LISTEN UP SHORT SALE SELLERS! JAN 2010

Short sale sellers who don't price their homes appropriately are unlikely to receive viable offers. That's because pricing needs to appeal to more than the buyer to ensure a short sale transaction will close.

Pricing a short sale correctly involves choreographing a delicate dance between bringing in an offer and getting the bank to buy into that offer. Moreover, if a Notice of Default has been filed, time is of the essence. In that instance, there are only so many days left on the calendar before a short sale seller may lose the home to foreclosure.


Price it wrong, and the home goes to the bank. That's one of many reasons why it's important to hire an experienced short sale listing agent. The short sale price needs to be attractive to the following five parties:


• The Short Sale Bank.


Because short sales can take a minimum of 3 months to close from listing inception, the price should be based on pending sales, which will become the comps at closing. Banks will generally accept an offer priced within reason of comparable sales.


• The Buyer.


Short sale buyers want to buy under market; they want a good deal. Otherwise, buyers have little incentive to wait 90 days or more for a short sale to close. Sellers will catch a buyer's eye if the home is priced under the competition.


• The Buyer's Agent.


Short sales aren't high on the list of a buyer’s agent’s favorite transactions. Buyer's agents generally earn a lower commission on short sales, the deals take longer to close and sometimes they don't close at all. The listing verbiage needs to assure the buyer's agent it's worth the time invested.


• The Buyer's Lender


A buyer and seller can arrive at a mutually agreed price, but the buyer's lender will hire its own appraiser to determine market value. This means the home will need to appraise in line with the comparable sales. Pricing too low is rarely a problem. But if it's priced too high, it won't appraise, and either the buyer will need to foot the difference in cash or the pending sales will blow up.


• The Seller.


Some types of short sales are subject to deficiency judgments and mortgage debt forgiveness tax, which means sellers need to get the highest possible price. Attractive pricing will encourage multiple offers, and multiple offers tend to bid up the price.


Appealing to all five of these entities may seem impossible to do, but it is possible. There is an art to pricing a short sale. I can honestly report that all my short listings in Big Bear -- in our soft market -- receive multiple offers.

CONTACT ME FOR MORE ON SHORT SALES AND WHERE TO FIND THEM IN BIG BEAR
MICHELE HOLLOWAY, REALTOR
REALTY EXECUTIVES BIG BEAR

Keeping the lender out of your Short Sale

Keeping the lender out of your Short Sale will increase your closing ratios and decrease your frustration & anxiety!



By Spickes • October 28th, 2009

In today’s market, most Realtors are under the perception that lenders have majority control over their Short Sales. In fact, after verbally surveying over 500 Realtors at the 2008 and 2009 NAR Conference, most think they only have 0-20% control over the outcome of their Short Sale transactions, giving majority control to the lenders, their customer service and loss mitigation reps. When we talk about “control”, what does this mean?






First of all, the turnover in the lending industry, particularly loss mitigation, is astonishing at the moment. Furthermore, it is extremely rare to find a loss mitigation or customer service rep that holds a real estate license. Let’s be very clear on this point. What the Listing or Buyer’s Agent is responsible for in the Short Sale is completely separate of what the lenders are required to do, and require a completely different set of specialized skills. One of the few reasons why a lender is involved in a Short Sale is to consider and approve a purchase contract that a Listing Agent has procured, because it nets the lender something less than the full amount owed. The lender doesn’t have the ability to tell you, the Listing Agent, when to go active on MLS, based on the type of loan. In most cases, neither the specific loss mitigation rep, or the Agent know the specific and unique difference in working a Short Sale for a FHA, VA, and a Conventional loan. When the listing Agent goes active in MLS to procure an offer solely depends on the type of loan the Seller has in a Short Sale. If most Agents don’t know this, then how in the heck would a customer or loss mitigation rep know this? Due to the fact that most real estate agents have had a limited amount of Short Sale education and training, who are most agents relying on to tell them what to do next in the Short Sale? If you’re saying the lender, that’s absolutely correct… and this is presenting significant issues and dilemmas. If you are relying on the lender to tell you what they need, phone call after phone call, fax after fax, and you don’t already know what is required by each individual lender, including their specific addendums, PRIOR to getting them involved, you must know that there is a lot more to learn about Short Sales.






The degree to which you can keep the lender out of your Short Sale transaction is only going to increase your closing ratios and decrease your anxiety, frustration, and any unnecessary obstacles typically experienced by most Realtors in their Short Sale transactions today.






Shifting your paradigm for which you process your Short Sales is essential and necessary. After attending the CDRS Certification Program, Realtors, even those with other Short Sale certifications, say that they had no idea there was so much more to learn about the Short Sale process and that there is a completely different and intelligent way of working these seemingly complex transactions. If you haven’t been through the CDRS Program, trust the many other Realtors going through this program… you don’t have the entire picture, even if you think you do! Please don’t be foolish in thinking you’ve had enough Short Sale education! In truth, most Agents don’t know what they don’t know. Watch recent Video Testimonials.






Remember, you are the quarterback of the Short Sale transaction, not the lender.






Knowledge is powerful! Until next time, we wish you the best of luck in your Short Sale business.

Buyers have drastically changed their purchase process

Buyers have drastically changed their purchase process over the last quarter or so. This means that buyers understand the maket conditions, are doing their research and are taking more time to comparison shop. I can tell you that I work wtih buyers frequently and they are more methodical in their search. Even investors with loads of cash are taking a few trips to get comfortble wtih the inventory before making an offer. The key is to make sure that offer leads to a closed transaction. We have more deals falilng apart over poorly qualified buyers, buyers getting cold feet and agents simply not doing their job these days more than ever. So slow down, get the job done right, look around and be sure you are getting what you want at the price you need.
So while the demand is up and prices are down, patience is necessary all around. It could take a month or more for a buyer to select their next getaway and if its a Short Sale, heaven help us all! Michele Holloway, Realtor.

