Tanya Redic

I have a buyer that has been preapproved through a local lender and recently found a Bank of America REO. The MLS listing states that the buyer must submit a prequal letter from Bank of America with the offer. I find this to be too time consuming and frustrating for my client, who already has his financing in place.

Firstly, I don't know any Bank of America loan officers in the Tyler area to refer him to to get pre-qualified. I did go online and referred him to a link to get prequalified but only to get a referral to someone in Dallas who kept him on the phone for an hour or so and who tried to charge him $60 (for what I don't know).

Secondly, we have a preapproval from a repituable local lender and ready to negotiate.

My question: Why waste our time getting prequalified from Bank of America when my client has no desire to use them? Is this legal?

What a waste of time when with REOs, Time is of the Essence.

This coming Saturday, May, 16, 2009 at noon, Mayor Barbara Bass and the City of Tyler will host the ribbon cutting ceremony to mark the official opening of the extension of the South Tyler Hike and Bike Trail. This is an extension of Rose Rudman Trail and is directly behind Premier Fitness at Rieck Road and Donnybrook. Tyler, Texas.

The ceremony will be followed by a walk along a portion of the new trail as well as an activity for children 12 and under.

The Tyler area is continues to experience growth.

The tenants that are living in the foreclosure listing that I recently acquired, called me on Thursday to fill my head with LIES.

She started by telling me that she didn't see the Notices that were posted on her door. I left two on 4/8/09: Cash for Keys & 30 days to vacate. I left my contact info on the notices, as well as a business card. Did I received a phone call, email, text??? NO!

I visited again and talked to a gentleman who said that he lived there with another lady so I gave him my business card and asked for a phone number and suprisingly engough he gave me a working number.

I called the number and left a message that we were getting ready to go through the eviction process and have the constable to come out and place their personal belongings to the curb since they didn't want the cash for their keys.

Miss Lady called to say that they didn't know that the property had been foreclosed. They never received any notices to continue to make the mortgage payment after their father died and they thought that the life insurance policy would pay. OK!

They even decided to call the lender to offer to pay the mortgage. Too bad their call was a couple of months too late because the lender would have worked with them. They even offered to pay $600 a month for rent. Now what makes them able to pay a $600 rent payment when they didn't pay their $200 mortgage payment? Can they be trusted?

The sad part about the whole situation is that they could have saved the house from foreclosure by contacting the lender. Now they will have to find another place to call home and pay more than they obviously can pay for rent.

If your are facing foreclosure, contact your lender. They want to work with you because it is less costly for them to do a loan modification than to foreclose and evict. If there is no way that you can pay your mortgage, call me and attempt a short sale. If all else fails, accept the cash for keys and use those funds to make a new start. Good Luck!

During last month's Trustee sale at the courthouse, I gained a new listing but for me nothing comes easy. The property is an estate and the family members that are living in the home decided not to pay the mortgage. Now I am tasked with getting them out, ASAP!

Naturally, I offered Cash for Keys. Cash for Keys allows the homeowners or tenants (in this case) to move out (leaving property "broom swept") and received up to $1500 after turning over the keys. This saves face for the homeowners and allows them to have money for a deposit on a new place or to pay for moving expenses.

The tenants haven't acknowledged my attempts to contact them and apparently don't need the money to move on so the next step is the eviction process.

During the eviction process, the constable will accompany me and a locksmith, as well as "movers" that will put their belongings to the "curb".

I am having trouble processing the fact that some people will say "No Thank You" to $1500 but will allow their personal belongings to be "Kicked to the Curb".

As a Real Estate Broker specializing in Foreclosures, the #1 Questions asked is: "Are there any good deals out there?" My answer is always, if it's that good of a deal, it has major problems: foundation, mold, missing copper, easement issues, etc.

The foreclosure market in Tyler has increased and they are causing the overall home values in some neighborhoods to decline. Foreclosures that are in desirable areas and that don't require too much work, don't stay on the market long and typically sell for close to market value. With this in mind, let's compare Tyler's appreciation to other cities in Texas.

WASHINGTON (FHFA, Real Estate Center) - Latest home appreciation rates released this week by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) indicate Texas home prices increased 2.1 percent last year.

Midland led the way with a 10.4 percent increase between fourth quarter 2007 and fourth quarter 2008. At the other end of the spectrum were Odessa and Brownsville, where prices fell 2.7 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.

In the final quarter of 2008, Texas home prices increased 0.2 percent.

"The data indicate what we have believed all along," said Real Estate Center Research Economist Dr. Jim Gaines. "Texas fared well in 2008, especially compared with the rest of the country."

According to FHFA, here's how home prices in select Texas cities did last year:

Nationally, prices dropped 4.5 percent last year for the overall index (which includes financings and refinancing) and 8.2 percent based on purchases-only data.