Lou Tice and Goals

Lou Tice at the Pacific Institute is a great business leader and motivator…this is what he says about Goals in his encouragement today…

In order to move ahead, to reach goals that we have set for ourselves, we need to make the future picture of what we want more inviting, more attractive, more necessary than staying in our current reality. This is easier than it sounds, because of two things innate in human beings. We have the ability to use “forethought” – looking forward – and to use our imaginations. In other words, we can look ahead and dream of a future. As far as we know, no other creature on earth has these two abilities.

When we set a goal, and create that gap I mentioned yesterday, energy and creativity are unleashed in our minds. Those dreams of the future cause ideas and drive to close the gap – and we are tremendously creative creatures! We can dream of just about anything, and make those dreams reality.

One more piece: As we near completion of the goal or dream, we no longer need the energy and creativity. Drive and ideas disappear. We have closed the gap, and creativity is no longer needed. Effectively, you shut down. You’re done. You compare where you wanted to be with where you have landed, and it is the same place, the same answer.

Goal achievement is a time for a little celebration! Each of us deserves a little pat on the back for a job well done. But keep in mind that we now shut down, and future growth is put on hold.

Bank of America Announcement…

News Alert from The Wall Street Journal

Bank of America has told U.S. regulators that it is willing to retreat from some parts of the country if its financial problems deepen. Executives at the financial giant put the potential move on a list of emergency scenarios submitted to the Federal Reserve last year. While people close to Bank of America insist that no retreat is imminent, even the possibility of selling branches and losing customers it spent huge sums to lure underscores the depth of its problems

Jumbo Loans…Can We Make Them? Yes!

A Jumbo Loanis a mortgage with a loan amount exceeding the conforming loan  limits set by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), and  therefore, not eligible to be purchased, guaranteed or securitized by  Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. OFHEO sets the conforming loan limit size on an  annual basis. Also referred to as “Jumbo Mortgage”.

Jumbo loans are often  securitized by institutions other than Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. These  securities carry more credit risk than those issued by Fannie Mae or Freddie  Mac, and therefore, trade at a yield premium which translates into slightly higher interest rates. However, in  recent years the spread in interest rates between jumbo and conventional  mortgages has been reduced.

Depending on where you are in California, the highest conforming loan limit is $729,750….which means a loan higher than this would fall into the Jumbo loan category.

At Ocean Pacific Capital, we do Jumbo loans up to $2 million, and the rate today is as low as 3.75%. For those of you that have an existing mortgage that is at a higher interest rate than this might consider re-financing, and a new Jumbo loan might work. E-mail me with details and we can see what is best for you.

Rochester, NY….a Great Future?

In real estate, we are always looking at ways to maintain the economic base of a community, for this has a direct impact on the local economy, the housing market, and the overall general atmosphere of the area. We often read about the problems many of the cities in the east have had as their economic base has either moved out, moved overseas, or just collapsed. In reading the Wall Street Journal, I ran across this article on Rochester and found it to be very interesting and informative as it relates to what has happened to many that were at Kodak. Enjoy reading what could become a great future story for upstate New York:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204336104577092313580006528.html?mod=WSJ_hps_sections_smallbusiness

Facebook tips from Darrel Miller

Darrel Miller is a good friend of mine and sends memos out on residential mortgages, which is his field and he does a very good job. He also send out general business memos, and he sent me this one on Facebook, and I think it is good and wanted to pass it on in my blog.

8 Things to Focus on for Facebook Marketing!

Facebook is the biggest social network on the planet–more than 800 million active users. So you really can’t ignore it in your online marketing strategy. Here are some tips to take your Facebook effort to the next level.
1. Don’t stray from your topic.
When people “Like” you on Facebook, they expect subsequent posts to relate to you and your industry. Here’s how to keep the ideas coming:

• Think why you visit a page–you’re looking for tips, an answer to a question or information you don’t see elsewhere
• Tie a current event to your business
• Ask your audience to post pictures, stories or questions about your industry to your wall
• Repost the best content back out as an update
• Share a humorous YouTube video that connects to your industry

