South Florida Real Estate and...

Short Sale Success! Another Short Sale Closed!

In fact, this week, we had 3 of our short sale listings close.

Wellington Florida Short Sale Agents Closing Short Sales In Wellington Florida.

Property- Single family home in non gated community with HOA.

List Price:  $249,777 when we got an offer- relisted in June of 2009, offers in June of 2009, BofA assigned negotiator in July of 2009, closed January 2010= 6 months.

Purchase price: $ 257,000

Buyers: FHA loan- got their FHA loan funded in 14 Days!

We listed this property and our buyer's agent sold it to a buyer that called from our sign. This is one of those rare communities that allows a sign, a special tiny one, but a sign nonetheless. 

2 Mortgages on this property- Bank of America on the 1st and HSBC on the 2nd. ( HELOC)
No promissory note. Full release of lien and mortgage.

We had originally listed this home for sale in the beginning of the year 2008 for $349,777. That is how much the values dropped in just a year. We had approvals in on the short sale through at that time Countrywide and HSBC. The buyer was ready to close also. But at the end of the day the homeowners found out they were being relocated with his company. Their mortgage company said they could not get a loan for the house they would need to buy where they were moving so they rented the short sale property out.

Lo and behold, they discovered after a few months that they had the tenants from Haides. The eviction process was painful to say the least. Over a period of time, the homeowners could no longer keep up with this tenant not paying rent, etc.

So in June of 2009 we relisted their home again as a short sale. The prices had dropped a lot from the year before. We had multiple offers each time we listed this home.

The buyers offered $249,000 on their first offer and Bank of America countered at $257,000 and the buyers accepted the counter.
HSBC- Oh, how I love to negotiate with them:) They are very aggressive with the terms they want to settle for but we always get HSBC to deliver up a good compromise through our negotiations.

Bank of America had given their approval and only gave us until the end of February to close which was going to be fine except that when we finally reached an agreement the sellers could live with from HSBC- HSBC would only give the buyers until the end of January to close. HSBC sends us the acceptance letter with 2 weeks to close!

The buyers mortgage company performed a miracle! They got their FHA loan approved and funded within those 14 days!

This is a contract where we made all the dates effective from the point of seller and buyer signing, NOT when the third party agrees to the terms. So the buyer had already done their home inspection and had been doing all they needed to do on their loan with the exception of ordering their appraisal. SO when we got the go ahead, the appraisal was rush ordered and the file went to underwriting right away.

HSBC was would not accept the $3000 that Bank of America was giving them. They initially wanted $12,800 in a cash settlement. In our negotiations we pointed out the hardship of our client owning 2 houses now with no tenant and no extra income coming in, they just could not come up with $12,800.  Also, we were able to prove that even though this HELOC was not used to purchase the house, it was used to get rid of mold in the house and redo a kitchen and bathroom that were destroyed by mold. So there was no fancy car or vacation bought with the HELOC.

Negotiations are all about how you package your story and how well you get empathetic emotions involved. Finally after about 10 days of negotiating we reached a compromise of the sellers bringing $500 to the table and the buyers bringing $600 to the table. It was all on the HUD1 Settlement statement, disclosed and approved by both lenders. HSBC did try to negotiate down our commission but our negotiator was also on commission. He told us his boss was going to cram down our commission so to put together a marketing package and the story of how we had this listing for nearly 2 years and of course, we also added all the man hours of dealing with Bank Of America! We put together a compelling defense of our commission for HSBC and they agreed we had gone above and beyond what was required to earn our fee.

When we sent the email to our sellers that their file was approved our seller sent back:

"HALLELUJAH!!! Thanks, Katerina,  for the update.  This is so wonderful! Thanks for being such a blessing to us!"

Avoid Foreclosure! Call Nestor and Katerina Gasset for Short Sale Information Today- 561-753-0135 or learn more at Short-Sales-Florida.com.

REO- Bank Owned Property- Delray Beach Florida- 75 NE 5th Ave #D- Town Square- A Stone's throw from the famous Delray Beach Atlantic Boardwalk and a hop, skip and a short bike ride to one of the best beaches in all of Florida! 

This townhouse is a three story townhouse a lot like the units we have listed and sold in Vista Cay in Orlando Florida. Where else can you live this close to the beach within walking distance to some of the most popular waterfront cafes and dining, antique shops galore and unique privately owned stores? 

