The lender has already reviewed the short sale and appraised the home and determined that the $155,000 purchase price should be acceptable, however approval is still required.

This home is located in Tatum Lane and is just south of the Desert Ridge and City North area and 101 Freeway.  Very close to Mayo Clinic hospital.  Home is 1881 square feet and includes 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths.  Home has spacious kitchen and a family room and spacious living room.  Backyard has large grassy area and mature fruit trees.  There is an extended covered patio as well.

Master bedroom has wood laminate floors and vaulted ceilings.  Master bath has double sinks and a large walk-in closet.  3 additional bedrooms upstairs.

Low HOA fees of $75/quarter and Paradise Valley school district.

Watch video below for tour of home and call me at 480-201-4185 if you would like to schedule a viewing.

This is a great sign as we head into peak season.  This development is very popular among winter visitors.  Perhaps we have solidified somewhat of a “bottom” in this community.  Clearly it is a huge value at these prices considering the upgrades, amenities and the fact that it is gated.

If you are a seller, this is a good time to sell – of course understanding if you bought new you paid more than today’s values.  If you want to sell but feel you cannot due to the mortgage balance you have, then perhaps you would like to consider a short sale on your property.  I have successfully closed 75+ short sales and with the current demand for properties, now would be a great time.

If you are a buyer, I have to advise to get off the fence if you have been there.  Trying to time the very bottom is very difficult, however the combination of value and interest rates now makes for a hard argument to buy now.  Prices could even go up as the winter months come and demand increases more.  Toll Brothers consistently sells much higher than the resale market so their is market for higher prices.

Call me if you would like to discuss your situation – happy to share with information about the process and help you determine if it would be right for you.

Have a happy and safe Labor Day Weekend!

When the Treasury Department introduced HAFA, it was supposed to complement HAMP (the Treasury Departments loan modification program.)  If a homeowner was denied a HAMP loan modification, the theory was that the lender would all the info they needed to qualify the homeowner for a HAFA short sale.  All they needed to do was determine value of the home and then they could give the homeowner and listing agent an “approved short sale price”.  This would speed up short sale approvals for the buyer who wanted to purchase the home.

One of the issues is that the HAFA program was voluntary to the lenders.  I believe that since it was voluntary, the banks sort of created their own versions and processes.

This brings me to my news about Indymac (OneWest).  About 3 weeks ago a client was referred to me for a short sale.  After speaking to the client I learned that they had been denied a HAMP loan modification by Indymac.  So I told them I thought they might be eligible for a HAFA short sale, but I would have to call lender about their process.  About 2 days later they actually received a letter from OneWest asking if they would like to particiapte in HAFA.  My clients signed and we faxed in.  Bank ordered an appraisal within 5 days and within 10 days the bank qualified the homeowners for a HAFA short sale.

What this means is that I have a pre-approved price so once I put on market they will be able to approve in 5-10 days – this is HUGE!  My homeowners will receive $3,000 at close of escrow from lender and we have 120 days to find a buyer and close on the property.

It is nice to see a lender execute the HAFA process as it was intended.  These homeowners have been through a lot with trying to keep their home and this was finally good news.  While they will not have a loan modification to stay in their home, this will likely be a successful short sale and a little financial reward for the homeowners.

If you are considering a short sale or want more information about whether or not you will qualify for HAFA, give me a call on my cell at 480-201-4185 and I would be happy to listen to your situation.

“The banks can’t afford to approve loan modifications because they don’t want to take the losses on their books that fast. Also, their investors may not approve the short sale, because they can’t afford to write off too much loss at once.

And the circle goes around and around”, they say. This common myth isn’t true. Here is why.

Discover how other sellers successfully did a short sale and request a free consultation by clicking here.

The odds are that your loan is not owned by your lender. For example, 80% of all Bank of America’s loans are not owned by them. The biggest holders are the Government Sponsored Enterprises, also called GSEs. The GSEs are Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae.

These entities are accustomed to losses. In fact, they have loan loss reserves on the books. The other entity that is accustomed to losses is FHA and VA. Between 65-70% of all US mortgages are owned or insure by the GSEs or FHA & VA.

Even small local banks don’t own a large percentage of the loans they hold on the books. For example, another agent I know lives in a small town of 60,000 people. There is a bank that dominates the lending market in the area.

You would think this small bank was lending their own money. Not so. The majority of their loans are sold off within 12-18 months after they are written.

Here is the real reason that loan modifications and short sale are so tough. Remember, loan modifications and short sales will usually net the owner of the loan more money than a foreclosure.

The people who process the loan modifications and short sales won’t lose any money if the home is foreclosed. Here is a classic example of this. An agent is negotiating an FHA short sale with Bank of America.

