estate (254)

Los Gatos Distressed Property Watch 2011

It's the beginning of the year so time for the round-up of last year's distressed property sales in Los Gatos. So here's what happened:

 

Single family and condo townhomes :

Total sales:  421

Short Sales: 42

REO:            24

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales: 15.7%

Compare to 2010

Total sales:   489

Short Sales:   36

REO:            38

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales:  15.1%

 

My conclusion:

The percentage of distressed properties in Los Gatos is virtually the same  between 2011 and 2010. Also a 15% distressed property sale percentage is absolutely probably not enough to affect values. What is interesting is the the number of short sales in 2011 went up as the number of REOs went down from 2010 as banks have been more wiiling to approve short sales.

If you have any questions about short sales or bank owned homes please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E.  01191194

Marcy Moyer Keller Williams Realty Palo Alto, Ca. Specialist in Short Sales and Trust and Probate Sales

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Milpitas Distressed Property Watch 2011

It's the beginning of the year so time for the round-up of last year's distressed property sales in Milpitas. So here's what happened:

 

Single family and condo townhomes :

Total sales:  513

Short Sales: 150

REO:            112

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales: 51.1%

Compare to 2010

Total sales:   535

Short Sales:   131

REO:            140

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales:  50.1%

 

My conclusion:

The percentage of distressed properties in Milpitas is virtually the same  between 2011 and 2010. Also a 50% distressed property sale percentage is absolutely large enough to affect values. What is interesting is the the number of short sales in 2011 went up as the number of REOs went down from 2010 as banks have been more wiiling to approve short sales.

If you have any questions about short sales or bank owned homes please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E.  01191194

Marcy Moyer Keller Williams Realty Palo Alto, Ca. Specialist in Short Sales and Trust and Probate Sales

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Los Altos Hills Distressed Property Watch 2011

It's the beginning of the year so time for the round-up of last year's distressed property sales in Los Altos Hills. So here's what happened:

 

Single family and condo townhomes :

Total sales:  97

Short Sales: 4

REO:            6

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales: 10.3%

Compare to 2010

Total sales:   81

Short Sales:   5

REO:            1

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales:  7.4%

 

My conclusion:

The percentage of distressed properties in Los Altos is higher  2011 over 2010. 7-10% distressed property sale percentage is just beginning to affect values but I think there are other reason Los Altos Hills values are decreasing that are more important than short sales and foreclosures. The area is just not as popular these days as Atherton and Palo Alto are for the high end buyer.

If you have any questions about short sales or bank owned homes please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E.  01191194

 

Marcy Moyer Keller Williams Realty Palo Alto, Ca. Specialist in Short Sales and Trust and Probate Sales

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I just wanted to past this one along to ALL of my fellow Professionals....Please give feed on this one.

 

P.S. I think this comapny can HELP with it: Halo America LLC-Housing Solutions 4 America!!!

 

Ratio: 3.5 Million Homeless and 18.5 Million Vacant Homes in the US

 

Diane Sweet
Crooks and Liars

December 31, 2011

 

The National Economic and Social Rights Initiative along with Amnesty International are asking the U.S. to step up its efforts to address the foreclosure crisis, including by giving serious consideration to the growing call for a foreclosure moratorium and other forms of relief for those at risk, and establishing a housing finance system that fulfills human rights obligations.

New government census reports have revealed disturbing information that details the cold, hard numbers of Americans who have been deeply affected by the state of our economy, and bank foreclosure practices:

In the last few days, the U.S. government census figures have revealed that 1 in 2 Americans have fallen into poverty or are struggling to live on low incomes. And we know that the financial hardships faced by our neighbors, colleagues, and others in our communities will be all the more acutely felt over the holiday season.

Along with poverty and low incomes, the foreclosure rate has created its own crisis situation as the number of families removed from their homes has skyrocketed.

