Been trying to get an answer from the banks for weeks or months on whether or not your short sale has been approved?

Are you a buyer trying to buy a short sale? Or a seller desperately waiting for that "yes" or "no" that will make all the difference?

Maybe you're an agent tearing your hair out over the hours you spend on hold with banks.

There's help at hand, finally! No matter where you live in Virginia, there's information here for you.

http://hasmyshortsalebeenapprovedyet.com

This site will get you the straight scoop on whether or not your short sale has been approved in seconds.

I just got back from a class on short sales. Things keep changing and you have to try to keep up with the latest trends.

Here's the biggest take away as far as recent changes to the short sale process go.

Banks are much less inclined to forgive the debt on a short sale. This is particularly true of the second mortgage holder. And, they're willing to hold the deal hostage at the last minute in order to get their pound of flesh.

It brings up the question of whether a short sale, deed in lieu of foreclosure or foreclosure is better for the homeowner. And, I'm going to tell you that if you're a seller wondering that you shouldn't be asking me.

If you're not talking to an attorney who can protect your interests, with this much money at stake, I think you're making a mistake.

A couple of years ago, most debt was wiped out completely on a short sale. So, if you got one done then, be very, very glad!

The other take away is how difficult these things still are. I've seen press reports that they're getting easier, banks are getting more reasonable or smarter or more efficient. Don't believe it!

On a short sale, if you go from contract to settlement in anything less than 120 days, consider yourself lucky!

If you're a buyer you're going to have to weigh your ability to wait that long against the incredible deals that are available on short sales. The truth is that most buyers are deciding short sales won't work for them. That makes the deals better for those few willing to endure the pain of the process.

There's a new roadblock on the way to getting to settlement these days.

The number of people refinancing has skyrocketed. And, as a result banks and some of the people they rely on are overwhelmed. Appraisers are overbooked. Lenders are pushing out settlement dates to be sure they can get everything through underwriting.

There are still settlements happening in 30 days, but it's getting a lot tougher.

Interest rates won't stay at this rate forever. In fact, interest rates in the mortgage markets will jump before a lot of other interest rates do. Mortgage interest rates are very sensitive to inflation worries. With all the money being pumped into the economy, I suspect this is a pretty small window of opportunity before rates start to move back up.

But for right now, if you're buying a house talk to your lender about whether 30 days is doable. And, if you're a seller, don't be surprised to see delays on the way to settlement.

I'm in love with these new signs being used by my friend, Jim Duncan with Nest Realty in Charlottesville.

He wonders in his blog post about how long it will be until they're copied. I don't know the answer in Charlottesville, but I hope it won't be long before I'll be copying him here!

If you were selling, how appealing would this be to you?

If you are a potential buyer, how helpful would such signs be to you?

Final February numbers became available today. There are no startling changes to current trends. Inventory continues to decline. Sales continue to look pretty strong.

Culpeper's absorption rate indicates that current inventory would be entirely absorbed in just under 13 months. That's the best that number's looked in a very long time.  In fact, for the first time in several years Culpeper's absorption rate is higher than Fauquier County's rate. Fauquier County's absorption rate shows it would take almost 16 months to get rid of current inventory. Prince William County stays at an astonishingly low 5 months. And, Rappahannock continues to move along at its own pace!

The biggest surprise to me in this month's data is that we did not see the big jump in new listings that I expected we'd see. Typically this is when you see sellers trying to get a jump on the spring market and inventory starts to climb. And we did see small increases in the number of new listings in a couple of counties. But they were very small increases and sales increased enough that there was no impact to overall inventory.

Sometimes what I see on a particular day is more striking than numbers. Today I was out showing properties in Prince William County. I showed four properties. The first one had already gotten one offer in today. At another property we were greeted by an agent and her clients who informed us that the bank had already accepted their offer. At the third a property that had just gone on the market this week already had cards from 21 agents that had shown it. And, our showing was interrupted by another couple right behind us.

The only property of the four that didn't appear to be overrun with potential buyers was one that clearly had water issues and possibly even foundation issues in the basement.

