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Today's Technology Review (MailChimp) <!--amespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"-->

By Bill Arce. RealEstateLatino.com 

(This review is a commentary only; it does not represent the company mentioned here. You can use this service at your own risk)

MailChimp is a fun-easy to use email marketing application designed with the average user in mind. The interface is easy to follow and welcoming with a smiling cartoon chimp logo as their mascot. Best of all, it is FREE.

Here are some of the features that I fund useful.

You can copy and paste your contacts or upload them from a .csv file directly into the MailChimp application.

MailChimp will let you send up to 500 emails Free per months. For most Realtors this is more than enough to star your email campaign today.

Bounced emails are automatically deleted from your list, you are allowed to change your alias and use merge tags to make campaigns more personal.

Getting started is easy, they have included a wizard who takes you steps by steps to assist you setup your contacts, templates and campaigns. They also include tips for writing subject lines attached to the FAQ section.

With MailChimp you have the option to add your own HTML email code or use one of their designed templates.

MailChimp includes free unlimited image hosting (yes more free is good), make sure all your images have are less than 1mb to upload.

I found MailChimp to provide the standard reports necessary to measure the success of your campaign. You can track click-through, sent emails, bounced, opened and more. For more advanced user, MailChimp will let you integrate their application with Google Analytics.

Bottom-Line:  

MailChimp is a fun, easy to use service that can give you're the edge you need to effectible promote your services via email. I found our overall experience with them to be pleasant and planning on keeping on using them for now.

Today I came across this <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123940575642209823.html">article</a> and I wanted to shear it with you. This article mentions some interesting statistics that makes me wonder, WHY? FHA loans are FULL DOCS; applicants must disclose and verify income in order to (in must cases) pass the manual underwriting approval. After reading the whole article I come to the conclusion that we as professionals (lenders, Realtors, and sure counselors) need to do a better job educating consumers.

Now, I agreed that educating consumers on what is best for them sometimes can be tricked, why? Because sometime you cannot educate someone who are not willing to listening or just have an idea and no matter what your advice is they will do what they think is best for them.

So, what we should do as professional? First always be honest, remember "If you are thinking with your wallet, you are probably doing something wrong, or at least unethical". Secondly, explaining all the facts, advice your client the best of your knowledge, even is this is something you know they wouldn't like to hear. And last, be prepared to fired your clients or at the very least let them know that you preferred not to be part of the transaction that your experience tell you is a bad deal for your client.

Recently, I qualified a client (a family of 4) who is currently leaving with his brother in law, paying only $350 a month on rent. When I asking if he had saved some money to buy his house, he said NO, I advised him to review his family budget and save some money, that it was not a good idea buying a home without any money even if I could helping get first time buyer assistance.

Few days later he called me asking me the name of the DPA program, he was applying with a different bank, and I give him the information and wishing good luck. I have not heard from him ever since, but I am sure if he buys a home now he will be joining the growing army of homeowners losing their home to foreclosure even if they were FHA approved.

Shaun Donovan, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, said that the Federal Housing Administration is going to permit its lenders to allow homeowners to use the $8,000 tax credit as a down payment.

Marketing the tax credit to the Latino community could be a great way to generate new leads. Here are some ideas of what you can do to attract potential homebuyers.

First: I would include a bilingual version of the tax credit program on my website homepage. As everything that has anything to do with government, this program is not exempt of red tape and confusion. So why not prepare a short tax credit fact sheet in English and Spanish for your visitors. DO NOT forget to make easy for them to ask you questions about the program, that why you will be able to generate and later convert leads into prospective.

Second: Create a bilingual flyer highlighting FAQ about the program and blast Wal-Marts, local business, homeownership fairs and apartment complexes. Make sure to refer readers to your website for more information and leave your cell number and email for easy contact.

Lastly: I will blast the information online at the local level. Create a bilingual Google pay-per-click campaign targeting first time homebuyers in your town. Use keyword like "tax credit program" "first time home buyer" "government assistance". Utilized the free services of Craiglist.org, post a new ad every couple days in the real estate and finance section of your home town, this will help you drive traffic to your website. Write a blog, if you have not done so; create a blog by using some free platform like Blogger.com and wordpress.com

Just keep in mind that if your strategy is educate and inform potential leads, they will appreciate and eventually would love the opportunity to work with you and find a home together.

The national Components of Inventory Change (CINCH) report for

2005-2007 is now available on the HUD USER web site, http://www.huduser.org/datasets/cinch.html .  The CINCH reports make use of the longitudinal features of the American Housing Survey (AHS) to trace what happens to housing units over time.

  The report is organized around two sets of tables: forward- looking tables that trace what happened to units that were in the housing stock in 2005, and backward-looking tables that trace the source of the 2007 housing stock.  The report is downloadable as a PDF file.

As in previous years, we will eventually be posting a corresponding Rental Dynamics report and a CINCH dataset.  We will also post metropolitan CINCH and Rental Dynamics reports for the metropolitan areas that were in the 2007 AHS metropolitan surveys, along with a dataset.  These are still in preparation.

This report was written by Frederick J. Eggers and Fouad Moumen of Econometrica, Inc., under contract with HUD.