Coral Springs, FL

Have you been going back and forth with your Lender trying to get your loan modified? Have you sent in all of your required financial documents for them to consider modifying your loan, such as:

• Pay stubs, bank statements, tax returns, income & expense statement, hardship letter and any other document that they have requested.

You might have even had to send the above documents several times as they sometimes do not reach the appropriate party. Now, after all the back and forth, your Lender indicates that you don't qualify for a loan modification. Now what? Is the next step foreclosure? HOLD ON....wait a minute.

If you've been trying to get a loan modification that doesn't work out as you so wanted to stay in your home yet your current financial distress simply won't allow you to stay in your home, there is another option that lessens the impact that a foreclosure can have on your well being. Consider a Short Sale when the loan modification won't work.

Short Sales have been helping many individuals and families avoid foreclosure. What should you expect when you sell your home as a Short Sale? Let's go over some things that you may encounter and some things that you want to encounter:

1. You'll want to work with a professional Real Estate Agent who specializes in Short Sales. This can make all the difference in a successful closing. Ask questions of who you hire to sell your home. Make sure they know their stuff. How many Short Sales have they closed? How many active Short Sale listings do they have?
2. Your cooperation with your Realtor is critical. When they ask for documentation make sure that you promptly respond.
3. It can be a lengthy process. A critical component in the Short Sale transaction is that all parties communicate on an ongoing basis particularly with the Buyer. Buyers often lose their patience because nobody tells them what is going on. If they're in the know on the progress they'll be less likely to cancel the sale. When your Realtor speaks with the Buyer's Agent, your Realtor will need to insist that all of the information be relayed to the Buyer.
4. Even if you have a pending foreclosure having been served with papers, you have time to stop foreclosure. I've been able to stop a foreclosure that had a sale date established at the court house steps when an offer was received just a few weeks before. So don't ever think you don't have time. If you have someone on your side fighting for you, we can fight up to just days before the auction sale date. Never lose hope.
5. Simplified, your Lender(s) will review your financials, the Buyers offer and an appraisal that they have completed to determine whether they will approve the sale.
6. Some Buyers will cancel their interest in buying your home and your Realtor will have to find a new Buyer. Unfortunately, this is a casualty of Short Sales when Buyers simply throw in the towel, but don't you throw in the towel. Remember as I said above, Never lose hope.
7. Expect the possibilities of counter offers to go back and forth between your Lender(s) and the Buyer. Counter offers are not always a given as often your Lender(s) will accept the Buyer's original offer.
8. Your goal is to have your Lender(s) to approve the sale. Again to reach this goal, #1 plays a very important role.
9. Once written approval is received, the Buyers will typically have 30 days to gain their financing and close, unless of course if your offer is a cash offer you won't have to worry about the financing, always nice.
10. You will now need to plan for your move. Hopefully, you will have saved for the cost of making the move to your new home and to your new Chapter in your life. You don't have to be fearful of the change as better days are likely ahead. Again, please Never lose hope.

"Once you choose hope, anything's possible" ... Christopher Reeve

"You've gotta have hope. Without hope life is meaningless. Without hope life is meaning less and less" ... Author Unknown

"Hope is grief's best music" ... Author Unknown

"Some see a hopeless end, while others see an endless hope" ... Author Unknown

"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope" ... Martin Luther King Jr.

I've been working with a young family who like so many have come across tough times unable to make ends meet to make their mortgage payment. We listed their home for sale and pretty quick we received an offer on their home as their home is lovely. It was a Short Sale and I submitted the Short Sale package to their Lender, Bank of America, at the end of August and on October 27th received written approval from them. I was very pleased with the prompt approval from BOA! I had to go back and forth with BOA to gain approval but no problem as that is part of what I do as being a Realtor who specializes in Short Sales here in South Florida. I go back and forth until I get an approval.

The point of this post however, is that when I called the Seller and told her that her Short Sale was approved, she cried. And.....to top it off it was her Birthday! Goosebumps ran up and down my arms. She said to me that this is probably the best birthday present that she can remember and it was cause for a celebration.

