Buying Real Estate

If a home is being sold for below what the current seller owes on the property...and the seller does not have other funds to make up the difference at closing...the sale is considered a short sale.  Many more home owners are finding themselves in this situation due to current market conditions.

A short sale is different from a foreclosure, which is when the seller's lender has taken title of the home and is selling it directly.  Homeowners often try to accomplish a short sale in order to avoid foreclosure.  But a short sale holds many potential pitfalls for buyers.  KNOW THE RISKS BEFORE YOU PURSUE A SHORT-SALE PURCHASE.

You are a good candidate for a short sale purchase if:

YOU ARE VERY PATIENT:  Even after you come to agreement with the…

If you're thinking of making a move to Collier County whether it be full or part time, you should find the information in the 2010 Collier County Annual Report very valuable.  There you will find information about where your tax dollars go and the sources of where the government dollars come from.

The report details each of the departments and what has transpired over the past year with regard to projects, both ongoing as well as completed.  Each department is listed toward the end of the report with all their contact information, telephone numbers and website addresses, etc.

Here is the link to download the Annual Report: http://www.colliergov.net/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=35589

Many condominium buyers who are interested in financing have sat on the fence waiting for prices to bottom out, while still being able to take advantage of the low interest rates.  They are in a most enviable position...or are they really?

The lenders have tightened their belts while being encouraged by the government to lend money to qualified borrowers.  That's all fine and dandy and one would suspect as a condo buyer that they are in the driver' seat, but it's not necessarily so.

The lenders have begun to really scrutinize the health of not only the condominiums that buyers are writing on, but more so the communities and their associations as well.  They are looking at the number of renters versus owners, how many delinquent association assessments…

Many times buyers will begin looking at property on their own before engaging a realtor.  They will seek out open houses and often, if interested in new construction, wander into different communities that are in the process of building.

When they enter the sales office initially interested in look at the models, they are asked to register on a short form providing their name, address , telephone number and often email address.  If they question the process, which many don't, they are told that it is a requirement for them to be assigned a sales agent to be able to look at new construction product.

What they do not understand and are not told is that once they fill out the form, they virtually give up the right to be representated by a realtor of their…

One of the things that absolutely drives me bonkers is the fact that real estate listing agents are not required to identify a potential short sale in the public remarks in the MLS (Multiple Listing Service). For reasons unknown, (and no one has been able to properly explain it to me), listing agents disclose that they are listing a potential short sale in the confidential remarks that can only be seen by subscribers to that particular MLS and not the general public.

To me it's totally crazy, as well as a huge waste of time for we agents who have to constantly explain that the listings that our customers are identifying are short sales. Then begins the rather lengthy process of explaining exactly what a short sale is, how unlikely they are of obtaining…

The main issue is that in a lot of cases, the foreclosed properties were not executed properly. Although closed, these homes could potentially have major problems with clouded titles down the road when people go to sell them and the legal process to get them untangled could be extremely costly.

It is our position that until…

I recently read an article in Time Magazine that questioned the wisdom of purchasing a home in this market. The cover read Rethinking Home Ownership subtitled Why Home Ownership May No Longer Make Economic Sense. Yet a scant four years ago their cover shouted Home Sweet Home as they asked Will Your Home Make You Rich? Oh how contrarian. I maintain that despite the economy, there are good many reasons to purchase a property in Greater Naples now!

You can get a great deal on property at every price point, and the good news is that you'll get a better home in this market. Yes, we are depleting inventory by 10% to 15% a month, but more and more is coming on with the advent of the upcoming season the deals will continue. Mortgages are cheap, near 4.3% (I…

Some people are enamoured with the thought of possibly stealing a property and do not seem to look at the bigger picture when it comes to short sales.

One of the biggest problems is that if you are willinng to take a shot and make an offer on a short sale, you had better be able to wait the process out with the understanding that you may not get the property in the end. We are constantly being told that the time frame for the short sale process is taking far less time, but you cannot prove that by me. My buyer just waited four months only to be told that the bank wanted more than he was willing to pay, and quite frankly, more than I thought the property was worth.

During that long wait, not only had he missed opportunities that were not short…

One of the major complaints from real estate agents is the amount of time that it is taking to get a response from the lending institution regarding an offer on a short sale. The issue can be that the bank or lender will hold out until they review all the offers, instructing their listing agent to ask for 'highest and best", thereby creating a bidding war.

If in the final analysis the lender determines that more money can be made by sending the property to the courthouse steps, then often that is what they will do. Therefore the whole short sale process and time frame that the property has been a short sale is totally waste, never mind the time spent by realtors and buyers trying their best to put the property under contract. Bank of America has been…

It's great to see that the investors are back in the market again after a bit of a lengthy absense because it is helping to deplete the current inventory and will eventually cause the prices to rise. The interesting thing is that the percentage of all-cash transactions is up almost by 50% over one year ago. Naturally they are interested in getting the highest return on their investment, thereby avoiding paying interest charges on loans so the mode of opeation is cash.

The investment market literally hit bottom in later 2007 and into 2008, but with the recent stabilazation of prices during the past 6 months or so, the comfort level for investors has totally hanged and now they aree willing to take the risk. Although many are still a bit cautious, at least…