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Elizabeth Weintraub
Buying After a Short Sale
It is almost mind boggling to look at all the misinformation one can find online about selling a home in Sacramento as a short sale. Not only that, but some of the right information is received incorrectly by the recipient, which is a double whammy. Short sales are complicated. If one is going to consider doing a short sale, one should hire an expert, a Sacramento short sale agent who has closed 100s of them, and there aren’t very many of us around.
I routinely receive calls lately from sellers who want to buy a new home right away. The problem with that concept is it is very difficult to do because a seller has to fit very tight criteria. Generally speaking, the following statement is true: if a buyer can qualify to buy a new home, that buyer will not be considered as a short sale seller by the seller’s bank. Banks are not in the business of giving sellers a break. If your home is underwater, that is not enough of a reason to do a short sale. On top of this, banks typically must follow financial guidelines in which to grant a short sale, and most bank’s guidelines state a seller must have a financial hardship. If a seller has a financial hardship, banks generally don’t lend money to these types of sellers to buy a new home. However, the other side of the coin is it depends on the story, how it is presented to the short sale bank and what the hardship consists of.
Do you see the dilemma? Most people, when faced with dumping an underwater home or staying there and hoping it will someday turn back into the black, will choose doing a short sale. That’s because they can wait out the two years required by most lenders and then buy a new home that is almost identical to the home they sold.
You can’t predict the future with absolute accuracy. But one can compare the past. There are sellers who sold in 2009 and bought again in 2012. They were able to replace their previous home with a better home in a nicer neighborhood for less money than they sold at. Less money, even! It was cheaper to buy a new home. Prices are edging up a little bit in Sacramento but let’s face it, the market is still excellent. Prices are low and interest rates are low. It’s still worth it to short sale now and then buy again in 2 years.
Because who wants to watch a buyer move next door who bought that home for half of your mortgage? If a spouse is not on the mortgage, that spouse might qualify for a new home. Some seller’s parents qualify for a new home for the sellers. There are ways to work around this dilemma. Call a Sacramento short sale agent like Elizabeth Weintraub today at 916-233-6759.
The Wii Perfect 10 Exercise Game
This Sacramento real estate agent is a firm believer in shades of grey, and I am most certainly not talking about you-know-what book. In fact, I have not read that book. I’m in the minority, I fear. I probably should read it, if for no other reason than to know what other people are talking about. However, I am writing today to say there really are no shades of grey when it comes to learning and knowledge.
It’s pretty much black and white. There are 2 ways to learn. From a third party or from yourself. Let me tell you, learning from a third party is much preferable yet so few of us learn our lessons that way, myself included. Yup, I’m a “let’s stick that fork in the wall socket again because I cannot believe what just happened” kinda person. OK, maybe I’ve evolved a bit since I was five. In any case, I am hoping that my readers can learn from my tragic experience with the Wii Fit Plus Perfect 10 exercise game and not make the same mistake.
I regularly workout with the Wii Fit Plus. It’s pretty cool, and it means I don’t have to leave my computer, get dressed, drive down to the gym, workout, come back home again, and waste all that time when I could be helping sellers and buyers to sell or buy a home in Sacramento. I can simply get up from my desk, turn on the flat panel TV, pick up the Wii and step on the balance board for my 30-minute workout. It’s a quick break. Good way to deal with stress generated by Sacramento short sales as well. And if I have to pause to answer the phone, that’s doable.
What I didn’t bank on was what could happen by changing my workout routine of ordinary push ups and leg extensions. Ooo, I thought, what is this Perfect 10 exercise game? I’m telling you, don’t do it. Oh, sure, Wii gives you a warning that says don’t shake your hips too hard, and you think to yourself, how could I possibly shake my hips too hard. I know how to shake that booty, and I’ve been doing it for years. OK, maybe I haven’t been shaking that booty for 20 years or so. This particular Wii exercise game involves swinging your hips to the left or the right, forward or backward, to bump a ball. The screen presents you with 3 or 4 balls, and each ball has a number. Your task is to add up those balls to the number 10. You get 20 screens, and it is timed.
