I'm mulling over ideas as to how to best market our services. 

I've ordered labels for absentee owners from my favorite title company to send our postcard (and special offer of half off our fee for life for new clients in 2008).

I'm looking for some ideas, NOTHING has been as helpful to me as ActiveRain when I have questions such as this so I thought I'd give it a try.

Thank you in advance for your suggestions.

All the best in this difficult market,

Keely Jared

Broker/Owner

RE/MAX Metro Associates

AND

K2 Property Management

I've been using Blogger but have tried to migrate to TypePad with limited success and even more limited support from their help desk.

I am trying to find out which service you like the best!  I want something as robust as possible (cost isn't a factor).  Let me know and thank you in advance!

PS: My biggest problem is trying to move my posts over to a new service.

Restaurants and bars account for much of the unemployment increase, so get to dining out and hitting Happy Hour when you can!  The housing and mortgage industries have also obviously seen a drop in employment; lenders cut approximately 2,000 jobs since March 2007.  However, analysts claim March's figures are more a ‘correction' than anything else and that while the market may be stagnant it shouldn't get worse; in fact, the non-residential sector has added 500 jobs since March 2007 which helps offset the real estate job market.

Commonly used in the real estate downturn of the early 1990s, is the "short sale," which works like this: A homeowner falls behind on his or her mortgage payments, usually due to a job loss, rising debt payments, divorce, or what have you. Facing a situation in which the home value has fallen and cannot be sold for the amount of the mortgage owed, the homeowner works out a deal with the lender to sell the home for whatever the market will bear. If the amount of the sale is for less than the amount owed on the mortgage, the lender gets the proceeds and discharges the remaining debt. The homeowner will have to leave the house as soon as it is sold.

Alternatively, with a foreclosure, homeowners who can no longer make payments are served with a notice of foreclosure, which essentially informs them to either bring the loan current or face the home being taken over and sold at a public auction, after which the homeowner will face eviction proceedings.

My office has put together a website detailing what our short sale specialists are able to do for people in this situation (including giving the seller a rebate on commission earned assuming the bank ends up paying a commission - sometimes they do not).

Not all lenders will accept short sales or discounted payoffs, but with the housing market in the state it's in, lenders have been forced to be more flexible where it makes sense.

Not all lenders will negotiate a short sale, our office can offer tremendous help in successfully contacting the lender and negotiating on your behalf, with your lender's loss mitigation department.

Please check out the site and let me know if you or someone you know would like more information on short selling.

http://www.washortsaleassistance.com/

Keely Jared (formerly Balfour), ABR

Broker/Owner

RE/MAX Metro Associates

Voted Seattle magazine's "Best in Client Satisfaction" 2005 & 2006

direct: 206-909-3600

fax: 206-368-6872

www.keelyjared.com

WAMU no longer doing wholesale loans, all of their brokers have been laid off.

First Horizon, Countrywide, and many others are no longer doing HELOC's (Home Equity Lines of Credit, also called 2^nd's as in second mortgages, got it?  ;-)   I recognize that I get verbose in my explanations!

Both of those companies (and others) have frozen their current HELOC's, two of my closest friends and property owners have been ‘locked out' of their HELOC's whereby they can no longer draw money from it, guess it pays to completely pull out all of your equity if you have a current HELOC and still can.

Should you need to originate a new 2^nd/HELOC, the best options are BECU (Boeing Employee's Credit Union) and Key Bank.  Get ‘em while you still can!

As I have likely reiterated here before the stats are that buyers who a year ago, could have bought a home no problem, now have no way to obtain a feasible mortgage which is the number one reason I believe there has been any stall in our market.  Our homes are still selling, just - not - quickly. 

Apparently Redfin was fined $25,000 just recently by the NWMLS for multiple violations like - advertising agent's listings without their permission - etc. 

 Ouch.

I am dealing with them for the first time, in a short sale situation.  I have a client/seller, who has asked for my help in negotiating a short sale with Chase.  Fair enough, but I've had 4 offers now for going on two months with NO RESPONSE from Chase. 

I call EVERY day, I fax the 40 page short sale package EXACTLY to their standards, once a week.  I ask to speak to supervisors.  I leave voicemails, all to NO avail.

Sigh.

Anyone else have experience with Chase?  I've done short sales but NEVER have I had such a lack of follow up or follow through.

They did extend the foreclosure date for me for 3 months but the sale date is now scheduled for April 18th and still no response from them on our offers.

I have a short sale listing - the bank is will to consider all offers.  I am eager to get it sold and our market (although soft) is not as bad of as many others.

I am pushing this to investors (and everyone else), just wondering how YOU guys market your short sales?

Check out these fabulous condos my brother (and business partner) has listed!  There is a $3,500 buyer bonus and the units come with a 42" flat panel LCD HDTV for offers accepted before 12/31. 

This is a GREAT time to buy (either for yourself or as an investment) and 30 year fixed rates just dropped to their lowest point in the last two years!!

www.845condos.com

MOST of my buyers want a yard, they usually request a yard bigger than they end up being happy with (I'm proof of that myself), but when it comes to real estate investments, more land is never a bad thing, at the least it affords you flexibility to expand the existing structure.  However, when it comes to appreciation, there really isn't much difference in a house with a large lot versus a small one (unless there is the ability to sub-divide/short plat, and sell off a piece of the property).

So a home on a 12,000 sq. ft. lot that is comparable to a home on a 6,000 sq. ft. lot will typically sell for and appreciate at the same rate as, the other.

Good stuff!