All Forum Posts by: William Alston

Isiah,
There is no such thing in my experience as "The Sacramento Real Estate Market". It is in fact a large contiguous collection of mini markets.
The Newingtons from Elk Grove set you in the right direction when they asked about the zip code that you had in mind.

This is the beginning of the process of defining the actual individual markets that make up "The Sacramento Real Estate Market". Zip code alone is not a sufficient criteria as multiple mini markets exist within the same zip code.

In the Sacramento area the best way to search for properties in a precisely targeted geographical area (that I am referring to here as a "mini market") is to have a local real estate professional build you something called a Client Portal.

The Portal has a feature (not available to the public yet but capable of being created by a local real estate professional for their client) that lets one select an area drawn over the map with up to 6-8 sides that precisely outlines the area or areas within which you wish to search.
They are free to set up, you can have multiple searches, and they are readily accessible 24/7. The Portal is essentially a shopping cart built right into the MLS where an agent can build a place for his/her client to save all of their searches in one place.
It automatically searches the MLS each day about 4:30 am and puts your new listings into your cart for you. If status or price changes it automatically updates for you.
If you are not familiar with what's going on this is a great way to automatically track trends and changes in areas you are watching. The closings are +80% REO (and increasingly short sales) so before you jump in and get stung, learn about them.

I agree that this is disturbing news but absolutely to be expected.
The world economy is in a shambles and whether you put the blame on our industry, lack of government regulation, the not so federal Federal Reserve or alien visitors... the results are clearly going to be far reaching and long lasting.
I choose not to fear the future but to look for niches of growth and a haven for thinkers of all brands.

In this "world's worst"economy I find many new opportunities and I am exploiting two with much success. The world of short sales, which will be short lived, and the internet which will certainly endure.
If you haven't seen former Wired magazine editor Kevin Kelley explain the next 5000 days of the internet then you should. He gave his talk in 2007 and I already am observing far reaching effects that he brought up in his talks.
With chaos comes the opportunity to exploit the weakness of social and financial barriers that are temporarily withdrawn. (Ten years of chaos might not seem so temporary looking forward at it but it will look temporary after its gone)
People are walking away from valuable assets because they have lost faith in the ability to prosper or even make a living in some cases.
The banks with piles of cash are gobbling up the assets of former competitors while at the same time "writing down" the bad debt. What a bonanza that will be for the players left standing. All that wealth so recently created being gobbled up by a very few survivors.
People who don't see the silver lining and instead just dwell on the misery, are likely to either commit suicide or riot.

If they riot, then the army may be the only thing that stops them.
Still I am glad I don't live next to the riot police that have tanks and artillery, at least not yet.....

Lee,
Don't panic I see this everyday and there is a solution.
As far as the deficiency goes the answer is "it depends' on
whether or not you ever refinanced after you bought and whether or not you have multiple loans. This is actually a legal issue and I am not a lawyer but I know one who will talk to you and not charge you for the answers to these questions.

First question for you...

Who is the lender or lenders?

Each company has created its own confused tangle of policies and each negotiator at each company possesses a different level of skill and understanding.
So it is important to have an understanding of who we are dealing with here.
I always determine the lender before I approach them with a deal because it might seem completely reasonable to you but is against their internal policies and therefore will be much harder to negotiate.

You likelihood of success comes down to two things:

1. The ability to demonstrate a hardship (and clearly losing one owner's income meets that criteria) and

2.The skill of your negotiator.

I always say if you are going to a fist fight, then take a knife or a gun. ]
My negotiatoris both of these things, sharp and tough. but very patient and professional as well and she gets amazing things done that other so called experts have told us was impossible.
So much for a viewpoint.


As to your questions about credit, yes it will impact your credit negatively but a foreclosure ruins you for 4-7 years and after a short sale you can get a Fannie Freddie loan again after only two years.
Don't wait because the stress will ruin you.

Talk to someone right away and get the negotiations started. With a little more in depth information not suitable for posting on a publicly viewable site, I can help you come up with a strategy to stay in your home as long as the process takes, even if you ultimately stop making payments.
Your rights are numerous and not likely to be explained or pointed out by your lender in my experience.
The recent passage of SB1137 gives us all even more tools to get short sales done with formerly unwilling lenders.
Do not fear them they are paper tigers and if you follow your plan closely you won't even have to talk to them again just tell them you are represented and to talk to your loss mitigation specialist.
I hope this helps. Post again if you still have questions. Everybody in the business hould know about short sales in California because the large number of foreclosures is going to begin turning into an even larger number of short sales for the near future because of the implications of SB1137. But if you don't know your rights...how can demand them?