Thursday, September 16, 2010

Things You Should Know About Buying Pasadena Foreclosures as a Short Sale

Being a buyer in Pasadena foreclosures that are being listed as a Pasadena short sale is no easier than being the seller. Whenever you buy property in a short sale you are taking the risk on the sale, you never know if it is going to be a good or bad risk until after everything is said and done. Buying Pasadena short sales are risky because the property is usually worth less than what is owed. With this being the case, you can put in an offer, but the seller doesn’t have to sell it to you unless their lender agrees to accept an amount that is less than what is currently owed.Logo of the National Association of Realtors.Image via Wikipedia

With how uncertain Pasadena short sales are many people avoid them because they are worried that despite everything that they do their offer is not going to be accepted. Another reason why people avoid short sales is how long the process can take; it can be weeks or even months before the lender agrees to the short sale. Other buyers love Pasadena short sales because they think they are going to get a great deal on the house because they are paying far less than what it is worth. No matter which type of person you are there are some things that you can do to help improve the chances of your offer going through.

Tip One: Hiring a Pasadena Realtor
Having a Pasadena Real Estate agent on your side to help you through the home buying process is one of the best ways to improve your chances of your deal going through. Hiring a Realtor improves your chances because your Pasadena Pasadena Real Estate agent can help you find the perfect property for your needs, but also help you work out a great deal on your behalf. When hiring a Realtor you want to understand that there is a difference between a Pasadena Realtor and a Real Estate Agent. A Realtor belongs to the National Association of Realtors, which requires them to follow adhere to certain professional ethics that put the clients’ interests in front of anything else.

Tip Two: Gaining Knowledge
If you want to be successful in purchasing a Pasadena short sale, you will need to take some time to learn about the short sale in general. You will want to find out the advantages and disadvantages of the short sale, but you also want to find out about the short sale process. One way to learn about short sales is through your Pasadena Realtor, but you can also find plenty of information on your own. Some of the best places to go for information would be your local library and the internet, which can include government websites, news articles, blogs about Pasadena short sales, and mortgage lenders’ websites. When learning about short sales be careful because along with all of the valid information there is also a lot of bogus information.

Tip Three: Gather Information
Before you even write up an offer on a Pasadena short sale, you are going to want to find out everything that you can about the property that you are considering. Your best source of information in this case would be your Pasadena Real Estate agent because they have access to all sorts of information that you might need. The more you know about the property you are considering the higher your chances are of being successful with the short sale. When gathering information look at public records and other sales in the neighborhood to gain an idea of what you can expect. Finding out how much the seller owes and how many claims there are against the title can improve your chances with the Pasadena short sale. A lender is going to be more likely to accept an offer that has a low shortfall. Only having to have one lender accept the offer is easier than dealing with two or more lenders on the title.

Tip four: Writing an Offer
When writing an offer you want to ensure that you are presenting a clean offer to the seller and their lender, which means creating an offer that they cannot find issues with. Something to keep in mind when writing an offer is that there is no contract for purchase unless the seller and their lender accepts your offer. When writing the offer you want to ensure you are offering a good price, but you also want to show that you can obtain financing for the property. Submitting a pre-approval letter for financing is a great way to show that you can afford the property and that you are serious about your offer.

Tip five: Timing is Everything
With a Pasadena short sale, timing is everything, but the timing is not going to be the same as with a regular sale. With a short sale, chances are things in the beginning are going to be very slow, but once things get rolling, you might be surprised at how fast things are done. In a short sale, once the seller accepts your offer you still have to wait for approval from their lender, which can take weeks or even months to happen. As a buyer there is nothing you can do to speed up the process of the Pasadena short sale, so you will just have to be patient. During the time it takes the lender to approve the sale they are going to be looking very closely at the terms of the sale, the property value, and anything else related to the sale to ensure that a short sale is going to be in their best interest. Once the lender approves the sale things can speed up and if you aren’t ready you can end up losing out on the sale. Pasadena short sales usually have an expiration date, which is a few days or weeks after the approval date, if you haven’t finalized the sale before the expiration date you will end up losing out.

Tip six: Prepare Ahead of Time
One of the hardest parts about Pasadena short sales is the waiting because you don’t know if you are going to be approved or not. Not knowing can make you hesitant to do the things that need to be done before you buy a home, such as inspections and appraisals, because you don’t want to spend the money if you are not going to be approved. On the other hand, if you wait until the approval you can run out of time when trying to get everything done or you end up with horrible results so you wasted all of that time waiting for nothing. With Pasadena short sales all you can do is prepare as best you can based on your current circumstances. One thing that you can do is go over the Real Estate Transfer Disclosure statement and any other disclosures to see what is wrong with the property, and you can get free estimates from contractors to find out what it is going to cost to get fixed. Some people decide to wait on the inspection because the house is rather new and seems to be very well maintained, while others simply buy a credit report because it will be used on the next offer if the short sale is not approved.

Tip seven: Property Expectations
In some cases, the property is very well maintained, but in other cases, the property owner quit taking care of the property for whatever reason. If the property is in need of repair you can ask the homeowner to make certain repairs before escrow closes, but don’t expect that to happen. With a Pasadena short sale, the seller is not going to receive any money for the sale of their property and in most cases; their financial situation prevents them from making any repairs to the home. Even if you ask for it to be done the lender might not be willing to discount the payoff any further just to take care of the repairs, so you should expect to take care of everything on your own.

Tip eight: Big Picture
Never get so wrapped up in closing on the sale that you lose sight of the big picture. You want to make sure that you are ready for homeownership before even making an offer. To ensure that you are ready you will want to make sure that you can afford the financial responsibility of homeownership, but that you are also prepared for the other legal aspects of buying a home. As long as you don’t lose sight of the big picture and are fully prepared to be a homeowner things should end up in your favor.

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