Real Estate, Updates, News & Tips - Hans Grevenstrale - iPro Real Estate

VA Program Sparks ‘Loan Churning’ Concerns

Ginnie Mae officials recently testified to lawmakers that “loan churning” within the VA program is putting veteran borrowers at risk with serial refinancings.Michael R. Bright, Ginnie Mae’s executive vice president, was one of four mortgage industry experts who testified to the House Committee on Veterans Affairs last week about the constant pressuring to get vets to refinance their loans. Bright testified that loan churning within the VA p

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Owners Get Real About Home Values

The gap between homeowners’ and appraisers’ perceptions on the value of properties is continuing to close. Homeowners, in general, still tend to slightly overestimate the price of their home, but not by nearly as much as they did a year ago.Home appraisals were, on average, 0.5 percent lower than what owners expected in December, according to the latest National Quicken Loans Home Price Perception Index. The gap is closing; a year ago, homeow

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The 7 Best Cities for Bargain Hunters

Where can a home buyer’s money stretch the furthest? The Rust Belt and Midwest may offer some of the best bargains.The realtor.com® research team scoured across 500 of the largest metros to rank the ones with the lowest median home prices. The results were limited to one city per state for the purposes of geographic diversity.“There are a lot of people in that first-time home buyer group looking for starter homes, and they can’t afford it

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BROKERS: 4 Ways Brokerages Can Be More Client-Centric

While building a client-centric culture at your real estate company sounds ideal, efforts often flounder beyond sophisticated marketing campaigns, says Sallie Sherman, co-author of Five Keys to Powerful Business Relationships and founder and CEO of S4 Consulting.“Customer-centric companies understand that being customer-centric is a detailed performance game,” Sherman says. “They align every part of the company around their customers’

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Welcome to the Team Eric Sotelo Dealing the Houston Area

About EricI am a father of four and husband to an incredible wife. We have a cool cat named, Liberty "Libby".I have 20+ plus years of online advertisement and web/graphic designs and development. Real Estate requires a keen eye and mind to understand how marketing works from consumers aspect. I believe with my experience and knowledge I can help my clients market their homes effectively.  Working with business owners I understand that they have

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REALTORS: Understanding A Client’s Unspoken Words

Unless you’re a professional poker player, most people have a hard time controlling their body language, especially under stressful conditions. For example, buying and selling a property can cause tension for clients, according to John Asher, CEO of Asher Strategies and author of Close Deals Faster. How do you handle a situation where a client says one thing but their body language is saying another?“In a mismatch between words and body,

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Real Estate Agent Among Those Killed in Mudslides

A real estate professional has been identified as one of 17 people killed this week after mudslides pummeled a Southern California neighborhood. Rebecca Riskin, a REALTOR® and founder of Riskin Partners in Santa Barbara, Calif., died in the natural disaster that hit Montecito, Calif.Riskin, 61, was described by colleagues as an “exceptional woman” who demonstrated strength, grace, and elegance, her company posted in memoriam on Facebook.

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Mortgage Rates Rise Across the Board

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is nearing 4 percent, but still remains well below its average from this time a year ago.“After dipping slightly last week, Treasury yields surged this week amid sell-offs in the bond market,” says Len Kiefer, Freddie Mac’s deputy chief economist. “The 10-year Treasury yield, for instance, reached its highest point since March of last year. Mortgage rates followed Treasury yields and ticked up modestly acr

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Employers Can Now Add to Down Payments

A new program allows employers to help workers' down payment on a home, similar to how companies contribute to a 401(k).HomeFundMe, a Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac-approved down payment crowdfunding platform, allows borrowers to crowdfund their down payment from several sources, including their employer. CMG Financial, a mortgage banking firm, created the HomeFundMe program. Employers can contribute directly to employees’ HomeFundMe accounts to

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Buying Better Than Renting in 54% of Markets

Despite rising prices, buying a home makes more sense than paying increasingly high rents in more than half of the U.S. Buying a median-priced home is more affordable than renting a three-bedroom property in 240 of 447—or 54 percent—of U.S. counties analyzed, according to a new report released by ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate data firm.Renting a three-bedroom property requires an average of nearly 39 percent of weekly wages across the

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