Phoenix real estate FAQ from March 12, 2010

In this week’s episode of Phoenix Real Estate FAQ Short Sales FAQ" href="http://deansellsaz.com/short-sale-faq/">Dean Ouellette and Kristin LaVanway answer the following questions:

* Is it a good time to buy a house?
* Do I need a home inspection if I am buying As-Is?
* Can my Realtor give me the lockbox codes so I can check out a house?
* Why do short sales take so long?

Thanks, Sasha (Speilberg) Lopez doing her part and keeping us on track and keeping us laughing.

Send us your questions…we’d love to hear from you…

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Top 10 real estate posts of the day for 11/17/2009

1) Mortgage rates are gonna rise – We have been hearing it for a while now, it is coming. One thing I think everyone agrees on, they are not going to be falling by any measurable degree.

2) Virtual REBarCamp is today – I am not going to be around much today unfortunately, or this is where I would be at!

3) Listings on Facebook – I am not really a fan of listings on Facebook, but if you want them on a fan page I get it. If you do decide you want them, this is a cool app! If you are really trying to do real estate on Facebook and you have not contacted Mike Mueller yet, what are you waiting for?

4) Monday morning planning session! – Tom always has great ideas on planning, which I still need a lot of help with. Love the IF N.I.S.I.D.E. concept. If you live in the Phoenix area Tom Ferry is coming to Scottsdale on December 8th for a free seminar.

5) Part time Realtors make $8,600 per year!!! – Brad makes the case for why you should hire a full-time agent in this short video.

6) The purchase agreement is more than a letter of intent (or should be) – Kris, this is something I have been thinking about addressing lately, but no way could I have done it as well as you have.

7) Buyer Reps: Helping Everyone Win in a Short Sale – This post goes great with number 6.

8 ) Three reasons Dave Ramsey got it right – A follow up to the Dave Ramsey segment on why you should use a real estate agent to sell your house.

9) Change will make you an enemy of the status quo – Change anyway – Matt does a good piece here on how standing out in the minority is a good thing and we should always be questioning our industry, but remember, we are part of that industry.

10) Details of the new $6500 tax credit for existing homeowners – Video on the extension and details on the $6500 tax credit.

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Short sales series: What is a short sale?

Video 41: If you purchased a home in the Tempe or Phoenix area in the last five years and you want to sell it now there is a good chance that Tempe home will need a short sale. There are so many people interested in selling their home as a short sale and many buyers are getting frustrated with the REO foreclosure market they are turning to short sales too. So I am starting a series on short sales, the first installment is what is a short sale? A short sale is when the lender agrees to allow you to sell a house for less than the mortgage amount. I would love to hear your thoughts or any questions you may have about short sales, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.

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Top real estate posts of the day for 10/30/2009

1) What’s happening with the $8000 homebuyer credit? – There is a lot going on in Washington right now with the tax credit, and while the Senate looks to have their favorite plan, any plan has to pass both the House and Senate before it has a chance to become law.

2) Tax credit update – is expanding it a good thing? – If the tax credit is expanded to include more people is it a good thing. I don’t think so, but what do I know.

3) Top 40 real estate resources and sites – While all of these sites may not like real estate related sites, if you are a real estate agent into blogging and technology they are all sites you want sitting in your RSS feeds.

4) What’s all the hype about “short-sales”? – This video explains what a short sale is, while I do not agree with everything he says, I do agree that designations for short sales are pure bs and a way for people to profit from the latest trend. The thing I really disagree with is I believe Matt sounds like he may be to quick to believe banks. They do not want to send it to foreclosure and are using the threat of doing so as a negotiating tool more often than not.

5) What’s the benefit of doing a short sale?Short sales are not going anywhere, so what are the benefits of doing a short sale? Here is a good list of benefits to the homeowner and the bank.

