Short Sale Update

If you have been reading my blog, you know I have spent a good deal of time and energy over the past two years helping Sacramento area homeowners avoid foreclosure by doing short sales and/or loan modifications. In the past month or so I have been ranting about how difficult it has been to deal with Countrywide (“Countrywide Sucks,” published on December 9, 2008). Well, as of this morning we have had two approvals from them in the past week. The one we got this morning is a deal we have been working on since April of last year. The buyer has long since walked, the sellers have abandoned the property, the condition has deteriorated rapidly and the prices in the neighborhood have continued to decline. The price they have agreed to accept is significantly higher than what this home will now sell for but at least it is a positive sign from this lender.

I figure the speed at which Countrywide has moved on this single short sale transaction has cost them in excess of $60,000 and will most likely increase over the next 60-days as we seek a new buyer at a much lower price. No wonder lenders need federal bailouts!

The fact that we have received two approvals from Countrywide in the past week demonstrates they have finally started to understand the cost to them and are improving their process. It may not help with the property I just used as an example but it will help with countless other homes that under the specter of foreclosure.

If you or someone you know is struggling to make their mortgage payments give me a call we may be able to help even if their lender is Countrywide!

Rant: Service is key to short sale

In today’s competitive real estate services industry there is nothing more important than client service. I am referring to what may be called Realtor helpers such as title/escrow companies, home inspectors, lenders and others who help us get our transactions completed.

It is this group of professionals who can make closing a sale easy or a nightmare. Over the past two plus years we have been working with a number of clients who would like to avoid foreclosure/bankruptcy by having us negotiate a short sale with their lenders. Trust me when I say, this is not as easy as it sounds. It takes experience, time, sustained effort and on occasion some luck to get all the parties to the sale in agreement. Just this week we had all our “ducks in a row” on a short sale we have been working on for months and want to close this year so our clients can get on with their lives. Out of the blue, our escrow officer went lame on us! She told us something we have been doing for over two years with another escrow company is illegal and if she did it, she would be fired.

Believing we were not crazy, we checked with the other escrow/title company we do business with. They laughed and said showing the additional payment to the second lien holder contributed by the agents from their commission was a no problem. We immediately requested the transfer of the escrow.

The first escrow officer who said she would be fired, but wanting to keep the escrow, sent off estimated settlement sheets to the lenders and got approval. How could we go from “illegal…I’ll be fired” to “…we got approval?”

I love the people in the industry who work with me and make my job easier, provide top notch service to my clients but there is no reason to use those who insist on operating with a “my way or the highway attitude.” In today’s market you don’t get a second chance.

They are the Worst!

I started to write a short rant about how difficult it is to deal with Countrywide when you are representing sellers who would like to avoid foreclosure and complete a short sale. My frustration with them got the better of me and the rant became an article, “Countrywide Sucks!” which I have posted on my real estate news page at jalone.com. If you have had a different experience or have any suggestions on how to complete a transaction with CW, please let me know.

Other Item: Just a reminder as we enter the heart of the holiday season, the first installment of your 2008-2009 property tax is due tomorrow, December 10th. The penalty for late payments is stiff so if you pay your own taxes make sure you get them into the mail ASAP.

Buying a home in Roseville is not easy

What are the chances a house that has been on the market for over 200 days, built in the 70’s and has never been remodeled or even well maintained now has three offers to buy? I think something does not smell right. Has the Sacramento real estate market returned to the pre-2005 era where you put the house on MLS and headed to the fax machine to get the first offer?

I am a optimist by nature and trust people until they prove me wrong but I am having a hard time believing this particular property, out of the blue is in a multiple offer situation. Don’t get me wrong, the spring and summer have been busy and we have encountered multiple offers and in fact we have a listing now that has received four but it is a very cute house, clean, ready to move-in and we priced it very aggressively for a short sale to help the owner avoid a foreclosure.

It is almost impossible to know if another agent is not telling the truth about interest in the house. Not many will tell you that your client is the only one ever to show interest and I often hear that there may be another offer coming but when you are formally informed there is a multiple offer situation I have, in the past, believed it. For the first time, I am not sure and may not ever know the truth. My clients are thinking and I suspect we will respond to the request for “last and best” offer but we will not overpay for this one.

