Bob Sluys

Nobody wants to lose their house. But it IS just a house-you make it your home by the lives you and your family live-and you can do that wherever you are. And if you are facing a foreclosure, chances are that you'll probably end up having to leave. Let's see if a short sale is right for you.

If you don't want the crippling long-term damage to your credit from a foreclosure, than a short sale is right for you. If you want to move on and get a fresh start than a short sale is right for you. If you don't have the equity, money and credit to refinance than a short sale is right for you. If your lender won't qualify you for a loan modification than a short sale is right for you. If you don't have the extra money to get caught up through a forbearance than a short sale is right for you. If you don't want the stigma and damage of a deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure than a short sale is right for you.

Folks, the truth is that facing a foreclosure just plain sucks. Let me and my team allow you to move on and get this behind you. Visit my website --www.endmortgagedebtnow.com ---my short videoclip will explain how we can help you the same way we've helped dozens of others facing the same situation as you are. For immediate assistance you may reach me at 425-446-1878.

No matter what you end up doing, you must take action. My best wishes to you.

Bob Sluys December 13, 2009

PS- I need to thank my colleague Jon down in Florida for reminding me that anybody facing a foreclosure should be advised to consult with a reputable attorney and their accountants to discuss any potential implication from performing a short sale.

Hello-it's me Bob coming to you from rainy and windy Seattle. Thanks for stopping by. If you've read any of my previous blog posts you know that as I provide you with information and resources, I also like to have some fun with my writing!

Not with this blog-sorry.

Anybody who would stop to read a blog post titled "The 7 Ways To Stop A Foreclosure" is probably behind on their mortgage payments and has either received a NOD (Notice of Default), A Notice of Trustee's Sale, or, is about to.

What does all that mean? Here's the tuff luv-you're likely 90-120 days away from losing your home and being out on the street. And even if I tell you that you are not alone-in fact, there are millions of homes being foreclosed upon, it still sucks.

So-what do you do?

As the title says, you have various options, each based on your current situation, and some are better than others.

What you DON'T have is a lot of time-when your lender starts the clock ticking, they are serious and will play hardball with you. So, I will briefly outline your options so that you'll at least have an idea of might come about. You may always contact me if you would like a personal consultation-my services cost you nothing, and I'm an experienced and licensed professional with one goal in mind-to see you and your family address your situation and move forward with your lives.

Here we go-7 Ways To Stop Foreclosure.

1. Forebearance Or Workout Plan With Your Lender

2. Loan Modification

3. Bankruptcy

4. Deed In Lieu Of Foreclosure

5. Refinance

6. Foreclosure

7. Short Sale

Hmmm . . .truth be told, most agents don't fully understand all of this-so don't feel bad! I'll briefly explain each one.

1. Forebearance. Basically, a "plan" to catch up on missing payments. Be careful-NEVER send up front payments to a bank without a written offer. This can be difficult because it requires extra money you might not have and is a temporary fix at best.

2. Loan Modification. Your lender will change aspects of your loan-making it easier for you to keep your home. You'll typically pay upfront fees, will need to qualify (only 16% do) and you'll need to be cautious with who you're dealing with. Recent studies show that almost 60% of all pople obtaining loan mods default again within 6 months.

3. Bankruptcy. The big BK-and I'm not talkin' Burger King. Sorry. In essence, there are two main types-Chapter 7, where you liquidate assets, and Chapter 13, where you arrange for a repayment plan. You would in all likelihood choose Chapter 13-just make sure you don't get behind again, or the lender can foreclose on you and then you'll have a Bankruptcy AND a Foreclosure on your credit. Ouch!

4. Deed In Lieu Of Foreclosure. You simply give the bank your deed and walk. Good deal for the bank, it saves them time and money. Bad deal for you because it shows as a voluntary foreclosure (you gave up) on your credit. This also only works if you have just one loan.

5. Refinance. This is a great solution-but you'd better have 30% or so equity in your house. Besides, what lender in their right mind (wait a minute-what lender has ever BEEN in their right mind-ie; sub-prime crisis of 2007?) would refi and lend someone who is behind on their CURRENT payments? . . . .(Whimpy) " I will kindly pay you back on Tuesday for a hamburger today, Popeye . . "

6. Foreclosure. If you do nothing, this will be the final result. If you have more than one loan on the property, it can be even more complicated. Avoid foreclosures at all cost! Oh-and don't plan on buying a house anytime soon-at least not with a bank loan.

