FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Petra Norris
Contact Person: Petra Norris
Company Name: CDV TransAtlantic, Inc.
Telephone Number: 863-619-6918
Email Address: petra@petranorris.com
Web site address: www.lakelandfloridaliving.com
Petra Norris Earns NAR Short Sales and Foreclosure Certification
Buyers and Sellers Benefit from REALTOR® Expertise in Distressed Sales
Lakeland – Florida, March 20, 2010
Petra Norris, Realtor®, managing Broker with CDV TransAtlantic, Inc Real Estate Brokerage has earned the nationally recognized Short Sales and Foreclosure Resource certification. The National Association of REALTORS® offers the SFR certification to REALTORS® who want to help both buyers and sellers navigate these complicated transactions, as demand for professional expertise with distressed sales grows.
Petra Norris has been helping homeowners negotiate short sales and buyers helping with the purchase of short sales and bank-owned properties (REO) in Florida, primarily in Polk County including cities, such as Lakeland, Auburndale, Bartow, Mulberry, Lake Alfred, Polk City, Highland City, Kathleen and Winter Haven. She is a member of the Lakeland Association of Realtors®, the Florida Association of Realtors®, and the National Association of Realtors®. You can contact her office at 863-619-6918 if you are having difficulties making your mortgage payment.
According to a recent NAR survey, nearly one-third of all existing homes sold recently were either short sales or foreclosures. For many real estate professionals, short sales and foreclosures are the new “traditional” transaction. REALTORS® who have earned the SFR certification know how to help sellers maneuver the complexities of short sales as well as help buyers pursue short sale and foreclosure opportunities.
“As leading advocates for homeownership, REALTORS® believe that any family that loses its home to foreclosure is one family too many, but unfortunately, there are situations in which people just cannot afford to keep their homes, and a foreclosure or a short sale results,” said 2009 NAR President Charles McMillan, a broker with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Dallas-Fort Worth. “Foreclosures and short sales can offer opportunities for home buyers and benefit the larger community, as well, but it’s extremely important to have the help of a real estate professional like a REALTOR® who has earned the SFR certification for these kinds of purchases.”
Contact: Petra Norris
Contact Person: Petra Norris
Company Name: CDV TransAtlantic, Inc.
Telephone Number: 863-619-6918
Email Address: petra@petranorris.com
Web site address: www.lakelandfloridaliving.com
CDV TransAtlantic, Inc. Real Estate Brokerage Lakeland Florida 33809
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One of the most talked about subject you read or watch on television today is the housing crisis. Homeowners walking away from their homes they can no longer afford. Are distressed Lakeland homeowners making the right decision? As I was reading an article titled: “To walk or not to walk: underwater homeowners face dilemma”, I asked myself what I would do when faced with the decision of walking away.
The rise in foreclosure filings in Florida and around the country were first blamed on mortgage fraud and predatory lending practices. That is not the only case any longer. Here in Florida, especially in Polk County, folks are faced with lay off’s resulting in double digit unemployment rates and now folks who still have a job, like my husband are faced with less than 40 hours work week reducing their income by 20% or more.
My parents never owned a home and when my husband and I purchased our Lakeland home in 1993, it was our American dream. When we signed the promissory note that states: “I promise to pay” we and most homeowners here in the United States have good intentions to keep this promise. However, unexpected circumstances such as job loss, divorce, illness, reduced income, relocation, business failure or even death of a spouse can derail the promise once made.
I want to point out that I’m not an attorney and the tips outlined below are for informational purposes and not legal advice. Please seek the advice from a qualified finance, tax, and legal professionals.
I am a real estate agent in Lakeland, Florida working with homeowners every day who are faced with this dilemma educating myself regularly by taking classes, talking with fellow real estate agents and researching available options. I’m also a homeowner asking myself this very same question, “to walk or not to walk”.
Would I walk away?
Assuming there is a job loss or an enormous reduction in our income. I would not walk away from my home, at least not as a first step! I have to live somewhere. Making a budget should be the first thing a homeowner should do not only when faced with such a decision but on a regular basis. People are stunned when they discover they can have an extra $100-$200 a month by eliminating going out to dinner, reducing their cable bill, installing a few energy efficient items to reduce their light bill, and reducing their cell phone bill.
Walking away from your Lakeland home will result in foreclosure. It will definitely hurt your credit rating by as much as 200-300 points and you will not be able to get another mortgage for number of years.
What would I do?
First of all, each homeowner has to make the decision by themselves and at their own best interest and while each homeowner’s situation is different here are the steps I would take:
I would not ignore the letters from my lender – I would call them immediately explaining my situation and take notes of the conversation.
