Just thought I'd share some interesting information I learned during the holidays related to foreclosures and short sales.

A short sale is when a bank is willing to settle for less than the actual mortgage balance when the loan is going to be paid off at the closing. Most short sales are done on properties in which the owner is in foreclosure. However, I have known of a few short sales being closed on properties that were current and not in foreclosure. But the majority are either in foreclosure or the properties are worth less than the mortgage balance.

As many of you already know, banks that have approved a short sale do not allow assignments at the closing to another buyer. I recently received an email from a short sale Realtor/Investor, in which a bank will allow an assignment at the closing as long as it is all being disclosed and the process to acheive the assignment is approved by the bank. So as long as all of the steps are followed, the bank will approve the short sale assignment.

Also, some banks that are foreclosing on homeowners are now allowing these same homeowners that just lost their home to foreclosure to stay living in the home under a lease agreement! Isn't this unbeleivable? This shows how much banks do not want vacant houses.

Now is the time to "just ask" banks if they'll consider ___________.

You never know, they might approve your request!
 
And the winner is...   

Dennis here. Your friendly neighborhood Real Estate Coach, with a quick heads up for those wondering if you're doing the right thing.
  Real Estate Investing vs. "Those other guys"   With the economy in dismal form, people like to play the blame game, many times just echoing the sentiments of other people who like to bash real estate as an investment.  

Don't get me wrong, I've had my struggles, challenges, and hurdles to overcome due to the economy and down right 'brain freeze' (aka DOHH!) investment moves that fall squarely on my shoulders.  


Lately some individual stocks, ETFs and others have gotten some serious pub for
gains produced in the 2nd quarter of last year.   A recent article in www.Seekingalpha.com has shown nice gains for REITs or Real estate investment trusts with one month gains shown below:  

REIT ETFs Over 1-Month Period (11/25-12/24)             Approximate % Gain             iShares Cohen Steers Realty Majors (ICF)   12.1% SPDR DJ REIT Index (RWR)     11.6% Vanguard REIT (VNQ)     11.5% iShares DJ Real Estate (IYR)     11.4% iShares FTSE NAREIT Retail (RTL)   11.2% iShares FTSE NAREIT Industrial/Office (FIO) 10.7% iShares FTSE NAREIT Residential (REZ)   9.1% iShares FTSE NAREIT Mortgage REIT (REM) 3.8%    

12% in one Month!! Not too shabby.   Now here comes the old champion- Real Estate Investing to go toe to toe with these challengers.

We'll just pick one of these REI Strategies and see how they compare.   Let's take Real Estate Wholesaling: Basically buying or controlling a property at a lower price and selling/ or assigning for a higher one.  

I did a deal in Missouri City Texas where I put a home under contract  thereby giving me all the rights to purchase the property. Due to negotiations with the seller, the contract was at about 87% of the value of the home.

The house was in great condition and I was able to assign my "Right" to purchase the home to an end buyer that loved the house and loved the neighborhood.
  Here's the result: 4 Hours of work. $3000 Net in 3 Weeks  from contract to close. What's great about it is I only risked $50 used as earnest money on the deal.  

So anyway you look at it: Risk, Work, Holding, ROI, Cash on Cash, Gain, Yield the Manny Pacquio-like champion  has got to be the savvy real estate investor and I'm not just saying that because my best friend's FilipinoJ !!   Take that REITS!!  

What's great is this strategy works for all levels of investors, especially newbies who are worried about risk, not having enough knowledge etc.   Here's a side bonus: You never have to do any repairs at all. You don't own the house. Take it from a former rehabber- who's seen his share of gross stuff and has run out from at least 2 houses spraying himself down with bug spray- Wholesaling is much better for your health!   So where would you rather invest your money?   What kind of returns would you like to have?   Questions? Comments? Hellllpppp!!? Need helping finding deals you can wholesale?
 
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