Michael Roberts' Blog -San Jose Homes, Real Estate and Houses for Sale

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part 2

cont. – Start out on right foot. Trust begets trust. Only hire a Realtor you have every confidence is representing your best interests.  Be realistic and above all forthright.  Remember trust is earned.  The agent with the nice personality or “my friend’s friend”  isn’t the answer.   Every person who has been taken by a schiester says “…but they were such nice people.” Well, of course they were!  You wouldn’t give your money to an obvious ‘Vampire’ would you?

That darn Barry Madoff comes to mind.  Yuk!

Don’t run out and buy a box of  rope of garlic!

Note; refer to this list when considering who you should work with:

• Are they easy to contact?  Are their responses timely?
• Do they provide a list of past clients?
• Can I access a 3^rd party source where I can learn more about them?
• Do they possess the skills and principals required to work for me?
• Does their track record support their claims of success? …more

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You’ve heard the phrase ‘a prescription for failure’.   ‘Bad Medicine’ maybe?  Usually we attribute a ‘prescription’ in terms that we are fairly certain to feel better soon.

A short sale transaction tends to leave everyone a little queasy.   No matter how well it is executed by your attorney or Realtor it all started with a little cold.   You have already taken a big dose of medicine just to come to terms with the idea of selling your home.  Now you need a good prescription following a better diagnosis.

After hiring a Realtor to make a diagnosis, be sure there are going to be relapses…lots of little relapses.  Lately, I have seen some that must have felt a little like the H1N1 virus.  The common relapses are multiple lenders, the HELOC problem, the dreaded HOA variables and the always troubling impatient buyer!

Too often ‘experts’ who tell you “everything will be fine”, fail to notice your home is in a neighborhood that has a managing HOA.   Easy enough to remember when it is a Condominium or Town Home community however, many Single Family Home neighborhoods are now ‘managed’ by an HOA.   This is where the cold becomes the dreaded Swine Flu.  In San Jose, nearly every neighborhood built in the last 10 years has some kind of HOA.

What’s the best medicine to protect you from the ‘Swine Flu Short Sale’?  First, be sure to hire an expert with experience that can be verified. This person will be able to diagnose your Short Sale and prescribe the best medicine.  I like to provide contact information of my recently satisfied clients as evidence of my prescribing qualifications.

A few things you will need to know:

1. How much is the HOA going to charge us to transfer the property?

2. Can they transfer?   Has the Builder and HOA agreed to terms of transfer?

3. Are you behind in dues payments?

4. If you are behind, what fees are accruing …daily, weekly or monthly?

5. Is the second loan a HELOC?

6. What are the chances of paying on a Promissory Note after the sale?

These are all unpleasant relapses and the prescription for each can be a negotiated factor if addressed early.  Like ‘an apple a day’ or taking your vitamins can keep you healthy, knowing these ahead of time could prevent a deadly relapse.  If not addressed they will ruin the chances for your approval of Short Sale.  Remember this the sale price approved will not change…Do you know what your second loan is?  Can a Default Judgment be filed?

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How about shopping online..ONLY…online?   Not likely, but Google has a fun new tool that will definitely keep you staring at your Laptop longer.

Where is this going to take Real Estate?

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Great news has just been released by Real Estate information service DataQuick – Prices and sales are up in the  nine Bay Area counites !  Maybe not great news for twitchy buyers though.

Silicon Valley Business Journal reports -”The Bay Area’s housing market continued to ease back toward normalcy in October, as fewer distressed properties sold and $500,000-plus sales accounted for a greater share of transactions than a year ago.”

In Santa Clara County the median price in October was $500,000, up 4.8 percent from $477,000 in October 2008. Sales were up 27.9 percent to 1,944.  It has been like the woman assistant in magic show-disappearing.

In June I asked is this a spike in prices?

In addition to the Bay Area overall, three counties – Santa Clara, Marin and Sonoma – saw their median sale prices rise year-over-year last month. The last time that more than one county posted an annual gain in the median was November 2007. Also last month, Alameda, Santa Clara, San Francisco and the nine-county region overall posted single-digit annual gains in their median price paid for a specific home-type: resale single-family detached houses.

Barbara Corcoran ‘Today” Video “homes around the country”

Ok twitchy buyers… here’s a bone…Prices are still lower than they were in 2005.   Your friends may be unwilling to sell their homes,  since they bought at the sharp peak,  but there is an abundance of others to choose from.

How much longer do you think the housing market could withstand the price ‘depression’ in Silicon Valley?

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• 
  

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In Part 1 of the series “Is My Agent Lying to Me?” I shared with you that both Realtor and Seller/Buyer (SB) asked themselves if they were being lied to.  If you are a first time buyer you were probably wondering why would the Realtor question the honesty of the Buyer/Seller’?

