Life In Bonita Springs

The Only Thing Short About a Short Sale is a Buyers Attention Span

Not everyone that has to sell a home short was an over extended investor with a liar loan. Real life happens in spite of housing values or the economy and some folk have to or need to sell.

My heart just breaks for some of the home owners that are trying to sell their home short. It’s bad enough that they’re in a financial pickle but they then have to get on a roller coaster ride of emotions dealing with their lender, a volatile real estate market and the potential buyers who make offers to purchase their home.

Most buyers that call to begin a real estate search immediately say they want a great deal and they’ll even look at foreclosures and short sales. It’s a great idea if they’re really able to wrap their mind around the concept and fully commit to being patient. Unfortunately, the idea of patience for a good portion of the buyers that get involved with short sales is more like the patience it takes to sit in the dentist’s waiting room instead of the patience it takes to carry a child through pregnancy.

Ask any agent that is involved in a short sale and they’ll tell you about the revolving buyers that make it a few months into the process only to wake up on a random Wednesday morning and ask to get out of the deal. No matter how patient that buyer declared he could be the glow of waiting wore off.

Intrigued by a buyer that bailed on a short sale a while back I decided to do some social network snooping just to see what was said or not said online about the offer to purchase. The buyer was a dramatic person to begin with so it wasn’t totally shocking to all involved when he called a few weeks into the wait with some cockamamie story to get out of the transaction.

I scrolled back months through chit chat online to the date the offer was written. To my surprise this buyer between the date that he shared with the world, “Yeah! We have a house!” and then whined “Why does it take so long to buy a house!!??” was eight excruciating, agonizingly long days. Oh the humanity!

Everyone wants the goose that lays golden eggs and they want it right now. I am just a little surprised that someone expected their goose to lay eggs on microwave speed and could only make it eight days before they felt they had waited long enough. I wonder if he got the hives from the emotional distress of the ordeal, too.

Other than negotiating with the lender, this is probably one of the biggest unseen obstacles a seller of a short sale will probably have to deal with; American buyers living with the 2.0 mentality that expect immediate results with the least amount of discomfort or work and a glittery bow on top.

Who wouldn’t want the condensed version of the short sale? One that has eight months of struggle boiled down to eight episodes broadcast over eight weeks just like the Real World series on MTV. Yeah, we all know that’s exactly how real life is so why wouldn’t short sales be that way, too?

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Real Life in Bonita Springs is a project by Chris Griffith dedicated to writing useful blog posts for consumers about the Bonita Springs, Florida area.  Find out what it is really like to live in Bonita Springs, Florida by reading about our fair city. You’ll get the latest in local real estate information, Bonita Springs real estate market reports and a little bit of humor.  If you have topic ideas, feel free to request a story about the idea, after all, this site is just for you.

You can subscribe to a weekly email newsletter by visiting www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com and entering your email in the subscription area on the left pane of the web page or by adding us to your reader by subscribing to this blog. Oh, and if you’re reading this content anywhere else but www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com or Naples Daily News it is probably stolen.

Save the Dates: Boat Parade & Taste of Bonita

Update:  You can find Taste of Bonita 2009 Times and Location Map Here:

Taste of Bonita This Sunday November 15, 2009

The web stats are showing a lot of folks looking for Boat Parade and Taste of Bonita dates, already. I imagine that our northern visits are trying to time their return so they don’t miss the two best events the fall offers in Bonita Springs, Florida.

I’ve written about the Boat Parade and Taste of Bonita Food Festival a few times in the past.  My Rotary Club, Bonita Springs Rotary Noon is actually the organization that chairs those two events.

Here’s what I want you to know about Taste of Bonita and The Boat Parade, they’re fantastic community events that thousands of people attend.  It brings the community together and raises money for charities that support the community.  The members of Rotary are local residents, business folks and retirees that consistently give to the community to put on great events like these and also help those in need.  They do it at no cost to the organization or the local government.

If you have a chance to sponsor an event by contributing to advertising, buying a raffle ticket or just attending the event and supporting it, please do so.  It only works because we’re all working together.

• Taste of Bonita 2009 is November 15th, 2009. The list of restaurant vendors is to follow soon.
• The Bonita Springs boat parade is December 12, 2009.

If you would like to know more or even help by sponsoring during these tough times just email Chris@BonitaSpringsAgent.com and I will have a chair member contact you. 

Don’t forget Bonita Springs Rotary Noon is selling raffle tickets for great prizes at Taste of Bonita.  Don’t make me bat my eyes at you and guilt you into buying one. 

