Did 2 rush BPO's for this Company in the most dangerous area in South Florida and haven't been paid. It's been almost a year for the first BPO and it's been 8 months for the other. Anyone else have that problem with this Company (Brokerpriceopinion.com, a First Valuation Company)?? They keep blaming it on accounting. Anyone have any suggestions other than not doing anymore BPO'S for them (which I did stop after 2nd BPO)??
Thank You for your input,
Kevin Novack
First National Realty Services
hello out there.
I have been a PAS agent that is a Wells Fargo agent and received many listings over the years especially here in South Florida which still is one of the top states for foreclosures. I know the REO market is not what it use to be but after speaking with the other PAS agents in my area they too have not received a listing in 6 to 7 months. I thought it had something to do with the banks wanting more financial assets on their books for end of 2015. We are now into 2016 and I know they are out there i have friends who work for the Inspection companies driving around handing out notices and checking on bank foreclose and vacant properties for the different companies out there.
Does anyone have any insight what has happen to the Wells Fargo REO's?
Wayne
Homesaver Real Estate LLC
| Industry Announcement • January 27, 2016 | Learn More About BPOA |
 | The Leader in BPO Automation Software Since 2009 |
Are You Working For The Companies That Matter?
Since 2009, my team and I have been very fortunate to have worked with thousands of BPO & REO professionals all over this great nation. During these last 7 years that my software company has existed, I try to do a special blog posting once a year, where I give my top 10 favorite BPO mills or companies that I recommend that people sign up with to do BPO work.
Below you will find a list of my absolute favorite companies. Know that I am using my own industry experience as well as that of many of our software subscribers.
Here is my Top 10:
1. Altisource
2. Proteck
3. RRR
4. Clear Capital
5. eMortgage Logic
6. BPO Fulfillment
7. Servicelink
8. Specialized Asset Management
9. Solutionstar
10. SWBC (fka: Equi-Trax)
Bonus: Honorable mention goes to: Single Source Property Solutions
Top BPO Portals: Res.net and Equator
There you go! Please note, I choose the above companies because they all have a combination of being:
To wrap this up, I can guarantee that if you are signed up, with more than one of the above companies (and don't have all your "BPO eggs" in just one basket, you are more likely to be successful in this niche business)
Not Signed Up With All of the Above Companies Yet?
We've made it easy to sign up with the companies listed above in our FREE BPO Companies Directory. Click here to go there now!
I hope you enjoyed reading this posting and if you have any questions, I'd be more than happy to help. Simply post a comment below!
Warmly,
Nicole Ocean,
Founder & Owner
BPO Automation Group LLC
|
All Rights Reserved, BPO Automation Group LLC, © 2009-2016
Hello,
Many sellers are still hesitant about putting their house up for sale. Where are prices headed? Where are interest rates headed? These are all valid questions. However, there are several reasons to sell your home sooner rather than later. Here are three of those reasons.
1. Demand is about to skyrocket
Most people realize that the housing market is hottest from April through June. The most serious buyers are well aware of this and, for that reason, come out in early spring in order to beat the heavy competition. We also have a pent-up demand as many buyers pushed off their home search this winter because of extreme weather. Sellers in markets where seasonal weather is never an issue must realize that buyers relocating to their region will increase dramatically this spring as these purchasers finally decide to escape the freezing temperatures of the winters in the north.
These buyers are ready, willing and able to buy…and are in the market right now!
Housing supply always grows from the spring through the early summer. Also, there has been a growing desire for many homeowners to move as they were unable to sell over the last few years because of a negative equity situation. Homeowners have seen a return to positive equity as prices increased over the last eighteen months. Many of these homes will be coming to the market in the near future.
The choices buyers have will continue to increase over the next few months. Don’t wait until all the other potential sellers in your market put their homes up for sale.
If you are moving up to a larger, more expensive home, consider doing it now. Prices are projected to appreciate by approximately 4% this year and 8% by the end of 2016. If you are moving to a higher priced home, it will wind-up costing you more in raw dollars (both in down payment and mortgage payment) if you wait. You can also lock-in your 30 year housing expense with an interest rate at about 4.5% right now. Freddie Mac projects rates to be 5.1% by this time next year and 5.7% by the fourth quarter of 2016.
Moving up to a new home will be less expensive this spring than later this year or next year.
Stop by or contact us:
Mukilteo Executive Offices
8490 Mukilteo Speedway Suite 107
Mukilteo, WA 98275
It's been said that there are "riches in niches", and divorce real estate is one such area that savvy agents can get a competitive edge. Sadly, over half of marriages end in divorce and while the house is usually considered the biggest asset of the marriage, it can also be the biggest point of contention given the financial and emotional value.
