I went on vacation this week to Southern California. My wife’s extended family has somewhat of a timeshare on a beach house. It is great to see people and get some sun, but I always try to get a feel for the Real Estate market whereever I go on vacation.

California basically can be divided into two catagories. The super desirable homes, and everything else. There is always a market for oceanfront, beachfront, waterfront, lakefront or whatever you want to call it. Those properties rarely go down in value by much and no mater what, someone with money will always want to live there. The same thing goes for the elite neighborhoods such as the ones in Bel Aire and other upscale markets.

Due to intense market appreciation in most of the country (especially California and Florida) most people that were paying attention could see a real estate bubble developing. The homes most affected are the normal middle class homes in the cities that had the highest appreciation before the bubble burst. The normal people, not the super rich, are feeling most of the real estate crunch.

I spent a little time doing research on much of the California housing market. I saw reports showing some areas with 20%+ decrease in home values over the last year or so.

In Washington, many areas are down. However, I have not seen any areas in Washington State down nearly as much as much of California. I guess we have that to be thankful for. Hopefully most of us will be able to ride this out.

I was looking at a property the other day that needed some work. The door jam was busted in on the front door. Many of the windows were broken. The place reeked of cat urine. There were crayon and marker drawings on every wall. The kitchen floor had ripples in it. Oh yeah, and the roof sagged a little bit.

The house was a foreclosure and was bank owned. I couldn’t help but think “What happened here?” and “How do people live like this?”. I had my real estate agent do a little research with the neighbors in the area to find out what happened there to make a perfectly normal house turn into a pig sty.

What she came to find was that there was a family of four living there. There were 2 kids, a husband, and a wife. The husband worked every day, and worked long hours. The wife ended up getting involved with meth and the rest is pretty predictable.

She started disapearing for several hours one day, then disapearing for a whole day, then for several days. Every time she would leave the kids and their pets in the house unsupervised. The husband ended up missing a lot of work while he tried to find his wife and get control of his family. He got fired for missing too much work, and could not afford to pay the mortgage without a job.

Much of the story was unfortunate. Bad for the person, bad for the family, bad for the bank, and bad for the neighbors. Once it actually came to foreclosure, the lender goes through the process of getting a court order to evict the residents. The sheriff and some movers come and throw all of the family’s belongings on the curb. It is sad, and embarassing.

I was wondering what I could have done to stop this from happening. If the husband would have gotten a hold of me in time, I may have been able to negotiate a short sale with the lender and save him from having a foreclosure on his credit. I would have been able to give them a little bit of time to get packed, find a new place to live, and move out on their schedule.

If you are facing a tough situation, like the one I described above, don’t wait until it is too late. Contact Me through OlympiaHomeBuyer.com and let me review your situation. You may be able to sell your house fast and not have to face the embarrassment of being thrown out on the street like the family I described.

People probably would not ever guess, but I actually enjoy it when I get to help people keep their house (and not sell it to me). It gives me a sense of accomplishment that I would not feel by simply purchasing their property from them. I enjoy seeing the relief on a family’s face when I can help walk them through the necessary steps to keep their home.

It is not always possible to help someone stay in their home. When it is possible, it is a welcomed event.

There are many different tactics I could employ to help you stay in your home. It depends on the situation, the loan to value on the property, the amount in arrears, and the stage in the process that the bank has progressed to.

I would never be interested in renting the home to you or selling it back to you, because Washington’s new laws are very much discouraging it, but maybe I can help you find a new place that you like better and can afford.

If you have questions, I hope to be able to answer them. Give me a call at 360-259-4170.

I see it all the time, especially now that the economy is slowing down. People, for one reason or another, are falling behind on their mortgage payments. It happens for several reasons. Some common ones are: loss of job, injured/ill and cannot work, divorce/separation, death/illness in the family, or maybe the mortgage rate reset and the new payment is too high.

For whatever the reason, the end result is almost always one of two alternatives.

1. Sell your home.

2. Lose your home to the bank.

I believe in #1 and it is not just because I earn an income from people selling their homes to me. I believe in it because when I help someone sell the house they can no longer afford to keep, I honestly feel I am helping them. It is a true Win-Win situation. Sure, I buy a property for what I believe is a good price, but I am also relieving my client of a very heavy burden. I offer quick closing, valuable experience, and flexable terms. I can make the pressure of creditors and debt seem to dissapear.

Many people will be able to go through life without having to know the pressures of facing insurmountable debt. They will never know the fear of being kicked out of their house. The will never know the embarrassment as the sheriff orders you out of the house while movers place your belongings in the street with neighbors watching. No matter what, though, there will be many people who do have first hand knowledge of what it is like having creditors calling at all hours of the day. They know what it is like when the power bill is three months behind, the mortgage is two months behind, and the water bill is 4 months behind.

The pressure can make people want to give up, stop caring, and become dilusional by hoping simply praying will make the problems go away.

I help people in that position. I prefer to help people before it gets to the late stages of the foreclosure process, but I do not always get to choose. Often people call or email me when it is already too late. I have even had people call me when their former home had already sold at auction, asking me if there was anything i could do. By the time it gets to that, it is too late.

If you are already worried about how you are going to make your next mortgage payment, and the one after that, now is the time to call me. The more time we have, the better price I can get you for your home, the more flexible we can be with move out date, and the less stress you need to feel.

Forclosures = Bad

Piece of Mind = Good

There is no oblication in calling me. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. If you think you could be in a situation like one I talk about in this post. Do not risk losing everything. At the very least, you could save a foreclosure on your credit.

If I do end up helping you, I may be able to help you cover your moving costs. I have done it before, and I will do anything i can to help make this transition easier for you.