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If you’re looking for inspiration involving realtors and properties, look no further than these novels.  Entertaining, funny and even educational, these books will show you the other side of real estate in all its humorous, gritty glory.

Red Hot Property by Devin O’Branagan
Devin O’Branagan’s new book “Red Hot Property” follows four real estate agents as they begin their careers. Sometimes it’s a bumpy road, filled with dangers and pitfalls. They’re not always in the open houses; Molly O’Malley and Valentino DeMitri also have to wade through the perils of office politics.  Despite the wholesome safety warnings, O’Branagan manages to keep the book an exciting, believable read.

Cracks in the Foundation by Erica Ferencik
Ginger Kanadoo has been coasting along on a notoriously slow real estate market in Squamskootnocket, NY, so she plans to make the most of her latest listing… an outhouse. Teaming up with her 93-year-old aunt and her Wiccan daughter against arch-rival Tandy Brickenhausen, Ginger fights to keep a toehold on real estate representation. This is a very funny book with a lot of truths about real estate and the selling of it hidden behind the laughs.

Fatal Fixer-Upper by Jennie Bentley
New York textile designer Avery Baker inherits a 1870s Victorian cottage in Maine from her aunt and decides to renovate it herself.  She throws herself into reclaiming the home with the help of a good looking handyman, Derek Ellis… pity that they clash so much on modern vs. vintage.  Home renovation takes a deadly twist, though, when she starts finding clues that could mean that her renovation project is turning deadly…

The Ruthless Realtor Murders (Wyn Lewis Mysteries) by David A. Kaufelt
The third book in the Wyn Lewis Mysteries, “The Ruthless Realtor Murders” has realtor/lawyer Wyn Lewis trying to solve the murders of local realtors involved in condo developments in Wagg’s Neck Harbor.  Can she find out who is bumping off everyone in the real estate profession before she gets nailed for a crime she didn’t commit?

Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk
A real estate agent sells haunted houses repeatedly because the buyers can’t live in them.  An investigative reporter finds that there is a correlation between the haunted homes and crib death via a lullaby that kills.

Dracula by Bram Stoker
The legend of Dracula has been so overshadowed by the allure of the vampire, most people forget that it all started with a real estate transaction.  This book is definitely a safety-first warning to agents who go into the boonies to meet an unknown client.

A real estate short sale situation may be right when a homeowner is in foreclosure and the loan amount is close to the value of the home. The seller cannot sell the house with an agent because the fees involved exceed any moneys received from the sale. What can you do?

If you own a house and are late on your payments, you might want to learn more about short sales and if a short sale is right for your situation. Banks will consider a short sale in lieu of getting the home back. The bank takes less than what is owed on the loan.

An example would be, if you owe say $300,000 dollars on your home and you are facing foreclosure the bank might take $225,000 dollars and you’re off the hook for the balance. Bank will consider a short sale because if the bank continues to foreclose they most likely will get the house back - and that’s bad news for a bank. They will then have to hire a real estate agent, make any necessary repairs, wait several months in hopes of getting an offer, that, they still might lose money on the process. It’s far simpler for a bank to sell the property to a cash home buyer and cut their losses. The most beneficial point to a short sale is that the seller does not have a foreclosure on their credit report, just a loan adjustment.

A key component to all short sales is that the owner(s) need to be completely up side down and was victim of some kind of a hardship - out of the ordinary event that caused the default; such as illness, accident, loss of job, etc.

Sometimes the only way you can sell a house and protect your credit is through a short sale. It allows you to sell your house really fast, gets you out of the loan responsibility and you can go on with your life. You almost always need a cash buyer/investor to handle the process correctly, ensuring a successful transaction. Banks want you to use an investor because they want to close out the loan as soon as possible.

Explanation of a short sale A short sale occurs when a lender agrees t accept less that the amount owed to payoff a loan as an alternative to foreclosure. If the property is worth less than the amount owed on the loan, then even if the lender forecloses and takes back the property, they know they are going to take a loss. We can often convince the lender that they will benefit better if they take less than what is owned now rather than taking the property back by foreclosure and trying to sell it later.

Typical Time Frame The short sale negotiation process is a lengthy one. It may take several weeks or more likely several months to get an approval. Lenders have several layers of bureaucracy, insurers, and investors that we will have to maneuver through in order to get a short sale approved. So it is important to be patient during this long process.

