Typically, short sale incentives are more common for loans in states where foreclosures take more time.

In November of 2011, short sales accounted for more than 9 percent of single family home sales and were up 32 percent from the year before.

JP Morgan Chase went national with short sale incentives offers last year, followed by Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

The reason few of the big lenders are offering these short sale incentives is because they can save money. The expenses involved in completing a foreclosure are quite expensive.

It’s a lot cheaper for the lenders to shell out short sale incentives rather than going through a long foreclosure process.

When a loan modification isn’t possible, a short sale may be a better and faster solution than foreclosure.

The secret to successfully closing short sales is to never give up and do your due diligence on the file. Knowledge in short sales, continuing to improve your short sale knowledge and staying on the top of the file from the beginning of the process to the end of it; is what makes Towns Realty successful in short sales.
Success is due to persistence, knowledge and commitment to your clients.
Now, on to the next successful short sale closing…stay tuned

If you are a homeowner that is facing this stressful situation and you missed one or more mortgage payments, you need to be aware of what you can do about it.

If you tried loan modification and your mortgage company denied you, your best option to avoid foreclosure is to short sale your home.

A short sale is the sale of a home in which the sale proceeds fall short of the balance owed on the property’s loan. When a homeowner cannot pay his mortgage payments anymore the seller’s lender decides that selling the property at a controlled loss environment is better than a foreclosure on the property. Both parties, seller and seller’s lender, consent to the short sale process because it allows them to avoid foreclosure, which involves hefty fees for the lender and poorer credit report outcomes for the homeowners.

If you are contemplating the short sale option, contact Towns Realty which has an extensive short sale experience having closed more than 300 short sales. We, at Towns Realty, know how to get a short sale processed and completed. There is much more to a short sale then putting it on the market, getting an offer and sending it to the lender. First, a short sale has to be priced according to the current real estate market and not at a low ball price.

Second, for a successful short sale, your Realtor has to constantly communicate with your lender and be experienced with the short sale process!

Contact Towns Realty today for short sale assistance. We service Kissimmee, Poinciana, Orlando, Davenport, Winter Park and Windermere. Our extensive short sale experience will benefit you and help you avoid foreclosure.

Overpricing a home to get the listing is an old trick in real estate….make the seller feel good and praise the home to get the listing and after that ask for a price reduction 30-45 days later.  An experienced Realtor® has a well-researched market analysis to determine the realistic amount of your home based on the current real estate market and prices your home accordingly.  A home that is priced high will sit on the market and don’t think that a prospective buyer who is interested will view the home anyway and make an offer. Buyers are looking at homes on their price range and if your home is not on their price range, it will get passed. Also, the highest buyer traffic is typically in the first two weeks of your home being on the market. Selecting an agent based on a high listing price is not a good decision.

If you are looking to sell your home in Orlando, Kissimmee, Davenport or any other area, give Towns Realty a call. As our client, the seller, you will receive honesty, professionalism and over 15 years of real estate experience.

Which Realtor® should you pick to list your home? It is critically important which real estate agent you choose to market and sell your home. The real estate agent with Realtor® designation has a membership with the local Realtor Association and has access to the Multiple Listing Service which reaches thousands of Realtors®.

Also a Realtor® that has a well built marketing system and internet advertising is as important. Internet advertising these days is as important as a lot of the buyers are looking online these days for a home.

Nowadays the real estate market is highly competitive with so many sellers, the high amount of short sales and foreclosures and very few available, qualified buyers. Towns Realty has a well built marketing system that will expose your home to those potential buyers.

It is also important to have a Realtor® with the education, experience, and who knows how to handle problems in a professional manner should they occur. Problems can arise due to many reasons: buyer financing, inspections results, buyer’s change in income, buyers who change their mind at the last minute. If you think that your home is great, you’ve priced it below market value and you can probably list with anyone, but when a problem does arise, it would be beneficial for you to have an experienced and professional help which will take you to the finish line with ease. That’s what you’re paying for!

Towns Realty has a highly successful track record in selling and closing properties.

Davenport and Kissimmee are popular investment cities due to their proximity to Disney World, attractions and location. Davenport and Kissimmee have a wide variety of investment properties from condos to town homes and single family homes. Most investment properties in Kissimmee and Davenport are sold fully furnished.

The cost of living in Florida is far lower than in the United Kingdom, therefore providing more value for your money than you can find in the United Kingdom.

We, at Towns Realty are looking forward to helping foreign investors. If we can be of any assistance while you are in sunny Florida to find that perfect Florida investment or sell your Florida investment or vacation home, please call us. We are also experts in short sales having closed more than 350 short sales and are very familiar will all short sale aspects.

Currently there are 1,155 properties for sale in Kissimmee out of which 846 are single family homes, 152 are condos and 124 are townhomes and villas.

Out of 1,155 properties for sale 411 are short sales, 127 are bank owned and 617 are regular sales. It shows that foreclosure properties numbers are down and more homeowners are able to do a short sale on their homes.

From January 2011 to January 2012 – 5,219 homes sold in Kissimmee and 41 percent were foreclosures. 31 percent qualified for short sales by showing evidence of hardship, such as a job loss, illness or death in the family. 28 percent of the sales were regular sales but 72 percent were short sales and foreclosures.

In this area the rate of foreclosure stayed higher than the rate of the short sales. However, in 2010 – 54 percent were foreclosure homes versus 24 percent short sales. Numbers show that the short sales have improved drastically over a period of one year. Whereas in 2010 -54 percent of the homes were foreclosure in 2011 only 41 percent were foreclosure homes.  Short sale homes have increased by 7 percent in 2011 versus 2010.

We had the property back on the market an received another offer within 2 weeks but this time the deal fell thru due to buyer financing.

Third time they say it is a charm and so it was. We got another offer on the property and were able to close successfully.
Sellers were forgiven the remaining balance of the loans and were very happy with the short sale outcome.
Dealing with GMAC was great. GMAC short sale process is fast and they really know what they are doing. On the other hand AHMSI short sale process was slow and took a while to get the short sale approval.

The secret to successfully closing short sales is to never give up and do your due diligence on the file.
Success is due to persistence, knowledge and commitment to your clients.
Now, on to the next successful short sale closing…stay tuned

The sellers had paid about $400,000 for this home in 2005. The value of the home dropped more than 50% over the past 6 years. This property was a foreign investment from United Kingdom.

The property was in great condition, fully furnished and in a great location close to all the attractions.

We received multiple offers on the property within days of putting the property on the market and received the short sale approval within 3 weeks from the seller’s lenders.

From the time of listing the property to obtaining short sale approval it took us only two and a half months to close on the property.

Chase Mortgage was great to work with in this short sale transaction and their short sale process was fast from start to finish.

Sellers were forgiven the remaining balance of the loan and were very happy with the short sale outcome.

The secret to successfully closing short sales is to never give up and do your due diligence on the file.

Success is due to persistence, knowledge and commitment to your clients.

Now, on to the next successful short sale closing…stay tuned