Cape Coral Real Estate

Client after client, I have to explain the differences between a short sale, a foreclosure or just a plain regular sale. People want to know and be educated on the matter. And most of the time, they don’t want to touch a short sale at all after understanding the full short sale process.

I’ve read also that many real estate agents are in the same boat than I am and I wonder if they are not showing their clients short sales because they don’t want to deal with short sales or if their buyers have made the choice to eliminate them from their home search. Most of the time, for me, clients just say no to short sales because it’s time consuming.

I had a thought about that the other day and wondering if an agent choose to exclude short sales regardless what their client wants, does that violate the Exclusive Right-To-Buy Listing Contract?  What if the agent eliminates short sale properties that match a buyer’s criteria and the buyer never chose to exclude short sales from their search?  I’ll say yes, if you have such a contract in force. And I rarely go with it. On the other hand, I feel that I save time and money to my clients. I’ll add short sales only if my clients ask for it.

There are situations where short sales obviously do not work for buyers.  If the buyer has to buy a home fast due to a lease expiring or he has been transferred to another work branch and staying in a hotel room is not acceptable, especially with family members, pursuing short sales is probably not a good idea.  There are cases where a buyer really likes a short sale property but doesn’t have time to play the waiting game.  Most of the time, I write a time contingency for my client and keep looking for a better property.

Whether they are afraid of them, hate dealing with them, or do not have the knowledge to work them, agents who do not want to show buyers short sales need to make it clear to their buyer that they do not show short sale properties.  If the buyer still wants to view short sales, the real estate agent needs to refer the buyer to another qualified agent. Because let’s face it, if no one is showing short sales, they’re not going to be sold anytime soon. A good solution in my opinion is for the listing agent to get an acceptable price from the bank before putting the property for sale to the public. The sales price will be accepted by the bank and we can face a regular sale within acceptable time frame.

Comments (0) Dec 11 2010

I saw the big title in the newspaper today. There had been 656 foreclosure lawsuits filed in Lee County in October, the lowest range in a lot more than three years, according to statistics released Monday by the South West Florida Real Estate Investment Association.

It was a rare ray of hope in a grim situation: The Lee County and Cape Coral  foreclosure rate is normally within the top five metropolitan areas nationwide, with only Las Vegas consistently worse.

October’s variety is down 31 % from September’s 953. Yes, you read me: 31% less than the month before. The pace hasn’t been this slow since quite a long time.  555 had been filed in February 2007 as the wave of mortgage failures that followed the housing boom was just obtaining under way.

Experts stated that the decline likely was part of a long-term downward pattern — but that’s not all.

Foreclosures possibly plunged at least in aspect since for the past month, some banks have been holding off on foreclosures whilst they sort out issues including who truly owns the note and whether attorneys basically read all the paperwork, but the holding was only for 1 week and from 2 banks, including a major one though: Bank of America.

But the recent lender troubles alone couldn’t have caused a drop as sharp as October’s. Bankers “did knock some things out, but in the totality with the trend, no. 10 to 20 percent of your mortgages might be affected,” but not enough to account for the whole drop.

County Clerk of Court Charlie Green said that whatever the trigger, the downward pattern has helped whittle away at a daunting backlog of foreclosures within the court system: Public auctions disposing of properties are now outnumbering new filings.

Only about 14,700 cases are from the pipeline now, Green mentioned, down practically half from the 26,000 when the difficulty peaked at the end of 2008.

Still, he cautioned that there’s a substantial “shadow inventory” of houses that banks are selecting not to foreclose on. “I believe we’re clearing some out, but the banks are holding back.”

But we don’t really know how many far more. Next month will give us a better indication as to whether or not it was a normal trend or lenders stopping until they figure out what the issue with their process was.”

Also the pace of foreclosure doesn’t occur in a vacuum: if the winter tourist season is strong, it will reduce unemployment and keep far more people financially able to keep their homes, which is the case in South West Flroida, which include Cape Coral.

I think it will be only in April, May, June of next year that we’ll see how this season’s sales and the economic effect of your season influenced foreclosures.

A big builder in Cape Coral, stated that whatever the short-term pattern, foreclosures can’t sustain themselves at that pace. It’s going to sooner or later start slowing up. And I think it is happening right now.

Also, the issues with the foreclosure process have made some prospective buyers skittish about buying a previously mortgaged house.

However, while I find it easier to sell to prospective renters a house where owners are living in than a foreclosure, that  non distresses market has a hard time to compete with the foreclosures. Plus, new potential buyers have still a hard time to accept the fact that most of the time, there is a multiple offer situation on every foreclosed properties, ending by an accepted offer above the asking price. Often, those buyers go through a 3 step buying process. The first is the below asking price period where the buyer experience the frustration of being outbid. Then there is the full price offers period of time, which is usually shorter than the first one. Most of the time, the buyers learned their lessons and go the third period, the above asking price offers moment where they finally get a property under contract.

