BallenIsles, Mirasol, Old Marsh, PGA Nat Marc Blasi

This is one of those things that sounds like a bad joke - until you realize that the person that you're talking to ISN'T kidding!

Client: "I think I'll take my home off the market for a little while."

Me: "Why is that? Have you changed your mind about selling it?"

Client: "Oh no, not at all - I just think that taking it off the market will ________________________________ (fill in the blank with flawed logic)."

Makes absolutely no sense.  There is still quite a bit of Palm Beach Gardens real estate for sale so the only thing this temporary change does is remove ANY chance you have of getting an offer!

Some Sellers think that this is sort of a tease - as if the people that have been tracking their ‘one-in-a-million home' will feel like they lost out and they need to spring to action!  Not at all.

If the inventory levels were low, this might not be so laughable.  But if your home falls off the list, any potential Buyer will just move on to the next AVAILABLE one.

Remember this - we are still in a Buyers Market and misguided Seller ‘tricks' like this (and the equally poor ‘Price Increase') only hurt your chances of selling your home.

Marc J Blasi

Realtor® - Leibowitz Realty Group

Mortgage Broker - Knightlines Mortgage Services, LLC

Palm Beach Real Estate and Loans

(561)-282-7406 Cell

(561)-627-5100 Office

(561)-627-9385 Fax

Marc@LeibowitzRealty.com Email

Great news - I've changed to a new brokerage - as of this week I am now a Real Estate Agent for Leibowitz Realty Group.

Their reputation as a leader in the luxury golf/country club market is un-paralleled in Palm Beach County. You can read about the Company's history here.

They just opened up a new office at Midtown @ PGA Boulevard - a perfect location that will allow me to easily continue to service my main focus areas of:

• BallenIsles
• Mirasol
• PGA National

Their other office is at 210 Brazilian Avenue in Palm Beach - just a few blocks north of Worth Avenue.

To see my, or any of the other Agents', listings just take a look at the Meet the Team page.

There will be several changes to my personal website over the next few weeks. If for any reason you can't find what you need just call me at 561-282-7406 or email me at: marc@leibowitzrealty.com

Knightlines Mortgage Services, LLC has just opened it's new branch at 3309 Northlake Blvd, suite #201, in Palm Beach Gardens.

Considering all of the bad news that's been around lately - starting with the sub-prime disaster of last year - people might wonder how we can actually be expanding.

It's easy.

We started up our main office with the intention of cutting through all of the BS in the mortgage industry. Sounds like a lofty goal - but it's really not that difficult. Over the last few (?) years, all of the hype, the ridiculous advertising and plain old-fashioned greed had gotten things to the point that a mortgage almost seemed like a mystical thing.

When you come right down to it, the entire mortgage loan process is pretty easy - ESPECIALLY on the residential side.

It didn't take us very long to settle on our motto:

"Financing the way it's SUPPOSED to be".

The term 'transparency' is thrown around quite a bit in the mortgage world - a lot of companies spout it, but very few actually operate in a transparent manner.

This is what you can expect when using Knightlines:

• no guessing - you're always kept updated
• no surprises - especially not at the closing table
• we operate 7 days a week - things don't stop at 5:00 PM on Friday
• you will be fully educated on the loans that you qualify for so that you can choose what's best for you - we can make suggestions, but the final choice is yours
• we only advertise realistic loan terms - no 'bait' ads about loans so outrageous that nearly no one can qualify
• your Broker will be with you from the beginning all the way to the actual closing and that includes being AT the closing.

We offer both Residential and Commercial financing - private money is also available.

Marc J Blasi

Realtor® - Luxury Homes FL - A Thomas Real Estate Company

Mortgage Broker - Knightlines Mortgage Services, LLC

(561)-282-7406 Cell

(561)-282-3330 Office & e-Fax

www.PalmBeachRealEstateAndLoans.com

www.RealEstateDarwinism.com

Yesterday I started to talk about foreclosures and short sales - there is way too much confusion about them, so I'd like to simplify things a bit.

I finished up by mentioning the case of owing more on your real estate then it's actually worth or "Being Upside-down".  How could that happen?

Several ways:

• Regardless of your loan type, if you live in an area with extreme depreciation, the value of your home could be going down faster then you can pay down the loan.
• If you have an interest-only mortgage, ANY amount of depreciation would make the home worth less then the loan balance since the principle never gets paid off.
• If you have been using the minimum payment on an option-ARM you would be experiencing negative-amortization - you're making monthly payments, but they don't cover the amount of intrest owed each month.  This increases the outstanding balance.  So even if your home's value didn't go down, the amount owed would be increasing.  If you're one of the many that has that type of loan, I hope your Broker / Lender made that perfectly clear.

Of course, the lower the initial Loan-to-Value (LTV) the safer you would be, regardless of the loan type.

So what is FORECLOSURE?

Let's start with PRE-FORECLOSURE - you've stopped making your monthly mortgage payment, now you are in DEFAULT on the loan.  A red flag goes up at the bank and they let you know that you had better get back on track, quickly.  At this point, get in touch with the bank DO NOT just ignore the problem!  The bank isn't going to say "You seem like a good person -  don't worry about it!" - but you could possibly work something out with them before the worst happens.

You could go the route of the SHORT SALE - it's called that because by taking less then what they are actually owed, the bank is taking 'a short'.  Here's where it gets a little complicated.  You can't sell the house for what's owed so you list the property and any offers that come up go straight to the bank to approve or disapprove - you as the owner have no say in the matter. 

The banks really don't want to take your property from you, they already have more than enough and then they have to pay their lawyers for their work, re-list the property and try to sell it themselves (and pay more agents).  So, yes, they will take less then what is owed in many cases - but how much less?

More information on short sales -->>

Marc J Blasi

Realtor® - Luxury Homes FL - A Thomas Real Estate Company

Mortgage Broker - Knightlines Mortgage Services, LLC

(561)-282-7406 Cell

(561)-282-3330 Office & e-Fax

www.PalmBeachRealEstateAndLoans.com

www.RealEstateDarwinism.com

I would like to talk a little about foreclosures and short sales today.

First of all - contrary to what the newspapers seem to want to you to believe, not every homeowner is in a finincial crisis and not every home that is listed is being sold out of desperation!

Take a look at HAVE to Sell vs. WANT to Sell.

Are there foreclosures and short sales in Palm Beach Gardens?  Certainly - but it's not the free-for-all that way too many people seem to expect.

Now that I'm done with that, I'll cover the basics.

• You might own your real estate free and clear -GREAT!
• You could have a mortgage on the property - you're making the scheduled payments without a hitch.  Again, good for you.

The majority of people fall into those 2 categories.

For those of you that might not fit in the above categories, continue reading -->>

Marc J Blasi

Realtor® - Luxury Homes FL - A Thomas Real Estate Company

Mortgage Broker - Knightlines Mortgage Services, LLC

(561)-282-7406 Cell

(561)-282-3330 Office & e-Fax

www.PalmBeachRealEstateAndLoans.com

www.RealEstateDarwinism.com