How to establish yourself as the "go to" person in your market for divorce real estate?
The over-arching message is, "now is not the time to hire a traditional REALTOR", that the decisions made during this trying period will have wide-ranging consequences that require the guidance of qualified professionals, including a real estate agent that understands the tax and financial implications of divorce. Moreover, you have the exceptional communication skills needed to facilitate negotiations between two spouses and represent both parties impartially.
Want to get some ideas on how to market yourself as a divorce expert?
To see the complete sites and other examples, you can visit www.jimrutkowski.com/portfolio to see a few example divorce sites.
In future posts, I'll delve deeper into divorce real estate marketing. Till then, A-B-C. Always Be Closing!
2016 Spring / Summer Mid TN Housing Projections and Why You Should Be Concerned.
By Jesus “Jesse” D. Gonzalez Jr. Broker / Owner of Liberty House Realty LLC
Mid Tn housing recovery is poised to bust.
For many, here in mid TN, you have seen your home prices rise over the past 12 – 18 months. If you live in the inner core of Nashville and your neighborhood has gone through a gentrification, not only have you see prices rise, you have seen them sky rocket. For all intents and purposes, the vast majority of mid TN residents can say their property values have at least returned to 2007 pre-recession levels and in some cases, have exceeded pre-recession levels. This robust housing recovery is spurred on by several different factors however, I am going to focus only on a few here in this blog, in order to explain why I believe our market is poised to bust in 2016.
Like it or not, let’s all be honest and acknowledge the largest impact to our property values rising is the role government has played in making mortgages easier and easier to get, all in the name of affordable housing policy. If we step back a little and take a look at the even larger picture that government has played in creating cheap or even free money, you have to go all the way back and look at all the bailouts and freewheeling Federal Reserve policies on lowering and lowering interest rates. Lets also not forget the massive capital injections, better known as quantitative easing. All of this cheap or in some cases, free money is that our economy has started growing and as a result, the housing correlation that the better the economy does, the more housing we need has kicked in. As a direct result, here in mid TN, homes have seen more competition from buyers and a direct result prices have gone up.
The problem with this model is that borrowing money can’t always be free….or at least very cheap. Due to fears of inflation, interest rates have to go up, just as we saw last month. Of course, raising interest rates isn’t the problem, it’s raising rates when essentially the fundamentals of our economy are unchanged and the lessons of the 2007 collapse seem to be fading in the minds of policy makers and Wall street alike. The really scary part is, here we are, moving our economy forward through “free money” policies with no real plan in place to guard us from having to slam on the brakes, if necessary.
People are always talking about how China is the huge economy in the room and that when it sneezes, the rest of the world economies get a cold. The problem is, that’s not true. Some of the world’s economies will get a cold but, others will catch the flu and, still others may end up terminal. Let’s be clear on a couple things about Europe, their economic fundamentals are no better than our own and in some cases, when it comes to wage growth, unemployment and the migration of refugees, their economies are fragile. Let’s not forget, some of those countries like Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Ireland all had massive debt crisis that caused austerity measures that resulted in civil unrest. If and let me be clear, when China’s market collapse, as our number 1 buying partner, our economy takes a hit because the Chineese people just can’t buy as much of our stuff but, when this happens, it also causes Europe to take a hit and being our 2nd largest trading partner not buying as much of our stuff, it would be a 1, 2, knockout punch for our economy. If and I speculate when, China’s market really starts nose diving in 2016, it will take Europe with it and as such, our two largest trading partners will keep their hands in their pockets and we will be left with products on the shelf that aren’t moving. Prices will drop, profits will be lost and short selling will begin. This will cause a ripple effect through our economy which will result in job losses, starting with the economic low classes. I truly do believe some of the first housing casualties we will see at the start of this next recession will be low income housing and by the time we react, it may be too late.
I hear the media reports, like many of you, and I am lead to believe that China is now the largest economy in the world however, what if that was all a lie? What if it’s not as big as they say they are and all they have been doing is lying to the world about exactly what they are capable of economically? What if all these money control policies they enforce on their market place like, no short selling and the mandatory 15% cut off were all in place just to keep the world from seeing that all the money we have put into China to develop its economy and turn it into a consumer economy was a waste? Even worse, what if….just stop and think about this for a minute, what if this fall of the Chinese economy was purposefully planned by their Communist regime in an effort to collapse the American economy to ensure a change in the world currency from the American Dollar to the Chinese Yuan? China is no trading partner with the USA, it’s a trading adversary and sadly, our politicians don’t see it this way and as a result, we are heavily leveraged and as a result, we will pay the price with whole American companies collapsing with China and as a result, job losses on a global scale.
