The Alan Donald Real Estate Team, Charleston, SC Short Sale Specialists known for their Charleston SC Real Estate experience in Short Sales, has just closed another Short Sale in South Carolina. Using their experience and established systems, The Alan Donald Real Estate Team is able to handle many short sales and accomplish the goal at hand, to close these short sale transactions.

Bank of America Increases Relocation Assistance for Short Sales

Bank of America announced that it has launched a national program that offers increased relocation assistance (from $2,500 to $30,000) with relocation expenses at the completion of a qualifying short sale. This is designed to help homeowners in distress who have exhausted home retention options or have made a decision not to keep the home. 

This program is based on a similar incentive offer that Bank of America tested in Florida last year.

Under the new program, the seller must work proactively with the bank and obtain a pre-approved short sale price prior to submitting any offers to the bank. To be eligible for this progr...

13 Absurdities of Short Sales

At our Keller Williams annual convention I had the pleasure of attending a panel on Short Sales that included Edward Goldfarb, a KW colleague in Florida who is a short sale expert. He shared with us a white paper on the absurd current situation regarding short sales, including these 13 absurdities:

1. Homes must be sold over and over because the banks, investors and MI companies take so long to approve the Short Sale that the first, second, third or even more buyers walked away in desperation.
2. After taking months for Short Sale negotiations, the banks will foreclose on a home only to turn it over to the REO brokers who sells the home within days for thousan...

Woo hoo, I love getting testimonials like this one!

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" To Whom It May Concern:

About a year ago, I faced a personal hardship and a dilemma of what to do with my condo, since I could no longer afford it. Given my financial situation at the time, I thought I only had two options: Sell it or let it go to foreclosure. I was not aware of any other options for someone in my situation.

At that time, I contacted Alan Donald to get his advice. He explained very thoroughly all the additional options available to me, including the pros and cons of each scenario. This information was very useful to allow me to reach a final decision. After evalu...

Why not be foreclosed? Why sell short?

Experienced professionals provide this list of reasons:

• Avoid the foreclosure stigma– Homeowners will always have to disclose that they had a foreclosure on any mortgage application and (many job applications) that they submit in the future. This can have an adverse affect on their future mortgage rates. Foreclosure is asked about specifically in credit inquiries. There is no seven-year time limit on this item. 
• Protect credit score– Credit scores will be lowered by 300-plus points (per loan) by foreclosure. The impact of a short sale—about half that much. 
• Improve eligibility for a government insured loan– The homeowner will be ineligible for...

SHORT SALE PROGRAM PROPOSED

Yesterday I heard on the radio that the Obama administration is thinking about increasing their support to lenders so that they consider more short sales instead of foreclosures.

However, the program said that what the government has in mind is to provide an "incentive" payment of $1,000 to the primary lienholder, $1,000 to the second lienholder and $1,500 to the homeowner to encourage short sales.

Well, let me tell you: This is NOT going to help much! We are talking about tens (or hundreds) of thousands of shortfall in most cases. In a $300,000 home that was originally sold at $400,000 and financed with an 80/20 mortgage loan combo ("normal" practice to avo...

I read this article on Inman News today about how lender-owned properties (REOs) and short sales are not always the bargain that buyers set out to get, and many times no the ideal way to acquire well-priced properties. I agree with the author wholeheartedly!

Read the whole article:

"REOs, short sales aren't always bargains" by Bernice Ross

Short Sales (Part 1 - The Short Sale Process: Definitions, Timing and Consequences

By Alan Donald, BuyHomesInCharleston.com

Well publicized changes in the real estate market, the job market and the U.S. economy have left many homeowners in distress, with few options to avoid foreclosure or bankruptcy.

As a REALTOR, I don't like the fact that many people are losing their homes, many surrendering the home to foreclosure without even knowing all the options available to them.

Since many clients started to ask me about options, I elected to write a list of some options  that could be available for homeowners facing difficult times. (contact me to receive a free copy).

In the Charleston...

Buying Opportunities with Foreclosures

In Part 1 we discussed the different stages of a foreclosure which could result in buying opportunities. Here we explore the different opportunities and risks involved in each stage.

Today's buyers seem to be more focused on the short-term goal of "getting a deal" rather than on the long-term lifestyle improvement and savings goal of home ownership. However, in the "frenzy" created by the media about buying foreclosure homes, there are some serious pitfalls that should be considered that may result in unforeseen challenges for the average buyer.

1. Pre-foreclosure (Short Sales). In my opinion, one of the best avenues to find well-priced properties...

BUYING FORECLOSURES (Part 1)

Foreclosure is the legal process by which lenders (lien holders) recover the amount owed on a loan that is in default by exercising their right to repossess the property that secured the loan as collateral ("no pay, no stay clause").

The foreclosure process varies slightly from state to state, but it usually has the following steps:

PRE-FORECLOSURE
1.The homeowner (borrower) stops paying the mortgage
2.The lenders send the borrower a default notice, explaining the consequence if the borrower does not pay the owed amount plus late payment penalty.
3.The lenders hire an attorney to process the foreclosure and file a public notice ("lis pendens") announcing thei...

Experts agree that the inventory levels have to come down fot the housing market to start recovering. Short sales offer a win-win solution for buyers, sellers, lenders and agents, to speed up this recovery by selling inventory faster than by going the foreclosure/REO route.

While short sales have been on the rise, I believe that lenders are not really prepared (and willing?) to approve these transactions in a timely manner. Extensive delays of six weeks to six months are not uncommon, and banks may reject an offer 20% below appraisal, only to sell after foreclosing on the property for a higher discount.

I believe that the Obama recovery plan was well intentioned, but lacks accountabilit...