10356 Decatur Avenue S , Bloomington, MN 55438

Short Sale Listing: 10356 Decatur Ave S, Bloomington, MN 55438

This Bloomington Short Sale Home is priced to sell.  The opportunities are endless with what you can make of this home.  The backyard and patio awaits your entertainment, the spacious interior is perfect for any growing family.  The kitchen boasts granite counter tops and cherry, hardwood flooring.  The stainless steel appliances make this home a complete package.    Please contact us today if you're interested in viewing this home!

Short Sale 18592 Egret Way, Farmington, MN 55124

This Farmington Short Sale Home is priced to sell.  It does require quite a bit of work on the interior, including paint and carpet and some sheetrock fix-ups.  There are 4 bedrooms, 2 baths and a fenced back yard.  The exterior of the home is in good condition.  Please contact us today if you're interested in viewing this home!

Why is this happening?  Well, we believe it is the market continuing to correct itself.  As the prices of the lower home categories have continued to fall, the next logical step for sellers that become buyers is to move up in home category.  That could be from the $150,000 home to the $250,000 home for example.  However, when the executive homes failed to follow suite with the rest of the market, the buyers dried up even more for the $1M homes.  There was/is too much of a gap for the home buyer to leap over to get into that final stage of an Executive Home.

The interesting thing is that the prices of these homes have PLUMMETED. You may have not noticed when the $300,000 home retracted in value to $200,000 (as much anyhow).  You cannot pass on the elephant in the room though when it goes from $2,000,000 in value to under $1,000,000.  That one is hard to miss.

So, as the market continues to lower itself (We're firm believers that the bottom is nowhere near in site), more and more people will need to attempt to sell there home via short sale.

Please get a hold of Twin Cities Short Sale Realtor when you have questions regarding your personal situation.

It appears the Obama administration is toying with the idea of reducing the amount of debt owned on a mortgage for homeowners who are underwater (owe more than the home is worth).

Although this is a large convenience for homeowners, it's the taxpayor who is going to be writing the check for this.  If one were to think electing time is coming, it could be the taxpayor who is writing the check straight to the current administration.

Only time will tell if any lenders actually pick up this service for homeowners and only time will tell if it is successful or not.  For the current time, please contact us at the Twin Cities Short Sale Realtor to discuss your personal situation.

http://www.zillow.com/blog/10-celebrities-flirting-with-foreclosure/2011/03/23/

As always, please contact the Twin Cities Short Sale Realtor to discuss your personal situation.

"I was faced this year with having to sale my house.  I needed help from someone who could sale my house fast and would be knowledge in this economy and with short sales.  Due to the economy I knew the value of my home was worth less than I owed and I had to sell it quick due to my circumstances.  I had worked with Tony Ashworth in the past on a previous home he sold for my family.  As before Tony was honest in where I needed to price the home, what needed to be repaired/replaced and referred me to Joe Baker, a partner in his business who handled short sales. The day I met with Tony he had a list of things I needed to get together for Joe.  After getting all the listed information to Joe he immediately started the ball rolling.  I was braced to face many problems and aggravations in handling this sale.  I stayed braced and that's where I stayed.  Tony had the house sold within the time he told me and Joe had everything organized with the banks when we went to closing.  I never had a problem with the banks due to Joe's negotiations with them.  I am extremely grateful to Tony and Joe for handling this difficult dilemma in my short sale.  It is because of Tony and Joe's knowledge, organization and communication that made this as easy and stress less as possible"

--Holly

Please contact us if you would like your personal situation reviewed!

Fact 1: 11 % of all US homes are vacant.

Fact 2: Homeownership rate has dropped to 1998 levels.

Fact 3: Home prices are falling again..as we predicted last year…the housing double dip is here. Many economists expect further price (value) depreciation in 2011. Depending on the market and the price range….expect 5-10% additional value loss.

Fact 4: From the peak in 2006 US homes are expected to have lost close to 40% + in value nationwide.

Fact 5: In 2010 repoed homes reached the 1 million mark. A new unfortunate record.

Fact 6: 72% of the major US metro areas had an increase in foreclosures in 2010 over 2009.

Fact 7: 8 million Americans are at least one month behind. We know that when an owner is just ONE PAYMENT behind the probability of default skyrockets. Today’s one missed payment (30 day late) is tomorrows foreclosures (or short sale).

Fact 8: 5 million are at least 2 months behind. (See point 7.)

Fact 9: This year, 2011 an estimated 20,000,000 will be underwater, that’s 40% of all owners with a mortgage. The hardest hit areas of the country have simply stunning rates of negative equity: 67% in NV, 49% in AZ, 46% in Florida.   4 million US Homeowners are underwater by more than 50 percent.

Fact 10: New ghost towns are forming, Dayton Ohio 18.9% are vacant, Las Vegas whole towers of condos are simply empty.

