Just recently, I wrote an offer on a bank owned property in the Big Bear valley for a client of mine. When I first me these clients, they were already pre-approved and ready to move forward once they found the home that they wanted. Well, it didn't take long for my clients to find the perfect cabin and we sat down to write an offer. One of the requirements from the bank that was offering the property for sale was that the potential buyer needed to be pre-qualified through the listing bank. My clients were not very happy with the idea of having to go through the pre-qualification process once again, especially as they were pre-approved for far more than they were looking to spend. Can the bank really require you to pre-qualify with them before they'll look at the offer? The answer is Yes!
I've been asked by a number of people if the banks can make you pre-qualify through their lender, even when you plan to use your lender of choice. The answer to this question is simply yes. Not only can the bank ask you to pre-qualify with their lenders, a lot of them won't look at your offer unless you are pre qualified with them. If you want to buy a bank owned home, you're going to learn very quickly that the bank is in the driver seat. If you want to buy a bank owned property, be prepared to jump through hoops that you may feel are a little odd.
2096 Cedar Lane is cute 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home located on a 8,000 square foot street to street lot. With the large lot, there is no problem with parking. Bring your boat or RV and you will have no trouble finding parking.
The entire 1400 square foot home has quality wood flooring throughout. The only exceptions are the bedrooms. The bedrooms have been carpeted with a top quality carpet.
For more information on this home or any of my other listings, please email me at tony@tonycard.com or call me at 909 436 8043
I was reading through a Real Estate forum yesterday when I came across a consumer asking the question, "How Much Should I offer On a House?" The majority of the responses were statements like, Offer 80% of asking price, or my all time favorite answer was LOWBALL the seller. I'm sorry, but in my opinion, this is not giving a potential buyer in any market good advice! Real Estate is just like the weather, it's local. If you want to know what the weather is like in San Francisco, you are not going to listen to the weather reports for Boston. What is happening in the Real Estate market in Rancho Cucamonga has nothing to do with what the Real Estate market is doing in Big Bear. Just because you might be able to low ball a seller in San Bernardino doesn't mean that the same tactic will work in Big Bear. As I said earlier, just like the weather, every market is different and must be looked at from that point of view.
You may live in a market where the percentage of bank owned, REO properties accounts for 50% of the inventory. Or, you could live in Big Bear where the number of bank owned, REO properties accounts for less than 10% of the inventory. If you're trying to buy in a market where just about every other home is a bank owned property, you may be able to get away with offering far less than the asking price. But, if you are trying to buy a bank owned property in a market where only 1 in 10 homes are bank owned, and the banks are pricing the homes aggressively, then any offer made at 80% of list price is marked for failure. It drives me crazy when these Realtor's make these blanket statements like you should low ball the seller, or hey, it's a Buyer's market. They don't know what they're talking about!
Here is an example about why you need to look at each market separately. As I mentioned earlier, Big Bear has an inventory where less than 10% of the homes listed for sale are bank owned. Yet, those 10% of homes make up for more than 60% of the sales. With those kinds of numbers, the bank owned property not only sells quickly, but it sells for asking price or more in many cases. It's not uncommon to see multiple offers on bank owned properties and bidding wars develop over the property.
So, when you start looking to buy Real Estate, don't go into it the deal thinking that what worked the last time you bought a home is going to work now. Don't go into it with the idea that I am the buyer and the seller should be lucky to that I'm looking at his property. Just remember this. You are not the only buyer!
For more information on the Real Estate market in Big Bear, contact Tony Card and tony@tonycard.com
While previewing property in Big Bear today and looked at some really good listings as well as some that I thought were overpriced. Some of these well priced listings were homes being sold as short sales. Whenever I see a home being sold as a short sale, I start to wonder if this is a property that can be sold as a short sale. You see, many agents in Big Bear take these listings without ever checking to see if the home qualifies for the short sale. When they speak to the home owner, they tell them what the house is worth. When they find out that the person owes more than the current market value; they automatically suggest a short sale. There are others who decide that because they now owe more on the home than it's worth, they will simply short sale it and get rid of it. It's not quite that simple!
What does it take to qualify a home for a short sale?
