Foreclosure Alternatives Exist, We Can Help

If you own your home and have missed a few payments, the foreclosure process can start very quickly. As this is a stressful time for most people, it’s important that you quickly learn everything you can about foreclosure alternatives and try to save your home, or at least your credit.

If you want to see the nightmare a foreclosure causes, see the Bills.com Foreclosure Consequences article and get educated quickly.

Options to Stop Foreclosure.

The first thing to know is that your lender is willing to stop the foreclosure process. In fact, almost all lenders hate foreclosing. That’s right! Because it is one of the most adversarial financial processes, they hate it too.

Mortgage lenders typically lose money when they foreclose, since most foreclosed homes are worth less than the value of the mortgage. Plus, the foreclosure process is expensive to manage and is stressful for everyone. What that means is that you have options. So learn about foreclosure alternatives and start moving to stop foreclosure fast!

Stop Foreclosure Yourself vs. Hiring a Firm to Stop Foreclosure

There are many firms that charge a fee to negotiate on your behalf. Basically, those firms will work on your behalf to negotiate forbearance, loan modification, or to save your home. Be very careful of someone who wants to BUY your home, and if someone offers you that service make 100% certain that you first try to assess the equity value in your home and if there is equity available you can either take on the burden of trying to sell your home on your own, or look into someone who will offer to buy your home for cash. Just make sure they can close quickly, as time will be of the essence.

Your Foreclosure Options

This list of four options assumes your attempts to negotiate a short sale or deed in lieu of foreclosure were unsuccessful, as were your attempts to find a government program to refinance or renegotiate your mortgage.

Foreclosure Mediation to Stop Foreclosure. This service negotiates with the lender to repackage the loan so that the borrower can become current again. It will help save your credit, keep you in your home, save your home equity and appease your lender. This process has to happen pretty quickly, and could involve one or more of the following:

loan modification
payment forbearance
loss mitigation
Foreclosure Alternatives

Deed in lieu of foreclosure. This is where you are unable to pay for the house and you voluntarily give the house back to the lender. This is subject to a deficiency judgment yet counts as a “less serious” foreclosure on your credit. However, not most lenders will not accept this arrangement.

Sell your house. You lose your home in this situation but you may save some of the equity in your home. Include the standard 6% Realtor fee when calculating your net proceeds from the sale. Also, be aware that because you are in foreclosure and under intense time pressure to sell your home, you may not receive the full market value for the home. Worse yet, three months from now, you may not have sold your home and now owe an additional three payments on your home and still face foreclosure. This is where we can help! We can close quickly with no money out of your pocket, handle all the paperwork and help you avoid the nightmare a foreclosure causes to your life and credit.

File for bankruptcy. This can be a very expensive and drawn out process through which there is no certainty of outcome. In the end, a court decides the outcome of all your assets and will leave you with a severely damaged credit record and the strong possibility of no home. If you are considering bankruptcy, you should contact an attorney to discuss this option. You can learn more about bankruptcy at the Bills.com bankruptcy page.

In the end, there are a variety of considerations when you try to stop foreclosure, so educate yourself and look into foreclosure alternatives before walking away and losing your house and good credit.

May 12, 2017May 25, 2017

Don’t Walk Away From Your House! We Offer Foreclosure Help

We Can Stop Foreclosures Las Vegas — There are Alternatives To Foreclosure

The 2008 economic downturn created a perfect storm of job loss, pay cuts and hardships. Couple that with the shoddy lending practices that helped bring about the recession, and you have a recipe for a housing market disaster. In these situations we can offer foreclosure help.

Las Vegas was one of the leaders in foreclosure and unemployment rate for several years, and continues to be at the top of both charts. Recently we have begun to crawl out of those holes, but the effects still linger, and will for years to come.

Thousands of homeowners chose to simply walk away from their homes and mortgages, wrecking their credit and losing equity that would eventually return. So many were unaware they had other options than just walking away from their homes.

These situations are exactly where a Real Estate Investor can offer solutions that the banks or lenders will not. We can negotiate with the banks for short sale or take over your existing mortgage while bringing you current on your payments. We have a large number of tools we can use to hopefully get you something for your home and protect your credit.

