Tag: Orlando short sale realtor

Short Sale your home before defaulting on your mortgage

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Short Sale your home before defaulting on your mortgage…More and more we are starting to see a trend in the world of Orlando short sales and that is,… lenders are increasingly more willing to approve short sales before homeowners actually default on their mortgage and fall into a pre-foreclosure situation. This is a huge deal for homeowners that have been wanting get out of their upside down mortgage and haven’t done so for fear of severely damaging their credit.

According to our records we found that in 2012 about 20% of our short sale files, were deals where the lender had not yet filed for foreclosure against the homeowner. A few of them were deals where the homeowner wasn’t even behind on their mortgage. I for one am praying that this trend continues…for everyone’s sake. It just makes good sense,… if the homeowner is trying to be honest with the bank by letting them know that they will be defaulting before they actually default, why shouldn’t the bank use this information to move things along faster before they start losing money?? It’s a win win situation for everyone involved. The homeowner avoids damage to their credit and the lender avoids losing big money by getting a head start on the whole process of getting the house sold. They don’t have to worry about the mortgage falling behind for more than a few payments and even more importantly,… they don’t have to shell out thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees to start the foreclosure process.

Also, by allowing these “almost distressed” homes to change hands much faster will most likely put them in the hands of new homeowners who have loans they can actually afford, which means they are more likely to be able to afford and maintain the property and these people will be more motivated to be responsible homeowner.

Most Lenders are still not seeing the “Big Picture”

Although some lenders are seeing the light when it comes to getting short sales done before waiting for the homeowner to default, the truth is that most lenders are just not having it. They have a strict set of guidelines that they follow to a ” T “, and there’s just no changing their minds…believe me I’ve tried. Dealing with these lenders can be frustrating, but it’s just part of being a short sale realtor.

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Short Sale Specialists vs Real Estate Agents

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Like any profession in the world, there are specialists in every field… Orlando short sales are no different. If you’ve ever attempted to do a short sale, you know that not only can things get frustrating but the situation can change at a moment’s notice without any warning whatsoever. You could be negotiating with a lender for weeks or even months then finally get your approval letter with the buyer lined up and ready to go, etc. Then all of a sudden WHAM!… the loan just got sold to another lender and all of your hard work is gone… just like that.

As short sale realtors, we have to follow very detailed instructions as laid out by the lender. The problem is that these instructions can sometimes be ever-changing and you have to be flexible enough to roll with the changes… it’s kinda like trying to hit a moving target.

The 2nd worst part of a situation like this is that the real estate agent handling the short sale will usually get blamed [out of ignorance] by not only the seller but the buyer and the buyer’s agent as well. I know this because it’s happened to me more times than I care to remember. A true short sale specialist will or should handle a situation like this with patience, persistence, and grace. Also, a good short-sale agent can’t be the type of person that is easily discouraged or they won’t get anywhere in this “dog eat dog” profession.

They call us “specialists” for many reasons. It’s not just about getting the short sale done, it’s about educating everyone involved along the way on what’s going on and why. We’ve been Negotiating Orlando short sales since 2004 [before it was even in style] and we understand what a stressful time the homeowner is going through which is why we maintain good communication with them and keep them informed every step of the way. Even if nothing happens inside any given week during the process, our clients get a weekly update regardless if there was any progress with their file or not.

The way I see it, If a distressed homeowner had enough trust in our company to hand us over control over their short sale listing, then we owe it to them to get the job done, and get it done in a timely and professional manner, after all… we’re not just real estate agents, we are short sale specialists and that’s something that we’re very proud of.

Orlando short sale expert

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Frustrations of an Orlando Short Sale Realtor

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Any Orlando Short Sale Realtor should be accustomed to dealing with frustrating situations. We have to deal with things like working with Homeowners associations, clueless bank negotiators, BPO agents, contractors, etc. This just comes with the territory and if you’re going to be successful with short sales, it’s just something that you have to accept and there’s no way around it.

