SEO Secrets Your Web Designer Isn’t Telling You – by ELYAC Realty

SEO Secrets Your Web Designer Isn’t Telling You

If I was to ask you right now “Are you absolutely certain that your web site is optimized for high visibility in search engines?“, what would you say?

What if I was to ask “What position in the major search engines does your site appear in for your target search terms?” Or how about “Does each page of your site have tailored Title and META Tags?“

If you would answer “No” or “I don’t know” to any of these questions, you would be amongst the 60% of web site owners whose web sites are missing out on traffic because they are not designed for search engine compatibility. Has your web designer optimized YOUR site for your target keywords? Have they made sure it is visible in Google and the other major search engines? More than likely, you don’t know because they haven’t told you. Ask them today!

But what exactly is search engine optimization? Simply explained, it is the technique of attaining a high ranking in search engines and directories via changes to your site code to make it more search engine compatible.

In my experience, web designers keep a lot of secrets. One of the biggest ones is that they have no clue about what makes a web site compatible with search engines. Another is that they like to build expensive, flashy sites and so convince their clients that an attractive web site never uses a lot of text.

So your web designer may have included target keywords and phrases in your Title tag and META tags (in the HTML code of your site). They may even have explained to you that these are very important references that search engines use when ranking web sites for search relevancy. I’ve met many a web designer who claimed that this was all it took to optimize a web site.

But did you know that you need to tailor your Title and META tags for each page of your site? Did you know that optimizing your site meta tags is only a tiny fraction of the job? Did you know that search engines actually need to find target keywords within the visible body text on your site pages in order to find it a relevant match for related search queries? Did you know that they also need to find those same keywords and phrases used within the text links that help people navigate your pages?

It’s true. For search engines to rank your site highly for particular words or phrases that you would expect potential visitors to type in, each individual page of your site MUST be built with those words and phrases in mind.

For example, if you are a Miami florist, you should have logical search phrases such as “flowers”, “Miami florists”, “bouquets Miami” and even target search terms such as “Miami weddings”, “Valentine’s Day gifts” etc integrated in your title and meta tags, as well as in the visible text of your site. Better still, build and optimize a page for each product or service that you offer. That way, if anyone types in those phrases in a search engine, your site is more likely to appear higher in the search results.

Can you honestly say your web designer has built your site with your target search terms in mind? If not, it might be time to schedule an appointment with them.

So why wasn’t your site optimized for search engines when it was built? Depending on who developed your site and how it was built, you’ll find a million different reasons for this. Many web developers believe it is the site marketer’s job to ensure the site is found in search engines and vice versa. Most don’t bother checking that your site is found in the important search engines, assuming you or your marketing department will do it. Or perhaps it wasn’t discussed in your original development budget.

Not many web design firms know how or have time to optimize a site successfully, no matter what they tell you. They might feel it is outside their core business, or they might believe it is not part of the “design process”. Consequently, your site can be launched for many months without the search engines having any idea it exists.

Some web development firms don’t include even the most basic META tags in your site code when building it. Or those that do include META tags without close consultation with you, resulting in the wrong search terms used and poor performance. This is quite typical! Remember that search engine optimization requires both client interaction and constant monitoring to be successful.

The bottom line? If your designer can’t show you substantial search engine traffic they’ve achieved for other clients, chances are they won’t be able to optimize your site properly. Search engine optimization (SEO) specialists have sprung up to fill the need for these services. Many SEO’s will work either directly with you or with your web site designer to ensure your site gets the exposure it deserves in the most popular search engines and directories. My suggestion is to pay a little more for a specialist with a good track record and reap the rewards.

Remember, search engine users generally only explore the first 10 or 20 search results. If you site isn’t in the top 20, you won’t be found, it’s as simple as that. Always include search engine optimization into your marketing budget or your site could be as effective as a billboard at the end of a dead end street.

