San Antonio's Rockstar Turned Realtor®: Texas: San Antonio

Video released.

Now that Takara and her calf have had some time to rest, it looks like they're ready to enjoy their time at Sea World San Antonio.  Like most animals bonding with their mothers, the new calf has a lot to learn and it looks like Takara is ready for the task.  I can't wait to get over to San Antonio and see the latest addition to Sea World.

To the new calf: I welcome you to San Antonio and hope you have a wonderful time in our city.  Although you won't be able to stroll the Riverwalk (and if you could it would be kind of freaky), we've got a great city full of fun - and you're now part of it!

photo courtesy of jeku arce

Sea World San Antonio has a new Shamu.

Look out Shamu, you've got competition!  Sea World San Antonio announced the birth of a new killer whale calf by Takara, an 18 year old Orca.  My wife can't get enough of Sea World (map), but I have yet to visit (for some reason, I've been out of town every time we've had visitors that she went there with), but with an announcement like this, I feel a certain pride in San Antonio and the Sea World staff.  Breeding any large animal in captivity is typically not an easy feat, but Sea World has been rather successful in their efforts with killer whales, which are truly magnificent to watch (I've seen them in San Diego).  Amazing intelligence, agility, and understanding of their surroundings, it should be interesting to watch the new calf grow up through the years.

FHA Loan Changes - Good Idea?

Yesterday, I re-blogged a post about FHA loans, originally written by Ken Cook, one of the lenders I really trust when it comes to FHA information and advice.  I had read his article with great interest, as any change in any lender's rules, regulations, or requirements - directly affects me and my clients.

I'm not a mortgage wizard, which is why I surround myself with the best lenders I can find - so that when I do have questions or my clients need more explanation of a mortgage issue, I can get them the answers or at least have them chat with the lenders I know.  I do try and stay up to speed on all the issues though and the new ideas about what to do with FHA loans in order to refill the coffers of the Department of Housing and Urban Development's FHA funds were the subject of Ken's post.

The problem is simple; with foreclosure rates skyrocketing, the FHA has had to pay out more and more insurance claims to the mortgage companies.  Part of every FHA loan is the mortgage insurance premium (both upfront and monthly).  The upfront mortgage insurance premium is paid (who would have guessed?) upfront at closing.  However, it is possible to roll that premium into your financing (so many people don't actually bring that cash to the closing table).  The monthly mortgage insurance premium is a monthly fee tacked onto your your mortgage payment.  Like other insurances, you're paying today, in case something goes wrong tomorrow.  In the event a home buyer defaults on their loan and the house is foreclosed on, the lender gets paid out of the FHA funds that are built up through the collected of these mortgage insurance premiums.

Now that we have that FHA primer out of the way (there's a lot more to it, but I didn't want to write a full post on how FHA works - we have other issues to discuss today).  On December 3, 2009, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan appeared before the House Committee on Financial Services and announced that FHA's funds were getting uncomfortably low (they had dropped to 0.53% of outstanding loans, well below the 2% required by federal law).  After looking at some of the ideas that have been tossed around to cure the problem, I spent some time thinking about what's good and bad about those suggestions.

I would write it all out here, but the fact is, it's a rather long post (something you should be used to by now).  I think it might be one of my top 5 posts of all time.  I hope you'll take the time to read it and weigh in with your opinions.  I just spoke with a friend of mine who disagrees with me completely, so this could be interesting.  So, here you go...enjoy:

"An Open Letter To HUD About FHA Loans" at RErockstar.com

photo courtesy of Caitlinator

Thanks Ken!

As usual, Ken Cook, does a great job breaking down some of the latest expected changes to FHA loans.  I find it shocking that everyone ran around saying we need to help clear the inventory by extending and expanding the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit and now they're thinking about making it tougher to buy a home.  So which is it?  I thought it was odd when they raised FHA down payment requirements from 3% to 3.5% while saying they needed to get the housing market moving again.  A jump from 3.5% to 5% will most certainly eliminate a larger pool of ready, willing, and able buyers.

Although the theory of "having some skin in the game" is a commonly accepted idea, this reeks of an attempt by Secretary Donovan to save himself at the expense of home buyers and possibly the housing market recovery.  When the federally mandated reserves started to slip, we should have been talking about solutions, not when they are 1.47% below where they should (the law requires the FHA insurance pool to be maintained at 2%, Secretary Donovan reported it was at 0.53%).  Maybe we should have learned a lesson from the banks that didn't notice how low their reserves were getting before then announced (seemingly overnight in many cases) that they were broke.

