by Paul Slaybaugh | Sep 11, 2010 | Home Buying
Interested in foreclosure homes? You’ve come to the right place. The Scottsdale Foreclosure Hotsheet brings you the latest bank owned property listings to hit the market. Follow the link below for daily updates of the latest Scottsdale bank owned foreclosure home listings.
New Scottsdale Foreclosure Real Estate Listings
While there are deals to be had in the foreclosure arena, buying a Scottsdale bank owned home can be a tricky business. With scores of investors lined up to bid against you for the best bargains, an absence of property disclosures, “As Is” purchase requirements and the financing challenges inherent in the current economy, locating a suitable candidate is less than half the battle.
Don’t go it alone.
Call on Ray & Paul to guide you through the entire process. With nearly 50 years combined years selling Scottsdale Real Estate, let us bring that hard-earned experience to bear for you.
Ray and Paul Slaybaugh
(480) 220-2337
paul@scottsdalepropertyshop.com
by Paul Slaybaugh | Sep 4, 2010 | Home Buying, Scottsdale Real Estate
Is that Scottsdale home really for sale?
It sure looks like it is. There’s a sign in the yard, property information on the internet, an asking price and everything. The comings and goings of Real Estatey type people with wide eyed gawkers in tow confirms that the quaint Spanish hacienda is looking for a new owner.
Or is it?
There is a disturbing new trend in the Scottsdale Real Estate scene: the fictitious listing.
By now, anyone who is not somewhat up to speed on the short sale market should be stoned to death with the rock under which he has been sleeping. Get used to them, people, as they are not going anywhere anytime soon. Though we all know the uncertainties and complexities involved in a short sale transaction mean that the listed price is not necessarily the real price, we generally take for granted that a seller is actually interested in selling.
Given the rise in anecdotal reports of would be sellers who haven’t made payments in two years while attempting to consummate short sales, you can imagine what the more entrepreneurial freeloaders in our midst have concluded: going through the motions of a short sale for the sake of appearance can keep the bank off one’s back while he lives rent free for as long as the ruse will allow.
Financial institutions are not so naive to believe such subterfuge never happens, so it typically takes a viable offer on a property to postpone a trustee’s sale (Arizona’s version of a foreclosure). That’s where you, the buyer, come in. For the “seller” interested in staying in the payment-free property for as long as possible, the facade entails the procurement of an offer for submission to the bank. Whether the seller intends to actually complete the sale or not.
In essence, the prospective buyer could get strung along for months by a seller who is just buying time. Or stealing time, I should say.
Perhaps his credit is already damaged beyond repair. Perhaps he doesn’t want to bring any of the money to the table that the bank demands. Perhaps he does not qualify for the short sale at all (yes, a seller does have to meet certain qualifications to gain bank approval). Perhaps the seller is simply bitter beyond reason and unwilling to let some buyer have his home for pennies on the dollar. Whatever the reason, there are properties on the market that aren’t really available.
How do you identify those shiftless wasters of time before embroiling yourself in a slow, emotional death? There are a few tactics that a competent buyer’s agent will employ when separating fact from fiction on a short sale offering, but none is foolproof. Short of peering into homeowner’s soul, all one can do is take basic precautions to assess the viability of a sale. Unfortunately, the determination of what the owner can do is not necessarily indicative of what he will do.
The guy could be dealing with you in good faith, or he could simply be using your offer to delay his inevitable foreclosure.
My advice? If you are going to go the short sale route, start with properties that have been through the process to the point that they have a bank approved price attached. If the seller is playing games in this instance, at least the process will resolve itself faster and allow you to move on down the road. If you fall in love with a home that has not yet been approved for a short sale by the bank, make sure the appropriate questions are answered and that the listing agent has a competent record of successful short sale transactions. The good ones are adept at separating the viable candidates from the disingenuous types as they have a vested interest in getting the transaction to the closing table as well.
At the end of the day, though, you just never know what is in store from one short sale to the next. With all of the variables to contend with in the best of circumstances, adding the integrity and intention of the seller to the list of concerns is almost comical in a tragically masochistic sense. All the more reason I recommend avoiding the short sale quagmire unless all other avenues have been exhausted.
It’s a beautiful Scottsdale home alright, but is it really for sale?
by Paul Slaybaugh | Sep 3, 2010 | Scottsdale Real Estate
Is it time for an MLS database of active buyers?
I ponder this on the heels of difficulties in locating quality resale homes amidst the bank owned rubble of today’s market.
We have long been beholden to the seller in the Real Estate hierarchy as a home listing sets all subsequent wheels in motion. Cooperating agents are alerted to the new offering. Those agents, in turn, seek matches for the property against their current active buyer rolodex.
Is it time we turned that seller oriented paradigm on its ear?
