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By Suzanne De Vita

Do you work with clients who have real estate needs outside of U.S. borders? As the global marketplace continues to evolve and more people purchase homes outside of their native countries, you can provide exceptional service to them by helping them connect with a broker just about anywhere in the world (“just about” being the operative phrase) through a referral.

Working with referrals outside of American borders is an education, providing lessons in geography, math (read: name that time zone) and perhaps most importantly, cultural awareness. The norm is that there is rarely a norm. Real estate practices vary from country to country, and just when you think you have one country figured out you will be quickly confused by another.

The challenge of cross border referrals is made greater by the number of people involved. In some cases, there is the client who is buying or selling, the agent who is working with the client, the relocation or business development team who is working with the referring agent and, in companies that specialize in this type of business, a cross border referral team who is working between the originating company and the destination broker. Does that make your brain hurt? Here are some ways you can ease the pain:

Set the Bar Low and Beware of Tire Kickers

At the risk of sounding pessimistic, cross border referrals have many variables and numerous points at which the transaction can derail. Caution clients that this is a difficult and almost assuredly slow process. The clients should have their paperwork, finances and basic research in order before the process begins. Is the client really prepared to purchase a €3-million-dollar chateau in the south of France, or is he having a midlife crisis and watching too much House Hunters International? Ensure that the client who is buying or selling is serious, not just testing the waters. Wasting the time of a valuable contact all but guarantees that he or she will not be interested in doing additional business in the future.

Communicate Clearly

Abandon the notion of “That’s how we do it here.” Your way of doing things is not universal; for instance, you might prefer conducting all of your communications via email. Many countries are not as email-centric as the United States. Also, keep in mind that if you are trying to establish initial contact with someone who does not speak English as a first or even second language, your email could easily be perceived as junk mail.

Contacting someone by telephone is always the best first step. Certainly this can be intimidating, even hilarious at times, but making the attempt shows legitimacy. Who would spend the money or time to make prank phone calls to another country? Anyone can send an email, and it doesn’t cost a dime; that phone call says you mean business (even if you butcher the language).

Google Translate is a huge help, even if you can only squeak out a few words in the language at hand. Occasionally you’ll get someone on the other …read more

From:: Real Estate News

By Suzanne De Vita

Both urban and suburban communities have a significant share of homeowners in negative equity five years into the recovery, according to the second quarter Zillow® Negative Equity Report. Nationally, 13.7 percent of homeowners in urban regions and 11.2 percent of homeowners in suburban regions are underwater.

After the housing bubble burst, nearly a third of homeowners in the United States were underwater on their mortgages. As the market recovered, many homeowners have gained back the lost value on their homes, freeing them to sell or refinance.

In most areas of the country, negative equity is nearly equally spread across urban and suburban areas. In 13 of the nation’s largest metros, the share of urban and suburban homeowners who are underwater is within two percentage points.

But some metros are seeing notable gaps in the share of underwater homeowners between urban and suburban areas. Cleveland and Detroit have the biggest difference between negative equity rates in urban and suburban neighborhoods – 13.6 and 10.8 percentage points, respectively. In these metros, home values in the main urban centers are trailing behind the overall region’s recovery, and are still well off from their peak levels.

By contrast, negative equity is equally common among urban and suburban areas in the Seattle area, where a more balanced recovery and strong economic growth have led to home values near or exceeding their bubble peak levels in urban and suburban areas alike.

“At its worst, negative equity touched all kinds of homeowners in all kinds of markets,” says Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Svenja Gudell. “The type of community a given home was in – urban or suburban – mattered little. Fast-forward a few years, and the relative vibrancy of a given community and how it has performed over the past few years, and not necessarily its location in the city or suburbs, matters a great deal.”

Overall, the national negative equity level fell to 12.1 percent, down from 12.7 percent in the first quarter and 14.4 percent a year ago. For the first time, all of the largest markets in the country now have negative equity rates below 20 percent.

Western metros with strong job and housing markets have the lowest rates of negative equity. Less than 5 percent of mortgaged homeowners in San Jose, San Francisco, Portland, Denver, and Dallas are underwater.

For more information, visit www.zillow.com.

