Manufactured housing poised for strong rebound. Brace yourself for a manufactured housing comeback.

Written by Nathan Thomas on June 23, 2004

A new Fannie Mae program introduced this year is anticipated to increase manufactured housing financing by 33 percent. Conseco Finance, one of the largest MH lenders which, dragged down principally by its MH business, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2002, was purchased recently out of bankruptcy by CFN Investment Holdings. Large mortgage originators U.S. Bank and GMAC Residential Funding have entered the arena recently. Large lenders like Chase and Origen Financial remain committed to MH funding.   Read more...

Former WaMu Chief Appraiser tapped to help expand credit reporting business

Written by Nathan Thomas on June 23, 2004

American Reporting Company, offering credit reporting services for the real estate, mortgage and business communities, has tapped former Washington Mutual Chief Appraiser Sue Potteiger as its new president, with the goal of "grow[ing] the business from a Credit Report centric company to developing and managing a complete suite of settlement services to include Credit, Appraisal, Title, Escrow and Flood," the company reported.   Read more...

AVMs don’t need “standards” and certainly don’t deserve advocacy by companies and organizations that

Written by Nathan Thomas on June 23, 2004

A hot topic lately in our e-mail and phone correspondence with customers and noncustomer appraisers, on Internet message boards, Yahoo! "user groups" and Internet e-mail lists has been appraisal technology provider sponsorship of conferences promoting Automated Valuation Models (AVMs), as well as dues-charging appraiser advocacy associations becoming involved with establishing standards for AVM usage in mortgage transactions so that they can be used more reliably in place of full appraisals. (We started it, here and here, but nobody was talking about it before, and it's become clear since that they're topics that a lot of our customers and appraisers in general care about).   Read more...

Appraisal Institute, with a stake in acceptance of AVMs, promotes their use

Written by Nathan Thomas on June 15, 2004

An alliance of the Appraisal Institute, the International Association of Assessing Officers (subject to its board's approval) and a Collateral Risk Assessment Consortium representing mortgage lenders has been formed to "enable mortgage and other industry players to apply automated valuation models [AVMs] to the mortgage origination process with greater confidence," according to a press release.   Read more...

To open house or not? For many agents, the answer is clear

Written by Nathan Thomas on June 9, 2004

When was the last time you discovered a home's eventual buyer at an open house? It happens, to be sure. But usually, open house traffic - at least the first one you have in a home - is made up of neighbors gauging the competition (or just being nosy) and "tire kickers" who are considering buying eventually but who haven't gotten serious enough yet to make appointments.   Read more...

Put your best face on your website with Flash

Written by Nathan Thomas on June 9, 2004

Your agent website needs to convey information and impressions visually. Homebuyers and sellers looking for a listing agent can see a static list of properties in the local paper. When they browse the Web, they need to be reeled in by a visual, interactive experience. Your website needs to tell them that you take technology seriously, and that the "face" you put on the Internet reflects you as an agent: professional, high-quality and attractive.   Read more...