How does someone not notice these things?  Ugh.

Thanks again Ken!

San Antonio home buyers can search without registration.

I made the decision awhile ago to remove all registration from my San Antonio real estate search page on RErockstar.com.  Real estate agents have varying opinions on these sorts of decisions, but I thought this was the best way to provide a service to San Antonio residents looking for homes.

Many real estate search sites have some form of registration, whether forced or what me often call "nagging" (where the site reminds you to register every so often, but allows you to continue even if you don't).

Why not require registration for a real estate search site?

For me, the question came up in a discussion with some fellow agents.  I had tried full registration and even the nag option, but always was slightly uncomfortable with both.  When I've been looking for homes in the past for myself, I was always quick to click off a site that was asking for registration.  When I moved to San Antonio, I searched on sites without registration, but when I was ready to commit, I then performed a search for real estate agents.

When I found a Realtor® I liked and felt I was comfortable with, then I moved over to his website's real estate search as well as received emails from them about houses I might not have seen.  Through that combination of efforts, the three of us (my wife included) were able to well define what we were looking for in a home and we were able to purchase one over the course of a weekend of looking.

So go ahead, search to your heart's delight.

My San Antonio real estate search page is free for all to use with no required registration.  I think you'll find it very easy to use and a great tool to help you find your next home in San Antonio.  If you have questions, feel free to contact me and I can help you set up your searches.  Take it for a test drive and come back again and again.  When you're ready to get serious about your search, give me a call and let's sit down and discuss your needs...then the fun begins.

photo courtesy of JohnHallAssociates

Donna Galinsky isn't the only one.

Donna's post about homes that are under marketed or poorly listed is something I've spoken about before with clients, agents, and brokers.  I see it happen too.  Seems we all see them from time to time.  What many non-Realtors® don't know is that the Realtor® Code Of Ethics prevents us from telling that homeowner what we think or violating the client-agent relationship in any way (this is why no agents knock on your door when the sign goes up in your front yard and why all those postcards you get in the mail mention that they are not a solicitation of business if you are currently working with an agent).

I encourage you to visit Donna's original post and read through the comments, but I thought I'd leave mine here for you to read as part of the re-blog:

Donna - This has to be my biggest gripe with the Code Of Ethics.  I know the theory of the Code Of Ethics and why it exists and agree with most of its tenets, but I often feel that it winds up protecting Realtors® who aren't really taking great care of their clients.  Now of course, without the code, we'd have a flurry of people who use it to destroy their competition, right or wrong, with tactics that that would be more than questionable, so I see a need for it.  But I can't help but wonder what would happen if we were allowed to step in and tell a homeowner how they're not getting what they could be.

Based on some of the things I've seen, I can imagine my business would certainly grow if I could show those sellers the difference between me and their agent.  It's frustrating to say the least.  I often want to tell them and then tell them of 4 or 5 agents I would trust to do better - since I wouldn't want to be seen as just doing it to generate business for myself.  I'd rather someone else had the business and did it right, than someone do it poorly.

Perhaps I should give up my license and build a business around this fact.  Without a license (and membership in NAR) the Code Of Ethics would no longer apply to me.  Of course, then I wouldn't be doing what I love, so that wouldn't work out well.  Perhaps we need an independent third party business to do this for us...a listing auditor basically.  That idea fails as well though, because in an attempt to monetize that business one of two things would happen - a) the game of favorites or b) an exorbitant referral fee or sale of leads back to us.

Oh well, for now the status quo will remain.

photo courtesy of crd!

Let the madness ensue.

I'm not much of a fan of Black Friday, I can't remember the last time I actually went out for it.  My wife braved a few crowds today and actually wound up buying a few things we needed, but I stayed home.  What I did do was work on my real estate business plan for the coming month and into 2010.  One of my goals is to get more listings.  I like listings and want to build up a constant flow of them.  Not just because I've heard the "you have to list to last" style quotes, but mainly because I love the process of listing, marketing, negotiating, and selling a home.  There's a certain excitement with that aspect of real estate for me.

Of course, I was a bit distracted today, because I still feel like I'm in holiday mode.  So although I did a lot on my plans for the future, my mind did wander some.  Since today is Black Friday, my thoughts crossed over each other and melded into one.  What if real estate had a Black Friday?

I know, I know - it's a pretty ridiculous thought as we're comparing apples to skyscrapers here, but it would be interesting to see what happened if it became a staple of life much like our retail world's Black Friday.  Would home buyers wait until the magic date to buy?  Or would we continue on a semi-normal real estate pace only to have one day of sheer madness?  Would sellers refuse to list their homes, knowing they had to sell for discounted rates or would they opt to take the easy almost-guaranteed sale on the infamous day?  All questions I'm sure I'll never find an answer to, but something fun to ponder.

