VanEd Newslog

Finance Friday: Treasury begins buying mortgages

The US Treasury started buying mortgage backed securities this week in an effort to ease the frozen capital markets.  Investors have been reluctant to purchase any mortgage backed securities that are not either guaranteed or sponsored by the government.  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have become the lender of both first and last resort.  Allowing investments banks to trade mortgages or treasury securities should ease this situation.  This has lowered the spread between the cost of mortgage securities and treasury securities by over one quarter of one percent.  However, this spread is still almost twice as high as it averaged for 2007.

Mortgage rates remain stubbornly high this week with no point low fee loans still at six percent or above.  Adjustable rate mortgages have all but disappeared as these rates are as high or higher than the fixed rate loans.

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: First online Colorado Mortgage Broker Education courses ~ available today!

Van Education Center, the leading online provider for real estate and appraisal education courses online in Colorado, today announced that it had begun offering the first approved online education program for Colorado Mortgage Brokers. VanEd, now celebrating our 10th year in distance education, will begin offering the required mortgage broker education as online, or self-study, classes immediately.

Students will have the opportunity to complete the program at their own pace, working from home or office. VanEd includes all materials with the complete mortgage broker qualifying education package. All currently licensed or new pre-license students will be required to pass a state mandated exam after completing the required mortgage broker education. The individual classes, which range from 4.5 to 16 credit hours, will be offered either individually or as a package. VanEd has announced Introductory discounts running through the month of April of up to $75 on the complete 40 hour qualifying or pre-license package.

For information on the newest program offered online exclusively by VanEd, or for more information on the state requirements for all Licensed Colorado Mortgage Brokers, visit http://www.vaned.com/mortgagebrokers.

Fun Run/Walk to support the Colorado REALTORS® for Education Grant Program

The Colorado Association of REALTORS® announced that the Fun Run/Walk that is a CAR Summer Conference tradition will for the first time benefit the Colorado REALTORS® for Education grant program. The Run/Walk will be held in Keystone on Tuesday, June 17th 2008.

The grant program has just completed a grant cycle, and recipients of the more than $11,000 available during this current cycle are to be announced soon. The program is designed to help support teachers who desire to run additional unfunded projects in the classroom. The program is funded by online course sales from the Graduate REALTOR® Institute online course sales and donations, and was created as a joint venture between CAR and VanEd.

For information on the CAR summer conference, visit the CAR website. For more information on the Colorado REALTORS® for Education grant program, visit www.vaned.com/charity.

VanEd Presents: SRES ~ Senior Real Estate Specialist Designation course available online!

Van Education Center offers the online SRES^®, Senior Real Estate Specialist designation course. The SRES^® Designation course will instill a new level of knowledge and understanding of the 55+ real estate customer. Agents who complete this training will gain the skills and recourses needed to serve this special and growing segment of the real estate market.

The SRES^® course also receives MRE, Master of Real Estate Credit and can be used as an MRE elective for those candidates who wish to learn more about this specialized market. You can learn more and enroll by clicking here.

VanEd is proud to provide access to the SRES^® training online through our Designations Information Pages. If you have any questions about the SRES^® designation or any other designation program, including the MRE, Master of Real Estate designation, visit our designation information page online at www.vaned.com/designations.

Finance Friday: Fannie Mae announces risk based pricing.

Just when we think it can't get any crazier, it does.  Watching the Bear Stearns stock price drop from $60.00 per on Thursday to under $28.00 per share at the close on Friday led many to believe we would have a collapse of the financial markets on Monday.  On Sunday, JP Morgan Chase announced they would acquire Bear Stearns for $2.00 per share as long as the government agreed to assume the risk of $30 Billion of questionable mortgages.  The FED also opened the "discount window" to non-banks, agreeing to buy good quality mortgage securities. 

These actions relaxed the financial markets and prevented a "run on banks". On Wednesday, Federal regulators eased the capital requirements for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which will provide an additional $200 billion to help prop up mortgages.

These actions improved mortgage rates as the spread between mortgages and treasuries decreased.  Today no point low fee loans are under 6.00%.  However, many investors are beginning to implement the risk based pricing announced by Fannie Mae on March 6th.  This won't affect any buyers with FICO scores of 720 or above, but severely impacts purchasers with lower scores.  For instance, buyers with FICO's below 720 with less than 30% down will pay a .5 point (fee, not rate) surcharge.  A buyer with a FICO of under 640 will pay a surcharge of 2.50 points with less than 30% down.  Also this week many Mortgage Insurance companies have changed their guidelines in areas designated as declining markets, which covers much of California, Florida, and Nevada. 

These changes are making it difficult (if not impossible) for buyers with credit deficiencies and a lack of down payment to purchase homes.  The only positive is the new FHA limits that were announced earlier this month should help many buyers qualify.  With the demise of 100% financing FHA may be the only low down payment option for cash strapped buyers.

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/.

