Local real estate insights — from the people who know
CEO of Bamboo Consulting and a former leader of multiple reputable real estate companies around the Bay Area, Carole Rodoni candidly speaks with Intero COO, Tom Tognoli and shares her thoughts on today’s luxury market.
Read more on Carole Rodoni here.
Innovative brokerage company further expands national presence with the opening of the first Intero® Andare(sm) office in Texas
Silicon Valley, CA – Intero Franchise Services, Inc. has signed a master franchise agreement in Texas with Avanti Capital Management (“Avanti”), a real estate investment group operating in the Houston metropolitan area.
Avanti will operate as a master franchise of the Intero Brand with an exclusive territory that encompasses the Houston, Texas metropolitan area. Avanti’s aggressive growth plans include, through an affiliate, opening its first company owned office located in West Ave, this spring. West Ave is a hip luxury urban neighborhood located in the heart of River Oaks. Initial franchise locations are planned in the Katy and Woodlands markets.
“We are honored to align with the Intero family of companies, a premier brand with an amazing story that is rapidly expanding domestically and internationally,” said Avanti CEO and President of Intero Houston, Daniel Ciscomani. “We are excited to introduce a fresh approach into the Houston market with innovative systems, training, technologies, and unmatched executive leadership.”
The Intero office in West Ave will be led by local broker, Katie Maxwell, and will feature the Intero Andare design, a smaller technology-rich and more eco-friendly space designed for today’s mobile REALTOR.
“The economics of a real estate brokerage today are different than a few years ago,” said Tom Tognoli Intero COO. “Ciscomani’s progressive business philosophy coupled with the Intero Andare office model will revolutionize the way real estate is done in Houston.”
Intero President and CEO Gino Blefari added, “Continuing to build on our global presence, this agreement presents an incredible opportunity to further align Intero with internationally recognized U.S. markets.”
The launch of Intero Houston follows the recent announcements of Intero UK, Intero Shanghai and Intero Hong Kong locations.
About the Intero® brand
Founded in 2002, Intero Real Estate Services, Inc. has quickly become one of the premier real estate brands in the U.S. In 2004, Intero Franchise Services Inc. began franchising and currently is operating in many of the western states. In 2009, Intero International Franchise Services, LLC embarked on developing territories in Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Americas. The companies are private and headquartered in California’s Silicon Valley.
About Avanti
Avanti is a Texas based boutique private equity group that represents an exclusive network of domestic and overseas investors who are seeking attractive investment opportunities in real estate.
Much of the housing news this week focused on a new finding that the number of home sales may have been overstated for the past few years by the National Association of Realtors, which closely monitors sales data. I’m here to tell you that this is not the important story of the week for those of us living and working in the Bay Area.
No, the important housing story for us is actually pretty fair news: Bay Area home sales were up in January compared to the same month a year ago. According to the real estate monitoring service DataQuick, 4,966 homes sold in early 2011, which was lower than December numbers but higher than January last year.
January and February typically are slow months for housing, and DataQuick pointed out that this makes it difficult to use these months as trend predictors. But a year-over-year increase is a good thing and could mean we are indeed seeing the beginning of that slow recovery we’ve all been talking about for 2011.
The fact that a home in my neighborhood just sold in less than three weeks also contributes to my optimism.
What else is new as we dig through the first set of numbers for 2011 in the Bay Area?
Not stellar, but not a bad beginning to 2011.
As we work through the year, remember the importance of discovering the data in your local market. What’s being talked about at the national level in real estate very often has nothing to do with your home sale or purchase.
The Obama Administration’s new budget proposal came out last week. The one loud message I took away for would-be home buyers? Loans are cheaper today than they’re likely to be in the future.
That means if you’re thinking of buying a home this year or in the near future, now is the time to get going.
A lot of the proposed changes have to do with the future of Fannie Mae and Freddic Mac – the two mortgage finance giants that are backed by the government to keep a steady flow of funds available for the nation’s home buyers. While their fate is still being worked out, there are some related changes that could go into effect this fall that would impact home buyers. They are:
1. The maximum size of mortgages backed by Fannie and Freddie will be smaller come October. Currently, the limit in high-cost areas like San Francisco is $729,750 for a single-family home. That amount will drop 14% to $635,500 when the current limits expire. What this means is that a substantial number of homes in San Francisco county, for example, (10%, according to the California Association of Realtors) will become ineligible for financing backed by the two finance companies.
