Real Estate: Short Sales The Silver Lining in this Stormy Market
It's 2010.
The Southwest Florida real estate market, including the Naples area, is still under a dark cloud of rising unemployment rates, falling prices, and won’t-budge-an-inch government programs like HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program) and HAFA (Home Affordable Fore- closure Alternative). Where’s the silver lining that we all hope is out there somewhere?
It’s called the short sale. For buyers, that means unbelievable deals can be found as more and more owners surrender to the economy. For sellers, it means escaping from the debilitating financial effects and emotional stigma of foreclosure. For lenders, it means recouping at least a portion of the mortgage owed on a property without having to go through the expense of foreclosing. For neighbors, it means less chance that a foreclosed-upon, unoccupied home will become an eye- sore in the neighborhood, adversely affecting their own home’s value.
Why has it taken so long for this silver lining to appear? The real es- tate market fell so far so fast that lenders were simply not staffed to handle the intricacies of short sales. Nor did they have time to build up the FDIC-required loan loss reserves necessary to sustain a large portfolio of short sales. The process itself took time to figure out.
Short sale transactions require a knowledgeable team of real estate professionals, and it took many in the industry a significant amount of time to rise to the challenge and learn all the ins and outs. So it’s imperative that if a short sale is in your near future, that you take the time to educate yourself on the process and benefits. Familiarize yourself by visiting online resource,
www.SolutionShortSales.org, a non-profit organization based in Fort Myers, that’s dedicated to pro- viding solutions for the current real estate woes through the use of short sales.
Median sales prices in Collier County are beginning to inch up, but not at a rate which would tempt lenders to hold on to properties “until the market improves”. In the market segment of Collier County homes and condos under $300,000, the median sales price for the second quarter of 2010 (ending June 2010) was $140,000, up from $127,000 for the same period in 2009. Scaling a little higher, in the $300,000 - $500,000 market segment, the median sales price held steady at $375,000. Homes and condos above $500,000 dipped approximately 3% lower than during the same period in 2009.*
Short sales are accounting for a slowly-increasing percentage of sales for 2010, as reported in the Sunshine MLS, growing from 15% in the first quarter to 19% of the sales closed so far in the 3rd quarter. The market is finally beginning to realize that short sales are in everyone’s best interest. Of the 6,195 properties available for sale as this issue of Pulse Magazine went to press, 250 (4%) were listed as foreclosures, 1,052 (17%) were listed as potential short sales, and 4,893 (79%) were considered retail sales.
Don’t let the economy rain on your parade. Seek out the silver lining of a short sale!
*Statistics are from the Second Quarter Report produced by the Naples Area Board of REALTORS® (NABOR) and can be found online
atwww.NaplesArea.com.
PULSE MAGAZINE ---------- 33
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