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Orlando Short Sales: Ask The Expert

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Orlando Short Sale Expert Q & A

In this post, we address the most common questions among consumers about short sales and how they differ from traditional sales. In the hot seat, today will be our very own Orlando short sale expert Jenny Zamora. She’s been successfully doing short sales since 2004 way before most people even knew what a short sale was.

Question: What’s the difference between a short sale and a traditional sale in a real estate transaction?

Jenny Zamora: In a short sale scenario, the home is sold for less than what’s owed on the mortgage. Short sales usually take much longer to complete because they need to be approved by the lender/mortgage holder. Sometimes there is more than one mortgage on the home which can sometimes complicate things if both lenders don’t agree.

Once the lender [s] have agreed to the short sale amount then it becomes a normal transaction with a contract signed by both the seller and buyer.

Question: How is a foreclosure different from a short sale?

Jenny Zamora: A foreclosure is when the lender files a lawsuit against the homeowner because they’ve failed to make several mortgage payments and haven’t pursued any other options such as a short sale, loan modification, or paying off the loan. As a result, the property is either sold at a public auction or taken back by the bank if the reserve hasn’t been met.

With a short sale, the homeowner is usually between 60 to 180 days behind on their mortgage payments because of some kind of personal or financial hardship. The property also must be worth less than what’s owed on the note for the short sale to be approved. Although a seller can’t profit from a short sale, many lenders often provide the sellers with relocation costs [usually around $3000] so they have money to help them move into another home.

A short sale however isn’t nearly as bad nor does it stay on your credit report as long as a foreclosure will.

Question: How long does it take to complete a short sale in today’s market?

Jenny Zamora: Short sales used to take 3 to 4 months and even longer to complete even if you followed up with the banks several times per week. As a result, many buyers were getting frustrated and walking away. This happened mostly because lenders just weren’t equipped to handle that many short sales at once and they had no systems in place to help streamline the process. These days, lenders have systems in place and more staff to help move the short sale processing along much faster resulting in much faster responses, typically within 2 to 3 weeks.

Question: Do you have any advice for someone wanting to purchase a short sale?

Jenny Zamora: 1st and foremost to make sure they’re dealing with a short sale specialist. If the agent isn’t familiar with short sales and how they work you could end up being disappointed and not getting your offer approved. Even though I’ve been doing short sales in Orlando since 2004, I’m constantly keeping up to date on the latest information when it comes to short sales, bank procedures, and guidelines.

An experienced short-sale Realtor knows how important it is to stay up to date. Just like there are specialists in the medical field, the same holds in Orlando real estate. We specialize in foreclosure prevention and short sales which is why our company is so proactive in staying educated and informed.

Question: What are the things that can most likely go wrong with a short sale transaction?

Jenny Zamora: Some things can happen with a short sale that is sometimes beyond our control. The most important thing to realize is that it’s ultimately up to the lender to approve or deny a short sale offer. This is another reason to work with a short sales specialist. If the bank comes back with a value that’s way too high, we have to do everything we can to dispute their valuation. Sometimes that means providing contractor’s estimates for repairs as well as a CMA on the home.

A traditional listing agent may not even be aware that you can dispute the bank’s valuation of a property and just let the deal fall apart.

Do you need a Realtor to short sale?

Question: Do you need a Realtor to short sell a home or buy a short sale?

Jenny Zamora: Yes and Yes… and I can’t stress enough to hire a Realtor with a lot of experience in short sales. On the seller’s side, the home needs to be listed by an agent as a requirement by the lender. You also want a strong negotiator in your corner.

As a buyer, it isn’t required to hire your own buyer’s agent. However, if you don’t then you’ll end up using the listing agent as your agent… I strongly recommend you hire your agent that way you have someone looking out solely for your best interests, especially when it comes to negotiating.

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10 Creative Ideas To Help Sell A Home

Posted on by Jenny Zamora


Orlando Real Estate Marketing Ideas

Whether your home is in great condition or it needs a ton of work, the key to selling is a great marketing plan. As a motivated seller, you want your home to stand out among your competition to potential buyers in any way that you can.

A strong basic marketing plan is good…. but not good enough. There are a lot of little things that are often overlooked by Realtors. These real estate marketing tools take a bit of extra time and effort to prepare but they can have a huge impact on getting your Orlando home sold for top dollar.

If you team up with the right Orlando Realtor who’s willing to put in the extra effort, everybody wins!

These are some often overlooked real estate marketing ideas that have served us well and incorporated into your marketing plan.

Create A Floor Plan

By creating an attractive and professional-looking floor plan which represents your home, buyers get a clear picture of your property at a single glance. In addition to having paper copies available, take it a step further by making it available online.

