The Real Estate Short Sale Process By Ricardo Castro

The short sale process can be a daunting experience for many homes sellers. Not only are many faced with making a difficult decision. Now they have to go through a complicated sales process that will take much more time than a standard sale.

Well start by covering what a short sale is. That name practically says it all. A short sale is exactly that, a sale where the sale price of the home is lower or short, to cover the mortgages and expenses of the sale. An easy example of this is a homeowner who bought a home at the peak of the market, lets say for $500,000. Now with the economic downturn that homeowner is in need of selling the home but its now only worth $250,000.

The homeowner has an existing loan on the property of $450,000, the $200,000 difference would be the deficiency to settle on this debt and be able to sell the home.

The short sale process is the steps that have to be taken in order to have the Lender or lenders agree to forgive the debt and accept payment in full from the proceeds that can be gained from selling the home at the time of sale. Going back to our example, our lender would accept to receive $250,000 as payment in full, forgiving the $200,000 balance owed.

The process is simple but time consuming.

First, the seller decides to short sale. Many times this decision is reached after the homeowner is in default on mortgage payments but it's not necessary to be in default. Better yet if the seller is current. This can open the doors to short selling the home and buying a new home much sooner than actually being in default.

Once this decision has been made, you contact a trusted real estate professional, preferably well versed on short sales and the process. Many who know what they are doing will have support for the seller and possibly a legal team that can help. The best can offer this at no cost to the seller.

From here the short sale starts to take shape. The property is prepared for sale. Placed on the market at its fair market value, this is very important to ensure the short sale is approved. Once offers are negotiated, they are submitted to the lender or lenders with supporting documentation showing the lender(s) it's in their best interest to approve the sale Usually this is proven with a hardship letter written by the seller and supporting documents, if there is not enough income to support the continued payments of the property.

The time delays with the short sale process are usually due to the internal process the short sale must take once submitted for approval. The lender will verify value of the home by doing BPO's and possibly full appraisals, depending on the lender and the position they're in. If there are seconds or thirds, written agreements have to be secured from the other lenders, agreeing to the settlement amount being offered, if any, by the first lien holder.

The process usually takes from 45 to 60 days depending on the number of loans and the skills of the person contacting the lender(s), though it can take as long as four months.

Short Sale Tips By Deb McMillan

In today's tough economic times, there are many ways to lose a home. But signing away ownership of your home can be embarrassing and destroy your credit.

For those who can no longer pay their mortgage payments, there are alternatives to foreclosure and bankruptcy. One of those alternatives is "short sale."

A "short sale" is a sale can happen when the outstanding loan against a property is more than the market value of the property itself. The bank will agree to take an amount under the amount owed for payoff. And a short sale can only take place if the buyer, seller, and bank all agree to the terms.

If you are a real estate investor looking to help a homeowner with a short sale, the best tip, I can give you is to remember you are working with a homeowner is losing their house. Treat the person with respect and keep your word. Work your hardest to get your homeowner the best deal possible.

Below you will find several more short sale tips for selling and buying

1. Value of the property: Have a real estate agent perform a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA).

2. Figure out the costs associated with the property. A few to consider include calculate advertising costs, any broker fees/commissions you may occur, closing costs, and don't forget any lawyer fees.

3. Total Loan Value so you know how much is owed

4. Consider hiring a lawyer: Legal advice is always good. Find a Buyer

5. Involve Lenders: Let them know you are interested in doing a "short sale". Sometimes you will need to call several lenders who will jump on this deal
Tips for Buying
The tips for buying are very similar to buying
1. You will want to contact both a Real Estate Lawyer and an Accountant for advice and tax ramifications.
2. Contact lenders: You want to make sure you talk with the individual capable of making decisions.
3. Submit Letter of Authorization: You will receive better cooperation if you write a letter giving permission for the lender to talk with specific parties about your situation.
4. Preliminary Net Sheet: This sheet is an estimated closing statement that shows sales price, what you are expected to receive and all the costs of the sale, unpaid loan balances, real estate commissions, late fees and outstanding payments due.
5. You will also want to include the following: Hardship letter, Proof of Income and Assets, and copies of Bank statements.

REO Vendors Trades Are Exploding By Megan Griffin

As the economy went south a couple of years ago and the housing bubble burst, there was a huge amount of foreclosures slamming into the banks and real estate markets. For most people in construction or real estate, it signaled widespread layoffs and unemployment. At the same time, in the arena of REO vendors, the opposite thing happened. REO vendors were slammed with more work than they usually had and it became a challenge for most to keep up with the demands on repossessed or foreclosed properties. Someone has to step in and perform these services.

Vendors in the REO world come in a number of trades from appraisers and inspectors to clean-out and moving and storage trades. Each REO vendor has to document precisely what was done and provide detailed pictures and reports to back it up. As this industry began to ramp up a couple of years ago, there was some sloppy reporting because of the pressures of so much work being thrust into the marketplace. For example, a simple winterizing could pay approximately $100. It would require pictures of the antifreeze actually going into a drain for each drain or toilet and then there are stickers placed on each plumbing fixture and the main shutoff valve is sealed and tagged.

