Our Team was in the news again this week as Lori Johnston with the Atlanta Journal & Constitution (AJC) recaps the home buying experience of one of our most recent East Cobb Home Buyers.  We sold his home in West Cobb in just 46 days for 96% of list price, which brought Brad & his son to East Cobb for the better commute & schools. 

Brad purchased this East Cobb Foreclosure in Gant Quarters for much less than the comparable sales & appraisal.  The water getting into the basement was due to a bent gutter from a tree limb that had fallen, and since the gutter was replaced (for less than $200), there’ve been no water issues at all!  The foreclosure bank had NO CLUE the fix was that simple so we did our due diligence & inspection & found that it was a very minor issue & repair.  Their loss is Brad’s gain!

Click here to see the full AJC article & Brad’s success story!

If you’re curious, here’s a link to search East Cobb Foreclosures. (this list doesn’t include East Cobb Short Sales, but I’ll send those to you if you’d like. Just email your request to HomeTeam@KellySellsAtlanta.com).  Let us know how we can help you or someone you know find success in this Real Estate market.

The KellySellsAtlanta.com Team
#1 Team: Keller Williams Premier Atlanta
404-863-8680 | www.KellySellsAtlanta.com

Well, in “short,” a Short Sale is when the mortgagor/lender/bank accepts less than what the homeowner/borrower actually owes on the home (a “short” payoff).  Essentially, the mortgage company and the homeowner are using it as a solution to avoid a Foreclosure.  I’ve heard in the past that a mortage company will eventually lose approximately 18% on a property that forecloses instead of selling as a short sale, due to legal fees, worsened property condition, etc.  However, shockingly enough, close to 80% of the homeowners that go into foreclosure never even put their home on the market for sale, not even attempting a short sale.

Many short sale and foreclosure situations arise from either a spike in the borrower’s payment because they were maybe on an Interest Only ARM (Adjustible Rate Mortgage) which adjusted higher, a balloon payment at the end of an ARM, or due to a job loss, etc.  Sometimes, it’s merely because the homeowners needed to move, for one reason or another, and they couldn’t sell their homes for anywhere near what they paid for it in the booming years & they just decided to move on & cut their losses.  It’s not the ideal scenario for anyone or their neighbors or neighborhood, for that matter, but it definiltey happens.

Short Sales are definiltey the better route, for everyone involved (the seller, the seller’s lender, the buyer, etc) mainly because a foreclosure does more damage to the homeowner’s credit.  Also, the Seller’s Lender is normally getting more money than if they were to take it back in Foreclosure, and the Buyer will usually be buying a home in better condition than a foreclosure would be, but still at way below market value.

So, why do we see so many foreclosures happen – why don’t they all “short sale?”  Probably the biggest obstacle with short sales is the Seller’s bank’s ability to (or willingness to) process them in a timely manner and Buyers get anxious & tired of waiting on the bank’s response, so they decide to terminate & move on to another home.  Many times, the delay comes from the secondary lender (i.e. the subprime market) from the loans in which home buyers a 4+ years ago could get a 1st & 2nd mortgage (i.e. 80-20 loan, or 80% 1st & 20% 2nd) to avoid Private Morgage Insurance (PMI) and structure interest only payment, etc, to keep the payment low (essentially buying more home than a conventional mortgage would’ve afforded them).

Short Sales are consistently becoming more & more popular in this real estate market, though, and have been for a few years now, and the Government has put some plans in place to speed up the process & close more short sales.  Every market is local & different, but we’re all seeing it happen around us.  Some markets just have it worse than others.  Currently there are just over 5000 Atlanta homes for sale in FMLS for sale marketed as “Short Sales.”  Let’s hope many of these sell without going into foreclosure!  It will help the market, no doubt.

Homeowners: Are you in trouble of going into Foreclosure?  Would you like to talk more about the option of a Short Sale?  Give us a call or shoot us an email, we have an Atlanta area Short Sale Specialist on our Team to negotiate with your lender to help you aviod the obstacles and roadblocks  mentioned above & help you succeed in selling your home to prevent foreclosure.

Buyers: Click here to Search Atlanta Short Sales in your price range (click the More Search Options link in the search criteria for the Distressed/Short Sale option).

You can also click here to search the MLS for Atlanta homes for sale, including all of the metro Areas.

Thank you for reading!

The KellySellsAtlanta.com Team
www.KellySellsAtlanta.com
Your 1 Stop Real Estate Shop!

Q: What is the 1st step to buying a home?
A: Calling the KellySellsAtlanta.com Team, of course!

Seriously, though, we do hope you call us 1st!  And in the event you do, we’ll tell you that the very best 1st step is to be Pre-Approved by a Mortgage Lender.  We refers our clients to THE BEST Lender in the Metro Atlanta area, and he proves it time & time again.  Our clients rave about his service & his mortgage rates So even if you have a lender picked out, we advise that you speak with our lender as well, at least to get a 2nd opinion.  His loan packages are 2nd to none & you’re doing yourself a favor by at least giving him a call.  He can also do loans in other states, so if you’ve been transferred or planning to purchase a vacation home, he’s able to help with that too.

