I wanted to share this post from an email I received today from Chris McLaughlin, an attorney in Florida who specializes in short sales. Since I am in Denver, it was particularly interesting that Altos Research considers the Denver market to be unstable. We are definitely seeing a slow down in the number of buyers in the market.
"Real estate data provider Altos Research is taking a very bearish outlook on the housing market. The California-based company says that ominous shadow inventory of distressed properties hanging over the industry will lock home prices into a downward trajectory for the remainder of this year, with property values
starting out 2011 even lower than they were in 2009. Market trends charted by Altos show that inventory levels are indeed moving higher and the influx of shadow inventory is beginning to show in the market. The company’s VP of data analytics, Scott Sambucci, described a noticeable shift in housing supply dynamics in a Webinar earlier this week, in what he called “a sign of market weakness.”
Since January, and particularly post-tax credit stimulus, Altos has tracked a rapid divergence in inventory numbers vs. listings sold and absorbed. This, Sambucci explained, means more inventory is coming onto the market, with less inventory leaving. As a result, he says, we’re going to see an extreme inventory overhang going into 2011. Add to that the fact that the pool of viable buyers out there is shrinking – thanks to tight credit, a declining homeownership rate, and more and more consumers being locked out of the market after a foreclosure – and you’ve got an equation that’s right in line with Altos’ bearish outlook. Following the rudimentary rules of supply and demand, more inventory with fewer takers equals lower prices. Altos Research provided its assessment of the most stable housing markets…and the markets that it considers to be on shaky ground. The San Francisco metro area topped the stable list, along with Las Vegas and Washington, D.C. Unstable metros included Minneapolis, Denver, Chicago, and Phoenix."
What do you think? How have your markets been behaving?
Leave me a note and share what you're seeing!
Christy Mellott
www.christinamellott.com
www.realdealcolorado.com
Monday, August 2, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
What Should You Expect During the Short Sale Process?
In today’s difficult real estate market, sometimes a short sale is the best option for a homeowner. You’ve already tried a loan modification and that didn’t work for you. Or you need to move but can’t afford to sell the house because you owe more than it’s worth. And your financial state is such that you can’t bring money to the table to sell the house… or you can’t do the necessary repairs and maintenance anymore, you need to sell your house for less than you owe on it and get the bank to accept that amount as payment in full.
Sometimes you won’t qualify for a short sale. For instance, if the house is worth less than the mortgage, the bank is unlikely to accept less than what you owe on it because you can sell the house and cover the mortgage. Or if you have a ton of money in your bank accounts, the mortgage holder is not going to look kindly on your application for a short sale. They will expect you to come up with the difference to sell it.
So, if you likely qualify for a short sale, here is what you can expect from the process:
1. It will take time. Short sales take longer than regular sales because we have to negotiate with the bank to get them to accept less than you owe on the house. Some banks work much more quickly than others. However, many are notorious for taking months to even assign a processor to the file.
2. You will have to prove your financial hardship to the bank. The bank basically requests all the documentation that they wanted when you got your loan – only this time, you are proving to them that you can’t afford it anymore.
3. Once the bank decides that your financial hardship qualifies you to participate in the short sale process, they will order a broker’s price opinion or an appraisal on your house. They want to be sure that the house is actually worth less than what you owe on it.
4. You might need to continue to give the bank updated documentation and they might send you other documents to sign during the process.
5. The bank will either accept the offer, reject the offer or make a counter offer on the sales contract. You need to have a sales contract on your house in order to start the short sales negotiation process. Because it can take so long, it’s often a good idea to work with an investor. People who don’t understand the process, like first time homebuyers will often back out because of the time.
6. If the offer is not accepted, you must negotiate with the bank and with the buyer (unless you are working with an investor who will take care of all this) to get their prices aligned.
7. When a short sale is accepted by the bank, your buyer must close within 30 days of the acceptance letter.
8. If you are in the foreclosure process, you must keep on top of the bank to ensure that your house does not get sold on the sheriff’s steps while you are trying to work out a short sale.
When you are working with a Realtor to get a short sale accepted, there is about a 5% acceptance rate. Realtors can’t start the short sale process until they have a contract on the house. Buyer brokers do not like to show houses that are in the process of a short sale because they know that they are likely to lose a buyer who is ready to go if that buyer has to wait for the short sale to be processed. And if they lose buyers, they can’t feed their own families. And Realtors don’t necessarily enjoy spending hours on the phone with banks negotiating a short sale when they could go sell the house down the street and make the same money for a lot less effort. Very few Realtors are actually trained to work short sales because, frankly, it’s just not as profitable to them as working normal house sales.
