2012 Hits Movie Theaters Tonight

Starring: John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Amanda Peet, Danny Glover, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, George Segal, Tom McCarthy

Never before has a date in history been so significant to so many cultures, so many religions, scientists, and governments. 2012 is an epic adventure about a global cataclysm that brings an end to the world and tells of the heroic struggle of the survivors.

We are looking forward to hearing your opinion on the movie and true thoughts on 2012... is it really the end?

Should I do a Short Sale?

Are you confused about whether a short sale or foreclosure is better? If so, you're not alone. As people across the country find themselves unable to keep up with their mortgage payments, many are looking into short sale options. Bank foreclosures and the housing market is the topic on the mind of most now. People are still trying to keep their houses but banks are not working with them on modifications.

Many people are turning to things like the "short sale" to avoid foreclosure. Simply put, a short sale in real estate refers to a sale that falls "short" of a loan balance due. When sold this way, the bank (or other lending institution) agrees to allow the sale of their security (the property) for an amount that is less than owed to them.

The short sale process is almost always better than foreclosure for a number of reasons. There are many reasons why homeowners may do this, one of the biggest is an acknowledgement of the decline in the value of the property due to economic conditions. Banks realize that many homes are worth less than the balance of the loan, and they have been attempting to work with home owners to sell their homes and pay off their mortgages.

Perry Knox, an auctioneer with Mark Volk Realty & Auction Company said, "During these current economic challenges and the implosion of the Real Estate Market, Lenders are more often accepting Short Sale Options now than they were just 3 years ago. If a lender agrees to accept less than the amount owed on a mortgage that does not necessarily guarantee the difference will be forgiven by the lender and this should be negotiated during the Short Sale Process." In California if the loan was used as purchase money they can not put a deficiency judgement against you.

According to Knox, the short sale process is almost always better than foreclosure for a number of reasons. For example, the lender may agree to "write-off" the short fall on the mortgage and the homeowner will not be required to pay that back. Even in that case, there will most likely be a "write-off" on their credit report (which is still better than a foreclosure and possible subsequent bankruptcy, according to Knox and others.)

A short sale may prevent bankruptcy, which could enable the homeowner to possibly re-purchase a home and secure a mortgage without the 3 year delay associated with a foreclosure. It makes sense to see what your options are before making a decision.

To be eligible for a short sale, the bank wants to see a loss of income. The bank also wants to see if the homeowner to write a letter of hardship.

According to Knox, "A homeowner in this position that does not see the ability to bring the mortgage current and is out of options with the lender should contact a broker right away and have them do a Broker's Price Opinion (BPO) on what the current market value of the property is. If upon signing of a listing agreement and a preliminary acceptance of a BPO by the Lending Institution, you may have just gained a little time before a foreclosure. Typically a Lender will delay Forclosure if they know that there is a Broker out there trying to sell the property, while working with a cooperative seller, for a premiliminarily approved sale amount."

When making the final decision on whether a short sale is the better option, homeowners should take all this information to heart and work with someone who knows the entire process and has been through it before.

One of the best pieces of advice I could offer a homeowner that has begun a Short Sale Process with a Broker/Agent is to work with that Broker/Agent carefully and properly prepare your home for showings and be timely in producing required documents as they become necessary for the Lender, Just because the Short Sale Process is accepted does not mean Foreclosure may not happen. The Broker/Agent has only a limited time period to gain an Offer to Purchase from a prospective Buyer.

If the property continues to deteriorate and does not show well, a prospective buyer is less likely to make an offer and foreclosure becomes more of a reality. By acting within the timeframe, many Hoosiers are finding an alternative to foreclosure that works for them.

What is CDPE?

What is a CDPE?
A Certified Distressed Property Expert® is a real estate professional with specific understanding of the complex issues confronting the real estate industry, and the foreclosure avoidance options available to homeowners. Through comprehensive training and experience, CDPEs are able to provide solutions for homeowners facing hardships in today’s market, specifically short sales.

The prospect of foreclosure can be financially and emotionally devastating, and often homeowners proceed without guidance of any kind. The developers of the CDPE Designation believe that the best course of action for a homeowner in distress is to speak with a well-informed, licensed real estate professional. They have the tools needed to help homeowners find the best solution for their situation. Often, when other options have been exhausted, CDPEs can help homeowners avoid foreclosure through the efficient execution of a short sale.

