Amy Swaney, CMB ~ Citywide Home Loans ~ NMLS#209752 ~ BK#0116254

Thursday, October 10, 2013

 "Don't wish things were easier, wish you were better. Don't wish for less problems, wish for more skills. Don't wish for less challenges, wish for more wisdom." - Jim Rohn

Many knew that I celebrated my most recent birthday in the hospital fighting an infection in my chest from a recent surgery. This week-long stint unfortunately gave me plenty of time to irrationally think about all the sadness, difficulties and hardships that cancer has brought into my life. Two more weeks at home with IV antibiotics and I drove everyone crazy, including myself. The combination of drugs, physical pain and feelings of helplessness took its toll on my psyche, at a level that I was shocked to admit. The realization that I will never have the option to stop "battling cancer" left me in an emotional battle with myself over wishing things were just a little easier and wishing I was stronger.

When you are pocked with the battle scars of life and felt each one, it seems easier to let the weight of the fight break you down, rather than to find the reasons to fight harder. I remember when I stood in front of the mirror in my hospital bathroom in the middle of the night having stared at a face I hardly recognized. I was upset that I had missed a very close niece's wedding because of this hospital jaunt as well as the celebration with my family afterward. I was so disappointed that my birthday, the one day that PJ and I had together, was spent with me crying in pain, fear and anger, and finally rolled up in a ball trying to sleep.  

I looked in the mirror at my scars, the freshly minted stiches from my surgery, the faded ones that reminded me of every difficulty of cancer. I also saw the pen markings, where the doctors tried to measure the spread of the infection. I looked at my eyelashes that once used to be long and lush were now blond and unnoticeable. I finally looked in my eyes and saw how weak and useless I felt. There was no doubt about it, all I could think was that cancer sucked and I am not strong enough to do this.

There are not words to describe how much I wanted to take out my anger on everyone. How much I wanted to scream out "Why me, seriously how much more am I expected to take?" If I had acted out the way I felt, I would have thrown a big, fat, adult-sized, temper tantrum right there in the hospital bathroom complete with kicking, screaming, throwing myself on the floor and eventually, I am sure, calling out for my mom. Obviously, my rational brain kicked in and I quickly realized that it would get me nowhere, so I told the "Negativity Committee" that was meeting in my brain to get out. Wishing and hoping for fewer problems was not going to get me anywhere, not out the hospital, not out of the infection and certainly not out of cancer.

It is easy to forget that the challenges that we face strengthen us. It is easy to line up our list of complaints and much harder to remember our gifts. I arise daily having to remember that my life was changed by the experiences that I have faced.   It is my choice to decide if I will be thankful for the experiences or if I will hope for fewer challenges.   That choice isn't always easy; there is skill in choosing to look for the good in things and the rewards for gratitude in your experiences will always come in ways you never expect.

I also know my challenges are not unique; in fact they are somewhat cliché.   There are many who face much more difficult struggles than I think I could ever handle. Our friends and family suffer through both grief and pain publically and privately. Our minds are constantly injected with news of violence, brutality and moral and economic degradation.   All of these challenges are difficult. All of the trials are hard. Butstrength lies in how well one can let these challenges open our eyes to all the good around us

I am reminded daily of how grateful I am, granted, some days I am much more grateful than others, but cancer has shown me how abundant my life has been. I found out that people are good, more than I ever gave them credit for, and I needed to show more good to others.  It has shown me that there is much better out there than we are given the opportunity to see. I get to meet and speak with some of the most amazing professionals in our business and I am consistently reminded that bar has been raised, that the survivors are strong and the competition is fierce. The struggles that I faced have made me stronger, they have taught me tremendous life lessons and have equipped me to be measure up with the best of them and for that I am thankful.

C.S. Lewis says it best. "Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny."

I hope you are able to spend your week being grateful for the challenges you face today.  Unfortunately, challenges are not going away.  But, be grateful for the people in your lives who make it better and thankful for your strength to move forward and not give up.

