Learned a great think from my friend, Jay, today about how to shorten URL’s, so you can put them in a “tweet” and not use too many characters. Go to tinyurl.com Once there you can shorten a long URL. You’ll love it!!

Thanks to George Sines of First American Title for providing such great information.

You may be, but you must be looking for a modification of a mortgage on a primary residence only. If that is not the case, this blog is not for you.

The California Association of Realtors has created consumer information that details the various mortgage modification programs available through the larger lenders and government entities. For more detailed information, please visit the following website:

http://www.car.org/legal/mortgage-workout-programs/?view=standard

So you’ve just received a lowball offer on your home and you are not  very happy. Your neighbor’s home just sold for more and you think you have a better home. Welcome to the new world of real estate. What should you do?  Should you sell or should you retreat?  Do you have to sell? If you do you must read the following. First of all, you MUST respond to the offer on the table, no matter how ridiculous it seems. Buyers in the marketplace do NOT know, if you are in trouble financially, so they often make a first offer very low. Why? Many of them have been successful doing so. The buyers do not know you or  your situation, so they don’t have much to lose………other than irritating you, the seller. Don’t take it personally. A seller or an agent who gets involved emotionally is his or her own worst enemy. This is NOT a personal attack. Step back, look at the good points of the offer. Will they close quickly? Are they non-contingent? Do they have a lot of cash, so closing the transaction seems very likely? Will you be able to avoid appraisal issues?

Once you have looked at the good points of the offer, you must respond to the “ridiculous” offer. Secondarily, because without a dialogue between the parties, there is NO hope of putting a transaction together. Keep the dialogue open. If the buyer does not move much off of his/her position once you respond, you need to look at your response.  Have you moved much off of your position to appear ready to make a deal? Are you still overpriced, according to recent sales in your neighborhood?  This does not mean you have to “roll-over” to the buyer’s “ridiculous” offer. It means you must negotiate, not put up a wall or be retaliative. If you have made movement on your side that is genuine and reasonable, the buyer will respond. If the buyer does NOT operate in the same way to put a transaction together, the buyer may not be truly interested in  your property, only looking for a “deal” and has no emotional involvement with your property. You will not put the transaction together. On the other hand, if the buyer genuinely wants your property, you must continue the dialogue. Ask youself, as the seller, the following questions and base your decisions on your own answers. How much is it costing me a month to maintain this property. Add up all of your costs i.e. mortgage, taxes, insurance, Homeowner Association fees, maintenance etc. Multiply that out for 10-12 months. What is that amount?? Subtract that from your initial response to the buyer and reduce your next response by that amount. Next, calculate your capital gains by subtracting the marriage or single deduction (as it applies) from your anticipated sales proceeds. What if capital gains rates go up 5-10% under a new administration?  Factor in that extra cost. Realistically look at how long it might take you to sell your home for what you THOUGHT it was once worth. Is it 1 year, 5 years, 10 years?  The longer it takes you to arrive at that optimal selling price, the longer you will be paying money on a very slowly appreciating asset. After costs, what will you really gain and what will the value of the dollar be at that time?

You can see where this is going. If you need to sell your home or really want to get out from under the additional burden of a big overhead, you must be realistic and you must be prepared to deal with reality. Cash is “King” today. Take your money and buy a distressed property yourself. Put your money in a CD and you are probably ahead of the market short-term, if property values keep declining and finally, once the Bush tax cuts expire, what will happen to the so-called “Marriage deduction”? Will it get the hatchet? Who knows? We only know what we have now. So to sell or not to sell.?, If you need to sell or really want to sell…then………………………SELL!!

There is really only one way to know when the real estate market has bottomed out. It is when prices begin to inch their way up, more homes sell in shorter time periods and you look back and realize you missed out on that last great deal, because now you are climbing a new hill.  Don’t be afraid to buy now. If people like Donald Trump and Warren Buffett are buying, it should tell us all something. Unless you have more money than they have, you might consider their strategies. Any questions, I would love to answer them for you.

Wow! Can you imagine standing in the  parking lot of a shopping center and watching the flames rush toward a home you recently sold?  That buyer would have been “burned up” in more than one sense.