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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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank You NAR Attendants for stopping by our booth to talk to us and for donating to No Paws Left Behind.

Check out our Press Release here.

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.

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

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.

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.

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? 

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

San Jose Single Family homes

Active Short Sale Listings:  371

Active Bank Owned Homes: 77

Pending Short Sale Homes: over 578 (mls stops counting at 500 and there are more than 500 San Jose Short Sales waiting for bank approval, 41 bank approved waiting for buyer to remove contingencies, and 338 just waiting to close)

Pending Bank Owned Homes: 127

Sold Short Sale Homes, Last 6 months 378

Sold Bank Owned Condos/Townhomes: 378

That is an amazing coincidence!

San Jose Condo Townhomes

Active Short Sale Listings: 166

Active Bank Owned Condos:  78

Pending Short Sale Condos/Townhomes: 578

Pending Bank Owned Condos/Townhomes: 104

Sold Short Sale Condos/Townhomes:  210

Sold Bank Owned Condos/Townhomes 314

So, if you add up all the short sale activity there are/were 2281+ for short sales and 1078 bank owned transactions.

My conclusion: even there has been a lot of press recently about how foreclosure filings are up in California right now short sales are dominating the distressed property market in the city of San Jose.

If you have any questions about short sales or foreclosures anywhere in Santa Clara or San Mateo 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

When making an offer on a San Jose Short Sale it is common for the buyer's agent to ask the listing agent about his or her experience with short sales. They want to know if the seller's agent knows what he or she is doing because that is essential for a successful short sale completion. So when I am asked those questions I can honestly say that I am certified (CDPE), experienced, and successful.

But enough about me, what about you buyer's agent.  How many buyers have you ushered through the sometimes long and tedious process of a short sale? How many of your buyers have dropped out because they got tired of waiting or found something better? How many of your buyers really understand what "As-Is" means? How much do you understand about the process.

When I represent the buyer on a short sale I make sure they understand what is going to happen, how long it could take, and what will be expected of them.  I also make sure the buyer really wants that particular house, and is not just making lots of offers and willing to take the first one that gets approved.  

So if you are selling a San Jose Short Sale, ask your agent to talk to the buyer about their short sale experience and expectations before you sign that offer.

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

Marcy Moyer CDPE

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E.  01191194

There is a new law that mandates Carbon Monoxide monitors be installed in all residential properties in California. Lenders are taking this seriously! I had a buyer purchasing ashort sale in Sunnyvale that was scheduled to close last Friday, after several extensions. (The first lender kept asking for closings that were not physically possible to adhere to due to a second loan.) We managed to get to loan docs being drawn within 3 weeks of the approval on the second, a miracle in itself. This was on Wed., 2 days before drop dead close date.  Loan docs were signed and sent by currier (for a cost of $180) back to the lender. Thurs morning, when they were supposed to fund, the lender said they wanted to see a picture of the required carbon monoxide detectors before they would fund. The picture was taken and sent back to the lender after a little hysteria on everyone's part and we closed on Fri.

Lesson learned. Plug in the little devise before the inspection before the appraisal, and save yourself a lot of last minute drama.

If you have any questions about short sales 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

650-619-9285

D.R.E. 01191194

So you have to sell. Here is what you should do.

FIND A REALTOR

1.  You can not do this on your own. The banks will want the home to be extensively marketed and you can not do that as a FSBO. Since the lender will pay the real estate commissions that should not be a concern.

2.  Gather your financial information. You will need 2 years tax returns, 2 months bank statements form all accounts, 2 months statements from all investment accounts, profit and loss for 2 years from any self employment.

3. Fill out a financial statement which shows all your income and expenses

4. Write a hardship letter which explains why you need to do a short sale

5. Make your home available for showings and open houses

6. Keep your financials updated every month and give the bank everything they ask for

7. Accept the best offer you can get on the property

8. Be PATIENT

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

So I happened to be visiting a friend's real estate brokerage a few months back  and was absolutely amazed at how quiet, dead, and BORING this place was.   This office had a HUGE bullpin with over a hundred cubicles, at least 50 people working, and I swear you really could have heard a pin drop.  I started to tell my buddy a funny story about a recent client and 15 seconds into story the unthinkable happened!!! SSSHHUUUUSH!!

WTF??My voice wasn't loud or overly animated, in fact I'd been keeping it down since this brokerage felt more like a church  or library than a real estate office, but sure enough I got shushed.  After we left, this got me to thinking is this office just boring as hell, or is my office just the anomaly?? In my office it's the norm to hear people yelling back and forth down the hallway, music on, people laughing, an occasional curse word or two, chair races, loud phone calls going on, and tons of deals being done.

For me the more casual environment makes work interesting and fun to come into.  Not sure why "Professional" is often defined as suits, stuffy, quiet,....and boring.  If that definition is true....I'll be the first to admit, our office is NOT professional.

How is your brokerage? Loud and bustling ...or quiet? Is your office's idea of getting crazy having a potluck on Wednesday instead of Friday? What environment do you thrive in?