short sales: 5 Steps to Avoid Foreclosure in Howard County - Step 5 - 03/10/11 11:12 PM
Step 5 – Consider Tax and Future Ramifications So you’ve researched, Realtored, and worked together quickly as a Team.  (Steps 1-4)  It’s also very important that you consider the tax and future ramifications of the short sale of your Howard County home.
When this short sale phenomenon began a few years back, there was a lot more push back from the lenders, who wanted to retaining the right to pursue a deficiency judgment against you for the balance of the monies they didn’t get back as a result of the short sale.  You will want your Realtor to ensure negotiations with … (0 comments)

short sales: 5 Steps to Avoid Foreclosure in Howard County MD - Step 4 - 03/09/11 11:34 PM
Step 4 – Fully Participate
Help your Howard County Realtor help you get your house sold.  Selling a house, whether it’s a short sale or not, is really a team effort: the Sellers and the Realtor working together to achieve the same goal.  So when you hire an experienced short sale agent, listen to them.
Do what your Realtor says is necessary to get the house ready to sell – decluttering, staging – time spent here will REDUCE the time spent waiting for an offer. Understand that the pricing strategy will be different than for a regular sale; the price has … (2 comments)

short sales: 5 Steps to Avoid Foreclosure in Howard County MD - Step 3 - 03/08/11 10:16 PM
Step 3 – Call Today – Don’t Delay! Every day counts in terms of getting the short sale process started and beginning to negotiate with your mortgage company(ies).  Don’t wait!  Get a Realtor involved immediately!  (Need a Realtor?  See my last blogpost on Finding a Realtor.)
First, your Realtor will need to get your house listed, just like in a regular Howard County MD home sale.  And hopefully, fully marketed, photographed, staged, the works.  Maximum exposure immediately in order to attract a buyer and bring forth an offer to present to the bank.
At the same time, you’ll be authorizing your … (2 comments)

short sales: 5 Steps to Avoid Foreclosure in Howard County MD - Step 2 - 03/07/11 11:02 PM
Step 2 – Find A Realtor This is key.  It is truly important that you find a real estate agent that has done a short sale before and taken the time to do some of the intensive short sale training out there, one who is truly familiar with the process.   And, as the short sale adventure has moved and twisted and changed, that they’ve kept up with those bumps and turns.
A Realtor who has completed the Certified Distressed Property Expert® (CDPE) training has a thorough understanding of complex issues in today’s turbulent real estate industry and knowledge of foreclosure avoidance … (0 comments)

short sales: 5 Steps to Avoid Foreclosure in Howard County MD - Step 1 - 03/07/11 01:53 AM
Step 1 – Do Your Research Things not going well?  House value upside-down?  Can’t see a way out?  Unfortunately, you’re not alone.  But more unfortunately, many Howard County, Maryland homeowners go straight into foreclosure, rather than seeking and receiving help from their lender and a local, knowledgeable Realtor.  Don’t let this happen to you!
Here are some of the UNNECESSARY possible complications of going to foreclosure, rather than hiring a Realtor to short sale your house:
Credit Score:  A foreclosure will lower your credit score 250-300 points, affecting your credit score for over three years.  A short sale, best case, could … (0 comments)

short sales: 5 Steps to Selling Your Howard County Home in 2011 - Step 1 - 03/01/11 05:11 AM
Step 1:  Research Your Pricing.
Assemble a little Howard County pre-research first, both the similarities and the differences.  This should give you a good determination of what a buyer would agree to pay for a home like yours, and what it would be apt to appraise for.  And ask yourself, what would YOU pay for your home if you were the buyer, looking at the same comps?
At this point, it’s best to go back to paragraph #1 again, looking at your research, and then remembering why you’re selling.  Be realistic when pricing your home.  Don’t suddenly forget your research … (2 comments)

short sales: Short Sale Negotiators - Driving Me Batty - 11/18/09 11:23 PM
Well, I'm crossing my fingers AND my toes on 2 different short sales right now, both of which I have NO control over now (Having done everything possibly necessary already!)
Scenario #1 - My Sellers - Under contract waiting for third party approval for almost 6 months - approval from both lenders now, inconsistencies between the two still needing to be worked out (we're waiting) and meanwhile, the buyer's now asking for the sellers' furniture.  OMG, as my 12-year old would text!  Not like she's not already getting a lovely home, a great deal, and a great school district!  Still crossing the … (0 comments)

short sales: Dear President Obama - We'd like to offer our help... - 11/15/09 12:57 AM

Dear President Obama,
We'd like to offer our help...  We know you're busy, and have made it a point of surrounding yourself with the experts, from which to pull the knowledge and expertise, from which you're doing your very best to solve a lot of issues on your plate.  And thanks for all you're doing!
With regards to the housing mess, rewarding the banks monetarily for foreclosures is at odds with working to improve the economic picture, with helping to keep neighborhoods intact, families in their homes, and children in their schools.  SUCCESSFUL loan modifications and SUCCESSFUL short sales.  That's what … (3 comments)

short sales: Is there Short Sale Relief in Sight? - 11/02/09 10:50 PM
SO if it's true, as reported by Carrie Bay, DS News, that Equator (nee REOTrans) has launched a new Short Sale Platform, to be used post-haste by an as-yet-to-be-named (though they then named it! - Bank of America) bank to process - quickly, cleanly, efficiently - their short sales -- THEN will that mark the begining of the end of the professional short sale negotiators who have been collecting fees up front from sellers to negotiate with the sellers' banks, oft times to no avail?
Let's hope that as the process is technologically streamlined, that the best-of-the-best negotiators remain.  Here's hoping!
… (5 comments)