While enduring financial difficulties is challenging for any family, the process of finding a qualified real estate professional should not be. Selecting an agent with the CDPE Designation ensures you are dealing with a professional trained to address your specific needs. For more information, contact a CDPE in your area.

CDPEs don’t merely assist in selling properties, they serve and help save their clients in need.

Washington Report: $8,000 Home Buyer Tax Credit

Washington Report: $8,000 Home Buyer Tax Credit

Quick passage by the House last week of a bill extending the $8,000 home buyer tax credit next year for military, diplomatic and intelligence personnel serving overseas increases the odds that Congress will agree to an extension, maybe even an expansion, of the entire credit program well into 2010.

The White House is also signaling that it sees the overall tax credit program — currently set to expire November 30 — as an important element in cutting the unemployment rolls and stimulating new jobs next year.

After an economic policy strategy meeting last week in the Oval Office involving President Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, congressional aides said Democrats generally support an extension of the housing credit.

Reid already has made clear he wants an extension. He is co-sponsoring a Senate bill that would do so for six months. (Source: Realty Times)

Sacramento Short Sale Specialist

We are excited to close more of our Short Sales this week. Things are starting to move faster. We are currenlty negotiating on our 40 Short Sale listings. Hopefully we will have approval letters on all of them soon.

Shorts Sales can be a frustrating and long process. It may be easier to buy an Island but you will have to check with Casey on that one:).

Angel

Loan Modification Attorney Under Investigation

LOAN MODIFICATION ATTORNEYS UNDER INVESTIGATION
The State Bar of California has recently launched numerous investigations against attorneys for misconduct related to loan modifications. In a rare move, the State Bar has released the names of 16 attorneys under investigation, by opting to waive investigation confidentiality in favor of public protection. These attorneys have allegedly taken fees for promised services, but failed to perform those services or even communicate with their clients who face the possible loss of their homes. Their non-attorney staff may also be under investigation for unlawfully practicing law.
Not all attorneys engaged in loan modifications are unscrupulous. However, this announcement from the State Bar serves as a good reminder for REALTORS® and their clients to be careful when dealing with attorneys and others for loan modifications. Scam artists may intentionally associate or affiliate themselves with attorneys in an attempt to lend credence to their fraudulent schemes. The list of attorneys currently under investigation is available at http://calbar.ca.gov/state/calbar/calbar_generic.jsp?cid=10144&n=96395.

Short Sales Spread Across Real Estate Market

To read the full story, please click here:
http://www.latimes.com/classified/realestate/news/la-fi-lew20-2009sep20,0,1828223.story
Chicago Tribune
Short sales spread across real estate market, leaving frustration in their wake
As more homeowners find themselves underwater -- owing more on their mortgage than their home is currently worth -- and unable to make the monthly mortgage payments, many are turning to short sales,which allow a homeowner to sell their home for less than owed on the mortgage. Short sales can be a win win situation for all parties, because they enable home buyers to purchase properties in desirable neighborhoods and at favorable prices.
KEEP THIS IN MIND
• Theoretically, short sales should be a win-win for the bank and the homeowner. Although the bank does not receive the full amount owed on the mortgage, it also does not incur the costs of foreclosure and/or eviction, if necessary. Many homeowners also prefer short sales because it is less damaging to their credit scores than a foreclosure. However, many real estate experts say that the majority of banks are reluctant to approve short sales, and often let properties go into
foreclosure, even when there are reasonable offers on the property. In addition to considering the price, most lenders also take into consideration whether the homeowner can demonstrate financialhardship. If the homeowner is capable of making payments, many lenders will try to work out a loan modification, rather than a short sale.
• Unlike foreclosed properties, which may be run-down and vacant for many months, short-sell properties are likely to be better maintained, as most owners may still live in the home.
• Short sales often are more time intensive than traditional transactions and often require additional paperwork. Due to the large number of offers on short sales, many take as long as a few months to receive approval. If information or required forms are missing or incomplete, the bank may set the offer aside, which could delay the process and cause the property to go into foreclosure. To expedite the process, sellers should work closely with their REALTOR® to provide all of the necessary paperwork.
• Working with a REALTOR® who has experience with short sales can help both sellers and home buyers during the transaction. A seasoned REALTOR® will be able to serve as the mediator between the seller and the lender, and lead to a successful transaction.
• It is important to remember that in a short sale, although the seller may be anxious about selling the property and willing to accept any offer, it is ultimately up to the lender to determine if, and at what price, the property can be sold. Home buyers should work closely with their REALTOR® to submit realistic offers.

