New Branch Services

Branch and CLO Transitions:
In conjunction with the new AMSMLD Help Desk and to augment the support you are getting on submitting loans, we encourage you to contact Kris Krebbs, the Regional Director of Business Development. Kris is located in our new Training Facility Suite 152 in the Corporate Offices and will assist you on running scenarios and showing you first hand how to use our AMS systems and tools. So, bring in a loan or two and set up an appointment with Kris to get the one on one time you need. Please also remember to attend AMS Elite Training and Bank Orientation as well, to gain basic knowledge and understanding of our systems and processes. Please contact Spenser DeLaRosa to schedule training or to schedule time with Kris at 480-730-4440 ext 1500.

AMS Internship:
We are pleased to announce the Steps to Success Internship program. This program is a six week course designed to help Loan Officers with two years or less experience. It will give those involved the confidence and skills necessary to increase personal production, in addition to an increased book of business. The course will cover many aspects of market capture and effectiveness. There will be powerful tools and systems designed for the Loan Officers to take into the marketplace. The program is available for Loan Officers and Branches. For more information or to enroll in the Steps to Success Internship Program, please contact Spenser DeLaRosa at 480-730-4440 ext. 1500.

Appraisal Services:
The HK Bentley online appraisal ordering system is currently up and running. All branches have been issued their usernames and passwords. If you do not remember receiving this information, please email Wendy Garretson (wendygarretson@amsaz.com) and she will retrieve that information for you. HK Bentley has set up AMS@HK Bentley for any questions that you may have. The Online Ordering system, a requirement for all AMS Branches / CLO's, is user friendly

Courier Services:
American Mortgage Specialists is pleased to announce we have formed a strategic partnership with Coyote Courier Services, LLC to provide courier services to all our branch locations! This partnership arrangement will substantially reduce your costs and will provide exceptional service to you and your staff on a daily basis.

AMS has been using the professional services of Coyote Courier for almost 3 years and we couldn't be more pleased with their customer service, on-time delivery and attention to detail they have provided our corporate offices and many of our branches.

The customer service team at Coyote is in the process of entering all the required information for each of your branches into their client management software. Upon completion, you will have the ability to order all services online, immediately track all packages and view a record of all orders placed.

To place an order online, go to: http://www.coyotecourier.com/ccweb/login.asp enter your user name and password.

To place an order via the phone, call: 602-426-1735 and the customer service specialists will assist you with your order.

To find out more about Coyote Courier Services, visit their website at http://www.coyotecourier.com

Due to the special volume pricing structure we have negotiated with Coyote Courier on your behalf, we would like all of our branches to begin using their services exclusively. If you have any questions please contact Bobby Fuqua (BobbyFuqua@amsaz.com) or Nikki Blackwell (NikkiBlackwell@amsaz.com) , Transition Managers at 480-730-4440 for more information.

Congratulations and condolences for
Kim Pieper-Stamps

Kim Pieper-Stamps has been an invaluable asset to AMS since the day the company was founded. Kim was the company's top producer for the first four years, and undoubtedly would have done it for five straight if she had not taken a year’s leave to have her son Jamison. Kim married James Stamps, a real estate agent for U.S. Preferred Realty, on March 6th 2006. James has a 10 year old daughter, Jazmyn, from a previous marriage. When not at work, Kim loves to travel and spend time with her kids.

On July 7th, tragedy struck Kim’s family when her mom, Julianne Sims, died rather suddenly. On March 16th 2006 Julianne went to the hospital for a simple pain in her back. After a couple weeks they found an abscess on her spine. The doctors said if she ever wanted to walk again she would need surgery. This was her 1st of 6 surgeries and after the 6th surgery her body shut down completely.

Julianne was a teacher her whole life, both as a career and to all those who knew her. She taught children from 2 years old up to 2nd grade, but her kindness and understanding was there for everybody. She finally quit teaching professionally a couple years ago so she could spend more time with her 10 grandchildren, which is what she loved most in life.

