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This is a question I get asked all the time. When an owner has passed and has rental property should the heirs sell the Palo Alto probate or trust home with the tenants in place, or wait until the lease is up?

While most years I would say wait until the tenants are gone but with the uncertainty of how interest rates will affect prices and what will happen to a Palo Alto market that has already shown signs of slowing, even with very tight inventory, the answer is not clear cut.

Sell Palo Alto Probate or Trust Home With Tenant: Pros:

1.      Palo Alto school Priority 1 Registration goes from Jan 12 thru Feb 15th. That is the best chance of getting your child in the school closest to you. There is always a space in a Palo Alto school for a resident, but getting the one closest to you is best obtained if you are a resident during this period. Selling with tenants in a  Palo Alto probate rental may allow the buyer to get a leg up on school registration for the next year.
2.      Interest rates are lower now than they will be next summer, or even in March and maybe Feb. A 3 million dollar Palo Alto probate home has a very good chance of having a loan on it so the less a buyer has to pay for the mortgage the more they can afford for the home. For every 1 point increase in interest rates there is a 10 % increase in payment.
3.      The inventory is very low and the Palo Alto housing is market still active. It is unknown what will happen as the year goes on. The market could go down as interest rates go up, or if there is a natural disaster, a world event, or terrorist attack.
4.      Some people who buy Palo Alto homes in Probate or Trust early are happy to rent the house out until the end of the school year because they do not want to move until school is out if they are relocating.

http://www.marcymoyer.com/trustandprobatesaleshttp://www.marcymoyer.com/trustandprobatesales With a Tenant Cons:

1.      Harder to show house
2.      You will not be able to make interior upgrades or stage with a tenant in place so it may depress the price somewhat
3.      The tenant may be messy or say inappropriate things to potential buyers which could depress the price.
4.      If the tenant does not have beautiful furniture the professional pictures will not look as good.

Sell Palo Alto Probate or Trust Home After Tenant Lleaves Pros:

1.      You can have the interior painted, wood floors refinished, new carpet, and any other cosmetic upgrades you want that will help bring in more money.
2.      You can professionally stage the property and the photos will look much better.
3.      Much easier to show the house and have open houses which bring in more people and help bring in a better price.

Sell Palo Alto Home in Probate or Trust After tenant leaves Cons:

1.      Interest rates will be higher which will depress the price. It is unknown by how much because it also depends on how the stock market is doing, most likely for Apple, Google, Facebook, and Linkedin.
2.      If there is a trade war with China tech stocks could be hurt more than other sectors. This would make less money available for down payments for most of the buyers in the area.
3.      If the dollar continues to be strong foreign investors will be much less likely to be buying homes in Palo Alto.
4.      The best time to sell a home in Palo Alto in from Jan thru early June. The second best is the fall. If the tenants are out in June and the home is prepared in July and Aug and on the market in Sept you have missed the best time, but may get the second best time, but only by waiting until Sept to put home on market.

So as you can see the answer is not clear. No one can say for sure what will happen to the real estate market in 2017. If you are in this situation now it is probably a good idea to add your own Pros and Cons to this list to get a feel for what may work best in your situation.

If you have any questions about selling a home in Probate or Trust please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

Specializing in Probate and Trust Sales

650-619-9285

marcy@marcymoyer.com

www.marcymoyer.com

It is a common occurrence in the Silicon Valley for homes that are in Probate to also go into default. For many older home owners there is scant cash in the bank, they may still have a mortgage, and without a trust a home goes to Probate. When that happens the bills, including the mortgage do not get paid until a Personal Representative is appointed by the court. This can be a lengthy process if there is a disagreement amongst heirs as to who should be in charge. Unfortunately that is a very common occurrence in Santa Clara probate sales.

So while the relatives are arguing over who rules the Santa Clara Probate roost, the mortgage does not get paid and the lender starts the foreclosure process.  

Once at least three payments are missed a Notice of Default may be filed on the Santa Clara Probate Sale. This notice will give you three months to cure the default. If the owned money on the Santa Clara Probate home is not paid during that three month period a Notice of Trustee Sale can be filed and the Santa Clara Probate home can be sold three weeks after that.