Colorado Mortgage Broker Education requirements

Colorado mortgage broker education requirements have been established by the Colorado Division of Real Estate. The Mortgage Broker Education Task Force, established in 2007, has determined the necessary pre-license or qualifying education requirements. At this time all Colorado mortgage brokers will be required to complete the mortgage broker courses and a state mandated exam before the end of 2008.

Mortgage brokers are encouraged to get an early start on their required mortgage broker courses. Mortgage broker education in Colorado will be offered by VanEd beginning at the end of March, and VanEd is currently awaiting approval for the new curriculum. For more information and to view all of the new Colorado Mortgage Broker Licensing requirements, visit our new Colorado Mortgage Broker Information page online at http://www.vaned.com/mortgagebrokers.

IRS releases Stimulus Payment Schedules & Calculator to estimate stimulus payments

The IRS announced yesterday that they will begin sending out the more than 130 million economic stimulus payments as early as May 2nd. The payments will be sent weekly through early July. The IRS expects to make up to 34 million payments within the first few weeks of May. The majority of those receiving payments early will be those whose returns are received and processed by April 15th, and who have elected Direct Deposit on their Federal income tax returns.

It was also announced that the IRS created a new online calculator designed to estimate the amount of a taxpayers stimulus payment based on the payment schedules. Click here to use the on-line calculator.

Below are the schedules sent out by the IRS yesterday for economic stimulus payments related to tax returns processed by April 15, 2008. There is also a podcast from the IRS that discusses the economic stimulus payments. To listen to the podcast, Click here.

Stimulus Payment Schedule for Tax Returns
Received and Processed by April 15

Direct Deposit Payments
If the last two digits of your Social Security number are:	Your economic stimulus payment deposit should be sent to your bank account by:
00 – 20	May 2
21 – 75	May 9
76 – 99	May 16
Paper Check
If the last two digits of your Social Security number are:	Your check should be in the mail by:
00 – 09	May 16
10 – 18	May 23
19 – 25	May 30
26 – 38	June 6
39 – 51	June 13
52 – 63	June 20
64 – 75	June 27
76 – 87	July 4
88 – 99	July 11

REALTOR® Rally in Denver scheduled for this Wednesday

This year's REALTOR® RALLY, which is being held in Denver at the Colorado Convention Center, is being held on Wednesday, March 19, 2008. Almost 300 Exhibitors will show the latest in real estate industry tools, services and programs to those attending the Rally.  Several Education Sessions will be held throughout the day, as well as a Keynote Session with featured speaker, Terry Watson.

VanEd will be in there showing off our newest courses and offerings, including our upcoming Mortgage Broker Education program, so come stop by and say hello. We'll be in Booth 181, and we'll be raffling off free Continuing Education courses!  Online registration for the Rally has closed, but you can still register on-site. For more detailed information, including schedule and directions, go to www.RealtorRally.org.

Finance Friday: Treasury to buy mortgages

The US Treasury announced on Wednesday it would begin buying mortgage backed securities from several primary dealers beginning on March 27th.  This should ease mortgage rates as the spread between mortgages and treasury securities reached over 3.00% last week.  In fact, while rates on the 10 year treasury security have dropped by over one-half on one percent since the first of the year, mortgage rates are actually up over .50%.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have also released guidelines on the purchase of loans with the new limits, often referred to as Fannie Mae Jumbos.  The rate premium has not been set yet, but it will probably be slightly higher than current conforming rates, but substantially lower than most jumbo products.

The financial markets had another crazy week.  Gold surpassed $1,000 per ounce, oil hit $110.00 per barrel, and the Euro hit an all time record of $1.56.  The wild swings in the stock market led to a drop in interest rates.  The rate for no point low fee 30 year mortgages has dipped close to 6.00%.

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/.

Colorado continuing education requirements & Anniversary Date renewal information

VanEd has been fielding questions regarding Anniversary Date renewals and continuing education requirements. To assist our students and affiliates in understanding the mandatory CE, renewal and Ethics requirements VanEd has posted an information page online.

Visit www.vaned.com/cerequirements.htm to see the latest requirements for anniversary date renewals. NAR ethics information is also listed there, and VanEd has updated both of our Ethics courses to include all of the updated 2008 information.

Looking for courses to help you meet your continuing education credit? VanEd has recently updated or new courses including the following;       click on a course title to view the outline

• Real Estate Short Selling Basics
• Preparing a House for Sale
• Residential Environmental Hazards Screening
• Building Green: The High Performance Home

Click Here to view all of our current real estate continuing education courses

91st Annual Nebraska REALTORS® Association Convention & Expo

                          Broadcasting Live - April 14-16, 2008
from the Cornhusker Marriott Hotel
Lincoln, NE

The Nebraska REALTORS® Association is set to hold their 91st Annual Convention & Expo April 14th - 16th in Lincoln. Attendees will be able to attend NRA business meetings, training and education events, and see more than 200 exhibitors in the expo hall.

Monday marks the opening of the annual NRA business meetings as well as a networking lunch and the opening of the exhibit hall. Tuesday offers morning and afternoon education sessions. Wednesday the exhibit hall will close at 2:00pm.