I know there is a lot of talk that a Short Sale being approved really isn't time for a celebration yet Sellers who have experienced such hardship and choose to view it as a positive outcome really can celebrate. So I guess you'd say that they're viewing their situation as being thankful, that they can now move forward looking forward to much brighter days. So yes, a Short Sale can be celebrated as my homeowner did that day. They have a lot to be thankful for and will survive. After all, there are a lot of people who have things much worse to contend with.

It's that time again!

And it's great. Some of us never grow up and thank goodness. What are you gonna be for Halloween?

Coral Springs is celebrating this fantastic holiday by holding a Haunted House! Friday October 30th, 2009 5 to 8 pm at the Coral Springs Gymnasium, 2501 Coral Springs Drive. There will be bounce houses, slides and candy. $5 per child, $2 per adults. For more info: 954-345-2200.

There's also a Monster Mash Middle School Bash. Saturday October 31st, 2009 7:30 to 9 pm. Same place, the Coral Springs Gymnasium. $3 per person. For more info: 954-345-2204.

Parkridge Baptist Church is having their annual Trunk or Treat Event at 5600 Coral Ridge Drive, Coral Springs, FL Phone number 954-346-9009 for info. Open 10/31/2009 at 6:30 - 8:00 pm. Safe alternative to Halloween! There will be games, a bounce house, hot dog dinners and FREE candy, popcorn and snow cones. Wear your costume! !

Be there or be square!

And by the way, if you're looking for any good deals in real estate . . .don't hesitate to call me.

A virtue is a character trait or quality valued as being good

(as defined by Wikepedia)

How important is this? Does it really matter? I'd say sure it does. Think about it. Does it mean perfection? No, who is perfect? Yet we certainly can try to do the right thing. What is the right thing?

What are your virtues to live by. Everybody seems to have virtues to live by. Have you ever questioned the virtues that some live by? Or for that matter, those that you live by? Consider a few of these virtues as defined by Wikepedia:

Honesty: Honesty is speaking truth and creating trust in minds of others. The quality or condition of being honest; integrity. Truthfulness; sincerity.

• How can this trait make a real difference in your Real Estate business? How many more customers will want to do business with you if you're honest with them? Trust is a must in Real Estate as in life.

Generosity: Generosity is the habit of giving without coercion. Generosity can also be spending time, money, or labour, for others, without being rewarded in return. Consider anothers needs instead of your own.

• We're taught that it is better to give than receive. When you're feeling like you have a mountain to climb try giving of yourself.

Patience: Patience is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties

• Wow, how prevalent is the need for this today? Rather during these tough economic times or while negotiating that ongoing Short Sale.

Update to Post: Alexander Harb of Active Rain and the Group Christianity and Real Estate thought that it would be a good idea to include a Bible verse that includes a virtue that I touched on here. I particularly like this one:

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law" Galatians 5:22-23, NIV

What we believe to be the right thing can vary from one person to another. Sometimes when we lose our patience, consider not being totally honest or keeping fortunes all to ourselves, we definitely lose our way. When you wake up again, dust yourself off, you'll feel better being back on track. I know there are times that I've gotten off track and getting back on track brings a greater sense of peace. Is it peace that we seek? I always pray for peace....as there's nothing like it!

Centerline Homes is proud to have been a part of the creation of Coral Springs, one of America's most successful new towns. From Radburn in New Jersey to Columbia in Maryland and Irvine California, the new town concept features communities designed prior to the start of any construction, as opposed to naturally occurring as the result of unregulated sprawl.

Coral Ridge Properties, a subsidiary of corporate giant Westinghouse, was Coral Springs' master developer. One of the unique marketing tools employed by Westinghouse over the years was a series of three Electra homes. These unique custom homes were conceived as attractions to lure potential new home buyers (what was then) way out west to Coral Springs. Each of the Electra homes featured unique architectural styling and cutting-edge interior space planning. Westinghouse used these homes as a way of showcasing futuristic products that were being developed at their corporate research center in Pittsburgh. Features such as remote-control window treatments, smooth surface ranges which heated instantaneously and lighting that turned itself on and off as a resident went from room to room, were very space-age in the mid 1960's and early 1970's. Today these items are fairly commonplace. All three Electra homes, although privately owned, are still in existence today. They're easy to spot when driving through the subdivisions of Electra Lab, Country Club and the Kenilworth section of Ramblewood. And, similar to the famous covered bridge, they're a unique part of Coral Springs' history and heritage.