To read the full story, please click here:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestate/chi-sun-short-sales-0920sep20,0,5529436.story

In Other News…
San Francisco Chronicle
U.S. home prices rise 0.3 percent in July
U.S. home prices rose slightly in July from a month earlier, according to a government index, further
evidence the housing market is stabilizing.
To read the full story, please click here:
www.sfgate.com

Fair Oaks Open House Sunday 2-4 PM!

We just had a price reduction on our beautiful home listed in Fair Oaks. Come take a look this Sunday from 2-4PM! 7758 Juan Way, Fair Oaks.



Your Personal Invite!

Guess what we did?

Our office has moved locations.
We are now located at:
1913 Capital Avenue, Suite C
Sacramento CA
Come visit our new home!

Home Evaluation Informations send a Request Today!

Sacramento Short Sale Information. Just click on the link to find out what your home is currently worth. Your free home evaluation.
Angel Lynn

Mortgage industry calls for big changes at Fannie and Freddie

Trying to get out there first with a proposal for the future of Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE), the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is calling for Fannie and Freddie to be broken up into several smaller privately held companies that issue securities with an explicit government guarantee, not just an implied guarantee, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The Obama administration has not yet issued its recommendations and they're not expected until next year. The Center for American Progress plans to issue its report on the future of housing finance this fall.

You can be pretty sure there will be a bit of a frenzy over what to do about the housing finance market as the government gets closer to making a decision. In today's marketplace, three key players -- the FHA, Fannie and Freddie -- buy 90 percent of new mortgage loans. The private mortgage marketplace has dried up. The U.S. government has propped up Fannie and Freddie with capital infusions totaling $96 billion plus almost ten times that amount through purchases of debt and mortgage-backed securities by the Treasury and Federal Reserve.

MBA wants to avoid any similar federal bailout in the future. It proposes that the new companies pay fees into a federal insurance fund that would guarantee interest and principal payments to bondholders if companies were unable to make them. This would replace the current system of assumed federal backing. Investors have lost confidence in the assumed federal backing and reduced their holdings of Fannie and Freddie debt.

MBA also wants the new smaller private companies to focus solely on the mission of mortgage creation, but not be allowed to hold large amounts of mortgages and securities, as Fannie and Freddie do now. Instead, the MBA calls for government agencies rather than the new companies to assume the mission of promoting affordable housing that Congress assigned to Fannie and Freddie.

Republicans want to end government conservatorship within 18 months, but Democrats haven't spelled out a time line for this process. They likely won't take a public stance until they get some word from the Obama administration, which won't be until next year.

In a related story, FBR Capital said Freddie and Fannie have no "underlying value" to justify the recent tripling in their share prices this month. Since their big jumps, both dropped by about 50 cents per share from Aug. 28 to the close of market on Sept. 1. On Aug. 28 Fannie closed at $2.04, but dropped to $1.59 at the close on Sept. 1. Freddie was at $2.40 on Aug. 28 and dropped to $1.90 at close on Sept. 1.

Lita Epstein has written more than 25 books, including Trading for Dummies.

Short Sale Bank Status

Chase and Wamu are in the process of upgrading their systems. They do not have access to any data until Tuesday. So if you are calling on your files hold off until Tuesday.
Angel

Lose the House, but Not Your Credit

Lose the House, but Not Your Credit
By Brian Dakss
According to sources in the mortgage industry, people who agree to a short sale with the lender do far less damage to their credit rating than those who go through foreclosure.

While in both cases, short sale and foreclosure, the delinquent mortgage will negatively affect their credit rating, at least short sellers avoid having a "debt discharged due to foreclosure" on their credit reports. Mortgage and credit experts say that, after bankruptcy, having a foreclosure on your credit report is the worst result and will reduce your credit score by over 250 points. You could also have to wait up to three years to qualify for a mortgage at a reasonable rate.

Short sales show up on a credit report as a "pre-foreclosure in redemption" status and can result in a credit score reduction of 100 points or less. After the sale, the mortgage may show up as "discharged." People who successfully complete a short sale may also qualify for a mortgage at a reasonable interest rate in as little as 18 months. So, if buying a home is a future goal, then a short sale is the better option for many.

