Cape Coral Real Estate

In the field, we all agree, it’s a seller’s market now. Several major cities in the country show a solid level of activity that increase Real Estate prices slowly but steadily. And Cape Coral is no exception. I see we are headed to a much more normal market now, and the fact that we just got below the 200 foreclosures mark for Lee County is a good sign.

As I often say to my clients over the phone or email, we had a peak of 1,085 foreclosure at any given day in December 2010. Today, we had 196 foreclosures. And that number is decreasing on a daily basis. So we are inexorably entering a much more normal market.

Congratulations to all buyers who bought a property ion Cape Coral or around last year or even in 2010. They officially bought at bottom. And I predict that if they hold for another 3 to 5 years, they will build some great equity in their properties.

And for those who were on the fence, waiting for the best deal to appear to them, that boat has sailed away. We are in a seller’s market and purchase prices at asking prices or higher are not uncommon. I even see multiple offers on a majority of the deal I come across.

Knowing that Lee County in general and Cape Coral in particular have the lowest single family priced in the country, I have a lots of demand for properties under $100,000. But those buyers have a hard time to get in now, hardly finding anything just decent.

Comments (0) Apr 21 2012

If 2012 is your year for home hunting and purchase, here is a list of 5 things you should consider to do NOW before anything else.

1. 1. Check your credit. And I’m serious about that. Make a copy of your credit report online and review anything that can show negative transaction. Call the credit bureau in charge and fix your problem. There is nothing worse than finding the perfect home at the perfect price, getting ready with the down payment and everything and learn that you have been denied because of your bad credit. So, if there is any problem there, fix it now.

1. 2. Do your homework. Do you research online about 1 month before buying. Check the neighborhood, the market value, compare the foreclosure with the regular market, learn about short sale and see if it’s for you. Shop around for the best terms mortgage out there, call 4 or 5 mortgage broker and compare what they need and they fees/expenses. Ask them what documents you need to be qualified. Ask to be approved for a loan before even getting out to see properties. It’s frustrating to fall in love with a home that is price at $10,000 more than you can afford. Everything else will be disappointing at that point!

1. 3. Fluff up your down payment. Make sure to have a full understanding of the money you have to bring at closing, all fees including. Again, it’s frustrating to be short of a couple of thousands dollars in front of the home of your dreams. Get your finance in place and ready to go.

1. 4. Grow your cash. You’re gonna to move. So double check all that stuff that you didn’t use for the last 12 months or more. You won’t probably never use it ever. So make a big yard sale of that stuff, sell them on ebay or on craigslist and keep the money for your down payment or for some work you’ll need to do in your new home, like painting or new moldings.

1. 5. Be prepared. If you want to purchase a great deal, like a foreclosure, be prepared. I wrote a guideline about being prepared to make an offer on a foreclosure: Cape Coral Foreclosure . I have come across a lot of excited people like kids in front of a toy getting frustrated with those above asking price multiple offers. So being psychologically prepared will help you to handle your purchase.

Once you have everything ready and you have prepared yourself for your 2012 home purchase, feel free to give me a call at 239-240-7346 and I’ll prepare some visits and will help you during your transaction to make it as smooth as possible.

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Comments (0) Dec 17 2011

Do you think you can write an offer on a Cape Coral foreclosure for sale without the help of an agent? The answer is a big YES!

If you think about it, my guess is you want to save the typical 6% commission that we make. If it’s the case, you are completely mistaken. First, our commissions are not set to be 6%. It’s negotiable. And in the foreclosure and REO world, it’s the bank that decides how much they really want to pay. Most agents doing foreclosure make about 1 to 2% of the closed price as the seller representative. So the buyer’s agent is really doing something like 2 to 4%. In that case, if you represent yourself for that foreclosure home purchase, you’re really saving about those 2 to 4% commission.

Now, prepare yourself to get an accepted offer on that Cape Coral foreclosure house for sale. You will need a few things checked with the listing agent, and I have been in contact with most of them, they use to be very difficult if they are not in front of another agent because they think they’ll have to do all the work believing that you won’t be able to do your part:

• What kind of paperwork do they want?  Typical is proof of funds, pre-approval letter from your bank, etc…
• How many offers are on the property? Maybe it is a multiple offers situation already.
• Is there a mandatory minimum MLS marketing time?
• How do they want to receive your offer?  Fax, website or email.