Kim’s mom did not have any life insurance and her medical bills piled up quickly. If you would like to donate to the Julianne Sims Benefit Fund to help pay for her medical and funeral expenses you can mail a check to:
Centier Bank
Attn: Sims Benefit Fund
6046 Central Ave.
Portage IN. 46368

Or email Kim Pieper-Stamps at kimstamps@amsaz.com for more information.

Susan’s Grilled Chicken Breast with Sunflower and Coriander Sauce

Ingredients:
For the Chicken:
6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon dried thyme, or 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

1 tablespoon virgin olive oil

For the Sauce:
1 whole jalapeno pepper

1 cup lightly packed parsley leaves

1 cup lightly packed cilantro leaves

6 cloves garlic, peeled

1/3 cup sunflower seeds (shelled)

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup virgin olive oil

1 cup water

Garnish:
6 ripe roma tomatoes, thinly sliced

Farfalle Pasta

Directions:
1. Sprinkle the chicken breasts with the salt, pepper and thyme, then coat with the oil. Arrange in a single layer on a plate, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and as long as 8 hours.

2. Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. Remove the seeds from the jalapeno (for hotter sauce, leave in) and cut the pepper into a few small pieces. Place approximately half of all the sauce ingredients into a blender: jalapeno pieces, parsley, cilantro, sunflower seeds, salt, olive oil and water. Process until pureed to a smooth green liquid. Transfer the puree to a bowl, and process the remainder of the sauce ingredients. Add the rest of the puree to the bowl and refrigerate.

3. At serving time, removed the chicken breasts from the refrigerator, and place them on a hot barbeque grill. Cover, and cook 2 1/2 - 3 minutes until the chicken is marked. Move to a cooler place on the grill to finish cooking.

4. In a large pan, bring water to a boil, and cook pasta per manufacturer's recommended instructions.

5. Arrange sliced roma tomatoes around edge of dinner plate. Place strained pasta in the middle of the plate, then pour a few spoonfuls of sauce over pasta. Place warm chicken on top of pasta and sauce, and serve.

Steve's Beverage Recommendation

With this meal Steve recommends:

Viognier

Viognier is a rare type of grape brought to Condrieu, on the northern Rhône, over 2,000 years ago by the Greeks or Romans. It was only planted in California a mere 20 years ago. It is now predominantly found in the Rhône valley and California. Viognier is extremely difficult to grow and therefore is only used by few vineyards. Viognier is becoming a favored white wine, as its depth of character and complexity is greater than the current white favorite, Chardonnay. Viognier is noted for spice, floral, citrus, apricot, apple and peach flavors. It typically produces medium bodied wines with relatively high acids and fruit.

My favorite for under $15: Jewel Collection, Viognier, California, 2004

Coping With Real Estate Market Change

Like calling a nuclear-tipped missile the Peacemaker, real estate market buzz words "stabilizing market," "returning to normal" and "market softening" may send the wrong signal to consumers.

The housing market isn't likely to implode in a mushroom cloud, but words like "normal," "stable" and "soft" are more likely to produce complacent acquiescence when it's time for a more proactive approach to changes in the market.

Experts who have lived and worked through past market shifts take a decidedly more robust "cover your assets" approach to today's real estate market rather than trying to pigeon hole it as typical.

One of those experts is Lisa A. Vander, real estate investment advisor and founder of Pacific Blue Investments in Solana Beach, CA.

Also author of "The Real Guide to Making Millions Through Real Estate" (Entrepreneur Press, $24.95) Vander is doing for real estate what Suze Orman did for the stock market and personal investments -- leveling the playing field for the first-time and small investor.

It's not easy.

Real estate investors, including home buyers, are just as unrealistic about and unfamiliar with the real estate market as novice stock market investors were about the technology sector during the dot com era of sudden wealth and sudden losses.