Have you found the voice in your head keeps asking, with an annoying little spear in it’s hand, “Is my agent lying to me?”  What do you think the agent’s experience might be with S/B? If their experiences have lacked a large dose of trust…maybe your agent is asking….”Are my clients lying to me?”

Consider the time you bought your car or used dinette set from the guy on Craigslist.    If  you are like me you went in with your game face on and planned to pay as little as possible.  You made him an offer and he countered and back and forth it went.  It was hard, but you got the item(s) at your price.  Or did you pay his price?   I bet you never told the Seller what you were, really, willing to pay for it, Right?  Good!  He probably never told you what he was really willing to accept either.

After weeks and weeks maybe months and months you have looked at dozens maybe hundreds of homes and BAM!  There it is, the most perfect neighborhood, the lawn is so nicely manicured and the front door is painted your favorite color.  You walk in and the kitchen and ahhh, the kitchen.  It’s sunny and bright.  Perfect.  You want this house!  As soon as you sit down with your Realtor to make your offer a funny thing happens.  You get ’The Game Face’.  You tell your Realtor you are willing to pay price X for the home.

Your Realtor provides a Market Price Report or Comprehensive Market Analysis (CMA), call it what you want, and the “market” price is between X and Y.   Uh Oh!   Your Realtor thinks you aren’t paying more than X.    Meanwhile, the Purchase Offer is written, with your X price, and your Realtor submits the offer exclaiming to the Seller you will pay not a penny more.  This is the time when you need a large dose of  hope.   Problem is hope won’t buy the perfect house for you. 

Prepare to compromise and discuss your specific options.

Mary Weintraub, a leading Real Estate tipster and prolific blogger writes…”Nobody wants an agent who is going to order them around and bark demands, but it is perfectly acceptable for a client to be given all the options by an agent…”

Somewhere, in the vast darkness of unconscious reality, the trust issue has already raised it’s ugly head.  That CMA or Market Sales Report (MSR) your Realtor provided for you…the Seller probably has similar information.  You are about to experience the Deer in Headlights look!

Coming in Part 3 … How you can get what you want!

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I LOVE the video in this link…

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jump to Part 2 of the series

If you have to ask that question then the answer is ‘yes’ your agent is probably lying to you. Notice I use the active ‘probably’?

In this series of articles you will learn:

• How to identify what is most important when choosing a Realtor.
• Why do I feel like a Deer in headlights?
• Learn if you chose a ‘Realtor’ or a’ Salesperson’
• What does Market price really mean to me?

There is a question every Realtor has been trained to use as an example to sell their service to a potential client. It goes something like this…

Seller/Buyer : “What is your commission on the sale?”

Realtor: “Well, my commission is one half of the whole – 6 or 7%”

Seller/Buyer: “Oh really? We only want to pay 5%”

Realtor: “If I were willing to give up MY money would you trust me with YOURS?  I am not willing to negotiate my commission”

Wow! The Seller/Buyer answer is a given.   “No  I wouldn’t trust you with my money”.  In sales you are supposed to get ‘yes’ answers… the psychological affect of this ‘no’ is actually an affirmation.  Makes sense, but doesn’t it make you want to grab the Pepto?

Let’s analyze the basis for the above exchange. The Seller/Buyer (S/B) is trying to get something from the Realtor and immediately the Realtor is trying to protect himself from them.  Could it be the S/B is trying to protect their self from the Realtor? Both are true and both are a natural human reaction when something is missing from the relationship. Trust.

This is a salesperson tactic using the ‘common sense approach’.  Politicians use it all the time.  When you are asked a question that you naturally say yes to, be cautious, you are working with a salesperson.   This should perk up your ears.  A salesperson wants yes answers for the psychological affect it will have in persuading you to make a decision that benefits them.  A Realtor will ask you questions that require more thoughtful answers.   Your thoughtful answers will create a working strategy the Realtor can use to help you get what you want.

If a Realtor feels it necessary to sell their services using psychological affirmation tactics, beware.   It is highly probable they have no inclination to do what it is you are hiring them to do.  That is…sell your home, strongly negotiating the price and terms that best suit your financial future and professionally manage the process the entire way.  This is not to mention the investment of time and resources the Realtor should be investing in marketing your home…not selling themselves!   Would you want someone that only focuses on themselves or someone who makes you their priority?

In a relationship where the Realtor is representing a Buyer there is no question of commission and the above scenario mentioned in Part 1 is meaningless. The Seller pays commission to both the selling agent and the listing agent 99.9% of the time

There are other Buyer:Realtor scenarios I will share in Parts 2 and 3.  Part 4 of this series is for experienced Sellers.   For now, I want to remind you that trust is the most important factor in the equation.

