Well the economy has changed and seventy-five percent of the homes are upside down (term of art which simply means that the mortgage is higher than the market value of the home) and our locators run into homes that we can not purchase unless the banks will take a loss. So how do you get a homeowner to agree to take a short sale on a home?

One of our locators has had the opportunity to perform two short sales during the month of July both were signed by the homeowners. This article will focus on the basics of a short sale from the locators view and the packaging of the short sale to the homeowner.

What is a short sale?

A short sale (sometimes known as a pre-sale by the banks) is a loss mitigation technique for the banks that allows them to move the property without having to foreclose upon the property. Yes the bank will lose some money and may need to get permission from the insurer on the loan to allow a short sale, but the bank is looking at it as less money lost than would be if they were forced to foreclose and then sell on the open market.

In our first example the homeowner had listed her property on the market for $299,000.00 and had lowered to $270,000 130 days later. The listing had expired by the time it came into the system.

We first placed it in our system on July 20, 2006. Administration thought that the house had equity. Last sale of the house was in 1992 for the sum of $128,000.00 dollars. The same owner continued to own the property. It was placed in a route first visit was on July 22, 2006 at 10:30 in the morning. Locator met the homeowner and scheduled a presentation for Monday July 24, 2006 at 10:00 a.m.. Based upon the note of the locator more research was completed on the property ( an index and rehab budget). It was the position of administration that the property had a value of $265,000 fixed and that if it could be purchased for 156-165,000 it would be a good deal. The locator visited the home on the 24th and wrote the following note:

Visited 7/24/06; 10:15AM. Presented HO with Fresh Start Program. Secured release; faxed to Admin. HO indicated that she will be 4 months arrears @ end of July. Monthly mortgage is $1700. Principal due is $209K before fees. HO indicated that the furnace is defective and will need replacement. Current system is steam by oil. Oil tank is in the basement and appears in good shape. Basement is unfinished, stone foundation with cement floor. Basement was wet; not flooded. Difficult to photo because there were no lights that worked. Water is probably due to the failing/rotted bulkhead door. There is no inner door leading out to the bulkhead. Clutter everywhere. HO indicates that the roof was redone 5 years ago. No leaks were observed except around the primary entrance. Some damage due to a problem with the gutter backing up. Entire yard is knee deep in grass. House is surrounded by overgrown shrubs. Interior is primarily open living. Windows – sill rot. One bathroom – needs rehab. Kitchen – cabs are in good shape; gas stove; no overhead range. Don’t recall seeing a dishwasher. Wood floor is in good shape on main floor. Basically, two bedrooms with an oversize utility room that could be made into a third. All carpeted and will need replacement. Ceilings and walls in good shape. Addition is a huge room that needs new floor as well as paint. Deck appears to be in good shape. Above ground pool – liner intact, cover is destroyed. Not sure about the pump and filter. HO did indicate that the septic needed replacement. fireplace on the main floor is used regularly. Not impressed with the wood stove in the “Great Room”. Roof line between the Main house and the addition has a visible seem. Poor construction. Property has potential as a good starter home I suspect. Certainly a stretch to call this a “3 bedroom”. No clean way to set up a 2nd bathroom or a laundry room without major rehab. Could be wrong.
Based upon the note we now knew that we needed to purchase this property for under what is owed. We needed to do a short sale. On July 27, 2006 the documents were placed up on the site for a short sale at a pourchase price of $155,000 plus 10,000 in a bill of sale for the fixtures in the house.
The locators presentation was scheduled for the following evening at the homeowners brothers house. The locator spent at a minimuim of one hour preparing for the meeting and took portions of the short sale memorandum, the index to complete a package for the homeowner to review while he discussed the pricing f the property.

From our conversations with the locator he started with the purchase price of the home in excellent condition being $265,000.00 dollars. Once the homeowner agreed that was the purchase price he went through the list of things that needed to be fixed. (deferred maintenance) Septic system and the cost of replacement. Heating system and the cost of replacement, paint of the interior and exterior. Windows etc. The homeowner agreed that the cost of the rehabilitation of the property should reduce the selling price to a minimum of $225,000.00 dollars. With that and a brokers fee the homeowner would walk out with little to no equity.

The locator then explained our short sale procedure and what it would net the homeowner if we were able to get the bank to agree to the process. Here the homeowner would receive $10,000.00 dollars for her dishwasher, washer and dryers and other personal property in the home. Consequently, the homeowner signed the deal because it was netting her more money than a regular straight sale.

