There’s Transactional Money And There’s Wealth With Eddie Speed Of NoteSchool

  As the world increasingly moves towards a data-driven economy, data is becoming increasingly important in the note industry. By understanding the data, businesses can make better decisions about growing and scaling their operations. That is what our guest, Eddie Speed, the President and Founder of NoteSchool, talks about. Having been in the note industry for thirty-plus years, Eddie has an unparalleled track record in the industry and honed marketing and negotiation skills. Tune in to this episode to know more about data, tax loophole strategies, and caution flags in real estate investing. — Watch the episode here   Listen to the podcast here   There’s Transactional Money And There’s Wealth With Eddie Speed Of NoteSchool I’m joined by a good friend and mentor of mine, Eddie Speed. Eddie, thanks for being here. How are you doing? If I was any better, I’d be you. Eddie, I met you for the first time in a meeting at the DoubleTree Hotel in Dallas when I first got out of the Marine Corps. You were selling a book called Streetwise Seller Financing. You were the first real estate author I’d ever met. I was awestruck until I realized you were a normal guy. Why don’t you take a minute and tell us a little bit about yourself? I started buying seller-financed notes with my father-in-law in 1980. Seller financing became a big thing because of inflation, high rates. That’s how I got started in the business. My wife and I married in 1982. We came to the big city of Dallas Fort Worth to buy notes. By the time I met you, I’d set up the note system for home investors, had a whole era with Frank D’Angelo, and all that. In the end, I spent about ten years showing real estate investors a formula of how to make seller financing. I did that for my own selfish reasons. They could sell their notes to me for top dollar. What has become our thing over the years is how to do it correctly so that you’re making the best product. Whether you’re going to keep your note or sell your note or whatever, that’s how it works. It’s important to do things right. Eddie, every week I start with what I call the bottom-line up front, the bluff. When I was in the Marine Corps, I used to brief generals. They would always say, “Never bury the lead. If the general has to get up and leave in the first couple of minutes, he’s got to know the most important thing.” Imagine someone tuned in on this show, they’re on their way to work, but they got to pull over, get gas, and don’t finish reading it. I’m going to give you two minutes to tell the reader the most important things they need to think about, be doing, or avoid in this market. Eddie, the bluff, take it away. The most important thing for every real estate investor, whether you’re a high-volume real estate investor, or whether you’re a guy that does 2 or 3 deals a year, you got to know the data. Take advantage of the data. When I started in the business in 1980, honestly, there wasn’t any data. Now we have all kinds of information. Let’s play a little “Did You Know?” Did you know there are 2 million residential mortgages that aren’t making a payment? Did you know the most frustrated property seller in the business? Burned-out landlords, small-time landlords, particularly ones that self-manage. Did you know how many houses they have? They own almost 12 million residential houses. That’s a big target list. Whether you’re looking at that, at how growth rates are going or projecting the market conditions, let me warn you of this. A lot of people love to read the headlines. You got to understand what’s behind the headlines. Some reporter wrote an article. They wrote a headline for a zinger. The big zinger may be details in that article that are way past the headline. Know your data. When you know your data, you can make smart decisions and find voids that every other real estate investor is missing. I’ll talk about strategies that are a big deal. According to some of the top real estate negotiation trainers in the business, friends of Tim’s and I, the number one reason the frustrated landlord doesn’t sell is they’re scared of paying taxes. Why don’t you angle a tax loophole strategy? Instead of, “I’ll pay you top dollar,” why don’t you lead with, “I’ll show you a way to defer taxes?” That’s a completely different angle that positions you differently in the market. Once again, you have to know some data. You have to understand how that works to position yourself differently. That’s about it. I was an intelligence analyst. We always talked about single-source information. Data was one of those things that you’re not supposed to ever take action on. If you heard something one place, or you only got imagery of something, you don’t start a battle plan against that. You have to go get more information. If you got imagery, intelligence, you’d go look for human intelligence, signals intelligence, or all the different types of information to form a picture. It’s almost what I heard you say. Don’t read the headline. That’s single-source. Get through those articles and look for the underlying data that you can form your own opinion on. It’s got to be supported. A couple of months ago, I was at a mastermind meeting. I won’t say whose. Someone said, “The Boise, Idaho market’s going to crap.” I was like, “I hadn’t heard that.” I started looking it up. There are some articles days on the market, up 75%. We’re from 7% to 12%. I get it. That’s what I tell everybody all the time. Percentages right now are misleading. That’s why I caution against reading the headlines. I see it all the time. I don’t