The first thing piece of the short sale puzzle is that the property owner must be in a financial hardship if he keeps the property. The property owner will be asked to document in writing what the hardship is. The next piece of the puzzle is the banks willingness to work with the home owner on a short sale. A call needs to be made to your lenders loss mitigation dept. to see what options are available for you. Lenders have different trigger points that they must explore before selling the property short or foreclosing on it. Once the decision is made that you are going to sell the home as a short sale, you will need to gather some financial documentation that is going to be required. For example, the bank will normally ask for two years of tax statements, you're last two months bank statements, two months of paystubs, your financial statement and our hardship letter.
Picking your Realtor to sell your Short Sale.
Once you have the bank's blessing to sell the property short and you have all of your documentation in place, the next step is to find a qualified Realtor who is experienced in Short Sales. You want to find a Realtor who is experienced in listing and selling short sale homes. The last thing you want is a Realtor with no experience in short sales. When you interview your Realtor, don't be afraid to ask them how many Short Sales they have closed. The Realtor should be asking you questions about your hardship, contacts with the bank, and they should be asking about how many loans you have against the property. If they are not asking questions like this, then be careful about hiring him as your Realtor. Once you have chosen your Realtor, let him do his job. He is going to list the property for what it's worth and not what you owe. The value that your Realtor is going to put on the property is a value that he can substantiate with comparable sales. There may be a large difference between what you owe and what the Realtor is suggesting that you sell for. Again, listen to him and follow his advice.
I'm a Realtor who specializes in Short Sales and Bank Owned properties in the Big Bear Valley in Southern California. If you are interested in buying a Short Sale, or need to sell a cabin the Big Bear Valley, please let me know. I am happy to answer any of your questions and help you in any way that I can
If you're in the market for a Short Sale property in the Big Bear area, finding the right agent to help you is going to be paramount in being successful in your endeavor.
I was out on the Big Bear Multiple Listing Tour today and all I could hear were agents complaining about short sales. Many of these agents I spoke with today feel that the quickest way to lose a client is to make an offer on short sale. Others flat out said that they won't make an offer on a short sale, regardless of what the client wants.
I completely disagree with the agents who have this mind set. There are reasons why these agents aren't getting short sales accepted. Either, they're not asking the right questions of the seller's agent, or they simply don't know what they're doing. Short Sales are not hard to negotiate as long as you know what you're doing.
Before I write an offer on Short Sale, I am asking the listing agent if the seller has contacted the bank and I want to know if the bank is willing to work with a short sale. I want to know if the seller submitted his Short Sale package to the bank. I also want to know if the listing agent has been in contact with the loss mitigation department. If the answer back from the listing agent to these questions is no, then I will be cautioning my buyer against that house. The reason for this is that so many agents list a home as a short sale with no idea as to what they are doing. Waiting for an offer to come in is not the time to see if the bank is interested in doing a short sale. Waiting for an offer to come in is not the time to see if the seller qualifies for a short sale. Waiting for the offer to arrive is not the best time to start putting the short sale package together. To be successful in selling a home as a short sale, there is work that the listing agent needs to do before he lists the property.
As the buyer, you need to be ready to act once the short sale is approved. In every short sale that I've closed so far, I am seeing that the bank wants the escrow to close as soon as possible once they approve it. Most banks want to see the escrow closed within fourteen days after they have accept the offer. What this means to the buyer is he may need to do his home inspection before the bank has approved the short sale. H may need to spend the money on the appraisal and get the loan ready for loan approval before the bank approves the deal. The worst case is that the buyer could be out of pocket a few hundred dollars if the deal doesn't go through. But if it all works out, you are most likely going to be getting a great deal on a house and the risk is worth taking.
If you're interested in buying a short sale property in Big Bear, give me a call or send me an email. I am happy to help you!
Do you own a cabin in the Big Bear Valley that you can no longer afford? Are you stuck in an adjustable rate mortgage? Were you planning to refinance the loan, only to find out that the cabin isn't worth what you bought it for? Are you behind on your mortgage payments? Has the bank filed a notice of default against you? Are you afraid of losing your cabin to a foreclosure? If any of these answers is yes, you may have some options that will help you avoid the foreclosure.
Instead of losing the home to foreclosure, why not sell it as a Short Sale? Under certain circumstances, you can sell your home for less than you owe the bank. You ask, why would the bank let you sell your cabin for less than you owe? In the current economic situation, many homes have mortgage balances against them that are far more than they are worth. The banks have figured out that it may be better for them to sell the property short of what is owed against it rather than foreclose. By the time the bank pays for the foreclosure and they look at the time it takes to foreclose, they may be better off working with the owner on a short sale.
