ePerks, the brand and company that exposed the world to Ben Behrouzi and his unethical business practices and inability to deliver services as promised has been hacked.

The ePerks brand had all but been abandoned in embarrassment when Ben Behrouzi and company lost their failed bid to take down blogger Vlad Zablotkyy’s blog, GoBeyondMLS.

When ePerks was exposed and Ben Behrouzi’s unethical business practices were given national attention in 2008, Ben changed the name of his original holding company from Brabus Ventures to DotNextInc due to the unflattering attention. Additionally, ePerks was no longer listed on the DotNextInc website as a Behrouzi owned company and his profile was removed from ePerks.com. Other companies listed in Behrouzi’s portfolio are Ziddler.com (landing page claimed Ziddler was “Launching Summer 2009″) which failed to launch and the ill fated iHype.com, another company that never got off the ground. Today Ben Behrouzi is at the helm of LeapFish, another company that expands on ePerk’s very questionable business model.

Related posts:

1. LeapFish / DotNext CEO, Ben Behrouzi Defeated
2. Ben Behrouzi / ePerks.com: A Case Study in Self Induced Search Engine Brand Destruction
3. Ben Behrouzi Updates Company “Values” and “Culture” Web Pages. Only One Problem: They’re Stolen.

ePerks, the brand and company that exposed the world to Ben Behrouzi and his unethical business practices and inability to deliver services as promised has been hacked.

The ePerks brand had all but been abandoned in embarrassment when Ben Behrouzi and company lost their failed bid to take down blogger Vlad Zablotkyy’s blog, GoBeyondMLS.

When ePerks was exposed and Ben Behrouzi’s unethical business practices were given national attention in 2008, Ben changed the name of his original holding company from Brabus Ventures to DotNextInc due to the unflattering attention. Additionally, ePerks was no longer listed on the DotNextInc website as a Behrouzi owned company and his profile was removed from ePerks.com. Other companies listed in Behrouzi’s portfolio are Ziddler.com (landing page claimed Ziddler was “Launching Summer 2009″) which failed to launch and the ill fated iHype.com, another company that never got off the ground. Today Ben Behrouzi is at the helm of LeapFish, another company that expands on ePerk’s very questionable business model.

Related posts:

1. LeapFish / DotNext CEO, Ben Behrouzi Defeated
2. LeapFish CEO Ben Behrouzi Insinuates Legal Action Against BrokerScience, Cites “Damages”
3. Ben Behrouzi Updates Company “Values” and “Culture” Web Pages. Only One Problem: They’re Stolen.

Hiya! BrokersScience has been quiet for the last year or so and that will be changing in the coming months. We’ve just rebuilt BrokerScience from the ground up. Sure, it doesn’t look like much has changed on the outside, but we’ve added some very cool new features.

BrokerScience Joins the LeadPress Mortgage Network

The first addition is that BrokerScience is the first blog to join the LeadPress Mortgage Network! What does that mean besides a new grey toolbar at the top of the page? It means that BrokerScience is now tied in with the LeadPress Campus. This means that BrokerScience activity streams show up on the LeadPress Campus and registration for BrokerScience is now handled via the LeadPress Campus. Registering for a LeadPress account means you get a neato profile page and the chance to meet others, learn and network.

New Faces in Mortgage Blogging

We’re also really excited to be adding some talented folks to the roster as well. We think the mortgage blogosphere could use quite a bit of work and we’re hoping that BrokerScience can be a new and exciting channel for mortgage and real estate peeps alike. In fact, if you know someone that you think might be a good addition to the team, ping us at trace at leadpress dot com.

New Author Pages and Sidebar Highlights

Another cool addition we’ve added is the ability to highlight our contributors. All contributors will have their own author page, author box (at  bottom of posts) and sidebar highlight (look to the right). The sidebar highlight is kind of nifty too because the newest contributors to post are automatically pushed to the top where they will likely get more eyeballs. These author boxes have a brief author bio and also point to the author’s website, BrokerScience posts, email and LeadPress profile. If you comment on BrokerScience, LeadPress Campus visitors can see your comments and may even join in the discussion. If you haven’t checked out the LeadPress Campus or the LeadPress Forums, now might be a good time! Things are a bit slow, but will be picking up as we add new features and build traffic.