Fact 11: THIS is officially the worst housing market in US History. Prices have already fallen MORE than even The Great Depression. 26% vs 25.9%

Fact 12: 4.2 million are unemployed for 1+ years. 9.6% are unemployed. Only 47% of working age Americans have a ft job

Fact 13: Lending requirements are getting rougher...

Fact 14: No equity..no downpayment. Last 2 years Americans have withdrawn 311 billion from savings and investment accounts. American’s are feeling broke.

Fact 15: Save Housing Fatigue has settled in over Washington D.C. President Obama didn’t mention housing once in the State of the Union. Compare that to just 2 years ago when DC was all aflutter with new housing initiatives. Is it time we talk about something that will truly make a difference..like a ‘Radical Refinance Program’ whereby owners negative equity is wiped out and they can keep their homes?

Fact 16: The American mindset about homeownership has shifted. After so many have been burned by homeownership its safe to assume that they will be very reluctant to dip their toes back into the water. Expect a continued increase in demand for rental units.

Fact 17: Social stigma of doing a strategic default is gone. People are now making the same business decisions that banks and other large investors do when underwater on investments.

Fact 18: The real estate industry is contracting. Fewer everything.. from loan officers to real estate coaches are needed. This trend won’t turn around until the baby boomers kids start having kids of their own. 7-10 years from now before we see a significant shift in housing demand due to the changing demographics.

Fact 19: Like in any consolidating industry there will be fewer operators doing more transactions. As more people leave the real estate industry the remaining agents, LOs etc will do MORE transactions.

Please contact us for a free consultation on your personal situation.

**These facts were made available from Tim and Julie Harris.

What should we expect in the world of real estate in 2011?  Many people are hoping that we are near a rebound, or at least hoping we're not losing ground anymore.  If that's you, it's time to take your heard out of the sand.  Real estate is still in a huge decline.

I've preached several times over that we're not out of the woods and that we'll see another 20% drop in home prices, at minimum over the next few years.  It seems some others are thinking the same way now.  I'd sure like to take credit for these other predictions but we all know they have no idea who I am or what this blog is.  They simply put the obvious facts together and came to the same conclusion as me.  Clear Capital is predicting an average of a 3.7% housing drop nationally.  This does take into account some areas that will see an increase, but unfortunately, The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul aren't in those areas.

So what can you do?  Well - if you're planning on a long term home, then you really have no worries.  Housing prices will eventually recover and with you paying the home down, you'll be just fine.  If you're struggling financially or have a hardship like a job transfer or loss of income etc, maybe it's time that you review the choices that are available so you can get back on the track of financial independence.

The Twin Cities Short Sale Realtor is happy to discuss your personal situation at a time acceptable to you.  Please contact us!

We've been getting a lot of questions lately about what HAFA is or how HAFA effects a seller during a short sale.  First and foremost - for those of you that just thought: "What the heck is HAFA?", it is the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives.  I'll summarize the positives of this program and try to break it down as must as possible.

Fist and foremost, it's important to note that this program is designed for home owners to actually work with the lender as opposed to just walking away from the home.  In actuality, even though the lender doesn't want to take a loss during the short sale (which they will), it's more difficult for them to have to foreclose on the home and sell it themselves.  After all, lenders make money on interest, not owning and selling real estate.  Also, as previously written about, Fannie and Freddie are getting serious and making an effort to actually chase down homeowners who just bail.  Making an effort to work with the lender through the HAFA program will actually stop this "chase" from the giants.

So what's in it for the homeowner to actually go through this process?  Well - there's a couple things:  First, the homeowner can get up to $3000 in relocation assistance.  I would say this is somewhat of a positive.  Think about it, you owe the bank thousands of dollars more but they are willing to pay you for the short sale.  That seems like a decent deal.  Here is the big one though:  If you're approved for HAFA, there can be no deficiency judgment for the outstanding balance.  That's huge.  So for example if you owe $200,000 for your home and the bottom line is $150,000 - you don't owe them the extra $50,000 and they can't ask you for it!  The third positive is that Fannie and Freddie will be satisfied that you worked with them to avoid foreclosure on the home.  You won't have to worry about a letter showing up asking for settlement or payment on your home loans anymore.

Feel free to contact the Twin Cities Short Sale Realtor to discuss your personal situation.

Last week Bank Of America announced that it is stopping foreclosure proceedings.  The short of the reasoning is that there may have been some improper evictions of homeowners with signatures from attorneys on documents that did not have the authority to sign.

What does this mean for the Minneapolis and St. Paul housing market?  It really depends on how long this is going to last for.  There is little question that a good portion of the homes that are for sale on the market are lender owned or short sales.  As I've stated before, housing is simple economics too.  The more supply, the lower the prices (assuming the same demand).  If BOA is stopping it's proceedings, we could see a lower supply of housing which could cause a temporary rise in home prices.  If this were to happen, of course it would be temporary and as soon as BOA starts to add it's inventory back into the market, supply will go up and prices back down.

It will be interesting to see  the next week or two and how this situation plays out.  Keep posted for updates.

As always, feel free to contact us to schedule a time to talk about your personal situation.