Treasury: Millions more foreclosures coming

Official says a strong housing market is crucial for the economy


The six million homeowners discussed in the below article that are desperate to sell AND aren’t going to be helped by their lender are ALL real estate leads, potential closed deals and potential profit for real estate investors. You can make this economy work for you while helping distressed property owners at the same time with the help of WeHaveHomeLeads.com.

WASHINGTON - Only 12 percent of U.S. homeowners eligible for loan modifications under the Obama administration's housing rescue plan have had their mortgages reworked, and millions more foreclosures are coming, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.

A Treasury report showed 360,165 people had their monthly payments reduced through August, up from 235,247 through July, but a senior Treasury official conceded much more must be done to soften the impact of a severe and prolonged housing crisis.

Treasury has begun releasing monthly reports on the loan modification program, called the Home Affordable Modification Program or HAMP.

In July, it said that just 9 percent of the estimated number of homeowners eligible had had their loans modified, so Treasury's assistant secretary for financial institutions, Michael Barr, was able to claim modest progress in August.

He told a House Financial Services subcommittee that the program launched in February, which brings banks and loan servicers together with at-risk homeowners, was on target to help a half million Americans homeowners by November 1.

But that is a small start on a huge problem at the heart of U.S. economic woes.

Barr said that "even if HAMP is a total success, we should still expect millions of foreclosures" as administration and industry efforts continue to stabilize a crisis-stricken housing sector.

Barr said a strong housing market was "crucial" to a sustained U.S. economic recovery and described the slump in prices and demand in the housing sector as being "at the center of our financial crisis and economic downturn."

He noted that analysts anticipate more than six million Americans could lose their homes in the next three years.

"Much more remains to be done and we will continue to work with other agencies, regulators and the private sector to reach as many families as possible," Barr said.

The Treasury report showed that some lenders had not helped any of their borrowers who were eligible for loan modifications. Others had helped varying numbers of those who were 60 or more days delinquent on their mortgages, ranging up to 100 percent for one bank that only had one eligible borrower.

Why Use a Real Estate Lead Generation Service?

A real estate lead generator service connects motivated sellers with real estate investors.

Real Estate lead generation involves putting homeowners that are desperate and/or very motivated to sell right away in touch with real estate investors that are looking to buy and make money. The real estate lead service is contacted by the sellers asking for help in finding an investor to buy their house fast.

Wehavehomeleads.com is a lead generation company that asks tons of questions and compiles detailed information regarding the seller’s situation, property, and mortgages and listing status. This is VERY helpful to investors because it saves them time. The investor not only doesn’t have to spend the time asking questions, the lead information also allows the investor to know their purchase strategy before ever speaking with the seller. We all know that time is money in business.

Once all the information is gathered a team of real estate lead professionals decide if the lead is quality and has enough equity to send to the subscribers. If so, the real estate leads are emailed to the subscribers in real time. If not, the leads are tossed and considered a waste of time. Endless amounts of time and potential profit are spent and wasted on marketing attempts to find real estate leads. A real estate lead generator guarantees quality leads in your area will be emailed to investors daily.

It is a great idea for beginner and veteran investors to use a real estate lead generation service because it will increase your profits. It is equivalent to hiring an entire team of marketing and real estate lead qualifying professionals. This allows the investor a fixed monthly cost for marketing with a guarantee of success, more time to focus on closing deals and making more money!

Not all real estate lead generation companies have the same high standards as Wehavehomeleads.com.

SMART TIPS TO GENERATE QUALITY REAL ESTATE LEADS

Real estate investors spend a great deal of time chasing leads. Chasing leads eats up a large portion of your time and your business's valuable resources. Any successful real estate investor understands the value of time-management and all that is involved in chasing leads. Your time is one of the most valuable resources of your investment business; spend it wisely!

The key to finding motivated sellers and equity filled properties that can be purchased for a quick profit is to let motivated sellers find you. Imagine the amount of time you can save by getting those sellers to contact you. When sellers contact you, you can increase the number of potential quality leads that you have access to. This technique saves you time and money giving you exponential opportunity for success and profit. When someone contacts you, it’s a given that they are looking to sell. This will significantly increase your return on investment.


Choose Your Lead Generation Technique Wisely:

Lead Generation Service:

Lead generation services are the easiest, most effective, and only guaranteed method to get motivated home sellers to contact you. For instance, wehavehomeleads.com offers a low cost pay-per-month service that sends quality, equity filled leads to your email inbox. The service includes a team of professionals that gather detailed property and seller information and screen real estate leads to be sure clients only get quality leads.