The point is that there is a prescribed procedure from FHA and specific REO lenders, but there were about 50% of the time when the pictures were improper or the passed the deadline or something happened to backlog the huge amount of work on all these new foreclosures. The result was that more displaced construction workers or real estate sale people who were out of work, felt that they could capitalize as an REO vendor. The market became flooded with these inexperienced workers who had no training in the art of documentation of work in the REO world.

A number of entities have created a sort of cooperative for them so that those in need of specific services can simple go to specialized websites and find an REO vendor. One example is REOallstars.com. They can match one for a particular area and specialty. This is a great help in the industry because it should weed out some of the less experienced providers who really don't know what they are doing. Choosing the experienced REO vendor can save a lending institution lots of time and money in getting the job done right the first time.

Rehabbing a REO Property By Shah M Karim

Bank owned or REO properties represent ideal opportunities for international investors, as they are sold at heavily discounted prices and all outstanding liens are paid by the bank.

The benefits of REO properties are that bank will ensure that all liens are paid when they take title. This will ensure good title without added expenditure for the investor.

The strategy used by REO investors is simple. Firstly, they purchase the property at a substantial discount. Secondly, they fix up the property and then re-sell it at an affordable price to attract first time buyers. First time buyers in Detroit are able to take advantage of the tax credit and other government backed schemes to get first time buyers on to the property ladder.

Unfortunately, some investors get it this simple strategy wrong by overlooking the obvious. Investors that do not perform the correct due diligence or use a reputable investment agency can suffer the harsh consequences.
For example, a foreign investor brought a REO property for $7,500, renovated the property by spending another $5,000 and placed it on the market for $20,000 for resale. But, after several weeks of unsuccessful marketing, the property was reduced to $15,000 and it still remained unsold. However, a quick drive through this neighbourhood pointed out that in just one street there were eleven boarded properties, three fire damaged property and numerous abandoned buildings. What this investor failed to appreciate was that when considering Detroit for property investment you capitalise the first three rules of property 1) LOCATION, 2) LOCATION, 3) LOCATION.

Location is the first and foremost factor especially when considering Detroit neighbourhoods and do not get blinded by the low prices for REO properties.

In contrast, there is a successful foreign investor who owns several properties in the various good neighbourhoods around Detroit. However, he used a different investment strategy - buy to hold to cashflow.

This particular investor purchased good quality properties for around $25,000. Rather than selling it, he rented the properties at around $900 per month. This allowed the investor to successfully cashflow the properties and potentially resell it until the market spiralled upwards.

Probate Versus REO Business By Gary DiGrazia Sr

I have had many questions regarding my Probate Real Estate business and how it compares to REO's. This is a great question so I want to spend some time on this. As a Probate Agent for the last 23 years I have also done REO's and my point is you don't have to choose one or the other as they both have the same result; earning a commission!

Probate Real Estate Investing or only acting as a Probate Agent is a year round good or bad market business and this is a key point. The REO's come and go and YES there are always REO's but not like we have seen where agents are doing 50 to 200 deals a year, expanding to teams to handle all the workload. This is a great place to be but what you have to realize is when you do this kind of production you do nothing else. Of course you are making BIG money but when the REO market ends which it will, what happens to your business then. If you are smart and place most of the money away for passive income then working REO's hard for 2-5 years could set you up comfortable when it's over and you have your monthly nut covered once we return to a normal market. The point is many agents who have a huge REO business right now will be hurting when it's over if they don't plan and use the money wisely. Many agents today with huge productions did not have this kind of production before the REO boom and have not built a steady business. Once we return to a normal market they will have to start over and could be in for a surprise. Don't take this wrong as I also have REO accounts but I manage them to complement my entire business. My REO's is about 30% of my business, Probates are 50% and the other 20% is my general client business (past clients, referrals). I'm using my REO business to enhance the retirement portfolio while my probates and regular business maintain my lifestyle.

Probate Real Estate and being a Probate Agent is steady business year in and year out. It is not conditioned on the market like REO's as there is always business. It doesn't matter if we are in a sellers market or buyers market when working Probates as this is Free money and the estate wants to close this probate and distribute the net proceeds according to the decease requests as soon as possible. Some will keep the properties but this is where we build our farm for future business. Probate Real Estate as either an investor or Probate Agent is a Six Figure per year opportunity most investors and agents are not looking at. Also, my probate system takes about 5 hours per week to do and now I don't do it personally as my team members do the research but even if I still did my own tracking it would only take about 5 hours of my time per week. How much time do you spend on your REO business. If you are doing 50 plus deals per year I would imagine it's 6 days a week about 10 hours per day to stay on top of this REO routine. I know I have been there and I let half the accounts go so I could have my time back and keep a balanced business.