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Brought to you by:

ELYAC Realty Los Angeles Real Estate Agents Specializing in Foreclosure Homes for Sale, Home Loans, and Mortgage Brokers

310.562.0572

www.elyacrealty.com

Hotel Developer Lands in Red Ink, Despite Boldface Names- Commercial Real Estate not as easy anymore

Hotel Developer Lands in Red Ink, Despite Boldface Names
By CHRISTINE HAUGHNEY

Published: August 31, 2008

NICKY HILTON no longer speaks to him. Neither does Rande Gerber, the lounge and bar owner, nor Don Peebles, the real estate mogul and Obama fund-raiser. His wife, Jennifer, divorced him. Even his mother is suing him.

So it goes when you’re down on your luck. And Robert Falor is down on his luck.

Although this roly-poly, baby-faced real estate developer is hardly a household name, he cut deals with plenty of people who were. Deftly working the celebrity circuit, while claiming to be developing more than $1 billion worth of properties around Miami and Chicago, he snared newspaper plaudits as the “condo-hotel king.”

Today, the king’s realm is nearly bankrupt. In Miami Beach, two hotels in the high-gloss South Beach neighborhood that he planned to market under Ms. Hilton’s name became the haunts of squatters rather than stars and were auctioned in the spring. Another Miami Beach hotel, the Royal Palm, also slipped from his grasp, in 2007 – as did relationships with his partners in that deal, Mr. Peebles and Mr. Gerber.

Former business associates assert in lawsuits that Mr. Falor, 40, pretended to own property that wasn’t his, used business funds for personal toys like luxury cars and a private jet, and otherwise mismanaged his finances.

He now says he’s so short on cash that he doesn’t have a personal bank account or any property, according to court documents. Yet records unearthed by his mother’s lawyer showed that a company associated with him was paying $8,000 a month to rent a 12,000-square-foot Normandy-style manor in the Chicago suburb of Riverwoods.

While every financial bubble spawns a new crop of wheeler-dealers who exploit the mania, Mr. Falor’s former investors and business associates say he stood out because of his almost flawless appreciation of the currency of celebrity. Riding the crest of the real estate boom from 2004 to 2008, he found banks, investors and buyers clamoring to work with him, even though little in his background suggested that he could deliver on his promises. He gave dinners at Miami Beach steakhouses like Prime One Twelve and Smith & Wollensky. He entertained at hotel penthouses and led investors on nights of club-hopping. He made sure that those he cultivated were on the guest lists for opening-night cocktail parties at Miami area hotspots.

“He understands how to drop names,” says Michael Voll, a Cleveland businessman who poured $1.1 million into Mr. Falor’s projects, including the venture with Ms. Hilton. “They were names that everybody could recognize.”

Mr. Voll, who says his relationship with Mr. Falor has caused stress-related heart problems, is suing him, contending fraud, breach of contract and negligent misrepresentation, among other accusations.

Mr. Falor didn’t respond to interview requests, but his lawyer, Ariel Weissberg, disputes that misconduct occurred in any of Mr. Falor’s dealings. “Robert Falor has gone on the record before denying any allegations of wrongdoing,” says Mr. Weissberg. “He strongly denies any allegations that he wrongfully procured any money.”

Indeed, Mr. Weissberg says, Mr. Falor’s woes and those of his business partners are a reflection of a flawed business strategy and nothing more.

“He got caught in a bad concept – which is the hotel-condo concept,” he says. “That’s a failed concept. With a failed concept, he was swept along. That was a bitter lesson, and he is trying to learn how to deal with all that financial distress.”

Others have a different view. Dianna Cheng, a commercial real estate broker in Miami who successfully sued Mr. Falor for $300,000 she had lent him out of her $600,000 commission on the Royal Palm, says she still hasn’t been paid in full. In good times, she says, Mr. Falor can be charming but in bad times he can be downright nasty. “He turned from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde” when she asked for her money back, she says.

She also says Mr. Falor trafficked in one of the real estate trade’s oldest lures.

“He had a great story,” she says.

MR. FALOR literally grew up in hotels, including the Tremont Hotel in Chicago and what is now the Sheraton Bal Harbour near Miami, according to Anthony Falor, his older half-brother. Robert Falor’s father, David Falor, managed the hotels, and to help him the Falor boys washed dishes, worked as bellmen and assisted with security.

