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As the year comes to a close you may be wondering what the foreclosure and short sale market looks like in San Mateo Clara County. In a word, things are pretty quiet. The numbers of sales are down. Here is what it looks like:

Closed sales from June 1,2012 to Dec 26, 2012:  

Bank owned: 259

Short Sales: 509

Compared to the first 6 months of 2012:

Bank owned: 387

Short sales: 462

Current Active Sales:

Bank Owned:  17

Short Sales: 22

Current Pending Sales:

Bank Owned: 44

Short Sales: 310

As you can see there has been a large drop off in REO sales with a slight increase in short sales.

I expect a decrease in both short sales and foreclosures as San Mateo County home values increase, loan modifications increase, and the Homeoner's Bill of Rights takes effect in 2013. As prices increase fewer homeowners are underwater, and the need for short sales and foreclosures decrease. Also, the tax exemption of the debt forgiveness on short sales and foreclosures expires at the end of 2012. This will be a big incentive for homeowners to try to hold on until they are no longer underwater.

If you have any questions about San Mateo County Short Sales or Foreclosures please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

D.R.E. 01191194

650-619-9285

I finally closed a Redwood City short sale that started in Sept of 2011. Yes, one year for a short sale. What was the problem? Let me count down just the top 10.

10. The sellers asked another agent in my office to sell this home as a short sale but this wonderful agent had never listed a short sale before. She asked me to help her, but by the time she did they were 2 weeks from the trustee sale date and the sellers were sitting on a perfectly good offer they thought was too low.

9. There was a first and second loan with Chase as well as a large 3rd loan which was a carry back from the previous owner. The seller wanted me to negotiate with Chase but have her lawyer negotiate with the 3rd lender.

8. The seller refused to give me any of her financial documents and said she would provide them to Chase herself.

7. The first approval came in Dec of 2011 at purchase price with 5K going to the second and 11K going to the 3rd. The seller said the 3rd lender was going to take that offer, but then the lawyer for the seller said the 3rd lender rejected the offer.

6. The buyer offered to give the 3rd lender another 10K. No response from 3rd lender. Chase said the buyer could not pay off third.

5. The approval from Chase expired, the negotiator at Chase left the country, the house was put back on the market asking for a large contribution to the 3rd. Chase said buyer could not pay off 3rd.

4. New buyer came in and offered 30K to the third on top of the old price (515K)

3. New BPO said house is worth 540-560K so Chase said offer is not high enough. Lawyer for seller and seller told me I should start negotiating with the 3rd. He said he wanted 80K from the buyer and 7K from Chase. I get him down to 50K, Chase said submit again.

2.Buyer, Chase, 3rd lender, seller all agreed to purchase price of 562K with 50K going to 3rd from the buyer and no contribution from Chase. Chase inexplicably changed their policy and will now allow the buyer to contribute to the 3rd payoff. Chase said close by Aug 31.

1. Lots of delays getting the loan funded. Aug 29th still no loan docs. Chase said after 10 trustee sale postponements they were done. Close on Aug 31 or they take the house back. Seller was in Europe but managed to come to back last week of Aug to get her things and sign off. Buyers agent got lender to fund without loan docs and we somehow managed to get buyers signed and closed on Aug 31.

This was a tough one. Most short sales are not this hard, but the secret here was believing that no does not mean no. Not a lesson I would want to teach to my children, but in the short sale world it is a great one.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com``

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E. 01191194

In Woodside  from Jan 1, 2012 until June 30, 2012 there were:

3 closed short sales

4 closed bank owned homes

Total sales during this time period were 51

Total % Short Sales: 5.8%

Total % REO Sales: 7.8%

Total Percentage  Woodside Distressed Properties: 13.6%

These numbers do not tell the whole story. 3 of the 4 foreslosures and 2 of the 3 short sales were in the Skyline area which is always a harder sell than closer to town, so given that information again, there are almost no distressed property sales in Woodside. There are currently 47 active listings in Woodside, about the same number as in Palo Alto, but without the incredible competition for homes like in the Palo Alto market. Maybe it is worth giving Woodside a look if you are having trouble finding what you want in Palo Alto.

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

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

DRE  01191194

I have been working on a Redwood City short sale with Chase since last September. Now if this were 2009 this would be more like dog bites man rather than man bites dog. But it is 2012 and most short sales do not take so long. However, this one has a 3rd loan for a lot of money and it slowed the process down.

