Insigniaresidential - FSBO

There are about 12,000 homes that are pre-foreclosure which means the lender has sent the a notice of default.  About 65% should end up scheduled for auction.

There are currently 3421 homes scheduled for auction.  About 70% these will end up as bank owned properties according to Sean O’Toole at Foreclosure Radar.

There are about 5500 Bank owned properties in San Diego of which about 1800 are active listings in the San Diego MLS.  See the current list at www.houserebate.com/foreclosure.

Another 1000 San Diego foreclosures owned by banks are in escrow out of the total of 5,000 current San Diego Homes currently in escrow.  That is about 20%

Banks are motivated sellers.  They are willing to sell at market or below market prices.  Other home sellers may have emotional attachments to the price of the last comp which does not help when prices are going down.  San Diego REO properties are priced to sell.

Help may be on the way,  today I read in the LA Times, that investors are buying pools of bad sub prime loans and are actually contacting the homeowners to see if they want to lower the loan balance and monthly payments.   These investors can do this because they are buying these loans at a great discount.

I like the concept as the investors still make money and homeowners are helped.

I met with John Cooke at Mission Federal Credit Union  (www.missionfcu.org) today, and he said his credit union bends over backward to help their members in trouble by restructuring the loan.  The purpose of the credit union is to help its members. It was nice to hear a financial institution agreeing to rewrite some loans.  This has not been the case with most lenders.

I just heard about an auction put on by Auctiontoday.

Auctiontoday will be auctioning off foreclosure condominiums at the Bay View Towers.

There will be over 45 condos auctioned off with beginning price of $59,000.  What a deal.

When: Saturday May. 17, 2008
Where: San Diego Marriott Mission Valley. 
Time: Registration begins at 12:00 p.m. Auction starts promptly at 1:00 p.m.

HouseRebate can help you get a .50% rebate on the purchase of one of the condominiums.  Please call us for details.

You can generally get a very good deal on of these condominiums.

Real Estate Disposition Corporation (REDC) is the one behind the auction.  They have been auctioning homes since the 1990’s.

    Hi, I work for John L. Scott.  I would be more than happy to help you with your real estate needs.  For more information you can click on the links to the right and begin your process to your new home.

Property Tracker in the John L. Scott website is an excellent tool for a buyer to use to search, save and even email poperties all at your fingertips.  What is especially a great and fantastic plus when using this tool, when you add me (annongonzales@johnlscott.com) as your agent, I can see the homes that you are saving and are intersted in. 

We will be able to work together and find you your next home with confidence and ease.

Thank you and hope to hear from you soon.

Annon Gonzales

Since you started this thing, I thought I would go ahead and tell my current story on my particular journey of finding a way to “get out.”

I have been in business for myself for most of my career, although I am working for someone else currently.  Anyone who has owned their own business and goes to work for someone else will tell you that it is very difficult to work for someone else when you have owned your own business (especially for as long as I have).   I have come to the conclusion that the majority of the SOB’s who own their own businesses have no clue whatsoever as to what they are doing, and they have managed to stay in business as long as they have by sheer dumb luck.  Of course those of you who know my whole story might well say “what the hell makes him think he knows what he is talking about”.  Who am I to argue with that?

I have owned 2 retail stores (in a partnership and later on my own).  The rest of my business involvements were partnerships with my brother and occasionally others including part ownership of an technology company which also did computer repairs and rent to own, and part ownership of a software development and consulting company.  At one time I was part owner of all of the above at the same time.  To say it kept me busy is an understatement.  Oh…..I almost forgot.  One of our ventures was a coffee shop.  Imagine Espresso sold in a very rural area that most customers have never heard of the types of coffee we were selling.  At least we had good coffee for ourselves though.  Those were the days.

I will devote future posts to my past ventures and both my successes and failures, as well as what I have learned in each and every venture, including “sometimes making the least amount of money is the most rewarding and fun”.  I would never give up the days of sitting in the office all day on a Saturday playing computer on-line video games against each other with 1 or no customers stopping in.

As I stated earlier, I have tried a lot of different things in the past, all in an effort to make a lot of money at a young age and ultimately have the money and the time to do “what I want to do, when I want to do it.”  I think that is probably the ultimate goal that most of us have.

I know a lot of people who are very successful financially who have no time at all to enjoy the money that they are making (you know who you are), and I know a lot of people who have lots of time on their hands, but live paycheck to paycheck, with nothing left over to enjoy life.  The ultimate in my opinion is to either find some in between ground where you can make a lot of money without spending a lot of time doing it, or to get lucky and stumble across some great business that will make you a lot of money in a short period of time or a very saleable company where you can get out with enough profit to enjoy life.

