Failure into Success!!

"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career; I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty six times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over in my life. And that's why I succeed." -Michael Jordan, 2006 Failure. We all experience it. Most of us see failure as a negative thing, which makes sense; it doesn't feel good to fail. We all want to succeed and failure feels like a setback to that goal. What we don’t realize is that failure presents an opportunity to learn, grow and succeed. Check out Michael Jordan’s "Failure" Nike Commercial. Michael Jordan is a fun example to look at. When most people think about this basketball legend, they're not immediately thinking about how he didn't make the varsity basketball team his sophomore year in high school. They're not thinking about the times he lost the game-winning shot. They're thinking about his achievements: six-time NBA champion, five-time MBA MVP, 14-time NBA All-Star, two-time NBA Slam Dunk Contest winner, Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year. Michal Jordan's success was real. People like to say that he was born a "gifted" basketball player, that Mark Zuckerburg was born a technology genius, and that Martin Luther King was a born leader. What we fail to realize, though, is that none of these successes were born that way. No one is born to play basketball, create a social media phenomenon, or to be a legendary leader. Turning failure into success is hard work. It takes dedication and vision. When I was a brand new realtor my first coach Tom Hopkins taught me an important philosophy on failure and rejection that has resonated throughout my entire real estate career. He said “I never see failure as failure, but only as a learning experience. I never see failure as failure, but only as the feedback I need to change course in my direction. I never see failure as failure, but only as an opportunity to improve my sense of humor. I never see failure as failure, but only as an opportunity to practice my techniques and perfect my performance. I never see failure as failure, but only as the game I must play to win!” Learn from some of the greatest champions on earth how to take the reigns and turn losses into wins – adapted from Adam Appleson's book, "7 Steps to Turn 'Failure' Into Success:" Grin and bear it. When Michael Jordan came across rejection, he met it by practicing more.   Take a time-out. The greatest ideas were founded when men and women were away from their usual routines. Albert Einstein was on vacation in the Apennine Mountains when we wondered what would happen if a ray of light became imprisoned.   Assess whether your current plans are realistic. If things aren't happening as fast as you'd anticipated, by the deadline you set for yourself, the deadline may not have been realistic. Don't be afraid to make new plans and pursue them.   Get support. Have a team behind you to get you through the rough times and keep you motivated!   Play a game called “15 Ways…” Grab a sheet of paper and brainstorm 15 ways you can overcome whatever obstacle is standing between you and your goals. The first five are usually pretty obvious, but the last 10 are usually a bit harder to come up with, and often surface the innovative solutions you hadn't thought about already.   Pick a hero. Every time you fail and want to give up, ask yourself what your hero would do, then go do it!   Go out and execute every day.  Commit to doing one thing for your dreams every day. You know the saying, “genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration.” True leaders do not fear failure; they know how to use failure to their advantage. Like Michael Jordan said, he has failed over and over again, and that is why he succeeds. Take chances and don’t be afraid to fail, it could be the secret to your success! By Gino Belfari & LPF team Lisa & Pete

To Lead is to Serve

As we enter into the heart of the holiday season and we are surrounded by reminders of the spirit of giving, we should not forget what that implies; namely, that there are so many in need.

At Intero, we have always strived to create a different kind of real estate company – a company that focused on more than corporate profits and selling houses, one that endeavors to create an atmosphere that allows its people to continuously grow personally and professionally.

A center point of that philosophy is the Intero Foundation. We understand the universal law that you "must give in order to receive." And by that we mean contributing to our communities. One of our core values is commitment, and we therefore take great pride in belonging to a company in which everyone is encouraged to donate to the Intero Foundation. We earn our living by serving our community and this gives us an opportunity to give back to them.

As a company and as individuals participation in the Intero Foundation allows us all to serve the communities we live and work in. It also serves as a foundation of leadership. Empowered by Intero agents and employees, the Intero Foundation has given over $1.9 million in grants to nonprofit organizations that support children in need. In 2011 alone, over $200,000 was granted to organizations benefitting children in need.