The attorney for the Santa Clara Probate home can go to court and get an order to temporarily stop the foreclosure process while the estate is being settled, but this takes some time as well.

Because the inventory is so low and the demand for homes is so high in Santa Clara, most Santa Clara Probate Sale homes can be sold and ownership transferred during the Notice of Default period. The defaulted loan on the Santa Clara Probate home can be paid off, and the rest of the equity used to pay the other bills and then distributed to the heirs.

Sounds simple, but sometimes it isn't. Once a loan on a Santa Clara Probate sale goes into default it is transferred to the loss mitigation department. Sometimes that is the equivalent of going into a black hole. These departments are overwhelmed and under staffed. It can take many weeks to get pay off information from them. In a traditional sale the title company will order pay off information less than a week before closing which is more than enough time to determine exactly how much is owed by the seller to pay off their loan.

In a Santa Clara Probate sale when the loan is in default it can take many weeks to get the pay off information. The title company should start the pay off demand as soon as there is a contract. That way, maybe 30 days later they will have the figures to pay off the loan.

If it is a short escrow period for the Santa Clara Probate Sale it is possible that everyone might be ready to close and there is still no pay off demand from the lender. When this happens, the escrow can still close and title can be transferred, but the money can not be distributed until the mortgage is payed off, and the estate will have to pay for a mortgage on a home it no longer owns until the bank gets its money.

So if you are involved in a Santa Clara Probate Sale and there is no money to pay the mortgage make sure that the process is started right away to get the pay off demand for the loan or the estate will be paying on the loan after the escrow is closed.

If you have any questions about Probate 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

D.R.E. 01191194

650-619-9285 

If you are the Personal Representative for a Redwood City Home in Probate that has a delinquent mortgage, but there is equity in the home, DON'T BE AN OSTRICH!!!!!!

It is now very common for Redwood City homes that are in Probate to have mortgages. Many homeowners were enticed to refinance in the last decade because of easy money or low interest rates, many seniors have reverse mortgages on their Redwood City Probate homes, and some people did not refinance because of low interest rates, but because they were helping out family members.

When a mortgagee dies the mortgage still needs to be paid. Death does not eliminate the obligation. So what do you do if the mortgage is late, the home is in foreclosure, and the estate has no money to pay the mortgage? It is very common for Redwood City Probate estates to be house rich but cash poor.

The first thing that has to happen in a probate with this situation is that a personal representative needs to be appointed. This sounds like a no brainer, but sometimes there are fights within a family as to who that person is going to be, and while people are fighting the bank could be foreclosing. So stop fighting and get someone appointed. 

Once the Personal Representative is appointed he or she should hire a real estate agent. This agent should have experience in both probate and short sales. Probate experience is a no brainer, but the reason for short sale experience is because that person will know who to talk to to postpone the foreclosure.

You will need to give authorization to your agent to speak with the bank and that takes a few days, so do this right away.

Once the postponement is granted get your Redwood City Probate home on the market and get it sold. Postponements generally are only good for 30 days at a time, and you may not get a second one if the home does not have an offer, so don't delay.

If the home has no equity then you should speak with the bank about a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure. You may be able to negotiate the bank giving the estate $5,000 to $10,000 if you give them the keys and empty out the Redwood City Probate home. However, prices are appreciating so rapidly right now that you may believe your Redwood City Probate home is underwater when it really isn't.

So, if you have a Redwood City home in Probate and there is no money to pay the mortgage, don't just stand there, do something. Take the necessary steps to get help to make sure the estate's home is not lost to foreclosure. If you hide your head you could lose hundreds of thousand of dollars in equity.

If you have any questions about selling a Redwood City Home in Probate please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

D.R.E. 01191194

Are you looking for a deal in a Short Sale or Bank Owned home in Santa Clara County? If so, don't bother. The inventory of distressed properties in the county is so low it is not worth doing a specific search for either a short sale or foreclosure. If one comes up in your general area search, go for it, but don't expect to get a deal, because there are so few of them.

