In the Tempe and Phoenix market the gap on price per square foot between foreclosures and short sales is narrowing and getting much closer. While a foreclosure still is, and probably always will be more expensive than a short sale, the numbers are getting closer. This may be one reason that banks are asking for more sellers to come to the table with money.
In today’s Phoenix Real Estate FAQ Kristin LaVanway and Dean Ouellette discuss why it is not a good idea, often not allowed, to sell your house to your Dad or another friend when you are selling your house as a short sale. Sure, you figure the bank is going to lose the money anyway, why not just have Mom and Dad buy that house in a short sale, then sell it back to you later at the reduced price. The banks will not allow that and will come after you for damages if you do it. Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.
Top 10 real estate blog posts of the day in no particular order.
1) Getting A Mortgage After Foreclosure Just Got Easier - Fannie says you will be able to buy a home just two years after a foreclosure, with 20% down.
2) Can I Make Offers on More Than One Short Sale? – Well said Kelly. Much respect. I can tell you we are in the minority though.
3) No Job, No Mortgage Payment – I have been one of the biggest critics of Bank of America. I have done countless videos about how they are not helping themselves. Recently though I have to give them credit. Their short sales department is getting better to work with, they are doing a small amount of principle reductions (but still more than others) and now this. At least they are trying.
4) Lenders Unload Mortgages to Collection Agencies – And if they do this before the short sale is finalized, that is going to cause problems.
5) HVCC: One Year Later – It’s been a year, it expires at the end of this year, what is the future of HVCC regulations?
6) What will a “Normal” Housing Market Look Like? – What do you mean people may have to actually save money to buy a house? Blasphemy! (We can only hope).
7) Why the Home Buyer Tax Credit Won’t Be Extended – Leading up to April 30th I personally did not see the surge like I did in November. There are a few people who have called recently saying I want in, but that number is not what it was 6 months ago.
8) Short Sale Agents: Not Paying Attention to Details Could Cost You – The HUD cannot be overlooked in short sales, it really is everything. The bank really does not care about a hardship letter, but they do care greatly about the HUD.
9) MLS Vendors Discuss Next Generation Goals – Sounds like it was a great discussion.
10) Survey shows first time homebuyer activity on the rise – As a percentage the first time buyers and investors own the market. Mostly because move up buyers cannot sell being so far underwater.
Video 111: HAFA is the new short sale system the government is trying to convince banks to use, even though they are not implementing it on their own Freddie and Fannie backed loans yet. HAFA has been around for a full ten days now and I know it is early, but not so early there should not be stories good or bad out there about the process. Is HAFA working? I would love to hear stories from short sale agents out there, good or bad. What are you finding with HAFA, what seems to be working, what is not working, are you hearing anything at all? Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.
Today’s top 10 real estate posts of the day, as always in no particular order.
1) How to talk to buyers who view your home – I debated to include this one or not. The tips are good if you are doing a for sale by owner, but if you are using an agent to sell your home you should not be home when someone is there viewing your home. They will spend about 1/3 the time in the home compared to if you were not home.
2) The Paper Trail Every Rehabber Should Follow – The market is flooded right now with people wanting to flip houses in the heavily hit housing markets. Here is some great advice if you are a newbie looking to get involved.
3) Tips On Preparing Your Home For Sale – How To Enhance The Perceived Value In The Eyes Of The Buyer – If you are trying an equity sale right now you have two choices, drop the price to that of short sales and foreclosures, or make your house shine like a superstar.
4) Are Drip Email Campaigns a Good Idea? – I have to completely disagree with Jeff here. I recently implemented some drip campaigns and I love them. Here is the thing, they came to my site wanting information about homes and signed up on my site. I am providing them a service with the drip campaign about the current market that can help when they buy or sell their home. And there is a nice big opt out at the bottom. Over the last seven weeks, one person has opted out.
5) I’m officially a Realtor! Time to… wait. Now what? – I admit I have a love-hate relationship with the NAR, first as a former Republican political consultant I always loved REALTORS because they often came to the rescue of good conservative candidates and causes. But then I have this feeling all they really care about with agents is getting more in even though they know they are going to fail so they can get those initial dues. This is where RTB comes in in the licensing department.
6) Don’t fire the agent that brings you offers – If you are selling hour house, what are the rules about your agent showing you insulting low ball offers.
7) A Refresher on the Mystical Zestimate – Great job Kris. One of my favorite subjects. I love this line and am going to steal it. “Steve likens them to the proverbial broken clock – right a couple of times a day.”
8) 5 Things Your Unprofessional Email Address Says About You – Amen brother. It always blows me away when I see agents with MyCollegeEmailNickname@aol.com .
9) Vandalized Queen Creek Foreclosure Video – Check out this house. I have seen them like this before too. I am guessing they did not get cash for keys. I wish banks would go after these home owners.
10) MAKING A QUALITY PRESENATION – Want to improve your listing presentation, read this, then go back and read it again.
Video 105: Short sale agents will tell you doing a short sale is always better than doing a foreclosure. There are many cases that is true, but not for everyone. Always make sure you talk to a real estate attorney and a tax accountant to make sure a it is really the best thing for you. Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.
