Sacramento Real Estate Views

Sacramento Real Estate – Short Sales: Are the Banks Finally On Board?

Short Sales Becoming Fashionable

The banks have been ridiculous with regard to short sales.  The home gets listed, we make repeated attempts to contact the bank to get the home sold and the bank doesn’t respond.  I’ve submitted offers to banks with no response at all only to be phoned later, months later, asking if my buyer is still interested, your offer has been approved.

Thanks!  My buyer closed 2 months ago!

Then the home goes into foreclosure.  Did you know that on average, a short sale sells for about 25% more than a foreclosed home?  No wonder the financial institutions are in the shape they’re in.

The fact is allowing a home owner to sell short will, in most cases, net the bank more money and save money in repairs and maintenance because there isn’t any!

While the process is going on, the home owner is living in the home and handling all of the maintenance associated with living there.   The home isn’t vacant and open to vandalism.  The homeowner is paying the utilities not the bank.  Not only do they sell for 25% more but they don’t cost the bank a dime in maintenance and upkeep.  There is no asset management company to pay as the negotiations are handled directly through the lender.

Why wouldn’t you want to approve a short sale?  Maybe BIG BROTHER knows but it’s a mystery to me.

More Short Sales in Pending Sale Than Ever Before in Sacramento

A recent check of the MLS shows that the percentage of short sale listings being sold has been increasing dramatically, an indication that the banks are getting on board with the process.  That is a good thing as there are many more to come and foreclosing is suddenly not popular.

It seems every bank out there has imposed a foreclosure moratorium and I hear loan modification stories from homeowners almost every day.  The market is changing.

In an article from the mortgagenewsdaily.com, click here, it appears as if this trend toward short sales is increasing in some locations throughout the nation.  Hopefully they will become increasingly easier to work with because selling a home short rather than letting it go into foreclosure is a win for the lender, a win for the buyer and a win for the community.

I hate to sound cynical but would that make too much sense?

(This is my 100th post!)

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Tags: sacramento real estate, short sales in sacramento

This entry was posted on Friday, February 20th, 2009 at 6:57 am and is filed under Foreclosure Statistics, Real Estate Market Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1. Nate Sisam said at February 20th, 2009 at 11:43 am

   Congrats. on post # 100 !

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