For a short sale to be successful, a few things must fall into place. First and foremost, the bank must be willing to work with you on a short sale and you must be able to prove that keeping the home is creating a real hardship. There will be some other financial forms that the bank will want to see, such as the last 2 years tax statements, the last two months of bank statements and a current pay stub. Some banks will want you to send all of the information in to them at that point and others will ask that your Realtor hold on to it and present it with any offers that come in.
Once you know that the bank is going to work with you on a Short Sale and you have your paperwork in place, the key to being successful is to list the property with a Realtor who is experienced in dealing with Short Sales. Listen to what he tells you with regard to a price. Don't get hung up on the difference between what you owe and what the Realtor wants to ask for the property. After all, we are listing the home for what it is worth in today's market and not what you owe.
Once you have an offer that is acceptable, sign the offer and get it back to your Realtor right away. Once it is signed, it will be sent to the bank with the rest of the short sale package. The first step for the bank will be to assign the short sale package to a negotiator. Once the negotiator has the offer, he will ask for a independent agent to do a Brokers Price Opinion. Once the bank has the value they can they determine if the price offered in the short sale what the home is worth. It may be less than the value on the house, but when the figure in how much it is going to cost to foreclose, they may take it.
The biggest thing to keep in mind as a buyer or seller is that whenever you deal with a short sale, it is going to take some time.
If you have any questions about the short sale process or you need to sell your cabin in Big Bear, please contact me. Let me help you with any of your Real Estate needs in the Big Bear Valley
About a month ago I took a listing on a property in Big Bear. The listing that I took was not a Short Sale or a Bank Owned property. It was a homeowner who needs to sell his home. When we discussed the value of the home, I explained to the owners that while the market analysis shows that the home is worth X amount of dollars, the true test will come from the number of showings recorded in the lock box.
I tell all of my clients when I list their home, that the lock box is more than just a place to store the keys. In Big Bear, our lock boxes keep a record of everyone that enters the house. This is good information from a security standpoint, but it also tells us the rest of the marketing story. By keeping track of the number of showings recorded in the Big Bear lock box, we can get a feel for whether or not we priced the home correctly. For example, if the lock box shows that the cabin is getting ten showings a month, I can report back to my client with confidence that we have priced the cabin correctly and we are simply waiting for the right buyer to see the place. But after thirty days of being listed in the Big Bear Multiple Listing Service I find that I have one to two showing, something is wrong! One to two showings in a month tells me that the market feels that your home is overpriced. You see, when I list your cabin for sale, I need to sell it twice. First off, I need to sell your cabin to the other Real Estate agents in Big Bear, and second, I need to sell the cabin to a buyer. If the other agents see the value of the home at the listed price, then they're going to show it. If, however they feel that the home is overpriced, they won't show it.
When I reported back to my clients that we were not getting the showing activity that is needed to bring an offer, the seller was rather offended. His comments back to me were that he felt that the agents were all in collusion. They felt that it was a conspiracy perpetrated by the Real Estate agents in Big Bear to drive the price down on his home. Remember, it is the market that dictates the value of a home, not me, not the owner, and not the other agents. The home, whether in Big Bear or anywhere else, is only worth what the market will pay. The market in Big Bear is being driven by the bank owned, REO properties and if you want to sell your own cabin in Big Bear, you need to price your home accordingly. If you price your home so that it stands out as the best deal out there in comparison your competition, then the place will sell.
Sellers are very proud of their homes and it's a hard pill to swallow when you are forced to sell your home for less than you paid for it and for less than you feel its worth. This is the reason why I ask a seller why he is selling in this market. This is not a market to see "what if". This is a market where if you chose to sell your cabin, you need to price it right and not be afraid to reduce the price if your Realtor suggests that you do it.
For more information about Real Estate in the Big Bear Valley, send me an email at tony@tonycard.com or call me at the office, 909 866-3481
One of the first questions that I ask a potential seller when I arrive at his house to discuss listing his home is, do you really need to sell? If they answer that question with no, then my recommendation is to hold on to the property. I'm sure that this sounds funny coming from someone who makes his living listing and selling real estate in Big Bear. That being said, before I take a listing I make sure that the seller really needs to sell the property and I also need to make sure that he can afford to sell the property. The reason I am asking these questions is that I need to make sure that the home owner is in a position to compete with the bank owned properties if he needs too.