When you work with an investor who specializes in short sales, that investor will put your house under contract right away. They will work with you to get the paperwork package together for the bank. They, or someone on their team who specializes in short sale negotiations, will spend hours on the phone with banks checking up and following up on your file. They will also do their best to ensure that if you are in foreclosure your house does not get sold before the short sale is completed. When the short sale is accepted, the investor already has money lined up to purchase your house so it will not fall out of contract.
So, your short sale is much more likely to be completed if you are working with an investor who specializes in short sales, than if you are working with a Realtor who would rather just be able to list the house and find a buyer without having to deal with the headaches that come with short sales.
Christina Mellott
Millionaire In Training, MMMChallenge.com
www.housingheadaches.com
Sometimes you won’t qualify for a short sale. For instance, if the house is worth less than the mortgage, the bank is unlikely to accept less than what you owe on it because you can sell the house and cover the mortgage. Or if you have a ton of money in your bank accounts, the mortgage holder is not going to look kindly on your application for a short sale. They will expect you to come up with the difference to sell it.
So, if you likely qualify for a short sale, here is what you can expect from the process:
1. It will take time. Short sales take longer than regular sales because we have to negotiate with the bank to get them to accept less than you owe on the house. Some banks work much more quickly than others. However, many are notorious for taking months to even assign a processor to the file.
2. You will have to prove your financial hardship to the bank. The bank basically requests all the documentation that they wanted when you got your loan – only this time, you are proving to them that you can’t afford it anymore.
3. Once the bank decides that your financial hardship qualifies you to participate in the short sale process, they will order a broker’s price opinion or an appraisal on your house. They want to be sure that the house is actually worth less than what you owe on it.
4. You might need to continue to give the bank updated documentation and they might send you other documents to sign during the process.
5. The bank will either accept the offer, reject the offer or make a counter offer on the sales contract. You need to have a sales contract on your house in order to start the short sales negotiation process. Because it can take so long, it’s often a good idea to work with an investor. People who don’t understand the process, like first time homebuyers will often back out because of the time.
6. If the offer is not accepted, you must negotiate with the bank and with the buyer (unless you are working with an investor who will take care of all this) to get their prices aligned.
7. When a short sale is accepted by the bank, your buyer must close within 30 days of the acceptance letter.
8. If you are in the foreclosure process, you must keep on top of the bank to ensure that your house does not get sold on the sheriff’s steps while you are trying to work out a short sale.
When you are working with a Realtor to get a short sale accepted, there is about a 5% acceptance rate. Realtors can’t start the short sale process until they have a contract on the house. Buyer brokers do not like to show houses that are in the process of a short sale because they know that they are likely to lose a buyer who is ready to go if that buyer has to wait for the short sale to be processed. And if they lose buyers, they can’t feed their own families. And Realtors don’t necessarily enjoy spending hours on the phone with banks negotiating a short sale when they could go sell the house down the street and make the same money for a lot less effort. Very few Realtors are actually trained to work short sales because, frankly, it’s just not as profitable to them as working normal house sales.
When you work with an investor who specializes in short sales, that investor will put your house under contract right away. They will work with you to get the paperwork package together for the bank. They, or someone on their team who specializes in short sale negotiations, will spend hours on the phone with banks checking up and following up on your file. They will also do their best to ensure that if you are in foreclosure your house does not get sold before the short sale is completed. When the short sale is accepted, the investor already has money lined up to purchase your house so it will not fall out of contract.
So, your short sale is much more likely to be completed if you are working with an investor who specializes in short sales, than if you are working with a Realtor who would rather just be able to list the house and find a buyer without having to deal with the headaches that come with short sales.
Christina Mellott
Millionaire In Training, MMMChallenge.com
www.housingheadaches.com
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Why Buy in Florida Now?
You've all heard the news... Florida market dropping like a stone .... unemployment is up, jobs are down. Real estate prices are falling, falling, falling. Loans are hard to get, the stock market is on its way down. What's a reasonably intelligent investor to do?
Well, I like to start at the top and take a page from Warren Buffet. After all, if you're going to model success, he's a pretty good guy to follow. And one thing that Mr. Buffet says is that you should get greedy when other people are fearful and be fearful when other people are greedy. Following this advice would have saved a lot of people who sunk money into the real estate market at its top. Guess where Warren Buffet is investing right now... That's it -- real estate!
Right now, we believe that the Orlando market has reached its bottom. Prices are showing upward pressure and investors are moving back in. That's why we've formed a fund and are purchasing properties directly from banks in Orlando.
Here's why we picked Orlando:
1. 55,000,000 tourists visit every year. It's one of the world's major attractions.