So…you think unemployment is at 5%.....how wrong you are my friend and let me explain. In an effort to prop up a failing domestic jobs policy, the Obama administration has decided to put some of that common core math logic to our unemployment numbers. In fact, our government has 6 different ways of describing unemployment and sadly, most people don’t even know this. The U3 Unemployment rate is the “official” unemployment rate used by the bureau of labor statistics however, it’s not the real unemployment number. For the real unemployment number, you need to look at the U6 Unemployment number which as of last month, was at a 9.9% unemployed. You heard me correctly, that 5% you have been hearing on the news is a farce at best. In fact, this is why our economy isn’t seeing a boom with gas prices as low as they have been because the truth of the matter is, all that money people are saving from cheap gas is going to pay bills just to survive because nearly 10% of our population is unemployed or marginally employed at best and can’t spend those energy savings on anything other than bills, just to survive. For more information on where our nation’s real unemployment is at and descriptions of what it all means, visit, http://portalseven.com/employment/unemployment_rate_u6.jsp
Not only is our government trying to deceive us about the unemployment status of America, even worse is that those who do have jobs are noticing that they aren’t making as much as they did before the Great Recession. Simply put, we have so many people looking for jobs, employers can offer jobs at lower and lower wages. It’s a matter of supply and demand. When you have hundreds of people competing for the same jobs, that competition puts downward pressure on wages and benefits. Even if you have a job, you are much less likely going to ask for that annual raise when you know you have 20 people in the wings ready to take your job for the same wage you’re making now…or in some cases, willing to do your job for less. Truth is, wage growth is a great way to see just exactly how well or in this case, how poorly our economy is doing. Let’s face it, if we were doing well as a whole, people would have jobs and those jobs would pay well and the truth is, that’s not where we are at. Make no mistake my friends, we aren’t as recovered as the media and politicians would have you believe.
Everyone need to be watching energy prices, specifically the cost of sweet crude oil. Essentially, this is where America get’s it’s gasoline and gasoline is one of the biggest cost of goods and services. Today, crude got below $30.00 a gallon and closed at $30.44 per barrel. The fact is, most American energy companies can’t pay their bills with crude prices at this level. What’s causing me to stay up at night is the fact that leading economist are suggesting, by end of the year, crude prices could be as low at $22.00 per barrel. At this price, we will begin seeing energy companies go bankrupt and massive energy sector layoffs will begin. Truth of the matter is, I really suspect that 2016 will be the year that the oil wars escalates, prices fall and the largest contributing factor to the 2016 recession will be cheap oil.
Our economy has a lot of downward pressure from many different sources both nationally and locally. Like I said earlier, we just don’t know what the straw will be to break the camel’s back. Right now, I see too many home buyers paying too much for their homes, yes…I said that. Sadly, I do believe a lot of buyers are going to be stuck holding the bag when the bottom falls out of this fragile economy.
I was just scammed by Team Lear. I paid them $449 for the right to list a property that was foreclosed and in redemption. I just drove by the property and another Realtor's sign was in the yard. I ask he if it was via Team Lear. She sad no it was bank direct. She had been scammed by Team Lear in the past. Look them up on -line and read the scam complaints WATCH OUT
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I would like share a scenario with everyone so that no one else suffers the same consequences. A few weeks ago I was approached by a virtual assistant, who goes by the name “Amber Martin”. Amber had disclosed that she found me on Active Rain. Amber (I say the name lightly) had disclosed she was located in Texas. Her email signature reflected the same. After reviewing her resume, I brought her on for a trial period until I received her background check and finished completing other formalities.
After a week into the trial period, Amber failed to send me certain information; claiming she had a family emergency in Washington State. When she returned, she still failed to provide the requested information. I was not able to obtain a background check as Amber apparently did not exist. Another one of my VA’s then contacted me to tell me that when on a call with Amber, she sounded like a man. At this point I decided to end her trial period.
When I contacted ‘Amber’ and brought the issues to ‘her’ attention, I found out that ‘she’ is actually a ‘he’ and ‘Amber’ is really ‘Andy’ who lives in the Philippines. Yes, we found that “Amber Martin, A.K.A. Andy” is actually Andy Cano! Trying my best to remain professional, I explained I did not appreciate being lied to and that I can no longer have her perform any further work.
A few days later I received an email from Amber demanding payment for the little work “HE” completed. Included in the email was also a threat that if payment wasn’t remitted in 24 hours, Amber would contact my clients and disclose “he” wasn’t paid as well as contact the companies my clients work with.
