goin to the pens game...let's go pens!

why do banks hate the month of december? check this video out: http://ping.fm/DUkyH

getting ready for mike and rents engagement party tonight.

last day in the office for the year! headin' to pittsburgh for the holidays

Just met a guy at the gym who said it's illegal to make 12% interest. NOT true. Here's proof: http://www.progresshomebuyers.com/argentine

just saw our postcards that are going out for our Webinar tomorrow..they look good! Pre-Register here: http://ping.fm/jD3cW

Really fired up about our upcoming Real Estate Webinar on Thurs at 9 PM. Click here to check it out: http://ping.fm/7Vt35

A little story for you about how a Terrible Title Agent can blow up a real estate deal. check it out here: http://ping.fm/SIUOl

delayed flying to Philly...what else is new

gettin ready for the big Stillers game tonight...need a big victory tonight. on my way to pick up a Dennis Dixon jersey.

New real estate deal available...and we'll handle all the 'real estate dirty work' for you! Check it out: http://ping.fm/JBVoC

Pretty fired up about tomorrow's webinar! - "Top 5 Secrets To Getting Your REO Offers Accepted" Pre-register here: http://ping.fm/udmO2

Just got a new phone. The htc hero from sprint. It's pretty sweet. Texting is kinda tough though.

New wholesale deal available. Worth $125K...Asking $54.5K. Must close by Fri, Nov 13. check it out: http://ping.fm/9BS1w

Donald Trump had a Mentor, what about you? Try our 6 mo. Real Estate Investing Mentorship (it's FREE)--go here: http://ping.fm/2yqh7

New 12% Interest, Private Lending Opp @ 6814 Biddy. "It's Alright to Be A Little BIDDY!"-Alan Jackson. Video @ http://progresshomebuyers.com/lender-6814-biddy.php

[VIDEO] No-Money-Down & cash flows > $200 per mo! Deal will be gone by 2morrow. check it out: http://ping.fm/C7Jy0

Looking for a private lender for a $30K loan - we pay 12% interest and its safer than the stock market. Interested? Call me (904) 737-0038

PROJECT UPDATE: See what the finished product of 912 Middleton in Arlington looks like -- http://ping.fm/UnP4u

off to the NEFARPM trade show to network with Jacksonville's best property managers...anyone else going?

roadtrippin to louisiana...unfortunately I won't have time to stop by baton rouge to watch the gators beat up lsu

just found a great Gators blog...you should subscribe: http://ping.fm/unUEY

David Letterman would agree, there's a better way 2 make extra $ than blackmail...like becoming an affiliate! http://ping.fm/DSUfx

looking to build referral relationships with investors, realtors, brokers and prop mgrs. check my video out http://ping.fm/1Kdkj

anyone looking for a gorgeous 2/2 condo to rent in Jacksonville beach? Only $950 per mo. Check it out: http://ping.fm/RWxGp

just put together a free training video where i review 3 databases to use in your real estate biz. check it out: http://ping.fm/ocLrB

Just learned about an awesome web 2.0 tool. Check it out: http//www.ping.fm

Use videos online? You gotta check this site out...

As I'm sure you've heard, online video is the new thing all the cool kids in marketing are doing. It's fast, easy, cheap or free and it really works.

Up until this point, the main drawback has been that it takes so darn long to upload the videos to sites such as youtube.com and others. Imagine if you are trying to upload your videos to more than one site, it could take you all afternoon!

Enter www.TubeMogul.com -- a free website that will literally save you hours each day in uploading time. TubeMogul allows you to upload, tag and title your video ONCE and then sends it to about 15 other video sites (like youtube.com, dailymotion.com, etc).

Pretty awesome, huh?

Congratulations to Milton and Sequoia Dugger!

Milton and Sequoia are proud owners of a beautiful 3 bedroom home with stainless steel appliances and upgrades throughout the home. This home was built in 2006. Their rent at their old 2 bedroom appartment was $885/mth. Their current mortgage is only $866/mth.

To make it even better, they only had to spend $700 of their own money to buy this home. We were able to get them $10,000 of 0% interest money from the state to pay for their down payment and closing cost.

FANNIE BACK TO 10 PROPERTIES!

Effective March 1, 2009 Fannie Mae will allow investors to own up to ten (10) financed properties based upon borrower eligibility requirements. This is a much anticipated and welcome change to regulations that temporarily sidelined seasoned investors who owned more than four (4) financed properties. Fannie Mae returned to the ten (10) property limit because experienced borrowers will play a key role in the housing recovery.