Anthony Falor says that “Robert was the apple of David’s eye,” who mimicked his dad by carrying around a briefcase. He was the son whom “David was kind of grooming” to succeed him. According to Anthony, David Falor started his own business, the Falor Companies, in 1983, managing and acquiring hotels. Anthony, who left the company in 1990, said Robert dropped out of college to work in his father’s hotels, taking on odd jobs like security and food and beverage supplies.

David Falor stepped back from the business in 2000, according to one version of the company’s Web site, and Robert assumed operational control. Though he didn’t buy out his father, family members had rearranged their ownership stakes in 2001, according to a lawsuit that his mother, Marie Falor, filed against Robert and her ex-husband.

Ownership initially was split in thirds among Robert and his parents. After the shift, six people held equal stakes: not only Robert and his parents but also his wife, his brother Christopher and Christopher’s wife, Holly.

After taking the helm, Robert wanted to raise the company’s profile. In court testimony, he said he wanted to invest in businesses that were more lucrative than the smaller hotel management deals his father had worked on, said Stephen J. Schlegel, Marie Falor’s lawyer.

Among the new opportunities he pursued was the condo-hotel market.

During the real estate boom, condo-hotels were seen as a way for stars, jet-setters and other well-heeled investors to buy apartments that they could rent to others part time. Mr. Falor also decided to jump-start his foray into the condo-hotel market by trying to sprinkle stardust on his properties.

“He always had a fixation with being recognized,” Anthony Falor says.

That, too, was a prized strategy in the recent real estate boom. Many developers turned to people like Pamela Anderson to lure buyers willing to spend $750,000 on pieds-à-terre by giving parties at condo showrooms for the famous – even B-listers like Mickey Rourke and Ryan Seacrest.

Some celebrity deals never panned out. George Clooney and Michael Jordan, for example, attached their names to luxury condo projects in Las Vegas that were canceled. But many times, the presence of just one big, glitzy name persuaded others with money to pony up.

Anthony Guinta, a principal at an Atlanta wealth management firm, said he often saw this phenomenon over the last few years. “If they see other successful people going into something, they don’t do the due diligence because they think somebody else did it for them,” he says. “It happens often because they want to be associated with the names.”

When Mr. Falor started aggressively shopping his condo-hotel concept to investors in 2004, he promoted to the news media his family’s history in the hotel business. And versions of his company’s Web site from 2006 show that he said his firm had a “40-year track record in virtually every area of hotel operations.”

Mr. Voll, the businessman based in Cleveland whose first major real estate investment was with Mr. Falor, heard about his venture through two friends more experienced in property trades. He said that when he researched Mr. Falor’s name on the Internet in 2004, no problems came up.

“Robert Falor had very little litigation,” he recalls. “He was certainly a very believable guy, and I did my due diligence.”

It also appeared to him that many wealthy investors had leapt at Mr. Falor’s deals. After Mr. Voll had his first 20-minute conversation with Mr. Falor in 2004, he decided to meet him at an investors’ meeting in Miami Beach. He said Mr. Falor and his father, David, talked up condo-hotels over cocktails and appetizers. Afterward, Mr. Falor invited more than a dozen guests to take a limo to one of the nearby hotels he was developing.

Mr. Voll said he ultimately lost the entire $1.1 million he invested with Mr. Falor. In a suit filed last year, Mr. Voll contends that Mr. Falor conceded that neither he nor his companies owned one of the properties in which he invested.

INVESTORS like Mr. Voll, however, weren’t at the top of Mr. Falor’s list. He had his eye on celebrities – particularly people like Nicky Hilton. How Mr. Falor first connected with her is unclear. Ms. Hilton and her lawyer wouldn’t comment, and Paul Fisher, Ms. Hilton’s manager, didn’t return calls.

But Nizar Idrisi, an architect who says he worked on hotel plans for Ms. Hilton, said that it was Mr. Fisher who hatched the partnership idea. A former agent for the supermodel Naomi Campbell, Mr. Fisher decided that real estate was the perfect vehicle for extending Ms. Hilton’s brand name, according to Mr. Idrisi. So Mr. Fisher placed a newspaper advertisement seeking a real estate partner to collaborate with an unnamed celebrity, and the Falors responded, Mr. Idrisi said.

