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Need a Short Sale Expert?

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Services for Real Estate Pros with MetroBrokersTV.com

Is a short sale the right thing for you? Matt Tolooee of Metro Real Estate Group knows how to handle short sales in Colorado Springs. Call Matt at 719-310-5185.

Interviewer: Hi, this is Metro Brokers TV; I'm here today with Matt Tolooee with Metro Real Estate Group. Matt, tell us a little bit about short sales?

Matt Tolooee: It's good to be here.

Short sales, as many years as they've been around and we've been having to deal with them, a lot of people don't know what short sales are.

In a nutshell, a short sale is a transaction by which the bank takes less money than is owed on the property. So, if you owe $150,000 and, due to market conditions, the property is worth $100,000; the bank is willing to take a $50,000 deficiency.

You have to qualify for a short sale. There has to be a financial hardship- a divorce or something. There is a list of them, and the bank has to approve and there are different kinds of short sales.

In a best case scenario, you can do the short sale, the deficiency is forgiven, and you get some sort of relocation assistance at the time of closing. But, the worst case scenario is that they don't approve you for a short sale.

Interviewer: Right.

Matt Tolooee: But yeah, there are options out there for people who are upside down with their homes and they've gone through a financial distress.

Interviewer: Well tell us then a little bit about the foreclosure process.

Matt Tolooee: The foreclosure process really is, after about a month or two or typically about three months of a property owner missing payments, the bank starts conversations- in the State of Colorado we are a trustee sale- so they begin talking with a public trustee who begins public notification putting the home owner on notice that if they don't come clean and take care of their back dues within four months, (they have about 120 days from the time the notice goes out) that the property goes through foreclosure.

So the foreclosure process takes about three months at the beginning and another four months; that's about seven months total. The key thing in here is, if people are doing a short sale, with most banks, their short sale department and their foreclosure departments don't talk to each other much. But 99% of the time if there's a short sale in progress, the short sale department communicates with the foreclosure department to delay the auction.

But it's really nerve-racking for the home-owners as they are going through the process and they say, "Why they are foreclosing on me, I got a short sale" but that's because how the banks are structured.

Interviewer: Now are you working with a lot of second home buyers right now?

Matt Tolooee: Yeah, it's been interesting, over time banks have really come to terms that, you know, it's not just the primary home owners, majority of the short sales are for owner occupied properties, but there are some cases, I've done several, where the second home owner, the second home for these home owners they were able to do a short sale. Most of the banks if you really think about it, if you give them a compelling reason that you are where you are and there were some good reasons; health reasons that you had to move to another property at a higher elevation for example and now you need to sell this one, they work with you. So Bank of America was one of the pioneers in this area and I've worked with Bank of America and CHFA (Colorado Housing & Finance Authority) and a number of other banks.

Interviewer: How would you describe the current housing market, at this time?

Matt Tolooee: The housing market is looking really good; especially at $250,000 and below. The interest rates are helping tremendously. We've got situations where banks are offering as low as 2.75% interest to 3.25%, so it's almost free money. And people with good credit, $250,000 to $300,000 and below, they are looking at those options; they are saying,"Hey this is much better than renting!"

So as far as buyers, there are still some good deals out there in the $300,000 range and below. And as far as sellers, we're seeing some price appreciation because there's a large demand due to the short interest rates. In the $400 to $500 million range, I think there's still room for them to adjust and correct.

Interviewer: Well Matt, tell us how customers can reach you.

Matt Tolooee: Matt Tolooee in Colorado Springs, Colorado. My phone number is 719-310-5185, and my website is www.Metro-RealEstateGroup.com.

Interviewer: Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for joining us today.

Matt Tolooee: Thank you.

Interviewer: For more real estate related videos please join us online at Metro Brokers TV.

 

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