This person ANDY CANO cannot be trusted for he is a scammer and he has scammed me with Php 76,000 money… I have filed a complaint against this person with CIDG Philippines Cyber Crime Unit
Long story short, I found a connection between Amber Martin and a company called Cano BPO Services. Cano is registered in Australia under the name Amber Martin; however, the soliciting emails my agents have been receiving from Cano, reflect the company is based in the Philippines. I also tried to locate people whose name is Amber Martin and found an agent who used to live in Texas, but has since relocated. Amber had said that she was located in Highlands, Texas and also provided phone number that would matched that area code. Come to find out found out, the address was a recently ‘for sale by owner property’ and the phone number was an invalid Google number. I am not sure how she goes about selecting her address, but the bottom line is that it is not her residence.
If you have been contacted by an Amber Martin, Andy Cano, Cano BPO Services, Online BPO Services and/or Meschelle VA, I advise you to perform due diligence. Not only because she/he is actually overseas, but because she is committing fraud by providing a fake name, fake address, claiming to be a women when ‘he’ is clearly a man, soliciting my clients, etc.. I cannot be certain she is using the identity of an agent either, but that is how it appears.
I would also like to point out that since Amber had mentioned she found me on Active Rain, I brought her on board under the impression that the site was safe. This just goes to show that you can’t even trust the reputable sites of which you think are safe.
All info provided by Amber Martin, A.K.A. Andy Cano, was stolen – the name, the address, the phone number, and falsifying this info not just to me but also on LinkedIN, Active Rain, Paypal, Facebook, Trulia, Elance, etc. And the lineage that this was a thought-out scheme of lies, deceit & thievery. -Pam Maglione - Owner, CEO of Pam's VAS
This scenario has taught me a great lesson. I will now be performing pre-contracting formalities prior to having anyone perform work –even if it is only a trial period. If you have been a target of “Amber Martin”, please reach out to me and share your story. If you have dealt with a similar scenario, I would love to hear your story as well. These are things we shouldn’t feel ashamed about sharing. The problem with situations like these is that the perpetrator does not suffer any consequences for their actions. The only consequence someone like Amber could suffer, is losing their source of income. With that said, I think the more awareness we bring to these matters, the less chance there is of it happening to someone else, and the more difficult it makes for a fraud to get away with it.
♦ Upon further investigation, we found multiple profiles on multiple platforms linking to Amber Martin, A.K.A. Andy Cano. While some link Amber to Cano BPO Services, others link her to Online BPO Services as well as Meschelle VA. The email she contacted Pam’s VAS through was “Amber Martin [mechellemartin27@gmail.com]” I would also like to point out that each profile reflects a different location. Here are some of the sources:
LinkedIn: A. Meschelle
Virtual assistant/Owner at Meschelle VA
Houston, Texas AreaInternet
Active Rain: Amber Martin, I Help Real Estate Agents and Brokers on BPOs
Services for Real Estate Pros / Highlands, TX
Broker Price Assistance
LinkedIn: Andy Cano
Broker Price Opinion Analyst / RE Assistant
Region X – Northern Mindanao, PhilippinesReal Estate
Active Rain: Andy Cano, Real Estate Assistant
Services for Real Estate Pros / Auburn, WA
Online BPO Services
I came up with this phrase explaining SEO to real estate clients that are unfamiliar with this subject.
Title. Headings. Content. Plus a link to a credible site.
To rank high in search results, Google must view your site as credible. There are myriad ways to establish credibility with Google, going beyond the scope of this post. For now, I'll focus on on-page optimization where you can create a page or post that is optimized for keywords.
This is very unscientific and a comical example for illustration purposes. Let's say you are a REALTOR in Rancho Cucamonga and trying to rank for "Rancho Cucamonga homes for sale". Using THC - Title, Heading, Content, a blog post might look like this. Far from scientific and comical, but you get the gist.
Are you looking for Rancho Cucamonga Homes For Sale? As a Rancho Cucamonga Realtor, I have a mastery of the Rancho Cucamonga real estate market and help buyers and sellers find their way in Inland Empire Real Estate. Let me relate a story.
I met a women at match.com and met her at the Rancho Cucamonga diner. She was a teacher and told me great information about Rancho Cucamonga schools and also shared with me that she was renting and seeking Rancho Cucamonga Single Family homes and possibly, Rancho cucamonga Condomenums for sale. She was especially intrigued by Upland real estate.
At any rate, she needed the expert guidance of a Rancho Cucamonga real estate expert, and she found the right person in her Rancho Cucamonga Home Search. She stared in my eyes and told me that how impressed she was with my knowledge of Rancho Cucamonga real estate trends.
For good measure, I gave her Rancho Cucamonga real estate reports, including a list of nearby Rancho Cucamonga attractions. We were married, and got our own home, finding a house for sale in Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91701.
