We Still Keep Hearing About Short Sales … Are They Real and Why Should We Do It?
Short sales are very real but they have become as confusing as the market itself. There are several aspects to a short sale when you are considering one. The first is to make sure you qualify, i.e.- you owe more than the property is worth (call your agent for a current value – things are changing quickly), have limited other assets, inability to pay, don’t own other real estate, etc., in other words … you have a genuine need for debt relief. Once you’ve determined that (not hard if you are truly qualified!) the next step is to consider options – short sale vs. foreclosure vs. bankruptcy. Each has it merits depending on your circumstances.
Bankruptcy is usually the least desirable. It can extend the time you can live in the home but has many extended adverse impacts on you, your credit, and your mind. Foreclosure is the likely option, inevitable in some cases, if you can’t or won’t put together a short sale. So what is the difference to you? 1. A short sale will typically last 3-4 years on your credit report. A foreclosure will be there 7 years. 2. With a short sale your credit is not as severely impacted. A foreclosure can reduce your FICO score up to 400 points. A short sale will impact it 50-180 depending on how it is reported. 3. A short sale is a more dignified solution. You sell your home to another person just like your neighbors do. A foreclosure often results in the home being vacant for months, signs promoting the bank ownership of the property, dead landscaping, etc. 4. It is usually easier to rent a home to move to with a short sale than after a foreclosure. Most landlords check credit on tenant applicants these days.
There is now tax relief due to a law passed last year and signed by President Bush in late December. It does not help every individual that gets mortgage relief, but it will help many. Regardless of the tax relief you get, or don’t get, it is generally better to control your own destiny and work to effect a short sale, or settled agreement with your lender.
Our Advice: The foreclosure option requires no action …don’t make your payment…wait until the date of the sale…and move out. The short sale requires marketing your property, providing the bank with proper documentation of your need including a hardship letter, financial statement, pay stubs, tax returns, bank statements, etc. - work on your part, often unpleasant because of your present financial circumstances, but it is usually worth it for the long term positive effect on you. Additionally, helping the lender out of their investment problem instead of forcing a foreclosure is something you can do to help the institution that committed to help you when you wanted help … when you wanted to buy your house. Make every effort to implement a short sale … you will be happier in the shorter-long run.
A short sale involves a lot of work by your agents, it also requires them to have specific knowledge of how to navigate the inevitable maze the corporate lender makes agents run through. If you are having difficulties making your payment call your agent immediately to explore your options. Waiting won’t solve the problem.
Experience is Priceless! Lisa Wetzel & Jim Valentine, RE/MAX Realty Affiliates, www.carsonvalleyland.com or www.carsonvalleyremax.com , email us at carsonvalleyland@hotmail.com 775-781-5472 toll free at 800-814-8799 ext. # 254.
Showing posts with label Forclosures in Nevada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Forclosures in Nevada. Show all posts
Friday, January 25, 2008
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
We Are Renting and Our Landlord is Having Money Problems … What Happens to Us?
One of the hidden casualties of the foreclosure crisis are the tenants. When the landlord doesn’t make the mortgage payment and the property sells at a foreclosure sale, most leases are worthless. Statistically, just over 20% of all foreclosures are rental properties. A foreclosure will most often trump a lease – the note and Deed of Trust were in place before the lease agreement was signed. Regardless of how long you’ve rented your home, how early you pay your rent, or how much you have improved the property – if the owner of the house isn’t making the payments you have great exposure of being evicted with very little warning after a foreclosure sale. Note: this does not occur in a conventional sale situation where the Buyer acquires the property subject to your lease terms and conditions.
Some precautions you can take include looking at your owner’s information online at the County Recorder’s site - you can get the name of how they hold title at the County Assessor’s site. If you see a Notice of Default, check the date. You will have approximately 120 days after that date before the property will sell. If you see a Notice of Sale, you have about three weeks. Either way – call your landlord to see if they intend to correct the situation … and how. He should understand that the consequences of his loss will dramatically affect you.