So, once you have all that done, you’ll be able to put a good offer but you will need to know something important: the price. Don’t google that. You will not be able to rely on sites like Zillow or Trulia for pricing. They are not accurate. Hire an appraiser instead, especially if you do not have access to your local MLS. The point here is that you don’t want to pay too much or too little. Too much and you may overpay for the property and too little,you may lose the home to higher bidder.

You can also read this buying a foreclosure in Cape Coral post for more tips.

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Comments (0) Sep 26 2011

I read a great news about a new concept of homes to be build in the Cape. It’s actually a home with $0 energy bill, and that’s attractive. Go green and keep it!

Many American have jumped on the “Go Green” idea inside the past couple of years. One Cape Coral builder says that although green is great, zero is far better.

Ravenwood Homes lately launched their series of Net Zero and High Performance Homes. The houses are aiming to either cut property energy costs by over 50% or cut them out fully.

Energy efficiency has been built into higher end houses for awhile, but Ravenwood Houses say they desire to offer those exact same power efficiencies towards the average buyer of 1,500 square foot houses too as the million dollar houses.

Ravenwood Homes partner Reed Schweizer says the company has been working on the idea for the past two years. Schweizer says like numerous neighborhood builders they had been working predominately remodeling jobs throughout the slow economy, but felt in order to remain competitive they needed to appear at the future of actual estate. Then 1 day Schweizer says he received a call from Dave Jenkins, “It was during that conversation with Dave we had what you’d call an “a-ha moment”. We had been talking about power efficiency and also the ‘green’ movement that has swept the globe over the past couple of years and thought why not take it to the subsequent level and appear at creating houses with minimal to no energy costs,” said Schweizer.

With energy expenses rising and seeing that chances of declining rates within the future were slim to none, Ravenwood began thinking about the concept of offering houses comparable to other builders with no energy costs, “We must change the way individuals feel when purchasing a house. Property buyers ought to not just take into consideration the expense with the residence construction, but the ongoing expenses soon after they move in,” says Schwiezer.

With that in mind the organization began working with their subcontractors to create houses that were power efficient in methods not noticed in this location just before. Adding solar panels, high efficient air conditioning units, high quality insulation as well as the actual design and structure itself the company feels it now has the ideal power effective houses.

The builder has developed the Net Zero Houses, which come with solar panels equipped and the High Performance Homes which don’t incorporate solar panels, but can be added at a later date for an additional expense.

The other aim of Ravenwood was to make the energy efficient houses and make them cost-effective towards the typical residence buyer. Energy efficiency has been built into higher finish houses for awhile, but Ravenwood Houses say they need to provide those identical energy efficiencies to the typical buyer of 1,500 square foot houses as well as the million dollar homes, “If it’s carried out the right way you wind up having a gorgeous property and no energy bill,” says Ravenwood partner Dave Wishtischin.

Spending two years developing the idea, the business has created six different models ranging from 1,750 square feet under air to two,680 square feet under air. Costs range from $212,400 to $334,529 for their High Performance Residence lines.

The firm says building the same size residence with an average builder will price exactly the same initial expense, but with a High Performance Residence, the typical energy bill will probably be $70 per month, saving the home buyer close to a $150 per month. The Net Zero house will have a $0 electric bill and save the buyer on the same property just over $200 per month. Savings that Schweizer says will give the organization the edge over a lot of other builders in this market place.

Thursday morning, two years of function and preparation came to reality, as the organization held the groundbreaking of its 1st Net Zero Home in south Cape Coral on Gleason Parkway, “We need to have a neighborhood impact and be a leader, it is time to begin building houses once more in Southwest Florida,” stated Schweizer during the groundbreaking ceremony.

Wishtischin says the power efficient homes will appeal not merely to nearby property buyers, but the European market place also, “Europeans have been utilizing power efficient construction practices for the last 20 years. They’ve come to anticipate it and we really feel this can be a specific draw to that marketplace.

