Tim Burrell's (timburrell) Blog

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans were exempt from the HAFA short sale program that was put into effect by the Treasury on April 5, 2010.  Fannie Mae has just created its own version of HAFA with regulations that you can find at http://shortsalesr.us/FannieMaeHAFA.pdf.  Similarly, Freddie Mac has ...

A recent study found that only 17% of short sales get approved by the lender considering the short payoff. That is awful! It is good to know how to get a short sale listing, how to get an offer, how to prepare the short sale package and how to submit it to the lender. The most important thing to...

   Learn Negotiating Skills So You Don't Negotiate Like This! It took me 17 years of doing short sales to realize that I needed to change how I taught short sales to Realtors and their assistants.  I teach a class approved by the North Carolina Real Estate Commission for continuing education cred...

I wrote the book, Create A Great Deal, the Art of Real Estate Negotiating, which just being published.  It has been very well received.  Here is a review from Inman News by Bernice Ross, their most published columnist.  I wanted to share it with my friends.  If you want to buy the book, or for mo...

I am amazed that the Today Show put Rick Santelli on as the first thing to start America's Day.  He has a complaint about the government's efforts to help the housing crisis.  That would be alright if he had any facts as the basis of his opinion and any educational background that would qualify h...

Wachovia Bank is in merger talks with several financial institutions, apparently because there is concern about their portfolio of sub prime loans.  Their stock price has fallen dramatically, and they are talking with potential suitors.  I do not see anything wrong with Wachovia's financial situa...

posted by Tim Burrell -  Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James Lockhart  held a press conference Sunday to announce that the government had placed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under conservatorship.  After meetings with the Board of Directors of both org...

posted by Tim Burrell - The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 has some amazing benefits for first time homebuyers.  When is the last time someone gave you a $7,500 loan, that has no interest, no payments for two years, and if you do not make enough when you sell, you do not have to pay ba...

Posted by Tim Burrell - President Bush just signed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008.  The first thing I noticed is that some first time homebuyers may need to hurry. If you are a buyer that does not have 3.5% downpayment and you want to buy some Raleigh real estate,  you have to buy ...

It is true that housing has problems, banking has problems and there are more foreclosures.  But, did you know that most of the prices of homes in the United States are going up? Did you know that these prices have been going up consistently since February?  Do you think that information would he...