I've been reading through the news articles and see that it's the same ol' stuff. Weak housing sales (not as robust as 2002-2003), falling home values, tighter lending criteria (yeah, you have to have a job or source of income now), etc.

But no matter how much doom and gloom that's being posted out there, fact remains that homes are being sold and agents are making money.

And ofcourse, those who are making deals, aren't telling you where this is at.

For many homebuyers, REO properties are the way to go for the best deals. Prices are down in all of the nine Bay Area counties. Even the "untouchables", San Francisco, Marin, and San Mateo counties are seeing double figures in home value erosion.

Savvy investors are quietly buying REO properties in the harder hit areas as these buys are starting to "pencil out" amidst a tightening rental market. One agent in Danville, CA says that he's doing a "brisk business" with his seven individual investors. All of his sales to investors are rented out by the close of escrow!

Fannie Mae is considering opening offices in California and Florida to deal with the foreclosed properties on their books. They may even consider bulk sales to investors. (return of the RTC?) Agents and active homebuyers are looking to deal more with bank owned properties as they are
"priced to sell", rather than dealing with homeowners that are uninformed by their agent of the competing market surrounding their home or unrealistic on their asking price, or both. 

The distressed homeowner needs to come to grips with their situation and proceed with disposing their property when other remedies have been exhausted or just aren't feasible. At this point, the distressed homeowner's greatest asset is their credit.

I'm new to this group. And I want to touch on a popular subject that is a "buzz" lately. But unless you have lived it, you no idea.

This is a painful subject, but yet is a subject that I'm very passionate on. Foreclosure. I wish that I knew about short sale when I was going through my ordeal in the early 1990's, it wasn't heard of in the media. It was for the elite. Had I known about the process, I might have avoided the embarrassment and financial ruin that it brought.

Walking away only leaves you open to more liability. Taxes, judgements resulting from non-recouse loans looking for restitution, etc. But we have to realize that this is a cycle, just like it was in the 80's amd 90's. Loans aren't the problem, it's people. I as one of those that used my home as an ATM machine. I betted and lost. A lot of people are forced to do that again. I couldn't give my house away.

RTC. Heard of them and a lot of 'REO whales' out their made a lot of money and are back in business again, liquidating properties. They are just doing their job.

So folks this isn't a new thing. Just another cycle that has added twists. The 'experts' aren't out there to be easily found. No one is going to tell where their 'gold mine' is at and a lot of these homeowners can't be helped by loss mitigation.

Take the short sale, salvage your credit, and come back to fight another time.