According to the Las Vegas Review Journal (RJ) there are still thousands of vacant homes in the valley.

As of this year’s second quarter, about 400 residential properties in the ZIP code 89122 were vacant, according to RealtyTrac, California-based real estate information firm. In the Las Vegas metro area, RealtyTrac says there are 13,850 vacant residential properties.

It’s a shame more people are not aware of how a Real Estate Investor can provide foreclosure help. Many of these properties could be occupied and provide families with affordable housing options.

You can read the rest of the Las Vegas Review Journal article here:

http://www.reviewjournal.com/business/economy/look-1-vacant-home-the-13000-las-vegas

May 10, 2017May 25, 2017

Sell A House Fast in Las Vegas: 5 Tips For Success

5 tips to sell a house fast

Considering selling your house and want to do it as quickly as possible? Of course! Most people want that. We buy and sell houses all the time and have some proven tips on how to sell a house fast in Las Vegas… or any other town or city.

We use these tips every time we sell a house we’ve fixed up. Most were learned when the real estate market tanked back around 2008.

With foreclosures up 81% back then, there were a lot of houses on the market clamoring for the attention of the reduced amount of buyers looking to buy a home.

We were forced to find ways to compete and get houses sold. In this article we are passing those hard-earned lessons on to you so that you can better be able to sell your house fast in Las Vegas or anywhere.

sell a house fast

Selling a House Fast Requires the Right Price

We quickly noticed that the single biggest factor in getting a house to sell fast in any market is the price.

Yes, how much you are asking for your home plays a huge role in being able to get offers right out of the gate.

Consider this from the point of view of buyers looking to buy a house in your neighborhood or area. They are likely going through dozens or even hundreds of listings that are most likely sorted by price.

Everybody wants a bargain. They are judging your house and its price against what your neighbors are asking for a similar house.

Pricing a house is not the easiest thing to do in the world so we wanted to provide some quick tips to help you determine a great price:

Check compsFind out what other similar houses are selling for and how fast they are selling. Take the closest matches that sold quickly and average the selling prices.
How does your home compare?If you are working with an agent, you can have them show you pictures of the houses that sold. If you aren’t working with an agent, many times you can see pictures of houses that sold on Zillow.com or Realtor.com. Compare the fixtures and finishes to what you have in your house and adjust your price up or down based on what you find. Always be considering this from the buyers’ perspective. What would you think when you saw the houses that sold and then came and saw your house? It’s very important to be objective here.
Have friends give their opinionsSometimes we as homeowners are seeing things through a different lens. We need to get unbiased opinions from friends or family that are completely objective.

For more great tips on pricing your house for sale, check out this article on Zillow.

cash offer from a house buying company

Get an Offer from a Cash Home Buyer

Not everybody is aware there are people who buy houses cash that will make you an offer to buy your house quickly.

You might wonder,”why do they buy a lot of houses?” They buy for investment purposes and usually have the cash to close faster. This allows you to sell your house without even putting it on the market.

What’s the catch with these house buying companies? They usually don’t pay full market value. That might be an issue if you need to sell for top dollar.

Of course, this option doesn’t make sense for all home sellers. It makes the most sense for people that don’t have the time or energy to deal with getting their house fixed up and put on the market. This is also a good solution for sellers that don’t like the idea of having dozens of complete strangers going through their house, looking at all of their stuff.

We buy homes in Las Vegas and would love to talk with you about what we can pay for your house.

market your house for sale everywhere

Market Your House Everywhere

The quickest way to sell a house you put up for sale is to get as many eyes on it as possible. You need to make sure everybody knows the home is for sale.

Get an ad in the local newspaper

If you want to sell a house fast in Las Vegas, you might consider putting an ad in the local newspaper or their website.

Use a Listing Agent

Real estate agents can list your house on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) which will help you get maximum exposure.

If you decide to sell your house without an agent, you can get a ‘For Sale By Owner’ sign from HomeDepot or Lowe’s and stick it in your front yard. I highly recommend you get the directional signs as well. This will allow you to point people driving around your area to your house that is for sale.

