You guys have a pre-nup???
Agree with nearly everything you said, except time for review in Item #3 should be at least annual.
Wait ~ we could have it adjust hourly, daily, or monthly ~ just like a ARM!
How duzzit feel to be censored, Steve?

>How duzzit feel to be censored, Steve?

I won’t allow him to answer that.

You have a lot of good points in this point. Thanks for the perspective.

Phil – I’m always censored. The pre-nup was to protect my vast amount of wealth that will allow me to retire at just 80 years of age.

Dustin – Thanks!

Steve ~
You are indeed fortunate to have the lovely Kris parsing your words for you
I too expect to be able to retire in comfort with my massive passive income by age 120

“Prohibit mortgage brokers from acting as real estate agents for the same principal in a transaction (and vice-versa)”

You plan on leaving Prudential? This idea should go over well with them given that they are part owner of your in house lender.

“Other” Steve -

The perpetrator of that remark is away right now, but fortunately I speak “Steve”.

What he was talking about was the same, physical person acting as agent and loan broker on the same transaction. When agent Bob is arranging the financing and agent Bob is also acting as real estate agent and client ficuciary, there is arguably a greater likelihood that conflicts of interest will arise. At a minimum, the opportunity will exist. Further, it is difficult enough to serve in one capacity well.

Our in-house lender, First Capital, is stellar. The vast majority of our clients use their services, as do Steve and I personally, but our favorite loan consultant (link plug) does not get involved in the details of the real estate transaction save to facilitate the financing. And, we do not get involved with the details of our client’s financing save coordinating and communicating with the loan consultant to ensure that they are qualified, that sufficient cash reserves exist for down payment and closing costs, and that the appraisal and financing approval are accomplished within contractual time frames.

And, perhaps most importantly, we do not make a nickel off of our client’s loans when placed in house. I recently had an agent on the other side of a transaction, acting as both agent and loan broker, remark in reference to an issue having to do with his agent fees, “That’s okay. I’ll make it up on the loan.” Thankfully, this kind of attitude is the exception, but why allow for the possibility that judgment will be clouded because of the temptation of multiple cookie jars?

I don’t, and I am sure that Steve doesn’t, have any issue with an individual both facilitating loans and acting as agent in transactions; they just shouldn’t be doing so in the same transaction.

Steve – Thank you for your comment. If I didn’t spell it out clearly enough in my post and at the risk of being repetitive of Kris’s comment, the intent was that, in my opinion, the same person (not entity, nor affiliate) serving both rolls as real estate agent and mortgage broker for the same person on the same transaction is not necessarily in the best interest of the client. This is clearly not the Prudential model.

Sorry about any misunderstanding.

I’m all for 1-9.

10. Have an Open MLS that combines all features currently found on several individual sites (zestimates, comps, agent ratings, mortgage stuff, closing costs, etc.) The story in Inman News today about the Colorado broker is on the right track with his UniversalMLS, but include full public access. Just the whiz-bang feeling of full transparency would energize consumers. Include a feature where you could click once to float a possible offer price out there to the seller or seller’s agent.

11. Reduce all paperwork to one page so people will read and understand it.

Have a great weekend!

Jtr: good to see you reading the competition. The Bergs’ are great writers, so I have become a regular reader (also on Bloodhound), but unfortunately most of the reader comments are milktoast compared to your site (lots of smiley emoticons).

These two are up for the challenge. Send some of your bubbleinfo blog readers over here. I would love to hear Robert Cote’s “Top Ten Ways to Enhance Recovery of the Market.” Maybe Steve won’t mind if you ask the same question on your blog. I would think your no. 1 (and no. 5 and no. 10) would be, “lower your d*mn price, already.”

Jim the Realtor – You are SUCH a renegade. Who authorized you to add a No. 11? (Smiley face omitted in deference to Smithers.)

Smithers – Thanks for the visit. If you promise to come back, I promise to limit the smiley emoticons, although any real progress in that area will involve my flying to Boise to whack Phil Hoover in the knuckles. :0 By the way, you are definitely onto something with Nos. 1, 5 and 10.

Thanks, Kris. Keep up the good writing and I’ll keep visiting.

To quote the (first) Clinton campaign, “It’s the prices, stupid”.

If someone in the pweres that be circle would implement your suggestions there would be a lot less fraud and fewer problem mortgages… My favs are #1 and #8..

My suggestion for #10. A minimum credit score of 630 along with the 5% down.

Buying a home will not improve your credit. There is a reason you have bad credit and if you really want a house then you need to take the time to mend your credit fences.. so to speak..