Another center point of the “must give in order to receive” philosophy is Intero’s business partner, Cause Insurance Services. Cause Insurance Services, LLC is the first 'cause-driven' insurance brokerage firm in the United States. Based in San Francisco, California, they are focused on providing a broad range of insurance products and services to the consumer and commercial marketplace. They work with the country's leading insurance carriers to deliver the world’s first cause-driven insurance platform. Their clients are provided with the best insurance at competitive pricing, and, at the same time, giving to the charity of their choice. 20% of their commissions earned are forwarded to the client's charity, in the client's name.

In partnership with their charity sponsors, clients and ambassadors, their mission is to 'change the world one policy at a time.’ The Company believes their pioneering approach will provide a new source of annual giving for the clients of Cause Insurance Services and the charities that they support. This will create a unique platform upon which to build a stronger community.

Cause Insurance Services as well as Intero and its agents have always believed in the importance of giving back to communities in which we serve, and 2011 was a perfect example of ‘paying it forward.’

In his book The Other Side of Leadership, Eugene B. Hacker writes, "The true leader serves. Serves people. Serves their best interests, and in doing so will not always be popular, may not always impress. But because true leaders are motivated by loving concern, than a desire for personal glory, they are willing to pay the price."

As we give without expecting to receive - be amazed how the universe will reward your generosity.

By Gino Blefari
President & CEO
Intero Real Estate Services, Inc. & LPF Team-Lisa & Pete

The Debt Lives on!!

By JESSICA SILVER-GREENBERG

LEHIGH ACRES, Fla.—Joseph Reilly lost his vacation home here last year when he was out of work and stopped paying his mortgage. The bank took the house and sold it. Mr. Reilly thought that was the end of it.

In June, he learned otherwise. A phone call informed him of a court judgment against him for $192,576.71.

Forty-one states and the District of Columbia permit lenders to sue borrowers for mortgage debt still left after a foreclosure sale. Jessica Silver-Greenberg has details on Lunch Break.

It turned out that at a foreclosure sale, his former house fetched less than a quarter of what Mr. Reilly owed on it. His bank sued him for the rest.

The result was a foreclosure hangover that homeowners rarely anticipate but increasingly face: a "deficiency judgment."

Remains of the Debt

Take a look at the homes in Lehigh Acres, Fla., where borrowers have been sued for deficiency judgments in the first seven months of 2011 and 2010.

View Interactive

Forty-one states and the District of Columbia permit lenders to sue borrowers for mortgage debt still left after a foreclosure sale. The economics of today's battered housing market mean that lenders are doing so more and more.

Foreclosed homes seldom fetch enough to cover the outstanding loan amount, both because buyers financed so much of the purchase price—up to 100% of it during the housing boom—and because today's foreclosures take place following a four-year decline in values.

"Now there are foreclosures that leave banks holding the bag on more than $100,000 in debt," says Michael Cramer, president and chief executive of Dyck O'Neal Inc., an Arlington, Texas, firm that invests in debt. "Before, it didn't make sense [for banks] to expend the resources to go after borrowers; now it doesn't make sense not to."

Indeed, $100,000 was roughly the average amount by which foreclosure sales fell short of loan balances in hundreds of foreclosures in seven states reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. And 64% of the 4.5 million foreclosures since the start of 2007 have taken place in states that allow deficiency judgments.

Lenders still sue for loan shortfalls in only a small minority of cases where they legally could. Public relations is a limiting factor, some debt-buyers believe. Banks are reluctant to discuss their strategies, but some lenders say they are more likely to seek a deficiency judgment if they perceive the borrower to be a "strategic defaulter" who chose to stop paying because the property lost so much value.

Enlarge Image

Edward Linsmier for The Wall Street Journal

Truck driver Ray Falero of Minneola, Fla., faced a 'deficiency judgment' for debt left when a foreclosure sale of his house in Orlando, Fla., didn't cover all he owed.

In Lee County, Fla., where Mr. Reilly's vacation home was, court records show that 172 deficiency judgments were entered in the first seven months of 2011. That was up 34% from a year earlier. The increase was especially striking because total foreclosures were down sharply in the county, as banks continued to wrestle with paperwork problems that slowed the process.

