Melissa Zavala Realtor® North San Diego County Homes

The North San Diego County and Escondido Realtors® are collecting again-making care packages for the troops. Just over a month ago, local Realtor® donations made it possible for us to send 108 large boxes of goodies to our troops living in caves in Afghanistan.

It's amazing that despite the fact that many agents are having trouble make ends meet, contributions for our troops are flowing in.

The collection is ongoing and now North San Diego County and Escondido Realtors® are trying to get together the holiday care packages: toothbrushes, toothpaste, magazines (old and new), books, almost anything at all. Personally, aside from a bunch of other sundries, I'm going to include my kids' Halloween candy. I've gotta get it out of the house, and I cannot think of a better cause!

If you are interested in contributing to our local collection, click here.

If you are a home buyer who is looking for a home in Bressi Ranch, Carlsbad, you may find yourself writing an offer on a short sale. Short sale listings are those properties listed for sale where the property is worth less than the existing mortgage(s) on the home. Because of this, the mortgage lender(s) will need to approve the purchase and the short sale. This process of approval can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 4 months-depending upon the mortgage lender and upon the qualifications of the person who is doing the negotiations.

Because I have closed countless short sale transactions and having received hundreds of approval letters, buyers often call me or email me for counsel on their short sale transactions.

Here are a few common short sale questions and my answers:

I offered full price on the short sale in Bressi Ranch. What is my guarantee that the bank will approve my purchase price?

Sadly, there is no guarantee that the bank will approve your purchase price. However, if you are familiar with the prices of recently closed transactions in the neighborhood, and your offer is within a reasonable range of these recently close transactions, then it is probable that the bank will accept your offer.

Why do I have to wait such a long time just to hear that what the bank wants?

While it sometimes takes quite a long time for the bank(s) to respond to purchase offers and short sale transactions, it is important to understand that you are not the only one in California (or in the United States) who has a short sale on file at the bank right now. Some banks receive tens of thousands of short sale packages every single week. So, it is tough for them to respond quickly.

If you are considering buying a short sale in Bressi Ranch, Carlsbad, and beyond, I encourage you to educate yourself on the entire short sale process, hire a highly-qualified agent, and be patient throughout the process. The result should be a great home purchase for you and your family!

Save time . . . outsource annoying administrative tasks including the negotiation of your latest short sale listings. Our office is available to help with the paperwork, obtain the approval letters, and relieve you of the headaches so that you can focus on what you do best-real estate, including the listing and selling property!

Visit our website because all the commission checks you could ever want are just a click away.

If you live in Santa Fe Hills, San Marcos, Escondido, and beyond and you need to sell your property right now, you may need to participate in a real estate transaction called a short sale. A short sale is a transaction that occurs when you owe more on your mortgage or mortgages than your home is worth. In this kind of transaction, the bank forgives the difference between the new purchase price and your loan amount.

These are tricky, time-consuming transactions that should not be left to the inexperienced listing agent. So, if you are thinking about hiring an agent to help you sell your home in a short sale transaction, you'll need to ask all of the potential agents some important questions about their level of experience:

• How many short sales have you successfully closed?
• How many short sales have you personally negotiated?
• Who conducts the short sale negotiations from your team?
• How many short sale negotiations have you conducted with (your lender)?
• What is your experience with (your lender)? How long do negotiations usually take with (your lender)?
• What steps will you take to insure that the transaction closes successfully?

After you hear the answers to these questions, you will have a better feeling for the level of experience of the agents that you are considering.

The agents in my office would be proud to tell you that our office has successfully received over 300 approval letters this year. We have experience with all of the major lending institutions as well as most of the smaller ones. We do our very best to ensure that the deal closes as quickly and efficiently as possible. We leverage the terms and conditions of the purchase contract and the addendum to assure that the buyer is serious, well-qualified, and willing to wait while the lien holder approves the short sale.

So, if you are considering listing your home for a short sale in Santa Fe Hills, San Marcos and beyond, please feel free to give us a call!

If you are a homeowner in Lake San Marcos, San Marcos, Escondido or beyond who needs to sell, and if you owe more to the bank(s) than your property is worth, than you may need to participate in a short sale. In a short sale transaction, your real estate agent or a designated negotiator will negotiate with the bank(s) to forgive the difference between what you owe and the buyer's purchase price.

Through a process called a Short Sale, you can:

Sound too good to be true? It's not!

If you need to sell your home, but owe more on your home than it is worth, a qualified short sale specialist can help you sell your home quickly, easily and for top dollar, without ruining your credit, going through foreclosure, or declaring bankruptcy.

You will pay absolutely nothing to sell your home, and you will owe nothing to your lender.

You will not have the stain of a foreclosure or a bankruptcy on your credit, and instead of having to wait up to 7 years to buy another home, you may be able to buy again within the next 24 months, or even less.

Many real estate agents may not be experienced in short sales. So it is a good idea to ask any real estate agent you plan to hire a few important questions about their success rate with short sales:

• How many short sales have you successfully closed?
• Have you closed any short sales with (your lender)?
• What is your success rate in obtaining approval letters from the lenders?

I'm not afraid to share that we have worked with all of the major lending institutions and we obtain approval letters 99.99% of the time. In fact, I can only remember one specific transaction where we could not get the job done.

Short Sales are time-intensive transactions that require detail-oriented processing in order to get the job done right. If your agent makes mistakes, gives up, slacks off or drops the ball at any point in the short sale process, you could very well wind up being foreclosed upon by your lender.

If you are thinking about selling your home in Lake San Marcos, San Marcos, Escondido or beyond and are participating in a short sale, please consider all of your options. Act quickly, however, because time is of the essence.