This change in Fannie Mae regulation will allow investors with 4+ properties to resume purchasing property for investment or resale. The goal of this change is to help stimulate the current housing market and in turn help stimulate the overall economy.

Click here for Fannie Mae guidelines...
https://www.efanniemae.com/sf/guides/ssg/annltrs/pdf/2009/0902.pdf

Recent Activity vs. Debt-to-Income (DTI)

I get the questions all the time from interested buyers, "How much am I qualified up to?" You would think this would be a simple mathematical calculation based on your current "Debt Service" compared to your "Gross Income". Not so fast... What people don't realize is the DTI Ratio changes based on your recent credit activity.

If you have recent negative trade lines on the credit report, a lender will adjust your allowable DTI from a perfect case of 55% down to 35%-40%.

What does that mean to you as a buyer? That means that the amount that you are qualified for could drop THOUSANDS of dollars just because you had a 30 days late pop up on your credit report.

Moral of the story is to ALWAYS pay your bills on time. If you have any recent credit issues and you are looking to buy a home, you should talk to a professional credit repair service.

I recommend Jason O'neil with Franklin Financial Group. His number is 904-637-4271 or you can visit his website at www.franklin-finance.com.

Good luck!

Breakdown of the 7724 N. Pearl Rehab - with before and after pictures!

On Feb 20th I posted the exterior before and after pics of 7724 N. Pearl Street, now I wanted to go a little more in depth on the rehab job we did over there. When we rehab a house for re-sale, we always try to add a master suite - a master bedroom with a master bathroom and walk in closet. A lot of times it takes more work because you have to move walls and rearrange the house layout, but it is almost always worth it- houses with master suites are MUCH easier to sell, because that is what buyers these days want. Here is the before and after property layout (which we draw up and give to our contractors before the job so they know what we want done).





















As you can see, in this property we had to do a number of changes to get the master suite. We removed the old kitchen, and changed it into the new master bedroom, and made an old bedroom and bathroom to the left of the old kitchen into the master bathroom and walk in closet. Then, we turned the old dining room into the new kitchen and voila!- we end up with a 3 bedroom, two bathroom home that is exactly what a first time homebuyer is looking for - and it showed, because we had a contract to sell this home before the rehab was completed! We also put in new windows, new A/C, all new plumbing, new electrical, new vinyl siding, and all new paint and carpet. Check out a couple of the before and after pics below.















Living Room Before and After














Old Dining Room/New Kitchen Before and After















Another Old Dining Room/New Kitchen Before and After















Old Kitchen/New Master Bedroom Before and After















Another Old Kitchen/New Master Bedroom Before and After















Back Porch/Laundry Room Before and After


Well, I hope you guys liked the diagrams and the pics, as always, if you have any questions or comments you can leave them below, or email me at alexs@progresshomebuyers.com, or give me a call at 904-566-6400. Catch you later!

Progress Home Buyers: Article on Jacksonville forclosures

Progress Home Buyers: Article on Jacksonville forclosures

Our newest team member Anthony Sifakis

Little message from Anthony Sifakis...