Since 2007, banks have foreclosed around eight million homes. It is estimated that another eight to ten million homes will be foreclosed before the financial crisis is over. This approach to resolving one part of the financial crisis means many, many families are living without adequate and secure housing. In addition, approximately 3.5 million people in the U.S. are homeless, many of them veterans. It is worth noting that, at the same time, there are 18.5 million vacant homes in the country.

The stark realities that persist mean that millions of families will be facing the holidays in temporary homes, or homes under threat, and far too many children will be wishing for an end to the uncertainty and distress their family is facing rather than an Xbox or Barbie doll.

Housing is a basic human need and a fundamental human right. Yet every day in the United States, banks are foreclosing on more than 10,000 mortgages and ordering evictions of individuals and families residing in foreclosed homes. The U.S. government’s steps to address the foreclosure crisis to date have been partial at best.

The depth and severity of the foreclosure crisis is a clear illustration of the urgent need for the U.S. government to put in place a system that respects, protects and fulfills human rights, including the right to housing. This includes implementing real protections to ensure that other actors, such as financial institutions, do not undermine or abuse human rights.

There is a link available at the Amnesty International website for anyone who is interested and would like to join the call on the Obama administration and Congress to urgently step up efforts to address the foreclosure crisis, including by seriously considering the growing call for a foreclosure moratorium and other forms of relief, and establishing a housing finance system that fulfills human rights obligations.

 

Respectfully Given,

 

Dennis Ford Jr.

President

Halo America LLC

dfordjr@haloamerica.com

281-914-0502-Direct

www.haloamerica.com

 

 

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Palo Alto Distressed Property Watch 2011

It's the end of the year so time for the round-up of distressed property sales in Palo Alto. So here's what happened:

 

Single family and condo townhomes 2011:

Total sales:  590

Short Sales: 13

REO:           9

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales: 3.73%

Compare to 2010

Total sales:   563

Short Sales:   8

REO:            6

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales:  2.5

 

My conclusion:

The percentage of distressed properties in Palo Alto are not enough to make a difference in the market value of homes. There was an increase in both short sales and REO in 2010 over 2011, but again, not enough to make a big difference. Palo Alto has so far managed to escape the trauma of very many people losing their homes. The same can not be said about many surrounding neighborhoods.

If you have any questions about short sales or bank owned homes please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E.  01191194

Marcy Moyer Keller Williams Realty Palo Alto, Ca. Specialist in Short Sales and Trust and Probate Sales

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If you have read my last couple of blog post, you know by now that I am a big fan of this new book I am reading: The Personal MBA: by Josh Kaufman (www.peronalmba.com)

Here is an excerpt from his chapter on Marketing: "Rule #1 of Marketing is that you potential customer's available attention is limited. Keeping up with everything in your world would require way more attention than you actually have to work with. To compensate, you filter: you ration you attention, allocating more to things you care about ans less to things you don't. So does everyone else, including your potential prospects. To get someone's attention, you have to find a way around their filters.

High-quality attention must be earned. When you're seeking someone's attention, it's useful to take a moment to remember that you're competing against everything else in their world. In order to be noticed, you need to find a way to earn that attention by being more interesting or useful than the competing alternatives."

http://book.personalmba.com/attention/

Check out the trailer for Life in Foreclosure.

New Year, New You. www.livefitandhappy.com.

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Sad story. A client told me last February that she was not able to make the payments on her $750,000 home loan. The house is now worth about $400,000 and this person wanted to get a loan modification and get the principle reduced. I can not tell you how many times I hear this story and how few times I have heard that there actually was a principle reduction. Actually I can tell you how many times I have heard of a principle reduction, once.

Ok, so it is bad enough that banks have been unwilling to reduce principle but things can get worse. My client received a Notice of Default last February and at that point she decided to try to to get the loan modification. In November she was finally offered the loan mod, which she turned down because not only did she not get the pricnciple reduced, but all the missed payments and late payments were added on to the back end of the mortgage.

