How to Recognize Predatory Mortgage Lenders
From Elizabeth Weintraub

Don't Be a Victim of Shady Lenders

The bulk of mortgage lenders in the marketplace are consumer oriented and comply with state / federal laws. These lenders operate within the scope of real estate law and ethically. However, there are lenders who prey on the naive and uniformed. They take advantage of people who don't know how to tell the honest mortgage lenders from the predatory types.

Just like you wouldn't buy a watch from some character in the street with bulging pockets, for example, you should not respond to unsolicited marketing efforts such as:

• Flyers thrown on your doorstep, stuck to the windshield of your car or tacked to a telephone pole


• Direct mail from companies you've never heard of before


• Telemarketers who try to pressure you over the phone

However, like with any profession that involves huge sums of money, complicated products and unsophisticated consumers, there is a potential for fraud. How can you tell if a lender is a scammer? Here are a few warning signs:

• The representative comes off as a fast-talker and smooth operator. You might get the impression that the discussion is more of a spiel that has been repeated so many times it's now rote and not a conversation.


• The rates and fees appear to be unusually high. Ask to have your FICO score explained to you and compare rates among other lenders.


• The lender is using high pressure tactics with you, urging you to sign NOW. If you are refinancing, you have three days to change your mind. If you are buying a home and obtaining a purchase loan, ask what happens if you do not immediately "lock" your loan rate.


• You are told that "bad credit is no problem" Credit is always an issue. Good credit with high FICO scores means you will get favorable terms on your loan. Bad credit might prevent you from getting any loan. Lenders who specialize in making loans to buyers with bad credit are known as sub-prime lenders and do not offer attractive rates.


• The lender encourages you to lie on your loan application and claims "it is done all the time" Do not sign blank documents and do not make false statements on your loan application. It is against the law to defraud a lender.


• You are pressured to accept a risky sounding loan you do not understand nor want. Most folks have some kind of idea how much they feel comfortable paying per month on a mortgage. Do not agree to make higher payments than you can afford to pay.
  The lender pretends to care about you but you have a funny feeling about the pretense Listen to your intuition. It is asking you to pay attention to this nagging feeling that something is not right. Trust yourself.


• You receive assurances that the loan being offered to you will solve all your financial troubles. Nothing will solve all your financial woes until you stop spending money. There is nothing magical about a mortgage, and nobody is doing you any favors in this business.


• Only one lender is offering you a loan and claims nobody else will lend to you. Talk to other lenders. Obtain a copy of your credit report.


• At the closing table, all your fees and charges are different than what you initially agreed to pay. If this happens to you, pull out your Good Faith Estimate and ask for an explanation. Continue to ask questions until you are satisfied with the answers. If you are still suspicious and do not receive satisfactory answers, get up and leave the closing table. Don't close the transaction until you speak with a lawyer.

Help put these crooks out of business. Report predatory lenders to the Federal Trade Commission and / or your state attorney general.

1st time homebuyers

Before You Buy Your First Home - Tips for First-time Home Buyers
From Elizabeth Weintraub

It's not uncommon for a first-time home buyer to say to me, "Gosh, just last week I called you about buying a home and now I'm in escrow! How did this happen so fast?"

The answer is it didn't. First-time home buyers start the search long before most even realize it.
Here's what you can expect from your home shopping experience.

Figuring Out the Benefits

You should buy a home. That's what you've been hearing from friends and family, right? So, by now you have likely already weighed the benefits and decided that home ownership was the best decision for you. That's a major hurdle now passed. You are focused and certain. Good.

Defining Search Parameters

Almost 80% of all home searches today begin on the Internet. With just a few clicks of the mouse, home buyers can search through hundreds of online listings, view virtual tours, and sort through dozens of photographs and aerial shots of neighborhoods and homes. You've probably defined your goals and have a pretty good idea of the type of home and neighborhood you want. By the time you reach your real estate agent's office, you are halfway to home ownership.