6) Google made a big real estate move today – Listings can now be viewed in Google Maps. No, I do not think this is the end of the world as we know it like some do, I think its another great service from a company that “gets it.”

7) 5 ways Twitter jump-started my business – I think he really nails down one of the best features of Twitter and doesn’t even realize it. Twitter is an amazing tool for learning and expanding your knowledge on any topic you may be interested in.

8 ) Zip home hunter report for the third quarter – Want to know where you have to bid over asking price and what markets are cold right now? This is your resource. (H/T Heather Barr).

9) The FHA 90-day seasoning rule – Recent changes in the seasoning rule have been very confusing and few people really understand them, here is a great resource that explains it the best I have seen yet.

10) The paralyzing effect of analyzing Web 2.0 – Great video from Matt Dollinger on how you need to do what you need to do to bring you business and schedule time accordingly.

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Is your short sale agent hurting you with pricing?

You have tried the loan modification process and have had very little luck so now you have decided that your best option is a short sale. While a short sale may not be the best option for everyone, if you are going to do it, do it right.

A short sale in Arizona is different than a short sale in many other states. Arizona is an anti-deficiency state so as long as the bank does not sneak it into the final contract, they will not be coming after you for the loss. That being said, an Arizona short sale is not about getting top dollar for your house, it is about getting a fair market offer and getting it sold.

That brings me to last week when I was calling on some listings for a buyer I am working with I came across one in Gilbert that appeared to me at first look to be overpriced. The home was listed for $250,000 as a short sale and had just recently been reduced from $260,000. At $250K I thought this Gilbert short sale was overpriced so decided to check on a few comps and wouldn’t you know, according to the recently sold comparables the value I thought the house was worth was close to $230,000.

shortsale-overpricingThis house had been on the market for over 130 days and had no offers. This Gilbert short sale was originally on the market for $290,000 and the house had over 40 business cards on the counter. Knowing not every agent leaves a card you can be assured there were many more showings of the home than that, yet, no offers. Meanwhile the home sits vacant, moving closer and closer to a date with foreclosure.

If you have a short sales agent working with you and you are not getting any offers, you need to ask your agent why. If you are a short sales agent and you know the price of your listing is $50,000 over market value you need to do a better job explaining to your sellers how the price of the home is hurting them, as long as it is within a reasonable range of market value. A short sale is about getting the seller out from a financial mess and avoiding a foreclosure on their credit, not about getting absolute top dollar for the house.

As always when considering a short sale talk to you accountant about tax ramifications.

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Top 5 real estate posts of the day 6/25/2005

1) Homebuyer tax credit to be extended? Expanded? – This should have been on yesterday’s list, but I somehow overlooked it. Jay does a great job as usual of looking at the latest behind the first time homebuyer tax credit and what’s next.

2) Why are banks ignoring short sales to death – Dave is putting together a blog on short sales that I find a must for my daily reading. The title explains it all on this one.

3) Will the new national loan originator exam be too easy? – Jillayne over at the RCG takes a look at the new test coming for mortgage licensing. She is not impressed.

4) What mortgage rates will do over the next 30 days – Dan Green looks at the latest predictions. My guess is they go up and down about 63 times over the next month. Green is betting down.

5) Palm Pre vs. iPhone for real estate – One of my favorite subjects, smart phones. Time to step up to the plate Blackberry.

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What will my lender need for my short sale approval

short-sale So you talked to a Realtor, your financial adviser and a real estate attorney and you decided that a short sale was your best option. So now what are the first steps you will need to take to prepare for your upcoming adventure, and an adventure it will be.

After you talk to your real estate agent you need to start preparing the necessary paperwork to arm your agent. The bank is going to ask for it, so get ready now.