Use Social Media

Take lots of pictures and do a video walk through. You can post these on Facebook and Youtube.

One social media platform is perfect for pictures: Instagram. Give it a try.

Tell everybody you know

Tell everybody you know that your house is for sale. Ask everybody you talk to if they know of anyone looking to buy a house in the area. You never know who might be looking for a house just like yours. This will certainly help you sell a house fast.

gives concessions to sell a house fast

Give Concessions to Sell Quickly

There are lots of ways to entice buyers to give your house a little extra attention.

Here are some of our favorite ways to sell a house fast by giving concessions:

Agent bonus

Reward agents for finding you a buyer. We’ve given bonuses of $1,000 or more for buyers’ agents that sold their buyers on our houses. You can do the same.

There are agents that look for listings of houses for sale where these bonuses are available and start showing their clients these houses first. Get yourself on the top of potential buyers’ must-see lists with this tip.

When buyers see your house first, they may just fall in love with it and make you an offer. Offering an agent bonus has allowed us to sell a lot of houses faster over the years.

Try it!

Closing cost assistance

Not all buyers need assistance with their closing costs…but most do!

If you offer to help pay closing costs for your buyers, they will much more likely to buy your house over others on the market.

In order to sell a house fast, you should consider offering this assistance. Be sure to write into the description of your listing your willingness to pay some closing cost assistance. It really goes a long way in persuading buyers to give your house more consideration.

Home warranty

This tip for selling a house fast is not mentioned often. Providing a home warranty gives buyers a peace of mind.

They might be nervous that they are overextending themselves when buying your house. They will likely feel better knowing that if something goes wrong, they have a warranty that will cover it.

American Home Shield offers a great home warranty that is pretty comprehensive. It’s great because it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg either. We’ve offered their warranty dozens, if not hundreds of times.

Offering a home warranty gives your home a competitive advantage that will allow you to sell your house quicker.

If you want to shop around and find the perfect home warranty, check out these reviews.

stand out when selling your house

Be Different

This piece of advice is one that I hope my competitors that sell houses don’t catch wind of. We make it a point to find economical ways of setting our houses apart so that they sell much faster.

The secret is spending some time to see what houses are for sale that your home will be competing with. Then, make note of the similarities between the houses.

Do they all have beige walls with white trim?
Do they all have formica counters?
Do they all have oak cabinets?
Do they all have brown exterior paint?

What you want to do now is find some things to do that will make your house stand out because it doesn’t just match all the others that are for sale.

You sell a house fast by making it unforgettable.

Great websites to get cheap design tips are Houzz.com and Pinterest.

Final Thoughts About How to Sell A House Fast in Las Vegas

Whether you situation dictates you sell a house fast in Las Vegas or somewhere else, you can follow these 5 tips we’ve outlined to pretty much guarantee a quick sale.

If you feel you’ve benefited from this article, please share it!

We’d love to hear any tips you might have for selling a house fast. If you have some tips, please don’t hesitate to leave them in the comments below.

May 6, 2017May 25, 2017

Las Vegas Housing Market Supply Getting tight.

Las Vegas Housing Market Supply Getting Tight

Good article from the LVRJ.

Credit: Eli Segall

Looking for a Las Vegas house? Lack of supply may be a problem

Las Vegas Housing Market — Home For Sale

The home at 3948 Squall Court is listed for sale in Las Vegas, Friday, March 31, 2017. (Gabriella Benavidez/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @gabbydeebee

With the spring buying season underway, Las Vegas house hunters may have to spend more time scrolling through listings and visiting properties — and pay more than they hoped. The Las Vegas housing market is getting tight.

Southern Nevada’s inventory of available homes has been sliding for months amid a nationwide drop. Sales totals are still climbing, and the menu of options is not so diminished that it’s impossible to find a place, but availability has reached its lowest point since summer 2013.

A shrinking supply can be good for sellers, who can fetch higher prices amid strong demand and decreased competition. But it doesn’t bode well for buyers or for real estate agents, who have fewer properties to sell.

