Tri-County, MA Real Estate Blog: Erin Golding (Realty Executives Tri-County, Inc. Bellingham, MA)

I've been a Realtor® for a while now...but I am still surprised by the day-to-day issues which arise during transactions. In the current environment, it seems that every new escrow has it's own novelties. It's really keeping us all on our toes. And that's OK.....this is how we learn!

I have never felt uncomfortable saying "I don't know" but that's because it's always followed by "but I'll find out."

It doesn't diminish me by admitting that a situation is new to me....or challenging. The qualities that define a professional include honesty, follow-up and intelligence. These are qualities that exist on the very first day. They are the qualities which allow an agent (or any other professional) to navigate a transaction to a successful conclusion....even if it's the very first time.

There are many sources of information to find solutions to obstacles. Even if I have not faced a specific issue, most likely someone else has. The main thing is to recognize this...and pursue the information. Clients understand that we don't know it all!The faith they have in our representation is based on our willingness to find out! Get the answers! Ask the questions and keep searching until you get information that makes sense.

We lose credibility only if we give up....or worse yet, we don't even attempt to find answers.

I don't like problems...no one does....but if we see it as an opportunity to learn and gain more experience, then we will see them as education. This allows us to increase our knowledge. Real estate is always changing and evolving. So if you don't know it all right now....that's ok, just go find out.

Karen

Karen Fiddler
Broker/Associate
www.great-western-realty.com

Serving all of Orange County, California Real Estate!

There is so much internet chatter going on about strategic defaults since 60 minutes aired and had a segment on homeowners just walking away from their homes.

Is it tempting for you to just leave the keys on the table and get out from underwater? Does the option of renting for the next 4 to 5 years look pretty appealing to you right now? 

 

• Have you discussed your situation open and honestly with your real estate attorney who really understands the mortgage default law in your state? 

• Have you discussed the ramifications of your decision to walk away with your certified accountant who understands the IRS code regarding foreclosures? 

• Have you discussed your goals of what you want to accomplish with your strategic default with your Realtor® who actually closes on short sales that are strategic defaults? 

 

If you have not looked at all your options- then please explore them before making a fast decision just because everyone else is doing it or just because you may have been sold some bad information. 

A strategic short sale may be an option for you.

You may be able to negotiate down the balance you owe to a very small amount on which you can then execute a small promissory note for. Some homeowners have been able to get strategic defaults approved by offering pennies on the dollar of what they owed. 

Strategic short sales on first loans are most often easy to get negotiated to approval. 

HELOCS are another story- that is when you took out a home equity line of credit after you bought your house and then you used that money to buy cars or trips or pay for college tuition or to buy other properties. HELOCs are held in secondary position and there is not much benefit for them to foreclose on you.

So they most often will charge your loan off after you don't make payments and then sell that debt to collection agencies who will seek to collect from you for a very long time. 

Different states have different rules but in general the credit reporting agencies will leave that charged off debt on your credit report for 7 to 10 years. But the kicker is that when the time is near to get it released the collection agency sells the debt to another collection agency who then starts the process all over again. 

How long can you hide from them? What state do you live in and how do your credit laws protect your assets or not in your state? Something to think about. 

But you can negotiate a settlement with your HELOC and then that will wipe out the major part and the only part you will be now paying on and be liable for is the part you negotiated the debt down to. You are going to be asked to do that very same thing when the collection agency takes you to court to get a judgment against you. Why not take care of it now to avoid all of that hassle and stress later on down the road? 

If you do a short sale and you are late on your payments only because your lender told you to be late in order to complete your short sale and you are doing the short sale because you are moving to another area for a job- FHA may allow you to buy a home right away. 

Most homeowners who go into foreclosure will be able to buy another home in about 5 to 7 years but FHA will not approve your loan until you take care of your judgments. Have you thought about that?

If you do a short sale you can get an FHA loan or a Fannie Mae loan within about 2 to 3 years conservatively speaking. There are a lot of other differences in getting a future home loan after a foreclosure and after a short sale. You may want to visit the Fannie Mae website to find out more. 

Nothing in this article is to be construed as legal advice. Please seek the advice of your attorney. We are not attorneys and we are not giving you legal advice. 

For more information about selling your home as a Florida short sale click here. 

 

Foreclosure Is NOT An Option! Call Nestor and Katerina Gasset today at 561-753-0135 for a confidential interview regarding your options. 

 

Don't Delay! Don't Wait Until The Sheriff Is Knocking On Your Door! Pick up your phone and call us to see if you can avoid foreclosure.

 

   

 

 

To  view Welington Florida Homes For Sale  Click here. We know  Wellington Florida Real Estate and Wellington Florida Short Sales and will help you get your home Sold if you need to Sell your home and help you buy your home in Palm Beach County Florida: Call us today.

 

   

 

 

        

 

 

Copyright © By Katerina Gasset 2010 * All Rights Reserved*Strategic Defaults-Homeowners! Choose Strategic Short Sale Instead of Walking Away!*

 

 

 

 

In the last month I have had a few sellers that have taken their Logan Utah homes off the market. They decided they just wanted to wait until spring time, and didn't want their homes to become stale on the market. Some of these seller's homes were on the market for some time, and I couldn't talk them into reducing their prices. The market had spoken, their homes were overpriced.

Just because you wait to sell in the spring doesn't mean your home is priced to sell.

Everyone knows in the real estate business, spring time is the busiest time of the year. There are more buyers in the spring, but there is also a lot more competition.