Advertisements:

Advertisements are one of the most basic ways in which you can get people to call you when they are selling their properties. There are a wide range of ads that you can buy: classified ads in the newspaper, large newspaper display ads, flyers to distribute and put up signs in the neighborhoods where you are buying.
Advertise Online:

Advertising online is great for attracting the attention of motivated sellers. If you have the ability to put up a basic web site with your contact information and a brief description of what you offer, this can be an effective sales tool.


Other Advertising Opportunities:

Word of mouth is the cheapest way to advertise your real estate investment company. When clients receive great customer service and respect, they will tell others. Positive feedback and a referral with your contact information will have more people calling you when they are motivated to sell. .

Always carry business cards with you to hand out at every opportunity. Introduce yourself to new people as a “real estate investor”. Many motivated sellers are looking for help from investors. So invite people to share your information with anyone needing to sell real estate.

By using one, some or all of these advertising options, you can get motivated sellers to contact you which will save you valuable time which equals money!

What can a Real Estate Lead Generation company do for you?

A real estate lead generator is a service that connects motivated sellers with real estate investors.

Real Estate lead generation involves connecting with homeowners that are desperate or very motivated to sell now. The real estate lead service is contacted by the sellers asking for help in finding an investor to buy their property.

The lead generation company asks tons of questions and compiles detailed information regarding the seller’s situation, property, and mortgages and listing status. This is VERY helpful to investors because it saves them time. The investor not only doesn’t have to spend the time asking questions, the lead information also allows the investor to know their purchase strategy before ever speaking with the seller. We all know that time is money in business.

Once all the information is gathered a team of real estate lead professionals decide if the lead is quality and has enough equity to send to the subscribers. If so, the real estate leads are emailed to the subscribers in real time. If not, the leads are tossed and considered a waste of time. Endless amounts of time and potential profit are spent and wasted on marketing attempts to find real estate leads. A real estate lead generator guarantees quality leads in your area will be emailed to investors daily.

For most investors, it is a great idea to use a real estate lead generation service. It is equivalent to hiring an entire team of marketing and real estate lead qualifying professionals. This allows the investor a fixed monthly cost for marketing with a guarantee of success, more time to focus on closing deals and making more money!

I learned about this process by interviewing Art Smith co-owner of Wehavehomeleads.com. He warns that not all real estate lead generation companies have the same high standards and/or as Wehavehomeleads.com.

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR MOTIVATED SELLERS? YOU HAVE OPTIONS VOL 2

If you are an investor or entrepreneur and are looking for motivated sellers that are desperate to sell their houses read on. There are many more options available than there used to be regarding HOW motivated sellers can sell their houses.
Today’s real estate news seems to be filled with doom and gloom. However, motivated sellers have a lot of options. Learn more about these options and how they effect you as an investor/entrepreneur in this easy to read 3 volume blog.

In volume 2 we’ll discuss another option for a motivated seller to sell. For Sale By Owner, or FSBO is exactly as it sounds. It is the process of marketing, buying and selling of real estate by the owner without the representation of a real estate broker.

As you read in volume 1 there is a hefty cost associated with using a broker/agent. So, many sellers choose to sell via FSBO to avoid paying so much commission to a broker/agent. Exact amounts differ between markets but it usually ranges between 5% and 7%.

The only way for a motivated seller to avoid all commission is if the seller AND the buyer are both not represented by an agent. If a buyer who is represented by an agent is interested in a FSBO home, that buyer's agent may request the owner to pay a finder's fee for bringing the buyer. Many agents have pre-printed forms and pre-negotiate an agreed upon commission rate. This allows agents to have a larger pool of houses for sale to show to their clients.

To protect themselves, FSBO sellers typically will have lawyers draw up an agreement (for a fixed fee) often as part of legal representation for the purchaser. While kits found at office supply stores are relatively inexpensive, a poorly constructed purchase document could result in a transaction falling through or even in litigation.

The internet has completely altered the real estate market. Motivated sellers can now advertise their homes online and post them to FSBO websites and even the MLS as you will see in volume 3.