Are You Looking at Me?

The sun was going down and I was rushing so I didn’t realize the depth of field of my little friends.  It at least gives you the chance to see those baby birdie feathers up close. 

The baby doves were spotted first thing this morning in a driveway, very close to the street.  They had fallen from their nest, or pushed. I don’t exactly know the protocol for birds flying the coop. 

The nest was close to a home.  Dove nests aren’t exactly engineered.  Dove nests aren’t really nest shaped but more raft shaped. I’m wondering if they were just too big and either fell or jumped.  They almost have feathers.  Not wanting to mess with nature we let them be.  The mother was nearby.  The father was off at a bar with his buddy’s playing pool and darts.

It later rained and one of the birds was in the buddle up to his head.  I took a long leaf and circled his body and put him in the grass with his brother.  I didn’t touch him, the leaf did.

The birds had an all day travel from the end of the driveway back to the bushes by the house.  It was a long trip and took several hours.  As night fell they were only a few feet from some juniper bushes.

We guarded them all day with an orange traffic cone.  Every hour we moved it along side of them to make sure lawn service, cars or even someone walking in the grass around the house didn’t step on them.  

This bird is saying, “Orange cones scare the crap out of me.  Thanks for helping, lady.”

Interest Rates Trotted Down Under 5%

The Mortgage Loan Interest Rates Report for Bonita Springs, Florida. Rates as of August 17, 2009.

Holy 4.875% Rates, Batman!!!  Yes, it is in the 4% range again.  How many times are you going to flirt with this before you decide now is the time.

Hazards Around The Florida Home

Snails, they’re more cute than creepy.  The snails come out during the rainy season in SW Florida.  Our rainy season is late this year.  We just got our first storm in the Atlantic. 

Anyhow, when it rains, the snails come out.  I don’t think they really damage anything.

Unless you consider what happens if you run outside to walk the dog in the middle of the night, with bare feet, in the dark.  They usually leave shrapnel in the soles of bare feet.

This snail is safe from my soles.  He is on the wall of my front entry and not in the driveway or on the walk.

  He’s kind of cute. I can’t imagine why anyone would be dipping one of them in garlic butter.  Hmmm.  Only the French!  [Hi Pierre]

Nothing to see here, folks … move along … slowly.

This is a little ditty about how the real estate market really is.  Many buyers of real estate worry that because the market is moving so swiftly they won’t get a great deal.  The fact of the matter is that there are many troubled properties out there that will eventually make it to the real estate market due to their mortgage structure.

I felt you were big boys and girls and could take this news.  While I do like to report the good news, there are also some facts out there that need to be shared.

What’s that old saying?  You can polish a pile o’ crap to a brilliant shine but it’s still a pile o’ crap. 

I did not polish this report on troubled assets.

Conventional, Cash and FHA Financing Statistics

Wondering how things get paid for in the Bonita Springs and Estero Florida real estate market?  These are the number for July 2009 taken from the Sunshine MLS.  This is the closed real estate sales only during that month.  Cash is king, followed by conventional mortgages and a little bit of FHA mortgages.

If you’re wondering how many of these are bank owned foreclosures, short sales or conventional sales read also:

Bank Owned, Short Sale & Regular Real Estate Statistics

LBD Was Missing Home Here

This mailbox photo was taken in St. Louis, Missouri.  LBD wasn’t having any of whatever was happening here.  Little did LBD know that we’d be leaving the next day, driving straight through to Bonita Springs, Florida and that his mom would spend the next 5 days digging herself out from under the pile of work that happened in our absence.  I asked him to help but he’s such a slacker.

We were in Missouri for this:

Three Drill Sergeants, Elvis & a Cracked Windshield

The real story is that LBD was lazy and gave me grief when I asked for help with the buyers that wanted to buy a foreclosure in Bella Terra in Estero, Florida.  Those buyers went on to buy something on their own (more likely with another real estate agent) after we had previewed properties, taken photos, done research, contacted banks, REO agents and prepared paperwork.  He thinks real estate agent are suckers for doing work for free until close of sale and expecting buyers to have integrity, honor and a conscience to be trusted on their word.  LBD is right; maybe all buyers should sign buyer broker agreements because maybe “buyers *are* liars fibbers”.

