Real Estate Information Archive

This was originally posted by Ralph Roberts but we thought it was such great information, we just had to share it. 

If you or someone you know is currently facing foreclosure, you have options, including:

1.    You are not alone. Foreclosure knows no geographic, racial, ethnic, or socio-economic boundaries. We have seen real estate agents, attorneys, and others face foreclosure. Michael Jackson recently filed for bankruptcy. Foreclosure is much more prevalent than you think.

2.    Most people facing foreclosure have at least a dozen options. (Many people falsely believe that they have only two options – pay up or move out.) You can reinstate the loan, refinance (consolidate debt), list the home for sale with an agent, sell to an investor (if you have insufficient time to list the property), offer a deed in lieu of foreclosure, declare bankruptcy, negotiate forbearance or a mortgage modification, to name several of the most common options.

3.    Banks and other lending institutions do not want to foreclose. They make more money if you can make your payments. When they foreclose, they not only lose your monthly payments, but they also have the expense of foreclosing, rehabbing the home, and then selling it. In today’s market, there’s a good chance they’ll have to sell the home at a loss. This is all good news for you – it means the bank is highly motivated to make a deal with you.

4.    Given the current mortgage crisis and resulting foreclosure epidemic, the federal government, your state government, and consumer protection advocacy groups have put more pressure on mortgage lenders and provided them with additional resources to help homeowners in distress. In a way, people facing foreclosure now may be in a much better position to avoid it than they would have been, say five years ago.

5.    If you own the home with your spouse or life partner, tell them immediately. Far too many people try to keep their partner in the dark. Eventually, the person will find out. It’s always better if they find out from you earlier rather than from someone else when they have little or no time to do anything about it. Couples that work as a team almost always see much better results.

6.    Call your lender – the sooner, the better. As soon as you stop making payments, the foreclosure clock starts ticking. The earlier you know your options, the more time you have to pursue those options.

An Advertorial Presented by Frost Brown Todd LLC

Written by: Kyle R Grubbs

I'm interested in purchasing a parcel of Real Estate, but the property owner just filed for bankruptcy?  Can I still purchase the property?  Is there anything special I need to do?

Yes and Yes.  The Bankruptcy Code permits a debtor-in-possession to sell its real estate and other assets based on its reasonable business judgment.  As with other purchases of real estate, as a potential purchaser, you should conduct standard due diligence including title, survey, environmental, zoning, and building inspections prior to purchasing the property.  In fact, since there will be virtually no representations or warranties made by the seller, the purchaser's due diligence is even more important in the bankruptcy context.  In addition, because the property owner is in bankruptcy, additional precautions are warranted.

First, the sale of the real estate must be authorized by the bankruptcy court if the sale of the real estate is outside of the debtor's ordinary course of business.  In almost all cases, sales of real state will be outside of a debtor's ordinary course of business.  To ensure the debtor obtains prompt bankruptcy court approval of the sale, the purchase contract should require the debtor to immediately file a motion seeking the bankruptcy court's approval of the sale.

Second, the sale of the real estate should be free and clear of any interest or lien of the debtor's creditors.  Because the seller of the real estate is in bankruptcy, the property is likely encumbered by mortgages, mechanic's liens, judgment liens, and other encumbrances.  Unlike a typical real estate transaction, liens and other monetary encumbrances are not necessarily paid at closing.  To ensure your purchase is free from the claims of the debtor's creditors, the order authorizing the sale of real estate should provide, among other things, that the (a) sale is free and clear of all liens, claims, encumbrances, and interests and that any liens will attach to the sale proceeds only; (b) purchaser is a "good faith purchaser" under the Bankruptcy Code so that the validity of the sale is not affected by an appeal of the sale order; and (c) ten-day stay set forth in the Bankruptcy Code is waived and the sale order is effective immediately to avoid any post-closing challenges to the sale.  You should work closely with your title company to ensure that the sale order is sufficient in all respects for the title company to issue you a clean title policy at closing.

This article was written by Sam Miller, Agent in Mt. Vernon, OH and one of Mike's friends.....try this out...it is WAY COOL!!!!!

