short sales: List -Price-to Sales-Price Ratios Depend on Type of Market in Sacramento
- 02/02/09 01:38 AM
I can't remember the last time a client asked me about sales ratios, but during a counseling session yesterday with first-time home buyers for Land Park, they asked if I would print out my last 12 months' of production. I suppose many agents wouldn't do it, but my life is pretty much an open book.
Buyer Sales Price Ratios
Later in the evening, I looked over those numbers. In case you want to know, the list-price-to-sales-price ratio average of my buyers over the past 12 months is 98.16%. But what does that really mean?
For starters, it means that in the … (15 comments)
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short sales: Influx of Lender Demands for Unsecured Promissory Notes on Sacramento Short Sales
- 01/29/09 01:43 AM
Some short sale lenders are demanding unsecured promissory notes as a seller contribution to the short sale. Over the past few months, I've witnessed an uptick in this type of activity, specifically from such lenders as Countrywide and Bank of America. I've also received a lot of email from readers about the increase in this practice.
Three of my Sacramento short sales are in this position at the moment. Lenders are examining sellers' credit and cash flow very closely and, if the seller has good credit coupled with disposable income, the lenders are refusing to let the seller skate.
Fortunately, in … (14 comments)
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short sales: Double Ending the Short Sale vs Giving the Seller Highest and Best Shouldn't Be a Dilemma
- 01/20/09 02:09 AM
Many Sacramento listing agents are receiving multiple offers, and not just on REOs or short sales. Any attractively priced, well appointed home in a desirable Sacramento location is likely to draw the attention of more than one buyer. The listing agent plays an important role toward helping the seller figure out which offer to accept because the highest offer isn't always the best offer.
On top of that, sometimes the listing agent will bring his or her own buyer to the table. In that case, the agent is operating in dual agency but it does not relieve the agent from … (15 comments)
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short sales: Thank You Active Rain Community and Short Sale Bloggers
- 01/17/09 09:49 AM
As many of you know, my book about short sales will be available in bookstores shortly. It is called The Short Sale Savior and will be published by Archer Ellison. As with any venture, writing a book is often a collaborative effort. It doesn't write itself. I would like to thank the following contributors who shared their short sale stories with me for my book. Without their valuable input, I'm afraid the book may have been lopsided and not nearly as entertaining. These Active Rain bloggers are my Short Sale All Stars! Here they are, in alphabetical order:Erin Attardi, a senior … (22 comments)
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short sales: Sacramento 2008 Overview: Rising Sales, Falling Prices, Reduced Inventory
- 01/16/09 01:53 AM
I received this handy chart from Lyon Real Estate a few days ago, which gives a pretty clear overview of what happened in real estate in Sacramento and its surrounding four-county area in 2008. What makes Sacramento a little bit different from other parts of the country is its huge drop in inventory and spike in REO sales. Lots of other major metropolitan cities are experiencing price drops, but those price declines typically are not coupled with falling inventory and rising sales like we're seeing in the Sacramento real estate market.
This is absolutely a fabulous opportunity for first-time home buyers … (5 comments)
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short sales: Property Taxes on a Short Sale or Bank-Owned Home in California
- 01/10/09 02:59 AM
A client asked me the other day if he would get a refund from Sacramento County for buying a short sale home. All those REOs and short sale transactions involve transferring the present tax base until the home is reassessed. If you bought a home for $200,000 that sold for $500,000 a few years ago, your taxes may be presently computed on the $500,000 value. The taxes amount to about $6,250 a year, versus $2,500 on the new value. It means you will overpay the taxes until the assessor's office catches up with the recorded sale numbers.
There will be no … (17 comments)
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short sales: Sacramento Real Estate Market Trends and Facts for November
- 12/12/08 02:04 AM
Below is a Trendgraphix chart detailing the last 15 months of housing activity in Sacramento County. From September of 2007 through November of 2008, inventory has fallen 39% in Sacramento. Inventory is the number of homes for sale. With fewer homes for sale, buyers have fewer choices, which means the homes that are attractively priced and located in desirable neighborhoods are receiving multiple offers.
