On behalf of Orlando Realty and our entire team of Orlando real estate professionals, we are proud to introduce a weekly report of market statistics of what’s happening in the world of Orlando real estate. This report provides up-to-date information to help educate Florida Home buyers and Sellers so that they can get a feel for the market and make educated decisions when it comes to buying or selling Orlando Real Estate.
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When it comes to doing an Orlando short sale, many things come into play. One of the most important aspects of this particular home selling process is the agent that you choose. Your real estate agent will be doing all of the negotiations for you with your bank as well as with the potential buyer; therefore, you have to trust your short sale agent. In order to trust your agent, you should know important things about them before turning the steering wheel over to them when it comes to selling your home. When picking an agent, it’s absolutely crucial that you do your research on that person.
The first thing you should do is research the agent’s background and area of expertise in Orlando Real Estate. The best way to research the company is to utilize online search engines. Simply type in the company or the agent’s name followed by “reviews.” Within seconds you should be able to find numerous reviews from previous clients that will help you to determine the reputation of the company in which your agent is associated.
As with anyone that you hire, you should take into consideration the agent’s real estate experiences. You can also ask the agent to provide you with references, which you can call to obtain detailed information from previous Short Sale clients. References can provide you with the best information about what to expect if you need to do a short sale on your house.
Also, make sure that you agent has their Certified Distressed Property Designation. Although this isn’t the most important thing that you should consider when hiring an agent, it certainly doesn’t hurt to hold this endorsement.
There are many “Cash For Keys” type programs out there right now from organizations such as HAFA. We’ve gotten our clients anywhere from $3,000.00 to $20,000.00 back from the bank at closing. When interviewing a realtor, make sure that you ask about these programs and what the plan of attack will be before signing anything. If they don’t specialize in short sales, then chances are they’re not going to know what the latest laws and regulations are and what they’re able to qualify you for.
The problems start when a homeowner hires an agent to do their short sale and the agent either has very limited experience with short sales or none at all. Short sales are not easy and not all realtors have the skills, work ethic or experience required to be an expert short sale agent. When homeowners make the mistake of not hiring the right agent for the job, the result can be disastrous resulting in your home getting foreclosed on.
If you’re in the market for a real estate agent that specializes in doing short sales do your research and find out everything that you can about the agent before making your decision, you’ll be glad you did. Ask me anything, I’m here to help.
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HOA foreclosures are becoming more and more common these days. Tired of putting up with late dues
and mounting maintenance bills, some homeowner associations are motivated by spite and revenge, instead of sound business sense, to foreclose on delinquent owners.
I believe that taking title to a property for a few thousand dollars in unpaid association fees is just wrong and isn’t the best answer.
Here in Orlando a Home Owner Association will only receive 1 year worth of payments if the property goes to foreclosure sale. Sow why are soo many Associations initiating the foreclosure before the lenders even do?
Here’s what I think, HOAs are fed up with being playing fiddle to the lenders. It used to be that HOAs were easy to work with. If someone was behind on their HOA dues it was no big deal. If the seller owed ten thousand dollars in delinquent HOA dues, experienced Orlando realtor could usually get them to accept one to two thousand dollars and they would only get paid at the closing table.
The fact is a lot of members aren’t paying because they haven’t seen that the associations mean business, Associations are now very educated on the subject. Now they are getting serious about it and moving towards foreclosure much faster and many times, beating the lenders to the punch.
Because it’s easier for an association to foreclose than a bank [no proof of ownership necessary, no issue with robo-signed documents ] real estate attorneys say that the biggest reason for the increase in HOA foreclosures is that HOAs are tired of getting pushed around and are now pushing back with a vengeance.
There’s another reason why HOA’s are foreclosing way before the lender does. When the homeowner association forecloses and takes title to a home, they rent it out until the bank forecloses as the primary lien holder. With banks taking years to foreclose on some properties, the board can collect thousands of dollars by the time the bank gets around to foreclosing.