So, what are my latest schemes on my getting out strategy?  I have 3 areas that I am currently focusing on, with a fourth idea that I have had for a long time, but have never been able to get off the ground (at least not yet):

1.      Residual income

2.      Insurance Sales

3.      Automated Internet sales

4.      Real Estate

Residual Income

I have always been a fan of residual income (part of the reason that we started the technology company).  The key in my mind is to find something that will continue to bring in profit month after month, without spending a lot of time supporting it (this was part of the problem with the tech. company, it took a lot of support).  I have found a product that seems to do all of the above, and am working to slowly build a business using this product.  Most of the time and focus on this product has been by me (although there are other people working for this company focused on other things). 

In 6 months time, we are generating $15000.00+ a month in revenue and it does not take a full 40 hours a week to manage this service.  In fact, I think we could easily double the revenue and the business could still be run by one person easily, with time left over.

The business is a call related program that the users can use to train their CSR’s (Customer Service Reps) to do a better job in closing calls.  It does a whole lot more than just that, but the point is that it generates recurring revenue. 

The users of our system love it, and we have had a very low churn rate, with most of the calls that come in being “I want to buy more”.  The few actual support calls that we have had, have usually been issues with the customers’ side of things, and not issues with our service.  To top it all off, we are just a reseller of this service, with little overhead expense to keep it going.  Not a bad business to be in, and it is a program that I truly believe is helping our customers, which makes it that much easier to sell.

I could be part owner of this business if I pushed the issue, and that was my initial plan.  Great business you say with lots of future potential!  So what’s the problem?

The reason I am not part owner of this business, is that the owner of the company has some financial issues with his other business ventures (which brings in a lot more than this company in revenue and profit), and I am somewhat nervous about getting involved in a business relationship with someone who has a tendency to spend cash faster than he can make it.  The other issue is that he can not stay focused.  He is constantly moving forward with his next “get rich quick scheme” before we have even come close to tapping the potential of the existing business we are working on.  I think the company has a great potential and a great future, but I don’t think that he is not the one to be running it, which again is part of the problem of working for someone else.

Insurance Sales:

I recently got my license to be an insurance agent.  My motive behind this was varied, including that I am not certain how long my existing gig with residual income will continue, and I hear that there is a lot of money to be made in insurance.  Not get rich quick type of money, but a real decent living, and probably more than I am making now.  I don’t know about the rest of you, but I know a few insurance agents, and they seem to always have a pretty good amount of time on their hands.  A lot of them play golf, which I have always been of the opinion “is a game for people with too much time on their hands”.  Also, in being an insurance agent, you are running your own business.  So, everything I am looking for is in this career, money, more time, and back to owning my own business.  I don’t know if my expectations are being set to high, but I hope to find out soon, and will keep you posted.  I plan on doing this part time, until my other gig runs out, or I start making enough money that I can focus on the insurance comfortably 100% of the time.  I used to always tell people that “I am not a salesman”, but have recently come to the conclusion that I have been selling all of my life, and just never admitted it until now.  If you believe in your product, and are helping people with the product or products you sell, selling is easy.

Automated Internet Sales:

I have heard a lot of people say that automated internet sales is a great way to make money and have a lot of time on your hands (check out The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss).  I agree that this would be a great way to go, but I think you have to find the right product, and have to do a great job with promoting your product and optimizing your web site, which is in most cases much more difficult than it sounds.  I have a couple of projects going in that direction that I am trying including http://www.outdoorsplus.net and http://www.everythingbeerstore.com .  My original idea was to partner up with a friend who has a deer hunter club and magazine website http://www.modeerhunter.com who gets quite a few hits and unique visitors every year.  This is a very new venture for me, so I will let you know how it goes.

Real Estate:

I have always been of the opinion that the real money to be made out there was in real estate.  I have never given up this belief.  I was in the process of trying to get a real estate business started when I owned the grocery stores, and have tried again since, but for various reasons, have never been able to get this off the ground.

I like the real estate business for a variety of reasons including the relatively quick large lump sum cash potential of flipping properties, and the rental aspect of tenants building equity for me.  I also like the fact that the equity allows you the potential to borrow cash as needed to help cash flow in other business opportunities that you might have.  Cash flow and daily management reports is a key component of any business that you will ever get involved in, and I strongly encourage anyone thinking of starting their own business to stay on top of the cash flow if they don’t do anything else.  In any case, I still have hopes of getting into the real estate game at some point in the hopefully near future, when I hopefully have the funds to do so.