2. The city of Orlando is filled with beautiful parks, recreation facilities and has a world class international airport.
3. The Mayor and city council of Orlando are working hard to attract new businesses and are using federal funds to improve Orlando's infrastructure.
4. Disney is starting a new billion dollar development. They're pretty smart -- and we like to follow smart money.
5. Orlando businesses are hiring again.
6. Orlando is attracting a young population. Their influx of 20-somethings will provide an excellent base of renters for our properties.
There are 6 reasons that we are investing in Orlando. We provide a turn key solution for investors. The properties we purchase are in gorgeous communities. We fix them up, rent them out and sell them to our investors at below-market prices with excellent property management in place. If you'd like to learn more about investing with us, please contact me at 303-386-6732.
Christy Mellott
303-386-6732
mmmchallenge.com
www.realdealcolorado.com
Well, I like to start at the top and take a page from Warren Buffet. After all, if you're going to model success, he's a pretty good guy to follow. And one thing that Mr. Buffet says is that you should get greedy when other people are fearful and be fearful when other people are greedy. Following this advice would have saved a lot of people who sunk money into the real estate market at its top. Guess where Warren Buffet is investing right now... That's it -- real estate!
Right now, we believe that the Orlando market has reached its bottom. Prices are showing upward pressure and investors are moving back in. That's why we've formed a fund and are purchasing properties directly from banks in Orlando.
Here's why we picked Orlando:
1. 55,000,000 tourists visit every year. It's one of the world's major attractions.
2. The city of Orlando is filled with beautiful parks, recreation facilities and has a world class international airport.
3. The Mayor and city council of Orlando are working hard to attract new businesses and are using federal funds to improve Orlando's infrastructure.
4. Disney is starting a new billion dollar development. They're pretty smart -- and we like to follow smart money.
5. Orlando businesses are hiring again.
6. Orlando is attracting a young population. Their influx of 20-somethings will provide an excellent base of renters for our properties.
There are 6 reasons that we are investing in Orlando. We provide a turn key solution for investors. The properties we purchase are in gorgeous communities. We fix them up, rent them out and sell them to our investors at below-market prices with excellent property management in place. If you'd like to learn more about investing with us, please contact me at 303-386-6732.
Christy Mellott
303-386-6732
mmmchallenge.com
www.realdealcolorado.com
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Finding Buyers for your properties
It seems that I hear a lot of people these days who can get contracts on properties because sellers are desperate these days. However, they have problems finding good buyers with money to purchase the properties. Here are a few tips to find good buyers for your wholesale properties.
1. Go to your local housing authority and get a list of the section 8 landlords. Call the list. Yeah, I know -- calling people out of the blue is hard. But, you know what? If you are going to be a success in this creative niche of the real estate investing business where you aren't using a lot of your own cash to buy and hold properties, you're going to have to do some things that take you out of your box. Sometimes, you're going to have to cold call people. You're trading your previous comfort level for success. Get over it. Get on the phone and make the calls. Not only will you find some great cash buyers who want more rental properties, you'll find some landlords who HATE what they're doing and who will be willing to sell you their properties. GREAT situation -- finding buyers and sellers from the same list!
2. Get yourself to your local REIA meeting! Real Estate Investor association meetings and network. Talk to the president of the group. They will know who the players are and if you come across well, they will be thrilled to introduce you. Be friendly. Find out what is important to them and offer to help them with whatever it is. Follow up! I have met so many people at REIA meetings and hardly anyone actually bothers to follow up. That's great news for you. If you actually follow up, you won't just be one of the herd, you'll be unique and you'll be building yourself a good reputation.
3. Get a list from one of 3 places: Your title company, your MLS or RealQuest. Ask for a list that includes the following:
People who have purchased in your area
in the past 6-9 months.
Non-occupant owners
Loan balance = $0
Purchase price = whatever price range you want to sell it at
Get all the details that the list provider can give you
Realquest will be the most expensive of these options, but they include information that covers 97% of the properties in the U.S. If you can't get the information through your title company or your Realtor's MLS, they are a good option. And, isn't it true that it's worth paying a few dollars to get a list of solid cash buyers who are purchasing right now in your area?
Now, go buy a house!
Christy Mellott
Millionaire in Training, www.MMMChallenge.com
www.realdealcolorado.com
1. Go to your local housing authority and get a list of the section 8 landlords. Call the list. Yeah, I know -- calling people out of the blue is hard. But, you know what? If you are going to be a success in this creative niche of the real estate investing business where you aren't using a lot of your own cash to buy and hold properties, you're going to have to do some things that take you out of your box. Sometimes, you're going to have to cold call people. You're trading your previous comfort level for success. Get over it. Get on the phone and make the calls. Not only will you find some great cash buyers who want more rental properties, you'll find some landlords who HATE what they're doing and who will be willing to sell you their properties. GREAT situation -- finding buyers and sellers from the same list!
