Wednesday, October 14, 2009
ePropertyWatch
Check out this website I found at epropertywatch.com
ATTENTION HOMEOWNERS! This is a FREE service from a reputable, national service provider that keeps you abreast of EVERYTHING having to do with your home. Register today.
Posted via web from CAREPROS
Monday, October 12, 2009
Fed Report Shows One in Three Mortgage Apps Denied, Higher for Minorities
via dsnews.com
Not only is discrimination in housing a violation of federal law, it is also against the the Code of Ethics of most professional trade associations, such as the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB). If the discrimination is a violation of a state fair housing law, a complaint should be filed with the state agency in charge of enforcing the law. The Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) administers and enforces federal laws to make sure all Americans have equal access to the housing of their choice.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Let's See This Home For Sale in Colorado Springs, CO 80909
Call Me To Take A Look At This Lovely Home For Sale In Colorado Springs!
For a virtual tour, click here! For a personal tour, call 877-566-5808!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
NYT: First lady’s slave roots revealed - The New York Times
By Rachel L. Swarns and Jodi Kantorupdated 7:50 a.m. ET Oct. 8, 2009WASHINGTON - In 1850, the elderly master of a South Carolina estate took pen in hand and painstakingly divided up his possessions. Among the spinning wheels, scythes, tablecloths and cattle that he bequeathed to his far-flung heirs was a 6-year-old slave girl valued soon afterward at $475.
In his will, she is described simply as the “negro girl Melvinia.” After his death, she was torn away from the people and places she knew and shipped to Georgia. While she was still a teenager, a white man would father her first-born son under circumstances lost in the passage of time.
In the annals of American slavery, this painful story would be utterly unremarkable, save for one reason: This union, consummated some two years before the Civil War, represents the origins of a family line that would extend from rural Georgia, to Birmingham, Ala., to Chicago and, finally, to the White House.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad hereMelvinia Shields, the enslaved and illiterate young girl, and the unknown white man who impregnated her are the great-great-great-grandparents of Michelle Obama , the first lady.
Viewed by many as a powerful symbol of black advancement, Mrs. Obama grew up with only a vague sense of her ancestry, aides and relatives said. During the presidential campaign, the family learned about one paternal great-great-grandfather, a former slave from South Carolina, but the rest of Mrs. Obama’s roots were a mystery.
Now the more complete map of Mrs. Obama’s ancestors — including the slave mother, white father and their biracial son, Dolphus T. Shields — for the first time fully connects the first African-American first lady to the history of slavery, tracing their five-generation journey from bondage to a front-row seat to the presidency.
The findings — uncovered by Megan Smolenyak, a genealogist, and The New York Times — substantiate what Mrs. Obama has called longstanding family rumors about a white forebear.
While President Obama ’s biracial background has drawn considerable attention, his wife’s pedigree, which includes American Indian strands, highlights the complicated history of racial intermingling, sometimes born of violence or coercion, that lingers in the bloodlines of many African-Americans. Mrs. Obama and her family declined to comment for this article, aides said, in part because of the personal nature of the subject.
“She is representative of how we have evolved and who we are,” said Edward Ball, a historian who discovered that he had black relatives, the descendants of his white slave-owning ancestors, when he researched his memoir, “Slaves in the Family.”
“We are not separate tribes of Latinos and whites and blacks in America,” Mr. Ball said. “We’ve all mingled, and we have done so for generations.”
The outlines of Mrs. Obama’s family history unfolded from 19th century probate records , yellowing marriage licenses, fading photographs and the recollections of elderly women who remember the family. Ms. Smolenyak, who has traced the ancestry of many prominent figures, began studying the first lady’s roots in earnest after conducting some preliminary research into Mrs. Obama’s ancestry for an article published in The New York Times earlier this year.
Of the dozens of relatives she identified, Ms. Smolenyak said, it was the slave girl who seemed to call out most clearly.
“Out of all Michelle’s roots, it’s Melvinia who is screaming to be found,” she said.
Strange and unfamiliar world
When her owner, David Patterson, died in 1852, Melvinia soon found herself on a 200-acre farm with new masters, Mr. Patterson’s daughter and son-in law, Christianne and Henry Shields. It was a strange and unfamiliar world.In South Carolina, she had lived on an estate with 21 slaves. In Georgia, she was one of only three slaves on property that is now part of a neat subdivision in Rex, near Atlanta.
Whether Melvinia labored in the house or in the fields, there was no shortage of work: wheat, corn, sweet potatoes and cotton to plant and harvest, and 3 horses, 5 cows, 17 pigs and 20 sheep to care for, according to an 1860 agricultural survey .
It is difficult to say who might have impregnated Melvinia, who gave birth to Dolphus around 1859, when she was perhaps as young as 15. At the time, Henry Shields was in his late 40s and had four sons ages 19 to 24, but other men may have spent time on the farm.
“No one should be surprised anymore to hear about the number of rapes and the amount of sexual exploitation that took place under slavery; it was an everyday experience, “ said Jason A. Gillmer, a law professor at Texas Wesleyan University, who has researched liaisons between slave owners and slaves. “But we do find that some of these relationships can be very complex.”
In 1870, three of Melvinia’s four children, including Dolphus, were listed on the census as mulatto. One was born four years after emancipation, suggesting that the liaison that produced those children endured after slavery. She gave her children the Shields name, which may have hinted at their paternity or simply been the custom of former slaves taking their master’s surnames.
Even after she was freed, Melvinia stayed put, working as a farm laborer on land adjacent to that of Charles Shields, one of Henry’s sons.
