Real Estate Service Directory » Real Estate – For Sellers

Is it illegal for title companies to force a buyer to close with them on a short sale transaction?

nealb63 — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 23:55:05 +0000

In my time I’ve written a few articles about short sales.

I’ve also read lots of others that people in the industry have written. Most of them talk about the process and the time frame it might take to complete the transaction…..the sorrows…the relief and finally the unknown. THE ANSWER.

This is on another subject. As you know the majority in my area would say that most of the properties on the market are short sales. When I go into our local MLS I’ve noticed a few of these remarks such as ….”the buyer is required to use XXX title as the closing agent in this transaction”….or “The buyer must use XXX Title as the closing agent in this transaction.”

Now I know that if you have less cooks in the pot your chances are the recipe will come out good but I wonder if they still should have the choice and or not.

I’m also aware that anyone who practices Real Estate in another state might have different rules or laws so they might vary.

Now I’ve completed a few them where that was the case. Let’s forget about how it was interpreted but is it illegal to do that or can the buyer legally use their own title company while an attorney for the sellers just negotiate the short sale?

I never really thought about it but now that it seems more common. I guess our MLS doesn’t mind it because it hasn’t been changed.

I’m not sure what the answer is because I can’t find anything that says it’s legal or illegal.

I’d like to hear any feedback on this.

For more information please contact Neal The Real Deal Bloom-Realtor® /Remax Premier Assoc.

2500 Weston Road ,Suite 103

Weston FL 33331

(954)608-5556 Direct
(954)212-0257 Fax

nealb63@myacc.net

www.Neal-Bloom.com

RE/MAX Agent in Weston FL

nealb63 — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:43:17 +0000

Neal Bloom-CRS RE/MAX Agent in Weston FL

Ethics
Every CRS designee is required to maintain membership in the National Association of Realtors® and to abide by its strict subheader of Ethics.

Technology Expertise
The training available to CRS designees includes a strong focus on technology and its applications in the real estate business.

The Top 4 Percent
Less than 4 percent of all licensed Realtors® are Certified Residential Specialists.

Whether you’re an experienced seller or homebuyer, or shopping for your first home,or selling your first home,
I will help make your experience the best it can be. My customer-focused approach has worked to help my clients throughout the area!

As your trusted, professional real estate partner,Together we will sell your current home as quickly and easily as possible.
I will help you find the best home in your area within your price range.
I hope that you’ll take a few minutes to look over my site, review my listings, and learn a little bit about the top-drawer treatment you’ll get from me!

A Licensed Realtor® with over 12 years of selling Real Estate..my clients put their trust in me to point them in the right direction. Whether you’re an experienced seller or homebuyer, or shopping for your first home,or selling your first home, I will help make your experience the best it can be. My customer-focused approach has worked to help my clients throughout the area! As your trusted, professional real estate partner.

Together we will sell your current home as quickly and easily as possible. I will help you find the best home in your area within your price range. I hope that you’ll take a few minutes to look over my site, review my listings, and learn a little bit about the top-drawer treatment you’ll get from me! What do I know….I’m just a Realtor®
Check out my blog Weston Florida Real Estate-The Real Deal tells it like it is in Real Estate

Member of the National Association of Realtors

Member of the South Broward Board of Realtors

Areas of Expertise

I SERVE ALL AREAS OF WESTON ,PEMBROKE PINES,DAVIE, COOPER CITY, PLANTATION,SUNRISE,FT.LAUDERDALE,DEERFIELD BEACH ,BROWARD COUNTY DADE AND PALM BEACH COUNTIES.

I CAN HELP YOU FIND THE CITY YOU WANT TO LIVE IN……….ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS PICK UP THE PHNE OR EMAIL ME AND I’LL BE HAPPY TO HELP YOU.

WE ALSO WORK WITH INVESTORS AS WE BUY AND SELL PROPERTIES OURSELVES, WE ALSO SPECIALIZE IN LAND LEASES,EASEMENTS,LAND,COMMERCIAL.

For more information please contact Neal The Real Deal Bloom-Realtor® /Remax Premier Assoc.

2500 Weston Road ,Suite 103

Weston FL 33331

(954)608-5556 Direct
(954)212-0257 Fax

www.Neal-Bloom.com

Short Sales and loss mitigation departments. Are they all on the same page?

nealb63 — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 02:23:02 +0000

There are many different opinions on how to do a short sale.

Some people say they take an average of 90-180 days….some took 8 months and some have close in 50 days. I have been lucky to have closed my most recent one about 4 months ago in 47 days! WOW!

It really all depends on the lender….how many mortgages the borrower has….are they two different banks or are they the same bank and the buyer is approved by the same lender…how upside down they are and of course the worst part is having to call them once a week just to see if they lost the 50 pages of paperwork you sent them. But it really all depends on the situation so anything is possible in a short sale.