If you went out today, I hope you picked up the items you needed and wanted at great prices.  If like me, you stayed at home, I hope you didn't have too many crazy thoughts like I did about real estate and Black Friday.

This has been troubling quite a few people based on the comments.

We all complain about foreclosures and short sales and the way they are handled.  There's quite a few aspects of the system that many agents believe are broken.  Some simple fixes could go a long way in getting some of this inventory cleared from the shelves, get people back into neighborhoods that have been devastated by foreclosure (especially in places like California, Nevada, Arizona, and Florida).

The bank CEOs and asset managers really need to listen up to those of us on the ground.  We see these homes everyday.  People want them, as they view them as bargains, but when they can't find them because of a lack of marketing or agents who don't work these listings as hard as they would a traditional re-sale home.

We can fix these problems.  I personally would love to take on some of these REO listing.  Just give me a few and let me show you how it can be done.

Rebecca's blog reflects the frustration and anger that many agents feel over these listings.  There are good REO agents out there, I'm not calling them out as a whole, but the fact is there are a lot getting away with sleep-walking their way through these listings and I find it unacceptable.

Asset Managers - read this post, scroll through ActiveRain, google "foreclosure nightmare" and re-think your strategy in choosing your agents and what you demand from them.

photo courtesy of roomjosh

It's just a stupid game.

Fans of Foursquare probably can tell you that it's a bit addictive.  The thrill of unlocking a badge or ousting someone as Mayor of your favorite restaurant can make you want to pull your cell phone and drain your batteries more than many of the social media products and sites.  If you're not familiar with Foursquare, head on over to their site and get an idea of what it's all about.  Then head over to my profile on Foursquare and become my friend.

Once you've checked it out for a bit and started to check in here and there, perhaps it's time to "think outside the square" and read some of the less obvious reasons Foursquare is more than just a stupid game.  My most recent article at AgentGenius, goes over some of the thoughts I've been having about it.  Do you have more ideas to contribute?

Read "Why Wasting Your Time With Foursquare Is Good" part of The Stigliano Chronicles at AgentGenius

This is my grill.

I love to grill.  One of my favorite family stories is about a cold winter snowstorm in Pennsylvania.  A friend of my sister's lived nearby and had gone to the store, braving the icy conditions.  When she returned home, she called my sister to say hello and tell her about the "idiot in the parka out on his balcony grilling in this weather."  That idiot was my Dad.

Both my brother and I received the grilling torch from my father and both of us have become quite skilled over the years.  If I could, I would grill every day for dinner.  I never grow tired of the smoky taste and tenderness you get from grilling, whether through smoking with woods like Mesquite and Hickory or just the good old taste of charcoal.  I don't use a gas grill much (I currently don't own one), but they are great if you're in a hurry.

Since moving to Texas, I really got into the smoking side of BBQ.  I do live in the land of brisket after all.  Smoking takes forever, but when you cut into the meat and see the smoke rings on the outside - that's a reward I love to have.

You can have your snowstorms and below freezing temperatures.

I'm not interested in the cold.  Yes, it does get cold in San Antonio, but not nearly as much and not nearly as severe.  Today, the high is expected to be around 75.  It's November 22nd.  I'll be out there all day; checking my fire, making sure the meat is moist, and enjoying time with my friends.

This is why I live in Texas.  The long hot summer, the short cool winter.  The ability to BBQ anytime I want (not that a little rain or snow has ever stopped me).  Give me a meat or vegetable and I'll slap it on the grill: hamburgers, turkey burgers, hot dogs, Italian sausage, Kielbasa, smoked sausages, Bratwurst, Knockwust, brisket, steak, chicken, fish, shrimp, mussels, lobster, Boston Butt roasts, turkey, beef ribs, pork ribs, baby back ribs, riblets, pork chops, lamb chops, leg of lamb, fajitas, corn on the cob, zucchini, mushrooms, peppers, onions, squash, tomatoes, garlic, potatoes...are you starting to get the picture yet?

Today's menu will be brisket, Boston Butt (pulled pork), and beef and pork riblets.  My wife will make her famous potato salad, our friend who is a pastry chef at a local Inn will make her out of this world deserts, we'll drink some beer and enjoy the day.  That's what BBQ is all about.  Good friends and a whole lot of doing nothing.

I may not be a true Texan, but I will always be a member of the Texas BBQ lovers.