Erin Attardi, Realtor - Sacramento, CA 916-342-1372

Last week the Sacramento Association of Realtors "Young Professionals Council" did yet another fundraiser. We attended a Sacramento Rivercats game, and had a really fun tailgate party that was sponsored by Wells Fargo Home Mortgage! Between ticket sales, the sponsorship, and donations, we raised $1,004.50 for Sacramento's Moral Values Program (aka, MVP). Up next, we are planning our 2nd Annual Bowling Tournament to benefit the California Association of Realtors "Housing Affordability Fund"...coming in September!

I must admit that Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays...the weather is usually great, fireworks are spectacular, and neighborhoods seem to come together with some neat community events. Here are a few July 4th you might enjoy this year in 2009;

-5th Annual Elk Grove Run for Independence; 10k run/walk in Elk Grove at Elk Grove Regional Park starting at 8am on July 4th. All funds raised benefit the Elk Grove Food Bank.

-25th Annual Rancho Cordova 4th of July Celebration; all kinds of family fun activities including a parade, pony rides, carnival midway, live music, fireworks and more! Starts at 11am at Hagan Park in Rancho Cordova on Friday, July 3rd - July 4th.

-City of Citrus Heights July 4th Extravaganzaa; live music, carnival rides, and 3-D fireworks display! Starts at 7:30pm on July 4th at the Sunrise Marketplace in Citrus Heights. Funds raised benefit the Mesa Verde Sober Graduation fund.

-50th Annual City of Galt Festival; live music, petting zoo, slot car racing, fireworks display, and more! Starts at 5pm on July 3rd - July 5th at Caroline Park in Galt. Funds raised benefit multiple Galt civic organizations.

-Sacramento Matsuyama Fun Run/Walk; family fun race starting at 7am July 4th at Matsuyama Elementary School on South Land Park Drive in the Pocket area of Sacramento. Funds raised benefit Matsuyama School Student Activities.

-Carmichael Gala Parade & Fireworks Show; parade begins at 10:30am on July 4th at the Grand Stand across from Carmichael Park in Carmichael, and fireworks are at 9:15pm. Other festivities like live music, concessions, kids crafts, etc. are held at La Sierra Community Center at 4pm.

-33rd Annual 4th of July 5-Miler in River Park; Fun run at Glen Hall Park in the River Park neighborhood of Sacramento starting at 7am on July 4th. Claimed to be "Sacramento's Oldest Running Event!"

-Arden Park Recreation & Park District July 4th Parade; family parade of bikes is held every year starting at 10am at La Sierra Park in Arden Park on July 4th.

-Annual East Sacramento Parade; family parade on the streets of 41st and 42nd @ M St in red, white, and blue...a Fabulous 40's tradition starting at 10am on July 4th.

-8th Annual Arden Arcade Freedom Parade; parade starts at 2700 Fulton Avenue, just south of Marconi at 10am on July 4th. Following the Parade is a family celebration with food, fun and games at Howe Park.

-Pyrospectacular at Cal Expo; lots of activities start at 5pm like harness racing, live music, and dancing. The famous fireworks display begins at 9:30pm...at Cal Expo on July 4th.

Every other week or so, I will receive a call from the representative of a loan servicer, or 3rd party contractor informing me they have been ordered to "secure" one of my short sale listings. Huh??

There are many loan servicers (like CitiMortgage, GMAC, Homecomings, Bank of America/Countrywide) that send representatives around to properties in default or with past due balances that make sure their "assets" (aka, properties their loans are on) are in decent condition and that they are properly secured. Often times if it is discovered that a property is vacant, or not properly secured, the loan servicer take it upon itself to make sure the physical integrity of the "asset" is not compromised.

Erin, what the heck does that mean? That means that occasionally I will receive a call that there has been an order to change the locks on one of my listings...however often it does not stop there. I have received calls that there are orders to drain full and functioning swimming pools, board-up functional windows, board up functional doors, padlock electrical panels, shut-off water, remove functional structures in the backyard (like a really nice Tuff Shed in one case), etc. In the instances I get an advanced warning of something like this, I have been able to convince the loan servicing folks that the action was not necessary.

The really lame part is the occasionally I will not be given an advanced warning, or the heads-up call goes to the seller directly and they ignore the call thinking it is a collection call...and the work is then performed without my knowledge or the knowledge of the seller. I have received some really angry calls from other agents trying to show my short sale listings only to find the keys in the lockbox do not fit the locks on the doors. In one instance, I had short sale approval from the lender, and the buyer went to the property to do a home inspection and caught the lender rep in the middle of draining the swimming pool. UGH.

The first time this happened about a 18 months ago, I was definitely taken by surprise. I have come to realize that it only makes sense that the bank wants to make sure that its "asset" does not fall into disrepair or is not vandalized. If you have ever looked at bank owned property for sale you will know this happens more often than anyone would like. Now it is something I prep my short sale sellers for in the event they are contacted by the loan servicer regarding this.

If ya'll follow me on Twitter, you will already know that this afternoon I went to a home inspection. Turns out the venting for this water heater is not connected to it in any way. Gotta love bank owned homes!

I can not emphasize enough the importance of getting a qualified professional set of eyes (a home inspector) to check out the home you are looking to purchase. Most buyers will not think to open up whatever closet the water heater is hiding in to look at it...and most would not know what they are looking at anyway. My client looked at it and had no idea anything was not as it should be! This is just one of many things that home inspectors check out...the inspection fee is money well spent!

Some one who shall remain nameless told me this morning that I should rename my blog...

As much as I love doing short sales, and negotiating them takes up a good chunk of my day, I try to keep the post topics of my blog pretty well-rounded. After all, this is the "Sacramento Real Estate Blog" - not necessarily the "Sacramento Short Sale Blog."

However because short sales are such a large part of what I do (as of right this second, I have 16 active short sale listings in the greater Sacramento area, and that number does not include my buyer transactions, pending sales, or my many already closed transactions), it is inevitably a topic that I have a lot to say about.

I have put in place very systematic processes for negotiating these. I do not farm the negotiation of short sales out to a 3rd party. I negotiate them myself. That's right - sometimes I awake before 5am to place calls to loss mitigation operations on the East Coast. Sometimes I spend in excess of an hour on hold with loss mitigation. Luckily I am an excellent multi-tasker! I am actually on hold with Bank of America right now!...yes I am blogging, replying to emails, answering calls on my other line, filing paperwork, catching up on my social networking, etc.

I just want to emphasize to the anyone reading this who may be researching short sales in Sacramento - this is an ever-changing short sale market we are in. Short sale lenders make and break their own rules on a daily basis. There are many complexities to these transactions, and no two short sales necessarily alike, although there are certain consistent elements in each one.

Luckily I have been doing so many short sales that I am able to anticipate many of these changes before they create actual problems.

Anyway...yes I do have more short sale listings rolling on to the market over the next couple weeks. AND I have no plans to rename my blog...thank you very much!

Next week I will be posting Part II of Erin's Short Sale Experiment, where I measure the number of short sales vs. "regular" and bank-owned listings...very excited to see where that data is heading...