Listen but don't panic

The National Association of Realtors has lost a great deal of credibility when it comes to making forecasts and maybe the beginning of this disturbing trend started back at the beginning of this downturn (August 2005) when their chief economist at the time, David Lereah said, “All of the doom and gloom forecasts of a housing debacle are not only irresponsible, but also downright wrong.” There is a great deal of good work being done by the NAR but, in my opinion they should exit the forecast and “spin” business and concentrate on helping to improve the image of Realtors.

On the other hand, after two plus years of downward real estate trends, there are now industry professionals who have gone in the other direction and seem to pride themselves on how “gloomy” they can make the market appear. I didn’t attend but got a report from a title company sales officer that Mike Lyon of Lyon Real Estate made such a “gloom and doom” forecast yesterday in Roseville. My contact is a sale person; he makes his living selling his company’s service to real estate agents. He told me the Lyon talk was so depressing he had to leave.

I know there are agents out there who are struggling with this slower market and new agents who are just starting to build their business. I encourage you to listen and pay attention to what is happening in the market, you will need this information to best serve your clients but do NOT let it chase you away. It is only one of many variables that will determine your success or failure in this industry. I encourage you to listen and pay attention to what is happening in the market, you will need this information to best serve your clients but do NOT let it chase you away.

The real estate market is the real estate market. It can be like it was in the early 2000’s or like it is now. Regardless there will always be buyers and sellers who need your experience and expertise. Today there are fewer sales which only mean the competition for those transactions is higher. Good Realtors who manage their business by placing their clients’ needs ahead of their commissions and build long term relationships will always be successful.

Just a few things....

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Wow, we have things to report. Most important I’d like to welcome our newest Realtor to MagnumOne Realty, Kara Green. Kara is a brand new Realtor who we are very excited about. She has lived here in the Sacramento area for almost her entire life and has a large and diverse circle of friends and family. She is bright and outgoing and we believe will be a great addition to the MagnumOne Realty team. We have not had a chance to build a webpage for Kara but hope to have one completed by early next week.

Second, we have price reductions on two of our listings. The asking price on our Paizano Court listing in Roseville has been reduced from $850,000 to $799,900. Clearly this is a significant reduction and brings this wonderful former JTS model home with scads of upgrades into the bargain category. This is a lot of house for the price. We also added some great new pictures of this home.

On a showing scale, our listing on Tanus Circle in Rocklin ranks up there with the best we have ever marketed. This home is beautifully decorated, has all the right upgrades and is easy to feel like you could live there. We have just refreshed this listing with a new asking price of $594,000. It is time for a new family for this house and it should happen soon.

This past week, I had another interesting experience with an agent representing a home in Loomis that some clients of mine are interested in. The home is marketed as being on over 3 acres but the tax records indicate a lot size much smaller so I called the agent to get some clarification. Read about this surprising conversation in my weekly column over at Rocklin & Roseville Today. Bad real estate agents are not good for the industry or the clients they serve and if there is any good that will come from this slower real estate market it will be that some of these will be working at Wal-Mart as greeters in the next year.

Annoyed

I enjoy helping people with real estate and I mean it when I say some of the services I provide are free and with no obligation. After this a recent experience I want to add a modifier, free with no obligation as long as you are honest.

Last week I received an inquiry from my Free Market Valuation page. It was from person who has a home about 30 miles from me. He said he was just completing a major remodel and trying to decide a selling price. I did some initial work and sent him some information. This lead to a more extensive exchange and he made it clear he was not sure about selling but would be using the information I provided to help him make that decision. After another round of emails and a call we had a pretty good idea of the price range but with so much remodeling I volunteered to visit the property and take a tour. Again, he reminded me he had not made a final decision to sell.

We set a time and I drove the 30 miles to see the house and meet my internet contact. When I arrived I was greeted by another Realtor’s sign planted in the front yard and a lock box on the door. Turns out my contact is a “fix and flip” guy and has an investor who is an agent. All he wants for me is to confirm the selling price the other agent set. For those of you who are thinking, why didn’t she check MLS, I did and, although there is a sign, it is not currently listed with MLS.

Be honest with me if you want my help.

My occasional rant...

…got long enough today that I used it for my column over at Rocklin & Roseville Today, “It shouldn’t be this difficult.” Remember it is Friday, the weather is wonderful and spring is calling my name.
Overall it has been a good week and I suspect with the nice weather holding a bit longer we will see some buyers out this weekend. We have a serious buyer up in Yuba City who we are hoping will make an offer on the MyForSaleSign subject property. In addition we had another showing so the place is starting to get some action. The latest update for my reality real estate series is here.