Mortgage Seminar Delray Beach

Suzanne Morton of The Mortgage Firm Delray Beach will be presenting "Real Talk About Mortgages" at the Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce on February 4, between 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.

Downtown Delray + Halloween= Family Fun!

Don't be a victim of FRAUD!

Living in the technology age is somewhat nerve racking when it comes to personal information and the internet. The best defense against fraud begins with you, and one of the ways to not become a victim is to be familiar with what fraud is and how fraudsters work.

Types of fraud

Elder Fraud and Financial Exploitation

Elder financial exploitation is the illegal or improper use of an older adult's funds or property.

This type of fraud is an act directed at older adults in which efforts are made to mislead with promises of goods, services, or financial benefits that don't exist, were not planned on being provided, or were distorted.

Health/Medicare Fraud

Health/Medical Fraud is purposely billing Medicare for services that were never received.

Identity Theft/Privacy Issues

Identity theft is the use of another’s personal information without permission — such as their name, Social Security number, and/or credit card number with the intention to commit fraud.

Mass Marketing, Mail, Wire, Telephone and Internet Fraud

Mass Marketing Frauds target individuals of all ages. Victims are lured in with false promises of cash prizes, goods, or services in exchange for up-front fees, taxes or donations.

Mail, phone, and internet can be used by criminals to commit many different types of fraud, including sweepstakes and lottery frauds, loan fraud, phishing scams, buying club memberships, credit card scams, identity theft, and more. All of these types of fraud are under this category.

Wire Transfer Fraud entails of using wire communications in a scheme to defraud the following: wire transfers of monies to or from a financial institution; electronic mail communications; Fax transmissions; and radio or television communications.

Mortgage, Loan, Lending and Related Fraud

Mortgage scams and frauds include traditional mortgage fraud, foreclosure rescue scams, loan modification scams, and reverse mortgage scams.

Securities and Commodities Fraud

Securities Fraud covers a wide range of illegal activities, all of which involve the schemes of investors or the handling of financial markets.

Tax Fraud

Any misrepresentation of the tax laws or effort to undermine the integrity of the tax system to the gain of a person or business at the expense of the federal government.

Other Types of Fraud

Charity Fraud: Scammers representing themselves as a charitable organization and using similar techniques to request donations as telemarketing, direct mail, email and online ads.

Job Scams: Scammers who promise employment, access to special employment listings, interviews, or a way to make a big income working from home for a fee or for credit or debit card information.

• Protect your personal information 
• Know who you are dealing with
• Make sure your systems are set up properly and protected
• choose a secure password- at least 8 characters long and a combination of letters &number

The Anatomy of Waterspout

Waterspout:  waw-ter-spout (noun) A tornado occurring over water that forms a column of water and mist extending between the surface and the clouds above. cyclone, twister, whirlwind, eddy


5 Part Life Cycle 

 Stage 1: Formation of a dark spot on the water surface

Stage 2: Spiral Pattern on the water surface

Stage 3: Formation of a spray ring

Stage 4: Development of visible condensation funnel

Stage 5: Ultimately decay

Two types of Waterspouts: Fair Weather waterspout & Tornadic waterspout

Tornadic waterspouts are tornadoes that form over water, or move from land to water. They have the same characteristics as a land tornado. They are associated with severe thunderstorms, and are often accompanied by high winds and seas, large hail, and frequent dangerous lightning.

Fair weather waterspouts usually form along the dark flat base of a line of developing cumulus clouds. This type of waterspout is generally not associated with thunderstorms. While tornadic waterspouts develop downward in a thunderstorm, a fair weather waterspout develops on the surface of the water and works its way upward. By the time the funnel is visible, a fair weather waterspout is near maturity. Fair weather waterspouts form in light wind conditions so they normally move very little. These type of  waterspouts dissipate rapidly when they make landfall, and rarely penetrate far inland.

Boaters: If a waterspout is sighted, immediately head at a 90 degree angle form the apparent motion of the waterspout. Never try to navigate through a waterspout. Although waterspouts are usually weaker than tornadoes, they can still produce significant damage to you and your boat.

*An amazing fact about water spouts is that they continue to be mysterious despite of extensive 

studies on them. Their unique nature continues to baffle world all together.

 A bit of history...

Physical and Meteorological Observations: Conjectures and Suppositions by Franklin in 1751 , but not published in the Royal Society's Philosophical Transactions until 1765 , Franklin explained a weather condition that forms large "whirlings". “Thus these eddies may be whirlwinds at land, waterspouts at sea.” He assumed that these were produced by air ascending or descending that had attained a circular motion. The air within receded “from the middle of the circle by a centrifugal force, and leaving there a vacancy; if descending, greatest above, and lessening downwards; if ascending, greatest below, and lessening upwards; like a speaking trumpet standing its big end on the ground. When the air descends with violence in some places, it may rise with equal violence in others, and form both kinds of whirlwinds.The air in its whirling motion receding every way from the center or axis of the trumpet, leaves there a vacuum; which cannot be filled through the sides, the whirling air, as an arch, preventing; it must then press in at the open ends. …. The air entering, rises within, and carries up dust, leaves, and even heavier bodies that happen in its way, as the eddy, or whirl, passes over land. If it passes over water, the weight of the surrounding atmosphere forces up the water into the vacuity… A body of water so raised may be suddenly let fall, when the motion, &c. has not strength to support it, or the whirling arch is broken so as to let in the air; falling in the sea, it is harmless, unless ships happen under it. But if in the progressive motion of the whirl, it has moved from the sea, over the land, and there breaks, sudden, violent, and mischievous torrents are the consequences.”

