Are short sales still viable in this market? How are the banks responding to short sales? Is it still taking as long to get them closed? I am starting this off with questions because I am sure we all are concerned about the status of short sales.  I have not been blogging for awhile because I have been extremely busy.  It seems that most people are not aware of the sequence of mortgage delinquency. 1. the bank sends notices which most people know they are behind and do not open correspondence from the bank, they get to recognize the banks phone number and they do not answer the phone. I have been reaching a lot of these people through trying to educate them on what they can do. 2. the process is as follows. try to get them into a loan modification, if that does not work you try to get them to list and finally if the property is that difficult, do a deed in lieu.  Surprisingly, the paper work is pretty much the same.  Shorts sales are going to be more viable,(secret source) because with foreclosure costs coming in at $50,000 the only stimulas package is with attorneys, this information has finally surfaced in the corporate offices of many banks, they are in the next few months going to drift away from foreclosing and going to short sales. This is the amazing piece from my source. they are going to pay the home owner $1000 to $10,000 if they agree to short sale the property. Not bad huh? I think the banks are putting the infra structure in place to accomodate this.  Some banks are already paying $1500 to do the short sale. I can see this expanding. I grant you that this is only hearsay right now. But if you look at the damage that is being done to the properties that are being foreclosed on and the additional discount for the as is condition this approach makes perfect sense. I have been doing short sales and REOs for two years and have seen the response time go down. Good news for us. Here is the time frame for a majority of the banks 72 hrs to update letter of authorization, 72 hours to update a completed package. 5-10 days for package review and then up to thirty days for acceptance or denial. The thirty days is on the far end. Most short sales may be completed in 45 days.  How does that affect REO listings they are still going to be there you will just have more realtors fighting for the existing inventory. I enjoy researching, establishing relationships with the banks and other realtors.  As I stated and this is my disclaimer the information is provided to help others who are looking toward this next year and are trying to plan which way they will go. This information comes from several different sources and I hope it will help my realtor friends  

Currently in South West Florida Short sales are leading the way for listings.  Short Sales are still a large part of the market. Unfortunately, most realtor's are reluctant to sell them because of the inherent issues with the amount of time it takes to complete them.  Additional issues have been the reduction in commissions and listing agents not being able to submit the necessary paperwork to the banks.  The latter, has probably contributed the most to the back log. As the files continued to mount at the banks many were not able to be completed. What I have seen recently is realtor's who have recognized their lack of expertise have turned to agents who specialize in them and have started referring them to those agents.  The end results have been more closings. We have also seen an increase in foreclosures.  With all the discounted properties on the market, investors and even end users are jumping back into the real estate market. Look for more gains in the future.         

I currently have a team fo Proffessionals and we cover Collier. Lee and soma areas of  Charlotte. The Charlotte market has been hit pretty hard. With the down turn in the market they have suffered on multiple levels. The real estate market has been hit with foreclosures and short sales. In a recent conversation with an auto repair owner he stated the only thing that could save his business is a hurricaine. You talk about getting desperate. As you travel further south into Lee County the sales are going up again with plenty of value to go around. Cape Coral has been a popular place for investors right now. Plenty of new houses for less then 100,000. If you want a waterfront home this is the area to look still very inexpensive and plenty of opportunities.  Last but not least by any stretch of the imagination is Collier County. In Naples plenty of new homes at discount prices, short sales, developer foreclosers and older owners ready to move back home with thier families (Ex. 7000 sq ft home 5 aces for less then a million dollars) Tremendous value available on Marco Island also, you can always tell when the Marco Island Market is getting stronger, the Islands realtors start taking their listings off the Naples MLS and only display it on Novia MLS for Marco, protectionism at its best.  All in all if you track the last market rise in SW Florida it was very clear that the market upswing starts on Marco Island travels North up the Coast to Naples, Bonita, Estero and Fort Myers.       

  Over the last two years Florida has seen a rapid decrease in home and condo prices.  There were plenty of reasons for the decline, sub prime mortgages, over abundance of speculators and investors dominating the market inflating existing home prices and builders jumping in to create huge inventories.

  With every closed door a new door opens.  South West Florida had the quickest rise and the quickest fall. Now we are on the verge of capturing all the retiring baby boomers and some GenXers. We have several positive things that are going on one of which the Florida Legislature has passed a few laws recently to reduce Insurance costs, assist with home owner tax relief and the Federal Government has lowered the discount rate.  Now you couple this with the recent reduction in home values, short sales, foreclosures, and huge builder inventories. and inventories in general you have the making for a potentially big year.  

  Of course we all look at our selves and say why hasn't this caught on. Well, the media has been promoting a further decrease in the market. Unfortunately, when the media catches up with reality the average person isn't  going to realize the bargains that the investors are already starting to take advantage of now.

  When is the time to buy? Well you can sit back and watch the market.  The Real Estate market is the same as the stock market.  You look for as many positive events and you take action.  I just received a call from a mortgage broker who said he had 5.25% mortgage rates through this month the flip side of that the prediction from the media is that rates will be going to the mid 6% level. What does that do over thirty years to your mortgage payment and will it make up for that 10,000 to 50,000 dollar difference in price you will also miss out on.

  I have never been able to time the market perfectly, how about you?