One Florida lawyer who defends troubled homeowners, Matt Englett of Orlando, says his clients have faced 20 deficiency-judgment suits this year, up from seven during all of last year.

Until recently, "there was a false sense of calm" among borrowers who went through foreclosure, Mr. Englett says. "That's changing," he adds, as borrowers learn they may be financially on the hook even after the house is gone.

In Mr. Reilly's case, "there's not a snowball's chance in hell that we can pay" the deficiency judgment, says the 39-year-old man, who remains unemployed. He says he is going to speak to a lawyer about declaring bankruptcy next week, in an effort to escape the debt. The lender that obtained the judgment against him, Great Western Bank Corp. of Sioux Falls, S.D., declined to comment.

More

California Pulls Out of Foreclosure Talks

Some close observers of the housing scene are convinced this is just the beginning of a surge in deficiency judgments. Sharon Bock, clerk and comptroller of Palm Beach County, Fla., expects "a massive wave of these cases as banks start selling the judgments to debt collectors."

In a paradox of the battered housing industry, trying to squeeze more money out of distressed borrowers contrasts with other initiatives that aim instead to help struggling homeowners, including by reducing what they owe.

The increase in deficiency judgments has sparked a growing secondary market. Sophisticated investors are "ravenous for this debt and ramping up their purchases," says Jeffrey Shachat, a managing director at Arca Capital Partners LLC, a Palo Alto, Calif., firm that finances distressed-debt deals. He says deficiency judgments will eventually be bundled into packages that resemble mortgage-backed securities.

Because most targets have scant savings, the judgments sell for only about two cents on the dollar, versus seven cents for credit-card debt, according to debt-industry brokers.

Silverleaf Advisors LLC, a Miami private-equity firm, is one investor in battered mortgage debt. Instead of buying ready-made deficiency judgments, it buys banks' soured mortgages and goes to court itself to get judgments for debt that remains after foreclosure sales.

Silverleaf says its collection efforts are limited. "We are waiting for the economy to somewhat heal so that it's a better time to go after people," says Douglas Hannah, managing director of Silverleaf.

Investors know that most states allow up to 20 years to try to collect the debts, ample time for the borrowers to get back on their feet. Meanwhile, the debts grow at about an 8% interest rate, depending on the state.

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Melissa Golden for The Wall Street Journal

Retiree Julia Ingham of Gaithersburg, Md., faced a judgment related to a foreclosed property in Lehigh Acres, Fla.

Mr. Hannah expects the market to expand as banks "aggressively unload" their distressed mortgages in the next year, driving up the number of deficiency judgments being sought.

They are pretty easy to get. "If the house sold for less than you owe, the lender wins, plain and simple," says Roy Foxall, a real-estate lawyer in Fort Myers on Florida's west coast.

Mr. Foxall says five deficiency suits were filed against his clients this year, and he couldn't poke any holes in any of them. Lenders typically have five years following a foreclosure sale to sue for remaining mortgage debt.

Mr. Englett, the Orlando lawyer who has handled 27 such suits for homeowners in the past 21 months, says he didn't get the bank to waive the deficiency in any of the cases, but did reach six settlements in which the plaintiff accepted less.

Florida is among the biggest deficiency-judgment states. Since the start of 2007, it has had more foreclosures than any other state that allows deficiency judgments—more than 9% of the U.S. total, according to research firm Lender Processing Services Inc.

A loan-deficiency suit can yank borrowers back to a nightmare they thought was over.

Ray Falero, a truck driver whose Orlando home was foreclosed on and sold in August 2010, says he thought he was hallucinating when, months later, he opened the door and saw a sheriff's deputy. The visitor handed him a notice saying he was being sued for $78,500 by the lender on the home purchase, EverBank Financial Corp., of Jacksonville, Fla.

"I thought I was done with this whole mess," he says.

Mr. Falero, 37, says he was about nine months behind on his loan when the bank foreclosed. Before it did, he bought another home in Minneola, Fla., where he now lives and where he says he is up to date on mortgage payments. Like Mr. Reilly, Mr. Falero says he didn't swell the foreclosed-on loan through refinancing or home-equity borrowing.

