Get Seen More - Earn More

In addition to providing extraordinary service to our clients in all aspects of the industry, our primary goal at Infinite Title is simple:  

To make our clients more successful and their businesses more lucrative.  The majority of 21st Century consumers shop online.  The Internet provides convenience, offers both anonymity and competitive pricing, and is free of high pressure salesman.  What do you do when you're researching a potentially new purchase, from cars to clothes to electronics to medicine?   You GOOGLE it.

This also applies to people shopping for mortgages.  Some data suggests upwards of 85% of what we would call prospects, shop for rates and the best deals online.  In order to corner a piece of this demographic, mortgage brokers/lenders and loan officers need to have a highly visible and easily accessible online presence.

This is where we come in.

We don't doubt that your clients will love us once they get to the closing table.  

But how do you get them to the table?  

How many prospects per month can you get to the table?  How much business do you lose because another broker shows up higher on a search engine's results page than you do?  Probably more than you know.

That's why Infinite Title will increase your online presence through blogging, search engine optimization and keyword placement.  Here's how it works:

1.  We start you a company blog on the Real Estate Networking Forum 'Active Rain'.  For some reason, this site holds an extremely high 'page ranking' and is strongly recognized by Google, Yahoo and other search-engine giants.

2.  We start personal blogs for all your sales people using another prominent blogging service, on which they need to post regularly about products offered, services offered (preferably that the competition lacks), updates on regulations, et cetera et cetera.  This is an excellent forum for loan officers to convey to prospects what they know that the competition does not.  It's also a convenient place to post licensing information to validate you as a respected financial institution.

3.  We establish a page for your firm on a social media outlet, preferably Facebook, but not necessarily.  On this page, we cross-link to your sales team's blogs, and vice versa.  The status update feature on Facebook is an excellent opportunity to promote monthly 'contests' or 'specials', i.e. "XYZ Mortgage is offering 110% LTV through Fannie Mae DU Refi Plus".  

There are multitude of ways to enhance your online visibility, and we'll manage all of them for you for free.  Feel free to view one of my blogs at www.activerain.com/completemtg and see what  I mean.

Some professionals are more comfortable writing their own copy, linking to their own data and have confidence in their own draftsmanship.  

If you feel you don't have the time to manage these tasks, or prefer that someone else write on your behalf, I want you to understand that this is my job.  I want to do it for you.  I want to you get you more views, more traffic, and close more loans.

When I owned a mortgage company up North, I took our cookie cutter website from a pathetic 15-30 unique visitors a month, to the 5th most viewed page among all financial institutions in New England in just over six months.

A google search of 'Mortgage/Title Company South Florida' or any combination of those words displays me as the second hit.  I paid zero dollars for that exposure and you'll pay zero as well.

You cannot operate in the world I exist in and not crash into me online.  If you were a consumer, who would you call first?  The company who is consistently, one of the first 5 hits on Google, or the company who sends out a robotic, spam style e-mail through a CRM tool twice a month?

Bottom line is this:  The more successful you are, the more successful we are.  Let my staff and I make you more money, at no cost.

Sincerely,

Jeremy Cohen

President of Client Relations  

Ways to Contact Jeremy

www.activerain.com/completemtg

www.facebook.com/JCMIAMI

www.infinitetitle.com

www.jeremygcohen.blogspot.com

jeremy@infinitetitle.com

jeremy.g.cohen@gmail.com

401-524-1674

New HUD Guidelines, effective February 2010

The new policies are designed to strengthen the FHA's capital reserves so we can continue to fulfill our mission of serving underserved communities.  In addition, we were determined that these changes should support, not disrupt, the nation's housing market recovery.  Bringing these changes to market has been the result of a lot of hard work and long hours.  And, I am proud to have worked with so many of you on this initiative.

 

What changes will be implemented?  We announced the following on January 20:

1. Increase the up-front mortgage insurance premium (MIP) to 2.25%;
2. Update credit score and down payment requirements for new borrowers;
3. Reduce seller concessions to three percent, from six percent; and
4. Implement a series of significant measures aimed at increasing lender enforcement. 

 

When combined with the risk management measures announced in September of last year, these new changes are among the most significant steps ever taken by FHA to address risk.  Additionally, by continuing to provide affordable, responsible mortgage products, FHA will support the housing market's recovery.  Importantly, FHA will remain the largest source of home purchase financing for underserved communities.

 

Let's go into more detail:

 

Announced FHA Policy Changes:

 

1.      Increase the MIP to build up capital reserves and bring back private lending.

o    The first step will be to raise the up-front MIP by 50 basis points to 2.25% and request legislative authority to increase the maximum annual MIP that the FHA can charge.

o    If this authority is granted, then the second step will be to shift some of the premium increase from the up-front MIP to the annual MIP.

o    This shift will allow for the capital reserves to increase with less impact on the consumer because the annual MIP is paid over the life of the loan instead of at the time of closing.

o    The initial up-front increase is included in Mortgagee Letter 2010-02 and will go into effect in the spring.

 

2.      Update the combination of credit scores and down payments for new borrowers.

o    New borrowers will now be required to have a minimum credit score of 580 to qualify for FHA's 3.5% down payment program.  New borrowers with less than a 580 credit score will be required to put down at least 10%.

o     This allows the FHA to better balance its risk and continue to provide access for those borrowers who have historically performed well.

o    This change will be posted in the Federal Register in February and, after a notice and comment period, would go into effect in the early summer.

 

3.      Reduce allowable seller concessions from 6% to 3%.

o   The current level exposes the FHA to excess risk by creating incentives to inflate appraised value.  This change will bring FHA into conformity with industry standards on seller concessions.

o   The change will be posted in the Federal Register in February, and after a notice and comment period, would go into effect in the early summer.

 

4.      Increase FHA lender enforcement.

o    Publicly report lender performance rankings to complement currently available Neighborhood Watch data which will be accessible via www.hud.gov on February 1.

§  This is an operational change to make information more user-friendly and hold lenders more accountable; it does not require new regulatory action as Neighborhood Watch data is currently publicly available.

o    Enhance monitoring of lender performance and compliance with FHA guidelines and standards. 

§  Implement Credit Watch termination through lender underwriting ID in addition to originating ID.

§  This change is included in Mortgagee Letter 2010-03 and is effective immediately.

o    Implement statutory authority through regulation of section 256 of the National Housing Act to enforce indemnification provisions for lenders using delegated insuring process.

§  Specifications of this change will be posted in March, and after a notice and comment period, would go into effect in early summer.

o    HUD is pursuing legislative authority to increase enforcement on FHA lenders.  Specific authority includes:

§  Amendment of section 256 of the National Housing Act to apply indemnification provisions to all Direct Endorsement lenders.  This would require all approved mortgagees to assume liability for all of the loans that they originate and underwrite.

§  Legislative authority permitting HUD maximum flexibility to establish separate "areas" for purposes of review and termination under the Credit Watch initiative. 

 

90 Day Rule GONE - Flipping Making a Comeback

As we all know, a bank owned property that had been acquired through FORECLOSURE was only allowed to be purchased with a HUD insured mortgage after 90 DAYS from the day the bank took title.

Investors who had licked their chops to pounce on an attractive fix-me-up, would have to wait an excruciating three months while the vacant home took down property values in the surrounding area and made the investment opportunity less and less attractive as the days ticked by.

Not anymore.  If you see something you want, and you can qualify to buy it with FHA financing, you have a greenlight from Day 1.

Exciting opportunity for investors looking to get their chips in now and sell high later.