1) Bank of America, RE/Max and Wells Fargo. From Very Bad to Great. – Great write up by Russell Shaw, hopefully BoA is paying attention. And Russell, it has been a while, keep the posts coming.

2) Is a Short Sale Backlash Starting Against Bank of America? – Here is evidence that we really can make a difference. I actually talked to someone who works for BoA who stated executives had seen this letter and it was an eye opener. Now to see if they can actually act on it.

3) A Simple Rule of Thumb Could Save You Thousands On Your Mortgage – When to refinance?

4) A Vook for the holidays — Keeping it Real (estate) – What’s a vook? A combination of video and a book working together. What better way to get acquainted with them than with Kris Berg.

5) Quick Answer Series: When Should I Give Up on a Lead? – Good video on following up with online leads.

6) The Spirit of BarCamp (Part 2): Principles of REBarCamp – Rob Hahn continues his look at REBarCamps and why you should be attending one this coming year.

7) An Alternative Approach To Home Buying – Ardell sells this as info to help buy a house, but this is great info for those looking to sell too!

8) Predictions for 2010 – From Greg Cooper’s son and one from Ken Montville.

9) Realtor Survival Guide for 2010 – Wondering what to do with your online presence in 2010? Here is a good place to start.

10) Merry Christmas from the Chumbley Family – So everyone and their cousin did a Merry Christmas message to their clients. It’s hard to get a message like that wrong, but it is even harder to make it really stand out. I saw several dozen messages, this by far was the best most creative.

1) Top 12 Women Real Estate Bloggers 2009 – A great list of 12 of the best real estate bloggers in the business.

2) New vs Old Good Faith Estimate – A comparison of the current GFE and the new one which starts January 1st.

3) DS Drops A WP Spider Bomb… – This is going to be awesome if you are a Diverse Solutions user for your IDX.

4) Compelling Landing Tab or Lose – Making sure you convert visitors on your Facebook page to new fans, by the way Mike great use of Cooliris.

5) Real Estate in 2010, Google, Technology, and Your Real Estate Business – Those who stay up with the Google changes are the ones most likely to come out ahead online.

6) Darth Vader With a Toothache – A Better 2010 – When I was running political campaigns I used to tell my candidates one good rule of thumb was he who shook the most hands every day won. The same theory here, if you want to succeed, you need to talk to a lot of people.

7) Oh great! Potential to be taxed on short sale debt forgiveness – Hmmm am I the only one who thinks this is not a horrible idea? If you purchased a house for 200k, refinanced for $300k in the boom and got yourself some toys, and now short sale your house then you may be responsible for paying taxes on the refinance gain.  Interesting.

8) Facebook Tools & Tricks at Virtual Real Estate Bar Camp January 4th – Over the last month I have been spending more time on Facebook so I look forward to this Virtual Barcamp session.

9) Facebook Real Estate Success: Ask a REALTOR – A short video on how one agent uses Facebook in his business.

10) FHA Loans After A Short Sale – Yesterday it was how long before you can get an FHA loan after a foreclosure, today it is short sale.

1) How to puck a closing date that’ll lower your mortgage rate – The sooner you can close, teh better it may be for your rate.

2) Is The Tail Wagging The Dog? Stop Waiting! Here’s How. – Are you being proactive in your follow up or are you waiting for them to get back to you.

3) Future of Mobile in Real Estate: B2B, not B2C – When I first read the headline of this I was thinking another post I get to disagree with, and usually I agree with Rob. Well then I read it, and Hahn makes some great points. I would love for my mls to have an Android app, but I bet most of my clients couldn’t care less.

4) Business Week: If You Don’t Buy a House Now, You’re Stupid or Broke – OK I just loved the headline, had to include it for that.

5) The Rates Aren’t The Only Thing That Matters….. (My thoughts on how to create healing in the housing market) – This is almost exactly what I was thinking in one of my videos about a month ago, but I could not quite figure out how the details would work like he has. I love this idea. I think it is a win-win for everyone.

6) The Sport of Business – OK this has nothing at all to do with real estate, but any one who is in business for themselves (real estate agents) should read it.

