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Over the last year many areas in our nation have been feeling a bit of a housing crunch. This housing crunch is the result of different factors depending on the particular area you are located. No matter what the factors are, an increasing amount of people have been falling behind on payments and are facing foreclosure.

In comes the short sale. Many people in and out of real estate have been talking about the real estate short sale. This explanation of what a short sale is and how it works is based off of my experience as a Realtor in Tucson, AZ conducting short sales as an agent with Keller Williams, Tucson Territory. Every individual situation will differ slightly depending on the location of the property, and the particular lenders short sale policy.

Put simply a short sale is when a bank agrees to take less money for a property than is owed. (No they will not sell it back to the owner for this price). A home can be sold on the local real estate market as a short sale or it can be negotiated by an individual investor who will purchase the home for less.

I do not recommend using the investor because it limits the potential buyer pool and puts all of your eggs in one basket. Using a Realtor to list a short sale provides the greatest possibility that the home will not go to auction.

The first step is listing the home and giving the Realtor a letter of authorization to negotiate with the bank.

The Realtor then contacts the bank and asks for their specific short sale policy. Banks will usually require a letter of hardship, financial info (pay stubs, w2’s, bank statements), and the listing agreement. This can be forwarded by the Realtor, but some banks require the owner of the property to complete the personal info.

Once an offer is made, all of the information above is forwarded as well as the offer and a loan status report on the buyer. The loan status report shows the bank the buyers ability to pay.

Now that everything is together and in the banks possession, they will take anywhere from 24 hours to 45 days to accept the offer. Short sales require buyers to be patient. Be patient, if you want a good deal you will have to wait. If you don’t want to wait, find a regular home with a higher “Buy it Now” price.

If the offer is accepted then the bank will usually want a closing pretty fast.

What happens to the difference? When the house is sold for less than is owed there is some money left over. The bank will forgive the debt, however, they will record the money lost is income to the seller via a 1099 form. A CPA or Tax Attorney should be consulted on how to deal with this.

What happens to your credit in a short sale? The debt is paid and the excess is forgiven. Your credit score will not go down nearly as much as a foreclosure that makes it to auction. Completing the foreclosure process is reported to reduce your credit by as much as 300 points.

If you would like more info on short sales no matter where you live, go to www.agentyork.com and contact me.

The decision to buy or sell a home is huge, and it will impact the rest of your life.

Most of us know someone who went through a divorce without a lawyer. Usually this scenario is followed by more bad news than good.

We have all heard the stories about people going to other countries for plastic surgery to save money. Not all outcomes are bad, but the guy who ended up with breasts instead of pectoral muscles would probably not agree.

Without beating this to death, who would trust their childs day care needs to a service provided on the internet.

All of these situations bring me back to the beginning of this post. A home is a huge deal. Trust the process to a professional, not the third world lowest bidder. Your future deserves better than that.

As a Realtor I am held to a higher standard than the for sale by owner on the corner. I have a duty to my client and their best interest, and if I blow it, I am insured.

My last commission check was a few thousand dollars. I help people buy and sell homes every day. If I had not been there to represent that buyer he may have missed the signs I noticed. As a result I called in a mold inspector and the seller was required to repair about $6,000 worth of damage. If I had not been there, that particular clients family would have been at risk, and the damage his responsibility when he discovered it.

The story above is why it is important to have a Realtor represent you in the sale or purchase of a home. I can understand looking for the best deal. I constantly look for good deals on things I want on the internet. However, when it comes to surgery, I want a doctor, when it comes to the law, I want a lawyer, and when it comes to my pecs, I don’t want breasts from a third world country.

Paying a professional on important, potential life changing situations provides me with peace of mind. Let me provide you with peace of mind in your real estate transactions.

For more information or to be referred to a great Realtor in your area, contact Dustin@AgentYork.com. or visit www.AgentYork.com

Buying a home in foreclosure is not much different than buying a home under normal conditions. There are however, some terms and info you need to know in order to get a deal on a real estate owned (REO), short sale, or foreclosure property.

REO: Real estate owned. This term is used to identify a home that is owned by the bank. It is typically listed by a Realtor in the local area that is representing the bank. This Realtor can belong to any number of real estate companies.

