For quite a few weeks I have been posting a list of the bank owned, REO listings in Big Bear on a weekly basis.
I have had good response from the list and as a result, plan to keep the list of bank owned, REO homes in Big Bear updated
every week. If you want a customized list that fits your own needs, please feel free to email me. Once I know
what you are looking for, I will send you a customized list once a week
I have a number of properties listed for sale in the Big Bear Valley.While the majority
of these homes are bank owned, REO listings, some are privately owned homes.
My responsibility
to the client whether it is a bank or a private seller is to negotiate the best price and terms possible.When
a potential buyer calls the office and asks to see the property, my normal reaction is to drop whatever I’m doing and
meet the buyer at the property.Once I’m in front of the buyer, I will do everything I can to close
the deal.
We had a situation occur at the office today where a buyer called in, who readily
admitted to be working with another agent, asked if he could see one of our listings.I would have some
questions for this type of buyer.Questions like, where is your agent?Did your agent bother to come to Big Bear with you so that he could show you property?Did your
agent simply provide you with a list of properties to view and then sent you out on your own?If the answer
to these questions is yes, then I’ve got to wonder.What kind of agent do you have representing you?Does this agent know the values in Big Bear?How can they advise you on your offer if they don’t
know the area, or haven’t been in the house that you want to make an offer on?How much effort are
they going to put into the escrow if they were too lazy to come to Big Bear and help you find a property?
What we have seen is the buyer calls the office and asks to see the property.He admits
that he has his or her own agent but they are not available to show them property. They expect you, as the listing agent to
drop whet ever you are doing and open the property for a viewing.The attitude seems to be that, because
you are getting a piece of the pie when the property sells, you should be grateful to the buyer.Yes, we
get paid once the property sells.Why should we close the deal for the buyer, only to have him write the
offer with an agent who has never set foot on the property?
So, if you come to Big Bear without
your agent and expect me to do his job for him, I will do it.But when the deal is all said and done, he
can expect to see less of a commission than if he came to Big Bear and did his job.
Your Free List Of Bank Owned, REO Listings for Big Bear Lake
Due to the quick turnover of the bank owned, REO properties in the Big Bear valley, I have found it necessary to update my
bank owned, REO list every week. The ban owned, REO properties are the homes that buyers have really focused on in 2009
in the Big Bear Valley. Since January 1, 2009, over 70 percent of all homes sold in Big Bear were bank owned, REO listings.
Below is your free list of bank owned, REO properties for the week of February 23, 2009.
Your Free List of Bank Owned, REO Listings for the Big Bear Valley
Due to the quick turnover of the ban owned, REO properties in the Big Bear valley, I have found it necessary to update
my bank owned, REO list every week. The ban owned, REO properties are the homes that buyers have really focused on in
2009 in the Big Bear Valley. Since January 1, 2009, over 70 percent of all homes sold in Big Bear were bank owned, REO
listings. Below is your free list of bank owned, REO properties for the week of February 16, 2009.
Just yesterday an agent from another brokerage was in our office in Big Bear telling
us about a home that he had just listed. When I heard the address, my ears perked up because I was the listing agent
when the current owner bought the cabin. The current owner bought this cabin about 18 months ago, so hearing that it
was going up for sale, made me wonder about the price he was planning on asking for it. I asked about the listing price
and before he told me what it was listed for, he started off by telling me that he took the listing for twelve months and
felt that he would need every bit of that twelve months to sell the place. Obviously, he has the cabin priced at an
inflated value.
The Big Bear valley is no different than the rest of California.
We ARE in a declining real estate market. The days of overpricing a listing and wait for the
market to catch up with it are long gone. This is a market where an individual who wishes to sell his or her home, must
price it very aggressively. Less than 20% of the homes listed in the local Big Bear Multiple Listing Service are
bank owned, REO properties. Yet, the bank owned, REO properties, accounted for 70% of the sales last month. What
does this mean to the home owner who would like to sell his Big Bear property? You've got it; it all comes down
to price. If you want your home to sell, it MUST stand out as being the best value out there compared to everything else on
the market, including the bank owned REO properties.
