Tag: Florida short sales

Ask your Orlando realtor questions about your short sale

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Don’t be afraid to ask your Orlando realtor questions about your short sale

  So you’ve decided to pursue a short sale on your home either because it owes more than what it’s worth and and just want to get out from under it or because you’ve fallen behind on your mortgage payments. You’re next step should be to find a experienced short sale realtor with a proven track record. How do you do this? Well like everything else these days… you Google it!  For example, if you need to find a good short sale realtor in Orlando, you should type in terms like “Orlando short sale realtor”, “Orlando short sale specialist”, “Orlando short sale expert”, etc…. you get the picture.  Once you hit the search button your computer screen will pull up the top results for the best short sale realtors in the city of Orlando. I would suggest that you choose from 1st page results and forget about going to page 2.

Now that you have a list of the top Orlando short sale realtors, start calling and emailing them. This is a great test to see which realtors will get back to you right away and which ones will call you 3 days later or maybe even not at all. Quick tip; If a realtor takes more than 24 hrs to get back to you, stay away! Imagine how frustrating it would be for you if this person had control of your short sale and every time you tried contacting them with an important question you had to wait days for a response.   By using this tactic of contacting every realtor on the first page, you will eliminate at least half the Orlando realtors that are showing up, which never ceases to amazes me. I can’t tell how many times sellers have called me and told me that they’ve called another realtor before me and they never got a response.

Now you should have a hand full of realtors that you were able to get a hold of immediately or at least in a short amount of time. I suggest that you now have a long conversation with them over the phone. You can tell a lot about someone by just talking to them for a while. While you’re talking with them be sure to make notes about that individual such as; “seemed friendly and knowledgeable” , “answered all my questions” , “was very impatient”, “felt like I was being rushed”, “not experienced enough”, etc. Remember, you’re looking for someone that’s not only going to be looking out for  your best interest, but this person will be [or should be] in constant contact with you and it needs to be someone that you feel comfortable  with.

The Final step in Hiring an Orlando short sale realtor

OK, now hopefully you should have at least 2 realtors that you’re thinking about listing your house with. The final step in choosing the best realtor for you is to make an appointment for them too come and see you at your home. Ask them to bring testimonials from past clients as well as anything else that they can use to prove their track record to you. You should also ask them to have a plan of action laid out for your home if they were to get the listing.   Remember, when they come over to meet with you, you’re the one in control. They are their to try and get you to hire them, not the other way around. After meeting with the 2 or 3 realtors that you’ve set appointments with, you will undoubtedly have made a decision on the realtor that best meets your needs.

Follow up with your realtor as well as your lender

Now that you’ve  found an Orlando short sale realtor that you’re happy with, make sure to follow up. A good short sale agent should provide you with weekly status reports n the status of your short sale. Another way to make sure your file is being handled properly is to follow up with your lender and find out what’s happening with your file as well as when was the last time your realtor mad contact with them. You shouldn’t feel bad about doing this and your realtor shouldn’t feel offended because you’re checking up on them. This is probably one of the most important things happening in your life right now and you have a right to know exactly what’s going on.

 

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Florida incomes and Orlando real estate continue to rise

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Floridians income increase along with their confidence

 

Florida has shown substantial gains on three different areas, Real estate prices, income and consumer confidence. Much of this can be attributed to the overall housing market in Florida. Orlando real estate is a great accelerator when it comes to creating jobs and increasing local incomes, then the next logical thing that happens is a confidence boost. It’s just human nature, when people are doing OK financially they not only feel better about themselves but they become more confident about how much they can spend when house hunting.

I think It’s good that Floridian’s consumer confidence is at it’s highest point in 5 years but potential home buyers still need to be careful. The Orlando real estate market is constantly changing and right now it’s on the rise as it has been for the past 2 years or so. This doesn’t mean that you should buy just any house listed on the MLS. The truth is that many Orlando properties that I see listed are seriously overpriced. Sometimes this is due to the seller wanting to sell for the absolute highest price in the neighborhood because sellers typically believe that the house where they live is special compared to other houses in the same neighborhood, again…just human nature.

