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Sampling of News and Blog Articles in Which CAARE was quoted (new section)

1. Should you buy a home through the seller’s agent (click here to read). By Marcie Geffner at HSH.com

2. FHA PFS Program Changes (click here to read). Biggerpockets.com

3. HUD postpones the ban on the dual agency in FHA short sales (click here). This is one of many reposts of the Inman story.

4. Dual Agency Hot Potato (click here to read). Real Estate Legal Services

5. 10 things real-estate listing sites won’t say (click here to read). By AnnaMaria Andriotis of MarketWatch.

6. Federal regulators probing real estate kickback schemes (click here to read). By Kenneth Harney of the Washington Post (nationally syndicated writer) This article appeared in numerous papers across the nation. Also appeared in Mortgage Professionals of America and other sites.

7. Are Open Houses a Waste of Sellers’ Time? (click here to read). Fox News

8. Should you sell a house as a pocket listing?  (click here to read). By Marcie Geffner

9. Affiliated Business Arrangements – more insight (click here to read) Eagle Land Title Agency Blog.

10. Pocket Listings limit buying pool and pricing potential (click here to read). Newsday, Yahoo! Finance and Bankrate.com

11. Real Estate open house: Doorway to trouble? By Marilyn Lewis. MSN Money

12. Home builders put buyers into credit Bootcamp. By Michelle Conlin Reuters and in blogs

13. Class-Action Suit Highlights Dirty Business of Home Warranties. By Kenneth Harney (nationally syndicated)

14. Open Houses – One-sided Benefits for Agents. By James Kimmons. TheBalance.com

15. How to Negotiate the Best Deal on a Home. By Tamara Holmes of Black Enterprise

16. Have Minnesota home buyers overspent by $63 million since 2010? By Andy Mannix. CityPages.com

17. The Affiliated Business Arrangement Addendum – What it really means to you. Rants and Ravings from your Maryland REO Title Expert (a blog)

18. MLSs mulling copyright enforcement group to go after “data pirates.” By Andrea Brambila, Inman News.

19. No consensus on the real estate dual agency, double-ending. By Andrea Brambila, Inman news.

20. Survey: Open houses still have their place. InmanNews

21. MRIS injunction against NeighborCity applies only to photographs. Inman News

22. Numerous stories in RESPANews and other affiliated online trade journals. No links because this is a pay for the content site.

23. Is a home warranty a waste or a smart buy?

The consumer tips listed on CAARE’s website are very beneficial for lenders in that they reduce risk and improve the decision making and equity position of borrowers. Consider just the following three routine real estate broker practices with an eye how they could influence a lender’s risk.

1. Dual or Designated Agency. In a dual agency, buyers are likely to overpay for properties and negotiate poor transactions. Dual agency is really no agency at all. In a dual agency, brokers are prohibited from assisting buyers in negotiating price or terms (two of the top reasons buyers hire a Realtor) or doing anything to the detriment or benefit of either party. The dual agency usually arises without warning and leaves buyers abandoned from their real estate professional at a time when buyers are most vulnerable. However, dual agency is extremely profitable for brokers because they collect double commissions in dual agency transactions. Brokers have a financial incentive to manipulate consumers into dual agency situations. Click here to learn more about dual agency. Click here to learn about how buyers can negotiate a discount on buyer brokers and have a rebate applied to equity in the house.

2. Bonuses. In transactions where bonuses are paid by the listing broker to buyer brokers, buyers are more likely to make a bad purchase decision and overpay for the house. Listing brokers and builders routinely offer secret bonuses to buyer brokers in expectation of influencing the advice given to borrowers. In any other profession, that bonus is statutorily defined as commercial bribery. Click here to learn more about bonuses.

3. One Stop Shopping. In controlled business arrangements, borrowers are likely to receive compromised safeguard services and overpay for them. If a builder or brokerage firm has a large contingent fee riding on a transaction, owning a title company is the best insurance against having a transaction fail. One Stop Shopping is most likely to occur in dual agency transactions. This practice is so profitable that the industry has gone to great lengths to cover up the problems and has created an enormous lobbying consortium called RESPRO to promote this anti-consumer practice. Click here to learn more about One Stop Shopping.

Lenders are in a key position to severely decrease risk by requiring that their borrowers not be subjected to the above three practices. If you want to learn more about how to avoid these conflicts of interest or are interested in being placed on a list of lenders who will approve buyer broker rebates, please contact us.

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