What are the influences that are either helping or hindering you in your business and personal life? By making ourselves aware of them, we are more likely to work toward positive changes. In this article, my goal is to get you to examine your present and recently past influences.

The people we know, work and play with. Yes, we are heavily influenced by the people we let into our lives. If we hang out with negative, critical, complaining people, we can easily lose our enthusiasm and drive. If we join groups and make friends with those we want to emulate, we will be on our way. It is just like tennis and chess. The way one gets better is to play with someone who is better than we are. I am not suggesting that you drop the friends you have now, but I am suggesting that you join groups of winners, network with people who are known as successes and volunteer for worthy causes.

Life-long learning with books, tapes and magazines. It is astonishing to find out how few people read a book after graduation. I am sure that none of you reading this article would fall into that category. However, I must mention the wonderful scope of topics available today in book form, the plethora of tapes that inform and motivate — I listen and re-listen to tapes by Brian Tracy, Jim Rohn, Earl Nightingale and am always influenced to take a new action step toward success.

Visit your public library. It offers a wealth of influence — I always use my driving time to listen to tapes and CDs. In addition, there are almost too many magazines to read. I have found that the best way to benefit from the great information is to scan and then only read those articles that pertain to some part of my business or life. No matter what your specialty is, there are magazines that address your problems and situations.

Physical activity and a focus on health. One of the strongest influences on my well-being, business acumen, and energy level is daily exercise and sensible nutrition. Studies have shown that there are so many side benefits from regular exercise and proper eating that one could easily fill a wall with post-it notes listing them.

By pushing oxygen to the heart and brain, we keep both healthy and smart. If you are having a difficult time getting started, I suggest finding a buddy to go to the gym with you or work out with you. In the fitness classes I teach, the people who participate have become friends and they cheer each other on — another positive influence.

I ask you again, what are the influences in your freelance living? Are they helping or hindering your progress? What new and better influences can you and will you embrace in the future? What bad influences and toxic companions are presently draining you of your energy and passion for living?

It is time to make two lists — one with the bad influences (past and present) and one with the good influences. Congratulate yourself on the good influences and continue to pursue them. On the list with the bad influences, add an action step and a new influence to replace each one. Take action and you will be on your way to success!

So what is the best way to present live bait? The best way to present live bait is really pretty simple. The best way is the natural way. You want your bait to appear to be as normal as possible. For example, if you’re fishing in your favorite stream, you want is to seem to the fish that the worm that you’re using for bait has just crawled out from under an underwater rock and is now tumbling naturally with the current. Or if you’re lake fishing, you want the bait to appear as natural as is possible. The more natural your bait looks, the better results you will have.

What you want to avoid is the ever popular “worm ball”. This is where a fisherperson takes a worm and hooks it over and over on a hook that’s much too large, thus creating the “worm ball”. Although small fish may fall for this, large ones won’t. I see all too much of the dreaded “worm ball” on our rivers and streams. It’s just not necessary, not to mention not productive and completely unnecessary.

A person should employ a “gang hook”, especially when fishing with the good old American worm. A gang hook is simply two small hooks tied in tandem. With some research, their fairly easy to tie yourself, or you could purchase them from someone like JRWfishing.com, either way they’re the perfect way to present a worm that looks as natural as is possible to look while still having hooks in it.

So what if you’re fishing with live bait, but not worms? The exact same principles mentioned above apply. You want the bait to look as natural as is possible. If it’s a minnow, you want it to look like a wounded minnow. If you’re using a leach, you still want it to look like a leach when it’s the water. The same goes for a crawfish, for example. You’re going to catch more fish, the more natural your bait looks. It’s that simple. Hook size is also very important with most freshwater fish in North America. And most people use hooks for live bait that are entirely too large.

For example I’ve hooked and subsequently landed many rainbow trout that measured from 18 inches to 23 inches on size 10 hooks! For those of you who don’t know, that’s a small hook. Most people would look at a size 10 hook and say, “what are you going fishing for, minnows?” But when you employ fishing equipment such as gang hooks, that’s the size hook that should be used for much of your freshwater fishing. When a worm is rigged on a gang hook using size 10 hooks, the hooks are barely detectable, and that’s what you’re looking for. If you use gang hooks, you will catch more fish, there’s no doubt about it.