The short sale negotiator told him it would take her 2-3 weeks to review the offer and then submit it to FHA for final approval. How long was it going to take FHA to review the submitted file and respond?

She told the agent that that FHA had a 72 hour turnaround from when she submits the file to her. It’s pathetic. In this example, BOA isn’t losing the money, FHA is losing it instead. Yes, the system isn’t working, but no one in Washington or at the big banks really seems to care.

Thinking about a short sale? I can help you short sale your property and never pay the bank another penny. Send me an e-mail at kim@thegrteam.com. I will contact you for a free consultation.

When we talk, I will explain how the process works in detail. If you prefer, then you can call me at (480) 201-4185.

Discover how other sellers successfully completed a short sale and request a free consultation by clicking here.

Thinking about a loan modification? Our Phoenix Loan Modification Kit has the instructions you will need to get a loan modification approved with your lender. Click here to request a copy.

Discover how other sellers successfully did a short sale and request a free consultation by clicking here.

Here are the most common myths about a Deed In Lieu.

Common Myth #1: If I do a Deed In Lieu in Phoenix, then I will not owe the lender any more money. A Deed In Lieu is similar to a No Contest Plea. The judge stops analyzing the foreclosure case and simply schedules the foreclosure auction.

Unless otherwise stipulated, the lender still has all the deficiency and future collection rights. They may come after you for the loss.

Common Myth #2. A Deed In Lieu is better for my credit than a foreclosure. I’ve heard many people say, “A Deed In Lieu is better for your credit because you avoid foreclosure.” It’s kind of sad to hear them say it. After you sign all the Deed In Lieu paperwork, then your house will still be sold at a foreclosure auction. Any person can actually bid on the house at the auction.

Common Myth #3: A Deed In Lieu Is easy. This is absolutely not true. The process required a lot of follow up with the lender. Most lenders require you submit all your financial information. They want to make sure that you genuinely cannot afford the property. The process often takes between 20 and 40 hours over the course of several months.

First, you submit your paperwork. Then, you call your lender to make sure they received your paperwork. Then, you have to wait while they review it. Then, you have to answer any question or provide more paperwork they request.

To me this is insane. Why not just live for free until your lender forecloses? A Deed In Lieu of foreclosure offers almost zero benefit to you. So why go thru the aggravation? That is why I always recommend a short sale over a Deed In Lieu.

Thinking about a short sale? I can help you short sale your property and never pay the bank another penny. Send me an e-mail at kim@thegrteam.com. I will contact you for a free consultation.

When we talk, I will explain how the process works in detail and answer any questions you may have. Or, if you prefer, you can call me at (480) 201-4185.

Discover how other sellers successfully completed a short sale and request a free consultation by clicking here.

Thinking about a loan modification? Our Phoenix Loan Modification Kit has the instructions you will need to get a loan modification approved with your lender. Click here to request a copy.

Thanks for reading this, Kim Anderson.

Kim is a Real Estate Agent at Guardian Realty & Investment Group, LLC.

Phone: (480) 201-4185. kim@thegrteam.com.

View My homes for sale at TheGRTeam.com.

Kim Anderson specializes in loan modification assistance and short sales in Scottsdale, Arizona. Scottsdale Loan Modification Help, Scottsdale short sales. Scottsdale short sale realtor Short Sale Realtor. Phoenix AZ Short Sales. Phoenix Realtor.

Copyright 2010 SFI Marketing Institute, LLC. All Rights Reserved. This is not intended as legal, technical, or tax advice. Please speak with a licensed professional before making any decision. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed as of the date of writing. This information on Deed In Lieu of Foreclosure in Phoenix is provided as a courtesy to our viewers to help them make informed decisions.

As a real estate broker I have been representing sellers on short sales for a year now. The experience I have gained during this year has been unmeasurable. It has been very satisfying to prevent a foreclosure for a seller and it has also been frustrating when the bank just won’t approve a quality offer. Through this experience I have put together a team that makes me feel very confident about continuing to work with sellers on short sales as I feel it is very important for real estate market recovery in the Phoenix Metro area.

One reason I feel like they are important to get approved is that our inventory levels are never going to drop if we keep “recycling” listings. Here is an example of what I am talking about. Many sellers who need to sell start by listing their home at an unreasonable price that will cover their mortgages, real estate commissions and title fees. Once it becomes obvious that the home will not sell at that price, it becomes a short sale listing. If the seller receives an offer, then it can continue on the market for 3 months while the bank reviews. If the bank does not approve the offer or if the buyer walks, then the property goes to auction where it most likely will not be bid on as the opening bid is to high. Approximately 14-30 days later, this property is re-listed AGAIN as a bank owned property (REO). From this example, you can see that one listing can be on the market multiple times over the course of a year! This is causing our real estate inventory to be skewed in my opinion.

