What is a Short Sale - 05/28/09 10:32 PM
A Short Sale results when the homeowner sells their property, the net proceeds are insufficient to payoff the mortgage balance, yet the mortgage company agrees to accept less than the mortgage payoff amount in order to close the sale. All Short Sales are subject to mortgage company approval and require an extensive amount of work to reach a successful outcome.
There are no guarantees a Short Sale will be approved or ever close, but when the process has been professionally handled by a Realtor familiar with short sale transactions, preferably a CDPE (Certified Distressed Property Expert), the odds of success … (0 comments)

Demand for Homeowner Aid Rising - 05/26/09 07:09 PM
The latest Obama plan designed to help homeowners stay in their homes by modifying their mortgages and avoiding foreclosure has made some progress over the past two months. The program is called “Making Home Affordable” and has a price tag of $75 billion.
While some 50,000 homeowners have been offered lower-cost mortgages through the program, lenders have not been able to implement the proposed benefits to homeowners as hoped for. The main reason for this is that the demand for loan modifications has lenders swamped and not fully trained to process the applications. As a result, there is growing concern as … (0 comments)

Minnesota Distressed Property on the Increase - 05/18/09 08:32 PM
Numerous homeowners are finding it difficult to afford their house payments today for any number of reasons. Some are faced with job losses, others with medical emergencies and many are simply affected by the economic downturn of the global recession. The financial strain is being felt by just about everyone in society.
As a result of these financial times, many homeowners are thinking about selling their home and downsizing in order to create a more affordable lifestyle. The drop in real estate values however has made it impossible for many would-be sellers to be able to sell their home because they … (0 comments)

What is a Certified Distressed Property Expert? - 05/12/09 09:57 PM
Before we can define what a Certified Distressed Property Expert is, we need to define what a “distressed property” is. A property can become distressed for a variety of reasons, but the most common is a foreclosure. In reality, any situation that has caused a property owner to have difficulty making mortgage payments or even selling the property is said to be in a distressed state. Simply put, any property which has the potential for a foreclosure is termed to be “distressed”.
Now that we have defined a distressed property, what is a Certified Distressed Property Expert (CDPE)? This is not … (0 comments)

The Short Sale Challenge - 05/12/09 09:55 PM
What is a Short Sale? If the value of a property – less the costs of selling the property – falls below what the homeowner owes the mortgage company, the property is said to be “short”. If the homeowner wishes to sell, but does not have the cash to cover this shortage at closing, then the property could still close providing the mortgage company, or companies, are willing to negotiate a “Short Sale”.
Short sale scenarios have become quite common today, but successful negotiations to close them have not. In fact, only 20% of the short sales submitted to lenders … (0 comments)