  • Letter of authorization for agent
  • Hardship letter
  • Two years tax returns
  • Two month pay records
  • Two month bank statements
  • Personal financial statement
  • HOA statement

Once you have all these together you need to get them to your agent so they can start preparing the case in your favor. They are going to need a letter of authorization which gives them permission to speak to the bank about your situation and represent you. Another important piece of information is your hardship letter. This letter needs to state your case the best way possible and should not be more than one page. When writing this letter use lots of paragraph breaks to make it easy to read. The letter should contain three sections that basically lay out, sorry I am in this circumstance, here is my circumstance and I have exhausted all options and if this doesn’t work out we will end up in foreclosure.

The short sale process will not be an easy and short one, but if it is in your best interest, then be prepared by having all your ducks in a row.

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Top 5 real estate posts of the day – Friday 6/12/2009

Top 5 real estate posts of the day 6/12/2009 [Read more...]

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What questions should I ask when buying a short sale or interview a short sale selling agent?

short-sales-questions The main reason I have seen that only 23% of short sales fall through before closing is because buyers get fed up with how long it is taking and walk away. While it is no guarantee, there are questions you can ask before buying a short sale that will tell you how prepared the seller is. If you are looking to do a short sale and you are interviewing sellers agents you should ask the agent how they would answer these questions too.

1) How many liens are on the property? This is the first question your buyers agent should ask the selling agent. If there are only one or two liens on the home, the short sale is much more likely to go through than if there are three or more. If there are more than two, the seller is likely to have to come up with some cash out of pocket to satisfy those debts.

2) What is your plan to satisfy those liens? Does the selling agent and the seller have a plan on how to satisfy the debts if there is more than one lien on the property? The amount of concessions the first lien is willing to make, and the amount of money the second may be willing to accept don’t always match.

3) What is that status of the short sale? Has the selling agent even started a packet, has the hardship letter be written? Financial gathered? Has communications started with the primary lender? Has a short sale packet been requested from lender if available?

If your buyers agent asks these three questions before you put in an offer on a short sale, the selling agent has quality answers that address these issues and it is a home you are willing to make a commitment on your chances of getting a completed deal go way up.

So what type of commitment should you be making and what type of commitment should the seller be making to you? More on that later this week.

If you have other questions you think should be asked that may be as important as these then let me know.

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Why I am getting involved in short sale listings

short-sales I have made a point of it recently to read as much as I can and become educated on the short sale process. I have spent hours of time reading websites and talking to agents who have been involved on the listing side of short sales and have decided to get involved myself.

One of my real estate friends recently asked me why I would want to do that, after all as he put it, only about 20% get done and they are so much work.

As someone who has almost exclusively worked with buyers this year I have seen this first hand. I have seen many times where I had a buyer submit an offer on a short sale and after waiting weeks or months for answers they moved on to something else. Recently I have realized that while I was asking a lot of good questions from the listing agent, there were a few questions I was missing. And now that I know the right questions to answer I am realizing many, or even most, of the short sale sellers in the Phoenix and Tempe market are not getting the representation they deserve.

I have been frustrated for months of asking some basic questions and realizing the listing agent was not prepared for the short sale transaction. Now that I have become more educated and asking more questions, I realize that the number is even lower than I thought. Listing agents for short sales often do not have their ducks in a row. The home owners don’t know any better nor should they as it is the responsibility of the professional to make sure things are taken care of.

Buyers deserve the proper representation. Having your house go through the short sale process is going to damage your credit, but it is not going to damage your credit as much as a foreclosure will. Stay tuned, that is my next post. So if you can help your credit take less of a hit, you are truly in a hardship situation and you need to sell your home, then you deserve proper representation.

Short sale homes are becoming more prevalent in the Phoenix and Tempe are housing market and more people are turning to them as the foreclosure market in the east valley dries up. Both buyers and sellers in this market are going to need to make a new commitment to each other if we are going to improve the process. With the new emphasis on short sales it is the duty and responsibility of listing agents to understand the process and be on top of it, that is why I am continuing to educate myself on short sales and starting to represent short sale sellers in the Tempe, Phoenix and east valley area.

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