by Shar Rundio on September 30, 2008
Short Sale, what?
If you’ve been paying attention to the real estate industry at all in the past year or so one of the buzz terms that you’ve heard frequently is SHORT SALE. In short, (pun intended) a short sale is occurs when the owner of a home (or more commonly their REALTOR) negotiates with the bank(s) to accept less than what is owed on the note(s) as payment in full. This in turn allows the owner to sell the property to a waiting buyer.
The most common times we see the need for a short sale include when a homeowner is upside-down in their home and finds themselves unable to make the payments (loss of job, ARM increase, health issues), when the owner needs to relocate out of state, or in the unfortunate case of divorce and a forced sale. A short sale is very often a pre-foreclosure process and a better alternative to foreclosure.
In a form of sick irony and contrary to their name, there is nothing short about a short sale. The time frame is getting better but it usually takes a minimum of 3-4 months and we had one that took nearly a year.
The faxes aren’t short.
The phone lines aren’t short.
The conditions aren’t short.
The commission cuts aren’t short.
The only other short thing we find occasionally is that the tempers are short (usually not ours, you get more flies with honey…but that is a different post).
The process isn’t easy and it surely isn’t fun for any of the involved parties. You’ll find that many REALTORS turn up their noses at short sales and won’t do them. They are too hard, too time consuming, too low in commission…the excuses go on. While we concur that they aren’t the easiest thing to do, when did we ever commit to you (our customers, clients, friends, family) that we would only work hard for you if it was the easy thing to do?
We’ve sat across the table from people during the difficult times.
We’ve cried with clients and friends and clients who’ve become friends.
We’ve talked to agents who did this the last time around and were profusely thanked years later for “saving our marriage”.
If you know of anyone who is in a difficult situation we’d love to speak with them. They DO have options and we can help. Please just call us at 480.444.2231 with their contact information and we’ll take good care of them.
by Shar Rundio on September 26, 2008
Well, it appears to be “Whoo Hoo” for JPMorgan Chase & Co. at any rate…
As the debate over a $700 billion bank bailout rages on in Washington, one of the nation’s largest banks — Washington Mutual Inc. — has collapsed under the weight of its enormous bad bets on the mortgage market.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized WaMu on Thursday, and then sold the thrift’s banking assets to JPMorgan Chase & Co. for $1.9 billion.
Seattle-based WaMu, which was founded in 1889, is the largest bank to fail by far in the country’s history. Its $307 billion in assets eclipse the $40 billion of Continental Illinois National Bank, which failed in 1984, and the $32 billion of IndyMac, which the government seized in July.
Read the rest of the story here.
by Shar Rundio on September 25, 2008
No, I’m not going to envoke a lively conversation on whom you should vote for as our next Commander in Chief. I will, however, encourage you to vote “Yes” on Proposition 100. A “Yes” vote will protect your home from a Real Estate Transfer Tax.
“What is a Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT)?”, you ask.
A real estate transfer tax (RETT) is a state or local government imposed tax that is collected when you transfer ownership of your home, land or commercial real estate.
Some states in the Midwest & Eastern part of the country have this tax and it is now up to as much as 8% of the sales price of your home. Just imagine, selling a home for $250,000 and owing a $20,000 TAX ! What may start as an innocent .47% tax has (in other states) grown over the years to a much higher rate. Once the tax source is approved, the tax rate may be changed without further voter input.
Why YES! Means
NO TO DOUBLE TAXATION!
You may wonder why a “Yes” vote stops double taxation? Good question!
By voting “Yes“, you are approving a citizens’ initiative that will amend the Arizona Constitution and provide the best protection our homes can have against the damaging effects of a real estate transfer tax.
While we currently do not have a real estate transfer tax, there is nothing prohibiting state or local governments from enacting one at any time. The best possible way to stop the state legislature or any special interest from ever enacting this tax is to amend the Arizona Constitution, prohibiting this tax. And to amend the Arizona Constitution you need to vote “Yes” on the amendment.
So, to ensure there is never a Real Estate Transfer Tax you will need to vote “Yes” on the Protect Our Homes Initiative. This is a unique example of when “Yes” actually means “NO” to a tax.
Across the nation, 36 states have unfortunately authorized real estate transfer taxes on individual homes and properties just like yours to raise revenues to fund government bureaucracies. However, since governments already collect taxes on your property based on the property’s value, this new tax would unfairly cause a second tax to impact your home or property.
As we have all seen recently with the budget fight at the state capitol and in some of our state’s cities and towns – government has been growing at a faster rate than the revenues currently provided by the taxpayers. New sources of revenue come from additional taxes – which could be through a real estate transfer tax, causing the double taxation of your home, property or the transfer of your home or property into a trust.
Fortunately, a group of concerned citizens, backed by the Arizona Association of REALTORS®, is working to give the voters of Arizona the opportunity to protect their homes and property from double taxation through the Protect Our Homes Initiative.
On November 4th, 2008, voting “YES” on the Protect Our Homes Initiative, brought to the ballot by Arizona’s registered voters, would prevent Arizona’s state or local government s from EVER targeting our homes or property with a real estate transfer tax.
Instead of waiting and working to repeal a tax, we are working to stop the tax from ever being applied to the sale or transfer of our homes and property and damaging our hard-earned equity.
How about that? Stopping a tax before it ever has the chance to be raised! That is why “Yes” means “No” to double taxation on your home!
So please, join the Protect Our Homes Coalition and help us to spread the word, learn more about the initiative and get your family, friends and neighbors to understand that in this case voting “Yes” will actually mean “No” to:
- Double Taxation on our home and property.
- Reducing the equity in our homes and property
- Hurting lower income families through increased purchasing costs.
- Slowing down even further a real estate market that is already negatively impacting many Arizona families.
- Punishing homeowners by damaging the most important investment that many of us will ever make in our lifetime and the “nest egg” of our future and our children’s future.
Please visit here to learn more & be sure to sign up for the updates!
Vote YES on Prop. 100 to PROTECT YOUR HOME on November 4th!
Pass this on to your friends, family & business associates!
by Shar Rundio on September 23, 2008
Mark M. & his cute girlfriend Elizabeth Williams in front of their new home!
If ever we were to award a “Most Patient Buyer of the Year” award surely it would go to Mark M. who closed on his new home yesterday. Mark persevered through a bank owned contract (usually pretty easy) that took no less than 4 months to close. I’ll spare you the gory details but suffice it to say that Mark deserves an award in addition to his wonderful new home. Handing Mark his key yesterday is the reason we get up in the morning and navigate our way through this crazy market. Mark’s positive attitude throughout made the difficult situation all the more bearable (let’s just say mine wasn’t always so pleasant with the bank) . And in the end he ended up with a fantastic 1st time home on a massive lot with stunning views of the San Tan Mountains. Enjoy your new home, Mark. We are honored to call ourselves your REALTORS and we think it was worth the wait, too!
by Shar Rundio on September 21, 2008
Did someone say BAILOUT? If the million dollar question is, “What do we do with the bad mortgages?” It appears that there is a trillion dollar proposal on the horizon.
Over the weekend The US Department of the Treasury released this Statement buy Secretary Paulson
Released yesterday was this Fact Sheet
What does all this mean? I’m not sure yet. I don’t think anyone knows how all of this will really shake out. It is safe to say that we are living through interesting times.
I’m curious to know what your thoughts and opinions are…
