Sacramento Real Estate Blogging

Although many people out there dread “short sales” when looking for homes, please be patient because things are changing. Lenders are starting to become more cooperative  with these types of sales. A recent article in the Sacramento Bee stated the following regarding short sales:

“It’s a more cooperative solution,” said David Sunlin, senior vice president with Charlottebased Bank of America Home Loans. He said the firm is adding staff and streamlining procedures to do more short sales more quickly as an alternative to foreclosing. “It allows the borrower to leave on their own terms. It’s a more dignified exit strategy and the credit reporting is less negative afterward,” he said. “It’s a win for the lender as well. It’s going to shorten the recovery cycle, which is important to all of us.”

Many clients and prospective buyers want to know why short sales take so long to get approved…

Short sales take so long because lenders must negotiate permission from other parties, such as investors and private mortgage insurers. Most recent home loans also have so-called “seconds,” an extra loan that financed the down payment. Other short sales involve home equity loans or homeowner associations seeking restitution for unpaid dues.

From SacBee.com

For the full article click here

If you know anyone who may be in a short sale situation, please have them give me a call before they decide to let their home foreclose. We are also hearing now that by doing a short sale, rather than foreclosing, a homeowner can potentially buy another property in as little as 2 years. I am here as a resource and would like to help as many people as possible to save them from foreclosure.

The Obama Administration recently announced incentives for borrowers and servicers for borrowers who are unable to modify their loan under the governments Home Affordable Modification program. The new incentives include:

*$1,000 for servicers for successful completion of a short sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure

*$1,500 for borrowers/homeowners to help with relocation expenses

*up to $1,000 toward the cost of paying junior lien holders to release their liens (one dollar from the government   for every $2 paid by the investors to the second lien holders).

For more information click here

If I can help anyone you may know, please feel free to call or email me.

Thanks!

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There was little fluctuation in the median sales price and volume in April but there was a 17% increase over last year’s 1450 sales. Foreclosures continue to be a huge percentage of sales, counting for 65% of all sales in April. This percentage has come down each month since January, where distressed properties were over 75% of sales. The median home price decreased from $167,500 to $167,100 in April. The biggest change is that listing inventory is down. It is showing a 14.2% decrease from 6,266 homes for sale to 5,377. The housing market supply has decreased to 3.1 months. This figure represents the amount of time, in months, that it would take to deplete the total listing inventory given the current rate of sales. (Stats from Sacrealtor.org) Anything under 3 months of inventory is typically considered a “seller’s market” and if you talk with many buyers out there, I am sure they are feeling like this is now the case. Most bank owned properties (REO’s) are priced very competitively and so buyers are having to come up over asking price to get the property they want. Not only that but with reduced inventory, buyers do not have as many choices as they used to. Also, many first time buyers are starting to feel the pressure of getting into a home by December 1st so they can take advantage of the tax credit from the federal government. Check out the graph below to see the changes in the Sacramento real estate market over the last four years.

sales_median_price_rates0

Some people may also be curious as to what I am seeing in the market on a day to day basis. I can tell you there are a lot more short sales than there used to be. If you or anyone you know is behind ,or is soon to be behind on your mortgage, please call me as banks are more willing to accept short sales than they ever have been. With these sales buyers have to be patient as they can take 30-100 days. Unlike an REO property, you will not get a response within 7-10 days. What I am also seeing is that buyers are having to come over and above the asking price but, on some occasions, are not always having to pay the original price they came up to during the initial “bidding war”. I have had two clients over the last month that have come up in price on a property in hopes of having the winning bid. The good news is that both clients came up high enough and got their offers accepted, the better news is that the appraisals didn’t come in at the original purchase price and so both sellers came down in price about 10,000 each! You can bet my clients were more than happy about this.

If I can answer any questions about real estate for you or anyone you know, please feel free to call or email me.

Thanks!

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