2. Bigger down payments are on the horizon. We discussed some of the other measures on the table a few weeks back that are outside of any Fannie/Freddie discussions. But now, in the government’s attempts to shrink Fannie and Freddie, some new proposals for the mortgages backed by these companies would mean that borrowers would face a requirement of 10% down with mortgage insurance – up from 5%. Not a lot of details are available about any of these proposals as of today, but we’re expected to know more by April.
3. Fees, fees fees. The Federal Housing Administration in November could begin raising annual mortgage insurance premium fees by 0.25% for all borrowers, according to the proposals. Basically, that means an extra $250 per $100,000 of loan per year.
As I’ve noted before, this is the year of big changes in housing regulation – many of which are aimed at protecting consumers and the American public from another collapse in mortgage finance. However, the consequence is looking more and more like higher costs to borrowers. So if you’re going to buy, you might want to speed up your decisions before a lot of these things start to take effect.
Intero brand and innovations now available in the UK and beyond
Silicon Valley, CA –-Intero International Franchise Services, LLC, has signed a master franchise agreement to extend the Intero brand into new markets with GPEA, LTD.
GPEA, LTD is the owner of two of the largest real estate networks in the UK, the Guild of Professional Estate Agents and Fine & Country. Together their more than 700 offices service the UK.
Mike Bidwell, Former COO of Fine & Country and today’s CEO of Intero UK explains, “My intention for bringing the Intero® brand to the UK is to revolutionize real estate. The Intero presence in the UK as a leading brand will provide quality services and solidify exceptional relationships.”
Intero Chairman Robert Moles adds, “We are thrilled with this agreement because it allows us to walk right through Europe’s front door to expand the Intero brand, and our spirit of innovation, to a market hungry for a new approach to the traditional real estate brokerage.”
Malcolm Lindley, Founder of the Guild of Professional Estate Agents, stated, “My commitment to maintaining a higher standard in global luxury real estate is perfectly suited to the Intero brand and the people who stand behind it. The systems, training, technologies and unmatched executive team all contribute to an extraordinary approach to real estate that will find great reception in these new markets.”
The launch of Intero® UK follows the recent announcements of the first Asia Intero franchise, Intero Shanghai and the opening of the Intero Hong Kong location.
“Our continued expansion represents the Intero commitment to a global brand presence, a necessary element to thrive and innovate in a real estate business,” concludes Intero CEO Gino Blefari.
Announcing the opening of Teddy Carlson-Brown and Dennis McDuffee’s new Intero Real Estate Services office in Markleevillle, CA
CUPERTINO, Calif. – Teddy Carlson-Brown and business partner Dennis McDuffee announced the opening of their new Intero Real Estate Services office in Markleeville, CA on February 3, 2011.
Teddy Carlson-Brown, broker and owner of the new Intero Markleeville as well as Intero Gardnerville which opened on October 14, 2010, explains: “Intero is an exciting company with a whole new perspective on selling real estate.” She feels that providing agents with cutting edge technology, the best in training and tools and a positive, high energy work environment, along with strong leadership and management is a necessity to being successful in real estate sales in today’s market.
“We are pleased to have Intero Markleeville become part of the Intero® family,” said Intero Real Estate Services President and CEO Gino Blefari. “We’ve always thought about expansion in terms of the individuals involved, not the geography. We go where we find people who are the right fit for Intero because they have the same values and believe in the culture we’ve created. Teddy and Dennis are those people. With them on board, we simply couldn’t pass on the opportunity to expand into Alpine County, California.”
Teddy has been a top producing real estate agent for the past 15 years. She is a licensed broker in both California and Nevada and specializes in residential and land sales. Teddy has had many wonderful years with Coldwell Banker ITILDO Inc. in the Carson Valley, but was ready to take her career to the next level and that meant owning her own company.
Dennis McDuffee, partner, added: “We plan to have a small office of agents who work together as a team and who possess the qualities for success.”
Teddy and Dennis have opened the doors to their new real estate office in Markleeville, CA and are focused on creating an energetic office with happy and satisfied clients as the end result. Their team includes Beth Cressaty- CA & NV Realtor, John Cressaty- CA & NV Realtor, John “JP” Pilkinton- CA & NV Realtor, Dennis McDuffee- Broker/Partner and Teddy J Carlson-Brown- Broker/Owner.
