Chicago and Southern Illinois Real Estate Happenings

I am wondering...... how often do mortgage officers NOT disclose the rates they charge to clients real estate  agents?

I am in the middle of a heated dissussion with a mortgage company I referred for a client of mine.

We are ready to make an offer for a home my buyers (who are first time buyers) want to purchase, but the loan officer wants us to ask for up to 6% for closing costs from the seller. We said it sounds little high and my real estate broker has agreed that 6% IS a bit high.

I am thinking there are costs being put on the back end of the loan they do not want us to see.

The only way to know this is to see the truth in lending statement so we can see what is going on and what they are charging or attempting to charge my client to close this deal if the seller and our buyer agree to terms and price on the property.

I asked for the truth in lending statement yesterday and got a LOT of flak from the loan officer...what is the big deal on not letting us see what they are charging. Is it SO mysterious that they cannot let us see what they are doing....?

Personally I think they are going to try to zip through all those charges (if there ARE above the normal and sneaky back of the loan charges) with our client and try to get them to sign on the dotted line so they can abscond our clients hard earned money over 30 years of the loan for the back end of the loan charges they seem to be trying so hard to hide from us.

Anyway I have instructed the other agent I am working with to have the client demand to see the truth in lending statement and to let us look it over with our client so we can see what is actually happening......

THEN it's either...ok, no problem...OR BYE BYE Loan Company!!!!

Any comments on this....has anyone else had this happen to you? What did you do about it?

BTW I already have another loan company waiting in the wings to get this loan done......WITHOUT 6% from the seller...... =-D

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           At The Knights Team...we work HARD to make sure our clients get treated fairly....central Florida real estate is our life!

 Here is wishing all you who celebrate Christmas a great time! I hope your day is filled with laughter, great times and heart felt love.

Christmas is so commercialized ....... I hope that does NOT interfere with your enjoyment of the reason it is celebrated.

Jesus (I call him by His Jewish name,Yeshuah) was born some 2000 years ago in humble circumstances to poor Jewish people on a journey to their hometown to have themselves included in the census of that time.

Even before they got to their destination Mary (who was found to be pregnant without being married first to her fiancée') had her first born Son. God had this happen specifically in this way to teach US something.... He is so often misunderstood in his ways.....

Several Angelic appearances were given to let people know this person who was born to her WAS SPECIAL. Another person was born who would carry the message of who Jesus Yeshuah) was..... thank goodness he was listened to by the lowly, poor and downtrodden..... His message would not have survived if they did not listen. The religious and self righteous did not have time for his message, or wanted to sneak their way into its blessings. Those types of people are still with us today.

Click on the picture of the house with the Christmas lights to see a little movie about the meaning of Christmas....

I hope it moves you the same way it moved me as I watched it.

God bless you this coming year!

Rod Stewart will be at the newly ordained AMWAY arena (formerly the TD Waterhouse arena) January 16th...... Whoohoo ~~~~ all you Rod Stewart fans out there!!! Call Ticketmaster for your tickets!

The Nutcracker (Russian Ballet style) will give it's last performance on Dec. 22nd at the PlazaTheatere --- for tickets call 407-221-8146......

 For all of you who remember The Lawrence Welk Show, on Feb. 22nd from 2:00pm to 3:30pm Guy and Ralne will be at the Peabody auditoriumm in Daytona Beach.... a $75 contribution to WMFE gives you the entire show along with a complementary subscription to The Lawrence Welk Newsletter......

 The world famous Lipizzaner Stallions will be Orlando Friday Dec. 29th at the AMWAY ARENA....info is at: 407-849-2020 They will be in Kissimmee Wed. and Thursday Dec. 27th and 28th.   Info is at 407-697-3333

Planners are in the first stages of a WalMart Super centre at the corner of John Young Parkway and Princeton Street. It is planned to have over 200,000 square feet of shopping space and it will be open 24 hours. There are pros and cons to both sides of this planned super centre. Plugged roads and higher crime are the most reported items of concern while lots of new jobs and opportunity to spur further development of the area in College Park are the major pros. We will see what happens.

 The Guardian Angels have moved into town --- meeting with the local Orlando City police because of the upturn in violent crimes this past year. They are going to discuss how to curb crime and prevent the trend in rising violent crime by working together on this issue. Lets hope things happen to make a positive impact for thecity'ss downtown area. All the condos in the area will need a great feeling of peace and safety if all those condos are going to be sold.

 On the real estate front   =======   It has been more than 10 years since the inventory of unsold homes has risen to this level in central Florida real estate . for buyers who are looking for deals NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY A BRAND NEW HOUSE INSTEAD OF A RESALE. Builders are making unheard of deals with buyers:

• Builders are paying closing costs
• They are BUYING down mortgage rates for buyers resulting in lower monthly payments for them.
• Free fireplaces, upgraded kitchen cabinets, or cash allowances for buyers to pick what they want out of the "Catalog" of options the builders have.

