Your lender matters, make sure you have a good lender.

Who you use for a lender can often be the difference between a smooth transaction and a nightmare that cost you hundreds or dollars and could even prevent you from getting the home of your dreams.

If you have any other questions you can leave a comment below or email Dean Ouellette.

1) Realtors under attack and fighting back – It’s something I don’t think about much, but probably should. How safe are we when we go show houses to strangers.

2) How to Stumble Upon to improve your blogging – Stumble Upon is something I used to use a lot, but have not in a while. After reading this I am inspired to download it again and start over.

3) Trulia’s balancing act: considering the needs of all our our users – Trulia admits that real estate agents are not their top priority, that should upset some agents. My personally I am fine with that, everyone has to know their audience and what they are trying to achieve and Trulia appears to know theirs.

4) Brokers: Take your time with mobile – Great point, being first to market is not always a great idea if you mess it up. If you put out garbage it is not to inspire many to download your next version, they will more than likely just delete it and forget about you.

5)  Mortgage applications decrease – Could it be seasonal, could it be because of the end of the first-time home buyer tax credit ending? Either way adjusted applications were down 12% from last week.

6) Applying for a mortgage – required documents – Although this post was written to target Boise Idaho borrowers, the information in it is generally standard information.

7) Tips for buying a fixer-upper home – This advice is not only good for investors, but agents who may be working with a first-time investor should also pay attention. If you are new, not only should you get an inspection, but you should also get a contractor to walk through to help you with a budget.

8 ) Looking for the housing bottom? These stats say it was back in February 2009 – It is amazing, seems like every time you turn on the tube and they are talking about housing it is about the bottom that is coming, yet every report out there has housing prices increasing since somewhere between February and April of 2009. It is going to be interesting to watch what happens to the market in the next year to see if this rebound will continue or if another big dip some are predicting is coming. My best guess is we stay somewhat flat.

9) Breaking: Senate Democrats reach deal on homebuyer tax credit – I first heard two weeks ago from a friend of mine who works for a US Senator in DC that a deal was coming to extend the first-time homebuyer tax credit. It appears what that deal is changes on a regular basis, but it appears something is coming. That does not mean it is a good thing, but something appears to be coming indeed.

10) You are viewing someone else’s home, it’s not yours yet – This is one we have all probably seen before, and it’s not pretty.

1) IDX is dead – here’s why – Now that most real estate websites have IDX does that make it less effective for you?

2) What you won’t learn by watching tv – Justin McHood talks about how to get the best deal on your next mortgage.

3) Fight in Congress looms on tax break for home buyers – With 40% of all homes sold this year qualifying for the tax credit, can the housing market complete it’s recovery without an extension of the credit?

4) Comparing website apples to website oranges – Don’t look at the expense of a new website to what it cost to build your old one, times have changed.

5) 5 things about blogging I didn’t know 359 days ago – After a year of blogging, RERockStar talks about what he has learned to make blogging effective.

1) Time is running out for the $8000 tax credit – Cool video on the $8000 tax credit.

2) Free mortgages? Nope – but a free book about mortgages! – Tom Vanderwell is offering a a free book “Straight talk about mortgages.”

3) Is it Wednesday already? – Even when things are rolling and you are busy keep on blogging.

4) Tip for new real estate investors – Heather has a tip for new investors on how to make sure you are not caught short when a tenant moves out.

5) 2 WordPress plug-ins that will transform your website – These plug-ins could help your real estate website.

1) Don’t hate me because I’m a real estate agent – A look at one reason the general public may not like real estate agents. Russell Shaw has a great response in the comments section.

2) Economists see housing bottom by 2010 – Most economist seem to agree the housing bottom is getting close if not already here.

3) How to calculate your mortgage payment using spreadsheet formulas in Excel, Numbers and Google Docs – Dan Green shows you how to set up a spreadsheet to run monthly payments.

4) Understanding the short sale addendum or SSA – A closer look at the short sale addendum and how it effects buyers and sellers as it appears in California, your state may be similar or completely different.

5) Even though much of the current real estate “news” is really just hype, there can still be food reasons for you to be in the market – Greg Swann takes a look at how the market may be on an artificial high because of the $8000 tax credit.

Many people are stuck in their current mortgage. They can’t refinance for any number of reasons. Some of the most common reasons that people are “stuck” in their current mortgage include:

• Some are upside down – meaning they owe more than their home is worth.
• Some people have taken pay cuts at work and simply don’t make as much money as they used to.
• Some people had too much debt – which leaves their debt to income ratio out of whack, or maybe they have even started a debt settlement or bankruptcy program.
• Some people are working on trying to get their lender to modify their loan.

