Ron and Kat Becker Foreclosure Prevention Specialists

Despite the industry's unprecedented efforts to keep people in their homes, there are more borrowers behind on their mortgage payments than there have been in 37 years. Even the end of the recession - which economists put at mid-summer - hasn't improved mortgage performance. The Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday that the national delinquency rate for residential properties rose to 9.64 percent in the 3rd quarter of 2009, setting a new record. Combine that with loans already in foreclosure, and it means a staggering 14.41 percent of all outstanding mortgages aren't current.

Foreclosures and short sales will be around for quite some time...and people STILL have to move regardless of the current housing situation. We can help get you out of your home quickly and compassionately.

We wanted to update our buyer clients on the new bill that was passed Friday, November 7 2009

Here is a link to who qualifies:

And here is a link to the most frequently asked questions.

If you have a home to sell before you buy we can give you HONEST advice on how you can make a move happen quickly so you can ALSO take advantage of the $6500 the government is offering you:

27 Tips to get Your Home Sold Fast

http://beckergrouponline.com/27tips.asp

or try this: Avoid these Home Seller Mistakes

http://beckergrouponline.com/seller_mistakes.asp

If we can be of assisance to you, let us know.

Ron and Kat Becker

847-489-0236

There are four variables that sell a house. 1. Price 2. Terms 3. Condition 4. Location All four of the variables go together to create the "perfect sale." Each aspect must be taken into consideration if you want a property to sell. 1. Price fixes everything! Don't let anyone tell you different. When the buyer perceives there is a value because of the price, they will buy the home. The other three variables always can effect the price. There are circumstances where a buyer has lost the ability to qualify for a traditional loan because of a foreclosure or bankruptcy and the buyer needs owner financing. In this situation the buyer may be willing to pay more because they have ownership with possibly a small down payment. Conversely, if the Condition is bad the price will have to be reduced to reflect a value in the home where a buyer will have to come in and do repairs or cosmetic updates. Location is the toughest variable in the sale to compensate for. Most people have heard about in Real Estate the terms Location, Location, Location. If the location is bad.. ONLY price will sell the property possibly combined with terms so exciting that a buyer will not be able to pass up the deal. 2. Terms. If the Terms are attractive, sometimes a seller can get more money for the home. For example: a home with a value of $325,000 listed with owner carry terms of $25,000 down and no bank qualifying might be able to sell at $350,000 because of the terms. Under any owner carry situation, it is important the seller speak with their accountant and attorney before accepting any contract and agreement to finance. The seller should be completely aware of the liability and consequences in owner financing. This is just an example how price can increase with the right terms. 3. Condition is a key factor in selling a home. When the property is in top condition, looking like a show home the seller may get top market value for the property. In times where homes are selling at a slow pace, in order to procure a sale, the home should be the BEST property at the Lowest price to get to the closing table. Taking a seller on a preview tour of the homes in the area similar to their property can save months of discouragement with a home not selling. When a seller can see the competition and accepts the fact their home needs to be the Best house at the lowest price to sell, the home will sell and the seller will see what they are up against in comparison. Carpet or paint allowance does NOT work in selling a home. If the home needs carpet, put it in. If the home needs painting, get it painted. Many times this can cost a seller $5,000 to $8,000 to do those upgrades. Investing, yes, investing is the correct term, for getting the house sold. The money invested will come back in the form or a quick sale at full market value. A picture is worth a thousand words so think about how the property looks and even take some pictures to see what a buyer is looking at. Sellers should look at the pictures like they were a buyer and ask, "would I buy this house in this condition for this price?" Are the kitchen counters cluttered? Are the closets a mess? What does the front door look like and the yard when people drive up to the house? A seller has 8 seconds for a buyer looking at a home to decide if they really like the house and if it will go on the A list. The buyer starts the decision making process when driving up to the home while looking at the surrounding properties and the entrance to the home. Many agents are trained in "staging" a home and there are "staging services" which help a seller to understand what needs to be done to create a "marketable product." Listen to these people if you want to get the house sold. The seller needs to separate from the house and see it as an investment or product that needs to be sold. The seller needs to take all the emotions out of the happy memories in the home if they are serious about selling. 4. Location is the only variable which cannot be changed. A bad location, is a bad location so only price and terms are going to help this situation. It does not matter that the same model home across the street sold for thousands more, because it was ACROSS THE STREET and did not back to the highway. A seller needs to get a reality check on location and think about when they purchased. If the seller got a good deal when they bought because it had a bad location then they have to give the new buyer the same good deal to sell. Sellers should take all the emotion out of the business of selling a home and treat the transaction as an investment decision. If the goal is to get the home sold then listen to the professionals and let them do their job. Would you operate on yourself or pull your own teeth? No, you'd let a professional do it!

