Yes, I do believe that is an excellent time to invest in real estate. But I also caution you that it is an excellent time to be sure that you are getting the advice of seasoned real estate coaches. You really want to be sure you are talking with people who have weathered some markets so they can give you the best possible advice.

While looking for your coach, don’t be fooled. Just because he or she has letters behind his/her name doesn’t make him/her an expert. Ask questions and get to know her/him. Many people have taken classes and been certified but have never made a transaction.
Here are some questions that you might ask when meeting with your coach. If he or she is great at what he or she does, he/she will be able to answer these questions.

• How long have you been doing short sales?
• What lenders/services do you work with? Those you like best and why?
• What was your worst short sale?
• What was your best short sale?
• How many successful short sales you have negotiated?

First things, first. We need to be sure the homeowner will ‘qualify’ in the banks eyes. Check to see
1. If the homeowner has had a change income making it difficult to pay the mortgage.
2. The value of the home was dropped and the person must relocate for a job
3. The homeowner is behind on their payments

If this is your first short sale, consider working with an experienced investor to walk you through this process.

Be sure to document everyone you talk to, every piece of paperwork you send, and ever email you send. You need to stay on top of the paperwork throughout this process.

Stay tuned for short sale tips!

If you are just starting out as a real estate investor, it would be a good idea to meet with a real estate lawyer and accountant to be sure you understand the tax implications and other legal stuff with a short sale.

When talking with lenders you want to make sure you talk with the individual capable of making decisions. Avoid the short sale you are working on from ending up in the pile of folders to go through. Talk to the decision maker.

Prepare a Preliminary Net Sheet: This sheet is an estimated closing statement that shows sales price, what you are expected to receive and all the costs of the sale, unpaid loan balances, real estate commissions, late fees and outstanding payments due.

Some other items that are needed include: Hardship letter, Proof of Income and Assets, and copies of Bank statements.

These are some great short sale tips that will help make your “short sale” a successful. Keep at it, short sale real estate investing is a great way to go!

SWSWSW – NEXT!

Some Will, Some Won’t, So What, – NEXT!

That is the battle cry when you are making your money in short sales.

Some banks will like your offers and accept them.

Some banks will not care for your offers and reject them.

Don’t take it personally, it’s just business.  Get your next offer ready and move on.

Just understand that if you do your homework right, more banks will accept your offers than not, so be ready to play the numbers game and make money along the way.

Here are some things to do to help tip the odds in your favor:

1)  Get a signed purchase agreement with the homeowner.

2) Make sure the homeowner signs an agreement giving the bank permission to talk with

you about their loan and house.

3)  Do your homework at the bank to find how who is the right one to talk to about a

short sale.  HINT:  In most cases it will not be the loan person.

4)  Check to see if the timing is right to try a short sale.

TIP:  If the bank has just recently begun the foreclosure process, it’s not yet a good

time to begin talking with the bank.  Likewise, if it is just a few days until the

sheriff’s sale, it is probably too late.  Getting a short sale offer accepted does

take some time.

5)  Make sure you know the physical condition of the property.  The more work it needs the better your odds the bank will take a discount. Banks hate foreclosing on badly distressed properties the property back.

That’s my short list for today.  Stop over at www.ShortSaleQueen.com and help yourself to plenty more valuable tips to help you with your short sale investing career.

Happy to help,

Deb

Well, that has always a fun debate with fellow short salers.

But in my years of experience, the biggest single obstacle is not the bank.  Actually the process of dealing with the bank is  pretty much standardized.  You do your homework, you fill out the proper paperwork, and you submit the package to the bank.  And then you wait.

In my years of experience, I have found that the biggest obstacle is almost always the homeowner who needs to sell their house.

Why is that?

Remember we are dealing with a human being.  A real person.

A person who is going through a LOT of junk right now.   And if you don’t overcome this hurdle, no matter how good you get at the rest of the game, there simply is no short sale.

Their minds are going in all different directions based on all kinds of advice, good and bad.

You and I both know you have the perfect answer to help them out of this terrible jam.

But the biggest obstacle is trying to convince them of that.

Every person is different, they all are in a different mental state.  They all have different attitudes and opinions about how they are going to fight their foreclosure.

Therefore you have to treat each homeowner differently.

You have to prove to them that you have the answer.

Show them how a short sale will help save their future credit score.