Have you ever needed a quick phone number and didn't want to take the time to boot up your computer and search Google and you wanted to avoid the high charge for directory assistance or 411 connect?   Have you ever wanted the phone numbers for the local movie theatres or pizza places near you and you don't have anything to write the numbers down on?  There is a quick and easy way to get the information you want within 60 seconds and most of you can get the information quick and cheap with your cell phone and your text message feature. 

Send a text message to this number:  466453 (I know this is a partial number but trust me it will work).  Now type in what you are searching for and for your example use the following as a test:  Plumber 43050 (of you can type in Plumber XXXX (enter your zip code where my x's are)  Now simply press send and sit tight and within 60 seconds you will get a text message with the information.  This works for client names, addresses and phone numbers and it works for just about anything you are searching.  If you want another good test why not search your name or your spouses name and your zip code?  If you have a spare moment send a text to 466453 and enter Realtor, Florence, Kentucky 41042 and see what comes up.

There are so many potential uses for this service and once you play with it a bit you will quickly see the many possibilities.  Your family will love it, your past clients will love it, your team will love it, I have a feeling that pretty much anyone with a cell phone will find a use for it at some point.  The key to remember is that if you do not have a text messaging account you will get charged a non contract text message rate.  For those of us with text messages contracts and especially those of us who have unlimited text messaging this is a feature that we will be using on a very regular basis.  Google has done it again and the speed of this service is amazing

February’s Existing Home Sales Best In Two Years

This article was written by Denny Grimes, a friend of Mike's who is a real estate agent in Fort Myers, FL.   Denny Grimes is a real estate broker with Denny Grimes & Company

Robust sales leave market in dangerous territory

I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first? Let’s start with the good news.

Last month, over 900 existing homes went under contract, thus making February the best sales month in Lee County since March of 2006. In fact, February’s pending sales were up more than 60 percent from the same month in ’07.

We are on a 60-day winning streak. The first two months of ’08 show that single-family home sales are 36 percent ahead of ’07, and condominium sales are up 16 percent for the same time frame. Notice, I am talking about “pending” sales, which are contracts written and accepted, but not yet closed. Even though there will be sales that fail to close, we will still post a significant sales increase. So, for those that thought our market was flat-lining, put the body bag away, because it appears it has a pulse.

Before you roll the market out of ICU, let me give you the bad news. The bad news is that many people will misinterpret, dismiss or ignore this positive news. 

Sellers and agents may misinterpret this surge in sales and believe it signals the return of the glory days. If they do, they will react in a way that would be contrary to further recovery. This is my biggest fear.

Skeptics and nay-sayers may dismiss this information and file it in the folder titled “Propaganda to Trick Fence-sitting Buyers.” Many will even wonder how this tidbit of positive news made it past the good news censors, who seem to be working at every media outlet.

The die-hard wait-for-the-bottom buyers will chalk up this two-month trend as a seasonal blip. They believe sales will tank about the time the last snowbird’s taillights cross Lee County’s northern border.

The continuation of the market’s recovery beyond the winter season is directly related to the correct interpretation of this long-awaited surge in sales. Does it mean the market is fully recovered or that the market has bottomed? No. Does it mean that prices have stabilized? No. Does it mean agents can finally eat something other than peanut butter? That depends, do you like Spam?

The surge in sales was not caused by an influx of European or Canadian buyers. It wasn’t caused by sunburned snowbirds from Sheboygan, Baby Boomers or ball players looking for a spring training home. In fact, buyers did not cause it at all.  

Sales are picking up because sellers are getting closer to where the buyers are. After 30 months behind the wheel, sellers are finally driving their prices into the outskirts of buyer’s territory. This is dangerous territory for our market because some sellers will be tempted to slow down, stop or put the car in reverse and drive their prices back up, thinking that the buyers will follow them. All of these reactions will stall our recovery, and heaven knows we don’t need any stalling going on.

Our market began its recovery 2.5 years ago, when prices started falling back toward real values. It’s been a long journey, but we are finally beginning to see evidence that we are getting closer to our destination. We are now faced with the most important and difficult question since the recovery started, and that is “Will we have the fortitude to finish the trip?” We must press on to the final destination, the tipping point, which is the epicenter of the buyer’s territory.

