let me premise this by saying I have in no way anything against people that rent out there property. This is in reference to those who don’t take care of the properties that they rent out and the people who claim to help you when they don’t.  This is the Sad situation at the time the market was getting ready to plummet I encouraged my husband to try and refinance our house so that we would not get into the ARM issue.

Well after making many phone calls we found out that both of our credit scores had plummeted due to the purchase of our house in the first place.  The oh you can refinance in 6 months was yet another lie.  We were unable to refinance because we could not get approved.  So reluctantly we had to sale our house.  Now we had an agent that stated she would help us out.  She stated that she would indeed buy our house with a condition. What was the condition?  We stay in the house and pay her rent and buy the house back.  WONDERFUL you say yes if she had done what she said she was going to do.   We paid her rent for almost a year.  When we started thinking we should be able to buy the house back now.  Well, turns out we couldn’t get approved at the price the house was now being appraised.  So, thinking apart of our rent was going toward a closing we received a letter months later stating that we were behind 3 months and on the verge of foreclosure.  Wow, was our reaction.  So we wanted to know where was the money going if it wasn’t going to the mortgage?  She claimed that because we paid her on the 2nd of the month that she incurred late charges which put her behind.  When we asked for proof of that because we had been paying her way before the 1st of every month how could this be?  So, placed in a panic we started looking for a place to live for months we were unable to find a place and the inquiries were killing our credit.  So, we received a tip of a house that was in need of some tenants without a serious credit check ( should have been a first clue).  We saw the place and it was not the best but it was duable considering the owner(landlord) stated he was going to repair alot of the things that were wrong with the house, including filling up the swamp looking pool in the back yard.  I stressed that we had a toddler and that this was very important so that the pool needed to be a priority.  He agreed and we signed the lease.

Fast forward several months later,  after Veterans Day we never saw this man again.  He fixed a couple of things however, after that every month something broke down including communication.  We were sending our rent checks but he wasn’t cashing them.  At one point I had three months rent in my bank account.  When we finally caught up with him to ask him why hadn’t he cashed the check he said He never received them.  WHAT!!!!!????  Why hadn’t he called to find out why we hadn’t paid him.  So, we resent him a check to see if he would receive it cause we were very leary about sending a cashier’s check if he wasn’t receiving them. We sent it certified and miracuolusly he received it, and yet the money remained in our account for another month.  We received a notice from the sheriff to vacate the premises!  We were like what happened?  So, the block captain of our street state that they had done this before whenever they want to get someone out to put one of their people in they will build a case against the person and then have them evicted.  So, we went to court to have the rent placed in escrow however, they didn’t show up in court and we could not have the rent placed in escrow because we were “not current” So considering he never did fill up the pool or any other of the things that didn’t work, we started looking for a place only this time we decided to buy. (for more details see Short sale not a Sale).

Powerpoints

When renting investigate your landlord best you can. Interview the neighbors how long have they known the property owner.

Is this a decent neighborhood? does it have a high turnover rate?

Have a contract of your own read the lease carefully this landlord had us paying for everything hence if we have to pay for everything we might as well own it.

Make sure that the house is in livable and good condition.  My children had a big back yard that they could not utilize because of the swamp in the backyard.  If there was anything or anybody in that pool we never knew.

Whomever invented this term lied! there is no easy way to say that, they just lied.  It is a nightmare not only for the seller but for the buyer.  As a Real Estate agent it is definitely working for your money.  For the past year we have seen the economy drop considerably in the housing market.  Remember when you had to give your left arm and promise your first born child to get an offer excepted because they had so many of them to choose from? Well things are different now.  You have too many people thinking they are back in that time so the property sits and it sits and it sits until you have someone interested.  Then as a seller you can decide do I take the chance of someone giving me a better offer or take this offer because it is right here and right now.  The smart thing to do is if it is not a harrowing amount like 50-100K less or something ridiculous like that then Jump on that offer.  It is likely that you may or may not get a better offer.  If you want to hold out and see.  Then I tell you that you do it at your own risk.  It turns into a gamble at that point.  If you have all the time in the world and your not in danger of losing the property then have at it, hold out for as much as you can possibly get.  Chances are though you may not.

If your dealing with a short sale. Odds are that you maybe because of how the market is right now.  Here is a secret,  you better know your stuff inside and out. Because the banks are not playing.  Again, whomever said that banks are trying to get rid of the houses because of cost.  LIE that is another LIE I know because I just went through the process and the bank was not very nice.  I will give you three reasons why I went ahead and bought the house, I will then give you five reasons why I will never deal with another short sale ever again. 

Reasons for me buying the house:

1. I was living in a very stressful enviornment (that’s another blog for further detail see the Landlords from HELL).

2. The house was in a decent neighborhood where I wanted to be and my children actually like the schools.

3. I had already spent an enormous amount of money trying to get my credit issues squared away.

Reasons why I will NEVER, that’s Right NEVER deal with a short sale again.

1. As a Realtor buying for myself,  I was denied a commission(understandable however that was not the point).

2.  The bank wanted to make sure that as a buyer I wasn’t going to have ANY equity in my house.

3.  I was truly at the mercy of the bank and that was not a pleasant place to be. 

4. The bank tried to squeeze the sellers out of everything they owned.  The Sellers ended up paying out of pocket thousands and thousands of dollars because the bank was not satisfied with the amount that the house was being sold.

5. It was the most stressful event that I have ever had to go through. 

Buying a House should not be this stressful,  it should be the most rewarding and exciting purchase a person can ever make.  A house says alot about you and your personality. This ordeal started in July and ended in October(due the math). 

My suggestion when looking for a house make sure it is NOT a short sale.  If you can not go around it being a short sale talk to the listing agent every day and make sure that they are speaking to the bank.  I had a great listing agent the sellers were blessed to have her as their agent and for me she was a gem she fought for not only her clients but she fought for us as buyers and she didn’t have to do that.  She did her duediligents all around the board and for that I am grateful for her and I told her she now has a new friend.  Anyone who goes out for you like that and doesn’t have too is worthy of me calling them a friend. So, from the time the contract was ratified to the time we sat down at settle ment was 5 months and I was the third or fourth person to try and buy the house.  The bank has the right to counter, accept or flat out reject an offer and that bank took the liberty of using those rights.

My powerpoints in this are:

Make sure you, yourself have an on point Agent.  Therefore they know how to deal with a listing agent.  Not all Listing Agents are as good or patient or thorough as the listing agent I came across.

Try to stay away from a short sale if you are unsure of what the time line will be regarding the banks.  A short sale can go anywhere from 30 days to 6 months so if you are in a hurry stay away from them.

If you see a ridiculously low priced house ask your agent to do the comparisons in that neighborhood and take a look at the house it might have mold.( more on mold see Enter at your own Risk)

Other then that Happy house hunting.

This is the first of many blogs why? Because I am the Go2Gurl and that is my job.  To experience good or bad so that I can help others.  My calling is to be a counselor and a helper, Therefore I go through and have gone through quite a bit in order to help someone else get through.  Let’s start by I am a mother of 5 wife of 1 for the second time. I have a blended family which means yes I am a *stepmother* not a wicked one but I am one. I have been through so much as a  single mother, stepmother, and yes a second wife, that I can empathize with almost any female.  I have started many business and experienced many different genres of work so guess what you may get help for starting your own business to what you shouldn’t and should buy.  Are you ready to entire my Networking world of the Go 2 Gurl?