The book of the week

Ready for anything
By: David Allen
This book was written after his first two books. Which are “Getting Things Done” and “Making It All Work”, I plan on doing book reports on both of these books in the future.
This book is full of systematic approaches for everyday life that will help open up the mind so it can be more creative, productive, stress free, and quick witted. One way that David described this was, “When you throw a pebble in a pond, what does the water do? It responds with total appropriateness to force and mass of the rock. It does nothing more and nothing less. It doesn’t overreact or under react.” He goes on to say that there are four major areas of productive behavior: completion, focus, structure, and action.
1. Getting ready for the unknown. He states that there will always be some unknown event that will throw a wrench into things, and to be ready for it. How? By getting some extra reading done when waiting on a meeting to start, or making some quick phone calls. The little things will add up.
2. Why getting organized usually doesn’t work. People try to do too much at once. People will collect, process, organize, review, and do all at once. David has a systemic way of putting together a “to do list.” First, ask is it actionable? Next what’s the outcome? Then what is the next action? Then organize all the results into appropriate categories. Now review all the option of what to do.
3. When the center is the edge. What he means by this is that people will try to get too organized or not enough. Be able to concentrate on what needs to get done, and then cooperating with yourself and others are the keys to getting around this.
4. Getting to where you’re going requires knowing where you are. “A map is not functional until you know where you are on it.” In order to set goals you must first know where you are at in life, and there are six questions to ask yourself in the book that will help you define it.
5. The danger of not as important projects. When making “to do lists” people will prioritize them and that will get them in trouble. Those projects on the bottom of the list will end up coming back and biting them in the butt. When making your to do list don’t prioritize use the system from number two.
6. If it’s on your mind, it’s probably not getting done. Keeping things in your head and telling yourself that you’ll do it later will probably not help. Writing things down will help you save energy and time. Trying to remember it later will waste time and energy that you don’t have.
7. Creativity shows up when there’s space. Mention earlier, getting everything out of your head by writing it down will help you think more clearly and creativity.
8. For more clarity, look from a higher place. The game of life doesn’t always stay the same. You could be working on something, toward a goal, and it just changes on you. The way to handle this is to reestablish what the goal is, and then decide what the next move is.
9. Putting something in front if your door at night so you remember to bring it with you the next day is a great strategy. Well, you can do the same thing with your mind. Because you don’t have to worry about other things if you have them all written down, you can focus on whatever it is that needs to be focused on.
10. The cleaner the purpose, the more ways to fulfill it. By knowing what outcome you want from something, makes it easier to finish. If we don’t know why we’re doing something our objectives lack meaning. Rehabs have a goal, and that’s to get finished so they can be sold or rented. There many more goals that come with a rehab like getting the money out to move on to the next deal. Defining the goal more will help to fulfill it easier.
11. Your system has to be better than your mind for your mind to let go. If you’re questioning the system then you still will waste time and energy on it. Your systems and lists also need to be updated every so offend.
The things that I learned in this book will take weeks to implement, and I will need to refer back to it many time I’m sure. I see this helping me at work and on personal goals. Right now the most important item that I got out of this was always having something to write ideas on. It’s something that we should all do.

Article on Jacksonville forclosures

Click on title for an interesting article on Jacksonville home foreclosures. Our very own Adam Rigel is quoted in it!

New FICO version will change your credit score...

On Jan. 29, 2009, a relatively quiet event took place that will shape the future credit opportunities for hundreds of millions of Americans. TransUnion, one of the three national credit reporting agencies, rolled out and made commercially available the credit scoring model referred to as "FICO 08." FICO 08, which will actually be called the FICO Risk Score Classic 08 by TransUnion, is the newest in the long line of FICO credit score redevelopments. Think of it as a newer version of Microsoft Windows; it does basically the same things as the older version but has some new bells and whistles. Since 1989 Fair Isaac has been partnered with credit bureaus to offer and sell FICO scores to lenders. Every few years they re-engineer and re-develop their credit scoring software, which is generally not a newsworthy event. So why all of a sudden are we talking about this newest version? Consumers and the media have effectively ignored every other redevelopment since 1989. Why is this one so special?

Here's why: 1. This newest version of FICO includes the patent pending "anti-piggybacking" logic. Piggybacking is a process whereby a consumer with bad credit will pay to be added as an authorized user to the credit card belonging to someone with good credit. This is an attempt to defraud lenders into thinking a poor credit risk is actually a better credit risk. Credit repair companies broker this arrangement and charge hundreds or even thousands of dollars to unsophisticated consumers desperate for better credit scores. The new FICO score claims to be able to sniff out the illicit authorized user relationships from the legitimate relationships, between a husband and wife for example. MORE FROM OTM: Web ExtraSteals & DealsAsk the Experts

2. FICO 08 will ignore collections and public record items that have an original balance of less than $100. This means that Fair Isaac concluded in their research that very low dollar collections and public records no longer are synonymous with poor credit risk to the extent that they were in the past. So, for those of you who never got your final cable bill and had to suffer through a ridiculous $79 collection for seven years, you've been vindicated. Actually, the lending industry has long considered low dollar collections to not be terribly important.

3. Consumers with high credit card utilization percentages will be penalized more in FICO 08 than in previous versions of the score. This means Fair Isaac's research has concluded that consumers who have balances that are too close to their credit limits pose a greater credit risk than they did in the past, hence the more severe treatment. Pay down your cards as soon as you can. So what does this mean for you? Your score will be different with the new model, that's a certainty. The question is whether it will be higher or lower. If you're a good credit risk then your score will be higher. If you're a poor credit risk then your score will be lower. And those of you who have been banging your heads against the wall because of that silly $79 Dominos Pizza collection on your credit reports, things are looking up.

Check out the start of our new project on Dancy St.

We just started demo on this job, and we have a lot more to do. Make sure you check out the porgress of the job in the weeks to come.

Are credit cards good or bad for you?

Clients come to me all the time and tell me that they are "cleaning up their credit". My next question is always, HOW? Often they tell me they are paying down bad debt, settling collections, and disputing wrongful collections.