Have a great week!
Amy

 The ABCs of the DFA
The Dodd-Frank Act Series
A Guide for Main Street

The Dodd-Frank Act in its 2300+ pages has changed and will continue to change the face of the real estate industry as a whole. Even so, many within the industry have been standing on the sidelines waiting for the "Hail Mary" to come and wipe away the changes that are putting most out of their comfort zone. This series will try to address some of the more common questions I get from my clients, it will give the most up to date information that is available and hopefully help in educating our industry in what is needed to adapt for future success. If you have specific questions you would like answered about the Dodd-Frank Act please email me at amy@amyswaney.com

What does the Dodd-Frank Act (DFA) do and when does it go into effect?

The Dodd-Frank Act is a misnomer.   Dodd-Frank is nickname for the "Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act" signed into law by President Obama on July 21, 2010.   The official aim of the legislation is "to promote the financial stability of the United States by improving accountability and transparency in the financial system, to end "too big to fail", to protect the American taxpayer by ending bailouts, to protect consumers from abusive practices, and for other purposes."  By one account the law sets up the need for over 243 rules to be written, that regulators conduct 67 studies and issue 22 periodic reports.

But what does it really do that affects you and me? A lot.  

Much of the controversy surrounding the Act is the fact that the majority of the law gave regulators the authority to write the "rules" which would make up the law. Yet, the regulator given most of this authority had not been created yet at the time of the Law's enactment. The full impact of Dodd-Frank, therefore, is still unclear as only some of the required "rulemakings" have been completed. So, in essence, the law is in place but we do not yet specifically know what each section of the law says we can or cannot do.

There are certain things, however, that we do know. The law contains 16 different sections that impact different areas of the financial markets. Many are focused on the do's and don'ts of Wall Street and corporate America, many shuffle around regulatory agencies, retiring some and creating others but some deal specifically with those of us in the primary market on Main Street. I will discuss each of these individual areas separately throughout the series.

Although the accurate effective date of Dodd-Frank would have been July 21, 2010 when the Act was signed into law, because the specifics of the law have not all been written, there are MANY implementation dates for different pieces of the legislation.  Many of the primary market "mortgage-related" rules were finalized through the regulatory process on January 10, 2013 with an execution date of one year, so January 10, 2014.  This particular section of the Act (Section 1400) has many ramifications to the real estate industry as a whole and therefore this date is what most people reference when questioned about the start date.

What is the CFPB and does it affect me?
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is more commonly known as the CFPB. This "super-regulator" was created in Section 10 of the DFA called the "Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010."

In the CFPB's own words to describe their function they state, "In June 2009, the administration proposed to address failures of consumer protection by establishing a new agency focused directly on consumers, rather than on bank safety and soundness or on monetary policy. This new agency would consolidate in one place responsibilities that had been scattered across government. The agency would also have responsibility for supervision and enforcement of the laws over providers of consumer financial products and services that had in the past escaped regular Federal oversight." - seewww.consumerfinance.gov

All regulatory authority over consumer protection for the following agencies now falls under the CFPB; the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

As industry participants, anyone covered under regulations of these agencies would now be covered under the CFPB. Below is the list of covered regulations.

Regulation B: Equal Credit Opportunity (ECOA)
Regulation C: Home Mortgage Disclosure (HMDA)
Regulation D: Alternative Mortgage Parity Act
Regulation E: Electronic Fund Transfers
Regulation F: Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
Regulation G: S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing Act - Federal Registration of Residential Mortgage Loan Originators
Regulation H: S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing Act - State Compliance and Bureau Registration System
Regulation I: Disclosure Requirements for Depository Institutions Lacking Federal Deposit Insurance
Regulation J: Land Registration
Regulation K: Purchasers' Revocation Rights, Sales Practices and Standards
Regulation L: Special Rules of Practice
Regulation M: Consumer Leasing
Regulation N: Mortgage Acts and Practices-Advertising (MAP)
Regulation O: Mortgage Assistance Relief Services (MARS)
Regulation P: Privacy of Consumer Financial Information
Regulation V: Fair Credit Reporting
Regulation X: Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA)
Regulation Z: Truth in Lending (TILA)
Regulation DD: Truth in Savings