This is not something a person who was born during the Eisenhower years should be doing unsupervised. Yes, that is the problem. I was unsupervised. At least I didn’t hit my head. I’m hoping I can walk again in a few days.
Thinking About Selling a Home in Sacramento?
Selling a home in Sacramento seller’s market can be a bit daunting. All of your real estate activity should be timed to coincide with the best time to go on the market to garner maximum exposure, and an experienced Sacramento real estate agent can be invaluable to you in that regard. Not only do you want to receive an exceptionally good offer, which is highly doable in a seller’s market, but most people want to quickly sell. You know who wants to sell the fastest? The people without equity, and that means a short sale seller.
See, putting your home on the market right now is kind of like tossing a piece of bread in the air to a flock of seagulls. That chunk of bread will never hit the ground. If you’re selling with equity and don’t mind the traffic of Grand Central Station, you can take your time, position your opening market day and employ a bit of strategy to get a bunch of offers. You’re going for price. You’re hoping for an all-cash offer and to avoid having to rely on an appraisal. Appraisers are all over the board right now.
If you’re selling a short sale though, that’s a totally different approach. You don’t need a bazillion offers. You need one committed buyer with a strong offer meeting market value who will close. That’s it. Not 55 offers, like I hear that some sellers are receiving. That’s insane, and there is absolutely no logical reason for it. A short sale seller with 55 offers is a seller whose agent is a butthead.
There are some communities in Sacramento in which this real estate agent won’t even put up a For Sale sign. That’s because I can’t trust agents not to use a lockbox without discretion in those areas even if I do not disclose there is a lockbox. Yes, believe it, it’s so bad — no For Sale sign! Can’t chance it. What happens is an agent is out showing property, and they drive by a brand new listing sign. Oooo, their buyer points at the house and asks to see it. The buyer’s agent, instead of calling the listing agent for information and looking up the listing on MLS, might just stop the car and look for a lockbox. Are they supposed to do this? No, they are not. But they do it.
Buyers are desperate to buy a home. I imagine at least half of the buyers out looking at homes this month will not buy a home. That’s disappointing. We need more inventory. If you’re thinking about putting your home in the market in the Sacramento Valley, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916-233-6759. It doesn’t matter if you have equity or if you need to do a short sale, I’ve got strategies and proven plans to make your home selling process as profitable and painless as possible. I will customize a home selling strategy for you that fits your personal situation. It doesn’t get any better than that.
This Sacramento real estate agent sold over 150 listings last year. More than $32 million in sales. More than 100 of those listings were short sales. Other agents hate it when I say this but it’s the truth: in this business, you can hire experience and a proven track record for the same price as a brand new agent! Which do you deserve?
The Main Reason for a Preapproval Letter
A stack of 700 francs from French Polynesia sits on my desk. Primarily because I can’t throw them away, and I don’t know what else to do with them. They are pretty much worthless. People who exchange money for a living don’t want them because they are coins. If I were back in Bora Bora, these 7 coins might buy me two diet Cokes. But here? Nuttin’. Just like some home buyer who wants to write an offer without a preapproval letter — that kind of purchase offer would be worthless, like my pile of francs.
Yet, I know that home buyers struggle with the issue of obtaining a preapproval letter. Heck, even my neighbor doesn’t understand why she should get a preapproval letter. She says when she finds a home she wants to buy, she’ll get a letter. This is why she might not ever buy a house, though. Because by the time she finds something to buy, there will be a dozen other home buyers wanting to buy the same house, and no seller in this market will accept an offer without a preapproval letter to accompany that offer. So, my neighbor is at a huge disadvantage. She doesn’t want to hear about the market in Sacramento or how to buy a home in Sacramento. She has her own ideas about how it’s done, none of which are working out very well for her.