No matter what the reason is if you can’t refinance your current mortgage, is there anything that you can do to save money on your monthly mortgage payment each month?

Yes.

There are two things that you can do.

As you know, your mortgage payment is made up of Principal, Interest, Taxes and Insurance. If you refinance, then that will address the Principal and Interest – but if you don’t want to refinance (or can’t) then you can still save money each month on your taxes and insurance.

The first thing that you can do is to find out if your property tax assessment has been lowered. If you live here in Arizona, and your property value hasn’t went down, it is probably time to dispute it. If your property taxes haven’t went down, get on the phone with your county tax assessor and find out what it takes to dispute the assessment. You might be surprised to learn that by being a squeaky wheel you can actually save some money on your taxes.

Next, shop around for the best deal on homeowners insurance by getting multiple homeowners insurance quotes from companies you know and trust. There are also things that you can do to get a lower rating with your insurance company such as find one of the best home alarms and have it installed. Many times, home alarm companies will give you the hardware needed – and it will also save you money on your homeowners insurance.

So even if you can’t refinance, these are two simple things that you can do to lower your monthly mortgage payment — without refinancing.

And in today’s economy, every penny counts.

1) OK, it’s a social media revolution – what’s it mean for real estate? – This great video about social media was going around last week, including a copy of it on this website, and while many real estate sites posted a copy, Dru did one of the best jobs tying it into real estate.

2) Four corner principle – Does your Realtor know what is going on in your potential new neighborhood?

3) Real estate sites way back when… – Ok this one was just fun. I am a fan of the wayback website and love looking at old websites from way back in 2006. The good old days. Here is a fun look at some real estate sites from the past.

4) Shopping for a mortgage and a mortgage specialist – Great post for first time homebuyers who are looking for a mortgage.  Lots of great info they should know.

5) Random technology posts that can help real estate agents – Skype, are you using it yet…. Suckface with Facebook today or tomorrow, you’ll just plain suck…. TPREG experiment #1,182+ Wibiya Toolbar and Phoenix real estate info pages.

1) Is our industry a bunch of bums? – How should real estate agents dress? This is always an interesting conversation with plenty of good arguments for all sides. So how should we dress?

2) $8000 tax credit: The end is near – Time is running out for the $8000 first-time home buyer tax credit, you need to CLOSE on your house before December 1st, 2009.

3) Are listing agents hurting their clients by hiding addresses? – Redfin always seems to put out good material on interesting subjects. I learned a good amount from this post I had not know.

4) Underwater mortgages may reach 30% – This post reminds me of that RE/MAX commercial running right now that says talk to your local agent because your market may vary.

5) Bizarre real estate practices #873 (and #874) – I think this survey could be taken as good news for some agents. So many agents set the bar so low for what people expect that if you go above and beyond clients will love you for life.

1) What drives your fear of flying solo? – Very interesting piece that looks at some of the common objectives of going solo in the real estate business.

2) Loan mod stats aren’t looking so hot – This is very interesting, makes you realize why a bank may not be so quick to jump into loan mods.

3) Do’s and don’ts of mortgage refinancing – Some basic, but solid information and suggestions on mortgage refinancing.

4) Wells Fargo sues Wells Fargo, Wells Fargo denies allegations – If you told me this was any other bank but Wells Fargo, then I may have been slightly shocked.

5) Yea, we’ve got a fee for that… – Really there are junk lender fees? I’m shocked.

Top 5 real estate post for 6/29/20091) New research on walking away – This report takes a look at when people decide to walk away from their home and let it go to foreclosure.

2) Banks suck at selling Phoenix real estate – Jonathan Dalton is one of my favorite reads every morning, and nails this one right on the head. This is a typical foreclosure transaction in Phoenix right now, and from what I understand it is not far off from what is going on in Las Vegas too.

3) A few mortgage thoughts of the week – HVCC, $8000 tax credit monetization, it’s covered here.

4) Calculating income of employed W2 borrowers for mortgage qualifying – Curious how your income works when getting a mortgage and how recent increases or decreases can effect it? This helps answer those questions.

5) FHA condo approval process – MAJOR guideline changes – Come October 1st there are going to be some major changes for FHA guidelines on condos. Make sure you know about them before they get here.