For an REO- which is a bank owned property- this townhouse is in very good condition with hardwood floors and has not been lived in for over 4 years. Since it was built in 2001 that means is relatively new. 

All the offers must be on a FAR BAR AS IS purchase and sale agreement. Please make sure your buyers are paying all cash or already have their loan approval in hand because this unit will not last more than a few days on the market. We anticipate multiple offers on this property in a very fast time frame. 

BANK OWNED-REO- 75 NE 5th Ave # D Delray Beach FL 33483

Overview Maps Photos Features Description

$219,900 Townhouse For Sale Main Features 2 Bedrooms 2 Bathrooms 1 Partial Bathroom Interior: 1404 sqft Location 75 NE 5TH Av # D Delray Beach, FL 33483

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Nestor and Katerina Gasset International Properties and Investments, Inc (561) 753-0135 coachkaterina@gmail.com http://www.wellington-luxury-homes.com Listed by: International Properties & Investments, Inc.

Our recent listings BANK OWNED-REO- 75 NE 5th Ave # D Delray Beach FL 33483 This is not a Short Sale! - 10180 Calumet Ct Lake Worth FL 33467 This is not a Short Sale! - 3839 Summer Chase Ct Lake Worth FL 33467 - For Rent Short Sale-885 SW Munjack Cir Port Saint Lucie FL 34986 This is not a Short Sale! - 3839 Summer Chase Ct Lake Worth FL 33467 Subscribe to our listing feed

See more Delray Beach, FL real estate for sale

Establish Short Sale Referral Partners With Your Local Realtors®

We just had a closing yesterday and this is the email we received from the buyers' agent. She has given us permission to post her feedback and working with us on a  short sale listing:

There are very professional agents in our town that do not list short sales. One of those agents is a very prominent Polo player's wife. She refers her clients to us to do their short sale listing and negotiating and had never even asked for a referral fee. She just keeps sending her clients our way.

We just listed one of her referrals as a short sale. When her referral called us, he told me that his agent had referred him two different agents, us being one of them. The first agent had already been to his house. He was 'chomping at the bit' according to the seller to list the house. When he called me and I told him that I first do an intake evaluation over the phone to examine even the possibility of his being approved for a short sale- he was a little taken aback.

 I told him that we did not want a listing we could not get to closing. He told me about the other agent and I said, that is fine. List with the other agent but let's first make sure you understand how a short sale works and if you are even willing to play ball. After about 15 minutes into our phone interview the seller politely interrupted: " I just need to tell you, I was not impressed at all with the other agent. Whatever it is you need me to do to list with you let me know and I will get it done today." I doubt if the other agent even asked one qualifying question.  The seller is a Polo Player and his house is going to sell fast. As Nestor opened his CMA- the seller sa

After the seller provided the paperwork to us via email, Nestor went over to take photos and to look over the property. Nestor was ready to give him a marketing presentation because we did not know what his agent would expect. Always be prepared. The seller said:  "I don't even need a presentation- Don't even open your laptop. I know you guys know what you are doing. After I spoke with your wife I called my agent and told her that you guys are the only short sale agents she should ever refer anyone to. I told her to forget about referring any short sales to that other agent. It is like the difference between night and day."

If you are NOT desperate to get listings- you will get more listings!  

If you are a short sale agent that knows the short sale niche you can establish some great referral partners with local agents in your community that do not list short sales.

Avoid Foreclosure! Call Nestor and Katerina Gasset for Short Sale Information Today- 561-753-0135

Short Sale Agents'  "Double Standard" On Listings Rebuttal

My dear friend (for real) Patricia Kennedy wrote a featured post: Do Agents Have A Double Standard When It Comes To Short Sale Listings?   

While I understand where Patricia is coming from I had too long of a comment to post. I understand that her point of reference is from Washington DC where they do not have many short sales.  AFTER I read all the supportive comments I really had to write this post, bearing the fact that her post really hit a nerve with over 130 comments thus far- I see that there are some clear misunderstandings going on about the short sale listing agents.

The short sale is NOT a regular listing and should NOT be treated as a regular listing.