2. Get yourself to your local REIA meeting! Real Estate Investor association meetings and network. Talk to the president of the group. They will know who the players are and if you come across well, they will be thrilled to introduce you. Be friendly. Find out what is important to them and offer to help them with whatever it is. Follow up! I have met so many people at REIA meetings and hardly anyone actually bothers to follow up. That's great news for you. If you actually follow up, you won't just be one of the herd, you'll be unique and you'll be building yourself a good reputation.
3. Get a list from one of 3 places: Your title company, your MLS or RealQuest. Ask for a list that includes the following:
People who have purchased in your area
in the past 6-9 months.
Non-occupant owners
Loan balance = $0
Purchase price = whatever price range you want to sell it at
Get all the details that the list provider can give you
Realquest will be the most expensive of these options, but they include information that covers 97% of the properties in the U.S. If you can't get the information through your title company or your Realtor's MLS, they are a good option. And, isn't it true that it's worth paying a few dollars to get a list of solid cash buyers who are purchasing right now in your area?
Now, go buy a house!
Christy Mellott
Millionaire in Training, www.MMMChallenge.com
www.realdealcolorado.com
Monday, June 21, 2010
Do you Quit or Keep on Going?
There have been many times when I wanted to quit in life, but I just kept going -- in the final stretch to get my college degree and on my first completed wholesale deal are 2 big ones.
When I was going to college, I was also working full time while I went to college at night. I was also a leader of our Tony Robbins group in Denver and had a very active social life. Oddly enough, once I could see the end stretch, I lost the motivation to continue. I forced myself to go on & finish. It was very good for me. Just having a degree opened up job opportunities that would never have been available to me without one. And if I hadn't finished that, so close to the end, it would still be haunting me, 12 years later.
The other time that I was tempted to give up, but I knew I had to fight through was when I was doing my first wholesale deal in January. I had a motivated seller on the hook -- he had a property listed at $250,000 and after some negotiations, agreed to sell it to me for $130,000. I thought that finding a buyer would be easy! So, I called someone that I 'knew' could perform & spent over a week working with him -- and a week in wholesale time is a LOT of time! Well, for some reason, he couldn't come up with the money, so he told me to go and find another buyer. Luckily, it was just before one of the REIA meetings that I attend, so I pitched the deal there and got a ton of interest. Did I mention that I raised the price? I was going to sell it to the first buyer for $145,000 -- and when I had to go find a new buyer, I raised it to $150,000.
I showed the house and put it under contract within an hour. The somewhat new, but not totally inexperienced buyer seemed so eager & was working with a hard money lender who was thrilled to lend on the property. Well, the buyer decided that he didn't like some of the verbiage on the hard money lender's contract and backed out. 24 hours before closing. So, I scrambled and found another buyer who had the cash to close. I thought this buyer was experienced, because he lent money through the hard money lender, but it turns out that this was his first foray into buying a triplex. He freaked when he found out that the landlord pays for water and trash... and backed out 5 minutes before the deal was to close. At closing, I had to talk a very unhappy seller into extending the contract, which he did, for one week. It had started as a 3 week contract.
I put the property under contract again with another buyer, who is generally a great buyer, but the owner of the company was somewhere in Central America with spotty cell coverage and was very hard to get in touch with. They were supposed to fund through an IRA... guess what they didn't get in time? I had to ask the seller to extend again. He wouldn't do it.
So, I closed on the property myself using hard money for a week. Well, that buyer had several more problems getting their money and wouldn't pay the additional fees it was going to cost me to hold the loan longer. Therefore, I found another buyer with cash who FINALLY closed on the triplex. Because I was under the gun, I agreed to pay his closing costs as well. In order for the last buyer to close, the other buyer had to release their contract, so I had to return their non-refundable $3,000 deposit to them. On a property that should have been a slam-dunk $20,000 fee to me, I wound up making about $12,000 after all my costs.
It was hard to get that property closed, even though it had an ARV of $300,000 and fix up at the most would be $30,000, so with the price of the property and fix up costs, I was selling it at 60% of ARV, which is an unheard of value in the Denver area. Usually properties go at 75 to 80% -- sometimes more.
But, I persevered and made a nice check which I would not have done if I had not powered through all the obstacles. Wholesaling isn't that hard in most cases, so I had to deal with the worst first. I forgot to mention that the seller's Realtor kept scheduling closings, even though I didn't have the buyer's completely lined up? She definitely added an extra layer of complexity!