Roughly 11,200 single-family homes were listed for sale in Southern Nevada at the end of March, down 17 percent from a year earlier. Within that, almost 5,500 listings did not have offers, down 24 percent from a year earlier and the seventh consecutive monthly slide, according to figures from the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, which pulls data from its resale-heavy listing service.

Buyers “are aplenty,” 1st Realty Group owner Thomas Blanchard said, but “we just don’t have the properties to sell them.”

Homes worth ‘top dollar?’

Factors pushing or holding availability down include increased demand from buyers, a still-large tally of underwater borrowers who can’t easily sell, and a sizable number of rental homes that aren’t listed for sale.

Nationally, inventory has dropped in part because rising prices have made it “increasingly difficult” for homeowners to buy a place after they sell, according to Cheryl Young, a senior economist with listing service Trulia. Not only are “buyers in the hottest markets likely to be priced out,” but sellers “may be locked in to their existing homes.”

If that’s a factor in Las Vegas, it’s almost surely not as acute as in cities where home values have reached new peaks.

The median sales price of previously owned single-family homes — the bulk of Southern Nevada’s market — was $242,000 last month. That’s more than double the market’s low point but still below its peak of $315,000 in 2006, during the housing bubble, GLVAR data show.

A poster child for the real estate boom and bust, Las Vegas was one of the hardest hit markets in the country during the recession, and its economy, despite having improved, still lags behind most cities in some ways. By comparison, home prices in 89 metro areas hit record highs last year, according to housing tracker Attom Data Solutions.

Still, the pace of sales has gained speed locally, with demand fueled by the rising population, job growth and higher wages, according to Brian Gordon, co-owner of Las Vegas research and consulting firm Applied Analysis.

Almost 47,000 previously owned homes were sold in the Las Vegas Valley last year, up 6.6 percent from 2015, according to the company’s residential research arm, SalesTraq.

When homeowners hear it’s a seller’s market, they “instinctively feel” their property is worth “top dollar,” Re/Max Excellence Realty agent Tim Kelly Kiernan said.

As he sees it, many homes are overpriced today, and if properties were priced at fair market value, sales totals “would be even greater.”

Still drowning

Meanwhile, two ongoing issues are crimping the supply of listings, some real estate pros said.

Upside-down homeowners, whose mortgage outweighs their home’s value, can sell only with bank approval. The valley’s share of such borrowers has plunged in recent years, but Las Vegas remains the underwater capital of America.

An estimated 16.6 percent of local borrowers were upside-down in the fourth quarter, down from 71 percent in early 2012 but still highest among large metro areas, according to listing service Zillow.

Trulia’s Young noted that in cities where “home values have been slow to recover,” borrowers are unable to sell because they’re still upside-down.

On top of that, investors took many homes off the for-sale market when they bought cheap houses by the dozen after the economy tanked and turned them into rentals.

Their buying binge helped revive the market, but there are few, if any, signs that the biggest investors are selling.

“Those homes should be on the market today, and they’re not,” said Blanchard of 1st Realty.

The sliding inventory also means that people who sell houses may have fewer to offer, and also contribute to the Las Vegas housing market tightening.

lasvegashomes (Severiano Galvan/Las Vegas Review-Journal) severianogalvan

GLVAR President David J. Tina, co-owner of Urban Nest Realty, said higher prices produce bigger commissions, which can help real estate agents offset a drop in sales totals.

But as Scott Beaudry, owner of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Universal, noted, if there are no cans of soup to buy, there are no cans of soup to sell.

May 3, 2017May 25, 2017

We Buy Houses Scams In Las Vegas and How To Avoid Them

Have those advertisements for people saying, ‘we buy houses’ caught your eye and made you question whether they are we buy houses scams? This is a very real concern for people considering this kind of service.

we buy houses scams signs

Trying to sell your house fast in Las Vegas? Are you concerned that you might get taken advantage of or have the wool pulled over your eyes?

Join the club.

The traditional way to sell a house is using a real estate agent and having them list your house.