When asked why prospective residence buyers really should seriously give Ravenwood’s new line of houses a critical look, Wishtischin provides up his advice, “You don’t wish to be the person who just signed a contract to build a residence utilizing obsolete construction methods.”

The company hopes to have the new home total by the finish of the year and says it really is already has interest from buyers in creating other people.

If you are interested to purchase a $0 energy bill green house in Cape Coral, feel free to contact me through my Go Green Properties in Cape Coral website.

*photo courtesy of Paige Wilson

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Comments (0) Jul 30 2011

As you may know, I check the foreclosures on a daily basis. I do that for all my client looking for the best deal possible. They can get into my Cape Coral foreclosure list by filling the form that you can find here.

Few months ago, I’ll say something like last fall, we had 1,000+ foreclosures in our MLS for the whole Lee County, that include Cape Coral foreclosures, Fort Myers Foreclosures and Lehigh Acres Foreclosures.
And since a couple of weeks, that number had a steady decrease to reach 660 today.

That number is very important for me and I explain that to my clients, investors or first time home buyers.
Not only, obviously, that means there are less foreclosures out there, but also, the non-distress market will take over sooner. Consequently, prices are going up. It shows even with the foreclosures themselves. Banks now see more multiple offers on their listings and adjust pricing. They see an increase of the demand.

We also experience an employment rate having an upward trend and the 60 days and the 90 days delinquency rates are both decreasing, that’s always a sign of a foreclosure rate decline.
So hurry. Not only I was showing a proof that this is the best time to purchase a property in Lee County in history, but prices are increasing little by little. So if you are looking to get a great deal, call me today and I’ll send you the available foreclosures in Lee County.

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Comments (0) Feb 11 2011

So you want to purchase a property in foreclosure here, in Lee County in general and in Cape Coral in particular? Good move. It’s time to buy. Properties values are increasing little by little, month after month since spring 2010 and you can expect a sweet equity very soon, especially if your purchase a Cape Coral foreclosure.

However, lots of potential buyers I talked to believe that if a foreclosure is price at, let’s say, $100,000, they can offer 10% or 20% less than the asking price, empowered by a solid down payment, and thinking that after all, it’s foreclosure time for everyone.

Well, the reality is not as simple.

So far, 100% of my buyers who actually were successful at purchasing a foreclosure, paid more than asking price.
And, all of them learnt how to get that property after several offers. Some below asking, where they were outbid. A few at asking price, where they were outbid. And finally their own purchase, paid at higher than asking price, like everybody else.

So, contact me if you want to purchase a foreclosure in Lee County, but make sure to be ready:

1) Get your Pre-approval document

A foreclosure’s owner is a bank or sometimes a person or a company who made a private financing for the buyer. You will most likely make an offer to a bank though. Banks are not in the Real Estate business but in the money business. Therefore, they don’t want to waste any time and want to make sure that the next buyer is fully capable of buying. They will not review your offer if there is not a pre-approval document, signed by your bank or mortgage broker even if your offer is twice their asking price. A pre-qualification will not help. Just get your pre-approval in hand.

2) Get your proof of fund for the down payment.

Most banks, if not all of them, required a proof of fund for your down payment or if you plan to pay in cash. If the bank can’t see a proof that you have the money, they will not sign your offer. Period.

3) Be prepare to offer a price HIGHER than the asking price.

For this one, you will have a hard time to believe me. Fair enough. But know right now that 95% of the time, your below asking price or even your asking price offer will not fly. I have seen attractive foreclosed homes sold with an easy 15% higher than asking price. So be prepared.

Now, don’t make me wrong. Ultimately, you will be the buyer, the one who will pay and with the last word. But then again, you’ll be entering in the club of the buyers who need a proof of what I’m saying here.

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Comments (0) Oct 24 2010

Purchasing a household, especially if it’s your first one, is usually very scary. There are so numerous things you don’t know as well as terminology you have never came across before. Folks usually worry what they don’t realize.!!!. So it is not surprising that studies have shown that this concern literally prevents some folks from taking the initial steps to acquiring a house!