The bureau is an independent unit located inside and funded by the United States Federal Reserve, with interim affiliation with the U.S. Treasury Department.  The Director of the Bureau is appointed by the President for a term of 5 years and must be confirmed by the Senate.  The current Director is the Honorable Richard Cordray, former Ohio Attorney General.

"Credit availability tightened last month as more lenders removed program offerings with loan terms greater than 30 years and/or interest-only features, similar to the trend we observed last month," Michael Fratantoni, MBA Vice President of Research and Economics said. "As was true then, we believe this reflects lenders implementation of the Ability to Repay/Qualified Mortgage regulation, which comes fully into effect in January. Offsetting this tightening somewhat has been some increased willingness to offer higher LTV loans, particularly to jumbo borrowers."
Ha Ha
"The real reason we can't have the Ten Commandments in the courthouse: You cannot post, 'Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not commit adultery and Thou shalt not lie, in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians.  It creates a hostile work environment." - George Carlin

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

My husband, PJ, for some ungodly reason, decided to spend six months training for the PF Chang marathon.  To a "non-runner" such as me, this seemed like personal torture.  I watched him wake at the break of dawn, and exhaust himself with grueling self-inflicted pain.  I spent the remainder of the day observing him limp and complain of the physical discomforts that followed.  But he is an athlete. 
For as long as I have known him, he has pushed himself through many endurance exercises to accomplish his personal goals.  Of course I teased him as he suffered though physical therapy, as well as through his visits to his chiropractor, and there was even that time I teased him after the unfortunate hospital run (lest we not forget the "butt surgery"- see my Facebook posts.)   I did not understand why he chose to continue to do these things when the results produced such misery.  He reminded me that in order to achieve his physical accomplishments, his pain and sore muscles were just part of his body's "recovery".
I guess when I look back; my experience with physical recovery was very similar. This past month marked two years that my family has lived with my cancer diagnosis.  There is no question that the physical difficulties I endured were not fun.  To "cure" the destruction going on in my body, I had to be made sick and for reference, chemotherapy is just as terrible as you imagine. 

I hated to watch the nurse prepare the dreaded "red devil" syringe that was injected into my IV line.  I knew what was in store for me in the days ahead.  I hated that I had to wait to open my eyes in the morning before I could determine if my headache had passed, or if my food would stay down that day.  I hoped each day that I would have the strength to lift my head to say "good morning" to my kids before they left for school.  I felt weak, like I could not will myself out of the physical discomfort and those days felt like I would never recover.  The demons that would crowd my mind during those days were tough to fight.  They wanted me to give up.  I hated that I felt like cancer would not kill me but chemotherapy would.  I hated that there were days that the "cure" was so much harder than I ever expected.       
All of that is behind me now.  I have no doubt that, although I do not wish to revisit my days of the physical battles with cancer, I will forever be so much stronger because of it.  As I am out and about, I repeatedly am asked about my recovery, and it is often with the unspoken assumption that I just woke up one day and I was cured.  I have to admit that there was a part of me that somewhat expected that as well, but recovery as I found out, happens one day at a time. 
Recovery can be just as hard as the actual battle.  The only difference is eventually you may see the light at the end of the tunnel.  But, recovery is a process, there are ups and there are downs, good days and bad days.  Sometimes recovery can be so difficult, it may require you to look at things from an entirely new perspective.
After my last surgery, I felt like I had mastered recovery.  In fact, I didn't even make the effort to change my schedule that required me to be at a conference in Dallas just days after my return from the hospital.  Everything had been going great, no complications and I felt better than I had in months.  But that is the funny thing about recovery; you think that you are in the clear and expect everything to be "back to normal." 