Maybe you would rather skip the hassles and sell to a Las Vegas cash home buyer instead. Every year, thousands of people sell their homes directly to investors rather than listing with an agent. In fact, nationwide, 5.5% of home sales were to investors according to a report by RealtyTrac.

If you’ve never sold a home before or never sold one without the services of agent, it can be quite scary. It can seem downright overwhelming.

I’m going to share some tips for you to make sure that who you are working with is a legitimate house buyer and not someone looking to scam you. By the end of this article, you’ll be armed with what you need to know to choose the right company to buy your house.

The Sniff Test For We Buy Houses Scams

There are a lot of legitimate house buyers in Las Vegas, but there are also some people that are running we buy houses scams. It can be difficult to know which one you might be dealing with.

The stakes are high. People have lost lots of time, money and even their houses to scams run by investors that don’t have any sort of moral compass.

It can be difficult to determine if who you are dealing with has your best interests at heart. Most of the time there are “tells” that will clue you in to their true intentions. These signs can mean you are caught in some of the we buy houses scams being used today.

Application Fees – If a house buyer wants you to pay them any kind of fees to evaluate your house, run away as fast you can. This person is likely a scammer. Honest home buying companies don’t make money charging application fees. They make their money from buying houses, fixing them up and either renting or selling the house.
Kitchen Table Closings – If a buyer wants you to sign over the deed to your house anywhere other than a title company or attorney’s office, you’re likely going to be making a costly mistake. Any sale you have should happen at a title company so that you can make sure the paperwork is handled properly and all liens are taken care of.Please do not mistake this for signing a contract to sell your house. That can and probably will happen at your house. Just don’t sign any Warranty Deeds, Quitclaim Deeds without the services of a real estate attorney or title company.
Too Much Information is Given – Phony bank statements and pre-approval letters for loans are given without being requested from untrustworthy real estate investors. These investors present these documents to make them appear legit but these documents can easily be faked.This occurs a lot when the supposed “investor” lives in a different city than Las Vegas and communicates almost entirely by email. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather work with somebody local that I can meet face to face. Just because they are not local doesn’t immediately make them a scammer, but I sure would rather know who I’m dealing with.

Scammers Don’t Always Look and Act Like Used Car-Salesmen

used car-salesman

It’s not always easy to pick out who the scammer is in a crowd.

Sometimes it’s the overly nice gentleman.

Sometimes it’s the straight and to-the-point woman.

Don’t let your guard down just because someone smooth talks you. You need to get the facts about who they are and what they can do for you.

We will discuss exactly what to ask for to determine whether you are dealing with the right kind of house buyer or not later in this article.

It may seem impossible to determine whether someone is genuine or running we buy houses scams…but it’s not.

One way is to trust your gut. If something doesn’t seem right…it probably isn’t.

Another way is to determine whether their actions match their words. Actions always speak louder than words and I’ve found them to be very telling about people.

If a Las Vegas home buyer says he or she is going to meet you at your house at 2:00 on Wednesday and they show up at 2:20…they might not be trust worthy. They certainly don’t value your time or respect it.

If they walk through your house and tear it apart with harsh words about the house or your situation, you are probably dealing with someone that could care less about your feelings or what you get out of the deal.

Harsh words about your house are solely intended to force you to lower your opinion of the value of the house. This type of investor may as well be wearing a plaid suit and lots of gold chains. They are worse than a used car salesman…

A respectable and reputable real estate investor will always treat you with respect. They will show up on time and show empathy. When viewing houses, trustworthy house buyers will look for the positive aspects of the house as they know full well they will be making repairs and breathing new life into the home.

Other Not-so-obvious Semi-Scams to Watch Out For

There are many other situations that I call ‘semi-scams’ to watch out for. These may not be illegal or full-blown we buy houses scams but are intended to take advantage of you and your situation.

It’s best to avoid these at all costs.