…read more

From:: Finance and Economy

By Suzanne De Vita

Both urban and suburban communities have a significant share of homeowners in negative equity five years into the recovery, according to the second quarter Zillow® Negative Equity Report. Nationally, 13.7 percent of homeowners in urban regions and 11.2 percent of homeowners in suburban regions are underwater.

After the housing bubble burst, nearly a third of homeowners in the United States were underwater on their mortgages. As the market recovered, many homeowners have gained back the lost value on their homes, freeing them to sell or refinance.

In most areas of the country, negative equity is nearly equally spread across urban and suburban areas. In 13 of the nation’s largest metros, the share of urban and suburban homeowners who are underwater is within two percentage points.

But some metros are seeing notable gaps in the share of underwater homeowners between urban and suburban areas. Cleveland and Detroit have the biggest difference between negative equity rates in urban and suburban neighborhoods – 13.6 and 10.8 percentage points, respectively. In these metros, home values in the main urban centers are trailing behind the overall region’s recovery, and are still well off from their peak levels.

By contrast, negative equity is equally common among urban and suburban areas in the Seattle area, where a more balanced recovery and strong economic growth have led to home values near or exceeding their bubble peak levels in urban and suburban areas alike.

“At its worst, negative equity touched all kinds of homeowners in all kinds of markets,” says Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Svenja Gudell. “The type of community a given home was in – urban or suburban – mattered little. Fast-forward a few years, and the relative vibrancy of a given community and how it has performed over the past few years, and not necessarily its location in the city or suburbs, matters a great deal.”

Overall, the national negative equity level fell to 12.1 percent, down from 12.7 percent in the first quarter and 14.4 percent a year ago. For the first time, all of the largest markets in the country now have negative equity rates below 20 percent.

Western metros with strong job and housing markets have the lowest rates of negative equity. Less than 5 percent of mortgaged homeowners in San Jose, San Francisco, Portland, Denver, and Dallas are underwater.

For more information, visit www.zillow.com.

…read more

From:: Real Estate News

By Paige

Average fixed mortgage rates dipped slightly last week, remaining near their all-time record lows, according to the recently released Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®).

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.43 percent with an average 0.5 point for the week ending August 18, 2016, down from the last week when it averaged 3.45 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.93 percent.

The 15-year FRM averaged 2.74 percent with an average 0.5 point, down from the last week when it averaged 2.76 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.15 percent.

Additionally, the 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 2.76 percent with an average 0.4 point, up from the week prior when it averaged 2.74 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 2.94 percent.

“Ahead of the release of the FOMC minutes for July, 10-year Treasury yields were little changed from the prior week,” says Sean Becketti, chief economist, Freddie Mac. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell 2 basis points to 3.43 percent this week, erasing last week’s uptick. For eight consecutive weeks, mortgage rates have ranged between 3.41 and 3.48 percent. Inflation is not adding any upward pressure on interest rates as the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the Consumer Price Index was unchanged in July.”

For more information, visit www.FreddieMac.com.

…read more

From:: Finance and Economy

By Paige

Average fixed mortgage rates dipped slightly last week, remaining near their all-time record lows, according to the recently released Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®).

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.43 percent with an average 0.5 point for the week ending August 18, 2016, down from the last week when it averaged 3.45 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.93 percent.

The 15-year FRM averaged 2.74 percent with an average 0.5 point, down from the last week when it averaged 2.76 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.15 percent.

Additionally, the 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 2.76 percent with an average 0.4 point, up from the week prior when it averaged 2.74 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 2.94 percent.

“Ahead of the release of the FOMC minutes for July, 10-year Treasury yields were little changed from the prior week,” says Sean Becketti, chief economist, Freddie Mac. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell 2 basis points to 3.43 percent this week, erasing last week’s uptick. For eight consecutive weeks, mortgage rates have ranged between 3.41 and 3.48 percent. Inflation is not adding any upward pressure on interest rates as the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the Consumer Price Index was unchanged in July.”

For more information, visit www.FreddieMac.com.

…read more

From:: Real Estate News

JPMorgan Chase’s legal battle with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Deutsche Bank AG over its acquisition of Washington Mutual’s banking operations is finally over. The settlement closes the door on issues that date back to the financial crisis. After nearly a decade of back and forth battles, here’s what the parties agreed on. …read more

From:: Real Estate Wire