What I found was that my mind had had enough of cancer and its constant presence in my life but my body was not yet in agreement.  In my still weakened state, I had to give myself a little time to heal and I have to remind myself that every day.

I have had several conversations with many people over the past several weeks and have started to recognize yet another recovery...the recovery of our market.  The past 6-7 years, our country has faced a terrible destruction of wealth, financial insecurity and a morass in our economy; it has been tough, it has been scary, it has been humbling and for many, life altering.  Yet, as difficult as it has seemed at times, we have begun to see that there are many signs of recovery. 
After we recognized the financial disease our country was in, we endured years of difficult and sometimes painful changes to breathe life back into our global economy.  There are few among us who could say that they were not impacted in one way or another, often at no fault of their own.  Friends and family, customers and acquaintances, many lost their homes and/or their jobs and had to make some of the most difficult, emotional decisions they have ever faced.  The "American Dream" for many became the American nightmare. 
We are, as a nation, starting to feel the recovery.  Unemployment numbers have stopped their free fall; home prices, even in some of the hardest hit areas, have started to see a slight increase and consumers are slowly gaining back some confidence. 
Looking forward to the economic healing process, there are still many difficulties ahead.  Changes will be implemented that may be uncomfortable for many.  Current and common business models will no longer garner the same results.  Nonetheless healing will come to those who are willing to pay the price, those who are ready to recognize the opportunities and those who are ready to take action so the recovery can begin.

It is so hard to believe that it has almost been two years since I began my cancer recovery.  It is even more difficult to believe that it has been almost seven years since the housing "bubble" burst.  We have all been through great deal.  We each have our own scars in this life, but I like to think that "scars are just tattoos with better stories."

Have a great week!
Amy

Educate Your Clients and
Help Them Recover
  
The past 7 years have been difficult.  You, your clients, our market have all suffered through some of the most economically difficult times in our history.  Many of us had to pay the price and suffered tremendous financial damage.  But the time is now to start the recovery.  Our team wants to be there to help.

  
Beginning May 1, 2013, Citywide Home Loans will offerconventional financing at market rates for customers who have had a FORECLOSURE more than 3 years ago with the following criteria...
  • Primary Residence ONLY
  • Requires 10% down
  • Must receive an Automated Underwriting Approval
  • Date of Foreclosure on credit report must have occurred at least 36 months ago
  • Purchase OR Rate/Term Refinance

Beginning May 1, 2013, Citywide Home Loans will offerconventional financing at market rates for customers who have had a DEED-IN-LIEU of FORECLOSURE more than 2 years ago with the following criteria...
  • Primary Residence ONLY
  • Requires 10% down
  • Must receive an Automated Underwriting Approval
  • Date of Deed in Lieu on credit report must have occurred at least 24 months ago
  • Purchase OR Rate/Term Refinance

Beginning May 1, 2013, Citywide Home Loans will offerconventional financing at market rates for customers who have had a SHORT SALE more than 2 years agowith the following criteria...
  • Requires 20% down
  • Must receive an Automated Underwriting Approval
  • Date of Short Sale must have occurred at least 24 months ago
  • Purchase OR Rate/Term Refinance
  • For 10% Down the Short Sale must have occurred 4 years ago
  
 Will QM Impact You and Your Clients?
  
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the official regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, announced that it is directing the two agencies to limit their future loans that meet the requirements for a qualified mortgage or QM. 

Beginning January 10, 2014, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will no longer purchase a loan that is subject to the "ability to repay" rule if the loan:
  • is not fully amortizing,
  • has a term of longer than 30 years, or
  • includes points and fees in excess of three percent of the total loan amount, or other limits for low balance loans

This means Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will not purchase
  • interest-only loans,
  • loans with 40-year terms, or
  • loans with points and fees exceeding the thresholds established 
Ha Ha
Why does a rapper carry an umbrella?

Fo' drizzle