How to Find and Close Bulk REO Deals By Duncan Wierman

Many people think that closing a one billion dollar bulk REO transaction is an everyday occurrence. People fail to think about the real implications of this. Do you honestly think that your regional bank has that many distressed assets? Have you stopped to consider the amount of property this entails?

Many new people to real estate investing are also are under the wrong impression that using words like 'billions' will get you more clients. Packages of Bulk REO deals over 100 Million are not common. The majority of bulk reo packages range from as little as one hundred thousand dollars (100K) to ten(10M)million dollars. These packages contain from 5 to 200 pieces of property. This means that many more people can take advantage of buying and selling bulk reo assets. Lets take a look at how.

The first technique is to create and maintain a good relationship with one or more banks. Getting to know the correct people in the banking organization is the first step. Regional banks and credit unions are a great place to begin. A great relationship with your banker may take somewhere in the range of a few weeks to a few months. The perseverance you invest in creating and nurturing a great business relationship, will truly pay off like no other relationship has.

Your goal is to get to know how the bank disposes of bad assets. There usually is a person in charge of the supervision of REO disposition. This is the person on the top rung of the ladder in charge of REO sales. You want to get know them on a first name basis!

Once you are introduced, create good rapport as much as you can. By this time, you will need to have a large financial backer with liquid funds for you to use for the specific purpose of closing an REO deal. You will not build trust if you do not have adequate proof of finances. Once you hear of an package of assets for sale, you need to quickly to make sure you are ready to close a deal. Timing is key, and if you delay for even an day, you may not get the deal. These types of deals are hot and news does travel fast.

If you know how the bank reports their financial reports, will also help you in putting together your offer. Banks want to report good financial earning and remove bad assets from the books before reporting. Once you know the bank schedule for the end of their particular financial quarter, visit them a month before and get the word out regarding your interest in purchasing REO property they may have. Once you get a total perusal of what they have available, make an offer. Make sure you give your next highest offer and not your best offer in the beginning. You need to leave room for negotiations. However, once the bank has acquiesced, close the deal immediately.

What is REO Property By Lee Keyes

When a property is sold through a foreclosure auction, its owner usually owes more to the lender than the market value of the property itself. This is often a barrier to selling the property, and sometimes such foreclosure auctions do not draw any bidders. As a result, not many foreclosure auctions end with the sale of the property, rather the title reverts back to the financial institution holding the lien. Properties in this category are referred to as REO (Real Estate Owned) properties.

After the bank takes possession of the property, the mortgage loan disappears and the financial institution deals with any items owed by the prior borrower, such as homeowner association fees. The financial institution also tries to get the IRS to remove any tax liens against the property. The current owners are usually evicted and often repairs are made to damage on the property in order to make it more attractive to potential buyers.

The best parts of buying a REO property are that buyers have significant leverage and may be able to turn the property around quickly, making money by speculating on above average returns. Banks are trying to get the maximum return when they sell an REO property directly. They want to sell them quickly for two main reasons: first, they don't want to tie up their money in capital reserves they are required to set aside for a foreclosed property, and second, the management of such properties is a headache they would rather not have.

However, banks are very sophisticated when it comes to managing REOs and foreclosures, often having a department dedicated to them. The selling process starts when a potential buyer makes an offer to the financial institution, which is gone over by its management. Often, the institution will make a counteroffer, and the buyer may respond with another offer. After they have agreed on the price, terms, and conditions, a contract for the sale can be made.

When preparing to make an offer, a potential buyer needs to look at what comparable properties in the area are worth, along with the cost of any needed repairs. Financial institutions usually sell such properties as-is, which makes the buyer's inspection even more important. If they discover damage that they did not anticipate, which the institution will not repair, they can then cancel the transaction.

Investors dedicate much to buying REO properties in terms of funds (often cash), work, time, and effort, thus the price needs to be far enough below market value to justify the risk. Foreclosures are properties that already have had problems that often include tax issues, a lack of maintenance, substantial repairs, and often needed improvements that cost a significant amount of money, and any investor looking to buy such a property needs to keep this in mind at all times.

FSBO Pricing to Sell By Kent Clawson

When you are selling your home there are few things that you will agonize over more than the price. You will be plagued by questions about whether you are priced to high, or if you are leaving money on the table. The sad part is very rarely will you be at that PERFECT price. If it sells quick it means that you were probably under priced, but if it was a price that you were comfortable with then it was just right.

On the other side if you price it to high, it can leave your home on the market for to long waiting for that great offer. The sad part is that if it is on the market for more than a couple of months, it will start to make buyers nervous about why no one else has bought it. When this becomes the case it can actually result in your home selling for less than it would have if it had been properly priced.

So a real estate agent can at least help you with this right?!? Yes and no. They are going to put together a list of recent sales or homes that are currently for sale near your home called a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA). Then they will use variables such as square footage and number of bedrooms to normalize the price of these other homes compared to yours. In the end though, they are not taking any of the risk associated with the number and will often come in with a high price, that after a few weeks they recommend you bring down.

So all of a sudden that value that we saw when they were telling us about how great their service was quickly evaporates and you find yourself thinking "... and I am going to pay this person more than my brain surgeon."