I will keep you posted as I progress in my latest ventures, and at some point will try to address my previous ventures and the successes and failures of each.  I learned a few things along the way, and maybe you will too.

Many people hesitate when it comes to investing in real estate. The main reason is the loans they have to avail of, the mortgages that have to be paid and all the paper work and headache that comes with it. There is also the fear of whether they will be able to meet the repayment deadlines and if they can afford the mortgage etc. Dale Warfel of Keller Williams Realty will be able to take you through the process smoothly. Dale who is a realtor in San Jose will be able to show you how easily you can make your repayment.

One way people who do take the big step of investing in property take is to rent out their property till the loan is repaid. Sometimes when the market is good not only are you able today the loan back easily but you have some leftover to use. Renting is generally defined as an agreement made between the owner of a property and another person who wishes to temporarily make use of, or live in the property of the owner. The person who owns the property is generally termed as the ‘land lord’ and the person who lives in the property temporarily is known as the ‘renter’ or the ‘lessee’. The land lord and the renter sign an agreement after a set of terms and conditions, according to which the renter pays a decided amount to the landlord every month, for living in the property belonging to the owner.

For all kinds of help related to real estates, contact Dale Warfel, a real estate agent from California, who specializes with homes for sale in Campbell, homes for sale in Coyote, homes for sale in Almaden Valley, homes for sale in Los Gatos, homes for sale in Morgan hill, homes for sale in Monte Sereno, Rose Garden homes for sale, Midtown homes for sale etc.

I just had this conversation with my husband... Is perception reality in the Bay Area Real Estate? There are many areas that have been negatively effected by foreclosures and short sales but as the weather, there are many micro climates of Real Estate.

Yes there are some areas that have been severely impacted by foreclosures with values plummeting. Other areas are not seeing the deep impacts. Yes, values have come down in most markets, but there are areas that are not as severely impacted.

Oakland is a very good example. In East Oakland foreclosures account for about 50% of the homes for sales. Now move to Rockridge.  You are still in Oakland, but the amount of foreclosures in Rockridge are few and far between with values and homes sales still doing okay.

It seems hard to believe that markets can vary so widely even in the same city, but it really goes to prove that location can have a huge impact on price and desirability of a neighborhood.

When looking at the Real Esate Market, especially in the Bay Area, using a broad brush to paint the picture really doesn't work. Knowing the localized markets and looking at the current trends for those areas is really the best way to evaluate the Real Estate Market.

www.LisaCartolano.com

Since I've had a lot of people ask me for status updates on the Cosmopolitan, here are some article jumps if you just want to get to a certain point:

• Current State of Project
• W Hotels/Related Companies Status
• Bruce Eichner (Developer) Background

I've been a subscriber to the Wall Street Journal online since it first became a paying website - I remember trying to convince my mother that putting $59 (thats how much it was when it first came out) on her credit card every year was a good investment. Once I finally had my own credit card when I was 18, I remember it was always the largest purchase I made each year for a few years.

One of the most valuable pieces of the WSJ to me is their "Page One" where besides any major business or financial news, it always includes one or two articles which take extensive reporting, and even if those articles have noting to do with what I'm interested in, they are always a very informative read.

On Friday, the WSJ published an article about Bruce Eichner, the developer of the Cosmopolitan Resort & Casino in Las Vegas where they described the issues he is currently having with the Cosmopolitan Resort in Las Vegas, as well as some of his last problems when he was involved in huge building projects (one was profiled in a book: How 1,000 Men and Women Worked Around the Clock for Five Years and Lost $200 Million Building a Sky Scraper". It's a pretty interesting article which they describe how he seemed to be getting himself more and more into debt and taking on more and more loans from different banks to complete the project.

It brings up how he initially found the site for the Cosmopolitan (right in between Caesars & MGM's CityCenter Project) and only put in about $10 million of his own money - it doesn't really state in the article, but it does insinuate that that is all the money that he put into the project. Lets do the math, $10 million of your own money, and borrowed the other billion for what will be an eventual 3 or 4 billion dollar project? Wow. No wonder this mortgage financing mess occurred!

In all seriousness though, its clear that Bruce & his wife (who designed the interiors of the hotel/casino) do have a personal attachment to the project that has sold $280 million worth of deposits ($1.4 billion worth of final sales) and the project is clearly going to be a success - once its finished - but will probably not be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor it as they wish they could.

Here is what caused Eichner's problems:

Prices for material and labor shot up, throwing all previous cost estimates out the window, in fact Deutsche Bank (the biggest lender) even asked for a construction contract asking for a maximum price on the project.

