Buyer Bonus Promotion -- Just One Week Left To Go

There's only one week left for the Buyer Bonus promotion!

The Buyer Bonus promotion runs through July 31 and we already have almost twenty thousand participating listings. Remember unlike the federal tax credit, there is no closing date associated with the Buyer Bonus promotion! A seller only has to agree to participate before the end of the promotion. Congratulations to the entire Coldwell Banker brand for the great work in securing seller participation in this one-of-a-kind promotion.
Now that the promotion is heading into the homestretch we would really love to hear from you with any Buyer Bonus success stories you would like to share. Make sure you send them to the Coldwell Banker Communications inbox!

As you do secure more sellers, please make sure your listings are properly flagged. Click HERE for more information on the entire program.

Today's Rates and Mortgage News

The rates below are based on my average loan amount of greater than $150,000.

30yr Jumbo Rate 4.9% loans over $417,000
30yr Conventional fixed is at 4.2%
15yr Conventional 3.7%
5yr ARM 3.3%
30yr FHA 4.2%
30yr VA 4.2%

Please know I have $5,692 in my pricing bank this month bring loans in to hit my bonus. This is money I will use to offer the lowest rate to beat our competitors to earn your business. These funds are limited and I will use them for the borrowers who get me their contracts first. Funds will be used according to volume so the larger the loan amount the more funds I can use.


Fannie Mae gets tough on 'strategic' mortgage defaults; USA Today
Borrowers who walk away from mortgages they can afford to pay — making "strategic defaults" — are running increasing risks that they'll be penalized for doing so. Starting in October, Fannie Mae says, strategic defaulters will be disqualified for new Fannie Mae-backed loans for seven years after their foreclosures. Fannie also says it will go to court where it can to recoup outstanding mortgage debt from borrowers who strategically default.

Economists see a modest pickup in hiring; CNNMoney.com
The outlook for the job market has improved, according to a survey of leading economists released Monday, even as the economic recovery hit a speed bump in the second quarter. In its second-quarter industry survey, the National Association for Business Economics said employers grew payrolls for a second consecutive quarter this year. The percentage of firms increasing staff levels grew to 31% in the quarter, versus only 6% in the same period a year ago.

How Financial Reform Impacts Homeowners and Buyers; Ris Media
“Homeowners and buyers who are sitting on the sidelines should get moving today, unless they want to get blindsided by the impact of a new law,” said Gibran Nicholas, Chairman of the CMPS Institute, an organization that trains and certifies mortgage bankers and brokers. “The massive financial reform law that just passed Congress has two main components that could very negatively impact homeowners and home buyers in the future.”

Financial news schedule: July 19-25; Washington Post
It will be a big week for Ben S. Bernanke, and the scheduled release of some key June housing data should show the effect of the end of the home buyer tax credit.

Bank Offers Struggling Borrowers More Aid; Boston Globe
Bank of America is opening a sixth loan modification office -- this one in Dedham, Mass. -- in an effort to improve services to struggling homeowners hoping to lower their mortgage payments. The bank has 478,811 borrowers nationwide at least 60 days delinquent on their mortgage and eligible for a modification under the Making Home Affordable Program; but it has only approved 62,969 permanent workouts, according to a May report by the federal government.


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Home Sales: Banks Now Outselling Builders; National Mortgage News
In a further sign that the housing market is in the tank, banks have been outselling home builders for the last 18 months, according to a new report from Housing Intelligence, an independent research and analytical firm. The resale sector is still king. Existing houses account for roughly three out of every four sales. But since January 2009, lenders have been selling a larger percentage of houses than builders, the company, a division of the Hanley-Wood publishing empire, reports. The new home share of the market has slipped from a high of 20% in November 2006 to just 14% at the beginning of '09. And as of last month, the builder share had declined even further, to just 11%. The "regular" resale market has slowed too, to a 69.5% share at the end of June. Traditionally, existing homes account for anywhere from 75% to 80% of all transactions.

Today's Rates

The rates below are based on my average loan amount of great than $150,000.