There are lots of ways builders can give you a break on spanking brand new home, BUT YOU HAVE TO FIND THEM  first to talk to them.

This blog is inspired by Craig Schiller and the fact that he knows it is a blessing to cry when he is hurting...WTG Craig!!

This is a picture of the tree I sat under at a Church mens retreat in Feb 2004....about a couple weeks after my dad had died.....

I felt so alone and hurt...there were a couple of things I had not ironed out between my dad and I. I am glad later on I came to terms with what we had not confronted when he was on this earth. God is so good to help us work through things in our lives. 

 I cried so much my that my knees got weak and I walked across the field and sat under that tree.

I had spoken at my dads funeral and that had eased the pain of his passing on some-what, but the pain of him not being there in my life was still with me.......

Then I turned my thoughts to God..... not just to Him as the Lord over all the earth, BUT as the Lord God and Father who sees my pain and is concerned about it...... and I started to feel Him enclosing me in his love and comfort....... it still hurt at my dads passing, but turning to God was the key to calming me down about it.

God can do so much for you if you let him......... the keys are:

• Knowing if what you are asking about is the right thing to do in the first place. (And if you don't know if it is right, ie: "Do I do this or that or maybe something else" ~~~~ He can let you know that too..... =-D)
• Having faith to know He will answer you when you pray and seek him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
• Opening your spiritual eyes and ears to listen and see what God tells you after you ask Him your questions.
• Following through with what He says....doing what he says to do about what you have asked. (So many of us just ask...and assume God is going to be like a big vending machine in the heavens ~~~~~ and just dump all these blesings onto us without wanting any kind of change or perspective, attitude, lifestyle or commitment to Him on our part.)
• Telling others about how good He is to you and telling people what he has done in other peoples lives that have talked to you and told how good he is....... We are Gods "marketing machine"..... and He loves it when we advertise Him to others!

If you want to see an inspirational movie about God and His goodness to encourage you, click on the picture of the tree I sat under when I was so down and seeking Gods comfort.....

and BE BLESSED!! =-D

I have been toying with the idea of a Homebuyers Seminar for a while.....

I would need the meeting space (Our class room at the office is perfect) and the seminar outline and maybe a laptop and projector to do a powerpoint presentation while I was speaking.

I am getting excited about the possibilities........ a couple of classified ads in the local paper(s) and MAYBE a BIG PLASTIC SIGN for the front of the office on Main Street in Kissimmee would attract potential clients.

I could do one of these once every 2 months of so.

I was commenting in the Golf Group about going golfing to drum up some clients and the idea popped into my head; I have thought of it before, but this time I think the timing is fortuitous. Interest rates are slowly edging down and I think it is the right time to get this idea off the ground.

Have any of YOU done Homebuyer Seminars and what was the outcome? Did you have loan officers there to help you explain the process of buying a home? Did you have title people there too?

I used to see a Century 21 brokerage do these every month religiously. I do not know how well they did.......but the idea intrigued me.

I am looking for comments from people who have hosted, participated in these seminars or have attended one (Real Estate Agents, Loan officers, Title officers, Home Buyers, etc.) and I am asking:

• Did you have success and what kind of success did you have?
• How many closings resulted from each seminar you did?
• Would you keep doing them or ARE YOU STILL DOING THEM?
• What kind of relationships (agreements) did you have with any professional invitees?
• If you attended a seminar did it HELP you in buying your home? In what way?

I am hoping to educate future buyers of central florida real estate . Helping home buyers with any credit issues and imparting to them understanding about all the steps to owning a home is what I and my TEAM do.

Our clients real estate transaction is our noble cause and

our clients best interest is our noble principle.  

Ever wonder what faith IS? What it is that inspires some agents to achieve MORE than their wildest dreams could entail?

Lots of people have wondered over the centuries about what exactly faith really is........

I can tell you  -- what it isn't.......

It isn't fear...doubt, insecurity, your past business failure, the people who hurt you (past, present or future).

It isn't lust, thievery, drunkennesss, or profanity.........

It isn't adultery, sleeping around or loving money...........

It isn't lewd jokes, putting others down, or flattery........

It isn't loving your new car, your boat or your wardrobe........

                                                    BUT...........I THINK I have found a little movie that DOES kind of allude to what faith IS:

Just click on my little friend in the cheese and you will see a movie that just MIGHT show you what faith IS ........  and where you can get some or aquire MORE of it.

We real estate agents NEED to have faith.... not just confidence.....

(And self confidence IS NOT faith....... Only the place you can go to gives it....it cannot be mustered up on your own...... BUT you have to go and get some when you need more.......)

