I have just started to use direct mail to owners who are 60 days past due. I have been drafting my own letters and am looking for some additional ideas that may have worked for you. Does anyone have a sample mailing letter that has been successful for you? I am in central Florida. Thanks 

It's the end of the year so time for the round-up of distressed property sales in Menlo Park. So here's what happened:

Single family and condo townhomes 2011:

Total sales:  451

Short Sales: 39

REO:           22

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales: 13.5%

Compare to 2010

Total sales:   431

Short Sales:   28

REO:            29

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales:…

Happy New Year!

Short Sale…

Tutas Towne Realty and Bryant Tutas just had another successful Oviedo Florida Short Sale closing with SunTrust Mortgage.

The property:



4 bedroom 2 bath townhouse located in Hawthorne Glen Oviedo Florida. This home has 1,828 sq ft of living area. It was purchased new in March of 2006 for $277,200. It Sold today for…

Provident Funding!!!! Provided me a post christmas gift that I did not anticipate.

12/22 On Thursday of last week I submitted a complete package as instructed.

12/23 Contacted by negotiator countering offer giving us till Tuesday to answer.

12/27 Accepted counter and emailed negotiator new Hud1 and contract

12/29 RECEIVED AN APPROVAL!!!!!!!!  

This is by far the fastest approval I have received.  If any one else has experienced anything like this…

I have been trying to get BOA to move forward with my short sale for 9 months.  My real estate agent has been calling if not weekly almost every other day.  Either they lost the paperwork or the systemn was down.  Nevertheless, we have not only one cash offer but 3 others.  The house has been appraised but because it has taken so long now they are stating that they have to do another - however nothing is happening and in the mean time I have received foreclosure paperwork.  Can someone help…

I was starting to feel like the last player picked in dodge ball. The rejections were really hurting, especially since there was never any reason given. Just messages saying your supporting documents were rejected. Oh the pain!

I finally got a really nice B of A negotiator on the phone today who gave me a simple explanation, the buyer's proof of funds were downloaded as a web page instead of being a PDF of the originals, and the current policy is only original statements are accepted,…

Sad story. A client told me last February that she was not able to make the payments on her $750,000 home loan. The house is now worth about $400,000 and this person wanted to get a loan modification and get the principle reduced. I can not tell you how many times I hear this story and how few times I have heard that there actually was a principle reduction. Actually I can tell you how many times I have heard of a principle reduction, once.

Ok, so it is bad enough that banks have been…

Hello All, I am at my wits end and cannot and will not let this deal fall apart. I currently have a short sale approved home and the buyer has already signed loan documentation and we are set to close, except we are waiting WF to provide us with an extension that they claim should only be 72 hours and we have now been waiting for more than 2 weeks. Has anyone else had success on obtaining a second extension??? We extended it once but buyer had to choose a new lender and now we are all set to…

A short sale is a sale of real estate in which the proceeds from selling the property will fall short of the balance of debts secured by liens against the property and the property owner cannot afford to repay the liens' full amounts, whereby the lien holders agree to release their lien on the real estate and accept less than the amount owed on the debt. Any unpaid balance…

Closed another short sale last week! Chase is great! I was able to get the bank to pay for back HOA and fees of approx $7500 plus I got the seller $20,000 incentive money, just in time for Christmas! Shortly before that I closed an trust sale, both in Orange County, CA.

I just found out the broker that did the BPO on one of my short sale listings (bank is Chase/Wachovia) is not a member of the MLS where the property is located. In fact I've never known him to do business in my area (he's about 45 miles away) and isn't even a full-time or part-time agent in his own area. The 3d party company that hired him to do the BPO states specifically "Do not accept this BPO if you are not a member of the MLS." But the broker did. What would you do: wait and see what…

One of the best things that has happened to short sales in the last couple of years is the on line platform for processing a short sale. There are several platforms in use, but Equator is one of the more popular ones, and is the one used for Bank of America and Wells Fargo Short Sales. So, instead of your agent having to fax all the documents, usually several times, the…

Currently working on a Fannie Mae pre-approved short sale with BOA as a servicer.

1.  Seller took the time to get a pre-approved price for the short sale

2. I listed the home at the pre-approved short sale

3.  Got an offer at the pre-approved shortsale - Cash

4.  Got a message through equator that they agreed to th eoffer but they needed a couple of the changes on the HUD

5.  Made the changes and submitted them all through equator…

I know a lot of you are going to think I am crazy but I really love short sales. I am sorry that the market is such that there are many people who need to sell their homes short, but that is the current reality. Given that reality there are many things about the short sale process that I enjoy, fewer things that I just tolerate, and even fewer I hate. 

I HATE PRIVATE THIRD LIENS ON SHORT SALES!!!! I can not…

Have a great property listed short with one loan with B of A..primary residence, Seller not trying for HAFA..slam dunk!  But..the darned BPO came in $130,000 over market!  It hasn't happened to me often with B of A short sales, usually that's reserved for Chase who I suspect may specifically try to hire Agents that submit high BPO's ??? 

Buyer #1:  Submitted…

Hi folks. Many of you may know that the Short Sale lenders are start to get very proactive with getting short sales approved and closed.…

I have a client who is hesitant to get involved in a short sale because she is unsure how long it will be before she can attempt to get a new mortgage. She thinks it is possible to negotiate the way the bank will report the short sale to the credit agencies. Has anyone had experience with this process? Is it possiblre to negotiate this?

There are several different types of short sales that will approve your price and the seller's eligibility before you get an offer. If you do not qualify for one of those programs (like HAFA or Bank of America co-operative short sales) then you can try to do a traditional short sale.

In most traditional short sales after the seller signs an offer,…