[IHB] Closed Sales from 3/1/2012 to 3/7/2012

So this "Monica" is still in business? Haven't the banks learn by now?

USCTrojanCPA said:
irvinehomeowner said:
Don't agents like to double-end all transactions... not just shorts? Or at least same-agency double?
Of course they do, it's in their greedy nature.  But I'm talking about agents like our friend Monica who basically tell perspective buyers that if they want the property they have to go through her.  Think about it, the Seller gets JACK in short sales (or is supposed get nothing at least) and it's the bank that determines the price yet the agent doesn't represent the true Seller which is the bank.  Short sales have and always will provide ways for some agents to game the system.
 
rkp said:
do you agree that short sales and REOs sell at a discount compared to standard sales?  my point wasnt the definition but that you are getting a discount relative to the current sales.  that discount might be short lived if all the future sales use you as a bench mark and just follow you down but as of right now, most of woodbury SFR isnt selling at under $300/sq ft.  i am not talking about advertised pricing but actual closed sales.

I agree with you that short sales and REOs typically sell at a lower price point than a comparable standard sale. This is due in part to the fact that only a subset of the total purchasers can/will seek these homes due to financing constraints, time constraints, and risk tolerance. They typically also sell for a lower price point to offset the need to compensate for deferred maintenance, unpaid taxes, or other increased buyer costs.

[quote author=LAtoOC]IR - "commercially reasonable period of time" is where Short Sales should be excluded. [/quote]

In the fraudulent cases that USC has alluded to, you are correct, especially if offers have been withheld or the property has otherwise not been openly marketed.

In general, though, (solely based on my own experience) I disagree. The lenders do have some strict requirements in the selling of the REOs and short sales. These include providing showing reports, copies of the MLS sheets, and often requiring that the home be on the market for X number of days before any offers will be considered. The bank's negotiators, asset managers, and final investor decisions are not interested in giving away any of their money and do their best to protect their interests (against fraud, etc.) through doing their own appraisals and setting required practices. They can be a major PITA to deal with.

my .02 cents:
It is never just the price. Always consider the whole package.

For that particular buyer and that particular seller, it was market price, all things considered.

-IrvineRealtor
 
akim997 said:
is this an example?  this never hit the market, it just hit as "pending"...    listed at a WAY below market price... 
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/66-Secret-Gdn-92620/home/5931229

there was another home in this same tract on Bamboo that never closed.  the listing agent was demanding $20,000 out of escrow... 
I'm shocked Monica isn't the listing agent on this one, she must be slipping.  I know which house on Bamboo you are talking about, I submitted an offer on it and he never acknowledged it even though I e-mailed him a handful of time and left several voicemails to follow up.
 
yeah it was weird.  first he said it was for "back taxes"... but i checked the www.oc.gov site and it said current... then he just said he wanted cash...  ouch... 

timing was a bit off, but another (short sale) plan just closed in Camelia for $790...  I just hope the market keeps coming down to the magic $781,250... 
 
akim997 said:
yeah it was weird.  first he said it was for "back taxes"... but i checked the www.oc.gov site and it said current... then he just said he wanted cash...  ouch... 

timing was a bit off, but another (short sale) plan just closed in Camelia for $790...  I just hope the market keeps coming down to the magic $781,250... 
It's realturds like that who need to be flushed out of the system.  You didn't happen to get that via e-mail or voicemail, eh?
 
WoodburyDad said:
freedomcm said:
"sold below market"

hah, i love magical thinking!

in the rest of the world, that *is* the market price

Sorry but I don?t understand how my comment was construed as ?magical thinking?
It was based on similar comps or sales that took place in the area.

21 Breezes, a Plan One, located one street over closed for $1,088,000.
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/21-Breezes-92620/home/5959324

It's smaller, backs up Trabuco and gets the same amount of noise as 20 Lookout yet it sold for quite a bit ($78k) more
 
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I realize this sounds harsh but I think there are more unethical agents than ethical ones.  With such a low barrier to entry and the sheer amount of dollars to be made, you get lots of sleazy folks.

