Vistancia is hosting its Third Annual Car show showcasing cars from the 1920’s to the 1990’s on Saturday, February 12, noon to 4:00 p.m. at Vistancia Marketplace in Peoria.

From a 1929 Ford Sedan to a 1998 Ford SVT Cobra, classic, competition and collector cars will highlight the Vistancia Car Show.

Live entertainment will take place on the Car Show Stage and free entertainment for the kids will feature bounce houses, face painters, a balloon sculptor and stilt walker. Vistancia Marketplace businesses will sponsor several prize drawings throughout the day.

The event is free to the public, but visitors are asked to bring donations of canned food for St. Mary’s Food Bank.

For more information call 623.215.8646.

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shift from boom to bust approaches its fifth anniversary, a number of real-estate analysts have replaced optimistic terms such as “recovery” with sobering talk of a new market reality.

The landscape of tomorrow’s housing market, as depicted in recent research papers and forecast meetings, is only a rough sketch, but three notable features have taken shape.

Foremost among them is a much higher ratio of renters to homeowners than the Phoenix area has seen in recent decades.

Another long-term problem, they said, is the large number of struggling borrowers trapped in high-end homes for which there are virtually no eligible buyers.

Perhaps the most troubling long-term prediction is that certain pockets of less-desirable residential development simply will not recover.

Trouble by the numbers

Home sales and prices began to stall in mid-2006, but the collapse of the metro Phoenix market gained momentum in the latter half of 2007, when a disturbing trend emerged among recent homebuyers.

There was a sudden jump in mortgage-loan defaults, which came as no surprise to those aware that constant home-value appreciation had been essential to the viability of certain loans being approved for first-time buyers.

Popular mortgages issued during the housing boom were adjustable-rate loans structured to start off with lower monthly payments that would increase over time.

Loans were approved based on borrowers’ ability to make the lower, initial payments. It was assumed that by the time those payments increased, the home would have appreciated enough to allow the borrower to either sell or refinance.

But when home values stopped going up, that exit strategy evaporated.

Sales began to slow, then stall.

When the number of pre-foreclosure notices issued to single-family homeowners in Maricopa County nearly doubled to 16,911 notices during the last six months of 2007 from 9,319 notices during the first six months of the year, the problem loan products were yanked from the market, but the damage was done. Home foreclosures skyrocketed to record levels.

Home values plummeted, leaving about half of all mortgage-holders owing more than their homes’ market value. Many now find themselves thousands of dollars underwater.

Big questions remain about how much of the fallout is yet to come and what Phoenix-area neighborhoods are going to look like when the economy stabilizes.

Analysts say they do know this much: The housing market will not simply go back to the way it was before the boom.

Renter’s mecca

One fundamental change, according to housing-market analyst Mike Orr, is that more metro Phoenix homes will be occupied by renters than ever before. Foreclosure properties are being bought overwhelmingly by investors; other potential buyers simply haven’t materialized.

Orr said the ratio is changing rapidly, especially at the lower end of the market.

“There is a big swing from ownership to rental,” Orr said.

The overwhelming majority of homes priced at or below $100,000 are being purchased by investors, he said, and nearly every investor has adopted a strategy that includes renting out the homes for a period of years.

“If it wasn’t for the investors, this market would be dead,” said the Mesa-based Orr, who publishes the Cromford Report, a housing-market update read by many real-estate investors. “There’s very weak demand from ordinary people.”

What’s not yet known, according to Orr, is how large a segment of the population will remain renters in the years to come. Still, he said the shift from a buyer-dominated housing market to one dominated by renters will continue, at least for the foreseeable future.

Long way down

Homes at the high end of the market, those above the Federal Housing Administration’s $346,250 loan-guarantee limit for a single-family residence, are proving difficult to sell.

That is expected to be a long-term problem, as well.

As a result, Orr said, many high-end housing submarkets are in the midst of a long, slow slide.

Financially stressed borrowers in luxury homes face a much more difficult challenge than their counterparts with homes priced under the FHA limit, according to Arizona State University professor Jay Butler.

Investors generally aren’t interested in high-end homes, Butler said, in large part because they understand how shallow the buyer pool is for homes above the FHA limit.

While banks do still offer higher-value “conventional” loans, which do not come with a federal guarantee of repayment to the lender if the borrower defaults, such loans are expensive, difficult to obtain and require a much higher down payment, usually about 20 percent as opposed to 3.5 percent for FHA-backed loans.

Without a willing buyer, struggling high-end homeowners cannot short-sell the home. Short-selling, in which the home is sold for less than the loan’s outstanding balance, has become a popular way for homeowners to escape suffocating mortgage debt without suffering too much credit damage.