If you're looking at properties in Prince William County that are under $350K we're back to multiple offers, bidding wars and potential buyers tripping over each other in houses.

Overall, the market seems healthier and I'm pretty optimistic that the number of sales overall will be substantially above 2008. I still don't anticipate a big jump in prices. However, prices in Prince William are likely to increase this year if current trends continue.

Sellers have reason for optimism. Buyers still have a great market, but there's definitely a sense of urgency if you're buying in Prince William County.

After hearing some examples around the country of other real estate professionals pitching in to help some distressed sellers, I've been moved to do the same. I won't make a huge difference in our local real estate market. But perhaps I can make a huge difference in the life of a few local families.

So, effective immediately I'm going to be taking on one pro bono client each quarter. This will be a seller, someone with their back up against the wall. While I can waive my fee, I can't do the same for the cooperating broker. So this is not a transaction with no commission. But I'll waive my half.

If you know someone who's stuck, who feels hopeless, have them get in touch with me. This offer will only apply to owner-occupied properties, not investment homes. And, unfortunately, I'll have to limit it to one per quarter as I still need to make a living!

But I look forward to the opportunity to help!

Thanks to Lenn Harley at Homefinders.com for bringing this to my attention.

For those homeowners with a VA loan who find that they owe more than what they can sell the home for, the VA has what's called a Compromise Sale.

From their web site:

If the borrower is unable to sell the property for an amount that is greater than or equal to what he/she owes on the loan, including closing costs, VA may pay a “compromise claim” for the difference in order to allow the private sale to go through. The borrower can sell the property to a buyer who gets his/her own financing or to a buyer who wants to assume the loan. However, with a compromise assumption, the lender does have to agree to have the amount of its guaranty reduced by the amount of the claim payment.

 This program does not automatically relieve the borrower of all obligation for the shortfall. However, they may be able to wrap the deficiency, closing cost assistance for the buyer and the real estate commission into a loan at a very favorable interest rate.

There are detailed instructions for both the homeowner and the real estate agent on the web site. It may not be the perfect solution, but it'll be the help some families need in order to move on.

This is another in a continuing, occasional series on how to choose a real estate agent.

Previous posts have focused on more concrete, measurable things. But I think the softer side of this equation also merits some focus.

Perhaps one of the most important elements in choosing a real estate agent is to get one with whom you feel comfortable. You need to "click". The process of buying or selling a home is stressful, even under the best of conditions. And, heaven knows our current market, even if you're buying, can be tough. You want that interaction to be as comfortable as possible.

I know that "comfortable" is going to strike many of you as too soft and mushy. So, let me see if I can help you with a little better definition.

You want someone you can communicate with directly and honestly. You don't want to worry about hurting their feelings. You don't want to worry that they'll dismiss your fears and worries without listening. This stuff is important and you need to be able to talk openly what you're worrying about, where you have misgivings. If things things stay bottled up you can make a mistake because you didn't ask the right question. And, all those unsaid things can definitely poison a relationship!

There are people out there who take stress in, amplify it, and pass it on to everyone they meet. Then there are others who are good at taking the stress, absorbing it and killing it. They pass along their calm to those they come into contact with. You definitely want the latter as your real estate agent. When the little road bumps occur you don't need someone telling you the sky is falling!

Comfortable also means you have a good fit in terms of communication styles. If you love e-mail and hate the phone make sure your agent feels the same way. (Or at least is willing to modify her style for you!)  And, if you want long, chatty phone conversations and all you ever get are e-mails, there's probably a communications mis-match. It's a good idea to indicate early in a relationship how you like to communicate and making sure that works for everyone.

The soft stuff really does matter. Pay attention to this and the rest of the real estate experience will be much better!

It can be difficult to figure out what the market is doing in Rappahannock. With 2-3 sales a month, most months, it's difficult to discern trends. And, given the enormous price ranges found in properties in the county, any snapshot is sure to lead to incorrect conclusions.

But I've had a couple of conversations this week with property owners in Rappahannock County that had me wondering about pricing overall. In several instances property owners said they knew their properties were overpriced but they had no intention of lowering the price. They said they weren't "desperate" and could wait out any temporary market downturn.