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via msnbc.msn.com
Finally! Proof that it's not where you're from, but where you're going!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
The Axiom Realty Team Is Now A Fannie Mae Approved Home Counselor!
It is our mission to make the buying and selling of real estate as cost effective as possible while maintaining the highest level of service, providing accurate and up-to-date information, skilled analysis, and sound real estate advice, while continually exploring new ideas and technology that make the buying and selling of real estate faster, less costly, and easier to accomplish.
Well, we outdid ourselves this time! That's right, we are now a Fannie Mae approved home counseling agency!This means we will soon be able to:
Stay tuned for more! Or call us at 877-566-5808 if you just can't wait!
Create step-by-step homebuying action plans for our clients Develop enhanced budgets to help our clients sustain homeownership Assess the mortgage-readiness of our clients Compare loan products to help our clients determine the best-fit Transfer client case file data to trusted lending partners in a secure environment Assist Spanish-speaking clients with bilingual calculators and worksheets Help clients manage expenses with advanced budgeting tools Use an enhanced multi-loan analysis and amortization calculator Create debt repayment scenarios using the integrated PowerPay™ debt management tool Expedite loss mitigation resolutions using a borrower’s financial statement Assess your clients’ financial readiness for homeownership using the Affordability AnalyzerTM Compare loan products and identify options more quickly with a suite of loan products Pull credit report data automatically into client files Take advantage of system reminders and appointments to manage the counseling process Develop action plans and customized budgets to meet our clients’ needs Move newly mortgage-ready clients from counseling to loan origination with automated referrals
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
The Potential of a Deficiency Judgement in Colorado Foreclosures
A deficiency judgment can happen in Colorado when a property is foreclosed and then sold (usually at auction) to the highest bidder. The “deficiency” judgment is usually for the difference between the high bid and the foreclosure judgment amount. As an example, the bank forecloses on property for which the principal balance on the mortgage is $100,000. At the auction, they receive a high bid in the amount of $80,000, $20,000 less than they are owed. The resulting $20,000 is the deficiency, and the amount for which the bank may pursue a deficiency judgment. On the borrower side of things, a Colorado judgment usually earns interest to a maximum of 8% per year, with some exceptions, until paid. Worse yet, the debtor is hard pressed to finance any subsequent purchases until the judgment is paid, sometimes not until well after. And the judgment must be paid if and when the debtor sells the property. The resulting judgment can only be removed by paying it off (plus interest) or in bankruptcy. Things are a bit different, and much simpler on the bank side of things. Most times, the bank sells the judgments for literally pennies on the dollar. When properly addressed, there are quality alternatives available to the distressed owner which may prevent foreclosure or limit the effects of falling behind on their mortgage payments. Owners should not face the distress alone, and may well benefit from seeking the advise of a competent real estate professional.
Blog entries are intended to be informational only and are not exhaustive or conclusive. Readers should schedule a free consultation if they have specific real estate questions.
The author of this posting is a Colorado licensed real estate broker. Based on the author’s research, the posting is offered to inform its readers of factors to consider regarding the topic at hand and is neither an offer or an intent to take the place of legal or tax advise. It is strongly recommended that the reader seek the advise of a licensed attorney, accountant, or other such advisor in order to fully comprehend the relevance to their individual circumstance.
Visit http://www.pikespeak-properties.com or contact the author at 877-566-5808 for a personal consultation.
Why Blame The Borrower?
The following is not intended to disparage those of us real estate professionals who work in the best interest of both our clients and customers. To you my hat is off.
But I am so tired of those fellow real estate practitioners who pass judgment on those that got in financial trouble with real estate when we, as a collective, reaped the benefits of a loose marketplace, no questions asked! It’s akin to “Wall Street” blaming investors for their stock market crashes, is it not?
First, many in the real estate, to include mortgage, business were happy to sell homes to people…the higher the sale price the better. Why? Because “we” made more money! After all, how many of you who now blame the troubled borrower have EVER told a buyer, “Now, you know that’s too much house. Let’s look at this little one, over here” ? I have, though the truth is that many of “us” didn’t care whether it was affordable, or not; all “we” cared about was whether the buyer in front of “us” had a pre-approval letter. Tell the truth.
Second, I have been on both sides of this business since 1997, and even sold a friend an ARM at 1.5% to have it shoot up to 6% within 3 years. This wasn’t a purchase, mind you, but a refi. Why? Because we were taught to sell the LIBOR based product as stable, hedged against market volatility with its 12 month averaging, blah, blah, blah. Did my friend “knowingly get in over their head”? This is not to mention the unscrupulous mortgage broker who put borrowers in ARM’s, because they could pad the rate even more and what…make more money. By the way, that large, once well respected lender is no longer in business.
Yes, I got into this business to make money, too. But also to help people with a basic need; Zig Ziglar and common wisdom will tell you those two are not mutually exclusive.
What are you in this business for?
Norberto Villanueva, Jr.
Broker
The Axiom Realty Team
3355 N. Academy Blvd Suite 279
Colorado Springs, CO 80917
Phone: (719) 304-9363
Sales: (877) 566-5808
Fax: 719-359-4157
E-mail: brokernv@pikespeak-properties.com
Buy and Sell Real Estate, Track My Blogs at http://www.pikespeak-properties.com
Saturday, October 3, 2009
10 things your real-estate broker won't say - MSN Real Estate
An axiom is a self-evident truth, something that goes without saying. As such, it is my goal to always be transparent in my business practices. If this separates me from just one less than desirable experience in your real estate journeys, than I have accomplished my goal.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
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