It’s now even more difficult with the decrease of the number of foreclosure and with a possible increase of pricing, even for foreclosures.

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Comments (0) Nov 02 2010

As a Real Estate agent, I use to write my own articles about Real Estate in my area, including market news, sales analysis and anything that can be beneficial to my local clients.

I learned that unique content is a must for search engines like Google, Yahoo or Bing. They use to index your article’s page well, generating organic traffic to your site.
So far, so good.

However, I also use to re-write those articles of mine and submit them to several articles websites, like ezinearticles.com, goarticles.com and a couple of others.
Yesterday, one of my article submitted to ezinearticle.com was not accepted. The reason given was: “Your article was found published elsewhere without attributing you as the author”
So two options here: or there is a human behind ezinearticles.com reviewers and he or she most likely googled my article and found it on one of my 65 websites, creating a glitch right there, or
reviewing articles is made by a software and again, there is a glitch.

Again, I try to re-write them, in order to avoid duplicate content to the reviewers. For instance, this very article you are reading right now had been posted on one of my site. Does ezinearticles.com knows the site: most likely not. Therefore, if they’re doing their job correctly, this article will never see daylight on ezinearticle. And if it is published, they do not know who is the real author. Simple as that.

It seems the case as well with articledashboard.com where I cannot get into my account anymore. I sent an email to them and see if there is a problem in my side or if I have been banned for duplicating my own articles.

One thing is clear though. Those articles directories reviewers are not really smart. And it shows. There is a good half-dozen way to verify if an article belong to someone, even if it appears the same on several websites. After all, if Google is not craving for duplicate articles, it’s only your own problem, the article owner.
Plus, there might be a conflict with Really Simple Syndication. It has been invented to retrieve somebody’s else content or article on your own website, making it duplicate.
It’s not a major deal at the first place but think about it, if your “little” site syndicate your article to an authority website, Google could believe that the authority site has the uniqueness of the content and you actually duplicated it!

Well,to make it short, there are still some thoughts for food about original duplicated content. Let’s just hope that articles websites reviewers get some common sense in the future, if not some intelligence.

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Comments (0) Oct 07 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

March has show an increase of the number of homes sold by Realtors in the Greater Fort Myers area.
There were 11.2 percent more homes sold in March 2010 if compared with March 2009.
Realtors of Lee county have sold 1474 homes in March compared with 1326 in March 2009.
Single family pending homes rose by 22.3 percent month-to-month. However, the pending number is almost the same from March 2009 with  2063 for March 2010 and 2019 for March 2009.
As for the median price, it is at $90,000 for March 2010, 7.2% more than March 2009 and 5.9% from February 2010.
The record number of existing home sales in March is indicative of the continued demand for homes in Southwest Florida due to affordability and low interest rates. Buyers still tying to take advantage of the tax credit before the April 30 deadline need to act now as available inventories are rapidly being depleted and as a result, the median price rose $5,000 in the past 30 days.
There are currently 11,147 properties currently listed in the MLS, a number that is 4,138 (27.1%) less than  in March of last year.
Of these, 6,889 are single family homes, which is 28.7% lower than in March 2009, when 9,666 single family homes were in inventory.
The median price encompasses three types of properties: traditional, short sales and foreclosures. At the end of the first quarter of 2010, the median price for traditional properties rose $5,000 from $135,000 to $140,000; for foreclosure properties, the median price dropped $2,900 to $67,000; however, the median price for short sale properties dropped 10.5% to $85,000 from $94,950 in the prior quarter.
Of the existing home sales in March, traditional sales accounted for $38.8% of all sales, while foreclosures were 44.4% and short sale made up 16.8%.
This do not necessarely include sale made without a Realtor, like the “for sale by owner”.

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Comments (0) Apr 24 2010

Yes, these are the top mistakes to avoid in order to have your short sales approved and eventually closed as I experience them with my fellow agents who work with me on short sales.

~ Not submitting multiple offers.
My experience tells me that providing multiple offers to the lender has indeed helped to show that the agent is doing all he/she can do to get the home sold. The multiple offers will make the difference. However, the servicing lenders generally do not like them. There is a second benefit to it: if the selected buyer walks, there is another purchase contract that can carry the deal to close.

~ Not submitting a proposal.
Many short sale agents just send a complete short sale package. It is true that you must have complete documentation, but it is important to draft a full proposal, as well. Organizing your request to approve a short sale has often made the difference between success and failure with the agents.
Also, many agents still think that the servicing lender is the one who approves the short sale and that they can actually negotiate with that lender’s “negotiator”. However, most loan notes are actually owned by the SMI and either they, or an MI insurance carrier if they have paid off a claim, approve or reject the short sale.

