December, 2009
All of my years in the real estate business, this is a theme that marketing professionals hammer home… all real estate is local. Of course, this is true. The market changes with location… from state to state, county to county, and sometimes even from street to street.
“Real Estate is Local” was also a driving force behind us starting this blog nearly three years agofor the Fredericksburg Real Estate market. We saw it as an opportunity to educate “local” real estate consumers, and those many, many families expecting to be transferred to our area. By all accounts, our efforts have been a great success. We have met many people through the blog… buyers, sellers, agents, mortgage people, local politicians, and many others.
I enjoy the relationships created through the blog, but nothing that happens here is as rewarding as hearing someone tell us how much they learned and how much the information helped them in their purchase or sale.
However, we are in a unique time in the real estate business, where what is happening locally is largely happening across the country. Several times a month, in recent weeks, I have fielded calls and emails from all over the country. Most of these contacts are either about short sales, or the HAP program. This has served to remind me that what we do here is important, and that we need to keep providing current and relevant information on these topics. So, in 2010, look for more posts on these topics as we seek to keep the Fredericksburg real estate market informed as to the peaks and valleys of this crazy real estate era.
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This morning was a very good morning for our real estate team. It was one of those moments that Realtors who love the business work for. We experienced true joy on the face of our clients. Let’s rewind just a bit to put this story in perspective.
Our clients needed to sell their home. Like many sellers in the Fredericksburg real estate market, they were upside down by about $100,000 and needed to do a short sale. Nearly a year ago, their file was given to a “professional short sale negotiation”firm to manage and negotiate a short sell with their bank. That negotiation went absolutely nowhere. (As a side note, our team is very leery of listings where “professional” negotiators are involved.)
We took over the negotiation of the file after the previous situation had run its course. It was an incredibly difficult short sale because of the apparent incompetency of the bank’s negotiator. But, finally we prevailed. We not only secured a buyer at full market value, but successfully negotiated the short sale, and closed this morning. We negotiated away approximately $100,000 and our clients paid a mere $65 at closing today to cover a termite inspection.
The joy of having this burden off of their back, avoiding a foreclosure, and being able to resume their life was completely evident in their smiling faces today. They are great people and we are happy the situation worked out well for them.
Our team has managed and negotiated MANY short sales. To date, we have had ONLY ONE that was unsuccessful. That situation was unsuccessful because the seller didn’t cooperate once we had negotiations underway and the transaction fell apart because of it. I don’t say this merely to brag, although I know without a doubt there is no real estate team in the area who is better than we are at negotiating short sales. I am writing this because I want homeowners to know, despite any media coverage to the contrary, that short sales still can and do work.
BUT… heed this warning. Don’t wait until it is too late to begin the short sale process. Don’t wait until the bank is ready to auction the property before you call us. We are working hard to save a situation where the seller did wait until the hammer was about to strike before they hired us. We are going to try to stop the foreclosure, but it will be difficult.
Call us as soon as you know that you need help. That gives you and us the best chance at success and avoiding foreclosure, bankruptcy, judgments, and all the ill things that come with losing your home to foreclosure.
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Recently, I was involved in a real estate transaction involving a FSBO (For Sale By Owner), which was one of the smoothest FSBO sales that I have ever made. Sometimes, when dealing with FSBO sellers, it can be a difficult transaction from the time when the offer is submitted until closing, because FSBO sellers may not be completely educated on the legal process of selling a home. Real estate agents are trained to understand the full contract and offer greatly needed representation to their clients (either buyers or sellers).
Well, it just so happens that this seller, let’s call him Mr. Integrity, completely changed my perception of
all FSBO sellers being difficult to deal with. He was definitely a breath of fresh air compared to the other FSBO transactions I have been through. From the four times that my client wanted to see the home prior to making an offer, through the offer negotiations, through the home inspection and their negotiations, through the radon inspection and their negotiations, and through the remaining inspections Mr. Integrity was responsible for, he was a dream. Mr. Integrity was a reasonable and responsible seller. He followed all the steps needed to get us to the closing table without batting an eye.
Unfortunately, Mr. Integrity misinterpreted a part of the contract that made for a wakeup call on the Friday before a Monday closing. He misunderstood the 3% seller concessions to be my 3% commission. (The 3% seller concessions essentially means that he agreed to pay the buyer’s closing costs up to 3% of the sales price.) Definitely not a mistake that any seller wants to make, and especially not to learn of the mistake 3 days prior to closing. I never once questioned his understanding of the contract since he informed me that he had sold two previous homes by himself, and he never asked me any questions. Well, this could have ended badly for both of us, but he stepped up to the plate without any controversy. After speaking with the title company and rereading his listing agreement with the “.com listing service” he used, he realized his mistake and said, “I’ll see you at closing.” Since he wasn’t walking with enough proceeds to cover a 3% commission he was unsure how he was going to come up with the extra money, but he committed to having it by Monday. Mr. Integrity did exactly as he said and showed up at the table with the extra money to close on Monday. I don’t know the last time I met someone with such Integrity. Not only that, he maintained a smile and joked with everyone at the closing table in spite of the situation he was in. I’m extremely happy to have met such an honorable man with GREAT INTEGRITY. In the world we live in, we should all be so fortunate to come across an individual like Mr. Integrity. What a pleasure it was to work with him, and for what it’s worth, I am truly sorry such a good easy going person had to endure this ordeal.
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