What is a short sale? A short sale is when a homeowner is underwater on the property and needs to sell the home. The homeowner accepts the offer, but the bank still has to approve the short sale. 

Every short sale is different. Some short sales are good and others are bad. There are definitely short sales that you should stay away from. 

For example, let’s say the property is priced at $500,000 and the owner accepts a $400,000 offer. You might fully execute the contract, but the bank still has to approve it. Short sales can actually take quite a bit of time because the bank needs do their research; after all, they are taking a loss on the property.

The bank will order a broker price opinion, or BPO, to see if the homeowner is selling the property for what it is worth. They will send an independent real estate agent to the property to do an evaluation. The bank will also make sure that the owner has some kind of hardship that has rendered them unable to make their mortgage payments. So, although the homeowner might accept your offer, it is up to the bank to give final approval. You can spend months in a short sale transaction only to have the bank turn you down. 

So, how do you know if you should stay away from a short sale? There are a few signs you should look out for: 

1. The property is priced substantially below market value. If the home’s market value is $500,000 and it’s priced at $300,000, then the bank is not going to approve that offer. If the property is distressed or uninhabitable, then you might be able to get away with such a huge price drop. However, the bank is already losing money, so they aren’t going to let you get into the home for $200,000 under the market value. 
   
   
2. The house has multiple loans and liens. Every short sale is different. If the homeowner is only underwater on one loan, that is more likely to close than a property with two or three loans. If there are child support liens, tax liens, or other liens on the property, that short sale will take a very long time and likely fall through. Why? Each lender has to approve the loan. You might get the first loan approved and then get 45 days to close the sale; if it takes more than 45 days to get approval from the second lender, then you will have to go back to the beginning. 
   
   
3. The listing agent is from out of the area. Many agents outside of our area don’t understand the market, so they underprice the property. Remember, if a property is underpriced, the bank probably won’t approve the transaction. 
   
   
4. The agent does not have short sale experience. As you can see, short sales can be very complicated and take months or even a year to close. You need to work with a local agent who has short sale experience in order to move forward. 

Short sales are a good opportunity for you to get a good deal. Just make sure that you ask your agent the following questions: 

1. How many loans are on the property? Are there additional liens on the property? 
2. Does the listing agent have short sale experience? 
3. Is the property priced close to the market value? 
4. Is the listing agent here locally? 

If your agent is able to answer those questions favorably, then you can go ahead with the short sale. 

Finally, you need to consider whether the homeowner is ready to sell. If you see a short sale sign that says “Drive by only,” then that may mean the seller hasn’t fully let go of the property. They may need to sell the property but are not emotionally prepared to do so. In some cases, the homeowner might be trying to figure out a way to keep the home. You don’t want to get two or three months into a short sale only to discover that the homeowner is keeping the property after all. 

Ultimately, short sales can be very complicated. If you have any questions about purchasing a short sale property or if you are curious about any other real estate topics, just give me a call or send me an email. My team and I would be happy to help you!

Growing up, I worked at the same shop as my dad, and sometimes he would take me to a place called Henry’s Cafe for lunch. Me and my dad would talk about a lot of different things at these lunches, but one of the big pieces of wisdom I took away from him was actually about my credit. 

My dad told me that I always had to take care of my credit because if you don’t have it in this country, you’re nothing. His philosophy was that if you have good credit, you are able to borrow money. You can then use that borrowed money to make more money. It’s a concept that rings true in real estate.

The best way to obtain and grow your wealth is not by your yearly income. The way to build wealth is by obtaining assets. I’m so grateful he gave me that advice growing up. The ability to borrow money to leverage yourself is huge. I did just that in the market we are in right now, back in 2012. I was able to buy three rental properties because I had good credit, enough money saved for a down payment, and I leveraged the property with 20% down. The bank then let me borrow 80% of the purchase price on the property. Those properties have since appreciated in value, and I’ve doubled my money in terms of the homes’ equity.

I don’t mind paying taxes, because it means that I can qualify for loans to buy more properties and continue to build my wealth. If you make money in cash or under the table, it’s going to be harder for you to build wealth. Without paying those taxes, nothing will happen to your credit and you likely won’t qualify for a loan to buy a home. If you’re a business owner, make sure to pay those taxes. You’ll be happy you did when you are able to invest your money and build wealth because of it.

If you don’t have such good credit, I know a great credit repair expert I can send you to. If you have any other questions for me or you’re looking to buy or sell a home, give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you.

These days, you have to sell your Ventura County home twice—once online and once in person. In each instance, the home must be shown in its very best light. How do you show your home in its best light? By having it staged.

To that point, my guest for today’s live stream episode is Penny Bergstrom. Penny is a professional stager and the owner of the staging company Delicious Decors. In her words, home staging is a marketing tool used to get your home ready to sell. Statistics validate the effectiveness of home staging. Staged homes sell 84% faster on average than non-staged homes and for a 16% higher price.

In our full discussion about the art of home staging and how it benefits sellers in Ventura County, we touched on important topics like:

• (3:08) The synergetic relationship between professional photos and a staged home.
• (6:05) How to stage (hint: all personal items must go). 
• (9:08) The pitfalls of marketing a vacant home. 
• (18:35) The return on investment staging provides. 
• (25:20) What you can expect from a staging consultation.

I’m a firm believer in home staging because I’ve seen the emotional impact it makes on buyers. If you’d like to know more about the process and how it can benefit you, watch the video in its entirety above. 

