Florida Woman Sets Up Fake Businesses For Multiple Mortgages

Rose Marie Sandrie, is being charged with bank fraud a little over $1 million after she allegedly set up many fake businesses in order to attain multiple mortgages. She is currently being held in the Florida Keys jail on a $1 million bond.

Investigators have gathered information stating that two companies owned by her, Loansource Mortgage and Sunshine Title, were used between February of 2002 and February of 2007 to make escrow account deposits and fraudulent withdrawals from her mortgages provided by National City Mortgage/PNC Bank. Essentially, she was sending false information to National City Mortgage/PNC Bank to get mortgages and then depositing money into escrow accounts which would be later transferred to her own personal accounts.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/29/2973917/woman-held-in-1-million-keys-mortgage.html#storylink=cpy

This fraudulent activity caused National City Mortgage/PNC Bank a total loss of $825,361.67.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/29/2973917/woman-held-in-1-million-keys-mortgage.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/29/2973917/woman-held-in-1-million-keys-mortgage.html#storylink=cpy

Changes in Mortgage Financing Standards

It may get a little harder for some hopeful home buyers to qualify for a loan as Fannie Mae is tightening the standards. Some of the changes include:

• Increased credit score required (up to 640 from 620)
• More tax returns to be reviewed for self-employed applicants (up to two years from one year)
• Change in maximum loan-to-value ratios for ARMs (down to 90 percent from 97 percent)

It is estimated that some of these changes could really affect a large percentage of people applying for loans, specifically self-employed and low credit score applicants. Some good news for borrowers is that some guidelines will actually be loosened such as:

• Change in loan-to-value ratio for some fixed-rate loans on two-unit properties (up to 85 percent from 80 percent)
•  Down payment will drop for some co-op loans

Tips of the Marketing Trade: Part 2

Earlier this week we shared a few ways to increase your website's results on the search engines. These include social media, comments and engagement, blogging and keywords. Here is Part 2 of this important list:

• Start a YouTube Channel. It is free and is based through the second most popular search engine in the world with over 4 billion views per day! We all have some form of expertise to share and what better way to give advice, share tips and create a brand for yourself than through interactive videos? The key to these videos is to make sure they are not too long (3 minutes should be good) and that the focus is on the consumer and how you are helping them. Self promotion and easy plugs will lose people's attention and leave you with a lonely video channel.
• Use everything Google has to offer. Since YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, you can guess who is number one. Yes, it is Google and being on the first page of it can mean major success. Google offer numerous sites and application such as Google Places, Google Adwords, and Google Plus, which should all be utilized.
• Measure your success to ensure it continues. If there is only one thing that you do from this comprehensive list, do this: Set up an analytics account for your website and study what is working and what isn't. This is the best way to ensure that your keywords are optimal, your bounce rates are low, and your inbound traffic is steady, and hopefully increasing, from your external links. If you own and operate a website, you need to know what this all means and how to measure it. Google Analytics is a great, user-friendly tool that can be easily integrated into a website and Google Webmasters is a more complex tool for the tech savvy website developers.

Tips of the Marketing Trade: How to Get Your Website in the Top Spots of the Search Engines

Being in the real estate industry means that you need to be persistent in your marketing efforts, specifically online. The era of door to door marketing is diminishing as more potential home buyers are starting their search online. It is estimated that nearly 70 percent of active lookers start through online search attempts. This statistics reiterates the importance of search engine optimization in relation to a real estate agents website. So how does one make their website rank high in the searches? There are numerous ways to aid in SEO but here are just a few to get you started:

• Pay attention to keyword details. Years ago the trick was to saturate your website with an abundance of keywords for search engines to pull from but now this can actually harm your website's rankings as the search engine's algorithms have become more advanced and detect repetitive keywords. Choose a list of 5-10 keywords that really speak to your target market, whether they are geographical, product/service orientated, or niche related. Then embed these keywords in numerous, yet appropriate places on your website. To add to this, if you have numerous websites or social media platforms, use these keywords as your anchor text for links between the sites.
• Social Media and Blogging is IMPORTANT. Social media and blogging are not always understood by industries across the board but when you are thinking about increasing your online marketing efforts, they are essential for success. Many of the social media platforms have contracts with corresponding search engines which means their sites are crawled through for active posts, customer engagement and number of external links. This also means that just having a page is not enough. The pages need to be consistently updated, every day if possible, in order to get the return you desire from the search engines.
• Incorporate reviews, comments and social sharing on your website. Getting people to be interactive and comment is the best thing you can have when providing a service to clients. This will enhance your brand recognition and create a following from potential clients. The more people you can get to say great things about your services, the more you can get them to share with their friends, and so on and so forth. Internet marketing is all about making something viral.

Stay tuned for Part 2 later this week on how to get your website in the top spots of search engines.

Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac Showing Profitds and No Longer Needing Bailout

During the 2008 collapse of the housing market, Fannie Mae and it's brother company, Freddie Mac were seized by the government after they nearly feel into bankruptcy. Four years later, Fannie Mae is reporting a second quarter profit of $5.1 billion and no longer requires federal bailout money.

One of the major causes of this increase in profit? The up and coming real estate market that is projected to continue to increase throughout 2012.

Another reason Fannie Mae is not seeking federal bailout is that the losses from the subprime era loans its acquired were much lower than expected; therefore, Fannie did not need to allocate their funds to future losses.Freddie Mac is right behind it's sister company with second quarter profits of $3 billion, resulting in no need for federal bailout funds.

The current debt held by both Fannie and Freddie equals close to $142 billion, dropped down from the $188 billion total amount of federal bailout they have received over the past 4 years.

Top 15 Real Estate Websites

If you are a real estate agent, using the right website to promote your properties is key to being successful in an era where most home buyers search online first. Check out the following list to see where your favorite website ranked in the top 15 real estate websites ranked by EBizMBA Rank according to Alexa Global Traffic Rank and U.S. Traffic Rank.


15. FrontDoor
14. Rentals
13. ForRent
12. ApartmentRatings
11. ApartmentGuide
10. HotPads
9. Apartments
8. ZipRealty
7. RedFin
6. Rent
5. Homes
4. Realtor
3. Trulia
2. Yahoo! Real Estate
1. Zillow

Large Mortgage Insurance Companies Under Investigation for "Kickbacks"

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has recently served subpoenas to MGIC Investment, Genworth Financial, Radian Group and American International Group - four of the top mortgage insurance companies servicing American home buyers.

The investigation deals with the alleged transfer of billions of premiums from the insurance companies to the banks which made the loan. These premiums were charged to mortgage borrowers and then given to the banks in exchange for more insurance business. These kickbacks are illegal and an unethical practice.

Unfortunately, these type of referral situations can be easy for banks as borrowers typically head the advice of their lenders regarding which mortgage insurance company to use. This is where it becomes increasingly important for borrowers to take a well rounded look at their options and decide which insurance company is right for their situation. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact our mortgage experts at www.aapexfinancial.net