How Long Should It Take to Find What You Want?

In seller's markets, often I show only one home. After all, how many homes does one family need? A few buyers will look for years, but buyers who do that aren't motivated. A motivated buyer will find a home within two weeks. Most of my buyers find a home within two days. Good real estate agents will listen to your wants and needs and arrange to show only those homes that fit your particular parameters. Your agent should preview homes before showing them to you as well.

How Many Homes Will You See?

Studies show that the your memory dramatically improves after consumption of carbs and slows upon consuming sugar. So, layoff the soft drinks and have a hearty meal of carbs before venturing out to tour homes. The average number of homes that I show to a buyer in one day is seven. Any more than that, and the brain is on overload. Therefore, don't expect to see 20 or 30 homes; although it's physically possible to do so, you probably will not remember specific details about any of them.

The "Red Shoes" Experience

Women will relate to this. Say, you need a new pair of red shoes. You go to the mall. At the first shoe store, you find a fabulous pair of red shoes. You try them on. They fit perfectly. They are glamorous. Priced right, too. Do you buy them? Of course not! You go to every other store in the mall trying on red shoes until you are ready to drop from exhaustion. Then you return to the first store and buy those red shoes. Do not shop for a home this way. When you find the perfect home, buy it.

How to Rate Inventory

Bring a digital camera and begin each series of photos with a close-up of the house number to identify where each group of home photos start and end.

Take copious notes of unusual features, colors and design elements.

Pay attention to the home's surroundings. What is next door? Do 2-story homes tower over your single story?

Do you like the location? Is it near a park or a power plant?

Immediately after leaving, rate each home on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest.

View Top Choices a Second Time

After touring homes for a few days, you will probably instinctively know which one or two homes you would like to buy. Ask to see them again. You will see them with different eyes and notice elements that were overlooked the first go-around. At this point, your agent should call the listing agents to find out more about the sellers' motivation and to double-check that an offer hasn't come in, making sure these homes are still available to purchase.

Making the Selection

I'll let you in on a little secret. I generally know which home a buyer is going to choose, and I suspect most other agents operate the same way. It's an intuition. But I make it a practice not to steer buyers, and I insist that buyers choose the home without interference from me. It's not my choice to make.Real estate agents are required, however, to point out defects and should help buyers feel confident that the home selected meets the buyer's search parameters.

Curb appeal

How to Improve Curb Appeal

by Janet Wickell

Home Selling Advice to Help You Attract Potential Buyers

A large percentage of home buyers decide whether or not to look inside a house or take it seriously based on its curb appeal—the view they see when they drive by or arrive for a showing. You can help make sure they want to come inside your house by spending some time working on the its exterior appearance.

It's difficult to look at our own house in the same way that potential home buyers do, because when we become accustomed to the way something looks and functions, we can't see its faults. Decide right now to stop thinking of the property as a home. It's a house—a commodity you want to sell for the highest dollar possible.

Curb Appeal ExerciseThe next time you come home, stop across the street or far enough down the driveway to get a good view of the house and its surroundings.

What is your first impression of the house and yard area?

What are the best exterior features of the house or lot? How can you enhance them?
What are the worst exterior features of the house or lot? How can you minimize or improve them?

Park where a potential buyer would and walk towards the house, looking around you as if it were your first visit. Is the approach clean and tidy? What could you do to make it more attractive?

Take photos of the home's exterior. If you have a digital camera, view the color versions first, then remove the color and look at it in black and white, because it's easier to see problems when color isn't around to affect our senses.

Make a list of the problem areas you discovered. Tackle clean up and repair chores first, then put some time into projects that make the grounds more attractive.

Kill mold and mildew on the house, sidewalks, roof, or driveway.

Stow away unnecessary garden implements and tools.

Clean windows and gutters.

Pressure wash dirty siding and dingy decks.

Edge sidewalks and remove vegetation growing between concrete or bricks.

