Joe Murphy

High schools try to get pregnant teens out of the main student population. Pregnancy can be contagious among teen girls.

People that get the flu are told to stay home, and away from other people. The Flu is contagious.

When there is group of people clamoring around a sales rack, grabbing an item quickly and decisively, other shoppers can be influenced to do the same. Like when there is a hurricane warning and people start hording items. Shopping can be contagious.

I think that foreclosures are also contagious. One family on a street runs into hard times, gets late on their mortgage payments, and decides to give up the home either as a short sale or foreclosure. Soon neighbors are starting to do the same whether they have a hardship or not.

I have seen concrete examples doing short sales here in Bradenton, FL. One of my last meetings with a home owner is distress revealed that on their street there were 6 other homes adjacent that were in some phase of foreclosure. What was interesting to me was the neighborhood was one that was perceived as stable, with less than a 3% annual turn over, developed "pre-boom", and historically very little active inventory. After looking at the tax records it looked like that cul-de-sac got hit with the plague.

After my meeting with the homeowners, I found out that they had known of 2 of the other families losing their homes, they too were surprised by the news of the other 4 homes being lost to the banks.

I have seen clumps of foreclosures, and short sales in other areas but they were usually neighborhoods that were 1. Built during the boom years (2004-2006) 2. Bought by investors and flippers 3. Had high turnover rates, and high inventory.

Could foreclosures be contagious? My opinion is YES, when a home owner learns that a neighbor, or friend is giving up their home I think that it lessens the negative perception to others about how bad foreclosures are. Just like most people today are much less "showy" with their lifestyles. Facing economic hardship, especially as it relates to home-ownership is viewed as much less of a taboo today, then it was just a few years ago.

I found this interesting document through searching for info on foreclosure defense, and loan modifications. With the rise in mortgage defaults attorneys that specialize in foreclosure defense have plenty of work

Most people that I meet with are interested in first a "principle reduction loan modification". They are having a tough time keeping up with the mortgage because of lower income, interest rate resets, or they just realize that they are severely upside down in their home. I do not see many instances where the homeowner has been successful in reducing the mortgage balance.

It makes common sense that the current home owner is really the best person to own the home most of the time. I am only there because they were denied a reasonable loan modification, or they really need to move. That''s when the foreclosure defense attorney can potentially help.

In working short sales I have seen there effect is mostly stalling a foreclosure sale and responding to homeowners being served foreclosure papers.

This guide gives examples of cases where Judges have actually reduced or wiped out mortgages on defendants properties! ( which is really what everyone really wants!)

Anyway, this makes for an interesting read into the world of foreclosure defense, and I thought I would post it as a resourse for consumers to get educated, and other agents to gain knowledge. It is written by an attorney for other attorneys so be prepared.

http://www.miamidade.gov/csd/library/foreclosure_dtlrespa.pdf

Let me know what you think.

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I had one experience a little over a year ago where a representative, for a buyer wanted to looking for good deals for his "client", but only my listings. I showed that person a few short sales that fit his requirements. A few weeks later his client came in to town with him wanting to see 2 homes in particular. My seller was home at one for this showing. This potential buyer went into a pretty aggressive pitch on me and my customer to hire his firm. Wait.. I thought he was a buyer, actually he is really attempting to take control of the property, and flip it. No problem, he wants to do his own negotiations. He needs to use his own contract, and he is requesting power of attorney over the property? That was going to far for my seller, and I became uncomfortable too.

In the past year I have been approached by more individuals that claim to be working for investment groups looking to buy short sale properties from distressed homeowners, and then offering to list these homes with me with guaranteed commissions and realistic expectations. With some digging the companies that have pitched me are all really attempting to "flip" the home "in escrow".

FLIP-- Another bad four letter word.. According to many, one of the big reasons we are in this real estate mess.

Of the companies that I have meet the process has been consistent as in "A-B-C"

A- The lender/investor gets an assignable offer to purchase the property as a short sale with a heavy emphasis to get the home as cheap as possible.

B- The rescue company hires an agent to market and sell the home to..

C- The end user, who buys the home for a higher price than the investor paid. The investor realizes the profit, and pays the costs involved between the transactions. The quicker it's done, before they own the home, the more profit they make.

If it's sound too good to be true, it is. Maybe they are real investors that were looking to make a reasonable profit from buying distressed homes and then selling for a profit. Helping distressed homeowners prevent foreclosure, and getting rid of huge amounts of debt is rewarding.