As a Very first Time Residence Buyer, you happen to be possibly “doing your homework,” seeking info on the net, and asking concerns with the people you trust. If you are like most of us, your household will be the biggest buy you ever make. And if it is your 1st time, this obtain may be even extra intimidating simply because that you are taking full responsibility upon yourself!

I often talk with first time home buyers these days because they begin to realize that rent is more expensive than to pay a mortgage, and here are the five actions I suggest you take prior to buying:

1) Before you begin your residence search, discover what the actual difference is between rent and household ownership. How much are taxes, what will your tax benefit be, what may be the marketplace like within your area (not just the headlines you read within the paper)!!! Comparing a rent payment of $1000 to a house payment of $1000 is like comparing apples to oranges.

2) Get real about your credit, because we all know this is the initially thing a lender is going to appear at!. Learn NOW if your credit rating report appear like a train wreck.!!!. and do not PANIC if it does! Poor credit rating does not ought to stop you from acquiring a home – we can usually get someone’s credit score scores up to where it needs to be within six months!

3) Think about what you’ll be able to afford.!. A down payment might be a huge barrier to homeownership. FHA requires a 3.5% down payment (and they will allow a gift!) USDA House Loans and VA Mortgage Loans require no cash down! In today’s market place, the seller’s are paying most of the closing costs, but you should be ready to pay for your appraisal, taxes, homeowner’s insurance, Inspection Fee and your portion from the Title Insurance.

4) Get Pre-Approved, not Pre-Qualified. A Pre-Qualification could mean that you spoke with a loan officer for 20 minutes, and they said, “well, based upon what you are telling me – we’re good to go.” Should you work with us, we are usually going to go via the full Pre-Approval method. This means, that you will have to offer your income documentation, credit score, bank statements and numerous other items required by the lender to in fact underwrite your file. When you are ready to make an offer on a property, you’ll have more bargaining power over somebody who is just pre-qualified! When talking to your lender, remember to ask lots of questions.!.

5) Hire a Realtor from day one. It will cost you nothing!!

Real Estate in Cape Coral is really improving in regards of pricing. Initial time buyers can discover tremendous deals here and construct equity within the next years to come. Feel totally free to call me at 239-240-7346 if you’d like to see a list of homes inside your price range or contact me here.

Comments (0) Sep 26 2010

Here are 10 frequently asked short sales made questions which are incredibly useful especially if you are just getting started or contemplating quick sales as a means to acquiring pre-foreclosures.

1. What occurs on the seller’s credit rating when they permit an investor to short sell their property?

What typically takes place is the loan will show up as “paid” on their credit report; even so there will probably be a notation that says “settled for less than originally owed” or something along these lines. It’s additional favorable for a homeowner to small promote than to have a foreclosures on their credit report.

2. Where do you find investors for short sales?

Depending on where you live, you may see buyers who advertise with bandit signs or in your local newspaper. Call the investors directly and ask them if they’re experienced in performing short product sales and if they would be interested in working with you. Another good place is your nearby real estate investors club meeting.

3. Define a short sales?

A short selling is really a form of pre-foreclosure sale made and occurs when the mortgagee agrees to accept much less than the loan volume to avoid foreclosure. A negotiated short sale results inside a discounted buy price for the buyer. The buyer would finance the acquisition significantly the same as in any conventional realty acquisition.!. but devoid of the luxury of time.

4. Can an proprietor profit from a short sale?

The seller can’t profit (monetarily) from a pre-foreclosure short sale.!!! But you will find usually exceptions towards the rule.

5. How do bankruptcies affect the possibility of carrying out a short sale?

Most mortgagees won’t take into account a short sale if the house owner is in bankruptcy.!.why? Due to the fact negotiating a short sale made payoff is considered a collection activity. Collection activities are prohibited in bankruptcy.

6. Can somebody tell me what paperwork do I have to include inside a short sale package?

Documents depend on the lender. Each loan company has diverse requirements. It is typical to require hardship letter, buy and sales contract, ECOR, settlement statement (HUD 1), net sheet, pay stubs, bank statements, personal financial sheet (monthly budget), amongst other things.