Don't get me wrong, these are all good things to do for someone to greatly improve their credit. But there is one big problem that they are over-looking, these people still do not have any GOOD items on their credit to off set the past issues.

The number ONE thing that a buyer should do to repair their credit is add GOOD trade lines to their credit report to prove to lenders that they are credit worthy individuals.

I suggest a SECURED CREDIT CARD. This is a credit card with training wheels. It is designed to give credit cards to people that would normally get turned down for having bad credit. The borrower has to put down anywhere from $99 - $300 and in return they receive a credit card with a small credit limit. After 12 months of making payments on time, the borrower will get the money they put down back and the card becomes unsecurred.

What this credit card will do is create a history of making payments on time which will greatly increase a buyer's credit score.

How to Tell If A Property is on City Sewer or Septic

This is a question I hear from new investors a lot, so I decided to write a short how-to on the subject. As always, if anyone has any questions, please done hesitate to call me at 904-566-6400!

Unfortunately, it is very hard to tell if a property is on city sewer or septic with 100% accuracy, but there are some things you can do that will give you a very good idea. Calling JEA and asking some service rep is useless, they will be wrong as much as they are right.

The next best thing is to submit a service availability request to JEA through their website, this is a little better because the availability department will research the request, and sometimes they even send someone out to the site to check it out… but I have seen them be wrong before too. Here is a link to the webform you need to fill out: http://externalapps.jea.com/svcavail/avail_form.asp

Next, just look on the street your house is on for manhole covers. They should be every 100-300 feet, and if they are there it normally indicates that there is city sewer in the area – but that doesn’t necessarily mean your house is connected to it. Also, even if there isn’t manhole covers, the houses could still be connected to city sewer through the backyard, with the sewer lines running to a parallel street – which I have seen before too.

Finally, you can have a company come out and do a septic inspection – I use A. Carver Septic – 904-384-8999 – ask for Chad, or J.L. Smith Septic – 535-0218 – ask for Jim. They will come out, mark your tanks and drain field, tell you how many square feet your drain field is, and pump your tank for about $200. If you want an inspection letter on your tank, that will be another $100-150. If they don’t find a tank, they should only charge you a trip fee, $50-75, and if you’re a good negotiator you might be able to get out of that.

Using a combination of these methods, you should be able to come to a pretty good conclusion whether you are on city sewer or septic.

Hope this helps!

Alexander Sifakis
Progress Home Buyers, LLC
Project Manager
Alexs@ProgressHomeBuyers.com
2406 University Blvd West
Jacksonville, FL 32217
Office: (904) 755-7777
Cell: (904) 566-6400
Fax: (904) 737-0037
www.ProgressHomeBuyers.com

Learn about Grant Programs

Click here to find out a few basics on different FREE MONEY programs available for you!

http://vimeo.com/3338663

See you soon!

Rehab on 7724 North Pearl Street Completed!

Hey Everybody, Alex Sifakis here. I'm the rehab coordinator at Progress Home Buyers. Just yesterday we finished a rehab on 7724 North Pearl Street, 8 days ahead of schedule! It takes a lot of work just to get a rehab finished on time, so we're pretty excited when they get done early. It was a great job by all of our contractors and our project manager, Mike Smith.

It was a "total" rehab, and it was completed in three and a half weeks. The rehab consisted of changing the existing kitchen into a master suite - complete with master bedroom, master bathroom, and a walk in closet - and changing the existing dining room into the kitchen. In addition to a COMPLETE cosmetic makeover (all new bathrooms, kitchen, paint, carpet, trim, etc), we also did a total re-plumb, put in new electrical wiring, installed a brand new A/C system, replaced all the windows, and installed all new vinyl siding.

I attached the exterior before and after pictures, and will have interior before and after pictures next week. If anybody has any questions about rehabbing properties, email me at alexs@progresshomebuyers.com or give me a call at 904-566-6400!

My Favorite Gator Fan...

Here's a really funny youtube video of a kid that just got back from the dentist. My favorite part is that he's wearing a Gators shirt. Go Gators!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx-g8ZLGU-4

U.S. mortgage rates drop toward record low: Freddie

Thursday February 19, 2009, 11:27 am EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Interest rates on standard U.S. 30-year mortgages dropped in the latest week to levels just shy of record lows as concerns of a deepening recession boosted the appeal of fixed-rate investments, Freddie Mac said on Thursday.