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During repairs users were restricted to cross the dam using a small cordoned off crossing that was not only unsightly, but down right dangerous at times.  Bikers who forgot they had brakes would jam down that part of the trail with reckless abandon.  Actually,  not unlike other parts of the steeper trails.   I can’t blame them – what fun to have the wind hitting you in the face at 40mph without leaving a measurable carbon footprint!

I know you have probably noticed that Lexington has been nearly dry for several months over the last year. Many locals have been nervous and the  talk of ‘drought’ has been escalated.    Can we just get some rain!  Well, after I run.

A safer trail,  a repaired dam and, hopefully,  the disappearance of  some nagging knee discomfort will allow me to monitor the rising water line during my trail run!  I hope to see you out there.

NBC The Dam Gushes

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650,000

That number represents 20% of eligible homeowners at least 60 days behind in their payments, according to the Treasury report. This is up from 16% a month earlier.

Despite the progress, housing counselors say the number of people falling into foreclosure vastly exceeds the ranks getting assistance. The number of filings hit a record high of 937,840 in the third quarter, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosed homes. That’s a 5% increase from the second quarter and a 23% jump over the third quarter of 2008.

The $75 billion Obama plan is “lagging behind the massive number of foreclosures that continue to pile up,” said John Taylor, head of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.

But administration officials have said that the program, which was projected to help up to 4 million homeowners, is on track.  On Track?  Which track?  Becsude, if it’’s the ‘railroad’ track..we are in REAL trouble.

The above excerpt is from CNNMoney’s reporting and I have to say I don’t believe the Loan Mod scammers are going to go away soon enough for this to get markedly different anytime soon.

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Have you ever heard the term ‘a wet signature’?

Banks often want to see documents with the original signature called ‘a wet signature’  Often asked for when a notary was not required to witness the signature.    I have been using the Uniball 207 Gel Pen for over 5 years just for the slightly different color of the “ink”.  I had no idea it held a secrtet!!!!

The bank where you have a checking account..LOVES… this video.

Disappearing Ink Video

I usually go through several bubble packs a year.  You can probably get by with just a couple of these beauties!

I have no connection with the manufacturer or distributors..just wanted to give a consumer tip!

via Getty Images

Short Sales with Countrywide B of A WaMu JPMorgan Chase are going to become more relevant in the coming year. I just got off the phone with Bof A regarding a short sale I am working to a close.  Word has it the short sale departments, at many mortgage lenders, are expanding and preparing for a bumpy 2-3 years.

UPDATE: 12/09 Changes are being implemented, on-line submission is one interesting change.

It may change the outlook in the foreclosure market as these institutions become more aware of their losses with REO’s.  It is obvious they are learning that the Short Sale option is the better answer.

This B of A employee was quite talkative and shared a few things we all need to know.  Fannie Mae (the government agency)  is causing the most trouble for everyone.   I  do not want to absolve all short sale departments from some responsibility here, yet.   Similar to trying to open a bank safe without a combo the banks have seen massive delays and required information changes coming from Fannie Mae in the form of more…..’forms’.

Have you ever been flustered by those pesky government forms?  You may be sympathetic to the bank….I am not!  I want to call a department speak to a ‘person’ and get the business done…Do you agree?

I have read tons of material from people who claim to have the golden key to helping people with short sales.  The problem is that each and every bank and each and every home/seller is different.  There is no one golden key.

Short Sale departments receive over 100000 faxes a day and most of the specialists have  well over a thousand files each.  Hire more specialists ever occur to anyone?  Each person considering a short sale option has very different financial needs, assets and goals.  Not to mention, different mortgage companies.

It is important to know where and how to make your short sale more visible with the mortgage servicer and understand how people work.  Hiring a short sale professional is strongly recommended one with experience and a temperament to fit.

Do banks lie?  Yes and No. The contact numbers are constantly changed, staff is moved around and responsibilities are adjusted all the time from the client bank (the one who hired the servicer i.e. Wells Fargo).  The client bank delegates directives to the servicer to create guidelines used to gain their short sale approval.  Changing the rules of the game.  Is that lying?

This link takes you to my FOX News Interview broadcast Video

Being prepared for these guideline changes, before they are implemented,  will reduce the anxiety in this very frustrating process.  Your chosen professional should have a strategy to employ.

When you are willing to change, bend, search, use good practices and LISTEN the ordeal will come to an acceptable close.

Find a professional to represent you, employ them and prepare for a few bumps.

Hold on turbulence are ahead as change is sometimes not easy.  I am preparing everyday for the next bump.   I have my seatbelt drawn tight.

Update 12/22/2009 New FHA lender rules for short sales

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