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In recent months, major banks in the US have become increasingly willing to embrace short sales as a cheaper alternative to foreclosure, as the latter is now far more expensive and time consuming to process, reported CNN Money.

Short sales allow the banks to reclaim possession of properties far more quickly than the foreclosure process, and as a result these homes are often in a much better condition for resale. In addition, studies have shown that short sales tend to recoup more money than foreclosures.

Because of this, banks have hit on the idea of financial incentives to induce homeowners who can’t pay their mortgages to agree to a short sale. Bank of America began a pilot scheme last year in Florida, paying out up to $20,000 in some cases. JP Morgan Chase quickly followed suit, launching a program that offered cash incentives of up to $35,000 for homeowners to agree to short sell their properties.

Following the success of the pilot scheme, Bank of America are now introducing their short sale incentive program nationwide. In order to qualify, homeowners need to get the sales price of their home pre-approved, and the sale must be completed by September 26 next year.

Bob Hora, an executive with Bank of America, said in a press release that “Bank of America is committed to providing alternatives to foreclosure whenever possible.”

“This program can help customers make a planned transition from ownership when home retention options have been exhausted or they have made a decision not to keep the home.”

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I’ve found that the most effective way to get in the habit of adding fresh content to your site or social media accounts is to first: generate a list of content ideas;  and second: follow that list on down the line when it’s time to add new content or a new blog post. In other words, get the brainstorming out of the way in large groups, rather than think of a new topic to discuss on a daily basis.

Need more help? Ok, fine. To make things easier, I’ll come up with a list for you. Below is my outline of 20 real estate topics to discuss on your real estate website or real estate blog, so now what’s your excuse for neglecting your blog?

Theme # 1: Home Buying & Selling Tips

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1)      Devise a list of things to avoid when buying a home for the first time.

2)      Describe common mistakes made by first time home buyers.

3)      Devise a list of things to avoid when selling your home.

4)      Write a “how-to” article describing a typical real estate contract. Take photos or screen shots of a sample contract and highlight what you think are the most important parts for buyers and sellers to understand.

5)      Discuss how buyers should organize and prepare themselves when searching for a new home.

Theme #2: Share Existing Real Estate Content

6)      Search for another article or post you have an opinion about. State your position and list the reasons why you agree or disagree.

7)      Share and link news from the local newspaper or real estate media. Give your opinion on the piece and let your readers know what you’re sharing it.

8)      Share takeaways from a recent real estate conference or company sales meeting.

9)      Find interesting info-graphics and discuss each in detail.

10)      Share an excerpt from a real estate eBook or Drip Letter and link a call-to-action to download the entire document.

Theme #3: Use Real Estate Photos

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11)      Tag your clients in a photo at their new home and talk about a testimonial they gave about you or your real estate business.

12)      Post a mystery photo and have home buyers and blog followers try to guess the neighborhood or condo building of the photo.

13)      Share pictures of a new listing and talk about the property’s best features.

14)      Post photos from a local business or restaurant and talk about the great neighborhood amenities surrounding a residential area.

15)      Post a funny real estate picture and entice your followers to list captions for that particular photo.

16)      Share photos of two similar properties and compare and contrast the amenities, finishes, pricing, etc.

Theme #4: Encourage Interaction

17)      Ask for guest posts from your colleagues. This also gives them recognition and exposure, so it’s a win-win!

18)      Interview your clients and discuss how you’re helping buy or sell a home.

19)      Interview your colleges and get their take on the local market.

20)      Keep in touch with local developers and ask them to discuss new projects in the works.

Joe Heath is a graduate of Indiana University and also holds a Graduate Certificate in Real Estate Development from Drexel University. After working in the market research sector and authoring published Market Snapshots for Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, Joe now works as a Web Marketing Specialist and co-owns Real Estate Web Creation with his partner, Ted Guarnero, a 25+ year real estate veteran.

Winnie the Pooh's home for sale - CorneelW via flickr.com

The first is that the £2 million property, Crotchford Farm, used to be the home of A A Milne. He is of course the creator of one of the most famous bears in the world, Winnie the Pooh, as well as his cohorts Tigger, Eeyore and a host of other family favorites. Christopher Robin Milne grew up in the house, and this piece of history is evident in the garden, as there is a statue of Christopher Robin, as well as a sundial which is engraved with characters from Milnes books.

