Are you thinking of selling?  You may have no idea how much your home is worth at this moment in time.  Only a Real Estate Appraiser can give you a pin-point accurate value of your home, but the next best thing is to get a Broker's Price Opinion.  This is an opinion of value from a Realtor who will use comparative sold and active listings to estimate what your home could sell for in today's market.

Lenders use Broker's for BPOs (Broker Price Opinion) for several instances, including determinin...
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Banks, you would think, have had enough time to figure out how to staff up their short sales divisions to make a transaction go through faster and smoother.  This is not the case.

Buyers and Sellers are still waiting an inordinate amount of time to get the OK to even start their transaction.  The banks still have to find the file underneath the other files when you call.  They are still losing paperwork and you have to send the 50-75 pages via fax again and again. 

You call and speak to someon...
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No, they are are not going away - short sales, that is.  I can remember when the term short sale was not generally known to the public.  It was misunderstood.  Some thought that it meant that the sale would be quick.  They were sadly mistaken.

Short sales, although lenders, banks, and asset management companies have boosted their staffs, are still taking a long time.  The first one that I was involved with took 9 months and more, and then the transaction didn't go through.  Why?  We had a buye...
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Now, in the MLS, you will find Realtors who are listing their homes for sale as "Standard Sale.":  This is different than before as now a regular sale is not as common as a Short Sale.

What is a Short Sale?  That is a term almost like selling short in the stock market.  Except you aren't betting on the market.  You are selling your home for less than you owe, and the bank is allowing this to happen.  There may be tax consequences, because that means that the bank "gave" you money, which you wi...
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Wachovia is making it easier for a homeowner to sell their home in a short sale.  If you are upside down or if your payment is going too high and you owe more than your home is worth, this is the time to take advantage of the situation.  Wachovia is being "user-firendly" and will give approval for a short sale in record time.

If you bought your home in the past 3 years, or have refinanced out of your compfort zone, you may be in luck.  You can sell in a short sale and buy a new piece of proper...
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