Tags: twitter
Tags: twitter
A quick primer on RSS. RSS is a great way to keep up with websites that are constantly updating with new content.
In this post, I’ll briefly explain the technology & the benefit to learning how to use it so that you may become more efficient consuming (and utilizing) the information you want with less effort.
RSS is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication. The easiest way to understand RSS is to think of it as a broadcast beacon. Many websites offer you the ability to pick up their broadcast, also known as a “feed”, by clicking an RSS icon or inputting the link address into a feed aggregator. For more information about all of this, I recommend reading this wikipedia post on RSS.
The advantage to RSS is that you no longer have to visit a website to know it has updates. Instead, websites that offer RSS allow you to subscribe to the RSS feed and when new content is published, it’s automatically collected and waiting for you. It’s the information you want, when you want it. A newer, gentler web.
To consume RSS feeds, you need a feed reader. Some web portals like Yahoo & iGoogle allow you to subscribe to feeds right in their home page. You may also use a standalone application or a web application that is dedicated to the task of organizing and collecting RSS feeds. I use a web application as it is accessible anywhere internet access exists.
I’ve used two, Bloglines & Google Reader. I prefer Google Reader. There are many options, most are free. One other benefit to feed readers is the relative ease with which you can share information with others. Here is my shared page.
Recap:
- Learn about RSS and understand how people are using it.
- Figure out how you want to collect RSS Feeds. I recommend a web-based reader to do this task. It’s easier and accessible anywhere you have internet access.
- Bookmark the tool in your browser toolbar.
- Visit your favorite web destinations and subscribe. Most browsers make this process super easy. I use Firefox (also free) and adding new feeds to Google Reader is as simple as clicking the RSS button once.
Hope this was helpful, feel free to leave a question in the comments area if any of this didn’t ‘click’.
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Tags: rss·technology
A good friend recently told me that I needed to embrace a ‘beta’ philosophy and just get the content out there. I see the light. I agree, so welcome to the J. Berman Group {beta}.
What is a blog? Well this is a blog. Albeit a rudimentary and basic effort. I like to refer to it as a BlogCast as we are casting our services via this site to you, our customer and our potential customer.
What are we doing these days?
Aside from keeping up with the barrage of mortgage industry changes, I am speaking to many groups large and small about the power of blogging and working virtually.
I believe the real estate and mortgage agents of the future will spend more of their time utilizing the computer for their services. Marketing, workflow management, customer education, and back-end production will all be handled on the computer and on the web.
To that end, I am involved in organizing one of the largest meet-ups of Real Estate bloggers in the country this year at the Las Vegas Convention Center on September 19th. It’s called REBlogWorld.
I believe this will be the Future of Mortgage Lending.
Subscribe:
If you have moved recently or have a new email address, please be sure to sign up for our email updates so that we have your new contact information. You may sign-up using the sidebar widget on the right. Also, you may follow us by subscribing to our RSS Feed. I recommend Google Reader. If you would like an invite to a Google account, send me an email or call and I will be happy to get you set up. It’s free!
Our foundation:
Barb & I have been building a framework that will sustain a more intimate conversation with you, our customer. Success in the mortgage business begets more business. A workflow that is unable to handle increased volumes will break down. This results in an inconsistent financing experience for our customer and more work for us. Many originators (myself included) have suffered from this challenge over the years. Barb & I recognize this and we have spent time building our workflow around simple, reliable tools that will sustain good communication with less deviation when our volume fluctuates.
There are many in the lending industry that hope the traditional ways of operating a mortgage company will survive. Banks in particular with their strategy the past twenty years of building branches at every stoplight in America believe that expensive bricks and mortar operations are sustainable.
We disagree and have decided that cutting all unnecessary expenses from the operation and moving online to conduct business is the future of Mortgage Lending.
We still offer expert advice. Understanding the tax implications of a real estate financing decision is beyond the playbook of most most originators and bank employees. Tax analysis is critical when helping a customer select the best mortgage product. We do that.