The commenters stating that they treat their short sale listings and regular listings the same either don't know how to do short sales or don't understand the short sale process.
If you still stand by your statement that you treat them the same- I can prove otherwise very quickly. If you truly are treating them the same then you are doing a disservice to your short sale homeowner.

So you see, each of these types of listings are NOT treated the same. Unless you are selling cookie cutter houses all with their ducks in a row- you are NOT treating all your listings the same and if you are- you are not being sensitive to the needs of your client.

How does any agent say that they treat all their listings the same? If you have a $100K house and it is vacant and you have a $2,000,000 listing that has to be agent accompanied- do you accompany the $100k vacant listing showings also or do you decline the 2 million dollar listing because you won't be able to treat them the same? Do you see the fallacy in this statement?


Every listing should NOT be treated the same. If you have a listing that is selling for $100K in a market where the days on the market are less than 30 days and then you have the luxury estate property listing that is on acreage- you will have two different marketing plans or you should. For the luxury property you are going to spend $500 on a great areal photograph to show off the acreage of this property. Are you also going to go and spend the same $500 on the $100K listing you know you will have multiple offers on in just a few days?

Each state has their own showing 'culture'. In Washington DC this may be prim and proper to have home occupants' contact information. Well, here in our part of South Florida that would NEVER happen unless you were listed with a limited service mls only company who lists the homeowner contact even for showings. We would be calling the broker of the buyers' agent to complain that their agent contacted our seller! So that is not a standard in standard listings and therefore is a  mute point in short sale listings in our area.

While you should put photos of all of your listings whether short sales or not- this can be a touchy area.

• We have some short sales where the homeowner does not want all his or her neighbors to know. They want their privacy. They are the ones who choose to opt out of photos. If you are a buyers agent who like some who commented refuses to show the houses with no photos, that is your decision but your buyer may just miss out on a wonderful home that is perfect for them because you jumped to conclusions and want to make to somehow punish the listing agent. Well, the listing agent will most likely just sell that listing to another buyer.

• We have listings that are tenant occupied and the tenants will not allow any interior photos. We are not going to turn down those listing just because of that.  You can not MAKE a tenant do your bidding. We have one exterior photo on those listings. And in spite of all the complaints I read about this in the comments on Patricia's post- we had 4 offers within hours of putting a listing in our mls with only one exterior photo and while people were commenting, we got another 6 offers on another listing that we had only in the mls for 2 days with only one exterior photo.
  

I believe a lot of this has to do with the area, the location of the property, the price range of the property and the number of buyers looking in a certain neighborhood. We have received offers before sight unseen with no photos from people who know a neighborhood very well. They know they want a house in that community and the exact model.

• We use combo lock boxes on ALL of our vacant listings where the HOA allows them.
• We have condo developments that do not even allow lockboxes at all. You have to get a key from the front desk.
• Very rarely will a tenant allow any kind of box on the property.
• All of our owner occupieds have either a Supra Lock Box or NO lock box. If we have a mother at home alone often with her children we are not even going to have a supra on her door.
• We have luxury listings that would never consider any type of box whatsoever!

Again, not all listings are treated the same. Each comes with its' own unique issues and needs.

We do not list short sales without all the short sale paperwork in our possession from the seller. However, none of the paperwork is sent into the lender without an offer. This is one of the lenders' biggest complaints about agents. They say that agents take up valuable time sending in short sale packages without an offer.

I also do not see anything wrong with asking for questions to be emailed to us. That is a given here. We have a much faster response time with email than with the phone. We also have a written paper trail of communications with buyer agents which we then turn into the lender with our marketing and showing reports. All showings are scheduled on line in a secure fashion and all that information is uploaded along with our short sale package to fight for the benefit of our sellers. My time is much better spent working on the phone with the short sale lenders negotiating so that your buyer can get into the house they want to buy!

One of the reasons we have 9 out of every 10 sellers list with us that we talk to is because we do NOT use the same marketing plan with each listing.

Each listing is unique, has it's own strengths and weaknesses and each listing needs its' own customized marketing plan.

Have you been following the HOA as it impacts short sales? 

The Unintended Consequences of The HOA in Short Sales

Then Florida Short Sales- So HOA Lawyer-What Is Your Intention?

 So now we are here the day before closing and the buyer is going to come up with $600 towards the $5000 that the attorneys for the HOA are extorting from the transaction and will not release their lien without the full payment of their legal fees! Remember the sellers owe about $5000 in HOA fees but the other $5000 are legal fees! 

