Saving Real Estate Values

Saving Las Vegas Home Values

A couple of more  Las Vegas Short Sales put into escrow and another one listed with another real estate agent waiting to be put into escrow. Now we get to wait for the lenders to figure out what they are doing. The lack of direction of lenders when it comes to short sales is hindering the correction process because my sellers need to sell and my Las Vegas real estate investor wants to buy…

In other words… the seller has no intention of bothering with the new Government Plan to save real estate values from correcting on their own. You probably heard about this new plan… it’s the one where they want to take taxpayers dollars to help pay other people’s mortgages, let judges have the authority to modify loans in BK proceedings, etc.. etc.. I’m not going to get into the discussion concerning this since you can make up your own mind…and it’s far too much to devote just one blog post towards. But… the plan certainly does not address helping people out who just want to move on but do not want to go through a foreclosure in the process.

I do have to question if the new policies will keep real estate prices from correcting on their own in areas of the nation that it will apply to.  As mentioned in my last post and from reading what was available about the new plan, in my opinion it would not help the majority of homeowners in Las Vegas since home values have already dropped significantly. You also need to keep in mind what created high appreciation rates to begin with that eventually got us in this mess before thinking that borrowed money is going to Truly solve anything when it comes to home values.

I’m certainly not out to discourage Las Vegas home owners from trying a loan modification… Please try since we always encourage Las Vegas home sellers to attempt a loan modification before proceeding with us on a short sale… if they indeed want to stay in the home.

You do not need to pay a loan modification company to attempt this… Some language in the Tarp bailout strongly encourages lenders to reach out and attempt to help out homeowners before foreclosing. Unless you’ve been hiding out with no TV or radio, you’ve probably heard all of the commercials from all of the new loan modification companies that charge to do something that you can easily do yourself with a simple call to your lender. In fact, I’ve come across homeowners who attempted a loan modification and were charged $3,000 just for the company to send in all of the requested documents on their behalf and achieved absolutely nothing.

The hard part is getting all of the documents together and you’ll need to do that regardless.

Every lender that I have come across has a department that specifically handles helping homeowners and will tell you exactly what to do. Some companies such as Countrywide actually give you the phone number and list of documents that you will need to start this up on their financial hardship information page.

If you don’t get the terms you need to continue ownership that works for you financial situation… then proceed with a Las Vegas short sale.

However… please keep in mind the time line of the foreclosure process in Nevada if you have stopped making payments. Unfortunately, we’ve come across cases where the request for a modification process took too long and the homeowner was eventually denied with little time left needed to proceed with a short sale without everybody pulling their hair out.

Also… keep in mind that I do not charge Las Vegas home sellers up front to proceed with a short sale. We get paid for actually achieving the results that you need done.

If you have any questions or would like more details… please use the information below to contact me.

Paul Francis, CRS
Las Vegas Real Estate
702.592.3058