After all, she only buys a new home once every 30 years. We Sacramento real estate agents write offers for clients every week. Real estate is our business. We want to help our clients not hinder them.
This is a seller’s market in Sacramento. No inventory. Lots of buyers. This market is very tough for buyers. It’s more important now than ever to get a preapproval letter before buying a home. Not only does it tell you how much you qualify for, which doesn’t mean you have to go for the max, btw, but it assures the seller you have the means to close. It says you are serious and not some lookie-loo. Besides, sellers don’t accept offers without a preapproval letter. The preapproval letter is not for your agent. It’s for the seller.
The question might be where does one get a preapproval letter from? For starters, it should be from the lender where one intends to get a loan. Moreover, it should be from a lender who can perform. The two aren’t necessarily the same. Lots of home buyers want to go to their own bank or their own credit union to get a loan, and that’s probably the worst place to go. The reason is there is no guarantee that their own lender will perform. They all have access to the same bag of money, basically, but some lenders guarantee performance and some do not.
Why is performance important? Because a purchase contract is typically written for 30 days. That means the buyer must close escrow within 30 days of the seller’s acceptance or the contract expires. If your bank can’t close on time, the seller has the right to cancel. And you know what? With prices going up, sellers are canceling contracts that have expired. Yup! I’ve had it happen twice when representing the seller. The other agent’s buyers struggled to close because of this or that or some other thing and asked for an extension. Instead, my sellers canceled. The buyers had no say at that point. The contract time period had expired and it was within the seller’s rights to cancel. Do you want to lose your home because your lender can’t close on time?
You might want to ask your agent for a couple of recommendations. Real estate agents know which lenders perform because they work with those same lenders over and over. In case you’re thinking that agents get kickbacks or some other kind of incentive to recommend a lender, think again. That’s against the law. The only reason for an agent to recommend a mortgage broker or lender is performance. Period.
Travel Tips: Don’t Use Citicards
I look out on that travel horizon, and I see a long road between now and August for this Sacramento real estate agent. That means I will most likely have a lot of work to finish before the end of summer. August will be my next vacation. I do not look forward to the end of summer because summer is my favorite season, even though I live in Sacramento, one of the hottest cities in America. As one of my clients once said, if Sacramento’s spring weather carried through into summer, it would be just like living in Carmel and our homes would cost a million bucks or more. Well, not quite because it’s a 100 miles to the ocean, not 100 yards.
For my clients, though, the fact that I have no vacations planned for a long, long time is good news for them. Although, with WiFi available almost everywhere, yes, even on a remote atoll in the middle of French Polynesia like Rangiroa, it’s not always evident if I am in town or if I am gone; I still pay attention to my real estate business and my clients. Unless I tell them I am out of town, my clients believe I am always in Sacramento.
You know who does know when I am gone? My credit card companies. I have learned, for example, to call Citicards and tell them when I am going and where I am going. To give them advance notice of my whereabouts. VISA and MasterCard especially (I don’t know about American Express or Discover) are cracking down on credit card fraud. They track individual accounts, so if they spot unusual activity they might not authorize the transaction without speaking to the customer.
A tip for travel: Always call your credit card company before you go out of town if you plan to use your credit card elsewhere. Tell them when you are leaving and when you will return.
Yet, that doesn’t always work, and I am living proof. Even though I called Citicards and told them where I was going on vacation, when I checked out of the St. Regis Resort in Bora Bora, the credit card company flagged my account and froze it. Sometimes, it’s not a good idea to have Big Brother watching you. It’s kind of creepy. Especially after you’ve put them on notice.
This is the second time Citicards has done this to me, which means I will no longer use their card for major purchases. The line has to be drawn somewhere. They say they are protecting you but both you and I know whose butt they are protecting.
Photo: by Elizabeth Weintraub, cruise ship in Papeete
