Leadpile’s Blog

I could not believe my eyes when I saw this article on Yahoo. According to the Associated Press, a Michigan home sold to a women for $1.75 on Ebay. There were 8 others that had a bid on this home, however this Chicago women won out with her under $2.00 bid. It appears there is some work to be done on the home and some back taxes, however no matter how you look at it, it is a GREAT deal.
The sad thing in all this is that someone lived in this home and unfortunately lost their home. The women that purchased the home has not even seen the home, and has no intentions on living there. With what is happening in today’s economy, this is bound to be happening more. At one point or another hopefully Ebay will be more known for it’s bid environment on products, not homes. Time shall tell.
Leadpile Lead Exchange is also a bid environment where we match the buyers and sellers of leads. Fortunately, we will not be matching up someone who lost their home to a buyer for $1.75.

In recent months with all the foreclosures happening around the world, there is unfortunately some that are trying to capitalize on this. According to MSNBC, one in eleven consumers are facing foreclosure or behind on their mortgage payments. Therefore, consumers are trying to get out of this situation in any way they can. However, there are those scam artist that are trying to take advantage of these consumers trying to get out of their tough situation.
There are two types of scams going on right now with home owners. There are the scams where the consumers are asked to put up some upfront fees to pay for the “assistance”, but then the scam artist disappear with their money. “But the more lucrative scam involves seducing homeowners into complicated transactions that allow con artists to steal equity in the house or walk away from the closing table after netting thousands in phony payouts,” according to MSNBC.
This is a huge problem for home owners that are already in a bad situation. Before allowing anyone to assist in “helping”, all consumers need to really know who it is that they are working with. Asking questions and checking out specifics of these companies/individuals can hopefully prevent some from getting scammed. Unfortunately, peoples hardship is another person’s gain. Our home is one of the largest investments we will ever have, and we can’t allow those criminals to take that away. This can not happen if we are all aware and educated on the different types of scams.

Leadpile Lead Exchange does not currently generate a lot of foreclosure leads, however if there is a company out there that is truly wanting to help consumers from going through this sort of situation, we are certainly able to look at generating more leads. Matching up consumers with legitimate companies to help them is also our goal.

I just finished reading that The House is expected to pass a $300 billion housing rescue bill aimed at aiding homeowners in trouble and help them avoid foreclosure and supporting mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

If the Senate passes the bill and Bush signs it, thousands of borrowers will be able to refinance their unaffordable old mortgages into new, low-cost fixed-rate loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration.  

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that 400,000 borrowers with $68 billion in loans may benefit from the program. The bill will only allow as many as 1 through 2 million borrowers to participate in the program.

Some of the qualifications for these loans are as followed:

• Prior loan issued during Jan 2005 – Jun 2007
• Have an up to date mortgage or in default
• Once loan is reissued you will not be able to take home equity from your home for 5 years unless used to pay for up keeps on home.

This will definitely help the mortgage industry.  More loans officers will start focusing on purchasing mortgage leads from lead exchanges as they will now be able to help the consumer. 
 

According the AP, Wachovia Bank said Monday it will quit offering a mortgage payment option that allows borrowers to pay less each month than the bank charges in interest. These loans have been called Pick-payment loans, with a negative amortization option. With less and less loan options for Consumers, there is even a bigger need to compare rates and programs for Consumers. Comparison Mortgage shopping is about to become an even bigger business. Even with less consumers currently shopping for mortgages, the ones who are should provide a nice opportunity for certain Lead Providers, Affiliate models, or Lead Exchanges.

According to MSNBC today, the Bank of America acquisition of Countrywide Financial Corporation is official and should be completed by July. However, this scenario is all too familiar to this industry. Mega giant ACC Capital Holdings (parent company of Ameriquest Mortgage and Argent Mortgage) was acquired by Citigroup and then soon after, ALL the remaining Ameriquest Mortgages branches were shut down. However, Bank of America doesn’t seem to be hiding the fact that they are going to be cutting 7,500 jobs over the next two years, but they did not mention specifically where yet.
So what sort of affects will this have on people? There area a lot of people that are going to be out of work and a lot of customers that are potentially going to be seeing a different lenders name on their mortgage statement. Either way, there are a lot of people that have a really tough road ahead for them, but there are resources that could help.
As a lead company Leadpile will see some affect from this in different aspects. For instance, there still could be those consumers that are still looking to refinance their home, or other customers needing help with all that debt that will be piling up. We want those lenders out there that are still looking for FRESH leads of people wanting to refinance their home. We are the perfect marketplace for those lead buyers.

Leadpile is an exchange of the buyers and sellers of those lead types and many more. We welcome them all so we can try and help as many of these people affected by this situation as we can!

According to Bloomberg,  Mortgage applications in the U.S. declined last week, led by a slump in refinancing as borrowing costs surged.  Sales will probably remain depressed as lenders restrict credit, and concern over inflation boosts mortgage rates. The highest mortgage rates in a year may have precipitated the slump in demand. The average rate on a 30 year  fixed-rate loan rose to 6.57, the highest level since June 2007, from 6.24 percent. 

So what are Mortgage Companies to do? 

They have one of two choices… Go big in a downturn, get small and ride it out, or close their doors.

What does a Lead Marketplace do for Mortgage Companies right now? Do what they have always done…Let the demand drives the lead…simple and easy.

Many people are wondering if buying a home is a good idea right now. A recent article on CCNMoney revealed that RealtyTrac announced that the banks are the most desperate sellers.  Lenders report 197,800 homes were foreclosed in the from Jan 1, 2008 – April 30, 2008.

