It’s come full circle, I’m loving short sales from a seller representative standpoint due to the fact that it helps get them out of a situation that could devastating to them financially.  For a long time I’ve not enjoyed showing short sales to my buyers, simply due to the hassle.  Having closed several this year, I’ve got a new look on short sales.

So Why Should A Seller Short Sale?

First of all, you need to know what a short sale is.  GO here to read about what a short sale is .

So assuming you are a seller or home owner and have some sort of hardship and do not want to stay in your home, you can short sale.  But what is the difference between just giving the home back to the bank (Foreclosure) and a short sale.

• Foreclosures Stay with you for 7 years
• A foreclosure on your credit report will cause you to pay significantly higher rates for your next home, but also cars, credit cards, even insurance.
• A foreclosure on your credit report will require you to put more money down on your next home, but also cars and some apartments.
• Once the notice is given, the home owner will only be so for 30 days (in Georgia) and could face eviction as soon as 30 days.

A short sale on the other hand,

• A short sale stays on your credit for only 2 years
• Does not devastate your credit score as much.
• Can allow the home owner to stay in the home for up to 6 months in some cases without a payment.

So if you or someone you know is in financial distress, please call me at 770-374-4667.  If I cannot help you directly I can direct you to someone who can.

NOTE: Please consult with an attorney or accountant regarding your own financial matters.

Short sales are listed on the MLS, and you can search for all the homes in Georgia by going here.

In a sort of odd Christmas Present to some home owners, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has post-poned foreclosing on about 16,000 homes until Jan 09.

"This is another news item that the government is hoping will stem the tide of foreclosures," said Walter Schmidt, head of mortgage strategy at FTN Financial Capital Markets in Chicago. "But I don’t know it helps, it could put off the inevitable" because falling home prices give homeowners incentives to walk away, he said.
The move by the two government-sponsored enterprises comes a week after their regulator unveiled a plan that could cut payments for hundreds of thousands of borrowers by easing terms on their loans. Homeowners facing foreclosure who are spending more than 38 percent of their income on mortgage payments could have payments reduced by the companies, under the program.
The "streamlined modification" program of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is slated to begin on December 15. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac estimated their foreclosure suspensions may affect about 16,000 borrowers if the homes are occupied.
"We felt it was in the best interest of both borrowers and Fannie Mae to take this extra step to ensure that homeowners with the desire and ability to prevent a foreclosure have an opportunity to stay in their homes," Herb Allison, Fannie Mae’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.
The foreclosure moratorium also appears to lend credence to speculation the government is pushing the companies to operate more in a public policy role, perhaps at the expense of profit. That has some investors concerned since the government has not defined the roles of the shareholder-owned companies after the conservatorships are lifted.

To Search All the Georgia Foreclosures Click Here

As many of you know the real estate market is flooded with foreclosures.  However, there seems to be some misconceptions about what a foreclosures is.  Some mistakenly think that all foreclosures are HUD homes.

HUD homes are not the only foreclosed homes out there. Foreclosed homes are often mis-categorized. There’s Pre-Foreclosure, Auction and Post-Foreclosure homes that all get thrown into the mess. 99.9% of all post foreclosure homes are actually listed on most MLS’s.

Post foreclosure homes are bank owned, corporate owned, HUD homes, and some estate property. These are properties that did not sell at the auction or were bought back by the bank.  In the case of HUD homes, these are properties where the seller had an FHA loan on the property and the insurance (our tax dollars) kicked in.

The county usually holds an  auction for CASH for ACTUAL foreclosures, these are listed in the local paper for the area.

Pre-Foreclosures are also called Short Sales in some cases. Most of these will be listed as well.  Short sales can be a great deal and opportunity but do require patience and a easy living arrangement in case the deal falls through. Not all pre-foreclosures are short sales, but most will be.

In this month’s Georgia Association of Realtors magazine there was a nice reprint of RetlyTrac’s statistical information.  I thought it was well worth sharing!

8 is the Rank of Georgia out of 50 states for foreclosures.10 is the average number of years that it will take for a home’s value to double in Georgia. 

34 is the average age of a first time home buyer. 

60 is the PERCENTAGE of the average home owner’s wealth that comes from their Georgia Home’s equity. 

112 is the percent increase in foreclosures from 2nd quarter 2007 to 2nd quarter 2008

5 is the rank of 2007 in terms of existing home sales

171,000 is the average net worth in dollars of a home owner.  

36 The number of times a home owner’s net worth is more than a renter’s (almost).  (The average renter’s networth is only $4,800)

I was particularly intrigued to see the networth number. We all have probably sat down and worked those numbers out and I’m as jaded as the next person when it comes to the seemingly astronomical figure that comes out of it (my car does not add to my net worth in my opinion). The fact remains that a home is like a forced savings account and holding real estate long term is a proven piece to your financial success.

There’s some great opportunities out there, as mentioned … almost sounds like we’re chanting, "buy, buy, buy!" In reality, there really aren’t that many good deals out there. Oh, don’t get me wrong there are great deals like this one that’s a resale in Lawrenceville , or some of the foreclosures. Saw one the other day for $105K that I could sell today for $175K after repairs - 2400 SQFT with a basement.

Short sales are great deal opportunities if you are patient as I write about in this article.

Foreclosures are still the way to go for most lower end buyers as the response time from the banks and agents are usually more pallatable.