You can use the links below to find all of the information on the NRA conference and expo!

Schedule of Events   -   Registration Info   -   Hotel Information (the Cornhusker)   -   Conference Info

VanEd Presents: CIPS ~ Certified International Property Specialist

The Certified International Property Specialist, or CIPS, organization was founded in 1953 as a real estate education curriculum that focuses on the critical aspects of international real estate transactions. VanEd is proud to present four of the CIPS courses online. 

The courses in the CIPS program are designed to give students intensive study focusing on currency and exchange rate issues, international and regional market conditions and investment and tax issues related to international real estate transactions. REALTORS® must complete the "International Real Estate for Local Markets" course before joining the CIPS Network. This course also counts as 12 credit hours towards the MRE, Master of Real Estate designation!

To learn more about the CIPS designation and the courses available, visit the VanEd information page online at www.vaned.com/CIPS. Continuing Education credit is also available in some states!

Finance Friday: New HUD loan limits

The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced new loan limits effective March 5, 2008.  These limits are in response to the stimulus package that was passed in February.  The new loan limit for the Denver metro area for example, including Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, and Jefferson county is $406,250.  The limits are higher in the ski resort communities.  Pitkin and Summit counties have a $729,750.  For a county by county breakdown of loan limits nationwide, visit the HUD website and this link; https://entp.hud.gov/idapp/html/hicostlook.cfm.

This week was another bad week for interest rates as the spread between the mortgage backed securities and the treasury bonds hit levels not seen since 1986.  The interest rate for a 30 year fixed loan is typically about 1.50% higher than the 10 year treasury security.  The spread increased in 2007, reaching 2.25% by the end of the year. In January the rate on the 10 year treasury was close to 4.00% while the rate on a 30 year fixed mortgage was 6.25%.  Last week the 10 year treasury yield fell to 3.51% while mortgage rates rose to 6.375%, which is a spread of almost 3.00%.  The widening spread is caused by both a lack of buyers (no one wants to hold mortgages today) and banks dumping their mortgage backed securities in an effort to raise capital.

Rates for no point 30 year fixed loans today are close to 6.5%.

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 note: Realtor.org has also put together a hard copy of the new loan limit breakdown. You can view that online or print it out by clicking here.

Ethics courses, updated online for 2008, meet NAR Quadrennial Ethics Requirements

VanEd has completed the updates to both the NAR Mandatory Ethics course as well as the Ethics and Professional Practices courses online! Both of these Ethics courses meet the NAR Quadrennial Requirements due in 2008, and both now include all of the updated information regarding the newest changes to the code of ethics.

The following sections of the code have recently changed:

• Duties to Customers & Clients Article 1, Standard of Practice 9
• Duties to The Public Article 10, Standard of Practice 10-14, and Article 12
• Duties to Fellow REALTORS® Articles 15-17

The following courses cover the most recent changes to the Code of Ethics. Click the links for info:

4-hour NAR Mandatory Code of Ethics course ~ 6-hour Ethics and Professional Practices - GRI

Notes from the Field: Energy Efficient Appliances

Energy Efficient appliances can benefit each of us. There are both direct benefits to installing energy efficient appliances, such as a reduced electric bill. There are also indirect benefits such as quieter operation of devices and energy savings in general.

But what appliances are energy efficient and will save you the most money? The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy has made available a Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings online that will, among other things, list the potential savings and even rebates that may be available for trading in an older appliance. You can view the guide online using the link below. EcoBroker has also published an article designed to give brokers and customers information regarding Energy-Efficient Appliances which can be viewed online by clicking here.

>>>>> Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings

This reliable green information is brought to you courtesy of the EcoBroker Certified® professional designation, currently offered by VanEd. Find out more online at www.vaned.com/ecobroker.

Registration is open for NAR Midyear Meetings

The REALTORS® Midyear meetings are scheduled for May 12-17 in Washington D.C. with the trade expo open from May 14-16.  REALTORS® can register now for the Midyear meetings online by clicking here. The Midyear meetings key component is the ability to interact with legislators and promote REALTOR® interests.

This year the trade expo will offer over 200 exhibitors and the NAR 100 year Centennial Celebration Gala black tie dinner will take place on Wednesday, May 14 at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. Tony Snow, former White House Press Secretary (2006-07) will lead the Legislative and Political Forum on Tuesday May 13th.

Register now by clicking here for the NAR Midyear Meetings and Trade Expo.

Fair Housing Conference scheduled for March 25-26

The Fair Housing Conference 2008 will be held Tuesday, March 25th & Wednesday, March 26th at the Embassy Suites conference Center in Lincoln. This day and a half event is limited to only the first 300 registered attendees and is being hosted by the Lincoln Commission On Human Rights.

Sessions will cover implementation of fair housing practices into real estate business activities, avoiding complaints and landlord tenant law. Funded in part by a grant from HUD, the Fair Housing Conference also has sessions covering disability law and Fair Housing for Elected Officials. For more information and a registration form, visit the Nebraska REALTOR® Association web site, or click here for a registration form.