Cape Coral Real Estate » Cape Coral short sales

Cape Coral Short Sales | Advice for banks

Susan Milner — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 23:50:11 +0000

I’m a firm believer in only addressing a problem if you have the solution.

The recent blog I wrote about Countrywide short sales sure caused a lot of comments, emails and phone calls.

Not to worry, I have a solution.

Read the full article about Countrywide Short Sales and the WHY behind this post.

Here’s what I propose the banks do to collect the most money back on these bad loans:

1) Have an intake department with a checklist of items needed in package

(timeframe: same day of receipt)

a. Reject all that are missing items – send letter of explanation

b. Forward on all complete packages to analysis team

2) Analysis Team – reviews package

(timeframe: 2 days of review)

a. Verifies hardship

b. Verifies value

c. If good – forward to closing negotiator

d. If doesn’t work – send letter of why/reject

3) Closing Negotiator – closes file

(timeframe: 2 days of review)

a. Reviews file

b. Send approval

Ok, maybe I’m in dreamland but I think this would work. Banks would send approvals within a week. Sell off bad loans within 30 days. Our real estate market would improve as the inventory is sold.

Sound simple? Remember KISS? Yep, that’s right!

I’m sure there are thousands of incomplete, bogus-offers files sitting somewhere at every bank. If they would just reject those upon receipt it would give their staff time to work on files that actually make sense.

By the way, we will still handle Countrywide short sales. Just keep in mind that they might take longer than the others – at least until Countrywide fixes up their process.

Any loss mitigators out there? I’d love to hear your comments!

Read the full article about Countrywide Short Sales and the WHY behind this post.

As always, if you are considering buying or selling in the Cape Coral and Ft. Myers area, we’d love to assist you. Buyers, search thousands of homes for sale on our website. Sellers, if you need help with a short sale let us know. We’re here to help.

Yours in Success,

Florida Future Realty, Inc.

www.Florida-Future-Realty.com

(239) 542-8521

Susan@SusanMilner.com

Disclaimer: For those of you who are not familiar with short sales; this is NOT the way banks are handling short sales. This is how I propose they handle them. Currently many negotiations are taking 30-120 days to facilitate. Following the above advice would DRAMATICALLY reduce this time!

Countrywide Short Sales

Susan Milner — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:01:44 +0000

I no longer handle short sales through Countrywide. As an experienced short sale listing agent, I’ve had enough. I’ll still help you with a short sale through ANY OTHER LENDER. Just not COUNTRYWIDE.

Read my story about why:

Countrywide short sales – a story

Enjoy…..WHY/HOW are they still in business? Oh yeah, thanks to Bank of America…ya, go B of A!

Florida Future Realty, Inc.

Cape Coral Short Sales

Expecting to Buy a short Sale | What to Expect

Susan Milner — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:36:21 +0000

What to Expect when you are expecting to buy a short sale

So, you are expecting? Expecting to buy a short sale? Short sales are handled much differently from traditional sales. Here we will go over the differences to help you through the process.

The first thing to consider: Your time frame for purchase

Do you have enough time to wait for an answer? Short sales can take 30-60 days to receive an answer. We’ve heard horror stories of it taking 5-6 months in some cases as well. This could have been due to a number of factors that we cannot thoroughly cover here.

The next thing to consider: Choosing a Real Estate Agent

Have you found a real estate agent who has the knowledge to guide you through the short sale process? Ask them questions like “have you helped a buyer purchase a short sale before?” if so, ‘how did the process go?” Then ask, “Have you ever negotiated a short sale for a seller before?” and if so, “how did that process go?”

Watch for the agents’ opinion of short sales. If an agent has had a bad experience with a short sale you’ll be able to pick up on that. If they feel like they are a waste of time you’ll notice that too. Then you need to find someone who understands the process and can help you through it.

Next thing you’ll do: View the homes

Next your agent will schedule appointments to show you the short sales you are interested in. While you are viewing these properties, take note of the condition of the property. How long ago did the seller stop maintaining the property or is it still being maintained? If there are tenants living there – when does their lease expire? Are they willing to stay or do they plan to leave? Are they keeping the house or property neat? Or are they destroying it?

Ready to Submit an Offer: Make sure it is written up correctly

Your agent should of course called the listing agent to determine the status of the short sale. Does the seller plan to accept 1 offer or many? Have any offers already been submitted? If so, what was the outcome? Was there a previous bank approval? What were those terms? Does the seller plan to sign an offer and then take the property off of the market or do they intend to keep it available for sale?

Your offer will consist of the following:

Far/Bar As-Is Contract: This is an approved as-is contract. It does not require for the seller to be responsible for any repairs. It does give the buyer the right to inspect.

Short Sale Addendum: This form spells out the timeframes. You can give any number of days for the seller to obtain bank approval. You can make the offer’s effective date good from the time of acceptance by the seller or from the time of receipt of written approval from the bank. We advise the latter as to not lose money with inspections without knowing the outcome of your offer.

Approval letter if financing: This is a letter from your lender approving your financing.

Proof of Funds if paying with cash: This can be a letter from your bank stating “Mrs. Buyer has adequate funds available to close on said property for $this much money” or it can be a copy of a bank statement.

