Tag: short sale realtor

Top 5 Mistakes in Choosing a Short Sale Realtor

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Choosing the right realtor to sell your home is something that you should take very seriously. The sale or purchase of a home is one of if not the most important transactions that a person will ever be involved in within their lifetime. So what if you’re in need of a short sale? Then you really need to be careful because short sale listings are a completely different animal than traditional listings. There is a lot more work involved with completing a short sale and that’s just the beginning. Realtors that specialize in doing short sales have to be highly skilled negotiators and have to possess a “never give up” attitude in order to be successful.

Following is a list of 5 things that homeowners should look out for when hiring a realtor to do their short sale.

1- Realtors that only work part-time- It’s hard enough to work a short sale as it is. Imagine if your short sale realtor had another job during the day when the lenders are working. Part-time realtors have no business working with short sales because it can take twice as long to get it done and when you’re doing a short sale, time is of the essence. Lenders can still continue with foreclosure proceedings even during the short sale process.

2- Realtors that outsource all the work- There are some realtors out there that don’t care for all the extra work that a short sale requires of them so they outsource their short sale files to a third party. I personally would never do this because I think it’s unethical and misleading to the homeowner. If a realtor is advertising themselves as a short sale specialist or expert then I feel that realtor should do all the work, not someone else. Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to have an assistant or processor in your office to help move things along, but this is very different than outsourcing the entire process to a third party. Also, third-party negotiators will add extra fees to a short sale which can cause the deal to fall apart entirely. Make sure to ask the agent if they are going to work on your file or will it be outsourced to another company.

3- Insist on weekly progress updates- Homeowners that are in pre-foreclosure are stressed out enough about their situation as it is. Imagine how much more stressed a homeowner will be if they have no clue about what’s going on with their house. It’s important that you make things clear with the realtor up front by getting them to commit to weekly updates with your file even if nothing’s happened on any particular week. If the realtor can’t commit to keeping you “the homeowner” in the loop every step of the way, then you shouldn’t hire them.

4- Check their track record- Research the agent to see what they’ve accomplished in their real estate carer lately. A good short sale agent should be working with several files at any given time. Also, find out how many short sales they’ve completed in the past six months or year. An agent that’s good at doing short sales should have at the very least, three happy clients that would be willing to tell you all about their experience with that agent.  If you’re their only short sale client then seller beware!

5- Interview Several agents before choosing one- There are a lot of great short-sale agents out there which means you can afford to interview a few before making your choice. Pick at least two or three that satisfy the checklist above and see which one you feel would do the best job for you according to your needs. Remember, this person is going to be handling the sale of your home from beginning to end. Make sure that you feel comfortable with them. Just because a real estate agent is great at doing short sales, it doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the best agent for you.

Orlando short sale expert

 

 

 

 

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Negotiating the payoff on a second mortgage

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

As an Orlando short sale realtor, negotiating the payoff on a second mortgage is something I  do on a day-to-day basis. I would say that at least half of the homeowners that visit our office have more than one mortgage. As a matter of fact, I’ve seen homeowners that have up to 3 mortgages on one piece of property.  The good news is, however, that in a short sale situation 2nd and 3rd lien holders don’t have much leverage if the property is being foreclosed on by the first mortgage holder. In this type of situation, the 1st mortgage holder is always first in line as far as who gets paid first if the property goes to public auction. The only exception to this rule is if there’s an IRS lien in which case they would get paid first. After the 1st mortgage gets paid then the other lien holders get paid according to what order the liens or mortgages are attached.

A short sale is when a lender agrees to the sale of a property for less than what’s owed on the property because there isn’t enough equity to cover the full amount of the payoff. At this point, the second mortgage basically becomes an unsecured debt. If the sale of the property won’t even cover the 1st mortgage payoff, there’s no way that any other lien holders will get paid.  When we are able to prove this to secondary lien holders, they are usually very eager to negotiate.  They know that they don’t have a leg to stand on and  if the property goes to foreclosure, or if the homeowner files for bankruptcy they won’t get a dime.

Once secondary mortgage holders realize there situation, it’s usually pretty easy get them to take a massive discount on what’s owed. Many times the 1st mortgage holder will only allow up to a certain amount to be paid the second mortgage holder or they won’t approve the deal. This is also a very powerful tool because when first mortgage holders have these guidelines in place, second mortgage holders have to either accept whatever the amount is or get nothing at all when the property goes to foreclosure. At this point, the burden of having to negotiate with secondary lien holders gets taken of the short sale realtor completely because the 1st mortgage holder will stick to their guidelines no matter what.

Many of my clients ask if we can negotiate their second mortgage balance with the loan being current. Unfortunately, in my experience of 8 years as an Orlando realtor, that has never been the case. The way they look at it is, if you’re still making the full payment why should they even entertain the idea of accepting less than the entire amount. I never, ever advise my clients to stop making their payment and I  never will. However, I do educate homeowners on the way that things work and most of the time they decide to stop making that payment. unfortunately, this is usually the only way to get their attention.

Why should you settle at all? There are several reasons why you should settle with second mortgage holders as opposed to just not addressing it at all. For one thing, these deficiencies can come back to haunt you in the future and cause damage to your credit. Also, many times the original mortgage holder will turn collection efforts over to a collection agency that uses much more aggressive tactics to collect the balance. Also, in short sale situation, you have no choice but to settle with the second or the sale will not go through, it’s as simple as that.

