Can't believe I'm doing this but ...can we talk about Short Sales again?

[qwerty]

[quote author=USCTrojanCPA]
Where did I proclaim to be a short sale expert?

Um, right here, where you quoted yourself.
[quote author=USCTrojanCPA]
I've been involved with numerous short sales on the buy side.  [/quote]

The truth is that zero short sale closings is a far cry from what you are claiming.
The truth is also that your information/advice in this case is incorrect and dangerously misleading.
The truth is that I've passed on many of the other "pot shots" that could've been taken. This particular instance goes past the point where your exaggeration might only harm you, but also others that might trust your claims without having any reference. I recognize how a post like this might be adversely perceived and that it will likely cost me some built-up goodwill here, but I'd rather trade that than abdicate my responsibility to many that come here seeking accurate info to base their own decisions upon that impact their own lives.

The truth is that the dishonesty and exaggeration are what's getting old.
Your choice is to either stick to the truth or be prepared to be called out for it.
Integrity is not a sometimes thing.
[/quote]

Give me a break. Dangerously misleading? Not sure what the sour grapes are about, but there was nothing dangerous or misleading about anything in in Tman's statement. The fact of the matter is that Trojanman is a great agent, ive been working with him for over a year now and his intelligence and patience definitely set him apart from the rest of the realtors. 

 

[qwerty]

I don't think USC was trying to misrepresent himself

It's an honest mistake..

USC did not misrepresent himself, it was a mistake, yours. You assumed and you know what that does.

 

[qwerty]

So this is what BK says about short sales on OCReader:

Short sales or shadow inventory are good deals and the general consumers are not the first choice that get presented to the sellers. Only friends and insiders of the trades are getting this piece of the action. The agents are not submitting the highest bid to the banks they are submitting only their friend's bid to the seller for consideration and of course the agent gets some kick back in return. This is a classic department store employee trick. The employees stash the merchandize under tables and wait for the price reductions. the consumers never see the products and the insiders get all the best deals.

http://www.ocreader.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=12552#p12552

Now do we consider that expert opinion or not? He's not a realtor as far as I know but is very respected for his knowledge of architecture and market profiling.

Ive lost a lot of respect for BK (well as much as one can have over the internet, ive never met the guy).  I find it interesting how all of the negative things that happen to him occur in Irvine (getting his car hit at the post office) or a caused by people from Irvine (the garage guy giving him a high quote).  Im starting to think he makes all this crap up just to bitch about Irvine. And IHO has it right, his hypocrisy is out of control. Maybe he should just stay out of Irvine and stay in his neighborhood in Santa Ana.

 

[waitin4ever]

I'm not defending BK at all but i was going to post a similar response on this forum. I was actually told this
by my realtor about late 2008/early 2009 when we started looking at short sales for bargain. Our realtor
told me the exact same thing. Apparently lots of asian families with lots of cash want to reduce the family Debt
and try to play this game.

Don't know if any of her comments are true. but we were sick of the short sale listings where the sellers agents
had no rush to sell or interested in taking new offers. therefore we started looking at new homes from summer
2009 in portola and ended up with 2010 collection. At least here you know that builders want to close and the house is definitely
yours when you sign the intent. Maybe such short sale behavior worked in favor of TIC in managing to sell so many new homes.

So this is what BK says about short sales on OCReader:

Short sales or shadow inventory are good deals and the general consumers are not the first choice that get presented to the sellers. Only friends and insiders of the trades are getting this piece of the action. The agents are not submitting the highest bid to the banks they are submitting only their friend's bid to the seller for consideration and of course the agent gets some kick back in return. This is a classic department store employee trick. The employees stash the merchandize under tables and wait for the price reductions. the consumers never see the products and the insiders get all the best deals.

http://www.ocreader.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=12552#p12552

Now do we consider that expert opinion or not? He's not a realtor as far as I know but is very respected for his knowledge of architecture and market profiling.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

I don't think USC was trying to misrepresent himself

It's an honest mistake..

USC did not misrepresent himself, it was a mistake, yours. You assumed and you know what that does.

That's your opinion and I respect it.

But if a realtor who says he's been involved in "numerous" short sale transactions says that a listing agent can only present ONE offer to the bank... you tend to believe him especially because many others have vouched for his expertise. But I DIDN'T want to make that assumption so I questioned it here.

And I talked to some people offline and found out otherwise.

Some people might not do that and take the advice of a respected member here not knowing it may or may not be true. If I can "make that mistake"... then others surely can too... and so some of us feel it necessary to clarify things to help out.