Author Page Highlight Box

Sidebar Contributor Highlight

Have Feedback? What Would You Like to See That’s Different?

Have some ideas on a new feature or topic you would like to see? Let us know in the comments or contact us at the contact page above and you can always ping me at trace at leadpress with any feedback or questions!

Related posts:

1. BrokerScience is Looking For Title, Escrow & Appraisal Bloggers
2. The BrokerScience Guide to Building and SEO Optimizing Single Property Listing Websites
3. BrokerScience Issues Ben Behrouzi Coup de Grace

Test.

In another sign up of how the economic world we live in is changing for mortgage brokers, Clarion Mortgage CEO David Marr voiced his future plans to purchase a bank and roll Clarion into it.

Read the full Clarion Announcement

As for this community, we must develop those systems and procedures necessary to live and thrive under the benefits and constraints of a bank – for that’s what we will be as of next year.  SO HERE’S THE MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT FINALLY! (trumpets) I have pushed the last of my chips onto the table to acquire a small bank in Colorado.  It’s now under contract and should close in February, 2010.  The plan must be approved by every person working for the US government from Obama to my postman, but I think it will get approved.  I have worked toward this end for several years.  Thank God I didn’t succeed earlier or I might be dead in the ditch along with others.  I am very excited.

Related posts:

1. Target Publishers Continues to Scam Mortgage Companies
2. The Changing Face of 4506T’s and Lock Periods
3. The Evolution of Online Mortgage Lead Generation

LeadPress launched this week, offering mortgage lenders a much need premium option for establishing a superior online presence. The mortgage space is infamous for employing severely out of of date and sometimes tacky websites in the quest for generating mortgage leads. LeadPress fixes the problems exhibited by most mortgage websites today such as employing Full 1003 Applications (lead generation killers), tacky flash intro pages, poor designs / layouts, music and sound effects and many other user experience issues.

As many of you know, we’ve been hard at work on LeadPress for quite a while, so it’s great to finally launch and move into the space.

Learn more about LeadPress Mortgage Websites.

LeadPress is also paying a $250 referral fee through our Mortgage Affiliate Program, if this interests you, drop us a note or call! This is a great opportunity for mortgage / real estate industry facing websites, but a referral via word of mouth works just as well for getting the referral fee.

Related posts:

1. Rebuilding the Realtor.com Team From the Ground Up
2. Check LeadPress out on LeadCritic
3. The Evolution of Online Mortgage Lead Generation

In another sign up of how the economic world we live in is changing for mortgage brokers, Clarion Mortgage CEO David Marr voiced his future plans to purchase a bank and roll Clarion into it.

Read the full Clarion Announcement

As for this community, we must develop those systems and procedures necessary to live and thrive under the benefits and constraints of a bank – for that’s what we will be as of next year.  SO HERE’S THE MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT FINALLY! (trumpets) I have pushed the last of my chips onto the table to acquire a small bank in Colorado.  It’s now under contract and should close in February, 2010.  The plan must be approved by every person working for the US government from Obama to my postman, but I think it will get approved.  I have worked toward this end for several years.  Thank God I didn’t succeed earlier or I might be dead in the ditch along with others.  I am very excited.

Related posts:

1. Target Publishers Continues to Scam Mortgage Companies
2. The Changing Face of 4506T’s and Lock Periods
3. The Evolution of Online Mortgage Lead Generation

We did the Carpool Confessions series on LeadCritic with Mike Ferree.  We chatted about a lot of things including REBarCamp Los Angeles, Twitter acquisition rumors, mortgage leads and more.

Check it out here!