If your landlord is in default you might want to pay your rent into an escrow account and contact an attorney who specializes in foreclosure property issues. Other options: You can file a legal action against the landlord for non-performance on the lease, and try to recover expenses, damages and costs of relocating you incur as a result of the foreclosure. You can also try to contact the new owner (after the foreclosure sale – they likely won’t talk before the sale) and try to negotiate a short-term occupancy offering to protect the property for them while you search for new housing.
Our Advice: Keep an eye out for signs that your owner might be in financial trouble. Are people driving by looking at your house … even stopping to take pictures? Is the property suddenly on the market at a low price? Is your landlord suddenly screening calls? If you have a friend or relative that is renting be sure to share this information with them. Forewarned is forearmed. Imagine finding out one day that you have but three days to get out of your home! You will have to find a place, pack and move … or your belongings could be put on the street. It is a tough situation, but it is legal and real. Of all the proposed mortgage industry crisis solutions none so far have included remedies for non-owner occupied, investor owned, properties. If your landlord is in trouble he had better have resources to solve his problem for there is little chance help will be coming any time soon to stave off an imminent foreclosure.
No matter how good of a relationship you have with your wonderful landlord … desperate people do desperate things. If they are being squeezed financially and it becomes you or his family that will feel the pain … start packing. Be prepared and you will be fine. Experience is Priceless! Lisa Wetzel & Jim Valentine, RE/MAX Realty Affiliates, www.carsonvalleyland.com , 775-781-5472.
Some precautions you can take include looking at your owner’s information online at the County Recorder’s site - you can get the name of how they hold title at the County Assessor’s site. If you see a Notice of Default, check the date. You will have approximately 120 days after that date before the property will sell. If you see a Notice of Sale, you have about three weeks. Either way – call your landlord to see if they intend to correct the situation … and how. He should understand that the consequences of his loss will dramatically affect you.
If your landlord is in default you might want to pay your rent into an escrow account and contact an attorney who specializes in foreclosure property issues. Other options: You can file a legal action against the landlord for non-performance on the lease, and try to recover expenses, damages and costs of relocating you incur as a result of the foreclosure. You can also try to contact the new owner (after the foreclosure sale – they likely won’t talk before the sale) and try to negotiate a short-term occupancy offering to protect the property for them while you search for new housing.
Our Advice: Keep an eye out for signs that your owner might be in financial trouble. Are people driving by looking at your house … even stopping to take pictures? Is the property suddenly on the market at a low price? Is your landlord suddenly screening calls? If you have a friend or relative that is renting be sure to share this information with them. Forewarned is forearmed. Imagine finding out one day that you have but three days to get out of your home! You will have to find a place, pack and move … or your belongings could be put on the street. It is a tough situation, but it is legal and real. Of all the proposed mortgage industry crisis solutions none so far have included remedies for non-owner occupied, investor owned, properties. If your landlord is in trouble he had better have resources to solve his problem for there is little chance help will be coming any time soon to stave off an imminent foreclosure.
No matter how good of a relationship you have with your wonderful landlord … desperate people do desperate things. If they are being squeezed financially and it becomes you or his family that will feel the pain … start packing. Be prepared and you will be fine. Experience is Priceless! Lisa Wetzel & Jim Valentine, RE/MAX Realty Affiliates, www.carsonvalleyland.com , 775-781-5472.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Where Have All the Buyers Gone?
We’re on the market but aren’t getting showings … where are the Buyers?
Our initial response is to address your price … are you priced right? That is elementary and essential. Assuming your price is right let’s look at today’s Buyers. Buyers today are very informed. They generally know the market, what is going on in the community, what is going on in the financial/lending world, and the many other factors that can affect market dynamics. This information is available on the internet, in print publications, and other media. They know what is happening so-o-o … “Where are the Buyers?”
