Real Estate Snippets

Financial Market Confusion Helps Bad Guys

The bad guys never sleep.  Either that or there are so many bad guys that it seems they can take advantage of every little opportunity that presents itself to scam the common person.

If you're reading my blog, chances are you have e-mail as well.  "Stuff" appears in the e-mail box that we neither order nor want to read.  As a real estate agent, the bad guys try to hook me with real estate words in the subject line of the e-mail.  Sometimes financial terms are used.  Sometimes the e-mail appears to come from one of my banks or a credit card company.  Since all the financial institutions have my e-mail address, it's logical to assume the e-mails from my lenders are legitimate.  Lately, however, my suspicious nature believes they are all bogus.

With all of the financial institutions going out of business or being bought by others because of the current market conditions, the consumer can feel like a top spinning out of control.  Which company is still in business and which is not?  What mortgage company holds my loan this week?  It used to be Wachovia but they've been bought by someone.  Now there's an e-mail saying the new bank wants to update my personal information by clicking on a link.  It seems legit, but there have been several in my inbox that are asking for similar information and they're from unknown companies.  Should this info be given out as requested?

The Federal Trade Commission warns against several such scenarios in a consumer alert bulletin. Phishers (pronounced "fishers") are having a heyday with the current stress in the financial market.  Phishers send thousands (or maybe hundreds of thousands) of e-mails that appear legitimate.  The e-mails use the change in bank ownership as an excuse to ask for the recipients' private information.  There is usually a link in the e-mail connecting to the location that will take the information.  The FTC warns not to use a provided phone number or link to give out your private information.  Instead, they advise to use numbers from your financial statement.  Other precautions include keeping track of your financial information by reviewing monthly statements carefully.  The questionable e-mails can be forwarded to one, or both, of these addresses to alert authorities to them:  "[email protected]" or "[email protected]".  Other hints are listed on the FTC consumer alert.

Minnesota Holiday

There are two additional holidays in Minnesota beyond the normal national holidays.  Minnesotans celebrate the deer hunting opener in the fall and the fishing season opener in the spring.  Blaze orange screams from the cars as the city empties and the woods fill. 

Am I going?  Yep, you betcha!  Will I get buck fever preventing me from shooting?  Not a chance.  Am I excited! Oh, yea!  Having spent many years as cook, bottle washer and bed warmer while my family grew and hunted, this will only be my third year in the woods.  Being a newbie hunter and a committed carnivore, the hope is I'll bag my first deer!

See you next week!

Mortgage Solicitation Calls

All we wanted was a small second mortgage to complete a combination retaining/support wall on our apartment building.  We completed the financial statements required, the application which duplicated the financial statement requests, provided the supporting documentation through tax records and bank statements, but what we DID NOT DO is sign up for a bazillion calls from other mortgage companies!  Our home line was ringing off the hook and caller ID proclaimed some pretty exotic mortgage company names.  Many of the mortgage solicitor's scripts began, "As a result of your recent inquiry about a mortgage . . . ".

We frowned and questioned until the light bulb finally lit.  We had hit the trigger list!  How annoying.

A vague recollection fuzzed through my brain that there was a brouhaha  with the credit unions about selling trigger lists.  Somehow it seemed this practice had been discontinued, but our experience supported the belief it had not.  The information about the brouhaha can be found at Rain City Guide with several other supporting entries that one might find helpful.

Since our application was in late October of 2008 and the settlement occurred in July, it's obvious the practice is still in place.  Knowing that my personal financial information is being sold to the world is not a comforting thought.  Getting the calls was even more frustrating.  How long does it take to make a change that the courts mandate?  Or is it that only TransUnion has discontinued the practice and others have not?  Either way, trigger lists are still being used and it's totally annoying!

Real Estate Changes

Change is constant, and that oxymoron is one of the constants in life.  So why are we always so surprised when change occurs?  Probably because as humans we resist change.  Sameness is comforting.  It doesn't require adjustments in our own lives.  It's predictable, and therefore, easy to accept.