You might even get a person who just got back from a relaxing vacation and decided to make it easier on the borrower because they were in a good mood. Who really knows. I would love to interview someone in the loss mitigation department just to get a day in the life of story…that would be interesting to hear what they have to say.

No matter how you slice it there will always be different views regarding the process…the success rate and how long the dilemma will last before the banks give you some answers.

I bet if you asked most Realtors® that are still in the business today if they’ve ever completed or even attempted a short sale…most will tell you they’ve experienced it one way or another. Some will tell you that their clients weren’t patient enough to wait it out and end up moving on to something else and even might switch agents in hopes of finding an easier deal to do. Then there are the ones who have successfully closed on some without too many issues.

Most of the issues come up early on during the process. Even though the listing agent is required to disclose the short sale process in the remarks section in the MLS.

MOST REALTORS® DO NOT READ! And that is why most deals fail.

When I list a property as a short sale I usually speak to the agent just to make sure we are on the same page. Most of them like to brag how they know it all yet their clients back out too early because they don’t disclose the basic process to them so they never make it past the first 30 days and most of these deals die within the first 30 days. I have been very lucky to have been able to successfully close them with and without an attorney.

I remember back in 2002 when I had this client who listed their property with me….not knowing they were going to be up side down when they sold. I didn’t even know what a short sale was. I would always have closings where the clients were receiving money and now I was faced with my first one where they were going to have to bring it. This situation was long ago so I didn’t even know what in the word a short sale was back then and I bet you if you ask the same agents now …..most wouldn’t have known what one was either. I had no idea of the process. Short sales weren’t as popular back then as they were in the 1980′s.

Well today they are just part of the wonderful world of the Real Estate Transaction.

Now back to the general process. I’m not going to go far into detail on how to fill out the paperwork so I’d rather skip that part since there have been many other articles written on it. This post is more tailored to the anguish of waiting for the unknown.

Normally you can kiss the first 30 days away. That is the time the banks require to hire the negotiator. Luckily I just got a negotiator on one that was submitted about 25 day so I just saved the clients 5 extra days of anguish. Since there was a call put into the bank they were kind enough to inform us that there was a negotiator assigned and we even got a name!

The next step will be when the negotiator contacts us. We can only find out the status by calling someone in loss mitigation but one the negotiator contacts us they will then do their initial BPO (Brokers Price Opinion) on the subject property. Once we establish who the point people are then I will gather all of my comps and wait to meet the appraiser at the property. Yes..you heard that right…I WILL MEET THEM AT THE PROPERTY! I will then volunteer all the data I pulled to help support the purchase price as well as being able to justify that I have tried to get the lender back as much of the value as I can for the property.

I will then go over the condition of the property as well as explain the current market conditions of the neighborhood. In this particular neighborhood there is a very high ration of short sales and or foreclosures so I have to be able to give them as much knowledge of the neighborhood to justify the value. I’ll also explain how i came to the price. How many times it has been reduced due to no activity and I’ll tell them the price was only reduced to stimulate activity.

If the BPO does not come in your favor there is a 50/50 chance that your deal will die!!

The BPO is in so now the lender will:

Counter
Decline
Approve

Ok so now you have your approval! You’re almost at the end of the road but there are a couple of my tasks you need to complete.

The approval letter will give you all the conditions:

The net amount to them
The commission that will be paid.
Closing date not to exceed X date
Seller to receive $0
Whether on not they are allowing you to pay the 2^nd mortgage
If they want the seller to sign a Promissory note.
If they will issue a deficiency judgment.
How it will be reported on the sellers credit report.

Anything you can do to help the cause. Don’t be lazy and sit back and just hope that it will all work out. You might as well go for it full force since you spend all this time trying to make these difficult deals successful.

For more information please contact Neal The Real Deal Bloom-Realtor® /Remax Premier Assoc.

2500 Weston Road ,Suite 103

Weston FL 33331

(954)608-5556 Direct
(954)212-0257 Fax

www.Neal-Bloom.com

Weston Florida Homes For Sale

nealb63 — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 16:22:44 +0000

Weston FL Homes For Sale-It’s Hard to Beat One Of The Hottest Growing Cities In The U.S.

In 2007 ….Weston FL was voted in the top 100 best places to live.

Currently….. there are over 800 homes for sale in Weston FL.

If you look at these comparisons you will notice that Weston FL has a medium family income that is comparably higher than other areas…family purchasing power is higher and the job growth % from 2000-2006 is more than double. Yet if you look at our sales tax…you will notice that those figures are lower.

I’ve included the 2007 Money Magazine City stats for the city of Weston FL so it’s hard to argue that it is still is one of the hottest places to live in the U.S.

Let’s compare Weston FL with the top best places. You will see where the average figures stack up against the rest. In my opinion as a resident of Weston FL….our fair city is an excellent place to purchase a home and to set down some roots for your family. Inventory in our housing market is high in general and “it’s a great time for buyers to come to Florida and purchase a home.” Prices continue to come down and should be leveling off soon so if you want to take advantage of finding a good deal out there then you should contact a Weston FL Realtor® who is knowledgeable in the area and also is a proud citizen there as well.

