Gary Burrus has 27 years of experience in the gaming and hospitality industry. His experience spans property level, regional, and national operations. Specifically within the industry Gary has senior level experience in the areas of Customer Service, Resort Operations, multiple Hotel Operations (1,000+ rooms), RV park operations, Golf Course, Shooting Facilities, Entertainment and Recreation facilities, Convention Center, Retail Store Operations, Human Resource Management (benefits administration, compensation, 401(k) Administration, recruiting, employee engagement, training, union negotiations, employee wellness), Risk Management, Compliance, Government Relations, Community Relations, Security Operations, Transportation and Valet Operations, and interim General Management.
“A lot of my work is a matter of reacting to surprises in life.” Alexander Wang
What will the jobs report bring us? If the job market is strong, we may see the bond market yield go up, taking pricing on mortgage rates with it. If you are thinking about refinancing your mortgage to lower your interest rate, lower your payment, shorten your term or pull cash out to accomplish another project, don’t wait too late and get a negative surprise.
As we say on the radio show Real Estate Mortgage Shoppe, “Make your plan. Work your plan. If the deal works for you today, let’s do it today.”
Corelogic HPI reports the highest month-over-month gain we have seen with an 11.3% national rate of appreciation during the month. Corelogic anticipates our 2021 spring housing market will outpace trends we saw in 2019 and 2018. Millennials make up 54% of home purchase applications over the last year. The lack of homes available for sale erodes affordability and the costs of new construction. Catching mortgage rates while they are so low is very important in keeping your mortgage affordable.
Here are some things to do to avoid unpleasant surprises when you are getting a mortgage:
1. Don’t open new accounts or borrow money during your mortgage process. Mortgage companies check before you close on your loan to make sure you haven’t opened new accounts or borrowed more money from existing accounts. Don’t cosign for someone else while you are in the mortgage process.
2. Don’t move money around from one account to another account without checking first with your lender.
3. Don’t change jobs. Don’t change how you are paid. Don’t convert from the employee status when you get a W2 over to a 1099 subcontractor status.
4. Double-check with your mortgage officer and your closing attorney for the correct way to wire your funds to closing. Call the telephone numbers on your home purchase contract to reach your lender and title company, and don’t rely on contact info emailed to you. Avoid wire fraud by taking extraordinary care with where you wire your real estate closing funds.
5. Don’t make changes to the title on your real estate during the loan process before checking first with your lender and the closing attorney.
As a real estate professional or a mortgage professional, you can set up your own “Tips For A Smooth Mortgage and Closing Process” to give to your customers. You can deliver this to your client in written form or using a short video. Our clients appreciate an overview of the process before they get started. They appreciate these tips that will save them time, money and prevent unpleasant surprises.
Those of you that have worked with me know I am a stickler for vacation time. I push for a minimum of ten days to two weeks consecutive days unplugged, and a minimum of three other long weekends, three to five days, unplugged from your work. I say this from experience; you either unplug, or become unglued!
We all know how stress and drama can appear in our business. So many variables that can come crashing down at any time to sabotage a deal, transaction, or relationship, that going for an extended period of time without disconnecting can ruin more than just your career!
The reality is nobody is a machine! Now more than ever, surviving 2020 and all of the challenges that came with it, shows us the value in recharging our own physical and metal batteries! Vacation is more important as we come out of COVID because so many of us missed all or most of the opportunities to unplug last year and remain very active with massive opportunities! The key is to be sure your system is solid and easy to follow. Consistency and clarity are essential in making it possible for a co-worker or your team members to care for your business as you go away and care for yourself and your family.
You will often find that preparing for vacation often leads to multiple opportunities right before you leave. I believe the reason is that you are laser focused on all the little details of your business and you don’t waste time procrastinating! You do the work, you do it right, you do it completely, and you move on to what is next. You do this so the person or people around you understand what to do while you are gone! This often leads to improved outcomes! I have always said, if you want to generate more opportunities, go on vacation! If you want to go on vacation, you have to PLAN IT! So sit with a calendar and your loved ones and get a date circled to go. Even if you don’t know where you want to go, even if you aren’t clear on what to do; creating the dates you are going to be gone and scheduling at least one evening a week to work on that plan will help you get it all done!
Vacations – how winners keep on winning!
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Bring it Home® Communities accelerated its national rollout with the introduction of a patent-pending mobile app for brokers and agents.
The innovative app, appropriately named “Before they list,” acts as a catalyst to receive specific information on a property. This social tool is used to gauge interest from other agents in an office, to determine market viability, which can be used by the agent or broker to help generate a listing agreement.
“We know that inventory is at an all-time low, and we want to provide the latest technology to assist in generating new listings,” explains John Giaimo, President and CEO of Bring it Home® Communities. “Creating feedback for homeowners on the fence is a great way to provide valuable information to help them reach an informed decision, while following the rules of the local MLS,” Giaimo continues.
In a recent homeowner survey by Homes.com, 76% of respondents are considering placing their home on the market but are reluctant to do so. In response to the question, “What would motivate them to sell?” 60.2% of respondents stated that “securing their next home before selling would play a factor,” and 16.2% would make the move if they knew their current home could sell for asking price or top market price.