Change, on the other hand, creates unrest and makes us ill at ease.  It's not predictable.  We don't know what to expect so we become anxious in anticipation.

Changes in the real estate market have challenged real estate agents tremendously.  Agents who will survive this downturn are having to change with the market instead of holding fast to old ways of doing business.

Some changes observed recently in the St. Paul real estate market include:

• New terms have become household words.  Terms like "short sale", "negative equity", "registered vacant building", and "bailout" are discussed over beer in the bars.
• A foreclosure on a person's credit no longer is a permanent credit problem.  The number of years for recovery of good credit after foreclosure can be counted on one hand.
• Prices have plummeted with ramifications on many levels including lower commissions for real estate agents, losses for sellers, and good buys for buyers.
• Listing agents and home sellers are often requiring pre-approval for a mortgage from more than one lender because some lenders have withdrawn their mortgage funding at the last minute.
• City loans like those offered in St. Paul are being used more frequently for acquisition of a house and for fix-up money after the home is purchased.
• Real estate agents are working longer hours for less pay because much of the listing inventory is foreclosures or short sales.  Many times a buyer has to submit an offer on several houses before finally getting an acceptance causing many more showings and much more paper work for their agent.
• The public as a whole has become more aware of how intertwined different aspects of the market are.

Rental Property that Makes Sense

Duplexes can be tricky rental properties.  The units are usually small enough that the tenants need to get along or be miserable.  Sometimes duplexes are not equipped with separate utilities either.  Occasionally they have been chopped up by well meaning investors who wanted to make more money by adding more space. 

A perfect example of making a duplex ugly to earn more money is this duplex on Nugent Avenue in St. Paul.  The "before" picture on the left tells an ugly story in this exterior shot.  No one wanted this forsaken building.  Only a few people could see beyond the ugly front porch enclosure and the boxy second floor addition.  Luckily for this duplex, Mike Williams, the owner of Regal Designers and Remodelers, Inc., could see beyond the short sightedness of former owners.  Today, after a full year of rehab, this historic building has a facade more in keeping with its former self.  Yes, some square footage was removed along with the removal of the enclosed porch and second story "box", but what a difference in how the building looks.

Other things in this duplex that make my heart sing include:

• Separate utilities including a second water meter
• New furnaces
• New water heaters
• New windows
• New kitchens
• New bathrooms
• Refinished wood floors
• Fresh paint throughout
• New double garage with a separate stall for each unit
• Three bedrooms in each unit
• Separate laundry for each unit
• Extra space for future expansion in the basement for the main floor and in the attic for the second unit

Last, but not least, it's for sale!

Hunting

Saturday is for sport and orange is the sport color of the season in Minnesota.   

Many years of my life were devoted to being cook, bottle washer, and bed warmer for the loving husband as he patiently stalked the elusive white tail deer.  Our children have grown old enough to now care for themselves on hunting trips affording me a new freedom on hunting weekends.  My reward for care giving during their tender years is to finally, in my old age, learn the fine art of climbing into a tree to precariously perch on a seat barely large enough to support my mature back side so hours can be spent hoping to spot a beautiful brown eyed beastie before my feet freeze to uselessness!

It all sounds rather gruesome but there's something about hunting that draws me.  Whether it's the silence in the woods which magnifies even the smallest chipmunk's walk to monstrous proportions or having all forms of wildlife come close enough to see "the whites of their eyes", the weekend alone in a cold tree has its benefits.  Maybe, just maybe, the attraction is the lack of cell phone and complete peace and separation from the daily grind.

As to the deer . . . they're safe.  The pictured target was mine.  The two shots were mine.  My husband was thrilled when he saw the bull's eye and the first ring shots.  "Wow, look at that!"  The problem?  That wasn't the target I was aiming for.  I missed the one I was aiming for by a foot.  I'd say my goal right now is to hit the broad side of a barn.  Once I accomplish that, we'll narrow it down to a smaller area.  Until then the deer have nothing to fear from me!