VanEd Newslog

NAR Conference Registration open online

Registration for the 2008 NAR Conference and Expo is open and can be completed online. This year's event will be November 7th-10th in Orlando and will be hosted at the Orange County Convention Center. Lance Armstrong will join NAR President Dick Gaylord for the General Session!

Visit http://www.realtor.org/convention.nsf/ for more information about the educational events and opportunities for networking at the conference. You can CLICK HERE to register online for the NAR Conference and Expo.

The NAR annual meetings will also take place the same week in Orlando, November 5th - 10th. All REALTORS are encouraged to attend. You can view a list of the Committee Meetings and Governance Schedule by clicking here.

Colorado Mortgage Broker Education available online at VanEd

Van Education Center is proud to offer the mandatory

We have begun offering the entire Mortgage Broker Program online that all currently licensed mortgage brokers are required to complete prior to the end of 2008. For Real Estate Licensees who also have mortgage broker licenses, VanEd's courses will count towards your Real Estate Continuing Education as well!

VanEd has also extended our introductory discounted price ~ get started today for only $425 for the entire program! Mortgage Brokers will also be required to pass a state mandated exam, and VanEd has already had students pass this exam! We include the candidate information bulletin for all of our students, and we will allow you course access for the entire year!

Requirements for Mortgage Broker Licensing:

1. www.vaned.com/MortgageBrokers.

Finance Friday: Another Fed Rate Cut

On Wednesday the Fed cut the Fed Funds rate by another .25% to 2.00%.  Most banks lowered their Prime rate to 5.00% in response.  This will benefit borrowers in Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCs) that are tied to prime, which has dropped by 3.25% since September 2007.  This will also benefit people in adjustable rate loans (ARMs) that are due to reset soon.  Over the past year, the Constant Maturity Treasury (CMT) index has dropped by 3.18%, the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) has declined by 2.31%, the Monthly Treasury Average (MTA) index has declined by 1.5%, and the 11th District Cost of Funds Index (COFI) has dropped by 1.1%. These declines may help prevent some foreclosures because interest rate resets should be minimal.

However, the rate cut has not benefited new loans.  Rates for new Hybrid ARMs (3/1 and 5/1) are in the 5.5% to 5.75% range, and 30 year fixed loans are still slightly higher than 6.00%.  These rates will probably not decline until there is some real slowing in the economy or a real drop in commodity prices, such as oil, food, steel, lumber, etc.

Elsewhere, the House of Representatives passed the FHA Housing and Homeowner Retention Act, which allows FHA to insure loans to troubled borrowers facing foreclosure.  This act allows FHA to loan up to 90% of the current home value, which in most cases will require the current lender to accept a short pay.  Accepting a short payment may be less costly for the lender than the foreclosure process.  Unfortunately, borrowers will have to demonstrate they have the income to afford the proposed payment.  Many borrowers got into bad loans in the first place because they couldn't verify their income.

Guest Author Randy Kelly is a Mortgage Banker and Finance Author with Boulder West Financial Services. He can be reached on-line at http://www.boulderwest.com/.

VanEd Presents: ABRM ~ Accredited Buyer Representative Manager course

Van Education Center is proud to now offer the ABRM, Accredited Buyer Representative Manager course to our members. The ABRM, offered through REBAC, the Real Estate Buyer Agents Council, is the only Buyer Representation Designation for managers, brokers and owners.

VanEd has begun working with Realtor University to deliver access to this course on-line. Students may now log in and select "Designations" in their student accounts to begin working on this and other REALTOR® family of designations. This course is also valid for Continuing Education in some states, including Colorado. Click Here for CE details.

To learn more about this course and the designation requirements, visit http://www.vaned.com/ABRM

Finance Friday: Tug-of-War continues

Investors seem to be more concerned with rising global inflation than the slowing economy, and interest rates are creeping up as a result. 

The rate for no point low fee mortgages reached 6.375% today.  This is despite many economic indicators showing a slowing economy.  March new home sales dropped to their lowest level since 1991 to a seasonally adjusted 526,000, down from February's 575,000.  With approximately 468,000 new homes available, this is an eleven month supply.  The University of Michigan consumer confidence index fell to its lowest level since 1982.  A Credit Suisse forecast indicates there may be as many as 6.5 million foreclosures by the end of 2012.  New unemployment claims dropped slightly this week, to 342,000 down from 375,000 last week.

The mortgage climate keeps getting worse.  E-trade has pulled out of the mortgage market, and Citi may be next.  Some lenders are rejecting current appraisals and relying on automated values as a reason to reject new loans.  We are even seeing some investors adding conditions to automated underwriting approvals such as Fannie Mae's DU and Freddie Mac's LP.

Guest Author Randy Kelly is a Mortgage Banker and Finance Author with Boulder West Financial Services. He can be reached on-line at http://www.boulderwest.com/.