As a full-service brokerage, we also work with buyers. When I research listings for a potential buyer, it’s very time-consuming even if you use great real estate tools such as the MLS. The MLS was designed and put into place for real estate agents to be as efficient as humanly possible in the selling and purchasing of Orlando real estate. It also does some other pretty amazing things to help agents update their clients, exchanging of information, etc. As amazing as this technology is, you still have to use it correctly for it to be effective. With all the free training offered by the MLS, there’s just no excuse not to know.

Orlando Realtors…Be Professional… Please!

There’s one thing, however, that I find to be more frustrating than almost anything when it comes to Orlando real estate, and that one thing is dealing with incompetent real estate agents. I’m not perfect by any means but I do try my best to respect and follow the laws that have been put into place to regulate my profession. Unfortunately, there are many real estate agents out there that seem to just not care about the rules and regulations of Florida real estate. The worst part about this is that agents like these are giving real estate agents a bad name.

Top 4 pet peeves about incompetent Realtors

1- Failing to update their listings- Super frustrating when you’re searching for properties and you find an active listing that closed  5 days ago…are you kidding me? It takes less than a minute to change the status of your listing. Be professional!

2-Failing to return calls or emails- Why are you in this business if you don’t return phone calls or emails from another real estate agent? Is this also how you handle messages from a potential buyer or seller? How on earth do you make a living at this??

3-Failing to provide urgent docs for a Closing- The closing of the transaction is the ultimate goal in real estate. Why in the world would you delay in providing crucial information when everyone else involved is trying to get the deal closed?

4-Pretending Pretending to be knowledgeable about short sales [this should probably be number 1]- It’s OK if you’re clueless about short sales and I don’t mind educating you on them a bit.  However, please please please… don’t pretend that you know about short sales if you really don’t. Trying to be someone that you’re not just to feel important can potentially hurt your client. If you want to learn about short sales, take some courses, read some books but please don’t practice during “Game Day”, there’s just too much at stake. We’re talking about one of, if not the most important transaction of someone’s life.

Orlando short sale expert

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Orlando short sale Condo | 6451 Old Park Ln #108

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

 Orlando short sale Condo | 6451 Old Park Ln #108

This 1st-floor condo is located in Ventura at Stonebridge Commons. It’s a 1,247 sq ft. 3 Bedroom 2 Bathroom unit that’s in excellent condition and move-in ready. This is a must-see unit that is priced for a quick sale, so don’t wait!

Other features worth noting

*Huge master suite

*Community Clubhouse

*Pool and spa

*Gated community

This unit is conveniently located close to shopping, transportation and entertainment.

To see this or any of our other fantastic properties visit us at OrlandoRealtyConsultants.com

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Orlando Short Sale Negotiator confesses to using stall tactics

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

I’ve been doing short sales in Orlando since 2005 and something happened last week that has never happened to me before. I’ve been working on this Orlando shorts sale listing for the past 3 months. After negotiating with the bank we got the payoff approved at $192,000.00 and the buyers were ready to close. Each time I would get a hold of the negotiator he would say that I would have the approval letter the next day so I would then update my clients with the same update that was given to me. After hearing the same story from me day after day and week after week It got to the point where everyone thought it was all somehow my fault.

To make matters worse, the buyer got tired of waiting and walked from the deal, my client even talked about hiring another agent. The following day I received a call from the negotiator and I couldn’t believe what he told me. He actually told me that he was purposely stalling this particular file because he didn’t want it to close until the month of March. He explained to me that the bank can only handle a certain amount of loss per month and they had already hit their limit for the month of February. He then proceeded to explain to me how he was purposely stalling me by not providing me with the approval letter. When I heard this I felt like reaching through the phone and slapping him. That wasn’t possible so I did the next best thing, I gave him a piece of my mind.

All he had to do was inform me of what was going on from the start and everything would have been fine. The buyers would have had no problem at all waiting as long as they knew what was going on. After I vented my frustration with the negotiator I insisted that he personally call my client and explain the situation to him. Thank God everything is back on track and all is right with the world, we’re closing at the beginning of March.

Short sale negotiations can get complicated and can be extremely frustrating. If you’re in need of an Orlando short sale expert call me at 407-902-7750 for a free analysis of your situation.

Orlando short sale expert

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