7. What percentage of mortgage firms send somebody out for an appraisal on a achievable short sale?

All lenders order a BPO or full appraisal of the asset prior to making their decision to accept or reject the short purchase offer. This is there only way of assessing the worth of your home.

8. How late in the pre-foreclosure procedure can you begin a short sale?

Attempt to allow a window of at least 90 days to effectuate a mortgagee approved, pre-foreclosure Short Sale made.

9. What is a Due on Sale clause?

“Due on Sale” Clause (DOS) Provision inside a mortgage or deed of trust calling for the total payoff of your loan balance inside event of a selling or transfer of title towards the secured genuine asset. A contract provision which authorizes the loan provider, at its choice, to declare immediately due and payable sums secured by the lender’s security instrument upon a purchase of all or any part of the genuine home securing the loan devoid of the lender’s prior written consent.

For purposes of this definition, a sale or transfer indicates the conveyance of authentic house of any proper, title or interest therein, regardless of whether legal or equitable, regardless of whether voluntary or involuntary, by for deed, leasehold interest with a term greater than three years, lease-option contract or any other technique of conveyance of true home interests. Standard language which states that the mortgage must be paid when a house is sold.

10. Will banks enable a short sale when the owner has some or a beneficial sum of equity?

If a asset has what the financial institution would consider a substantial quantity of equity, chances are they would take into account allowing the asset to foreclose and then reselling it closer towards the retail value. Focus on homes that don’t have much equity. Your job will be to create the fairness in the home by negotiating a successful short sale made.

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Comments (1) Sep 12 2010

First of all, understand the short sales.

A short sale is a transaction that happens when a homeowner is owning more money on his/her home than what it is worth in today’s Real Estate market, and when the bank or the lender is willing to take less than what the homeowner owes.
Most of the time, that bank or lender will be able to collect more money with a short sale than if the homeowner goes into bankruptcy or foreclosure. That’s why they will be listening to short sales under certain circumstances.
For the homeowner, the short sale transaction is a better situation than going bankrupt or foreclosed. They credit will be hurt for 2 or 3 years instead of the 7+ years in a foreclosure situation.

Secondly, here are a list of documents you will need in order to prepare the short sale transaction with the bank representative:

FOR THE REALTOR:

• ~ Signed letter of authorization from seller authorizing you to negotiate with the lender on their behalf.
• ~ Letter of facts about the property. Everything that is wrong with the property and why it is impossible to sell it at a higher price.
• ~ Current Market Analysis. Highlight comparable sales that reflect the lower value.
• ~ Photographs. Remember, the photographs aren’t to highlight a charming house. Photograph evidence of damage, bad location, etc…
• ~ Evidence of all showings and feedback. Explain to lender results and conversations you’ve had while trying to sell the property.
• ~ Copy of listing contract/MLS Listing/MLS history.
• ~ Current “AS IS” CMA.
• ~ Copy of purchase contract if you have one.
• ~ Preliminary HUD
• ~ Make sure the seller has a detailed, tear jerking letter of hardship. See an example here
• ~ Sales and services Quotes

Also, insert copies of the following if any:
1. Code Violations
2. Fines
3. Hearing Information regarding the maintenance of the property
4. Evidence of lawsuits the City is filing against lenders
5. Evidence of pending litigation or changes in the law
6. Insert Tenant / Landlord provisions if it helps your case
7. Evidence of the town / city’s enforcement of fines against other banks
8. Latent Material Defect
9. Sexual offenders and predators

FROM THE SELLER:

-Two years tax returns and W-2’s.
-Three months bank statements.
-Pay stubs for last 30 days.
-Detailed monthly budget.
-All mortgages with account numbers.
-Copy of the deed.
-Copy of the note and/or mortgage
-Pending bankruptcy, or other action/judgment or lis pendens.
-Tear jerking hardship letter. See an example here

Buyers generally get a lot more house for their money in a short sale situation, because these properties are usually very competitively priced in order for the sellers to unload them before they end up in foreclosure. It’s a very good situation for them. The only downside I see is often the multiple offers situation for those short sale properties. But there are a lot of short sale properties available in the Cape Coral Florida market than in other parts of the country, so this area is the place to buy!.