Selling the property at market value was not that hard, despite being on a fairly busy street. We got an offer for $510,000 and a BPO for $510,000 so it started out ok. By December I had approval on the first and second with a payoff of 6K to the third who had previously owned the home and had a $120K note on the property.

Third lender said no way. He wanted 65K as a note from the seller or cash from the buyer.

Buyer and seller said no. Buyer walked.

House went back on the market and we got another offer right away. This was February.

Chase did a new BPO and said the value had increased to $560,000. New buyer agreed to pay the 3rd loan 50K plus $560,000 to chase. After several months Chase said no, they were not going to allow the third lender to get so much money. That was May.

We were then told to try submitting a new offer to see if we could get a different answer. Well that sounded like the definition of insanity to me, but we tried. So we submitted a new offer of $562K plus $50K going to the third lender. Keep in mind that every month during all of this we had to get Chase to postpone the trustee sale.

So several weeks ago the new offer for the Redwood City Short Sale got to the new negotiator who ordered a new BPO. She said the BPO's value had not changed again and the offer was fine as it was. I asked about the issue of the third lender getting so much money and she said she thought it would be fine.

I was doubtful, but she was right. Today we got a Short Sale Approval Letter!!!!!  I never believed this would happen but I persisted anyway and it was worth it.

So now my Redwood City Short Sale has Chase Approval, my sellers can get on with their life, the buyer has the home of his dreams, the third lender who is a human, not a big bank has at least a good portion of his money back, and Chase can get a bad performing asset of their books as well as market value for the home. We all won on this one.

If you have any questions about buying or selling a short sale 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

In Menlo Park from Jan 1, 2012 until June 30, 2012 there were:

9 closed short sales

9 closed bank owned homes

Total sales during this time period were 227

Total % Short Sales: 4%

Total % REO Sales: 4%

Total Percentage  Menlo Park Distressed Properties: 8%

8% of all Menlo Park sales being distressed is not enough to have any effect on the overall market. This is evidenced by the appreciation and high activity level of the market.

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

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

DRE  01191194

It's time for the short sale/vs REO round-up for the first half of 2012. Today I will do the entire county, and then will break down the numbers by city.

So, in San Mateo County from Jan 1, 2012 until June 30, 2012 there were:

517 closed short sales

430 closed bank owned home

Total sales during this time period were 2520

Total % Short Sales: 20%

Total % REO Sales: 17%

Total Percentage San Mateo County Distressed Properties: 37%

This is still a significant number in terms of percentages and at this percentage they are bound to have an effect on the overall market.

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

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

DRE  01191194

As a Menlo Park Short Sale Agent I get asked this a lot. My answer is a definitive sort of, especially if it is a Chase short sale. 

Here is how it may make a difference.

Some homeowners owe more on their homes than the home is worth, the definition of being underwater. The home is not going to sell for what it is worth, it will sell at or around market value. The bank generally understands that. The bank as representative for the investor on the loan wants to lose as little money as possible, but knows there is going to be some loss.

The banks have procedures in place to approve short sales. At Chase they have the number of people who have to approve a short sale broken down by the amount of loss, not by the value of the house. 

So if the loss is $250,000 or less, only one lowest level of negotiator needs to approve. If the loss is $250,000 to $350,000 the offer goes to the 1st negotiator and then a negotiator one level up. At $350,000-$450,000 it goes to the first 2 plus one level up in management. And so forth.

So the greater the loss the more people have to approve before it even gets to the investor and/or mortgage insurance company. Each person who needs to approve can ask for more documentation or just ok the file. All of this takes time.

The bottom line, the bigger the loss, the more time you should expect for approval and the more doumentation you may need to provide.

So knowing that, don't try to keep up with the Joneses. Just because your best friend's short sale was approved in 3 weeks, and you are still waiting at 8 weeks, it does not mean you got the B team looking at your file. You just may have more managers that have to approve that are gumming up the process.

