Recently I wrote a blog post about how negotiating a short sale was kind of like eating this strange concoction I read about on msn.com-a chocolate bacon cupcake. It was in one of the comments on the post-a comment by AR blogger Dan Tabit of Washington that I came upon this idea. You see, Dan pointed out that a short sale is kind of like a the everlasting gobstopper (the neverending jawbreaker of a candy) made in Wonka's factory.

It was then that I began to ponder how many of the confections and concepts Roald Dahl's book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (and the Willy Wonka movie starring Gene Wilder) really parallel things that are going on in the distressed real estate market in California and beyond.

First, I'll start with the most obvious: the candy.

A short sale is frequently like an everlasting gobstopper. Short Sales frequently take forever to complete-just like Wonka's candy.

A short sale can also be like the gum Wonka is creating in the factory-the one that Violet chews that the one that tasted like a 3 course meal: tomato soup, roast beef, and blueberry pie. You see, short sales constantly change directions (like the gum changes flavor).

In the film, all of Charlie's four grandparents share a bed and a one room shack. This is no doubt due to the recession, the lack of stimulus money, and the general poor economy.

While the book was written in 1964, it really applies to lots of things going on today. While short sales are frequently hard to digest, it's much more fun to think about all of the delicious confections in a chocolate factory!

Short Sales in East Escondido are closing, and buyers are getting fantastic deals! Check this out:

Bedrooms: 2

Baths: 2

Square Footage: 1104

Cross Street: Bear Valley Parkway

Sold Price: $140,000

This charming single level home has skylights, vaulted ceilings, a tiled entry, a large living room with fireplace, separate dining area and a wonderful kitchen.

There are great deals on short sales in East Escondido. If you are a buyer who is interested in participating in a short sale, know that you need to have patience. Just like this wonderful property, there are many more.

If we can help you to buy or sell your property in Escondido, San Marcos or beyond, please do not hesitate to give us a call!

I heard the phrase How Slow Can You Go? on National Public Radio this morning. It kind of reminds me of Chubby Checker's Limbo Rock song where he repeats How low can you go? How low can you go? Although I don't think it was Checker's intent, both phrases--alone or together-remind me of the real estate market.

Buyer, sellers, investors, and agents always speculate as to whether the market has bottomed out. Can it possibly go any lower? Have the property values hit rock bottom? I've even heard it said that you won't know that the bottom has hit until you see it in the rear view mirror.

Now . . .about the phrase How Slow Can You Go? . . . here's the latest: Spurred by government stimulus programs, the economy expanded at a 2.8% annualized rate in the third quarter, the Commerce Department reported today.

However, the 2.8% growth rate is below the government's initial estimate of 3.5% due to downward revisions in consumer spending and business investment in nonresidential structures, as well as changes to imports and exports.

People are complaining that our growth is slow? But, I have to wonder if it really is slow. Didn't the government infuse our economy with a few huge stimulus incentives? Where would our economy have been without those incentives? It seems to me that we would be way worse off if it wasn't for all that stimulus money. So, why are people complaining that our economic growth is so slow? It's a wonder that we are growing at all.

Now if you wanted to attribute the phrase How Slow Can You Go? to your latest short sale transaction, well there I'd say that I'm not surprised!

Have you heard the big news? Today Oprah Winfrey announced that the will be reiting her show at the end of the next season. After 25 years, she has decided to move on and work on other projects. She is truly an amazing woman and has been able to reach our and help so many folks through her program and through her philanthropy. She really inspired many, many viewers to start reading again through her book clubs. She was able to bring national attention to important issues through her program and through her films.

Truth is . . . while I do like Oprah. I don't really watch the show too much. A friend of mine records every episode on her DVR and then watches them in the evening. The evening? That's when I catch up on mail and email, check facebook, write blog posts, and help kids with homework.