The average fixed 30-year mortgage rate declined to 5.04 percent in the week ending Thursday, from 5.16 percent in the previous period, Freddie Mac said in a statement. That was close to the 4.96 percent reached in mid-January, which was the lowest rate since Freddie Mac began its survey in 1971.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/US-mortgage-rates-drop-toward-rb-14412861.html

Book of the Week: The Landlording Survival Guide

The Landlord’s Survival Guide
By Jeffery Taylor

“Mr. Landlord takes a step by step approach to teach the action sequences involved to solve the common landlording problems." Anthony Sifakis

The first section starts with introducing the three preparatory steps. The first is developing the right mindset. The different parts of this were; The Proactive business mindset which suggests that by developing a system or a series of actions steps and a checklist to follow you can prevent many of the common headaches that landlords get. Jeff states that by following his proactive action steps you can meet your goals and manage your rentals in less time with far fewer hassles. The second section of the building the right mindset chapter was developing a goal directed mindset. Jeff states that by having a survival mentality instead of a success mentality you would be shortchanging yourself because you will not know if you are maximizing your returns. He doesn’t only find residents that stay in his houses for five years or find residents who refer others to him, he entices them to do so from the first day he meets them. He also has a people centered mindset. Jeffery Taylor has a new school approach to being a landlord. The old school of landlording says that “tenets either follow the rules or get out” His new school attitude entices residents to work with the landlord for a win-win situation. While it is important to set and follow rules. Jeffery shows that it’s better to convince your residents that it is in their best interest to go along with the rules. By using good people management techniques you can “turn average residents into good residents and good residents into great residents. Many of the important points of this section go along with the main points of dale’s book how to win friends and influence people. It was in the next section about the Team Member mindset that Jeff explains why it is better to refer to tenets as residents. He shows that it is better to make residents feel like your business partner who plays a vital role in your success. Even the word tenet implies a temporary relationship.

The second section shows how you need to surround yourself with the right people in order to make your life easier. Jeff writes about how saving 100 bucks fixing plumbing by yourself is a waste of time because that time could have been better spent finding more residents or acquiring a new property. This section repeats a lot of the ideas I have been exposed to over the past few years talking to Alex about real estate. He explained that it was not worth his time to paint a house when he can pay someone else to do it. This section goes into more detail about it and shows the benefits of surrounding yourself with a “success team” including bankers, lenders, accountants, attorneys, contractors and the huge benefit of brining in people who you can trust like your younger brother. He then repeats how one of the largest parts of your success team is your residents whom most landlords view as opposition rather than a teammate.
The third section titled “Study what you must know to survive” explains the benefits of continuing education. One interesting thing I learned in this section is that many actions can possibly be seen as illegal in regards to fair housing. Screening calls through voicemail and choosing whom to call back based on voicemails can be illegal discrimination. Another interesting fact is that an adverse action notice is required even if information in the consumer report wasn’t the main reason for the denial of a resident’s rental application. The Ten most common and costly management mistakes are listed in this section that reveals obvious yet often over looked parts of the business. Two of these that I believe that I should make sure not to do would be poor recordkeeping, which because organization has been a weakness of mine I should be careful not to over look and also, not fully screening applicants because all of the potential residents I have spoken to have sketched out. Luckily we have a system in place to ensure this.
The book then goes on to the seven action steps. The first is the one that I view as the most important now. Fill a Vacancy with the ideal resident. I plan on rereading this one because it has a lot of useful information in it. One of the most important points I took out of this section is that when competition is high you must make your home seem like an above average home. It is important to give it special appeal. I have done this in the craigslist advertising. Unfortunately my ads have appealed to scam artists claiming to be English majors living abroad who cannot put together a coherent sentence in English. The next section is screen out problem renters. Thankfully Phb has a system to do this. Jeff goes on to explain how to facilitate getting paid and the advantages of starting evictions as soon as rent is past due. Another important section is keeping residents long after the first anniversary. This keeps down repair expenses and lost rent. Jeff proposes doing this by starting to sell them on the house and the benefits of staying before they even move in.

Website to Bookmark

Rich Ricci over at SunTrust Mortgage is my hook-up for any hot breaking news on government grant or loan programs that can help first-time home buyers purchase a new home.

Here is a great link that he just sent me to keep up-to-date with the Federal Tax Credit that just passed with the stimulus package last week.

Check it out...

http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/

Quote of the Day

"We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action." - Frank Tibolt, writer, motivator & success trainer

Current Florida Bond Rates

Just keeping everyone up-to-date with bond rates. Here are the current rates as of today.