Homeowners cannot simply decide that they want to unload a home with a short sale; the lender must agree to it. The key to getting a lender to go along is to demonstrate two things: that you have no other financial resources to pay the mortgage, and that the sale price the buyer is willing to pay is the fair price the market will bear. If a lender believes it can get more for the house by taking possession of it and selling it themselves, then they will not go along with a short sale.

To begin the process of a short sale, you first need to call the lender and speak directly with the person in the loan workout or short sale department. At GMAC ResCap, a large residential mortgage lender, there is a "foreclosure prevention department" with people trained to work with homeowners in exactly this situation. Their motivation is summed up by Steve Nelson at that company: "We pretty much know what our loss is going to be if we foreclose. If a short-seller results in a payoff that's better than that number, we're talking all day long with people who want to put a short sale together." Some lenders report a three- to four-times rise in the number of short sales over the past year.

People who want to go this route should contact a local real estate firm and ask to work with a real estate agent who has actual experience with short sales. These specially trained agents will know the process and deliver the documentation that the lender requires to authorize the short sale. The agent can also find a buyer that is qualified to complete the transaction.

If all goes as planned, the lender will receive all of the proceeds, typically not enough to pay off the loan. The remaining balance of the loan is discharged. But a homeowner agreeing to a short sale should also get legal advice to protect his or herself from future claims of the lender. In some states, only purchase mortgages are fully discharged. For all other types of debt (equity loans, refinancing, etc), the homeowner can be held personally liable for repayment in the future. For this reason, a lawyer's advice will include getting the lender to agree to fully discharge all mortgage debt involved in the short sale.


This is a common question I always get asked when taking a short sale listing. The alternative to foreclosure is the answer.
Angel

The Truth Behind Loan Modifications and Frustrated Home Owners

By PETER S. GOODMAN
New York Times
This week, the Obama administration summoned mortgage company executives to Washington to demand they move faster to lower payments for homeowners sliding toward foreclosure. Treasury officials called on the companies to hire and train more people quickly to field applications for relief.

But industry insiders and legal experts say the limited capacity of mortgage companies is not the primary factor impeding the government’s $75 billion program to prevent foreclosures. Instead, it is that many mortgage companies are reluctant to give strapped homeowners a break because the companies collect lucrative fees on delinquent loans.

Even when borrowers stop paying, mortgage companies that service the loans collect fees out of the proceeds when homes are ultimately sold in foreclosure. So the longer borrowers remain delinquent, the greater the opportunities for these mortgage companies to extract revenue — fees for insurance, appraisals, title searches and legal services.

“It frustrates me when I see the government looking to the servicer for the solution, because it will never ever happen,” said Margery Golant, a Florida lawyer who defends homeowners against foreclosure and who worked in the law department of a major mortgage company, Ocwen Financial. “I don’t think they’re motivated to do modifications at all. They keep hitting the loan all the way through for junk fees. It’s a license to do whatever they want.”

Rich Miller, a governance project manager at Countrywide Financial and Bank of America before he left in January, said Bank of America had been reluctant to modify loans, which hurt the bottom line. The company has been waiting and hoping the economy will improve and delinquent customers will resume making payments, he said.

“That’s the short-term strategy,” said Mr. Miller, who oversaw training programs at Countrywide, which was bought by Bank of America. He now works as an industry consultant.

Bank of America disputed that characterization. “To think that somehow or other we would jeopardize investor relationships and customer relationships for the very small incremental income we would receive by delaying seems ludicrous,” said Robert V. James, the bank’s senior vice president for mortgage operations and insurance. “It’s not the right thing to do.”

Mortgage companies, some of which are affiliated with the nation’s largest banks, are paid to manage pools of loans owned by investors. The companies typically collect a percentage of the value of the loans they service. They extract their share regardless of whether borrowers are current on their payments. Indeed, their percentage often increases on delinquent loans.

Legal experts say the opportunities for additional revenue in delinquency are considerable, confronting mortgage companies with a conflict between their own financial interest in collecting fees and their responsibility to recoup money for investors who own most mortgages.

