Comment

Comment by Ben Benita on March 6, 2010 at 6:47am

this is GOOD STUFF....the BEST point on here...."BILL COLLECTOR'S ARE SCUM BAGS"....probably opening up a can of worms, but, i could go on for pages about how some of these homeowners have been harrassed about payments to lenders (use your credit card to pay us, pull cash from your retirment, borrow from a friend...blah blah blah).....Anyway, to all, KEEP KICKING BUTT FOR YOUR CLIENT'S......I like to see the good guys win!!!!

Comment by Katerina Gasset on March 5, 2010 at 9:53pm

I am going to sleep now. :)

Comment by Anna Mackey SDHS on March 5, 2010 at 9:43pm

Are you still up or already up? I'm going to sleep!

Comment by Katerina Gasset on March 5, 2010 at 9:16pm

Anna- Believe me! It was not always this way! In 2007 it was a total stand still. It was the worst year for us since the recession of the 1980's when I first got licensed. The county we are in was such a declining market that no one could get a loan to buy a house. The prices went back to 2004 prices! The homes we sold for a million dollars now are worth only 500K, of course, the original balloon was overinflated and not realistic and certainly not sustainable. They say it all happens in FL and CA first. Then the rest of the country gets the trickle effect. We were doing short sales since 1995 but in 2007 we really started getting listings that were short sales- the rest of the country had not even heard of a 'short sale' typically speaking.
So yes, now we are enjoying our market and love our town. :) We are truly blessed. The worst is behind us.

Comment by Anna Mackey SDHS on March 5, 2010 at 9:04pm

Katerina, you are very lucky to be working in such a market. Enjoy!

Comment by Katerina Gasset on March 5, 2010 at 7:19pm

My daughter is looking for a home here and she is on the low end of our market. Every house she goes to look at has more than one offer on it before she even gets back here for me to write up an offer. Now I am going to have to have the offers with me. Once we see one come on the market we are going to have to make a run for it and then make an above asking price offer.

Comment by Katerina Gasset on March 5, 2010 at 7:17pm

Anna- If I worked in a market such as Ben's where it is a non judicial state, then I think Ben's points are well taken. Ben's goal is to avoid foreclosure and in non judicial states, the lenders can be very cruel and unforgiving of circumstances since they don't have to answer to judges.

Here in Florida- this is not the case. We also don't have declines in our market of 2 to 3 % per month anymore. We are not in a declining market anymore. All of our listings are getting above list price offers and most have multiple offers coming in within just a couple of days of being on the market.
We take the highest and best offers, we counter all offers with buyer has to place deposit money now, not upon lender's approval and they have to do the their home inspection now not after the lenders' approvals. We get them to abide by the counter 90% of the time, and if one says no- they won't sign our addendum- we say, "next".
It is all about the market. But if you talk to any attorney- getting highest and best offer for your seller is a duty you owe to your client. Sellers are suing agents who rushed them into accepting bad offers. We will see what happens in court but as for us, we will do what is best for our clients.
In our situation and in our market even Ben agrees that our strategy is most likely the best one for our sellers.
We can hold off foreclosures for years here. So we can wait. We don't have buyers here who are worried about a decline, we have buyers who want to live in Wellington. Wellington is not cheap so if they can get in, they are very happy. Just the stigma of our town's name carries a lot of weight in our county and in many parts of the world.

Comment by Anna Mackey SDHS on March 5, 2010 at 5:40pm

Katerina, I agree with Ben about offer strategy. Also, If the market value is declining by 2-3% per month and the average BofA or Chase short sale is 3-4 months, your "highest and best offer" buyer will be feeling VERY discouraged by the time the approval comes.

Comment by Katerina Gasset on March 5, 2010 at 5:08pm

Ben- Ah, see the huge difference! Yes, non judicial- I would be doing the same thing, get an offer ASAP. Here, not so. Now the banks here are trying to get a FL House Sponsor to get rid of judicials. We are all just hoping there is no politician stupid enough to sacrifice their political ambitions for chump change from the bankers lobby. I am writing a post about it tomorrow. Our judicial process is what keeps people in their homes and also helps all spectrums of income earners. We have been told by the lenders that they are not likely to seek deficiencies however, we have been doing short sales since 1995 and not one of our clients has had the banks come after them after the fact. But now, this year, we are getting the calls. The banks are going after the sellers after the fact for the deficiencies. The seconds are doing charge offs even before the short sale is finished and suing on the promissory note part not the real estate. Then they sell these deficiencies to debt collector who are a bunch of scum bags and seek the judgments. The banks are not going to take the time to go through all that, but they sell the deficiencies for 20 cents on the dollar and then it is like a bounty to see which collection creep can squeeze 50 cents to the dollar out of the sellers. Florida is a statutory deficiency state and they have 5 years to begin the process. Most people here don't want to be on pins and needles for 5 years. Sometimes these creepy collectors lay in wait until you have some money coming in or just getting back on your feet then they pounce on you like a pack of wild wolves.

Comment by Ben Benita on March 5, 2010 at 4:57pm

Touche and well versed....most of our work is here in DC, MD, and Virginia, non-judical foreclosure system here, no judges, just 2 weeks notice required prior to foreclosure. Deficiencies - I have done this full time for more than 4 years, worked with more than 400 owners and to date have heard no one being hit for deficiency liens post short sale.....threatened yes, but, pursued, no. The higher ups I know at the bank have all said, "Ben, logistically it would be VERY unlikely" THink about it, there are hundreds of thousands of owners to pursue, and, in order to collect, they would need, find the owner, see if they have the means to repay the deficiency, take them to court, win a judgment and hope the owner does nothing to cloud or transfer title during the process, or, as I noted, declare BK and judgments likely become null and void. Working with the affluent as you noted could certainly be a concern, but, as always, with each and every short sale, it is case by case. Low offers vs. high, higher is ALWAYS better, no question......anyway, it is late....appreciate your input and wish you all the best with your short sales.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 134
• 135
• 136
• 137
• 138
• …
• 164
• Next ›
• Page