The C Team

Archive for the ‘Real Estate Info’ Category

This past week we were able to get bank approval on a short sale for one of our listings.  The Bank was Chase Bank, and to be honest, they actually got back to us in a fairly timely manner.   The thing that I am cautioning agents to be aware of is that they included a clause which the sellers had to sign stating that they accepted that they could be liable for the deficit on the original loan.

This was especially vexing to our clients, they had some very serious medical problems and the costs wiped them out financially, so they declared bankruptcy.  This particular house was included in the Bankruptcy as it was a second home for our clients.  An agent in our office had a client that was interested in this home, so we inquired of Chase what needed to be done to sell it, and were told by them to do a short sale, that they had not foreclosed on it even though it had been included in the bankruptcy.

Long story short, our clients did NOT sign this agreement, and they are willing to let it go into foreclosure as Chase would not remove the clause in question from their acceptance of the short sale price.  I am not going to blame my clients, they already have the Bankruptcy on their credit, they don’t need a debt reaffirmed on top of that.

I guess what I am saying, is make sure that you check these documents and explain to your clients that they really will find themselves at the Bank’s mercy whether or not they will be held liable for the deficit.  That is if the lien holder includes this type of conditional clause in their acceptance of a short sale price.

I will admit that this was the first time that we had seen this conditional clause in a short sale price acceptance, I will also admit that there are agents that do more short sales than we do, but in any case, you have to look out for your client’s interests, that is why they hired you!

Scene from Scenic Southern Utah Capitol Reef

If you’re looking to buy or sell real estate in Cedar City, Utah; please give us a call.  We would love to earn your business!

In continuing with our series of why we love living in Southern Utah, I thought that I would pick another thing that we sometimes take for granted.  We have great sunsets!  I know that it isn’t like the sun setting over the ocean, but it is pretty spectacular when it sets over mountains as well.

Sunset out of our family room window

Another Sunset from our house

These are just a couple of examples of the sunsets the we get to see each night.  Just one of the many reasons to love living in Southern Utah.

If you’re looking to buy or sell real estate in Cedar City, Utah; please give us a call.  We would love to earn your business!

One of the reasons that we really love living in Southern Utah, is that we are really close to the Mountains.  The Mountains provide some wonderful recreational opportunities as well as some really nice shots with the camera.  These photos that I am using were taken at different times, but they are all in the mountains.

Looking down towards Cedar City

Aspen Trees on the Mountain

Looking Towards Zions Park

It is such a enjoyment in our lives to be able to look out of almost any window in town and see a Mountain!  There is so many fun things that one can do in the mountains, hiking, fishing, camping, hunting, mountain biking (on approved trails), riding horses, riding atvs (again on approved trails) as well as photography.  We invite all to come up and enjoy our Mountains with us!

If you’re looking to buy or sell real estate in Cedar City, Utah; please give us a call.  We would love to earn your business!

A judge in St. George, Utah effectively halted all foreclosures by Bank of America in the state of Utah.  Judge Shumate in a decision handed down on May 22nd stopped all foreclosure procedures by Bank of America until they adhere to Utah State Law requiring all mortgage lenders to register with the State, and have offices within the State.  This affects the mortgages that were issued by Countrywide that were purchased by Bank of America.

Here is the link from The Spectrum/Daily News:

http://www.thespectrum.com/article/20100607/NEWS05/100607004/BREAKING-NEWS–St.-George-judge-halts-BofA-foreclosures-in-Utah

Darcy and I have almost completed our office move.  It was a lot more work that I had anticipated!  We moved from basically a bull pen scenario to our own private office.  There is a lot more to decorating than I for one, had thought.  I am grateful that Darcy has such a great eye!  My muscles are still a little sore, and we have spent some time shopping for decorating items.  Really glad that there is a Tai Pan Trading fairly close!

When it is completed I will attempt to add a photo to the blog.  The biggest thing is the amount of time that moving and decorating consumes!  I have barely had time to check email, let alone write any new content!  The other area that has taken a hit is my reading time, I love to check out news articles to see what the media is saying about our industry.  Anyway, hopefully things will be completely back to normal in a couple of more days!

