Short Sale Guidelines Are Making a Difference   By Sheila A. Rasak, SFR               The theory behind short sales seems simple enough: If a homeowner owes more money on a house than the house can sell for, and the homeowner is struggling to pay the mortgage, the lender will allow the house to be sold for less than is owed. For obvious reasons, lenders are not big fans of short sales and often make it a complicated process. More and more we are finding that lenders are getting on board as they realize the over 80% of the few loan modifications they’ve granted end up in default.             In April 2010, The Home Affordable Alternatives Program ... 12/14/2011

but for some reason you're still living in La La Land and you think your property is never going back to the bank because we're playing Monopoly?  I regret to inform you that you cannot pass go and you're not going to collect $200 if you tie my hands behind my back. I'm a dedicated professional and enjoy my work. I work harder than I've ever worked before because of the current economic climate, but I still persevere. I meet buyer and seller objections on a daily basis and work hard at negotiating your contact so that you and the other party enjoy a mutually beneficial outcome even when you're facing foreclosure. In fact, especially when you're facing foreclosure because this is a serious event and I'd like to see you and our nation recover. How is it that you've been listed on the MLS ... 05/11/2011

Waking up this morning I got to thinking (after a cup of coffee) about Labor Day and the meaning of the day. I've got a special connection with Labor Day, in fact, so many holidays seem to be laced with a story behind it for me; mostly good connections like becoming engaged to my husband on Valentine's Day and married on Memorial Day weekend. As for me, I tend to stay in my groove and continue to labor with various odd tasks such as client follow up, lead generation, blogging, tweeting; you get the picture. But tomorrow I will take a little "me" time to rest and rejuvenate and also reflect on that special Labor Day in September, 1987... when I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Meagan Kate. She's truly a labor of love. Like her mother and father, Meagan is considering a career in... 09/05/2010

Every once in a great while I find myself unscheduled. By that I mean the weekend is rapidly approaching, I'm not scheduled to show property AND I have not scheduled an open house for one of my listings. So here I am thinking to myself that I had better get on it and schedule my time. By all means sometimes we all need to just take a weekend off like regular folks, but lets face facts here, we're not regular folks! Our job is to keep the ball in motion not only by staying motivated but by lead generation and get ourselves out there to meet and greet the public thereby introducing ourselves to our communities. Just curious here, what do you have planned?                                             www.SheilaRasakEstates.com         MktTrends on Twitter          Sheila Rasak Estates on Fa... 09/02/2010

I don't know about anyone else here, but the market is indicating a huge slowdown and I personally am starting to feel it and am thinking that because we enjoyed an early spring selling season, we're melting down to an early end. I'm finding it more and more difficult to connect with potential clients who are facing foreclosure and looking for answers. I've expressed to quite a few clients during the month of March that short sales don't happen overnight and it will take months of negotiating with the lenders to obtain desired results. These people are clearly underwater and with substantial hardships. I would imagine the situation is not getting much better but haven't heard from them and their properties are not listed on the multiple listing service. When I work with a short sale cli... 08/29/2010

You know, I have to hand it to them, those lenders are quite crafty when it comes to approval letters and short sales. I've been through H E double toothpick and back with the best of them, yet it never ceases to amaze me that they think they can cut my income without neotiating or at least gaining my permission.  Let's face it, folks, when was the last time you asked your doctor how much your office visit was going to cost and then asked that them to reduce their bill? I am still in negotiations with a lender that I shall not name here but will tell you that my commission was cut even though it's clearly outlined and accepted in my listing agreement and was submitted months ago with the short sale package. Under HAFA, this lender is applying $3,000 for moving assistance to my Seller an... 08/03/2010

To knock or not to knock...that is the question! I've been in commerical real estate and recently got back into the residential end specializing in foreclosure prevention via short sales obtaining (so far) 100% successful results and a more positive outcome for my clients. I've leapt past the hurdle of cold calls, public speaking (holding short sale seminars, aka foreclosure prevention) and a few other intimidating aspects of our profession. I have yet to have anyone convince me that we are welcome wanderers in our community neighborhoods when we rap on someone's door without an appointment. As a consumer, I always found it intrusive, yet I was polite and listened to what the Realtor had to say. I feel what would have been far more appropriate would have been for the Realtor to wave hel... 07/31/2010