A special thanks to Penny for joining us in today’s discussion. If you want to reach her, you can call her at (805) 448-9226 or visit her website at www.deliciousdecors.com. If you have any more questions for the top agent in Oxnard, feel free to give me a call or shoot me an email. I look forward to speaking with you. 

Today I’d like to share an exercise with you that I learned from my Mastermind group. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the concept of a Mastermind group, it is a group of individuals who share certain tactics and techniques with each other in order to help the group learn and grow.

Recently, in one of my Mastermind groups, we went over an exercise in which we outlined 20 reasons why we wanted something. For example, the topic that day was “20 reasons why you want to be rich,” but this exercise can apply to almost anything.

I saw a common pattern repeating itself among the group. One of the reasons that people in the Mastermind gave was that they wanted to be rich because they wanted to give back and provide others with opportunities. Giving back to the community was on almost everybody’s list.

Another reason that others gave for wanting to be rich was financial freedom. Not having to worry about meeting monthly financial obligations, where to eat, or health care costs were all at the top of everybody’s list as well.

What I found fascinating was how challenging it was for some to find 20 reasons why they wanted something. What I took away from the exercise was that if you can’t think of 20 reasons why you want to do something, you may not want it bad enough. It comes down to how bad you actually want to do something. This list of 20 reasons will help you determine whether it’s an actual life goal for you or simply something that you just think you want.

One of my mentors always asked, “How long will it take you to accomplish a certain something?” How long will it take you to become rich? How long will it take you to get fit? The answer to this depends on your level of commitment.

If you have any other questions about how to meet your goals or anything else related to real estate in Ventura County, give me a call or send me an email. I’d always be happy to help you!

I am here at my office, thinking about a conversation I had recently with one of our new agents, Rick. I can tell he is putting in a lot of work, but he hasn’t started producing the way he would like to just yet.

The truth is that it takes time to build up a real estate career. My mentor gave me this analogy. He said he went on a Disney Cruise and took a tour of the ship. When they got down to the boiler room, the tour guide explained the difference between how much fuel it takes to get a boat started vs how much it uses once it gets up to speed. 

The ship takes twice as much fuel to get started as it uses on the rest of the trip. I relayed that message back to Rick. In real estate, a lot of the work is put in up front to get things going. Once you get up to speed, you are in cruise control. In this business, getting started means gaining momentum and building your client list while learning all the ins and outs of the industry. Once you have done this, things become a lot easier. Putting long hours in now will reap rewards in the future for Rick.

If you have any questions for me about getting your real estate career up to speed, give me a call or send me an email. I would love to hear from you.

Welcome back to The Jose Luiz Morales Show, a program dedicated to providing value to you in your business career and helping you with your personal development. Today I’m joined by Fernando Garcia, an expert real estate investor and house flipper. 

Fernando has 19 years of experience in the real estate industry. When the market took a dive, Fernando switched his focus from helping others buy and sell real estate to investing in and flipping houses. 

Today, he’ll go over a few tips on how to get started with the world of real estate investments, what kind of properties to look out for, financing your investments, and much, much more.

Tune into the video above to learn everything you need to know about investing in real estate and flipping houses.

If you have any additional questions for Fernando, you can reach him on his cell phone at 818-652-1223. As always, if you have any questions for me, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I would be happy to help you!

I get a lot of requests for rental properties, but I unfortunately don’t often deal with those. However, I wanted to help you out and steer you in the right direction when it comes to finding rental properties. 

When you ask me for a rental, I’m going to provide you with a link which will take you to a public access use of the MLS. 

Once you’re on that page, go to the property type tab and select “Rental.” From there, you can search by city, for example Oxnard, and the number on the right of the page will tell you how many rental properties there are in Oxnard.

At any point you can click “View Results,” but there are other filters you can use to search as well such as bedrooms, bathrooms, approximate square feet, lot size, and other filters you will see in the list under “Property Type.”

You can look at what’s available in multiple cities at once, as well. Just select the cities you want to see properties in and the MLS page will load your criteria and show you those properties. 

Once you click “View Results,” it will bring you to a page that will show you properties that meet all of the criteria you entered on the previous page. Not only can you see pictures of these properties, but if you go to the detail tab on the top right of your screen, you’ll be able to see who is representing that property so you know who to contact. 

Once you find a property, you can find the agent in charge of that property, Google them, and get all their information to contact them directly. 

You can edit your search at any time, as well. This comes in handy if you decide you need more or less bedrooms or more or less square feet, for example. 

If you need a rental, I’ll be happy to give you the link so you can do a search and contact the agents representing the rental properties you are interested in. Also, if you are ever looking to sell a home or know anyone who is, please feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I would be more than happy to help! 

Welcome back to The Jose Luiz Morales Show, a program dedicated to provide value to you in your business career and help you with your personal development. Today I’m joined by Rosalinda Torres of The Credit Store to talk about all things credit. Check out the timestamps below so you can jump to the content that you want to see.

Timestamps

0:30 Introducing Rosalinda Torres of The Credit Store

1:00 Rosa discusses the basics of credit and how it relates to home buying

5:30 The basics of credit reports and what you need to really pay attention to

10:00 How your credit score is calculated

15:00 Some advice for those with low credit or those who want to improve their score

23:30 The difference between secured and unsecured credit cards

29:30 Why it's never too late for you to fix your credit

33:00 The benefits of working with Rosa and The Credit Store

Thanks to Rosalinda for joining us. If you have any questions for her, give her a call for a free consultation at (805) 760-5750. If you have any other questions for me, don't hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you.