So is it a good time to buy? Yes! And a  good place to look may be homes that are bank owned.  Banks are trying to get rid of many homes, and they may be willing to take less than what they are worth.  Many people say to look for homes that are at least 90 days old.  Definietly hire a broker to assist you.

Also have the home inspected to make sure the value of the home is truly there.  Consider any maintenance or renovations that would need to be done and deduct that from the asking price.  Hire an expert!

What does this mean for the Real Estate Brokers! More business!! Obviosuly they can get leads for first time home buyers at the lead exchange, and sell homes even in tough times.

We ALL know those lovely dancing people in the Lower My Bills advertisements. Unique online advertising that promotes consumers to click on their animated banners. Anyone in the mortgage world who has ever bought leads, has probably at some point or another purchased leads from this company. In recent weeks, I have been writing some various posts about different aspects of our economy and how it seems to be affecting different online companies.
Who would have ever thought there would be an affect on such a large company as Lower My Bills.  It appears that it has.
LMB it seems is now getting into remarketing through email campaigns?  They weren’t doing this already? From what I read they were not.  So what could be the reasoning behind something like this? Was there never a need to remarket because the payouts on selling leads multiple times was enough to satisfy them? Has business slowed down so much that they need to remarket their database to generate new online activity (new leads, clicks, better EPL etc)? Maybe the cost for online marketing is too costly for them, and they need to come up with lower cost ways to generate leads?
No matter what the reason is, there seems to be not one industry or company that is not some how affected by what is going on in our economy.
Companies must start thinking outside the box in order to come up with more efficient ways to generate business at a lower cost.  Email marketing seems to be the answer for Lower My Bills, so what are other companies going to do to adjust and stay afloat?
I HOPE THAT DOESN’T MEAN THE DANCING PEOPLE BANNERS ARE GOING TO GO BYE BYE……..

I saw a news story last week that reminded me of something else I had recently read on Andy Jacob’s SuperCloser that I had to check out. Mr. Jacob stated that he read in the LA times a story about a San Diego Developer that was giving away a house in Escondido to whoever purchased a house in the San Pasqual Valley.

 Ironically I then heard an ad on the radio about a Phoenix builder, giving away a Toyota Prius if you purchase “green” home in Queen Creek, Arizona, or in a 55+ community in Peoria, Arizona. No other upgrades just a new Hybrid car.

 There was then a man that was trying to sell a 2 million dollar home. As an incentive he partnered with a local BMW dealership to let the buyer choose 1 of 6 of their $65,000.00 BMW’s, and the homeowner was going to pay for it.

 These are all genius ways to get their names out there to the public.  These stories have been done in the news or on the internet in hopes to generate some interest in selling some homes in this slumping housing market. Is this a new and creative way to generate interest in selling a home?  Other ways of selling the home were not successful?  I guess the logic is the more people talking and reading about this interesting scenario, the more their name or brand will get out there to people who may not have heard of them. Free advertising? …….or is it really desperate measures to get rid of a home that would not sell any other way?  I will say one thing:  very creative!  They caught my attention.

Thirty-year, fixed-rate mortgages edged up to 6.09 percent from 6.08 percent last week, Freddie Mac reported in its nationwide survey. It was the highest mark for 30-year mortgages since the rates hit 6.13 percent the week of March 16. The survey also showed that other types of mortgage rates declined. Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages dipped to 5.65 percent from 5.66 percent. The five-year, adjustable-rate mortgage fell to 5.51 percent from 5.62 percent. The rate on a one-year, adjustable-rate mortgage fell to 5.06 percent from 5.22 percent.

What does this mean to buyers of Mortgage Leads? Simply put, it looks like the supply will be going down in the short term. Only those mortgage Companies with excellent “sales cycles” will be able to monetize Internet lead sin a meaningful way!

Mortgage Companies…Get you closers on the line! They need to close better than ever!

Wallstreet reports that the economy unemployment rate jumped up to a 5.5% in May.  To top it off, gas prices has hit $4 a gallon!  So does this mean more people are starting to work from home to save money?  How is this affecting our economy but yet building up more home based business?

More and more people are starting to work from home.  They might not make as much money, but they are saving hundreds of dollars a month in gas.  And at the rate gas prices are rising its no suprise why people choose not to drive.   The number of work at home people are increasing everyday. The unemployment rate is also increasing.

Perfect time to get some quality real time leads.  With more people staying home and being part of some type of home based business or multi level marketing, leads are becoming an effective source for these consumers.  Its less expensive (in some lead marketplaces) to just buy leads and make sales from home or sign people up than to drive to work for a steady income.  I’m sure this is not the case for everyone but our unemployment has definately hit the highest its ever been since February, 1986 according to WallStreet.

Purchasing a car has always been something that was a necessity, but also potentially enjoyable for consumers.  However, alot of consumers used to get new cars from money they took out on their home equity loans.  With less home equity loans/refinances happening, this is affecting the auto finance industry.  In addition, those consumers that were doing a direct loan with the auto lender,  are having a harder time getting approved for that auto loan.  ABC consumer who used to be approved for a subprime auto finance loan is now having to jump through more hoops to get that loan.  This is ultimately affecting the lead generation industry, because less leads are as “attractive” because lead buyers are having to increase their minimum requirements.  Consumers with outstanding car loans are also affecting this industry because these same consumers are falling past due on their mortgages, paying $4 a gallon gas and therefore not able to pay the car note….or go out and get a new car.  So then what?  Those cars have to be repossesed and everntually sold at an auto auction for pennies on the dollar.

When will this get take a turn for the better?