Mow the lawn. Get rid of weeds.

Rake and dispose of leaves, even if your lot is wooded.

Trim tree limbs that are near or touching the home's roof.

Don't Forget the Rear View

Buyers doing a drive by will try their best to see your back yard. If it's visible from another street or from someone's driveway, include it in your curb appeal efforts.

Evening Curb Appeal

Do your curb appeal exercise again at dusk, because it isn't unusual for potential buyers to drive by houses in the evening.

One quick way to improve evening curb appeal is with lighting:

String low voltage lighting along your driveway, sidewalks, and near important landscaping elements.

Add a decorative street lamp or an attractive light fixture to a front porch.

Make sure lighting that's visible through front doors and windows enhances the home's appearance.

Landscaping Decisions

There are times that adding elements to your landscaping can improve curb appeal, but there are other times when removing something is even more effective.

For example, we had a listing for a large brick house with large white columns. Tall evergreens, planted in front of each column, had grown taller than the roof. They obscured the columns and windows and made it difficult to see the front of the house.

We suggested that the owner remove them. She trimmed them back, but it didn't do the trick—they were unattractive and still kept potential buyers from seeing the true character of the house.

I sold the house to a couple who could see past the trees. One of their first tasks after closing was to yank them out of the ground, instantly boosting the home's curb appeal.

Most buyers cannot visualize changes, and often won't take a second look at a house if the first look doesn't appeal to them. Home buyers who can visualize changes, and are prepared to make them, expect you to reduce the price of the house to compensate for the work they plan to do.

A Few Curb Appeal Tips

If you can budget it, a fresh paint job does wonders for a dingy house. Drive around your town to find color schemes that are appealing.

Install a more attractive front door, maybe something with leaded glass inserts.
If you can't justify the cost of a new door, consider replacing plain doorknob hardware with something more attractive.

If new hardware is beyond your budget, repaint or stain the door and polish the hardware?
If you brainstorm, you'll find that there's a solution to most problems—one that lets you stay within your budget. The trick is to find the areas where improvements are needed, then work on them as best you can.

Buyer Representation in New Home Construction

Why Should You Have Representation When Buying A Brand New Home?

From time to time, we hear a buyer utter the question:

"Why do I need my own agent? Why shouldn't I just use the agent that is selling in the community?"

We asked one of our team members, to review this question and offer her response:

When I hear a buyer ask, "Why do I need an agent?" I think back to when my parents bought their 2nd house. They dove right in and made a lot of bad decisions because they didn't think they needed help, and thought they'd save some money.

In the 80's, you didn't have the option of Buyer Representation. They muddled through the whole process, negotiating on their own and taking the advice of anyone who offered. After the closing, and after having quite a lot of trouble with getting the house to appraise, my parents did some follow-up work and found that the bank appraiser had fudged to match house price to contract price. They were livid!

But sueing wouldn't have accomplished much even if they'd won, and would have cost them a whole lot of money upfront. Fortunately they stayed in the house long enough that they came out okay but that really stuck with me. So when I decided to become a Realtor, one of the main reasons was to act as a full-time, very serious advocate for my buyers, and to make sure this never happened to them.

On-site agents represent the builder and are obligated to. So, even if they wanted to, they are not there to protect your interests. It's just nice to have someone on your side who's available when and where you need them and can help you with decisions like what colors and materials resell well, what kind of Lender costs are fair and reasonable and which aren't, which building lot is a better investment over another, or any number of a multitude of related issues like this.

Every decision counts in Real Estate and nothing is minor! It's all your money and you, and I, are the only ones who are really going to care the most about making sure you make the right choices and that the Builder lives up to what he/she has promised!

All agents owe both parties to the transaction reasonable skill, care and diligence, but you need more that that. Once you have chosen an agent to represent you exclusively, you will get a committment from someone working to help you find the perfect home, and make sure your interests are served in all parts of the transaction. You'll get more than you even realize you need and learn more than you realized you needed to know. For example, if you aren't sure what the answers are to these questions, it should probably give you pause to be concerned:

Do I negotiate when offering on new construction? The answer might surprise you!

