FREE Short Sale Support For Prince William County Virginia

The market is hard and getting harder or the average Joe or Josephine to sell. Add to this home sellers that need to sell because they cannot afford their mortgage and they owe more than the home is worth. What can they do? Well besides hiring a Realtor that specializes in Short Sales you need an competent Settlement Company to help you get to close. We would like to introduce you to that resource, Advanced Title, LLC. Their head office is located in Manassas Virginia but they service Virginia, Maryland and coming soon Florida.

Heather and Lee Mergler the founders and owners of this visionary settlement company suggest and we would have to agree, that your settlement company is just as important to a smooth and successful short sale as the Realtors and sellers.

There are others out there providing support and other third party providers that will help the negotiations. One simple truth is they all charge for their services. While we can all agree that a business should be able to charge for services provided and are entitled to a fair profit there are other issues here. In the sale of a home as a short sale the banks focus intently on that bottom line. As you can imagine they want to recover as much of the debt owed to them as they can. Any additional charges that will reduce the banks bottom line start to reduce the likelihood of an approval.

The following is bullet list from Heather Mergler about their Short Sale support.

Highlight Features from Advanced Title LLC
- FREE Short Sale Support. Outside of our standard and competitive fees we charge no additional fee for the details support and follow up required for Short Sales.

- Quick Property Title Search. It is important to find out about any liens that may be on the property as early as possible so they can be cleared in time to close.

- Experience and Knowledge to help you close your sale.

- Patient and diplomatic with all parties in the transaction. Often overlooked as a value, we have found that our patience and ability to resolve issue calmly have a very positive effect on getting your home to close.

- Communication is absolutely number one on our list and a significant difference between us and other area providers.

- On site settlements available. (Close at your location or come by ours).

It is important to note that while this blog was titled for Prince William County Virginia that Advanced Title LLC services a very large area in Northern Virginia and Maryland. Call them today at 703-365-9636 and ask for Heather Mergler.

-Best of luck!

Read more!

I Thought This Was a Buyer Market!?

What a difference in working for our buyers the last few months have been. So we are supposed to be in a declining market, homes staying on the market for months on end but our buyers are competing for homes with other buyers. To make it worse if they truly want that home they have to offer more than it is listed for. What is going on out there?

Actually the bank owned properties (foreclosed) on the market are increasing but the banks are finally getting smart on how to get them to move. They are pricing the homes WAY below the current market value. Now I would not say this is a 'bait and switch' sales scenario or even that the Realtors are pricing it low to generate leads. Remember on these bank owned homes the bank runs the show, so the Realtor doesn't choose the list price, the bank does. The Realtor does provide details and suggestions on price but in the end the bank sets this number just like any owner would. So back on track, what they are doing now is allowing the 'Market', you the buyer, decide what the home is worth? They are pricing it low to get the traffic into the home and then allowing any interested buyers to set the value.

This is how home buying in a buyer market would normally work. So what's the catch and why are buyers paying above the asking price in a market like this? Simple supply and demand. Every buyer is looking for a great deal, a great home that needs no work and in a great location. Well the supply on great homes is a bit limited. Many of the foreclosed homes will need some work to get them up to most buyers standards.

Even the not so great home around the corner needing tens of thousands of dollars of work priced very aggressively can generate the same multiple buyer situation.

In the last month alone we have worked with several buyers that have placed offers on multiple homes only to lose every one to competing offers that were well above the asking price. It seems to take buyers about two lost offers for the reality to really set in. The market has been injected with some life by the banks pricing their homes at very competitive and often below market value prices.

When you do find that needle in a haystack make certain to really look at the past sales and know what they are selling for. If the home you are looking at is a '10', newer on the market or the price has just dropped significantly under the market value then you have a choice to make. You can bid low and hope to get it at a steal or you can choose not to ignore the trend and offer a reasonable price and terms to take that home away from the other buyers right behind you.

The additional factor that makes all of this difficult is that the banks reserve the right to consider other offers even if they have verbally or in writing accepted yours. So being the first offer in does not at all guarantee you will get the home.

There are some incredible deals out there but the Spring/Summer home market is really starting to heat up. As we speak with Relators, lenders and the industry locally they are all saying there is absolutely more activity and excitement out there.

Best of luck and if you have questions related to the local real estate market in Prince William County Virginia please contact us at any time.

Read more!