Total number of single family homes for sale in Santa Clara County

1045 (historically low number)

Total number of short sales SFR For Sales in Santa Clara County:

65 or 6.2%

Total Number of SFR Foreclosures For Sale in Santa Clara County

18 or 1.7%

Total Number of Condos/Townhomes For Sale in Santa Clara County

233 (historically low number)

Total Number of Short Sale Condos For Sale In Santa Clara County

23 or 9.8%

Total Number of Bank Owned Condos For Sale in Santa Clara County

11 or 4%

Combined Single Family Homes and Condos/Townhomes for Sale in Santa Clara County

1278

Total Number of Single Family Homes and Condos/Townhomes for Sale That Are Short Sales or Bank Owned in Santa Clara County

117

Total Percentage of Short Sales and Bank Owned Homes and Condos/townhomes

In Santa Clara County

9.2%

As you can see the inventory of Santa Clara County Short Sales and Bank Owned properties that are currently for sale is less than 10%. This is not enough to bring the price of homes down in Santa Clara County, and not enough to allow for these homes to sell for less money than any other home in a similar location and condition. So, if one shows up in your search, be prepared for having to work harder to get through the offer and escrow process, but do not expect to to get a bargain.

If you have any questions about Short Sales or Bank Owned Homes in Santa Clara County please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E. 01191194

Great news for people who need to short sell their Blossom Valley

or Silicon Valley home!

If you have a hardship, loss of job, divorce, change in financial circumstance from medical or family issue, etc, you can now be considered for a short sale even if you have not missed a mortgage payment.

Freddie and Fannie will now have the same requirements and procedures, which was not true in the past.

This is great news, especially for people who have a sudden change in their circumstances and can no longer afford their mortgages, but do not want to have their credit ruined in order to be able to sell their home.

So, if you have a change in your circumstances which will change your financial picture, and you want to sell your home without ruining your credit, you may have a way to do this.

Be sure to work with professionals who know what they are doing. In short sales, there is no substitute for experience.

If you have any questions about 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 was reading about short sales, as I do every Sunday morning on a great site for short sale information Short Sale Superstars. There was a discussion about a Bank of America Short Sale that had been approved, and then denied after the approval, a few days before closing. The reason:

The seller was a real estate broker and the listing agent works for the seller. The buyer used the listing agent to represent her.

Surprise Surprise, B of A said this is not an Arm's Length Transaction and rescinded the approval.

There are multiple things wrong with transaction so let me see if I can organize the problems coherently.

1. All short sales must be an Arm's Length Transaction and an affidavit needs to be signed by all parties saying they are not related to each other in any way. The listing agent works for the seller so that is not arms length.

2. The seller may be offered a closing incentive by the bank, but is not allowed to receive any money from the buyer. Since the buyer is using the the listing agent who works for the seller and would have received commission for the sale, a portion of which would go to the broker, then the seller is getting money from the buyer.

3. Again, since the listing agent works for the seller and would get commission from the sale, a portion of which would go to the broker, the seller would be receiving money from the sale outside of the closing incentive.

4. The buyer has agreed to a dual agency and is entitled to the information that the listing agent works for the seller and that this can cause potential problems with The Arm's Length Transaction.

I do not know if the seller was trying to pull something over on the bank, or if he was just not familiar with short sales but this was totally avoidable.

Buyers: get your own agent to represent you.

Sellers: If you are a broker, get a different company to represent you. If you are an agent, get another agent to represent you, not your broker, and ask the bank if it is ok to be represented by someone else in your campany first, not after you are about to close.

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

Silicon Valley Home Prices are on the rise. Inventory is low, and there are plenty of buyers out there making multiple offers the norm, not the exception. Investors have been a big factor in the market since the crash, but now it may be time for a change if you are an investor.

For the last few years investors were gobbling up foreclosed homes, short sales, and other bargain priced properties. These were often rehabbed and resold quickly. While there was often competition from other investors, it was manageable for many investors.

The landscape has changed. The inventory is so low, and the interest rates are not only low, but loans are a little easier to get than right after the crash. This along with a very high employment rate, and skyrocketing rents, has sent first time home buyers flocking back into the market.

