Hi folks. Let me tell you a little story about one of my Short Sale Sellers. Let's call him "Responsible Rex". I met Rex many, many years ago. On most days we are very good friends and on some days I don't like him at all. But overall he's a pretty good guy. And he happens to be a Real Estate Broker.
Back when Real Estate was really booming Responsible Rex, like many others, started buying property. He did OK on a couple of flips and reinvested that money into rental properties. All were financed. Things were going well. The rentals were mostly paying for themselves and his Real Estate business was booming. Cash was flowing.
Then it seemed like over night his Real Estate business hit the proverbial wall. Responsible Rex went from selling 60-70 properties a year to less than 20. And to make matters worse property values dropped by more than 50%. Do the math. 66% decline in business. 50% decline in value. This equates to an income loss of almost 85%!!!! Holy reduction Batman. Overnight, Rex went from making more money than his Doctor to less money than.......well....just about anybody with a job.
Responsible Rex needed to do something. He needed to do something fast. Rex needed to unload debt. So he placed a few of his properties on the market. The properties sold but in order to make it happen Responsible Rex had to bring big checks to closing. He drained his finances to do so.
Responsible Rex was an honorable man and honored his financial obligations. No strategic default for Rex!! The mortgages were paid in full even though it wiped him out. Rex went from being a homeowner to being a tenant.
Rex was also a smart man and very quickly started revamping his Real Estate business. Before long he found a new niche and his business started climbing upward. Then, as fate would have it, life threw a curve ball and smacked Responsible Rex right upside the head. His wife, Sassy Sadie, started having serious health issues and almost died.
Rex, unable to focus on his business, started sliding into despair and his business once again started to nose dive. Things were very difficult. Rex didn't know what to do. He needed money and he needed it bad. At this time, Responsible Rex was actually staying in a hotel in another town to be close to Sassy Sadie while she was under going treatments.
Out of necessity, Rex, missed a couple of payments on his remaining two rental properties. He used the rent to pay for necessities instead of mortgages. Low Life Scumbag!!
BUT....Rex is a master at moving forward. Within a few months he was able to send in the 3 payments he had missed on his mortgages. Rex was back on tract!!! Sassy Sadie was out of the hospital. Things were looking good.
Then surprisingly, Responsible Rex received letters from Bank of America. They returned his checks and stated that they needed certified funds. So Rex, being Responsible, ran down to his bank and sent them cashiers checks. About a month later these too were returned. What the......!!!!
Bank of America had started foreclosure. They told Rex to contact the foreclosure Attorney to find out how much money was needed to reinstate the mortgages. So he did. However, the Attorney couldn't give Rex an amount. The Attorney said to call back.
This went on for many months. Bank of America would NOT give a reinstatement figure nor would they accept any payments. In the meantime, the tenants in both properties were served foreclosure papers and moved out.
After about 8 months of this Responsible Rex, totally frustrated with Bank of America, contacted me. To be rid of his frustration it was decided to list his properties and sell them as Short Sales. So we did. Both properties were sold and were closed on in May.
Fortunately, Responsible Rex Broker Bryant was able to make it through all of this with his head held high. He did the responsible thing. And now he and Sassy Sadie The Lovely Wife have moved forward and are living in their new home in Solivita and Tutas Towne Realty is having one of it's best years ever. The Storm has passed.
Folks...if you are struggling with keeping your property and are thinking about doing a Short Sale then give me a call. I CAN relate and I can help. Sometimes being Responsible requires making hard decisions. What say you?
Hi folks. Kind of a lazy hot Florida day today. I'm just sitting around and was thinking how fortunate we are to be in the business of real estate. Set your own hours, take a day off if you want, meet interesting people, solve problems, help people realize their dreams and get paid well.