Again... nothing against USC at all... if I had not already made a commitment, I would probably use him as a buyer's agent... I just think that we (the royal we) need to be a little more careful in the words we choose just to help prevent assumptions (and please remember that I defended USC quite a bit on OCR... which had a small part in me no longer posting there anymore).

And now back on topic:

Don't know if any of her comments are true. but we were sick of the short sale listings where the sellers agents
had no rush to sell or interested in taking new offers. therefore we started looking at new homes from summer
2009 in portola and ended up with 2010 collection. At least here you know that builders want to close and the house is definitely
yours when you sign the intent. Maybe such short sale behavior worked in favor of TIC in managing to sell so many new homes.

Very true... no shenanigans in new sales (although the Design Center can be classed as such).

 

[usctrojancpa]

[quote author=USCTrojanCPA]
Where did I proclaim to be a short sale expert?

Um, right here, where you quoted yourself.
[quote author=USCTrojanCPA]
I've been involved with numerous short sales on the buy side.  [/quote]

The truth is that zero short sale closings is a far cry from what you are claiming.
The truth is also that your information/advice in this case is incorrect and dangerously misleading.
The truth is that I've passed on many of the other "pot shots" that could've been taken. This particular instance goes past the point where your exaggeration might only harm you, but also others that might trust your claims without having any reference. I recognize how a post like this might be adversely perceived and that it will likely cost me some built-up goodwill here, but I'd rather trade that than abdicate my responsibility to many that come here seeking accurate info to base their own decisions upon that impact their own lives.

The truth is that the dishonesty and exaggeration are what's getting old.
Your choice is to either stick to the truth or be prepared to be called out for it.
Integrity is not a sometimes thing.
[/quote]
You know, I'm glad that I've been too busy to respond and honestly I wouldn't have because I think my buyers have done all the talking for me.  However, you are dangerously close to slander by calling me dishonest, an exaggerator, and not having any integrity and I really don't appreciate that.  I pride myself on being an advocate for my buyers and exceeding their expectations.  I too seriously don't understand where all the animosity is coming from (I have an idea, but that's your issue not mine).  I know that you and several of the folks on OCreader don't like me and hey that's fine, but saying I'm dishonest or lack integrity is out of line. 

 

[usctrojancpa]

The truth is that zero short sale closings is a far cry from what you are claiming.
The truth is also that your information/advice in this case is incorrect and dangerously misleading.
The truth is that I've passed on many of the other "pot shots" that could've been taken. This particular instance goes past the point where your exaggeration might only harm you, but also others that might trust your claims without having any reference. I recognize how a post like this might be adversely perceived and that it will likely cost me some built-up goodwill here, but I'd rather trade that than abdicate my responsibility to many that come here seeking accurate info to base their own decisions upon that impact their own lives.

The truth is that the dishonesty and exaggeration are what's getting old.
Your choice is to either stick to the truth or be prepared to be called out for it.
Integrity is not a sometimes thing.

WOW, pretty strong accusations going on here. I dont know the history behind this but I can tell you this. My husband and I just closed escrow this week with  USCTrojan being our realtor and has been a great realtor to us and done far more than what we would ever expect.

The house we got is not a short sale but he did a great job with a regular sale and I wouldn't say he's someone without integrity or someone who gives bad advice...etc.

with that said, I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone on this board for providing information about Irvine Real Estate and for the opportunity to find  USCTrojan whom has helped me tremendously in making the right decision in buying the right house for us, and also with helping us find resources we need for our remodeling etc...without him we would be stuck with something we didn't like for years.

Anyways,  this forum should be open to different opinions and  people of all walks of life and we can all work though our differences and get along, right?

cheers

I'm glad I was able to help find you guys a home that was a better fit for your needs than what you guys were going to settle on.  I'm looking forward to seeing the home once you guys are done upgrading it because I know it'll look 10x better. 

 

[usctrojancpa]

USCTrojanCPA was my agent when I bought my home a year ago and he helped me on both short sale offers and regular sale offers. 

On my short sale offer he did a great job and we were one of the top offers considered.  We lost out to another offer that was about the same strength wise (amount of cash down) but they ponied up way more money than the house was worth in our opinion.