So, if you are thinking of buying a short sale, here are 3 tips:

1 – Find a Realtor with short sales experience. There are many rigorous short sales and foreclosure training programs available to real estate agents, including the Certified Distressed Property Expert (CDPE) and the Short Sales and Foreclosures Resource Certification (SFR). If you wish to purchase a short sale property in Cape Coral, Florida, or anywhere else for that matter, you will greatly increase your chances of getting your deal to closing if your agent is experienced and comfortable with short sales….either through a short sales certification program, or through hard knocks experience in the field.

2 – Get pre-approved. No short sale offer will be considered without a pre-approval or a proof of funds letter. If you have not yet been pre-approved by a local lender and are not sure who to call, your real estate agent is a good source of referrals. The pre-qualification process generally takes less than 30 minutes, and can be done over the phone, however, a pre-approval takes longer but is better than a pre-qualification. Make sure you work with a local lender – today’s wild & woolly finance environment means that you greatly increase your chances of closing a deal if you use a local lender with a good reputation. All short sale offers must be submitted with a pre-approval letter, or with a proof of funds, as bank’s statements, in the case of a cash transaction.

3) Submit your highest and best offer the first time around! Lenders generally do not counteroffer….they will either say “Yes” or “No”. So if you are going to go through the process of waiting 60 days or more to hear back from the lender, you will greatly increase your chances of hearing that “Yes!” if you submit a good, solid offer with no contingencies.

Once you submit an offer that is approved by the seller, the seller has to submit your offer to their lender to see if the lender will accept the offer as well….remember, in a short sale situation the lender is agreeing to accept less than what the homeowner owes on the mortgage…..and the lender is going to do whatever they can to minimize the amount of that loss to their bottom line. Parting with their profits is not something that comes easy to lenders…..so it takes awhile to find out if they are willing to take the level of financial beating that is inherent in the amount you are offering. Sometimes the wait can be up to 90 days….sometimes much more (the amount of the wait often depends upon which lender holds the paper).

Look at the frustrating wait time as the price you pay for getting the chance to get a home you might not otherwise be able to afford.

If you want to receive listing from banks, this program will give tremendous help to get in the game as well.

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Comments (0) Dec 31 2009

Once you have sent your offer of 55% of the lowest average comparable and deducting for any repairs to the bank, the bank is going to hire a third party company to have a look at the property that is being discounted or what it is called a short sale transaction.

The following steps are what you have to consider to have a successful outcome from that third party that is doing the BPO/Appraisal.

Make yourself the contact person for the process.
When the third party company that is calling you to schedule an appointment, you want to make sure that the person on the phone knows the fact that this property is been foreclosed and do they know that it has a contract to be sold. Most of the people just want to come out and take pictures and run to the next one. They are in it to get as many done in a day as possible because they are getting paid minimal money to do this task, most of them being Real Estate agent that are not producing enough for a living. Build a rapport with them right out of the door and ask them a few questions while you have them on the phone. For examples:

Do you know that the bank is looking for a quick sale value on this home?

How long have you been doing BPO/Appraisals?
As you are listening, you are on a mission to gain information. You will be able to use this information to give you more details on how to proceed with this particular person before meeting them at the property.

How many of these inspections are you doing a day?
How many have you done in the last month/last week? And so on…

What is the name of your company/Phone #/Fax #/cell phone#?
So you can contact them ahead of time to confirm your meeting when set.
I also call some of them time to time for tips about new foreclosures.

If it is a Realtor, ask if they do a lot of REO’s.
This is a bank foreclosed home that Realtor’s like to list after they have been foreclosed on. You want to be sure on this because it will help you know how to proceed in handling the person in the field.

