This new video conveys the relationship between rising purchasing power and advancing home prices. It puts perspective on what happened and why. Also covered is the condition that exists today and what that means for would be buyers.
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The new Open House System from Estate of Mind provides quick and easy property web site generation with comprehensive and even interactive finance options, distributable flyers, html emails, Facebook posting, photos, videos, maps, built in lead generation tools, etc. Loan Officers and Real Estate Agents now have the perfect tool with which to collaborate on promoting new listings and provide viewers with an easy and non-obtrusive way of determining their ability to qualify for purchase.
The following video will provide further insight into this new way of getting the most from new listings and open houses.
ShareThe Open House System from Estate of Mind, Inc., allows you to easily set up your own custom loan programs and groups. Watch this short tutorial video to see how.
ShareOur new Open House System was just released and we’re providing this video as a quick tutorial on adding a new property to the Open House System which creates a unique web site, flyers, customizable financing options, etc. If you still have any questions after viewing the video, never hesitate to reach out at info@estateofmindinc.com
ShareMany a homeower in the making has inquired as to why advance taxes and insurance money has to be paid into an escrow account when they’re already settling up on taxes and usually pre-paying their entire first year insurance premium at the closing. These are good questions and the answers are equally straightforward. The following video is short but to the point and provides good visual reinforcement of the how and why:
Estate of Mind Subscribers have their own personally branded video player in which this video and many others appear. To view a sample of this, click here.
ShareIn this video, we clearly evidence that despite prices rising over the last 3 decades, the cost of financing a median priced home has continued to fall. Making it clear to your clients and prospects that price is but one component in affordability can be an important threshold to overcome and this short clip does the job.
For Estate of Mind, Inc. subscribers, this video launches on their own personalized web page/video player which gives a viewer the option to email a direct response, share the video, post it to Facebook, etc. To see an example of this, click here
ShareTo most first time buyers and even many that have been there before, an escrow account is a mysterious beast. It can be hard to understand not only why it’s often required but how it really works. We’ve all seen many attempts at providing clarity and many that fall short. Granted, it’s not a simple feat and just getting borrowers past the fact that money has to be paid out up front for a bill that might not be due for months yet can be a non-starter from the word go. The biggest challenge is in making the complexity simple or in the case of our stab at this situation, making it visual. The following flyer actually provides both a graphic representation and an explanation of how that works in print too. Throw in a litle color and a minute or two to grab the concept and we think it does the job. We hope you do too.
What you see below is a generic or unbranded version of this. As with all of our flyers, Estate of Mind Subscribers have these customized with their own personalization and online tools to make distribution via email, PDF, direct posting to Facebook and even some video versions as easy as logging in and clicking a few buttons.
The latest FHFA numbers we’re released and it’s no secret that it’s been pretty grim lately. There are a few bright spots here and there and on that note, it’s still interesting to see how real estate has significantly outperformed the stock markets over the last 10 years. Despite the recent declines, average rates of appreciation in most states are pretty healthy and for those lucky enough to have purchased in Washington, DC, they’ve still seen double digit performance. Download the free chart copy below to see how your state has fared and compare the ten year averages to a pretty flat stock market (well, more like a roller coaster – a thrilling ride with lots of ups and downs but when it ended, it was right back where it started).
Real Estate Appreciation Rates State by State - Click to download a free PDF
Our stock brokers will tell us that stocks have a higher historical rate of return than real estate and on a top line basis, that is true. However, they forget a few very important facts when making that comparison. Primarily, that we don’t need stocks yet we do all need a place to live. Beyond that are what we might hear and talk about a little more which is the benefits over time of tax deductible leverage and the current level of affordability being so good that it’s now often cheaper to own than it is to rent.
We must apologize for that last line there though as renting always costs money and while many have suffered lower values and hardship recently, those that have hung on in the past and through the cycles both up and down, owning has almost always made money. Want to see how that works? Here’s an online calculator that you can use to see exactly what owning can mean over any period and given any parameters Total Cost & Benefits Calculator
But hey, owning stocks can be a good thing too, we all need to be diversified and they provide a way to earn or build wealth without having to do anything. Owning real estate isn’t always a picnic and it’s not for everyone. Still, for those of us that want to be the CEO of our own destiny and actually know what’s going on in our boardroom, want to know that our investment is grounded in earth rather than a certificate and hence, even if our home burns to the foundation, it’ll still be worth the ground it was built on rather than the paper on which it was printed, real estate can be a great opiton. You of course have to decide for yourself and educate your clients accordingly but for us, it doesn’t get much safer than that.
The 3 Most Important Questions for Today:
1. Have you ever owned a stock that went to zero?
2. Have you ever owned a home or piece of land that went to zero?
3. Now that you’ve thought about it, which do you fee safer owning going forward?
ShareThe recent letter from the Desk of David Steven’s alerted lenders to the upcoming decrease to the UFMIP and the increase to the monthly MI. Being the inquisitive type and wondering whether this was going to be good, bad or a little of both for borrowers, I did what I usually do when faced with a math challenge – I fired up a new Excel sheet. I’m making the results of that available here and will continue to update and refine it as we go. You can download it here and it’s yours to do with as you please.
While the spreadsheet has already been expanded beyond the making of this video, you can take a look at this too in order to get a very quick run through of how to utilize the spread and what the MI cost differences may be. Note, the proposal has not yet been released (as of this writing) in the form of an official Mortgagee letter and that won’t be available unles or until this is signed into law by the President. Until then, word is that the MI over 95% will be .90 but the letter implies that they’ll have authority to go as high as 1.55%. You’ll see exactly how much of a negative impact that could have if it were to happen. Video available here.
Cheers!
ShareOur latest flyer falls into the general educational category. As delivering an honest and applicable rate quote is ever more difficult, yet no less in demand by consumers, it’s critical to be able to quickly educate our prospects so they are not falsely lured by the many misleading advertisements that still exist.
This flyer should go a long way to quickly and easily convey the real story and allow borrowers to be properly inclined to provide the information essential to providing accurate estimates.
You may treat yourself to a download of the generic version shown or subscribe now and receive a customized version along with all of the other elements in our subscription package.
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