Mortgage News

Blogging has been light lately, but there are quite a few things going on here at lenderama that I want to update you about.

I’m working on converting the Open Source Training Manual into a wiki format. This should allow contributors to add content more easily. I’m always looking for more volunteers.

REMBEX has been a huge success. 440 Real Estate and Mortgage Blogs are now included in the search engine. Be sure to contact me if you blog is not yet in the system.

My Bookmarking Tool has an ever increasing readership. If you are already a user, be sure to check out the Spotlight section. I now post the date of the latest update to the tool so you can verify you have the most current addition.

To be honest, I’m a little bit disappointed at the performance of my Mortgage Pro Search Engine. This is a great free tool to help mortgage professionals find companies that cater to the industry. I would greatly appreciate it if you would spread the word to your piers about this tool. Thanks in advance.

I will have more stories on the Build Your Own Mortgage Blog series finished over the next week. I will then build a dedicated page for this project.

Lastly, after an initial flurry of activity, I haven’t received any ghost reviews for a couple weeks now. Remember, if you sell stuff to Loan Originators, this is a great way to market your product for free.

Original post by Todd

Original post by Todd

While the Real Estate industry has really embraced blogging it seems that the mortgage blog is slower to catch on within the mortgage industry.

There are some really active Mortgage bloggers - here are a few to visit:

Scott Gormley - http://www.caloanblog.com/
Brian Brady - http://www.brian-brady.com/
Shailesh Ghimire http://azmortgageguru.blogspot.com/

New sites under development:
Huntsville Mortgage Loans

Original post by mortgage blog

Per this article http://startupmeme.com/2007/04/16/zillow-becomes-illegal-in-arizona, it appears that the State of Arizona feels that Zillow.com is acting as an unlicensed real estate appraiser by offering its automated valuation serivces.

Here is the original article on the story:
http://www.columbian.com/news/state/APStories/AP04152007news126881.cfm

What do you think?

Original post by AnthonyK

Per this article http://startupmeme.com/2007/04/16/zillow-becomes-illegal-in-arizona, it appears that the State of Arizona feels that Zillow.com is acting as an unlicensed real estate appraiser by offering its automated valuation serivces.

Here is the original article on the story:
http://www.columbian.com/news/state/APStories/AP04152007news126881.cfm

What do you think?

Original post by AnthonyK

Saw this at Bigger Pockets, but bloodhound blog has some insight as well. The Arizona Board of Appraisals, in a myopic, 1st Amendment trampling power play to protect their own monopoly has issued a cease and desist order to Zillow.com claiming they must hold an appraisers license in order to offer “Zestimates” in Arizona. Dumb.

First off. They can’t win such an argument. Zillow does not charge for their Automated Valuations. It’s not a service, it’s speech. You, me, your neighbor across the street, and Zillow all have the right to say, “I think that house is worth $350,000″.

However, the overlooked aspect of this power play is that they have just turned their allies into enemies. If, in their opinion, only a licensed appraiser can guess at the value of a home, that means real estate agents and loan originators have no business providing this information either.

If I were a Loan Officer or Real Estate Agent in Arizona, I would take great offense to such a move. I would be telling the appraisers I work with that I won’t be doing business with them again unless they publicly denounce it.

When eloan became prominent, the National Association Mortgage Brokers created a nationwide marketing campaign to inform consumers of the advantages of working with a local agent. I see similar ads for Realtors in the face of the growing FSBO boom. If appraisers associations were smart, they would highlight the difference between a real appraisal and a Zestimate. Instead, it looks like a few of them are preparing to waste their money on an unwinnable cause that alienates their strategic partners. Dumb.

Original post by Todd

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Original post by Darin

This is a question that was emailed to me this weekend after the reader listened to the Ibis Seminar I posted last week. One place I go is my own Market Report, written dailey by Myers Internet. On a weekley basis, I read Mortgage Credit News from Lou Barnes of Boulder West Financial. Lou has a great talent for explaining market forces to pedestrian readers. You can even subscribe to his market report and have it emailed weekly. This is one email I actually look forward to every week.

Original post by Todd

Original post by Todd

Back in January I posted the following:

B of A Blogging?
Bank of America is probably planning a coporate blog - who cares. The corporate blog will be as cold and faceless as the corporate web site. Blogging is for the individual. Once each B of A loan officer has their own mortgage blog and can post freely without censorship then B of A might begin to benefit from mortgage blogging. This may take years but more likely will never happen. Therein lies an opportunity for the small, local mortgage broker to use blogging as a competitive advantage. The door is open.

After looking at yesterday’s post - I feel that is more likely the scenario for any large corporate blogging attempt. Mortgage blogs are about reflecting your personality and your knowledge and linking to people and things you like - this is when the mortgage blog is most effectively used.

Original post by mortgage blog