компютри втора употребаFannie Mae Announces Single National Down Payment Policy;
Replaces Policy Regarding Markets Where Home Prices are Declining

A friend of mine sent me this article the other day and I thought I’d share because it’s important information for where we are right now in real estate! This may help those of us in areas where our buyers have had a hard time getting financing for our deals and lenders have been scrutinizing deals with a microscope!

WASHINGTON, DC — Fannie Mae (FNM/NYSE) today announced a new, national policy on down payment requirements for conventional, conforming mortgages the company will purchase or guarantee. Starting June 1, 2008, Fannie Mae will accept up to 97 percent loan-to-value ratios for conventional, conforming mortgages processed through its Desktop Underwriter® (DU®) automated underwriting system, and 95 percent loan-to-value ratios for loans underwritten outside of DU, in all geographic locations in the United States. The new national down payment policy will supersede the policy the company adopted in December 2007 that required higher down payments in markets where home prices are declining.

by Heather Seitz

This article is an excerpt from The Real Estate Rant, August, 2007 issue. Click Here for a 60 day test drive of the Real Estate Rant and $852.90 in FREE STUFF!

By now you know that you need a website, blog or some sort of web presence, I hope!

But, it’s simply not enough to have a website if you’re not getting visitors and/or not getting visitors to leave their information so that you can follow up with them. So… how do you capture their info?

Nowadays, it’s easier said than done. You see, several years ago, you could pop a page on the web, tell someone they couldn’t go anywhere until they gave you their information and that was it. But now, people are tired of spam and junk mail and don’t want to give out their email address if they don’t “know” what’s on the other side. Not to mention, just about everybody I know has an entirely separate email account for “forced opt ins”

So… how do you get your visitor to give you their PRIMARY name and email?
You’ve got to give them something SO irresistible or so unique, that they’d be stupid to say no to your offer.

Here are a couple of unique ideas for things you can offer to your niche market: (more…)

When we were putting together the latest issue of the Real Estate Rant (www.RealEstateRant.net), Brandon recommended an article on “Going Green”!

I didn’t pay much attention to it because I didn’t realize just how much momentum the topic had gained! (So, with my tail between my legs, I must concede that he was on to something…) And because of that, I decided to write a little something on the topic with the Live Earth concert on 7-7-07.

Last night, I was watching the Live Earth concert and I was blown away by the magnitude of the event.

Plus, I learned lots of little tips that allow me to contribute my own small part towards helping the environment. These tidbits piqued my interest so I started to doing some research just to get a grasp on how big the “green” movement is.

Just go to Google.com and type in “green real estate”. There are 81,700,000 results at the time I’m typing this email… WOW!

So, why the sudden interest? Perhaps it was fueled by Al Gore’s inconvenient truth. Or maybe the rising costs of energy. Or possibly… that residents of planet earth realize that our resources are limited.

(more…)