Here is today’s list of top real estate posts of the day.
1) Real Estate Training: Lead Follow-Up – It has been to long since Tom made an appearance in the Top 10. Have been discussing this issue a lot lately and this is a good video on just doing it!
2) FHA Short Refinance: Does This Make It Real? – Short refinance? Good luck with that. If anyone hears of a success I would love to hear about it.
3) The Interest Rate Spread Between The 15-Year Fixed And 30-Year Fixed Is Huge – One of my favorite subjects, people think I am crazy, but I HATE debt so give me a 15-year over a 30-year any day. Just do the math, it is a no brainer.
4) RPR Hits The Ground Running – Wait?!?!?!? They were beta testing in Phoenix and didn’t invite me? What the?!?!? Why am I giving them this link love?
5) If the Bank doesn’t charge an "overage or points"…what do you call this? – I love when Rhonda gets fired up like this!
6) Just Say No to Bidding Wars – This is a very good look at under pricing listings to create bidding wars. In Phoenix right now it is really the banks more than the agents who are doing this.
7) Is Your Website Design Scaring Away Business? – Some good blogging tips to implement and avoid on your site. Whatever you do, please one thing is avoid number 1 in the No-No’s. Nothing will make me leave your page quicker.
8) I Bet Many of the Cool Kids Are On the Verge of Greatness – Good post reminding us that greatness does not come easy. Even Tiger Woods has to spend countless hours stroking his putter and swinging his club around to become the best at what he does.
9) Do You Need a Buyer’s Agent? Or Should You Find a Home, Then Use the Listing Agent? – OK we talk about it all the time. You need to be represented as a buyer. What blew me away about this video on this page was how everyone said they found their agent.
10) I Have a Short Sale Listing. I Have an Offer. Now, What Do I Do? – Hmmm I thought the answer was drop to your knees and pray, but that is not on there.
Here is today’s list of top real estate posts of the day.
1) Credit Nightmares – Some great advice in here for everyone. We all know someone who is going through financial hardships right now.
2) California Offers a New Tax Credit for Home Buyers – California signed into law a $10,000 home buyer tax credit. Didn’t we just send billions to California to bail out their bankrupt government? Here is another one on the subject. It’s Official… $10K CA Homebuyer Tax Credit signed into law!
3) Video Is The Future – Jump to about 3:45 and Jim starts talking about video as the future… But I think it is the present. I have some clients I do that for now, when we walk through I video tape it for them so they can go back and look at it again later.
4) More “does your brokerage matter talk.” We have had a lot over the last week and today we have Mark Davison with Can a real estate brokerage matter? and Jonathan Dalton with Forget Big Broker vs. Small Broker, Let’s Talk Bad Broker vs. Good Broker.
5) Renting vs. Buying when it comes to a house – I love this video, why? Because Jessica shoots straight. It is NOT always better to buy than to rent. I think a lot of people underestimate the cost, the true cost of homeownership.
6) NAR President says another extension of the homebuyer tax credit is “unlikely” – Finally we have some good news. Homebuyers better get to work and get under contract by April 30th if they want to take advantage.
7) Are Sellers Rejecting All Of Your Offers? – Putting in a lot of offers and not getting any accepted? Here are some tips. But remember, do not put in an offer unless you want the house if the offer is accepted.
8) Syndicate Your Original Content, Like You Syndicate Your Listings – If you build it they will come, if you build it in multiple locations they will come a lot quicker and in much larger numbers.
9) Does Fannnie or Freddie own your mortgage? – You may want to refinance your loan or you may want to know the bank is not supposed to be cutting your commission on that short sale you are working with. Either way it is good to know if it is a Fannie or Freddie mortgage.
10) And for comic relief…. Agents see the strangest things at open houses – Where are all these naked people? Not that I want to see them, but I have been into thousands of houses and never once did I see a naked person, but hear about it all the time. and THE MLS – WITH ZEST! – Some fun MLS typos, or we hope are typos.
Video 103: When you take a new short sale listing make sure it is a listing that can be sold. Anyone can take a short sale listing, but are you and your seller willing to do what it takes to get the house sold and closed. One of the key determinants I have found to be a factor is with the seller. Will the seller do what it takes to get the house sold? One easy test that will also make the short sale go much easier is are they willing to get you all the paperwork you need for the packet before you even list the house? I always provide the seller with the packet materials I need before we even sign a listing agreement. I have found if the seller is willing to submit that short sale packet to me before we even list the house, they are much more likely to work with me to get the deal done. Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.
Video 102: I recently had an expired Tempe short sale listing come across my email. I bet the seller asked themselves “why didn’t my house sell?” Well if they saw what I saw, they would not be surprised. The house was not priced overly aggressive, the write up was not inviting and the pictures were horrible. When 85-90% of home shoppers are looking online and making the determination of what houses to see the pictures and the writeup can be everything. If you are selling your house I would tell you to go online and do some reseach on your own to see how the house looks on the Internet. Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.