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Redfin Reports Demand For Vacation Homes Is Now Below Pre-Pandemic Levels

High home prices and mortgage rates, along with economic uncertainty and an increase in second-home loan fees, have put an end to the pandemic-driven vacation-home boom Demand for vacation homes has fallen below the pre-pandemic baseline for the first time in two years, with mortgage-rate locks for second homes down 4% from before the pandemic in May, according to a new report from Redfin (www.redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. That’s down from a revised rate of 3% above pre-pandemic levels a month earlier, and 70% above pre-pandemic levels a year earlier. Demand for second homes is declining due to high home prices, mortgage rates that have rapidly risen to nearly 6% and a slumping stock market–factors that are also cooling the rest of the housing market. Another deterrent to second-home buyers is the fact that the federal government increased loan fees for second homes in April, adding roughly $13,500 to the cost of purchasing a $400,000 home. “Skyrocketing monthly payments, along with higher loan fees, have priced many second-home buyers out of the market,” said Redfin Deputy Chief Economist Taylor Marr. “Many would-be second-home buyers are also deterred by turmoil in the stock markets, high inflation and recession fears, and they can be quicker to pull back from the market because vacation homes aren’t a necessity the way primary homes are. The cooldown in the second-home market is likely to continue as long as mortgage rates are elevated and the stock market is slumping.” The drop in vacation-home demand marks a drastic change from the second half of 2020 and 2021, when mortgage-rate locks for second homes skyrocketed due to record-low mortgage rates and the flexibility to work from anywhere thanks to remote work. Demand peaked in March 2021, when it was about 90% above pre-pandemic levels. Interest in vacation homes started declining sharply in February as mortgage rates began their ascent. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate reached 5.81% in the week ending June 23. To read the full report, including charts and methodology, please visit: https://www.redfin.com/news/second-home-demand-falls-may-2022.

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WORD OF THE DAY: Housewright

[HAUS-rite] Part of speech: Noun Origin: North America, mid-16th century Definition: A builder of houses, especially those constructed largely of timber; a house carpenter. Examples of Housewright in a sentence “After working with Habitat for Humanity, Rachel felt like a bonafide housewright.” “With Lincoln Logs, anyone can be a housewright in the comfort of their own home.” About Housewright Housewright developed as an American word in the 16th century through the combination of the words “house” and “wright” (an old Germanic word that means maker or builder). Did you Know? You could hire a handyman to do general repairs around your house, but if you have detailed woodwork, you’ll want a housewright. This term was popular 18th-century colonial America to refer to craftsmen who cut timber and assembled it into houses.

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John Beacham of Toorak Capital Partners Named an Entrepreneur of the Year® 2022 New Jersey Award Winner by EY

Toorak Capital Partners, Inc. (“Toorak”), a leading capital provider to the residential real estate lending industry, announced that John Beacham, its Founder and CEO, has been named an Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2022 New Jersey Award winner by  Ernst & Young LLP (EY US). Entrepreneur Of The Year is one of the preeminent competitive business awards recognizing leaders of high-growth companies who think big to succeed. An independent panel of judges selected Beacham based on his entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth, and impact, among other core contributions. “It’s a true honor and a privilege to be recognized by EY as an Entrepreneur of the Year 2022 New Jersey Award winner, and I’m proud to share this recognition with the entire Toorak team, our origination partners, and the incredible real estate entrepreneurs across the country using Toorak capital to renovate and reposition America’s housing stock,” said Beacham. “It’s common for innovation awards to go to companies in tech, healthcare, or retail, rather than capital-intensive industries such as mortgage finance, but I’m proud of the engine we’ve built at Toorak that enables small businesses and entrepreneurs on multiple levels to thrive.” Entrepreneur of the Year is celebrated through regional and national awards programs in more than 145 cities and 60 countries. As a New Jersey award winner, Beacham will now be considered by the National independent panel of judges for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2022 National Awards. With capital commitments from entities managed by KKR, a leading global investment firm, Toorak has revolutionized the way business purpose residential real estate lenders access capital. The firm was the first to link small-balance commercial and residential originators with institutional capital and has perfected this approach in the single-family residential bridge and 30-year single family rental lending space. About Toorak Capital Partners Toorak Capital Partners is an integrated correspondent lending platform based in Summit, NJ. Toorak acquires small-balance, business-purpose loans backed by residential, multifamily, and mixed-use properties throughout the U.S. and the U.K. Toorak acquires loans directly from lenders that originate high credit quality loans. Toorak’s principals have a deep understanding of mortgage credit in the residential and commercial space with backgrounds in real estate lending, capital markets, securitization, asset-liability management, asset management and credit. Since inception, Toorak has provided more than $8.5 billion in capital and funded over 20,000 business-purpose loans. Toorak-funded projects have renovated, stabilized or provided rental housing for close to 40,000 families to date – an average of approximately 1,000 families per month in 2021. Further information is available at www.toorakcapital.com.