We then found the house of our dreams (regular sale) and USC was on it immediately.  We initially lost it to a full price offer (we low ball offered and USC said it was risky) but the 'winners' backed out a week later.  USC made such a professional impression on the sellers agent she called him FIRST to see if we were still interested.  Remember, we were the goofy low ball offer but she still contacted us first because of how USC worked with her on the first offer.  We upped our offer to a realistic (but under market) offer and now we will be in our home for one year at the end of this month.

I have nothing but good things to say about how USC handled our transaction compared to some of the other agents I worked with in the past.

By the way, the short sale house we lost out on is back on the market less than a year later.  I wonder if the buyer is having remorse.

Thanks for the kind words.  Remember what I told you guys, sometimes things happen for a reason and things don't happen for a reason.  At the end of the day, you ended up in the right home. 

 

[usctrojancpa]

I don't think USC was trying to misrepresent himself

It's an honest mistake..

USC did not misrepresent himself, it was a mistake, yours. You assumed and you know what that does.

That's your opinion and I respect it.

But if a realtor who says he's been involved in "numerous" short sale transactions says that a listing agent can only present ONE offer to the bank... you tend to believe him especially because many others have vouched for his expertise. But I DIDN'T want to make that assumption so I questioned it here.

And I talked to some people offline and found out otherwise.

Some people might not do that and take the advice of a respected member here not knowing it may or may not be true. If I can "make that mistake"... then others surely can too... and so some of us feel it necessary to clarify things to help out.

Again... nothing against USC at all... if I had not already made a commitment, I would probably use him as a buyer's agent... I just think that we (the royal we) need to be a little more careful in the words we choose just to help prevent assumptions (and please remember that I defended USC quite a bit on OCR... which had a small part in me no longer posting there anymore).

And now back on topic:

Don't know if any of her comments are true. but we were sick of the short sale listings where the sellers agents
had no rush to sell or interested in taking new offers. therefore we started looking at new homes from summer
2009 in portola and ended up with 2010 collection. At least here you know that builders want to close and the house is definitely
yours when you sign the intent. Maybe such short sale behavior worked in favor of TIC in managing to sell so many new homes.

Very true... no shenanigans in new sales (although the Design Center can be classed as such).

IHO, I'll give you that I maybe should have used such words as "generally", "usually", and/or "from what I've seen" in some of my posts but in no way was I dishonest or had a lack of integrity as IR was trying to say between the lines.  I don't care if Graph or NoVas talk smack about me because the fact of the matter is that they barely know me.  I try to focus on keeping things positive and spreading the good karma, but it's hard for me to stay quiet and bite my tongue when someone calls my honesty and integrity into question.  This isn't the first time that IR has taken a cheap shot at me, you and I both know that.  I would like it to stop, is that too much to ask for?

 

[usctrojancpa]

Now do we consider that expert opinion or not? He's not a realtor as far as I know but is very respected for his knowledge of architecture and market profiling.

I'm widely respected throughout Orange County for my extensive knowledge of KPOP, and music-lovers everywhere seek my advice on the latest girl group or boy band.  But I don't know jack squat about anything else. 

Yet, that does not prevent me from spouting off on every subject like the know-it-all I think I am.

jump, where are the KPOP videos to break the tension of this thread???  haha

 

[usctrojancpa]

[quote author=USCTrojanCPA]
Where did I proclaim to be a short sale expert?

Um, right here, where you quoted yourself.
[quote author=USCTrojanCPA]
I've been involved with numerous short sales on the buy side. 

The truth is that zero short sale closings is a far cry from what you are claiming.
The truth is also that your information/advice in this case is incorrect and dangerously misleading.
The truth is that I've passed on many of the other "pot shots" that could've been taken. This particular instance goes past the point where your exaggeration might only harm you, but also others that might trust your claims without having any reference. I recognize how a post like this might be adversely perceived and that it will likely cost me some built-up goodwill here, but I'd rather trade that than abdicate my responsibility to many that come here seeking accurate info to base their own decisions upon that impact their own lives.

The truth is that the dishonesty and exaggeration are what's getting old.
Your choice is to either stick to the truth or be prepared to be called out for it.
Integrity is not a sometimes thing.
[/quote]

Give me a break. Dangerously misleading? Not sure what the sour grapes are about, but there was nothing dangerous or misleading about anything in in Tman's statement. The fact of the matter is that Trojanman is a great agent, ive been working with him for over a year now and his intelligence and patience definitely set him apart from the rest of the realtors. 
[/quote]
You know, when I first read that I was like WTF but as I keep reading it a few times it kinda made me chuckle.  Dangerously misleading, dishonest, exaggerations, lack of integrity make it sound like I'm some kind of rogue realtard.  The fact of the matter is that I LOVE being the atypical realtor who does things a differently and really takes care of their clients instead of just talking about it. 