We usually know how much "room" a seller has when we arrive for a listing appointment. Room as in NET proceeds. How much the home should be listed for, how much it will most likely sell for, how much the seller owes, and how much he/she will pay in closing costs.....including commission. We know our market well. We know the conditions, we know the stats, we know the percentage of short sales and foreclosures that sell and how many are on the market. We know what is coming and we know approximately when this market will stablize next year. We also know that we are going to be swamped with foreclosures and short sales and when that is most likely to happen. We pay attention. We also know it is tough to be a "regular" seller in this market. Especially when you HAVE to move.

We get calls every week to sit down with sellers to discuss the sale of their home. We already know we can blow just about any agent out of the water with our marketing program. That's not an issue with us and it's not our ego talking either. We know the business of selling houses inside and out. NOT the business of LISING houses, we said selling!!! We also know within one week what we are "in to" a home for financially. In the first few weeks, we have spent more than $1200-$1400 marketing and advertising our listings. That is what it costs a good real estate team to post properties on more than 50 websites, advertise in a multitude of places, pay for sign installations and removals, purchase signs for specialty properties (like waterfronts and horse properties), pay support staff to take care of all the data entry and other listing details, and not to mention the time it takes to orchestrate it all.

Getting back to the seller.....if after going through our extensive marketing program, suggesting staging tips and condition of the home, discussing the timing and financial needs of our seller, and going through all of the recent sales data, the "compeition" (yep that would include your neighbor's home) and what has expired and/or canceled off the market UNSOLD.....if after all of that we discover that our seller is unrealistic about the market, is unwilling and unwavering to price the home to get SOLD.......we simply walk away!

It is not only a HUGE business decision for the seller to hire us, but it is also a HUGE decision for us to take a listing. We know walking in that our seller has a better chance of selling their home with us because of what we do for them. But, if we know a home has no chance of selling we would rather walk away (parting as friends) than to take another over-priced listing that is a total and complete waste of the seller's time and our marketing and advertising dollars. Does that mean we are unwilling to at least try at the seller's numbers for a few weeks to see what happens? Absolutely not! Pricing real estate is not an exact science and it is our job to NET the seller the most money....afterall, we earn a commission based on the sales price.....and we'd absolutely LOVE to be proven wrong. But, and that is a big BUT, we can't afford to take a listing just to list a house. We are in this business to SELL houses and help our clients move on with their lives.

It's what we do, it's what we love! We are dedicated to our clients 100% and we think they know it! Their testimonials speak volumes!

http://www.BeckerGroupOnline.com

If the experts are correct and you HAVE to move, a short sale may be your only choice! (or at least the better alternative)

In real estate, a short sale occurs when a property is sold and a lender agrees to a discounted loan payoff due to financial hardship on the part of the seller. In these situations, lenders will release the lien that is secured to the property upon receipt of less money than is actually owed.

Why would lenders agree to such a thing? First and foremost, banks will use loss mitigators to determine whether it is worth more to foreclose a home or sell it as a short sale. Typically, banks will agree to a short sale if their calculations show that this will generate a smaller financial loss than a foreclosure would (since foreclosures have certain carrying costs that lenders would like to avoid). As such, in these situations, a short sale is executed to prevent a home from being foreclosed.

Benefits of Short Selling Your Property

1. It decreases the stress of being in foreclosure and being harrassed by mortgage lenders. You can STOP foreclossure in its tracks and get a fresh start. You can focus on your life instead of worrying about your BIG mortgage debt!

2. Keep in mind that a short sale does not cost you ANY money, so there are no financial burdens associated with this transaction for you to shoulder.

3. Your credit rating will not suffer any further if you short sale your home. Your credit score will decline somewhat if you have defaulted on mortgage payments and/or have a foreclosure filed already. However, avoiding a short sale and letting your home get foreclosed will cause incredible damage to your credit rating -- this is something that you should try to avoid at all costs!