Now, time to go buy another house!
Christy Mellott
Millionaire in Training, MMMChallenge.com
www.realdealcolorado.com
When I was going to college, I was also working full time while I went to college at night. I was also a leader of our Tony Robbins group in Denver and had a very active social life. Oddly enough, once I could see the end stretch, I lost the motivation to continue. I forced myself to go on & finish. It was very good for me. Just having a degree opened up job opportunities that would never have been available to me without one. And if I hadn't finished that, so close to the end, it would still be haunting me, 12 years later.
The other time that I was tempted to give up, but I knew I had to fight through was when I was doing my first wholesale deal in January. I had a motivated seller on the hook -- he had a property listed at $250,000 and after some negotiations, agreed to sell it to me for $130,000. I thought that finding a buyer would be easy! So, I called someone that I 'knew' could perform & spent over a week working with him -- and a week in wholesale time is a LOT of time! Well, for some reason, he couldn't come up with the money, so he told me to go and find another buyer. Luckily, it was just before one of the REIA meetings that I attend, so I pitched the deal there and got a ton of interest. Did I mention that I raised the price? I was going to sell it to the first buyer for $145,000 -- and when I had to go find a new buyer, I raised it to $150,000.
I showed the house and put it under contract within an hour. The somewhat new, but not totally inexperienced buyer seemed so eager & was working with a hard money lender who was thrilled to lend on the property. Well, the buyer decided that he didn't like some of the verbiage on the hard money lender's contract and backed out. 24 hours before closing. So, I scrambled and found another buyer who had the cash to close. I thought this buyer was experienced, because he lent money through the hard money lender, but it turns out that this was his first foray into buying a triplex. He freaked when he found out that the landlord pays for water and trash... and backed out 5 minutes before the deal was to close. At closing, I had to talk a very unhappy seller into extending the contract, which he did, for one week. It had started as a 3 week contract.
I put the property under contract again with another buyer, who is generally a great buyer, but the owner of the company was somewhere in Central America with spotty cell coverage and was very hard to get in touch with. They were supposed to fund through an IRA... guess what they didn't get in time? I had to ask the seller to extend again. He wouldn't do it.
So, I closed on the property myself using hard money for a week. Well, that buyer had several more problems getting their money and wouldn't pay the additional fees it was going to cost me to hold the loan longer. Therefore, I found another buyer with cash who FINALLY closed on the triplex. Because I was under the gun, I agreed to pay his closing costs as well. In order for the last buyer to close, the other buyer had to release their contract, so I had to return their non-refundable $3,000 deposit to them. On a property that should have been a slam-dunk $20,000 fee to me, I wound up making about $12,000 after all my costs.
It was hard to get that property closed, even though it had an ARV of $300,000 and fix up at the most would be $30,000, so with the price of the property and fix up costs, I was selling it at 60% of ARV, which is an unheard of value in the Denver area. Usually properties go at 75 to 80% -- sometimes more.
But, I persevered and made a nice check which I would not have done if I had not powered through all the obstacles. Wholesaling isn't that hard in most cases, so I had to deal with the worst first. I forgot to mention that the seller's Realtor kept scheduling closings, even though I didn't have the buyer's completely lined up? She definitely added an extra layer of complexity!
Now, time to go buy another house!
Christy Mellott
Millionaire in Training, MMMChallenge.com
www.realdealcolorado.com
Monday, March 8, 2010
Burn Exercise
This exercise is part of the MMM Challenge. We are in week 3 of the challenge. We wrote down some past limiting beliefs and some things around them like the people that we think contribute to them and why we haven't already achieved our goals, then burned the papers while we recited some of our affirmations.
Hope you enjoyed that and maybe you can do the same sort of thing to get past your limiting beliefs.
Danny Welsh and Rick Melero are excellent coaches. If you are interested in being a part of the MMM Challenge, go to www.mmmchallenge.com and apply for the next round. It's truly a wonderful opportunity... the only one I've seen where they actually offer to coach people for free.
Until next time...
Hope you enjoyed that and maybe you can do the same sort of thing to get past your limiting beliefs.
Danny Welsh and Rick Melero are excellent coaches. If you are interested in being a part of the MMM Challenge, go to www.mmmchallenge.com and apply for the next round. It's truly a wonderful opportunity... the only one I've seen where they actually offer to coach people for free.
Until next time...
Friday, February 12, 2010
MMM Challenge Real Estate Menternship Program
Well, I applied for this free program and I got the word this morning that I am one of the 24 Menternship Students. How exciting is that?
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