Tag: foreclosure assistance

Can you do a Short Sale if you’re not behind on your Mortgage?

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Typically, homeowners that are no longer able to continue paying their mortgage are going through some kind of hardship such as job loss, decrease in pay or hours, health issues, divorce, death, mortgage payment adjustment, and even incarceration. Oftentimes, however, there are reasons that people must sell their homes when there is no hardship. These include job transfer, military deployment, etc. And, in most cases, for all of the reasons mentioned above lenders have been very accommodating to those who want to sell.

However, now more than ever we get contacted by sellers that want to Short Sale their house but they don’t fall into either category mentioned above. They can afford to keep making their payments but they hate the idea of paying on a mortgage with a principal balance that is a lot more than their property is worth. These sellers just want to get out of a bad investment and get on with their lives.

The truth is that it’s hard to say whether the lender will approve a short sale for a homeowner that has no hardship. Some lenders are more flexible in that respect than others.

It’s important to be aware that many short-sale lenders are controlled by the guidelines of the investors that own your loan. So, while a loan may be serviced by Wells Fargo, the loan is actually owned by another entity. It is that other entity that decides on accepting or declining your short sale. Most investors do require that the sellers have missed mortgage payments, and others do not.

Unfortunately, you just don’t know how things will play out until you start the short sale process with the lender. Only after you get the ball rolling with the short sale will you know what the lender will require from you.

If you’re current on your mortgage but would like to short sale your Orlando property because it owes more money than it’s worth, come in and see us. One of our Orlando short sale experts will give you a free “seller’s situation analysis” so that you can find out what your options are and move forward with the knowledge that you need to make the right decision.

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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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More Senior Citizens Facing Orlando Foreclosure

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Older Americans who own Orlando real estate are not immune to the foreclosure process

Many Americans that are 55+, grew up thinking that real estate in Orlando would only appreciate in value and that you need to own a house to be financially secure. That way of thinking was passed on from there parents and was shared by just about everyone else in that generation. Unfortunately, according to AARP Senior Americans got in just as much hot water as the younger generations.

The perception is that older Americans are more housing secure than younger people, but the truth is that millions of Americans that are over the age of 55 are carrying more mortgage debt than ever before, over three million of which are at risk of losing their homes.  And as of December 2011, approximately 3.5 million loans of people age 55+ were upside down, meaning that their home is worth less than the loan amount. From 2007 to 2011, a staggering 1.5 million + older Americans lost their homes to foreclosure.

Even though older Americans still have lower foreclosure rates than people that are under 55, they are increasing at an alarming rate.

Older Americans weren’t immune to the Orlando real estate boom and bust. They took out equity lines of credit when Orlando property values shot up, sold their homes for retail prices and purchased investment properties that floundered just like everybody else.

 The biggest difference here is that if you’re under 55 and lose your house to foreclosure, you still have time to get back on your feet through hard work and perseverance. Older Americans don’t have this option because the truth of the matter is that time is not on their side. When I think about Older people losing their homes to foreclosure, it literally brings tears to my eyes, it’s just really sad.
 
For generations, home ownership has been a safety net in retirement, the report notes. Equity that built up over decades could be tapped for medical bills, supplement fixed incomes or help transition into an assisted living facility. If a senior needs to transition to an assisted living facility but can’t sell his house to get the money to pay for it, then that’s a huge problem.

Gail Matillo, director of elder housing for the Florida Department of Elder Affairs, recommends seniors call a local aging resource center if they are having trouble with house payments. The statewide hot line is 800-863-5337.

If you are in need of an Orlando Short Sale, call us for a free consultation.

 

 

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Orlando Real Estate Agents are on the Move to in order to improve their earnings.

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

 Finding the best brokerage to work for proves challenging for Orlando Realtors

 

Top Orlando agents are always looking to maximize their earnings and sometimes this can mean switching to a another brokerage for a higher percentage split or a more desirable area. I went through the same thing myself when I first started my career as an Orlando realtor in 2004, working for several different brokerages until ultimately becoming abroker myself and starting my own company.