Short Sale Closed

Property Location: Miami

Property: Condo 

Investor Owned Property

This unit had tenants that refused to pay their rent. The sellers live in New York and had to get the tenants evicted. This put them in the hole financially. 

Hardship: Can not get a tenant to cover the payments and HOA fees. 

Amount owed to Bank Of America: $200,000 = 2 mortgages originated with Countrywide. The second was a HELOC. Freddie Mac backed mortgage security. Freddie owns the 1st loan, BofA owns the HELOC. 

Bank of America approves a $5000 payment to the HOA fees but no payments to the attorneys for the HOA. 

Sellers send in $5000 cash to close and to avoid a foreclosure that was looming over their heads from both the HOA and Bank Of America. 

Amount sold for: $99,000 ALL CASH- Sold to an investor. 

NO promissory note, No repayment plan. 

As you can read in the previous posts, this was a nightmare deal. When we took the listing the property was worth $130,000 but we went through 3 buyers- 1st buyer walked, 2nd buyer lost his job so he got a loan denial. 

We listed this condo in January 2009. We finally closed today! 

So there you have the rest of the story! 

Avoid Foreclosure! Call Nestor and Katerina Gasset for Short Sale Information Today- 561-753-0135

Yesterday I wrote and posted: Unintended Consequences Of The HOA in Short Sales!  If you have not read this post, please do- because you will get some clarity to the delinquent HOA dues that are currently plaguing the short sale closings. 

There are rights that HOAs have and I am all about them preserving their communities. I don't have an argument with that. I also understand the HOAs not being very negotiable when the dues are past due and you are trying to get an estoppel from them along with a lien release for the past due balance. Their thinking is that it is not fair that one person should get a discount while all those current on their dues are not getting the same deal. 

But the one thing that I urge HOA boards to do is to be more proactive in their hiring of the attorneys to handle their delinquent homeowners and who they hire to file the foreclosures. 

We have discussed- the HOA is going to do their duty to protect and preserve the communities for which they are responsible for. 

It is quite another thing to hire an attorney who charges near extortion level legal fees to the homeowner. I think the HOAs should check the fee structure of the legal firms they hire to make sure that they are reasonable and the 'norm' for the services provided. 

Now, let me preface this by the fact that I know that Chase hires foreclosure firms to do their foreclosure filings and from start to finish it is $3,200. And that is for a house. 

So our sellers stopped paying their HOA fees against our advice. We are working to get the short sale closed with Bank of America. We told our sellers this was most likely going to take a long time. At the end of the transaction they owed $5000 to the HOA. 

We let the HOA know that we are doing a short sale and they should be getting their money. They ask us when the closing is, we tell them. We have an approval for them to be paid the $5000 that is owed to them. 

The very next day- our sellers get served with Foreclosure papers from the HOA's legal firm. Great!

The sellers also let the attorney know that we are closing and to please not charge any more fees. This law firm would not even give us an estimate of legal fees. Our title company could not get anywhere with this group either. They made her jump through all kinds of hoops to get her estoppel request over to them in time. They promised her to get her the estoppel by the next say. 

Two weeks later we get the bill. They owed the HOA $5000 including all their late fees. The legal firm charged our sellers $5,800. for the foreclosure! That is more than Chase pays for million dollar houses to get foreclosed on. 

But what was even worse was the fee breakdown! I have not ever seen such high fees! 

Preparation of Foreclosure complaint: $900.00 That is $900 for a legal assistant to input data into a form that is generated from a computer! 

Foreclosure monitoring/Docket Review: $1,575.00 That is for going on line to the county courthouse which we all can do and review the docket. This takes less than a few minutes to do and you usually do it at the same time you check on multiple files. Again, a legal assistant can do this. 

It was like they spent those two weeks making up fees, the list has about 20 fees itemized. 

The homeowners begged them to reduce the fees, we tried to negotiate but the attorney group would not even respond to either us or the seller. The HOA president told the homeowner there was nothing he could to help either. The investor on the note said told BofA that the most he would approve was the $5000 and that he would not cover any of those legal fees. 

• Now why would the legal firm want another foreclosure in this particular development? 
• Was this another HOA who is going around foreclosing on the units in order to rent them out to raise revenue? 
• Did they NOT want this unit to close???