So, getting back to my
question that I asked at the beginning of this blog, who's best interest is this guy serving? How is listing a property
that is approximately $40,000 over priced benefiting the seller? I tell my clients. If you don't have to sell
your cabin in Big Bear in this market, then don't. But if you have no choice and must sell, then it is imperative
that you price your home to sell. My client are told that I'm not here to tell you what your house is
worth. I'm here to tell them what it will sell for. The clients that get it, the clients who understand this
concept, normally sell their homes.
But Tony, I owe more on the home than
what you're telling me you can sell it for. If you're trying to sell your home and you owe more
on it than it is worth, you are not alone. Many people are in the same situation. The answer to this problem is
to communicate with the bank and see if they'll work with you on a short sale. A short sale is much better for you
than trying to hold out for an over inflated price on a home that you can no longer afford.
If you find that you need to sell your home, then please price it to sell. If the Realtor who comes out
to list your home tells you that it is only worth $140,000, yet will take the listing for $185,000, you need to ask yourself
this question. Is this guy looking out for my best interest or his own?
You bought your week end get a way in Big Bear in 2006 and sat helplessly as your property taxes were adjusted
to reflect the new value of the property. I can't think of one of my clients who were thrilled when they got the
supplemental tax bill. Because of Proposition 13, the state is unable to increase taxes until the property sells.
Once the property changes ownership, the new owner is taxed off of the assessed value of the property. Up until recently,
that meant your taxes were going up as home values in Big Bear were up. With the increase of bank owned, REO properties
coming on the market and the decrease of home values, property taxes also have taken a dive.
In
December of 2007 I sold a bank owned, REO property for $60,000 less than the previous owner paid for it. The new home
owner had to show the county assessor's office that the value of the home had in fact decreased before he would adjust
the property taxes down to what he paid for it.
As most, if not all of California is in
a declining real estate market, the county assessor's offices are being inundated with requests from home owners to reduce
their property taxes. If you feel that you're paying too much in your property taxes, simply contact your county
tax assessor office and request a reduction.
Requesting a reduction is as easy as
logging on to your county tax assessor site, pull up the form and simply fill it out. Once you have filled the form
out, simply hit the submit button and your done. San Bernardino County has a one page form that you can fill out and submit on line. The process in Los Angeles and Riverside counties are very similar to San Bernardino. The site for San Diego County is also set up to handle the decline in property tax request
0What Do I Do When I Can't Afford My Cabin In Big Bear?
The
Way It Was In 2006
You purchased your cabin in Big Bear in 2006 for $299,000.00Loans were very easy
to get at that time so you bought the cabin with as little as 10% down.In an effort to keep the monthly
payment nice and low, you chose the Adjustable Rate Mortgage, (ARM) over the 30 year fixed rate.Fixed
rate mortgages were 6 percent and the interest only ARM was only 4.5 percent.The fact that the note would
only give you three years at that low rate didn’t concern you because you would simply refinance the loan when the time
came.
The Way It Is
In 2009
Ok, the three years have come and gone and your mortgage has reset to a much higher interest rate.The payment is too much for your budget so you look to refinance the mortgage.You bought the cabin
in 2006 for $299,000. You quickly learn that your Big Bear cabin isn’t worth much more than $199,000.00! You
walk away from your Realtor somewhat speechless knowing that you have lost $100,000 in three years.You
can’t refinance the $299,000.00 mortgage and you can’t afford to continue paying the mortgage.
What are your options?
The fact of the matter is
that you DO have some options.Your first and most important option is that you need to call your lender
and ask for help.Explain the situation to the lender and ask for a loan modification.Lenders
don’t want to foreclose on your mortgage.They would much rather take a look at your situation and
see what can be done to help you out.I’ve heard of lenders who have taken what you’re behind
and moved them to the back end of the loan.Some lenders are converting the ARM to fixed rate mortgages
and others are dropping these high interest rates to much more affordable numbers.
