What you do, or don’t do, to a property that you purchase can mean the difference in making a nice profit from a quick sale, or losing money while your investment property just sits and sits with no interest buyers.

This is a video that’s only about 11 minutes short, and it’s from the popular A&E network’s Flip This House crew.  You’re gonna love the great layout and design tips in this video for sure!

CLICK LINK to view this great video!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkGbTHdvwgs

Although that sounds like an incredibly HIGH number of delinquent mortgages, that total is actually less than the previous months.

At the beginning of this year, there were 6,870,000 delinquent mortgages.  Compare that to the beginning of 2010 that showed 8,118,000 and you can clearly see how there’s been a major decline in the total numbers of past due mortgages.

CLICK HERE for more info on this story.

Does all this mean that we’re nearing the end of the housing problems?  I wouldn’t go so far as to say that, but I feel it’s definitely showing that we’re heading in the right direction.  And although it may confirm that we’re heading the right direction, it’s kind of like we’re on a cross-country journey and we still have a long road ahead of us.  Hopefully the trek will be less cluttered with road blocks the further we get.

Well here it comes in the form of a brand new Costco being built in the Reynolds Ranch area of Lodi at the corner of Harney Ln and Hwy 99 Frontage Rd.

I’ve even heard that there may be a Best Buy and/or a Home Depot to join in on the same center location.  I don’t need the Home Depot, but a Best Buy would surely be fun!

For now let’s just get this new Costco completed and open for business.  I’m ready for all it has to offer, which will most likely be at the end of this summer.  Can I get an “Open, open, open!?”

Oh, and by the way, there will be a gas station included as well at this location, which is fine as long as it’s not taking up the space where Best Buy should be going.  LOL!

What will this do for the real estate needs in Lodi?  Will the upcoming new employees already be here or will some of the expected 300 employees need a really great Realtor® to help them find a new home?  I’m hoping for the latter since it would only help with the current available homes that need a new owner to fill in the gaps in our current real estate market.  There are many great real estate deals with all of the Short Sales in Lodi as well as the ones in Stockton, not to mention the bank owned foreclosures, and even a few traditional owner sales.

Let us know if you are excited about the new Lodi Costco, or if you think it’s making our quaint little wine community too commercial.

But I came across one individual that thought she would just eat her house and then since there would no longer be a house, then of course there would be no longer a mortgage, right?

I’m thinking that it’s not that easy. Eating this gingerbread house might make Ciara’s imaginary debt go away, but once she’s done with it she’ll have the worst stomach ache EVER!

The situation that many people are in today with deciding whether to just walk away from their real mortgage and let the bank foreclose, or to perhaps talk to a Realtor like me and see if trying to do a Short Sale is enough to cause anyone to have a stomach ache as well.

I always recommend that everyone talk to a Certified Public Accountant (if you’re in the Stockton, CA area the best is Peter Holtz) or to a real estate attorney, or both.

As a real estate professional I do not give legal advice, nor do I sell home loans.  I sell homes for sellers and find great deals for home buyers in the central valley of CA, mainly in the Lodi and Stockton areas.

Bottom line, as a homeowner you have options if you are upside down with your mortgage.  Whatever you do, don’t resort to eating your house.  Be sure and seek out the advice from the professionals and make sure that you open all mail pertaining to your home, and save everything that you get in one place for easy access.

I hope you all have a Happy Holiday Season!

Sincerely,

Randy

Will this slow down the process or bring it to a grinding halt for much longer than they anticipate?  If they’re looking for errors, then perhaps it could take longer than they expect.  I’m thinking that might be like looking for a needle in a needle stack. 

Will this slow down the Short Sale process in cities like Stockton, CA as well or will these big lenders put the skids on that as well?

I’ll be right here on the edge of my seat waiting for the chips to fall, spaghetti to stick, or any other way with great anticipation.

What do you think this will do to our current timelines that already seem to last longer than a Texas mile?  Do you think there will be a major increase in lawsuits as a result from all the upcoming confusion and discovered errors?

Image via Wikipedia

A now former employee of Countrywide had downloaded millions of files of consumers and sold that private information to the employees of other lenders to be used as sales leads.

The alleged thief was caught back in 2008 and his trial begins on Oct 19th of this year, and he is currently free on bond while waiting for his trial.