Anyway, if you are not sure what you will do with your 5 hours per week without Oprah, here's a list of suggestions:

1. Begin a real estate-related email campaign (3 hours per week)
2. Go door-to-door in your farm area to obtain listings and meet newcomers (2 hours per week)
3. Write 5 hyper-local blog posts (3-5 hours)
4. Volunteer in your community (5 hours)
5. Walk your dog (5 hours)
6. Spend quality time with a loved one
7. Watch the coming of a new talk show (just a rumor folks) hosted by Sarah Palin

As for me . . . I'll be doing numbers one through six!

Yesterday was just another day in the wacky world of short sales, and I thought that I'd share part of that day with you.

Our office was contacted earlier this week by a listing agent who had already been working for several months on a short sale. Apparently (over the course of 2-3 months), this agent had submitted the short sale package to the first lien holder, and obtained an approval letter.

Just one minor detail, the listing agent did not know that there were two liens on the property. OOooops. (Big oops, folks.)

Yes, I am a mother, and it is VERY, VERY difficult for me not to say "I told you so" --especially when I have written many blog posts on the importance of ordering a Preliminary Title Report (and reading it) very early in the short sale transaction. For those that are interested, click here.

In any case, the second lien holder is Bank of America. Bank of America is generally very slow at approving short sales. They approve ‘em; it just takes time. The first lien holder has told the listing agent that they will extend the approval letter, but monthly payments of $500 must be made in the interim. Sadly, the listing agent and others involved in the transaction were making these payments.

Here comes problem number 2 (and 3 and 4): The listing agent and those making those monthly payments to buy time with the first lien holder really didn't pay much attention to the approval letter. The buyers had asked for a closing cost concession and this concession was not on the original HUD-1. Also, there was no money allocated to the second lien holder on the approval letter. Third, they only calculated property taxes on the HUD-1 through August of 2009! (OOooops. Big oops.)

So, our office prepared another HUD-1 and saw that the first lien holder would actually receive $17,000 less than what the agent submitted with the original short sale package!

We followed this up with a conference call that included all of the parties involved in the transaction. We can get this right, but not tomorrow or even next week.

Short sales are tricky transactions and they are not for the inexperienced nor are they for the faint of heart. This is just one example of how a well-meaning Realtor® can really get into some trouble and perhaps cause a property to go to foreclosure.

If you have not participated in a lot of short sale transactions, please seek the help of someone who has. Doing so will keep you and your sellers out of a world of trouble!

I'm not exactly sure why Sarah Palin calls her new book, Going Rogue. A rogue is a mischievous or deceitful person, and it would seem silly for someone to describe themselves in that manner, especially as the title of her autobiography.

A Palin associate, however, said that Palin was just trying to "bust free" of what she believes was a damaging and mismanaged roll-out, a rogue roll-out, I guess.

Another buzz word of that McCain/Palin campaign was the word maverick. A maverick is one who exhibits great thought and independence in action.

In real estate, we see many mavericks, particular sellers who want to list their homes For Sale By Owner and buyers who do not want to work exclusively with one agent on the purchase of the property.

Sadly, I cannot think of too many reasons to be a maverick buyer or a maverick seller.

A maverick seller-one who lists his/her own property for sale without the help of a licensed Realtor®--misses out on all the great advantages a Realtor® can bring to the transaction. A master listing agent, for example, knows the state contracts better than the palm of his/her own hand. The master listing agent knows how to prepare the home for sale, solicit buyers, and protect the seller at the same time. More than likely, the master listing agent may also have many ready, willing, and able buyers in their pipeline.

A maverick buyer is one who attends open houses, uses realtor.com and Zillow yet does not want to work with one specific licensed Realtor® throughout the purchase process. Buyers who align themselves with one agent will get a great many benefits. Agents are usually masters of their communities. They attend local meetings and caravans, and are acquainted with the other agents in their community. Frequently they know of properties not yet on the market. So, aligning yourself with a qualified buyer's agent can really give you an edge-particularly in an active market.