We also bring a privileged network of funding sources to the table. This experience makes us a compelling first choice among mortgage originators in the state of Colorado.
Not all of this is easy to execute!
Virtual mortgage companies do have challenges. We are more susceptible to communication breakdowns than other brick and mortar ‘overhead intensive’ models. So we have spent the past 18 months working through these challenges. This has provided us with the opportunity and experience to improve our workflow. We are confident that our responsiveness to customers needs is as good as traditional models, if not better.
Customers that choose the J. Berman Group receive great advice, transparent & ethical lending practices, and obtain ultra competitive financing terms. It is our job to make this relationship valuable enough that you will be obliged to let us help you, your family, and your friends with their most important home financing decisions. We hope this BlogCast is another step in solidifying our ability to accomplish our job, our commitment, to you.
Increased knowledge and loan origination coverage
I’ve never received as many compliments about a member of my team as I have with Barb Van Horn. So I’m pleased to announce that Barb is a fully registered loan originator licensed to do business in Colorado.
Barb’s enthusiasm and willingness to expand her abilities is a great asset to our team. This will improve our ability to handle additional customer referrals & inquiries. I can’t even begin to explain how excited I am to have Barb increase her role on the team.
That’s all for now. Please don’t hesitate to use the ‘Call Me’ button if you have questions. Until next time….
Jason
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Tags: TJBG Updates
I am happy when lenders proactively stop working with bad mortgage broker clients. One common practice that I find annoying is when an originator doesn’t deliver a loan once it has been locked with a lender. It’s not uncommon to hear that some originators regularly break a lock if rates improve. Oftentimes they do this to pocket additional yield spread and give the customer the same originally promised rate.
The problem with this practice is that it costs the lender money every time a mortgage originator doesn’t deliver a promised loan. This cost ultimately gets passed onto everybody else in the form of increased rates.
It is nice to see that some lenders are now cutting these originators off from their source of funds and helping the good originators as a result. I applaud the efforts of Provident Funding. Let the originators that manipulate loopholes on a regular basis go work with lenders that will put up with it. The J. Berman Group customers shouldn’t have to pay more because others try to beat the system for their own benefit.
Here is the explanation from Provident.
Controlling our costs is a major factor enabling Provident Funding to remain “the industry price leader”. When we commit a fixed price to you for a specific time period, we must honor that price. We take interest rate risk to guarantee to you a price we may not be able to secure in the market when we sell your loan. Managing that risk can be costly if an account fails to keep their commitment to close the loan with us.
Logically then, Provident Funding places a great deal of importance on closing every locked loan within the agreed upon time period so we monitor our accounts locked fallout.
Fallout = loans that an account locks and subsequently does not fund with us.
Effective immediately Provident Funding is terminating all Tier 3 accounts in accordance with our philosophy and agreement with you.
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A new risk-based premium program for FHA loans went into effect July 14, 2008. Until two days ago, FHA loans, which are government backed programs, charged all borrowers the same regardless of credit score or loan to value.
The one size fits all plan is gone.
Here are the changes that consumers need to know. These apply to both purchase and refinance loans. They do not apply to the FHA’s Reverse Mortgage program (HECM) or Title 1 loans.
- If the Loan to Value is 95% or less, the annual premium is 50bps or .5% x the loan amount. If the LTV is higher than 95%, the annual premium is 55bps.
- The upfront premium, a financeable non-refundable fee, is now determined by a combination of the credit score and the loan to value.
Since consumers with less money to put down and/or with less than perfect credit are bigger risks to default, they will be required to finance additional fees into their final loan amount. They will also pay slightly higher monthly payments.
The best advice for future homebuyers, save 5% for a down payment and keep your credit clean. Pretty simple huh?