"They are unfamiliar with the real estate market, especially when it decreases in value and does not appreciate at the tremendous rates that have been seen recently in some parts of the country. It can not be emphasized enough how this is not standard and is not how long-term investors should be calculating their numbers," Vander says.

The fundamentals apply -- realistic, conservative and well-diversified investments over the long haul virtually always yield greater returns than jumping on the wagons just as they are about to circle.

"Real estate gains will be experienced for a period of time and then immediately followed by times of losses up to 20 to 30 percent. These gains have historically outperformed the losses, but investors who keep and sustain their properties during these cycles are those who win in the long run," she says.

Vander offers additional pieces of advice designed to help investors hold on when the ride gets bumpy.

"There are several key action steps investors can make to help sustain their investment real estate during all real estate market adjustments and conditions," she says.

• Squirrel away equity. An equity line on your primary residence helps augment mortgage payments should you have to decrease rental income in declining markets. Get the equity line when the market is healthy and lenders can verify your employment and good credit. Don't wait until you lose your job or interest rates skyrocket.

• Don't squirrel away too much. Retain, unencumbered, at least 20 percent to 25 percent of your property equity should you have to sell to get access to cash. Over leverage property in a declining market and you could be holding the bag with an upside down mortgage -- where the balance is larger than the property's value. That could make a needed sale difficult, if not impossible.

• Know your mortgage. Examine the terms of your mortgage. Know the maximum the loan can adjust during each adjustment period and how that will affect your payment.

• Build loan bridges. Refinance with loans designed to get you through the market tightening. Loans tied to stable indexes that don't adjust too frequently are best.Property in high-value markets are better able to handle the risk of interest-only loans that don't pay down the principle or even add to the principle. Such loans keep payments reasonable while rents and values decrease during down times. Again, be careful when using such loans not to over leverage your property.

• Reduce rents slowly. Right now, rents in many regions are rising in your favor in response to the demand of a growing number of consumers who can't afford home prices. Nevertheless, check with your property manager or others in the area to learn historical trends for the past 10 years. Follow the market and follow suit if local rents drop. Be prepared to sustain your properties with a rental rate decrease as large as 10 to 15 percent. Do it slowly so you don't over shoot the need to squeeze. Work hard to please and keep your current tenants so you don't have to lower rates to attract new tenants. Offer improvements, amenities and other incentives to keep your current renter renting from you.

Compliance Assistant
Seeking individual to review loan file documentation; screen for fraud and compliance. Complete file reviews and Summaries.

Qualifications: knowledge of compliance regulations, closing practices and loan documents, professional, punctual and dependable. Knowledge of Calyx Point, Prolender and Excel. email resume to: vickioania@amsaz.com

Study Measures Mortgage Interest and Real Estate Tax Deduction Benefits

Back in November we reported that The President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform had submitted recommendations to then Treasury Secretary John Snow. Principal among the panel's suggestions were the elimination of federal income tax deductions for state and local taxes which would include the current deduction for local property taxes and the replacement of the current deduction for interest payments on home mortgages of up to $1,000,000 with a tax credit of 15 percent of the mortgage interest paid. The Panel maintained that this change would actually be advantageous to low and middle income homeowners although comments received on this website from those who made the computations based on their own circumstances did not concur, at all! The recommendations would pretty much do away with any deduction for a second owner occupied vacation home which, with some restrictions, is allowed under the current tax code.

Under current rules, itemizing taxpayers can deduct interest and origination points on home loans and on equity lines of credit for both first and second (vacation) homes up to a total of $1,000,000 in value, and properties taxes on both, even if paid in a foreign country.

This is not the first time these deductions have been placed on the chopping block and this time the recommendations pretty much evaporated in the face of heavy opposition, but a study released recently by the National Association of Home Builders illustrates the bonanza that awaits the federal treasury if such changes were to take place.

he publication "Local Use of the Mortgage Interest and the Real Estate Tax Deductions" by Robert Dietz, Ph.D. analyzes, on a micro basis, the benefit to taxpayers and the cost to the treasury of these deductions.