With a growing family, we are now looking to find bigger Rancho Cucamonga properties. I am so grateful that I am the best Rancho Cucamonga real estate agent!!!!!
It goes without saying that potential home buyers take to the Internet to search for homes, but just to make it official, REALTOR.org reports a staggering 92% of home seekers utilize the Internet in some capacity and 50% use mobile websites or applications in their efforts. You can view the highlights here.
Real estate agents want to get found online, but many find Real Estate SEO to be esoteric or an exercise in frustration, so I wanted to avail a post that covers the basics, without getting bogged down in technical details (those will come later).
Let's put aside the arcane speak for a moment, and at the risk of over simplicity, consider the over-arching goal of search engines. It is to provide relevant, targeted search results for users. When someone searches for something, they are seeking information. The search engine attempts to match the searcher with repositories of the information their users seek. Since the search engines want to provide a positive user experience, they will evaluate the credibility of the site that is spewing out information.Is the site credible? If so, it is ranked high.
There are many metrics they will use to gauge the credibility of a site, and gone are the days from yesteryear where you can simply stuff keywords on a page and guarantee that you appear at the top of search results. The biggest metric is fresh, updated, and unique content, and I know this from experience.
For the better part of a decade, I sold real estate and other leads and had half a dozen or so websites that showed up on the front page of Google for pre-foreclosure leads, mortgage leads, and other keywords. I rarely had to make cold calls, because people would find me. What is remarkable about that is that I made no attempt to do any SEO. That's right, I did not try to optimize my websites for Google, yet my pages appeared at the forefront of search results. Why?
There are two audiences to write for. One is a Google robot that crawls the web. The other, human beings to engage, inform, and converse with, and for a long time I ignored the former and wrote for human beings. By writing prolifically and often, Google notices that.
SEO gurus will tell you that when generating content, you should branch out a little and mention keywords that are related to your main keyword. So, for example, since it's October, maybe you are searching for Halloween costumes. People searching for this very broad, competitive term may also be searching for "scary Halloween costumes", "Halloween costumes for kids", "Ideas for Halloween costumes", "best Halloween costumes", etc etc.
But if you have a passion for Halloween costumes and have a business selling costumes, these related phrases will be mentioned naturally. Naturally is the operative term. You wouldn't necessarily have to forensically analyze content, keyword count, etc, because these terms would appear organically.
This is a lead in to what your real estate website is about.
Many real estate professionals have taken the easy route by putting up a generic website, a prefab and uninspiring website furnished by their brokerage firm or some third-party company that makes every site look the same, merely changing a few things. This cookie-cutter sites are nearly impossible to be indexed by the search engines, much less to be viewed as a credible site with all of the duplicate content. Again, Google loves fresh, unique content. If you want to be found, you have to set yourself apart and have more than an expensive business card.
This requires a concerted approach to write about local schools, hang-out places, neighborhoods, attractions, the local yogurt shop. New developments sprouting up, changes in the rental market and so forth. It's been said that all politics are local. To that I would say all search is local. The search engines eat up locally specific information, and this need not be an arduous task, and I want to part with this thought.
SEO should be fun, to the extent that you are communicating with the visitor and establishing yourself as a local real estate expert. It's the start of a conversation that leads to relationships and profits. If you view SEO as being a technical task to get found online, get some Ibuprofen. If you have a paradigm shift and view content as informing/engaging, you will succeed. I guarantee it.
In the next posts, I'll try to tackle some of the nitty gritty details, putting a little structure to your real estate content.
Has anyone received any BPO assignments that they want you to drive the comparables so you are more able to compare them and take original pictures of the listings and sales? Imortgage just sent me an order and they were willing to pay $40 whole dollars for the assignment. These BPO mills do not value our services that is for sure. On the default cost break down I've seen on some of my short sales I see they are adding anywhere from $150 for valuations, per valuation listed by dates, plus and additional charge of $300-500 for appraisals.
These servicing companies are really pushing the envelope. They are wanting everything an appraisal offers and not willing to pay for it.
Recently I read an article on Inman News stating how we needed to do some housecleaning in real estate.
Basically It boils down to a few areas: under qualified agents and big data,
If you really look at things, there is not much we can do about the data part. Consumers have much power and Zillow, et al are here to stay.
We can control ourselves. Much of this is my own take on it.
First lets start at the bottom;
Licenses are fairly easy to get, Just know the state rules and take a test. No college necessary really. No customer services skills at all needed.
What I would change is that you need to be able to describe the parts of a buyer contract or seller contract and be evaluated on it. Kinda like in a college final when you take both written and a practicum test and that is just to be licensed.