I don’t expect reduced demand for FHA loans as a result of these changes. Interestingly, FHA business is booming as many sub-prime originators are now selling FHA loans as a replacement product.
I applaud FHA for introducing the risk-based premium schedule. By embracing this pricing structure, FHA is creating a marketplace for higher risk loans. However, I believe it took the agency far too long to act. If the bureaucratic agency had implemented these changes back in 2004 or 2005, the damage from the subprime collapse might have been mitigated.
This delay has come at a price.
Many of the high LTV, negative amortization loans in default, would be performing better with a traditional mortgage product. I believe FHA is partially to blame for some of the problems in the credit markets. Their inaction to push for these reforms sooner allowed the sub-prime market to flourish. Hopefully FHA will be more proactive going forward. These latest changes are a good start.
What do you think?
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Tags: fha
Mortgage bonds are starting the week in rally mode. Treasury Secretary Paulson affirmed to wall street that the government will not allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to fail.
Busy economic calendar this week. The Producer, and Consumer Price will be published Tuesday & Wednesday respectively. Any signal of inflation will move rates up.
Also on Wednesday, the Fed meeting notes will be released. This can often move rates as the market gets further insight on the Fed’s thinking.
Later in the week, the health of the manufacturing sector via the Philly Fed Report is announced. A weak number will be provide further support for mortgage bonds and likely move rates lower.
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While the presence of one or more of these red flags doesn’t automatically mean that there might be mortgage fraud, further investigation is warranted. Several in the list are ‘common-sense’ warning signs. However, the slack lending standards that many banks and mortgage lenders employed the past several years, require the rest of us to promote and reiterate the red flags so that our industry can regain the public’s trust.
- Inconsistent ownership among supporting loan paperwork
- Payoffs from seller’s funds on HUD-1 being made to non-lienholders
- Not enough funds to close documented
- More than five mortgage inquiries listed on the credit report in the last 90 days
- Unusually high income for job description
- Bank statement deposits don’t match payroll dates
- Seller is a corporation
- Inconsistent information on the mortgage application (1003, sales contract, HUD-1)
- Change in ownership in the last 12 months
- Crossed out information on the loan documentation
- Inability to independently verify place of employment
- Borrower is a renter and is buying the subject property for investment purposes
- Appraisal photos don’t match subject or the comps used to define the subject’s value
- Appraisal order date is prior to the application date on the mortgage application
- Bank statements missing borrower name or address, NSF charges with high balance
Source: Adapted from The Prieston Group
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Tags: mortgage fraud
The J. Berman Group is excited to announce a new feature in the right sidebar. Mortgage, Real Estate, & Technology News straight from our reader to yours. If you enjoy what you are reading and use twitter, follow us at ‘jbermangroup’ or you can subscribe to this site with the RSS button located in your address bar.
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Tags: news·twitter
March 7th, 2008 · podcast
Mortgage Consulting aside, I’ve been working on some other projects and I’m excited to announce that one of them launched today.
There is a link in the blogroll to Episode #1 and you can also click below to listen. If you want to keep up with the podcast as it develops, subscribe (w/iTunes) from Podango and whenever we roll out a new episode it will automatically download into your iTunes media player.
RemoteBreak is a bi-weekly podcast offering the latest news, tips, & reviews about technology for real estate and mortgage professionals. Join hosts Jason Berman, Todd Carpenter, & Ben Rubenstein as they help you discover how technology can assist your business in ways you hadn’t imagined.
Episode #1 highlights, we discuss Twitter, MacHeist application AppZapper, & go in depth about the hot networking site LinkedIn. We also interview Andrew Berman (no relation) of The Mortgage Press about his new endeavor FindMortgageJobs.com. Andrew reveals his profound love for Microsoft Outlook and Ben & I share a bonding moment over our first computer, the IBM PCjr.
The audio was a little rough for the recording but the quality will improve as we get some episodes under our belt. Not sure about the content. {lol} Have a great weekend ~ JB
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