2. Drive traffic to your website. Don’t bury your web address on the info tab where visitors can’t find it–display it in several places. The first place to feature your web address is in the “About” field of the info tab. It’s in the very visible left sidebar of your Facebook page. But only the first 80 characters are displayed before a “More” link appears. So put your web address first.
3. Give them a reason to become fans.
Use a Reveal tab to offer first-time visitors a call to action. Encourage them to Like your fan page in order to receive a coupon, a free trial or special information. This is a great way to increase fan conversion rates while offering real value to becoming a fan. 4. Ask them questions. Be sure to make the questions interesting, even entertaining. It’s a great way to get your Facebook fans talking. Go for questions that need just one-word answers or are otherwise easy to respond to. Best of all are questions about the fans–people love to talk about themselves.
5. Mark your milestones.
When you reach a milestone, celebrate with your fans like you would with friends. Even if it’s something small, pull your fans in and thank them.
6. Add a picture. Put one in every Facebook status update you can. Use pictures of yourself or your customers, employees and special events. And be sure to crop them…they’ll be tiny on Facebook, so zoom in! There’s really no such thing as a bad picture.
7. Work the network.
Tap into your Facebook audience to get instant feedback, ideas on new products or services, insights on how to market better and which topics are trending with your audience. Be proactive!
8. Study the data. There are currently unmined volumes of data that have been crowd sourced through Facebook and other social media. Start experimenting with data mining, data-driven analysis and intelligence now, because that’s where we’re going. Learn how to use data to create more intelligent, more targeted and more effective marketing campaigns.
Start using these tips to leverage the power of Facebook right away…. Enjoy a great month, and thanks to Darrel for getting these to me, and Happy New Year.

Re-Financing Commercial Property and ARM’s…more to think about.

Earlier today, Al Yoon, in the WSJ, offered some very interesting insight into the reality of the Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARM’s), which were put in place 5 years ago during a commercial real estate boom time. I have been talking about re-financing commercial property, which we are doing…but Al’s comment shed a new and interesting light on the subject, for some of these ARM borrower’s may be up against some increased costs if they are going to continue to finance their projects. Here is part of what Al says:

At the height of the boom years, many owners of office buildings, hotels, shopping malls and other commercial real estate financed their properties using five-year mortgages, most of which are set to mature next year.

But lenders are warning property owners that refinancing won’t be automatic, and the low mortgage rates in the headlines probably won’t apply to them anymore. If properties are underwater, lenders are requiring owners to put in additional cash. In other cases, lenders will offer to refinance, but at substantially higher interest rates.

Analysts say the hard-line that lenders are taking could be especially harsh on adjustable-rate, or floating-rate, loans, where the difference between the old rate and the new rate will be greatest. Some ARMs, which followed interest-rate benchmarks in recent years, are currently under 1%. The rates are tied to the international interest-rate benchmark—the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, and are often reset monthly or quarterly.

According to Trepp, a company that tracks mortgages packaged into securities, of the $70 billion in commercial mortgage-backed securities outstanding that are coming due next year, $15.5 billion of fixed-rate mortgages and $12.2 billion of adjustable-rate mortgages have been flagged as potentially facing tough hurdles when they try to refinance.

So, if you find yourself in a similar position, then maybe you should start thinking of your next step, and let me see what kind of a re-financing package we can do for you. At Ocean Pacific Capital, our track record over 30 years is one that cannot be ignored, whether it is in a boom time or a  down time like we are now in. Yes, one may be paying a higher rate than an ARM, but it could still be at an almost record low for mortgage rates. And, the full article by Al is in today’s on line WSJ.

Enjoy the Detour

My good friend, Mike Ferrier, keeps me filled with encouragement and hope as he sends me these weekly updates. Always enjoyed and applicable, and this one is a good one for the coming year. Here it is:

Enjoy the Detour

The really happy person is the one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour….Anonymous

The roads of life do not always take us where we think they will.  That does not mean you are going the wrong direction, but a different direction. You are where you are right now.  You can enjoy it for what it is or waste an opportunity.