If you are unable to work out a home loan modification,
then you must decide how to handle the financial mess that you’re in.Can you hold on to the property
and ride it out?If so, that is your best option.If you can’t afford to ride
it out, then you need to choose whether to deed the house back to the bank in lieu of Foreclosure, Sell the house as a Short
Sale, or ride it out and be foreclosed on.
While none of these options sounds like they would be much fun, selling the house as a short sale
might be your best way to go.The bank would rather you sell your home as a short sale and get whatever
the house is worth than having to foreclose on it.
No matter what way you chose to go, always consult with a tax professional as you want to understand
the tax ramifications.
Your Free List Of REO and Short Sale Properties in Big Bear Lake
This is the current list of Bank Owned, REO and Short Sale properties for sale in The Big Bear Valley for the week of February
9, 2009. If you would like your own personalized Big Bear Real Estate list emailed to you on a weekly basis,
simply call me or send me a email. My email is tony@tonycard.com and my phone number is 909 866-3481
RESIDENTIAL short sales in Big
Bear sound like a walk in the park: Simply put, Owners need to sell their homes for less than they owe, lenders forgive the
difference and buyers grab a good deal.
If
it only worked like that. Below is an example of one my easier Short Sale Experiences.When
my client asked me to make an offer on this particular property, I warned him that it was a Short Sale and he would need to
be very patient.
From my own
experience, “The
waiting is torture,” Any time I write an offer on a Short Sale property in the Big Bear Valley, I
stress to my clients that they will need to be patient “The banks are overwhelmed with short-sale requests, and some
of my deals have taken over 90 days to get an answer.In most cases, the wait has been worth it, but in
a few, the bank has said NO.
Yet
despite the obstacles to successful short sales – lenders holding the first and second mortgages don’t agree on
the terms, buyers losing patience and bailing out of the deal midstream, or banks nix the agreement just before escrow closes
– they’re on the rise.According to a bank representative that I recently spoke too, the bank
that she works for has seen a 60% increase in Short Sale offerings in the past 90 days
What appears to be the big reason for the increase
in Short Sales, is that as more financially strapped homeowners fall behind on their mortgage payments – and see their
homes’ values plummet to less than what they owe, they turn to short sales as an alternative to foreclosure.
There was a time when the Banks,
wanted nothing to do with the short sale process.They were under staffed for the onslaught of paperwork
that comes with the Short Sale.I am finding that the Short Sale process is much smoother than it
used to be.The bank told me that the reason they were taking the Short Sale more seriously was because
it was less expensive than the foreclosure. While no one is happy about losing money, the banks are learning
that they are losing less by cooperating with the Short Sale process.
Unlike a foreclosure, in which the lender takes ownership of a property
after a borrower misses several payments, a short sale is a transaction in which the owners, not the bank, sell the home;
they receive no proceeds from the sale. In a foreclosure, the defaulting owner may receive sales proceeds once the lender
has been paid, if the amount exceeds that of the outstanding loan.
In this case, the seller owed more than$300,000.00 for his cabin in Big
Bear.After 90 days of working with the bank, He was able to Short Sale it for $138,000.00. The
sellers need not be in default – meaning they stopped making mortgage payments – in order for a lender to consider
a short sale, but they must be able to show a real hardship to receive the debt forgiveness, which may have tax consequences.
Then there’s the wait
It sounds straightforward, but
from my own experience in dealing with Short Sales in Big Bear, the short-sale road is a long one. Once sellers have an offer,
they must assemble a package to present to the bank, including a “hardship letter” explaining why they had to
put the house up for sale – loss of employment, a spousal death, a divorce, a disability or a mortgage resetting, for
example – and asking the bank to accept a short sale.
The sellers also must provide income verification, their most recent bank and income-tax
statements, the listing history of the house and other documentation.