7. Short Sale. I've saved the best of the bad for last. In essence, you'll work with me as my associates and I negotiate with the bank to discount what you owe them. If you have junior loans, we'll negotiate for them to accept pennies on the dollar or go away completely. The bank prefers it-not that we care that much about what the bank prefers . . but we'll play nice-unless they get cranky, cuz my team and I can get REALLY cranky! Bottom line is that the bank does NOT want to foreclose. Some GOOD news for you is that your credit won't be affected nearly as bad as a foreclosure (you'll typically be credit-worthy in just a couple of years), and even more importantly, you get to MOVE ON WITH YOUR LIFE and eliminate this giant headache.

There you have it-hopefully this info was useful to you. Before I invite you to contact me to work on the best solution for your situation, I want to acknowledge my associate Ross Kilburn for his concise and valuable insights. I work closely with his company Washington Foreclosure Assistance to help people all over the greater Seattle and Puget Sound regions who are facing foreclosure. We can help you, too.

Best wishes to you-call or email me today! My services cost you nothing and there is never an obligation.

Warm regards,

Bob Sluys 425-446-1878 bob@davidllc.com

It was a cold and rainy night . . . oops-wrong story.

Actually it was cold and rainy one night last winter, and so I slipped into my jammies, made some hot cocoa and settled in for a Golden Girls marathon-man, that Estelle Getty was one hot mama-cita! Grrrrrrr! Ooops-I've gotta stop making that sound-it makes my nose itch and my dentures fall out.

Well, after a couple of hours of watching Bea Arthur do her, well, Bea Arthur impersonation I couldn't sleep and so I started channel surfing. For the next few minutes I enjoyed watching Andrew Zimmern chowing down on some dung beetles he not surprisingly dug out of some fresh dung, then, I watched the Dives, Diners and Dumps guy-that's right-his name is Guy . . . so, I watched Guy-Guy enjoying a stack of 37 flapjacks at the International House of Arterial Plaque in Albuquerque (that is one town that's hard to spell-the good news is that it's worth about 90 points in a game of Scrabble!)

And then, all of a sudden, this friendly dude-next-door type showed up on my screen-he was elbow deep in the business of, well . . . let's just say that it involved cows and the creation of more cows.

I was FASCINATED!

This dude rocked! Nerves of steel! A clever quip for all occasions! It was like . . . looking in the mirror!

Anyway, for the next few weeks I tuned into Mike Rowe and his Dirty Jobs-I couldn't get enough!

If you've seen this show you're aware that his premise is to go out and spend a day out with someone who performs dirty jobs. Hence the title-very clever!

Raw Sewage Treatment Plant Inspectors. Chicken Coop Poop Scooping. Security Guard on The Jerry Springer Show. All of them nasty, terrible jobs that NO ONE would EVER want to do-except for our intrepid and genial guide Mike!

And then, like all of my other brilliant ideas, it came to me. An inspiration. I HAD it-my best idea yet!

But first: The Sham-WOW? That was me. Some German dudes stole it from me-schwienhunds! Same goes for Ron Popeil's "Couvre", the bald-spot covering Krylon, er, spray on. The Internet? You kiddin'? Because of ME, Bill Gates has a gig. If I ever see that spotlight hogging Al Gore again, I'm gonna smack him. Those were ALL my ideas. In fact, I almost invented that little blue pill-I just had the color wrong.

But now, I had a job so filthy, so disgusting, so heinous that not even MIKE ROWE would do it-that's right: the job that he couldn't get himself to do in a thousand years: MY job . . . a Short Sale Specialist!

*Note to audio mixing guy: insert screaming noise here . . .

And so, I contacted Mike Rowe's staff with my "pitch" (that's show biz jargon for presenting your dumb idea that no one gives a rip about-unless you're either related to the director or producer OR are . . um . . .well . . .willing to . . never mind-I digress)

Well, the show's producers passed on my idea. Several times. And that was even after I was more persistent than Columbo with a bad cough . . ."ah, just one more thing . ."

And so, you can only imagine my amazement when one day the phone rang and there was Mike himself!

Now, before I could blurt out that I loved the episode where he performed liposuction on Oprah (come on, that was funny), he said, Hey Bob, I've been giving this short sale specialist real estate agent thing some thought and, well, before I commit, I need to do some due diligence-I need a little bit more info. OK, I responded, what would you like to know?