When Carla and I were on our honeymoon on the Oregon Coast, we purposefully did not plan where we were going to be on any day and made no reservations ahead of time, except for the first night. You can do this up there in March. I don’t recommend it in August. One day we found ourselves on a dilapidated country road somewhere outside of nowhere.  We could have been concerned we were not making progress.  Instead we enjoyed the rustic view.  One of us said the theme worlds of the trip, “Want to shoot it?”  We stopped to take pictures of a 1930′s Ford truck which was melting with rust and covered with vines.  It was next to a large dairy farm. This old guy in rubber boots and coveralls walked over and asked, ” What the hell are you takin’ pictures of that old thing for?”  To us it was a beautiful combination of colors, life overcoming the man-made and the light was glorious. To him it was a old pile of junk they had disposed of long ago.

Goals are to be set and attained, but please don’t forget to enjoy the journey on the way to the goal.  Even if it is a detour in a direction you did not intend.  Carla and I choose not to let the honeymoon end.  The trip is too wonderful.  We are always looking for opportunities to say, “Want to shoot it?”

The Russians Are Coming…to a degree.

I was recently in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and there was a lot of talk about the Russians investing in Dubai and Middle Eastern real estate…and certainly they are traveling in that part of the world to an unprecedented level.

So then today, reading in the Wall Street Journal….the following, and it looks like they are continuing to invest in the US….and I found it interesting. Check out the WSJ for more detail on this…but here is a summary:

Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman is launching a real-estate fund that will focus on distressed properties from Boston to Miami, in the latest example of a deep-pocketed foreigner placing some chips on the U.S. real-estate market.

Mr. Fridman, who founded the Russian financial-industrial conglomerate Alfa Group, is part of a venture that plans to invest in properties with a total value of about $1 billion, he said in an interview. Most of the money in the fund will come from Mr. Fridman.

Stay tuned….the world is changing…even in real estate holdings.

Student Housing and the Investor

With many of the 75 million “Echo Boomers” born between 1976 and 1994 headed to college this decade, student housing finance has become an important niche in the apartment industry. The greatest increases in enrollment between 1990 and 2003 were concentrated in warmer states, such as California, Arizona, and Florida. The top growth schools for undergraduate enrollment were different from the top growth schools for graduate students enrollment, which could have meaningful implications for the type of housing needed at individual universities. Ocean Pacific Capital has been at the forefront of the growing need for structured financing of student housing buildings. With access to over 87 aggressive direct lenders and investors specializing in student housing finance projects, we can offer a comprehensive commercial mortgage loan program to fit the individual needs of the buyer. For more information and the various programs we offer, please e-mail me at   ronlargent@yahoo.com

In 2012….is refinancing an option?

As we approach a new year, I get questions on where I see real estate going in the next year. Who knows? The guru’s were wrong 5 years ago when they said, and I was probably among some of these….downturn would be over in a couple of years, and here we are 6 later and still seeing some of the lowest prices of real estate in 25 years. But, one thing is also very evident, namely the unbelievable low rates to borrow money. The next question is “should we refinance our property?”.  This is a very individual option, but if one is an owner-investor in commercial real estate, it might be worth the time to check this out. During the “boom time” some 6-10 years ago, a lot of commercial development was taking place, and money was plentiful but the interest rates were consistently higher than the residential rates. Because of this, the timing might be right for an owner to consider re-financing now, for the commercial rates are almost where the residential rates are, which is a first time occurrence. And, it might be a “slam dunk” process for many.

With a new loan, the lender has to take an in-depth look at all aspects of the transaction, from the value of the property to the credit-worthiness of the buyer. All aspects of the transaction has to “make sense”. With a re-finance, there is a track record of performance for the property. And, there is a history of maintenance and improvements, and all of this is considered by the appraiser, and the lender.  It is easier for the lender to consider the positives and negatives of a property when a pattern of success in the management of the property has occurred.

If re-financing is something that you have been thinking about, let’s talk.  A number of factors has to be considered, from the cost of the new fiance to the savings over a period of time. You may want to involved your CPA for advice. But, contact me and we can start the conversation. And,   www.largentfinancial.com   has info on rates and the various programs that might fit for your particular property.