Meanwhile, Butler said, it appears that many high-end homeowners are running out of time, siphoning off critical savings and retirement funds to stay current on their mortgages.

“We might see more people give up in the coming year,” he said. “I don’t see it getting any better (this) year.”

Long-term downturn

Local analysts are predicting another long-term problem at the neighborhood level. Metro Phoenix residents most likely will have to live with pockets of persistent blight in areas where ill-fated residential subdivisions will not recover, some analysts said.

One of the areas facing the greatest risk of a long-term slump is west-central Phoenix, where in some areas home values have plummeted almost down to nothing.

Orr said no area has been dealt as hard a blow as Maryvale.

“It’s almost unbelievable what actually has happened,” he said.

Orr said it’s difficult to envision how a recovery would occur in ZIP codes such as 85009, where the median home price has dropped more than 80 percent from the market’s peak.

“That means (homes) could double in price, twice, and still not be worth half as much as they used to be,” Orr said.

According to The Arizona Republic’s most recent Valley Home Values report, the median home-sale price in ZIP code 85009 fell to $30,000 in 2010 from $160,000 in 2007, a decline of about 81 percent.

Other areas at risk of non-recovery include some of the more remote subdivisions in northern Pinal County and the southwest Valley, analysts said.

The new market reality is still being shaped: After a few months of uptick, Arizona State University has reported five straight months of home-price declines.

It could be years before the Phoenix-area housing market of the future comes into full view.

Rising currency,California housing crisis fuel buying spree

By Steve Bergsman – At last count back in 2008, Maricopa County, where I live in Arizona, boasted a population of just under 4 million people, ranking it fourth among the country’s counties. To get that big, a county needs size (9,224 square miles), lots of babies and plenty of immigrants.

Canadians prefer Arizona and Florida, said Smith, which is not out of line with locations other foreigners prefer.

Phoenix Realtor – West Valley Pros: 20832 W Werner Place, Buckeye, AZ 85396
Phoenix Realtor – West Valley Pros: 4324 E. Hamblin Dr, Phoenix AZ 85050

Phoenix Homes for Sale, Phoenix Real Estate, Phoenix Realty, Phoenix Short Sales, Phoenix Foreclosures, Phoenix Short Sale, Phoenix Foreclosure, Phoenix House for Sale

Phoenix short sales may not wipe out mortgage debt

PHOENIX (AP) — A growing number of former homeowners are discovering that a short sale doesn’t necessarily wipe out all their mortgage debt.

Short sales allow people to sell their homes for less then they owe on their mortgage to avoid foreclosure.

But short sales are not typically covered by Arizona’s anti-deficiency law, which protects most homeowners if lenders foreclose. The law bars lenders from seeking payment if the home doesn’t sell for as much as the amount owed on the mortgage.

Some lenders apply the same protection to borrowers who complete a short sale.

But not all do, and in short-sales a homeowner could still be liable if they don’t carefully negotiate with their lender.

The Arizona Republic reports that home equity loans are the most likely to become a problem.

___

Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com

Phoenix Realtor – West Valley Pros: 20832 W Werner Place, Buckeye, AZ 85396
Phoenix Realtor – West Valley Pros: 4324 E. Hamblin Dr, Phoenix AZ 85050

By NICK TIMIRAOS

Sergio Trujillo thought he could avoid foreclosure when an investor made an all-cash offer last month to buy his one-bedroom condominium in La Jolla, Calif., for less than the amount he owes on his mortgage.

But a standoff between Mr. Trujillo’s lenders over a few thousand dollars threatens to derail the deal, known as a short sale.

Like many heavily indebted borrowers, Mr. Trujillo has two mortgages: a first mortgage in the amount of $260,000, which is held by Freddie Mac; and a $50,000 second mortgage, handled by Specialized Loan Servicing LLC. Freddie Mac will allow no more than $3,000 in sale proceeds to go toward the second mortgage. But SLS says it will scotch any deal if it doesn’t get at least $7,000.

“This is an all-parties-lose scenario,” said Brian Flock, Mr. Trujillo’s real-estate agent. “There is no housing recovery when this happens.”

Over the past year, real-estate agents, lenders and federal policy makers have pointed to short sales as one way to revive moribund housing markets while helping troubled borrowers avoid foreclosure. But for homeowners that took out second mortgages during the boom, getting a short sale approved is proving to be a nightmare.

Most first mortgages, like Mr. Trujillo’s, are guaranteed by government-controlled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or held by other investors in mortgage securities. Second mortgages and other junior liens are typically owned by banks and credit unions.

