Your property value has already taken a hit in this troublesome housing market - can you really afford an agent commission to get your home sold? Interestingly, now more than ever might just be when you need that expertise to navigate your way to a front yard SOLD sign in a housing market crowded with inventory.

In this climate of short sale and foreclosure, selling on your own, you may not have an accurate sense of what your home is worth. Even the folks at Zillow caution their website users that the “Zestimates” provided on their site “… are designed to be a starting point.” There are a plethora of complexities to pricing in this market. An experienced agent can give you qualified guidance to price your home.

What you don’t want is a “yes man.” Be wary of the agent who is just looking for the listing at any price and cannot provide you with the CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) numbers to back it up! In this market, you want representation by an agent who will give you realistic expectations.

It all really depends on your own situation - how much money, and more importantly TIME do you have to get your home sold? If you’re in an interest only payment and not building equity, time is of the essence! An agent commission may just pay for itself in lieu of your home sitting improperly priced and marketed for several months.

And should you find yourself in a position of impending foreclosure, it would certainly be worth your while to bring in an expert. An experienced agent can help you market your property and communicate with the bank to get the best outcome for everybody.

The question you may be needing to ask yourself in this rough market is not whether you can afford to hire a real estate agent to sell your home, but can you afford not to?

There are a few vital questions you need to ask yourself as a potential seller in a buyer’s market:

1) Do I NEED to sell now??
If the answer is “yes” and you must sell your home due to job transfer, change in marital status, retirement or the like, then you must be prepared to go the extra mile it takes to really make your home stand out in a crowded market!

2) Do I have enough equity in my home to break even at today’s market value?
You may have made a great purchase just a year or two ago and now find yourself in a position to have to sell for less than your purchase price. This is the ebb and flow of the market – and as we all know, things are particularly tough on the seller right now. Can you bring money to the table if need be to get out of your current property? If not, it may be time to consider a short sale especially if you can demonstrate that your monthly mortgage poses significant hardship.

3) Where am I going next?
If you are moving due to job transfer or looking to retire to a patio home, you may find that you can sooth the ache of value lost on your current property by capitalizing on a great buy in the next home.
Now is the perfect time to move UP! A 10% loss on your $250k home might be softened by a buying opportunity in which you pick up a $350k property at a 10% savings. Try to keep the big picture in mind:
250,000 – 25,000 (10% hit) = 225,000
350,000 – 35,000 (10% hit) = 315,000
= A $10K ADVANTAGE TO YOU!

Try not to get caught up in what you think your home should be worth – you finished the basement, put tile in the kitchen and five new evergreens in the backyard. Keeping a tally sheet in this market will just make you crazy. A good real estate agent can help you decipher what the market is saying about the current value of your home.

If you MUST sell now, make sure you seek professional advice, and try to make the most of the buyer’s side of this market as well!

The short sale market is picking up speed. A nationwide survey of real estate agents conducted by Campbell Communication, Inc. just last month found that 20% of completed home sales in the fourth quarter across the country were short sales or pre-foreclosure sales.

 For home owners in distress over declining property value and upwardly adjusting payments who may also be facing the trials of job loss, health crisis, or divorce, there is some good news out there.In February, Freddie Mac expanded its short sale program to include more loans with a higher likelihood of loss. This is in addition to a move in late last year where Freddie authorized its Tier One servicers — those that have demonstrated “superior performance” — to accept short sales at bigger discounts and to pay out more to junior lien holders.

Also encouraging, Fannie Mae plans to roll out a new program in the next few months to facilitate more successful short sale transactions. A vice president for credit loss management in Fannie’s Dallas office said the government-sponsored enterprise is looking at ways to encourage servicers to implement a streamlining of the process. “We want to incentivize the borrower with a program of preapproved short sales.”This is great news for future buyers and sellers contemplating the short sale - as the typical time frame for this process has been taking anywhere from three to nine months according to industry experts. Couple this rugged time frame with reports that 1/3 of these contracts never make it to closing, and there is a process ripe for change.

Hopefully Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are sending a message that shows mortgage investors may be willing to make further concessions as housing prices fall and the inventory of foreclosed properties continues to grow. There is surely a need for any aggressive approach to address the challenges of this current housing market.The time may be now to seriously consider a short sale on the buy or sell side.

In the past 12 months the inventory of unsold homes in the seven counties that comprise the metro area has grown from around 23,000 to over 27,000. Along with growing inventory of housing, the rate of foreclosures is also growing.