Bargain bins
Lenders will not accept short-sale offers that are far below market
value. Before the lender can make a decision, he needs to find out what the current value is on the property in question.This is normally done by a Broker’s Price Opinion.A non interested third party Realtor will
be paid to perform a market analysis on the property and report back to the lender. Once the lender has this information,
he can then determine if the offer presented is in line with the current value.If it is, the banks will
normally approve the Short Sale.If the BPO comes in at a higher price than what is being offered, the
bank would either counter the offer or simply say no.
Many agents that I know here in Big Bear tell me that they avoid the Short Sale process
and try to persuade their clients not to get involved in a Short Sale.If they don’t
know what they’re doing, then they need to stay as far away from the Short Sale process as possible.There
are a few Realtors in Big Bear, such as myself who specialize in the Short sale process both as a listing agent and a buyer’s
agent.If you are either looking to sell your property as a short sale in Big Bear, or would like to take
advantage of the market and buy a short sale, please give me a call. I can help!
Free List Of Bank Owned, REO Properties For Big Bear. Week of February 2, 2009
This is the current list of Bank Owned, REO and Short Sale properties for sale in The Big Bear Valley for the week of February
2, 2009. If you would like your own personalized Big Bear Real Estate list emailed to you on a weekly basis,
simply call me or send me a email. My email is tony@tonycard.com and my phone number is 909 866-3481.
How Can A Seller Compete With The Bank Owned, REO Listing
As a Realtor in
Big Bear Lake, I have the opportunity to meet with a number of people, some Buyers and some Sellers.In
the five years that I’ve been selling Real Estate in Big Bear, I’ve gone from a very strong seller’s market
to the current Buyer’s market.The days of taking an overpriced listing and simply waiting for the
market to catch up with the price have fallen by the way side. The MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR
in 2009 that a seller must understand if he or she is going to be successful in selling a Big Bear property is PRICE!
Currently, there are 949
properties for sale in the Big Bear Valley.140 of these homes are Short Sales and Bank Owned, REO properties.The Bank Owned, REO and Short Sale properties account for 15% of the current inventory, yet the account for 70% of
the sales.Did you get that?70% of all property selling in Big Bear today are Bank
Owned, REO and Short sale properties!
What does this mean to the home owner who wants to sell his home?Simply put, the
home owner who wants to sell in today’s market MUST price his property so that it competes with the
bank owned, REO property.If he doesn’t understand this basic concept, he won’t have any success
in selling his home.
Just for the fun of it, below are the top excuses sellers have given me over the years for why they won’t reduce
the price.
"My
house is worth it." Well, according to who? Usually, this statement is followed by a shopping list of items
that have been added to the house: hardwood floors, 9-foot ceilings, new appliances, upgraded bath/kitchen, you name it. Yeah,
your house is unique, just like everybody else's. The reality is while your house may have all those neat amenities, so
do the other dozens, scores or hundreds of homes in your market area that are also on the market.
"It's a great looking
house." It better look great if it's going to beat out the competition. Location, price and condition will
always be a factor in any market. It may look great, but looks have nothing to do with real value. When you start thinking
that your house pales all the competition it means one thing you probably haven't seen other houses like yours on the
market.
"I
have to get this much or I can't sell." Oh, I really like this one. What a seller needs doesn't matter
to the buyer. The buyer is looking for as much value in a community of high-priced houses. In the DC area, the average price
lingers around $550,000. For that price, many buyers want the house to look good, have plenty of amenities and be connected
with a realistic seller who is motivated.
"If I can't get my price, then I'll take it off the market." My
question to that statement is: "Then why are you on the market to begin with?" Look at what it's going to take
to sell your home and realize your true goal -- getting that next property. Looking at only what your house will draw is too
short sighted. The real question is, "What kind of deal can I get on the next house?"
As a member of Chuck Hurd's Real Estate Group, my goal is to demonstrate that professionalism truly
exists in the real estate industry, and my commitment is to prove this with every time we speak. Please enjoy my site,
and please don't hesitate to contact me if I can assist you in any way.