My House if going to foreclosure, it there enough time? Not always. Just staring a short sale won’t automatically stop a foreclosure. However, many times an experienced short sale negotiation service; such as TheShortSaleHouse.com, or seasoned agent can convince a lender to stop the foreclosure to let them attempt to negotiate a short sale. So, while there are no guarantees, it does not hurt to try.

How long can I stay in the house? The key word is short sale is sale. The purpose of a short sale is to get the property sold. So you will need to move. We aren’t a program that can stop a foreclosure and allow you to keep the house indefinitely. It will be easier to sell a house if it is vacant, so you should make plans to move as soon as possible,

How do I know this will work? You really don’t. No one should make any promises to you that this will work, Once you missed a payment, the lender is in charge and can proceed to foreclosure if they want to. But you know they don’t want to and the negotiator should be very good at presenting alternatives to the lender that they often want to accept rather than foreclose. They should be very good at what they do, but NO PROMISES are being made as to where or not the lender will accept a short sale - every lender is different.

How much money will I get? You can’t get any money. A universal requirement of lenders in granting a short sale is that the borrower will not get any proceeds from the sale of the property. The lender is going to take a loss on your loan - they are not going to let you get any money. If you have something of value, the buyer may be willing to buy that item separate of this short sale.

What happens is this does not work? Your house will likely go to foreclosure. A short sale is something you should try after you exhausted all your other options.

What is a “RELEASE?” A lender may offer to ‘release’ its security interest against the property in exchange for less than the total amount of the note. A release will allow the property to be sold without paying off the obligations of the note. However, the note is not satisfied.

Advantages: This successful short sale will allow the property to be sold and thus avoid a foreclosure.

Disadvantages: The remaining debt on the property (sometimes called a ‘deficiency’) still exists. You are still liable for the note - in other words - you still owe the money.

Reality: It is not likely that the lender will pursue the deficiency unless you have other significant assets, and if you don’t try a short sale and the property goes to foreclosure, you are going to have a deficiency anyways.

What is a “satisfaction?” A lender may agree to accept less than it is owed as complete and total satisfaction of the note and release its lien against the property.

Advantages: Your note and obligation to the lender are satisfied for less than you owe. When the property is sold, the debt is paid off completely.

Disadvantages: You may have some tax consequences that you should discuss with your tax adviser since the lender is making money you owe disappear. Sometimes our negotiations are successful in obtaining satisfaction. Sometimes all the negotiator can get is a release.

The lender will require review of financial package that usually includes: two months bank statements, two months pay stubs, two years most recent IRS tax returns, and other common information. The leading cause of delay and even denial of our offer to the lender is caused by the seller failing to deliver these items in a timely manner.

How to edit a blog entry on a “Real Estate Road Kill” Wordpress Licensee site.

First of all, “yes” some short sales take long to sell and “yes” some short sale listings can be frustrating.  But let me tell you this; not all are created equal! With a little patience and a little creativity you can overcome some of the shortcomings of listing pre-foreclosure/short sale properties and make a lot of money by helping homeowners get out from underneath the huge burden of debt and stress they are under.

Let’s deconstruct three of the biggest short sale myths:

Reduced commissions
They take too long
Too hard to close

1.  Reduced Commissions

Yes, it’s true when it comes to a short sale; the lender is in the driver’s seat.  And since they hate to lose money they tend to reduce the amount of commissions by an average of 1%, meaning that if your area pays out 6%, they will only approve 5%, which will be split by both the agents involved in the transaction.

You know what I say to that?  Who cares! Be creative! Did you know that there are 7 additional profit centers that can offset your 1% cut in commission?  Let’s take a look at what they are:

A “Loss Mitigation Fee” via the Lender
A “Loss Mitigation Fee” via the Buyer
A “Loss Mitigation Fee” via the Attorney or Title Company.
A “Loss Mitigation Fee” via the Seller
Referral fee from a listing agent (for doing the loss mitigation work on their short sale).
Buy it as an investment (buy and hold or buy and flip).
Any combination of all of the above!!

The “Loss Mitigation Fee” is a fee that we collect only when we successfully negotiate a short sale and have the foreclosing lender pay for all of the closing costs (the realtor commissions, attorney/title company fees, conveyance taxes, etc.).

