You read it right.  I am selling short sales like crazy..  To buyers and sellers.  I’m using a third party  a faciliator to get the transactions completed properly and in a timely matter.  The faciliator is someone who deals directly with the banks.  If there is one loan on the property it will cost $500 up front and $500 at the end.  If there is two loans on the property than it will cost $750 in the beginning and $750 at the end.  It’s a great way to get someone out of a bad situation considering our prices on homes have dropped to below prices that most people are upside down on their loans. 

Generally speaking, if you purchased a home in 05 for $300K that house today is more than likely worth around $135k  that’s what I call upside down. :(   Yet, there is hope.

With the sale of your home being a short sale vs. a foreclosure you will save your credit.  Of course you will take a ding but nothing like a foreclosure. 

I am advising my clients to buy and sell short sales.  There are wonderful homes out there that need rescue long with their owners.  Typically, the homes are in better shape than a foreclosure too.  They haven’t set vacant for months.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said that “people hate each other because they fear each other, they fear each other because they do not know each other. They do not know each other because they — are separated from each other.”  How many times have you expeienced this within your world of contacts and people who come into your life?

It is impossible to put a price tag on the damage housing discrimination does to the individual, the neighborhood, the city and the nation. The segregation of African Americans, Latinos and Asians is immediately apparent in every major city. This, along with segregation of people with disabilities, families with children or different religious groups, which is often less apparent, seriously impacts our nation and our ability to provide equal housing opportunities.

Housing remains a quality of life issue and the right to choose where we live is as important as the right to equal education, employment opportunity and the right to vote. Fair Housing historically has been the last civil right to be recognized and the most difficult to secure. When President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, fair housing was not included and protection from housing discrimination remained a dream. What did make the difference was the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the sight of smoke rising from the neighborhoods bordering on the Capitol of the United States of America, to end a filibuster on the Senate floor and bring about the enactment of the Fair Housing Law in 1968.

Fair housing continues  and will continue to be one of the most challenging problems facing the nation and it cannot be separated from the larger issues of justice and opportunity, unless people start to regonize it more and start doing something about it. President Bill Clinton in announcing his new Race Initiative challenged Americans to realize that the “divide of race has been America’s constant curse”, and that “the struggle to overcome it has been a defining part of our history.” The President has called for “One America” where people are able to live and work together. Thank goodness there maybe more positive actions and people become more active in this situation.

For over the past 20 years or so, REALTORS® have actively pursued the achievement of fair housing through a Voluntary Affirmative Marketing Agreement  with HUD.