I’ve seen with some of my own clients that HOA boards will even implore tactics such as taking away there gate key forcing them to park outside the community and walk.The fact is that many times the HOA will push for foreclosure out of spite even when there are other options available.
If you happen to find yourself in a similar situation with your HOA, then you should consult with an Orlando Realty Expert. It doesn’t cost you anything and you may find the solution to your problem
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I had just had to share this story about an Orlando short sale that we’ve been working on for well over 3 1/2 years.
We started this file in December of 2008 It was a pretty common story; She had a 1st mortgage with GMAC for 434k and a second with Bank of America for 116k and she also owed her HOA $5,000.00 at that point [now $15,000.00]. The big problem was that even though she owed about 570k since she purchased in 2006, her house was only worth 180k at the point when we took her on as a client in 2008.
Throughout this process it was a matter of getting all the stars to line up at once , which when your dealing with 3 different debtors is no easy task. Buyers get tired of waiting, lenders wanted new bpo appraisals done every 6 months, the HOA didn’t want to budge and we had to stop her Orlando foreclosure several times.
In the past three years we’ve had 7 solid contracts, 9 bpo appraisals and we stopped the foreclosure sale date a total of 6 times.s, we eliminated her debt. We closed last week with a cash offer for 200k and to top it all off, we got the lenders to give her $7,000.00 back at closing. By the way, she never once went to see an attorney which means probably saved another 7 to 10 thousand dollars.
In the end my client got to live rent free for 3 1/2 years and was able to save up some money and turn her life around. We found her a nice rental in Downtown Orlando and she now lives comfortably within her budget. How’s that for a bailout plan?
It’s true that we had to work work many times harder than a typical short sale file just because of constant updating of expired short sale docs alone, not to mention all the buyers we lost along the way because they got tired of waiting on an approval.
However, when you’re in the short sale business, there is no greater satisfaction than to know that you’ve helped someone solve a huge problem in their life and get a fresh start.
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Last week we picked up a new client , we’ll call him “Joe”, and his story one that we’ve heard far too many times, only the characters were different. So I felt that I needed to share it with everyone in hopes that someone will benefit from it.
Joe fell behind on his mortgage about 6 months ago and decided that he wanted to short sale his Orlando house. Instead of consulting with an Orlando short sale realtor, he and his wife went to see a real estate lawyer.
Joe’s BIG mistake
The biggest difference between consulting with an Orlando real estate attorney and consulting with an Orlando realtor is that one charges $250.00 per hr and the other doesn’t get paid until the job is done. Can you guess which one is which?
Anyway, back to the story. When they sit down with the attorney, they were so impressed with all the shiny plaques on the wall and the expensive furniture, that by the end of the conversation, they wrote him a big fat check for $3,000.00 for him to complete their short sale…[ I guess my mom was right I should have gone to law school!]
The plot thickens… At first they asked him to submit the usual paperwork: bank statements, tax returns, etc. Then he would call in for the usual update once a week or so. This went on for a few months and the answer from the law firm was always the same; it’s being worked on.
After he didn’t hear back from the lawyer for a while, he decided to call his lender to find out what’s going on and guess what?…. The lender had closed the file because of missing documents!!
Joe was furious and wanted answers so he called the Law office to speak with the lawyer. His only conversation with the lawyer to this point was when he wrote him the check, after that he would always be transferred to a processor or secretary.
When he demanded to speak with the lawyer, they said he would have to schedule an appointment to come in…Oh, and he would have to pay the hourly rate of $250.00!!
With an approaching auction date, and having to start the short sale from the beginning, he was now in a much worse position. Not to mention he lost the $3,000.00 that he paid to the lawyer…have you ever tried getting a refund from a lawyer before?
We’re working hard on Joe’s file right now, especially to stop the foreclosure sale on his house. Since he wasted so much time, our work is cut out for us.
The moral of this story is…Even if you’re considering a lawyer to do your short sale, why not consult with an experienced Orlando short sale realtor first. It’s Free!
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