According to court documents, Ms. Hilton signed a contract in 2006 with Mr. Falor in which he agreed to pay her a $250,000 licensing fee to lend her name and to attend at least a dozen promotional events for the “Nicky O. hotels.”

Mr. Falor also offered some perks for the days of the promotional events: complimentary hotel rooms for Ms. Hilton and her friends, up to $500 for hair and makeup, a food budget of $150 and chauffeured car service. Mr. Idrisi said Mr. Falor’s brother Christopher helped smooth the deal by entertaining Ms. Hilton’s business associates.

In exchange, Ms. Hilton promoted her vision for the hotels on “Late Night With David Letterman” and in People magazine. She spoke of plans to bring in designer friends like Roberto Cavalli and her mother’s friend Faye Resnick, an interior designer. Ms. Hilton also told the press that she planned to add personal touches to her new hotel chain, like cupcakes at turndown time.

Ms. Hilton was only one of Mr. Falor’s high-profile partners. In 2005, Ms. Cheng, the real estate broker, introduced Mr. Falor to R. Donahue Peebles, the owner of the Royal Palm Crowne Plaza Hotel, one of the largest hotels in Miami Beach. That same year, Mr. Peebles sold a majority stake in the hotel to Mr. Falor and another partner, who planned to convert it into a condo-hotel.

Again, Mr. Falor proved adept at attracting stars. In March 2006, Maxim magazine and Rande Gerber, head of a bar chain that includes the Whiskey lounges and husband of Cindy Crawford, said they planned to add a Maxim-themed bar to the Royal Palm that Mr. Gerber would run. While it’s unclear how Mr. Falor met Mr. Gerber, he quickly promoted his ties to Mr. Gerber and Maxim on his Web site.

Despite harnessing a modicum of star power, Mr. Falor wasn’t able to sell enough condos to keep all his deals moving along while paying down his mortgages on the properties. He quickly got into financial trouble even when he was able to secure loans from established lenders.

To buy the Royal Palm, Mr. Falor had secured $135 million in financing. A Credit Suisse unit provided $111 million and a private fund managed by BlackRock lent $24.5 million, according to a Standard & Poor’s report. But Ms. Cheng said that Mr. Falor still didn’t have enough to close on the sale in the spring of 2005 and asked her for a loan. By July 2006, Mr. Falor hadn’t paid back Ms. Cheng and, according to the report, started missing mortgage payments.

His track record wasn’t any better with the Breakwater and Edison hotels, which he was combining and converting into a Nicky O. hotel. According to Jonas Mimoun, who sold a stake in the Breakwater to Mr. Falor in 2004, Mr. Falor had problems from the start. After buying the property with a short-term bridge loan, he was unable to secure long-term financing.

Mr. Mimoun, who has sued Mr. Falor, describes the developer as “always a day late and a dollar behind.” By May 2005, Mr. Falor had sought bankruptcy protection (which he later withdrew) when he had trouble getting long-term financing for the Breakwater and Edison hotels. But with the real estate bubble in full expansion, he was able to line up a $20 million loan from Canyon Capital Realty Advisors and a secondary loan from Oaktree Capital Management to buy the Edison.

That didn’t solve all his problems. Local real estate agents say Mr. Falor had trouble selling the Nicky O. units because he mispriced them. Peter Zalewski, a Miami Beach broker, said that Mr. Falor had a location with “prime” views, but was asking buyers to pay roughly $2,000 a square foot for a condo-hotel unit they could use only part time, when traditional condos nearby cost about $1,000 a foot. After buyers factored in maintenance, taxes and other fees, it would have been unlikely that rental revenue would have covered the monthly cost of their investment.

“The property was everything you would have thought it would be,” Mr. Zalewski said, but “the purchase prices were so high.”

In the meantime, Mr. Falor’s partnership with Ms. Hilton began to fall apart. In February 2007, he sued her and Mr. Fisher, contending that the celebutante hadn’t promoted the Nicky O. hotels, even though he had paid for parties and hotel rooms. The case was settled confidentially in 2007 and Ms. Hilton’s lawyer declined to comment.

The two Nicky O. hotels were auctioned this spring after Mr. Falor didn’t qualify for additional loans.