Secondly, Eichner may be wealthy, but his company is not a publicly traded company, limiting their ability to get capital. As far as I know he does not even have very many assets. It's not like MGM Mirage who has billions of dollars worth of assets which they can borrow against, or even sell if worse comes to worse in a financial bind. Eichner having very little assets puts the banks in a perilous situation because if the project does end up defaulting it ends up being a complete loss.

Lastly, most of the major bank loans for this project was based on certain groups providing equity in the project, yet they didn't seem to do the in depth underwriting, or due diligence on the project which may have caused them to think harder about their decision. George Soros originally provided some equity, and Deutsche Bank originally provided a loan based on his participation - figuring if he was in, then it was a good deal. Then Hyatt became involved to run the hotel, and due to Hyatt's participation (they signed on as the hotel operator, and also contributed $50 million to the project), Deutsche Bank loaned more money. Money was loaned based on money loaned, and too many eggs were put into one basket.

Currently the project is under foreclosure by Deutsche Bank - who currently is owed almost 1 billion dollars, and the project is only 1/3 completed, yet still being built. Deutsche has too much invested in the project and there is actual progress occurring on the site for them to just shut it down and call it a loss. The project is still due to be opened by the end of 2009, and it sounds as though all of the sales deposits are safe, but one thing that isn't safe is Eichner's affiliation with the project. It seems as though the lenders are pushing him out of the project.

The article doesn't say much about the status of any takeover by W Hotels or the Related Companies - except that the Related Companies have been talking to Deutsche Bank about buying the project out of foreclosure, so it's anyones guess as to where that stands.

I think that the Cosmopolitan project will still be finished without any major changes or scale backs, although it's a good possibility that Hyatt will no longer be affiliated with the project, and the Eichners will also be no longer be involved. For all those who have deposits put down on a unit at the Cosmopolitan - don't worry, I really don't see any issues with losing a deposit since the project is partially built. As for W Hotels becoming involved with the project - I still see it as a definite possibility since its a very high profile location and W has been wanting to come back into Las Vegas in a big way.

I'll keep you posted.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers! I hope your day was extra special too.

With house prices dropping nationwide, migrants are helping buoy the housing market as the value of housing here still exceeds the value of similar houses in the migrants country of origin, particularly for those looking to move families.

New Zealand remains a good place to purchase property for those relocating from other countries.

House price averages are reported in the article below:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4521788a13.html

If you want to start a new life in New Zealand, use the information at www.workingin.com to help get you there.

If you are currently upsidedown in your mortgage and the mortgage company is constantly calling you, then give me a call or send me an email for assistance. I'm with UpsidedownFlorida, and we help homeowners that are currently behind in their mortgages or owe more than the home is worth.

Our name is UpsidedownFlorida, but we help homeowners from all across the US.

We can get your loan modified without refinancing or if you need to get out from underneath the burden of the home we can prepare it for a short sale. We use a staff of real estate professionals and real estate attorneys on every deal.

So, if you or someone you know are having troubles making their mortgage payments, feel free to contact me. I'd be glad to help.

Sincerely,

Jamie L. Melton, Account Executive
UpsideDownFlorida
Cell: (904) 635-7549
Fax: (206) 338-6390
Email: jamie.melton@upsidedownflorida.com
"Let us fix your mortgage problems."

P.S. -

Due to the newness of the service we provide to the masses, I added a list of common questions that we have encountered here at UpsidedownFlorida. Hopefully, this information will shed light on our company and our services. Nevertheless, if you would like help with your current mortgage or you know someone that could use or help, feel free to call me for assistance.

What Is A Short Sale?

A short sale occurs when a lender agrees to accept a purchase price on a property for less than what is owed on the mortgage(s). In effect, the lender is agreeing to take a loss on the property to avoid having to go through the foreclosure process. Short sales are generally only accepted when a borrower is experiencing some form of hardship and can no longer afford the property.

Why Would My Lender Agree To Accept A Short Sale/Loan Modification?

Your Lender Does not want your home. They are in the business of Lending Money NOT property management. It comes down to simple math the bank rather take a guaranteed return on their investment today over a possible recovery of part of their investment 6-9 months later.

What Are The Advantages Of A Short Sale Over A Foreclosure?

There is far less damage to your credit for starters. A foreclosure is one of the most damaging things that can happen to your credit. A short sale will drop your credit score, but not nearly as much. A short sale will release you from all further obligations under the mortgage. If your property were to go to foreclosure, the lender is able to get what is called a deficiency judgment against you. This amount can easily be thousands of dollars depending on the size of your mortgage and their Loss.