If you want an idea about how much your house is worth, there are different ways to find out. The easiest, but not limited is to use services such as sites monitor sales prices and home characteristics in your neighborhood. 

It will give you a range of what that home is worth when compared to the other houses in the area with similar characteristics. It will also let you update details and and refine the price of your home. It will also show the homes that it is using to make your CMA and let you decide if they are good "comps" (comparable homes).

Another alternative to determine value is to have an appraisal done. These ARE the professionals who actually are willing to put their name to the numbers and will use similar details as the CMA, but also include adjustments for a homes that do or don't have certain features (i.e. Air conditioning, garages, storage buildings, etc). When it comes time to complete the mortgage, you will notice that the bank requires an appraisal, not a CMA, to ensure that the home is adequately valued.

FSBO - Selling Your House Now Using Good Marketing Methods and Seller Financing By Berwyn Kemp

To sell your house now using good marketing methods and seller financing the first thing you need to do is to create your marketing theme. What is a marketing theme? It is the creation and use of a good theme or headline that will be repeated in all of your marketing communications. The second part of that theme is already created which is the fact that you are offering your house for sale using seller financing which will vastly increase the number of prospective buyers you will have.

The first part of your theme or headline you will have to create yourself. You create your headline by taking the most telling feature of your house and describing it in word pictures. Is your house beautiful, cute, lovely, charming, cozy, or very nice? Whatever your house is most this is what you should lead your headline off with, something that will make your prospective buyers want to come home to.

Next, describe the most telling architectural feature of your house. Is your house a Split level, Victorian, Colonial, Bungalow, or Ranch? Whatever your house is this is what you will use in your headline. You should then include in your headline the fact that you are offering your house for sale with seller financing for example:
Lovely Colonial/Seller Financing. This would make a great headline if this is what your house is.
Now you need to add the various details about your house. For example, number of bedrooms, and bathrooms, cozy fire place, wooded lot, quite neighborhood, finished basement, new kitchen, two car garage, close to shopping, and so on. Once you have created your headline and added the details you are ready to

start marketing your property. Here are the steps to take:

1. Prepare all of your marketing communications or have them prepared for you using your headline and house details. These communications will include such things as classified ads, flyers, post cards, and yard signs. And if you are going to use the internet as you should you will also need good photographs which are a must.

2. Implement your marketing efforts by running your classified ads in the Sunday edition of your main daily newspaper, and weekly newspapers that focus on the area your house is located in. Also distribute your flyers in your area, put your house on the internet. And start mailing your post cards out and get that phone to ringing.

3. Set up a phone message center, with a good voice mail message, to handle all of the calls you will get. However, do not use your home phone or your regular cell phone for this. Instead get an inexpensive $30 cell phone and put this number in your marketing communications.

4. Effectively handle all of the calls that you will get but do not try to take these calls as they come in because this is disorganized and impossible. Instead you should set aside specific time where you will return all of your calls at once or twice a day depending on your call volume.

5. Arrange your house showing appointments with your prospective buyers, it is usually best to do this on Saturday and Sunday, and this is what most people expect since they are working during the week. Then show your house, negotiate the sale and close the transaction.

Real Estate - FSBO Versus Professional Representation By Beverly Manago

Given the impact of the real estate crisis, many people are eager to sell their homes. Many real estate professionals (or would-be real estate professionals) are eager to take advantage of this trend.

However, many homeowners are voicing their preference For Sale by Owner (FSBO) transactions, wherein people sell their houses directly, without the help of a real estate agent or office. Understandably, real estate agents and offices often want to get such home owners to change their minds. What follows are some arguments that agents and real estate office staff can use to convince FSBO owners to work with a middleman (or woman).

Firstly, there is the necessity of avoiding legal entanglements. The sale of a house, apartment, flat, etc. is often much more complicated than it appears. Rules can differ from state to state or country to country, and the process can become much harder if the buyer and seller come from different states, or even different countries, as can be the case with the sale of commercial properties. Brokerage offices and agents often know real estate law inside out, and can refer the buyer and seller to an attorney or other legal specialist, if necessary.

Secondly, there is the fact that, without an agent, a seller often has a very small circle of contacts. As a result, the property is usually sold to a person the seller already knows. This can make negotiations difficult. A friendship might be strained by aggressive negotiations. Conversely, past history (good and bad) can restrain one or both parties from exerting their best effort to get the deal they want.

Then again, some home owners may balk at the prospect of letting their homes go to total strangers. You might counter this concern with the point that they might actually find it much easier to let go of the sold residence if they do not know the next owner, and will not have to see them. On the other hand, if they sell the house to a friend or acquaintance, they might end up having to visit their old house and watch somebody else using it.

However, let us say that the FSBO seller is dead-set on letting the house go to an acquaintance for whatever reason. Why get an agent anyway? Well, as a third party, the agent can use his or her expertise to come up with a fair market price for the dwelling. If the parties directly involved in the sale wish to use a lower price for friendship's sake, then that is up to them. However, the presence of a market price declared by an expert may serve as a good starting point.

