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Criminal investigation opened against Texas chemical plant compromised by Harvey

A Texas chemical plant where flooding during Hurricane Harvey caused multiple explosions is under criminal investigation. The Houston Chronicle reported late Friday that the Harris County district attorney’s office confirmed it had opened a criminal investigation into Arkema’s actions before the explosions that sent fire and columns of black smoke shooting into the air. Authorities had evacuated a 1.5-mile radius around the plant in Crosby, about 25 miles northeast of Houston. In at least one separate case, first responders are suing the company, claiming they were left vomiting and gasping for breath because of the fumes from the explosion of volatile organic peroxides. Their suit says Arkema did not have proper procedures to keep the chemicals cooled in case of a flood or emergency. Arkema declined to comment on the suits or the investigation to the Chronicle, but has repeatedly said the explosions did not pose a safety concern if residents obeyed the evacuation.

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All Eyes on Real Estate Mastery

By Susanne Dwyer

Nancy_Fennell

In the following interview, Nancy Fennell, president of Dickson Realty, a member of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World®, in Reno, Nev., discusses the local market, marketing, social media and more.

Regions Served: Northern Nevada and Northern California
Years in Business: 32
Number of Offices: 9
Number of Agents: 275
Best Tip for Dealing With Difficult Clients: Keep your calm, do your homework and be a master at what you do.
Most Effective Way to Motivate Agents: Listen to them. Figure out what they want to accomplish and what you can do to help them reach their goals.

What do you like most about the region in which you work?
It’s a pretty spectacular physical environment. There’s Lake Tahoe, skiing, hiking, biking and fishing. We also have a strong arts and cultural presence. In fact, we have an internationally known museum of art, the only accredited art museum in the entire state. In addition, we have a world-class philharmonic orchestra, an unbelievable chamber orchestra, an opera, a ballet—we are “The Biggest Little City.”

How are you using technology to better serve your clients?
I think technology leverages time for agents and companies. We’ve spent a lot of time and energy on having a terrific website that links us up to a CRM and back-office products. We work with both a national and local digital firm, and I think they’re just killing it. What we want to do is drive people to our website who will then look at our offerings and how we present ourselves, and if they don’t know us, they will want to know us.

What sets your team apart from the competition?
We’ve been here for a very long time—since 1973—so we’re part of the fabric of our community. We take leadership roles, working with the Red Cross, the children’s Discovery museum or the university. We take it seriously that if you’re going to do business, you have to be part of making your community the very best it can be. Secondly, it’s about the people. We surround ourselves with smart and giving employees, and that makes a difference.

What kinds of marketing give you the highest ROI?
Digital, digital, digital. I have some highly visible people on social media. Leveraging social for personal relationships is what takes it to the next level.

Do you conduct a lot of agent training?
We do a ton of training. To come to my company, you have to go through a three-month apprentice program, and that’s three times a week—from nine until noon or nine until four—and then there’s homework. We want people who take real estate seriously. We truly believe in the concept of mastery in real estate.

What social media does your company frequently use?
Not only do we do a lot of blogging, but also we’re on Facebook a lot. Our VP of Relocation is a master of digital, and she’s also on Twitter. We’re starting to use LinkedIn for more research-oriented tasks, but Facebook is a dominant force for us.

For more information, please visit www.leadingre.com.

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Fed Decision: Mortgage Rates Unmoved

By Susanne Dwyer

The Federal Reserve’s recent decision to not raise the key interest rate left mortgage rates unmoved this week, with the 30-year, fixed rate averaging 3.83 percent this week, the same as the week prior, according to Freddie Mac’s recently released Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®). The 15-year, fixed rate averaged 3.13 percent, also the same as the week prior, while the 5-year, Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable rate averaged 3.20 percent, up from 3.17 percent the week prior.

“Rates held relatively flat this week,” says Sean Becketti, chief economist at Freddie Mac. “The 10-year Treasury yield fell just one basis point, while the 30-year mortgage rate remained unchanged at 3.83 percent.”

Source: Freddie Mac

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From:: Real Estate News

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Fed Decision: Mortgage Rates Unmoved

By Susanne Dwyer

The Federal Reserve’s recent decision to not raise the key interest rate left mortgage rates unmoved this week, with the 30-year, fixed rate averaging 3.83 percent this week, the same as the week prior, according to Freddie Mac’s recently released Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®). The 15-year, fixed rate averaged 3.13 percent, also the same as the week prior, while the 5-year, Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable rate averaged 3.20 percent, up from 3.17 percent the week prior.

“Rates held relatively flat this week,” says Sean Becketti, chief economist at Freddie Mac. “The 10-year Treasury yield fell just one basis point, while the 30-year mortgage rate remained unchanged at 3.83 percent.”

