Celebration is a planned development community created by Disney ® In 1996 the first residents moved into town and now there are approximately 9000 residents and over 4000 homes and condominiums. The homes in Celebration are a mix of traditional, coastal, classical, & Mediterranean, all with pre-1940’s architectural designs. The town offers a combination of condominiums, townhomes and single family detached homes. Celebration offers 5 community pools along with numerous parks and playgrounds for the residents to use. Enjoy the miles of walking and bicycle paths throughout the community. Amenities include a public 18-hole golf course designed by Robert Trent Jr., public schools, Montessori schools, tennis courts and state of the art hospital and fitness center. Celebration is truly a pla... 05/08/2012

  Celebration is a planned development community created by Disney ® In 1996 the first residents moved into town and now there are approximately 9000 residents and over 4000 homes and condominiums. The homes in Celebration are a mix of traditional, coastal, classical, & Mediterranean, all with pre-1940’s architectural designs. The town offers a combination of condominiums, townhomes and single family detached homes. Celebration offers 5 community pools along with numerous parks and playgrounds for the residents to use. Enjoy the miles of walking and bicycle paths throughout the community. Amenities include a public 18-hole golf course designed by Robert Trent Jr., public schools, Montessori schools, tennis courts and state of the art hospital and fitness center. Celebration is truly a p... 05/01/2012

Celebration is a planned development community created by Disney ® In 1996 the first residents moved into town and now there are approximately 9000 residents and over 4000 homes and condominiums. The homes in Celebration are a mix of traditional, coastal, classical, & Mediterranean, all with pre-1940’s architectural designs. The town offers a combination of condominiums, townhomes and single family detached homes. Celebration offers 5 community pools along with numerous parks and playgrounds for the residents to use. Enjoy the miles of walking and bicycle paths throughout the community. Amenities include a public 18-hole golf course designed by Robert Trent Jr., public schools, Montessori schools, tennis courts and state of the art hospital and fitness center. Celebration is truly a pla... 04/07/2012

Celebration is a planned development community created by Disney ® In 1996 the first residents moved into town and now there are approximately 9000 residents and over 4000 homes and condominiums. The homes in Celebration are a mix of traditional, coastal, classical, & Mediterranean, all with pre-1940’s architectural designs. The town offers a combination of condominiums, townhomes and single family detached homes. Celebration offers 5 community pools along with numerous parks and playgrounds for the residents to use. Enjoy the miles of walking and bicycle paths throughout the community. Amenities include a public 18-hole golf course designed by Robert Trent Jr., public schools, Montessori schools, tennis courts and state of the art hospital and fitness center. Celebration is truly a pla... 02/26/2012

Hi Folks. I’ve ran across agents, several times this week, not sure how to handle a Short Sale when the property is owned by a trust. So I thought I’d take a minute to explain how this works. Actually I can do it in about 1 second........   …......exactly the same as you would handle any other Short Sale!!   Here’s why.   Short Sales are done for Borrowers. Even though the property is owned by a Trust the note was more than likely signed by an individual. The individual is the one you are doing the Short Sale for. He is the Borrower.   The ownership of the property was probably placed in a Trust after it was purchased. Usually this is done for estate and/or tax purposes.   So.....your listing agreement and the purchase contract would be in the name of the owner of record. This could be... 02/05/2012

Do I have to be behind on my mortgage payments to qualify for a Short Sale? Not necessarily. Some lenders will negotiate a settlement if you are current on payments. You won’t really know until you go through the process. If you are current on payments the lender may very well require you to “participate in the loss” by making a cash contribution, signing a promissory note or both. What is a deficiency and how do I avoid it? A deficiency is the difference between the amount of money you owe and the amount of money paid to or collected by the lender. The deficiency is the “Short” in a Short Sale. A deficiency ALWAYS exist with a short sale. You cannot avoid it unless you just keep paying on your mortgage obligation. The real question is.......... What happens to the deficiency? The defi... 02/01/2012

This Week's Discussions Short Sale Approvals with Seller isn't Delinquent Howdy Folks -   Just curious if anyone is seeing short sale approvals when the seller isn't delinquent.  We just did one, but the seller wa… Started by Christopher Pendleton 16 1 minute ago Reply by Bryant Tutas Short sale lender wants agents to pay for an appraisal. This short sale lender requiring an appraisal rather than a BPO, the kicker...they will not pay for it and will not approve the short sale… Started by Bev Dudley 9 2 minutes ago Reply by Bryant Tutas Chase cut my commission, but will give seller $30,000! I'm the broker/owner of a small firm.  My wife and I are attempting to purchase a $300k Chase short sale for our primary residence.  We got… Started by Billy 73 4 minutes ago Reply by Bryant Tutas In... 01/29/2012

