I’ll be subscribing to your blog!

Thanks,
Greg

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.