Palm Coast Florida Short Sales.  Are the banks becoming smarter?

Ah, Palm Coast, Florida short sales.  The tedious, all consuming, mind numbing business of dealing with banks and lein holders to get approval for short sales.  Yes, I must admit, The Ross/Collins Team may not love them, but we have spent hours, months even sometimes years getting Palm Coast short sales to successful closing for our clients.

We all know that Florida and Palm Coast have been hit really hard with short sales over the last 5 years.  Based on the chatter I am hearing, short sales are just maybe going to be getting easier and more streamlined.  Can I hear a “Thank Goodness” and a round of applause. After all, Palm Coast, Florida does currently have 328 active short sale listings on the Flagler County MLS and over 420 more that are in some stage of negotiations or have pending contracts on them.

Let’s take a look at what has been going on recently with regards to short sales.  Now, I am sure most of you have heard about the resolution to the whole bank fiasco, robo signing thing.  The theory is leaning towards banks finally realizing it is better for them to actually approve short sales instead of foreclosing.  In fact, banks have recently been offering to pay homeowners who will short sale upwards of $35,000. You can read more about this trend at USAToday.com in their article “Lenders paying borrowers to do short sales”

On top of that news, I also came across an article today about a “Proposed Bill to Speed Up Short Sale Process and Prevent Foreclosure” at DSnews.com.  Looks like Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Scott Brown (R-Massachusetts), and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) get it and have realized that changes needed to made and proposed the bill addressing the issue of short sales timelines on February 17.  Kudos, I say.  It is about time.

Looking for some more good news on the real estate front, well, apparently the Capitol Economists are stating the “Housing Crisis to End in 2012 as Banks Loosen Credit Standards” Let’s hope they get it right this time.

Short Sales are a great way to pick up a fantastic bargain on a Palm Coast home or condo…just make sure you are working with an experienced Palm Coast Florida REALTOR® when dealing with short sales.  The Ross/Collins Team is one the very few that have attained the Certified Distressed Property Expert Designation and we would be happy to assist you in either purchasing or selling your Palm Coast property. You can always reach us at 386-931-5822 to discuss your Palm Coast Real Estate Goals.

Here are some Palm Coast, Florida short sale properties that have recently caught our attention, most of these are priced drastically below what they last sold for.

Palm Coast Florida Short Sales

photo use creative commons credit backkratze