Hi folks. Do You Want To Close More Short Sales? Of course you do. Here are some tips that may help. Educate the Sellers at time of listing. Make sure they fully understand the process and what is expected of them. Be sure they understand cash contributions, promissory notes, tax ramifications and what happens to the deficiency. Price the property at market value or more. Negotiate the cleanest contract you can get with a price that you can defend to the lender. Know the type of short sale i.e. FHA, VA, HAFA Non GSE, HAFA Fannie, HAFA Freddie, USDA..... and know why this is important. Be sure any major repair issues are addressed at time of listing. These could put limitations on the type of Buyer you are looking for. For example: If it needs a new HVAC system a Buyer will not be able ... 01/21/2012

How do we get the banks and asset managers to notice us? This was a question asked on the CDPE forum site from this morning. It was part of a forum post wanting to know if the Short Sale lenders prefer the CDPE designation over the NAR SFR designation. Here’s a clue: The lender doesn’t give a squat about your designations! Nor should they. So.....how DO we get the banks and asset mangers to notice us? Here are a 10 tips that will help.   Submit complete and organized short sale packages with contracts that make sense.   Fully understand the Short Sale process and treat the negotiators with respect.   Only escalate when all other avenues have been exhausted.   If you are a blogger, or spend time on Facebook or Twitter, be sure to write POSITIVE stuff about short sales. Lenders do “Googl... 01/14/2012

A while back Baby Bear called Broker Bear to see about placing his home on the market as a Short Sale. Baby Bear had not made payments in about a year. Being the good little Broker that he is Broker Bear went over and met with Baby Bear. During the meeting Baby Bear mentioned that Papa Bear lived next door and Grandma Bear lived two caves down. Baby Bear wanted to know if either Grandma Bear of Papa Bear could purchase his cave at a reduced Short Sale price. Hmmmm......it sounded like a great idea but unfortunately the Lender, Bank of Caves, said "No, they can't do that. It must be an Arms Length Transaction". Oh well....Country Cave Bank sucks!!! So Broker Bear placed the cave on the market and worked towards finding a Buyer. After a few price reductions and several months later a Buye... 01/12/2012

Hi folks. In this day and age of easy access to information, what do you do that justifies your high commission?Why would the consumer want to hire you and pay your fee, when they can find all the information they need on the Internet? What can you say to justify your commission? Well folks I am here to tell you, you best be prepared to answer these questions. And you best have a better answer prepared than your 25 step marketing plan and access to the MLS. This will not cut it in this day of disintermediation and discount, web based, Real Estate Companies. If all you can bring to the table is your marketing plan you will find yourself either out of business or drastically reducing your commission to be able to compete in this market. So, what do we do? Well, here's what I do. I build v... 12/03/2011

Hi folks. Just when I think I have this Short Sale stuff figured out I run across another issue that has the potential to really place my sellers, the buyers and the agents in a difficult quandary.Recently I received a phone message from Chase in relation to a Short Sale we closed on almost two weeks ago. It went something like this "Hi this is Sarah from Chase calling on LN# 11324567. I am preparing the post closing package to send off to the Investor and noticed that I need the last 2 months bank statements from the Borrower. Please fax these over to me by the end of business today or I will return the check and close the file. Thank You."YIKES!!! This call came in at 1:00 in the afternoon while I was out of the office. So needless to say I had to scramble to reach the Seller and luc... 12/02/2011

  Celebration is a planned development community created by Disney ® In 1996 the first residents moved into town and now there are approximately 9000 residents and over 4000 homes and condominiums. The homes in Celebration are a mix of traditional, coastal, classical, & Mediterranean, all with pre-1940’s architectural designs. The town offers a combination of condominiums, townhomes and single family detached homes. Celebration offers 5 community pools along with numerous parks and playgrounds for the residents to use. Enjoy the miles of walking and bicycle paths throughout the community. Amenities include a public 18-hole golf course designed by Robert Trent Jr., public schools, Montessori schools, tennis courts and state of the art hospital and fitness center. Celebration is truly a p... 12/01/2011