Maybe clients then wont mind paying us heaps of money and we'll be judged as other professionals: lawyers, doctors, etc
Mandatory 20 hours of CE each year for everyone. I have to do this every year as a tax preparer.
Secondly you must work under another more experienced Realtor for the first 2 years as an intern and if you close less than 3 deals a year, you must always work for someone else on a team and that means a practicing person with 20 deals or more per year not just the broker who takes their cut.
Customer service - a regular program where an association would hire secret shoppers on ALL listings and evaluate the agent on the timeliness of phone call return, marketing, etc.
We need to stop fooling ourselves that only one thing sells the property :the MLS. No matter how many websites we have, all the marketing we do is self serving really...to get more leads. We need a central MLS nationally and the ability to promote the property OUR way, not t of the association.
Make selling for family illegal...potential conflicts of interest. banks already do not allow family to list a relative's short sale.. This here will eliminate those who get the license to do the family deal.
Make brokers have a RESPA of sorts. They have to support their agents directly: their MLS membership, lockbox, color ads or flyers. ETC. Individual agents are feed to death with almost $1000 per year I have to pay even to operate between MLS fees, Association, state forms, lockbox. They will then earn their cut truly. Of course the they can hold all agents accountable for their efforts.
Finally, retire NAR. My association models their principles anyway. Ethics boils down to "DO the RIGHT THING"
So if another agent is doing a poor job with cultivating his listing, why not open it to competition? T Mobile and Sprint are always tempting you to break your contract with ATT and they'll help you do it. Doing the right thing helps the consumer. We hide behind ETHICS but more and more our business is...unethical by nature.
Eliminate double ending by the same agent. Pocket listings are borderline disadvantageous for the client.
I will admit, I am part time and I would be working under another directly but that is how I perfect my craft. As long as the lead agent took no more than 25 % of my commission and let me study their methods, I have no problem with being a secondary agent and as long as I am free to get my own listings and share it back with the agent Im fine with that and that is addition to what the broker gets.
The housing boom may very well be on its way to a bust. As many of you know from news sources the stock market the last couple weeks has been volatile at best. If you step back from the hype and look at the bigger picture, the last couple weeks have resulted in a $2 trillion loss in value. Some analysts are saying that this is a direct result of the collapsing Chinese market. The problem is, many Americans don’t seem to really understand exactly how this will negatively impact local housing prices. Let me explain.
First you need to understand that China is NOT a trusted trading partner, even though that is what you are told from certain politicians. Make no mistake, China is a trading adversary and they are hell bent on one long term goal, the collapse of the American dollar as the World reserve currency. Secondly, you need to remember, China is a Communist country. I will admit, Communism in China doesn’t look like it did 30 years ago but, make no mistake, it’s Communism none the less. This results in a highly controlled, highly secretive and highly manipulated market place where free market principals, and ideas are distorted and twisted. This means, that when China reports it’s losses or gains, they should always be viewed with a speculative eye and with cautious concern towards its legitimacy. Unfortunately, that’s not how we have been doing things the past 10-15 years and as a result, we have lost our place in the World as the most power economy and therefore, we are now at the mercy of less friendly countries. Let’s all not forget, China holds an enormous amount of American debt and has been countering America’s currency devaluation policies by issuing their own version of Quantitative Easing.
Now, with all that being said, I hope I have made it clear that China is no friend of the United States because, if you can’t agree with me on this point, the rest of this article isn’t going to make much sense to you.
China’s market is in a collapse….a big collapse, no matter what American politicians and Chinese government officials are telling the world. We can see the effects of this collapse very clearly by the crazy ups and downs in our own market. The losses our market is sustaining will negatively impact the revenue streams of Americas largest companies. If they aren’t making gains on the market, they are losing a revenue stream that often times is used for growth of products and services. Essentially, those products and services are sold overseas because American companies are so productive, they have to expand to foreign markets because the American market is heavily penetrated. In other words, if these companies want to continue to grow and make money, they have to open or do business in foreign markets. China is the number 1 buyer of American products and services. This means they purchase more of our stuff than any other country and keep in mind, not only are they the largest buyer of our products and services, they are essentially the last major market. In other words, when China stops buying our products and services, American companies who do business in China are going to feel the hit. So, these American companies taking a double whammy, they lose out on the stock market and then they lose out on the shelf at the store on the street corner.