I’m wondering if I’m alone in my thinking when I posit that it would be beneficial to reach agents via the broad scale of the MLS with our buyer needs. We tout such needs at office meetings and tour groups, so why not disseminate them across a collective platform? No need to be strictly beholden to the current crop of listings when we could create a database for all agents to peruse based on buyer specific criteria (location, price, size, etc preferences). In addition to helping match up buyers with forthcoming properties that have yet to hit the market, I imagine such a beast could help potential sellers gauge the level of demand for their properties prior to “testing the market.” What a tremendous listing tool as well. Imagine looking through the day’s hotsheet for new buyer needs to find a potential match for a would-be seller who has been on the fence about putting his home on the market.
“Mr. Seller, there are now 7 listed buyers for a home that fits your exact parameters. That is up from 3 last month. It’s time to throw this thing on the market.”
In this regard, such a dual database of homes for sale and active buyers could serve the interests of both parties. A seller could opt to keep the general public at bay and make his home available only to those buyers his listing agent targets as candidates (no sign in the yard, no nosey neighbors, no showings with little to no notice), and a buyer could tap into the burgeoning inventory of almost sellers.
If we are to consider the Multiple Listing Service as Match.com for Real Estate buyers and sellers, why does half of that equation gets the benefit of perusing the pictures and profiles of prospective mates while keeping their own buckteeth hidden behind a pixelated avatar?
Precautions would have to be taken for privacy concerns, of course, but such obstacles are not insurmountable. Only buyers signed to Exclusive Buyer Brokerage Agreements would constitute suitable “listing” candidates.
What say you forward thinkers of the Real Estate industry and interested members of the consuming public, care to join me for some impromptu brainstorming? Is it time for dual databases for buyers and sellers?
Or have I been eating too many paint chips again?
by Paul Slaybaugh | Sep 1, 2010 | Scottsdale Real Estate
I get it. I really do. You need to lease your Scottsdale home in the worst possible way.
Be it job trouble, an exotic mortgage that is done playing nice or any number of other financial ghoulies that have hitchhiked this recession, you need to get away from that house payment before it devours you. You’d sell the damn thing if you weren’t further underwater than Atlantis. Unwilling to crash your credit, or unable to qualify for a short sale, finding someone to pay the mortgage for you while you seek safe haven in cheaper digs is the most attractive play. Maybe you plan to move back in once things settle down a little bit.
Or perhaps you want to take advantage of the ridiculously low prices and even ridiculously lower interest rates to buy twice the house for half the payment.
Whether motivated by housing avarice or financial self-defense, the rental option is one being heavily leveraged by homeowners facing similar dilemmas. Before planting the “For Lease” sign and squeezing into the four hundred dollar a month studio apartment, however, there are a few precautions you must take.
For starters, you must screen rental applicants from a position of strength. Despite your desperation to fill your vacancy as expeditiously as possible, you can’t simply accept the first warm body that walks through the door. The only thing deadlier to a landlord’s bottom line than a vacancy is a deadbeat tenant. In addition to nonpayment of rent, there is also the concern over property damage, outstanding utility bills and the hassle/expense of eviction. Half-hearted screening of applicants is a shortcut you cannot afford to take.
To that point, however, I offer a caveat as my next piece of advice. The rental market is actually quite vibrant at present and full of demand. From where is all of this demand coming? From people who have walked away from or short sold their homes. People with recent bankruptcies due to job loss. As such, many of the old rules for defining the acceptability of a tenant no longer apply. If you hold out for only those with 750 credit and 100k salaried income, you are in for a long wait. Those people are still out there, but they’re called “buyers.”
You certainly don’t want to rent to someone as hard up as yourself, lest you would just be trading troubles, but you must be wiling to consider those with a few bumps in the credit road.
Differentiating between keepers and flakes often comes down to the overall credit history, not just the current score. Give me the guy whose credit is 550 due to a recent short sale, for example, provided that his previous history is spotless. That’s a quality individual who just had the misfortune of buying a house in 2005. Even someone with a recent bankruptcy is often worth a gamble if the credit damage is limited to the immediate year. In fact, that recent BK means he will have little residual debt and can’t seek protection from you for non-payment for another eight years (assumes a Chapter 7, differs for other forms of BK). Now the guy with a five year history of late pays, judgments, etc? Don’t fall for the story about the ex-wife who didn’t pay the credit card bills. Send him packing.
Next, I highly recommend taking out a home warranty policy. While you will swallow hard on the several hundred dollar (that you don’t have) policy, it is an absolute must for those who would ordinarily be far too cash-strapped to take on the role of landlord. If you negotiate for the tenant to be responsible for the first sixty dollars or so of repairs, and the landlord for any amount over and above that, you can offset the service call deductible. Anything within the scope of the policy (you MUST read coverage information closely prior to purchase of the policy) will be covered over and above that tenant paid expense.