There have been endless debates over the moral justification for the preemptive strike against Iraq. Suffice to say such action, to be even considered justified, must be in proportionate response to the documented authenticity, severity and immediacy of the threat in question. I will pass on that particular debate for now, but as to the justification for or morality of a preemptive strike per se, it would be foolhardy to reject such an option out of hand. Case in point: Iran.

Iran, a country whose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, recently demanded that “Israel must be wiped off the map” and whose totalitarian regime punishes “un-Islamic” behavior among its own people. Iran, a country which has attempted to acquire nuclear-bomb technology. Iran, a country that flouted a previous agreement to stop enriching uranium. Iran, a country that is an avowed and documented enemy of the United States repeatedly calling for “Death to America.” Iran, where the Ayatollah Khomeini was the first to install a modern Islamic theocratic system, I.e., a totalitarian blend of mosque and state. Iran, the country that seized our embassy in Tehran in 1979 and murdered hostages. Iran, a major sponsor of terrorism; financing, sheltering and training terrorists from groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and al-Qaida. It is submitted that Iran presents a far greater danger to the United State’s security than did Iraq, for Iran poses a clear and present danger inasmuch as it may be building nuclear weapons sooner rather than later.

Iran’s asserts that its nuclear objectives are solely for achieving nuclear energy for civilian purposes. Those who believe that engage in whimsy. Iran is one of the largest oil producer in OPEC and has large gas reserves; in fact, it has more oil to generate electricity than it could possibly consume. Clearly, any need for nuclear energy is absurd.

More to the point, Britain, Germany, and France are currently engaged in diplomatic efforts with Iran. These efforts, supported by Washington, are seen as a win-win way to resolve the issues associated with Iran’s suspected program to develop nuclear weapons. Ironically, such talks were triggered in the first place by Iran’s flouting of a previous agreement to stop enriching uranium. By negotiating with Iran and its mullahs and granting them economic incentives, including the possible purchase of commercial aircraft and entry into the World Trade Organization, some believe Iran will forego its darker ambitions and the West can thereby avoid a military confrontation. Of course, while the incentive can help strengthen Iran’s economy, they also turn it into an even greater threat. What Iran really wants is a nuclear weapon…..the better to use as a blackmailing wedge at future negotiating tables (as is the case with North Korea) and far worse, the better to use against its enemies such as Israel. If it can accomplish this while having become economically stronger thanks to the Euro economic give away’s, all the better.

This entire deal smells of mortgaging the future by purchasing the sinecure of peace today; a “deal” that would allow Iran to gain critically valuable time in which to engage, if not complete, its nuclear-weapons research. This approach could very well result in Iran declaring at some future date (as did North Korea to everyone’s recent horror) that it has succeeded in building nuclear weapons.

Only the intellectually naive and high flying doves, who dangerously ignore the harsh lessons of history, can truly believe that such fear-based diplomatic appeasement will deflect Iran from its not-so-hidden agenda. As Margaret Thatcher once said, “I seem to smell the stench of appeasement in the air.” Far more telling is this quote by Jose Maria Aznar, former Spanish President, in June of this year, “Europe likes appeasement very much; this is one of the most important differences between us and the States…”

Some may recall that in 1981, Israeli war planes, in a widely criticized but extremely successful preemptive stealth attack ordered by then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin, destroyed an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor. The raid rendered Iraq’s nuclear capability null and void. Nevertheless, based on a subsequent and hotly debated perceived threat of weapons of mass destruction, the United States launched a preemptive invasion against that country–even though the threat of biological and nuclear weapons in Iraq was never truly established after the invasion. Surely a more real threat of weapons of mass destruction of the nuclear variety exists in Iran today and suggests strong consideration of a manifestly more justified strike against that country. The time is now to zero in on Iran within the context of what kind of threat it presents. Iran should be condemned forthwith and its nuclear ambitions effectively muzzled. If not, we can expect a far deadlier avowed enemy to confront.

Most assuredly, The United States should actively encourage and actively assist the efforts of the pro-freedom fighters and courageous students in Iran in order to launch a revolution from within that will overturn its terrorist-supporting regime. No one despises Islamic theocracy more than the young people and Iranian students who, for the past several years, have held mass protests in the streets. Despite strong and brutal opposition, this rebellion is growing and The United States should encourage it in whatever way it can. This is the ideal solution. But the United States also has an obligation to defend its people from Iran’s continuing and escalating threats–and to do this by whatever means necessary.

“No man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it. There can be no appeasement with ruthlessness. There can be no reasoning with an incendiary bomb.” –Franklin D. Roosevelt