Banks are reluctant to write down second mortgages because many are still current, even if the borrowers owe more than the value of their homes. They may also be able to pursue borrowers’ assets after foreclosure.

“If I’m the second-lien holder, I may say, ‘You know what, I want to see if I can hold out for a better deal,’ ” said Greg Hebner, president of MOS Group Inc., an Irvine, Calif., company that contacts troubled borrowers on behalf of lenders and servicers.

The result is a “chicken game” between investors that leads to unnecessary foreclosures, said Jon Goodman, a real-estate lawyer and investor in Boulder, Colo.

As of June 30, 11 million homeowners owe more than their homes are worth and an additional 2.5 million have just 5% equity, according to real-estate research firm CoreLogic. To sell, those homeowners must cover the shortfall or, more commonly, ask the bank to take a loss via a short sale. The short-sale process remains full of land mines. Loan servicers were never designed to handle large volumes of customized workouts and it can take months to bring loan servicers, investors and mortgage insurers to agree on a price. Softening home prices create greater potential for disputes over values. And lenders are wary of fraud.

Second mortgages, however, have become one of the biggest roadblocks. More than a third of about 1.33 million properties in some stage of the foreclosure process have at least one junior lien, according to publicly available data tracked by CoreLogic.

Many seconds and home-equity lines are worth little in a foreclosure because home prices have fallen so sharply. That gives the second-lien holder “nothing-left-to-lose leverage,” said Mr. Goodman. Banks say they are approving deals where they can, but borrowers must agree to some form of debt repayment.

About three-quarters of the $1 trillion in seconds outstanding as of June 30 were held by commercial banks, and of those, more than $430 billion belong to the nation’s four largest banks—Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co, and Citigroup Inc. Forcing write-downs on large numbers of those loans could significantly erode their capital.

Real-estate agents say some banks are getting better at cutting deals. Wells Fargo & Co. now dispatches employees in some markets to appraise homes even before a short-sale offer has been received to help speed potential sales. Bank of America doubled its staff dedicated to handling short sales to around 2,700 over the past year and began using an online platform to allow for paperless applications and approvals. The bank says it has approved 70,000 short sales through September, double the year-earlier total.

In Mr. Trujillo’s case, SLS requested far more than the lien was worth on the secondary market, said Mark Johnson, who oversees short sales for Freddie Mac. “That’s always been our challenge—participation from second-lien holders,” he said. “It’s ultimately their decision about whether they want to help us save borrowers in foreclosure.” Freddie says it hopes to negotiate a deal for Mr. Trujillo. SLS declined to comment.

Jeff Gray waited months to complete the purchase of a home in Litchfield Park, Ariz., as part of a short sale, only to see it fall apart days before closing. Chase, which serviced the first mortgage for Freddie Mac, approved the sale but wouldn’t forgive the second mortgage, which it owned. Chase says it has completed 83,000 short sales since 2009.

Mr. Gray eventually bought another home in the same neighborhood; meanwhile, the short sale was listed for sale by Freddie Mac earlier this month for $30,000 less than what Mr. Gray had offered.

“It’s sad,” he said. “The grapefruit tree in front is dead, the grass has turned brown, and the shutters are starting to fall.”

Write to Nick Timiraos at nick.timiraos@wsj.com

For those who are considering purchasing Litchfield Park foreclosure real estate or sellers who are looking for a Litchfield Park Realtor to guide them through the Litchfield Park short sale process – contact Robert Luce at West Valley Pros.

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Likewise, knowing the appraisal value of the property is just as important to the loss mitigator at the bank. The loss mitigator must establish an appraised value for the short sale property, so he or she has a baseline price for negotiation.

The appraised value of the property establishes the playing field on which we negotiate the short sale price of the property. The best way to determine the home appraisal value of a property is by using property comparisons (comps). Look at the properties in the same area of the short sale property. You can get these comps with a little effort.

There are a few ways to find market value comparisons for your area:

• Subscription programs (one is Haines, a subscription service on disc)
• Multiple Listing Service (MLS) if you have access
• Network with a realtor who can pull comps for you
• Free comps services on the Internet It’s not recommended that you use the free market comparison services found on the Internet.

These free services are worth about as much as you pay for them. If you have to spend some money getting comps, that’s a good thing. It means that someone is actually doing research behind the website or program.

Finding Home Appraisal Value: An busy real estate investor may outsource their home appraisal needs to another company or a certified FHA appraiser. When a deal comes in, the real estate investor will email the FHA appraiser the address and owner’s name. In about 24 to 48 hours, the appraiser will send back a limited desktop appraisal with three comparison prices on other similar sold properties and the market value that the appraiser has determined for the property that the company is interested in. The appraisal may also include some additional information and a map. This appraisal gives an idea of the market value of the property in comparison with other distressed properties in the area.