Effective 1/22/2009

6.50% FL First
6.25% FL Community Heroes
6.00% FL Advantage

These rates could change anytime so I will keep everyone up-to-date if anything changes.

http://www.hdsoftware.com/usbhm-mrbp/FLORIDA.htm

Quote of the Day

"Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.” - William B. Sprague, Governor and politician

Housing Tax Downsized from $15K to $8K

Friday, February 13, 2009

WASHINGTON – A new tax credit of up to $8,000 for first-time homebuyers that’s being included in the economic stimulus package was far less than the homebuilding industry wanted, and analysts expect it will provide only a modest boost to the battered U.S. housing market.The tax credit is part of the economic stimulus package expected to be signed by President Barack Obama on Monday. It was scaled back from a Senate proposal of $15,000 and limited to first-time buyers who act between the start of this year and the end of November.The credit for 10 percent of the value of a home, up to $8,000 was estimated to cost the government $6.6 billion. It starts phasing out for couples with incomes above $150,000 and single filers with incomes above $75,000. Buyers will have to repay the credit if they sell their homes within three years.

Source: The Associated Press

Quote of the Day

“He who looks outside, dreams. He who looks inside, awakes.” – Carl Jung, founder of analytical psychology

Raise your credit score in ONE DAY!

Quick tip that ANYONE can do to raise their credit score instantly...

Credit scores are made up of a ton factors that are all added together to generate the dreaded SCORE that determines your ability to borrow money. The easiest factor to change is the ratio between your credit LIMIT and your current BALANCE on your credit card accounts. The magic number that you are shooting for is 30%. This means that if you have a credit card with a $1000 limit, then you want your balance to be $300 or less. If your balance goes over that 30% mark, your score goes down.

OK Adam, so how do I fix it???

2 ways!
1) Pay down your credit card balance below that 30% level.

OR........ The easiest way.........

2) Call for a credit limit INCREASE. You can do this once a month with most lenders. By increasing your limit, you are making the ratios better. That in turn makes your credit score go up!

Congratulations!!!!!!!

Quote of the Day

"We have flown the air like birds and swum the sea like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sold a Commercial Property Today!!!!

Congratulations to the sales team at Progress Home Buyers for selling off a small home on a double lot zoned CRO. The home wasn't worth a whole lot but a double lot with CRO zoning could easily be used for office space or non-retail space. There has never been a better time to acquire real estate!!!!

Quote of the Day

“Need I remind you that they don’t give prizes to those who start the race?” – Anonymous

Book of the Week: Guide to Handling Sales Objections

Guide to Handling Sales Objections
By Barry Farber’s

Chapter 1: What Objections really are?

· Objections are not rejections
· Objections are really opportunities to move a sale beyond what the customer sees as a barrier.
· Objections are buying signals. ie. I want to buy but…
· Objections are a chance to better educate the client.
· Objections help you move on to the “Next Step”. ie. If I can show you how it will save you money, would you like to go ahead and give this a try?
· Nothing is worse than not getting any objections and the customer just “fades away”. This is when they don’t return your calls, emails, or letters and you never get a chance to figure out why you didn’t make a sale.

Chapter 2: The Six-Step Method for Handling Objections

1. Listen to the objection in its entirety.
a. This may be the most important of the steps. This is both a rapport building stage and a chance to figure out what the client really needs from our service.
2. Define the objection.
a. Client “I’m not sure I’m ready to buy right now.” Ask questions to figure out what the specific objections are. PHB “Why is that?”
3. Rephrase the objection into a question.
a. PHB “So from what you have been telling me, you are worried about where you are going to come up with the money to buy a home?
4. Isolate the objection.
a. PHB “If we are able to come up find you government grant money to pay your closing cost and down payment so you don’t have to come up with the money yourself, is that the only thing that is keeping us from moving forward on this?”
5. Present the solution.
a. Spend time determining possible solutions if possible. ie. “Let me ask my boss”
6. Close.
a. ASKING FOR THE ORDER- Leads to a YES or an Objection.
b. “Bottom line is if you can’t simply say to your customer, Why don’t we go ahead with this? there is something wrong. Not with your closing, but with your approach to sales.”

Chapter 3: The Ups and Downs of Feel, Felt, and Found

· Sales technique that is basic but can be used in almost any circumstance.
1. Feel:
§ Buyer “I’m not ready to move right now. I think prices are dropping.”
§ PHB “I understand how you FEEL”
2. Felt:
§ A lot of our client that I have spoken to have FELT the same way too.
3. Found:
§ But when they FOUND out how home prices and interest rates were at historic lows, they were amazed at how cheaply they could buy a home.