In addition, you should be prepared to answer questions about the safety of the furnishings or other belongings, should any people unknown to the seller be allowed into the house. In such cases, it helps if you or your office can attest to a good record, and extensive experience in the field.

List FSBO's With Real Estate Letters That Offer Good Advice By Marte Cliff

Trying to list FSBO's? Here's what your marketing needs to stress.
You know why home sellers are trying to sell without your help. They think they're going to save a lot of money. And to be absolutely honest, those who know what they're doing, have nerves of steel, and who don't need to go to a job every day can come close to doing what you can do.

As for the rest of them... your marketing needs to gently point out that they simply don't know what they're getting into!

No, you can't say that. Making a would-be client look or feel foolish is definitely not the way to earn their business. So you need to be gentle in your presentation.

You need to offer some help in the form of tips, or perhaps clue them in about the various disclosure forms they'll need. You might offer some advice about how to steel themselves against the insults they'll hear as buyers try to push the price downward. (I used to laugh to myself about the comments buyers made to me.

Sometimes I wanted to ask why they wanted to buy the house since they hated it so much.)

And of course, you need to remind them that buyers will try to point out that they're not paying a Realtor so naturally they can sell the house for less.

Before embarking on do-it-yourself home selling, homeowners should ask themselves:
• Do I know how to determine their home's value in today's market?
• Am willing to work with and pay a buyer's agent?
• Do I know how to market my home and get it in front of enough buyers?
• Can I deal in a civil manner with people who severely criticize my home?
• Am I willing to demand that buyers reveal their financial situation before I take my home off the market to negotiate with them?

You should touch on all these points when you're talking with FSBO sellers, and you can incorporate them into a special report or a series of real estate letters to mail to them. If you enjoy writing and have a few extra hours you can create letters that are uniquely yours.

If you don't enjoy writing or don't have extra hours, you can buy pre-written real estate letters and just get busy sending them.

Either way, real estate letters written in this manner are a soft-sell technique that will position you as a non-pushy, non-threatening agent who knows how to sell homes. With each letter you'll become more of a trusted adviser, so that when they do decide they need help they'll naturally turn to you.

But how do you first contact these people?
One way is to offer the special report on your website. Visitors opt in to get the report and their addresses are automatically entered into your auto responder to receive the letters.
You could write down addresses and try to locate the names to go with them, or (Please, no!) write to Dear

Homeowner. I personally think you should use an opt-in on your site even if you take the hands-on approach... which is to get out there and meet the people.
I know - that can be a little bit scary. But if you decide what you're going to say ahead of time, and practice it, it will get easier.

Write a script that sounds natural to you. Something along the lines of "Hi, my name is Sally Jones from ABC Realty. I see you're offering your home for sale by owner and I stopped by to ask if you were willing to let buyer agents show it to their customers."

If you say it all at once, they won't have a chance to say "I'm not listing" and slam the door on you.

Some of them may not have thought about the fact that some buyers want agent representation, so at this point you may need to explain the procedure. If you have a buyer list you mail to, you could mention it. If you use a one-time / one-party listing agreement, do mention that as well.

If they say yes, they're willing to work with buyer's agents, do ask for a tour and do take notes. You could even snap a picture to go with the notes.

The important thing is that you don't ask for the listing at that time. (Not unless they throw themselves at your feet and beg you to take over this horrible job they got themselves into. In that case you must be a good samaritan and help them. )

If they say they don't want to work with buyer agents, be polite and friendly and say "OK, I'll let the others in my office know so they won't bother you." You might also throw in something complimentary about the house and tell them that if they change their minds to let you know, because you'd sure like to show it. Give them your card, of course.

Before you leave, tell them that you have a special report with tips for owner-sellers and you'd like to send it to them. That gives you the opportunity to ask for their names. You probably should also ask if the house address is their mailing address, since some people do prefer post office boxes to home delivery. Mail the special report as soon as you get back to the office, and enclose a nice little handwritten note thanking them for talking with you. If you can come up with something more personal to add, do it. For instance, if they were about to leave for a child's soccer game, say you hope their team won. That's just to show that to you they are more than just a house address - you noticed who they really are.

Selling Your Home - FSBO - Get Thousands of Dollars of Free Advertising From Internet Directories By Leo J. Vidal

When you have your own home-for-sale website you are able to market your property extensively on the world wide web. One of the best ways to do that is on internet real estate directories.

For either no charge or minimal charge you are able to list properties on these directories which are available to property buyers within the entire United States, and sometimes the entire world.

How to Choose Internet Directories

The best idea is to look for directories that are real estate related. These will help get you the most traffic to your property website. Listing in a directory of electronics stores won't help you much.
You will also want to list your property in directories that have been around for quite a while and have a high "page rank" within Google's index. Google search results put high page rank sites first.

