Top Ten Realtor Facebook Tips

by Express Cash Flow Blog Posts

Top Ten Facebook Tips and TricksThe Best Facebook Tips for a Realtor to Connect:

  1. As a realtor, your Facebook profile picture should stand out!  One of our best realtor Facebook tips is to have a professional headshot. Include all contact info including your phone number and email address.
  2. Let the world know you are their “Go to Realtor” in your introduction section.
  3. Join local community groups to connect with your customers, partners and prospects.
  4. Make sure your friends and co-workers know to “Like” and “Share” your post to reach more prospects. (Text them to “Like” it)
  5. Publish articles to show your knowledge of the industry.
  6. Contribute and comment to blogs and posts that industry leaders make.
  7. People love pictures and video! Get as many pictures of your listings and closings as possible on Facebook.  Do a video of you at your listing.
  8. Ask a title rep for all the homeowners in your farm and ask them to connect to your Facebook business page. This will take time but well worth it.
  9. Search leaders in your community and connect with them to share locally relevant info.
  10. Don’t forget that Facebook should be used for a balance of business and personal posts… too many of either will turn off your followers. Also watch your frequency, maybe 1 posts a day.  The best time to post is mid-day to get the most “Likes”.
About Us:
AgentBranch.com is a real estate recruiting platform for real estate agents and brokers.
ExpressCashFlow.com provides commission advances for real estate agents and brokers.
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Should You Reject an FHA Loan?

by Express Cash Flow Blog Posts

FHA loans are a popular type of mortgage for homeowners that either don’t have the capital for a large down payment, have a bankruptcy in their past, or can’t get a mortgage otherwise. Because of the downturn of the housing market in 2008, the mortgage insurance premiums (required by any FHA loan) have almost tripled in expense, which means FHA loans aren’t as great a deal as they used to be. If you are trying to decide whether or not to take an FHA loan, here are a few things to consider.

Expenses and Fees

One of the biggest things you need to consider before deciding on an FHA loan is the expense and fees that come with an FHA loan. Because FHA loans offer such a low down-payment, they come with the requirement that you take out two mortgage insurance premiums, one upfront and one that lasts throughout the entirety of your loan. These typically add a lot to a monthly amount. Though a low down-payment is appealing, it also adds quite a bit of interest over the years than if you had paid the traditional 10 to 20% of the mortgage. So, if you have another loan option, you should definitely take that over the FHA, just to save money in the long run.

Financing Limits

Another problem with FHA loans, because they are known for helping families of more modest means, is that they have a limit to how much you can borrow. The FHA recalculates the loan limits (the “floor” and the “ceiling”) each year based on 115% of the median house price in each area. This means that if you live in an expensive area, like New York City or San Francisco, your loan limits will be a lot different than if you live in Kansas City or Las Vegas. This can be a problem if you need a higher loan amount.

If you are considering an FHA loan, these are just a few things that you’ll want to determine before you decide to go with the loan. Because there are a few things that may add a hiccup to your plan, you’ll want to go over all of your options, especially if you have a loan offer from the private mortgage industry. If you are looking to talk about FHA loans, or commission advances in California, be sure to contact Express Cash Flow for more information.

3 Reasons a Deal Might Fall Through

by Express Cash Flow Blog Posts

One of the largest challenges of running your own real estate business is maintaining steady cash flow. You may have multiple contracts pending and ready to close within the next month, but that means nothing when you have expenses and overhead that need to be taken care of immediately.

Maintaining relationships with vendors, as well as with clients, is at the heart of your business.  Here at Express Cash Flow, we are dedicated to helping professional real estate agents and brokers improve their day to day cash flow and operating budgets. Similar to the way banks offer loans based on accounts receivable, commission advance companies like Express Cash Flow provide early payment on your pending commissions. You get up to 75% of your commission before closing so you can pay your service providers on time. Once you receive your commission on a real estate sale, Express Cash Flow receives the amount of the advance, plus their fee, back through closing.

Deals can fall through, however. Here are three reasons real estate deals sometimes breakdown:

Appraisals

Every lender and loan requires that the property in a pending real estate transaction be appraised. This protects the buyer – they don’t want to end up upside down in a new real estate investment – and ultimately, protects the lender, too. Real estate appraisals are typically based on recent sales.  If sales haven’t caught up to a shifting market on the rise, this can happen. Sometimes, these deals can be saved through negotiations, but if the difference between the appraised value and the sale value is too great, these deals can fall through.

Property Condition

With the help of savvy buyers’ agents, most prospective home purchasers will request an inspection. An inspector will test and examine all of a home’s systems, including electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and even the roof. These deals may fall through if the seller doesn’t have the finances to cover the work and can’t afford to take a hit on the sales price. In foreclosed homes, banks are often unwilling to finance any repairs, meanwhile, the lending bank is unwilling to make a loan in the home’s current condition.

Buyer Motivation

Looking at homes to buy is fun. Dealing with all the requisite paperwork and effort to close a deal isn’t. If a buyer isn’t very motivated, even the smallest hiccup – and there will be hiccups – may lead them to believe it’s easier to walk away from a real estate transaction.

Any of these factors, as well as many others, can delay the all-important close of escrow.  Utilizing a commission advance can allow agents to breathe a little easier during their escrow, knowing that the money is already in their pocket.

Express Cash Flow also understands that not every escrow closes.  As a real estate professional, we trust that you are going to close another escrow in the near future, and may even have other escrows going concurrently with the escrow associated with the advance.  That’s an easy enough solution we simply transfer your advance to another escrow, and there is no out of pocket payment for you.