About Lakewood Ranch's Riverwalk

We all waited, in hopeful anticipation for the approval of the government bailout bill. We understood that the appropriation of the funds, to our financial institutions, would offer some much needed relief to the homeowners trying to sell their property. Although the intensions are good I unfortunately feel that whether or not it becomes a benefit to the owner depends greatly on what financial institution is holding the loan. I recently submitted a short sale contract to CountryWide for consideration. I performed a CMA, and based on recent sales determined the expected sales price to be $172,500. Two parties were interested in the property and the final contract submitted to CountryWide was for $180,000. CountryWide stated that the contract price is not high enough to be considered. In addition, when asked what they need to make the deal work, they stated that they could not give us a number. No counter offer, just a straight refusal.

The first question that comes to mind is, who did the appraisal and where is their company base? This particular property is in a large master planned community with multiple Villages and several Neighborhoods within those Villages. So even if you use comparatives, all from within the same Village "A", there is big difference in the value of the real estate within that Village's Neighborhoods. Unfortunately, this home is in the least valued Neighborhood within the Village.

Who does this hurt? The owner of the property. CountryWide has set an unrealistic goal for this home and because of that, it will continue to sit on the market, costing the homeowner additional money. At unrealistic pricing, in this market, you can expect that this property will eventually go to foreclosure. Did it have to? No. Will this process ultimately cost the homeowner and the tax payers more money? Yes.

So, does the government bailout bill offer a real solution and help the homeowner? I think it depends on the financial institution, and in this case, no.