Can you read between the lines? If you can, you will see how the kitty

over there sees herself like the BIG CAT in the mirror.

She is so pretty isn't she?

(Go .....get SOME........! )

I and my TEAM are here to help with any central Florida real estate needs there are, just contact us.

(I have faith that we we can help you.....hehehehehe)

Even though the housing market is cooling, Orlando will finish 2006 as its second-best year in single-family existing home sales, according to the Orlando Regional Realtor Association.

Through the end of November, Realtors were involved in 25,371 transactions. That's 717 fewer sales than in 2004 and below 2005's record 31,230 transactions, but ORRA says it expects the sales totals from December to propel this year's sales past 2004's.

This past November, 1,597 homes changed hands, compared with 2,423 in November 2005 and 1,897 in November 2004. The median price for existing homes sold in November reached $250,000, up from $249,900 in November 2005 and $182,300 in November 2004. In November the avg, sle price was $300,210, up from $300,078 in 2005 and $231,339 in 2004.

During the month, interest rates rose one-half of one-tenth of a percent to 6.10 percent, ending a three-month falling trend. Nationally, interest rates hovered near 40-year lows, according to the National Association of Realtors.

So in retrospect, things were NOT all that bad this year in real estate.

And everyone said the sky was going to fall......

Is your glass half empty or half full?

Go get em' tiger....   

I am all for helping my clients with their central Florida real estate this is where I live; it is what I and my TEAM do.

(All info was from the Orlando Business Journal and the Association of Realtors.....)

 This is what Active Rain has done for me...... I do not have the clicked on stats yet....BUT

Out of over 4 MILLION (not 4,000, nor 40,000, BUT 4,000,000) websites for the keyword "Central Florida real estate" my AR blog is ranked number 11 ....and it is more highly ranked than my other real estate website with the SAME keyword.....

Now granted....my OTHER website is ranked #7 in google out of

over 1 MILLION websites for the keyword "Orlando Florida MLS" .

 It gets LOTS of hits from people who want to look at the local MLS here in the Sunshine State.........when they want daily e-mails about MLS properties that come up for sale AS THEY happen, they can always ask and I will give that service away.......FREE.....Just to let them know I and my TEAM are here for them when they are ready to purchase central Florida real estate .

Do you think I am upset about having my BLOG on AR more highly ranked than my website?........ NO WAY!!!!!

I am awestruck about that....the listing for all our Active Rain Florida membership with the keyword "Central Florida real estate" is ranked #21 ---- close to being on the FIRST PAGE!!!!!

All SEO experts I know say that being in the first 3 pages of a search term is critical for getting hits....not much happens after the first three pages.

NO other directory I am a part of in real estate is ranking as high for those keywords....I am so blessed and happy to be a part of this network...... I know it is helping the marketing of my services to a savvy and knowledgeable clientele out there.

And I just wanted you Agents out there in "AR Land"  to know.... YOU CAN make this even better for all of us...... Keep reading and applying Mary Mcknights posts about blog pages and look for Rain Tags about blogging and linking in your blogs.... Links in your blogs with keywords you use in your websites are very VERY important...I cannot stress this enough...if you do NOTHING at all...link your keywords of your website from your blog to your website.... Also, linking various posts within your blog to posts you make will make spidering the site so much more fun for those knowledge hungry spiders out there in WWW Land....you can find out how to do this in various blogs here in Active Rain... go to the Art of Marketing You group and become a member and you will find out how to do this.....

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OOps... blog was edited a day later.....numbers were reversed for the rankings of my blog and the Active Rain membership in Florida....sorry for the mix up......blog fixed..... Now the numbers are correct!

:-D

One of the wonderful things about living in central Florida is the rare night launches of the Space Shuttle.

Tonight at 8:47pm I watched in awe as the sky around Cape Canaveral lighted up like a Christmas tree.......

Then a flame of yellowish and white rocket exhast made its way into the heavens.......it was such a show!

I watched until the solid rocket boosters came away from the shuttle and the long flame

turned into a quickly moving bright star.

The last time I saw something like that was about 10 years ago, before the tragedies

that brought the shuttle program to its knees.

I am glad the people at NASA are taking the time to put safety before expiediency.

Having a safe launch and mission is far less expensive than having to find out what went wrong because

someone decided money was more important than safety.

Just one more thing to LOVE about owning central Florida real estate ........

When you are traveling down the highway of life at work, rest or play, there are some things to remember:

Click on the picture to get a little reminder of what is most important in life.

This is NOT preaching...it is just a really nice message to get you thinking and maybe....just maybe it will either get you back to where you need to be, OR it might just get you going in the right direction.

It might even make you smile because you are already traveling the road of life with these attitudes.

                                                                                         For my part it made me think AND smile.

                                                             Central Florida real estate --- it's part of my life!