The second famous connection couldn’t be more different, as Crotchford Farm was also the home of Brian Jones, guitarist for the Rolling Stones. It has the dubious fame of being the place where he was found dead in the swimming pool soon after being asked to leave the Rolling Stones. The swimming pool is still in place, and not surprisingly the house still attracts attention from fans around the world.

Apparently, the Jones fans are generally very polite, and are very good about contacting the present owner to make an appointment, unlike the fans of the famous yellow bear.

The present owner has lived there since 1970, and the real estate agents are predicting the house will create considerable interest. The full story is in the Daily Telegraph.

YOU WILL TELL US EVERYTHING!!! © imageegami - Fotolia.com

Take one recent incident, recently reported by the Wall Street Journal, in which one borrower was ordered to produce a copy of her divorce certificate – from two years ago! In addition, she faced a grilling over a measly $200 deposit paid into her savings account by her ex-husband, which he did in order to help her pay for raising the kids.

The problem comes down to the fact that lenders are being more cautious than ever about who gets approved for a loan these days. This has led to a tightening of lending standards across the board, with applicants having to submit to some serious scrutiny of their finances, so that banks can be sure of their ability to pay off the mortgage.

As a result, pretty much anything goes as far as lenders are concerned. They can ask questions about absolutely anything – such as cash deposits in the applicant’s bank accounts, their income, disputes about late payments, and many other seemingly trivial matters, even if they took place years before. There have even been reports of mortgage lenders asking to see college degree certificates and transcripts in order to ‘verify the applicant’s employment history’, reports the WSJ.

One particular red flag that is sure to invite a flurry of questions is any previous inquiries into a person’s credit. As such, anyone who has taken out financing or applied for a credit card is sure to get a grilling when they try to secure a mortgage.

Rhonda Porter, a Seattle-based loan officer, admitted that consumers are beginning to get a little irritated over the lender’s growing demands:

“I have customers who know they’re a strong [borrower], and they’re still asked for documentation. Some of them are getting their feathers ruffled a bit.”

Indeed, the questioning has got so bad for some borrowers – like those who are trying to refinance – that many just give up the ghost rather than submit themselves to what has basically become an interrogation.

And let’s face it, who can blame them?

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The price rise is not exactly substantial, but economists are still worried about the possibility of a correction in the housing market, especially in markets where prices are continuing to rise rapidly. Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of Canada has already warned that household debt is the main domestic risk to the economy.

In Vancouver, the property market is cooling down rapidly, and there is downward pressure on prices. If Vancouver is taken out of the equation then property prices are 4.9% up on a year ago. However prices in Toronto are still increasing at a rapid pace, and if Toronto is taken out of the equation then prices would have actually declined by 2.2% over the past year. Taking out both of these major cities then prices would show a 3.1% increase.

Toronto isn’t the only city where prices are still increasing, as prices in Newfoundland and Labrador are up by 12%, by 9.4% in Regina, by 9% in Saguenay, and by 8.5% in Thunder Bay. In comparison prices in Victoria are down by 3.6%, and prices are down by 3.2% in Saint John, by 1.9% in Vancouver, by 1.4% in Fraser Valley, and by 0.2% in Sherbrooke in Québec.

Although the average cost only increased slightly, sales in April were 11.5% higher than the same month a year ago, although this is thought to be partially due to the fact that new mortgage rules were introduced in April 2011. Some 157,804 homes have been sold in Canada so far this year, and this is an increase of 6.4% compared to the same period last year.

America will see a huge demand for student housing in the next decade © ekaterinaupit - Fotolia.com

Real estate investor Doug Fath invests in student housing and apartments, and he claims it’s an untapped growth market for the foreseeable future.

Fath paints a rosy picture of the future potential in the student housing, real estate investing niche: In the next decade, about 80 million echoboomers (the children of baby boomers) are expected to graduate from high school and make their way to college campuses all across America. When they arrive on campus, they’ll need a place to stay. The problem? Currently, on-campus student housing capacity can only accommodate about 30% of the expected rush of incoming echoboomer students.