Source: Freddie Mac

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Steve Belluomini: A Training-Focused Formula

By Susanne Dwyer

Steve_Belluomini

Steve Belluomini has been a licensed broker for 23 years and joined the JF Finnegan management team in 1999. Today, he serves as president of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate JF Finnegan REALTORS®, and is one of Northern California’s top real estate managers.

“I was looking for freedom in creating my own schedule so I could do what I wanted to do and have no limit on my financial future,” he says about choosing real estate as a career. “We have a very competitive market and the local ownership is what makes us stand out.”

In 2017, the firm is experiencing a lack of inventory by well over 1,000 homes compared to the same time last year, while the days-on-market is steady at about 20, with multiple offers on most properties.

“Average sale price went up from around $800 a square foot to $875 a square foot, with homes coming in around $1.8 million,” Belluomini says. “Offers continue to get over asking, with about 9 percent over asking, so even though the number of sales are down, the volume is up.”

The firm recently grew from three offices to seven, and is planning to grow those offices organically, projecting a 12-month growth of about 200 agents.

“When the opportunity came up to expand, we jumped at it,” Belluomini says. “We’re looking for full-time agents; someone who wants to make a career out of it. When someone is going to spend over $1.5 million, it’s hard to do with part-time agents.”

Agents are attracted to the firm because it’s one of the oldest independent companies in the area, and it’s grown from a 10-person organization to a sizeable, productive firm that gains marketshare each year.

Training is very important to Belluomini, who also acts as a Tom Ferry coach, helping other brokers and agents.

“I like to stay on the cutting edge of what’s happening across the country,” he says. “I’m also part of the Founder’s Circle, which Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate put together with 14 owners of franchises across the country, and we meet twice a year for that.”

When new agents join the firm, they go through a ramped-up monthly training program. From there, they participate in Ninja Selling, Tom Ferry’s Breakthrough by Design training, and Buffini & Company’s 100 Days to Greatness, as well as weekly accountability check-ins. “Our goal is to get them productive in the first 90 days that they are here,” Belluomini explains.

Vitals: Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate JF Finnegan REALTORS®
Years in Business: 38
Size: 7 offices, 425 agents
Regions Served: San Francisco to San Jose
2016 Sales Volume: $1.005 billion
2016 Transactions: 1,125
www.gobhg.com

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Decade Low Delinquency at Fannie as Book Expands

Single-family performance at the Federal National Mortgage Association is better than it’s been in nearly a decade. Meanwhile, the manged portfolio continued to grow.

As of Aug. 31, the book of business at the Washington-based secondary mortgage lender worked out to $3.1883 trillion, according to its monthly summary.

The managed portfolio balance at Fannie Mae continued to grow from $3.1782 trillion one month earlier and $3.1130 trillion twelve months earlier.

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From:: Financing

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SEC charges two initial coin offerings with fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged a businessman and two of his companies for defrauding investors in an alleged initial coin offering scheme, the agency said late Friday. The SEC said it charged Maksim Zaslavskiy along with REcoin Group Foundation and DRC World with selling unregistered cryptocurrency securities reputedly backed by investments in real estate and diamonds, when it found no such investments had taken place. The SEC said it obtained an emergency court order to freeze the assets of Zaslavskiy and his companies.

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AIG no longer a threat to U.S. financial stability, FSOC says

Shares of American International Group Inc. advanced in the extended session Friday after the Treasury Department’s Financial Stability Oversight Council said the insurer no longer posed a threat to U.S. financial stability. AIG shares rose 1.7% to $62.45 after hours. The council voted six to three that AIG was no longer a risk to financial stability. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, the FSOC determined in July 2013 that “material financial distress” at AIG “could pose a threat to U.S. financial stability” and should be subject to supervision by the Federal Reserve.

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FHA Mortgagee Settles for Over $1 Million

A civil fraud lawsuit in New York alleging a mortgagee on government-insured loans failed to follow program rules has been settled for more than $1 million.

Residential Home Funding Corp. was approved by the Federal Housing Administration as a direct endorsement lender from 2006 until 2012.

But the White Plains, New York-based mortgage banking organization is accused of failing to maintain a compliant quality-control program.

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From:: Financing

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Bank Delinquency, Servicing Portfolios Decline

Delinquency and foreclosures on bank-serviced mortgages continued to show quarterly improvement, and the servicing portfolios of big banks continued to diminish.

On closed-end first-lien mortgages and home-equity loans serviced by banks, delinquency of at least 30 days, including foreclosures in process, was 4.6 percent as of the second-quarter 2017.

That was worse than 4.4 percent in the preceding three-month period. But the rate has improved from 5.3 percent during the same three months last year.

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From:: Financing