Related posts:

1. Twitter Uptime Resources
2. LeadPress Has Launched!
3. Cease & Desist 101: Think Long and Hard Before Hitting Send

LeadPress launched this week, offering mortgage lenders a much need premium option for establishing a superior online presence. The mortgage space is infamous for employing severely out of of date and sometimes tacky websites in the quest for generating mortgage leads. LeadPress fixes the problems exhibited by most mortgage websites today such as employing Full 1003 Applications (lead generation killers), tacky flash intro pages, poor designs / layouts, music and sound effects and many other user experience issues.

As many of you know, we’ve been hard at work on LeadPress for quite a while, so it’s great to finally launch and move into the space.

Learn more about LeadPress Mortgage Websites.

LeadPress is also paying a $250 referral fee through our Mortgage Affiliate Program, if this interests you, drop us a note or call! This is a great opportunity for mortgage / real estate industry facing websites, but a referral via word of mouth works just as well for getting the referral fee.

Related posts:

1. Rebuilding the Realtor.com Team From the Ground Up
2. Check LeadPress out on LeadCritic
3. The Evolution of Online Mortgage Lead Generation

This is a guest post written by Clarion Mortgage CEO, David Marr. Originally distributed as an internal email to LO’s, it has been reformatted to read as a general market commentary without addressing specific bank or loan scenarios.

Yesterday not the first of many complaints came to me regarding an important issue that will only increase going forward.  This is an industry issue and will soon become the norm.  An LO submitted a loan to a bank, got a full approval with the condition of a 4506-T.  The borrower was FULL DOC W-2, $180,000 per year no brainer.  The bank ordered the the tax transcripts via the 4506T on 12/26 and, once received, the LO got a new condition on 1/6 requiring 2 years tax returns, thus killing the lock.

This example illustrates that the industry is moving toward 100% 4506T usage on all files.  Incidents of fraud are surprisingly UP! as borrowers are pursuing false documentation to solve their loan needs now that Stated Income programs are gone.  In the next 3 months, we believe submitting pulled taxed returns will be a requirement from all investors as borrower/originator credibility continues to be questioned.  But that’s irrelevant now.  In order to save time and save your locks, it makes sense to provide pulled tax returns and present them in the file.

The Process is Evolving

The problem is LO’s won’t be able to sign up with the various companies that pull the tax returns as if it’s a credit report.  So Clarion will have to do it.  Different banks require different vendors for this process.  We’re going to investigate the whole process, staff up, and take it off your plate as quickly as we can in order to save some of your deals.  Expect an email on this soon.

Regarding locks, every day I get emails requesting help with some investor, asking for a free extension because of long underwriting times, pleading for a funding exception due to the lock expiring before the 5 days Clarion must have in order to comply with our warehouse line. BE PRUDENT and lock a long time.  More than you think is necessary. Underwriting and condition times are only going to get longer.  Conditions aren’t going to get any less frustrating.  And Clarion is less and less likely to grant an exception as the margin for error becomes less and less.  The industry is SIGNIFICANTLY less forgiving than in past years.  And Clarion has to respond accordingly.  Unfortunately, that’s the way it is.

Moving Forward

As we’ve been saying for quite a long time now, the industry has changed.  The LO must be more of a professional than just a salesperson.  A professional knows more than just loan programs.  Yes, the mortgage professional must navigate the underwriting process and get the loan to funding, but more so now the professional must understand the forces in the business that require a new level of agility.

Longer locks, tighter compliance, understanding the constraints of everyone’s business processes are examples of how the industry’s changes affect the LO.  Successful LO’s look to these challenges as opportunities to grow as a person and become more valuable to the marketplace and not see them as hassles in the way of the good life.  Coming to a mortgage company near you are changes to ordering appraisals, the new GFE, potential national registration, and more costs to explain to your customer.  I don’t think it’s ever easy to grow, but those that tough it out and do grow; it’s the road less traveled.  And that will make all the difference.

Related posts:

1. Clarion Mortgage CEO Announces Plans to Purchase Bank
2. HVCC: How It May Negatively Affect and Change Real Estate as We Know It
3. NAR Assessment Cuomo / GSE Settlement