Important Steps to Avoid Foreclosure at All Costs

Let’s start by talking over a few ways to avoid having this happen to you.  We already wrote a bit about short sales, and their effect on your rating. Here are some other ways you can try to keep the possibility of foreclosure from becoming a reality.  The first and most basic is to keep in touch with your lender.  No one likes hearing bad news, and it can be easier to let unopened bills and late notices pile up in your trash than deal with the reality of your situation.  If you find yourself falling behind on your payments, contact your lender and discuss the possibility of modifying your loan (and negotiating one with a lower interest rate, for example).  Occasionally, you can ask for forbearance, a period during which the lender agrees to let you temporarily stop making payments until you have your situation sorted out.
Suppose you decide instead to move, most likely into a more affordable home or a rented apartment.  In the event that the amount of your mortgage exceeds the value of the house, consider a short sale.  Sometimes, you can simply turn your home over to the lender and cancel your remaining debt (a process called a “deed in lieu of foreclosure”), but like all of your other options if you’re at this critical stage, think it over carefully.

Whatever You Do, Act Now—Your Situation Won’t Fix Itself

Whatever your situation or plan for the future, we wish you the best of luck, and are always here to take any and all questions you may have.

The Best Endorsements Come From Our Partners

Given how the business works, it’s always gratifying to get the approval of our peers, especially that of real estate professionals as highly regarded as Daryl Laster of the DC-based Lance Horsley Team.  A Chicago native with an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurial Studies from the University of Illinois, Mr. Laster made his name in the restaurant industry before establishing himself in real estate.   A licensed realtor in the DC, MD and VA areas and an integral part of a company acknowledged by many as DC’s Loft Specialists, he had the following to say about his dealings with our firm:

A Peer Review

“Express Home Buyers is an absolute dream to work with.  Their renovations are truly impressive.  Renovations include high quality, hi-end materials and workmanship.  In my opinion, the project was a true renovation in that plumbing, electrical and structural repairs are done when needed, not lipstick on a sow as I often see.”
“Marc [Hershkowitz], as a listing agent for EHB, was equally delightful to work with.  My buyer has custom requests and Marc facilitated her requested with relative ease.  And of course, the buyer agent bonus was like whip cream & a cherry on my sundae.  Thanks again Marc for all!”

Thanks Mr. Laster

We are extremely grateful for all positive feedback and endorsements we receive, especially when they come from a realtor as accomplished as Mr. Laster.
If you’d like to understand why we enjoy excellent relationships with many of our industry peers, visit our website and browse the homes we have available.  We promise to provide you with the same high-level of service and professionalism that Mr. Laster refers to above!

Some more numbers, and a bold claim

On the sales side of our operation, we continue to unload homes 3 times faster than the market average. Want some real numbers?  The last 3 homes we sold lasted 27, 7 and 0 days on the market, respectively (that “0” is not a typo; we actually sold the home before it even made it to listing). As the country’s largest home buying firm and the 8th best selling team in the Keller Williams organization nationwide, we are your go-to source for the best real estate deals in the DC Metro area, a region that includes Maryland and Northern Virginia. Because we work closely with the FDIC, Fannie Mae, Countrywide, Wells Fargo, Indy Mac and many others, we ensure that our level of access to foreclosed homes and REO’s is second to none. You can view our up-to-date inventory at www.ExpressHomebuyers.com/email and www.ExpressRs.com. We’ve said it before in this blog, but here it is again: now is the best time to buy a home in the next 30 years.  If you’d like to hear more about why we this, or if you’re interested in either seeing the homes we have available or selling one of your own, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

The best advice we can give you here is to get in early, and put an offer down before the house you’re eying disappears or sits long enough to swell in price.  Here’s what we mean:

If you’ve done some research on our company, you may know that we tend to sell houses pretty quickly: this is due to our commitment to pricing houses reasonably, and the quality of the renovations we perform.  Below is the graphic we included in the recent post explaining homebuyer survey results:

As you can see, our houses sit on the market for considerably less time than the regional average.  What this chart does not show you, however, is that over 50% of the homes we move are actually sold before they’re ever listed.  How is this possible?  Easy; because we are first and foremost a homebuying operation, we’ve already bought the houses in question.

Although we hesitate to list the house before the renovation process has been completed, as the homeowner we have the luxury of arranging a showing anytime you want; in fact, people familiar with the quality of our work have even bought houses from us BEFORE the renovation process was complete, knowing the finished product would be of the same high caliber as every other home we move.  The buyers who walk away with our houses before they hit the market are those who get in touch as soon as they hear of our latest purchase; they’re the ones who keep in touch by phone, keep tabs on our website, and monitor the houses we’re working on at:

www.expresshomebuyers.com/email/greensheet.xls.

This is a great opportunity to gain valuable insight into the process of purchasing your first home.

May 16, 2009 10:00AM to Noon
Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church
201 Fourth Street SE Washington DC
Corner of 4th and Independence Ave. SE.