I feel strongly that we will see a positive change in the way banks handle short sales. The banks are flooded with real estate owned properties (REO’s) and are finding that they are not selling quickly for what they think they will after they foreclose. In many cases of files I have dealt with where they did not approve an offer, the bank would have clearly netted more money had they accepted the offer we had on the table. Change does not happen fast though. I can appreciate the position these banks are in. Properties values have dropped at unprecedented rates here in Arizona and the banks did not have the manpower to facilitate all of the files that were coming to them as defaults.

Now we are seeing banks with larger loss mitigation departments and we are seeing that if there is a file with an offer on their desk for review, they are very likely to postpone the pending auction so the file can be reviewed. I am not saying that this is still not taking weeks and months, but I think I see “change”. This motivates me to continue to help sellers prevent foreclosure and keep working short sales. Many people will try to say that a short sale is just as bad as a foreclosure, but I strongly disagree. I will touch on those reasons in another post that is coming. I have an approach to short sales now that I feel will elicit more approvals from the bank and create some great buying opportunities for buyers. In my next Short Sale post I will be outlining our process for sellers and continuing to deliver important hands on news and experience from short sales.

Make it a great day! – Kim

One of the most common untruths I hear is that a short sale will only drop a credit score 100-150 points while a foreclosure will drop a credit score 200-250 points. The fact is that there is no grading scale for anything in a FICO score. Fico scores are an algorithm that utilize many pieces of information, so credit scores are impacted differently depending on other factors.

Some sellers facing foreclosure have been told that there will not be much difference between a short sale or a foreclosure on their credit score so why go through the “hassle” of trying to do a short sale. In my opinion, a short sale will ALWAYS be better than a foreclosure. If your credit score is impacted in a similar way, the fact that short sale is reported vs. foreclosure is still better. Also, when doing a short sale there is always a chance that the short sale will get reported as something as neutral as “Paid as Agreed”. Yes, you will have mortgage lates, but over time those will roll off.

I have also been told by one lender that they would cooperate with my seller if they continue to pay their mortgage on time. This would be a first in my world as my experience has been that the lenders will not pay attention to those who are current and requesting a short sale…they have too many files to contend with who are in default. I will continue to report on the success of that transaction to see if they do cooperate.

In conclusion, I feel like the landscape of short sales is changing. It has taken months for the lenders to ramp up their loss mitigation departments to handle the amount of defaulting files on their desks. However, for those of us who are in the trenches in this daily, we are feeling some progress is being made. The lenders are feeling the pain of all of the homes they are taking back as REO’s and realizing how deeply they are having to discount those when they come back on the market as an REO sale. We are even perfecting our strategies in dealing with this short sale market and are excited about the opportunity to prevent foreclosure for sellers. Give me a call at 480-201-4185 if you want to discuss your situation.

If that seller must sell, then offers can be presented to the lender than owns the mortgage to see if the lender will accept less than what is owed to satisfy the mortgage.

Unfortunately most lenders will not even look at a short sale (short pay) offer unless the seller is in default of their mortgage. Sellers are faced with either getting a short sale approved or going to foreclosure. Do these situations present good buyer opportunities? The answer is yes, but it takes patience.

If you are a buyer who needs to buy within a certain amount of time, I do not recommend offering on a short sale. It can take sometimes months for the bank to approve. This can be very frustrating for the buyer who not only has to wait, but may not even get the offer accepted. There may also be multiple offers submitted to the bank and you won’t even know if you are the best offer. My recommendation would be to offer on a bank owned property, new construction or a seller who can accept your offer promptly.

If you have time and patience, then you may want to offer on a short sale. The good news is the buying experience is much like a traditional sale once the bank approves your contract. You have a due diligence period, the transaction runs through a title company and you can get traditional financing. The benefit of the short sale is that the contract you write is not an accepted contract until the banks approves. This means that you can continue to look at other homes and cancel the contract at any time. You also do not have to escrow any earnest money until the bank approves your offer.

Short sales are great opportunity for investors, especially those with cash. The lenders tend to like the cash offers as the closing tends to be quicker and less chance of the deal falling through due to financing. The ability write multiple offers with no commitment is also attractive.

The real estate market in Scottsdale and surrounding area is very opportunistic. I am telling my buyers that it is a great time to buy. There are great buys all over the Phoenix Metro area, but you have to know what you are doing and understand the differences between traditional sellers, bank owned homes or short sales. I also recommend having a Realtor who is proficient in all of these arenas. I have closed several short sales and would be able to consult with a buyer as to whether or not a short sale is a good idea for you. Call me anytime if you just have questions. Reach me direct at 480-201-4185. – Kim