About Santa Monica's Ocean Park

"What are my options?" Is a common question most homeowners want to know when meeting with us. Listed below are the options lenders offer to their clients in trouble. But, a lot of these options depend on your current financial situation, potential future financial, and current loan guidelines.

(Best advice anyone can give if you are facing this type of situation is :Be informed, be in the know and seek help to support your situation.)

Lender's Options Upon Borrower's Default (Cont.)

Q 2. What other options may the lender consider instead of foreclosure when the borrower is delinquent?

A Depending on the situation, a lender may consider one of the following:

Loan Workout: Basically, a loan workout is any resolution of a problem loan between the lender and borrower that modifies the original loan agreement. Some of these options include forbearance (e.g. forgiving a portion of the debt or late charges); deferment; renegotiating interest rate, monthly payment amount, principal amount, maturity date; or the enforcement an acceleration clause in the loan.

Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure: After the borrower is in default, the borrower voluntarily delivers title to the lender for consideration and the lender accepts the conveyance of the property in full satisfaction of the mortgage debt. Using this method, the lender saves the costs of foreclosure and the borrower avoids having a notice of default on his/her records. (Hamud v. Hawthorne, 52 Cal.2d 78 (1959).)

Short Sale*: A short sale is a transaction in which a lender allows the real property securing the loan to be sold for less than the remaining mortgage amount due and accepts the proceeds as full payment of the loan. A lender may accept a short sale when the borrower is in severe financial straits and market conditions make a short sale the best choice to mitigate the lender's damages. Like a deed in lieu of foreclosure, this saves the lender the costs of foreclosure and the borrower avoids having a foreclosure on his or her credit report.

Short Payoff*: With a short payoff, the lender accepts less than the remaining mortgage amount as full payment of the loan. The property need not be sold.

*Note: Some lenders do not differentiate between a short sale and a short payoff.

This is part of a series of short sale questions for homeowners needing answers beyond the standard real estate practive. These Questions & Answers are part of a Series, provided by CAR, Legal Services.

What would we do with a Sunday off? We would swim and lay out in the sun. Since we live near the beach it would be easy to do. Except for being Realtors it doesn't happen to often. Kim is showing property to her clients today and I am writing offers. I'm not complaining. We love real estate and did actively chose this profession. I'm just saying that a Sunday off to lounge would be welcomed!! Learning how to relax and lounge is a skill that I am looking foward to doing over the coming holiday season. Have a great Sunday whatever you are doing. Please share what you would do with a Sunday off...Kristine :)

I spent a very busy and quite pleasant day with a buyer showing houses. We were looking at Santa Monica Houses in the $1,200,000 to $1,400,000 price range in an area of Santa Monica called Sunset Park. The buyer is ready willing and able... Nice.

There are probably 3 types of Buyers Agents when it comes to how you show houses.

1. There are agents that do very little talking and only says something when the buyer has questions or comments that solicit a response.
2. There are those agents that feel that if they do not talk and that here is nothing being said by the buyer the empty void being created will swallow everyone up, never to be heard from again
3. Then there are the majority of agents that fall somewhere in the middle

I am a true salesman and unfortunately fall into the 2nd class. Now that doesn't mean I am not listening to my client or soliciting information from them it only means that the empty space when no one is talking threatens my existence. I am learning through the school of hard knocks that you should sometimes not talk and take your chances with the fate of quietness.

I am pretty sure I talked my buyer right out of buying a house by talking so much that she is probably at home now taking a Valium and washing it down with 3 fingers of Scotch. We saw 6 Santa Monica Houses this weekend and saw about 5 others during the previous week. The buyer saw 3 she liked.

All three of these houses were so different from each other but each had it's own thing going on . This is the most difficult of decisions because the positives and negatives do not equal each other for reasons of buying or not buying each of the houses. So needless to say my job at West LA Real Estate Group is to sell houses and I was going to help this buyer make a choice.

The goal was to send in an offer on one of these houses this evening. I have now changed my goal into hoping she calls me in the next week.

So this is what I did wrong;I played into her indecision's, as she was talking positive I would be agreeing and then when it would turn negative I would just follow like a good puppy dog. Then when nothing was said I would be commenting on the current house we were looking at with one of the houses she liked. It was all very pleasant and she seemed fine. When she got out of the car is when it hit me... what house would I buy ??????

I thought about this and realized that I was so confused with everything I said I had no idea what house I would buy let alone what I would recommend to the buyer. So here I sit in my favorite coffee shop with no idea which of the Santa Monica Houses she will buy and at this point am only hoping she calls me.

So what to take away from this. What were my big "Ah Ha's"

1. Let the buyer talk and be as understanding as you can, don't agree or disagree.
2. If they ask a question be as honest as you can, get to the point and add no fluff.
3. If nothing is being said ...Let It Be!.. Digestion of thoughts and visions are taking place, do not disturb.
4. Trust that your buyer can make a decision and that they are buying the house not you.
5. The less clutter that enters the buyers head, the less they have to think on, will result in the buyer not needing to make a lot of decisions making their ultimate choice easier

Robert Schmalz
West LA Real Estate Group
11812 San Vicente Blvd Suite 100
Los Angeles, CA 90049
California Broker Lic #01813025
www.WestLARealEstateGroup.com

Serving all of Santa Monica, Brentwood CA,
Pacific Palisades and West Los Angeles

CLICK ON THE HOUSE TO SEARCH THE MLS

West LA Real Estate Group
West Los Angeles Homes
West LA Real Estate
Brentwood Houses For Sale
Pacific Palisades Homes
Santa Monica Houses For Sale
Santa Monica Foreclosures
Brentwood Foreclosures
Brentwood Real Estate For Sale
Short Sale Houses Santa Monica
Short Sale West Los Angeles