Well, first off, I'm guessing that since this is such a filthy and despicable gig that no agent in their right minds would ever want, you must be rewarded handsomely for your efforts, right-you've GOT to be raking in the bank, cashing in the bling, jammin' with the Benjamins.

Benjamins? Oh-I get it . . . $100 bills . . .

As I bit into my lip and tried to keep from laughing/crying/vomiting, I somehow managed to sputter out some drek along the lines of "well, you know Mike, there are no guarantees in this business"

I see, he said.

Well then, will I be exposed to any danger, he asked.

Nah, I replied. (I didn't want to regale him with stories about the occasional violent outbursts that I endured from my family, former friends, strangers who didn't just didn't like the way I begged them to please buy the open house I was sitting and, of course, the bankers who I owed huge amounts of money to.)

Cool, he responded-with a hint of hesitation.

Well, Bob, tell me about a "typical" short sale transaction-what can I expect, he wanted to know.

Gee Mike, you know, just the usual stuff that any true dirty job requires.

To start, there's plenty of humiliation-the loss of dignity for working hard and never cashing a check. There are the hours on hold waiting to speak with a $8/week loss mitigation "expert" in Mumbai. Then there are the hours spent talking to the $8/week loss mitigation "expert" in Mumbai. And of course, the eternity on the phone with the $8/hour loss mitigation expert in Mumbai, who, as it turns out DOESN'T SPEAK ENGLISH! And worse than that, it takes several MORE hours before either one realizes that! (Bank of America?-I'm not passing judgment . .seriously!)

Mike, you might also encounter having to start over because of a simple typo or a T that wasn't properly crossed-some lenders actually require that you submit all files using the exact same font that is featured in their corporate logo-and if you don't, it's back to the end of the line for you, Mikey Boy!

My personal favorite is a short sale I did a short time ago. One night I got home-late-and was greeted at the front door by this strange dude. I asked who he was and what he was doing in my house. My wife appeared out the kitchen and promptly fainted. As I ran to her aid I called out "honey, honey-are you OK" . . .the strange dude said, hey, don't call my wife honey, or I'll have to kick your butt.

YOUR wife? She's MY wife.

Just at that moment my wife came to and as she regained her senses, she started sobbing "We all thought that you had died-we haven't seen you in years and years, and so, I got remarried"

OK-I stole that scene from Castaway-Tom Hanks was awesome, Helen Hunt . . I dunno-it seemed like a throwaway roll for her-

Well, Mike, I said as I wrapped up my job description synopsis, what do you think? Is this something that you would be interested in featuring on your show?

Mike? Mike, are you there? Hello Mike, can you hear me . . . ? Ahhhh . . Hollywood light-weights . . . .

Next week's blog will feature highlights from my appearance on the new hit reality TV show about former Real Estate professionals called "Flip This Burger"! Be sure to check your local listings. AND, be sure to call me if you should have a short sale that you just don't want to handle-I will! . . . with a generous referral coming your way!

OK-we had a little bit of fun with this, however, we all know that short sales are serious business-first and foremost is that fact that somebody might be their home. When I meet with clients I always review the options that might be available for them. But sometimes, a short sale might be their only solution.

As always-thanks for reading!

PS-feel free to reach me directly at 425-446-1878 if in need of any short sale assistance! With a national average of almost 80% of all short sales NEVER closing, the team I'm aligned with is batting the opposite-OVER 80% closed.

Are you a home owner who is behind on your payments and have received a notice from the bank? Let's call it what it is: it sucks-plain and simple. You are not alone; although that probably doesn't make you feel any better. In many parts of the country such as Las Vegas, Phoenix and many parts of California & Florida, foreclosures are the majority of all real estate sales and transactions.

Here in Seattle, we've been pretty fortunate, but we aren't completely imune. In fact, every day there are more and more pre-foreclosure notices being sent out to local home owners.

Below, I've pasted in a letter that I use to contact folks who are facing a possible foreclosure. The fact is, you still have options, and what I do is meet in person with home owners every day, providing them with information so that they can make the best decision for their families and futures.

Dear Home Owner-

You don't know me-that's OK . . . I've contacted you because you are facing a possible foreclosure.

I'll cut to the chase-you have options, but the bottom line is that you must take some type of action.

My name is Bob Sluys-and I CAN help you chose the best solution for you and your family. I'm a fully licensed real estate agent NWMLS #50464.