While Fath’s investing model focuses on student housing because of the potential for growth in the coming decade, he also finds that today’s real estate investor can tap into the demand for apartments fueled by the foreclosure crisis. “I think apartments and student housing is the best sector for investors to make money in the next 3-5 years,” Fath said.

“Similarly, apartments are favorable due to supply and demand.  Because of the current economic environment and the financial irresponsibility of many Americans, it’s more difficult for people to purchase a home so they are forced to rent.”

While this double-barreled demand promises to fuel strong growth in both real estate sectors, Fath says he’s not having difficulty locating good investment properties. Rather than using real estate brokers to locate investment properties, Fath said, “We purchase the majority of our properties directly from the owners who are in a distressed situation.  Typically the properties are abandoned, dilapidated and have debts owed to the property.”

One of the secrets to Fath’s success is to purchase properties at significant discounts, then make improvements to increase the value of his investments, although he says he doesn’t focus as heavily on the current value of the property.

“Since I normally purchase properties that need a full gut renovation, I’m more concerned about the value upon completion. I want my total costs to be 65%-75% of the ARV (After Repair Value).  The formula I use to make my offer is
(ARV *65%) – Construction Costs – Negotiation Room = Initial Offer.”

He says it’s also important to be aware of the cashflow an investment property will produce on a monthly basis when making investment decisions. By investing in the cashflow a property will produce, Fath also doesn’t worry too much about possible changes in the federal income tax code.

“The majority of talk is about additional taxes on earned income and capital gains income.  I primarily invest in cashflow (passive income).”

Although some investors are hesitant to invest in real estate – student housing, apartments or other investment types – Fath doesn’t share their pessimism. Even though he believes the market has yet to hit bottom, he clings to his faith in the opportunities available in today’s market.

“There are still plenty of good money-making opportunities in a down market. Now is an opportunity to increase your financial education, get experience and make money. Developing the ability to make money in a down market is an invaluable and empowering experience because you now know you can make money in any market.”

In addition to being a fulltime real estate investor, Fath also teaches students how to invest in student housing.

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Realtor.com has teamed up with RealBiz Media to offer realtors yet another way to get their property listings in front of a target audience – television. While we’ve all seen listings on television before, this will be a bit different in that the same properties will be made available for viewing in ways that consumers use the most – computer, mobile and television.

Starting in the second half of this year, agents will be able to reach more than 55 million U.S. homes via Cox cable network. Discussions are in the works to expand to other networks as well.

Steve Berkowitz, Move’s (Realtor.com) CEO said, “Realtor.com is continually improving the real estate search experience with emerging technologies to make it easier for millions of people to connect with real estate professionals ready to help them find the home that’s right for their family. With ‘for-sale’ inventories down across the nation, having convenient, fast and fun search options, along with the partnership of a professional agent, is important. When the Realtor.com Channel has launched, regardless of where you are or what you’re doing, Realtor.com will be with you.”

Through the Realtor.com channel, realtors will be able to reach their target audience on a geograhic basis. Property listings on the channel are based on location and will be shown by price range. The Home Tour Network will show the listings which will include both high quality photo and video together with descriptions provided by agents. Using their remote, viewers can contact agents for more information.

“We’re excited to be teaming up with Realtor.com on this new venture that will help millions of people find what we hope becomes their piece of the American Dream – a home,” Steve Marques, CEO of RealBizMedia shared.

“Our experience in launching our proprietary video platform positions RealBizMedia to leverage both organizations’ assets and provide home buyers and folks simply interested in checking out the local market with a new way to discover real estate and connect with real estate experts across the country.”

The listings will include only the most up to date properties available and can be found on Realtor.com as well as on the Realtor.com channel, which include offerings from more than 850 MLSs across the country. About 85% of the Realtor.com listings are updated every quarter hour by the MLSs, with the remainder updated every hour to 24 hours.

Now, all we need is for them to accept credit cards for the down payment and we’ll be set!

How about you? Do you think you would use this feature if you were shopping for a home?