There were possibly 15-17 million consumers that were at risk from this crime and Bank of America, which bought Countrywide back in 2008, is now offering free credit monitoring for two years to all those consumers that had provided personal and private  information to Countrywide before July 1, 2008, or who had a mortgage loan service by Countrywide before that date as well.

I don’t know what affect this settlement will have on the current real estate market, but Bank of America has been more quickly to respond to a couple of my Short Sales of homes for sale in Stockton and Lodi, CA recently.  Perhaps they realized they’d make more money on the short sale rather than letting the home go into foreclosure.

If you’d like to get more information on this and even file a claim for the free credit monitoring you can call (866) 940-3612, or visit their website at www.CWdataClaims.com.

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• Bank of America Settles Data Theft Claims (dailyfinance.com)

The group focuses on renter’s rights and th

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

eir study states 37 percent of California’s foreclosed residential properties involved renters and effected an estimated 200,000 residents, many of whom were displaced, which is a nice way of saying they were given their walking papers, which is a nice way of saying they were evicted from their homes.

Unfortunately I have seen this first-hand while working with Short Sales in Stockton, Lodi and the surrounding areas.  It’s never a good day when families are being asked to leave (evicted) from their homes even though they may have been paying their rent on time, but perhaps the owner of their home wasn’t paying the mortgage.

Once the owner stops paying their mortgage, soon after they have to decide whether to let the home be foreclosed on by the bank or to try and do a Short Sale, but either way the renter loses out and has to find another place to live.

At Realty World-Davis Homes & Properties, we try to be advocates for all parties involved in any situation if we can.  If you have questions, then most likely we have answers.  We highly recommend that anyone facing foreclosure or a short sale of their home to always seek the advice of a CPA as well as a real estate attorney.

Don’t just “wait and see what happens”.  Be sure to seek professional assistance to get a fully informed as you can.

When the banks have ‘bad debt’, they write it off.  When a business or corporation has a ‘bad debt’, write it off.  BUT when a homeowner has a ‘bad debt’, just writing it off ain’t gonna happen.

A lot of people who can afford to stay in their homes are just saying good-bye to them  and their mortgages by exercising their freedom of choice and just walking away from their financial responsibilities.  This is commonly referred to as Strategic Foreclosure or Strategic Default.

So, what’s a honest homeowner to do when they’re home is now worth much less than they paid for it only a few short years ago?  Well, before you just get up and walk away you should definitely consult with a real estate attorney, a good Realtor, and also a CPA to find out what options and legal consequences you’ll have depending on your choices and situation.

You could let the bank foreclose, or you could Short Sale your home.  REOs and Short Sales in Stockton and surrounding areas are the bulk of what’s on the market these days.  Just look around and I’m sure you’ll see For Sale signs up and down many streets in your own neighborhood.

Walking away from your home that’s “under water” (worth less than you owe) instead of trying to work with your bank(s) or having a Realtor short sale it for you, could actually leave you in deep water.

Here is some more specific information about this…CLICK HERE.

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• The Short Sale Process (home-mortgages.suite101.com)

Monday - Day 12 – I received a call from Chase’s Justin ask me if we were doing a short sale on the property. Duh! He wanted to know if we had a buyer already. Duh. Then he proceeded to tell me all the paperwork that I would need to send in – the paperwork that I had sent in almost 2 weeks ago. He gave me the special short sale fax line – 866-220-4130. The one that I had already sent all the forms into 13 days ago.

Justin said that when I got all the forms into him he could order the BPO. This is different from what Elizabeth in New York had told me on Day 2. Elizabeth had said that they would order the BPO and it would take 7-10 days. We are on day 13 and Justin says they have not ordered it yet.

Prices in Lodi are still falling. The longer it takes to complete this short sale, the lower the value of the home. Banks like Chase (WaMu) started this real estate mess and they seem to be doing all they can to continue it.

Hopefully we will have some good news – and some quicker response soon. Don’t hold your breath.

First American CoreLogic reports that distressed properties accounted for 29% of all U.S. home sales in January. Also, real estate-owned sales rose to 22% of homes sales from 19% in December, and short sales rose to 8% from 7%.

National average sale prices in January were $161,600 for distressed homes, compared to the average non-distressed sale price of $247,700, $141,900 for REO properties, and $215,300 for short sales.

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• Distressed Sales Reach 29% of Entire Market: First American (housingwire.com)