So on Dec 20th she got a Notice of Trustee Sale and on Dec 26th signed a listing agreement to short sale the Redwood City  home. Here's the problem. While getting an offer before the sale date of Jan. 12th would be hard, but possible, the Mortgage Servicer, Carrington Mortgage said no deal. THEY DO NOT POSTPONE TRUSTEE SALES FOR SHORT SALES.  That is harsh. Not only that but in order to do a HAFA Short Sale and get the auto postponement you need to initialte it 60 days before the Trustee Sale Date.

So now, this person is going to have her home foreclosed. I am very sorry for her, but maybe someone can learn a lesson from this.  

Do not put your head in the sand!!!!! If you can not make your payments do something the first month it happens, not a year later. If you have a change of circumstances, lose your job, get divorced, your loan resets, have a health problem, do something right away. If you want to keep your home and can make payments if they are lowered then apply for a loan mod. Don't do it after you get the notice of default, because by then it may be too late. Some banks will allow you to postpone a sale up to 3 days before the sale, but not all. If you can not make payments and need to short sell, do it right away, not at the last minute. Don't take chances with your financial future.

If you have any questions about buying or selling short sales in San Mateo or Santa Clara County please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E. 01191194

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One of the best things that has happened to short sales in the last couple of years is the on line platform for processing a short sale. There are several platforms in use, but Equator is one of the more popular ones, and is the one used for Bank of America and Wells Fargo Short Sales. So, instead of your agent having to fax all the documents, usually several times, the short sale documents are uploaded as PDFs onto the Equator web site. In order to keep the process moving forward Equator will assign a task to be fulfilled by the agent, like uploading an offer or financial documents onto the website. Once the task is assigned they will give you a fixed number of days to upload the requested documents. This number of days is the same, no matter when the task is assigned. So if it isa 2 day task and it is assigned on a Friday, it is due Sunday, period.

So my latest Bank of America short sale assigned me the task of uploading the signed offer on Friday, with a due date of Sunday, which happens to be Christamas.

And that is why this Palo Alto short sale agent is cheerfully working Christmas Eve. 

Enjoy your holidays!

If you have any questions about buying or selling short sales in Santa Clara or San Mateo County please feel free to contact me!

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E. 01191194

Marcy Moyer Keller Williams Realty Palo Alto, Ca. Specialist in Short Sales and Trust and Probate Sales

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I know a lot of you are going to think I am crazy but I really love short sales. I am sorry that the market is such that there are many people who need to sell their homes short, but that is the current reality. Given that reality there are many things about the short sale process that I enjoy, fewer things that I just tolerate, and even fewer I hate. 

I HATE PRIVATE THIRD LIENS ON SHORT SALES!!!! I can not emphasize this enough. 3rd liens are always tough, but private ones are the worst, because very often there is an emotional component to the person holding the private third, and also because it is often not a large, impersonal bank losing the money, it is a real person, who probably was depending on that income.

But feelings aside, I learned something very interesting today from Chase. I was told it is their policy to only give $1000 to a third lien, period. This is good information to have, because while they made an exception for me on a Redwood City short sale, I do not expect to get it again. 

So next time I take a short sale listing with Chase as the first lender and a private 3rd lender, I will be able to negotiate upfront with a solid number. If the third is unwilling to take $1000 then I can hopefully find out what they will take, and get that worked out up front.

If you have any questions about buying or selling short sales in Santa clara or San Mateo County please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E. 01191194

Marcy Moyer Keller Williams Realty Palo Alto, Ca. Specialist in Short Sales and Trust and Probate Sales

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There are several different types of short sales that will approve your price and the seller's eligibility before you get an offer. If you do not qualify for one of those programs (like HAFA or Bank of America co-operative short sales) then you can try to do a traditional short sale.

In most traditional short sales after the seller signs an offer, his/her short sale real estate agent will send the offer and all of the seller's financial documents to the lender. This can be a time consuming process, and if the lender is still using faxes to gather information rather than online platforms, several weeks can be lost while the lender checks to make sure all the needed documents have been collected.