This is in contrast with most buyer's markets. Generally, in a buyer's market, inventory rises, but we are witnessing a reversal in Sacramento. The best looking homes sell the fastest. Of course, there are still neighborhoods where … (5 comments)
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short sales: Let December Be Known as Loan Modification Month
- 11/27/08 07:36 PM
The hottest buzz word in the industry right now is not short sales nor foreclosures. It's all about loan modifications. Lots of unscrupulous businesses are springing up that offer consumers help with their loan modifications, and they are charging home owners $3,000 and more to do what home owners can do for themselves.
To find your lender's loan modification requirements, click on the photo and you will find my article on About.com, which details major mortgage lender guidelines for loan modifications.
Nobody wants to admit it, but the lenders are making loan modifications seem confusing and difficult. Perhaps it's an effort … (41 comments)
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short sales: Do You Have Suggestions for my Short Sale Book Title? Here's a Sneak Preview
- 11/23/08 01:30 AM
Whew. The edited version of my book has been completed -- not that I have had time to proof it yet. Yesterday, I put 3 transactions into escrow, so I've been a bit overwhelmed and unable to allocate time for reading the final copy. (I was supposed to be taking off work from Wednesday through Sunday to recuperate from my horrible oral surgery ordeal, but things don't always work out as one plans in this business. I guess if an agent wants to increase business, all she needs to do is tell everybody not to call, pop a few Vicodin and … (23 comments)
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short sales: Bank-owned (REOs) and Short Sales Lead Sacramento's Market
- 11/19/08 01:19 AM
Here are a few charts from Trendgraphix that I thought you would find interesting. It shows the amount of homes on the market, the number of pending and the closed sales as of October 2008. The big chart directly below is the non-REOs for sale in Sacramento county, and you can see how the inventory is falling as more sellers remove their homes from the market:
The charts below show the tri-county region of REOs and bank-owned homes on the left versus non-reos on the right. You can easily see where the interest is in today's market. But it doesn't … (4 comments)
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short sales: Explaining to Kiplinger Magazine How a Short Sale Works
- 11/18/08 03:35 AM
One of the interviews I gave last week was to Kiplinger Magazine. I spoke to this reporter a while back for an article about home selling. But this time she wanted to talk about short sales. You know, I'm glad I made her chuckle, but the following is all true, and every short sale agent knows it; even though few really want to admit it. Here is part of our conversation (and no, I am NOT making this up):
Kiplinger: So, what happens after you send the short-sale package and offer to the bank?
Elizabeth Weintraub: The bank loses it.
… (19 comments)
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short sales: How is the Market Treating You?
- 11/05/08 01:33 AM
How many agents right now are terribly busy, they say, but spinning their wheels? I have talked with other top producers in my office who say they are swamped but aren't making any money. It makes me wonder, what are they doing?When I go to parties and people ask, "How is the market treating you?" I reply, "Great. 2008 might be my best year ever." They look at me like I am a leper. But it's the truth. This has been a good year for me. Am I supposed to feel badly about that or make excuses for everybody else? I … (19 comments)
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short sales: Who Else Wants to Buy a Short Sale?
- 10/22/08 07:29 AM
At my office meeting this morning, an REO agent said Countrywide's stats are showing 1 out of every 5 short sales are successful. Then, other agents expressed concerns over closing a short sale, and some mentioned that they deliberately eliminate short-sale listings from their buyer's daily emails of new listings.
In part, I understand why some Sacramento agents don't like to work short sales, but the thing is unless a buyer's circumstances dictate a solid reason why a short sale is not suitable for that particular buyer -- for example, maybe they need to close within 30 days or so -- … (18 comments)
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short sales: Sometimes Clients Can Forget You're a Real Estate Agent
- 10/14/08 03:13 AM
Yesterday, being Columbus Day, meant there was no mail, agents couldn't call the banks to follow up on short sales and many workers got the day off. But not title and escrow companies.
