Camilo Romero

I've always wonder what you really have as your best interest when showing shortsales? Is is to sell that house to the new owners? Or to help the stressed current owners? As Realtors we are really playing a big role in today's economic cycle. We are playing a big role as mediators between the over extending credit banks and the naive and maybe greedy owners. But it is a big role we are playing as a whole in today's economy. So I ask you Realtors to really take pride and be conscious about both the financial and psychological effect any one of us might have on families across the country. Be careful and be sensitive. Whether you are showing a listing or selling a property to a potential buyer.

I just got an approval on a property that I've been negotiating with the bank for almost a year. The shortsale was previously approved in December but because of the holidays and the rains in California, we were not able to close on time. So the bank denied the extension of 10 days and the property fell out of escrow. We submitted the shortsale for approval back to the bank and almost 2 months later it got approved. After having to do another appraisal on the property because it was a new file, my question is the following: Why would a bank not give a first extension of 10 days instead of having to do a new appraisal and having the property on the market with out any payments for over two months? The answer is simple...we are dealing with a bank, an organization, and not a logical person who would otherwise approve the extra 10 days and get the property off their books.

Supply and demand have always dictaded price on an open market. It is no different with the current housing market. We have a huge inventory with more to come this year. So why are houses not being bought by current buyers if home affordability rose to its highest level in at least 20 years in the fourth quarter of 2010? One of the reason there are so many houses on the market it's because people can't get approved to buy them right now. With current prices, if people had the income and credit to get them, they would be scooped up at a rapid pace. As inflation starts to take over, we will se interest rates begin to climb as a tool that the fed uses to keep inflation down. This is going to make it harder for buyers to qualify for a loan on home they want and the supply will increase to even bigger levels. It will be interesting to see how the economics of this cycle reveal themselfs.

I currently have a 2 unit listing for sale in the city of San Bernardino. Each unit has 2 bed 1 bath which sit on 21,504 square feet of land. The bank has not accepted the shortsale but we are very optimistic. If you are an investor and need help finding the right property please let me know and I'll be happy to help.