7) Refinance Activity and Interest Rates – A direct correlation between interest rates and the recent refinancing activity.

8) Jim the Realtor: McMansion Foreclosures Coming – Great idea of a way to showcase some upcoming foreclosures and maybe pick up some buyers.

9) Financial and Mortgage Reform? Nah. Who Needs It? – OK Ken, I completely understand the need for some reform in the lending industry, but some of the things coming down the pike with the new GFE’s and the capping what a loan officer can make per transaction are not going to help the consumer.

10) High-end homes? Slow to dead – The high end market has been slow to recover compared to the lower end market which seems to be moving quick in most area. Is the high end recovery just around the corner?

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 posts of the day for 7/8/2009 1) Home loan refinancing anti-foreclosure effort results disclosed – Loan modifications are up this year, but is it really enough to make a difference on upcoming foreclosures?

2) Mortgage rates continue to drop – After going up for the last month, mortgage rates seem to be inching back down slowly.

3) PMI: US Home prices likely lower in 2 years – PMI Group is estimating home prices in the US will drop even more over the next two years. This is why national housing starts don’t mean a lot, all real estate is local.

4) Requirements to qualify for an Obama Mortgage refinance loan – Are you looking to refinance under the new government programs? This post has a good summary of basic requirements.

5) Looks like HVCC is slowing home sales – HVCC, my favorite subject these days. While many are out there saying HVCC has not had a negative impact, I know very well from experience that at least in AZ that is not the case. In AZ it has greatly effected the real estate market.

1) Why loan officers kill deals, cost you time and money and anger customers – This has been the story of my week.

2) Obama expands refinance program from 105% to 125% – The program has been expanded to include home owners who are up to 125% underwater. A good start, still not sure its enough though. 

3) New brokerage model – Part 1 and Part 2 – Great piece by Marc Davison on the future of brokerages and who may gain the edge and why.

4) APR vs mortgage interest rate – knowing the difference – Good discussion  to help clarify what each is and what you should be looking for.

5) WordPress 2.8 now I’d upgrade – Dave Smith is always on top of the late latest and greatest with technology and he says now WP 2.8 is ready for prime time.

1) Obama refinance, is 105% going to 125%? – Obama’s current refinance plan allows for the home owner to refinance their home up to 105% of the value. With most homeowners being much more underwater than that, few can take advantage. There is talk of that 105% going to 125%. Another post on 125% LTV refinance.

2) How much earnest money should I put down on a foreclosure – This is a common question for many buyers looking to put an offer in on a bank owned foreclosure.

3) Agency? What is agency? – It’s one of the classes we need to renew our license, so it’s something all agents should have down and all buyers should know going into a transaction.

4) Step 1 to understanding the short sale process – Dale explains the first thing you need to understand in short sales is logic, or there is none.

5) The BIGGEST announcement in history of the Zebra… – Congrats Daniel and Kari!  Guess you are going to need to cut back on those beers on ice for a while Daniel.

Top 5 real estate posts of the day for 6/9/20091) Mortgage rate shopping strategies for when mortgage rates are volatile – Mortgage rates have been all over the map the last couple of weeks, Dan Green discusses why and how a floatdown service may help.

2) 10 social media life skills for real estate professionals – NikNik usually has good advice on how to integrate social media into a real estate business. If you use things like Twitter and Facebook here are some guidelines you want to follow.

3) Seller beware: Is your agent protecting their best interest? – Every now and then you hear a story about a sleazy real estate agent, any of us who have been in the business just a couple months or more probably have one.  Here is one.

4) Rebirth of a brokerage – We should all take a lesson from GM’s mistakes and be ready to change, because things change. One of my favorite quotes is “If it’s not broken, break it and make it better”? Our consumers are changing, are we ready to change with them?

5) Making Homes Affordable Refinance: Freddie Mac changes rules – Is your loan owned by Freddie Mac? If so you now have a new opportunity to refinance your loan under the Making Homes Affordable program. Justin even tells you how to know if your loan is owned by Fannie or Freddie.