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Laguna Beach Short Sale – Realtor Case Study #37

by vbindi on August 25, 2009

Laguna Beach Short Sale Success Story #37 -  Another short sale has been sold and closed by the  ShortSalesASAP Group here in Laguna Beach, CA.  The Short Sales ASAP group is #1 in Short Sale closings in Orange County.  We have been sharing many of our success stories for the benefit of the public who may be caught in today’s mortgage loan crisis.  Short Sales are not easy to close, so it is imperative that one seeks a Realtor expert to conduct such a transaction.  Some of the details of this short sale story will not be divulged in order to protect the privacy of the past property owner.

Property and Finance Details: This Laguna Beach property was a 3 bedroom, 3 bath, 1,550 square foot detached home with a panoramic ocean view.   This home was purchased in January of 2006′ for $1.15Million, using 90% financing which resulted in a first mortgage loan of $1,035,000.  The homeowner had to move back east, and tried to sell the home using traditional methods, but was not able to do so.

Laguna Beach Real Estate Market Conditions: The real estate market here in southern California has been gone through a major price correction.  Laguna Beach has suffered a large decline in real estate prices, but not as bad as  other Cities in Orange County.   This severe real estate recession is due to the overheated southern California market that started in 1999, the nationwide mortgage crisis, and job losses here in Orange County.  Although, we now see signs that price decreases have slowed down considerably, and we may be approaching the bottom of the market cycle pricing.

Only 37 % of Short Sales actually sold and closed escrow in Laguna Beach in the past 12 months.  Whereas, the ShortSalesASAP Group closes over 94% of our short sale listings.

SHORT SALE – PHASE:  The homeowner contacted us via a referral, and we answered all of their questions and concerns regarding short sales.  The property owners signed the  listing agreement and short sale addendum, and our preparation team gathered all of the required documents from the homeowner.  These documents were carefully packaged in the format required, and delivered to the 1st mortgage bank to present the short sale proposal.   3 weeks later, and after some cunning negotiations, our expert team was able to obtain preliminary approval for the Short Sale.

MARKETING AND SALES – PHASE:   Once we obtained the preliminary short sale approval, we put this Laguna Beach property on the market for sale.  It was originally listed in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) for $950,000.   After about 3 weeks on the market with very little interest, we dropped the price again to $925,000.  We obtained an offer from a qualified buyer for $850,000.  After some negotiations with our short sale Realtor expert, we finally arrived at a price of $872,000.

CLOSING – PHASE:  Once all of the purchase contract documents are signed by the buyer and seller, our team packages theses documents along with the buyer loan qualification letter. This package was then sent to the 1st mortgage Bank.  Our short sale negotiator then went to work to finalize the final terms and conditions of this short sale.  After some additional negotiations, we convinced the  Banks to agree to the final short sale.    The property escrow then closed 35 days later.

IN SUMMARY: The entire mortgage debt of $1,035,000 was eliminated so that the homeowner did not owe this money anymore.  We were also able to negotiate $2,500 from the Bank to pay to the homeowner, which is referred to as “Cash for Cooperation”, which many banks are now offering as an incentive to homeowners to cooperate with a short sale, versus letting the property go to Foreclosure.

ShortSaleASAP is licensed with the California Department of Real Estate, and we are members of good standing with the Orange County board of Realtors. We train Agents Nationwide how to conduct short sales, and have been interviewed by CNNMoney, ABC World News Tonight, OCRegister and others.  Our services are free to the homeowner, for we are negotiate our fee with  the mortgage bank(s). If you have any questions regarding Short Sales, contact our team of experts at: (949) 388-3396 or drop us an email at: Info@ShortSalesASAP.com

Irvine Short Sale Statistics

by vbindi on July 14, 2009

Our Company, the ShortSalesASAP group, has complied Short Sale statistics for the city of Irvine.  Currently there are 321 Condos currently Active for Sale in Irvine, and 105 of these listing are Short Sales, representing about 1/3 of the available inventory.  These Short Sale listings range in price from $130,000 for a 1 bedroom, 1 bath on up to $1,499,000 for a 3 bedroom, 4 bath, 2,677 square foot high rise condo.  The median price for these short sale condos is $415,000.

For condos under contract, there are 225 total condominiums that are Pending or Backup in escrow.  Of these,  116 are Shorts Sales in Escrow, which represent nearly 1/2 of the Pending inventory.   These Short sale condos range in price from $130,000 for 1 bedroom, 1 bath,  up to $1,575,000 for 3 bedroom, 4 bath, 2,685 high rise condo in Irvine.

In the past 90 days, there have been 270 Condos total that have sold and closed escrow in Irvine, CA.   Of this total, 45 were Short Sale condominium closings which represents approximately 17 percent of the closings in the past 3 months.   These closed units range in price fro $232,000 for a 1 bedroom, 1 bath unit on Alicante Aisle, up to $700,000 for a 2 bedroom, 2 bath, 1,674 square foot condo on Scholarship drive.  The median priced short sale condo sold in Irvine in the past 90 days was $375,000

Today, there are a total of 277 detached homes currently Active for sale in Irvine.  Of this total, 38 are Short Sale listings which represents jsut 14% of the total inventory of homes for sale in Irvine.  These detached SFR short sale homes for sale range in price from $399,900 for a 2 bedroom, 2 bath home in the Vista Filare tract, up to $4,080,000 for a 5 bedroom, 6 bath, 8,700 square foot estate in the Turtle Rock community.