As a result, the chance to buy a home for a low enough price to rehab and resell while making a 30% profit is not working in the investor's favor. It may happen occasionally, but not often.

However, there is still plenty of money to be made investing in real estate. Maybe it is time to look into a buy and hold strategy. It will not make you money overnight, but in the long run will bring in more money than being able to snare the occasional flip.

So if you have $500,000 to spend, why not look for 2-3 homes you can purchase, get a positive cash flow, and sell in 5 years for a great profit if the market has appreciated, or keep holding until your profits are at an acceptable level. With a buy and hold strategy the investor should be looking more at appreciation potential than getting the best price or not buying. It is still number crunching, but the set of numbers being crunched is different.

If you have any questions about buyer or selling investment properties 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

DRE 01191194

Blossom Valley is a hot bed of short sales. It is one of the neighborhoods in the Silicon Valley that has not gone back to the values of 2007-2008. So many of the homes for sale right now are being sold as short sales since the owners have negative equity in their homes.

There are currently 196 pending homes listed as short sales.

There are 286 pending sales of all types.

The percentage of total pending sales which are short sales is 68%.

This is pretty impressive, but the big question is how did this happen?

I have a few theories.

Blossom Valley had some remarkable levels of appreciation early in the century, especially between 2005-2007. There are a number of reasons.

1. Easy money

2. Easy access to downtown San Jose which had ambitious plans for redevelopment

3. Good schools. At one point there were sections of Blossom Valley where you could get a home in a school district with a high API for less than any other neighborhood in Silicon Valley.

4. High tech companies close by including IBM right in the neighborhood.

Then the market crashed, credit tightened, San Jose gave up their redevelopment plans, major employment areas kept moving north to Mountain View, Palo Alto, and San Francisco, and Blossom Valley values plummeted in 2008-2009.

We are on the way up again, but many homeowners are still underwater. The inventory is now quite low. There are only 61 homes for sale right now, and 13 are short sales, or 21%.

If you are a seller, your home will sell, and quickly. If you are a buyer, there is a lot of competition, but the values are there.

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

Call Carl SanFilippo (888) 445-8880 for a FREE AND CONFIDENTIAL phone consultation.

Short Sale Versus Foreclosure – which should I do?

Getting fired from your job usually means the power source of income is cut off, and being of the first things to get sidelined when this occurs are mortgage payments. Paying for a house to live in might come off to be a little costly especially if you can just opt to rent an apartment. While it is easier to just walk away from your monthly mortgage payments and let the bank take your home, you might want to consider the route of a short sale. So, what is the dissimilarity in the advantages of a short sale VS a foreclosure?

Benefits of a Short-sale – doing something about it

A short sale home specialist describes a short-sale as the lesser of the two evils. If you are concerned on how to Short Sale a home, then the first thing you need to be informed of is that it enables you tons of options that foreclosure doesn’t provide you, such as

• Leave when you want to leave – opting a short sale grants you the ability to stay in your home longer, as the bank will give you notice when the short sale deal is approved for close. A short sale waiting period can go on for up to 2 to 3 months.

• A clean slate –generally while your personal credit and bank records are your own responsibility, a short sale does not impact your credit in the same way as a foreclosure. That means you can do a lot of things that you wouldn’t have the ability to do if you had a foreclosure showing up on your credit. Not only mentioning a clean slate, but on top of this and upon a successful completion of your short sale you may qualify for the HAFA Program. A program that could offer up to $ 3,000.00 CASH BACK towards your relocation! A borrower can be worthy of purchasing a property in only two years after a foreclosure.

• Control over the price – in opposition to foreclosures, short-sales give you the ability to control the price of the sale due to the fact that you still altogether own your home as the bank has not seized ownership of it yet. Granted, short-sale prices are still a lot lower at market value than the property value, but you’d much rather be selling at a loss than letting the bank do all the selling for you. Even though the bank must have the final say so in a short sale offer, prices generally are higher than foreclosed homes. This will do your neighbors a favor by helping to preserve community property values.

