Kane Title Services - "Open the door to a better closing"

I hope all is well with you and your business. I would like to thank our clients for their continued loyalty and faith in our service. We remain committed to providing all of our clients with the highest level of customer service.

This means returning all of your phone calls, performing closings that are convenient for you and your client, and most importantly, treating you with the highest level of professionalism and respect.

As always, please don't hesitate to contact me if I can assist you in any manner.

Very Truly Yours,

Jason S. Kane, Esq.

Meeting with an agent and giving a presentation is just that - a sales pitch. Even if you demonstrate that you have skill or deliver great customer service, you are still focusing on one thing: closing loans. What you really need to do is develop a true relationship, not just a presentation.

What are the characteristics that make a good relationship work? Do you look for someone that shares common goals, someone that appreciates you, someone you can count on when you need them? Of course, but guess what...real estate agents need the same characteristics, something of value in the relationship.

The best relationship is one that allows both parties to grow and mature. The best way to grow in business is to develop new clients. So the logical conclusion - to make a relationship with an agent stronger, you need to find ways to help the agent grow their business. When you help them grow their business, you are assuring yourself loans.

Just like you, an agent is always searching for new clients. There are a number of ways to help agents improve their client base, with subtle assistance from you.

Start with open houses. Agents develop hot leads from open houses; however, the Internet has hampered traffic. More home buyers use the Internet to find new homes, but you can impact traffic at an agent's next open house by practicing a simple strategy. Offer to hand-deliver open-house invitations to the neighbors. The agent will get traffic from curious neighbors, and generate new leads.

Offer or invite an agent to attend a lead group meeting with you. Business networking groups can be boring or intimidating, but professional organizations like Business Network International (BNI) make it easy and productive. It's always more fun to go with someone else and it's more relaxing. You'll also work together to cover twice as much ground as you would if either attended the meeting individually.

Local charities offer great potential for networking. Is the agent interested in a particular charity, or would you like to invite them to work with a charity you are already involved? Not only is a charity a smart public relations move, but it's a great way to meet new contacts and expand your network.

Partner together for business events or tradeshows. Many tradeshows are expensive to participate - when you pair up with an agent, you can share the cost. Also, what better way to package your services to prospective clients than by offering the whole package?

What do the above suggestions have in common? Simple answer - they are all methods that allow the agent to meet new people. New people are the oil that keeps the real estate machine running. When you assist the agent with keeping their real estate machine in top production mode, you reap the benefits of the finished product - buyers needing loans to finance their dream home.

ForeclosuresMass.com, a provider of Massachusetts foreclosure data for investors, real estate professionals and mortgage brokers, reported today that 1,812 foreclosures were initiated statewide in August, which is 72 percent higher than August 2005 and 266 percent above August 2004 levels.

"Foreclosures in Massachusetts continue to escalate at levels we haven't seen since the housing crash of the early 1990s," said Jeremy Shapiro, president and co-founder of ForeclosuresMass.com. "We expect foreclosure rates to continue this historic climb well into next year."

Homeowners may have overly optimistic expectations that their homes will continue to appreciate as the housing market cools, according to a survey by investment bank RBC Capital Markets.

Nearly half of those polled expect their homes will continue to appreciate by at least 5 percent a year for several years -- down from 60 percent of those polled last year.

But only 13 percent of those surveyed have potentially risky adjustable-rate and interest-only mortgages, and 25 percent said they'd already paid off their mortgages. That suggests most homeowners will be able to weather a slowdown or reversal in the record rate of home-price appreciation during the boom years.

More than 80 percent of the 1,003 homeowners surveyed nationwide in the second week of September said they had at least $50,0000 in equity built up in their homes. Nearly 60 percent said they have at least $100,000 in equity.

Of the homeowners with adjustable-rate and interest-only loans, less than half are concerned with their ability to meet higher payments, and 13 percent haven't even considered whether they will be at risk when their mortgages "reset" at higher rates and their monthly payments go up.

"While this is a fairly small segment of the overall survey (approximately 6 percent), it suggests material risk to this segment of the population," RBC Capital said in a press release announcing the survey.

One of the goals of the survey was to determine how a slowdown in the housing market might affect consumer spending.

"While real estate expectations are lower than they were last year, consumers still seem optimistic despite what we are seeing in the marketplace," said Scot Ciccarelli, managing director and equity research analysts for RBC Capital Markets. "Declining real estate values could eventually impact consumer spending as people don't feel as wealthy as they used to and become less likely to borrow against the equity they have built up in their homes."