Time to think about a Staycation

You have been working hard all winter long and the summer is closing in on you.  Time to think vacation.  Well, with the cost of flights and the hassle of delays due to volcanic ash floating around, coupled with the fear of $4 a gallon gas prices.  Within 3 hours, you can be relaxing lakeside in a gorgeous Log cabin taking in some of the most breathtaking sunrises and sunsets.  Deep Creek Lake offers a variety of activities for all.

Why come to Deep Creek Lake

Crime maps and information for Frederick County

One of the things a REALTOR® is always asked, “Is this a safe neighborhood?“  It is one of a few questions that we are really not able to answer.  If you think about it, what I consider safe might just be waaaaay off of what you think is safe.   Real estate agents don’t want to find themselves in a quagmire about the question.  The best thing we can do is provide you with resources to help you make that decision for yourself.   Technology always helps making the search easier.  But nothing beats just driving through the future neighborhood at various times and see for yourself if it is something that is conducive to your lifestyle.  It is your decision that matters, not mine.

The Frederick County Sheriffs office has a monthly updated mapping program that illustrates the various crimes in the area.  Frederick County Crime Map.

You can get up-to-date info on the latest website at CrimeReports for Frederick City.  This was just opened up to the police records  in Frederick City.  You have the ability to sign up for a email alert to notify you of recent crimes (police calls) in the area.   All other departments/towns in Frederick County have not come on board yet.  You will have to rely on Frederick County Sheriff (above) to provide you with the surrounding area info.   This is very useful in Montgomery County, Howard and Anne Arundel as well by the looks of the map.

A couple other places I always recommend to do some research is the Family Watch Dog.

You can never be too cautious about where you buy your next home. Hopefully this has provide you with enough information to help you make an educated decision.

I also must add that I don’t make any claims to the accuracy or inaccuracy of the information these site provide. Surf at your own risk.

Short Sales – Managing Buyer Expectations

photo credit: liber

In my continuing effort to provide you with information about Short Sales and Foreclosures, let’s talk about the expectations from a buyer’s side. There have been many lost sales due the lack of understanding of the whole process by either the buyer or the buyer’s agent. I have mentioned before that buyers really want a deal in today’s market. For some reason they expect that deal to be in form of a short sale or a foreclosure. It might just be great deal…however, there is plenty of luggage that goes along with that great deal. The process can be trying on all involved, especially if they don’t know what they are getting into.

• Short Sales will test your patiences – 3rd Party approval comes from the Loss Mitigation Department (which can be understaffed) The approval can take 30-60 days. The listing agent does not have control over this.
• Seller help or concessions are almost nil – Banks do not like to give out anymore money. Prepare you finances ahead of time and don’t count on getting anything back. If there is a counter to your offer price, this will most likely delay the process another few weeks for yet another approval.
• They don’t accept all offers and will inadvertently drag feet for more - Chances are, while your offer is submitted for approval other offers are still coming in to the Seller’s agent. Banks know that if they have reduced and reduced, that it will get to a point that multiple offers will come in (the house is still on the market.) Your Buyer’s agent should be able to evaluate the situation. Days on market, the price change history and how does the price compare to the market value of the rest of the homes. Banks have a secret pricing formula that will ultimately accept, but keep in mind, they want to reduce their losses as much as possible. So they hope for higher than yours.
• What you see is what you get - The property is being sold “As-Is” no warranties, no repairs. You can get an inspection of the property but for “Information Only.” This inspection will most likely need to be done during the “3rd Party Approval” process. Because once this is approved, they want this to close and off the books. And the sellers can wait any longer either…you might be the only hope this family has before Foreclosure. Time is of the essences.
• READ THE FINE PRINT – I say this, because some banks or listing agent addendum’s have wording to the effect of this will be a Quitclaim Deed. In other words they pass title to you, but it’s not necessarily a clear title. Clear title means you own it free and clear of past problems. You won’t get any Title Insurance on this property either. The risk is too high. Maybe there was a HELOC taken out on the property for $50,000 and it was not registered prior to closing…guess who just bought themselves a lien? Yep, you did.
• Again, can’t stress the Patience part enough. To help with this, make sure your agent writes in an “Out” for you. His broker’s lawyer should have something written up to allow the buyer to back out of the contract prior to 3rd Party Approval. I know mine did.
• Last advice, the offer should be clean, clear and complete. If it is unorganized and missing items, this will only create unnecessary delays. I would also suggest that is your best offer or reasonably close…see above about multiple offers, you might not have the chance to haggle a counter offer.

This is by far not the complete handbook on Short sales, but it is a peek in to the process. This process is sometime unique to each of the banks that hold the note. Do your homework and make sure you have a knowledgeable agent on your side. Short sale and foreclosure properties might not be the best deal on the block if you have to do $10,000s of worth of repairs to it.

Now go find your dream home.

The picture above was created using Photodropper plugin.

What should a seller expect in a Short sale

We started talking about Short Sales last week and I said we would break it down for the seller and the buyer. The Short Sale transaction can be frustrating for everyone involved. I think most of the frustration comes from expectations not being met. The short sale is not your every day  real estate transaction.  This is relatively new territory for most real estate agents and definitely a new venture for the seller. This should be one of your last resorts. Talk to your bank. You might be able to renegotiate your mortgage. Again, back to my point banks don’t want to own real estate, they just don’t realize it yet. They are going to fight you tooth and nail to keep the current condition and hope you find a way to pay. A well trained real estate agent in foreclosures and short sales will be able to assist you in this process.  Again I want to repost my disclaimer.

Disclaimer; I am not a tax expert, CPA, financial planning expert, nor a lawyer. I suggest before you decide if a short sale is right for you, that you seek professional advice from your CPA, tax expert and lawyer. What I am giving you here is a peek into what could happen if this is the right choice for you.

There are a few things that you should be prepared to do before venturing into a short sale transaction. The bank has to deem your situation worthy of a short sale. Remember, they are going to ultimately take a loss on this. If they approve, they will pass this short fall onto you as a 1099 at closing. The government sees this as income to you and expect you to pay taxes on it. (Tax laws are changing on this regularly, check with your Tax preparer)  You might not have to anymore.

Your agent will be needing a copy of a few things from you to help streamline the whole process.

1. Authorization to talk to you lender(s)
2. Most recent mortgage statement.
3. Most recent tax return.
4. Two most recent pay stubs.
5. Bank Account Statement(s)
6. A Hardship letter written in your own words.

The banks will want to see these items in order to consider your request.  If there’s a second mortgage, most likely both will have to approve the short sale.  Remember you agent will do their best to get the approval, but there’s no guarantees  that they will accept it.  It is not uncommon for one or the other lender to force it to foreclosure.  The loss mitigation department sometimes have a mind of their own.  They have secret formulas that they use to determine which route is more beneficial to the bank.

Your sellers agent will submit this again with another pile of documents when an offer comes through.  It makes it easier on the Loss Mitigation Officer to see everything at one time (again or maybe for the first time)  They have hundreds of these request coming across their desk monthly.  The more your agent is organized, the quicker the response time to the sale approval.  I say quicker with a little tongue and cheek.  The approval process could take anywhere from 30-60 days.   You don’t need any more delays than that.  Especially if the foreclosure process is closing in on you.  Buyers and Buyer’s agent need to be aware of this. We’ll talk about their expectations next week.

This is an emotional process, your agent should be able to help keep things in perspective and work through the hiccups of the transaction.   Ultimately, you want to get this property off your books.  So you can regain control of your life.

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