Sub2 or Subject To Scams – Some investors use a strategy called ‘Subject To’ or Sub2 when using shorthand. This is where they buy your house from you “subject to” the existing mortgage. They will want you to deed them the house without paying off your mortgage.The biggest problem with this is that the mortgage is in your name and, if it goes unpaid, directly impacts your credit!It’s pretty easy to see why this type of deal is important to avoid. You would basically be trusting an almost complete stranger with your credit. No thanks!
Out of Area Wholesalers – Wholesalers are investors that do not typically buy your house themselves. It’s seems the majority of these wholesalers are not even in Las Vegas, NV. They are out of area investors that target Las Vegas because of the affordable housing. Many times these investors will pretend they are going to buy the house when in fact they have no intention of doing so.How it works is they put your house under contract for them to buy and then they go about finding a buyer that has the money to buy the house. When they find the buyer, they assign the contract they made with you to the capable buyer for a fee.This makes them the middle man that is taking a hefty fee that could have been profit to you.
I recommend you find a house buying company that has the means to actually buy the house so that you maximize the amount of money you make from the sale.
Short Sales Scams – Short sales are where a bank or mortgage company agrees to release their lien on your house in exchange for less than the principle balance of your loan. Typically, you have to pay off any principle balance and interest due for them to release the lien. When they agree to accept less, you are performing what is called a short sale.A short sale in and of itself is not a problem, it’s when this is attempted when it doesn’t make sense that causes a lot of problems for Las Vegas homeowners.If you are behind on payments but have a lot of equity and a home that doesn’t need any major repairs, you might have an investor convince you to attempt a short sale.
Short sales can drag on for months and the bank may wait until just before a foreclosure auction to deny it. Then what are you going to do? You won’t have time to sell it. It’s almost certain to be lost to foreclosure.

Some careless investors don’t give you all the facts when they attempt a short sale on your house. You also need to be aware that even if the bank agrees to take less for the lien to be released, they could put a deficiency judgement on you for the amount the loan was shorted. You will probably also have to report the amount shorted as income which could cause your income tax owed to be a real problem for you.

How to Avoid These Potential Scams

Do your homework to avoid we buy houses scams.

With some quick research you can easily determine whether somebody has a history of doing what they say. You can also find out if they’ve been in business for a while which shows they are stable and worthy of your business.

Crooks rarely stay in business long and almost always have negative reviews.

reputations are everything

Check testimonials – Be sure to look for online reviews and testimonials for the house buying company you are considering. Any reputable business will have statements from previous customers that can attest to how they do business. You can read dozens of reviews from customers of www.sellmyhousefast702.com here on our website. Take a look at them for an example of the types of things you will find for any honest business owner.
Check the Better Business Bureau – The Better Business Bureau (known as the BBB) allows consumers to leave reviews and rate local businesses. You should only work with house buying companies that have a strong rating with the Better Business Bureau.If a company is not rated with the BBB you can not have as much faith in their ability to do what they say.
Check how long the company has been in business – Great businesses have been around for a while. According to the Small Business Administration, nearly one third of all businesses fail within the first 2 years. If you find a business that’s been around for longer than 5 years, you can probably bet they are still around for a reason. They probably are doing something right.
Make sure to close at a title company – There is so much legal talk in contracts and deed documents that you simply must have a title company or real estate attorney handle the closing.This is to ensure that everything is done properly.The last thing you want is for something to be done incorrectly that you have to deal with years down the road.
You could even run into a situation where you are sued because something wasn’t handled properly.

Title companies provide title insurance that will protect you from most of these problems. It’s definitely worth it.
Don’t sign documents you don’t understand – This one seems to be common sense but is definitely not common practice. If you don’t understand something, don’t sign it.This is also where a good real estate attorney or title company can be worth their weight in gold. They should be able to break it down for you in layman’s terms so that you know what you are getting into.Great house buying companies will also take the time to clearly explain everything you are agreeing to in a way that makes sense to you. If you find you are working with someone not willing to do that, don’t work with them. Find someone else that buys houses.

Conclusion

When selling a house fast to a local house buying company, you should be aware of the signs of a potential we buy houses scam.

Armed with the knowledge from this article you are much better prepared to find a great house buyer for your house that will treat you with respect and do what they say they are going to do.

If you would like to get a fair cash offer for your Las Vegas house, do not hesitate to give us a call at 702-608-5755. We would be glad to answer any questions you have and help you in any way we can.