To the Students from the June 4, 2009 Classes at CDA Realtors

Hi Everyone,

I arrived at Coeur d’Alene earlier today and have been driving around taking in the beautiful sights.  Had a great dinner at the Outback and then took a walk near the CDA Realtor headquarters.  Now I’m doing my research for class tomorrow and found some interesting links.

Here’s a link to Foreclosure.com which shows the number of Pre-Foreclosure, Trustee Sale and Bank-Owned listings in Kootenai County. Zillow has a few as well. I guess my question as a consumer is as follows: “Why doesn’t an agent or broker website show up when I search “foreclosures coeur d’alene?”  This agent website shows up but when agents hide the information behind a contact form, buyers will move on until they find an open source.  Where’s your local MLS listings for these homes and why are they showing up everywhere else but on agents and broker’s sites?  I’m sure someone will educate me as to why.

Here’s a local news story about a government agency buying foreclosed homes.  They say they are “knee deep” in foreclosed homes.  Hmmm.

Here are two more local stories, one on the Extreme Makeover home and the other on the Blackrock project foreclosure.  

Here’s the link to CalculatedRisk, a fun and informative blog on finance and economics. If you want to be at the cutting edge of what’s happening with the banking crisis, read this blog every day for 5 min. You don’t have to read all the comments, just read the day’s stories. I promise you will be 10% smarter in one month.  The other nice thing about CR’s blog, is that he gives readers links to other blogs on finance and econ on the right hand side of the blog.  For example, click through to HousingWire or Mortgage Insider or Naked Capitalism. 

Here’s the link to the updated mortgage reset/recast chart. 

Here is a link to the Idaho Dept of Finance and the list of state chartered banks we will talk about in class.

I’m looking forward to a fun day tomorrow!

UPDATE 1: Here is the link to the Making Home Affordable.gov program which will help your homeowners figure out if their loan is held by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

Here is the link to the Idaho Dept of Finance regarding questions about loan modification companies and licening requirements for Idaho.  Look for the press release under “News and Announcements.”  There’s a link to a word doc for you.

Here is the link to the HUD.gov website for HUD-approved housing counseling agencies.