Realty Reality Blog

Scottsdale, Arizona is starting to be more affected by the recent trend of bank foreclosures and short sales.  At first, it was the outlying areas that were over-built in 2005 and 2006.  Places like Buckeye, Goodyear, Maricopa, Chandler and Queen Creek.  Slowly but surely though, the trend has reached the more affluent part of town.  Yes, Scottsdale. 

Bad News:  People were buying up Scottsdale Real Estate like there was no tomorrow.  Appraisals were out the window on properties with multiple over-priced offers.  Did it matter that they had little or no down payment?  No.  Did it matter that they were entering into adjustable rate mortgages that were frequently interest only and adjusting in 3 to 5 years? No.  Did it matter what their income was? Many times, the answer was No.  No documentation. Stated income.  Add all of those sceneries up and you now have what has taken a few years to fully develop.  The inevitable down-turn of the Scottsdale Real Estate market.

Good News:  For those who have wanted to buy a home in Scottsdale but couldn't afford it previously, many can now.  Who wouldn't want to live where the crime is statistically lower than Maricopa County or Arizona in general?  Or where the best schools are.  And, of course, the best shopping and restaurants.  Or for the out-of-towners who come to Scottsdale to play golf.  It's a buyers market right now.  If you've got the money, Scottsdale's got the place!  Condo's, townhomes, single family homes.  As of the date of this blog, there are over 700 properties for sale in Scottsdale under $200, 00!  Crazy!

Better News:  Call Colleen Lynch with CLA Realty 1-800-985-3672.  She's an experienced Scottsdale Real Estate Agent who can help you find the perfect home for your budget.  You can also search the MLS for FREE by clicking here: http://www.homeisaz.com/search-mls.html

I have been asked many times over the past several months how complicated is it to buy a home from the bank once it's been foreclosed upon.

Well, here are some simple steps for you to make that purchase:

1. Very important.  Hire a real estate agent who is experienced in the foreclosure market.  the more experience they have, the better your chances are for getting the home you want at the price  you want.

2.  If at all possible, have the CASH to close quickly.  The banks will prioritize a cash sale over a financed sale.  If you can get the cash up front, you can always put a mortgage on it after you get the property.

3.  Don't put any contingencies on your offers.  If the bank sees that you need to sell your home first, the will just throw your offer out.

4.  Choose a quick closing date.  If cash, you can write in a 15 day close of escrow.  Half the time the banks won't or can't close that quickly, but the offer looks stronger.  If financed, make sure that you are pre-approved with your lender first so you won't hold the process up by the approval process.  If approved, you should be able to close in 30 days.  If FHA possibly a little longer.

5.  Have your agent follow up with the listing agent after your offer is submitted to the bank.  Sometimes there are so many offers on a property that your offer could get lost in the pile.  Be the squeaky wheel.

6.  If there are multiple offers on the property, have your agent ask the listing agents questions like: How many offers are there?  Are any of them cash?  What is the highest offer you have?  The agents really shouldn't divulge what the highest offer is, but frequently inexperienced agents will tell... or let it slip. 

7. Another little trick to sweeten the pot... reduce the inspection period from 10 days to 3 or 5 days.  The banks lose lot of deals during the inspection period, so if they see that you're willing to reduce the amount of time for the inspection period, if you do cancel for some reason, they will lose less time being off the market.

8.  Finally, don't be afraid to be in "back up" position.  Many deals fall out of escrow for one reason or another so make sure that your offer is not thrown out.

Recently, I had a client who lives in Canada buy a house from me without ever touching a pen to sign a thing.  Not only does he live in Canada, but he happened to be on a holiday cruise during this time. 

We had put in an offer on a home prior to his vacation but we hadn't heard back from the bank (it was a foreclosure).  Out of the blue I got an email saying he was the winning bid and he needed to have all the bank addendums signed and returned within 24 hours.  Luckily he had access to email on his trip, but no way to print anything out. 

I decided to use "DocuSign", and Electronic Signature program to get the contract executed.  All he had to do was "adopt a signature" and he was able to view and electronically sign and initial the documents right on the computer screen and within seconds, it was back to me to send off to the bank.  

He was very impressed with the ease of the signing and of course with me for being saavy enough to do business that way. 

I'm sharing this story because of a blog post I read from DocuSign  http://www.docusign.com/

 http://www.docusign.com/blog/2009/08/31/want-to-win-a-500-visa-gift-card-share-your-story/

This is such an awesome way to do business... especially when you need it done quickly from afar!