7 Strategies for Handling Foreclosures

This month’s Agent Success Newsletter features Alisha Wade, Associate Broker at RE/MAX Achievers in Arizona. In our exclusive interview with Alisha, hosted by Peter McCullough, she discusses how foreclosures are affecting her business and gives advice to other agents who may be facing challenges in a market full of foreclosures.

Listen to Alisha’s feature story:

Here are some highlights:

“Arizona is in top 5 cities for foreclosures in the country – 20% or higher of all inventory are foreclosures. It may be awhile before the market turns around, which makes it really important for an agent to know how to do foreclosures and short sales, and not be afraid to learn how to do them.”

“Short sales are priced $10-15k below cost (and more for foreclosures ) but the danger is when the house won’t appraise, even for a home that was in great condition. It’s great for the home buyer if that happens, but not the seller.”

7 Tips from Alisha Wade:

1. Learn bank processes. Foreclosures are actually very easy to do as long as you know the banks processes. Sometimes the addendum can be 14 pages long – and you really have to read them thoroughly!
2. If you are writing a contract…

Posted by Jessica Gopalakrishnan on Jun 24, 2008 under HomeGain Radio

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Will agents show your listings? A glimpse into NE Ohio's Competitive MLS

I’ll tell you why our MLS is competitive in one word: VOLUME.

Yesterday I checked the community of Euclid Ohio. There were 683 homes on the market. Rocky River has 240 homes for sale. Lakewood has 376; Cleveland Heights has 666. You get the point. There are a lot of available homes in NE Ohio.

If you are selling your home you will be asking the same question your Realtor® is asking—what can I do to make my listing stand out, and not be the house in the back of the room waving it’s chimney saying ‘pick me, pick me!’

I decided to use myself as an example. I have quite a few buyers at the moment and spend time culling the listings to set up showings.

Here is what I automatically eliminate:

1. Homes with no photos
2. Homes with no room sizes and amenities listed
3. Descriptions

Since almost all of my clients and close to what, 90% of all prospective home buyers are read more

Posted by Carole Cohen on May 05, 2008 under MLS, Guest Bloggers, Regional

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HomeGain First Quarter 2008 Home Sales Report by MSA - Part II

Last week, I posted an article in which we named the Top Ten MSA’s in the country where HomeGain buyers and sellers transacted in the First Quarter of 2008.

I included feedback on current market conditions in the Top Five areas from our top performing agents who closed those sales. Now, here is the latest information on the MSA’s ranked 6 through 10.

Again, a common theme among our member agents to working successfully in challenging markets is to educate our clients and, as Heidi Mueller says, to “manage expectations of the home sellers and buyers.”

Please feel free to join in and post comments about your local market conditions.

And the cities are… read more

Posted by Peggy Boehm on Apr 18, 2008 under HomeGain Market Data, AgentEvaluator

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A Strong Real Estate Market in Maryland

My opinion on the current Real Estate market I think it is a Buyer’s market. The average time to sell a home is 3-6 months. Buyers are offering contingent contracts and asking for substantial closing cost credits.

We are still seeing a lot of 100% financing or very little money down.

CDA and NEHEMIAH government and privately funded down payment assistance programs also require a large seller contribution. Often these programs are paired with an FHA loan as well. With the new FHA limits in our area, we expect to see more offers come in that are FHA pre-approved.

In regards to percentages of asking price vs. original list price, I think if the property is priced correctly, it should sell for asking price relatively quickly. However, if the property is priced too high, it will sell for approximately 6-10% below original list.

Unfortunately we are seeing a lot of foreclosures in our area. I receive quite a few calls a week to help sellers with “short sales” as well. Banks and mortgage companies are willing to work with homeowners in distress, but it is not a quick or easy process. read more

Posted by Eric Pakulla on Apr 17, 2008 under Regional

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