LBD wonders when the last time a buyer stole time, energy and money from an agent by buying something else that it ever occurred to them that *they* probably don’t work for free until their job is done.  The job of a real estate agent isn’t a public service, underwritten by the government or part of a stimulus package.  Real estate buyers, while they’re on their job, probably don’t cancel other appointments, kill time, energy, gas, money, lose time with their family, their church or their parents and then offer their professional, experienced opinion and loyalty for free at their jobs and then not get paid. 

That doesn’t sound fair, does it?

Ever see that bumper sticker, “Mean People Suck?”  Maybe it’s true.  Maybe there should also be bumper stickers about people who aren’t respectful or loyal or pay for what they use. 

The fact of the matter is that most real estate agents work for free until the person they are working for either buys or sells their home.  It’s not simply not fair to use their services, time and finances if you’re not going to be loyal to them. 

Personally, I don’t know how someone can manage the bad Karma for being such a dirty birdie.  Neither can LBD.  He’s all about Eastern medicine, yoga, Karma and keeping his Chi straight. 

If ever a dog was a “grasshopper” this would be the one. 

The Second Run of Investors

“But I thought it was a buyer’s market” … That’s what the last buyer said to me that had put in a half dozen offers on homes and lost the contract on every single bid. It is, in fact, a buyers market but there are also a lot of buyers out there, especially in the $400,000 and under market. The $400,000 and under market accounts for about seventy eight percent of the closed sales during the month of July.

Here’s an interesting bit of information, about sixty percent of those sold properties were paid for with cash compared to about thirty one percent five years ago. The investors are back and it looks like they’re taking a second run at the real estate market.

While it’s important that there are investors in the market to help absorb inventory it’s also a hindrance to the first time home buyers that must rely on getting a mortgage to finance their home.

Banks that are selling foreclosures, just like any other home seller, have the right to choose the best price and most favorable terms to make sure they get their real estate sold. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that when a lender has more than one offer from which to choose that they just might choose the cash offer over an offer that has a financing contingency.

If you’re in the first time home buyer market and you’re experiencing difficulty getting an offer accepted it might be helpful to know that of the foreclosures and short sales that are closing sale about sixty five percent of them are cash transactions. Right now cash is king and many banks accept cash contracts over offers with financing even if it means taking a lower price.

What’s more, if you’re trying to finance with an FHA loan, most foreclosures do not meet the strict guidelines. If you’ve been actively looking for homes you’ve probably seen some pretty sketchy places. Your agent may not know that when an FHA loan is involved normally the home requires a working kitchen with a stove and working kitchen sink, no termites, no broken windows, no structural defects such as foundation cracks, plus more.

The government is willing to back your mortgage but they won’t do it if the home is a hazard or considered uninhabitable. Since most of the homes that go into foreclosure are beat up and stripped out they’re not remotely close to meeting a good portion of the FHA guidelines.

If you are dealing with foreclosures or the homes that fit your budget are mostly foreclosures, you might want to look into a different type of loan.

You should also keep in mind that bank owned properties are often priced well or even drama priced to get attention and bring in multiple offers. Full price offers don’t cut it if the home is priced below market value and the keen buyers who have done their homework bid what the home is worth, not the price it’s listed at.

Many buyers do research to make sure they aren’t over paying but forget that in a competitive market the property could be underpriced and will sell for more than list price.

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Real Life in Bonita Springs is a project by Chris Griffith dedicated to writing useful blog posts for consumers about the Bonita Springs, Florida area.  Find out what it is really like to live in Bonita Springs, Florida by reading about our fair city. You’ll get the latest in local real estate information, Bonita Springs real estate market reports and a little bit of humor.  If you have topic ideas, feel free to request a story about the idea, after all, this site is just for you.

You can subscribe to a weekly email newsletter by visiting www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com and entering your email in the subscription area on the left pane of the web page or by adding us to your reader by subscribing to this blog. Oh, and if you’re reading this content anywhere else but www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com or Naples Daily News it is probably stolen.

Locals or Tourists at Bonita Beach?

Shamefully, I’ll admit I don’t get to the beach as much as I should. Since I live here I take Bonita Beach for granted and go once in a while or when I have visitors.  This week I had visitors.  I showed them the best sushi dinner in town and then took them to the beach to catch the fragment of light remaining.  We had missed the sunset.

There were a couple of folks out at the beach enjoying the perfect weather.  The rain didn’t come on this day.  Later in the evening we had our thunder and lightening but no rain. 

Florida has a way a making weather that keeps the mortals in check.  The guests jumped and shrieked at the first crack and boom.  The rest of us didn’t hear it because we’re use to it.  It’s just a little racquet. 

I guess we’re just taking the sounds and the beach for granted.