Some new "Buy and Bail" info

I have talked to many people recently about one area of major concern in the lending industry. The term is "Buy and Bail" and it can have an effect on all of us. On Wednesday of last week, I received an email from a friend at Wells Fargo that talked about some of the coming changes dealing with people that want to buy another home while keeping their current home. The problem, in case you are not aware, is where people that purchased a home at the top of the market and are now "upside down," go out and buy another home, at a lower price and then "give the keys" back to the lender for the original home, allowing it to be foreclosed instead of the owner fulfilling their obligation.
Part of the new guidelines are as follows.

The new Fannie Mae BUY & BAIL policy states that a buyer planning to retain and rent out their current residence must: 1) prove 30% equity in the property, 2) provide a copy of the new lease agreement, and 3) provide a copy of the renter's security account. If these criteria are not met, rental income may not be used to qualify and a reserve requirement is also added. Buyers who plan on keeping their current residence as a second home must qualify on both payments and show 6 months reserves for both house payments.

If this is "clear as mud" to you, please feel free to "Just Call Nick" for a better explanation. As always, I will be happy to discuss current market conditions and some of the "hot buttons" in the industry right now.

Say Thanks

Take a look at the video in this link..
http://www.gratitudecampaign.org/shortmovie.php
I like the line.. It's not about politics, it's about service.. Thanks to my friend Irene for sharing..

Hey guys... Happy Fathers Day!

Just a quick note to wish all of the dads out there a very Happy Father's Day! The boy's and I are going to hang out and have some fun today and that is a great gift in itself! Of course, I want to send an extra special Happy Father's Day wish to my dad.. Thanks for being the best dad and friend we could ever have hoped for! Glad you and mom could "sneak away" to the cabin.. See ya soon.

Nick's kids are going green!

Many of you, my friends, seem to enjoy the fact that I occasionally put pictures of the boys in our newsletter. I thought this little video of them showing grandma their garden was pretty cute. Kind of fitting since they are growing like weeds. Funny thing, they are even learning about trends in the real estate business. If you care to read about that, just click here. :-)

Nick talks about web 2.0

The real estate business is ever changing. I understand that many of my clients and past customers are not exactly on the "cutting edge" of web 2.0. The whole, social networking side of blogs and on-line networking is still foreign to a lot of people. A few weeks ago, I attended a 3-day conference at the Heard Museum that focused on social media, real estate and how to market our business on line. Below is a video from the conference where I was asked about social media. I thought some of yo might get a kick out of it..