“The rules by which servicers are reimbursed for expenses may provide a perverse incentive to foreclose rather than modify,” concluded a recent paper published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Under the Obama administration’s foreclosure program, a servicer that modifies a loan for a homeowner collects $1,000 from the government, followed by $1,000 a year for each of the next three years. A senior Treasury adviser, Seth Wheeler, said these payments amounted to “meaningful incentives to servicers to help overcome the challenges and competing demands they face in considering and completing loan modifications.” He added that mortgage companies “are contractually obligated to the terms of this program, which require them to offer modifications to qualified borrowers.”

But experts say the administration’s incentives are often outweighed by the benefits of collecting fees from delinquency, and then more fees through the sale of homes in foreclosure.

“If they do a loan modification, they get a few shekels from the government,” said David Dickey, who led a mortgage sales team at Countrywide and Bank of America, leaving in March to start his own mortgage advisory firm, National Home Loan Advocates. By contrast, he said, the road to foreclosure is lined with fees, especially if it is prolonged. “There’s all sorts of things behind the scenes,” he said.

When borrowers fall behind, mortgage companies typically collect late fees reaching 6 percent of the monthly payments.

“For many subprime servicers, late fees alone constitute a significant fraction of their total income and profit,” said Diane E. Thompson, a lawyer for the National Consumer Law Center, in testimony to the Senate Banking Committee this month. “Servicers thus have an incentive to push homeowners into late payments and keep them there: if the loan pays late, the servicer is more likely to profit.”

She cited Ocwen Financial, which reported that nearly 12 percent of its income in 2007 came from fees to borrowers.

Paul A. Koches, Ocwen’s general counsel, said: “We’d prefer that to be zero. The costs associated with our delinquent loans are in every instance in excess of the late fees.”

Its no wonder we are in the situation that we are in right now. The banks are taking advantage of the suffering home owner. This all needs to end we are living a mess.
Angel

Lake Tahoe Condo Listing!

Cute Condo for Sale in South Lake Tahoe listed for only 205,000! 2 Bedrooms 1.5 Bath walking distance to casinos and Heavenly Ski Resort. Call me today to take a look at this property!! Home is waiting for someone who likes to play!

Short Sale Approval being Fast Tracked

Short sale approvals being fast tracked
A number of banks have revamped there short sale approval process, decreasing time needed to gain approval significantly. In fact some lenders have even begun to approach homeowners in errears and those in danger of falling into errears and are suggesting that they list their homes as short sales. In these situations lien holders pre-approve the sale at a price, reached in conjunction with a local real estate agent. No doubt many lenders are still stuck in the same rut and have not wrapped their heads around the problem they're having with non-performing loans. On average lenders lose up to 50% more on a property when they foreclosure on it than they would if they were to allow a short sale. Recently the government has launched an effort to streamline the processing of these transactions industry wide. A part of this initiative is cash payments to 2nd lien holders for cooperating in a short sale transaction, as well as a $1500 payment to the homeowner for relocation expenses.Foreclosures are still on the rise but between approved short sales and loan modifications, we may actually see a decrease in the number of foreclosures yet.

Many home buyers are advised to steer clear of short sales due to the headaches involved. Certainly many of these transactions can be a real nightmare. But each should be assessed on based on the number of lien holders involved, how many offers (if any) have been submitted to the lien holder(s) and how long offers have been in process with the lien holder(s).

Home sellers frustrated as short-sale deals collapse

By Stephanie Armour, USA TODAY
Scores of homeowners who thought they'd cut a deal with their banks to sell their houses for less than their unpaid mortgages are seeing those agreements fall apart months later, contributing to the mounting foreclosures that threaten the housing market's recovery.
The sales of homes for less than the amount owed the bank, known as "short sales," have been widely viewed as an alternative that could help slow the foreclosure epidemic. In theory, delinquent homeowners escape a mortgage they cannot afford, and lenders, although taking a loss, avoid the even costlier process of completing a foreclosure.

Instead, many homeowners are watching potential buyers walk away as months pass while they deal with lenders' lengthy delays, lost documents and unreturned calls, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Not all the snafus are lenders' fault; inexperienced real estate agents who fail to turn in complete paperwork also are causing holdups, as are severely underpricedhomes.

The problems have become such a kink in the market's recovery that banks and the federal government are launching new efforts this month to simplify and speed up the short-sale process.

