short sales
Short Sales by Melissa Zavala | December 13, 2011 
People are always surprised when I state that I have an almost perfect success rate in obtaining short sale approval letters. Short sale approval letters are not so difficult to come by. Yes, they often take forever to obtain, but often it is not the short sale approval letter that gets in the way of the closing of the [...]
Read the full article → Short Sales by Melissa Zavala | December 6, 2011 
I had a call last week from a buyer’s agent who was frustrated because the bank did not accept her buyer’s (very low) cash offer on a short sale. In fact, the bank did not even make a counter offer. The bank employee made it clear that the offer was significantly below the BPO value, [...]
Read the full article → Short Sales by Melissa Zavala | November 28, 2011I received an email over the long weekend from an agent who had a short sale question. It seems that his sister needed to sell her home as a short sale. He wanted to buy it, and he wanted to represent both sides in the transaction (remember that California allows dual representation). All I could [...]
Short Sales by Melissa Zavala | November 22, 2011 
Equity investors and folks buying short sales are often involved in a waiting game—only to learn at the end that the bank is not interested in their offer because their offer price is too low. But there are other factors that can impact the closing of a short sale at the eleventh hour that have [...]
Read the full article → Commentary by Melissa Zavala | November 8, 2011 
On September 7, Kerry Curry wrote an interesting article on Housing Wire entitled “New Normal Means a Lot More Pain to Come.” I read the article, which addresses our existing housing market. In it, an economist for the Federal Reserve Bank in St. Louis discusses how our “new normal” in housing is marked by 2% [...]
Read the full article → Short Sales by Melissa Zavala | November 1, 2011 
When checking out newspapers and magazines and even the Internet, I see many agents who advertise that a short sale transaction can be closed at no cost to the seller. When I see those ads, I always look for the fine print (and I do not always see any). When you take a short sale listing, [...]
Read the full article → Short Sales by Melissa Zavala | October 25, 2011 
I cannot emphasize enough that all of the pieces of the short sale process, when handled well, will result in a successful short sale closing. The first step in the process is the most important, and that step includes pre-qualifying the seller. No jokes here. Just like getting a loan pre-qualification or pre-approval for a home [...]
Read the full article → Short Sales by Melissa Zavala | October 18, 2011 
As I walk through the wacky world of short sales (and boy do I do a lot of walking), I have all sorts of experiences with short sale purchase contracts. I’ve seen listing agents who send all the contracts to the short sale lender for review, and I’ve seen buyers use letters of intent as [...]
Read the full article → Short Sales by Melissa Zavala | October 11, 2011 
In our local market in North San Diego County, most of the homes listed at the lower end of the financial spectrum receive multiple offers. I frequently get calls from agents asking what they should do with these offers, how they should evaluate them, whether they should write a counter offer and what it should [...]
Read the full article → Short Sales by Melissa Zavala | October 4, 2011I love the old game of telephone. It starts with a whisper of one thing, and turns into a yarn so implausible that it barely bears a little semblance to the whisper. I heard one just the other day: Banks are approving short sales without purchase offers. (But, wait? Many banks having been doing that [...]
Short Sales by Melissa Zavala | September 27, 2011Recently I came across a recipe for a dark chocolate bacon cupcake. When I saw the recipe, I did a double-take. What the heck is this? What is it gonna taste like? Breakfast and dessert all in one? I cannot for the life of me imagine what this thing is going to taste like when [...]
Short Sales by Melissa Zavala | September 20, 2011I received a telephone call a few days back from a homeowner who was a little foggy about what to do and wanted to brainstorm some pre-foreclosure options. This individual has a strong income, yet has some unique challenges with respect to his mortgage. The interest rate is continuously changing (as is the amount of [...]
Short Sales by Melissa Zavala | September 13, 2011 
When I began my career in the field of real estate, it was (and still is) my third rodeo. My previous careers were in education and in educational publishing, so I was accustomed to meeting deadlines and working with others. In the field of real estate, I am continually surprised by the fact that real [...]
Read the full article → Commentary by Melissa Zavala | September 6, 2011 
At a recent speaking engagement on my favorite topic (short sales), one of the agents in the audience asked about all of the different designations and certifications available for those who want to specialize in distressed properties. One designation that I am aware of is the SFR Designation, which you can obtain through the National [...]
Read the full article → Foreclosures by Melissa Zavala | August 29, 2011When I was in college, I took a sociology class that was taught by a professor who specialized in studying the impact of the media and its presentation of the news on the public. For example, he would study the number of copycat killers there might be after a murder was featured on the news. [...]
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by Melissa Zavala | November 8, 2011On September 7, Kerry Curry wrote an interesting article on Housing Wire entitled “New Normal Means a Lot More Pain to Come.” I read the article, which addresses our existing housing market. In it, an economist for the Federal Reserve Bank in St. Louis discusses how our “new normal” in housing is marked by 2% [...]