I wrote about my experience with an agent and short sale owner wanting $30K under the table after close of escrow.  Most of this was discussed over the phone or in person and when I raised concerns about the amount and the fraud issues, the agent wrote this back: "How about you buying the 3 furniture sets for $15,000 and we will not request any more. The owner of the furniture is ________ and she is not the owner of the house. I still have to convince the sellers, but I think it's possible."

Sure I can forward to DRE but really, will anything be done?  When redfin did their scouting report, RE agents were in an uproar and that was just taking MLS data and displaying it for buyers to make a better decision. 
 
@rkp:

I've heard similar stories. The reason why this probably doesn't get reported is because the buyer is usually getting a very good discount and since they are "in" they don't want to "lose" their opportunity.

In your case, since you didn't get the place, you should report them, but I guess that could endanger future transactions if that particular agent is the representing the next home (unless you can do it anonymously).

Maybe that's why shorts take so long... a buyer balks at the "furniture clause" so they move to the next one until they find a "willing" buyer.
 
IrvineRealtor said:
rkp said:
do you agree that short sales and REOs sell at a discount compared to standard sales?  my point wasnt the definition but that you are getting a discount relative to the current sales.  that discount might be short lived if all the future sales use you as a bench mark and just follow you down but as of right now, most of woodbury SFR isnt selling at under $300/sq ft.  i am not talking about advertised pricing but actual closed sales.

I agree with you that short sales and REOs typically sell at a lower price point than a comparable standard sale. This is due in part to the fact that only a subset of the total purchasers can/will seek these homes due to financing constraints, time constraints, and risk tolerance. They typically also sell for a lower price point to offset the need to compensate for deferred maintenance, unpaid taxes, or other increased buyer costs.

[quote author=LAtoOC]IR - "commercially reasonable period of time" is where Short Sales should be excluded.

In the fraudulent cases that USC has alluded to, you are correct, especially if offers have been withheld or the property has otherwise not been openly marketed.

In general, though, (solely based on my own experience) I disagree. The lenders do have some strict requirements in the selling of the REOs and short sales. These include providing showing reports, copies of the MLS sheets, and often requiring that the home be on the market for X number of days before any offers will be considered. The bank's negotiators, asset managers, and final investor decisions are not interested in giving away any of their money and do their best to protect their interests (against fraud, etc.) through doing their own appraisals and setting required practices. They can be a major PITA to deal with.

my .02 cents:
It is never just the price. Always consider the whole package.

For that particular buyer and that particular seller, it was market price, all things considered.

-IrvineRealtor
[/quote]

I have to disagree with some lenders having strict standards to prevent fraud and that asset managers are not interested in giving away money.
There was a house in my old Irvine neighborhood where the owner of the short sale home was married (not in the U.S. so there is no trail) to the R.E. agent (the agent lived in the home until he bought another home and they moved).  The agent listed the home for hundreds of thousands less that market value at that time.  The day after he listed it, he put in in pending status.  A week later I saw the agent (whose wife 'legally' owns the home) and for some reason he told me that he had one of his relatives submit a very low ball offer so he could put it into pending status and he was going to make money with his relative in reselling the home after he gets it through the short sale process.
So it sat in pending for a long time (short sale typical), I was selling my home and was very annoyed since his crappy numbers made it harder in my negotiations with potential buyers.  I felt what he was doing was very underhanded and also hurt my interests so I called his lender and spoke to the manager of the asset managers who handled the loans in my area.  I told them all the details and gave names, dates and what the agent told me and that the seller and agent are married in another country.  The asset manager basically sounded like I wasted her time and told me that they will look into it.  Two months later the home sold for the low ball price and a couple weeks after that the home was back on the market for market price and guess who was the agent!  Yep, same guy.  When he saw that I was in escrow he was asking me how many offers and what was the offer amounts were.  I was pissed so I gave him low numbers and watched him freak out thinking that he was not going to make those six figure numbers he probably promised his relative.  His house did sell and he made a tidy sum so the cheaters do prosper.
 
davenlei said:
IrvineRealtor said:
rkp said:
do you agree that short sales and REOs sell at a discount compared to standard sales?  my point wasnt the definition but that you are getting a discount relative to the current sales.  that discount might be short lived if all the future sales use you as a bench mark and just follow you down but as of right now, most of woodbury SFR isnt selling at under $300/sq ft.  i am not talking about advertised pricing but actual closed sales.