This trend could change should the homeowner receive specific feedback about their property from a network of real estate practitioners.
With shared feedback based on their known and current experience of the local market, agents and brokers have always shared their insights with one another, most notably during office and staff meetings, and through mentoring. The COVID-19 pandemic has made much of this in-person gathering less likely.
“Clearly, many homeowners are on the fence, according to Scott O’Connor of RE/MAX Advantage of Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Before They ListTM App will allow them to gain timely insight to the sales potential of their property in the current market, and make an informed decision of whether to sell...and at what price".
About Bring it Home Communities
Bring it Home Communities is creating the digital portal of the future for real estate, combining local listings, and integrating brokers, agents, consumers and advertisers in a safe and secure communication environment featuring Veea’s secure, virtual private network (VPN). The Bring it Home solution will support new capabilities such as virtual meetings for brokers, agents, and clients, virtual tours, and virtual open houses with augmented reality capabilities. Bring it Home’s ad network powered by Ad Persistence™ and Veea's AdEdge advertising platform provides rich media advertising by companies and marketing partners that want to reach home buyers, and Veea’s VPN provides support for online learning and certification for agents and brokers.
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“After closing, you can paint an ugly house, but you can’t paint over ugly financing.” Jo Garner
Real estate is still hot, and mortgage rates are still low. When a home buyer gets his offer accepted, he had better be able to move –and fast. As a mortgage loan officer, the best advice I can give anyone getting a mortgage is to get preapproved and compare more than one financing option. When you sign the last paper at the closing table, you want the contented feeling of satisfaction, knowing that you made the very best decision.
Here are some general rules of thumb to consider:
1. If you plan on keeping the mortgage for over five years, strongly consider getting a mortgage with a fixed rate and not a variable interest rate. You will enjoy the stability of a principal and interest payment with a fixed interest rate that never changes. Steer clear of variable rates and payments that can wreck your budget and lifestyle.
2. If you plan to have a mortgage less than five years, you can compare some mortgage products with lower-than-normal interest rates that adjust over time. To lessen some of the risks of payments ratcheting up, look at mortgage programs with strong safety caps on how far the interest rates can move at each adjustment.
Example: Some loan customers want to save time and avoid providing lots of documentation by opting for a quick, variable-rate home equity line of credit instead of getting a more stable fixed-rate mortgage. It may be easier today to get the equity line to buy a home. It may be tempting to consolidate debt or fix up your home using quick variable-rate financing, but will you be paying the piper big bucks when the rates start going up again?
If you plan to be in the home over five years, compare the equity line with its variable rate risk with a standard and stable cash-out fixed-rate mortgage. The standard fixed-rate mortgage with no prepayment penalty can be a cost saver over time.
3. If you know you will be getting a lump sum within less than five years to prepay the principal balance owed on the mortgage, take a look at how that lump sum prepayment will affect how much you will pay over the life of the variable-rate loan. Depending on the large lump sum you can prepay against principal early in the loan, the variable rate might be your best bet on that scenario.
4. For homebuyers paying less than ten percent as a down payment, compare the FHA loan program with the conventional program. Borrowers will pay less private mortgage insurance to the lender on the conventional loan program, but the FHA program is more forgiving for borrowers with challenged credit.
5. For borrowers with little or no down payment, explore loan programs such as the VA 100% loan for veterans, the 100% Rural Housing loan, and programs using down payment assistance.
Our customers appreciate the opportunity to choose when it comes to their home and their financing. As real estate and financial professionals, we earn the status of “trusted advisor” when we present sound options that help our clients feel good about their choice.
Here we go again! The constant whine about how hard it is to be in real estate because of the lack of inventory. How tough it is to deal with multiple bid situations, houses selling well over asking, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!
I might even buy into the challenges if it weren’t for a few things:
• 2018 was a record setting year – highest from 2006
• The 2019 came along and sold more homes than 2018
• Then, despite COVID-19, 2020 surpassed 2019.
Now we are seeing projections from many groups that expect 2021 to outpace 2020, and 2022 to be even stronger. So I ask this again, “Why is everyone so upset that so many people want to buy houses?” You would think people would be happy? I remember when the housing market went bad and there was what seemed like years’ worth of inventory sitting with nobody to even bother looking at them. Was being bored and broke, better than productive and profitable? The fact we all may have to work a little harder and process more transactions is a problem? Does everyone forget that there are no commissions paid on inventory?
Listings are great and begin the process, but without a buyer, you have nothing! I get that there are challenges, but thousands of people overcome the odds and win the contract to buy their home! In fact, as I wrote about last week, and spoke to in my interview with Realty Times Magazine published last Friday, if you focus on what is winning, you stand a better chance of being the one that wins!
So please; how about we focus on winning instead of whining; look at how deals are won in your market, not the reason you lost your bid, and put your mind straight as to the magnitude of the opportunity, not the difficulty or excuse of what needs to be done to WIN!
There are no commissions paid on inventory, you get paid when your client WINS!
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From buying and selling advice for consumers to money-making tips for Agents, our content, updated daily, has made Realty Times® a must-read, and see, for anyone involved in Real Estate.