BTR Wrap-Up

by Jim the Realtor | Apr 19, 2010 | Blog Talk Radio | 15 comments

The Blog Talk Radio was a disappointment…again.

It was probably my fault, but it couldn’t be any less user-friendly.  We’ll will re-group and try it again to see if we can ever get to the point of making it work right.

Here were the highlights:

Special guest Mark Elkins from Wells Fargo Bank described their policy on waiving the right to pursue a deficiency judgement on short sales.  He said that it depends on who owns the paper.  On the WFB-owned paper, generally they ARE waiving the right to pursue deficiency judgements.  But he also mentioned that over the last two years they have sold 90% of their loans to Fannie/Freddie/FHA/VA – who also are waiving their pursuit of deficiencies via the HAFA program.

But it is hard to tell who owns what, so borrowers will have to run their case through the usual channels to find out if the deficiency judgement will apply (they aren’t going to make it easy).

I blabbed on about remodeling.  You can recoup dollar for dollar if you do the kitchen and baths plus carpet and paint  before you sell, otherwise just do it for yourself and if it adds value when you sell, oh happy day.  But go all out, the half-baked remodels are a waste of money.

Lowballing is more likely to work from mid-summer on, when it is obvious to sellers that their price ain’t working.  Their listing goes stale after two weeks, and they really start to notice the inactivity after 30 days.  Hit ’em hard after 2-3 months on the market.

The recent action has been tepid – only the hot listings with a good price on an attractive home in a good location are generating the bidding wars. The listings of inferior homes in so-so locations are getting no offers, and little attention.  Buyers remain very picky.

I don’t see any changes – no flood of REO listings, and overall a very low inventory of quality homes.  Buyers are patient, and as a result, the market is likely to be stagnant for the next 30-60 days while sellers wait to see if anyone feels like paying their price.  There is a good chance that many buyers will write off the whole year.

The Bank of America REO assignments have not increased, I haven’t gotten any, and JimG said he had received 6, but those were December and January.

A caller from Santa Barbara asked about where buyers can look for additional inventory.  I mentioned the current escrow I have where we followed up on a trustee sale that was purchased by a flipper, and got to him and made the deal before he put it on the open market.  But second angle is to lowball the old stale listings, which could be a treasure trove.

We also covered the car coming later this week.  It’s a 1979 Cadillac Seville, an identical match to the one I owned when we lived in La Jolla.  It is a sentimental buy, admittedly, and probably just a way to relive the past – but much cheaper than moving back to the Jewel!  The photo isn’t the exact car, but similar image from google.

Thanks to all who participated – we’ll do it again! Click on the arrow to hear the tape (after the commercial), this is the edited version which cuts about 15 minutes off the original:

Blog Talk Radio Tonight

by Jim the Realtor | Apr 19, 2010 | Blog Talk Radio | 14 comments

We’re fired up about the next try at talk radio tonight at 7:30pm!

If you have a question that you’d like to hear discussed, leave it in the comment section here, or call in. The first 500 minutes of call time are free to you. For those who can’t make it, there will be a copy available later.