I agree with you that short sales and REOs typically sell at a lower price point than a comparable standard sale. This is due in part to the fact that only a subset of the total purchasers can/will seek these homes due to financing constraints, time constraints, and risk tolerance. They typically also sell for a lower price point to offset the need to compensate for deferred maintenance, unpaid taxes, or other increased buyer costs.

[quote author=LAtoOC]IR - "commercially reasonable period of time" is where Short Sales should be excluded.

In the fraudulent cases that USC has alluded to, you are correct, especially if offers have been withheld or the property has otherwise not been openly marketed.

In general, though, (solely based on my own experience) I disagree. The lenders do have some strict requirements in the selling of the REOs and short sales. These include providing showing reports, copies of the MLS sheets, and often requiring that the home be on the market for X number of days before any offers will be considered. The bank's negotiators, asset managers, and final investor decisions are not interested in giving away any of their money and do their best to protect their interests (against fraud, etc.) through doing their own appraisals and setting required practices. They can be a major PITA to deal with.

my .02 cents:
It is never just the price. Always consider the whole package.

For that particular buyer and that particular seller, it was market price, all things considered.

-IrvineRealtor

I have to disagree with some lenders having strict standards to prevent fraud and that asset managers are not interested in giving away money.
There was a house in my old Irvine neighborhood where the owner of the short sale home was married (not in the U.S. so there is no trail) to the R.E. agent (the agent lived in the home until he bought another home and they moved).  The agent listed the home for hundreds of thousands less that market value at that time.  The day after he listed it, he put in in pending status.  A week later I saw the agent (whose wife 'legally' owns the home) and for some reason he told me that he had one of his relatives submit a very low ball offer so he could put it into pending status and he was going to make money with his relative in reselling the home after he gets it through the short sale process.
So it sat in pending for a long time (short sale typical), I was selling my home and was very annoyed since his crappy numbers made it harder in my negotiations with potential buyers.  I felt what he was doing was very underhanded and also hurt my interests so I called his lender and spoke to the manager of the asset managers who handled the loans in my area.  I told them all the details and gave names, dates and what the agent told me and that the seller and agent are married in another country.  The asset manager basically sounded like I wasted her time and told me that they will look into it.  Two months later the home sold for the low ball price and a couple weeks after that the home was back on the market for market price and guess who was the agent!  Yep, same guy.  When he saw that I was in escrow he was asking me how many offers and what was the offer amounts were.  I was pissed so I gave him low numbers and watched him freak out thinking that he was not going to make those six figure numbers he probably promised his relative.  His house did sell and he made a tidy sum so the cheaters do prosper.

[/quote]
I've also seen similar type of transactions where a short sale closed for a very low price and then within 3-6 months the property was back on the market at a more normal price.  The listing agent of the short sale represented the buyer and then was the listing agent on the normal sale.  That's not only double dipping, but that's dipping to the Nth degree.  If that doesn't smell of fraud, I don't know what does.

Just in this thread, we had 2 great examples of how shady short sales can be.  The problem is more widespread than people think.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
@davenlei:

Did you report him to the DRE?

I should have but since the bank did not seem to care that he was 'stealing' from them and I was already moving away, I let it go.  Karma is a bitch and it will catch up with him eventually.
 
This thread isn't convincing me that 2 realtors > 1 realtor.
Rather, it's convincing me that 0 realtors > any realtors.
 
SoCal78 said:
This thread isn't convincing me that 2 realtors > 1 realtor.
Rather, it's convincing me that 0 realtors > any realtors.

That might be true with a lot of the agents out there but from my own personal experience,

USCTrojanMan >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 0 realtor.  I'm sure it would be the same with IrvineRealtor.  :p
 
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