I would try to work out an arrangement with my lender – For example, forbearance may be considered by the lender, if a new job is in sight, upcoming bonus or a tax refund. Tell the lender about it and ask if you could make a partial payment, skip payments and tell them about your plan to catch up.
I would seek professional legal and financial advice – each homeowner’s situation is different and therefore I strongly recommend that you seek the counsel of an attorney and accountant experienced in foreclosure and bankruptcy.
If my lender would ignore, not communicate or decline my plea to a workout – I would try to sell my home as a Short Sale. While the time of a Short Sale on your Lakeland home process can be long and stressful and not a 100% guarantee for the homeowner and their family, the buyer and their Realtors®, Lakeland Short Sales do get approved!
Despite all of the suggestion you hear from relatives or friends, read in the newspaper and online or watch on television; it is ultimately your decision and should be based on educating yourself, your options and discussion with family members.
Would you walk away?
The foreclosure and short sale market has affected all of us here in Lakeland, Florida with the ever decreasing home values in most neighborhoods if not all neighborhoods in our city. High unemployment rates, influx in foreclosed properties for the foreseeable future and shadow inventory that has yet to hit the real estate market. Therefore highlighting the Lakeland foreclosures and short sale market for sellers, home buyers and investors is very important in determining their options whether buying or selling.
Starting with this month Lakeland Florida Short Sale and Foreclosure market report, the distressed market report will have its own report.
For the month of January, Lakeland’s real estate market of short sales and bank-owned (REO) properties had a market share of 60%. There were a total of 88 properties sold in January compared to 60 distressed Lakeland homes sold the year prior, according to Mid-Florida Regional MLS.
Currently there are a total of 1,910 Lakeland homes for sale and 498 Lakeland homes under contract (02/18/2010). By calculating total inventory, homes that are under contract because these properties have not closed is included in my inventory share.
- Bank owned properties – Inventory share is 12.17%
- Short sale properties – Inventory share is 25.42%
The Graph below compares sold homes in all categories – Traditional Sales (None Distressed), Bank Owned Properties (REO) and Lakeland Short Sales
- Average days on market (DOM) for bank-owned properties are 45 days
- Average days to contract for other distressed properties are 136 days.
25 Distressed Homes Sold – average sold price $146,724 – median sold price $139,900
63 Bank-owned (REO) sold – average sold price $88,319 – median sold price $81,000
Distressed sales are scattered in all parts of Lakeland Florida as you can see from this graph below.
If you are interested in Lakeland Foreclosures and Short Sales, feel free to contact me at petra@petranorris.com or click the search button below.
Tips for Lakeland Short Sale Sellers on how to stop Buyers from this contract cancel epidemic.
More than ever before Lakeland Short Sales likely will be a part of the Lakeland real estate market for years to come. One of the major obstacles for a short sale to reach a successful closing, the seller’s lender must approve the short sale. Before it would get to that point the negotiation is only between the seller and the buyer and their real estate agents. I have and have read that Short Sale Buyers walking on more than one occasion, the major reasons for this the buyers are not committed, uninformed of the short sale process or simply are in fact false buyers.
The Effective Date dictates the timeline of the contract for sale and purchase. An Effective Date occurs when the last one of the buyers and sellers has signed or initialed the offer or the final counteroffer. In a traditional sale, at the time of the effective date or within days of the effective date, the buyer is required to make a reasonable good faith deposit, follow up with a timely inspection and meeting financing contingency as stated in the contract. This can also be achieved when there is a Lakeland Short Sale.
There are measures to keep Buyers from walking away during a Lakeland Short Sale:
- Buyer must be committed to a longer waiting period – at least six months
- Buyer must have pre approval letter from a reputable lender
- Buyer must make good faith deposit upon acceptance of contract
- Buyer must make timely inspection after effective date
Sellers should not accept any offers because they are desperate. The offer must be at fair market value which is determined by an experienced real estate agent who is knowledgeable of the short sale process. Banks don’t want to foreclose, it costs them more than a short sale but they are not willing to approve a Short Sale contract with an unrealistic purchase price.
With Polk County’s unemployment rates, this foreclosure epidemic is going to continue and it may even grow. Lakeland Short Sales are at an all time high, there are currently over 400 Lakeland homes for sale that are short sales.
The jobless rate in Polk County is at an all time high since 1992 – 13.6%
The jobless rate in Lakeland-Winter Haven for September is recorded at 12.7%
If you are in a situation where you can’t no longer afford to make your mortgage payments because of job loss, divorce, health, or other hardship; a short sale would be your best remedy to save your home from foreclosure and salvage some of your credit.