Chapter 5: What Does it Really Cost: Price Objections

· You only get Price objections for two reasons:
1. The client wants to get the best price possible.
2. The true value of what you’re selling has not been conveyed to the customer.

Evan Aloe Shout Out

HUGE CHANGES THAT WILL SHAKE UP THE MARKET!!!!

Can I get a collective WHOHOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fannie Mae has reported that they are going to change their guidelines from 4 homes financed on an individuals credit to 10 homes. This is a huge victory for serious investors looking to acquire a large number of homes as inventory.

Things to ask your lender about:

• Seasoning requirements for Cash-Out vs. Rate-and-Term Refinances.
• Seasoning requirements for a home that was previously listed for sale on the MLS.
• Stated, low-doc, and full-doc loans to see what you can qualify for.
• How your rental income will affect your Debt-to-Income

It's a great time to buy a home. Now is the time to acquire everything you can. Enjoy!

Dan Kennedy is the man!

For information on how to Buy a Home in Jacksonville, Rent a Home in Jacksonville, Sell a Home in Jacksonville, or Invest in Real Estate in Jacksonville, visit our website at http://www.progresshomebuyers.com/.

New free money that easy to get...

You heard it from me first, FREE and EASY. I claim it's new only because it is new to me. This program has been around for a few years but the funding has doubled this year starting March 1st. The name of the program is the Federal Home Loan Bank Ownership Funds.

Basically, all the major lender's in the Southeast are given $1,000,000 for this program. The program will then match a buyer's contribution towards buying a home. They don't just match it 1 to 1, they actually match at a 5 to 1 ratio up to $10,000 of grant money. That means that if a buyer contributes $2,000 towards buying their home, the program will contribute $10,000.

It gets better, these funds are at zero percent interest and are forgiven 20% per year until the fifth year when it's completely forgiven. You can also combine these funds with other down payment assistance programs for a maximum of $35,000 towards buying a home. Pretty powerful stuff! Enjoy!



For information on how to Buy a Home in Jacksonville, Rent a Home in Jacksonville, Sell a Home in Jacksonville, or Invest in Real Estate in Jacksonville, visit our website at http://www.progresshomebuyers.com/.

Congratulations!

We may have the biggest Steelers Fan in the entire world on our team here at Progress Home Buyers. I want to congratulate Gregg Cohen and HIS Pittsburgh Steelers for winning the Super Bowl and becoming World Champions!

Both the Gators and the Steelers in the same year... IT DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THAT.


For information on how to Buy a Home in Jacksonville, Rent a Home in Jacksonville, Sell a Home in Jacksonville, or Invest in Real Estate in Jacksonville, visit our website at http://www.progresshomebuyers.com/.

What's the name of my mortgage broker?

For those of you that are in the business of rehabbing homes and selling them to retail buyers, finding the right members of your team can be almost as important as finding a qualified buyer. Adam, what are you talking about members of your team? What I mean is screening, interviewing, and qualifying your mortgage broker just as much as you would for an interested buyer.

I can tell you from experience that finding a great mortgage broker that will anticpate problems before they happen is ABSOLUTELY invaluable. Also, your mortgage broker should be following up with you daily throughout the closing process. You should know every aspect of the qualifing process so that you are not surprised the day of the closing.

One other tid bit to think about. I have countless stories about loans failing days before closing because my buyer's mortgage broker did not anitipate problems ahead of time. You should direct all buyers to use YOUR mortgage broker and not there own. Sometimes I have paid extra closing cost for a buyer just to incentives the buyer to go with my mortgage broker.

Pick a GREAT mortgage broker and you will solve 90% of your loan processing issues.

For information on how to Buy a Home in Jacksonville, Rent a Home in Jacksonville, Sell a Home in Jacksonville, or Invest in Real Estate in Jacksonville, visit our website at http://www.progresshomebuyers.com/.

Cold Weather Tip...

Tip of all of the rehabbers out there that are like me and think "we live in Florida, it's warm all of the time". When the temperature dips into the 30s-40s at night, you need to think about how that will affect your current rehab project. I can tell you from experience that the number one problem we have is getting dry wall mud to dry. My rehab manager, Alex Sifakis, decided to buy industrial strength space heaters to get the inside of the home up to 80 degrees so that the mud will dry. In some cases, we have seen mud take 4-5x longer to dry than it should in cold weather.

So learn from us, turn the heat on, buy a heater, and get the home warm or you will find your rehab project weeks behind schedule.