~ Not communicating adequately with parties.
Buyers are patient to a limit. Same with Communicating cooperating agents. You may think about weekly updates to all parties, more often when things happen. You can put a password protected area in your website where buyers and all parties can review the updates. Buyers must be part of the process and be motivated to hang in there when approval takes a long time.

~ Hardship.
Not meeting the definition of “hardship”. Like a criminal case wherein each element of the criminal statute must be proved, in short sale cases the hardship letter and financial documents must prove each element necessary for a secondary market investor to render a finding of “hardship”, and approve the short sale. The hardship letter must contain certain elements, without which, the case will be rejected. Make sure to get it right in the first place because a second attempt will ruined the authenticity of the transaction.

~ The lender’s net.
That’s what will make a short sale go through or not at the end of the day. The most important reason that a short sale is not approved is not meeting the net to lender, calculating the minimum threshold percentage of the fair market value. In the past, secondary market investors utilized the short sale versus REO comparison analysis to approve or reject a short sale. However, almost all SMIs have changed over to the minimum threshold analysis. That analysis ignores the amount of the debt and focuses on proof of the current fair market value of the property. For different SMIs and even different products, there is a set minimum threshold percentage of the fair market value that must be received in order for the proposal to be approved. Many agents erroneously believe they are still using the old comparison analysis.

So, the bottom line is this:
If a proposal meets the definition of hardship and that hardship is supported by the financial documents, you do nothing to cause the servicing lender to tank the proposal, and the offer meets the net to lender minimum threshold percentage of the fair market value, the short sale will be approved and if a qualified buyer remains, the transaction will close.

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Comments (0) Jan 12 2010

I made a couple of offers this week. Both were full price offers, one on a property in Cape Coral and the other one in Lehigh Acres. Thoses properties were freshly on the market that I put an offer right away. And I said right away, because those offers are number 8 and number 9. I have had no success with the first 7 properties for different reasons: too late or offering a 3% to 10% below asking.

But I learn from my mistake and I was offering a full price, the first day. Well, guess what, My offers are a back up because the banks have accepted what I think are better offers. But again, I will learn from this and will offer more than asking price for the next ones.

The amazing strong SW Florida seller’s market remind me when I was living in Pembroke Pines and had multiple offers the very same day when I put the listing on the MLS. If I was purchasing foreclosures or maybe even short sales, I can easily understand the multiple offer situation. Or maybe I should focus on foreclosed properties and offer twice the price, ending by paying a fair market value. But when it occurs with regular homes, it’s obvious that medias are spreading inaccurate information.

Here in TN, at least East TN, it is still a deep buyer’s market, but without any. I see 20% CAP rate investment properties getting no showing, and therefore, even less offers, or this 3bed/2bath residential with no taker at a mere $25,000, bought from the builder in 2005 for $140,000. Not even investors are showing up to buy those which rent for about $950-$1,100/month!

It seems that few miles will make a huge difference these days…

2207 NE 1st Ave, Cape Coral, FL

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Comments (0) Jan 08 2010

If you are a Real Estate agent, you will most likely be confronted to short sales soon or later, especially if you are in Florida. Here are some tips to master those short sales.

First start off listing the property right in the mid range of all the other comps and current listings in the neighborhood. If the comps and current listings range from $150K – $180K for example, then you want to
start off listing your property around $165K.

Secondly, you reduce the list price by about 3% each week until you receive an offer on the property.
So in this example you would drop the list price by about $5K each week until you received a solid offer.

Remember, when you first list the property you will also be submitting a COMPLETED Short Sale packet to the lender (with a lowball offer)… Once you do this the lender will order a BPO which will usually take 3-4 weeks to complete.

So in this example, by the third week of lowering your list price you would be the lowest priced property in the area, which would also be about the same time that the BPO would be completed by the lender.

This means that when you do receive a solid offer on the property, you will be able to get an answer from the lender very quickly, now that the BPO has already been done.

Another possibility in this situation is that you drop the list price from $165K to $160K after the first week and you then get an offer on the property… Now you can leave the list price at $160K while you work on getting this very strong offer approved by the lender…

Remember, if you started listing it to low, you would never have received an offer this high…
When you use this strategy you can also show the lender your activity report on the property. You can show them that you made an attempt to get them the highest possible offer.

Here is why this is important…

The lender knows if they ever had to Foreclose on the property, they would have to pay attorney fees, auctions fees, and the process may take more than 6 months.

And that’s not all…

After all that time and money, they would have to list the property as an REO and do the same thing that you just did! List the property and then keep dropping the price until they get an offer.

Here is the key…

By showing the lender that you have already done exactly what they would have to do, and that you can save them 6 months of expenses, it will make your offer much more likely to get approved. If you can get a dollar number for those expenses, the bank will see you know what you talking about and will most likely follow you advice, and even gives you more listings.

This is the only way to make sure your Short Sales get completed in a timely manner and you don’t waste your valuable time with listings that sit on the market with no activity for months.

Comments (0) Dec 01 2009