30yr Jumbo Rate 5.0% loans over $417,000
30yr Conventional fixed is at 4.3%
15yr Conventional 3.9%
5yr ARM 3.4%
30yr FHA 4.4%
30yr VA 4.4%

Please know I have $6,517 in my pricing bank this month bring loans in to hit my bonus. This is money I will use to offer the lowest rate to beat our competitors to earn your business. These funds are limited and I will use them for the borrowers who get me their contracts first. Funds will be used according to volume so the larger the loan amount the more funds I can use.

30yr Jumbo Rate 5.0% loans over $417,000 30yr Conventional fixed is at 4.3% 15yr Conventional 3.9% 5yr ARM 3.4% 30yr FHA 4.3% 30yr VA 4.3% Please kn

30yr Jumbo Rate 5.0% loans over $417,000
30yr Conventional fixed is at 4.3%
15yr Conventional 3.9%
5yr ARM 3.4%
30yr FHA 4.3%
30yr VA 4.3%

Please know I have $6,750 in my pricing bank this month bring loans in to hit my bonus. This is money I will use to offer the lowest rate to beat our competitors to earn your business. These funds are limited and I will use them for the borrowers who get me their contracts first. Funds will be used according to volume so the larger the loan amount the more funds I can use.


803-917-1893 WWW.TROYOTT.COM

Today's Rates

30yr Jumbo Rate 5.0% loans over $417,000
30yr Conventional fixed is at 4.3%
15yr Conventional 3.9%
5yr ARM 3.4%
30yr FHA 4.4%
30yr VA 4.4%

Please know I have $11,652 in my pricing bank this month bring loans in to hit my bonus. This is money I will use to offer the lowest rate to beat our competitors to earn your business. These funds are limited and I will use them for the borrowers who get me their contracts first. Funds will be used according to volume so the larger the loan amount the more funds I can use.

