Idaho Short Sales >> Where are we?
Idaho Short Sales
Now well into 2010 where are we with Short Sales in Idaho ? Idaho Short Sales are alive and well and more than 85% of all listings in the Intermountain Multiple Listing Service of southwest Idaho are either short sales or Idaho Foreclosures also known as REO's or "Real Estate owned" by banks. In a recent report Idaho was one of top 5 states around the country that had an 18% or higher increase in the amount of short sale and REO listings in 2009. Until the country's employmet picture improves one cannot expect the level of Idaho Shorts Sales and REO's to cool off.
So what should consumers do? If you are facing a Short Sale in Idaho it is important to note what your options are and where you need to turn for assistance. All Short Sale Realtors in Idaho are created equal right? WRONG! In 2008 the Idaho Statesman wrote an article about the importance of using an Idaho Certified Short Sale Specialist. I became a Certified Short Sale Specialist in 2008 by going through extensive training. In addition to having 15 years experience in Idaho Short Sales my Short Sale listing partner, Yuri Blanco and I attended a seminar in Boise where the speaker was Lee Honish who had been a loss mitigator with Indi Mac for 17 years. Lee gave us valuable insight into how banks think when working with short sales which was invaluable.
What does this mean to you? I will give you a little example: There is a lot of free data available to licensed Realtors via the Intermountain Multiple Listing Service. Much of this valuable data is not used properly by the average Realtor. Most Realtors think that when the banks make up their minds that is it and we need to accept it. This could not be further from the truth. I advised my listing partner, Yuri Blanco recently to use a market graph from the MLS service and add it to an email she had composed. The result was that she convinced Wells Fargo to reduce what they had called their final offer by $20,000!
Just last week one of my clients was anxiously waiting for an answer from Flagstar on a second mortgage. The first mortgage company had already given us approval and the second lien holder, Flagstar was taking it's time in giving us a decision. I used the graphs from the MLS service and sent several creative and factual emails to Flagstar over a period of a week and a half. At the end of last week we received written approval from Flagstar and the entire approval time frame to obtain approval from the first lien holder and the second from Flagstar was a total of 6 weeks. Of course we cannot assure you of a 6 week approval but my point is that an aggressive Certified Short Sale Specialist knows what can and cannot be done with working with mortgage lenders and will do everything we can to negotiate and use all the tools available to us.
Facing a short sale in Idaho? go to Idaho Short Sale Assistance and then call me at 208-880-2333 for your private consultation.