Jessica Steele

Amuse Bouche, Surprise, Arizona, is nothing less than an exquisite culinary delight. This new French restaurant, located on the Northeast corner of Cotton Ln and Bell Rd in the up-and-coming community of Surprise is the highlight of the West Valley.

From what I understand, its two chefs learned all the ways of the kitchen in Paris, France, and cook everything in their kitchen from scratch. This authenticity is noted in the tender beef tenderloin situated plumply on a delectable potato pureé, or in the simpler soup du jour - a delightful potato and leek combo on the day of my visit.

With a separate breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu, I am sure more culinary adventures await my taste buds as well.

Amuse Bouche is one of the few West Valley restaurants that allows it's guests to byob - and by golly they do! On a Saturday evening I was met with a sprinkling of guests from all over the world, all with their bottle openers and wine totes in hand as they gathered under the heat lamps awaiting their reservations (which you most definitely need).

If there is one drawback to this restaurant, it is space, and although great for the residents of Surprise, with its ever-growing popularity, we may find that Amuse Bouche, Surprise, may soon outgrow its current location.

I highly recommend Amuse Bouche, Surprise as one of the West Valley's culinary delights. The service was impeccable, the company cultured and friendly, and the food . . . well . . . a dream.

The Irish Wolfhound Pub, located just off of Litchfield and Bell Roads, in Surprise, Arizona, boasts more than just great cuisine. It boasts a truly delightful atmosphere that makes even the most untraveled pub-goer a sudden expert on Irish music, culinary adventures, and cheer. Whether you stop by on a random Tuesday for good spirits and good friends, or a Friday night gearing up to show off your self-made Irish jig, the music is always merry and the booze is always flowing. The wait staff is friendly, and everyone becomes a friend. It is a true pub environment that adapts to the feel of the crowd.

Sunday mornings/afternoons, the Hound offers $3.25 Bloody Marys and a 2 for 1 Irish Breakfast that can't be beat by any other local pubs. There are plenty of big screen t.v.'s for everyone's game of choice, and the seafood chowder will make me come back on the next chilly evening for more. Just stopping by for lunch? The Ciaran's Fish and Chips Sandwich is the perfect combo of crunchy and tender, or try the Irish Jacketed Potato Nachos with a nice cold Guiness on the side. Wednesday night is Trivia night as well, so gather a group and stop by (I am always ready for some healthy competition, and if you let me win, I might just buy you a beer!).

Check out the full menu for a better description of true Irish cuisine, or visit their website to learn more about upcoming events and opportunities.

Yes, my friend. You have read that title correctly. We got the bank $100,000 for a short sale listing we have been negotiating since January, and they countered back FOR LESS.

Let me provide you, oh avid reader, with some background information so that you can better understand.

It has been a flutter of paperwork back and forth from Phoenix to Texas, where the sellers relocated, and then again from Phoenix to Massachusetts, where they relocated again. We have updated financials at least four times, and had final approvals more times than I can count. But buyers are impatient, and we are often left waving an approval letter anxiously in the air at no one, as if throwing up a white flag. More times than once, I have wanted to throw in the towel on this icky little short sale beast.

But there is always a moment of truth, and those of you involved in short sale transactions know that it isn't about you, the agent, but rather, about helping out one of our distressed neighbors. After all, most of us personally know someone in a dire financial situation, and can relate. We are often their source of hope - their beacon of light at the end of a long, and tiring tunnel. So we push on, and we become tireless, determined that we will reach (and close) escrow before the foreclosure date.

So, last week, after receiving a final approval from the bank, we find out that our buyers had walked. No big news, as we've seen it a handful of times before. We reactivate the house in the MLS, and cross our fingers. I break the news to the sellers, and we mutally hang up the phone with feigned words of encouragement and an inaudible curse to these buyers who are making us great case studies for our shrinks. We've adapted to this way of life.

The next morning, we receive an offer on the home for $100,000, which is list price. We have ran multiple comparative market analyses of the area, and previous BPOs have come in at this same price. We resubmit the new HUD and offer to the bank, and cross our fingers, hoping for the best. Later that afternoon, the bank counters back.

New purchase price to be $70,000. All other terms and conditions to remain the same.

Wait a minute. WHAT?

I call the negotiator right away, believing there has been some mistake. He informs me, however, that there has been no mistake. The last appraisal done on the property stated that it was worth $70,000, and, not wanting to drag the file out any longer, the bank was countering back at that price, for fear that it would not appraise at the $100,000. Although we sent comps, showing that the home was potentially valued for more, and referred to the previous BPOs submitted, all in the $100,000 range, the negotiator informed us that if we wanted to dispute the price, we would have to begin the short sale process again from phase one.

I shook my head in disbelief. The bank is already losing $125,000 in this transaction, and now they are willing to lose $30,000 more?

No matter how many short sale situations I encounter, there is always something new lurking in each one.

This, however, was a first.

Oh, the dreadful"Double S".The word commands respect in a sentence filled with other jargon, or standing alone, as the big, looming question mark it so often is as we flitter between those moments of wake and sleep. It is the cause for rejoices when a transaction finally closes, and the reason for four-letter exclamations in the weeks (okay, months) before it reaches that point. We can't live with them, but, as any agent currently sighs, we can't really avoid them to live without them either.

Most agents can agree that there are four key elements to any successful short sale: accessibility, responsiveness, communication, and fulfillment. Of the four, responsiveness and communication seem to be the largest issues in today's short sale market. The banks are simply inundated with short sale files, and the $9/hr negotiator to whom your file is assigned probably isn't overly troubled by your outbursts as your emails are deleted, voicemails erased, and paperwork lost in transition. It's all a very joyful process.

Wait! Stop! NEWSFLASH! NEWSFLASH!

IS ONE OF AMERICA'S LARGEST LENDERS STEPPING OUT AHEAD OF THE REST?

At the end of last month, California-based Equator (formerly known as REOTrans) reported that it had launched the real estate industry's very first short sale module for a large national lender (supposedly Bank of America, although this has yet to be confirmed). Short sales would be handled for the first time ever via an electronic platform, dramatically improving approval time and communication between all parties involved in a transaction.

Included in the platform is a fully accessible client portal where borrowers can receive updates on their short sale 24/7, in real-time (virtually unheard of in the current short sale market).

Of course, cutting out the middle-man may not facilitate all aspects of the transaction. Questions do arise such as how a computer can possibly evaluate seller's finances, or the information found in the BPO (broker's price opinion) or appraisal. I anticipate this may be an issue . . . but then again, I am not the most technologically-savvy agent I know.

Odds are, computers are more competent than many of the clowns negotiators currently sipping their mocha-lattes chai teas.

Regardless, Bank of America needs to do something to facilitate the short sale process.

I should know. I've currently been fighting with the company since spring over an offer dated April 9. And yes, we still have the buyers!

Is an extension of the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit truly looming on the horizon? To say the least, it is certainly looming in the forefront of many a consumer's mind. Each morning I wake up to my Twitter and Facebook feed, to see a surplus of comments, either from consumers, begging for the extension so they can surpass the current December 1 deadline, or from agents, bickering back and forth about the pros and cons of such a venture. It's a hot top of desire, and of debate.

So what is the current state of the extension of the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit? Well, passing of such an act is no more than mere speculation at the moment, despite what many on-line sources are claiming. Today, Fox News reports that Senate negotiators have reached an agreement to extend the credit, but that its passage remains undetermined.

Currently, the following substance of the credit has been determined:

• Credit will be extended from its current December 1 expiration to April 30, 2010, with all homes closing before July 1, 2010.
• Income limits on those consumers claiming the credit will increase from $75,000 for a single homeowner to $125,000, and from $150,000 to $250,000 for couples.
• The tax will not only include first-time home buyers, but will be extended to a $6,500 credit for existing homeowners who have occupied their current residences for five consecutive years of the past eight.

The general goals of this amended tax credit piggyback off of the previous credit. The aim is to stimulate a weakened economy further by granting the distressed real estate market a larger boost while limiting the advantages to investors. This extended credit also seeks to attract the higher-end buyer, where the market continues to remain in dire state.

Some Democrats are currently hoping to add the bill to one already currently on the Senate floor - to extend federal unemployment tax benefits. This agreement, however, has yet to be confirmed, leaving the question lingering . . . and looming . . . as it has.