Orlando Real estate is an industry where it is common to see agents moving from brokerage to brokerage until they find the perfect situation for them to settle into, [which sometimes is never].  Most new Orlando realtors will usually stick with a brokerage for a while to see where it goes and if they’re not happy for whatever reason, it usually doesn’t take long for them to find another broker to hang their license with. Sometimes this will continue on for several years with some agents.
Just about every Orlando real estate agent will agree that the market has left its darkest days behind. So they want to be in the best position to enjoy the climb back up.  I can’t say that I blame them.
I believe that will we continue to see more and more agent movement as the Orlando real estate market works to fully turn the corner on the housing collapse of 2007.

Top Brokers seeking out top agents

Top Orlando Brokerages are always on the lookout for their area’s top agents so that they also can increase their earnings and make better commissions. The best realtors will always end up at a top brokerage sooner or later because they are mutually beneficial to each other which is why they are constantly seeking each other out.

Here at Orlando Realty Consultants we are no different. It has taken us several years to assemble the team of Orlando Real Estate experts that make us who we are today and we are always looking for Top Orlando agents to join forces with.

 

 

Jenny Zamora, Lic RE Broker

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A typical work day for an Orlando Short Sale Specialist

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

It’s all in a day’s work for an Orlando Short Sale Realtor

Being a successful Orlando short sale realtor involves many things. For one thing, working with a short sale listing is a lot more work than a traditional listing. Listing the property is just the tip of the ice burg. There’s a mountain of paperwork involved that needs to be updated every 30 days, so I guess the correct term would be “mountains” of paperwork because short sales can take several months to complete and sometimes even up to a year, depending on the lender.

Daily checklist for a Top Orlando Short Sale Agent

1- Check emails- These days most realtors and most negotiators prefer to communicate by email and when you are handling upwards of 100 short sale files, this means hundreds of emails to read. [Daily] 2- Follow up with the short sale lenders over the phone- This is a very tedious task and can take several hours of your day, but it is a necessary evil when it comes to processing short sales. It’s not uncommon to spend up to 45 minutes on one file just trying to get the right person on the other end of the phone to see how the file is moving along. 3- Check on approaching foreclosure sale dates with the Orange County Courthouse- It’s always good to ask the short sale rep about pending auction dates. However, a lot of times there is a communication breakdown between the lenders, lawyers and the courthouse and unfortunately, that’s just the way it is. This is why at Orlando Realty Consultants we have someone that is in charge of calling the Orange and Osceola county court houses and finding out what the latest information is on each and every case. Many times we inform the lenders of an approaching sale date before they even know about it. 4- Creating accurate CMA’s- With the ever changing Orlando Real Estate market, it’s extremely important to make sure that the properties are priced correctly in order to ensure success with a short sale. Pricing the property too high or too low will only drag things out and can sometimes push the bank to just flat out refuse entertaining a short sale. 5- Scheduling the BPO’s- The BPO [Brokers Price Opinion] is a very important part of the short sale process. The BPO is almost always performed by a local realtor. Whatever the BPO comes in at is the point of negotiation between us and the lender. 6- Negotiating with HOA dues and other 2nd lien holders– It used to be easy to get an Home Owners Association to accept a massive discount on what’s owed on a client’s delinquent dues. Not any more! HOA’s are now notorious for being difficult to negotiate with. We’ve had countless cases where closings have been delayed because of waiting on the HOA’s to send us a simple payoff letter, Even for a full payoff. 7- Coordinating Closings- Having a great title company helps a lot. However there are still many things that fall on the short sale realtor such as scheduling inspections and making sure that everything runs smoothly with all parties involved on both the buyer’s and seller’s side. 8- Update our Short Sale Clients- To us, this is one of the most important things on the to do list. Here at Orlando Realty Consultants, we understand that our short sale clients are going through a tremendous amount of financial and emotional stress because of their situation. This is why we keep our clients informed about everything every step of the way. The more you know about something then the less you will fear it or stress out about it, that’s just human nature. Our clients depend on us to help them through one of the most important processes of their lives and this is something that we take very serious. Well, there you have it folks, a peak into the day of an Orlando Short Sale Expert.   If you need help with an Orlando Short Sale or just some free advice from an Orlando Real Estate Expert, contact us, we’re here to help. Jenny Zamora, Lic RE Broker
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