When looking for comps, don’t look for sales of well maintained properties, instead look for comparisons of other properties in foreclosure, REO properties, or corporate-owned properties. Be prepared to pay for it! Companies spend money getting their comps because they want good, accurate market value comparisons. When you are figuring the budget for your short sale business, remember to allocate some funds to pay a company or a certified FHA appraiser for that home appraisal. It’s well worth it to pay for a home appraisal so that you have accurate comps from third person parties or neutral parties outside of your short sale deal. You present their appraisals as objective evidence to convince the bank to accept your short sale offer.

Factoring in Cost Estimates for Repairs: The physical condition of the property is just as important as comps in a home appraisal. See if there are any repairs to be made on the short sale property. Make notes of what’s wrong, take photos, and get construction estimates for the cost of repairs. When you do your cost estimates, remember that the bank will be making the repairs…not you. Get cost estimates from a general contractor the bank would typically hire. The best way to get cost estimates for your home appraisal is to hire a certified home inspector. You can look one up in the yellow pages. There’s also an organization called the National Association of Home Inspectors (NAHI). NAHI has high standards and finding a home inspector affiliated with this organization is a good way of making sure you get a thorough inspection.

A typical home inspection can take two and a half to three hours. The inspector gets up on the roof, checks the crawlspace and goes over the home with a fine-toothed comb. On completion of the home inspection – the inspector hands over a report that can be 20 pages with detailed information about the property defects. Home inspectors may also take photos and provide detailed cost estimates. Paying a home inspector to get cost estimates is a great way to calculate the home appraisal value for your property. You’ll know exactly what’s wrong with that house because you’ve gone to a neutral third party expert.

Getting the Cost Estimates: Dan Shields is a typical home inspector. He’s a member of NAHI and does all of the home appraisal evaluations and repair estimates for many investors. Dan states that a home inspector will start an inspection from the outside of the property to get a look at the big picture. He’ll check the roofing, gutters, siding, and windows to make sure they’re properly installed and flashed. He will also check out porches, columns, etc. From there the home inspector enters the home for the interior survey, to document built-in amenities, appliances, and flooring. He will next go to the mechanical room and check the heating/cooling package and plumbing. Finally, the home inspector will check the attic and find the insulation factor for the short sale property, literally working from the ground up on the home inspection.

A Broker’s Price Opinion Value: When you complete your home appraisal and submit the short sale package to the bank you will be assigned to a specific loss mitigator who will want to determine their own estimate of property value. The loss mitigator orders the bank’s appraiser to go look at the property and get a broker’s price opinion (BPO) or market value. Sometimes it’s done by a realtor, sometimes an appraiser. It’s your job to be the contact person that the appraiser goes through to get into that property.

It’s very important that you meet the appraiser at the property to convince him your home appraisal value is about the same as the BPO value. When you meet with the bank’s property appraiser let him know the property is in foreclosure and that you’ve been working with the seller to try to do a short sale with the bank. Get that point across immediately. You don’t want the meeting with the bank’s appraiser to be a confrontation. This is first impression time, so just be yourself and let your personality shine.

Shake hands with the property appraiser. Get to know him for the five minutes before you start shoving your material on him. The whole BPO process will probably take less than 15 minutes. You have 15 minutes to let your personality shine so make it your best effort. During the BPO When you go out to these appraisals, take three things; a copy of the Real Estate Purchase Contract with your offer amount, your market value comparisons and a copy of your home inspector’s report Try to present the material in a conversational tone. Ask if he’d like a copy of the offer you have made on the property and so on. If it’s an appraiser, he will always want a copy.

Realtors are a different story—you can never tell what they’re going to take. Just ask and see what he’ll take from you. An appraiser will always take the property inspection report because it’s a good, neutral indication of property damage. Let the appraiser know that your Purchase Contract has been at least preliminarily accepted by the bank and that’s why he is appraising the market value. You’d be surprised how often the bank’s appraiser doesn’t even realize the property is in foreclosure. You also want to share comps with the home appraiser.

Most of the time, appraisers have pulled comps before they go out to the property, so you may be able to share comps to get an idea of the BPO. Make sure the appraiser knows about specific problems with the property such as; mold, termites, or foundational problems that are not readily apparent. This is something the appraiser won’t spot during his 15 minutes with the property.

