The Feds are having a hard time selling the bailout to the American people because all of the people who pay their bills are getting nothing but the tab for this. I have a couple of thoughts which I did send to Barney Frank, and got no response, but the following 2 ideas would stabilize the economy immediately, make all taxpayers in the country feel good about the bailout and jumpstart the housing market instantly.

 1) Any bank wishing to participate in the bailout should write down the Principal Balance on all GOOD loans that are not in default by 20%. That way all Americans would feel like they were getting something, and there would be a cost to the banks. Yes they would get rid of the bad loans on their books, but they would be paying the public for the right to do it. If you sell your home in the first year, 100% of the profit would go back to the bank that wrote down the balance, the in year 2-80%, year 3-60%, year 4-40%, year 5-20%. They could keep a subordinate lien on your property to ensure their recapture.

 2)The Government should provide a $20,000.00 downpayment to anyone who wishes to purchase a home in the next 12 months. Primary residences only. That would immediately stabilize the real estate market. Values would stop going down and there would be bidding wars  for property. All the excess inventory of homes on the market would disappear in 3 months.

It seems like every potential home buyer is looking for a short sale to get a deal. These properties are available, the problem is the process to get the purchase closed can be very daunting to the prospective buyer, and to you the agent. We have developed a very indepth process that smoothes out the transaction, and helps you take more control of the transaction. If you follow some pretty basic steps, you can cut the timeline down significantly. I am happy to help any agent involved in a short sale purchase or sale for that matter. Our process will help you close those short sales faster, and more importantly make sure you don't have to fight for your commissions at closing. We even prepare the preliminary HUD for you early in the process so the bank that owns the property agrees to your commission in the beginning of the process.

In the market we are in we all need to think diversity. I can help any of you that have Commercial Properties that you are looking to obtain financing. The commercial market is going to help you make it through the downturn. Feel free to contact me if you have any commercial or residential financing questions.