Show them how to make the stress of a foreclosure go away.

Sometimes because of all the stress they are under, it is not an easy task to convince them, but it is very doable with a little education and a few tips.

You HAVE the answer.  Help them and prosper.

Get them on your team and the rest is just going through the process.

What I have found is that the more involved you keep the homeowner, the more cooperation you seem to get.

It’s really all about communication.  Remember, it is their home you are dealing with.

And they just want to have some feeling that they are in control.

If you walk in and give them the impression that they have lost control of things, they will become much more likely to balk somewhere along the way.  They’ll start to pull away and maybe even rethink their decision to let you into their lives in the first place.

Just keep them informed.

As you go through the various steps in the short sale transaction, let them know when you have completed each step.  Let them know of the victory, and that your are now moving to the next step.  They will celebrate with you.

When you hit a glitch in the process, let them know you’ve hit a bump in the road.  Explain to them that the bump is only temporary and let them know what you are going to do next on their behalf.

Again, they will feel involved and they’ll root you on.

Make sure you build that communication time into your schedule.

It is important.  You are dealing with their future and they want to be almost constantly reassured that you know what you are doing and you are doing your best for them.

Do this and they will be forever thankful.

If you ever run into a snag or just need some quick advice, I’m always available.

Go to www.ShortSaleQueen.com and hit the AskDeb button…and just ask.

It is very important that when you are out there talking to people, that you know how to talk to them and that you know the right terminology.

There are two major players in a short sale transaction:

First is a family with a house in the midst of a foreclosure.  They haven’t been able to keep up their payments for a variety of reasons.  They need your help, but sometimes just don’t know you are an option.

The other player is the bank.  They really don’t want to foreclose on a family but, they have a business to run and they need money to cover that mortgage they are holding.  You could be just what they need.

So it is important that you understand the language they speak and the terminology they use, so you can easily have a conversation with both the family and the bank.

And I can tell you, they do speak different languages.

To get you off on the right foot, I’ve put together a list of the most common and most important terms and phrases used in short sale investing.

I’ve put them in a down loadable file for you.

They’re free.

Just go pick them up at ShortSaleTerms.com.  That’s a little website I set up just for my readers and students.

There won’t be anything to buy there.  It’s just a place where you can easily get your hands on these terms and definitions.

Just study the terms and get used to using them.

They will make life incredibly easy for you as you grow your short sale business.

Depending on an individual bank’s financial situation, some banks are more than willing to negotiate a short sale transaction with you, while others may not be interested at all.

But if you are dealing with a bank that is ready for short sales, there are some things to build into your offer that will help you get it closed.

If you are going to make a low offer, you have to be able to justify it.  So when you build your support story for your offer make sure you individually list all the things that you know are wrong with the house.  Don’t just say the house needs some work.

A bank does not want to take back a house with lots of things wrong with it.  So make sure they know every little thing the house is going to need to make it sellable again.

• Does it have a leaky or aging roof?

• Does it have holes in the walls?

• Is the carpet or floors ruined?

• Does the basement have water in it?

• Does it have bathrooms that don’t work?

• Are the kitchen appliances gone or not working?

• Will the exterior or interior need repainting or repairs to make it sellable again?

Making the lowest possible offer and getting it accepted is how you make money.

Just don’t make a low offer that you cannot support with facts and you’ll do great.

Want some more tips on getting your offers accepted?

Stop over to www.ShortSaleQueen.com.  Happy to help!

If you want to buy a house at a big discount now is the time.

If you want to buy it and sell it for a great profit… in a hurry,

now really is the best time.

And here is why…

Unfortunately for a lot of people, financial times are rough.  And I know that.

People have gotten behind on their house payments and are at risk of losing their homes.  Foreclosures are at an all time high.

What I know, is that banks simply do not want to have to take back any more houses.

They are already overflowing with houses that they are selling for pennies on the dollar right now.

Taking back another house through another foreclosure is simply the last thing they want to do.

So for educated real estate investors, this is creating short sales opportunities like never before.

A person with a little bit of real estate education and a little bit of drive and ambition can make money faster in THIS real estate market than any market I have ever seen in all the years that I’ve been investing in real estate.

I simply believe that with a little bit of education, now is the time to make crazy, crazy money in this crazy real estate market.

We all know when the economy is down, real estate always, always leads the way back,

Count on it!