The landscape for short sales is changing. As the inventory of homes for sale stays at historically low levels all over Silicon Valley, short sales are gaining in popularity for buyers. Added to that is the fact that short sales, while not a sure thing, are getting approved at increasingly higher…

Just got approval on another short sale in San Jose with Chase. They are getting to be one of my favorites!

This was not straight forward. Client lost his job and was not able to make payments. He tried a loan mod but did not qualify due to having too much in retirement account. Client is close to retiring.

Put condo on market and got 13 offers.…

I am helping out on a short sale in Redwood City where Chase is servicing the first and second loan. What this means is that the owner has first and second mortgages that were originally gotten from Chase. These loans were then sold to investors and Chase maintained the servicing. This means that ultimately Chase no longer makes the decision about whether or not to…

It is no secret that the market in Silicon Valley is crazy. The inventory has never been lower so the competition for homes is  fierce. For example, Taylor Morrison is opening up a new town home development in Sunnyvale in May and they already have 300 people on the waiting list. Homes in Palo Alto are sometimes getting…

I just closed a Wells Fargo Short Sale that is not typical. It was a nice 3 bedroom townhome in North San Jose, close to Santa Clara. The owners were divorcing and neither could afford to buy the other one out or afford the property alone. This constitutes a hardship in most lender's minds. I have closed other Wells Fargo short sales with similar circumstances. The current owners had been able to…

Another successful short sale - this one on Stratton Major in Centreville, VA. Our clients bought in 2006 for $642,000 and we sold it days ago for $450,000. We went back and forth quite a bit with the lender, Chase Mortgage, but they agreed to work with us and they granted our sellers a deficiency waiver on the unpaid balance. Below are pages of the approval letter: …

Inventory is down in all segments of the market in the Silicon Valley and multiple offers are driving prices up. However, there are still short sales, and in some areas they make up a good percentage of the homes for sale. Here are the numbers:

Palo Alto: Single Family Homes and Condos for Sale: 48 Short Sales: 0 Percentage: 0

Mountain View Single Family Homes and Condos For Sale: 39 Short Sales: 2 Percentage Short Sales: 5.1 %

Sunnyvale: Single Family Homes and…

The real estate market in the Silicon Valley is very heated up this days, but there are still plenty of short sales being offered. Many of these short sales are in higher price ranges that have previously not seen a lot of short sale activity. What that means is that agents who do not have a lot of experience…

I just got approval on a Wells Fargo Short sale in San Jose. It was both a long and short road.

The long road first:

Town home put on the market in October of 2011 at $575,000. After one week we received an offer for which the seller accepted and it was sent to the bank.

Sellers were not behind on payments but are getting divorced and neither one can afford the home alone or…

The National Association of Realtors and the U.S. Department of the Treasury are collaborating to help Realtors better assist distressed homeowners who are struggling to Selling Your Home Through a Short Sale - Avoid Foreclosure.

Realtors who attend upcoming Making Home Affordable "Help for Homeowners" outreach events, sponsored by the Treasury Department, will learn insights to help them…

It's the beginning of the year so time for the round-up of last year's distressed property sales in the Blossom Valley Neighborhood of San Jose. So here's what happened:

Single family and condo townhomes :

Total sales:  1141

Short Sales: 412

REO:            271

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales: 59.8%

Compare to 2010

Total sales:   1125

Short Sales:   366

REO:          …

It's the beginning of the year so time for the round-up of last year's distressed property sales in the Almaden Neighborhood of San Jose. So here's what happened:

Single family and condo townhomes :

Total sales:  355

Short Sales: 39

REO:            20

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales: 16.6%

Compare to 2010

Total sales:   384

Short Sales:   28

REO:            14

Distressed…

It's the beginning of the year so time for the round-up of last year's distressed property sales in the Cambrian Neighborhood of San Jose. So here's what happened:

Single family and condo townhomes :

Total sales:  656

Short Sales: 130

REO:            89

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales: 33.45

Compare to 2010

Total sales:   750

Short Sales:   114

REO:          …

It's the beginning of the year so time for the round-up of last year's distressed property sales in Los Gatos. So here's what happened:

Single family and condo townhomes :

Total sales:  421

Short Sales: 42

REO:            24

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales: 15.7%

Compare to 2010

Total sales:   489

Short Sales:   36

REO:            38

Distressed sales as a percentage of…

It's the beginning of the year so time for the round-up of last year's distressed property sales in Milpitas. So here's what happened:

Single family and condo townhomes :

Total sales:  513

Short Sales: 150

REO:            112

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales: 51.1%

Compare to 2010

Total sales:   535

Short Sales:   131

REO:            140

Distressed sales as a percentage of…

It's the beginning of the year so time for the round-up of last year's distressed property sales in Los Altos Hills. So here's what happened:

Single family and condo townhomes :

Total sales:  97

Short Sales: 4

REO:            6

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales: 10.3%

Compare to 2010

Total sales:   81

Short Sales:   5

REO:            1

Distressed sales as a percentage of…

It's the beginning of the year so time for the round-up of last year's distressed property sales in Los Altos. So here's what happened:

Single family and condo townhomes :

Total sales:  353

Short Sales: 4

REO:            3

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales: 2%

Compare to 2010

Total sales:   354

Short Sales:   6

REO:            3

Distressed sales as a percentage of total…

It's the beginning of the year so time for the round-up of last year's distressed property sales in Cupertino. So here's what happened:

Single family and condo townhomes :

Total sales:  453

Short Sales: 21

REO:            11

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales: 6.8%

Compare to 2010

Total sales:   844

Short Sales:   31

REO:            33

Distressed sales as a percentage of…

It's the beginning of the year so time for the round-up of last year's distressed property sales in Santa Clara. So here's what happened:

Single family and condo townhomes :

Total sales:  816

Short Sales: 184

REO:            116

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales: 37%

Compare to 2010

Total sales:   818

Short Sales:   162

REO:            133

Distressed sales as a percentage of…

It's the beginning of the year so time for the round-up of last year's distressed property sales in Sunnyvale. So here's what happened:

Single family and condo townhomes :

Total sales:  835

Short Sales: 111

REO:            73

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales: 22%

Compare to 2010

Total sales:   849

Short Sales:   106

REO:            89

Distressed sales as a percentage of…