Today I am exhausted. Tired of driving around all parts of town to find that perfect first home for my client. It is hard to see the frustration on first time home buyers. It is the first time that each of my deals requires me to write at least five offers for one to go through. To qualify for the $8000 tax credit, a short sale may not cut it, due to the amount of time the process takes, while a lender owned property will make you play the “highest and best” game, where despite offering over the asking price, first time home buyers are outbid by investors. The 90 day cure period was lifted…so we thought. Still the majority of lenders will not fund a flip, or will ask a number of documents to prove that the “flipper” is not making a huge profit. What is wrong with getting a house, remodeling it and selling it back at market value?

I have been working with investors as well. A lot faster, a lot easier. No closing costs from the seller required, any home qualifies as long as it is priced well. Closing happens fast, banks don’t think twice. Cash is king. Everybody wins…well not everybody for first time home buyers this makes their home buying experience HELL, and when you are their Realtor, your life becomes …hell!

Dealing with short sales is not fun either. How many BPO’s does the lender need? I guess when they pay the appraiser $50 per home, they can order as many as they want. It is challenging to try to help the appraiser to make an educated report, when the only thing he/she wants is to have it done as fast as they can since at $50 dollars they need to do at least 6 in the same amount of time to make close to what they would have made in a regular appraisal. Quantity weights more than quality.

The new rules coming up will allow short sellers that have been current in their loans at the time of the short sale to qualify for a new FHA loan right away. However if you are current in your payments, you become “less important” on the pile of short sales that the negotiator has to go through, and that only if they decide to talk to you if you are current. What do you recommend your client to do? Stay current or become important to the bank?

The more properties that sell at crazy prices, the more our home values go down. It makes sense to walk away from your home when you can buy the same model for half the price of your current mortgage. It make sense to walk away when you know that your house may never be worth the amount you owe.

I miss the good old days…