I met clients at my office to walk them over to the title company for signing loan documents. These buyers had been looking for a long time to find their dream home in Midtown Sacramento and were finally going to closing on a home on which they battled multiple offers and won a Request for Repair. It had been a long road.
We met in the lobby of … (20 comments)
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short sales: Achieving the Dream of Home Ownership is a Struggle for Many Young Couples
- 05/11/08 02:56 AM
Don't let anybody fool you; it's hard for some first-time home buyers to buy their first home. It's not as easy as some people make it sound. Oh, sure, sometimes buyers can get lucky and score a home right away -- especially if location and condition aren't that important, but the odds are it will take a while in Sacramento in the $200,000 - $250,000 market.
I am working with a wonderful young couple right now who have just submitted their 10th offer on a home in Sacramento. These are delightful people whom I will call Doug and Shereen, to protect … (8 comments)
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short sales: Buying Distressed Homes: Foreclosures, Short Sales & REOs
- 12/28/07 05:04 AM
This is my "Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh, my!" photograph (to the left). Because I think that phrase amply illustrates how many buyers and sellers feel about distressed home listings such as foreclosures, short sales and REOs. The names sound ominous and perhaps a little frightening. Not to mention, there's a lot of confusion surrounding those terms. Throw a few court decisions and Presidential bills into the mix, and it's even more confusing. For example, in California, agents are prohibited from representing investors who want to buy a home in foreclosure. The main hold back is a bond requirement that … (12 comments)
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short sales: Short Sales and Foreclosures
- 12/27/07 07:18 AM
Not all short sales are foreclosures nor are all foreclosures short sales, but most short sales start out as a foreclosure. Confused? You're not alone. In this market, it's hard to figure out where the line is drawn. On top of which, some lenders are willing to work with home owners and renegotiate the terms of their loans as long as the borrowers are not in default. In those situations, it is possible that a mortgage lender will forgive a portion or the mortgagor's debt. However, not all lenders are willing to work with borrowers in this manner, and lenders are … (6 comments)
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short sales: How to Do a Short Sale
- 12/23/07 04:31 AM
To give you an idea of how the market has moved over the past several years, I first wrote an article about short sales in June of 2006, which generated little response until that fall, when the number of hits on that particular short sale article began to rise. By winter of 2006, How to Handle Real Estate Short Sales soared into first position of Google search results for the phrase "short sale", and has been consistently the most popular article on my About.com site. I describe how to do a short sale, the lender's expectations of the seller and the … (2 comments)
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short sales: Most Short Sales Are Not Fantastic Deals
- 10/31/07 10:25 AM
Because of my ranking in Google for short sales, I get a ton of phone calls from buyers (sellers, too), asking me to represent them to either handle a short sale or find a short sale home to buy. For starters, one doesn't need to look too far. In some areas of Sacramento, every other listing is a short sale. I don't take on every short listing that comes my way, and I don't work with every short sale buyer. Handling short sale listings generally means I am doing twice the work for half the money, and sometimes for no money … (7 comments)
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short sales: It's Always a Good Market for Somebody, Isn't It?
- 09/28/07 08:18 AM
I stopped at the Pottery Barn this morning -- I can't seem to stay OUT of that store!! Because I wear my badge these days almost everywhere, I'm easily recognizable as a real estate agent. The Pottery Barn sales clerk, staring at my name badge asked, "So, how's the market? Pretty bad, huh?"
I glanced up from my writing in my checkbook and smiled. "You know, the market is doing very well, actually. If you're a buyer. Buyers are snatching up some terrific deals, interest rates are still hovering around 6%. I closed 4 escrows last week. Hmmm . . . I'd … (8 comments)
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I can't remember the last time a client asked me about sales ratios, but during a counseling session yesterday with first-time home buyers for Land Park, they asked if I would print out my last 12 months' of production. I suppose many agents wouldn't do it, but my life is pretty much an open book.
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