The Role of a Short-Sale Specialist

In the midst of record foreclosures, homeowners that are desperate to avoid foreclosure are increasingly seeking short sales, where the lender avoids foreclosure of a property by selling it at a price that’s less than the mortgage on it. Short sales have tripled since 2008, with numbers reaching four million in 2010. The popularity of short sales has inspired several scam artists as well. Therefore it is very important to prudently choose a short sale specialist from a reputed real estate firm.

 

An agent that specializes in short sales plays a critical role in the entire process. The qualities and roles of a great short-sales specialist are intertwined. Here’s a short list of both: 

• Must have well developed relationships and contacts with many banks
• Be knowledgeable in bank-specific foreclosure processes
• Possess great negotiation skills to deal with multiple lien holders
•  Be familiar with Broker Price Opinions (BPO) and property valuations
• Know state laws regarding short-sales and foreclosure prevention thoroughly
• Prepare short-sales packages that get the attention of negotiators
• Know the technical process of preparing preliminary HUD-1 closing statements
• Ability to handle multiple offers effectively
• Communicate with title companies, attorneys and third parties to coordinate closing
• Deal effectively with environmental risks and code violations
• Determine if and when postponing a foreclosure proceedings is appropriate
• Prevent banks from cutting real estate commissions deeply
• Protect and offer competitive commissions so that other Realtors are incentivized
• Get banks to pay for FHA repairs to make the house more saleable
• Avoid or minimize the chances of sellers having to sign promissory notes for portions of the deficit.

  

As a realtor with Coldwell Banker Ackley Realty, Paul Antonelli has watched hundreds of people ask for help to avoid foreclosure and most of them have been given bad information about what they can do. To make sure homeowners are armed with accurate and trustable information, the Central Florida Real Estate Show will boast two additional Orlando-based experts including Colleen Mitchell, a Wells Fargo Mortgage Broker, and Charles Castellon, a real estate foreclosure attorney.

  

Antonelli said, “It is my goal to make sure homeowners know what road to take before they make any decisions, because the wrong decision could cost you. For example, if a home goes into foreclosure and the bank sells it for less than it owned, most people are completely unaware that the bank can still come after them to pay off the rest of the money even if it already foreclosed.”

 

 

You can contact a short-sale specialist at Coldwell Banker Ackley Realty by sending an email to CBARShortSale@gmail.com or visit our Short Sale Savvy Blog.

 

Decline in real estate sales greater than stated?

While most experts had predicted that the residential real estate market in 2011 would remain unchanged from 2010, many had also expected a faster absorption rate of unsold inventory of existing homes compared to the previous year. This expectation seemed real for a fleeting moment in early 2011, mostly due to the buzz created by expectations. However, recent data indicates that sales of existing homes may decline further this year.

According to statistics released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), 4.9 million existing homes were sold in 2010, which amounted to a 5 percent decrease from 2009. But data collected by CoreLogic estimates that sales of existing homes actually fell 12 percent to 3.6 million homes. The difference in these figures is largely due to the data sources and methodologies used by NAR and others.

NAR's numbers are based on data collected from multiple listing services and large brokerages. This means properties bought by banks at auctions for the value of their outstanding loans would likely be considered as sales on the NAR data. Such properties also show up on comps as “sold,” whereas in reality, these are bank-owned unsold properties. CoreLogic gets its numbers from public sales records from courts and counties. CoreLogic believes NAR’s methodology inflates actual sales by 15-20 percent. Inventory of unsold homes on the market in November 2010 represented a 16 month supply according to CoreLogic, as compared to NAR’s 9.5 months.
If CoreLogic’s numbers are true, there are plenty of unpleasant implications worth mentioning. A slower sales rate means it will take longer to sell unsold inventory. More homes for sale in a given market mean lower prices. There are many factors contributing to the decline in sales. Anemic sales caused by the expiration of the federal homebuyer tax credits, the impact of sales of distressed properties, and the excess supply of unsold homes are all choking the sales and prices of real estate.

A national repeat-sales home-price index compiled by CoreLogic was down 5.1 percent in November 2010 from a year ago. If that trend continues, home prices nationally will probably be down 10 percent year-over-year by spring of 2011.

US Foreclosures Reach Record Highs

Foreclosures reached record heights in 2010. Almost 26 percent of residential sales in the U.S. were foreclosures in 2010, with the average sales price of these properties 28 percent less than those that weren't in the foreclosure process. Although the entire nation faced the foreclosure wrath, metro areas in particular were the hardest hit, with California, Nevada, Florida, and Arizona home to 19 of the top 20 foreclosure cities in the country.


It was a buyer's market like never before in recent times. Although there were plenty of repossessions, there were also a record number of home buyers at foreclosure sales. Foreclosures were sold at rock-bottom prices and they provided a fantastic opportunity for first-time homebuyers and investors. Private and institutional investors from Europe and other parts of the world flocked to the U.S. in great numbers to cash in on the new "gold rush."

In early 2010 foreclosures seemed to slow down. This turned out to be a smoke screen caused by government policies that were designed to apply the brakes on foreclosures. These policies added more funds to foreclosure education programs and gave lenders incentives to provide loan modifications and refinancing for troubled home owners. Experts said these new policies just stalled foreclosures in the short term.

Foreclosures in the first quarter of 2010 were 35 percent higher than in 2009. By summer, more homes in the U.S. were seized by lenders than in any three-month stretch since the housing market began to go downhill in 2006. Fourth quarter foreclosure sales were pressured because the home-buyer tax credit expired and also because of the robo-signing controversy.

Experts are expecting foreclosures to climb even higher in 2011. Some say the statistics for foreclosures in 2011 are going to look very similar to those filed in 2010.