Yesterday, I was assigned a new property out in the country. I drove out there after completing a Cash for Keys with a property closer in to town. I approached the subject property and parked outside the driveway. There was a big truck parked by the side of the house - but it was a commercial vehicle, not a personal vehicle. I went down and knocked on the door - nobody home, but by all appearances, someone was still living there.I went back to my car, grabbed my camara, and took a bunch of pictures. I got back in my car, and saw that a neighbor lady had come out of her house and was kind of standing by the side of the road, looking like she wanted to talk to me. I pulled up to her, opened my window, and said, "Hi!"She asked why I was taking the pictures? "I'm casing the joint," I deadpanned. Ha ha, no, just kidding - I'm a professional, not a comedian, and certainly not a professional comedian. No no, what I really said was, "Well, it looks like your neighbor here lost the house to foreclosure."Thereupon we embarked upon a little friendly conversation about the wave of foreclosures that is going on, how bad the economy is, how this particular neighbor had been having problems for a long time (divorce, apparently), etc. We spoke for a few minutes, and I gave her my card, and said not to worry, the house wouldn't be boarded up, it will probably be sold pretty quickly, and hopefully the property will be sold to some sold owners. I asked her to please call me if she sees anything funny going on over at the house.And with that, I drove away. As sometimes happens, though, I started to wonder - did I get the right house? What if I made a mistake, and that wasn't the right address? I would have just posted an occupancy check notice on the door of some house that wasn't foreclosed on, and told the nieghbor lady that the house had just been lost to foreclosure! D'oh!And then this morning, as I'm sipping my coffee, browsing my RSS New Reader, I see a story in the local newspaper:From [The Santa Cruz Sentinel - Oops! Foreclosure notice in error]Bob Richter was puzzled when a man rushed up to his home in Santa Cruz Gardens one Saturday and posted a foreclosure notice offering him cash to turn in his house keys. The man took a photo of the posted notice, then left.Richter and his wife bought the house in 1977, and the mortgage is paid.It turned out the posting was in error.I hate it when that happens! Actually, it's never happened to me - the occupant of the house did call me a few hours later, and we've already worked out a cash-for-keys deal, so as soon as the lender sends over the task to work it out, I'll reply immediately with the details and get the ball rolling on it. All in a day's work.Happy 4th of July everyone!
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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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