Scott Haynes

I am not sure where I will end up going with this blog, but here it goes. I am currently struggling with the way real estate is headed after hearing about all of the states that are trying to stop foreclosure proceedings and with the current short sale process.

I am not as concerned about the foreclsoures as I am the short sales. I have recently been involved in a very disappointing short sale and here is the short history....

i have a buyer for a short sale and we write an offer that is signed by the seller that no longer lives in the state. The sellers agent proceeds to present the signed contract to the bank. The bank sits on the contract for a month when they decide to look at it and ask the seller for more documents for his finances. The sellers says that he refuses to provide anything more because he is "done" with all of this and the bank can foreclose if they want to. I then proceed to ask the bank what his payoff is so that maybe my buyer will go up on their offer because they really love the house. The seller gave us a round about number that he thought he owed and we are not that far off from our offer. We than proceed to ask the bank for a more firm payoff so that we can maybe pay the loan off without the seller being involved. The bank is going on three weeks now without giving us a payoff. My buyers don't understand and are getting frustrated.

Now that you know the story here is where my venting comes in. Us agents know the problems with short sales and we never expect miracles. Our customers on the other hand don't see it like us. I set the expectation up front that short sales are difficult, frustrating and unpredictable. Clients here us when we say that but emotion always takes over.

The political part in all of this comes from the process and laws itself. As REALTORS and licensed agents we have a duty and an obligation to treat offers and contracts in an ethical and timely fashion. We call it "time is of the essence".

Banks, lenders and third parties do not have to abide by these same standards. They can make up any rules they want and take as much time as needed.

ATTENTION CONGRESS! This is what you should be working on instead of some of the other idiotic things that take up valuable time..(for the record I am well versed in politics and know exactly what specifics they are working on but I do not want to offend anyone with my political views with what congress is doing, suffice it to say that I am RIGHT handed). We are bringing qualified willing and able buyers to the table and they are walking away because people can't wait 6 months for a decision on a house that they may not get anyway. Hearing a no or getting a counteroffer is not the problem. It's getting those answers six months from now that is so bad. We need legislation RIGHT now that will get these banks off their @&%$ and get these contracts approved. We have got to hold these people accountable.

Write your congress men and women, send emails, send emails to NAR to put some of our lobbying money to good use. Do whatever you can to change this process. We owe it to our clients.

I am held accountable everyday and all I ask is others be as well.

As always this is solely my opinion and no liberals were harmed writing this blog

Short Sale Hell!!! My first roadblock in a short sale process.....

I have been selling and listing short sales and foreclosures for a while now, and have had very good luck up until this week. I am representing the buyer in a purchase of an in-house short sale with another agent in our office. The seller signed the offer and it was presented to the bank and now the bank wants updated financials to support the short sale.

We all know that this isn't something crazy to ask for. When the seller was told today that he needed to provide this new information he refused and said that he had done enough and that the house could go into foreclosure and doesn't care.

You have got to be kidding me! Now I have a first time buyer that has found there dream home and is watching it go down the drain because of a lazy seller that won't take the time to send over the documents. We all know that the seller is in breach of contract for not provided needed documents to the bank, but what can you really do to the seller. They obviously have nothing to lose so going the legal route gains us nothing.

Find them another dream home you say...yeah I thought of that, but every house I show them will be compared to this one and will always be second best.

There is really nothing to that can be done except to hope he changes his mind soon and wait. The moral of the story is if you take a short sale listing please tell your client to comply with the bank and cooperate . I know it's painful but it is what it is.

August real estate market data for Wilmington NC.....

Wilmington NC real estate sales saw a 13% increase over July's numbers. This is great news and completely contradicts the national average from the NAR. Wilmington NC real estate is still very strong and has held its own throughout this year. Wilmington NC only had one month of decline and that was in July, but we have shown a nice rebound in August.

If anyone is looking to buy in the Wilmington, NC area it is still one of the best times to do so. Prices are steady and there is alot of opportunity to find that perfect home or investment property.

Call me today!

August 2010 Wilmington Real Estate Statistics

WILMINGTON,NC REAL ESTATE

WILMINGTON,NC HOMES FOR SALE

USDA Funding is BACK! 100% Financing is still available! No down payment!

That's right it is back! I just got the word from my primary lender that I use that they are starting to take applications for the USDA 100% financing program. If you are not familiar with this program then I will refresh your memory. This is from the USDA and only rural areas are eligible for the 100% financing program. There are income restrictions and debt to income restrictions. There are no minimum credit scores for this 100% financing program. Each application is looked at on a case by case basis. Check with your local lender to see if you qualify.

When the $8000 tax credit ended we had no other options for people who missed out, but we do now. The USDA 100% financing program offers another option for first time homebuyers and people with limited down payments.

USDA Eligibility Site. What locations qualify?

USDA Income Limitations

52nd Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament...Day 4 Update!

The Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament is starting to get a little tense for the last two days of fishing. With first and second place looking pretty solid the rest of the boats have some work to do. The most interesting thing is that most of the boats will be fishing the last two days. Only one boat is fished out, remember that you can only fish 4 out of 6 days. The Big Rock Tournament has been blessed with great weather that has helped all the boats get further out to the fish.

There were 19 billfish releases today at Big Rock! The captains are starting to figure out where they are feeding and going. Some of the catches today included a 61.8 pound wahoo caught by the Big Hunter. The Marlin Gull had the hot hand with three billfish releases with two whites and a sailfish.

The Big Rock starts again tomorrow morning with lines in the water at 9:00 a.m. I am excited to hear how tomorrow ends up. I still think with the good weather and two days left that there will be a bigger Blue Marlin caught.

Maybe I am just a little optimistic, but how fun would it be to see a 1,000 pounder brought to the scales. With over $1 million dollars on the line these fisherman are going to give it all they got.

CURRENT LEADERBOARD HERE!