And, of course, they're no doubt correct. While most homes are both a home and an asset for most families. There are a lot of property owners in Rappahannock for whom the property is more heavily weighted towards asset. It's easier to wait this out if you don't have to sell your property here in order to move on somewhere else.

And, the dollar value of sales stayed relatively consistent this year. A total of almost $16 million sold in 2007. In 2008 that total was almost $14.5 million. What was down significantly were the number of transactions. There were 42 in 2007. It looks like we'll finish with about 30 total sales in 2008.

Meanwhile, inventory has risen pretty dramatically. There were 67 properties on the market at the end of 2007. Today there are about 98, an increase of about 30%. We hit a high at the end of October with 103 properties for sale.

Rappahannock took longer to feel the effects of this downturn. And, in a normal economy with a normal real estate slump, there may not have been much of an impact at all here. But the economic fiasco we find ourselves in nationally has not spared the residents of Rappahannock. There have been foreclosures here as well, with more likely to come. And there's an increasingly long list of people who really do want to sell their properties but can't (at least at their current price).

So, how long does the stalemate last? How long are sellers willing or able to wait for the market to recover. In the region overall I believe it could be 5-10 years before we see property values anywhere near what we saw, say, in 2005. Even if you're not "desperate" how long do you want to hold on?

2009 promises to be an interesting year in Rappahannock real estate! What do you think lies ahead?

There's a change coming.

The local REALTOR associations have negotiated new lockbox agreements with various suppliers.

If you're not familiar with what lockboxes are, it's what a real estate agent puts on your front door to allow other agents access for showing your home when it's for sale. There are a variety of these devices out there and, of course, they're completely incompatible.

For the last few years, all associations have used the same equipment. So, if I was based in Warrenton and had clients who wanted to see a home in Leesburg, there was no problem showing them that house.

All that changes in the next few months. The association I belong to GPAAR (Greater Piedmont Area Association of REALTORS) has chosen one system. The Prince William Area association and the Northern Virginia area will be on the same system. The Dulles Area and Blue Ridge Area associations have gone in a different direction.

It's not that agents won't be able to show homes in both areas. They can buy both sets of equipment and still be able to show anything, anywhere. But in a tough market where every cost is scrutinized, not every agent can or will foot that bill.

And, so, on behalf of my fellow REALTORS, I apologize to you our clients. This is clearly a disservice to all of you. I believe we need to keep out clients in mind as we make decisions and clearly you all were not our primary focus here. In a market where it's already hard enough for the average seller to get a buyer to come and look at their home, we've just added another obstacle.

I'm not pointing fingers at anyone association or at any group of individuals. We all share the blame here and should have found a way to get this right.

So, a big "I'm Sorry" and a promise to my clients that I'll do everything I can do to protect you from this mess!

It's been a strange week.

I keep getting extreme gratitude from people for doing my job!

A woman thanked me for showing her a rental. The other agents she'd talked to hadn't wanted to show her what she wanted to see! And, she was unsure about renting vs. buying and they didn't want to have that conversation either, except to tell her it's a great time to buy.

I've gotten thanked repeatedly for returning phone calls and e-mails promptly.

I got thanked by a seller for letting him know I thought we should lower the price on his listing.

I got thanked by someone in our office for turning in paperwork properly filled out, in a timely fashion and in the right format.

In short, I'm being thanked repeatedly for just doing my job!

To which, I can only reply... thank you to all of my competition. Apparently you're all making me look good!

Robert Bruner, the Dean of Darden School of Business at UVA has a blog that I often find interesting. His latest entry is based on a quote by the famed investor Bernard Baruch "If you have made a mistake, cut your losses as quickly as possible."

He talks about the difficulties of doing that in the business world, specifically using the AOL/Time Warner merger as an example. But one of the points he makes about why it's so difficult seems applicable in real estate as well.

He talks about "sunk cost" thinking. In other words, a seller says "I bought this place for $400,000. I'm not selling it for less than that."

