San Jose Real Estate * REALTOR ® * Richard Gonzalez

Wachovia has announced they will no longer postpone a foreclosure sale date once it has been set. This directly affects our ability to assist our clients if they decide to short sale in lieu of foreclosure.

What this means to sellers

Procrastination will have dire consequences on sellers who wait until the last minute(less than two weeks) to put their house on the market as a short sale. We obviously understand that sellers want to exhaust all options before considering a short sale including a modification. Sellers should make a decision to sell no later than the filing of a notice of default on their home if the want to have the best chance of a successful short sale.

What this means to buyers

Buyers must be ready to close fast. In a recent listing I had ten offers on a home, a third of the offers were using a loan product that required a forty five day escrow. On the other hand there were other offers that were all cash or conventional(5% down payment or more). If you are considering buying a short sale you should look at the possibility that you may be asked to close in less than thirty days otherwise your chances of the seller accepting your offer are slim. Sellers are under extreme pressure to perform and as such are looking for a quick close from a committed buyer.

Other lenders are following this trend

My sources tell me we are seeing a trend and there is rumor that Bank of America is considering eliminating short sale extensions. I experienced this with Household Finance(HFC), my negotiator emphasised that there would be no extension on a short sale approval and that a sale date was set for the day after the expiration of the sort sale approval. Our seller decided to accept an offer form a buyer who was able to close in twenty one days.

Adjust your expectations or they will be adjusted for you

Short sales continue to evolve and we continue to see changes to the way servicers and investors manage properties in default. It’s clear we are witnessing a shift  in the flexibility we will receive when it comes to negotiating with servicers and investors and it appears as though they are now willing to cut there losses and move on.

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Sales activity lighter than 2009

Santana Row area neighborhoods continue to show lower activity after the homebuyer tax credit expired in April. Buyers continue to pay list price on homes sold in these neighborhoods but the activity has been half of 2009 levels. In 2009 there were 114 sales compared to 54 in May – July 2010.

Conventional is king

Conventional sales were the predominant financing method used to purchase homes following the same pattern of 2009. FHA continues to be in the least used or accepted financing method by sellers when reviewing offers. Buyers should consider conventional loan products to increase their chances of getting an accepted offer.

Median rises in 2010

2010 median sales prices was $610,000 compared to $533,500 in 2010. Buyers also had more negotiating power in 2009 to 97% of original list. 2010 buyers are having to pay slightly more to 102% of original list making it 5% more expensive to buy a home in these neighborhoods.

Yosemite – John Muir Trail 2010

This blog post is meant to be more of a confession instead of  your usual market update. It’s meant to be my re-commitment to providing news, views, and market information after a two month hiatus.

What did I do and where was I?

Good question, the best way to describe it is that we all go through our own valleys and mine was mostly focused on the business at hand and accomplishing some personal and physical goals. Blogging has been a joy but it does come with it’s challenges. To meet those challenges I spent time climbing Half Dome, reading, and praying.

Written Values

Perhaps the most challenging for me is consistency. Consistency comes from committing to my values. I know what my values are and I live my values every day. Until now the one thing I didn’t have was a list of written values and here is a compressed version of  my list. (Still is and will always be a work in progress)

Why am I sharing this?

Ben Franklin had a written list of values from an early age and look at his impact on this country. You see I love my career in the real estate industry but it will mean nothing to me if I can’t look back and know that I made a difference in someones life.

We live in a “i” society and as such I choose to forgo doing the popular things and instead doing the things that are right.  It was during my recent trip into the Yosemite back country that I really felt I was going down the right path spiritually, emotionally, physically, as a father, and in my business.

The higher you climb in life and push through those challenges the more you are rewarded.

Book Recommendation: The 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management – Proven Strategies for Increased Inner Peace – Hyrum W. Smith

I just hung up the phone with a representative from CHASE who introduced herself as a coardinator for a new loss mitigation department created by CHASE to speed up their rediculously slow short sale approval process.

How do you spell relief?

I spell it  A P P R O V A L.

All kidding aside it has not been a a very plesant experience for some of our WAMU/CHASE clients looking to short sale thier home. in fact is has been excruciatingly slow. It literally took seven months for me to get an approval from CHASE on one of my listings only to find that the buyer who had waited for the entire time walked himself into another home. Many sellers we encounter who have WAMU loans has found themselves in the same situation. For that reason I always set an expected six month worst case scenario on WAMU short sales.

How do I use this new information?

If you are contemplating short sale as an option and have a WAMU/CHASE/EMC loan the first thing to do is compete the CASE short sale packet updated in April 2010.

Download CHASE Short Sale Packet

You will also need the following information:

• Listing agreement
• Letter of Authorization for your REALTOR to communicate with the lender
• Listing History from the MLS
• Hardship Letter
• last two years tax returns
• Two months bank statements
• last 30 days proof on income wage earner or self employed (paystubs or profit & Loss or bank statements)
• Purchase contract and pre approval letter from a buyer

Uncharted Territory

Nobody really knows what all this movement means in terms of the approval process because every short sale situation is different. Perhaps this is CHASE’s way of adopting HAFA into their systems. What I do know is that we have come a long way in the last six months and the effort by the lenders to streamline the short sale approvals if much appreciated by the people who need it the most, our clients.

CHASE Short Sale information: www.chase.com/shortsale

California took a bold step today in helping those homeowners in default by allowing taxes owed to the state to be forgiven through 2012.

As mentioned in my blog a few days ago and now the Governor says he will sign the bill as reported by the Sacramento Bee.

“Primarily, the bill affects people who had debt forgiven as they lost homes in foreclosures, short sales and deeds in lieu of foreclosure last year – and through 2012 now. Also affected: those who got loan modifications that cut the amount they owe the bank.”

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/04/09/2666095/california-wont-tax-forgiven-home.html#ixzz0kdhKy8yh