OK, it's not a commission, and it's not even immediate business, but it's a possible! I've been reporting here about my Facebook PPC ads that have been running a couple of months. I've gathered a few new Facebook Friends through the ads, and hope to build a group of friends that might result in business.

The first direct remark that gives me hope came today, and here's the text: "Anyway, [name withheld] and I will probable retire to Taos in the next few years, you might have a client." It was on the end of a nice message attached to the acceptance of my friend request. It's more than I've been able to attribute directly to Google Adwords, a much more anonymous PPC resource.

It's always fun to watch what the real estate community does with a new technology development or service. With email, it's way past new, and there are still millions of spammy "how to make your kitchen smell good for showings" type drip mail going out every day. What the hey, it's free right?

Now it's Twitter and "auto-follow" tools. If someone mentions "real estate" in a Tweet, they don't realize that they're about to be attacked. Here's a Tweet in my morning's search:

"Marketing on twitter! I wish they'd be sensible about it. ! I got followed by a real estate co in LA just becoz I put Real Estate in a post"

What this Tweet clearly shows is that these practices are annoying to people. With email, you don't see this response, but your email and possibly your IP address hit spam lists when they mark them. Then, all of the others you're sending out go straight to the trash.

I also wonder if anyone at the other end, after perhaps auto-following hundreds, will even see this Tweet letting them know this one user found it annoying. Where there's one...

In this post about "strategic default," I linked to an article about an Arizona professor's contention that homeowners should not feel guilty about walking away from severely under water mortgages.

A new article from the New York Times predicts a rise in jingle mail, considering there are about to be more than 5 million homeowners at least 25% under water with their mortgages. The government hasn't figured out a way to attack this problem. The professor in Arizona seemed to think that if enough people walk away, banks may become much more willing to write down mortgages to true value. We might find out.

While there are a number of websites that show how to calculate the DSCR, or Debt Service Coverage Ratio, used by lenders to make commercial mortgage decisions, it's not going to be the direction a buyer wants to take in evaluating a property for purchase.

While we need to use DSCR when looking at an apartment or multifamily project, we're more likely to want to see what we may be able to borrow to buy it, rather than what the DSCR is for the current mortgage. In this DSCR calculation example, I'll show you how to do it both ways, but with more emphasis on how to determine, with a minimum DSCR a lender will use, how much can be borrowed.