How this relates to you as an investor or entrepreneur again depends on the amount of time and money you are able to spend on sorting out the sellers from the motivated sellers. FSBO usually attracts a more motivated seller than traditional “seller agency” and they seem to be open to more creative ways to sell their house. However, there are still a large percentage of sellers that aren’t motivated enough for you to truly help them and make a worthwhile profit. If you contact enough FSBO listings by calling, bulk emailing or paper mailing you will find those that are desperate to close a deal.

For more on how motivated sellers options affect you, see volume 3 of this blog.

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR MOTIVATED SELLERS? YOU HAVE OPTIONS VOL 3

If you are an investor or entrepreneur and are looking for motivated sellers that are desperate to sell their houses read on. There are many more options available than there used to be regarding HOW motivated sellers can sell their houses.
Today’s real estate news seems to be filled with doom and gloom. However, motivated sellers have a lot of options. Learn more about these options and how they effect you, in this easy to read 3 volume blog.

In volume 3 we’ll discuss another option for a motivated seller to sell, called “Flat-Fee MLS”. It can also be referred to as “flat rate MLS” or “fixed fee MLS”. This is an extension of FSBO (for sale by owner) in which the property is listed in the MLS for a set fee or dollar amount. Flat-fee MLS sellers are not committed to paying a commission. The “flat-fee MLS” option allows the seller to cut out the listing broker's commission completely, thus reducing the seller's payment either completely or in half (if there is a buyer agent). The MLS is the main source of information for realtors and this allows motivated sellers access to this marketing tool without paying 5%-7% of the property sale in commission to agents. For that reason this option (usually costing $200-$500) is typically much cheaper than traditional “seller agency”. However a lot more time and energy has to be allocated by the seller in order to find a buyer and close a deal.


How this relates to you as an investor/entrepreneur is that this is going to be a more approachable motivated seller lead. Flat fee MLS clients are usually motivated sellers that see the big picture and will use less traditional methods in order to sell their property. This type of motivated seller is confident, comfortable selling without agents, and is eager to hear from buyers/investors/entrepreneurs. Often this type of motivated seller gets irritated with or doesn’t have the time/resources to do all that is necessary to find a buyer. Investor purchasing is a great way for them to be done with the sale of their house quickly and without all of the stress.

Real Estate Financing Options in this Economic Crisis-Hard Money Lenders

What is a hard money lender and who is it right for?

A hard money lender is a lending company or investor that specializes in financing the purchase of residential real estate. Most commonly they provide short term loans, often called bridge loans. The amount of funding typically is based on the value of the property being put up for collateral, not income verification or any other financial status or ability of the borrower. Most of these loans don’t meet the criteria of a standard bank loan. Banks use the standards to limit risk and high default rates. Since risk is higher, interest rates are higher with a hard money lender. Hard money lenders play a very important role in the real estate industry; however they are not right for everyone. Individuals and companies that cannot obtain typical mortgage financing because they do not have acceptable credit or other necessary documentation are an example of who it is right for.

Collateral is the security or asset guaranteed in the case that the loan borrower is unable to adhere to the terms of the loan. Real estate is used as collateral for most hard money loans meaning that they have the first lien and would be the first creditor to receive payment upon default.

Hard money lenders structure loans based on the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio which generally ranges between 60-70% of the current market value of the property. The value is based on a quick sale meaning sold in within 4 months of the default. This value differs from a market value appraisal, which assumes neither buyer nor seller is acting under duress.

The credit industry underwent extreme changes in the late 1950s and the hard money lending industry was born in the US. Since then it has been unregulated by state or federal laws, although, some states do restrict interest rates that can be charged, called usury laws.

Due to the lack of regulation and red tape this industry is able to finalize loans quickly and is particularly useful to those in need of a loan NOW. As with any business transaction, use a reputable company or ask for referrals. Be wary of scams that charge exorbitant upfront fees prior to funding. Even though the industry isn’t regulated you still have rights. The state’s attorney general office in which the hard money lender operates investigates on behalf of victims of unfair practices.

Motivated Seller Leads for Real Estate Investors Nationwide

For real estate investors who are seasoned veterans, or for those who are just starting out and are looking for their first deal WeHaveHomeLeads.com, also known as “WeHaveMotivatedSellerLeads.com”, is the talk of the industry. With their endless supply of motivated seller leads WeHaveMotivatedSellerLeads.com is sweeping the nation. Providing leads in virtually every state and delivering them directly to the investor’s email inbox, marketing to attract motivated sellers has become totally hands off. Investors can now focus their time on what truly makes them money…buying and selling houses.