As we all learned from the collapse of our own market in 2007, when companies start feeling the pinch, they start laying off workers and this is where housing prices will be negatively impacted. Simply put, people without jobs can’t pay mortgages and mortgages that don’t get paid go to foreclosure. Large amounts of foreclosed homes drives down prices and people who can still afford to pay their mortgage end up in negative equity, that means they owe more on their home than it’s worth. Now, that doesn’t seem too bad on the surface because you would think that if you just stayed in the home and could pay the mortgage, market will recover in 5 years or so and you would gain your equity back but, don’t forget, mortgages are bundled together and sold on the market as securities. Those securities are held in peoples retirements, no different than the typical diversified funds you likely have at the company who holds your IRA, 401K or whatever group managed retirement account you may have. Then our stock market takes a massive…..some speculate a death blow.
Let’s not forget, we have China in the wings, waiting for the first sign of unrecoverable weakness and like a thief in the night, they sell off all their American debt but, it’s not like when your bank sells your mortgage debt to another bank and equal or greater value, it’s a short sale of our debt….and a massive one at that, to the tune of billions and billions of dollars. They flood the world market with cheap, inexpensive, dollars and over night, maybe even in the same day, hyperinflation takes control over here in America and just like in Russia a few months ago, people swarm the banks, try to pull their money out, just to realize, local banks don’t have enough cash reserves to cover everyone’s withdrawal and before you know it, social and civil unrest ensues.
I want to be crystal clear here, I am no economist or socio-economic international political expert. I am a self taught, self made man who is trying to read the tea leaves. My opinions are my own and should never be considered financial advice however, it’s not hard for an alert American to look around and see the state of affairs we are in. Not just financially but, socially as well. Our country has been on the wrong track for some time and for some time, we have weathered the storms however, this time it will be different. It will be different because our enemies smell blood in the water. Sure, most Americans are too busy pacifying their children with Ipads, Iphones, I”this” or I”that” to stop and recognize that if they don’t take a more active role in the governance of their country by becoming informed and voting, other less informed, less competent and less liberty loving people will. .
In conclusion, the end of 2015 may result in a poor Christmas earnings for American companies due to international market uncertainty. I believe the direct result of a poor Christmas earning season for American companies will be a wave of layoffs 1st quarter 2016. The sign that will tell me that this is starting to happen is the weekly jobless claims. If we see these numbers rise above 300K for a sustained period of two weeks or more, we are in trouble and housing markets will collapse 2-6 months later.
Jesus "Jesse" D. Gonzalez Broker / Owner TN Lic # 00300859
Liberty House Realty LLC TN Lic # 00262289
1709 Ridgemere Ct. Hermitage Tn 37076
O#: 615-424-0961
C#: 615-424-0961
F#: 615-391-4740
Email: JGonzalez@LHRLLC.com
Alt Email: JGonzalez@RealTracs.com
Web: www.LibertyHouseRealtyLLC.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LibertyHouseRealty
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EMTAR Grievance, Professional Standards Committee Member
The most prominent question that comes into your mind while choosing a retirement plan is “how much is enough.” George Foreman said, “The question isn’t at what age I want to retire, it’s at what income.” There isn’t any definitive figure that can help you survive through retirement and the best strategy is to build a fund that never ends.
For self-employed professionals and small business owners, investing in real estate with a Solo 401k retirement plan could be the answer. Real estate has always been a safe investment option with minimal management requirements. Solo 401k has gained popularity because of its freedom to invest in real estate and similar investment opportunities. For real estate professionals, investing in real estate is the safest investment choice and Solo 401k retirement plan facilitates it.
The investment landscape of Solo 401k investment plan is not only limited to real estate. One can invest in precious metals, private businesses, tax liens, tax deeds and hard money lending. It is important that every investment made with Solo 401k funds should be withdrawn from the Solo 401k account only. At the same time, the capital gains or interest from any such investments should return to the account only.
Once you have the loan, make sure to consult qualified attorneys for the transaction and follow all the rules. The key to achieve success with real estate investments is to comply with regulations and avoid any tax penalties in the process.
Adding probates to your portfolio is a smart decision. There is a huge shadow inventory of estate homes that are unlisted, unpublished, unknown. Nearly always, the heirs do not want the house - they want the cash in the house. These motivated seller leads are readily available through courthouse compiled records, and you can capture your share of this low-hanging fruit by reaching out to the executor/administrator that is tasked with liquidating the real estate portion of the estate. But how do you get your message out to them, continue the conversation and build credibility? Now that you have access to probate leads, what do you do with them?
Consider directing the executor/administrator to a site that is dedicated to probate, speaking directly to their challenges in winding down the earthly affairs of their loved one. Being appointed the Personal Representative is both an honor and a burden. During this daunting time, they have more questions than answers. The agent or investor that can build empathy and provide expert guidance in settling the estate will undoubtedly be successful. Many Personal Representatives that would not otherwise pick up the phone would go to a website where they can learn about the murky topic of probate and explore their liquidation options.
