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Volume 1 - Issue 12
Monday, March 27, 2006
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Branch Quarterly Meetings Recap
On March 22nd and 23rd the branch quarterly was held at the Mesa Hilton. If you did not attend you missed some very interesting and important information. Below are some bullet points of what was discussed.
• Rate Sheets, Matrices and Guidlines are available online at www.amsbank.com.
• New Rate Sheets linked directly to the corresponding Matrices online.
• AMS Elite Website will be up and running and all AMS Employees will be brought in for training in the next 45 days.
• AMS will be licensed in all 50 states by the end of this year.
• New AMS Realtor/LO program brings in Realtors as AMS employees.
• AZDFI results and violations discussed.
• To advertise in a state a branch must be licensed in that state.
• New Compensation Agreements discussed and must be returned by branches.
• Accounts Payable all centralized through corporate office.
• All branch leases must be resigned with AMS Corporate on the lease.
• AMS Golf Tournament will be on May 11, 2006
• New partnership with HK Bentley to be in between for all appraisals.
• Quarterly recognition awards were given out.
If you have any questions about things that were discussed in the Branch Quarterly Meeting, please contact your BDM or Branch Operations.
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Angel Johnson Decides To Walk 60 Miles For Breast Cancer
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Angel Robinson, Administrative Assitant
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Angel and her family had a serious scare in November, her mother had a tumor the size of a basketball in her stomach, which they thought was cancer. The tests came back negative but the scare changed Angel's life.
Angel a single mom of three, Kayla (14), Dalton (8), and Anthony (2), decided to take a stand and participate in the Breast Cancer 3 Day. The Breast Cancer 3 Day is a 3 day walk that covers 60 miles and raises money for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
The goal for Angel's team is to raise $4000 for each walker. If you would like to donate or participate and join Angel's team, you can visit her personal 3 Day Walk for Breast Cancer page at http://www.the3day.org/Arizona06/angeljohnson.
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Tim's Glazed Baked Ham
Submitted By Tim Millican
Wholesale Marketing Specialist
Ingredients:
1 5-to-6 pound cooked ham (rump half or shank portion)
Whole cloves (about 1 tsp.)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup bourbon or orange juice
2 tablespoons Dijon-style mustard
Directions:
1. Score ham by making diagonal cuts in a diamond pattern. To stud the ham with cloves, push in the long end of a clove at intersections of each diamond. Place ham on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Insert a meat thermometer, making sure the thermometer does not touch the bone.
2. Bake ham in a 325 degree F oven until meat thermometer registers 125 degree F. For rump half, allow 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours; for shank, allow 1-3/4 to 2 hours.
3. For glaze, in a medium saucepan, stir together brown sugar, honey, orange juice, bourbon, and mustard. Cook and stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Brush about 1/4 cup of the glaze over ham. Bake, uncovered, for 20 to 30 minutes more or until meat thermometer registers 135 degree F. Let stand 15 minutes before carving. (The meat¿s temperature will rise 5 degree F during standing.)
4. Reheat remaining glaze and serve with ham. Makes 16 to 20 servings.
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Community Affairs Update
By Sheila Pearson
Community Awareness Coordinator
Hello everybody! Can you believe spring is already here? What a busy quarter so far for American Mortgage Specialists and US Preferred Realty. We had a busy month with our community projects; April will be just as fun.
Special Olympics-Basketball and Cheerleading Competition
This was a very special event. It was two days of interacting with all of the Special Olympians. We helped set up the gyms, take score, serve lunch, cheer, set up for the dance, serve snacks, danced, and cleaned up. It was very rewarding to be a part of it all. Thank you to our team of devoted AMS volunteers!!! I couldn't do it without you. (Ana Brown and Magda Provencio :)
Upcoming events:
April 8
National Multiple Sclerosis Society- "Walk On The Wild Side"
April 22
MADD- 1st Annual Walk, Strides for Change, will be held at The Phoenix Zoo. Opening ceremonies begins at 7:40am; the walk begins at 8:00am. This non-competitive walk was created to raise funds for MADD's mission to stop drunk driving, support the victims of this violent crime and prevent underage drinking. This will be a huge event with 3500 walkers expected. What a great opportunity to show our community support, and get our names out there.
