House Foreclosure Dilemma

According to Real Trac, 1 in every forty houses in Phoenix, AZ, have had a foreclosure notice filed against it. The city has been devastated by the slide in housing prices, the mortgage crisis, and unemployment. As of May 2010, the unemployment rate in Phoenix AZ was about 9%. Increased expenses and decreased income means a lot of people are not meeting their mortgage and are facing foreclosure. However high foreclosure rates mean decreasing property values. What do you do if you cannot pay your mortgage, are behind on payments, cannot make repairs to the house, and owe more than the house is worth?

The solution is to work with an organization of real estate professional with a lot of experience who can offer you alternatives to foreclosure and bankruptcies. Foreclosures will negatively impact your credit for 10 years and may lead to costly deficiency judgments and have negative tax consequences. An experienced team of real estate professionals can help you by negotiating with the bank, shorting the note, buying the property in as-is condition, and allowing you to move on with your life.

Why is it better to work with a real estate professional than a real estate agent? Look at it from the banks' perspective. In order to consider shorting a note, the bank must perform a timely and costly assessment of the property, an assessment of the seller's financial situation, negotiate with the holders of the note, estimate repairs, and deal with attorneys. If they work with a real estate agent and invest all this time and money for a discount of the note, then they have to hope that a real estate agent can find an end buyer. However, if they work with real estate professionals who are the end buyer, then they know that this time and effort will amount to a transaction. Which group do you think the banks want to negotiate with? Given all the advantages, banks prefer working with real estate professional than agents. If you are behind on payments and owe more than the house is worth, shouldn't you work with a real estate professional too?