Leftover Debt

Some of the 41 U.S. states where lenders can pursue deficiency judgments:

Florida

Georgia

Illinois

Michigan

New Jersey

New York

North Carolina

Ohio

Pennsylvania

Texas

EverBank won a deficiency judgment on Mr. Falero's Orlando loan. Mr. Falero and his lawyer are fighting to reduce the amount owed. EverBank declined to comment on his case.

Credit unions and smaller banks are the most aggressive pursuers of deficiency judgments, a review of court records in several states shows.

At Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union in Tampa, Jim Simon, manager of loss and risk mitigation, says the institution has a responsibility to its members, and that means trying to recoup losses by going after loan deficiencies. He calls such legal action the credit union's "last arrow in the quiver."

The biggest banks appear to have stayed largely on the sidelines as they deal with the foreclosure-paperwork mess. One big bank, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., "may obtain a deficiency" judgment in foreclosure cases but will "often waive" the leftover debt when a homeowner agrees to a so-called short sale of a house for less than is owed on it, a bank spokesman says.

Among the hardest-hit spots in Florida is Lehigh Acres, a 95-square-mile unincorporated sprawl of narrow, cracked-pavement streets about 15 miles inland from Fort Myers.

Lehigh Acres was carved out of scrub land and cattle farms in the 1950s by a Chicago businessman, Lee Ratner, who had made a fortune on d-CON rat poison, says Gary Mormino, a history professor at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg. Before he died, Mr. Ratner sold prefabricated houses to families hungry for a slice of paradise.

Decades later, Lehigh Acres (population 68,265) attracted people eager to cash in on the housing boom, even though it is distant from the sugary white beaches on the Gulf of Mexico. Speculative investors bought more than half of homes sold in Lehigh Acres in 2005 and 2006, Bob Peterson, a real-estate agent, estimates.

Many of those stucco homes now stand empty, priced at about a third of the value they had at the peak of the housing boom, which was often around $300,000.

In the first seven months of this year, courts entered 42 deficiency judgments in Lehigh Acres, for a total of $7 million, up from 26 judgments for $4.6 million in the same period of 2010, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of state-court records.

Fifth Third Bancorp, of Cincinnati, filed for the largest share of deficiency judgments in Lehigh Acres last year. The bank declined to comment.

"It's eerily quiet around here," says Jon Divencenzo, who bought a house in Lehigh Acres at a May foreclosure sale for $50,000. Some nights, he says, the only sounds are rustling pine trees and the idling car engines of former homeowners circling the block to glimpse what they lost.

The hard-hit area reveals a sharp contrast in homeowners' attitudes toward deficiency judgments.

Julia Ingham invested in four Lehigh Acres properties in June 2005, hoping to "drum up some real money for retirement."

All have since been foreclosed on by lenders, says the 62-year-old retired programmer for International Business Machines Corp.

A credit union, after selling one of the foreclosed houses for less than the debt on it, obtained a deficiency judgment against Ms. Ingham for $181,059.54. She worries she could face such judgments on the other properties, too.

Ms. Ingham says when she bought them, she misunderstood how much her investments put her on the hook for. Her builder, she says, promised she could invest $10,000 in four properties and then flip them for a profit. Ms. Ingham says deficiency judgments punish borrowers who were taken advantage of by lenders and builders.

Catherine Ortega, who owns a Lehigh Acres home around the corner from one of Ms. Ingham's foreclosed homes, says banks should leave people like her former neighbor alone. "Those people have suffered enough," she says.

In July 2005, Mr. Reilly took out a $223,000 mortgage to build a vacation home here, about 160 miles from his primary home in Odessa, Fla. He was laid off just as construction was being completed.

Mr. Reilly says he is current on the loan on his primary residence but couldn't afford the vacation home's $1,200-a-month loan payment. Great Western Bank, which is owned by National Australia Bank Ltd., foreclosed on his house in Lehigh Acres in July 2010.