2. It Takes Too Long

The average loss mitigator receives an average of 30 NEW files a day.  Not a week, not a month but a DAY!  That is part of the reason that short sales can take a while, but it isn’t the main reason.  The primary reason is because the majority of real estate agents submit short sale packages that are less than adequate and professional!  Meaning;

They are incomplete in terms of paperwork (entire documents are missing)
They are arranged poorly (Yes, that makes a difference!)
They are sent to the wrong person or department (happens very often)
They are incomplete in terms of information (i.e. the financial worksheet isn’t completely filled in)

Those and many more reasons cause short sales to get hung up.  Once again, take what the defense gives you.  If loss mitigators are overwhelmed, then the key is to put together a professional and presentable short sale package guaranteed to get your short sale offer reviewed and approved.

3.  They Are Too Hard to Close

With the right system they are not hard!  Let’s take a look at how to overcome the two biggest reasons why short sales blow up right before the closing.

Not managing expectations
This is a negotiating process.  Make sure you clearly communicate the process every step of the way to the buyer and the seller. We use an online short sale management tool called ManageMyShortSale.com to automatically keep everyone connected to the short sale process, which is updated in real time.
Many deals blow up because real estate agents fail to communicate to both the homeowner and the buyer the current status of the short sale and what to expect when they negotiate with the foreclosing lender(s).
Lack of qualified buyers

The key is not to have only one buyer but to have a pool of qualified buyers that are pre-approved.  The best buyers to keep an eye out for are those that are already pre-approved and that have funds in place to make an actual purchase.

The two easiest ways to do that are:
Start networking with every real estate agent that specializes in buyer’s representation. They are easy to find because it is in all of their advertisements.
Start working closely with every single mortgage broker or direct lender that you know, or that one of your fellow agents knows.

In conclusion, listing pre-foreclosure/short sale properties can take some time to close. However; in this market everyone needs to stick together and help one another out. By building the right network of real estate professionals, we can all ensure that our listings (short sales or not) do not sit out there without a buyer!

For more real estate industry news and loss mitigation blogs and videos visit www.RealEstateBusinessMentors.com or visit www.AskBobLachance.com for any short sale bank negotiating questions.

Short sale is an alternate to bankruptcy or foreclosure proceedings in real estate. Home owners who are incapable to pay back the mortgage loan on the property sells the property less than the outstanding loan and the entire dealings goes towards the repayment of loan to the lender or the bank. Here the mortgage lender or the bank agrees to reduce the outstanding loan amount on the home due to the economic hardship of the borrower wherein he is unable to repay the loan further.

In short sale the lenders or the bank approves the sale process of the house when they make out that the loss they will bear is negligible as compared to foreclosure. But the transaction of property proceedings is completely to the approval of the bank or the lender. They can approve or disapprove the transaction as according to the payoff they will be receiving on the sale. However all the lenders or the banks have different set of parameters for the procedure of a short sale.

As a seller your credit report in case of short sale seller will be affected. You will come under the scrutiny of the mortgage lenders and the banks in case of fresh loan approval but still the case of will be well off than bankruptcy. You must understand that although bankruptcy does not stop you from buying home but in this case for approving mortgage loan for buying house you need big down payment and be ready to pay higher interest rates on the loan taken. Short sale option is considered to be much better option for owners in financial hardships.

You must also understand that every property or home owner is not eligible for short sale. This procedure has some set criteria which have to be fulfilled by the home owner and the property before the deal proceeds. Here are some criteria for short sale. First, the home owner cannot repay the loan further due to financial hardships. However cases like moving out, miserable neighbors or bad buying judgment does not count in financial hardships. Secondly, if the existing price of the house is less that the loan amount due like in case the market rate of the house has dropped. Thirdly, the mortgagee has no other asset apart from the said property to repay his debts and fourth, the mortgage loan is in or near in default. At times even in current the bank might consider short sale if the value of the property has depreciated.

Sometimes even if you fulfill all the conditions you still are not eligible for a short sale if you do not have a proposal from the buyer because the offer that the buyer make to you has to be accepted by the third party, the lender or the bank in case of short sale. Once you qualify for a short sale you must always remember that this will influence your credit report.

As a buyer of short sale property there are important things that you must consider before doing the transaction. Like knowing the total outstanding amount the seller owes to the bank you can always quote the right offer so that it is neither below nor overpriced. Also the offer has to be approved by the lender too for short sale transaction so you must understand all pros and con of the transaction as the entire deal might take months. Also find out if the existing home owner is in default or not because you do not want to make any investments with any extra expense in future.