Sacramento Real Estate Views

More Foreclosures On The Way

No End In Sight

Someday, this is going to end.  Someday, we’re going to look back on this and saying, “damn that was tough”!”  But for now, we have to adjust, make changes where necessary and above everything else, survive this troubled time.  We will, we all will and we’ll be stronger because of it and also, we’ll make much better financial decisions as a result.

I had a conversation with a prominent REO listing agent yesterday who clearly told me, “get out of real estate, go do something else, anything else”.  The sky is falling.  He may be right.  Our financial system is quite a mess and may need a complete overhaul to keep it above water.

Many People In Pain

Going through a foreclosure is possibly one of the toughest things that can happen to someone.  It’s not intentional, no one meant to lose their home.  It just happens.  Divorce, job loss, mortgage reset..there are so many reasons causing this to happen.

Once you’re in foreclosure, the goal is to get out of it and on to a new beginning.  Don’t beat yourself up though. I know the CEO of GM isn’t beating himself up for running the company into bankruptcy.  He’ll just take his bonus, go to Tahiti, have a few Mai Tai’s and retire wealthy.  Something just doesn’t seem right about that but that’s the way it seems to go.

Are You In Foreclosure or Close To It?

The key thing to remember is that you have options depending on your situation.  You could:

1.  Arrange a loan in the amount needed to bring your mortgage current.

2.  Refinance your existing mortgage balance with a new lender.

3.  Sell your home at the highest price.

4.  Work with your lender to sell short or attempt a loan modification

5.  Find someone to purchase your home all cash and close it in 10 days. (sounds odd but they’re out there)

Most of the folks experiencing this terrible time just don’t have the option to refinance in anyway due to the lack of equity in their home or because they have been laid off, injured and can’t work.  These days, getting a loan on those terms is just impossible.

An important thing to remember is that you don’t have do go through this alone.  If you or someone you know is facing foreclosure, give us a call, may be able to help.

These are just some of the options available.  There are more.  Let’s work together to find the solution to your situation.

Thanks for visiting and please keep your chin up.  This will get better and so will your situation.

Related posts:

1. Foreclosure Cancellations Continue To Rise
2. Short Sales Are Becoming Easier!

Tags: foreclosure help sacramento

This entry was posted on Friday, June 12th, 2009 at 12:18 pm and is filed under Market Commentary, Sacramento Foreclosure Statistics. 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. Sue Baldo said at June 12th, 2009 at 5:44 pm

   Good for you for hanging in…..Good for all of who are hanging in!!
   These are troubled times and so many are suffering. Then there are those that use this situation to escape their responsibilities, I hope somewhere along the line they learn to stand tall, work hard and weather the storm as well.
   I applaud you for keeping a positive attitude, there are days it seems that is all we have…Kind of our shield of armor.
   I agree with you …this too shall pass and we will be better for it. Things were crazy, we hit tilt and recovery will not be swift or easy. What is it they say… nothing worth having ever is.
   We just need to get up every day and do the very best we can, seriously could you ever imagine a better time to buy? Just like the boom when prices were higher than we could imagine people are now wishing they had sold then. There will also be those that when we reach the other side will say, damn I should have bought!
   So… long winded as I am, thanks for being positive and Sell Sell Sell.

2. robsaxe said at June 12th, 2009 at 6:14 pm

   Thanks for the kind comments Sue!

3. Michael said at June 15th, 2009 at 11:05 am

   I’m an agent in Las Vegas and greatly enjoy reading your site.

   I started in Orange County (SoCal) in early 80′s – went through the high rates of Reagan, the S&L Crisis of late 80′s and early 90′s, and of course the insane frenzy of 03′ to 06′… thought I’d seen it all, but this is getting really scary!

   I’ve taken up the cause of only working with Short Sales – trying to help the damaged homeowner salvage some sort of “future” out of the mess their in (FNMA’s guidelines prefer you to s/s than to have a deed in liue or forelcousre – guess it’s a “silent endorsement”?)

   When talking with buyers I’ve driven most of them away with a personal “need” to make absolutely sure they understand what they’re getting into:

   Q- Have you considered continuing to rent? If not, why?

   Q- Have you looked at how you’ll make house payments if you lose your job?

   Q- IF prices were to fall another 5% to 10% (and I’m really being conservitive on this one!) would that impact your decision to buy now?

   Q- Will you have cash reserves to see you through a 6 month period of unemployment?

   Q- Here, look at this RENT CMA for the area… if you had to vacate the property and rent it at prices similar to these would you be able to handle any shortfall (assuming the standard 25% vacancy/maint factor)?

   As you can imagine – few buyers want to work with me… I refuse to tell them what they WANT to hear and have this moral obligation to illuminate the BS that I think they’re getting from so many in the industry, government and media!

   I’m trying to do my part to work through this market; believe fully in LONG TERM ownership of real estate and do not wish to leave the USA – these times will pass and we will survive… somehow.

   PS: I’ve closed roughly 7,000 transactions in this 25+ year career and have always been just as “hard” on my clients as I currently am… I’ve just had to change what I was focusing on to allow me to sleep at night – and at the moment short sales is doing that for me.

4. Greg Cowart said at June 15th, 2009 at 1:06 pm

   Great post! I’m glad to see people hanging in there and putting a positive face on where we are today. The Sacramento market is actually looking up and it makes sense that we may be the first ones out of this down cycle as we were one of the first markets in the downtrend.

   I’ll be subscribing to your blog!

   Thanks,
   Greg

5. lee heuer said at June 18th, 2009 at 6:12 am

   Very interesting blog. We will be seeing more foreclosures coming down the pike in the Miami area 2009, 2010 and 2011. But, I also believe that there will be investors who will be able to take advantage of the situation and pick up some really good values and hold them until the economy picks up and more people have more jobs and start buying again. In every downturn, there are people who make lots of money.

6. robsaxe said at June 18th, 2009 at 6:15 am

   Very true Lee. Thank you for your comment!

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