Another of his celebrity-fueled deals – the Royal Palm – also cratered because of fraying financials. Mr. Falor let his mortgage with Credit Suisse lapse into default, according to the S.& P. report.

In April 2007, Mr. Peebles, who still owned a small stake in the hotel, sued Royal Palm’s majority owners – Mr. Falor and his business partner, Guy Mitchell – saying that the hotel had been mismanaged. Mr. Mitchell didn’t respond to interview requests.

Mr. Peebles declined to talk about the case or about working with Mr. Falor. The Royal Palm is now in receivership, and Mr. Gerber’s bar was never built. Mr. Gerber didn’t respond to interview requests.

FOR a long time, some of Mr. Falor’s relatives thought that his business was thriving. Anthony Falor says he heard stories through family members about how Robert had met Mr. Gerber and Ms. Crawford.

But when Ms. Falor added her son Robert to a suit against her ex-husband in late 2004, seeking a share of the profits from their ventures, she heard a different story: her son didn’t have any money.

Ms. Falor is now waiting for a Chicago judge to rule on a settlement, but it might be hard to negotiate. At a hearing on her lawsuit on July 21 in Chicago, Mr. Falor’s lawyer told the court that his client was broke.

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Brought to you by:

ELYAC Realty Los Angeles Real Estate Agents Specializing in Foreclosure Homes for Sale, Home Loans, and Mortgage Brokers

310.562.0572

www.elyacrealty.com

Oil Slips Close to $100 a Barrel – Economy improving, time to buy a home.

Oil Slips Close to $100 a Barrel-Time to buy a

home while  you still can get them at fire sale

prices

By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM

Published: September 11, 2008

Oil prices, which surged to a record high two months ago, nearly fell below the $100 mark on Thursday, continuing a sharp decline as investors shrugged aside worries about the impact of Hurricane Ike.

The decline came hours after Saudi Arabian officials emerged from a meeting of OPEC with a surprise message: Despite a decision by the cartel members to cut back on oil supply, Saudi Arabia will continue pumping large amounts of oil for its customers.

That news reassured investors and speculators that oil supplies from the Middle East would remain robust, which should help tamp down prices.

Crude oil fell $1.71 to settle at $100.87 in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. At least one contract was exchanged on the trading floor at $100.10, just a dime above what could be a psychological milestone in oil’s recent downward journey.

Since hitting a record high price of $147.27 a barrel on July 11, oil has fallen 31.5 percent. Oil prices have fallen more than 5 percent in the last three trading sessions alone.

Thursday’s decline came just ahead of Hurricane Ike’s expected landfall along the Texas coast, suggesting just how powerful the downward trend in oil has become.

“It’s a bearish signal that oil is dropping at the base of a category 3, category 4 hurricane,” said Ben Dell, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Company. Last week, oil prices rose slightly on fears that Tropical Storm Hanna would disrupt refinery activity on the Gulf Coast.

Mr. Dell said he believed that any supply disruptions from Ike would be temporary. “Most of these facilities are designed to withstand hurricane force wind,” he said.

Still, some companies, including Exxon Mobil, reported plans to shut down refineries in the area as a precaution.

Exxon shares lost 0.4 percent on Thursday, but energy stocks as a whole moved higher. Shares of Chevron, which like Exxon is a Dow component, were up 0.4 percent.

The decline in oil prices may have helped push stocks higher on what was otherwise an anxious day on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average plummeted 125 points minutes after the opening bell as fears over the health of Lehman Brothers created widespread anxiety about the financial sector. By late afternoon, stocks had recovered, and the Dow was up more than 60 points by 3 p.m. (Lehman shares remained down by 40 percent.)

Analysts have attributed the recent drop in oil prices to fears about a global slowdown. That could reduce consumer demand from a number of major oil-consuming countries, which would probably reduce petroleum prices.

“The focus is just more toward the issues associated with demand than supply,” Mr. Dell said.

