The days on the calendar swirled by, and before you know it, two months and a week had passed, and it was time to do the actual Cash for Keys - get the keys from the former owners, and give him the keys, and everyone goes on their merry way.I don't know how it is with everyone else, but here's how my CFK goes. A day or two before, I call up the former owner and arrange a time to do the exchange. I go over the requirements again (that the place be clean, the appliances in place, etc.), and say OK, see you then. I then call the locksmith to reconfirm the time and address, and then at the appointed date and time, I meet the locksmith out at the property.Almost invariably, the former occupants are not ready to go. They are usually still packing up. I can't fork over the cash (a check, actually) until I see that everything is loaded up. So, I usually stand around, chat with the locksmith, the former owner, etc., while I take interior photos for the listing BPO.Yesterday,this is just what happened - I show up, the former owners aren't quite ready to go, so I stand around for an hour or so while they finish up and the locksmith goes about his business. I got to chatting with the former owner - a nice guy, too bad he lost the house and all. He's from Mexico, and he doesn't speak English, so, as with about 1/2 of these deals, we converse in Spanish.Kind of an interesting conversation. He said he hadn't made a mortgage payment in a year. "A year?!" I said. "Well, at least six months, maybe year." Wow, at $4K a month in mortgage payments, that's a lot of dough. And of course, he gets the CFK money, too - although he only asked for $500.I asked him what his plan was. They were going to rent, and then buy another house. It seems they had saved up quite a nest egg, not paying anything for rent or mortgage the past 6-12 months - enough for a down payment for sure, especially with this groovy new FHA financing they have out here, which he already knew a good deal about. There were a number of adults living there, and only one of them had been on title - plenty of un-affected credit reports out there. And now, home prices are 1/2 of what they were two years ago when this guy had bought - the perfect time to buy!I gave him my card (again) and said if he knows someone who wants to buy a house, please call me. And I do believe he will. Who'da thunk.
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I got a new property assignment today, way out in Salinas. Naturally, I had to rush right out and do an occupancy check. I've never had a property assignment that far out before, it's a good 45 minute drive from my office. Salinas is a town that has been very, very hard hit by foreclosures, and property values have been crushed. This particular house is a single-family attached residence, in a neighborhood that seems nice enough.The house had been listed for much of the year as a short sale for $469,000 or so. There was an abandoned "for sale" sign still on the property, and a notice that it had been winterized. I talked to the neighbor lady, she was nice enough, and said that the former occupants had moved out back in January.Tomorrow, I'll go back there with my locksmith. I told him hey, I can just find one in Salinas, it's a long way to drive to make $120 or whatever, but he said no no, happy to make the trip, blah blah - I guess he doesn't want to risk one of his best customers finding another locksmith...after all, Salinas is not very far from Watsonville, where most of my business is.It turns out, this place probably isn't going to sell for more than $200,000. I'll probably recommend listing it for $175,000 - I dunno, I have to do the BPO first. Ahh, BPOs. Love 'em. LOVE 'EM. Not. But now, I have to do one chop-chop, as it is due momentarily.
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