April 29
Care For Life-"Race To Save A Child"- 1st Annual 5K Run/Walk, will be held at Kiwanis Park in Tempe. This is a fundraiser to help the African people of Mozambique. This race begins at 7:00am.
As always,
Have a great week!
PARTNERING FOR SUCCESS
Sheila Pearson
sheilapearson@usprefrealty.com
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Loan Coordinator Position
American Mortgage Specialists, Inc. is now hiring for a Loan Coordinator. This person must have a minimum 2 years of experience in loan processing, underwriting or coordinating.
Please fax resumes to Joe West at 480.730.4460 or email joewest@amsaz.com.
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REMINDER: Unlicensed teams may only meet with the public regarding loans at the Licensed Corporate Office. 1003's must also reflect the address of 1255 W. Baseline Rd. Ste 288 Mesa, AZ 85202.
NOTE: Appraisal disclosures are not to reflect a ' 90 day' time limit.
Mary Parks
Compliance Supervisor
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Troy's Tech Tips
By Troy Gunnell
Digitizing Cassettes
Admit it. Somewhere in your sock drawer, or tucked inside your desk are some cassette tapes that apparently never got the word that their time has passed. Whatever is on them, you can now rest easy that you can transfer those songs to CD to save them from the elements, little hands, or whatever else can ruin a cassette tape.
The first thing you’ll need is a cable to get the sounds into your computer. This is easily accomplished with a visit to your local electronics or stereo store. A cord with a 1/8” headphone jack on each end will fit nicely into your tape player and your computer’s line-in port.
Next, you’ll need some software. Roxio’s Easy Media Creator for PCs or Toast programs for Macs will do just fine. Just hit “play” on the player and “record” on your computer. Both programs offer controls to reduce the amount of tape hiss… and both offer the ability to burn your tunes directly to CD.
Just Do I.T.
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AMSU
Calendar
You can download a full version of the calendar at: www.amsbank.com/AMSU/AMSU Brochure.doc
March 28th 2006 - Bank Orientation 1-4
March 29th 2006 - Compliance 9-12
ILO Training 1-4
March 30th 2006 - Branch Orientation 9-12
March 31st 2006 - Processing 101 9-12
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Cyber Chat
By Steve Bradshaw
Hello AMS!
It was great to get to meet many of you at the Branch Quarterly Meetings last week. I had a chance to speak with many of you during the breaks and I know there will be no stopping AMS with such a fine group of individuals originating loans.
I will touch on a couple of things that Scott and Eric brought up during the meeting. The first is the Do Not Call list. All of the branches that are telemarketing need to both maintain their own internal DNC lists and scrub against the AMS master DNC list. We are working on building a portal on the AMSBank site where you will be able to download the master lists and upload your internal lists to be added to the master. If you are using a third party vendor to scrub your lists against the national Do Not Call list, we will be happy to provide you with the AMS SAN number. You still need to scrub against our internal list as well.
As always, give us a call to get you set up on the PDS server and start reaping the benefits today!
Talk to you in a couple of weeks.
Steve Bradshaw
Vice President
Information Technology
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Joke Of The Week
Drinking Buddies
There once were two Irishmen, named Shawn and Pat, who were the best of friends. During one particular night of revelry, the two agreed that when one passed on, the other would take and spill the contents of a bottle of fine, Irish whiskey over the grave of the fondly missed and recently dead friend.
And as fate would have it, Shawn would be the first to pass.
Pat, hearing of his friend's illness, came to visit his dear friend one last time.
“Shawn,” said Pat, “can you hear me?”
Faintly, Shawn replied, “Yes, Paddy, I can.”
Bashfully, Pat started, “Do you remember our pact, Shawn?”
”Yes, I do Patty,” Shawn strained.
“And, you'll also remember that I was to pour the contents of a fine, old bottle of whiskey over your grave, which we have been saving for, going on 30 years now?” said Pat.
“Yes Patty, I do,” whispered Shawn.
"It's a very ‘old’ bottle now, you know,” urged Pat.
“And what are you gettin' at Pat?” asked Shawn, briskly.
“Well Shawn, when I pour the whiskey over your grave, would ya mind if I filter it through my kidneys first?”
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Submitted by Magda Provencio
Benefits Coordinator
The best way to save money- seek a network provider listed under your group benefit's plan. When looking up a primary physician, specialist or facility under the Great West Healthcare Plan refer to their website www.mygreatwest.com. You will need to register on this internet website first, your id number being your social security. You will only have to register once.