Mortgage rates drop sharply after bailout plan- Now is the time to refinance

Mortgage rates drop sharply after bailout plan

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Latest interest rates

Mortgage Home Equity Savings Auto Credit Cards See today’s average mortgage rates across the country. Loan type Today +/- Last week 30-year fixed 5.88% 6.26% 15-year fixed 5.49% 5.77% 30-year fixed jumbo 7.08% 7.39% 5/1 ARM 5.84% 5.92% 7/1 ARM 6.14% 6.25% Source: Bankrate.com |     View rates in your area See today’s average home equity rates across the country. Loan type Today +/- Last week $30K HELOC 5.16% 5.17% $30K home equity loan 7.59% 7.63% $75K home equity loan 7.20% 7.26% $50K home equity loan 7.19% 7.25% $50K HELOC 4.77% 4.80% Source: Bankrate.com |     View rates in your area See today’s savings rates across the country. Savings type Today +/- Last week Money market 2.40% 2.45% $10K money market 2.67% 2.72% Six-month CD 3.16% 3.16% One-year CD 3.70% 3.65% Five-year CD 4.19% 4.14% Source: Bankrate.com |     View rates in your area See today’s average auto rates across the country. Loan type Today +/- Last week 48-month new car loan 6.49% 6.50% 36-month used car loan 7.07% 7.08% 36-month new car loan 6.70% 6.72% 60-month new car loan 6.51% 6.51% 72-month new car loan 6.44% 6.44% Source: Bankrate.com |     View rates in your area See today’s average credit card rates across the country. Card type Fixed Variable Standard 13.42% 11.57% Gold 11.73% 10.31% Platinum 10.55% 11.60% All 11.88% 11.34% Source: Bankrate.com |     View more rates

By Jane Hodges

MSNBC contributor

For the first time in nearly eight months, mortgage brokers and lenders have good news for their clients. That’s because the federal bailout of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has resulted in a sharp and sudden drop in mortgage rates.

Sunday’s announcement that the government would intervene in the troubled lending giants sent long-term mortgage rates plunging.

The average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage has fallen to 5.88 percent, down from 6.26 percent last week, according to Bankrate. The average rate on a 15-year loan fell to 5.49 percent, down from 5.77 percent during the week prior. For the mortgage market, that represents a huge drop, virtually overnight.

“I’ve seen a drop like this happen maybe two or three times in my 17 years in the business,” said Bob Walters, chief economist at Quicken Loans. “That’s an extraordinary rate drop.”

He said the Detroit-based company logged its busiest day of the year Monday in terms of combined new loan and refinancing applications.

Mortgage rates fell because the government stepped in to guarantee billions of dollars in outstanding mortgage-backed securities issued by Fannie and Freddie, making them instantly more desirable to investors.

As investors bid up the price of mortgage-backed securities, that sent interest rates tumbling, with the average 30-year fixed rate falling below 6 percent for the first time since January, when rates stayed down only briefly.

This time, lenders say, rates are likely to stay low for much longer — good for homeowners, prospective buyers and the troubled real estate industry.

“When you see rates go down nearly half a point in one day, people notice,” said Joey Hansen, a mortgage broker in Apex, N.C. “I think we’ve entered a new world. The confidence restored in world markets will last for awhile.”

Of course, sharply lower mortgage rates are hardly a cure-all for the housing market. Delinquency and foreclosure rates are still rising as consumers are unable to keep up with payments due on easy-money mortgages written at the height of the bubble. The housing market is already glutted with homes that have been repossessed by lenders, and so prices in many markets are still heading lower.

But for buyers or homeowners who want to refinance, the lower rates are good news, and brokers are hoping for a wave of new business.

“A lot of people missed out on these rates the first time,” said Peter Thompson, senior loan officer at Professional Mortgage Partners in Downers Grove, Ill., referring to the brief rate drop early in 2008. He believes 30-year mortgages are likely to remain below 6 percent for the rest of the year.

But other brokers note that, while the newly lowered rates could last for a few months, they won’t stay below 6 percent forever and could climb back up to about 6.5 percent over the next year.

Joe Metzler, a senior mortgage broker at the Metzler Mortgage Group at St. Paul, Minn.-based Mortgages Unlimited, says that he’s seen only a slight uptick in customer contact since the news about Fannie and Freddie broke, and the calls he has gotten are coming mostly from clients already shopping for a mortgage but who hadn’t yet locked in rates.

