Mike Karsten

So you need to short sale, what do you need to know?

The first thing you need to do is ask yourself some questions.

1) Do you want to stay in your house?

2) Can you afford to stay in your house? What is your income vs. your expenses? Tell yourself the truth, write it down.

3) What are your options, ask yourself these questions.

A) Can you modify your Mortgage?

B) Will your bank modify your principal to the current market price?

C) Can you just give the keys to your lender and get out of your mortgage(s)?

D) Should you just walk away and let the house foreclose?

E) Where do you want to be in 5- 10 years after this mess of an economy has recovered?

F) What will happen to your credit during this process. Is it possible to save your credit? Will I be able to buy another house?

G) Is it possible to stop the foreclosure?

I offer on my website some self help links http://www.mikekarsten.com/Resources.html checkout the making homes affordable link. If you have an income, you may be able to modify your mortgage and it will be the first thing your lender(s) will look at before doing a short sale. My short sale company http://realmitigation.com/ has actually had lenders modify homes after the homeowners have moved out of their houses.

If you were to just mail in the keys to your lender, how does that benefit you? Your lender is in no obligation to just take your house back and let you off the hook for the balance. In today's market, they will most likely have losses and the outstanding mortgage will give them the right to go after you. The question is what happens to the deficiency?

Sometimes a foreclosure is the best option for you, but not always. It really depends on your goals, how fast you want to recover and whether your lender will give you a full release on the amount owed on a short sale. In most cases a short sale will benefit you. To get your questions answered Call Mike 253-299-6733 your short sale expert.

RealMitigation.com has successfully facilitated 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd mortgages, tax liens, judgments and other real estate horrors.

Mike Karsten is not an accountant or an attorney and these writings are simply opinions.

Local Real Estate Stats are looking up, Looking at the Bonney Lake, Lake Tapps, South Prairie and Buckley areas, zip codes 98321, 98391 98385, 98390, . Here's the good news From July of 2008 vs. July of 2009: New listings are down by 20% Total listings are down by 33%, Here's the bad news; Home Values are down over 8%. My take is REO and Short Sale properties are still driving prices down. But with fewer listings, things are selling. Is the bottom near?

REO Caretakers.

Put your mind to rest, we'll put a caretaker in your asset (house).

We'll put a caretaker in your asset, (house). So you can rest assured that your asset is being watched over. We are in the midst of a national housing crisis. Part of the problem is the amount of assets sitting vacant. Vacant assets are being vandalized, the yards are becoming overgrown and these properties are bringing down neighborhood values.

Our Caretakers pay the utilities and keep the asset in show condition (including yard care). We are finding that buyers like homes with people in them vs. vacant homes. The Short Sale process is hurting and lenders have been taking 2-4 months to approve the sales. This leaves houses vacant causing problems for way too long. We have set up this program so that even if the asset goes back to the lender we have a caretaker in the property to take care of it, protecting the value of the property and the value of the properties around it. This is a win win situation; as so many homes are getting vandalized.

The Caretaker requirements:

•· The Caretaker will be screened with a credit check and background check.

•· Pets will not be allowed

•· Smoking will not be allowed

•· The property will be kept in show condition at all times. Caretaker will have to work closely with

agents and stay out of their way.

•· Property to be available to be shown from 10 am to 8 pm.

•· The Caretaker must get liability property insurance.

•· The Caretaker will not be able to use the property for storage and will bring minimal items.

•· The Caretaker will pay all utilities and take care of the lawn.

•· Caretaker will have to abide by all deed restrictions and homeowner association restriction

•· This is not considered a rental and will be on a month to month short term basis.

REO Caretakers

20825 SR 410 E, ste 316, Bonney Lake, WA 98391

253-299-6429

I attended the New Reality of REO Management in Chicago on July 27, 2009. The main topic was what to do with the "Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009" http://budurl.com/3y3b It's was interesting to hear attorneys and asset managers discuss how to best handle tenants in a REO situation. Basically this new law is a can of worms for asset managers. If you think about all of the rentals a asset manager ends up with and now by law they have to assume those lease agreements for a minimum of 90 days ...WOW! Think of all of the liability issues especially on a distressed property that has been foreclosed upon. How about: Black mold, Lead paint, Leaky roofs, faulty electrical, failed plumbing, trip and fall accidents, drug and gang issues and the list can go on and on. You can just see the lawsuits coming. I didn't see a lot of questions being answered at this conference, just very costly questions.

With the glut of vacant properties, the asset managers are watching the vacant properties lose their value the longer they remain vacant, vandalized and destroyed. I'm now working with REO Caretakers http://reocaretakers.com We are working to get caretakers into vacant REO and short sale properties.