Once you get these three documents into the hands of the bank’s home appraiser chances are higher that the bank’s BPO comes in close to your home appraisal value. When you get a good home appraisal value and cost estimates on that short sale property. You’ll have armed yourself with the best tools in convincing the bank to accept your low short sale offer. Pick up more information about real estate shortsaling at Real Estate Investor. com. This is the place to go for the latest real estate news and advice. You’ll find a network of other real estate investors ready to help you out, along with free articles, blogs, contracts and documents for your use.

Phoenix Realtor – West Valley Pros: 20832 W Werner Place, Buckeye, AZ 85396
Phoenix Realtor – West Valley Pros: 4324 E. Hamblin Dr, Phoenix AZ 85050

It is a huge benefit for sellers because the black mark of a foreclosure can seriously affect the ability of a person to lease property, obtain credit cards, or be approved for loans of any kind. In addition, short sales can help the seller feel more in control of the situation. If it is inevitable that it will lose their homes, they are pro-actively trying to find a solution satisfactory to all parties involved. By supporting the sales process before a foreclosure, a seller may feel more empowered and peace during a very difficult period. Short sales also benefit buyers of these properties because they can buy a house for much less than its market value, and end with a fabulous property. Lenders benefit from short sales because they are able to avoid the foreclosure process, which is both costly and time consuming. They may also get more money for a short sale than they can at auction foreclosure, and they do not have to worry about having a home sit on their books and lose value every day. Short sales can indeed benefit all stakeholders, but there are many short sales that never reach the finish line. The main reason is that short selling is a transaction that involves more than just the buyer and seller, the lending company must approve the sale before it can pass. Obtaining approval for short selling is difficult because lenders want to recover as much money as possible. The lender must determine if the amount offered to them is that they are more likely to get at auction. If they think they can get more money by taking the limit, they will not short selling. Waiting for the lender to approve or deny the short sale can be an exhausting process for everyone. On average, this may take more than a month to the company ready to respond even to an offer, which lets buyers and sellers in a terrible state of limbo.

In fact, many buyers want short sales because they can’t take all the expectations and the red tape is very involved. After all, a buyer could make an offer, hand over a deposit to wait six weeks, and then an offer is rejected outright. Unlike the sale of real estate, scheduled loan companies often do not respond, they simply refuse the sale and to let both the seller and the buyer return the square. Because the process of selling is not without difficulties, many buyers do not feel it worth their time looking at the properties selling. For those who can wait for the short sale process can find a buyer with a great house, and a positive solution to the seller.

First of all, “yes” some short sales take long to sell and “yes” some short sale listings can be frustrating. But let me tell you this; not all are created equal! With a little patience and a little creativity you can overcome some of the shortcomings of listing pre-foreclosure/short sale properties and make a lot of money by helping homeowners get out from underneath the huge burden of debt and stress they are under.

Let’s deconstruct three of the biggest short sale myths:

Yes, it’s true when it comes to a short sale; the lender is in the driver’s seat. And since they hate to lose money they tend to reduce the amount of commissions by an average of 1%, meaning that if your area pays out 6%, they will only approve 5%, which will be split by both the agents involved in the transaction.

You know what I say to that? Who cares! Be creative! Did you know that there are 7 additional profit centers that can offset your 1% cut in commission? Let’s take a look at what they are:

The “Loss Mitigation Fee” is a fee that we collect only when we successfully negotiate a short sale and have the foreclosing lender pay for all of the closing costs (the realtor commissions, attorney/title company fees, conveyance taxes, etc.).

The average loss mitigator receives an average of 30 NEW files a day. Not a week, not a month but a DAY! That is part of the reason that short sales can take a while, but it isn’t the main reason. The primary reason is because the majority of real estate agents submit short sale packages that are less than adequate and professional! Meaning;

Those and many more reasons cause short sales to get hung up. Once again, take what the defense gives you. If loss mitigators are overwhelmed, then the key is to put together a professional and presentable short sale package guaranteed to get your short sale offer reviewed and approved.

With the right system they are not hard! Let’s take a look at how to overcome the two biggest reasons why short sales blow up right before the closing.

The key is not to have only one buyer but to have a pool of qualified buyers that are pre-approved. The best buyers to keep an eye out for are those that are already pre-approved and that have funds in place to make an actual purchase.

The two easiest ways to do that are: Start networking with every real estate agent that specializes in buyer’s representation. They are easy to find because it is in all of their advertisements. Start working closely with every single mortgage broker or direct lender that you know, or that one of your fellow agents knows.

In conclusion, listing pre-foreclosure/short sale properties can take some time to close. However; in this market everyone needs to stick together and help one another out. By building the right network of real estate professionals, we can all ensure that our listings (short sales or not) do not sit out there without a buyer!