If you have any questions about 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

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

Single family and condo townhomes :

Total sales:  563

Short Sales: 62

REO:           34

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales: 17%

Compare to 2010

Total sales:   572

Short Sales:   50

REO:            34

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales:  15.5%

My conclusion:

The percentage of distressed properties in Mountain View is a higher in 2011, 17% as compared to 2010, 15.5% but the majority of these distressed properties are in the lower price range of Mountain View sales so are being purchased by investors and first time home buyers. West of El Camino is not seeing much distressed property activity.

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

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

Single family and condo townhomes 2011:

Total sales:  553

Short Sales: 91

REO:           49

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales: 25.3

Compare to 2010

Total sales:   600

Short Sales:   93

REO:            78

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales:  28.5

My conclusion:

The percentage of distressed properties in Redwood City is a little lower in 2011, 25.3% as compared to 2010, 28,5%. This is dues to a 40% decrease in REO sales in 2011. It will be interesting to see if the rumored release of REO inventory actually happens, and increases the percentage in 2012, or if the econmy picks up and helps people afford their homes.

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

Today in the Mercury News there was a story about how first time home buyers who need to purchase with loans are getting beaten out by investor cash buyers who often offer less than traditional buyers for foreclosures. www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com">http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_18853804?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com

Has this happened to you? If so, I may have the answer, buy a short sale!

In a short sale the seller owes more than the property is worth and has to have the bank forgive the difference between what is owed and what the house is worth.  The seller decides who has given the best offer, signs it, and sends it to the bank for approval.  THE BANK DOES NOT DECIDE WHICH OF SEVERAL OFFERS IS THE ONE THEY WANT, JUST WHETHER OR NOT THEY WILL ACCEPT THE OFFER THAT IS PRESENTED TO THEM.

Most banks have said very specifically they want the highest offer, and do not think cash offers are more attractive than ones with loans. This is in direct conflict with what they seem to prefer on foreclosures.

Since most investors try to pay significantly below market value if you make a higher offer, which is closer to market value then your offer will have a much better chance of being accepted, especially if there are not issues which would make the house unlendable.

Sure you have to wait longer for an answer from the bank, and some will not close, but lenders re speeding up the process and you can be happily ensconced in your home usually in 2-6 months instead of still looking 18 months and 15 offers later.

So if you are looking for good deal (though probably not a steal) on a home and are tires of losing to all cash offers find a short sale and enjoy home ownership.

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

Marcy Moyer CDPE

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

Seems like a bizarre question doesn't it? Well guess what, it is not.  If you are selling your home as short sale the bank may have the right to send a property preservation company to the house and "secure it" if they feel the house is vacant and abandoned. But it is still my house, right?

Yes, it is still your house, even if you have stopped making payments, but here is the catch. Many loans contain clauses that say if you abandon your home the bank has a right to secure the property to preserve their interest in the home while they are waiting to re-posses it.

So here is the typical situation.  Owner has a home that they need to short sell.  They have already left the home, often to take a job somewhere else, but maybe for some other reason.  The short sale is initiated and the bank finds out the property is vacant. They do not want any damage to the property so they send out a property preservation company to secure the house.  The company changes the locks and may even board up windows. There are even some instances where the property preservation company employees help themselves to some things that were "abandoned" in the home that do not belong to them. The realtor listing the property may not be given the key and other agents may not be able to get in until the mess is straightened out.

What is the solution?  There is no fool proof solution but there are some things you can try.  If you are selling an empty home for what ever reason the best thing to do is to hire a realtor who can stage it for you. (I do this for all my listings) Once the home is staged, or even if that is not possible, take pictures. Show the bank the house is being cared for by the realtor, that the windows are not broken, and that there are locks on the door.  Take pictures of all the fixtures to show what is in the house.  Send these pictures to the bank along with the initial short sale authorization and then again with the short sale package to show that the home is not abandoned and in case there is any question about things going missing.

This may not stop the the bank every time from "securing" an un-abandoned house, but it should help.

If you have nay 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

A few days ago short sale sellers in California got great news!  Governor Brown signed a bill which prohibits lenders and investors of junior loans to pursue a deficiency judgment on most approved short sales.  First lien holders are already prohibited from deficiency judgments, but second mortgages and HELOCS were not previously exempted. As of July 15th, they are included. So, if a bank approves your short sale, then they have to give up all rights to going after the borrower for any deficiencies. So if the second lender says they will take $6000 for an $85,000 HELEC, that is all they get. After close they can not come back to the borrower and say we still want more money.