 In March, the State of Colorado reported 5392 homes entered the foreclosure process. This is the highest rate per thousand of homes in foreclosure reported in the country. To give this some perspective, 1 in every 339 homes in the State of Colorado is in foreclosure.What’s interesting though is the rate of homes owned by lenders trails the national average. This means there is an active market of buyers acquiring the properties before ownership reverts to the lending institution holding the mortgage lien.

To lenders this is good news. The national average for lenders owning post foreclosed properties is approx. 19%. The average in Colorado is 16%, meaning approx. 850 homes are currently in the hands of the lender.The trend is starting to suggest that the pool of buyers to acquire these properties at auction is beginning to shrink. This could indicate more properties will be owned by the lending institutions.

Obviously lenders making money from lending money not in owing the real estate. This means if inventories of post foreclosed properties starts to really grow, lenders will start to lower prices to move them off their balance sheet.This will not be welcomed news to owners of the growing inventory of homes not in foreclosure. This is where there is risk of seeing retraction in the average cost of homes in the metro area.

Not all areas will see retraction. Areas close to employment centers; DTC, Denver and Boulder, will be more resilient to the downward pull. Homes in outlying areas are more at risk to downward pricing pressure. Adams and Arapahoe counties are seeing the highest level of foreclosure activity.

The average foreclosure takes more than 6 months to complete. Lending institutions are willing to work with home owners to try and keep them in their home or to assist in finding alternative ways to get a homeowner out of the home. The lenders are not interested in growing the number of homes they are holding. If a homeowner is experiencing financial difficulty and either is or will soon be unable to make the payments it is important to get the financial institution holding the mortgage involved. Don’t assume they cant or wont be willing to help. 

There are programs to help stop foreclosure regardless of your situation.

 

With the right help, virtually any foreclosure situation can be successfully resolved. Our agents have helped other homeowners to stop foreclosure and we can help you too.

 

When facing foreclosure Time is of the Essence.  You MUST act fast to protect your rights.

 

Many people needing help with stopping foreclosure simply do nothing and hope for a miracle. Don’t fall into that trap!  Click Here to get foreclosure help now.

 

You have options. Don’t face foreclosure alone

 

Why wait for answers? Contact someone in your area who understands the foreclosure process and who knows the foreclosure laws in your state.

 

Time is your enemy!

 

If your house payments are more than a month behind, your lender has probably already started foreclosure proceedings.  As time passes thousands of dollars in penalties and legal fees can be added to the balance you owe. And every single day extra interest is added! 

 

The longer you wait, the harder it is for us to help.

Apart from those who knowingly participate in mortgage fraud — with the intention of never making a single payment — most homeowners face sudden extenuating circumstances that force them to stop making timely mortgage payments. Here are a few of those reasons: 

 

• Job loss / unexpected unemployment  
• Sudden illness or medical emergency  
• Death in the family  
• Divorce  / loss of second income  
• Excessive debt obligations  
• Job demotion or promotion denials  
• Inability to pay an adjustable interest rate that increases  
• Unexpected major home maintenance expense

The best way to avoid foreclosure is to prevent the filing of a Notice of Default. Lenders do not want to foreclose but will file a Notice of Default to protect their interests, if necessary. If you know you are unlikely to meet your mortgage obligation, the first thing you should do is call your lender. 

 

Don’t put it off, be embarrassed or ignore letters from your lender because those responses will make the situation worse, not better. Depending on your particular situation and hardship circumstances, here are some options your lender might propose to you: 

 

Time to make up your payments.

Lenders might agree to wait  before taking legal action against you and let you work out a repayment plan  that is affordable for you. This is called forbearance.  

 

Forgiving a payment. 

If you can agree on a way that you will be  current after missing a payment or two (without the means to pay it back), the  lender might give you a break and waive your obligation. This is called debt  forgiveness, and it rarely happens.  

 

Spread out the missed payments over a longer term.

For example,  if your payment is, say, $1,200 a month, the lender might let you add $100 a  month to each payment for a year until you are caught up. This is called a  repayment plan.  

 

Changing the terms of your loan.

If your mortgage is an  adjustable loan, the lender might freeze the interest rate before it increases  or change the interest rate to a more manageable rate for you. A lender might  also extend the amortization period. This is called a note  modification.  

 

Add the back payments to your loan balance.

If you have  sufficient equity and meet the lender’s lending guidelines, the lender might  increase your loan balance to include the back payments and re-amortize the  loan. This is called a refinance.  

 

Make a separate loan to you.

Certain government loans contain  provisions that let borrowers who meet specific criteria apply for another  loan, which will pay back the missed payments. This is called a partial claim.