There's nothing wrong with being a maverick, but in a real estate transaction it is really best to align yourself with a qualified agent. Doing so will really have many, many benefits including the ability to close a transaction as efficiently as possible.

If you are looking to buy a condo in Oceanside, then look no further! This gorgeous 2 bedroom, 1 bath condo is located just 3.5 miles from the Oceanside Pier in the lovely gated complex of Arbor Hill.

This lower level unit features newer carpet, stunning maple cabinetry and a tile entry, kitchen and bathroom.

Bedrooms:   2

Baths:   1

Estimated Square Footage: 910

It is priced to sell. So, if you are looking for a bargain in Oceanside, please give us a call!

The other day the msn.com home page featured a dark chocolate bacon cupcake recipe. I saw the feature and did a double-take. What the heck is this? What is it gonna taste like? Breakfast and dessert all in one? I cannot for the life of me imagine what this thing is going to taste like when I put it into my mouth. I imagine that it'll be something like the stick of chewing gum that Violet Beauregarde began chewing in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory . . . you know, the one that tasted like a 3 course meal: tomato soup, roast beef, and blueberry pie.

Just as I wouldn't know what to expect in the exotic flavors of that cupcake, I never know quite what to expect when working on a short sale. Today I had a seller from Oceanside, California contact me about selling his home in a short sale. He asked me some questions about the length of the process, the impact on his credit, and whether the bank will accept his hardship.

In the last two years, I have negotiated more short sales than I can count. Each one is its own animal. With each successful negotiation, I have always been surprised by the new and interesting ways that the "bacon" has mixed with the "chocolate." Will the transaction move quickly or will the paperwork get lost between the fax machine and the bank's database?

What I can say is this: my experiences have taught me to be an expert strategist. I can anticipate what will probably occur, and use leverage, contacts, and experience to obtain the best result possible for the client.

But can I predict what flavor will be in Violet's gum or how that cupcake will taste? Not with 100% accuracy!

As a side note: Son #2 is enchanted by the recipe and requested that we give it a try on the weekend. I'll let you know if we survive the taste test!

Save time . . . outsource annoying administrative tasks including the negotiation of your latest short sale listings. Our office is available to help with the paperwork, obtain the approval letters, and relieve you of the headaches so that you can focus on what you do best-real estate, including the listing and selling property!

Visit our website because all the commission checks you could ever want are just a click away.

Regular readers of my blog already know that I was in the dark until March of this year. That's when the light finally turned on. I got on Facebook, LinkedIn, ActiveRain, and subsequently Twitter. I was joining the social network scene. I felt hip, cool, and in the know.

That was until someone said the word, ‘widget.' Okay, folks, I am going to admit it. I had no clue what a widget was, but I was ashamed to ask anyone for a definition. Truth be told that in my crowd it's highly probable that nobody knew or even now knows the definition of widget.

Whenever I heard ‘widget' I thought of an ice scraper. I do not know why. Maybe widg, sounds like wedge, and you wedge the ice off on your windshield. I did pretty well on all those exams back in the day-SATs, GREs, etc. Maybe my brain was just jumping into that mode where you try to break down the word in order to decode or decipher the definition.

Anyway, when the lights finally turned on and I got up the guts to google the word widget, I finally learned that a widget and an ice scraper are not, in fact, synonyms. Can you believe it? I was shocked!

Two dictionaries actually date the word back to the 1920s as a synonym for the word gadget. Okay . . . well an ice scraper is a gadget, so I'm not so far off.

Well, our friends at Wikipedia say that widget is short for window gadget. A widget is a virtual button or icon that provides easy access or links to information--sort of like an 'easy button'. Widgets appear on a computer's desktop in order to access information quickly by clicking directly on the widget itself. Widgets can also be embedded into websites or blogs to provide quick links to relevant information or sites from one central access point.

Well . . . duh. I finally figured that out. But, how the heck do I insert a widget (window gadget) into a blog post? Maybe I'll need an ice scraper?