If it is an appraisal you are going to
You want to know this as well because an appraisal will be a little longer than a BPO. They are going to measure the property just like they did when it was purchased. They will do the size of bedrooms, how many rooms, all interior pictures, front and back pictures of the house and more…

Compiling all the right paperwork to take to the meeting at the house consist of the following:

A folder that has all information about the property
Write in big “Foreclosure” and “Working with banks and sellers to liquidate properties” on the front of the folder.

A copy of the purchase and sale agreement
You sent it to the loss mitigation department. It should be completed and executed in a time frame of 30 days or less.

A hardship letter
The hardship letter we were talking about here from the seller explaining why they are losing their home.

A repair estimate of the house
All documents supporting the value that is being offered. Made you homework here. You’ll get better at it with experience though.

Low comparable from the property
Get you comps from Real Estate agents, MLS and so on. Get the lowest 3 similar LISTED and 3 SOLD properties. The keyword is lowest here!

Articles from newspaper or online articles
Try to get newspaper articles explaining the down turn of the market or any problem of the area where the property is located. Check online local newspaper as well.

Copy of the building sketch of the property
If it is an appraisal, supply the appraiser with a copy of the building sketch of the property. This will put a smile on the appraiser face because it helps them get their job done sooner. This move will instantly put yourself as knowledgeable and therefore, your numbers as much more accurate, even if you may be a bit low

The day when you are meeting them at the property
Make sure you call and confirm they are going to be on time. Be professional.

Arrive early so you have a chance to get a feel of the house
Drive by the neighborhood and look for any signs in yards. Take them down if any and remove any flyer/advertising you may have at the house. You do not want them to know what you are marketing it for. Look around the house for any new damages or negatives to point out.

When the agent gets there
DO NOT HAND them the package you have. Lay it down somewhere visible in the house (kitchen counter or on bar). Start building a rapport with them. Have a conversation about anything, something in common (have a quick look at his/her car bumper sticker. You most probably see something he/she like to talk about: pets, football team, etc…). Ask how they are doing and get a little personal.

Do not start bashing the house
As if you want a low value, it is important though that you don’t bash the property. Let them in and walk the house showing them around from behind them. That will let you read their body language. Do not get up in their face. Be nice and have a sense of humor about the meeting and that you two are in this together.

The Big Question!!
When the agent/appraiser asks who you are in this process, whenever this comes up, either on the phone in the beginning or on the way there when you are confirming the appointment, DO NOT LET THEM KNOW YOU ARE AN INVESTOR. You are just the person meeting them there to show them the house. Minimize yourself. If they ask you if you are the listing agent or the Realtor® and you are not, let them know that our company works with the seller and the bank to liquidate the property. If you are a Realtor® then answer yes I am a Realtor® but working to help the seller.

What should I wear to this meeting?
Try not to over dress or look like you are better, smarter or know more than they do. Play at their level or below. Allow them to be in control or at least think they are in control (better results). Ask them if there is anything else that they need. Include a couple of newbie’s questions about their field. Leave an impression that you know he/she is the professional here.

Getting the package in their hand.
Talk a little about the market and show them things that need repair along the way. However, be helpful not forceful. When you pass by the package pick it up and let them know you have a copy anyway. Inform them that it contains info like comps, the current purchase agreement, etc… You don’t have to tell them everything in it because they can see it for themselves. You want them to ask you for it. Let it be their idea of getting it instead of it seeming like you are forcing it in their face, you must take this type of approach.

What do you think of the value?
After the meeting, hint around about the value. “What do you think the value will come in at?” “Ballpark figure”. Come across with the seller needs to sell attitude rather than they want to sell. If the agent/appraiser will tell, that is okay.

Can I follow up with you?
Have either yourself or someone else follow up with them 24 hours after the value was done. Thank them for coming out, be polite and ask them if they have completed the value and sent it in to the bank.

Calling 24 hours later.
Start out asking them how it is going. Then ask them if they have completed any more inspections since the one they did with you. By this time you should have an idea of how well they are going to respond. Just ask what they thought the value came in at and did the value come in around the contract price.

After that, call the bank and ask if they have received the value and can they accept the offer that you have submitted. If not, ask them to call you back with the approval as soon as they get it.

Comments (1) Dec 27 2009