For SFR homes under contract, there are a total of  171 currently in Escrow..  Of this total, 63 are Short Sale listings pending in Escrow which represent 37% of the total Pending inventory.  These short sale homes in Escrow range in price from $290,000 for a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo in the Bowen Court tract, on up to $1,800,000 for a 5 bedroom, 5 bath, 4,75 estate in the Vicara community.

In the past 3 months, there are a grand total of 275 detached homes that have sold and closed in Irvine.  Of this amount, 44 are Short Sale homes that have sold which represent 16% of the total closing inventory for Irvine in the past 90 days.  These detached homes range in price from $365,000 for a 2 bedroom, 2 bath, 1,133 square foot home in Orangetree community, up to $1,780,000 for a 5 bedroom, 6 bath, 4,33 square foot estate in the Amberhill subdivision of Irvine.  The median price of these short sale homes that have sold in the past 90 days is $675,000.

Our Company, the ShortSalesASAp group, specializes in Short Sale negotiations, marketing and sales in Irvine and surrounding communtites.   We have over a 94% closing rate success.  We maintain an ongoing retainer with a California Attorney who specializes in Short Sale contractual issues.  Our services are free to our clients for we negotiate our fee with the mortgage banks, and we also pay for our own Lawyer fee’s, so there are no out of pocket costs to our clients.  For more inforamtion about short sales in Irvine, please feel free to contact us at:  (949) 388-3396, or visit our website:  Irvine Short Sale Services,  or email us at:  Info@ShortSalesASAP.com

Huntington Beach Short Sales – Expert Success Story

by vbindi on April 27, 2009

Huntington Beach, CA: The team of experts at the ShortSalesASAP Group, has closed over 93% of their short sales in the past 12 months.   Although, statistics gathered from the Orange County Multiple Listing Service (MLS), show that only 39% of all Short Sale properties listed for sale in Huntington Beach in the past 6 months, actually sold and closed Escrow.  Also, the California Association of Realtors recently reported that only about 19% of all Short Sales actually sell and close escrow statewide in California.  Why is the failure rate so high you may ask ? … the reasons are many.

A Short Sale is the most complex of residential real estate transactions. These transactions present a wide variety of obstacles that can easily trip up an inexperienced Realtor who may be a Short Sale novice.   Some of the most common problems that may cause many Huntington Beach Real Estate Agents to fail at a Short Sale are;  1.) lack of planning to avoid common problems,  2.) inexperience that prevents foresee predictable issues,  3.)  weak loss mitigation negotiation skills, and 4.) having too small of a team causing a Realtor to be spread to thin.

Here are some of the more common booby traps that can cause an inexperienced Listing Agent to  fail in a Short Sale;

1.- Listing Agent sets the listing price to low to obtain a quick sale.  Two  months later, the upper management at the  mortgage Banks review the purchase offer price compared to the appraisal.  They then reject the “low ball”  offer since it is not within price tolerances, and then the buyer gives up hope, and the Short Sale often falls apart.

2. – Listing Agent setting price too high.   This results in no showings, no offers, and then the Banks get impatient and may cancel the Short Sale process.

3. – Listing Agent not staying in regular communication with the buyers agent and buyer.  Due to the sometimes long escrow process, the Buyer looses hope and cancels escrow.

4. – Hiring the services of a 3rd party short sale negotiation company.   Many of these 3rd party Short Sale negotiation companies operate nationwide.  Often they receive part of their compensation upfront before the short sale is completed, and are comfortable with a 25% failure rate.  But not us…

5. – Listing Agent not knowing how to effectively package the Seller Short Sale documents in order to to maximize the probability of success.

6. – Listing Agent running one person band.  There are simply too many moving parts and surprises for a single individual to handle effectively.

7. – Listing Agent not managing the independent Bank BPO/Appraisal process.   If the value comes too high, this can sometimes kill the deal, or at the very least cause substantial delays.

8. – Many times, the 1st and 2nd Mortgage Bank don’t agree of the amount of the discounted pay-off amounts.  The Listing agent doesn’t know what to do next, and the deal dies.

9. – The 2nd Mortgage is a HELOC loan, and they agree to the short sale, but they  refuse to  release the homeowner from unpaid debt.   Seller says No and the short sale dies.  We most always get the HELOC debt removed or at the very least, get it highly reduced.

The ShortSalesASAP Group makes sure that none of the traps outlined above happen to their clients. These experts specialize in  Short Sale negotiations, marketing, and sales in Huntington Beach and elsewhere in Orange County  Calif.  We are the highest volume producers of Short Sale closings in Orange County, and we have a verifiable track record of success and close over 93% of our short sales. Our services are free to our clients, for we are paid by the mortgage banks.