A floor plan isn’t hard to make either… Your Orlando Realtor should be able to do this for you at no charge. After all, it’s going to benefit them as well by making your home that much more buyer-friendly.

Create A Professional Video

Video is more popular than ever and only continues to trend upwards. Just go to Facebook and you’ll see more videos than images. A professional-looking video tour of your home is important in selling an Orlando home these days.

Our company Youtube Channel “Orlando Realty Consultants” contains a video for every one of our listings and has proved to be an invaluable tool in our home selling arsenal. A well-made property video will engage a potential buyer much more than text and images.

Your Orlando real estate agent should offer this service to you. If they aren’t using video as part of their home selling marketing strategy then you’re missing out on a serious amount of exposure to potential buyers.

 Provide Utility Bills

In my experience, only about ten percent of home buyers will ask for the seller to provide them with a copy of their utility bills so they know what their monthly expenses will be.  Instead of waiting for them to ask for this information, why not have it available before they even think about asking. Buyers will appreciate it … especially the ones that wouldn’t have even thought about asking.

Provide A List of Service Providers

Everybody loves convenience. They want to start enjoying their new home as soon as they get moved in and settled. If you have service providers that you are happy with such as lawn maintenance, pest control, house cleaners, etc… then share this information. Compile a list of service providers that you’re happy with and have it available to your buyers. This will show buyers that you care about your home and that it’s been well maintained since the time you lived there.

Home Owners Insurance Provider

Depending on how experienced home buyers are with the process, they may be clueless in some or even all aspects of the home buying process. Homeowners insurance is a big one not only in price but in service. If you’re happy with your homeowner insurance provider, then you should make your potential buyers aware of what company you’re using. You should even give them the contact info of whom you deal with. You never know, it could end up saving you a few bucks on your next house.

Neighborhood Info

If you live in a neighborhood like mine you’ll be dealing with a very strict homeowners association. It’s best to let your buyers know about the basics. Although this may seem unimportant to some buyers, others will most definitely appreciate knowing what to expect moving forward.

Local School Information

If you’re in a grade-A school district, you should make your buyers aware of that. Even if you don’t have any children of your own. Being in a good school district is advantageous for maintaining property values.  Also, let them know if the local schools have won any awards or are involved in anything else important within the community.

Public Transportation

Although it may not be important to you, it may be extremely important to the new homeowners. Things like bus transportation, train stations, bike paths, etc. are all great to have in your information packet.

Share What You Love About The Town

Provide a written description of the reasons you love your neighborhood. This should be easy to do because it taps into your emotional side… just as it will into theirs. Writing a well-prepared narrative about things you love most about your home and neighborhood is a fantastic way to add a personal touch….emotions sell real estate!

If you think that the above information will be useful in the marketing of your Orlando home, then here are a few more…

  • Touch Up Paint- provide the paint colors of both the inside and the outside of your house so buyers can easily maintain the paint or buy more of the same if need be.
  • Water Shutoffs- If your water shutoff valve is in an unusual place, let the buyers know in case they need to get to it in a hurry.
  • Trash Days- Inform the new buyers of trash and recycling days.
  • Appliance Info- Provide as much information as you can about your appliances including warranty information, etc.

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The Quiet Short Sale | By ORC

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

A short sale on your home can be frustrating, intrusive and sometimes even embarrassing. At Orlando Realty Consultants [ORC] we’ve developed a process for people who need to do a short sale, but don’t want the whole neighborhood knowing about it.  We like to call it…” The Quiet Short Sale”. The quite short sale works much different than an ordinary short sale. To begin with, there are no “for sale” signs or lock boxes anywhere on your property. This will save homeowners from having to explain to their neighbors why they’re selling their home.

The key is getting the lender’s authorization to leave the short sale listing off of the MLS. We’re able to do this because over the years we’ve developed great relationships with all the major lenders so most of the time we get this authorization granted to us without any problem at all. By leaving your home off of the MLS, it will dramatically cut down on the number of unqualified buyers, nosy neighbors and tire kickers trying to come in and out of your home.

We work with hundreds of investors from around the country that make selling an Orlando home easy and painless. Only qualified buyers will find out about the property through target marketing systems that we use to successfully market all of our Orlando properties.

Also, every time we show the property, it will be by appointment and it will be by one of our licensed team members so you don’t have to worry about strangers walking throughout your house.

We will also work with your lender to get you the maximum amount of money back at the closing to help you get into your next home. Our clients usually receive anywhere from $3,000.00 to $30,000.00 back at the closing of the transaction.

Over the years we’ve helped thousands of Orlando homeowners short sale their homes and move on with their life.

We look forward to helping you with your short sale transaction. For more information contact our offices in Orlando at 407-902-7750.

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