I have a great freelance job for you!

I just had a conversation with a client of mine. She's a first time buyer and she's afraid of her own shadow. She's trying to make the best buying decision and save money. I get it. We all want to make great decisions and save money in the process. She's looking for an agent that needs to be experienced in the market, a top negotiator and super ethical. Her agent needs to place her clients needs before her own, work long and hard for the client and credit the commission on the sale back to the buyer. Hmmmm....

She reminds me of a friend of mine that I thought would never get married. He was looking for a smart career woman that had accomplished a lot - maybe owned her own business - but, wanted to stay home and raise a family. She had to be humble and conservative but be great eye candy on his arm. Lastly, she needed to be blond haired, blue eyed and Assyrian. Those combinations are just never going to work. I believe we all need to get value for our dollar but, you're never going to get excellent representation for nothing.

Let's put this back into the Client's lap. Let's say I had a great freelance job for you. A deal you couldn't pass up. After all, you'll be working with me :-) You only need to work twice as hard as you are working now and I am willing to pay you half of your current salary - although there is no guarantee you'll ever get paid. I may go with another freelancer at the last minute. Would you take that job?

Four things to do NOW if your home is in Default

Todays market is full of uncertainty - exacerbated by the media - and people are ostriching. You know what an ostrich does when it's afraid, right? It puts it's head in the sand.

I'm not sure how great a strategy that really is for an ostrich but I know that for someone in default; that's the way to lose your home.

I had an example of that this morning. I had spoken with this gentleman last week and I'd given him a list of information that I needed from him. I told him I would work on it first thing Monday and I needed it all faxed in by Sunday at noon. This morning I went to work on his file and there was nothing there. This is a man that stands to lose two houses within the next 45 days if he doesn't figure something out and he failed to do ANYTHING. He ostriched.

We humans act irrationally when we are afraid but please, now is not the time to stick your head in the sand. Here are four simple steps that will get you on the path:

1) Analyze the facts. Take a plain piece of paper and fold it down the middle. On the left write "assets" on the right write "liabilities" then write down every asset you have; bank accounts, retirement, your rolex, your SUV, even your furniture. [I had a client sell all her living room furniture. It was over the top Louis XIV and fetched a pretty penny. That and her wedding ring [her husband left her and left a pile of debt] got her out of default.
Now fill in every liability, including loans from mom, cars, lines of credit, that jewelry credit line, everything. Now add up the left, and up the right and subtract the liabilities from the assets. If you come up with a negative number, you are not alone. Now you know the truth of your situation.

2) Consider your options. There could be more options, depending on your situation but, these are the ones I present:

* Bring your loan current; pay back payments + penalties.

* List your home for sale; we can work a quick sale - even without equity, even in this market.

* Sell your home directly to a qualified investor - if you’ve waited too long.

* Refinance or Renegotiate your loan- We have an in-house specialist that rocks!

3)Consult a trusted advisor. And I am not talking about me! :-) Most people have someone to talk things over with. It could be your tax guy, mom/dad, uncle, someone at work... Just make sure this is someone that you trust with your truth. Foreclosure can be very embarassing and it's common to be ashamed. We think we should have been able to see the future. To know that someone could die, or get divorced, have an illness or lose a job. The truth is thing happen and when it's you, you are emotionally involved. Go to your trusted advisor, your neutral third party, and see if there are options you overlooked or other avenues you need to research.

4) Hire a Professional. Once you've done your homework, hire the best you can hire. I just had a guy that wasted 5 weeks with a lender that couldn't do what they promised. When you are in default, you don't have 5 weeks to waste. Hire someone with a proven track record, that's seen a few cycles, that knows how to get the job done with your best interests in mind. I know for me, there are many times that I could have "just sold the house" and made a commission but, instead I helped my client see their options. Maybe they could refinance or pull some money out of an IRA, or sell the big car to get them back on track. So, get a personal referral, google the person, check their references, hire the best. It does cost a little more to hire the best but, if you were getting a heart bypass do you want the intern running a $995 special or do you want the professional that has had a twenty year career and hundreds of healthy happy clients?

Flipping properties now "allowed" to help liquidate mounting foreclosures

Government suspends property-flipping rule - Jun. 13, 2008

I am not a big fan of government control - and here is a perfect example. Legislation was introduced to 'restrict' flipping [a symptom of the fraud occurring in the mortgage markets]. Now the government realizes that it "needs" flipping to liquidate mounting foreclosures.

If I am adding value, then flipping is legit. If I am just inflating prices and paying an appraiser to bring the value in - that's fraud - and legislating "flipping" will never be able to legislate morality.

Inventory Continues to Drop - Two Weeks in a Row - Is the worst over?

Square Feet: Santa Clara County inventory drops for a second week: Fluke or trend?

MLS-generated stats, as sent to me by a couple of sources:
Total number of single-family houses for sale today in Santa Clara County: 5,468
Last Tuesday: 5,551
Condos for sale today: 1,821
Last Tuesday: 1,827

There were 338 new sales of houses and condos in the week ending May 30, down from 420 in the previous week. But last week had Memorial Day in it, so there would naturally be fewer sales initiated in a week with a holiday.



I keep hearing about the worst being over - and the numbers seem to be verifying that.

What do you think? Have we hit bottom?

Why use an Agent? I'm pretty smart and I can find stuff on the internet.

I love this question because it's an opportunity to teach folks that they don't even know what they don't know.

Here's a great example that came up for me this week; I am also a writer and I was reading a fellow writer's blog. She just got a movie deal for one of her books and she was so excited. Here's what she wrote:


So we gave them two months. About a month later, I get a call from my lit-agent saying, really, more squeeing, that we're expecting an offer from The Weinstein Company! This was huge news because, beyond the obvious, Meryl was once Harvey Weinstein's right-hand gal, and the fact that they were reteaming on something meant they really wanted to get this done.

So I squeeed and squeeed and waited by my email for more details...and waited....and waited....and finally, like a week and a half later or something, we got the offer. I jumped up and down and squeeed some more and would have immediately accepted (because I am a writer, not an agent) but my agent is savvier than I am and prepared a counter-offer. (See, this is why agents are good things. Very good things. Because I would have squeeed forever and happily cashed whatever sum of money they shoved at me and called it a day.)

When you find the right property, you, my client, get so excited - dreaming about where you're going to put your cute little armoire - that the details of the deal become secondary - at least that's my experience in the last 20 years of helping people.

I am the same way! I remember when I had an accident on an outside terrace. The table we were sitting at blew over and my left hand was crushed. I required emergency surgery and had pins in my fingers then physical therapy. When I went to get re-imbursement, I had no idea what to ask for. So, I hired an attorney who charges 30% of the settlement. I thought, I am smart, I negotiate all day long, maybe I can save myself 30% of something. I thought about it overnight and hired him the next day. I had thought maybe I could get my expenses plus $20K ish for the hassle. My attorney negotiated a settlement of expenses plus $75K. After all was said and done - I more than doubled my money by hiring the attorney.

Now, I am not saying I'll make you double what your property is worth when I sell it but, I know that the value I bring to the table - in all areas of the deal, not just the money - far outweighs the fee I receive.