Is it a quality directory with standards and human editing, or is it machine generated? Human edited directories almost always rank higher in Google search results. You don't want to pay to be in a machine generated directory because it won't do you any good.

How does the real estate directory display the link to my home-for-sale website? Since traffic comes to your site by clicking on the link you put in the directory, you want the link to contain the right wording. Otherwise you will have people visiting your site who are not viable buyers. Not all directories allow you to choose your own wording for the link to your website.

There are many good where you will be able to list your property for sale. To save time you might want to consult with a real estate internet marketing firm and let them help you set up your directory listings properly.

Home Selling a FSBO - How to List Your Home on the MLS and Receive a CMA Without a Realtor Listing By Leo J. Vidal

Many people thinking about a For Sale by Owner transaction believe they cannot list a FSBO on the Realtors' Multiple Listing Service (MLS) without signing a listing agreement. They believe this because this is what they have been told by Realtors.

They also believe they cannot receive an official Realtor Comprehensive Market Analysis (CMA) without signing a contract with a Realtor. This is another fallacy spread by the realty community.

The truth is that you do not need to sign a contract agreeing to pay a Realtor commission in order to receive either the CMA or a listing on the MLS. There is one type of program you can enter into that will provide you both of these valuable services.

The Flat Fee Brokerage Service
In recent years a new type of real estate brokerage his sprung up all over the country. These brokerages do not receive commissions, but instead are paid a flat fee (such as $500) to provide a limited scope of services to the FSBO home seller.

The important thing to keep in mind is that the flat fee broker requires a different type of contract than a traditional broker. The flat fee broker asks for an agreement that pays them a certain dollar amount in exchange for listing your home on the MLS and providing a CMA.

Generally the flat fee broker will not perform any other services, unless asked to do so. In these cases a separate fee is agreed upon with the home seller.

By paying a flat fee you are able to get two of the significant services provided by Realtors without paying a commission. You will still need to develop a marketing plan for your home, but you should do that even if your home is listed with a Realtor, since their marketing plans are limited.

Learning a Good Lesson Out of the FSBO Story By Beverly Manago

Deciding that you are going to sell your home is already a difficult decision to make. However, you have to be positive about it so you can think of the good opportunities you will earn from it. Not only that, the amount that you will acquire from your real estate property can be used to invest on other properties, too. You don't even have to pay hefty commissions to any real estate agents because you work for yourself.

Then, you will embark to the journey of looking for perfect buyers. You may find it hard to attract potential buyers but if you know how to provide good deal from your FSBO selling procedure, you will win the heart of your buyers, and their money, too.

There are FSBO listings available in many real estate websites and they open the opportunity for sellers to reach out for their targeted market. The part that you will have to play well is how are you going to provide the informative data to your buyers and how are you going to stir their interests so they will take a good look at your property.

You Should Know What You Are Doing

Remember, you are selling your own house and you should know every detail about it. Every important document that will be involved in real estate transfer should be prepared and verified so that you will not get embarrassed once you are closing the deal with your buyer.

It is important to determine what your buyers want to see from your posting or advertisement. You don't have any agent who will help you that is why you will do all the advertising procedures and your data should be accurate and verifiable. However, you may encounter buyers who are hard to please and may give you a bad feeling about your property. As much as possible, you have to choose your buyers carefully so you wouldn't end up dealing with somebody that is not even interested that much to the property you are selling.

Going back to your property description, you have to provide photos that clearly represent your house. You have to contact a professional photographer to the photo shoot of your home so you will be able to produce quality pictures. Giving your buyers the first impression that lasts is all you have got. So, if you make them impress at once glance, how much more with the other remaining pictures they will see?

Your FSBO listing is your key in getting your property sold. So, learn the art and power of luring people in a good way. You have to believe yourself that your property is worth acquiring. If you don't have any idea yet, try to remember that time when you were the one buying for a new home. What criteria have you set for yourself that made you decide to purchase the property? It will be a critical factor for you.

FSBO - Sell Your Home Fast With These Free Or Dirt Cheap Marketing Methods By Frank Dattilo

For Sale by Owner or "FSBO" is a term used in the real estate industry to describe homeowners who choose to sell their homes privately; meaning without contracting a real estate agent to handle the transaction. Most folks who choose this path do so because they recognize the significant savings that can be realized by cutting out the agent and their hefty fees. Avoiding the typical agent's commission of 6% can equate to thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars in potential savings. This substantial financial benefit should be enough to motivate just about anyone to take a serious look at the FSBO option.

Although the FSBO option offers plenty of financial incentive, many homeowners ultimately fail in their attempt to sell their own home. Eventually they become discouraged and end up seeking the help of a real estate agent. Unfortunately, they end up paying the huge commission fees they were trying to avoid in the first place. One of the biggest reasons people fail at selling their home themselves is because they were not able to attract enough potential buyers. If you want to sell your home, you need to attract buyers. The more interested buyers you have, the better your chances are of selling your home. So, if you want to attract a lot of potential buyers, you need to have a solid marketing strategy in place.