CAR Summer Conference and Business Meetings set for Keystone June 16-19

June 16th -19th is slated as the time for the CAR summer business meetings and conference, to be held in Keystone.  The conference will include the CRS 103 course, Personal & Career Management, on Monday followed by the Mountain Region Reception.

The Conference Keynote Lunch will be Tuesday followed by a choice of educational opportunities that include a 3 hour class or two one hour classes. Tuesday night the popular PSF Drinking for Diamonds Reception and dinner dance will take place.

Following the Conference, the summer business meetings will take place on Wednesday and Thursday. The conference registration form and schedule of events are available online. Use the following links for more information;

Schedule of Events

Registration Form

Conference Hotel Information

New Building Green marketing course now available online

Van Education Center is proud to announce the launch of our second Building Green course, Marketing High Performance Homes. The course, a 3 hour Continuing Education course, is available online at www.vaned.com.

This course is a follow up to the successful Building Green course, A High Performance Home, which debuted in 2007. This new course will teach students identify and communicate the benefits of green properties, and will identify practical benefits that the High Performance Home provides to the customer or client.

Both courses available now at www.vaned.com.

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter proclaims April 21-16 Foreclosure Prevention Awareness Week

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter proclaimed April 21-26 as Foreclosure Prevention Awareness Week, which is a result of a $1.5 million National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling grant that was recently awarded to CHFA. The grant will allow CHFA to support marketing and outreach activities that guide homeowners at risk of foreclosure, as well as support the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline.

This week CHFA, the Colorado Division of Housing and Brothers Redevelopment, who operate the Foreclosure Hotline, have organized outreach activities that are meant to raise awareness about free counseling resources that are available to those who are at risk of foreclosure.

One of the events where outreach will take place this week will be the Adams County Housing Fair, which will be held on April 26th at the Adams County Fairgrounds from 10am to 3pm Saturday.

Click the link to learn more about the Colorado Foreclosure Protection Hotline, and you may also view a YouTube video about the hotline.

Finance Friday: Then there were none.

Over the past decade, the largest purveyors of low doc, no doc, stated income, and option arms were Greenpoint, Countrywide, ALS, and Washington Mutual.  In August of 2007, Greenpoint was shut down by Capital One, their parent company.  Shortly after, Countrywide began experiencing financial difficulties and stopped providing all except agency (Fannie, Freddie, and FHA) loans.  A few months later, Lehman shut down their mortgage subsidiary, Aurora Loan Services.  Last week, Washington Mutual effectively stopped accepting new mortgage applications.  They shut down their wholesale division and closed all but one of their loan centers.  Washington Mutual was the leader of the option arm, which is a monthly adjustable loan with extremely low starting payments that often results in negative amortization.  This effectively limits borrowers to standard VA, FHA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac loans.  Even the "jumbo" FHA and Fannie Mae loans are still priced higher than the loans under the old conforming limits.

Numbers released this week continue to show a weak economy.  Housing starts fell off a cliff in March, dropping to lowest level since January 1991, and very close to a 40 year low.  This is after starts reached a 25 year high in January 2006.  Jobless claims increased by 17,000 to 372,000 newly unemployed workers.  This brings the total number of unemployed to almost 3 million.   Increases in the inflation indices's along with continuing increases in the cost of commodities points to higher inflation which adds to the confusion.  Oil hit $115.00 per barrel and the euro hit $1.60 earlier this week.

The tug of war between a slowing economy and the fear of inflation has investors leaving the safety of bonds and mortgages for stocks as the Dow had one of its strongest weeks.  It appears that future Fed rate cuts are almost over, which sent the yield on the 10 year treasury to over 3.8% on Friday after trading under 3.5% earlier in the week.  Rates for no point low fee mortgages increased to 6.25%. Rates will probably stay above 6.00% until there is another financial disaster.

Guest Author Randy Kelly is a Mortgage Banker and Finance Author with Boulder West Financial Services. He can be reached on-line at http://www.boulderwest.com/.

VanEd Presents: ABR ~ Accredited Buyer Representative designation

VanEd has begun offering the ABR® - Accredited Buyer Representative designation, online! The ABR® designation is awarded by REBAC, the Real Estate Buyer's Agent Council to REALTORS® who complete the ABR® course and one elective course. VanEd also offers all of the optional elective courses to help students complete the educational requirements toward the designation.

Successful candidates will also need to submit documentation verifying five completed  transactions where they were the Buyer Representative. (Transactions closed prior to  taking the ABR® course or within three years after will count)

Visit www.vaned.com/ABR for more information on this prestigious designation now offered through VanEd! This course may also be used for up to 12 hours of CE credit in many states. For information on which states, or to register for the course, Click Here!