Category Archives: Short Sale

Short Sale = not Bank Owned

In general when you see overviews of Distressed Sales, REO/bank owned sales are put together with Short Sales. This might give the false impression that a Short Sale is a bank owned sale. However, a SHORT SALE IS NOT OWNED … Continue reading

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Foreclosures, is it that bad in Sonoma County?

Following the news headlines might give you the impression that every home that is being sold right now is in foreclosure… As this might be the case in certain areas, this is not the case in Sonoma County. To give … Continue reading

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Deficiency: shortage, deficit… or paying back what you owe…

The majority of people who buy a home need a mortgage or a loan. The home is yours, you pay the mortgage back over the life of the loan. When you sell the home you pay off the remainder of … Continue reading

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Title Insurance: a Scam?

When you buy a home and use a mortgage you pay for at least 3 insurance policies: Home Owners Insurance, Home Owners Title Insurance and Lenders Title Insurance. For an average home in Sonoma County, Title Insurance is around $1,800 … Continue reading

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Adverse possession… a home for $16?

My dear friend Gini sent an interesting link to a video about a man claiming an abandoned home trying to acquire title through adverse possession. An interesting concept. In Netherlands, the adverse possession of property is called ‘Kraken‘ it started … Continue reading

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Latest Short Sale News for California residents

LATEST NEWS : A lot of home owners have 2 mortgages against their property, we call that a senior and a junior loan. These second loans may be a home equity line of credit or a regular loan. This second … Continue reading

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Short Sales… and how about Tax Liens?

When a person/business does not pay taxes the IRS can put a lien on a house. A contractor can do the same by the way, it’s called a mechanic lien. When a homeowner wants to avoid a foreclosure and do … Continue reading

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60% of all Foreclosed Homeowners….

On March 29th, Alex Charfen from the CDPE Institute did a webinar with Rick Sharga from RealtyTrac – the leading online market place for foreclosed properties. Besides the fact that foreclosure activity has increased on a year-over-year basis for 52 … Continue reading

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Buyers… and Sellers

Statement for today: when you as a buyer are frustrated with the seller or the sales process, please keep in mind: it’s most likely not your intention to create a life long friendship with that seller, you are interested in … Continue reading

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Loan Fraud and Short Sale Fraud

An article in the SF Chronicle caught my attention this morning : 10 indicted in Calif. alleged real-estate scheme. When money was cheap and pretty much everyone could get  mortgage, the so called ‘golden years’ (they were not golden by … Continue reading

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