Chase has a policy which makes this portion of the short sale truly shorter. Once the seller signs the listing agreement the short sale realtor can send all of the documentation to Chase. Once an offer is received and signed, you will be weeks ahead of the game.

So, if you are short selling your home with Chase be sure and ask your short sale realtor to send in your documents right away and save time when you get that offer!

If you have any questions about buying or selling short sales in Santa Clara or San Mateo County please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E. 01191194

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It happens every year. Agents tell their sellers that they should wait until after the holidays to put their homes on the market. They say no one is looking during December so don't bother. Translation: Agent wants much needed and deserved time off during the holidays, or seller has a lot of family coming and does not want people traipsing through their home with all of the activity going on.

Other side of the equation: Very busy professional gets some down time the last two weeks of the year. Or, out of town relocation buyers are coming to the area to look for a place to live in the new year.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the problem. The only inventory left on the market at this time of year tends to be overpriced or weird which does not help the buyers who finally have time to look. 

I was with one of these too busy for the last 3 months buyers today. You would not believe some of the weird stuff we saw in San Carlos today. A house with a kitchen with gorgeous newer cherry cabinets, and a tiled blue stone counter that would hold bacteria in its many ridges forever. Why someone spent the money to tile a kitchen counter with these impossible to keep clean tiles when they could have put a slab of granite on for the same price is beyond my comprehension. this same home had replaced the asbestos wrapped heating ducts in the entire house, except for about 5 feet under the house. Why? If you are going to spend the money to remove asbestos on yards and yards of ducting why leave a few feet undone? Another home had 7 different kinds of flooring, on a 1400 square foot home.  A third home had removed the bathtub from the main hall bathroom and installed a double vanity. They then added a full bath with tub in the family room completely on the opposite side of the house from the bedrooms.

I was with a pre-approved buyer who can afford a million dollars with time on his hands to buy a home, and there is nothing for him to consider. 

I know I am not the only one frustrated by this disconnect between buyers and sellers.

So I am putting my money where my mouth is and putting a short sale condo in downtown San Jose on the market on Dec 26th. It is not overpriced or weird.

So sellers, next year put your home on the market in December if you want to attract hard working qualified buyers who have time to look.

If you have any questions about buying or selling a home in Santa Clara or San Mateo County please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@mrcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

Marcy Moyer Keller Williams Realty Palo Alto, Ca. Specialist in Short Sales and Trust and Probate Sales

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2 Big Challenges in A Menlo Park Short Sale

There are many obstacles and challenges to closing a Mountain View Short Sale, but there are 2 that I find the most challenging to get around.

1. A private 2nd or 3rd lender: These are often more difficult to negotiate than a bank. There are homes where the seller may have taken back a note for a second or third, or where a relative may have invested with a loan thinking that he/he was going to make money or at least not be left holding the bag for a relative,

2. A person on the loan who makes no contribution but refuses to sign off on the short sale.

Both of these circumstances are really hard to deal with, and unless they are handled up front it is probably not worth initiating a short sale.

The private lender will not get anything if a home is foreclosed, so that fact needs to be drilled into the lien holder's head. Sometimes they can be convinced.

A person on a loan who won't let go is a little harder. You may have to go to court to get them off the loan, but it can be done if you can prove they have no equity in the property.

Short sales can take a lot of work, and keeping a buyer through the process is a real challenge. So if you know that you have some unusual and/or difficult challenges it is best to get those handled up front so that you have a better chance in keeping the buyers and closing the sale.

If you have any questions about buying or selling short sales in Santa Clara or San Mateo County please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E. 01191194

Marcy Moyer Keller Williams Realty Palo Alto, Ca. Specialist in Short Sales and Trust and Probate Sales

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If you can not pay your mortgage you might want to do something about it sooner rather than later. Here's why:

1. The Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007 is set to expire at the end of 2012

2. This act says that if you sell your primary residence as a short sale or it is foreclosed then no federal tax is owned on the debt foregiveness, the difference between what you owe and what the bank was paid back after the short sale or foreclosure.