Intero Markleeville
14831 Hwy 89
Markleeville, CA 96120
530-694-2794
www.interoalpinesierra.com
www.alpinecountyrealestate.com
Hours of operation: Thursday-Saturday 11am – 4pm
Expanded hours of operation in the Spring, Summer and Fall
Spring is near and though the snow banks still comprise the landscape of much of the country, it’s only a matter of time before the big thaw. Spring traditionally is one of the busiest times in housing markets. While it’s too early to tell how this season will impact sales volume and prices, this spring may see heat in another closely watched market in real estate – that of home equity loans.
Home equity lending is back, according to a recent article in Smart Money magazine online. Home equity loans enable homeowners nationwide to tap their home’s equity in order to borrower cash. Ideally, that cash is used for home improvements that contribute to your home’s value. But during the years that led up to the recession, these loans notoriously were used for all but that.
Some interesting statistics from the Smart Money article:
-In the Midwest, Associated Bank issued nearly three times more home equity loans in the second half of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009.
-SunTrust Bank, operating mostly in the south and Mid-Atlantic, has issued 25% more home equity lines of credit in the past six months compared to the first half of 2010.
-At Citizens Bank, which has branches mostly in the northeast, HELOC originations were up 35%.
OK, seems like good news, but why? What does this really mean?
Well, for starters, this is great news for homeowners who maybe can’t sell or don’t want to sell because now they can at least work on adding potential value to their homes with renovations and remodels. (If they have adequate equity to begin with, that is.)
So we’re talking potentially good impact on home values over the long term. Although, again, let’s not forget all the other factors that go into home values like jobs, incomes, supply and demand.
A word of caution:
Home equity loans have been controversial since the housing boom days when some homeowners were basically using their homes as ATMs, cashing out to buy the latest SUV or take the family on a once-in-a-lifetime Australian Outback expedition. Lenders haven’t forgotten this – and neither have those homeowners who tapped out so much equity that they now find themselves underwater or foreclosed.
Home equity loans, or HELOCs, can give some homeowners a fantastic boost when used toward the types of home improvement or remodeling projects that actually add value to your bottom line home equity. But used irresponsibly or, one might imagine, as a source of temporary income to get through a prolonged layoff, and they suddenly become much much riskier for all involved.
An increase in home equity lending is a good sign for our economy, but homeowners need to proceed cautiously. Do your homework on how you plan to use the money, try not to overextend yourselves and have a plan for a worst-case scenario in the event that you need to sell much sooner than you anticipated.
Leading brokerage company further expands presence in Asia-Pacific region
CUPERTINO, Calif. — Intero International Franchise Services, LLC, announced the opening of its first office in Hong Kong, solidifying its presence in the Asia-Pacific region. This is the first Intero© owned office outside of the United States.
Intero U.S. Realtor Kenny Lo will head the new office, located at the One International Finance Centre at 1 Harbour View Street, Central, in Hong Kong. Lo has served Intero real estate clients since 2009 with dedication and integrity, attracting investors from Hong Kong and across the Pacific region to U.S. residential and commercial properties.
Robert Moles, chairman of Intero, said, “A number of Hong Kong investors are already waiting to take advantage of opportunities in U.S. and Bay Area real estate markets in particular. The Asia-Pacific region’s economic growth, high real estate prices and rising currencies relative to the U.S. dollar have created a lot of interest in U.S. properties.”
“Expanding the Intero brand in the Asia-Pacific region is important to the brand’s reputation as a global leader,” said Intero CEO Gino Blefari. “Kenny Lo is a perfect representative – a stellar Intero agent, working directly from Hong Kong, bridging the Pacific divide. Hong Kong investors will now have knowledge and access to real estate markets throughout the Bay Area.”
Lo said, “We have several active real estate deals already in progress with Hong Kong investors and U.S. properties. I’m proud to be a pioneer for Intero Hong Kong.”
The opening of Intero Hong Kong follows the recent launch of the Intero Shanghai license with Global Gate Property Corp (“GGP”). GGP is an international real estate group, who works with investors seeking to gain exposure to real estate investment opportunities.
It’s said that the pendulum tends to swing too far in either direction, and while I don’t know if that’s true in physics, it’s certainly true when it comes to mortgage products.