Just 23% of short-sale offers that homeowners receive from potential buyers actually close, according to a February study of 1,300 real estate agents by Campbell Communications. More than 90% of agents cited a slow response from the lender as the reason short sales were lost.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Barack Obama | Bank of America | Wells Fargo | RE/Max
"The delays are quite extensive and a real problem. It's a serious issue," says Mark Zandi of Moody's Economy.com. "You're seeing a lot of short sales go bust, and it's contributing to the crisis because it's one of the reasons foreclosures continue to mount."

Jorge DeMattos, 45, just completed the short sale on his home in Pembroke Pines, Fla. — a process he and his real estate agent, Edward Goldfarb, say took 17 months and eight separate offers.

DeMattos began pursuing a short sale after he was laid off two years ago and his income plunged from $46,000 to $26,000 a year.

Chase Bank, his mortgage servicer, rejected the first offer, which was $14,000 over what was then fair market value, according to Goldfarb.

On the next seven offers, the bank took months to respond. Each prospective buyer got tired of waiting and canceled the contract. The eighth offer, accepted in May, was $24,000 less than the first one that Chase rejected in February 2008, Goldfarb says.

"Chase made it very difficult. I had to stop paying the mortgage. It was so frustrating," says DeMattos, who now lives with his sister in Kissimmee, Fla. "We would put the paperwork in, and they would never give a definite answer. Buyers waited for months."

DeMattos says he owed $355,000 on his mortgage. The short-sale price was $225,000.

Christine Holevas, a Chase spokeswoman, says earlier offers on the home weren't accepted because they were significantly below the appraised value and the homeowner didn't send in updated financial information.

No longer uncommon

Short sales once were extremely rare. But now, with unemployment climbing and home values down, more homeowners are pursuing short sales when they can't afford their mortgage. About 11% of all sales transactions in June are such short sales, according to the NAR.

Some delays stem from agents who fail to prepare buyers and sellers for the length of time it takes to get a short sale approved or who supply incomplete information to banks.

But many short sales are faltering, largely because some lenders may lack the internal staffing, expertise and systems to process such sales in a timely fashion. And short sales can be complex, especially if they involve home-equity lines of credit or other second liens held by different lenders, who also must agree to take less than the amount they're owed from a home's sale.

Several lenders acknowledge that banks have been part of the problem, in part because most have done so few short sales in the past that they've faced a steep learning curve.

"About half of short sales never close. We see it as a big lost opportunity, and we need to improve the rate we close them," says David Sunlin, vice president in charge of short sales at Bank of America.

Uncompleted short sales that go to foreclosure are costlier for lenders and homeowners. For lenders, a short sale may save as much as 30% of the expense incurred by going to foreclosure.

For homeowners, a foreclosure wreaks longer-lasting damage to their credit records. A homeowner who has gone through a short sale typically can get a new home loan in one to three years, according to the NAR. A foreclosure usually means it takes seven.

Borrowers are expected to pay their mortgage during the short-sale process, but not all can afford to. That leads to abandoned properties that may sit vacant and deteriorate for months. In other cases, homeowners unable to make their payments may stay put and pay nothing, in some cases for up to a year, until the lenders' review-and-approval process plays out.

Large numbers of uncompleted short sales are especially troublesome, because other efforts to stem foreclosures have been less effective than expected. The Obama administration's housing rescue plan, which includes getting banks to rework home loans into more affordable mortgages, has made such slow progress that representatives from 25 major mortgage servicers were called to Washington, D.C., last month to discuss improving the efforts.

Short sales are moving into the national spotlight now as:

•Mortgage servicers ramp up their programs. Bank of America has begun trying to slash the turnaround time on short sales from up to 90 days after a buyer submits an application to just a week. In a typical short sale, a buyer makes an offer, then the bank conducts appraisals to determine the price it will accept. Setting that price can take so long that would-be buyers may walk away. To try to avoid such delays, Bank of America has begun doing appraisals and determining a minimum price it will accept before a home goes up for sale.

Meanwhile, Wells Fargo has created a real estate agent education guide that explains the process, has increased staffing and has set up procedures to handle short-sale requests and explain the process to homeowners. The bank says it has cut its average turnaround time from offer to approval from up to 90 days to about 30.

•The U.S. government is getting more involved. The Treasury Department soon will detail a plan to streamline short sales by providing standardized documentation and cash incentives to lenders and a moving allowance to homeowners.