Described below are some helpful tips that will help you to create and execute an effective marketing campaign for yourself. The better you are at executing a solid marketing plan, the more potential buyers you will attract. More buyers means a better chance of finding the right buyer who is willing and able to pay the price you're asking. Effective marketing takes creativity, time and effort. The good news is that the marketing methods described here are either completely free or dirt cheap!

For starters, be sure to take advantage of the free web resources available to you that allow you to advertise your home for sale. Utilize all the social media available to you as tools to help promote your home for sale. Let your friends on Facebook and Twitter know that you are selling your house. Ask them to spread the word to their friends. If you have a blog, use it to let people know that you're selling your home. Send an email with photos and details of your property to your entire email list. Think outside the box and ask for referrals from friends and family! You never know who has a friend or a co-worker or a cousin who's in the market for a home just like yours. Remember you need to get the word out to as many people as you can.

Don't underestimate the power of referrals. Use free electronic media to recruit as many referral sources as possible.

Next, look for other free and/or inexpensive online sources that allow you to list your home for sale. Sites such as Craigslist and some locally operated hometown news and newspaper sites offer free or low cost real estate listings. Mention all the important features and selling points in your description. Remember that people like to see a lot of pictures. A gallery of nice pictures that show off your homes strong selling points will help pique the interest of prospective buyers. Take advantage of free online listing services when you can.

Do not forget about the importance of print advertising. Make sure to run small newspaper ads, especially when you are planning an open house. Plenty of prospective home buyers look at the Sunday paper to plan their "open house runs" for the day. There are also plenty of publications such as church bulletins and organization newsletters available in most areas that you should consider advertising with. Bulletin boards at the grocery stores are a great place to tack up your brochures and it won't cost you anything other than the cost of the paper and ink. Incorporate pictures into your print ads and brochures whenever possible. A picture is worth a thousand words! Always remember to include websites and online information in your print ads so people have complete access to your postings and pictures.

One yard sign doesn't cut it. Proper signage placement is important especially if you home is on a side street or off the main road. You should post your signs at strategic locations so that they lead buyers directly to your home. Again, this is especially important when you are hosting an open house. Consider putting balloons on your signs as an added attention getter.

A final tip would be to send out a letter by regular mail to all of your friends and family and let them know that your home is for sale and you would appreciate if they would post a brochure up on their bulletin board at work. Include multiple copies of your brochure in your mailers. Most households have more than one worker who can post your listing, so it's a good idea to send them extra copies. Be sure to include any website addresses or posting details so they can see more about your home online.

FSBO - Learning Ways on How to Sell Those Homes For Sale by Owner By Deborah Mc Lean Smith

Many have acquired residential properties which later they found out that they are not making money out of it anymore as a type of investment property. If this happens then one may consider selling one, more or even his/her only just to keep up with their finances. In this case, one may look into the possibility of engaging in homes for sale by owner or what is more commonly known as FSBO.

Searching for ways on how to market or sell your home is not that difficult. You will be able to find a lot of resources online to assist you on how to go about this. There are specific websites which caters to buyers of FSBO homes and may also provide free services for sellers who would like to have their residential property sold at the nearest time possible.

These helpful sites can provide you space online where you will have the ability to post pictures of the house that you are selling including a very detailed description and information that will help catch the attention of buyers who are will to purchase residential property from available homes for sale by owner.

Aside from searching for these helpful websites, you should also avail of the necessary information needed for you to understand what is the current marketing condition nowadays. This is essential if you do not have enough background with real estate, or if you are a first timer on this.

You might as well also consider seeking for legal advice in terms of transferring your own residential property to another person. This is necessary because, you will have to abide by the law when it comes to transferring properties and getting cash or any other assets in return for the purchase. You will also have to accomplish a binding contract regarding the terms and conditions that may fall into legal cases of real estate and property.

There are different ways on how to learn how to market or sell the house that you own. You have to keep in mind that this may take time. But with enough help and advice from the experts as well as online resources, you will surely be able to get the hang of it and soon succeed in selling your residential property.

Finding the Best Deals in Foreclosure Homes For Sale By Joseph B. Smith

With the increasing number of home owners who are finding it hard to repay their loans and mortgages, more and more homes are being foreclosed by their lenders. This phenomenon in the real estate market has created a rising demand for cheap foreclosures that offer investors and buyers with instant equity and substantial savings. If you want to know how more about this investment opportunity, read how you can find the best deals in foreclosure homes for sale by using foreclosure listings.

Subscribe To Foreclosure Listings

Foreclosure listings contain lists of foreclosed properties that are available in the market. They contain the necessary information and details of the properties for sale. Alongside each description is also a photo of the property which can give you an idea of what to expect. Online listings are becoming more helpful nowadays as online sites are continuously developing their database system, information processing and are constantly on the lookout for new features that would increase their usability.

Once you are subscribed, you gain access to a list of foreclosures that are up for sale. Most online sites also feature handyman specials, distressed properties and other types of foreclosed properties. All you need to do is to register and pay the appropriate subscription fees. Once you are registered, you can now search for foreclosure homes for sale by typing in the zip code, address or state in the search box on the homepage.