Benefits of a Foreclosure – the art of walking away

Foreclosure is the easy way out. Basically, foreclosure is simply turning your back on your property until the bank decides to foreclose on it. This is a little known fact, but foreclosure potentially could be the worst thing that you can do. Contemplate it – after the bank forces you to turn over your property, they get to clean it up, put it on sale for a reduced price and whoever gets the property will either: (a) renovate it and try to sell it at a very high premium; (b) sell it as being and the seller can still get a respectable profit out of it or; (c) whomever gets the property can just live in it, still getting the better end of the deal because of the bargain price that he or she bought it for.

Foreclosed properties can sell pretty rapidly as compared to a short sale. While this sounds pretty good on paper, remember that it is the bank that already owns the foreclosed property, they are the ones who profit the most from a fast transaction, so please, take this time to read further into abstaining or preventing foreclosure.

Also, while it may seem really easy to just walk away from your property and let the bank acquire it, you may want to acknowledge the following consequences:

• Waiting period before you can buy – records of foreclosure can affect even the period when you can purchase your next home. Generally speaking, banks select more responsible and trustworthy people without any sort of negative records to approve a home loan application. The current waiting timeframe for anybody to be granted by a bank or an institution to mortgage a home again is 5 years most likely. In addition, do you think a bank will let you purchase a home if records show that you already failed in maintaining a previous mortgage?

• A foreclosure record can leave a lasting impression – records of a previously foreclosed property may appear on your personal credit for up to 7 years. That is a lot of time to consider especially if you want to apply for something that is bank or credit related in the upcoming seven years. While most people will believe that they wouldn’t mind this kind of record because they are not planning on doing anything bank related, consider this: any type of foreclosed property records can severely affect your job applications. Why? Some employers look at your credit background to see if you are responsible in your credit, and a foreclosure blemish may cause them to conclude that you are delinquent if you have a foreclosure on your record.

• It shows up on your credit records – managing your credit rating and record should by far be more critical than anything else you should contemplate before taking the easy way out. It is noted that your credit rating can plunge as low as 160 to 105 points depending on the manner of foreclosure or on your credit history. This is especially important to consider if you have an active business or you are looking into bank loans for business or other concerns. A foreclosure can at times be read as a severe negligence on the part of the person. It is important to note that banks do not consider any type of personal issues that is on your plate during the time of foreclosure: it’s either your payments are made on time or they are not.

• It affects your loan applications – similar to most of the reasons above: why would you think any bank will give you a loan if your records reveal that you had trouble paying for one before? Even if the intention might be very different from that of a home purchase, like a school loan, car loan or business loan, it is still the same thing.

• You get evicted immediately – unlike if you put your home up for a short sale; eviction usually is very quick if your property is being foreclosed on. Generally, a notice period of 30 days is given to the person with a foreclosed property, but any other extensions might not be considered by the lending institution, person with a foreclosed property, but any other extensions might not be considered by the lending institution.

So, which is the better option? A short sale or a foreclosure?

Deciding a short sale over foreclosure may be the best option by far. The mere fact that you have control over the price and the time when you can sell your home is a better alternative than being forced to hand over your house and being ordered to leave the premises as soon as possible.

While it is ultimately up to the person to choose either a short sale or a foreclosure, what is substantial is that options are weighed first and think of how it may affect your ability to buy a home in the future and affect your credit rating. Researching is a job well done. Now, your next step is to contact one of our highly trained Short Sale Specialists, so they can get your short sale on started and successfully completed!

Carl SanFilippo

Nj Short Sale Agent

www.njshortsalesspecialist.com

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

0 closed short sales

1 closed bank owned homes

Total sales during this time period were 32

Total % Short Sales: 0%

Total % REO Sales: 3.2%

Total Percentage  Portola Valley Distressed Properties: 3.2%

Obviously Portola Valley is not a hotbed of distressed property activity. The one foreclosure was on a small house on Aliso in Ladera which sold for $1,075,000, a great price for that neighborhood. It is however a fabulous place to look for a home if you want a large lot, an incredible community feel, and plenty of local services as well as recreational activities.