The problem becomes that if you really do need to sell there's no guarantee you can hold out long enough for prices to go back up, or even to stabilize. If you're a seller who's moved on and you're paying two mortgages, how long can you continue doing that?

If you refuse to lower the price or let an offer get away for $10,000 difference, what happens when it's still on the market six months from now and you've paid that much more out in mortgage payments and prices have continued to fall?

Sometimes, cutting your losses is the best advice, in business and in real estate!

More and more often these days I walk into a house and the first impression is.....

OMG! Phew! What is that awful smell?!

Now, to be fair, most of these homes are vacant. (Over 3/4 of the homes I show these days are vacant!) And, a closed up vacant house will always start to smell, over time.

Some of the smells I regularly encounter:

• Mildew
• Mold
• Pet urine
• Cigarette smoke
• Dead, rotting animals

There are plenty of others, many of them not easily identified.

If you're a homeowner, selling a vacant home, either you or your agent should be checking from time to time to see if the home has acquired any unfortunate odors.

Keep the air conditioning running! I know you're not living there and hate paying the bills, but, believe me, what you'll net in a better offer is more than you'll lose on paying those bills.

If there are some stubborn odors, take steps to remedy them. Get rid of drapes, have carpets professionally cleaned, consider getting an air purifier.

By the way, adding really smelly air fresheners is not the same as taking care of the problem!

Remember, the sense of smell is powerful and has a major influence on our emotions. No one falls in love with a stinky house! Even if they still buy it, the price went down the minute they opened the door and smelled the place!

If you're considering putting your house on the market, consider having a friend or neighbor give you an honest assessment of what they smell when they first walk in the house. This can be a delicate area so make sure they know they have your permission to be brutally honest!

And, if your agent tells you there's an odor problem that needs to be dealt with, don't waste any time in dealing with it. There's a house down the street that smells just fine and is also for sale!

The official June numbers have been released for this area of Virginia. Let's take a look, by county, at what they have to tell us.

First, Culpeper County. Compared to a year ago, inventory is down (732 now vs. 784 then). New contracts written have jumped (61 now vs. 47 then) and we see the same thing with solds (57 vs, 31). It's all good news! The only thing we see that isn't positive is that we're still adding new listings at a faster clip than I'd like. There were 130 new listings in June, compared to 113 a year ago. Still, when you look at year over year numbers, this is some of the best news we've seen in awhile.

Fauquier county presents a more mixed picture. The great news is Fauquier is inventory. A year ago we were looking at 865 homes on the market. Now we're down to 753. That's a 13% reduction in inventory. Good news! And the trend seems likely to continue. There were 128 new listings this month compared to 171 a year ago. The mixed part is the number of contracts and sales. There were 61 new contracts written this month compared to 65 a year ago. And 67 homes sold compared to 65 a year ago. Those aren't terrible numbers, but they're not telling as good a story as the other numbers.

Prince William County is where things are really hopping! This is the best news of any jurisidiction. And it follows the nationwide trend of this housing recovery happening closer to urban centers. Inventory is down from a year ago (5501 vs. 5703). But look at the contracts written and the number of solds! 987 new contracts were written in June. Compare that to last June when there were only 454. That's an increase of over 100%. And the solds tell a similar story. The numbers in June were 834 vs. 456 a year ago. The number of new listings is also decreasing 1448 now vs. 1539 in 2007. There's not a spec of bad news to be found in Prince William! Anecdotal evidence supports this. There are numerous examples of not only quick sales, but multiple offers on the most attractively priced properties.

Rappahannock remains in its own little world! Inventory is up from 79 to 85. New listings are almost identical to a year ago (17 now, 16 then). New contracts are down from 7 a year ago to 4 now.  Solds are exactly the same at 4. In other words things remain much the same in Rappahannock County.

This is the most positive report I've seen in a long time. There's no way to look at these numbers and not be optimistic.  I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that in Prince William County they may have seen the bottom. We won't know for sure until at least 6 months from now, but it's possible.

By the way, if you're a seller that doesn't mean you can raise your price! The properties priced CORRECTLY FOR THE MARKET are selling. There are still plenty of them sitting there!