4. A short sale can actually IMPROVE your credit score because on your credit report, it shows that you actually paid off your mortgage and cancelled a foreclosure. This reflects on you positiviely because it shows creditors that you took care of your financial obligations in a responsible manner.

Disadvantages of Short Selling Your Property

1. Banks may reject short sale offers due to a couple of reasons: the short sale offer may not be packaged properly, or the price you offer may not match the broker's price opinion (BPO). However, you can take steps to avoid both of these factors, with the help of a Realtor who is trained in negotiating short sales.

2. Banks will often require home sellers to be in foreclosure before agreeing to accept a short sale offer. This is because banks are looking out for their own, just like any other economic institution, and it only makes sense for them to accept a short sale offer if it is the best course of action. This means that a home seller will have to suffer some damage to their credit rating before their financial situation will be considered "dire" and hence, acceptable for a short sale by lenders.

Why is a Real Estate Agent Necessary for Executing a Successful Short Sale?

Keep in mind that short sale negotiations are very different from a regular real estate transaction. The primary reason why short sale offers get rejected by lenders is due to the mismatch between the price you offer and the broker's price opinion (BPO). The BPO is what the short sale bank considers as their form of appraisal. This is the #1 key factor that they focus on.

After your short sale paperwork is submitted, the first thing a bank will do is establish your home's worth in today's market. It does not matter how much you owe on the mortgage. The short sale is based only upon the BPO. This figure is quite difficult to calculate unless you are well-versed with real estate economics, and have a good grasp on all the technicalities. Therefore, in order to guarantee that your short sale package is acceted by the bank, you should seek the help of a real estate agent who is professionally trained in negotiating short sales, and will help you keep the BPO as low as possible.

What to Look for in a Real Estate Agent Who Will Negotiate the Short Sale on Your Behalf

Short sales are not conducted because banks want to favor home owners, but because banks are looking out for their own interests. In between the period when they are trying to collect money and foreclosure, loss mitigators will help the bank process short sale transactions.

Loss mitigators work the same way as real estate agents do -- they are commissioned salespeople working on behalf of the bank. This makes it vital for your real estate agent to appeal to them. Make sure your real estate agent submits an organized short sale package, tabbed for the loss mitigator's convenience. This lets you move to the top of the stack, and ahead of everyone else in the game.

Negotiating a Short Sale While short sales are not overly complicated, you should complete the following steps with the help of your real estate agent to ensure a successful transaction.

1. Get in touch with your mortgage lender directly. Make sure you speak face-to-face with someone who has the authority to approve a short sale request. You can always ask your real estate agent to complete this step for you. (saves you the headaches)

2. Give your lender written permission to disclose your loan information to your agent, title company, and other interested parties. Without authorization your mortgage lender is prevented by law from releasing this information, since the data is protected by privacy laws.

3. Also write a genuine "hardship" letter explaining your current financial situation, and ask your lender to accept a less than full balance payment. Although you stand a better chance of a short sale agreement if your circumstances are dire, please refrain from exaggerating your situation.

4. Ask your real estate agent to compile an evaluation statement for your lender. It should be apparent from the statement that you do not have the income or assets required to repay your mortgage loan in full.

5. Ask your agent to assemble preliminary financial information about your property. Ensure the expected sales price and all other costs associated with the short sale are included. Also, include your current loan balance, payments due, and/or other loans payable.

6. Also ask your real estate agent to conduct a Comparative Market Analysis of sales in your area. The analysis should include the selling prices from the last 3-6 months, as well as a list of homes that are currently for sale.

7. After you reach an agreement with a potential buyer, ask your agent to submit a copy of the proposed "Offer to Purchase" to your mortgage lender so that they can examine the price, terms and other conditions you have decided upon. Once negotiations have been completed and your lender accepts the agreement, you can carry on with the short sale transaction.

In closing, short sales can be a very effective way of selling your home quickly, especially due to the current market situation. In some markets, short sales represent a remarkably large number of successfully closed transactions! They are the perfect way to avoid foreclosure, and can ensure that your credit rating does not get damaged any further.

Contact us if you find yourself in need of FORECLOSURE PREVENTION. A short sale may your ticket out! We can solve your problems. We have a 100% track record!

Visit: www.BeckerGroupOnline.com for more information

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