Aaron Gallagher

I've really been wanting to get back into the shortsale game but was turned off by the entire process. The first 6 of these I did were a huge pain to say the least. I finally took some time and invested in a shortsale process that was essentially a fill in the blanks system. The difference in the process was immediately evident from the start. I got a much better response from the bank, my package moved through their system much quicker with fewer issues. I'm hoping to have a preliminary answer within 3 weeks of submission! I'll keep everyone posted as to the progress and outcome of the deal. If you're in need of selling your problem property follow this link and follow the instructions. www.stopforeclosurechampaign.com

I have 3 or 4 qualified buyers who won't get off the fence despite low prices and lower mortgage rates. No matter how good the deal I bring them they still shy away and say they're going to wait. This seems to be the sentiment nationwide as confirmed by a survey by Realtor.com, read below:

According to a survey conducted by Realtor.com, home buyers in the U.S. are hesitant to jump into the housing market, given the current economic downturn. Nearly 53% of the survey participants said they have postponed their home plan on account of their negative outlook. Uncertainty on the job front was the main factor for not buying a house for nearly a third of the survey participants. Nearly 16% said they worry about selling their current home, while 8% said they fear home prices will keep falling. Home buyers recognize that the housing market currently offers great deals; however, financial worries far outweigh attractiveness of the deals available. Nearly 20% said they were interested in foreclosed homes with an attractive price, while nearly 15% said they want to receive incentives such as the $8,000 tax credit for first-time buyers. Errol Samuelson, president of Realtor.com, said buyers feel that purchasing a foreclosed home is more "complex" than other transactions. Among the survey participants, only 28% said President Barack Obama's plan to tackle the foreclosure crisis is working, compared with 41% who said it isn't and 27% who didn't know.

According to analysts, home prices may fall in the near-term and rise only in 2012. "We expect prices to drop for another year and then stabilize before starting to rise with incomes," says Standard & Poor's Chief Economist David Wyss. The S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, which tracks the movement of home prices, will fall about 16% this year before stabilizing. Fiserv, a research firm, has forecasted the 2012 home prices in 50 largest metro areas across different states.
In some states such as Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, home prices will see a rise by 2012. However, in states such as Florida, California, New Jersey, and New York, prices will fall until end 2012.

Elliot Eisenberg, a senior economist with the National Association of Home Builders says there's still pain to come in states where there's oversupply. "Prices will have to come down further and it will take a while to burn off the excess inventory that's floating around there," said Eisenberg. So what should home buyers do now? Is it a good time to buy? "To generalize, yeah, it is a good time to buy a house. I don't think there's any urgency because I think it'll still be a great time to buy a house a year from now," says economist Richard DeKaser of Woodley Park Research.

The retail industry has been in turmoil with chains such as Mervyn's, Steve & Barry's, Goody's and Gottschalk's filing for bankruptcy in the recent past. Now Eddie Bauer, a chain with 371 stores, joins the list by filing for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware. The company has been struggling to repay its debt due to a decline in its sales on account of economic downturn. Its cost-cutting and restructuring initiatives couldn't prevent bankruptcy. "Eddie Bauer is a good company with a great brand and a bad balance sheet," said Neil Fiske, the company's chief executive. Eddie Bauer plans to sell itself to CCMP Capital Advisors, a private equity firm for $202 million. CCMP Capital Advisors has said it does not want to strip the company's assets. "We're not looking to liquidate the company or close most of the stores," said Jonathan Lynch, a CCMP managing director. "We're trying to help 8,000 employees save an iconic American brand." The company will continue with its operations pe
nding court's approval for the sale.

Have you been making timely payments to your homeowner association? If no, you may lose your home. There are more than 59 million people living in over 300,000 association-governed communities nationwide. Homeowner associations typically have the foreclosure clause in the purchase agreement signed by homeowners. Many associations have mandated external agencies to collect dues from homeowners, and collection agencies say they go about doing their job in a professional manner. Andrew Schlegel, executive vice president for Merit Property Management, which manages more than 140,000 community homes in California, said: "No one wants to do this. It's only coming up when people are completely obstinate about it." Schlegel said about 6% of homes his company manages have membership dues this year, up from 1% in the previous years. According to Foreclosure Listing Services, homeowner association initiated foreclosure attempts in Texas are up 30% now from 2 years ago. Bob Tankel, an attorney who represents homeowner and condo associations in Florida, says about 20% of the cases which had payment dues to his client associations have reached foreclosure. "We have compassion for those folks. At the same time, we feel for the rest of the homeowners who are paying their dues," said Schlegel.