 

Short Sale Lenders are sometimes to blame for overpriced real estate listings

As short sale realtors, we are sometimes told by the client’s lender how much to list the property for. Sometimes, no matter how many years of experience we have in selling Orlando real estate, they still think they know more about the local market than an experienced Orlando realtor. I’ve argued with negotiators until I’m blue in the face as far as “fair market value” is concerned and they will still try to tell me how much the property should be listed for. However I quickly learn, usually on the first conversation, whether arguing my point will do you any good. Lenders that absolutely insist on telling me how much to list a property for… in my area of expertise,  I do just that.

9 out of 10 times, the result is that the property spends a lot more time on the market than it should have. With no offers or contracts after several weeks or even months of the property being listed, short sale negotiators will eventually figure out that they’re asking price needs to be lowered, then…I do just that and the property gets sold.

 

 

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Orlando Short Sale Realtors outsourcing short sales to unlicensed 3rd Parties

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

 “Orlando Short Sale Realtors” using unlicensed negotiators to do the work

It’s recently come to my attention that certain Orlando realtors that claim to be “Short Sale Experts” are actually outsourcing their short sales to  unlicensed third party negotiators. Now, I’ve heard of  real estate attorneys outsourcing their short sales to licensed real estate agents, which to me makes perfect sense especially because by law the property must be listed on the Multiple Listing Service. However, when a licensed realtor marketing themselves as an Orlando short sale expert or specialist goes out and hires a non -licensed 3rd party negotiator it just doesn’t seem right and in my opinion is just downright deceiving to the homeowner.
When a realtor goes to a listing appointment to meet a potential client, they are making a commitment to that client as the realtor that will be representing them throughout the entire short sale process and look out for their best interest every step of the way. Do you really think that they would get the listing if they told the seller “By the way, I will be turning your file over to an unlicensed negotiator for them to work the entire short sale process with your lender and hopefully we can someone to buy it”… No Way!

The truth of the matter is, escrow officers, title representatives, and many of these amateur negotiators are inexperienced and they can cause a deal to fall apart. They lack the proper experience knowledge and care that a transaction of this sensitivity needs. A true Orlando short sale expert knows the urgency of the transaction and possesses the skills, experience and tenacity to get things done. Running a successful Orlando Real estate brokerage requires the outsourcing of many things such as; marketing, lock changing, cleaning crews, posting for sale signs, etc.  However, if a realtor is outsourcing the most important part of any real estate transaction which the processing and negotiating, then maybe that realtor needs to find another profession.

Choosing a Short Sale Realtor that’s right for You

As an Orlando homeowner you deserve the best chance at negotiating a successful short sale with an experienced realtor that’s willing to work hard for you throughout the whole short sale process from beginning to end. That’s why it’s soo important to important to to research a realtors track record as well as ask for testimonials, etc. If you’re in the market for a true Orlando Short Sale expert, read my article “A Typical Work day for an Orlando Short Sale Specialist”. It will help you in choosing the best agent to meet your particular needs.

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Banks are becoming more experienced with Orlando short sales making things easier for realtors

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Banks are getting much faster at the Orlando short sale process

Short sales have had a bad reputation in the Orlando real estate market for several years now. Realtors didn’t want to take on short sale properties either because they didn’t know what was involved and were afraid of getting in over their head or because they knew exactly what was involved and they didn’t want to commit to the hard work that’s involved in completing an Orlando short sale. Buyers didn’t like them because of the time that it would take to hear back from the bank about their offer that was submitted. Sometimes a potential buyer would submit a contract and have to wait three or four months just to find out that their offer wasn’t accepted, and all that time they spent waiting to hear back from the bank could have been utilized searching for other properties. This was extremely frustrating for everyone involved.