To get the creative juices flowing, here are some items to put on a site dedicated to probate.
Of course, this list is not exhaustive, and the possibilities are left only to your imagination. To view a portfolio of other sites we've weaved together, check out some sample sites.
We're often asked what the best vehicle is to make an introduction with executors/administrators that are tasked with liquidating the estate.
Postcards are cheap to print and cheap to mail and they have no barriers to entry - they stare the recipient in the face. But when marketing to probates, in our view, postcards strike as being impersonal or insensitive. The big, glossy "We Buy Houses" postcards are not appropriate for mourning families.
To a lessor extent, I think the same is true for yellow letters that are too informal, again given the gravity of the loss of someone endeared to the family. Our clients have by and large generated a greater response with a professional, computer-generated letter.
As for the content of the letter, it will depend on whether you are an agent or investor, as the messaging will obviously be different. If you are both an agent and an investor - or an agent that works with investors - you have an advantage by offering the dual options of either listing the estate home for top dollar, or selling it in "AS IS" condition for a quick payday, depending on the condition of the estate home and the urgency for liquidity.
Courthouse records will reveal the address of the executor/administrator, and you can pay greater attention to those that live out of state. These people generally do not want to outlay money for repairs, play landlord or travel on their own dime to deal with property maintenance issues and thus, are more motivated by a fast sale to part with the albatross of a vacant home. I know of some investors who have gone so far as to take photos of the estate home if there are issues of deferred maintenance and share those pictures with the out-of-state executor for added incentive to sell the property before any more neglect takes its toll.
Repetition is a key determinant of success in all marketing campaigns, but it's especially important when seeking probate deals. The reality is, the executor/administrator is inundated with many details as they wind down the earthly affairs of the deceased and the timing may not be right at first to sell the estate home immediately after someone has passed. Our experience has shown this is particularly true with a spouse. Diligent court research will bear out the relationship of the executor/administrator to the deceased, and some agents and investors will initially concentrate their outreach efforts on adult children that have been cast in the role of executor/administrator and hold off on contacting the spouse for some time.
To express condolences or not? There are schools of thoughts for and against this. I am of the view that it is a good practice to let the white elephant out of the room in your initial contact, but refrain from mentioning the loss in future correspondence. Inevitably, many families will ask how you found them. A soft sell approach and delicate language is in order, such as, "If your intention is to not sell the estate home, can you keep my information for down the road?" with subsequent touch points inquiring about how settling the estate is going.
Phone numbers of the executor/administrator are sometimes published and if they are not readily available through probate records, certainly there are other means to look up the number and we can delve into phone scripts in future posts and upcoming webinars.
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“Real estate investing, even on a very small scale, remains a tried and true means of building an individual's cash flow and wealth.”
Robert Kiyosaki
Real estate is one of the oldest and most trusted investment options. It offers decent returns and gives the owner a sense of satisfaction. Are you a small business owner? Investing for retirement is a wise decision and Solo 401k is one of the best available retirement plans for self-employed and small business owners.
Solo 401k is a qualified retirement plan that allows investment in real estate, precious metals, private businesses, and also traditional stock and bond investments. One of the upsides of this investment plan is the freedom to choose your investment. It offers higher contribution limits of up to $53,000 in 2015 along with catch up contributions of $6,000 for professionals above 50 years of age.
You can fund a real estate purchase through your Solo 401k retirement plan and if you do not have sufficient funds in your account, you can always use a nonrecourse loan. In regular transactions, the borrower has to pay a certain down payment and the rest is available through finance.
Real estate investments allow you to diversify your portfolio and look out for other investment opportunities in between. You can generate a continuous income stream by investing in rental properties or similar commercial properties.
Real estate does involve maintenance cost but you can write off wear and tear costs of a commercial property and apply for tax deductions in your income tax returns. In addition to it, you can sell the property through a 1031 exchange and save taxes against any capital gain. It is mentioned in IRS Section 1031 (a) (1):
"No gain or loss shall be recognized on the exchange of property held for productive use in a trade or business or for investment, if such property is exchanged solely for property of like-kind which is to be held either for productive use in a trade or business or for investment."
If you are planning to purchase a property through 1031 Exchange, make sure to consult qualified professionals and make a transaction with their consent.
When investing with a Solo 401k, you may be able to skip this step and still enjoy the tax benefits. All Solo 401k accounts are tax-deferred, so you will not have to pay taxes on the capital gain until years later. Better yet, if the property is purchased with fund from a Roth Solo 401k, all gains are automatically tax-free.
Another reason why you should prefer real estate investments in your Solo 401k portfolio is their limited lookout requirements. You do not have to check the value of real estate investments regularly, especially if you are investing for a prolonged period.
