I grew up in Michigan and outside of a four year stint in the US Navy that took me around the world, I spent my entire time in the ‘Mitten’ (nickname for Michigan). I started my journey in real estate in 1998 and had an awesome mentor Sam. He NEVER gave me a deal, but would instill in me what I needed to know. He was never a motivator, but there was a method to his madness that inspired me. But he ALWAYS said to never let your ego control … (12 comments)
For the next 7 Days you will be able to view the listing here Click Here to View 9167 Seminole, Redford, Michigan … (0 comments)
short sale: Real Estate Investment Options
- 12/05/12 10:18 PM
There are all kinds of avenues available to those that are considering real estate as a likely method of investing in the future. And why on earth shouldn’t you? This is one way that millionaires around the world will agree to build a massive fortune quickly. At the same time, real estate can be a very risky venture for business so you need to have a few more stable methods of bringing in money in order to have a truly diverse portfolio and a better security system for your financial future. Even within the world of real estate investment you will … (0 comments)
short sale: Reasons To Consider a Short Sale Versus Letting Your House Go Into Foreclosure
- 11/08/11 12:18 AM
Because my business model is geared at helping people out of unfortunate situations they may be in during today's real estate craziness. The question I'm asked most is Should I let my home go into foreclosure or 'try' a short sale. My FIRM answer is to complete a short sale. And here are a few reasons why: Reasons To Consider a Short Sale Versus Letting Your House Go Into Foreclosure
- Short sale sellers are widely seen as less risky than foreclose sellers. Fannie Mae recently adjusted their guidelines to dictate only a two year waiting period for a short sale … (0 comments)
When I started as an agent in 1999 all of my mentors told me that I needed to concentrate on 5 things and 5 things only to be successful. 1. Prospecting 2. Listing Properties 3. Showing Properties 4. Negotiating Transactions 5. Closing Transactions
Nowhere in there does it say sit on the phone for hours on end to have an account executive from a bank tell you the same thing he did last week. Believe me, I tried this and not only did I give myself the biggest headache but I … (2 comments)
short sale: What Kind of Dog are You?
- 01/31/11 12:42 PM
People who know me will tell you that I’m the epitome of a ‘dog lover’. Rhodie is my Rhodesian Ridgeback mix that I adopted in 2006. We have been thru quite a bit together. He is my true buddy that is always there for me. No matter how bad of a day I have he is there waiting for me with a big smile (metaphorically of course) and his tail wagging a mile a minute. I can truly say he ‘completes’ me. One thing that people say is that Rhodie has quite a few of the same traits that I … (0 comments)
short sale: What if the Seller is Moving During Short Sale Negotiations?
- 09/12/10 01:23 PM
One of the most frequent questions I get is: “What if the seller has moved out or they plan on moving out?” Handling this correctly could mean the difference between making the deal work, and having it die much sooner that you thought possible and here’s why. In Michigan, the lender has the right to shorten the redemption period from 6 months (or longer) to 30 days if they deem the property “abandoned”. What is “abandoned”? Well, that seems to be a VERY grey area. The only thing a lender needs to do is to post a notice on the house … (2 comments)
short sale: REALTORS! - List Your Short Sales Right!
- 09/08/10 12:53 PM
Success! After months of negotiating with HSBC (one of the worst lenders in my opinion to deal with for short sales), we’ve got an approval on a St. Joe County house. Bill and Shelly were a referral from Bankruptcy Attorney Todd Redmond. How did we get the buyer to wait this long for an answer? Quite simply, they got an AWESOME deal because the house was priced right. You got last week’s newsletter on pricing it right, didn’t you?
Your Tip: Once you’ve got it priced right, it’s time to “list it right”. This is fairly simple, but is often … (0 comments)
short sale: Realtors - Make Sure You're Pricing Your Short Sales Right
- 09/02/10 08:17 AM
Success! This week we closed on Rick and Cathy’s Clinton Township home. Rick was a builder before he had to go on disability because of a variety of health problems. The timing couldn’t have been worse for them because the house was left with multiple projects at varying stages of incompletion. This of course made it very difficult to find a buyer, but when we did, this $145,000 home sold for $130,000, but most importantly, the two mortgage holders wrote off over $110,000 in debt (it was very over-leveraged) and put in writing the loans were paid in full (“settled”). Big … (0 comments)
Last week we got an offer on one of the really “rough” properties that we have been marketing for months. This property needed $20,000-40,000 according to the estimates we got. The property had tons of showing but no offers because it needed too much work for most buyers. However, we found an investor willing to do the work and saw the “Diamond in the rough” that most buyers could not see. Don’t forget about investors as buyers when you can get a deep enough discount to make it worth their while.
Your Tip:
Last week we covered … (0 comments)
short sale: Stages of Foreclosures in Michigan
- 08/16/10 11:35 AM
Success! We have broken an impasse that we were having with one lender who believed a home was worth $50,000 more than we knew it was worth. This happens a lot when they have an inflated appraisal from a refinance. My team has specific techniques to prove to the lender the real market value of a home. Now we should be able to effectively market the home and get an offer. And we are assured that the lender will listen now that the true market value is determined. This is a true success for this family that was trapped in the … (0 comments)
short sale: Strategic Defaults and Short Sales
- 08/10/10 12:45 PM
Strategic Defaults Running Rampant I first started hearing and reading about strategic defaults in late 2009. My team would frequently talk to sellers (both non-listed and those referred to us by REALTORS®) who fit this description, and I never knew what to call it until this label was created. I’m very disturbed by the trend my team has seen lately with so many sellers who are strategically defaulting. This article describes what a strategic default is and most importantly our policy (which you may want to adopt in one form or another) for dealing with sellers who are involved with … (0 comments)
short sale: To HAFA or Not to HAFA?
- 06/20/10 11:24 AM
I attended a Continuing Education Course on Short Sales this past week put on by Joel Zieve. Joel is a full time short sale negotiator in Michigan. During the class he put out phenomenal information that banks and other institutions could never teach you due to they are in the business of protecting their banks assets and not looking out for the best interest of the seller in distress or for that matter the Realtor who is trying to help them out.
One subject that was brought up was HAFA (Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives). I will be very brief on … (2 comments)
short sale: Realtors Are You Using 3rd Party Sources to Negotiate Your Short Sales? – If Not Why?
- 04/19/10 02:05 PM
Okay how many of you have sat on hold with a lender trying to represent your client to the best of your ability to get a short sale approved only to have the representative come back and give you the same message that you received the week before? Or worse yet, you may get the dreaded dial tone due to being disconnected?
This has happened to me more times than I care to share. So much so that I got to the point of not taking on any ‘short sale’ business. But once I got over my self-inflicted pity party, … (0 comments)
I’m sure some people, especially the ‘seasoned’ real estate veterans can relate.
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