Going into a rental agreement naked (no policy) is potential suicide given your financial hardship. Don’t let an exploding hot water heater send you into bankruptcy or cost you your house.
You will also want to strongly consider offering prospective tenants landscaping and pool service. Again, this runs counter to the cost saving instinct, but consider it insurance. If there is one rule I have learned in Real Estate, it is that tenants can’t/won’t adequately care for your pool and lawn. The trees won’t get the deep water soaking. The pool will turn green and plead for new plaster. Not only does a tenant want to save on utility costs wherever he can, but he just doesn’t care about your property all that much. Lacking the pride of ownership, even the good ones are apt suffer the occasional forgetfulness that can necessitate thousands of dollars worth of repairs.
Lastly, bite the bullet and hire an agent to get the thing rented. Property management service might be an extravagance that you cannot afford, but the one time cost of leasing a property through a REALTOR is generally less than a month’s worth of rent. Get the thing on the MLS and lease it quickly, and you will end up saving money in the vacancy department. You’ll likely command a higher lease rate as well. Moreover, you will enlist someone to help walk you through all of the facets previously referenced.
It’s not ideal, and it’s not what you had in mind when you bought the house back in the high times, but it’s survival. Take the right steps and leasing your Scottsdale home can give you the reprieve you need to get your house back in order. So to speak.
by Paul Slaybaugh | Aug 29, 2010 | Home Selling, Scottsdale Real Estate
“List with me because I dominate page 1 of Google for Scottsdale Real Estate, as well as Neighborhoods X, Y and Z!”
A familiar refrain.
Firmly entrenched in the Internet Age of Real Estate marketing, it would be reasonable for a consumer to expect his chosen agent to propagate every nook and cranny of the online world with the homes he has listed for sale. Actually, it should be a pre-requisite. If your home is not readily found by web surfing consumers, you might as well pull the sign from the yard and go stew in the cone of silence for the next six months. You may eventually find a suitor the old fashioned way, but demand falls off the map if your home does not frequent the same haunts as the consuming public. In other words, best case scenario is to expect a lower sales price and longer stint on the market if you are invisible to the online home shopper.
Your listing should appear on the major power player sites, such as Realtor.com, Trulia, Zillow, etc. Your home should be visible on every competitor’s site via IDX listing (brokers have the ability to opt in or out of the IDX agreement, thus can choose whether to keep company listings close to the vest or allow their properties to be displayed in the search results on competing home search sites). Your home should be marketed with scores of high quality digital pictures and/or virtual tours to stand out from the din.
What is not necessarily a “must” however is that your chosen listing agent dominate the first ten spots of Google for major home search terms. Sacrilege, I know.
As one who partakes in the daily struggle for online supremacy, why would I acknowledge such a thing? Because it simply doesn’t hold water to argue that I am all of that and a bag of Real Estate chips by my positioning at the top of the search engines for select key words. It certainly helps me cultivate leads, but whether your ultimate buyer finds your home on my site or a competitor’s is of little consequence to you. As long as the buyer finds you, who cares if your agent stands to double dip the commission or has to co-broke with a buyer’s agent?
Though I aspire to gain keyword dominance for a few juicy sequences that I covet, and guard those I have already conquered with a zeal seldom seen this side of the Spanish Inquisition, do not misinterpret search engine dominance for the be all and end all of internet marketing. It is merely one arm of the octopus. The one that gloms onto wayward buyers for the agent’s new business generation at that.
To a certain extent, a well-ranked website is the modern incarnation of the open house. The odds of the buyer walking into my domain on a broad Scottsdale Real Estate keyword search and fitting your property are just as long as with its old school predecessor. It’s great when it happens, but if website placement comprises the entirety of an online marketing campaign … good luck, Chuck. Google placement is a valuable assistant to a productive agent, but it is not a home selling panacea.
While I may rank higher than some of my competitors, and lower than a few others, they all benefit my clients. As each listing I take is displayed on all major search engine across the web, my properties are splashed across virtually every website that pertain to Scottsdale Real Estate.
In that regard, I guess you could say that my listings dominate the first 50 pages of Google. And really, my lead generation aspirations aside, what else matters?
How are you supposed to differentiate between prospective agents if website ranking is less important than you were led to believe? Assuming your candidates are equally adept at proliferating their listings across the web (a big assumption), you separate the wheat from the chaff the old fashioned way: knowledge, ability and experience. There are no shortcuts to the head of that line, whiz bang website or no.
And now, to reap the SEO benefits that will vault me to the top of the rankings, but do little to improve my ability to sell your home, I repeat today’s keyword phrase: Scottsdale Real Estate.
Page 1, here we come!