From the Heart of the Pastor

Has a Nation Changed Gods? (Jeremiah 2)
“They exchanged the truth of God for the lie” (Romans 1:25)
Based upon the world’s standards (if there are any!), God was and is politically, socially and culturally incorrect. Nonetheless, is there any one out there soberly and intelligently challenging the world’s definition of the shape our culture should take? Since we are our brothers’ keepers, we certainly are responsible for weighing in on the issues affecting our children and our children’s children.
The Reformation was both a spiritual and cultural event. The culture was altered by Martin Luther’s ‘Here I stand.’ Perhaps the time has come for Reformation II. The Christian’s desire is not to wield power, but to influence lives. Christian influence introduces and produces moral character.
God allows you sufficient weaponry: His word, His Son, His character and prayer. Perhaps the problem is that those mounting pulpits and even Christians resting in pews are not willing to challenge their culture. Perhaps they are willing to shed tears of brine, but not tears of blood.
The churches of your land are filled with the almost-Christian who may be busy with the ceremony of religion. He practices a formal religion with a heart untuned to the gravity of his sin. God describes these men as those who are “holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power” (II Timothy 3:5). Many of these men exhibit ethical/moral behavior but they are merely unregenerate humanists. They want their churches to announce their births, perform their marriages and honor their deaths, but they are disinterested in their church life affecting their economics.
Others in your churches are Christians but they possess a shallow spirituality, and they are apathetic concerning their minds and lives being engaged in the things of God. These single-celled Christians are biblical adolescents and juvenile in their walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. They continue to retreat from the means to grow in the Lord so their spiritual barrenness increases proportionately.
In the 1830’s Alexis de Toqueville, a noted Frenchman, said, “There is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America.” Would de Toqueville’s statement be true today?
Everyone needs exposure to other Christians who are enthusiastic about their relationship with the Lord. When you companion with others in your marketplaces who are bold in their witness for Jesus, you become bolder. The lifestyles and practices of fervent Christians are the scalpels God provides in order that your society may be sculpted more completely into the image of His Son. Edmund Calamy said, “The nature of man is more apt to be guided by example than by precept.”
God calls each Christian to be an engine for the transformation of his sphere of influence. You are to serve as tutoring members of the commonwealth where you live (Matthew 28:18-20).
You know that a person’s walk with the Lord Jesus is dependent on growing in faith (II Peter 1:5ff.). In order for anyone to advance in his walk he must begin to think and act biblically. His life must become more ‘theocentric’ (God-centered) at the expense of divorcing himself from a life that is so completely ‘anthropocentric’ (man-centered). He must become disenculturated from his American Babylon.
This will only begin to occur when Christians refuse to be passive in the shaping of their marketplaces by making their values known in their marketplaces (Nahum 1:15). Everywhere you go you see carnal men who are secure in their sinful sleep. The noisiness of their damned souls is so loud they never experience the cadence of your Christ. Perhaps you are being called upon by the Holy Spirit to create in His power a national conscience on the things of the Lord. Perhaps today is being shaped by God to become a market-day for the souls of men.
Although the ages come and go, human nature is the same in every age. Man is born spiritually lifeless and remains in that state until awakened by God’s Spirit. Nonetheless, God has chosen to deploy Christians in the business of bringing and living His gospel.
Numerous denominations and churches are in a spiritual wilderness. The people God has placed in their charges are not being fed or at least are malnourished in the feeding. The preachers and teachers are answering questions their hearers either are not asking or previously have answered and now want to grow deeper in their relationship with their Father. Legions of saints are coming to churches asking for bread but they are being given a stone (Matthew 7:9). Countless church attendees are fatigued by the church and now attend only out of duty and tradition rather than a love for the Lord.
Effective Christians feast on the diet of Christ. They need encouragement. Political correctness has become the cultural master of America spying and reporting on those spiritually correct, yet culturally incorrect, Christians. The media and a minority of the populace has said that Christians cannot speak the name Jesus, so now Christians must be reminded that God Himself has given them permission to share their faith wherever He places them (Esther 4:14).
When Christians lose their enthusiasm to declare their allegiance to the God who has saved them, the world squanders its interest in the true living God. God says, “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24).
As is true in any civilization, when issues continue to remain unaddressed by those with responsibility for the nurture of the people, the degeneration excels as the implosion bleeds over into other arenas of human involvement. Societal boundaries have become blurred, and when boundaries become blurred your senses lose their defenses. You cease being able to distinguish between vice and virtue, right and wrong. Abraham Kuyper, the former Prime Minister of the Netherlands, said:
“If your boundary has become uncertain, vague, even invisible, the fear of drawing your sword soon keeps your hand from the hilt and no one fears any blame for taking one step backward after another. This process continues until finally the sacred domain is totally lost and no courage remains for a struggle that is now useless. It is precisely that uncertainty which cuts the lines of our power, that lack of firmness which makes us hesitant, that hesitancy which causes us to hang back and procrastinate, and with that procrastination the fire of our enthusiasm dies out before we realize it… the line of defense was shrunk again and again. As soon as principles gain ground that are contrary to your deepest
convictions, then resistance is your duty and acquiescence a sin. Then, at the price of the finest peace, you must attack those principles, stigmatizing them before the eyes of friend and foe alike with all the ardor of your faith.”