Lenders also must have felt frustrated because the truth is they just weren’t prepared to take on all these short sales. They weren’t prepared to handle short sales period… let alone hundreds of thousands of them coming at them at once. I believe that this is probably one of the reasons why loss mitigators would often tell agents that they didn’t receive certain documentation over and over again, or they would say things like we needed these docs in a certain order or a month later they would tell you to send everything again because it needs to be updated. Any experienced Orlando short sale realtors that are reading this post right know exactly what I’m talking about. In my opinion, these were stall tactics because lenders didn’t know how to get these short sales processed in an efficient manner.

Orlando short sales are being fast tracked thanks to experienced negotiators

Short sales are now being processed much faster than was the case just a year ago. Lenders have come a long way in putting systems in place to make things move more smoothly for the homeowner as well as the Orlando realtor processing the whole thing. I feel that the biggest change, however, is because of the short sale negotiators having much more experience in dealing with short sales now. At the end of the day, Big banks don’t run things, people do, and for some people, it’s easier to say that they didn’t receive something or come up with some other type of lame stalling tactic rather than to admit that they didn’t know what they doing.

Lately,  I’ve noticed a huge difference in the way that short sale negotiators handle short sale files. They’ve gotten better in every area; from ordering the BPO to negotiating with their investors and even getting extensions on payoff letters. I have about a dozen or so negotiators with several different lenders that I just love working with because “they get it”, they know how this business works and they will do whatever it takes to get the deal done.  Don’t get me wrong, I still have conversations with some short sale negotiators that frustrate me to no end because they are clueless about the Orlando real estate market or real estate in general yet they still try to tell me how much I should list an Orlando property for, but for the most part it’s gotten much much better.

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Orlando Real Estate remains strong, despite a dip in prices at the end of summer

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

 

Summer’s gone and Orlando Real estate takes a drop

Prices of Orlando real estate dropped slightly last month for the first in a year. Don’t panic Orlando homeowners, this happens every year at this time. The reason for the drop is mostly due to the end of the peak of the summer buying season. Two facts remain true, Orlando real estate inventory is low and demand for great Orlando properties remains high. As long as these factors remain a part of the Orlando real estate market, sellers will be able to get top dollar for their Orlando Home.

Other factors indicating a strong Orlando Real Estate market

Orlando homes are selling faster and for more than they did a year ago. Studies show that Orlando homes are spending less than 80 days on the market before coming under contract and selling for almost  97% of the listing price. A year ago, Orlando Realty was selling for less than 95% of the listing price, and these properties were listed on the MLS for over 100 days.

Great mortgage interest rates are still being offered by lenders. The average interest rate currently being offered for Orlando home buyers is at 3.78 percent as opposed to a year ago when homebuyers paid an average interest rate of 4.26 percent. This is a huge incentive right now for potential Orlando home buyers and anyone interested in buying real estate in Orlando should definitely take advantage of these historically low-interest rates.

There are more regular listings in the Orlando real estate market than has been in years. Although Orlando’s short sales and REO’s still rule Orlando’s real estate inventory right now, there is another quieter group that is not desperate to sell their Orlando properties.  Believe it or not, everyone one in three homeowners owns their house “free and clear”. This group as well as homeowners with very small mortgages on their home are able to ask for top dollar on their Orlando home and they don’t care if it sells or not. Their way of thinking is “I will sell for the right price and if not then I’m not selling”. I’ve had several clients like this over the years, and homeowners like these actually help to maintain property values up in their neighborhoods because their listing prices remain high and they really don’t care how long it takes to sell.

Right now is  a great tome to sell your Orlando Home

Considering all the factors in play right now with Orlando Real Estate, it’s a great time to sell your home. Whether you need an Orlando short Sale done or you’re o of the few and fortunate people that own your property Free and Clear. If you’re interested in seeing how much your Orlando property will sell… click on “How much is my Orlando property worth?” or you can come and see me for a free consultation and I would be happy to sit and talk with you.

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