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

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

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

97 closed short sales

47 closed bank owned homes

Total sales during this time period were 491

Total % Short Sales: 19.8%

Total % REO Sales: 9.6%

Total Percentage  Santa Clara Distressed Properties: 29.4%

29.4% of all Santa Clara sales being distressed is enough to have an effect on the overall market. However, as inventory is still so low, unless these homes are truly physically distressed, which is more common with bank owned homes at this level, most homes will not sell for much less than fair market value. There are twice as many short sales as foreclosures in this time period which is what we are seeing in many other cities. 

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

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

DRE  01191194

Call Carl SanFiliipo toll FREE (888) 445-8880 for a FREE phone consultation!!!

New Jersey has been facing one of the most challenging economies in its history. The housing market has been decreasing at such a rapid pace that one out of three homeowners owe more on their mortgage then their home is worth. Some parts of the country one out of every five homeowners are behind on their mortgage payments. You might be in a similar position that you need to sell but owe more on your home then its worth. You might have a ARM mortgage which is due to change and change your payment making it unaffordable. You do have options to avoid foreclosure in New Jersey.

I have been in real estate with Century21 Worden and Green since 2006. As i came into the business the market started to change. Home values started to decrease slowly while by 2008 prices began rapidly dropping. I have been dealing with foreclosure homes since 2006 and have closed hundreds of foreclosure properties and have educated homeowners regarding their options. As a New Jersey Short Sale Specialist I strive to help as many homeowners who need my service as possible.

Why Should I Short Sale My Home in New Jersey?

Doing a short sale in New Jersey could save your credit long term. A short sale is better for your credit then a foreclosure and has numerous other benefits. See the comparison of a SHORT SALE VS FORECLOSURE. and check out the Wall Street Journalarticle explaining why a short sale in New Jersey can be the right answer for you.

Why do I need a New Jersey Realtor to Short Sale My Home?

Most lenders will not consider a short sale in New Jersey unless your home has been on the MLS and is being marketed through a Realtor. A New Jersey short sale specialist can also help navigate the short sale process, letting you know what forms the lender will require for the sale. If you are eligible for the HAFA program in New Jersey, CLICK HEREto see if you might be eligible, you will be required to work with a Realtor.

How much does it cost to Short Sale my Home in New Jersey?

Absolutely NOTHING! My services are 100% completely FREE!!! I can refer you attorneys who will also provide service to you for FREE!!! Sound to good to be true? The lender will pay all commissions as well as legal fee. Contact mefor more details and for a FREE phone consultation.

The New Jersey Short Sale Process!

Step 1: Call me toll free (888) 445-8880 we will discuss your current situation and all your options. If it appears you have all the qualifications needed for a short sale in New Jersey there will be forms you need to fill out and documents you must provide before we begin marketing your home.

Step 2: Marketing, I will come to your home take pictures and begin aggressively marketing your home in order to get offers.

Step 3: Get an offer to be submitted to the lender. This part can be the most lengthy part of the transactionwaiting for an answer from the lender. However, recently this process has sped up.

Step 4: Approval and closing! We obtain approval from the lender and have all the legal fees and commissions paid by the lender. We also fight hard with the lender to to ensure you are forgiven of all past debt, and you have avoided foreclosure in NJ and can move on with the rest of your life.

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

46 closed short sales

22 closed bank owned homes

Total sales during this time period were 363

Total % Short Sales: 12.6%

Total % REO Sales: 6%

Total Percentage  Redwood City Distressed Properties: 18.6%

18.6% of all Redwood City sales being distressed is enough to still haves some effect on the overall market. However, as inventory is still so low unless these homes are truly physically distressed, which is more common with bank owned homes at this level it probably will not have a long lived effect. It is interesting to see there are twice as many short sales as bank owned sales.

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

Many homeowners who are having trouble paying their mortgages will stop opening their mail from the lender. It is understandable to feel, what is the point? I can't pay and nothing they say to me will change that. However, if your lender is Chase you may want to open that letter.

Chase is giving relocation assistance to some homeowners who are in default if they agree to short sell their home. The incentives can be anywhere from $2500 to $45,000. Not everyone will get this incentive, and there is no uniform way that these incentives will be offered. In other words, Chase is not saying why one borrower gets an incentive and another does not.

