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Are you a Seattle Real Estate Investor?
Then the news is good for you! Seattle continues to outshine the other slumping real estate markets across the country. With the hot job job market and strong economy Seattle home appreciation continues to grow. Experts predict that 135,000 people will move to the Seattle market in the next 5 years.
Read more here:
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/lifestyle-washingtonstate-housing.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Seattle Foreclosures
Did you know in King County foreclosures are up 64% in August 2007 from the same time last year. The national average is around 115% and there does'nt seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel yet. This is a direct result of the sub-prime lending meltdown. What does this mean as an investor? It means that there is a huge opportunity for investors to capitalize on short sale transactions.
Read more here:
http://www.pr.com/press-release/53540
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/332120_foreclosure19.html
What is a Short Sale?
The easy answer is when a homes market value is less than the owners mortgage and the bank agrees to a sale price less than what is owed. A short sale happens once a home is in foreclosure, but before the property goes to public auction. Short sales are attractive to investors, because lenders often agree to take less than what is owed on the property. The idea is that you are saving the lender time and money by avoiding the legal foreclosure process and taking the property off the lender's hands. Lenders do not want to hold real property. If they have to foreclose they will set a trustee auction at the county courthouse steps to get the highest bid possible. The trouble for them is in this changing market with foreclosures increasing not all auction properties are selling. This is very bad for lenders, putting them in a situation where they lose even more money having to take the property back. They must then hire an agent to put the property back on the market and wait for it to sell before they can recoup any loss. By the time they get rid of the property they have lost BIG TIME!
This creates an excellent opportunity for investors to capitalize on this market downturn. Most lenders would much rather negotiate a short sale than be forced to foreclose. This gives the investor an instant advantage. In this situation it is very common to buy a property thru a short sale transaction that is well below the market value creating instant equity.
I am experienced in the area of short sale negotiation. I understand the complicated process including what the lenders need and want to make a short sale transaction successful.
If you would like more info on the process please contact me and I can discuss this exciting opportunity with you!
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