All to often we hear from people thinking of short selling their home in Arizona that they decided against it because someone told them there was no difference to them between a short sale and foreclosure.
We asked Kevin Hardin of Thomson Law to join us and discuss how he advises his real estate clients. What you will hear are the overwhelming reasons why a short sale is almost always better than a foreclosure.
New law suits for short sale agents to worry about. What the short sale law suit was about is not what agents need to be worried about. What the judge said in his ruling is. The judge opened the door for a tidal wave of law suits. The best way to protect yourself is to over disclose.
More on the lawsuit here short sale law suit from Kevin Hardin
As an agent doing short sales in Chandler and the surrounding area, sometimes I will get a counter offer from the lender that will make me wonder exactly what they were smoking.
Yesterday I had a Bank of America deal that did just that. We had received approval on a short sale in August at $131,000. By early September we lost the buyer. So back on the market the house went. The issue we were facing was a rapidly declining market in this area.
We put the house back on the market and in about a four weeks we received an offer at $125,000. We submitted the offer to the Bank of America short sale department and in just three weeks they ordered the new BPO to determine current value, assign it to a negotiator and send us a counter offer. But that is where the issues started. The counter offer was for $157k. What? 157k??
I pulled up comparable properties in the subdivision and I cannot find anything in the last three months that has sold for more than the $125k we had the offer in for. Then I found it, this one house that sold for $254k!
Now why did this house sell for so much? Maybe it was because it was 1200 square feet bigger than our listing? Maybe it was because of all the upgrades throughout the house that our listing did not have? Maybe it was because this house was a show house for the developer, a model home that had never been lived in. Most likely it was because of all the above.
As you can see this house is not comparable to our house at all. Does Bank of America know this? No, they only see the BPO that the agent submitted. They can only make decisions based on the information they have and now that I have provided them with all the information maybe we can get this approved quickly.
It was almost a year ago that HAFA was announced, and the day after it was announced I called it a joke. They did make a few changes on the things I complained about before it officially launched seven months ago. But the numbers are out on the first six months and and guess what? HAFA is still a joke.
There have been 342 HAFA short sales in the first six months in the United States. That means each state has an average of 7 HAFA sales or deed-in-lieu of foreclosures a month. SEVEN!
Still think HAFA is a game changer Alex?
Today is national Mule Day. When it comes to Chandler short sales your agent need to be a stubborn as a mule sometimes. Not taking no for an answer and not giving up.
Have you followed the sensationalism with the foreclosure hault? It was all over the news. The evil banks were foreclosing on all these innocent home owners they should not have been foreclosing on. Well it turns out after a review of files, the foreclosures were justified.
Buying a foreclosure and buying a shorts sale in the East Valley these days can be a hairy situation. There is very little the buyer does have control over. One thing they do control is who their agent is and who their lender is.
A good agent and a good lender can dramatically change your buying experience. The deal may not always go perfect, but at least a good agent is going to let you know before hand what the scary situations may be. You can be prepared for the hurdles of buying a foreclosure or short sale and minimize surprises.
A good lender is going to get deals done on time and get them done quickly. Asking for an extension late in a foreclosure purchase could cost you money to get the extension approved. Asking for an extension late in a short sale deal could cost you the house if deadlines are not met.
Recently a seller chose to use an investor instead of a Chandler short sale agent to negotiate their short sale transaction. The results were very costly.
Often time an investor will come to your house and say forget the real estate agent, let me buy your home and negotiate the short sale for you. What could be the problem in that? How about when they don’t see the lender reserved the right to come after you for a deficiency? You are then the one one the hook for the difference.
Bank of America has announced they are halting foreclosures in all 50 states… for now. Don’t expect this to last to long and if your short sale is facing foreclosure soon make sure you are working the deal because as soon as these are released it could be foreclosed on at any time.
As a short sale agent in Chandler I have noticed recently there are some serious BPO issues that continue to hurt the short sale market in Chandler and surrounding areas.