So if you get a letter from Chase, open it up. It may say you have won the lottery. You will need to find an experienced Sunnyvale short sale agent to help you sell your home, or Chase will give you the names of some who can help you. You then list your home as a short sale, accept an offer, have it approved by Chase, and at closing you get your relocation assistance.

It is a pretty good deal if you ask me, an experienced Sunnyvale Short Sale Agent.

If you have any questions about 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 is no secret Mountain View as well as most of the Silicon Valley is experiencing multiple offers on homes for sale. While this is great for sellers, it can be extremely frustrating for buyers, and their agents. After losing 5-10 homes a buyer will unquestionalbly start to doubt their agent. They may feel that their agent is doing something wrong and maybe it is time to find someone else.

Will this work? Maybe, but there are limits to what a Mountain View real estate agent can do. A lot of winning an offer is up to the buyer, so maybe you need to look in the mirror first, before changing your agent.

In a real estate offer the buyer has some control over what happens. Here are some things you should do:

1. Are you making realistic offers? If a home is listed for $475,000, you know there are 10 offers, and you offer $470,000, what do you think is going to happen?

2. You have been pre-approved for $800,000 with 20% down. You only have down payment for 20% of $800,000, so you need to only offer a price that will make it through an appraisal. However, most homes are selling for prices higher than they can appraise for, so what do you do? You will need to find a less expensive home so that you have a 5-10% reserve of cash over the price where you think the home will appriase, i.e., you need to find a home where you can put down 25-30%, not 20%, so that when it does not appraise you have the cash to cover it.

3. The seller has completed a a full disclosure package, including a property inspection, termite, roof, chimney inspection, and you ask for a 17 day property contingency period. I am not saying you should not have your own inspection, but keep the time to a minimum.

4. You have a pre-approval letter from Happy Birthday Mortgage with nothing from an underwriter, and nothing from a direct lender. I don't care if the mortgage broker from Happby Birthday Mortgage is your mother, it is not going to fly. Get a full approval from a direct lender. It is hard enough to compete against a cash offer, but to try to compete with a pre-approval letter that may not be worth the paper it is written on is no way to act in a competitive market.

5. You are making an offer on a short sale and don't offer to open escrow until after bank approval. While that may be ok in a buyer's market, when there are so few homes for sale, and so many hopeful buyers, it is not going to work anymore.

So look at your self first. Tomorrow I will talk about what your agent can do to help your offer win.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

D.R.E. 01191194

The landscape for short sales is changing. As the inventory of homes for sale stays at historically low levels all over Silicon Valley, short sales are gaining in popularity for buyers. Added to that is the fact that short sales, while not a sure thing, are getting approved at increasingly higher rates.

Short sales can still be time consuming and frustrating, but when there are so few choices for buyers they begin to look better. So if you are thinking of selling your home as a short sale here are some tips to make things smoother.

1. PICK AN EXPERIENCED SHORT SALE AGENT TO LIST YOUR HOME. IF YOU ALREADY HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH A REALTOR WHO IS NOT EXPERIENCED WITH SHORT SALES ASK THAT AGENT TO CO LIST WITH AN AGENT WHO KNOWS HOW TO PROCESS AND NEGOTIATE A SHORT SALE.

2. Price your home realistically, not at a rock bottom price. The market is already hot and and appreciating. Banks are not stupid. If the home is worth $600,000 and you list it for $400,000 and get an offer for $500,000 it is unlikely to get approved.

3. Have the buyer put the deposit in escrow upon acceptance by you, not at acceptance by the bank.

4. If possible get inspections before you put the home on the market. It will make the transaction go much smoother.

5. Talk to your lender before putting the house on the market. find out what they need for the short sale and get it ready to send as soon as you get the accepted offer.

6. Enjoy your short burst of popularity. In this market everyone loves a seller, even a seller of a short sale, so enjoy.

7. Hopefully in 2-4 months you will hear the words from your agent, "Congratulations, you are off the hook."

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

Just got approval on another short sale in San Jose with Chase. They are getting to be one of my favorites!

