Posts by speare:
Working the Foreclosure Cycle – Your Key to Long Term Success
October 9th, 2009
As a Real Estate Broker, Lender and Investor, I have worked the foreclosure and distressed property market for over three decades. As you can imagine, I have seen many people come and go in real estate over the years. One of the main reasons for people leaving real estate is that they either lack the knowledge that the market will change or they are unprepared for the change when it comes. Sure, many of these people have some short term success. They may have learned one or two effective ways to conduct business, but within a few years, they are forced out of the market because the real estate cycle changes and they don’t have the ability or knowledge to change with it.
A recent example of the changing market would be after the Dotcom blow up of the stock market and terrorist attacks of 9/11. After these events, our economy went into a tail spin. The Federal Reserve responded by lowering interest rates to the lowest level in over 40 years. Real estate took off and we saw one of the greatest real estate booms in history. In Southern California, properties were appreciating between 20-30% a year. One did not have to have much skill for success in this market environment. One just needed to get into the market. It did not matter what they did, just get in, buy a property and fasten your seat belt. Appreciation and the euphoria of the market would take care of the rest.
Let’s take a closer look at a few types of people that were successful at that time but soon faded from the picture.
The 3 Steps to Short Sale Success
September 16th, 2009
With the cooling of the real estate market, the meltdown of sub-prime and option arm loans, rising unemployment and negative equity in properties, the number of homeowners that find themselves in foreclosure has skyrocketed to unprecedented levels. And it is predicted that several million more homeowners will fall into foreclosure in the next two years.
In today’s new market place more and more people in foreclosure that are upside down in their properties. They usually owe substantially more on their loans than the property is worth. Unfortunately, many agents today still do not know how to help these people.
Some may have heard about a short sale but don’t have the expertise to successfully complete one. Most agents struggle with short sales because they have not learned how to effectively manage the process.
To successfully work in the short sale market, you need to break down the short sale process into three steps. By breaking the process down it helps the agent focus on the important elements for completing each step. Once each step is mastered, the short sales process becomes systematic and easier for the agent to successfully complete a short sale.
The 3 Steps to Short Sale Success Are:
