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Hi everyone! My name is Dani Babb; Im the author of Commissions at Risk, Finding Foreclosures (co-author) and Real Estate v2.0 (co-author, being released in October)! My goal here is to share our articles and stories, hear about how you all are using technology in real estate, and how it's permanentely changed the marketplace! Look forward to seeing you online!

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Finding Foreclosures

Posted at 4:09 PM, Jul. 13, 2007

Hello!

Bill Nazur and Dani Babb have teamed up to write Finding Foreclosures: An Insider's Guide to Cashing In on This Hidden Market! This entry is specifically to talk about that book, offer advice, tips, share ideas, etc. The book is available on Dani's web site at www.drdaniellebabb.com and is being released in early August in association with RealtyTrac, the #1 online foreclosure site! We look forward to more in teh coming weeks!

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re: Finding Foreclosures

Posted by M. Shane Hill at 9:05 PM, Jul. 16, 2007

Dani,

I have to tell you how much I enjoyed reading Finding Foreclosures.  Thank you so much for the opportunity of an advanced viewing, I will be encouraging everyone I know to pick it up once it hits the stores.  It will easily serve as a regular reference by the ‘seasoned veteran’ as well as must have foundation of knowledge for anyone just getting into Real Estate.

Like Commissions at Risk, Finding Foreclosures is chock-full of useful information and priceless tips and ‘secrets’.  I can't wait to put all of this insider knowledge into everyday practice.

Holding my breath in anticipation of Real Estate v2.0!!!

Be well,

Shane

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re: Finding Foreclosures

Posted by Dani Babb at 2:09 PM, Aug. 6, 2007

If you missed our interview on foreclosures, go here:
 
and click on Money 101, 8/6/07, Subprime Credit Meltdown
 
Commercial free on the internet :-)
 
Dani
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re: Finding Foreclosures

Posted by Dani at 6:44 PM, Aug. 13, 2007

Check out Bill's latest Article on Foxnews.com!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,293066,00.html

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re: Finding Foreclosures

Posted by Dani Babb at 10:28 PM, Aug. 14, 2007

Bill's latest and greatest article on Finding Foreclosures!

Bill's article in Smart Money

http://www.smartmoney.com/consumer/index.c fm?story=20070814a

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re: Finding Foreclosures

Posted by Dani at 8:33 PM, Sep. 5, 2007

Don’t Blame the Lenders! In today’s volatile real estate market that has tightened liquidity and made many investors fear that the housing recession will spill over into the economy in general, we have to keep things in perspective. Everyone from credit agencies to lenders are being blamed for this mess.But one thing people seem to be forgetting? Lenders did what any business would do in a ripe business environment – offer product to a consumer base that wanted to buy it.During the heavy housing boom over 25% of homes being sold in the

 

The lenders simply did what every other business would do – as demand increased, it increased supply – now everyone from reporters to so-called experts are looking for someone to blame, but they’re looking in the wrong places. Look to extremely low interest rates, incredibly high home prices that were left unchecked, homeowners wanting to sell high and buy low, investors looking for the next hot market, low inflation, low unemployment (are any of these bad by the way?) and we’ll find the reason we have the ‘mess’ we are in today. But stop blaming the lenders – with the exception of some brokers who took advantage of individuals and put them into loans they knew they couldn’t afford, this is nothing more than a dot-com bubble burst but in real estate. Lesson learned, but stop blaming the wrong people! Quite frankly Im sick of companies like WAMU, Countrywide and Wells taking heat for offering loans and valuing them as the risky piece of business that they were - where is personal responsibility?

 

US were to speculators or investors who were looking for quick bucks. Investors went to the lenders for loans, and they responded by finding ways to help individuals get into a product, with risk priced into the loans, while providing incredible advantages to families that were never able to buy a home before.
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re: Finding Foreclosures

Posted by Dani at 8:34 PM, Sep. 5, 2007

Credit Agencies are Taking the Heat – But They Aren’t to Blame

In the world of mortgage backed securities, companies like Countrywide make money by bundling mortgages and selling them on the secondary market. While everyone today is looking for someone to blame for poor investments in these securities, recently the agencies that rate the bundled mortgages have been taking the brunt of it.

This isn’t for no reason – after all, they are often paid to rate the bundled loans by the same lenders that are selling the loans – a seemingly convenient relationship for the lenders who want to get top dollar from investors for their securities.

But while it’s easy to blame them, we have to look at basic economics – if the value of the rating becomes non existent, the rating agencies will not have jobs.

So who is to blame? No one, really. The securities were rated based on risk (although granted, some bundled bunches of high risk loans and rated them well because they were ‘diversified’ by numbers, but that is another story!) but no one factored the biggest and most relevant element, in hindsight, into the equation.

The component not accounted for in the credit and risk rating of these bundled loans was the market itself, which was price-inflated with rising interest rates – a recipe for disaster - and the impact that it would have on the economy and the housing market. This in fact is what has caused the higher-than-expected risk with as-expected or less-than-expected returns. We can blame too low of interest rates, eager lenders, unethical brokers – but we cannot blame the agencies that rate the mortgage backed securities.

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re: Finding Foreclosures

Posted by Dani at 9:33 AM, Sep. 10, 2007

Bernanke’s Rate Cut Won’t Help

So we’re all poised to see the Fed’s reaction on the 18th – with job numbers down for August, will the fed cut rates half or only a quarter percent? There seems to be no doubt anymore that rates will be cut – the question is, how much?

The question everyone should be asking is “who cares?” It isn’t going to help the foreclosure market. It may help with auto loans and those who are buying new houses who have perfect credit, but it won’t help most. The impact will be small for most people. And here’s why.

Interest rate isn’t the only factor when qualifying for mortgages. Equity positions (which have been all but lost in the past two years in many markets) and credit score (which has been a tough issue when people are 30 or 60 days late on their mortgage) also play a role – as does the loan options and the qualification methods of banks. Banks are so afraid to lend money these days – afraid of the scrutiny or being accused of predatory lending, that many of the loan options available just six months ago don’t exist today. In addition, banks have raised the required credit score for an A or A minus loan – which are the only loans that get a decent rate anyway. So in all, while it might keep some adjustable mortgages from adjusting even higher, it won’t save those who are already in trouble or who have been pummeled by the decrease in equity in their homes.

It might ease investor concerns and we’ll see a rebound in stocks for awhile but helping the housing market? It will take more than a rate cut. It will also take a rise in demand, a cut in supply, less worries by banks, less tight monetary policies and banks not looking less at credit scores and equity.

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