Located close to the Eastern Market or Capitol South metro stations. Please note that parking for the event is extremely limited.

This seminar will:
1. Suggest ways to improve your credit rating. Credit scores can be raised by as much as 100 points through our simple, legal, and no-hidden-costs method.
2. Explain how you can secure up to $18,000 in down payment assistance. No strings attached, and available to all qualified first-time home buyers. This is grant funding you won’t ever have to pay back if you occupy your home for a certain length of time.
3. Teach you to identify and target the best DC-area properties for your budget. Learn simple tricks and techniques to get the most value for your money.
4. Remove the mystery from the closing process. Learn to understand concepts such as deeds, closing costs, title and ownership.

This Home Buying seminar is unique in that you can pre-qualify, apply and view new home opportunities right on the spot. You won’t want to miss out!

Hosted by Express Realty Services – www.ExpressRS.com.
Featured Speakers:      Marc Hershkowitz – Realtor and Host
Kristine O’Neill – Senior Loan Officer, Virginia Heritage Bank Mortgage
Mark Schrader – Principal, Millennium Title
Steve Conover – Credit Guru, MyCreditABC.com

Seating is limited. Sign up today to reserve your spot or arrive early take advantage of our first-come-first-served seating.

Please contact Tina@ExpressHomebuyers.com or 703-752-1374 to make a reservation or for any further information you may require.

Recently, a blog on our work at Illinois Avenue caught our eye, and we posted this response (You can read the original at Concrete Jungle). Our response is listed here:

“Thanks for your post. We are always happy to clarify our business.

Couple of things. First, it’s easy to take the hard numbers at the beginning and end of a transaction and question the spread and the profit – particularly if one wants to question the profit makers. It is true express Homebuyers purchased the Illinois Avenue property shown here for $150,000, a price we determined after investigating the overall condition of the property, and what it would take to renovate it to our standards—which are top-of-the-market.

In terms of this property, we judged the total cost to renovate it to our standards could be well over $125 to $150 thousand dollars. Just this alone would justify a price equal to similar properties in the neighborhood. Atop our costs of renovation we have to add marketing, listing, commission for agents and a host of other small costs that whittle away the remaining margin.

Finally, the $374,955 is the asking price. It would be ideal if it sells for that, but like all other properties, our listed price survives or dies at the very real hands of the market.

Secondly, we don’t necessarily favor the term “flipping” when it comes to our work. House flippers notoriously buy properties cheap, perform minimal—if any –repair, and try to sell the property as quickly as they can. Our mission remains to add value to all the properties we sell and, in the process, help the individuals who need to sell their properties get a quick solution.

Harold, Express Homebuyers”

It’s not a flea market.

If you’ve ever gone to a street sale or marketplace, you know that haggling is part of the process.  The selling price is whatever you can get it lowered to, and half the fun is low-balling until you and the vendor reach an agreement.  This is not how the home market works.  Drastically overpricing a house isn’t a good policy; potential buyers will be scared off, and will skip over your listing until they find something within their price range.  Your best bet is to determine its market value, and set the price close to this number.

Know your surroundings.

Another good move is to take into account what comparable homes in the neighborhood have sold (or are selling) for; if the other two story townhouse across the street has already been appraised and priced, it might not be a good idea to list yours on the market for twice as much.  Still, use common sense when determining a price.  If your home is in better condition or has features that many of the other homes in the area lack, don’t be afraid to set the bar higher.  Hiring a professional can be useful in this case because they can provide you with a CMA, or Comparative Market Analysis, which evaluates your home against others in the area.

As you are probably well aware, we are the largest homebuying service in the greater DC area.  We buy and sell hundreds of homes every year, and can save you the time, frustration and cost of shopping your house for months on an increasingly stingy market.  If you’d like to talk to us about your home or would like to know more about how we operate, take a look at our website and feel free to give us a call when you’re ready.

Downsizing

This can have several meanings.  If funds are tight and spending needs to be reduced, a less expensive house can make all the difference.  The number many use as their cutoff point is 60%, as in they know it’s time to unload their home when mortgage payments eat up over 60% of their monthly paycheck.  Sometimes the decision to downsize isn’t made out of necessity, but for the sake of convenience.  If your family becomes smaller (when a child leaves for college, for example) it may be time to look for a home with fewer bedrooms and less overall space.

More trouble than it’s worth

If you’ve ever owned an old car, you’ve probably had the following conversation at least once:
“You should really get those brakes fixed.”
“No way, that repair would probably cost more than the whole car is worth at this point.”
This probably won’t literally be the case for your home, but a house that constantly needs repairs can be an incredible waste of time and money.  If your “things to fix” list keeps growing and you’re racking up serious expenses, consider scaling down to a more affordable renovated home, one whose issues have already been identified and corrected.

If you can relate to any of these circumstances and decide that selling your home is the right move, check out our website at www.expresshomebuyers.com, we’re happy to discuss your situation and assist you by either buying or helping you sell your home.