*The earliest record of a water spout on sea goes as back as 1456 when a whirlwind of water was spotted on the sea near Ancona in Italy

Floods, Hurricanes, and Tornados, Oh My!

Floods, Hurricanes, and Tornados, Oh My! 

Florida is famous for weather related problems and those weather related problems cause insurance problems. Problems that lead to the cost of insurance is one of the main concerns for buyers when purchasing in Florida. Anyone that works in real estate sales or the mortgage industry has to be capable of addressing legitimate concerns of clients when it comes to the cost of homeowners insurance. To do that you must be familiar with the history of Florida’s insurance issues over the years.

Over the last forty years Florida has been one of the fastest growing states in the US. Florida, also known as The Sunshine State is known for its sandy beaches and beautiful coastline, it is not hard to figure out where people want to live. The most desired location is of course the hardest hit when it comes to hurricanes and floods.

In the aftermath of 1992’s Hurricane Andrew Category 4 devastation that cost insurance companies more than $25 million, smaller companies closed and larger insurance companies were able to petition the state for a massive premium increase to help cover their losses. It took until 2004 for them to catch up, leaving many of the smaller insurance companies hesitant to write policies in Florida. Homeowners were left with rising insurance rates and cuts to the coverage just in time for not one or two or even three, but four major storms in one hurricane season throwing the insurance industry in to complete chaos. The next season brought even more destruction with five major storms including Katrina, the most expensive Atlantic hurricane in history. 

The vast number of claims submitted to insurance companies still in business lead to a large number of policy holders to be dropped while others joined the mass "evacuation" that started in the wake of Andrew.

As for real estate agents, they understood that the only thing worse than expensive insurance was no insurance at all. The banks will not close on a loan without proper proof of insurance. So Citizens Property Insurance Corporation was put into action in 2002, to ensure that Florida home owners, no matter where they lived would have access to property insurance. The more other insurance companies dropped their policy holders the more Citizens evolved from the last resort insurance to the largest insurance provider for the state. Since Citizens is a tax-payer funded insurance company, this created new issues, potentially every homeowner in the state could be on the line for claims. 

With the cost of insurance and its availability becoming an important hot topic during the 2006 Florida elections, Citizens Insurance charged its customers the highest rate approved by the Office of Insurance Regulation to avoid competing with private carriers. Insurance agents were actually prohibited from writing policies through Citizens if there was a private (not surplus lines) carrier who would write the risk. If a qualified insurance company was willing to take a group of policies, Citizens Insurance would transfer them to that company and cancel coverage. Customers had no recourse.

As a result Florida Senate Bill 2498 a.k.a. The Glitch Bill, was signed into law by Governor Christ in June of 2007. This legislation permitted agents to write a Citizens policy for customers if the premium for a comparable policy offered by a private carrier was 15% more expensive. Customers were also allowed to stay with Citizens Insurance if they were notified that their policy was being assigned to a private carrier.

In 2010, eight global insurance carriers entered or re-entered the Florida market. While the cost of reinsurance dropped 10% the cost of insurance to consumers remained the same.

Which brings us to February of this year, Florida Sen. Jeff Brandes filed Florida Senate Bill 724, a comprehensive bill to overhaul Florida property insurance law to avoid new "hurricane taxes" which would be necessary if another catastrophic hurricane ravaged the state. The proposal is unpopular among many Citizens customers because it would mandate more rate increases to what they consider to be already high premiums. A similar bill was defeated in 2012.

I hope this helps you in understanding the many issues that can effect a successful closing of your home purchase and the added demands of homeownership.

Cutting Edge Marketing with Digital Docs and Forever Marketing Presentation

Cutting Edge Marketing with Digital Docs and Forever Marketing Presentation

We are happy to deliver a presentation focused to assist professionals in the real estate industry brought to you by Digital Docs and Forever Marketing, Smart Title and Settlement Service, Inc., and The Mortgage Firm.  This cutting edge hyper-focused event is being put on to showcase the next generation of real estate closing and post closing marketing. The union of these three companies works out in every Realtor’s favor because of the unique benefits each company provides.

Digital Closing Docs with Forever Marketing - Created by real estate professionals, for real estate professionals. Digital Closing Docs with Forever Marketing provides you with automatic effective contact with past clients and repeat business—just by closing with Smart Title & Settlement Service Inc.

Smart Title and Settlement Service Inc. - Title orders have a 24 to 48 hour turnaround time. Providing nationwide coverage requires them to adhere to the individual state guidelines therefore each state has a different time schedule. Smart Title and Settlement Services Inc. has a network of notary closers and attorneys available day, night, & weekends. They close and disburse accurately and timely.

The Mortgage Firm - Suzanne Morton - The Mortgage Firm takes great pride in the ability to offer the most complete selection of financial options available. They are a full service mortgage banker with an experienced, knowledgeable staff who will work closely with you offering you both guidance and support in recommending mortgage solutions that meet your financial situation.

The skill and experience these professionals bring to any real estate transaction will help you close deals and provide repeat business down the road. Please join us for the presentation on April 17^th, 2013 at Slainte Irish Pub in Boynton Beach, Florida at 9:30 am for the presentation.