THREE WAYS TO GUARANTEE YOUR BIG BEAR LISTING WILL SELL

TOP THREE WAYS TO GUARANTEE YOUR BIG BEAR PROPERTY WILL SELL:


1- BE THE PRICE LEADER IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD BY FAR, DONT BOTHER CHASING THE MARKET, this will only drive you crazy. FIND THE LOWEST COMP AND THEN SHAVE OFF ANOTHER 15K MINIMUM FOR STARTERS. BE PREPARED TO DO IT AGAIN.
Remember that your Realtor did not create the market conditions, buyers did. So hang in there and listen to your agent.


2-MAKE YOUR PROPERTY AS APPEALING AND EASY AS POSSIBLE FOR SHOWINGS. NOBODY WANTS TO SEE AN UGLY HOUSE, SMELLY HOUSE OR A HOUSE THAT LOOKS LIKE THE ADAMS FAMILY LIVES IN IT. AND NO AGENT WANTS TO TAKE THEIR BUYER TO A HOUSE THAT REQUIRES JUMPING THROUGH HOOPS TO GET INTO. HANG A LOCKBOX AND STICK A KEY IN IT. MAKE SURE THE KEY WORKS FOR CYRING OUT LOUD. MAKE IT EASY. GET AN OFFER. SIMPLE



3-YOUR AGENT'S DAILY ACTIVITIES WILL GENERATE YOUR TRAFFICE. BE SURE YOUR AGENT IS TRAINED WELL AND IS MARKETING YOUR PROPERTY. YOU DONT NEED TO BE IN EVERY MAGAZINE AND YOU DONT NEED FANCY SIGNS OR WEBISTES...JUST BE SURE YOUR AGENT IS ON THE BALL, LOOKING FOR A QUALIFIED BUYER DAILY BY CALLING EVERYONE THEY KNOW AND IS PUSHING YOUR PROPERTY TO ALL THE AGENTS IN TOWN. ASK YOUR AGENT FOR THEIR DAILY SCHEDULE AND BE SURE THAT PROSPECTING IS AT LEAST 3 HOURS OF THEIR DAY. THIS IS HOW YOU WILL KNOW A GOOD ACTIVE AGENT FROM A PASSIVE OLDIE BUT GOODIE. GOOD LUCK.

MICHELE HOLLOWAY. REALTOR

Weekly Economic Summary on credit markets- Jan 15, 2010

Weekly Economic Summary - January 15, 2010



Guy Knox-
The first week of the business year (from January 4 through January 8, 2010) gave us little understanding of the underlying direction of interest rates. In fact, the lesson taught seems to have been that there really is no underlying direction. The markets’ direction, notably that of the credit markets, is very difficult to anticipate, their movements each day depending on the nature of the economic data most recently released. With that in mind, let’s look at how the markets moved last week.



 Monday (Jan. 4) began with stock markets strengthened by the prior week’s news that manufacturing orders were increasing in quantity and size in the U.S., as measured by the ISM [Institute for Supply Management] Index. At the same time, evidence of a global manufacturing rebound was declared, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) rode the good news to a level 1.5% higher than where it had stood the day before, while many analysts declared enthusiastically that the economy may have fully turned the corner at last.



Tuesday, then, the National Association of Realtors released its Pending Home Sales Index, a measurement of how many contracts for purchases of homes had been signed in the month of November. The index, largely because the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit program expired in November (before being extended by Congress), plunged by 16%. This economic indicator, which rarely influences the overall markets greatly, seems to have single-handedly negated the declarations that the economy had “turned the corner,” and investors rushed for the safe haven of Treasury securities once again. Thus, the 10-year Treasury note’s yield fell nearly 9 basis points and there was gloom all around.



Wednesday, the markets rested and recovered, though there was a report that apartment vacancies had hit 8% in 2009, a 30-year high, and landlords in response had lowered rents by 3%.

Thursday, the rest and recuperation continued. The 10-year T-note had edged back up to 3.821%, suggesting that rates might actually be in an uptrend.






And on Friday, the weak employment report, with 85,000 jobs lost instead of the predicted 10,000, sent investors back to the shelter of safe haven investments. Indeed, the 2-year T-note yield fell below 1% to 0.936%, and the spread between the 2-year note’s yield and the 30-year bond’s yield, or the “yield curve,” widened to a record 3.74%, which suggests a coming change for interest rates, but doesn’t say much, sadly, about the nature of the change.




The markets have been moving almost entirely based on the latest news, rather than based on a consensus about where the economy is headed. Thus, the credit markets are even more difficult to predict than usual, and the wisest among us, one suspects, will not try to.

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Buyers- never before have we seen such a substantial inventory of distressed homes, either offered by Short Sale or Bank Owned. There are dozens of homes under $300k that are in good condition and priced below market value.


Sellers- your competition is the "shadow inventory" that grows daily. In order to sell your property you MUST be the price leader in your area and WOW people by list price AND condition of your home. Be sure your agent is current with market trends and views property regularly.


JUST SOLD: 100 cabins sold since Jan 1st 2009.
LEAST EXPENSIVE


$67,000.00 DAYS ON MARKET WAS 28 ALL CASH BUYER
ONE BEDROOM FIXER IN ERWIN LAKE





MOST EXPENSIVE

$1,685,000.00 DAYS ON MARKET WAS 194
FIVE BEDROOM LAKE FRONT IN BIG BEAR WEST


For current information on NEW lending policies, Short Sale how- to, shop cabins online or get Live Support visit my website: http://www.micheleholloway.com/