The city provides a large venue of different activities to choose from and is close to all major highways.

Weston FL is centrally located between Miami and Ft. Lauderdale.

Clouds

nealb63 — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 21:58:03 +0000

I know what you’re thinking. I’m a Realtor® so why am I talking about clouds in FL?

No… not a cloud on a seller’s title. We’ve seen too many of those these days. This really has nothing to do with Real Estate but probably more to do with the environment.

So what is a cloud?

I was outside this beautiful afternoon and saw some really interesting clouds so I whipped out my camera and started taking a few pictures of…. you guessed it …clouds.

These are classified as Cumulus mediocris

If you want to find out more about clouds then you’ll have to ask yourself a few questions.

What are clouds?
How are clouds formed?
Why are clouds white?
Why do clouds turn gray?
Why do clouds float?
How do clouds move?
How is fog formed?

The answers to your questions can be found >>HERE

Don’t worry….I picked a link that makes it simple to understand.

For more information please contact Neal The Real Deal Bloom-CRS-Realtor® /Remax Premier Assoc.

2500 Weston Road ,Suite 103
Weston FL 33331
(954)608-5556

Hallandale Beach FL Condo’s For Sale -Avant Garde

nealb63 — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 12:03:36 +0000

Neal Bloom and Steve Kohn | Remax Premier Associates | 954 608-5556 or 954 605 5977

2017 S. Ocean Drive, Hallandale Beach, FL

2BR/2.5BA Condo

offered at $249,000

Year Built	1976
Sq Footage	1,500
Bedrooms	2
Bathrooms	2 full, 1 partial
Floors	4+
Parking	1 Uncovered spaces
Lot Size	Unspecified
HOA/Maint	$504 per month

see additional photos below

PROPERTY FEATURES

Central A/C	Central heat	Walk-in closet
Tile floor	Living room	Bonus/Rec room
Dining room	Dishwasher	Refrigerator
Stove/Oven	Microwave	Balcony, Deck, or Patio
Swimming pool

COMMUNITY FEATURES

Guest parking	Storage space(s)	Fitness center
Swimming pool(s)	Tennis court(s)	Secured entry

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS

Seller contact info:

Neal Bloom and Steve Kohn

Remax Premier Associates

954 608-5556 or 954 605 5977

For sale by agent/broker

Equal Opportunity Housing

Posted: May 31, 2008, 6:49pm PDT

Another Successful Real Estate Closing

nealb63 — Tue, 27 May 2008 18:11:34 +0000

I met Sandra and her late husband back in 1999. We both lived in a brand new neighborhood located in Towngate of Pembroke Pines FL. It was just recently built and we met at one of the very first homeowners meetings we ever had. A few years after I met them her husband Steve was diagnosed with cancer. Steve passed away from cancer a few years ago….he was 49.

During that difficult time I had lost touch with them other than the board sending something to them. I didn’t want to bother them and so we moved on.

Back in early 2007 I noticed that Sandra had put her home on the market with another agent. She knew that I was a Realtor® when we met so I was a bit surprised that she didn’t call me. I would occasionally drive by her home and see if the sign was still there. I checked the MLS and noticed it was under contract since July of 2007. Eventually I forgot about it and figured it sold and that was that.

Then one Sunday night around 9:30pm I was watching TV and my cell phone went off and the voice on the other end of the line said “Hi Neal this is Sandra S…..I’m sorry to bother you on a Sunday night but do you have a moment to talk?”

I was confused for a moment and said how can I help you? She said “You remember me don’t you?” I was your neighbor in Towngate.” ‘You don’t understand….I’ve been searching for you for 3 weeks” I typed in Realtors® in Towngate and you came up and that was it!” She found my Activerain blog.

Then it all came back to me and I told her now I remember and we started talking about the past. I asked her what happened to her home and she said that the agent was referred to her because she bought another home in GA and was selling her home. She tried to find me but after she moved and left the FL home she lost all of my information I used to send her every two months. Her family told her not to wait and to just hire another agent… but she refused. Apparently she told me that the other agent never would call her and ended up misrepresenting her. So she fired the agent and then hired me.

The last time the home was on the market it was at $389,000….since the market hasn’t been at it’s best…we listed it at $279,000 and it sold for $270,000. That’s what it was worth. The buyers came in with 40% down. This property went pending in 18 days and we had 2 other offers that came in but there can only be one winner and we closed on Friday and on time….Sandra did well.

This was an amazing thing that happend to me.

I just want to thank Sandra for giving me the opportunity and for having faith in me as your Realtor®. Client and friend!

For more information please contact Neal The Real Deal Bloom-Realtor® /RE/MAX Premier Associates

2500 Weston Road ,Suite 103

Weston FL 33331

(954)608-5556