If your home is on the market for an extended amount of time, the worst thing you can do is take it off the market and wait to price it exactly the same a few months down the road when you are going to have twice the competition.

 

Here's Why:

• The market has already shown your home isn't priced correctly, if it was, it would have sold no matter what season it is. Price is the #1 factor for selling a home, no matter what condition it is, if it's priced correctly, you can sell it.
• Your mortgage payment isn't going to go away. Every month you stay in your home, you have to pay for your mortgage. Which means more money you pay your lien holders in interest. That money is gone forever.
• The longer your home is on the market, the more behind the market it becomes. If your home was priced competitively in the first month, but soon after you start noticing homes selling in your price range for less then what they were the month before, you have to adjust your strategy. It may have been priced right 3 months ago, but how does it compare today? The real estate market is a living creature, it changes, and no one knows where it's going until it has already been. Price your home ahead of the market.
• If you think it's going to be hard to sell your home in the winter, imagine how hard it's going to be when inventory goes up 30%.

Now, don't get me wrong, I understand you need a certain amount of money out of your home. The problem with that thinking is, the market doesn't care how much money you need out of your home. The market doesn't care that you can't sell your home for the price the market says it's worth. The market provides the price a buyer is willing to pay, and nothing more.

Take a deep breath, look at the facts, and think about your motivations for selling your home. If you can't price your home at the price the market dictates now. Why would you want to wait until the busiest time of the year, with more competition, higher interest rates and then price it at the same as you did with less competition, better interest rates, and in a market that is heading into the unknown?

What are your motivations for selling? Are you relocating? Are you trying to move into a bigger home? Are you downsizing?

If you have all the time in the world to wait out the market, that's great and you are in a unique situation, but be prepared to wait a long time. If you want to sell your home fast, price it to sell in today's market, and you will actually save a lot of money in the long run.

This market is, to be blunt, insane. No one knows what's going to happen over the next few months, and if you wait until the grass is greener on the other side, you may find that someone has poisoned the grass.

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Lisa Udy, Logan Utah Real Estate  Copyright © 2009

If you are considering buying or selling a home in Utah, you deserve local expertise and advice to be provided by a professional in real estate. Lisa Udy, is a Utah REALTOR® providing full time, professional real estate services to home buyers and sellers in the cities of Logan, Providence, North Logan, Hyde Park,  Smithfield,   Richmond,  Nibley, Lewiston, Cornish, Trenton, Amalga, Clarkston,  Newton, and all surrounding cities in the  Cache County Northern Utah area.

You may be relocating to or from Utah due to any number of reasons , whatever the case, when searching for a real estate professional outside the state of Utah, please feel free to Contact Me or call me at 435-881-3022 as I am more than honored to provide to you the contact information of exceptional agents across the U.S.

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Maybe you shouldn't buy a home.  Yep, I said it.  Even though I'm in the business to "sell" homes, some people shouldn't really buy a home now, or possibly ever. Renting may be a better option for some. Believe me, I'd much rather have a happy client than someone who regrets making the decision to buy.  

So, maybe you think you want to buy a home.  But make sure it's the right thing to do for you.  Here are SIX things to think about:  

1. Buying for the tax credit.  Isn't it great that you can get a tax credit just for buying a home? Sure it's a great motivator (I wish it was there when I bought, as do thousands and thousands of other home owners), but it shouldn't be the sole reason to buy a home.  There are so many other reasons.  Ask yourself whether you still want to buy a home if you miss out on the credit. If you don't, you probably don't want to buy one anyway.  

2. Can only afford a fixer but cant fix it. With many bank owned or distressed sales there is inventory available, often with major repairs needed.  Just because you can afford the sales price doesn't mean you can afford the repairs.  Before jumping into a "fixer," make sure you have the money, or resources, available to fix it.  Otherwise, don't buy it.  

3. It's "time." Reached a certain age? Got married?  Had a baby?  There are many life milestones where we are "supposed" to buy a home.  Before jumping into home ownership, make sure that it's because you want to buy a home and not because of external or societal pressures.  

4. You make enough to pay monthly bills, but that's it.  If you live paycheck to paycheck you probably want more financial security before buying a home. Home ownership involves much more than making your monthly mortgage payment.  There are always unforeseen expenses, plus if your income is reduced or lost, and you don't have extra funds set aside, you could also become a foreclosure statistic.  

5. Not motivated to maintain or pay someone to maintain your home.  When you rent it's so easy to call your landlord to deal with a home issue.  Once you buy it can be shocking to realize you have no one to look to except yourself.  YOU will be solely responsible for your home.  Even if you live in a condo complex, you will have things that you have to take care of.  And you have to do it or pay someone to do it. If this isn't appealing it probably is better to rent.  

6. See it only as an investment.  Before the market changed many buyers bought so they could make a bunch of money as prices went higher.  Didn't work out so well for some.  Before then people bought homes with the intention of living in them as their home for a long time and not necessarily as an investment.  Times have changed and people buy and sell every few years, so of course, home ownership and what it means changed too.  Unless you're really an investor, however, buying only to increase your net worth may not serve you well.    

Deborah Engel, Prudential California Realty, is a recognized San Diego and Carmel Valley Realtor for top client satisfaction.  If you'd like to learn more about Deborah, visit her website, www.PropertyByDeb.com, email her, Deb@PropertyByDeb.com, or call her at 858-829-1989.