The other choice would be to call the member service line at 1 800 663-8081 the group plan number is listed on your ID card 358743.
Also keep in mind that on the back of your Medical ID card there is a number for the Pharmacists to call 1 800 235-4357. This phone number is different for the Great West Healthcare number, the reason is our Prescription coverage is through Express Scripts not Great West Healthcare.
When looking for a network provider under the your group dental plan refer to The Standard Insurance website at http:/www.amertiasgroup.com/provider/dental.htm you will have to register for this as well. Make sure you choose PPO Nationwide network.
The phone number for Customer service at The Standard Insurance is 1 800 547-9515 your group plan number is listed on your ID card 139652.
Kevin Dupuis Receives His Prize
Kevin Dupuis with his $20 Borders Gift Card
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Second Home Sales Increase Their Share Of Real Estate Market
Article obtained from www.mortgagenewsdaily.com
The National Association of Realtors recently released an interesting report about the sale of second homes in the United States. While the survey is a little outdated, the data covers sales over five years to the end of 2004, it still provides a perspective as to who, where, and how non-primary residences are being purchased.
For example, during the years from 2001 to 2004, second home sales (which include both recreational/vacation property and investment property) more than doubled from 405,000 to 881,000 while first home sales increased from 4,316,000 to 5,332,000. In 2000, second home sales represented 8.6 percent of all loans but by the end of 2004 represented 14.20 percent of total activity.
While the percentage of second home sales relative to first increased steadily during the five year period, the greatest increase, from 12 to 14.20 percent came in 2004, the final year for which data was available.
NAR's study was based on an analysis of information collected under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). This act mandates the aggregation of data from individual loan applications including borrower demographics, the location of the property, and details about the loan itself such as rate, terms, duration, and so forth. By definition the study does not include information on homes bought for cash or private seller financed sales which may well represent significant portions of both the vacation and investment markets.
In 2000 the median income of a buyer of a primary residence was $52,200 while the median income for those buying a second home was $78,500. In 2004 those figures were $60,800 and $101,900 respectively, a substantial increase in income for the second home buyer. Loan amounts, however, decreased in disparity. In 2000 buyers took out a median loan of $102,400 to purchase a primary residence and $78,400 to finance the second home, i.e. the second home mortgage was 76 percent the amount of the primary mortgage. By 2004 the median second home mortgage was 86 percent of the median primary mortgage of $136,000. However, NAR found that the actual median purchase price of second homes was higher than that of primary homes in 2004 - $172,000 versus $170,000. The median price of second homes used for vacation purposes was $190,000 while the median for investment properties was $148,000. NAR speculates that this indicates that this boom was the result of wealthy baby boomers nearing retirement and buying into more expensive regions, however, it also obviously indicates that buyers were willing and/or able to provide larger down payment amounts for their second homes.
The NAR study states that the 1997 tax reforms fueled the demand for second homes. Under the prior rules a home seller had to purchase a more expensive home than he had sold in order to avoid capital gains taxes on any profit from the prior sale. Under the new rules a married couple could exclude $500,000 in profit, allowing sellers access to the funds to invest in vacation or investment properties, especially if they downsized financially when buying a new primary residence. Some used this money to diversify investments, perhaps gambling that a home that could be used for recreation would also appreciate, or selecting rental property for both income and appreciation. Another trend was to invest in a property with the long term goal of locking in an affordable situation for retirement.
The growth of second home sales was, of course, not equally distributed throughout the United States. The survey showed that the majority of second-home buyers chose homes close to their primary residence or employment with investment property buyers even more likely to stay close to home. With the recent trend toward shorter vacations those areas close to major cities show strong growth.
As usual the more temperate areas and those with abundant recreational facilities reaped the benefits of second home sales. The leader was Nevada with an average annual growth of 35 percent in its share of second home sales. Over the five year period Nevada's cumulative growth was 384 percent. Second with a five year growth of 231 percent was Arizona and third, at 224 percent, Utah. Others in the top tier are Virginia, Idaho, and Washington, DC. All of those lobbyists have to live somewhere.
The study report concludes that those baby boomers still in their peak earning years will continue to fuel the housing market, especially the second home segment for at least the next decade.
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