For information on how to Buy a Home in Jacksonville, Rent a Home in Jacksonville, Sell a Home in Jacksonville, or Invest in Real Estate in Jacksonville, visit our website at http://www.progresshomebuyers.com/.

Quote of the day...

“Your most valuable asset is the ability to decide for yourself.” – Anonymous

More FHA Changes = More Fun

More news about appraisals... If you buy a home for a deeply discounted price and then put a large amount of money into the house to repair it, you will find yourself having to do TWO separate appraisal's to justify the increase in value. This adds time and cost to the closing process. I recommend ordering both appraisals at the same time to really cut down on the time it takes to close.

Good Luck!




For information on how to Buy a Home in Jacksonville, Rent a Home in Jacksonville, Sell a Home in Jacksonville, or Invest in Real Estate in Jacksonville, visit our website at www.ProgressHomeBuyers.com.

Appraiser's feel the down turn...

You can imagine that less homes being sold each year would affect more than just home owners and sellers. If affects all the industries that support real estate as well. Home inspectors, insurance agents, title agents, and surveyors have all felt the down turn in the market. Appraiser's are the newest victim to the down turn.

It is customary to have an appraisal done before the closing but not have to pay of it until closing. Not anymore! So many homes were under contract and appraised but they would never make it to closing. This cause appraisers to spend their time and money to do all the work valuing homes but they were not getting paid.

Now home owners have to pay up-front for an appraisal. That can be tough on a young family that are getting City Grant Money to help them pay for closing cost.



For information on how to Buy a Home in Jacksonville, Rent a Home in Jacksonville, Sell a Home in Jacksonville, or Invest in Real Estate in Jacksonville, visit our website at www.ProgressHomeBuyers.com.

Rental Homes and Utility Bills...

Here's a tip for anyone looking to rent out a investment property. When you sign a lease, tell the new resident that the utilities will be turned off on the day they are scheduled to move in. It is the residents responsibility to get the utilities switched over into their names.

I can't stress the tip enough. Forget to do this and you almost guarantee yourself the head ache of finding a full month's water and electric bill on YOUR statement and then the dreaded collection call to your resident trying to get reimbursed.

For help on how to Buy a home in Jacksonville, Rent a home in Jacksonville, Sell a home in Jacksonville, or Invest in Real Estate in Jacksonville, visit our website at www.ProgressHomeBuyers.com.

More Free Money to Buy a Home

It doesn't get any better than this... FREE money given out from the State of Florida to help new home buyers pay all of those expensive closing cost and down payment requirements. How much free money you might ask? $10,000 of 0% interest money for a full 15 years. How do I get approved???

• You currently cannot own a home.
• Your household income must fall in the low-moderate income scale range for your city.
• You have to live in the home you are buying.
• You credit score and report must meet FHA guidelines. (ie. 600 mid score, <$4000 in collections, and no judgements)

This money is here only for a limited time. If you are interested in buying a home and having the goverment pay you, click on the link below.

http://design.progresshomebuyers.com/new_lead.php

Rates Dropped

Great news for first-time home buyers looking to buy a home with the Florida Bond Grant money. The rates have just dropped a quarter point to 6.5%. This helps buyers pay less a month on their monthly mortgage payments or it will help buyers get qualified for a slightly higher priced home. Either way, news continues to look better and better for families looking to buy a home.

Happy House Hunting and Go Gators!

New cool website I found

Guys, you know how much I love technology (haha, yeah right), but I just came across a pretty cool website. It allows you to do free conference calls. The website is www.freeconferencecall.com.

Me and Adam are going to use it today to talk to one of our new prospective 10 Year Real Estate Millionaire buyers. It allows for up to 96 people, I think, on the call. And the sound is really clear. Definitely beats two guys huddled around a speakerphone!

Another cool thing it does is records your conference call. In the future, I see us recording our calls and then using them for educational purposes.

Have I ever told you how much I love technology?

By the way, make sure you all check out the new website at www.ProgressHomeBuyers.com. We're still optimizing the site, but we've made some big changes over the past month or so!

H2H Grant Program

Did you know that the City of Jacksonville will pay new home buyers closing cost and down payment for them? This is a really neat program that pays up to $15,000 for low income families to help them purchase beautiful homes. We currently have multiple families approved for this grant money and we are exicted to spread the news to anyone else that we can help. Give me a call if you have any interest. 904-755-7777

New Member of the Team!

I want to congratulate Neal Hemenway for joining the Progress Home Buyer's team. He will be in charge of Public Relations and monitoring the blog post. He will be working with us for entire Spring 2009 semester.