Lenders no longer Foreclosing on Properties!

I just read on another agents blog about an REO broker in California who said his inventory has gone from 700 listings down to only around 100. The is VERY significant event in the real estate industry, and it shows an obvious trend in the industry. This year will be the year that the number of short sales jumps very high, and the number of foreclosures falls sharply!

There are several factors that are contributing to this new direction in the industry:

Lenders have realized for some time that foreclosure proceedings are very costly, not to mention the fact that properties deteriorate in condition. They know the amount they recover from a short sale versus a foreclosure is very significant, and are doing whatever it takes to cut their losses.
Many have improved their processing times dramatically for short sales, or are in the process of implementing much more efficient systems.
High numbers of foreclosures and non-performing assets make lenders look bad to their investors and share holders and can also effect their relationship with the FDIC in a very bad way
New flip laws are encouraging more investors to buy them again
The new HAFA short sale program offers excellent incentives for the lenders to approve them
Lenders are in the lending business, NOT in the property management and asset disposal business!

All of these factors combined will make 2010 "The Year of the Short Sale"!

Are you ready for the short sale explosion?

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as well as our listing referral program and online training course!

Mike Linkenauger

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What's confusing is that the number of foreclosures are not going down, yet these assets are not hitting the marketplace. Short sales in my market of DFW TX are way too often used, seller's need to be pricing their homes at break-even, we can still get appraisals to come in at that price the majority of the time.
A great number of buyers cannot take a wait & see attitude & put their home buying decision in a lender's hands... they need a place to live on a certain date, and if all of the properties in an area are short sale, it puts those buyers out of the market, or at risk of being homeless!
I've been doing short sales since the late 80's, and today's short sale is nothing like it was "back in the day" where you had a loss mitigator you could call that would always handle your questions, and would give you clear direction on what they wanted from YOUR client, the SELLER. Just remember, your client is the property owner, not the lender, and the agent needs to do what's best for their client.
Try an experiment... price your next property (where the seller says their upside down) at break even and advertise the fact that you can give the buyer a quick answer, quick possession, and pay some of their closing costs at list price, advertise rock bottom pricing, and see if you don't get some offers. In fact, some of those buyers that have short sale offers in (and are frustrated with the wait) will and do jump ship & cancel their offer after they've been through the waiting experience and their move date is looming.

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Comments

Mike Linkenauger May 27, 2010 at 9:53am

Just talked to another "REO Mega Agent" yesterday, said that his REO inventory was once around 750 Properties is now at 50% of that...

Lenders are definitely favoring short sales...
Mike Linkenauger May 15, 2010 at 7:29am

Those are pretty quick approval times in general Mark!!
Mike Linkenauger May 15, 2010 at 5:58am

Lenders are definitely improving their approval times. 2010 will be the year of the short sale, no doubt!
MARK MCINTYRE April 29, 2010 at 12:00am

We are seeing the same thing in our market here in AZ, We are getting our Short Sales done in about 30 days.
Mike Linkenauger April 27, 2010 at 6:59am

Kim, I agree that short sales should be avoided if anyway possible, and if your seller isn't in a hardship it really doesn't matter anyway, they won't qualify!

Many homeowners are STILL trying to avoid pricing properties at market value in order to avoid a short sale. Many sellers are just delaying the inevitable. Either way, if they are in financial hardship and MUST sell, a short sale is the ONLY permanent solution in most cases for.

The point of this post was to 1.)Try to stress that some signs are pointing to lenders finally cooperating and trying NOT to foreclose if anyway possible. and 2.) Show that the number of foreclosures should continue to shrink and the number of short sales should increase...
Kim Marin April 27, 2010 at 5:30am

Sure, eventually. In the meantime, there are ready, willing & able buyers to close NOW, and a few non-short sale listings ARE going to sell at higher prices so that the buyer doesn't have to wait to buy them. There is always a time cost to money (or having a place to live in this case, for sure). If all you are doing is offering short sales, you really aren't helping your seller in all cases. What's the harm in putting in the comments on your short sale listings: "Non-short sale pricing is $X, no need to wait, we can accept your offer at this price now". What if you got an offer for that price from a desperate buyer and get the deal done now? I want to control MY income, can't do it if I'm spinning my wheels working short sales that don't close 90% of the time., or worse yet, put dozens of hours into a deal & the buyer get's frustrated & pulls out and have to do it all over again with 3 more buyers...
Mike Linkenauger April 27, 2010 at 5:15am

But getting the lenders to stop the foreclosure is as easy as pushing a button in most cases! We are based out of Florida, and in judicial foreclosure states such as ours, the lenders do not EVER foreclose unless WE allow it... Can take several years. Usually they'll sell as a short sale eventually, provided the agent knows what to do. The main point in the post is that the lenders WILL get better at short sales eventually (god willing!), and are trying to NOT foreclose if any way possible.

I know some of this is old news, but it seems like this year lenders will finally get their stuff together with short sales.
Kim Marin April 27, 2010 at 3:06am

Many buyers with short sale offers in get so frustrated with that buying process that they get disgusted and get out of the market altogether and go find something to rent for awhile.
Kim Marin April 27, 2010 at 3:03am

What's confusing is that the number of foreclosures are not going down, yet these assets are not hitting the marketplace. Short sales in my market of DFW TX are way too often used, seller's need to be pricing their homes at break-even, we can still get appraisals to come in at that price the majority of the time.
A great number of buyers cannot take a wait & see attitude & put their home buying decision in a lender's hands... they need a place to live on a certain date, and if all of the properties in an area are short sale, it puts those buyers out of the market, or at risk of being homeless!
I've been doing short sales since the late 80's, and today's short sale is nothing like it was "back in the day" where you had a loss mitigator you could call that would always handle your questions, and would give you clear direction on what they wanted from YOUR client, the SELLER. Just remember, your client is the property owner, not the lender, and the agent needs to do what's best for their client.
Try an experiment... price your next property (where the seller says their upside down) at break even and advertise the fact that you can give the buyer a quick answer, quick possession, and pay some of their closing costs at list price, advertise rock bottom pricing, and see if you don't get some offers. In fact, some of those buyers that have short sale offers in (and are frustrated with the wait) will and do jump ship & cancel their offer after they've been through the waiting experience and their move date is looming.
Dr. Marqueze D. Williams, Sr, NRBA April 26, 2010 at 6:49pm

LMBO!!!!!! YUP I SAID THIS 2 YEARS AGO AT 5 STAR!

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