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WORD OF THE DAY: Deontology

[dee-on-TALL-oh-jee] Part of speech: noun Origin: Greek, early 19th century Definition: A theory of ethics that establishes rules of right and wrong actions; the study of determining the right way to live life, based on duty and moral obligation Examples of Deontology in a sentence “After studying deontology in her Intro to Philosophy class she became obsessed with creating rules for her roommates to follow.” “The Golden Rule is one of the most basic principles of deontology — treat others how you wish to be treated.” About Deontology Deontology determines a moral framework for right and wrong — basically, rules for how to live your life. Nihilism, the philosophy that there are no moral principles and life has no meaning, can be considered the opposite of deontology. You may experience a bit of nihilism when you struggle to get out of bed to go to work. “What’s the point?” you may think. Try to summon up inspiration from deontologists: Go forth and do the right thing. Did you Know? In many names for philosophies or ideas, the root word can be converted into other parts of speech. Deontology, the name for the ethical rule-following philosophy, is the noun. A deontologist, also a noun, is one who practices or studies the philosophy. And deontological, the adjective, describes anything that follows the principles of deontology.

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What are the Most Popular Real Estate Listing Photos? New HomeJab Study Reveals the Answers

A new study of real estate photography data from HomeJab finds that the most popular real estate listing photo is not the home’s front exterior. Instead, bedroom photos were ranked first, barely nudging out kitchen photos. Front exterior shots placed a distant fifth. HomeJab, which provides real estate agents on-demand professional real estate photography and other visual production services in all 50 states, partnered with Artificial Intelligence firm Restb.ai to study more than 14,000 photos of homes for sale. Professional real estate photographers hired by listing agents took the images used for the research from a random selection of 600 properties listed for sale in early June 2022. The HomeJab study – using Restb.ai computer vision technology – found: 1. Bedroom photos topped the list. More than one in ten images used to sell a home were bedroom photos (11.92%).2. Kitchen photos came in second place, just 1/50th of one percent lower than bedroom photos (11.90%).3. Living room photos took the third spot, with 10.79%.4. Bathroom photos were No. 4 with 9.75%.5. Front exterior photos rounded out the top 5 most popular real estate listing photos with 8.70%. “When you scroll through listings of homes for sale online, typically, you see an exterior shot,” said Joe Jesuele, founder and CEO of HomeJab. “But that’s not the most popular photo that real estate photographers capture. Instead, professionally shot photos of the kitchen and bedroom are the most common ones used to help sell homes,” he said. HomeJab enlisted the help of real estate’s leading computer vision firm, Restb.ai, to automatically sort through thousands of photographs from homes currently for sale, use its computer vision technology to identify the type of photo, and then classify and sort the images. “What would take a research team hundreds of total people hours to accomplish manually, Restb.ai was able to provide these research results in minutes,” noted the founder and CEO of Restb.ai, Xavi Hernando. HomeJab’s Jesuele explains that using only professionally shot real estate photos improves the quality of the study findings because research shows that high-quality, professional real estate photos are more effective in selling homes. He notes that past research from the Center for Realtor Development shows that professional real estate photography helps homes sell 32 percent faster. And homes in the $200,000 to $1 million price range sell for $3,000 to $11,000 more when using professional images. Rounding out the Top 15 listing photos in the HomeJab study were: 6. Dining area – 4.48%7. Aerial – 4.32%8. Yard – 3.00%9. Back exterior – 2.48%10. Patio terrace – 2.10%11. Home office – 1.84%12. Laundry room – 1.81%13. Deck – 1.72%14. Hallway – 1.39%15. Foyer – 1.26% The bottom six were Basement (1.22%), Garage (1.12%), Front door (1.11%), Pool (1.11%), Stairs (.93%) and Walk-In closets (.66%). Other photos comprised the remaining 16.38%. Jesuele added, “It will be interesting to see if these numbers change over time – especially with the increased accessibility and use of drone footage for aerial photography and video. And because of the pandemic, will we see more photos of home offices in the future? Time will tell.” A summary report on this new HomeJab study is available here.

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