I’m a member of over 400 real estate agents and growing at Short Sale Superstars, who are committed to help sellers and buyers with short sales in Florida and across the America. Short sales can be difficult at times and this is why this group of professionals is so helpful not only to us real estate agents, but for you, especially. I would say that we are a Short Sale Agent support group, helping each other, solving uncommon issues for our clients, making suggestions that can only help you the seller or buyer. We are not complainers – we are solvers, here to help you.
There is information about lenders, such as Bank of America aka Countrywide, Wachovia, SunTrust, Wells Fargo, Saxon, and Chase just to name a view. This is a place where agents help, inform and reach out to consumer by providing valuable information to make a short sale a success.
There are over 1,000 Lis Pendens filed within the city of Lakeland Florida alone. Since September 1, 2009, 143 Lis Pendens were filed with the Polk County Clerk of Courts for properties that are located in Lakeland – a city with a population of an estimated 97,000 people.
What is a Lis Pendens?
In essence, a formal notice is filed on behalf of the lender, who holds the note on your mortgage. It is considered a lawsuit; however, the homeowner still has possession and the right to sell the property. Short sales can be your best remedy to a foreclosure.
Give me a call at (863) 619-6918 or email me at petra@petranorris.com to arrange for a confidential consultation – I’m here to help.
Recently, our Mid Florida Regional MLS added this feature when searching for Lakeland real estate that is being categorized as “short sale” and “bank owned”. Surely, it is great feature to have now in how we Realtors® search for our clients in the MLS.
Often times, I get calls from clients and consumer wanting to buy short sales and bank owned homes and I would have to search the remarks sections to see if the listing agents included such category. Now that short sale and bank owned is a new search field, we are able to better serve our clients by getting the data quickly.
Having this added feature will make your search simple and easy. However, if you are looking for a short sale or foreclosure make sure you are working with a Realtor that understands the entire process. The Lakeland real estate market and the real estate market throughout Polk County have many great opportunities for buyers to purchase a short sale or a bank owned property. However, you must be patient – short sales can take from just three month to a very long time to close.
Here is a list of short sales and foreclosures in the Lakeland Florida area. Since this feature has been added just recently, I am sure some of the Lakeland homes have not been updated. If you need help or want me to send you a list for a particular area, just give me a call or email and I’ll send them your way.
Foreclosing on your home is not cheap for the lender and with bank-owned inventory on the rise in the Lakeland real estate market in and around Polk County, FL. Banks are more inclined to encourage short sales. First of all, it is very time consuming from the start of a foreclosure to finish, which can take more than a year and the cost of foreclosure is far below their net from taking back to property, maintaining and managing the property.
It is all about the lender’s bottom line!
Banks are also encouraging short sales when there is a 2nd mortgage or a home equity line of credit with different lenders. It may complicate matters more but both lenders have to be in agreement to facilitate and close a Lakeland short sale. The second lien holder will not allow a zero dollar amount and the first lien holder offers very little to the second lien holder, which may require you to owe a note and pay for some of the loss.
Depending on your situation, the lender may only ask you for a small amount of the deficiency to be paid back and the terms are mostly very favorable. Please take that into consideration when evaluating your situation before, now and after.
Foreclosure should never be your first step solving your crisis. A loan modification may have helped you short term and now you are perhaps in the same position again having difficulties or are behind on your mortgage payments. Call me at (863) 619-6918 today for a confidential consultation to do a Lakeland Short Sale or email me directly Petra.Norris@servinglakelandfl.com
The very first thing you should do when experiencing difficulty making mortgage payments is to contact your lender immediately should you want to keep your Lakeland home and before asking a Lakeland Real estate agent about a Lakeland Short Sale. The longer you wait and ignore the fact you are in financial distress the less favorable your lender may work out an option. Depending on your lender and your circumstances, solutions that may help you getting back on track:
- Extending your length of the loan, thereby reducing to lower payments
- Reduce Interest Rate on Mortgage
- Suspend mortgage payments temporarily
- Missed payments to be piggy-backed on your current loan
- Reducing your current loan amount
Valuable Credit, Foreclosure and Legal Resources to you:
- National Foundation for Credit Counseling 1-800-388-2227
- Making Home Affordable Program see if you can qualify
- Homeownership Preservation Foundation 1-888-995-HOPE
- HUD Approved Housing Counselor Agencies
- with Offices located in Tampa and Orlando
- Department of Veteran Affairs Regional Office in St. Petersburg, Florida
- Free Florida legal aid – Florida Attorneys team up together to help Floridians facing foreclosure – toll-free hot line (866-607-2187) taking calls from 10 a.m. through 4 p.m
If you have all your option exhausted and facing foreclosure, please give me a call at (863) 619-6918 for a confidential consultation – a Lakeland Short Sale may be your answer after all.