 

[irvinehomeowner]

I see your impatiens... and raise you some bougainvilleas:

[youtube]joKG0uPxROY[/youtube]

 

[Talyssa]

woah..you get busy for a few days and ....

Thanks IR2 that was a really helpful post.  Thanks for the link too -- I wish the banks would add COUNTY searches to their sites, it wouldn't really be that hard or costly.

Still can't decide what to do.  We still really like it, we know we can afford it (obviously we still are TALKING about it), but it really isn't what we had planned on and I think people always warn you about sticking to the plan and not just chasing after the first house you fall in love with....

 

[villiagepeople]

this is an old thread but i just wanted to give a quick thought on this... short sales are a waste of time... my wife and i were looking at detached condos in aliso viejo/foothill ranch/ladera ranch this past summer, and we had 6 months to buy... we have cash, up to 400k and we made no less than 10 offers... all of them a waste of time. 

one had a lawyer and he wanted us to sign a thing stating that we would be willing to add 10% to the offer price if the bank countered (list was 419k we offered 400k)...

we had one where the bank took 6 months to verify the shortseller do comps get whatever they needed to do and assigned a negotiator who said everything looked good.. after doing a second bpo they asked for 30k more (i guess there was a bump in comps cause of the mortgage rates?) so said we'd do 415k and they said nothing... shortly we decided to jump on another one it went back on the market for... 415k!

and the one i don't get the most, although it didn't waste too much of my time... we offered 380k and no response from the bank... just two months later they foreclosed and offered it on the market for 370k? http://www.redfin.com/CA/Aliso-Viejo/5-Maison-92656/home/5601719...

we stopped looking cause we needed to re-sign a lease (for $50 more a month) or go month to month for $250 more a month... we got so frustrated that we decided to wait until this coming summer when our lease ends again (we only signed for 6 months).  but this time we are just going to buy new and we won't bother with trying to find a bargain.  i've seen threads where people wonder why and where these new home buyers are coming from... for me, it's the lack of inventory with equity  and the frustration of buying resale in this market.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

I know at least 2 people where the short sale worked out well for them.

It all depends on the bank, seller and listing agent but they do work out for some people.

 

[usctrojancpa]

this is an old thread but i just wanted to give a quick thought on this... short sales are a waste of time... my wife and i were looking at detached condos in aliso viejo/foothill ranch/ladera ranch this past summer, and we had 6 months to buy... we have cash, up to 400k and we made no less than 10 offers... all of them a waste of time. 

one had a lawyer and he wanted us to sign a thing stating that we would be willing to add 10% to the offer price if the bank countered (list was 419k we offered 400k)...

we had one where the bank took 6 months to verify the shortseller do comps get whatever they needed to do and assigned a negotiator who said everything looked good.. after doing a second bpo they asked for 30k more (i guess there was a bump in comps cause of the mortgage rates?) so said we'd do 415k and they said nothing... shortly we decided to jump on another one it went back on the market for... 415k!

and the one i don't get the most, although it didn't waste too much of my time... we offered 380k and no response from the bank... just two months later they foreclosed and offered it on the market for 370k? http://www.redfin.com/CA/Aliso-Viejo/5-Maison-92656/home/5601719...

we stopped looking cause we needed to re-sign a lease (for $50 more a month) or go month to month for $250 more a month... we got so frustrated that we decided to wait until this coming summer when our lease ends again (we only signed for 6 months).  but this time we are just going to buy new and we won't bother with trying to find a bargain.  i've seen threads where people wonder why and where these new home buyers are coming from... for me, it's the lack of inventory with equity  and the frustration of buying resale in this market.

Thanks for sharing your experiences with us.  Several of my buyers early are eager to go look at short sales and put in offers on them but after the frustration sets in they decide that they don't want to deal with the roller coaster of the whole short sale process.  Not only that, but many short sales are very difficult to show due to unmotivated owners or tenants.  The best way to look at it from a buyer's point of view is to put an offer in and then just put it out of your mind and not torture yourself or getting emotionally attached to the home (easy said than done).  Certain buyers see that some buyers got a super deal on short sale purchases back in early 2009 when they bought at 5-10%+ below comps at that time, but the reality is that short sales are no longer the great deal that they used to be as lenders have wised up using comps to determine the price they would accept.  From what I see, short sales typically close within the sold comps price range.