Archive for July, 2008
Buy and Bail
July 26th, 2008 Categories: Uncategorized
What is “BUY AND BAIL”
“Buy and Bail” is a term used to describe homeowners (usually heavily upside down) who go out and buy a new home at today’s value, then once closed, they either try and short sale their home or foreclose on it. This is happening a lot right now.
Most people are getting qualified by renting their home to reduce their debt-to-income ratio. Then they would just stop making payments, collect rent (if the rental contract was even real in the first place), and let the home go. So the tenants will be booted 6 months later and the community has one more repo on the block. Read the rest of this entry »
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Buyer’s!! Hurry…Down Payment Assistance is going Bye-Bye
July 26th, 2008 Categories: Uncategorized
Since the demise of the sub-prime lending market, the only realistic way of getting 100% financing has been through an FHA loan with down payment assistance from a 3rd party company like Genesis, Ameridream, or Nehemiah. Basically, the FHA requires 3% down payment, for those that don’t have 3% they could use one of the above programs to “gift” it to the buyer from the seller. Well….HUD has said that they will no longer allow one of the 3 party organizations “gift” this down payment. The buyer can still use “gift” proceeds from family members or other FHA qualified sources, but not Ameridream and others. This will go into effect on November 1, 2008 unless overturned before then.
Please see the link for related article from realtytimes:
http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20071003_sellerassist.htm
It’s now July 26, 2008, go get a home now
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Why Short Sales Dont’ Close
July 24th, 2008 Categories: Uncategorized
Ahh… the infamous short sale. Most every home buyer has heard some horror stories about a short sale falling apart. Why? Do they know why? Sometimes you never find out.. here are some past reasons that I have experienced.
First, all short sales are not created equally. No file is the same, banks have different guidelines, the end-investor has their own internal guidelines, and the agent has their own system for processing. Every file is different. It is up to the agent to foreshadow and roadblock ahead of time to save everyone time and energy. Here are a couple reasons: Read the rest of this entry »
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Is It Really Active?
July 24th, 2008 Categories: AZ home selling
So I don’t do it much but last week I took out some buyers, being primarily a listing agent I don’t get out much, but, it is good to get in the trenches to see the inventory and trends for the present buyers.
The market is is fruitful right now, I know this from my listings receiving multiple offers in days, but it is also highly competitive as well. Most homes claim they are available but technically they are not. If you were to put a buyer tour together of 10 homes in the west valley and called the listing agent, maybe only 3 would be available to put an offer on if your client was interested. (this is of course, the agent answered the phone). Why?
Short sale and lender owned.
First lender owned. It typically takes about 5 days to fully solidify an offer between seller and buyer and go “pending”. In between that time there is a contract in review with the lender to accept. Most of the time they do accept verbally but it takes up to 5 days just to process and get back to the buyer. So, during that time, it remains active and available for anyone to come in and bid higher. Just the way it is.
Now Short Sales: This is a mess considering a majority of the listings are short sales. The AZ department of real estate, local associations, and local MLS need to refine this chaos. Most short sales will remain “active” until it has received an agreement letter from the lender to sale the home. This could take up to 4 months (Wells Fargo). So if a buyer agent calls on a short sale home, there is most likely 6-7 offers already in review of that home. Agents need to tell the consumers this…. When it shows active on a real estate website, it does not mean it is.
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“Highest and Best Offer” in Surprise, AZ
July 17th, 2008 Categories: Foreclosure and Short Sale Information
HI People-
So right now, the AZ west valley real estate market is doing well. Mostly it is the lender owned homes or REO homes that are selling. What I am hearing from buyers is that they are getting frustrated by the process of actually bidding on a bank-owned home. They are finding there are multiple offers and they are not winning the bidding war. So how do you win?
FIRST: Get pre-qualified, you have to be ready to pounce on that REO home that is priced well under it’s competition. 
SECOND: Hire a realtor that knows how to play the REO game, and play to win. They should have a buyer consultation with you to explain the process of a bank-owned offer and a short sale offer.
THIRD: Be Logical, listen to your agent and go buy a home.
So what is “Highest and Best“?
This is when a bank has multiple offers on a property and they respond to the buyers with asking them to come back with their “highest and best” offer. Kind of like a silent auction. Very common right now. Sometimes the highest bidder will be bidding against themselves and go even higher than their original…this is what the banks want. They are holding their cards close to the vest and showing a mean poker face. They do not want to disclose what the highest offer is. Your agent should have an idea of what it would take to win the home. If not, get a new agent.
What is “review time in a short sale”?
what’s and “as-is” addendum and do i have to take the home with the flood damage?
why do short sales take so long?
some common questions right now…stay posted for blogs on those definitions.
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