Who pays commission?

What happens after I make an offer to purchase a home?

Do I have to get a pest inspection?

What is the Customary Deposit?

Do I need to have a home inspection? If so who pays for it and when do we do it?

Will I need legal counsel?

What kind of Title should I ask for?

Why do I need a survey and who pays for that?

When do we get the appraisal and does the seller provide it?

What is an origination fee, or points?

How will my property taxes be determined and how are they paid?

Give us a call today if we can further assist you in your real estate transaction. It is one of the biggest investments you will ever make and having a trained and experienced professional on your side will make all the difference!

The Homes Around Nashville Team

Bill and Cynthia Berkley

Jennifer Devine

Realty Executives Fine Homes

615-847-1169

JetBlue cancels all Nashville flights for Monday

By MARCUS FRANKLIN

NEW YORK (AP) -- JetBlue Airways called off almost a quarter of its flights for Monday but hoped that would be the last round of cancellations as it struggles to recover from the snowstorm that saw some travelers sitting on grounded planes for hours.

The airline had scheduled 600 flights for President's Day, more than the 550 to 575 flights it has on a normal Monday, but 139 of them were canceled, JetBlue announced late Saturday.


The latest cancellations were needed to make sure all flight crews had gotten the legally mandated amount of rest before returning to service, JetBlue Airways Corp. spokesman Sebastian White said Sunday.

"Canceling one more day's operations will really help reset our airline," White said Sunday.
All JetBlue flights were canceled in and out of 11 airports: Richmond, Va.; Pittsburgh; Charlotte and Raleigh/Durham, N.C.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Austin and Houston, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; Nashville; Portland, Maine; and Bermuda.

The cancellations followed hundreds of other canceled and delayed flights since Wednesday, when the snow and ice storm that had plowed across the Midwest struck the Northeast, grounding the company's airliners at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

White said JetBlue has been using several methods in efforts to reduce the backlog of passengers stalled by the storm, including charter flights, adding flights in certain regions, rebooking passengers who had some travel flexibility to later dates, and booking seats on other airlines.

He said the airline attempted to warn passengers of the latest cancelations by telephone and e-mail.

The disruptions also meant JetBlue faced mountains of luggage checked by would-be travelers. Some passengers complained that after their flights were canceled no one could find their bags.
White said the airline had teams out in the New York City area on Sunday delivering luggage to customers.

Seniors shop for comfort in new homesState's retirement market huge, says housing expert

By LEE ANN O'NEAL , The Tennessean

When 91-year-old Ernest Backus moved to Tennessee from Ohio in 1994, he sought a home tailor-made for an older resident.

His two-bedroom condo in the southeast Nashville community of Lenox Village has wide door frames to accommodate wheelchairs, electric outlets placed higher on walls, for people with back problems, and a one-floor design.

"That's the big thing," Backus said. "My wife had health problems. Going up and down those steps was too much for her."

The demand for homes with senior-friendly amenities is expected to grow dramatically as the number of Tennessee residents who are 55 and older rapidly grows in the coming decades.
In 2000, 1.2 million Tennessee residents were 55 or older. That number is projected to rise to 2.2 million by 2030, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

If that holds true, the number of 55-and-older residents will grow more than twice as fast as the state's population as a whole.

"The single biggest demographic change that's taking place right in our midst is the retirement market. It's huge," said Edsel Charles, president of the Brentwood-based housing research firm MarketGraphics.

And many older Tennesseans are shunning age-restricted communities, opting instead to live in communities with people of all ages. But often, they want their homes adapted to fit the needs of older residents.

That was the case with Gail and Bobby Connelly.

Last year, they moved to Lenox Village after searching for a home where there would be no yard work and no stairs to climb.

