“The Deed for Lease Program provides an additional option for qualifying homeowners who are facing foreclosure and are not eligible for modifications,” said Jay Ryan, Vice President of Fannie Mae. “This new program helps eliminate some of the uncertainty of foreclosure, keeps families and tenants in their homes during a transitional period, and helps to stabilize neighborhoods and communities.”

Many see this as a calculated bet from Fannie Mae, that home prices will be higher another year into the economic recovery.  The question that remains is, will it work?  Big banks got into this crisis by over leveraging themselves during the subprime mortgage days.  This move sees them once again putting all their eggs in one basket and betting on a rise in home values.

Fannie Mae will not have to list the homes as “for sale” so on their books they will show a revenue increase and will not have to write off the loss.  This will also make the ever growing shadow inventory even more complicated to dissect.  Many economists guess the number of homes that are currently foreclosed on but have not yet been listed on the market at over 7 million.  The move by Fannie Mae will significantly increase the shadow inventory, but it will be difficult to know by how much, given that the house will not technically be foreclosed on until the lease runs out.

If the bet pays off, it could be a win/win.  The homeowner will have cheap rent for at least one year, while Fannie Mae will take less of a loss when they do finally sell the house.  If however the shadow inventory starts making news and home prices decline even further, tax payers will be left with the bill. Again.

J.D. Power’s polling results show that the importance of additional services has increased by 12 percentage points among buyers and by 8 percentage points among sellers from last year alone.  Simultaneously the survey reports that the use of these services has declined due to cutbacks among services offered by real estate agencies.

“In a tight market, every aspect of service offered will be scrutinized very closely,” Jim Howland, senior director of the real estate and construction practice at J.D. Power and Associates said. “For this reason, it is critical for real estate companies to promote the value that they bring to buyers and sellers, not only in any additional services they offer, but also in their agents and operations.”

Choosing and agent is a tough decision in the best of times, and can be downright daunting in hard economic times such as these.  Looking into the services offered by a prospective agency is a great place to start.  Not all companies are cutting services. In fact some are even offering new and creative options to help their clients such as the Mortgage relief Package.

Other findings in the study include:

• The proportion of first-time home buyers has increased considerably — to 56% in 2009 from 44% in 2008.

• For both buyers and sellers, the agent is still the most important driver of overall satisfaction.
• Home sellers report that, on average, 3.2 open houses were conducted for their property in 2009, compared with 4.5 in 2008.
• Approximately 64% of home sellers used a Web site listing to market their home in 2009, up from 61% in 2008.

 Mortgage Relief Program 2009

 

“After 15 years in East Valley real estate, this is my way of giving back to our community. With unprecedented prices and historically low interest rates, we have removed the last obstacle keeping buyers from becoming homeowners. This promise only helps in this uncertain time.” says Troy Reeves.

Troy Reeves and The Reeves Team are real estate industry innovators with over a decade of experience and hundreds of satisfied clients. Troy Reeves has created industry firsts, like:

“One Hour Return Call or Dinner For Two Is On Us”

“The 90 day Sale program”

“If you are not happy with the home you purchase with us, we will sell it for you FREE”

Troy Reeves was also one of the first REALTORS® in Arizona to create a “team” concept in the real estate market.

The following Terms & Conditions Apply:

• One or both spouses lose* their job over the next 365 days.  (person whom loses job must be primary mortgagee).
• Person or persons must purchase home with RE/MAX & The Reeves Team in 2009 and Troy Reeves & Team must receive 3% co-broke upon purchase of that home.
• If new home owner, at any time replaces or starts new job within 120 days of losing it, mortgage relief package does not apply   *”Lose” means laid off  (does not mean fired or quit)

Troy Reeves and Fox 10 News

When a television station calls your office, it’s sure to get some attention.  When Fox News Channel 10 arrives at your office – you get even more attention.

On Thursday, new anchor Alex Savidge and his cameraman stopped by our Gilbert RE/MAX Alliance office to interview Troy Reeves about our new Mortgage Relief Program.  A program that is now getting nationwide attention.

If you missed seeing Troy on both the 6pm and 10pm news, here’s the link to the interview.

We’ll be posting additional information and the video on our site soon.

Remember, Troy Reeves and The Reeves Team are community advocates who are dedicated to turning houses into homes – one neighborhood at a time.