Short Sales Gone Wild!

We've been really busy working the Short Sale market. Crazy! Today I just got an offer in on another property that is going the Short Sale route. Luckily, I have an experienced short sale negotiating team in place which makes the whole process efficient and as smooth as possible. We have a high success rate. You may ask, though, "What is a short sale?"

In the past when people have purchased a home, especially say between 2005 and 2007, they paid a price according to the market at that time. That buyer may also have taken advantage of getting a 100% financed loan, which many lenders were offering. The thought behind that was that since property values kept going up, a buyer could purchase a property, hold it for a few years, then sell it and realize a profit, pay off that 100% loan and still be ok, ready to move on to the next purchase. Well, then property values dropped. A lot. Then, as the economy eroded and people lost jobs, or lost income, or perhaps health issues came up...any number of hardships which caused those homeowners to be unable to keep up with their mortgage payments, another issue came up and that was how to get out from under the mortgage they could no longer afford. Welcome to the world of short sales.

If a homeowner truly can prove a hardship and the value of their home has dropped beneath what they owe for it, and they are falling behind on their payments, before the homeowner loses the house to foreclosure we, in real estate, can try and help them qualify for a short sale, market the home, get that homeowner out from under that heavy burden. Many people who have had to go the short sale route had previously tried to get a loan modification done but were unsuccessful for a variety of reasons. A short sale on your record is not as damaging as a foreclosure or a bankruptcy. We can help the homeowner determine if they might qualify to do a short sale.

Where did the phrase short sale come from? If the property is selling for less than is owed to the bank, and the bank agrees to let that happen, then the bank is selling themselves short....or it is a SHORT SALE.

Why Is Your House Still On The Market?

This is the question at the top of many homeowners' minds right now. Why has my home not sold? There could be any number of answers for this question, but it likely has to do with a similar thread of concern to many people. It used to be safe to say it was either price, condition, or location. These days, while having a home in good condition in a good location is a big plus, price is the chief concern. The economic indicators are showing, though, that the market is swinging ever so slowly and gently into a more balanced market. This means we are seeing signs of the market moving away from being such an extreme buyer's market into a more balanced buyer/seller market. What tips us off to this condition? When the amount of inventory that is available is coming closer to 6 months worth of inventory rather than the 8,11,and 16 months of inventory we have had these past few years. Are we out of the woods yet? NO! Sorry, all you wonderful homeowners who are hoping for a different answer. We still need to have a little more patience in this regard. HOWEVER, this is still a great time to buy property. Interest rates are still fantastic. Prices on homes are lower than we've seen for many years. There are wonderful properties available. For people who are wanting to sell, this is a perfectly fine time to get things going. For people who are wanting to buy, this is still an amazing time to do so. If you want a more personalized approach to how YOU can best maneuver in this market please feel free to get in touch with me Kay Russell at Keller Williams Fox Valley Realty 630-513-3810. http://GoRussellRealtor.com for more information plus more interesting links