Metzler said he was burned in January when 30-year rates dropped to about 5.8 percent: He hastily organized a postcard mailing to 15,000 former and potential clients, but within days the average rate was back to 6.3 percent. By the time clients got the postcards and called about the low rates, he was unable to offer them, he said.

“Yesterday I was reluctant to do that again,” he says.

He thinks rates have fallen this week as a “knee-jerk” response to the federal intervention and could help boost the housing market before going up again.

“Rates can’t live there forever,” Metzler says. “I’d tell anyone who thinks rates below 6.5 percent are a good deal to lock them in now.”

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ELYAC Realty Mortgage Financing Rates- Very Low, so lock in your loans now

ELYAC Realty Mortgage Financing Rates- Very Low, so lock in your loans now!

Standard Conforming Program PF10 30 yr 90% LTV up to $417,000** 5.875%	Jumbo Conforming Program PF58 30 yr $729,750 max 45% DTI (no exceptions) 6.125%
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Gov’t may soon take over troubled mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac

Gov’t may soon back Fannie, Freddie

Gov’t may soon take over troubled mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac

The government is expected to take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as soon as this weekend in a monumental move designed to protect the mortgage market from the failure of the two companies, which together hold or guarantee half of the nation’s mortgage debt, a person briefed on the matter said Friday night.

Some of the details of the intervention, which could cost taxpayers billions, were not yet available, but are expected to include the departure of Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd and Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron, according to the source, who asked not to be named because the plan was yet to be announced.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and James Lockhart, the companies’ chief regulator, met Friday afternoon with the top executives from the mortgage companies and informed them of the government’s plan to put the troubled companies into a conservatorship.

The news, first reported on The Wall Street Journal’s Web site, came after stock markets closed. In after-hours trading Fannie Mae’s shares plunged $1.54, or 22 percent, to $5.50. Freddie Mac’s shares fell $1.06, or almost 21 percent, to $4.04. Common stock in the companies will be worth little to nothing after the government’s actions.

The news also followed a report Friday by the Mortgage Bankers Association that more than 4 million American homeowners with a mortgage, a record 9 percent, were either behind on their payments or in foreclosure at the end of June.

That confirmed what investors saw in Fannie and Freddie’s recent financial results: trouble in the mortgage market has shifted to homeowners who had solid credit but took out exotic loans with little or no proof of their income and assets.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lost a combined $3.1 billion between April and June. Half of their credit losses came from these types of risky loans with ballooning monthly payments.

While both companies said they had enough resources to withstand the losses, many investors believe their financial cushions could wither away as defaults and foreclosures mount.

Many in Washington and on Wall Street hadn’t expected Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to intervene unless the companies had trouble issuing debt to fund their operations.

This summer, Congress passed a plan to provide unlimited government loans to Fannie and Freddie and to purchase stock in the two companies if needed.

Critics say the open-ended nature of the rescue package could expose taxpayers to billions of dollars of potential losses.

Supporters, however, argue the Bush administration had little choice but to support Fannie and Freddie, which together hold or guarantee $5 trillion in mortgages — almost half the nation’s total.

Representatives of Fannie and Freddie declined to comment on the government assistance plan.

Treasury spokeswoman Brookly McLaughlin said officials “have been in regular communications” with Fannie and Freddie, but refused to comment saying, “We are not going to comment on rumors.”

Concern has been growing that a government rescue of Fannie and Freddie could not only wipe out common stockholders, but also be costly for scores of investment, banking and insurance companies that hold billions of dollars in their preferred shares.

Paulson has been in contact in recent weeks with foreign governments that hold billions of dollars of Fannie and Freddie debt to reassure them that the United States recognizes the importance of the two companies.

The two companies had nearly $36 billion in preferred shares outstanding as of June 30, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mudd, the son of TV anchor Roger Mudd, was elevated to Fannie Mae’s top post in December 2004 when chief executive Franklin Raines and chief financial officer Timothy Howard were swept out of office in an accounting scandal. Syron was named Freddie Mac’s CEO in 2003, replacing former chief Gregory Parseghian, who was ousted in after being implicated in accounting irregularities.

He formerly was executive chairman of Thermo Electron Corp., a Waltham, Mass.-based maker of scientific equipment, served head of the American Stock Exchange was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston in the early 1990s.