Do you only help homeowners in Florida?

No, we provide this service throughout the US.

What Are The Advantages Of A Modification Over A Refinance?

Loan modifications do not require costly closing costs, title fees and points/broker fees. Most importantly however modifications do not have pre-set credit requirements or LTV restrictions that limit refinancing options for most homeowners.

How Long Will This Process Take?

Typically the process takes between 15-90 days. Each lender has different requirements and different time frames and thus each individual case is unique. Another important factor to remember on a short sale is that the time frame is dependent on how quickly we can get an offer on your home. In many cases, you may already have an offer or be working with an agent so this may expedite the timeframe

Do I Have To Be Past Due On My Mortgage To Qualify For A Short Sale/Loan Modification?

No, not always. Most banks/lenders will work with all homeowners; however the basis for them approving a short sale/Modification is that the borrower is experiencing some form of hardship.

Will A Loan Modification/Short Sale Affect My Credit?

When obtaining a loan modification there is no adverse affect on your credit. The lender agrees to the new terms of your loan with no negative repercussions. A short sale minimizes the damage to your credit that would be caused be a foreclosure. Typically, borrowers see a 50-100 point reduction in their FICO score following a short sale. This, however, is significantly less than a foreclosure which typically results in a judgment and remains on your credit for 10 years and a FICO score reduction of over 300 points. Please note that any reduction in credit score as a result of a short sale can also be impacted by your payment history on other accounts and other mortgages. Thus, borrowers with no other delinquent accounts see less of an impact on their score than borrowers with multiple delinquencies on their accounts.

Is My Property Still Eligible For A Short Sale/Loan Modification If I Have More Than One Mortgage On It?

Yes. The process is the same regardless of how many loans you have on the property.

When Is The Best Time To Start The Short Sale Process?

It will be best for you to start the process as soon as you can after you've realized that you can no longer afford your payments. The earlier you can bring us into the picture, the earlier we can get our team negotiating with your lender.

What Is The Fee For Your Service?

We believe in 100% customer Satisfaction that is why we don’t charge you unless we are successful in providing you a mortgage solution. We do charge a non-refundable Processing Fee to cover the expenses we incur assessing the value of your property (appraisal/Inspection). For Short Sales our Processing Fee is all you pay during the entire process. We make sure that all commissions, closing costs and other fees are paid by your lender with nothing out of pocket for you.

Why UpsidedownFlorida?

Experience, Experience, Experience! We can't say it enough! We have over 40 years experience negotiating with lenders. Our team of Real Estate Professionals, Mortgage Consultants, and Loss Mitigation Specialist and Real Estate attorney's leverage their experience into getting you a solution to our mortgage problems. In addition, we have established relationships with almost ALL the major lenders/banks/credit unions which help make your process Fast and Easy. Most importantly, we guide you through all phases of the process and keep you informed on the status of your solution.

If you’re like me, you’ve started to glaze over a bit about all the Foreclosure, home sales declines and credit crunch headlines.  I feel like I can’t watch an episode of Top Chef (guilty pleasure) without seeing an ad, news snippet, headline or blog post (like this one J) around Foreclosures.

But then I was flying back from Boston earlier this week, and overheard this actual conversation between two JetBlue flight attendants:

FA1:       “How’s it going at home?”
FA2:       “Not so good.  I just lost my house”

FA1:       “What happened?”
FA2:       “My mortgage rate went up and I couldn’t afford the payments.  Got way behind and now they’re taking the house”

FA1:       “Oh my god.  That’s terrible, what are you going to do?”
FA2:       “We’re going to move in with my parents.”

And it got me thinking… 

Can you imagine the actual experience of losing your home?  I’m not even talking about the lost real estate investment.  Think about actually having to pack up your stuff, find a new place (maybe your parents) and move out of your house.  Think about explaining this to your kids.  This breaks my heart. 

Why is it that there hasn’t emerged some party willing to buy these properties in bulk from banks and rent them back to the current owners at a reasonable rent so they don’t have to move out? 

Yes, I know that you have to work the NOI and cash flows.  Can the buyer service the debt, charge enough rent, etc.  What’s their cost/access to capital, etc? But my simplistic read is that for someone willing to be in the property management game (and maybe that’s the rub) this is an opportunity to build a large asset base with a  baked in set of cash flows, and at the same time do something philanthropic.  I’d also imagine there’d be some tax advantage in there.

Maybe this is happening.  But if it’s not, it should.  Let me know if you’ve heard about someone doing this.

alex