Those paying attention are seeing realtors continuing to commit short-sale fraud, and about the only hope for it to end is for short sales themselves to run out of steam. If the debt-tax relief doesn’t get extended (unlikely but possible) and those underwater sense an appreciating-market, we could see short sales go away.
This was one failed attempt – the realtor initially priced this short-sale listing at $475,000, only to raise it to $627,000 once his phone lit up like a Christmas tree.
The mortgage industry has been slow to react, but this article (free w/registration) mentions one paragraph of hope too:
Another developing practice is to look for pricing patterns with realtors. One red flag is when certain Realtors are consistently involved in transactions for properties that sell well below market value. This can indicate that the realtor is providing below-market-value BPOs to influence the asking price.
Could we be done with short sales in the next year or so?
Is that a weaselly way of marketing the property?
That’s one way to describe it.
OT: Jim, popped into Stonebridge Estates today after having seen your videos. Those models are even nicer in person, and they looked great when you shot them.
I was there this afternoon too – how did I miss you??
Models are great, available lots are mostly inferior, and the junior salespeople are getting in the way of sales.
No kidding? Must’ve been a close miss — we were there just after 1pm.
We were at SP at 1:30, but I wasn’t looking for you – could have walked right by?
We hit TB first & then SP, but I didn’t see any of your rides around at either place. We were driving our black 2002 MDX which we parked on the curb; see that? Must’ve been a razor close miss.
We chose not to engage the salespeople, but if they had pressed us I was going to say you were our agent.
Thanks, I appreciate that!
Yes, razor-close. We did SP then TB, might have passed you in between? Did you have the bear with you? 😆
The TB La Jolla model is decked out, and has real ‘wow’ factor. We then looked at a La Jolla production home where the buyers chose a ceramic-tile, non-diagonal installation for that big great room. It looked so different I could barely recognize it as the same floor plan.
I don’t know how people can spend a million dollars and then install ceramic tile. If you have any sense of resale value, you must use a higher-quality flooring. Someday you’ll expect the next guy to pay $1.5 to $2.0!
I think we did pass each! Amazing.
There was so much to like about both sets of models that my better half kept saying “if I had this I’d never leave home.”
Unfortunately they’re just a weeee bit out of my commuting range. 🙁
p.s.: Yes, the bear’s always there. So was my German Shepherd.
Meant to say “I think we did pass each other”, since she thinks she may have seen a black MB pass by.
BTW, I almost called you before going because I couldn’t remember “Stonebridge”. Ended up looking it up here at Bubbleinfo using her smartphone.
Too funny.