One Hyde Park, London. Image courtesy side78

With just five bedrooms the apartment is described as having panoramic views over Knightsbridge and Hyde Park, and as you’d expect for this enormous price, has been finished to the highest specifications. Apartment C 08.1 is being marketed by real estate agents Aylesford & Company, and is available to view on property website Zoopla.

The apartment stretches across the entire floor of pavilion C, which is located on the eighth floor, and has picture windows along the length of the property, giving those million-dollar views across London.

As well as having five bedrooms, the apartment has three different reception areas and six bathrooms, and extends over 9000 ft.². It’s divided into two different wings with the bedrooms being found in the city wing, while the living space can be found in the park wing. The two wings are connected by a 65 m hallway.

The property only went on the market last week, but has already attracted considerable interest from around the world. Apparently those interested in viewing will almost certainly need to show proof they have the funds to purchase such a property.

Whoever buys this flat may find the building rather quiet, as apparently most of those flats sold since the launch last January remain empty, and just nine out of the 62 have been registered for council tax. Just four owners in the block are currently paying the full council tax every year. The other five are reported to be receiving a 50% discount as the property is a second home.

Buffer for realtors

Most real estate agents have irregular schedules. Your clients may require you to show them a home or condo whenever it’s convenient on their end and that often means evenings and weekends. It’s this constant on-the-go work agenda that can make it extremely difficult to dedicate the proper amount of time you should spend towards blogging, social media conversing, and various other forms of web marketing.

As you already know, web marketing is arguably one of the strongest ways to boost your business. Home buyers are looking for real estate property online now more than ever, so neglecting your web presence is essentially taking money right out of your pocket. So now the question becomes: how do you balance a demanding work schedule with web marketing and promotion?

Well, one of the easiest and most effective ways to update your social media accounts is to start using automatic scheduling platforms such as HootSuite and Buffer. While HootSuite is more or less a dashboard that allows you to manage all your social media accounts at once, Buffer is specifically designed to help Twitter users schedule automatic updates and allow busy professionals to stay relevant in the social media world while staying focused on the countless other aspects of their business.

So how does it work? It’s actually pretty simple. All you have to do is sign in with your Twitter account and setup your tweeting schedule in the “Settings” tab. Next, figure out everything you’d like to Tweet throughout the day and add it to your “buffer.” Add anything from a web link to a simple tid-bit about the local market and Buffer will automatically Tweet out your messages one at a time according to the schedule you have in place.

The Buffer platform allows users to setup as many scheduled updates as you need, and it also gives you the option to connect your Facebook and Linkedin accounts as well. In addition, there’s also a great analytics dashboard that will track the number of clicks your Tweets receive, how many people can view your updates, and also how many times your tweets are re-tweeted, mentioned, or added as a favorite. Easy enough, right? Now all you have to do is take about 20 minutes each morning or night to figure out what you want to Tweet every day and Buffer will do the rest.

Joe Heath is a graduate of Indiana University and possesses a Graduate Certificate in Real Estate Development from Drexel University. After working in the market research sector and authoring published Market Snapshots for Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, Joe now works as a Web Marketing Specialist and co-owns Real Estate Web Creation with his partner, Ted Guarnero, a 25+ year real estate veteran.

Ben Bernanke acknowledges that mortgages are harder than ever to obtain. Image courtesy of trackrecord

Bernanke, speaking at a Chicago banking conference last week, said that while banks have made significant progress in overall lending (taking into account other forms of finance such as auto loans and credit cards), they are consistently extra cautious with regards to mortgage finance. Lending standards have become so tough that even those with the cash to make a 20% down payment can face problems when trying to obtain credit on a home.

Acknowledging the problem, Bernanke was quick to caution that there should be no return to the days before the housing crisis, when banks were issuing mortgages to just about anyone who asked for one:

“A return to pre-crisis lending standards wouldn’t be appropriate. However, current standards may be limiting or preventing lending to many creditworthy borrowers.”

Numerous economists and real estate professionals have cited the difficulty in obtaining a mortgage as one of the biggest hurdles to cross if a full housing recovery is to materialize, reports Reuters.

According to US Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan, it’s estimated that around 10% to 20% of creditworthy buyers are unable to secure a mortgage due to the current tight lending standards at present.