The few bank owned properties that list in the Big Bear market are driving the market. I checked the Big Bear Multiple listing service this morning and out of 895 residential listings, 51 of them are bank owned. Just over 5 % of the current inventory is bank owned properties yet they account for 60% of the overall sales. The bank doesn't want the homes in their inventory, so when they list the property, they price them to sell. It is not uncommon to see multiple offers on these properties and they normally sell very quickly.
Every week I post a list of bank owned properties that are for sale in Big Bear. Below is the list that is current as of May 4, 2009. Feel free to email me with questions about these listings or any other issues relating to real estate in Big Bear.
In 2003 I started selling Real Estate for the Tim Wood Group at Coldwell Banker in Big Bear. I remember those days well. When you wrote an offer on Big Bear property, you worked with the seller to try and write the cleanest and strongest offer possible. It was not uncommon to see multiple offers on these listings and you wanted your offer to stand out as being the best offer presented to the seller.
The market has changed tremendously since 2003 yet there are some similarities. With the decline in the stock market, many investors have pulled their money out and are now buying Real Estate. They aren't out in the market buying just any home. The buyers of today are looking for the best deal possible. It's not uncommon to see a bank owned property list in the Big Bear Multiple Listing Service at a great price, only to find that it has multiple offers on it. Even though it's a Buyer's market the structure of an offer is just as important today as it was back in 2003. The Big Bear multiple listing services have 928 residential listings and out of that 928 listings, 55 of them are bank owned properties. What is really interesting is when you take a look at what is selling this year. Since January 1, 2009 there have been 218 residential sales recorded through the Big Bear Multiple Listing Service. Of the 218 home sales, 98 of the sales were bank owned properties. Almost 50% of the home sales in the Big Bear valley in 2009 have been bank owned properties.
What does this mean if you are a home owner in the Big Bear Valley? How does this affect you if you want to sell your cabin? Here is a good example of what I'm talking about. I'm working with a seller right now who doesn't understand that he is competing with bank owned properties. His thought process is that not only did he pay more for the home that it is listed for, but he also spent a lot of money in a re model. He doesn't understand that it doesn't matter what he paid for the property. He hasn't figured out that it doesn't matter how much money he has spent on the property. If he is going to be successful in selling his property, it is going to come down to price. The question is what should he price his home at so that he can compete with the bank owned properties. What price does he need to place on his home so that it stands out as being the best deal out there? Until he is ready to make that kind of price adjustment, the house is not going to sell.
As a buyer who is looking to get a great deal on a property, there has never been a better time than now to buy. Interest rates are at an all time low and there are some great properties for sale.
For more information on real estate in the Big Bear valley, give me a call at 909 866 3481 or email me at tony@tonycard.com
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
About a month ago I took a listing on a property in Big Bear. The listing that I took was not a Short Sale or a Bank Owned property. It was a homeowner who needs to sell his home. When we discussed the value of the home, I explained to the owners that while the market analysis shows that the home is worth X amount of dollars, the true test will come from the number of showings recorded in the lock box. 
I tell all of my clients when I list their home, that the lock box is more than just a place to store the keys. In Big Bear, our lock boxes keep a record of everyone that enters the house. This is good information from a security standpoint, but it also tells us the rest of the marketing story. By keeping track of the number of showings recorded in the Big Bear lock box, we can get a feel for whether or not we priced the home correctly. For example, if the lock box shows that the cabin is getting ten showings a month, I can report back to my client with confidence that we have priced the cabin correctly and we are simply waiting for the right buyer to see the place. But after thirty days of being listed in the Big Bear Multiple Listing Service I find that I have one to two showing, something is wrong! One to two showings in a month tells me that the market feels that your home is overpriced. You see, when I list your cabin for sale, I need to sell it twice. First off, I need to sell your cabin to the other Real Estate agents in Big Bear, and second, I need to sell the cabin to a buyer. If the other agents see the value of the home at the listed price, then they're going to show it. If, however they feel that the home is overpriced, they won't show it. 
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