More and more investors and real estate agents are using attorneys and negotiators to get their deals done.

It’s the perfect answer to the “I don’t want to deal with banks and short sales” issue. OR IS IT?

If you are a homeowner trying to get a short sale approved on your home, whether you’re a homeowner or an investor, you might want to think twice about the hands-off negotiations. There are far too many people that over promise and under deliver. Read the full story

There’s good news and bad news about short sales!

The good news is that if you can follow a checklist, you can submit a short sale package to the lender.

The bad news is that the checklist of documents can be daunting to say the least!

The best advice is to contact the lender prior to submitting your package to get their list in the event they have additional requirements, want specific components on their paperwork/letterhead, etc. Each lender is different, so it pays to take a few minutes up front to get Read the full story

The housing bubble has been inflated because of the media… PERIOD!

Think about it. People watch the nightly news or pick up a copy of their local newspaper and it’s “doom and gloom” everywhere you turn!

But do you remember back a few years ago when it was “the hottest real estate market” in history? The truth of the matter is that the “housing bubble” that everyone was panicking over is more hype than it ever was reality!

If you actually take just a few moments to do a little research and come to your own conclusions, you’ll see that the media is defining our market not necessarily the facts.

Sure… no one would disagree that the housing market has slowed across much of the country and that some areas are harder hit than others. Of course, if you’re in one of the areas that was hardest hit, you still may very well be feeling the pinch. Read the full story

Everyone is looking for a foreclosure “deal” these days and there’s lots to choose from these days, but be careful… just because a property is in foreclosure, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a “deal”. In fact, nowadays, it takes more time to sift through the leads to find the really good opportunities within the foreclosure market.

The more potential foreclosure properties you have to sift through, the higher your chances are for finding a deal.

The top 5 ways to finding foreclosures are:

1. Bandit Signs
   Bandit signs are plain white or yellow corrugated signs with metal stands that stick into the ground. You can find preprinted signs or you can buy plain signs and handwrite your message on the signs. Place them on corners of busy intersections or in neighborhoods in which you want to purchase a foreclosure home. Read the full story

If you’ve resisted the foreclosure market in the past because there was a lot of competition or because banks weren’t so willing to work with you on the short sales, it’s time to move past it! You see, even though people are still trying to break in to the foreclosure market, the “speculators” who called themselves investors over the past few years are gone! So… that leaves room for the cream of the crop to really rise.

On top of that, many serious investors have been tapped out, holding on to properties they acquired when the market was at it’s peak, and now cannot unload. There are more investors going into foreclosure because they bought the “wrong kind of deal” than ever in the past. So… this is prime time for new investors or investors that were not able to really get going because of the competitive market. Investors that are still in the game now are really working together and building their teams of investors. They’re back to specialieing and referring out the deals that don’t fit their own models. The feast or famine mentality is going away – FAST! and investors are once again working together!

Add all of to the fact that banks can no longer afford to NOT short sale. Lender after lender is going belly up, taking back properties that have no chance at all to sell for the mortgaged amount. They are left with two choices: 1. Take back the property after the foreclosure sale and try to (1) Sell it with a Realtor; or (2) Short sale now and get out.

Naturally, the question is: Why would a bank take a huge discount when they can take the property back and then sell it themselves? Read the full story

by R. Preston Ely

Have someone else do it for you.

Short sales get dealt with just like everything else in my life that even remotely smells like stressful labor; they get delegated. Outsourced. Sub’d out. Avoided at all cost. The purpose of this article is to encourage you to do the same.

Life is too short to do things you hate. Don’t you feel the same way? Did you know you don’t have to do things you don’t like? You are not a prisoner. You’re free. I spent ten years of my life doing what the world considers “real” work. I’m done. Real work blows. Who is to say what is real and what isn’t anyways?

“Reality is an illusion. Albeit, a persistent one.” - Albert Einstein

Something wonderful clicked inside my head a few years back after my dangerous escape from Cubic-Hell. It’s weird because it just evolved kind of naturally. The only way I can describe it is a complete 100% aversion to doing anything at all that I don’t find enjoyable…and the ability to actually get away with it.How to outsource all your unwanted “duties” in life is the topic of another article. Let’s focus on the subject of short sales for now. Read the full story