The “short sale” begins when the seller has trouble of making mortgage payments and the potential sale price is less than the mortgage amount. The seller or their agent approaches the lender asking if the banks or lenders are willing to settle for less if and when a purchase contract is signed. There are good tips for sellers.

1. Select an experienced agents have done short sales. It is not like the normal sale. The seller needs to understand that the bank is the REAL decision maker. If gatekeepers listened your case, you have are much chance to close.

2. Seller prepares to disclose:

The sellers must disclose and produce all liens on the property, taxes (income tax, property tax…), back taxes, HOA dues, financial statements, letter of hardship, proof of income, proof of potential income, proof of future income, etc.

3. Make sure the buyer’s loan and down payment is place.

Short sales can drag on for months. Some of the buyers could buy it now may not do it later. If the buyer has a hard time getting a loan, it could cost the sale and become more expensive. Some lenders could charge $100 per day of delaying fee till closing.

4. Make sure you and your agent get to see all bank documents.

5. Work with a detailed minded title officer. It could make all the difference in the world.

6. The Best scenario of escrow duration is 27 days, but it many last 30-45 days even 2 and three months long.

Thank for SILVAR realtors: Donna Dawson-Schwartz, Neal Schwartz and Scott Fleming to contribute to the valuable short sale information.

The biggest financial news from yesterday and today is Fannie Mai and Freddie Mac takeover by government. In another words that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been placed into “conservatorship” and will be overseen by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. This takeover means that the government will temporarily run Fannie and Freddie until they are able to recover. As a consumer you may wonder what is going to do with me?

I found an excellent video made by California Association of realtors. I like share this video with you: ” Fannie and Freddie: Why they matter to you “ You may click the link to see and hear this video.

Today I received a call from a home owner, he said “ I want to sell my north Sunnyvale home and move to the south Sunnyvale. This year my home price tanked! The price has dropped at least 17% from 2007. How can I move up?”

I told him:” The homes from more desirable areas go up faster in good times and go down slower in bad times. On the other end. The areas are not so desirable,they go up slower in good times and go down faster in bad times. No matter what tomorrow holds the gap in prices will

Today I received a call from a home owner, he said “ I want to sell my north Sunnyvale home and move to the south part of Sunnyvale. This year my home price tanked! The price has dropped at least 17% from 2007. How can I move up?”

I told him:”The homes from more desirable areas go up faster in good times and go down slower in bad times. On the other end. The areas are not so desirable,they go up slower in good times and go down faster in bad times. No matter what tomorrow holds the gap in prices will

always continue to grow. Since you still own your home. You may use that value to buy in the best neighborhood that you can afford. If you have a reasonable down payment, you can still buy in a good neighborhood, but maybe not the one you really want. I think that you could move into Cumberland Elementary or Cherry Chase elementary areas. Those neighborhoods offer the best of the Sunnyvale elementary school district and Homestead high school.

There is an article of “But even real estate in the best Zip Codes are spending longer on the market than in 2007″ from the businessweek.com. The author said that “Houses in Sunnyvale, Calif., home to companies such as Juniper Network (JNPR), AMD (AMD), and Yahoo! (YHOO), are typically on the market for 66 days, making it the fastest selling real estate market in the country. That’s the good news. The bad news is that listings a year ago in the affluent Silicon Valley suburb normally sold after just 31 days on the market. “

I know the single family home takes less then 66 days to close, so I did a Sunnyvale real estate market research and I found out the four facts of Sunnyvale real estate from August 2007 to August 2008.

It takes us that it takes a lot longer then last year to sell a home. It has less homes did get sold. The inventory increased 22% and median sold price dropped 7%. The real estate market source is from www.reil.com