Short Sale: The owner is trying to sell the home for less than is owed to the bank. This property may or may not have begun the foreclosure process. 

Foreclosure:  the legal proceedings initiated by a creditor to repossess the collateral for loan that is in default. A property that has begun the foreclosure process but has not been taken by the bank is considered in foreclosure. Many people confuse this with a REO. A REO has been taken and the prior owner has been removed (usually).

If you are trying to purchase a home that is in foreclosure it is likely priced well compared to other homes in the particular area. This is of course to aim for a quick sale. If you are negotiating on a property in this situation there is usually some wiggle room (equity). You can ask for seller concessions or cash back for repairs and the seller may be able to accommodate you.

In the case of a short sale or REO, the property is again priced great, however, there is usually no room for concessions from the seller or the bank. The reason for this is an easy one. In a REO situation, the bank has already lost a lot of money. Paying you for closing costs or repairs is rarely an option for the bank. The great deal on price is all you get. In a short sale it is pretty much the same scenario. The bank has to approve the offer, and the seller can not make his/her payments. The following phrase should not be in your vocabulary if you want to buy a home in this situation. “Can I get money for closing costs, down payment assistance, or repairs?”

In order to by homes in this situation it is best to come with some cash. At least enough to put 3% or more down. If you feel like the deal is not good enough, lower the price you are willing to pay. A bank is more likely to accept $10,000 below asking price than to accept giving you 5K for closing costs and 5k for repairs.

For more info on foreclosures check www.AgentYork.com. If you are looking for deals in an area near you, send me an email and I will find you the agent with the inside track in your area.

The Tucson Real Estate market is not as weak as other areas in our nation. In fact, I would go as far as to say that public opinion is the only thing causing any issues.

Lately I have been knocking on doors and starting conversations with people in order to find out what they think. A lot of the people think the local economy in Tucson is in turmoil and that housing prices have gone down or been going down dramatically. This is simply not true. Unfortunately, the facts get lost somewhere between being released to the public through professionals and being released to the public by the local and national news.

The most recent data available shows that the economy in Tucson is much more stable than other areas. If this city were truly hurting, would you see road construction projects on numerous roads around town? Probably not. If this city was not experiencing phenomenal growth of population and income, would you see the El Con Mall transformation or the addition of a theater, Best Buy, and many other large stores off of I-19 and Irvington? Probably not.

The decision makers of the city and large companies recognize where we are going in Tucson. Best Buy for example has had lower than expected returns and slower expansion. Yet they see fit to add a store in Tucson.

The citizens of Tucson need to recognize these indicators as well. We will grow around 70,000 in population over the next 3 years. There may be an excess of homes in Tucson right now, but it will not last long with people coming here as fast as they are. Tucson Real Estate will prove to be a great investment for those getting in now or those who are already in.

Right now the Tucson Real Estate market is in a small correction for the over production of homes from 2004 - 2006. Once this correction is over, we will be in position for steady home value growth. 

For more information on Tucson Real Estate, go to www.AgentYork.comor take the time to post a question on this blog.  

As of the date of this article Tucson is having about 80 homes per month go into foreclosure. Of those, about 60 will make it to the court house steps for auction.

What does this mean for sellers? That depends. If your area is not being strongly hit by Tucson housing foreclosures then it may not impact prices much. However, in locations where there are more foreclosures it can make comparable homes look much lower in price. This is because a Realtor can do a short sale in order to help the people get out for less than they owe. Another reason is that banks don’t want to own the property. So if they complete a foreclosure and have the home listed it will usually be the best deal on the street.

What does this mean for home buyers and the home buying process? It means that there are great deals available in Tucson right now. However, you should be ready for a process that runs a little different. If you are buying a bank owned property or short sale in Tucson, or anywhere, be ready for the bank to make no repairs. They will allow you to inspect the property, but it will have to be purchased in As Is condition. The reason, the seller has no money, and the bank is already at a loss.

I make contact with every foreclosure the day after it is recorded. In almost every case they are dealing with some kind of unfortunate situation. If you or anyone you know is about to fall behind on a payment, please have them contact me immediately. I can help save their credit and negotiate with the bank. If they are not in Tucson or even Arizona, I can still find them a short sale or foreclosure specialist in their area.  Dustin 520-247-3855.