If you’re looking to buy or sell real estate in Cedar City, Utah; please give us a call.  We would love to earn your business!

This is another post that I put together for Active Rain.  It is that time of year, the birds are out,(if you don’t believe me, look at my car!), the air is warm and the grass is green.

The days have been getting longer and warmer.  Which brings me to the point of my post, school is out here in Iron County this week, so the children are getting antsy.  Parents are sensing the impending doom of having children home all day, increased day care or what ever.  It sort of brings my mind to the inspiration for this post, it is also time to get and and ruin a nice walk as the quote goes!

The Cedar City Golf Course

This photo was actually taken during the summer when things were a lot dryer.  Right now the golf course is nice and green and honestly, one of the more scenic that I have seen!  Come on up and enjoy a round!

I posted this on Active Rain earlier this week.  It is very relevant to us in our industry, too many buyers have tunnel vision on price, it is NOT always the main thing, here is my post and the article that I found on MSN about it.

I found a question and answer article on MSN about accepting what the article called a “depressed” offer with a long closing time on a property.  I thought that the article offered some good advice, and a lot for a seller to consider.  Most importantly to me, as a realtor, it drives home the importance of making sure that you have priced the home correctly, and that we stay up on existing sales of comparable homes.

Anyway this is the article:

http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=24242027

Find your dream home

The important thing is always find what you want and need, something that you can live in for years to come!

That is correctly written.  Are you still taking advantage of the Federal Tax Incentive to get buyers into houses?  I know that the April 30, 2010 deadline has passed for most Americans, but what about our Military Members, including National Guard Units and Reservists?  They may still qualify for this tax break for another year! If they were called up and stationed outside of the United States between 2008 and May 1, 2010 for more than 90 days, they may still have until April 30, 2011 to have a signed contract and have that contract close by June 30, 2011.

This extension also may be available to qualifying Foreign Service and Intelligence Employees, as well as our Armed Forces.  This is a great opportunity to those that live  near Military Bases, and those that have National Guard Units in their towns, as long as the Unit was Officially ordered out of the US for at least 90 days in the past two years.  This may be something to look into! Just think what your Military or Foreign Service Clients will think of you, if you get them into this program!

If you are a member of the Military, Foreign or Intelligence services, please make sure that your Realtor is taking advantage of this program if you qualify!

It may be a great opportunity for you to market your expertise!

ERA Logo

Forbes issued its list of th 200 most livable cities in America.  Two Utah cities made that list, Odgen, and Provo.  What is surprising to me is that Cedar City wasn’t on that list!  Granted we are a lot smaller, but Ogden, number 2 on the list and Provo, number 3?  Surely someone needs to divert south!  Just kidding mostly, I have spent a lot of time near both of these Wasatch Front Cities and they are nice. 

They both have Universities, (just like Cedar City), they both have low crime rates, (also like Cedar City)  and we don’t have the traffic issues!  I am just saying that I think had the writers spent some time down here, that we would have made the list!  All kidding aside, here is the link for the article:

http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/29/cities-livable-pittsburgh-lifestyle-real-estate-top-ten-jobs-crime-income.html

This morning, Darcy and I attending an interesting training put on by our local Newspaper, The Daily News and Homefinder.com.  They put on an interesting presentation about social media and then went into the sales pitch for the enhanced listing package through Homefinder.com.

One of the things that I was reminded of in this presentation was to stay on top of your photographs for listings.  Take as many photos as you can possibly take, then put as many as you possibly can on the internet.  Another aspect of that is if you have a listing online in July, you probably need to replace the photos of a snow covered listing.  This is something that I have blogged on before, but it is important to make sure that stay on top of it.

Another tip that we have found, is when taking photos of the front of the house, make sure that you are standing on the side opposite the garage.  You want the size of the house to be evident.  Just a tip, I hope that this may help.