"It just got the best of me, going up and down steps," Gail Connelly said of the basement-area laundry room in their previous home.

They never considered moving to an age-restricted development.

"We would be very bored in an old retirement community," said Gail Connelly, 68. "We like the young people and the middle-aged people. I don't want to see old people all the time."

For others, the shared experience of living near other seniors is comforting.

"There are several in here who are widows," said Frieda Rhodes, who lives in the 55-and-older Reid Hill Commons subdivision in Franklin. "We have a camaraderie, being the same age. We've all had our families."

She likes the quiet of her community. There are no children playing in the backyard and no teenagers driving fast through the neighborhood.

Subdivisions like Reid Hill Commons, with federally permitted age restrictions, are cropping up throughout the Midstate.

There's the 1,069-home Lake Providence development that opened last fall in Mt. Juliet. There's also a 3,000-home development in the planning stages for further east in Wilson County, said Chris Ryan, Tennessee division president for Pulte Homes.

In her one-floor home, Rhodes can walk from her garage to her patio without taking a step up or down. The door handles are lever-style instead of knobs, the hallways are wide and the bathroom has handrails.

"I don't have any knee problems, but that can crop up anytime," Rhodes said.

Bellevue growth and development

Harpeth Village Center is filling up with a variety of services, restaurants

By NICOLE YOUNG

The Tennessean

The new Publix Grocery just off Highway 100 and Temple Road is open, and several other tenants are scheduled to come on board.

Publix anchors the new Harpeth Village Center, which is being developed through a joint venture between the Barclay Group and Kimco.

According to Barclay Group broker Matt Fuller, Harpeth Village Center officials have signed leases with Green Hills Cleaners, Li-en Nails, Kyoto Japanese Steakhouse and Marble Slab Creamery.

“We have leases out for signature with four more potential tenants, including a pet store, Mediterranean restaurant, insurance office, and a game and video store,” Fuller said.“We gave our signed tenants the keys to the space last week. Most of them have submitted their building plans to us already. I expect them to open in about two to three months.”

The center includes a total of 68,000 square feet of shopping space. The new Publix takes up about 45,000 square feet leaving about 23,000 square feet available for lease.Although some negotiations are still taking place, Fuller said he hopes to have the center completely leased out within the next couple of months.

Community continues to grow

“Publix has an excellent reputation,” said Gayla Pugh, Executive Director of the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce. “This community has enough people to support a new grocery store, and all of the ones that are currently in place. I really feel like we needed this new store and the others planned to accompany it. We like good quality additions and this is going to be a beautiful center.”

The new Publix store manager, Stacy Greathouse, has already joined the Bellevue Chamber, Pugh said.Greathouse, who lives in Fairview, joined the new Publix from the store’s Franklin location.“This is a great community and the growth out here is just soaring,” Greathouse said of Bellevue. “The store is already fully staffed and we’re praying for a big turnout with the community. I think a lot of people are excited and I think they’re ready to come shopping.”

Advance Auto Parts signs on
In addition to the shopping space included in the center, the development includes four out parcels ranging in size from 1.32 acres to 0.81 acres.“We have closed on one of our four out parcels with Advance Auto Parts. The other three out parcels are in negotiations with a bank, gas station and drugstore,” Fuller said.

Construction on the Advance Auto Parts store has already begun, officials said.“Once the company purchases the out parcel, they go through an inspection period where they get surveys, legal work and permits lined up. They have to demonstrate that they are not just holding this land, they are going to develop it for income,” said Barclay Group Director of Development Ron Grunwald.

“We oversee the out parcels to make sure the development is going as planned. We want everyone to follow a design plan so that it looks like a nice center. We give the company, in this case, Advance Auto Parts, 30 to 90 days to build.”Grunwald said construction on the center went as planned on schedule.“We had some challenging weather,” he said. “But the development went smoothly. Every project always has something that is challenging.”