1.25.2010

What is a Short Sale, a Foreclosure, and a REO and what are the differences??

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** If you are currently in a Foreclosure process or think you will be shortly visit Don't Borrow Trouble. This website is operated by Freddie Mac and can help you with learning more about your choices as a homeowner and how to avoid predatory lending and people out there looking to scam you. **

In the current housing market these terms are widely used interchangeably by many because they don't know the true meaning of these terms. A short sale, a foreclosure, and a REO are actually 3 completely different terms but are used together frequently when talking about foreclosures.

So to start off with let's define these three terms:

Short Sale-A short sale is when you owe more on your property than it is able to sell for on the market today. An example: you took a $500,000 loan on the house and now it can only sell for $400,000, you are short $100,000.
Foreclosure-A foreclosure is the forced sale of real estate to pay off a loan on which the owner of a property has defaulted, meaning they did not make their payments
REO-A REO stands for Real Estate Owned and basically means that the bank has purchased the property back at a trustee's sale and now owns the property.

So now onto how these terms relate to each other and how the foreclosure process works:

1. Homeowner stops making payments for a certain time
2. The Trustee sends a Notice of Default to the homeowner on behalf of the lender
3. The owner now has the opportunity to become current on the loan (by paying the lender), or the owner can go through a short sale (if the lender is willing)
4. The Trustee sends a Notice of Trustee's Sale to the homeowner
5. The house is put up for auction
6. The house is either sold at auction or the bank (lender) purchases the property as an REO

Because of the many legal problems that can arise through a short sale, foreclosure, or REO purchase consult with your ATTORNEY or ACCOUNTANT before purchasing a property.

Thomas Feng, Realtor
Thomas.Feng@CBnorcal.com

Copyright 2010 by Thomas Feng, All Rights Reserved. You may reblog or republish with links back to this post.

* THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AT http://www.SaratogaHouses.blogspot.com *

Your New Years Resolutions... How's that going for you?

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If you're like most of Americans, myself included, your New Year's Resolutions usually consists of living a healthier lifestyle and losing that extra 10 pounds ;]. However time after time you find yourself falling off halfway through the year and making the same resolution next year.

Not THIS YEAR, while reading through the Saratoga News this week I saw an article about a cross training facility in Los Gatos that piqued my interest.

CrossFit Cadence on University Avenue in Los Gatos was opened by Josh Rogers, a Los Gatos native, in 2009. The goal of CrossFit Cadence is to, "deliver high-quality, high-intensity fitness programs to as much of the community as possible." With the costs of personal training so high it limits the amount of people that can be coached on how to live and feel better.

CrossFit Training is a, "strength and conditioning program employed by police and fire academies and military operations teams worldwide." It has three elements: It's one part gymnastics, some middle distance track work, and Olympic lifting. The benefits of these styles of exercises are: it taps into the body's 3 types of metabolic systems, improves cholesterol, mood, and blood pressure, and it provides faster results than other forms of exercise.

Now I know a lot of you won't admit this but a big part of the reason we fall off the fitness bandwagon 3 months in is because it gets too repetitive. This is where CrossFit Cadence can help, Josh states that, "One day we do long runs, the next day we'll be lifting or doing pull ups, the goal is to get the body to move in as many different ways as possible, as efficiently as possible."

Keeping your New Years Resolutions doesn't have to be that hard, you just need variety to keep you interested. Make sure you check out CrossFit Cadence in Los Gatos if you are interested in living better and sticking to your goals, I know I will.

Credits to:

CrossFit Cadence in Los Gatos
Saratoga News Local Paper

Thomas Feng, Realtor
Thomas.Feng@CBnorcal.com

Copyright 2010 by Thomas Feng, All Rights Reserved. You may reblog or republish with links back to this post.

* THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AT http://www.SaratogaHouses.blogspot.com *

1.16.2010

How to get your home sold FASTER and priced HIGHER than your competition.

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Looking for ways to price your house higher for your sellers? Had your home on the market for 3 months and still not selling? No you dont have to have a genie lamp. Instead here are 5 GREAT ways to spruce up the house and increase the selling price while selling faster than before.

According to the HomeGain survey, the top five home improvements that Realtors recommend to home sellers based on cost and return on investment (from highest to lowest ROI) are:

1. Cleaning and de-cluttering ($200 cost / $1,700 price increase / 872% ROI)
2. Home staging ($300 cost / $1,780 price increase / 586% ROI)
3. Lightening and brightening ($230 cost / $1,300 price increase / 572% ROI)
4. Landscaping ($320 cost / $1,500 price increase / 473% ROI)
5. Repairing plumbing ($385 cost / $1,250 price increase / 327% ROI)

These results were taken from a HomeGain.com nationwide home improvement and home staging survey.

Preparing your listing so that it stands out from other comparables is the MOST important priority in a buyer's market. Agents with current listings can use this information to promote their listings and get them sold. Agents that are prospecting can also use this information for thier listing presentations to obtain more listings

Other great ideas (but higher priced) are updating the kitchen, painting the interior/exterior of the home, shampooing carpets and reparing damaged floors

Always ask yourself, "What can I do to differentiate yourself" and you're sure to get your home sold at a higher price and faster than your competition

Information for this post was taken from RISMedia

Thomas Feng, Realtor
Thomas.Feng@CBnorcal.com

Copyright 2010 by Thomas Feng, All Rights Reserved. You may reblog or republish with links back to this post.

* THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AT http://www.SaratogaHouses.blogspot.com *