Cheer up everyone, the chance of a serious bubble burst in Tucson Real Estate is not likely.

Yes this could be considered an opinion, but I will back it up with some data that I have collected from:

Workforceaz.gov, Tucsonaz.gov, Census data, and my own compilation of Tucson Real Estate facts and figures.

Tucson is growing by over 1,950 people every month. Census data shows us at an average of less than 2.5 people per household. If we assume 3 per house hold, we would need about 650 more places to live every month. That comes out to 7,800 new places every year. In the last 12 months about 6,600 permits have been requested. That is 1200 less than we need to support growth of 3 PEOPLE PER HOUSE!

If we go for the 2.5 people we would need 9,360 places to live a year. Right now there is a Tucson Housing Glut, but one must ask how long it can last? With these numbers the current buyers market could change in a matter of months.

For all of the people thinking about buying real estate in Tucson, you might want to move a little quicker. For anyone that wants to sell a home in Tucson, or feels that their home will drop in value if they hold on to it, keep your chin up.

Our market is much too small (compared to places like LA and Phoenix) to have a bubble burst. People are coming to Tucson too fast and our economy is extremely strong.

If you have any other questions about Tucson Real Estate, or Real Estate in general, please feel free to contact me via www.AgentYork.com.

Buyers market, sellers market, white tiger dragging me off of the stage market? There is a little magic, but most of it is common sense when it comes to the Tucson Real Estate Market.

The news (the same people who have trouble with the weather) would have you believe that the real estate market is in shambles all over our nation. This is just not the case. While other areas are having issues because of a reduction in cash (or the reduction of population) Tucson, and even Arizona are not riding in the same boat. We are running our own magic show. Sorry, there are no white tigers or rabbits coming out of hats, but her are the facts.

Tucson will grow at least 20% over the next ten years.(census 2000) That is 200K people. If we break it down, we are talking 20,000 people a year. Last I checked, we are selling and building less than that.

No tricks up the sleeves or crazy animals, but the numbers do not lie. More people are coming and we do not have the homes they need. This will lead to rent increases as well as home price stability.

For all of you waiting for a price reduction, hold on tight, prices will not budge much from now, if they budge at all.

The closest you will get to any magic will be watching the number of homes on the market. Right now, Tucson has about 8600 homes on the market. Per capita we should have about 5500. Here comes the magic part. Find the number of listings between these two numbers we will come to before the market takes off. If you can determine that exactly you will make a ton of money.

Dustin@AgentYork.com

 Please contact me if you would like some more info from my trend analysis database. It dates back to 1992. I work day and night to figure out what the Tucson Real Estate Market is going to do ahead of time.

Congratulations, you are probably reading this article because you are getting ready to buy a home. Keep your head in the game, visualise and attack, take no prisoners, and get ready to fight to the death, or you can relax, have fun, and review the information below.

1. Hire a buyers agent. This sounds simple, but very few people begin their home search looking for a Realtor. Most begin looking at homes and then try to bring everything together when they find the right home. Many problems can arise from this strategy, including but not limited to, not getting that home that you have searched for on Realtor.com for months or having limited representation.

2. Get a home inspection. Even if the home is a brand new construction, bring in an inspector. New homes are awesome, but they are built one after another exposed to the elements and rather quickly. The last check in quality control will be your home inspector. If you are buying an older home, a home inspector will be able to point out any major issue that could cause grief down the road. We usually have tunnel vision once we decide to buy a home, the second set of eyes is worth the money.

3. First time buyers, compromise! Too often first time buyers feel “It is my first home, I should not have to compromise”. Wrong. You need a solid investment not your “Dream Home”. Save that for when you have made your millions. If you go overboard on your first place, you may have a payment that is so high that you can’t make your millions.

4. Get a pre-approval and take into account taxes & insurance. Know how much a lender will give you before you begin your search. Try to find homes that are about 5-10% below what they will loan you. Many lenders will tell you what your payment will be excluding taxes and insurance. Many buyers end up surprised later on when their mortgage is much higher than what they thought their payment would be.

These four items just scratch the surface. If I had to pick the most important it would be getting the right buyers agent. They will be able to guide you through the other three items I discussed as well as the rest of the process.

www.AgentYork.com