Fannie Mae was created by the government in 1938, and was turned into a shareholder-owned company 30 years later. Freddie Mac was established in 1970 to provide competition for Fannie.

A government takeover could cost taxpayers up to $25 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

But the epic decision highlights the size of the threats facing the housing market and the economy. On Friday, Nevada regulators shut down Silver State Bank, the 11th failure this year of a federally insured bank. And earlier this year, the government orchestrated the takeover of investment bank Bear Stearns by JP Morgan Chase.

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Brought to you by:

ELYAC Realty Los Angeles Real Estate Agents Specializing in Foreclosure Homes for Sale, Home Loans, and Mortgage Brokers

310.562.0572

www.elyacrealty.com

Happy Ramadan from ELYAC Realty!

ELYAC Realty would like to wish the Muslim Community a very Happy Ramadan!

I found this fascinating quote today:

I found this fascinating quote today:

WE OFFER INCENTIVES FOR BUYERS TO CLOSE WITH ELYAC! Before you venture out and attempt to buy a home, there are some bits of advice we feel you should take. Here are 10 frequent financial mistakes that consumers routinely make and you should avoid.Don’t:1. Choose the Wrong MortgageELYAC Realty- Los Angeles Real Estate Agents, Home Loans, Mortgage Brokers, Sep 2008

You should read the whole article.

WE OFFER INCENTIVES FOR BUYERS AND SELLERS TO CLOSE WITH ELYAC REALTY!

E OFFER INCENTIVES FOR BUYERS TO CLOSE WITH ELYAC REALTY !

ELYAC Realty holds a significant amount of valuable information- along with the expertise, experience, and background to provide you with the proper guidance to buy your home. Although it can be an overwhelming process, all of ELYAC Realty’s resources will be at your disposal so that we can simplify home-buying through effective planning. And by anticipating every step of the process, we will be able to help you discover shortcuts and understand the requests that you will be receiving from lenders, lawyers, and the gamut of professionals you will encounter during the home-buying process. Our primary goal is making the home-buying process easy, accessible, and manageable. And by partnering with ELYAC Realty, you instantly make that goal attainable. So, why wait any longer?

Do You Know What You Want?

Whether you are a first-time homebuyer or returning to the marketplace as a repeat buyer, you need to ask yourself exactly what you want to buy. Are you planning to move to a new community because of a lifestyle change; or, is buying an option rather than a requirement? What features are you seeking in your real estate purchase that you currently do not possess? Are you experiencing pressure due to a tight deadline? Regardless of your responses to these questions, you are more likely to narrow down your goals based upon the information ELYAC Realty will give you information about the present state of the real estate marketplace. So, why not take a few moments to think about these questions so you can discuss your preferences in detail with one of our knowledgeable agents?

Do You Have The Money?

Homes and financing closely coexist. (Financing is the difference between the purchase price and the down payment, commonly referred to as debt or the mortgage.) But, don’t fret! Over the years, new and innovative loan programs have developed to require a 5% down payment or less. Actually, quite a few of the programs allow purchasers to buy real estate with nothing down! In addition to the down payment, purchasers must remember that they need to allot cash for the closing costs (the final costs associated with closing the loan). But there’s good news- several of the emerging loan programs allow you to purchase a home with no money down, as well as underwrite closing costs. Yet not everyone elects to but a house with no money down since it means higher monthly mortgage payments. Consequently, most homebuyers elect to buy with some cash up front in order to lower those monthly payments. And with regard to closing costs, buyers have leverage in the market. So, it may be possible to negotiate an offer for a home that requires the seller to pay some or all of your settlements expenses. Speak with an ELYAC Realty agent in order to see which programs is your best match.

Is Your Financial House in Order?

Those great loans with little or nothing down are not available to everyone- you need good credit. For at least one year prior to purchasing a home, you should ensure that every credit card bill, rent check, car payment and other debt is paid in full and on time.

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Brought to you by:

ELYAC Realty Los Angeles Real Estate Agents Specializing in Foreclosure Homes for Sale, Home Loans, and Mortgage Brokers

310.562.0572

www.elyacrealty.com