I saw this article on Friday, but I hate to go into the weekend on a bad news note! So, I saved it for Monday! Just what you needed, right?!

There are still buyers out there. There will always be buyers out there!

The pool is small and you're going to have to knock yourself out to get them to your house. And, if they're not coming to your house, it's over priced!

And, this article from the New York Times will probably interest buyers and sellers. The numbers here are national. (Our local numbers are worse.) But I think the letter to sellers is a good idea. Sellers, given the inventory in Culpeper, Rappahannock, Fauquier and Warren counties, I don't think I'd try the letter to the buyer. They really do have all the cards right now!

One of the things I enjoy most about blogging is the interaction with readers. Whether it's your comments or your questions, I enjoy hearing what's on your mind. I thought I'd take a little time today to respond to some of what you've been saying.

Someone used the Meebo functionality on the right side of the page to chat with me about Fauquier County tax assessments. The question was has the county delayed the assessments so as not to take a revenue from the reduced values of area homes.

According to the County Commissioner of Revenue's office, the assessments have been done every four years, for at least the last 20 years. Prior to that assessments were done every six years. So it appears there's no change in policy at this time. The next assessments would be done in 2009 with the new rates to go into effect in 2010. The problem with that, of course, is that current values are no where near current assessments. There's a case to be made for appealing your current assessment.

"Sarah" recently reminded me that while the decline in home prices is bad for sellers, it's a great thing for buyers. That's very true. In every market there are winners and losers.

To be honest, I probably feel the sellers pain now more than I felt the buyers pain when they were desperately trying to buy a house and were one of 20 offers (or more)! The truth is I wasn't worried about them being thrown out on the street. I did worry that some of them were taking out mortgages that weren't in their best interest, but I was usually told that they knew what they were doing. These days, some of the sellers I work with are in very serious difficulty and I do worry about them!

So, if as a potential buyer you don't feel I'm sufficiently celebrating your ability to buy a house at a more affordable price, never fear! Prices actually still need to come down more. I'll do a post next week on affordability in our area. But I rejoice for every buyer who gets a great deal on the home they want!

And for my fellow agents who read this and keep me honest, thanks!

Keep those comments coming!

People talk to me all the time about real estate. Obviously customer and clients do that. But people who barely know me but know I'm an agent also do that. That's a good thing! I like hearing what's on people's minds and how they're seeing the current market.

Lately I've been hearing some things that don't quite ring true. So I thought I'd set the record straight.

First of all there's the current chart topper "I know that a bank will take any offer just to get rid of a foreclosure." It's a lovely thought, but just not true. In fact, there is quite a range of policy on this among the various lenders. While, in theory, no bank wants to hold a property a day longer than they have to, each lender has its own policy as to what's an acceptable offer. That may be a percentage below the listing price or it may be based on a percentage loss they are willing to absorb. It may be a combination of factors, including how long the property has been on the market.

Unfortunately, no one hard and fast rule covers this. But be assured, I've seen banks reject lowball offers, even perfectly reasonable ones!

Here's what sellers tell me a lot these days. "I know you're probably right about the price, but I just want to try it at this higher price for a little while."

Here's the problem. Prices are declining. So, while you're sitting on an overpriced listing that no one comes to see, prices have gone down further. Now, just to catch up to the market, you need to come down further in price than where I originally suggested. All you've done is reduce your likely profit.

And, of course, real estate agents have their own misconceptions. The one you'll hear most often these days is "It's a great time to buy a house." One agent last week told me he's never stopped saying that! I'm guessing his clients who listened to him a year or two ago may not be thanking him now!

It's a great time to buy a house if you're likely to stay in it at least five years. Given current market conditions and where I think we're going, I still won't guarantee anybody will make money in five years. But I think, if you include the tax advantages, you have an excellent chance of breaking even or even a little better.

If you're likely to get transferred in a year or two, it is clearly not a good time to buy! If you're looking to flip a house for a quick profit it is definitely a very bad time to buy! If you're looking for a long term investment, say a rental income property, it's a very good time to buy.

And, as always, what you buy and where you buy make a huge difference!