This was not straight forward. Client lost his job and was not able to make payments. He tried a loan mod but did not qualify due to having too much in retirement account. Client is close to retiring.

Put condo on market and got 13 offers. The San Jose inventory for small affordable condos is quite low. Accepted an offer 30% over asking price, cash, with no appraisal contingency. Asking price was market value at the time of the listing. Last 2 sales in the complex were within 5K of listing price.

6 weeks later get approval from Chase but buyer, who was an investor, dropped out.

I start to worry because none of the other 12 offers were over 10% over list price and I am afraid Chase (or actually Freddie) will want more since first offer was so high.

Submit a back up offer for 10% over list price, cash with no contingencies. 4 weeks later get approval.

Everyone is happy!!!

So fortunately the first offer which was so high did not taint the the process, and since there was no foreclosure date set there was not a danger of losing the condo to a foreclosure. But this is a risk in short sales in the Silicon Valley. The inventory is low. There are many investors and first time buyers in the market competing with each other. Sometimes people make ridiculous offers which they later regret.

How do you know what is the best offer? Is it the highest, is it the owner who wants this home more than anything, is it the person who puts the most money in escrow, has the least contingencies?

This is a complicated question that deserves its own blog. But my best advice to sellers of short sales is start by picking an experienced agent who knows how to analyze offers from a short sale perspective. This is not the same as a traditonal sale perspective. And understand that sometimes things go south, so be prepared for some bumps in the road to finally get to the magic words:

Congratulations: You are off the hook!

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

I am helping out on a short sale in Redwood City where Chase is servicing the first and second loan. What this means is that the owner has first and second mortgages that were originally gotten from Chase. These loans were then sold to investors and Chase maintained the servicing. This means that ultimately Chase no longer makes the decision about whether or not to approve a short sale. The problem is there is also a third lender, and the third lender wants a lot of money to approve the short sale. The buyer agreed to pay the third what he wants, but the investor for Chase's first loan said no way. I guess from that investor's perspective if they foreclose they do not have to pay off the second or third and they get to keep all the money. Maybe they will make more if they foreclose. 

But maybe they won't. And in any case foreclosures are complicated and costly, and we have a ready willing and able buyer. Chase seems to have tried to convince the investor to take the offer. The Short Sale Department at Chase has even told us to submit another offer in an attempt to change the investor's mind.

I do not know if the new offer will make any difference, but I am immensely impressed with Chase's efforts on our behalf. I obviously am not privy to all of the number crunching as to who gets what if there is a short sale vs a foreclosure, but I do know at least Chase is really trying to help the borrower avoid foreclosure. That makes me feel pretty warm and fuzzy about them today.

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

I just closed a Wells Fargo Short Sale that is not typical. It was a nice 3 bedroom townhome in North San Jose, close to Santa Clara. The owners were divorcing and neither could afford to buy the other one out or afford the property alone. This constitutes a hardship in most lender's minds. I have closed other Wells Fargo short sales with similar circumstances. The current owners had been able to pay the mortgage but they will not be able to in the near future because of an impending change of circumstance. These owners were current on their payments, and were hoping to sell short and then finalize their divorce.

So last fall I put the town home on the market, got a good offer, and submitted it to Wells Fargo. It was promptly denied. I was told that while this was not Wells Fargo policy, the particular investor on the loan (the person on entity who purchased the loan from Wells Fargo, and hired Wells to keep servicing the loan) had a policy of not allowing short sales unless the borrower was behind in their payments.

So, my clients stopped making payments for a few months and we put the home back on the market. We got another offer for the same price and 2 months later got an approval and closed escrow in 30 days. 

So here is what happened to the investor: They lost 5 months of payments of about $4000 a month, so $20,000 of missed payments for the same price of the home. Call me crazy, but that make no sense to me. Let me re-iterate:

THIS IS NOT THE GENERAL POLICY OF WELLS FARGO SHORT SALES.

So, if someone owed me money and I had the chance of recovering 70% of it, or 70% minus $20,000 I would go for the straight 70%. But maybe I am greedier than that investor.

If you have any questions about short sales 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