Subscribe to my blog to get the rest of the story- tomorrow:) 

Avoid Foreclosure! Call Nestor and Katerina Gasset for Short Sale Information Today- 561-753-0135

The Unintended Consequences Of The HOA in Short Sales!

We have a notice of expectations that all our Florida short sale sellers must sign when we agree to negotiate a short sale for them and list their property.

One of the biggest deal busters there is- Past Due HOA fees.

We explain the consequences of a Florida short sale homeowner not paying their HOA fees; not keeping them current. If you choose not to pay your mortgage payment that is one thing but always pay your HOA fees. Keep your HOA dues current whether you are living in your property or not.

The HOA's are foreclosing on homeowners at an alarming rate right now in Florida. There are legislative changes that have been made and more being proposed in order to protect the Homeowner Association's financial well-being for the good of all the members of the HOAs.

Many homeowners think that they will just pay the past due amounts at closing or that their lender will pay them all for them. The short sale lenders for Florida short sales are NOT paying ALL of the amounts owed at closing for past due  HOA fees.  Each lender has their own rules about that and a lot depends on what they require to be their net proceeds.

But that is just a part of the outstanding HOA fees. Once the homeowner goes delinquent, ( stop paying their HOA fees) a lot of other fees start to be incurred. They will then have late fees, attorney fees, foreclosure fees and other legal fees.  The HOA fees along with all the other penalties incurred can easily end up being doubled.

We have not had a case yet where one of our short sale listings did not close over the HOA fees but it has come close. Because even though we advise our clients to keep their HOA fees current and what could happen if they don't- there are some homeowners who stop paying anyways. We have been in some close calls. Most of the time the cash buyers we have will come in and pay the difference but that is not a given so never depend on that.

Even worse than the entire short sale being thwarted by an HOA association who refuses to make a deal; they are no longer being amiable to negotiating down their fees and the HOA can and most of the time will file foreclosure against the homeowner. This can almost double or triple what the homeowner owes at the closing!

HOA's are foreclosing on properties and they are renting the units out. There is legislative language in the house that is being proposed that if the property is vacant that the HOAs will be able to rent out the units even if the property is not foreclosed on in order to protect the community interest.

Why are they being so tough? Well, it has to do with the viability and stability of their community. Those dues go to take care of the common grounds and many other things. If they don't have the money to take care of those things, the community gets run down. That is not fair to the rest of the homeowners that live there. They pay their fees and are no longer getting a benefit. Their values go down even more. Then on top of that, if too many people stop paying their HOA fees- the state has to come in and take over the HOA in a state receivership. That is not a good thing. Then, new buyers can not get loans to buy places in that community unless they put down at least 20% and sometimes 30% .

The other homeowners in the community don't feel that they need to be paying for homeowners who choose NOT to pay their HOA fees. They are putting pressure on their boards to not make deals because it is not fair for one person to have to pay the same as another.


My next post is about the extortion type practices of some attorneys who represent these HOA's. Make sure to read it because I will show you how high some of these fees can get when a homeowner does not pay their HOA fees over an extended period of time.

Avoid Foreclosure! Call Nestor and Katerina Gasset for Short Sale Information Today- 561-753-0135

Equestrian Ranch For Sale In Little Ranches of Wellington Florida 33414 asking only $1,699,777-Just Listed! 

Are you in Wellington Florida for the 2010 Polo season or for the Winter Equestrian Festival? Are you tired of boarding your horses? This is the perfect horse property for you.  Your horses will have plenty of room to graze and exercise here on a sprawling 3 acre lot with  8 stables already built. You have plenty of room to build a barn, paddocks and more stables. 

Easy access to the Polo Fields and to the Showgrounds as well as all the equine events in Wellington Florida and around Palm Beach County Florida. The grounds are gated. 

Drive up a private road lined with majestic oak trees until you see your grand Georgian Colonial estate. This is a one of a kind home solidly built along with historical pieces within the very construction of the home that any person with a love of history would find fascinating and appreciate.

The grounds are kept immaculately with many outdoor entertaining and living areas from gazebos, to patios and porches. This home was the original Fox Hunt Ranch here in Wellington Florida in 1976 when it was built. This is about the most historic home in Wellington.

