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I was reading about short sales, as I do every Sunday morning on a great site for short sale information Short Sale Superstars. There was a discussion about a Bank of America Short Sale that had been approved, and then denied after the approval, a few days before closing. The reason:

The seller was a real estate broker and the listing agent works for the seller. The buyer used the listing agent to represent her.

Surprise Surprise, B of A said this is not an Arm's Length Transaction and rescinded the approval.

There are multiple things wrong with transaction so let me see if I can organize the problems coherently.

1. All short sales must be an Arm's Length Transaction and an affidavit needs to be signed by all parties saying they are not related to each other in any way. The listing agent works for the seller so that is not arms length.

2. The seller may be offered a closing incentive by the bank, but is not allowed to receive any money from the buyer. Since the buyer is using the the listing agent who works for the seller and would have received commission for the sale, a portion of which would go to the broker, then the seller is getting money from the buyer.

3. Again, since the listing agent works for the seller and would get commission from the sale, a portion of which would go to the broker, the seller would be receiving money from the sale outside of the closing incentive.

4. The buyer has agreed to a dual agency and is entitled to the information that the listing agent works for the seller and that this can cause potential problems with The Arm's Length Transaction.

I do not know if the seller was trying to pull something over on the bank, or if he was just not familiar with short sales but this was totally avoidable.

Buyers: get your own agent to represent you.

Sellers: If you are a broker, get a different company to represent you. If you are an agent, get another agent to represent you, not your broker, and ask the bank if it is ok to be represented by someone else in your campany first, not after you are about to close.

If you have any questions about buying or selling a short sale in Santa Clara or San Mateo County please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E. 01191194

Great news for people who need to short sell their Blossom Valley

or Silicon Valley home!

If you have a hardship, loss of job, divorce, change in financial circumstance from medical or family issue, etc, you can now be considered for a short sale even if you have not missed a mortgage payment.

Freddie and Fannie will now have the same requirements and procedures, which was not true in the past.

This is great news, especially for people who have a sudden change in their circumstances and can no longer afford their mortgages, but do not want to have their credit ruined in order to be able to sell their home.

So, if you have a change in your circumstances which will change your financial picture, and you want to sell your home without ruining your credit, you may have a way to do this.

Be sure to work with professionals who know what they are doing. In short sales, there is no substitute for experience.

If you have any questions about short sales in Santa Clara or San Mateo County please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E. 01191194

Yesterday I got a call from a client I will never forget. She said "I was able to modify my loan, I can keep my Blossom Valley house, and you were the only one who believed I could do this, so thank you." This made me so incredibly happy.

So what happened was this client and her then husband were pregnant with their first child and ready to buy a home together. They found their dream home in Blossom Valley with my help, purchased it in 2006 with 10% down. In 2007 they had enough appreciation to take out a 2nd loan which they did. In 2010 they had just had their second baby, the home was $250,000 under water, and they split up. 

My client did not want to leave the house and try to find a home for herself, the two young children, and her 2 large dogs. She was determined to stay put, get her husband off title, and not disrupt her children any more than necessary. Her lawyer said short sell, her ex stopped helping to pay the mortgage, and her efforts to refinance went nowhere.

I encouraged her to keep trying and not move her children or her border collies from their dream home and lot.

After 2 years she got her principal reduced by 100K (thanks to First Horizon selling the loan to Nation Star who then was very co-operative in modifying her loan). Her ex signed a quick claim deed (don't know why, but he did), and she was able to pay off the second with savings, stock money, and cutting expenses.

So now she has her home, her kids are not disrupted, and with home prices appreciating she probably even has a good investment. 

While I always like to help out on Blossom Valley short sales, in this case I am much happier that I did not have to.

If you have any questions about short sales in San Mateo or Santa Clara County please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E.  01191194

In Blossom Valley from Jan 1, 2012 until June 30, 2012 there were:

263 closed short sales

104 closed bank owned homes

Total sales during this time period were 626

Total % Short Sales: 42%

Total % REO Sales: 16.6%

Total Percentage  Blossom Valley Distressed Properties: 58.6%

58.6% of all Blossom Valley sales being distressed is enough to still have major effect on the overall market. However, as inventory is still so low unless these homes are truly physically distressed, which is more common with bank owned homes at this level, many homes will get multiple offers and the values should increase this year. It is interesting to see there are over two and half times as many short sales as bank owned sales which has also happened in other cities. This area is great for investors with a lot more activity than in some areas like East Palo Alto or Belle Haven.

If you have any questions about short sales or foreclosures in Santa Clar County please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

DRE  01191194

Blossom Valley is a hot bed of short sales. It is one of the neighborhoods in the Silicon Valley that has not gone back to the values of 2007-2008. So many of the homes for sale right now are being sold as short sales since the owners have negative equity in their homes.

There are currently 196 pending homes listed as short sales.

There are 286 pending sales of all types.

The percentage of total pending sales which are short sales is 68%.

This is pretty impressive, but the big question is how did this happen?

I have a few theories.

Blossom Valley had some remarkable levels of appreciation early in the century, especially between 2005-2007. There are a number of reasons.

1. Easy money

2. Easy access to downtown San Jose which had ambitious plans for redevelopment

3. Good schools. At one point there were sections of Blossom Valley where you could get a home in a school district with a high API for less than any other neighborhood in Silicon Valley.

4. High tech companies close by including IBM right in the neighborhood.

Then the market crashed, credit tightened, San Jose gave up their redevelopment plans, major employment areas kept moving north to Mountain View, Palo Alto, and San Francisco, and Blossom Valley values plummeted in 2008-2009.

We are on the way up again, but many homeowners are still underwater. The inventory is now quite low. There are only 61 homes for sale right now, and 13 are short sales, or 21%.

If you are a seller, your home will sell, and quickly. If you are a buyer, there is a lot of competition, but the values are there.

If you have any questions about buying or selling short sales in Santa Clara or San Mateo County please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

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:            271

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales:  56.6%

My conclusion:

The percentage of distressed properties in Blossom Valley is a little higher in 2011 over 2010. A   59% distressed property sale percentage is enough to affect values significantly.  This may be one of the reasons home prices in San Jose are predicted to fall a little in 2012 while other parts of the Silicon Valley are appreciating.

If you have any questions about short sales or bank owned homes please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E.  01191194