FACT: You are behind on your payments, for whatever reason-and, your lender doesn't care!

FACT: BECAUSE you have received some type of "pre-foreclosure" notice from your lender, you now have 90-120 days to act, because if you do nothing, you will most likely be evicted.

The good news is that you HAVE options-let us look at what they are.

1. Obtain a loan modification. This IS probably your best solution, if you qualify. Only 3% do.

2. Sell your home and pay the bank. This only works if you have at least 8-9% equity in your home. You'll break even and walk away. I can help you with this-

3. Sell your home with a Short Sale. If your house is worth less than you owe, I will negotiate with the bank to get them to discount your balance. You need me for this, because the average non-experienced agent is only successful 21% of the time-my team closes at 85%! Already have an agent? Awesome! I can still help you AND happily pay them a referral.

*If you are already listed with an agent, this is NOT a solicitation!!

4. Foreclosure. Simply put-you walk away or wait to be evicted. This will severely damage your credit, making it virtually impossible to borrow money for up to 10 years.

YOU MUST AVOID FORECLOSURE AT ALL COSTS!

5. Bankruptcy. I am not licensed to give financial advice. I do know this-if you DO take this path, it's much better to have your mortgage settled with the bank first. Consult with your attorney.

If your only option is to sell your home I am your best choice-ESPECIALLY if it requires a short sale.

Time is of the essence. Call me today-I will meet with you personally. Zero upfront fees and no obligation. My direct line is 425-446-1878 . . . call me now.

bob@davidllc.com

PS-Thanks for reading . . . let me know if I can help you or somebody that may need assistance with a possible foreclosure situation.

Everybody might've loved Raymond, but every agent seems to hate short sales, RIGHT?-everybody but me!

Are you a glutton for punishment? Do you have no life? Do you love working for oh, about a year and NOT GETTING PAID FOR IT? I just described YOU, the agent trying to sell their short sale! But, don't lose hope, help is on its way-in fact, it just arrived. "Hi! My name is Bob, and I close short sales and get agents paid." "Hi Bob."

No, you haven't stumbled into a short sale anonymous meeting --you won't find any cold coffee and stale cigarette smoke here. What you WILL find is a solution to getting your short sales closed. So, sit back, relax and get ready to put a smile back on your face!

Let's do a quick comparison: we'll take an honest look at some of the joys of the short sale process, after which I will present you with my offer!

Item You ME

•· Thoroughly Explain Short Sale Process in Detail To Your Seller Yeah, right . . . YES!

•· Thoroughly Understand The Short Sale Process Yourself Are you kidding? YES!

•· Experienced Negotiator Unlikely YES!

•· Know How To Get Direct Access To Bank Decision Makers More Unlikely YES!

•· Know What To Say IF You GET Access To Decision Makers Even MORE Unlikely YES!

•· Have A Complete Short Sale Pak Prepared For Submission Uh . .well . . YES!

•· Constantly Updated on Bank and Government Regulations Checkbook balanced? YES!

•· Average Time To Close (IF it closes-75% don't) 160 Days 105!

•· BPO's, REO's, UFO's, EIEIO's- HELP! YES!

•· Haven't seen your family in weeks! (*I'm single .. . .) I'm sorry . . . YES!

•· Enjoy spending hours on hold-SERIOUSLY! HOURS! NO! NO!

Are you starting to get the picture? Did you realize that approximately 75% of all short sales never close and end up as REO's-which means that you worked and spent money and ended up with nothing to show for your efforts. What about your clients? Foreclosures are worse on their credit ratings than short sales.

I have combined my own experiences (there have been many) in the short sale arena with a specialist and his team, partnering to provide you with not only a much better chance of closing (we're batting around 85%), but maybe even more importantly, giving you back your time and providing your clients with the service they deserve.

Now for my offer!

Refer your short sale with complete confidence to me-turnkey, I'll do everything-lockbox, sign, the whole nine yards; and I'll pay you a 30% referral fee. This is like found money for you. Do you already have a short sale listing that is dead in the water? I will charge you 1% of the selling price for making sure that your file is not only submitted to the bank, but that it won't get kicked back because there are things missing, etc. I will also co-babysit it, be available for consultation with offers and help you guide it through to closing.

Either way, you have everything to gain-call or email me today and let's see if we can work together so that everybody wins. I service King and Snohomish counties.

Bob Sluys-October 30, 2009

425-446-1878

bob@davidllc.com