Phoenix has made #4 of 20 cities ridden with Foreclosures, 1 out of 14 homes are in Foreclosure; there are so many people out there that need help from someone who cares.  We just hope it’s the right kind of help in the end for those families that need it.

Yes, they are an option for people struggling to keep up with their mortgage payments who really don’t want to lose their home.  In the end, at least half of our clients come to us after a failed attempt, or in some cases several, and credit destroyed already- wishing they hadn’t wasted time or resources in trying to get their bank(s) to work with them.  Unless a PRINCIPAL REDUCTION is given, then Loan Modifications are “Band-aids” to delay the inevitable- for some, is reason enough to apply for them just to buy more time in the home they are living in.  Please call us at 480-243-4242 to discuss your personal situation and get quality free advice with no obligation before you go down the road of applying for a loan modification.

Short sales are challenging– we know!

· The rules of the game are always changing

· Banks give bad advice

· Buyers bail; get tired of waiting for an answer on their offer

· The short sale process can take what feels like forever, and sometimes it does- especially when someone else does them…

WHY DO WE DO THEM?

We started doing them when the market started to decline in 2007 and the “Mortgage Forgiveness Act” made it more feasible; not to mention people who we sold homes to started coming to us asking us to help them get out from under the home we’d help them purchase.

We saw THE need and we decided to meet IT.  Hopefully our market will recover in the somewhat near future and short sales will not be our market.  If we help people today in a market when there are so many people that need help;  we hope that they will refer their friends and family to us and we can truly become their preferred “Realtors for Life”.

What sets us apart???

• We are the “Goldilocks Team”! We are not too big and not too small and we didn’t just start doing short sales yesterday-unlike so many of the other realtors out there that claim to be the experts.
• We are a more of a boutique brokerage which takes a hands-on approach to customer service.
• Solo agents typically cannot handle negotiations themselves  and do a good job at a high volume; many outsource them to title companies or attorneys (which you usually have to pay for).
• Mega teams often times lose touch and do not have consistent communication directly with their clients.
• We intentionally have a hands-on approach to handling every single transaction internally. Our full time team negotiator and admin manager allow us to accomplish this!

We don’t give up!

• Persistence – we don’t take no for an answer from the banks. We continue to ask for help through the banks corporate systems until we get someone to help us. This is due in part to our Negotiators 21 yrs in banking industry- she knows their lingo and how to operate with them. She only works for OUR team and OUR clients!
• So many times throughout the process our clients give up and they feel defeated. We don’t give up at all on them and we exhaust all measures to fight for them (even when they’ve already given up).

We can relate to your pain…

• We’ve literally lost sleep when we have a house scheduled for trustee sale and continue to fight to get them postponed until the day of, we never give up!
• We have either empathy/sympathy for our client’s situation– everyone from our team has been touched by this market directly; either having to do a short sale themselves or for a close friend or family member.
• Therefore; we are never too busy to pick up the phone to update our clients on their files or just to listen to them vent. We understand! (Even if we’ve spoken with them several times already that day)

**Clients**

• Over 75% of our current transactions are referrals from past clients. We always follow up with customer surveys after the sale or purchase of their home because we are always trying to improve our service.
• We really do care about our clients and they will tell you the same!  I had one tell me the other day that we spoil them with our response time and there was no comparison with his last Realtor, that he fired.  Those kind of compliments keep us going strong.

Call us today @ 480-243-4242 to get your questions answered confidentially with compassion or click here to get started now.

Click on the picture to hear the episode- many important topics are covered including:

• Foreclosure VS Trustee Sale
• Mortgage VS Deed of Trust
• Arizona being an Anti-Deficiency State
• Loan Modifications
• Being Pro-Active on doing a Short Sale so as not to damage your credit

Watch video so you can learn more about Dena and what she does to help our clients of the Integrity All Star Team.

ALSO, Please find Dena on Facebook and like her Fan Page when its goes live!

Do you want to avoid a stressful foreclosure and leave your home gracefully?

We help homeowners just like you and your friends who may be in a position where you think you owe more than your home is worth or you cannot afford to make your mortgage payments anymore or you just want to know what options are available to you.

There are many reasons homeowners choose to do a short sale:

1. They recognize that to get the help they need is completely overwhelming and disheartening. There is light at the end of the tunnel! We can help you navigate through the HUGE organizations such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo or Chase systems and get you results. Many times clients come to us after being denied a loan modification and super frustrated already by their processes.  We don’t give up on our clients and because of that we have a very high success rate!
2. A short sale will give the seller some control over the process and a potential seller incentive for moving expenses. YES, that is right I said “SELLER INCENTIVE”. Not all short sale situations result in giving the seller incentives for moving expenses, but in some cases a seller can get up to $5000 for moving expenses. How do you know if you qualify? Call us let us help you determine if there are any programs out there that will help you move into the next chapter of your life.
3. A short sale helps preserve a neighborhoods market values and reputation. 66% of all homes that sold in August were either short sales or bank owned homes. The national average home price of a short sale is $213,900, an REO is $184,300 and a damaged bank owned home is $113,900. Homes that are damaged are bringing down home values and making everyone’s property values suffer. What can you do about it? Maintain your home and call us to sell your home in a short sale before it is too late. It’s amazing how many people worry about impacting their neighbors when they decide to leave their home, which is totally normal.
4. They want to help preserve their credit so they can buy a home again someday soon. Did you know that based on today’s current FNMA lending guidelines that a person can apply for a new home loan 2 years after they had a short payoff through a short sale and people who had a foreclosure need to wait 7 years. Lending guidelines are always changing, but as of today a person can apply for a short sale 2 years after their short sale has been closed. ACTUALLY,did you know if you are current on your mortgage payments, FHA will give you a new loan NOW with no waiting at all? Contact us today and we can explain how that works.

