimmering piece of the dream with 0 money down through down payment assistance programs and 100% financing or what was commonly known as an 80/20 or stated income loans commonly known as I am a LIAR loans. Now you know as well as I that if you don’t have any skin in the game it is much easier to walk away.
And, walk away is what people have been doing. Oh, first they want to try and do the Short Sale thing that they don’t qualify for because they aren’t suffering a hardship, they just think that since their home isn’t worth what they originally paid that it was a bad investment and they will walk away and rebuild their credit over the next 5-7 years. Shame on you!
Now there are some down payment assistance programs still available. Calhfha is one and some cities and counties still offer down payment assistance, however, we are caught in a catch 22. Currently in the area I work, there are 3524 active listings on the market 39% of them are REO (Bank Owned) properties and 40% are sellers attempting to do a short sale. So, with most bank owned property the seller (bank) will not even consider an offer from a buyer needing down payment assistance and with short sale property if your buyer is willing to sit patiently for 6-8 months to get an answer from the bank they will find that the bank will limit the amount of assistance or not allow that expense at all.
Keep in mind that with DPA‘s you, the buyer, to be competitive with other buyers who do not need the assistance will need to offer above the asking price to cover that credit back from the seller. Now, the reason most Banks are not accepting contracts with DPA‘s is the increased risk of the transaction closing or in other words the buyer with his own money to put in the mix is more likely to close the transaction on time and the new owner will more likely stay in the home even if the value slips a little bit in the next few years and Calhfha loans take 15-25 days longer to close. Real Estate= a long term investment.
I know what you are thinking…. But, Kelly, I heard there is a Calhfha program that has participating banks offering homes for sale that they will accept a calhfha loan. Yes that program is up and floundering. The deal is if the bank does not have any other offers on the property and they receive an offer from a Calhfha buyer they are bound to address it and if they can come to terms accept it. What do you think happens in the real world though? The banks almost always have other non Calhfha offers in the pipeline and shouldn’t the bank be able to sell the property for highest and best since they have already eaten a huge loss on just about every home they have taken back because the previous owner thinks he should no longer have to make payments on his home that today is not worth what it was yetserday?
So what to do? Buyers, have patience and save for your downpayment while looking for your first home. Get pre-approved from a reputable lender. Stop looking for the instant gratification. You will enjoy the process and respect yourself for actually being part of the fix and not the problem.
Happy Hunting
Kelly…
When will some of the REALTORS leave the business?
Wow, you would think that with all this doom and gloom talk about the Real Estate Market that REALTORS would be leaving the business in droves. Well, you couldn’t be further from the truth, it seems that according to the California Association of REALTORS, as of 11/30/07 there has been a decrease of 2.4% or 195,935 REALTORS compared to 200,680 in 2006 and of that 27,228 are new members which is a 27% decrease from the previous year of 37,137.
Now I know what you are saying… Yeah, but that is old information, can’t you get updated numbers? And, the answer is maybe, but they still wouldn’t be accurate. Most REALTORS that have chosen to leave the business have already paid their dues for this year in December of last and the dropped numbers won’t be available until about February/March of 2009.
I know for one I would really like to see fewer numbers of people floundering in the business. I say that from a purely selfish place. This old fart long timer for one would really like to have just a few more transactions with REALTORS that know what they are doing instead of those that have little training under their belt.
But, Kelly, you are talking about REALTORS and are you not a REALTOR too? Yes, I belong to the National Association of REALTORS & the CALIFORNIA Association of REALTORS & my local Asoociation. Sadly though with all the education and training available to new and seasoned REALTORS and the fact that there is a code of ethics, it is still kind of like the horse and the water thing. Some people just choose not to drink and don’t get me started on the people that sell Real Estate and are not REALTORS. I guess all I can say about those people is BUYER BEWARE!
So, I guess what I am really trying to say is…The Market just isn’t as bad as we are all lead to believe by the doom and gloom reported by the media. Sales volume is up, interest rates are still low and people who thought they would never be able to afford a home in California are finally buying their little piece of the American Dream and that means their is business out there for the driven, intelligent, ethical REALTOR.
Kelly…