Foreclosure listings make your search easier for you by also giving you information on the prevailing average prices in the locality.

By using this feature, you can then easily compare which areas fall within the price range you are willing to invest with. It can also help you to quickly spot the best deals for cheap houses and properties. And because foreclosure listings are updated daily, you are assured that you will not miss any opportunity in the market. You must know that in order to be successful in foreclosure investing, one needs fast, reliable information on his hands. This information can be provided by a reputable foreclosure listing. Investing in foreclosure homes for sale can be as easy as tapping a few simple keys right at the comforts of your own home.

Fannie Mae Foreclosures - Basic Information For Homebuyers By Joseph B. Smith

For homebuyers, the experience of buying, or even just the idea of purchasing a house can be very exciting, overwhelming, and most of the time very confusing. With the growth of the foreclosure market and the influx of various information, homebuyers are left confused on which property to purchase. This kind of foreclosures are not much different from any other foreclosures. You just need to make sure it is the right home for you. Gathering pertinent information is the key to finding that ideal home.

What is Fannie Mae?

The Federal National Mortgage Association, more popularly known as Fannie Mae, is a corporation established in 1968 by the U.S. Congress. The Corporation was first advanced during the Great Depression.

It was during this period that a considerable number of Americans lost their homes because of they could not afford to pay their mortgage loans. The primary role of Fannie is to acquire mortgage loans in default to allow lending institutions to always have sufficient funds to loan to homebuyers, adding liquidity to the mortgage market. The Federal Housing Financial Enterprises Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 gave the responsibility to help low-income homebuyers.

The company sets the guidelines for the loans that it accepts for purchase. This allows the organization to provide guarantee to mortgage-backed securities it issues. Mortgages that follow the guidelines are called conforming loans, while those that do not are called non-conforming loans.

What are Fannie Mae foreclosures?

The Corp's objective is to make property ownership more accessible to Americans. It is a good place to start for finding foreclosure homes at discounted prices. With the primary aim of recovering the money quickly, most Fannie Mae foreclosures are priced way below the property's market value. This allows the organization to offer low-cost homes to homebuyers. Foreclosed government properties often include financial programs to help make foreclosed homes more affordable.

Three Tips For Rebuilding Your Credit After Foreclosure By Chris C Burrows

Losing your home is hard enough, but you also lose your credit as well. Then, after the shock of this loss you realize that you are going to have to face a daunting task and that is to rebuild your credit after foreclosure. Here are three tips that can help you in this task so you can get your life back on track.

The first tip that you will want to utilize is to make sure that you talk to your creditors and work out a plan to pay off any of your outstanding debt. The faster that you get this outstanding debt paid off the faster you will start getting a higher score.

The second tip is if you want to get started quickly is to get a new credit card with a very low limit on it. Once you have this do not use it except once in a great while and pay it off in full as soon as possible. By paying it off and not having a balance carried on the credit card you will not have the interest charges nor will you have an extra bill each month.

The third tip is one more of self control on your part and that is to establish a budget. If you have a budget set in stone and stay within that goal that you have set for yourself you will start saving money each month. With the money that you are saving you will want to place it into a savings account which will look better as an established account in lenders eyes.

Rebuilding your credit after foreclosure is possible and something that you will want to do. To do this successfully you will want to follow the three tips above which will allow you to get a good start. One of the most important tips though is to make sure that you continue to pay on all of your debts otherwise you will never be able to reestablish yourself to lenders.

Preventing Foreclosure is Possible and Preferable By Chris C Burrows

Foreclosure is a word that no home owner wants to hear. After years of paying for a home, all it takes is a few missed payments to derail a lifetime of dreams. The good news is that preventing foreclosure is possible if home owners follow some simple strategies.

First, no home buyer should purchase more house that they can afford. A good credit record and a good job will usually get most people a decent home, but others are tempted to purchase more home than they can afford if the lender will approve the loan. Potential home buyers must realize that with the mortgage payment comes additional expenses like home maintenance, furniture, insurance and taxes. All of these expenses can eat away at the family budget and make it tough to make mortgage payments on time.

Once the contract is signed, a homeowner should make the monthly mortgage payment a priority. A home is a way to build wealth and generally is the most valuable asset people own. The mortgage payment is usually the largest expense in the family budget, so missing a payment and trying to recover can wreak havoc on the financial situation. When times are tough, families need to look at other places to cut back such as not eating out as much or giving up a family vacation.

Should a homeowner lose the ability to pay a mortgage on time, the lender should be contacted immediately.

Lenders know what steps to take toward preventing foreclosure. They can make adjustments to the loan or write a new loan, and they are more likely to work with a home owner who recognizes that they need help sooner than later.

Mortgage lenders are not in the businesses of selling homes. The last thing a lender wants is to foreclose on a property and have the responsibility for selling it, so early intervention on the part of the homeowner can go a long way in preventing foreclosure.