Foreclosure can be extremely stressful – let us help you gain some control over your situation by helping you with a short sale, click here to apply online with NO COST to you to find out if we can help.

Rebecca Hidalgo sits with Corey Peterson of Kahuna Investments and discusses the most FAQ’s she sees when clients contact her for advice/consultation on doing a Short Sale.  (Corey is an investor and helps many people by buying their homes with cash for a quick close)

1. Do I have to be late on my mortgage payment(s)?

2. When can I buy again?

3/4. (tied) What are my tax obligations and can the bank come after me for the loss (deficiency)?

Watch the video and if you’d like to discuss your own situation with Rebecca, please fill out our quick online questionnaire about you and your home or call Rebecca @ 480-243-4242.

Here’s a link to the June Market report I wrote based on last month’s reports coming from Mike Orr of the Cromford Report.  If you want to get a better idea of what is going on in our market place today; I recommend reading both.  I’ve been full time in Real Estate since 1993 and I can definitely say we are on the road to recovery but we still have a long way before we get there.

Why hire us? If you need help in either selling or buying a home or know someone that does, please click here to get started or call us at 480-243-4242. 

Looks like I am going to have to eat my words from the blog I wrote back in April; & I am very happy to do so! http://integrityallstars.com/hafa-hafa-hafa-what-the-heck-is-hafa/

Reason being, the Government just recently announced that both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be participating in this program which was the main reason I and so many other professionals in my industry felt it was off target when it started back in April- looks like the government was listening however it may be too soon to see since it doesn’t start officially until August 1.  See https://www.efanniemae.com/sf/servicing/hafa/index.jsp for more information straight from their website.

Give me a call at 480-243-4242 if you want to find out if you will qualify for this Government program.

(Please click on photo above for a downloadable PDF of the article written by Mike Orr of the Cromford Report; bullet points listed below)

Last month; in Metro Phoenix’s Real Estate Market we saw the supply of REOs increased substantially, short sales were stable and normal listings declined in number:

• REO listings grew 11% from 5,087 to 5,626 (Greater Phoenix, all types)
• Short Sales / Pre-foreclosure listings grew 1% from 16183 to 16,347 (Greater Phoenix, all types)
• Normal listings fell 5% from 18,123 to 17,226 (Greater Phoenix, all types)

• Because sales pricing is higher than last year, we saw a more significant 8.6% jump in dollar volume which is good news for the optimists.
• It seems likely that almost anyone who wants a "starter home" in 2010 and could get approved for a home loan has already purchased one before the Tax Credit expired at the end of April.
• Overall we can say with confidence that the luxury market is now showing strong signs of improvement while the low end end of the market is weakening significantly. The weakness in lender-owned homes is particularly noticeable, with REO sales volume down 36% year on year. 
• These annual charts are very slow to react to changes but confirm the bottom of the market is now over a year behind us.  The most important measures of real home pricing – the average price, median price and average $ per sq. ft. of homes that actually sell have been moving in a general upward direction for Greater Phoenix since April/May 2009.
• New notices of trustee sale dropped another 8% from April, to the lowest monthly number (6,471) since July 2008. Trustee sales also dropped 8% to 4,090, the lowest total since November 2009. 
• Nevertheless market distress remains very high and will dominate the market for at least the next two years. Short sales are becoming more significant as each month goes by, while lender-owned properties become gradually less so.
• The market is still fragile and although it has stabilized over the last year, we must caution that in the last several days the Cromford Market Index has been falling fast due to weakening demand matched with a fairly strong and stable supply.
• The biggest question we have right now:  Are the changes we have seen in the last month merely due to the end of the tax credit or are the result of more significant changes in the demand for housing??

Stay tuned for next months update and we hope to be able to answer that question for you.  In the meantime; if you’d like to discuss your particular situation with one of our very talented and experienced Realtors, please call us at 480-243-4242.

If you are upside down on your home and not sure what to do because you would really rather stay in your home and not do a short sale or let you home go into foreclosure- please watch the attached video!

Our advice to our clients is to apply directly with their lender(s) for a loan modification and not turn to a company to do it for you; remember if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Several of our clients have come to us days before their home’s Trustee Sale (after spending thousands of dollars that they didn’t have to apply for a loan modification) hoping for a miracle to avoid foreclosure- we’ve had a few miracles; but we’d much rather see you keep your money in your pocket.

Don’t hesitate to call us for more advice if you don’t know how to get out from under your house payment; especially if you already have a Trustee Sale (aka Foreclosure) date set. 480-243-4242

• Are you at risk of losing your job or have you already lost it?
• Do you know where the money to pay your next mortgage payment is coming from?
• Are you afraid of getting your family locked out of your own home by your bank? 
• Do you know that 58% of the loan modifications that even do get approved, end up in foreclosure/default again within 4 months?
• Did you know that in Chandler alone, 3 out of 5 homes on the market are considered “distressed” sales. (Either Short Sales or Bank Owned)

If you answered yes to any of these questions; please reach out to us for help now before it’s too late, click here to get started. 

We will gladly give you a compassionate & intelligent conversation when the time is right for you and your family!

IN THE MEANTIME; THERE ARE LEGAL RIGHTS THAT GIVE SOMEONE TIME STILL IN THE HOME AFTER A TRUSTEE SALE: Please read the following article AZ Republic: Eviction Adds to Pain of Home’s Foreclosure.  In this, Michelle Lind, general counsel for the Arizona Association of Realtors, explained how the state’s eviction laws work. "The buyer of a foreclosure home has to give the home’s former owner notice to move out," she said. "If after five days the former owner doesn’t move out, the new owner can file with the courts for a forcible eviction."

You do have rights and don’t have to be alone, call us at 480-243-4242 and we will do our best to help!