Using data from 2003 tax returns and the 2000 census, the study computes tax payer savings (or treasury losses depending on your perspective) on a federal, state, and congressional district level. The numbers are astounding.

For starters, while study is using the 2003 figures, it quotes The Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation as estimating that the value of the mortgage interest deduction to taxpayers this year will be $69.4 billion and the deduction for real estate taxes is equal to $19.9 billion.

In 2003, 35 million taxpayers used the home mortgage deduction, deducting an average of $9,650 for each filer and 39 million taxpayers took the real estate tax deduction with an average of more than $3,000 per filer. These are the most widely used deductions under the federal tax code.

Jerry Howard, executive vice president and CEO of NAHB stated that "Because Mortgage interest and real estate deductions significantly reduce federal tax liabilities for home owners, they are important tools for promoting homeownership. The report shows that millions of working families across the nation use and depend upon these important tax incentives to help them maintain their current standard of living."

The study states that the average congressional district - and there are 435 of them - contains roughly 80,000 taxpayers who claim the mortgage interest deduction and 88,000 who take advantage of the property tax deduction.

While congressional districts are designed to contain roughly the same number of citizens, the deductions are not utilized evenly across the congressional districts or the states. The six districts with the smallest number of taxpayers claiming the mortgage interest deduction, for example, are all located in New York City where people overwhelmingly rent. The 6th Congressional District of Colorado which encompasses the outlying areas and suburbs of Denver contains the highest number of taxpayers who claim the mortgage interest deduction, approximately 153,000. The fast-growing suburbs of Atlanta, New York, and Washington, DC also rank high in the number of residents taking advantage of the benefit. California has 4.6 million mortgage interest claiming taxpayers while Wyoming, one of the least populous states, has the fewest at 36,000. (The entire state of Wyoming may lack the total number of residents necessary to actually constitute a congressional district.)

The 14th district of California, which contains parts of San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz counties and is home to Silicon Valley, ranks number one in the cash value of the mortgage interest deduction, $3.2 billion. The State of California is tops among the states as well; the mortgage deduction statewide is estimated at $65 billion. On the other end of the scale is North Dakota at $260 million.

Across all districts the average amount of the deduction for mortgage interest is $9,500 but the 14th district of California again leads with an average of $35,000. The state also has the highest average deduction, $14,000, while Oklahoma has the lowest at $5,700.

Real estate tax deductions averaged a bit less than $3,000 per household nationwide and were highest in New York's 18th district which includes fabled Westchester County. The average tax deduction there was $12,000. The western suburbs of Houston, Texas in the 7th congressional district were second with an average of $8,900. Alabama had the bottom to itself - taxpayers in its 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Congressional districts claimed an average of $550 to $675 in real estate taxes. Coming in last is not necessarily a bad thing.

New York's 3rd congressional district, comprised mainly of the eastern half of Nassau County (Long Island) had the largest aggregate amount of real estate tax deductions - $1.25 billion. In fact, New York and New Jersey districts with suburban demographics comprise the top nine districts in terms of total real estate deductions while the lowest levels of deductions were found in the renter-dominated city itself. California led the states with total deductions of 12.5 billion and Wyoming was last with total taxes deducted at $65 million.

With these kinds of numbers in play, it will be remarkable if the real estate tax and mortgage interest deduction benefits do not soon come into play again as the government struggles to deal with skyrocketing deficits. Using a rough average tax number of 15 percent, the elimination of the real estate tax deduction would result in additional taxes of $2.98 billion and doing away with the mortgage interest deduction (without any adjustment such as the 15 percent tax credit suggested by the panel) would bring in an additional $10.41 billion. Next we hope to see a study projecting the disruption such a massive change would bring to the housing market and to the currently thriving state of homeownership.