3. In 2013, unless the act is extended there will be taxes owned on homes that are foreclosed or sold as short sales.

4. Do you really think the congress is going to pass anything like an extension of this tax relief during the election season?

 

So, if you can not pay your mortgage DO SOMETHING NOW. Don't be stuck with losing your home and then still owing taxes on it.

If you have any questions about short sales in San Mateo or Santa Clara Counties, please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E. 01191194

Marcy Moyer Keller Williams Realty Palo Alto, Ca. Specialist in Short Sales and Trust and Probate Sales

 

 

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There are approx 2,169  Las Vegas Foreclosures for sale in the Las Vegas area per the local MLS.

This is for homes without contracts on them.

Foreclosure sales pending and homes with contracts on them are at .... 2,594

401 Foreclosure sales have sold so far this month.

This year approx. 15,400 foreclosures have sold in the Las Vegas area.

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There are approx 5,056  Las Vegas Short Sales for sale in the Las Vegas area per the local MLS.

This is for homes without contracts on them.

Short Sale pendings and homes with contracts on them are at .... 7,089

248 short sales have sold so far this month.

This year approx 7,900 short sales have sold in the Las Vegas area

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We are diving into the holiday season.  The 2011 National Association of Realtors conference will be one of the last opportunities to network and poise our business toward success.

 

I hope you take this opportunity to learn about how the National Association of Women REO Brokerages (NAWRB) can help enhance your business.  Stop by our booth #1678.  We will share with you our innovative ideas for 2012.

 

 

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Mainstreet Valuations BPO Fees

Hello,  Can anyone tell me more about Mainstreet Valuations.  I signed up with them a few months ago, and recently received a couple of BPO orders.  The problem is that both orders were more than 25 miles from my office and they were only paying $20 per order.  Is this thier standard BPO fee?   I can't do BPO's for $20 that is an insult.  Needless to say I turned them down. 

Is anyone doing $20 dollar BPO's for Mainstreet?  I have done property condition reports for other companies for $20  but they don't require comps. and it takes about 5 minutes to complete the form. But to do an entire BPO for $20 dollars seems unreasonable.  Am I missing something?

 

Thanks for your help.

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Email Invasion

Have you given it a second thought as to how secure your email is?  With our dependence to the digital world email hacking has been more prevalent.

 

What can we do to save our sensitive information?  How can we prevent someone from hacking our emails?  Is it a big deal to take precautions?

 

Here are a few tips:

 

  • Use elaborate passwords including letters and numbers
  • Back up emails in secondary accounts
  • Use only secure internet networks to check your emails

  

Care to share?  How do you protect you email? 

 

 

 

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Milpitas Ca. Short Sale vs Bank Owned Transactions

Milpitas Single Family homes

Active Short Sale Listings:  23

Active Bank Owned Homes: 9

Pending Short Sale Homes: 49

Pending Bank Owned Homes: 11

Sold Short Sale Homes: Last 6 months 23

Sold Bank Owned Homes: 19

 

Milpitas Condo Townhomes

Active Short Sale Listings: 12

Active Bank Owned Condos:  4

Pending Short Sale Condos/Townhomes: 43

Pending Bank Owned Condos/Townhomes: 4

Sold Short Sale Condos/Townhomes: 19

Sold Bank Owned Condos/Townhomes 26

Unlike San Jose, where short sales far outnumber bank owned transactions, the numbers are much closer for short sales and bank owned homes in Milpitas. There are many more pending short sale listings than bank owned, but short sales take so much longer to close that number is not surprising.

If you have any questions about short sales or foreclosures in Milpitas please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer C.D.P.E.

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E.  01191194

Marcy Moyer Keller Williams Realty Palo Alto, Ca. Specialist in Short Sales and Trust and Probate Sales

Read more…