This is great news for short sale sellers in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.  Certain exceptions apply if the bank can prove fraud, but for most sellers, this is the last piece they need to be able to transition out of their homes and have a chance to start over.

Since California has had such a large percentage of homeowners who owe more on their homes than they are worth, and of those people there are always going to be those who need to sell, this is a welcome relief for huge numbers of homeowners.

If you have any questions about buying or selling short sales please feel free to contact me!

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E. 01191194

Federal Government Disclaimer (MARS): 1. You may stop doing business with us at any time. You may accept or reject the offer of mortgage assistance we obtain from your lender [or servicer]. If you reject the offer, you do not have to pay us. If you accept the offer, you will have to pay us commission as agreed to in listing contract for our services.
2. Marcy Moyer of Keller Williams Realty is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender; and 
3. Even if you accept this offer and use our service, your lender may not agree to change your loan.

The answer is, ask your lawyer? When a home is being sold through a trust, the heirs of the estate need to be informed. If there are any objections they need a chance to express their concerns.  It does not mean that the home can not be sold, just that whatever the objection is needs to be dealt with, sometimes through court action.

There heirs can agree to to forgo the 45 day waiting period for the Notice of proposed action by singing off before the home is sold. So, if you are selling a home in trust be sure and ask your lawyer if the waiting period can be waived before the sale of the house so that the escrow can close in less time.  You don't want to sign an offer with a 30 day close and find out there needs to be a 45 day waiting period.

If you have any questions about selling a home in San Mateo or Santa Clara that is in a trust or probate please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E.  01191194

Wells Fargo has a call center which is where you call to initiate a short sale, and then to get updates before they assign a negotiator.  But what sets them apart from some other banks' call centers is that they stay involved throughout the short sale process.  So, if you call or e-mail your negotiator and he or she is not available you can ask the call center to talk to them directly.  It is a very nice system, kind of like talking to an agent's personal assistant. Sometimes you get more information from an assistant then you do from agent. 

Isn't nice to know that at least some banks are trying to get this process more organized?

If you have any questions about 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

Federal Government Disclaimer (MARS): 1. You may stop doing business with us at any time. You may accept or reject the offer of mortgage assistance we obtain from your lender [or servicer]. If you reject the offer, you do not have to pay us. If you accept the offer, you will have to pay us commission as agreed to in listing contract for our services.
2. Marcy Moyer of Keller Williams Realty is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender; and 
3. Even if you accept this offer and use our service, your lender may not agree to change your loan.

Arms Length Transactions in Silicon Valley Short Sales Is It Too Onerous?

When a seller sells their home as a short sale, most lenders  will make everyone, the buyer, the seller, and the agents sign and notarize an Arms Length Transaction document. This states that the sellers and buyers do not know each other, are not related, and the seller will never again, EVER, live in the house , or ever make any profit off of the sale of the home. They can never rent the house or ever buy it back from the new owner.

The intention of this rule is obvious. The banks do not want to sell a home for less money than is owed on it and then have the seller get the benefit of being able to own the home for less money than they originally promised to pay for the home. I am not going to take sides here on whether the seller or the bank has the moral high ground on this. I am just going to say that the banks have made a decision that it is in their best interest not to reduce principal on most loans, but allow a short sale with new owners instead.

In addition to not being able to buy back the house for less money, or have a friend or relative buy the house for less money, the seller is also not allowed to rent the house, ever. This is where I start to have a problem. Some  banks have been allowing foreclosed owners to stay in the homes as renters which makes a lot of sense. The house does not get stripped or destroyed and the renter has a relationship with the house which will help preserve the home’s value.  So why can’t a seller rent from the new owner in a short sale? Many of these sellers do not have money to move and except for HAFA short sales or an occasional generous bank they are not given moving expenses.  It may be hard to find a place to rent after having some credit hits from missed mortgage payments or high credit card bills due to trying to keep up with the mortgage. It seems like an onerous rule to me, and one that does not directly benefit the bank anyway. Why should the bank care who the next owner rents to, especially if the original bank no longer owns or services the note?

And most importantly, what is wrong with a little humanity? Why can’t families stay in their familiar surroundings, keep their children in the same schools, have the same neighbors? Isn’t is enough punishment to lose your home, your equity, and your savings?

What do you think?

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E. 01191194