Earnest Deposit: Typically at least $1,000. The seller’s lender will want proof of this so go ahead and have it ready. It shouldn’t matter who is holding the escrow but if the seller is already working with a specific local title company it is best to have it placed there.

Seller Acceptance:

Seller acceptance shouldn’t take more than a day or two in most cases. Remember though, the seller is only agreeing to sell the property if their lender agrees to a short sale. It is critical that you have a contract signed with the seller. Otherwise there is no deal.

Then you: WAIT for seller’s lender’s approval

Determine how often you’ll get updates. Do you want to know what is going on every week? Only when there is progress? Do you want to be called? Emailed? Communication is key. You and your agent should have a plan.

GREAT NEWS: Approval

Now your effective date starts. This means that your inspection period starts, your loan approval period starts. Make sure you work diligently on your financing because asking for an extension can be a real headache.

At Closing: One extra form

Most banks are now requiring the buyer to sign an affidavit of arms length transaction. This ensures that nothing funny is going on. (like you are buying mom’s house). Some banks are even doing background checks on buyers to verify this as well. Otherwise your closing will be handled like any other real estate closing.

There you have it, What to Expect When you are Expecting – To Buy a short sale.

Keep in mind that this is not a full list of what could happen but it is a generalization to help you with the process. If you are considering a short sale purchase in Lee County please contact our team for help. We have the experience to advise you when a short sale can work and how to handle the transaction – start to finish.

We look forward to your successful purchase.

Search Short Sale (and other) listings:

Cape Coral short sales

Fort Myers short sales

Lehigh Acres short sales

E Ft. Myers short sales

N. Ft. Myers short sales

Estero short sales

You can search for all of the properties available in Lee County right online from the comfort of wherever you have internet access. Our website contains a user friendly real estate search engine and is 100% free to use. Go ahead, check it out: Lee County Real Estate Compare properties, see photos, get notified of new listings that match your criteria, save your favorites, schedule showings and more!

We look forward to hearing from you!

Yours in Success,

Susan Milner

Florida Future Realty, Inc.

239-542-8521

Cape Coral short sales and Cape Coral Foreclosures

Susan Milner — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 14:25:03 +0000

Are you looking for a great deal with a Cape Coral Short Sale or a Cape Coral Foreclosure? We can send you a new list each week for your review. Just select from below what you are looking for and we’ll do the rest. The list will be sent via email so make sure your email address is correct!

Yours in Success,

Susan Milner

Florida Future Realty, Inc.

(239) 542-8521

Cape Coral Real Estate

Email Susan

Invest in Short Sales | Cape Coral Short Sales | Ft. Myers Short Sales

Susan Milner — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:21:16 +0000

Invest in Short Sales | Cape Coral Short Sales | Ft. Myers Short Sales

Are you interested in Cape Coral short sales? Want to hear the truth about them?

Do you and/or your agent understand them?

One thing that I think is VERY important is to note the source of the information you find.

How many short sales has this agent been involved with? How many have actually CLOSED?

Getting bad advice is possible so you need to understand where this information is coming from.

Would you take advice about building wealth from someone currently in poverty? No, of course not. Then why would you take advice on short sales from someone who has never closed on one?

As of today, 626 residential short sales have closed in Lee County since January 1, 2008. The average days on market was 145. That is from list date to sale date.

I pulled out a ranking report ~ by agent ~ by sold counts as listing agent ~ sorted by # of closed listings.

I rank #5. Susan Milner of Florida Future Realty: #5 in residential short sales closed out of our entire MLS for this time period of Jan 1, 2008-Aug 28, 2008. 2 of the agents listed above me are brokers and take credit for every sale in their entire office. I am also the broker at Florida Future Realty but I do not take credit for my agents’ listings. The rankings were all my listings. A couple of them were referred by agents in my office but I was the listing agent.

So, being ranked #5 out of a total of over 5,000 agents in our local board of REALTORS I consider myself a good source of information on short sales.

Do I claim to know everything about short sales? No, of course not. But I would be a better source of information than someone who has never handled a short sale through to the end.

Everyone’s situation is unique to them and a seller should seek the counsel of an experienced attorney and/or tax accountant to make sure that a short sale is their best option.

Often times these agents and/or you, their customer, do not have all of the information or knowledge to make an informed decision about short sales. Before you make a decision do your homework.

If you have a question about selling your house as a short sale or a question regarding purchasing a short sale, please give our office a call. We are here to assist you with your real estate needs. Having the added experience with these short sales gives us an advantage in assisting our customers with their short sale buying or selling needs.

We also handle bank owned properties. Often times these homes are priced so well that buyers are experiencing multiple offer situations and the properties typically sell for higher than list price in these cases.

We price our short sales correct with the market. This provides a much higher likelihood of the short sale being approved and it provides for an easier process for all involved.

Want to see our current short sales?

Cape Coral short sales

Fort Myers short sales

Lehigh Acres short sales

E Ft. Myers short sales

N. Ft. Myers short sales

Estero short sales

We look forward to hearing from you!

Yours in Success,

Susan Milner

Florida Future Realty, Inc.

239-542-8521