Let me explain.
For a long time, we had very limited mortgage products. There were basic fixed rate loans and a few adjustables. Then the pendulum started to swing.
In the mid-part of the recent decade, the subprime world was incredibly innovative in creating new mortgage products. These new mortgages had bells and whistles galore, and they had every feature imaginable.
The only problem was that all those loan products forgot one big thing, to take the borrower into consideration.
The loans had features meant to appeal to Wall Street, but lost in the shuffle was whether the loans were good for borrowers or not, whether a borrower could actually afford these loans.
When the subprime world blew up in 2007 and 2008, the pendulum swung back in the other direction, and that’s where we are today. Today’s borrower has very few choices, and like the proverbial baby getting thrown out with the bath water, a once legitimate-adjustable loan barely exists. It’s as if the sub-prime adjustables ruined the very concept of variability.
Today’s borrower, however, wants more choices. I talk to our Bankers every day as this seems to be a real theme they are hearing from borrowers.
As a result of this, Western Bancorp has decided to go back to the future, and we have come out with a variation on the original California Variable, a wildly popular loan type not seen since the 1980’s.
We call it the Safe AML
These are the loan features we are bringing back:
Very Low payment changes:
Payment caps are the feature of adjustable mortgage loans that control affordability. Our safe AML’s adjust cap is a .50%. Converting our .50% cap into dollars looks something like this: for every $100,000 dollars borrowed the most a payment could increase or decrease during any adjustment period is about $28.00. It’s very affordable.
Affordable life cap of 7.25%:
Life caps are also very important as they protect borrowers from huge increases over time. Most life caps on adjustable rate loans today are between 9% and 11%. The safe AML’s life cap of 7.25% and this is only 1.5% over today’s 5.75% fixed rates. At some point in the future, the borrower could have a payment slightly higher than today’s fixed rate. This is a worst case scenario, however, and it’s not a bad trade off.
Low 3.5% start rate:
Again, today’s Jumbo fixed rates are around 5.75% to 6.00%, so our start rate is way, way lower. This wildly increases the borrowers buying power.
The safe AML allows for a qualifying Debt-to-income ratio of 50%:
Because we have designed a loan that is so safe for consumers, we can allow their new mortgage payment to be as much as 50% of their income. Your buyers can get more home and more affordable payments.
Loan amounts up to $2 million!
We love Jumbo loans. We feel very strongly about the local market and as a local banker we are making a bet on supporting the high end.
We created this loan at Western Bancorp, and not only is it a good loan for the borrower, it shows what I believe is a major strength of the mortgage banker: The ability to take an innovative idea and turn it into a specific loan. My hope is that other Bankers will follow our lead and create mortgage product that help increase home sale and affordability.
Intero Real Estate announced some exciting news this week – we signed our first franchise agreement in Asia in Shanghai, China. This news is significant in that it marks not only the beginning of our company’s growth in Asia, but also a noteworthy shift in the real estate industry itself: increased globalization.
We’ve known for some time at Intero that international real estate buyers present stellar opportunity for business growth. Now that more folks are waking up to this reality, China represents a fantastic opportunity to connect more property investors to investments in U.S. real estate and throughout the rest of the world.
Chinese buyers are all around us. An article in the New York Times last fall described the droves of Chinese buyers moving in on properties in London. We’ve seen similar interest in the San Francisco Bay Area. (There’s even more info on this trend in this Bloomberg BusinessWeek article from 2009.)
What does this mean for us business folks in the industry and the clients we represent? Well, I think it’s all positive and I think it creates an opportunity to truly see things differently, and rethink:
-How we market our properties,
-To whom we market our properties,
-Language and cultural barriers,
-How distance impacts a real estate sale, and
-How we educate the public about these transactions.
Our Intero office in Shanghai will focus solely on education and providing information about international investment opportunities to high net worth clients in China.
Real estate is local and now it’s also global. It’s an idea that can seem confusing at first. How can one thing be both? I think the answer lies in the connectors of the two – the agency providing the service. Those who can successfully navigate this complex connection will be essential in future real estate markets, and this is why Intero is leading the charge.
Real estate is now a global enterprise, folks, and our reach cannot be limited by borders. Innovation will stretch far outside the neighborhood block.
A weekly e-newsletter with fresh market data and candid insights from Intero CEO Gino Blefari
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