Orlando short sale expert

 

 

 

 

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6 Things that can Kill your Orlando Short Sale

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

The Clock is running Out on Orlando Short Sales


By now almost everyone is familiar with the term “Orlando Short Sale” that owns real estate in Orlando. In a nutshell… It’s when the bank agrees to take a substantial discount on what is owed on a delinquent mortgage.
Our office has been receiving a ton of calls and emails lately from sellers that are upside down on their mortgage all asking the same question. “ Are we still in time to do a short sale on our home without being taxed by the IIRS for the deficiency?” The simple answer to this question is yes, as long as you get it closed before 2013. However, there are many other things to consider besides the “Mortgage tax relief act of 2007”.
6 things that could kill your Orlando Short Sale

1-    The Bank refuses to take accept the short sale offer- These days this doesn’t happen that often. However, Some lenders are just not realistic when it comes to what the property is actually worth and they will just flat out refuse to do a short sale.
2-    Stubborn Homeowners Associations- In the state of Florida, HOA’s will be paid 1 year of dues if a property goes to foreclosure. However, for some reason, that I’m still trying to figure out, there are HOA’s out there that would rather let the property  go  to  foreclosure and collect a year of delinquent dues instead of collecting an amount that is  much more than that. It’s almost  like the HOA’s take it personal that a homeowner can’t pay and they want revenge!
3-    2nd mortgages not giving enough of a discount- When you do an  Orlando Short Sale on a  house that has 2 or more mortgages, the amount that you offer to that second mortgage holder as to be approved by the first mortgage holder. If the frst mortgage holder only wants the second to get $2,000.00 and the 2nd mortgage holder wants $5,000.00 guess what? That’s right… it’s a deal killer.

4-    The BPO Comes in Too High- Part of the process when doing an rlando  short sale is for the bank to order a BPO [Brokers Price Opinion]. Kind of like a mini appraisal, a BPO is usually performed by a local realtor that goes into the house and records details of the house damages, upgrades, etc. Based on all of this information the BPO agent will determine what they  think the house is worth. Unfortunately, I’ve had BPO’s done on properties where judging by their valuation of the property, they must have been either
5-    intoxicated or the more likely scenario, they want the property to get foreclosed on in hopes that they get the listing on the property from the lender as an REO listing.
6-    The buyers back out or are unable to close- Usually, you’ll know way ahead of time if you’re dealing with a legitimate buyer as opposed to a tire kicker because of a Deposit and proof of funds or a pre-approval letter. However, for whatever reason, a buyer will sometimes just not want to go through with the deal at the last second or their financing falls through. Unfortunately, It’s just the nature of the Orlando Real Estate business.

Hire an Orlando Short Sale Expert

If you’re in need of doing a short sale in Orlando, you should find an experienced short sale realtor to give yourself the best chance possible. Short sales can be tricky and hiring a good  realtor will the key to your success.

 

 

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Orlando Short Sales Soar as Home Foreclosure Sales Fall

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Short Sales Outnumbering Foreclosure Sales in a Big Way.

The Orlando foreclosure crisis is nowhere close to being over, but the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter every day. Orlando short sales are a win-win for everyone involved. Short sales [which occur when homeowners sell their homes for less than what they still owe], also close much faster than foreclosure sales, and they relieve lenders of the responsibility of maintaining vacant homes as well as not having to worry about the properties getting vandalized.

It makes you think,… with soo many benefits in it for the lenders the question is why weren’t they doing this the whole time?

 New Developments in Orlando Real Estate

There have been some changes made in the rules of Orlando short sales lately. For starters, lenders no longer have a choice. The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced this month that mortgage servicers will be required to review and respond to short sale offers within 30 days and make final sale decisions within 60 days.  All of this is supposed to take place in June of this year, meanwhile, lenders are scrambling to train enough staff to handle the demand for new short sale files.

A Win-Win Situation for Orlando Homeowners

By going the short sale route both the lenders as well as the homeowners win. Homeowners get to walk away from debt-free, the lender re-cooperates some of their money back and everyone gets to move on with life.

Doing a short sale is usually the best option for people. Statistics just from our own office indicate that 90% of the time homeowners choose the short sale route after consulting with one of our Orlando short sale specialists and all the options have been explained to them. With all the incentives being offered by lenders these days, it just makes the most sense in most cases.
With lenders being much better equipped to process short sales now, it’s absolutely the fastest way for borrowers to walk away from their distressed properties. Also, credit repair is much easier to achieve when you’re dealing with some late payments on your record as opposed to a foreclosure.

Cash for Keys for some homeowners.

For many homeowners, banks are offering cash incentives for the homeowner to agree to a short sale. We’ve gotten our clients from $3,000.00 up to $20,000.00 back at closing. This is a tremendous help for homeowners in making the transition into a new homeless financially painful.

Short Sales are better for Orlando neighborhoods.

Banks are terrible property owners, foreclosed homes often stay vacant for months and even years, meanwhile, the home deteriorates due to lack of maintenance. To make things worse, vacant houses might as well have targets painted on them in certain neighborhoods. Thieves go after things like fixtures, appliances, copper pipes, etc. Banks are unknowingly cannibalizing their own assets with foreclosures.
Short sales put new owners in vacant homes much faster than foreclosure sales.  This is good news for Orlando neighborhoods that have been hit hard by the mortgage crisis. New homeowners are typically pretty excited about being new homeowners and the first thing they usually do is work on the curb appeal of their new home. Many times this creates a domino effect and before you know it, surrounding neighbors will also want to improve their curb appeal.


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