Mr. Reilly, who was a mortgage broker before his layoff, says he knew that deficiency judgments were possible after a foreclosure but didn't expect to face one because he doesn't have any financial assets, and you can't get "blood from a stone."

Alfredo Callado, who lives next door to Mr. Reilly's former house, is unsympathetic. Like Ms. Ortega, Mr. Callado is troubled by the crime that a neighborhood full of empty houses attracts. He started watching over Mr. Reilly's former house to ward off thieves who steal air conditioners from vacant properties.

Mr. Callado, sitting on a lawn chair in his driveway, says lenders should use deficiency suits to punish defaulting homeowners for the damage they do to neighborhoods, including driving down property values.

"You have to make them pay for what they do to those of us left behind," he says.

Gilroy and Morgan Hill Short sale or foreclosure

You’ve heard the latest statistics: 6.3 million homeowners are in some state of foreclosure.

The tragedy is that in so many cases, financially strapped homeowners let their home slip into foreclosure without ever reaching out for help.  We need to do whatever it takes to spread the word that foreclosure is not the solution and should not even be viewed as an option.

If you are aware of anyone within your sphere or among past clients who are struggling with mortgage payments and could benefit from a consultation regarding their next steps, we can help.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us directly or to forward our phone number or email to anyone you care about.

Best regards,

Lisa & Pete www.LPFproperties.com

Interesting Real Estate facts!

• 81% of Americans view real estate as a good investment!
• 25% of young Americans plan to buy a home in the next two years
• 61% purchased their home at a better price than expected.
• 69% of Americans say that now is the best time to purchase a home!

If you are interested in more Real Estate facts and other great information sign up online to receive our mailers.

Gilroy and Morgan Hill Suggested Reading for 2012

Business

• Boom! Seven Choices for Blowing the Doors off Business as Usual
  –Kevin & Jackie Frieberg
• Rags to Riches – Extraordinary Stories of how Ordinary People Achieved Extraordinary Wealth
  –Gail Liberman & Alan Lavine
• Forbes Great Success Stories
  –Forbes Magazine Staff and David Gross
• Forbes Greatest Business Success Stories of all Time
  –Forbes Magazine Staff and David Gross
• Great Failures of the Extremely Successful
  –Steve Young

Personal

• Give your Speech – Change the World
  –Nick Morgan
• One Small Step can Change Your Life
  –Robert Mauer
• How to Win Friends and Influence People
  –Dale Carnegie
• Sandbox Wisdom
  –Thomas Asacker
• The Shark and the Goldfish
  –Jon Gordon
• Mastery
  –George Leonard
• Get Motivated
  –Tamara Lowe

Financial

• Free to Choose
  –Milton & Rose Friedman
• Total Money Makeover
  –Dave Ramsey
• The Richest Man in Babylon
  –George Clason

Sales & Productivity

• Getting Things Done
  –David Allen
• Making it all Work
  –David Allen
• The Way We're Working isn't Working
  –Tony Schwartz
• Little Teal Book of Trust
  –Jeffrey Gitomer
• The Greatest Salesman in the World
  –Og Mandino
• The Greatest Miracle in the World
  –Og Mandino
• Work by Referral...Live the Good Life
  –Brian Buffini & Joe Niego

Gilroy Short Sales

Shifting economic winds have left millions of Americans feeling financially stranded and not knowing where to turn. 

For homeowners who have lost their jobs, spent through their savings and now find themselves with a mortgage payment they can no longer afford on a home that’s worth less in today’s market than the amount they owe their bank, there are no easy answers.

Helping clients to figure out their best course of action within a market that’s nothing like any of us have ever dealt with before requires an entirely new level of expertise and training. That’s why we’ve sought out the Certified Distressed Property Expert (CDPE) designation—the most recognized and respected training on distressed properties in the real estate industry.

Most importantly we tapped into a network that holds its members to the highest standards of ethics and expertise.

We invite you to visit our website and contact us if you know someone you know who we could help. And please feel free to refer our contact information to others within your sphere.

Sincerely,

Lisa & Pete

www.LPFproperties.com