Treasury has said that servicers have opted to pursue foreclosures instead of short sales because of the complexity and time required to complete the discounted home sales.

Borrowers who complete a short sale will be eligible for $1,500 to help with relocation expenses. Second-lien holders will get up to $1,000 to relinquish their claims in such transactions.

Eligible homeowners can be accepted through Dec. 31, 2012, but the short-sale program is for those unable to get mortgage modifications from their banks.

"We realized we couldn't reach everyone with a modification. For us, that wasn't the end of the story," says Michael Barr, Treasury assistant secretary for financial institutions. "The alternative is to significantly speed up short sales."

No authoritative figures on short sales' completion times are available, but some research indicates the problem is worsening.

A survey in March 2008 by Campbell Communications found that the average time for a mortgage servicer to respond to an offer to buy a short-sale property was 4.5 weeks. Campbell's follow-up survey in February found that the average response time had doubled to nine weeks.

A third survey in June found the response time was 9.5 weeks. The surveys were sponsored by Inside Mortgage Finance, an industry publication.

"The foot-dragging means it's taking six weeks to six months," says Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the NAR. "There are big delays. The review process is taking way too long."

'We had a learning curve'

Lenders say the approval process takes time because there are so many parties involved. Some bank officials say they've been learning as they go.

"We had a learning curve," says David Knight, senior vice president for Default Retention Operations, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. "Any stakeholder has a right to disapprove the sale. Realtors out there were used to regular sales. Now, all of a sudden, the servicer and Realtor have had to learn a lot."

Some real estate groups also are trying to improve the process. Re/Max International Chairman David Liniger says his company is aggressively working to train agents on handling short sales and other so-called distressed properties. Instead of eight weeks to close a short sale, trained agents can get them done in two to four weeks, he says.

Within the real estate industry, hopes are rising that short sales will become a shorter process.

"It's horrible the amount of time it's taking to do these sales," says Valerie Torelli, who owns Torelli Realty in Costa Mesa, Calif. "It happens all the time that short sales fail and then go to foreclosure. A seller doesn't make payments for a year and then just walks away. It's unbelievable."

I must agree these Short Sales can be extremely frustrating. I think the most important thing is seller have to be educated about the wait times. Here in my office we are successful at getting our Short Sales closed but it can take months before it happens. I had a deal with Countrywide finally close this month that I took the listing on a year ago. I had another close with Indymac that took two weeks. You just never know who your negotiator will be and at the end of the day they have the control.
ANGEL LYNN

Sacramento County Real Estate Market Update

After the hot foreclosure market of last year, this summer seems - in comparison - quiet and lackadaisical. A total of 1883 homes sold this July, a number close to the June homes sold. 50% of these sales are still REOs; however, the change is remarkable. Foreclosures have fallen 36.4% year over year. Short sales have gained ground by 75.6% and non-distressed sales by 30% but even that surge is not enough to make up for the unit volume shortfall of 12.5% year over year.

Sold price per square foot remained around the $120 mark where it was in June giving evidence to the argument that the market may have bottomed out after all. Currently average sold price per square foot is at $120.93. Average sales price has fallen 14% year over year from a high of $228,312 to rest at $196,323. Median sales price is currently at $175,000.

Inventory also continues to hover around the 3 month mark. Total inventory is at 3.3 months based on the last year of sales and 3.4 months based on the last six months of sales. Foreclosure inventory is at 0.5 months and 0.6 months respectively.

California Real Estate Facts

Fast Facts:
Calif. median home price - June 09: $274,740 (Source: C.A.R.)Calif. highest median home price by C.A.R. region June 09: Santa Barbara So. Coast
$850,000 (Source: C.A.R.)Calif. lowest median home price by C.A.R. region June 09: High Desert
$108,600 (Source: C.A.R.)Calif. First-time Buyer Affordability Index - First Quarter 2009: 69 percent (Source: C.A.R.)Mortgage rates - week ending 7/30/09 30-yr. fixed: 5.25% Fees/points: 0.7% 15-yr. fixed: 4.69% Fees/points: 0.7% 1-yr. adjustable: 4.80% Fees/points: 0.5% (Source: Freddie Mac)

Quoted by the CAR California Association of Realtor

Interesting it looks like its still a great time to buy!