Sacramento Expert Short Sale Real Estate Agent

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The City of Citrus Heights located in Sacramento County has opened up the Down Payment Assistance Program once again.  This program will help first time home buyers get assistance with their down payment through a low interest loan, and possibly help to finance part of the buyers down payment. Please visit their website for more information.  This is a first come first serve basis. You will need to qualify for this program and there are certain quidelines.

If you are looking to buy a home in Citrus Heights, Ca  and need help with the down payment, I would suggest visiting the website above.   If you have any questions regarding purchasing a home, please feel free to contact me anytime.

twre.info@gmail.com

Being upside down seems to be the case with most sellers in Sacramento these days.  Short Sales, Short Sales, Short Sales….. This home was listed as a Short Sale because of course the seller was in a financial situation that forced the sale of the property.  I was lucky in a sense that I was only dealing with one lien holder on the property.  This makes it so much easier to negotiate the sale.  Actually there were two liens that I worked with, but one was for the new window’s that were put in a couple years ago.  Of course Smud financed these windows which enabled them to become a lien against the property. This lien would have to be paid off by the first lien holder on the property no matter if the house went to foreclosure, or was sold as a short sale.  The seller seems happy to avoid the word FORECLOSURE on a credit report, but sad that their once purchased dream home is gone.

Now a home that was once a dream for one person became a loss, but turned around and became a dream again for another first time home buyer. Now this home will get all the new touches the new buyer has to give to make their new home their own.  Of course this buyer is also happy to get get the Tax Credit that is almost ready to expire. As it seems buying  Short Sales is becoming more  popular in Sacramento as REO’s ( foreclosures, real estate owned, bank owned).

Terri Wisecarver

REALTOR®

Prudential California Realty

916-201-4007

Sacramento Real Estate

DRE# 01429634

       Heading Down an Unknown Road!!! 

When making a decision to sell your home without an agent being there to assist you, means that you are also taking on a lot of responsibilities that you are not ready for.  Not using a REALTOR® to help you sell your home can be costly in many ways that you are unaware of.  

 Commissions are negotiable with a broker and not set by law, so why not get the best help you have available to you?  Remember you get what you pay for. You want to be protected at all times when selling a home and this is what Realtors® get the training and experience doing. Realtors® just do not take a class then instantly their a Realtor®. We put tons of time in the field, taking class after class, after class learning regulations and laws which enables us to better serve you the client.  We get paid to give our best client service and protection to both the buyer and seller. Most of us EARN what we get from you the seller.

Here are a few things that you may not think about when it comes to selling your home on your own.

• You will need to be available at all times so that you will not miss out on a good potential buyer, this means 24/7 or at least 12/7. You will have looky loo’s stopping by, calling all the time just to see the inside of your home that are really only interested in seeing it.  Do you really want to trust a bunch of strangers coming through your front door?  Being aware of your surroundings at all times is not a comfortable position to be in.
• You will be paying out of your pocket for all the ads, “FOR SALE” sign to place on the property.  The ads are very costly these days
• You will need to locate all the legal  disclosures and such in the event a buyer wants to present an offer you can not refuse and then know exactly what they all mean. These can sometimes be difficult to understand and you the seller are held liable in the event that you do not disclose everything.
• How would you know if in fact an offer looks good?  Do not just look at the purchase price, as there are other fee’s associated with the selling process of your home. Is the offer presented to you asking for certain things from you the seller are not understanding?  Does the buyer really qualify? Lots of questions will go through your mind. Do you know what to ask in any case? If the offer is coming from a buyer with an agent, do or would you trust that person, as they are representing the buyer.

Now that this is out of the way, let me tell you a few benefits of using a Realtor® that might help you in making a decision.

• You will not need to be available all the time to show the home to potential buyers, as the agent will pre-screen the buyers and show the home for you. The agent uses a lock box that will allow only other agents to have access to your home which can be tracked in the event something might happen. No more sitting around waiting for the knock at the door or awaiting the phone to ring. 
• You will not be paying the costs of advertising your property by placing ads or buying signs.  The agent does this at no cost to you.  The agent ( Realtor ) has a vast amount of resources to market your property.
• You will not need to find any forms to fill out or purchase.  The agent also provides this for you and has the knowledge in knowing what all of this information means to you as the client. The agent is your protection as long as you are honest in your disclosure.  This transaction will also be somewhat protected by the broker representing you.
• The agent will explain the offer to purchase to you and be able to explain the contract in detail to you. Therefore eliminating all your questions and concerns you may have. 

Now this is not to say that many sellers out there have no problems with selling their home by themselves. I am just saying that is the amount you are saving on the commission worth all the headaches, hassles, and most of all your valuable TIME that you never get back?

Please feel free to contact me at anytime with any questions you may have. or feel free to post your comments as I welcome them.

Terri Wisecarver

REALTOR®

Whitman Metropolitan Inc.

Sacramento Real Estate

I received a call from someone on Friday asking if a short sale  is still possible after a Notice of Default has been filed on the property.  Of course it can be done, but time is of the essence here.  At this point this means that you only have a limited time to get offers on the property submitted to the bank ( lien holder) and accepted before the home goes to foreclosure sale at the court house. 

I have actually had short sale listings submitted to the bank and passing through the hands of negotiator after negotiator awaiting an acceptance right upon until 3 days before auction sale date.  The banks want you to wait to ask for an extension on the sale date up until 3-5 days before they will extend the date, because they usually only will grant extensions up until 30 days at a time. On all of my extensions requested I have had them actually extended  ( postponed )out because of the offers submitted to them were to the point of acceptance and approval.  

The banks sometimes want to see the activity of the listing from the beginning up until an offer is submitted.  The sooner you get the Hardship Package together with the offer and submitted to the bank, the better.  Remember you only have 3 months 2o days  ( after NOD has been filed) to get the bank to accept a short sale offer before going to auction sale.

Definition of an Notice of Default:

•  Notice of Default is an instrument (legal document) filed in the public records (county records) giving constructive notice to the public that a seller is behind on their mortgage. If the payments are not made up, then the bank will foreclose on the property.
• NODs ( notice of default ) are public record for 90 days, then a notice of trustee’s sale is published in a newspaper once weekly for 20 days and on the 21st day, the property goes to auction.

If you are behind in payments and know for certain that you are unable to catch up on those payments, then I would suggest talking with an attorney to discuss your situation and what would be the best choice to make at that time to best fit your situation.  These are a few choices you should discuss with an Attorney.

• Modification of current loan
• Short Sale
• Sign over the Deed to the bank
• Foreclosure
• Bankruptcy

Again speak with someone that knows the law as Real Estate Agents do not and should not give advise pretending that they do.

Terri Wisecarver

Sacramento Real Estate