If the bank is going to take your house a SHORT SALE may be the answer…

I’m sure by now you have heard the term short sale. But, do you know what it is or how you can do it?

Let me start off by telling you don’t fall victim to the scams. Only two professionals can negotiate a short sale with your bank for you. #1 an attorney #2 a REALTOR or real estate agent. How will you know it’s a scam? 99% the scammer will ask you for money up front. With Kiefer Realty as most professionals there is NO upfront charge or charge to you as the seller at all. The fact is your lender will pay your REALTOR and/or Attorney!

Here is what you need to know, and how Kiefer Realty handles a short sale. First and foremost, We are REALTORS not attorneys. We leave the legal stuff up to our real estate attorney who will work closely with you as the seller, Kiefer Realty as your REALTOR, your bank/lender, along with our title company; Brick City Title (or the title company of your choice), and anyone else who can help us get you out of a sticky situation.

The late payment and foreclosure…
As you may know after you are 10-15 days late the phone call start, then around 30 days the “threatening” calls start and on the 31 day you are officially late! Your lender can and will start reporting your delinquency on your credit file with all three credit companies. At the 90 day mark they start the foreclosure process. You will be served with a Notice of Lis Pendens (A lis pendens is a written notice that a lawsuit has been filed) this gets recorded at the court house putting everyone on notice you are facing foreclosure. These court records are available and open to the public to search and review.
****Special note for our readers… Want to stop the harassing phone calls? Google “Clark Howard Drop Dead Letter” and follow the instructions***

What is a short sale?
Simply put, your lender knows if they foreclose they are going to lose money when they sell your home. Then once they foreclose they have what are referred to as carrying costs these include, attorney fees, county fines, insurance, taxes, and paying people to check up on and maintain the house. These fees add up very fast. For these reasons your lender would rather lose the money in the short sale to save on these other expenses. Plus if you are living there you are maintaining the house, there is less of a chance of someone breaking in and stealing all the appliances, carpet, A/C and destroying it. All you need is someone to negotiate this for you! If you call Kiefer Realty at 352-861-6000 ext 151 we can get started today. The best part is as far as your neighbors, friends and family know you have just decided to move & they may never know of your financial situation.

We will be happy to meet with you for a private, personal and professional meeting to explain to you what to expect and how Kiefer Realty can help you. Don’t forget, when you hire Kiefer Realty to help Short Sale your home you get our attorney on your side too.

The rules of a short sale...
You will have to sell the house, and you will get nothing from it. Why would you want to do that? Well, if the bank takes it you get nothing anyway. On top of that, you never know when they (the bank) will show up with eviction papers and force you to move. With a short sale, not only can you live in your house for FREE, but because you are part of the sale process and working with your bank, you will have a negotiated moving date just like a normal real estate transaction when you sell your house. Since you are staying there for FREE, This allows you to save up money to find a new place to live.

Special notes…
-Your lender does NOT have to participate in a short sale.
-In some cases (mostly investor homes) the lender may ask you to pay some money or sign a note to -help offset the loss. Most of the time this is not the case with a good negotiator.
-The sale MUST be an “arms length transaction” meaning you nor your family can buy it back.
-You will not receive any money from the sale.
-You can live in the house for free allowing you to build savings.
-You will know when you have to move.
If you have further questions Please feel free to leave you comments or email KieferRealty@KieferRealtyPA.com we are here to help.

Who burst the bubble... Putting the blame where it belongs and where do we go from here

Over the past few years the restrictions on typical bank loans have become very strict. Not too long ago all you have to do was walk in to a bank, ask for a loan, find a house, and if it appraised you were golden. Yee Haw! New houses for everyone. Many knew they couldn't afford it. The loan officers knew you couldn't afford it! But, what the heck, you fell within the guidelines. Well, as we now know, this has caused a huge downturn in the real estate industry as people who were living paycheck to paycheck & credit card to credit card. Soon the equity in the homes was gone, the lines of credit were withdrawn, credit cards max out, limits were reduced and so on.

Who's fault is it? Well, it depends who you ask! Some blame the banks for giving the loans to people that couldn't afford it. Some blame investors or flippers for artificially inflating the market. Some blame REALTORS or Real estate agents for selling homes for such high prices. The way I see it everyone is to blame! The government for forcing lenders to give loans, the buyers for getting in to a payment they knew they couldn't afford. The lenders for approving the loans they knew the buyers couldn't possibly repay, the investors that didn't know when to stop and the media for talking it up then forcing ”the bubble to burst".
Some choose to call it investing, flipping, or creative financing. I, well... I call it greed. We all sat back & kept saying, "it can't keep going up, sooner or later it has to stop" well, at the end of 2005 it happened, the "bubble burst"

Where does this leave us now? We are now in December 2010, unemployment national average is at 9.5% Florida is near 13%-14% unemployment. Home prices have fallen back to the levels of about the late 1990's. A record number of people are looking for a place to rent instead of buy. Foreclosures are at a all time high. Banks are struggling to keep up with the carrying costs of all the foreclosures, local governments are trying to keep up with code issues and here you are wondering... when should I jump back in and buy or invest in real estate again?

Want know a little secret? Sales are climbing people are grabbing up deals everywhere. This is December, the real estate industry typically slows way down starting just after Halloween and doesn't pick up until about February. This year it hasn't! It’s almost reminiscent of 2004-2005 at the height of the market. Nothing seems to be slowing the deal hunters down. Believe it or not, people are once again "flipping" house and making money at it.

So, when should you start looking? I say... What are you waiting for? Real estate runs in cycles just like everything else. Whether we are at rock bottom or within 10% of the bottom, I say it's close enough buy a home and hold on to it, pick up a second home as an investment, heck buy one to help out a family member and hold it until the next time you hear the media say, The real estate bubble is back or your REALTOR says it can't keep going up, sooner or later it has to stop. Then you know it's time to sell.