Would you like to see our market fully recovered and prices stabilized? That will not happen until prices in each sub-market reach the point that makes that market tip back toward equilibrium.

So, it really isn’t a question if prices reach the tipping point, it’s a questions of when. For some market segments, like developer homes that can be bought below replacement cost, that’s just around the corner. Other markets should start counting cows or Burma-Shave signs, because there’s still a lot of road ahead.

Regardless, every market segment must meet buyers where they are. Therefore, the more downward pressure sellers keep on the gas pedal and prices, the sooner their journey will be over. Sorry, there aren’t any shortcuts.

Sellers, I know you are tired of driving, but don’t slow down now. There’s a lot of open road ahead because the traffic jam is behind you in seller’s territory. Over 900 sellers entered buyer’s territory last month and picked up a buyer. If you keep pressing forward, you will begin to see buyers thumbing for a ride. When that happens, stop and give them one.

Keep the Faith

  With the Rates just dropping, NOW is a GREAT time to buy a home!!!  One of our friends, Sam Miller, up in Ohio, posted this YouTube video and it explains why...  Check it out!!!

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This blog was posted by some friends of ours, The Jones Team, realtors out of Tennessee....we thought we had to share because it is so good!!! 

In a suprise move, the Federal Reserve announced this morning that it has cut the Federal Funds Rate three-quarters of a point, moving the key rate from 4.25 to 3.75 percent.

While it was no suprise that the Fed would slash rates, the shocker is that the US central bank would not only make the move before its scheduled meeting next week, but also implement the biggest federal funds rate cut on record going back to 1990.

In addition to dropping the funds rate, which governs overnight lending between banks, the Fed also slashed the discount rate it charges on direct loans to banks by three-quarters of a point to 4 percent.  Many economists believe rates could be cut again at the Federal Reserve’s scheduled meeting on January 29-30.

Check out the full story here.

Submitted by Jill Kuchle:

Check out the following link http://www.wkrq.com/schoolclosings.php.  It's sponsored by Q102 and Cincinnati Bell.  You can sign up and have your school closing texted to your cell phone so when that snow storm blows, you can stay cozy in bed and you won't have to get up and stare at the TV til your schools scrolls across the bottom of the screen!!!  TOO COOL!!!!

Wow!!  Some Truly Great Price Reductions this week.....listen to our podcast on these awesome properties at http://www.switchpod.com/f46086.html?puser=none.  This weeks properites featured are 65 W. Cobblestone, 108 and 118 Wessex and 10560 Secretariat Run.  View these homes online at www.65wcobblestone.com, www.108wessex.com, www.118wessex.com and www.10560secretariat.com.  You'll be glad you did!!!!!

This blog was posted by Ralph Roberts.  Mike Parker was part of this team of  top real estate agents in the business......

Swaping Strategy with the Superstars of Real Estate

I am in Las Vegas today meeting with 51 of the top Real Estate agent team leaders from across the country. Bill Barrett, a former Certified Residential Specialist (CRS) instructor and a top national speaker, is hosting this annual retreat to promote the sharing of ideas among Real Estate industry leaders.

From 8:00 in the morning until 5:00 in the afternoon, we are engaged in a high-energy strategy swap meet designed to raise everyone’s game to a new level. Barrett requested that every attendee bring 51 copies of either a three-ring binder or CDs or DVDs of everything they have done this year to list and sell over 100 homes. These materials include prospecting strategies, listing presentations, sales scripts, marketing materials, customer service techniques, follow-up strategies, new technologies, time-management tips, and anything else that has been used to boost sales and productivity.

This is such a great opportunity be each attendee exchanges their materials and then commences in a back-and-forth discussion that provides all of us with the opportunity to present our best system. Barrett has let everyone know that this is not a time to plug vendors, and he has discouraged us from bringing any brochures from any of the vendors we use. He stressed that the retreat is an opportunity to share and gather ideas, systems, tips, and techniques that can boost sales and revenue over the coming years.

The list of participants reads like the Who’s Who of the Real Estate Industry: