Tony Card, Your Big Bear REO Specialist

Are you one of the many home owners who own a cabin in the Big Bear Valley? Are you now in a place in your life where you need to sell your cabin in Big Bear as a Short Sale? If you find yourself in this position, please make sure that you hire an experienced Real Estate agent to help you with your short sale. If your agent doesn't have a lot of experience with the short sale process, you might end up in a situation like I am about to describe to you.

At the end of June, I wrote a full price offer on a property in Big Bear that was being sold as a short sale. Before writing the offer, I sat down with my client and explained how the short sale process works and how her patients would be tested during this process. She felt very strong about this purchase so I called the listing agent to make sure that he had all of the paperwork needed so that the Short Sale package could be presented. The offer was presented on June 28, 2009.

The only time I got any updates from the listing agent on this short sale was when I either called their office or sent an email asking for an update. I can't prove it but I'd bet that my phone calls or emails would jog their memory and it was only then that they would call and get an update. It has been my experience that if you don't act proactively, you get answers like I have been getting. I'm told that the file has been assigned to three different negotiators and in that time frame; they have had two Broker's Price Opinions (BPO) completed. A month ago, the word was that they don't know why this file has not been closed and a Supervisor was going to take control of it. The next update I got was it was being assigned to a negotiator and a BPO was to be ordered! Just this last week I'm told that a supervisor is going to take a look at it again. What's going on? Why isn't the listing agent telling these people to look at their files? What's wrong? I can tell you what's wrong. The listing agent is NOT experienced in Short Sales. If they were experienced, the bank would not have done three BPO's. When the bank started talking about the second BPO, the Red Flags should have been waving. The listing agent should have been all over the bank at that point. But here is the thing. If you aren't communication with the bank, you are not going to know about things like this.

It is now the middle of November and we are not any closer to closing this deal than we were when we presented the offer. My client is very frustrated over this situation, but she won't cancel the deal because she loves the house.

The work starts after you get the offer on the Short Sale listing, or should I state that this is when the work SHOULD start. That is when you start spending a tremendous amount of time on the phone talking to the bank representative. As the listing agent, you can't send the Short sale package in and then sit back and wait to hear from the bank. You have got to be very proactive in your dealings with the bank and call at the very minimum of once a week.

If you are in a situation where you must sell your home in the Big Bear valley, or anywhere else for that matter, make sure that you list the home with an experienced Short Sale listing agent. Don't select your agent by the size of the advertisement when you do interview the agent for the job of selling your home as a short sale, ask the following 10 questions

1. Have you ever closed a short sale before?
2. How many Short Sales have you closed?
3. Can you show me documentation to show the number of Short sales that you have closed?
4. How do you handle offers? Do you submit them all to the bank, not having your sellers sign? (Which, in effect, means that there is no valid offer and acceptance) and let the bank figure it out? OR do you use multiple offer protocol, notify all agents to submit their highest and best offers, review them with the seller, have the seller accept or counter the best offer and then submit to the bank(s) for acceptance?
5. What communication do you had with the bank?
6. Will the bank approved the list price?
7. My loan has PMI (mortgage insurance). Will that require another level of approval or pre-payment penalty?
8. I have a first and second trust deed. How will that affect the Short Sale?
9. I'm just had a Notice of Default filed. Can I still short sale the house?
10. What happens of an offer comes in 2 weeks before the auction date?

From the way that the agent answers these questions, you should be able to get a good idea whether or not he or she has had any experience is selling Short Sales. If, for any reason you need to sell your Big Bear property, feel free to contact me. My email is tony@tonycard.com and my phone number is 909 866 3481.

The Home Inspection has always been pivotal point when buying a home in Big Bear Lake, CA. The importance of this fairly inexpensive inspection has become even more important with the influx of the bank owned, REO properties. When you buy a home in the Big Bear valley from a home owner, you normally get a set of disclosures. But, when you buy a bank owned, REO home in Big Bear, you get very few, if any disclosure regarding the property. This makes it even more important for buyer to do his investigations and to get a home inspection.

So, what do you do when the buyer doesn't want to spend the money for the home inspection? Here in Big Bear, the home inspection is not a required inspection, so how do you encourage the buyer to spend the money and get the inspection? Perhaps the story that I'm about to tell you will help.

I am currently involved in an escrow with a buyer who didn't want to spend the money for the home inspection. After explaining the importance of getting this inspection, especially as he was buying a bank owned, REO property, he still said no. That was ok, but I told him that I would need him to sign something stating that I had advised him to get the home inspection and he refused. The thought of having to sign this paper was more than he was willing to do, so he agreed to come back up to Big Bear and do the inspection. He is now very happy that he took the day off and came to Big Bear!

While the buyer was working with the Home inspector, I took a look at the plot map. The way that the manufactured home sat on the lot compared to the other homes didn't look right to me so I started looking into it. It wasn't long before I discovered that half of the house sat on the next door neighbors land. Had I not noticed this problem and the escrow had closed, the problems that this would have created would have been unimaginable.

Needless to say, the buyer is disappointed that this deal won't go together. But he is very happy that we found the problem while he still had time to back out of the deal without losing his deposit. None of this would have happened had we not done a home inspection.

I have been out of the office for over a week, laid up with health issues but was able to go in and work for a few hours yesterday. I was just finishing up and getting ready to head home when I checked one last correspondence. What I learned at that point made me the happiest Realtor in Big Bear. I had just learned that one of the Short Sales that I've worked so hard on was approved! Now, normally this would make me happy as it means another escrow, but this one has some special significance. Here is why.

About four months ago, I received an email from a lady who I had never met stating that she had heard that I was the best person to help her sell her house as a short sale in Big Bear Lake, CA. I emailed her back and asked for a phone number so that I could interview her as too determine ifshe qualified for a Short Sale. We spoke at great length and after listening to her hardship and the answers to so many of my questions, I was convinced that she more than qualified for the short sale. She came in to my office to sign the paperwork. She was very open with me in telling me that all she needed from me was the house to be on the market for 90 days and at that point she would deed the property back to the bank in lieu of foreclosure. After she left, my heart went out to her and her situation and I was determined that I would get her house sold and help her avoid the foreclosure.

I priced the house based off of it's value and in just a short time, I had an offer that was about $10,000.00 below what I was asking for it. As I had the short sale package all together, I send the offer in tho the lender. In most short sales that I've done, you send the short sale package in and then you wait. You have no one person to speak with until it has been assigned to the negotiator, so you call the coustomer service number and someone reads you the notes from the file. That didn't happen in this case!

In less than five days after sending in the complete Short Sale package, I received a phone call from someone at the bank telling me that she would be my contact. I was given her direct phone line and email and every time that I called, she was there and able to help me. To make a long story short, we were unable to put the first deal together as the value placed on this Big Bear home was greater than the offer and the buyer would not come up. The bank was willing to foreclose on this property before it would sell the place for $5000.00 under value! This is a great example that you are not going to steal the house from the bank by trying to buy a short sale. The banks are not going to sell the homes below their value.

The good thing about this house is I had back up offers, so when the first one failed, I simply started over with the next in line. When that buyer bailed out, I turned to offer number 3. Offer number 3 was submitted and within ten working days, I had an acceptance. It took me 138 days to sell this Big Bear home, but that's OK because I got it sold.

Yesterday I had the honor of calling my client and telling her that we had the bank approval and that she was not going to have to deed the house back to the bank or face foreclosure. Needless to say, she was thrilled to find out that we sold the house for her.

The help is out there for the distressed home owner in Big Bear Lake, CA as long as you don't wait until the last minute to ask for it. Once you know that you're in trouble, give me a call and let's see if I can help you with the same success as I was able to give to this client.

Previously Posted on www.tonycard.com

This past weekend, I had clients come to see me who wanted to buy a cabin in the Fawnskin area. For you who are not familiar with the Big Bear Valley, Fawnskin is a quite little community that sits on the north side of the lake. After listening to what this couple wanted, I knew exactly what to show them. There were a number of cabins that fit what they were looking for, but there was one in particular that I thought they would especially like. I was right! As soon as they walked in to this cabin, it was obvious that this was the cabin for them. After some back and forth with the seller's agent, we put the deal together and we are now in escrow.

These clients are more than qualified to purchase this cabin. Their lender has given me an approval letter, they are putting plenty of cash to put down and their FICO scores are through the roof. Based off of comparable sales in Fawnskin, there should be no problem with the appraisal. So, why am I so worried about this escrow closing? The answer is "The Appraisal"

In the 5 + years that I've been selling Real Estate in Big Bear Lake, the loan process was basically the same. Once the escrow was opened, I would always ask the mortgage broker to use a local appraiser for the appraisal. The reason for this was quite simple. The Big Bear Valley is made up of a number of smaller diverse communities. Because the value of cabins in these smaller communities vary considerably depending on a number of factors, it would be necessary that the appraiser have a good working knowledge of the Big Bear Valley. In other words, he needed to be Geographically Competent.

As of May 1, 2009 the way appraisers are selected has changed. In most cases, the mortgage broker can no longer select the appraiser. They must submit the request for the appraiser to an Appraiser Management Company (AMC) and it is the AMC who assigns the appraiser based off of the Home Valuation Code Of Conduct (HVCC). The problem that we are seeing in Big Bear is that we are getting appraisers from places like Moreno Valley or Temecula. Now I'm sure that these people do a great job in their local areas. But bringing an appraiser to Big Bear who is not Geographically Competent is only going to spell disaster. Time and time again, we are seeing appraisals come in low. In each case, there are a number of recent comparable sales to support the sales price, yet the appraisal is low. How can that be? Quite simply, these appraisers coming to Big Bear are not Geographically Competent. They don't know enough about the Big Bear Valley to be able to do their job competently. The Mortgage broker can ask the AMC to send an Appraiser who is Geographically Competent but there is no guarantee that this is going to happen.

All good things must come to an end and the days of not having to worrying about the appraisal is a thing of the past. Is it too much to ask for something as simple as an appraiser who is Geographically Competent?

This past week I received multiple offers on one of my bank owned, REO properties in Big Bear. The first offer to arrive was a full price offer with the buyer getting a loan. The buyer was putting 20% down, was pre approved by a local lender in Big Bear, and showed proof of funds for the amount of money he was going to put down. Generally speaking, that's a pretty strong offer. The next offer to arrive was a cash offer for far less than the asking price. If you were the asset manager of this REO property, what offer would you take?

To make a long story short, the asset manager was much more interested in the cash offer than she was the offer with a loan. After going back and forth with a couple of counter offers, the cash offer was accepted. The asset manager could have received more money had she gone with the offer with a loan, but she chose to take cash. Why do you think she did that?

Most buyers and sellers are not aware of the changes put into place for appraisers. As of May 1, 2009 most appraisers must comply with the rules and regulations put forth by the Home Valuation Code of Conduct or HVCC. In the past, the mortgage broker would simply call his or her favorite appraiser to do the appraisal for the new loan. With the new rules put into place by the HVCC, the mortgage broker must now submit the appraisal order to an Appraisal Management Company (AMC). It is the AMC that then orders the appraisal from a pool of appraisers. Now this idea may work well in Victorville or San Bernardino where you have blocks and blocks of tract homes. But when you try to this in Big Bear, it doesn't work. To start with, you want an appraiser who has Geographic Competence for the area that he is working. Bring up an appraiser from Moreno Valley who does not have Geographic Competence for Big Bear is a disaster waiting to happen.

The COMPETENCY RULE requires an appraiser to have both the knowledge and the experience required to perform a specific appraisal service competently. Geographic Competence means knowing the difference between a cabin in Sugarloaf and a cabin in Big Bear Lake. Geographic Competence means you know the difference in value between a cabin in Erwin Lake and Big Bear City. After all, they have the same zip code! Every day I hear stories from Realtors in Big Bear telling me how the appraisal came in low on properties. These are homes that the realtor has multiple comps to support the value of the listing. These appraisals are coming in low because the appraiser doesn't have Geographic Competence.

With the new rules put into place by the HVCC, it is no wonder that sellers are more inclined to take a cash offer for less than the listing price over a full price offer with a loan.

In closing I want to state this as simply as I can. CASH IS KING in Big Bear!