There are Buyers actively shopping and making offers to buy. Their quantity is not what it was a couple of years ago, and there are many, many more properties available for them to buy. What is changing is where people are buying. When the Carson Valley real estate got too pricey a few years back people went to Dayton for affordability and investment opportunity. As Dayton got priced up they went to Yerington. As the prices came down this scenario unwound, the Yerington market slowed, Dayton slowed and they came back to the Carson Valley which is now quite affordable.
It doesn’t end there. Our market has been driven by people moving in from out of state, primarily from California. For some time we’ve waited for those people to sell their homes thinking that their slow market was causing our market to stall. Now we are seeing some of those markets so price decimated that the need or desire to buy in our market isn’t what it was. Investors that were investing in Northern Nevada can buy properties in their local market in the $300,000 range that were in the $500,000’s a few years ago. They are investing locally. Likewise, people that wanted the lifestyle of a $500,000 home, and were coming to Nevada to get it can stay home and achieve it today without moving to Nevada. Those coming for tax relief? Most people in the $300,000 price range aren’t that dramatically affected by the Nevada tax relief and many are now staying home.
Our Advice: If you are determined to sell in this market … price it right. There is no substitute. Your agent can’t buy an ad big enough to overcome improper pricing. Look ahead – where are you going and what will selling your property do for you. The market will change in time – it is up to you to decide if you are going to wait for it, or act now and achieve your immediate real estate goals. Don’t be hung up on price or value – it is your position in the market that counts. That will get you where you’re going.
Be aware of where you are positioned in the market. The Buyers know your market position… which may be why you aren’t getting showings.
Experience is Priceless! Lisa Wetzel & Jim Valentine, RE/MAX Realty Affiliates, www.carsonvalleyland.com, 775-781-5472. Email us at carsonvalleyland@hotmail.com
Our initial response is to address your price … are you priced right? That is elementary and essential. Assuming your price is right let’s look at today’s Buyers. Buyers today are very informed. They generally know the market, what is going on in the community, what is going on in the financial/lending world, and the many other factors that can affect market dynamics. This information is available on the internet, in print publications, and other media. They know what is happening so-o-o … “Where are the Buyers?”
There are Buyers actively shopping and making offers to buy. Their quantity is not what it was a couple of years ago, and there are many, many more properties available for them to buy. What is changing is where people are buying. When the Carson Valley real estate got too pricey a few years back people went to Dayton for affordability and investment opportunity. As Dayton got priced up they went to Yerington. As the prices came down this scenario unwound, the Yerington market slowed, Dayton slowed and they came back to the Carson Valley which is now quite affordable.
It doesn’t end there. Our market has been driven by people moving in from out of state, primarily from California. For some time we’ve waited for those people to sell their homes thinking that their slow market was causing our market to stall. Now we are seeing some of those markets so price decimated that the need or desire to buy in our market isn’t what it was. Investors that were investing in Northern Nevada can buy properties in their local market in the $300,000 range that were in the $500,000’s a few years ago. They are investing locally. Likewise, people that wanted the lifestyle of a $500,000 home, and were coming to Nevada to get it can stay home and achieve it today without moving to Nevada. Those coming for tax relief? Most people in the $300,000 price range aren’t that dramatically affected by the Nevada tax relief and many are now staying home.
Our Advice: If you are determined to sell in this market … price it right. There is no substitute. Your agent can’t buy an ad big enough to overcome improper pricing. Look ahead – where are you going and what will selling your property do for you. The market will change in time – it is up to you to decide if you are going to wait for it, or act now and achieve your immediate real estate goals. Don’t be hung up on price or value – it is your position in the market that counts. That will get you where you’re going.
Be aware of where you are positioned in the market. The Buyers know your market position… which may be why you aren’t getting showings.
Experience is Priceless! Lisa Wetzel & Jim Valentine, RE/MAX Realty Affiliates, www.carsonvalleyland.com, 775-781-5472. Email us at carsonvalleyland@hotmail.com
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