Sellers facing foreclosure or trying to get their lender approve their Lakeland short sale deserve the same marketing exposure as regular Lakeland Real Estate for sale. Just because there is a for sale sign in the yard and yes, the home is listed in the Multiple Listing – is this really serving my clients. NO, and here is why!
There are hundreds of Lakeland Short Sale homes for sale. Foreclosure filings are up and when I talk to potential clients, they are in dire need of assistance.
When I’m hired as your Listing Agent handling your Lakeland Short Sale, time is of the essence. The lenders may have filed already a Lis-Pendens, which puts the property already in a pre-foreclosure status.
Pricing your home is the most crucial step to marketing and selling – the comparative market analysis that I will provide is comprehensive and more emphasis is given to recent sales comparables similar to your home that are in distress as well as condition. My price suggestions are based on facts and statistics. Competitive pricing will generate more showings and a faster offer.
Multiple Listing Service (MLS) – Listing your Lakeland Short Sale in the MLS has all the information it requires plus a whole lot more. From the maximum pictures it can hold, to detailed information about room sizes, school information and style to elaborate description of your home that will entice a prospective buyer. Sellers deserve the Best when it comes selling their home. Likewise, Buyers deserve the Best information true to the home they want to make it their own.
Marketing Short Sales – My Lakeland Short Sale properties have the same marketing exposure as if it would be a regular Lakeland Home for Sale. From virtual tours to blogging, direct mailing, flyers and the magnitude of web sites available to me – all of them will get your Lakeland Short Sale the exposure it deserves.
Communicating with my sellers is one of my top priorities. Handling a short sale on my seller’s behalf requires discipline, negotiation skills, time management, problem solving skills and patience with all parties involved in a Lakeland Short Sale.
If you are experiencing hardship or facing foreclosure, please contact Petra Norris at (863) 619-6918 for a confidential consultation. You may be qualified to do a short sale and save your Lakeland home from foreclosure.
There are hundreds of Lakeland homes for sale where owners are trying to get a Short Sale approved by the lender. After searching the internet and gone through these listings perhaps did a drive by of the home you like. You ready to go out and buy your Lakeland Short Sale – not so fast!
Foremost, you must understand that the seller still owns the home, still has the title to the property, and still has the authority of what offers will be accepted. Remember, the bank does NOT own the property until it is sold on the courthouse steps.
The owner can accept an offer from you, the buyer, but since the offer is lower than what the seller owes on his note/loan it requires third party lender approval to the offer. Generally, the lender requires the property be sold as-is.
A short sale process requires your patience, therefore when you are looking for Lakeland real estate and you must be moved in by a certain time it’s best to look at homes that are not requiring third party approval.
There are only 2 steps you should follow before buying a Lakeland Short Sale.
- Hire a Realtor® – an experienced buyer’s agent that represents your interest and has the knowledge to handle a Lakeland Short Sale.
- Make sure you have been pre-qualified by a local mortgage broker who knows the Short Sale process and follow up with the mortgage approval process your lender requires, unless you are a cash buyer.
Steps to follow when making an offer on a short sale
- Your agent should advise you of the current market condition, price, and condition of the property in preparing you with an offer that the seller accepts and the bank most likely approves
- Your Buyer’s Agent should submit your offer on a FAR/BAR AS IS Offer to Sale or Purchase with the FAR/BAR Short Sale Addendum.
- A nicely hand-written letter explaining why you want to buy this home may help to get third party lender’s approval – depending on your situation.
- Your earnest money deposit should be in place, either in your Realtor’s® Trust Account or submitted to the Title Company when the offer is accepted by the seller.
- Your agent should be in communications with deadlines for inspection, loan approval deadlines and update you as soon as it becomes available from the seller’s listing agent and/or lender.
- Patience – Generally, it will take the lender weeks before the short sale is approved, even if the listing agent states “Short Sale Approved”. Looking at a closing date of at least four month from the time you submit an offer is a good estimate for a closing date.
Contact Petra Norris at (863) 619-6918 or email me at Petra.Norris@lakelandfloridaliving.com if you are looking for a Lakeland Short Sale. To view all Lakeland real estate listed for sale just click the Lakeland Florida Homes Search button below.