JIMBO DOES JUMBO IN OSCEOLA COUNTY FLORIDA Looking for that perfect loan for your new dream home? Well look no further. Jimbo has been closing JUMBO loans in Florida for over 10 years. The key to getting the best rate for a non conforming loan such as a JUMBO is to have an experienced loan originator put the file together for you in the right manner. Shortcuts and files that make for messy presentations end up costing you money. Jimbo is an experienced loan originator that knows how to present your loan in it's best light to the investors. Call Jimbo today for a Free no obligation interview @ 813.205.7958 11/27/2011

10 Things I Heard This Week, About Short Sales, That Suck.... I don’t think my mairrage will survive this. Sometimes I just want to kill myself. I feel like a loser. We have no clue where we’re going to live after we close. I’m 60 years old, jobless and getting ready to be homeless. I had to go to the emergency room yesterday because I thought I was having a heart attack. It was stress. We’ve lived here for 22 years. Our lender denied our loan mod and pushed us into foreclosure. The Attorney we hired just got indicted. _________________________________?   ….And 1 Thing That Did Not Suck. Can You Please Help Us?   Yes I CAN Help. Are you under water on your Florida mortgage?   Do NOT be foreclosed on! Avoid foreclosure. Short Sales DO close. Want to find out more? www.CentralFloridaShor... 11/19/2011

Folks, as you may know, Borrowers (Sellers) are often required to make a cash contribution to the Investor or Mortgage Insurance Company in order for the Short Sale to be approved. There are several reasons why the Borrower may be asked to do this: They are not late on their payments. They have a good credit score and are current on their bills. It’s an investment property. A contribution is required in order to Waive the Deficiency. They have cash on hand and/or large retirement fund accounts. This is by no means a comprehensive list but you can see the trend. Recently, one of my Sellers was required to make a $10,000 cash contribution in order to avoid a possible deficiency judgement in the future. The Sellers had no money but were current on their payments and it was an investment p... 11/15/2011

Title Companies handling Short Sale "negotiations" is the new trend in my area. I quote "negotiations" because they don't really handle negotiations at all. Instead they do what Title Companies do....shuffle paperwork. Here's an excerpt from one National company's solicitation to agents. Now folks there may be Title Companies that are doing a good job with Short Sales but I have yet to experience one. I guess the issue is that handing your Short Sale over to a Title Company is handing it off to a 9-5 Monday through Friday hourly employee. They are NOT going to spend the time required to push your particular Short Sale through to closing. They are NOT negotiators. They are office workers. And there's nothing wrong with this unless.......you are counting on them to help you avoid foreclos... 11/14/2011

My name is Vanessa Franz Barnes, Broker-Associate with Keller Williams. We have been helping sellers and buyers in the Central Florida Area since 2002, and have lived and worked in Celebration since 2004. We have created these Real Estate Statistics in various communities in which we service to provide you a snapshot of active and sold inventory on a monthly basis. Whether you are a seller or buyer, we hope you find these Real Estate Statistics helpful. Celebration is a planned development community created by Disney ® In 1996 the first residents moved into town and now there are approximately 9000 residents and over 4000 homes and condominiums. The homes in Celebration are a mix of traditional, coastal, classical, & Mediterranean, all with pre-1940’s architectural designs. The town off... 10/21/2011

At Celebration by The Celebration Company (Disney) you’ll feel miles away from Florida thanks to charming mid-century New England design. Celebration is open to residents of all ages yet it appeals to active adults looking for a country club lifestyle just minutes from the Disney amenities in Florida. Located in the northwest area of Osceloa County, the community is convenient to world-class theme parks, water parks, theaters, orchestras, shopping malls, restaurants, golf courses and more. Traditional Florida active adult communities boast impressive amenities and homes designed with the active adult homeowner in mind. At Celebration Florida you’ll find a wonderful clubhouse complete with a fitness center, outdoor swimming pools, tennis courts, bocce ball courts, softball and basketball... 03/25/2011

We are all busy working and managing our personal lives. Why is it that some agents seem to always answer their phone and other agents never answer their phone, relying on voicemail or email to communicate instead? This has become the way of the world but I'd much rather do business with someone that I know will answer my call if they can, or at least return my call promptly if they cannot. Simply answering the phone makes everyone's jobs more efficient and enables us to provide top notch service to all of our customers, which is what we tell them we will provide when we meet them. It is a waste of time to call an agent multiple times because they have not answered their phone or returned a call for an important question pertaining to a listing. How do they do any business? or face thei... 03/15/2011