This mansion estate is huge to say the least. While the majority of the living area of this home is on the lower level with ample space for entertaining 100 plus guests the upstairs bedrooms are over sized and spacious.

There are different wings in this luxury equestrian estate in Wellington Florida. One of the wings of the house is made of all cypress, this is the north wing.

The next wing is the northwest wing of the estate and it is contains 1300 square feet of interlocking knotty pine as you can see in this awesome gathering room on the ceiling. The gathering room by itself is 1236 square feet. You can see there is room enough for the grand piano for great sing alongs and seating that is ample for large parties or business retreats.

This estate would be perfect for companies who need a retreat where their clients, customers, board of directors and prospects could be invited to be entertained. It would also make retreat for embassy parties, the possibilities are endless.

Entertain in style in an amazingly open and bright air conditioned conservatory overlooking the pool areas and wonderfully pleasant grounds. There is a Mizner sculpture built into the wall in the conservatory that was also from 1916.

The living room and the two dining room floors are adorned in marble. Yes, that is right, there are two dining rooms- an informal dining room and a formal dining room.

The Kitchen is updated with all the conveniences and elegance of today's kitchens complete with ample storage, oversized Hickory wood cabinetry, granite countertops and so much more.

Wayne Boynton built this home in 1976 and had the fireplace brought in from the Phipps Family mansion in Palm Beach from 1916. The brick for the fireplace in the Family Room and the brick for the home was brought in from the Chattanooga Tennessess South Railroad Hotel from 1870. The handrails leading upstairs are from the Breisford Home in Palm Beach from 1910. The Chariots and horses came from the owners mansion in Grosepointe Michigan.

You can truly enjoy Florida outdoor living because there are just so many spaces and places to enjoy, entertain and relax outdoors on this property. There is a north porch, a south porch and an east porch.

483 Cindy Drive Wellington Florida 33414 Listed at $1,699,777- Call Nestor Gasset or Katerina Gasset at 561-753-0135 to schedule a private showing. Enjoy the movie posted below: 

To  view Florida Short Sales- Click here. We know Palm Beach County Short Sales and Port St Lucie Florida Short Sales and will help you get your home Sold if you need to Sell your home and help you buy your home in Palm Beach County Florida: Call us today.

Copyright © 2010 By Katerina Gasset, All Rights Reserved.*Equestrian Ranch For Sale In Little Ranches Of Wellington Florida 33414-$1,699,777* 

Wellington Florida Polo and Equestrian events this season are going to be broadcast on TV. This is very exciting news for Wellington Florida and all those that love to watch the Equestrian events and Polo matches but perhaps have to work or are busy with Church and their children's soccer games, etc. 

The Polo games are held every Sunday at 3 p.m. now through mid April. If you miss the game live and in person you can now watch the game at 8 p.m. the following Monday. What a great way to keep up with the teams and support your favorite Polo players. 

The Grand Prix show jumping events will be broadcast at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. 

Broadcasting is on WHDTV- an independent television station and the station will be carried by Direct TV and Comcast. Look for the events on Direct TV on Channel 44 and Comcast on channel 438 in high definition and on Channel 17 for standard definition. 

An added treat is that after the Polo matches, there will be interviews with the players and some history and learning about the sport of Polo. Polo is a very fun, exciting and interesting sport to watch and participate in. Polo is the sport of kings. Prince Charles has played here in Wellington Florida as well as many other figures from Europe, South America, Canada and around the United States. Tommy Lee Jones has a polo team and he comes here every year to play polo. So you might just be able to get some autographs when you show up to a Polo match. 

Polo is much different than the show jumping, the dressage and other equestrian events that are also held here in Wellington Florida every year.  So in case you always wanted to come out to watch a game of Polo but for some reason you can not make it out to the games- you can watch the games right on your TV at home. 

Hope to see you at some of the Equestrian events this wonderful Winter Equestrian season here in Wellington Florida. 

To  view Florida Short Sales- Click here. We know Palm Beach County Short Sales and Port St Lucie Florida Short Sales and will help you get your home Sold if you need to Sell your home and help you buy your home in Palm Beach County Florida: Call us today.

Copyright © 2010 By Katerina Gasset, All Rights Reserved.*Wellington Florida- Polo and Equestrian Season Events Will Be Broadcasted on TV! *