There are a couple of reasons that getting Pre-Approved with a Lender is the best 1st step to buying… the #1 reason is so that you know what your budget is.  Our Lender will be able to help you come up with a price range that will fit the monthly payment you need.  He can work backwards, based on the payment, county, estimated taxes, mortgage interest rates, etc & help you find the price range that actually fits into your budget.  He will also provide you with an interactive estimation tool that will re-calculate as you manipulate the data (i.e. mortgage rate, purchase price, down payment amount, etc) so that you can play around with it and see how your monthly payment, etc would look if you changed your price range, etc.  Just please don’t be fooled by the online mortgage calculators that generally don’t take into account (or do so inaccurately) the property taxes & insurance payment, etc.  You need advice from an actualy human being and starting with our Lender is definitely one step closer to reaching your goal of Buying a Home!

And the 2nd most important reason to call a Lender & get pre-approved is that you want the Seller to view you as a serious buyer and one that has has the backing of the bank/lender (i.e. money in hand).  Every Seller questions whether the Buyer has been pre-approved for a loan, and when you provide the Pre-Approval Letter with the offer to the Seller, that question is already answered.

Recap: Call The KellySellsAtlanta.com Team 1st & let us help you through the process of Buying a Home.  We’ve been in business for over 10 years & have aligned ourselves with some of the best in the industry… So rather than piecemeal the homebuying process on your own, come to us & let us align you with our partners (lender, home inspector, home warranty company, closing attorney, contractors, vendors, etc) so that you can focus your time and energy on YOU & living life.  Our Team is leveraged internally as well with an administrative assistant & marketing specialist, a Buyers Specialist, a Closing Coordinator & 2 Listing Specialists to help you efficiently & effectively reach your goals of buying or selling a home.  After all, our goal is to help you reach YOUR goal.

In the meantime, if you just want to browse homes for sale, you can view ALL metro Atlanta MLS listings HERE on our website.

With gratitude,

The KellySellsATLanta.com Team
Keller Williams Realty Premier Atlanta
404-863-8680 | hometeam@kellysellsatlanta.com

your 1 stop Real Estate Shop…

TODAY’S RATES:

30 Year FNMA: 4.375% with a .500% Origination Fee or 4.500% with a .125% Origination Fee

15 Year FNMA: 3.75% with a .750% Origination Fee or 3.875% with a .125% Origination Fee

30 Year Jumbo: 5.00% with a 1.00% Origination Fee or 5.125% with a .375% Origination Fee

30 Year FHA: 4.250% with a .250% Origination Fee or 4.125% with a Zero Origination Fee

5 Year FHA Arm: 3.00% with a Zero Origination and the lender paying -.875% of Closing Costs! This would be $1,750.00 on a $200,000.00 Loan Amount!

7 Year FHA Arm: 3.250% with the Lender paying -1.500% of Closing Costs! This would be $3,000.00 on a $200,000.00 Loan Amount!

Disclaimer: Rates are subject to change and are also based on the strength of the borrowers pre-qualification.  The above rate info was provided by Bank of America on Tuesday, 8/17/10…

Let us know how our Team can help you reach your goals in Buying or Selling.

With gratitude,

Aaron Allen & The KellySellsAtlanta Team
www.KellySellsAtlanta.com | 404-863-8680
For Sellers | For Buyers | For Results

Listed below are a few of the most common issues that can arise during the process of a Real Estate Transaction, which usually last 30 to 60 days from the Contract Date (aka Binding Agreement Date) to the Closing Date. Our Team’s job is to avoid these scenarios, along with the help of our preferred lender & closing attorney. Let me know if you need a referral to them & hope you find this info helpful:

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR REAL ESTATE CLOSINGS:

A) FHA Condo Considerations:

a. Condominiums must be covered by hazard and liability insurance and, when applicable, flood and fidelity insurance.
b. No more than 15 percent of the total units may be in arrears (defined as more than 30 days past due) of their condo association fee payments.
c. Condo associations must have a reserve account which holds an amount equivalent to at least 10% of the condo association budget.

B) Furniture Sold as Part of the Contract:

a. Be cautious when including personal property, such as furniture, in the contract. Appraisals are consistently coming in lower than the sales price, and an inflated sales price due to personal property can exacerbate that issue.

C) Seller Mail Aways/Seller Signing Early:
a. Be aware of whether the buyer has an FHA loan. If so, the lender will send documents that must be signed by the seller with the loan package. The seller must have access to a fax machine on the day of closing so that they can sign the FHA docs and fax them back to us as these docs are usually required for funding authorization.

D) Closing Costs:

a. Make sure to prepare both the buyer and seller that closings costs can change. The lender can put a cap on the amount of seller concessions allowed or a minimum on what the buyer must contribute. Therefore, the closing costs listed in the contract will not always be the closings costs allowed to be paid at closing.

Again, our Team’s job is to avoid these issues – whether we’re the Buyer’s Agent or Listing Agent. Our Preferred Lender and Closing Attorney are with you every step of the way to ensure a seemless closing & experience for our clients. I’m serious – they’re fantastic, and our business woulnd’t be where it is without them. We’re definiltey blessed to have found them & our clients have always felt the same.

Hope this was helpful! Let us know if you need us…

The KellySellsAtlanta.com Team of Keller Williams Realty
404-863-8680 | www.KellySellsAtlanta.com | HomeTeam@KellySellsAtlanta.com