My experience with the representatives seemed aggressive, and I would be hesitant to turn them over to my customers.

Has anyone had any experience dealing with these types of investors? And, are they legitimate?

I am sure there are hundreds of these type of companies out there, is anybody having success with these type of "A-B-C" transactions on the listing side?

I am not afraid of some competition, and the idea of streamlining the process, reduced negotiation workload, and a guaranteed "normal" listing as the reward sounds great, but really too good to be real.

I have been assisting with helping homeowners successfully sell their primary, and investment properties and negotiating with their lenders to accept contracts that are below their loan amounts. I provide this service with no advanced charges, and most often all fees are paid by the seller's primary lender. I provide this service with integrity, the goal to help the present/future homeowner, and the entire community.

A short sale helps prevent homes from becoming abandoned, abused, and neglected. It helps maintain neighborhoods by stabilizing property values. This helps the moral of other area homeowners since I think foreclosures are contagious. This is a career were I can help people in real need and help everyone in the process too. As a local realtor in Manatee county, my area of expertise, I am well suited to help in the recovery.

All legitimate and professional people that are helping to prevent foreclosures should be proud of their efforts.

We have all had our share of tough short sales. This one came to me a few months ago, and I did not give it much hope of it being accepted by the two lenders. The Seller would not provide ANY financial info that is always requested by the lenders.

The normal "short sale package"

• 2 years tax returns- NO
• 2 months most recent bank statements--NO
• 2 months' pay stubs--NO
• Monthly Income vs Expenses--NO
• Hardship letter-- YES
• Executed Contract-- YES

The reasoning for not providing these documents was to protect the assets and keep this sensitive financial info private.

A few years ago, I thought only short sales with a heavy-duty hardship would be approved. Death, Divorce, Job Loss were the situations where lenders accepted a short sale.

Hardship letters have since become much softer. Usually just a statement that they cannot afford the home due to decreased income.

I have closed over 30 short sales to date, and I have never heard of anyone getting one done without providing this sensitive info. I am curious to see if any other Realtors have had the same experience.

It seems obvious that keeping this most sensitive information from the Lenders would be advantageous for the consumer, and really why do they need all that info?

In this deal the home that the sellers purchased ( At the very peak of the market) had depreciated to almost half of it's value. They wanted to sell, but coming to the table with a few hundred thousand dollars was impossible. They were struggling to keep the home, so they decided to either give it back to the bank, or do a short sale.

I am a big proponent of short sales. I think that we are doing our community service when we can prevent a foreclosure, and help a family through one of the most frightening experiences. The neighbors benefit since a short sale typically sells for more than a REO, it is in better condition, and all this helps to soften the negative impact of the low sales price.

Has anyone heard of success with a short sale without financial info given? And, why do the banks need all that information anyway?

In September there were 433 homes that were closed compared with August's 361 here in Manatee County, FL.

That is an INCREASE of 16.2% from the prior month!

This is noteworthy because this is supposed to be the SLOW season. No vacationers, no snowbirds, kids are in school, Holidays coming, etc.

I listed 4 new listings in September and all 4 had offers with the month. All but one went pending, but that last one is still in negotiations.

Three offers written in the past month have been in multiple offer situations. It seems that the buyers are realizing that we have hit the "bottom".

You do not need to be an economist to see that the supply of inventory here is going down, and also that sales, contracts are increasing. Except for January and February of this year, there has not been less than 500 homes go pending in a month. Last year the highest month was under 350 units.

5 MAIN REASONS FOR THE RECOVERY

1. 1. Home owners who can afford their homes and do not need to move are not on the market.
   2. Banks REO departments are bringing the REO homes on the market at barely a trickle.
   3. The "pent-up demand" from three years of a "bad" FALLING MARKET, has hit a breaking point. At some point those that need to buy, will feel that they can't wait anymore.
   4. KILLER DEALS are here. I have sold two homes in the past three weeks that are 50%-25% of their 2005 Prices!
   5. Resale homes are priced well below replacement cost. One home that I put under contract for 525,000 had to have almost 700,000 for home owner' coverage. The buyer complained for a minute, but quickly realized this is a very, very GOOD thing.

When you are ready to buy or sell- Think of us! Joe and Molly Murphy www.manateemoves.com

941-780-3260