The city fathers are prone to address symptoms rather than the heart of the matter because symptoms are more visible. Symptoms are also easier to battle than root causes because attending to root causes results in the expenditure of increased resources and assures intensive opposition.
The first century A.D. was a moral sewer. God Almighty drove a stake into the heart of that era by powering His cross into the earth of that amoral society. He sent His only Son to anoint His cross of separation “with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless” (I Peter 1:19). The cross He drove into Palestinian soil continues eternally and is non-negotiable.
No society wants awakening from its death-assuring sleep. Those attempting to reestablish moral boundaries should expect opposition. They must be willing to go into harm’s way by weighing anchor and refusing to pursue diversions. God says, “They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks with integrity. Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the gate!” (Amos 5:10, 15).
An uncivil war is being waged for the heart of your American commonwealth. Tragically, this moral Armageddon is occurring largely unnoticed by churchmen professing Christianity though who are, for the most part, disengaged. Perhaps their lives are becoming so handcuffed by their confederacy with the world that their public virtue has become private. Perhaps they are warehousing their Christ rather than proclaiming Him (I Peter 2:9). Perhaps they are content with an ever-diminishing influence in their world, but God is not.
Christians are becoming increasingly silent on public policy issues thereby forfeiting their defense of the borders of common decency. The destructive savages of self-centered humanism are ravaging your culture. Christians seem to forget that Christianity was birthed in conflict. The blood of the Nazarene was necessary to erect the scaffolding of the culture of grace. Christianity grows in the midst of cultural conflict because its true adherents are identified and caused to grow deeper roots (Matthew 13:21).
The axe is already laid at the root of your societal tree. The fabric of your society is coming unraveled due to the aggressiveness of those without eternal virtue and the Christian’s lack of concern for what does not immediately and directly affect him (Amos 6:1). Your nation is dying due to the silence of the lambs – that is what occurs when Christians become indulgers rather than engagers (Mark 8:38). Epidemic lukewarmness has licensed Christendom’s slumber along with its accompanying spiritual barrenness (Revelation 3:15-17).
What would it be like to live in a world wherein the world determines the appropriate boundaries rather than God? What would it be like to live in a world that dismantles its virtuous cornerstones one at a time so that the dismantling is less noticeable (though no less destructive)? What would it be like to live in a world wherein the worship of man has supplanted the worship of God, the focus of man has shifted from heaven to earth and human opinion has usurped divine revelation (Jeremiah 2:11)? What would it be like to live in a world where the moral man seeks quiet retreats rather than the endeavor of the public domain?
Faith only matters when it affects one’s choices (Joshua 24:15). God says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance” (Psalm 33:12). The one and only God says, “Righteousness exalts a nation” (Proverbs 14:34).
Biblical morality has become cultural immorality. Biblical correctness has become political incorrectness (Matthew 15:19). Nonetheless, God commands those respecting and honoring Him to stand unashamedly in the cultural gap for biblical morality and holiness (Ezekiel 22:30). When Christians become worshipers of public opinion and social acceptability rather than worshipers of the God of Scripture they refuse to stand in the gap (Jeremiah 2:6; Romans 1:21-25).
In the cultures of the western world, the less faith one professes, the more sensible and well bred he is considered. The verbal expression of Christianity has become the dividing line between the intellectual and the not so bright. Your nation has entered a spiritual “Dark Ages” where everyone does what is right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25).
Unless Christians recapture the voice they once exercised, both Christian and non-Christian will become oppressed by unrighteousness, erotically controlled, state monitored and enslaved to an existence that your forefathers not only would have never conceived, but they paid with their own blood to prevent. The children of your loins will become increasingly the property of the state rather than the parents; educating the public on such unpopular topics as homosexuality, adultery, pedophilia and euthanasia will become hate crimes; and the pagan altar of Satanism will be covered in the blood of silent parents and grandparents who were more fearful of men, of economic reprisals, and of social ostracism than they were of the living God (Romans 3:18).
Jesus was not afraid to address unrighteousness and the unrighteous by name! Jesus calls the unrighteous culturalists what they really are: “blind guides,” “fools and blind men,” “full of lawlessness,” “serpents,” and a “brood of vipers” (Matthew 23:16, 17, 28, 33). He never practiced the sin of silence.
In A.D. 98, Ignatius’ expressed faith resulted in him being thrown to the lions of the empire. If you take culturally unpopular positions, you too shall be scorned and labeled a narrow-minded intolerant prejudiced bigot. But then, should not every God-fearer always be intolerant of and prejudiced against what has been wrong in every culture since the foundation of the world?
You must not quail; you must not blink; you must remain unflinchingly biblical. Every Christian is a God-appointed cultural watchman. Upon whose hands will the blood of your culture be (Ezekiel 3:18)? Is now not the season to do right just because it is right (Acts 5:29; II Timothy 4:6-8)?
“A lion has roared! Who will not fear?
The Lord God has spoken! Who can but prophesy?” (Amos 3:8)
SOLI DEO GLORIA!

New Coldwell Banker University Site Is Coming - Watch A Sneak Peek Video!

We're only a few weeks away from the launch of the new enhanced Coldwell Banker University® site!
Coldwell Banker University will roll out an enhanced version of its Learning Management System later this summer with a new look and even better functionality that offers users easier navigation and access to training.
Click here for a sneak peek introductory video into the new site and look out for future communications in the coming weeks with more information and highlights of the new system.