If you are a home buyer or investor, you’ll be interested in the information that myself and Amy Bonitatibus, a spokesperson for Fannie Mae, share in the article, Fannie Mae incentives drive REO sales, Closing-cost credit, agent bonus pay off.

In the article, you’ll find out more about the benefits of purchasing a Fannie Mae home or applying for Homepath financing, such as flexible mortgage terms, low down payments, no mortgage insurance or appraisal fees and the availability for financing from local and national lenders.

“Right now, the way California prices are, you can get a home at reasonable prices: a 2-bedroom, 1-bath for $200,000 in a decent neighborhood. The Fannie Mae loan stands at 3.5 percent and it is giving you closing costs. And what’s also great, mortgage insurance (and appraisal fees) is not necessary. For the first-time buyer, it is hard to get better than this.”

Just follow this link to read the rest of the article: Fannie Mae incentives drive REO sales

If you have questions about the article or REOs in Long Beach, CA, feel free to contact me @ 562-364-9505 or mark@shandrowgroup.com

One Less Foreclosure.

Sincerely,

Mark Shandrow
Real Estate Broker
office 562-364-9505 ext 100
mark@shandrowgroup.com
Shandrow Group
3970 Atlantic Ave., 210
Long Beach, CA  90807
follow my story at http://markshandrow.com

Because of my work with homeowners who are interested in avoiding foreclosure through Short Sales, I’ve been featured in Long Beach’s Press Telegram.

You can read the Biz Monday article right here: Biz Monday – Realtor’s E-book explores option of short-sales

If you’re interested in downloading the book: Should I Short Sale My Home? The Homeowners Guide How to Survive the Worst Real Estate Market in History, just click on the book title and sign up to get your free copy.

It’s an honor to be recognized for my work with homeowners who are trying to avoid foreclosure in the Long Beach, CA area.

If you have any questions about the article or the book, feel free to email me at mark@shandrowgroup.com or call me at 562-364-9505.

One Less Foreclosure.

Sincerely,

Mark Shandrow
Real Estate Broker
office 562-364-9505 ext 100
mark@shandrowgroup.com
Shandrow Group
3970 Atlantic Ave., 210
Long Beach, CA  90807
follow my story at http://markshandrow.com

Long Beach, CA. – With almost 3,000 Long Beach properties approaching foreclosure, according to foreclosuresradar.com, most troubled homeowners are unaware of the option to short sale their distressed properties with assistance from the federal Treasury Department’s Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative (HAFA) Program. Offering financial incentives to both the borrower and the mortgage lender, HAFA was established to help families avoid foreclosure.

In a free, downloadable book, Should I Short Sale My Home? A Homeowners Guide How to Survive the Worst Real Estate Market in History, authors Mark Shandrow, CEO of Shandrow Group and Tim and Julie Harris of Harris Real Estate University, aim to provide HAFA and Short Sale information to homeowners early in the foreclosure process, so they can seek out professional assistance from a qualified short sale specialist or counselor, a significant step to stemming the overall rate of foreclosures.

“Missing mortgage payments, or anticipating missing them is stressful and hard to face, but reaching out to talk to a professional while there’s still adequate time to develop a plan of action is key to preventing a foreclosure, and in some cases, avoiding damage to the family’s credit scores,” says Shandrow, whose real estate brokerage firm employs more than six trained short sale specialists.

A qualified short sale real estate agent can be invaluable to navigating a short sale transaction, which often involves completing intensive paperwork, meeting deadlines, and negotiating the terms with the lender in a direct, proactive manner. But Shandrow Group’s relationships with many of the top U.S. banks and real estate companies through its bank-owned properties (REO’s) business is one of the firm’s most powerful tools for brokering successful short sales on behalf of its clients.

One example, PMH Financial, LLC, a financial services company from Denver, enables Shandrow Group to better help clients expedite short sales.  Like Shandrow Group, PMH Financial has strong relationships within the banking industry and direct access to lenders’ key decision-makers.

The melding of Shandrow Group on the local level and a partner like PMH on the national level assures the highest success rate and the most professional service for their clients.

“The Shandrow Group’s proactive and full-service approach shows that if the right representatives are at the table discussing their needs and options, we can facilitate a short sale transaction and avoid a foreclosure,” says Kristy B. Wray, Vice President of Loss Mitigation at PMH Financial.

Educating property owners about HAFA and short sales is central to Shandrow Group’s One Less Foreclosure philosophy aimed at helping homeowners explore alternatives to foreclosures. “While foreclosures are sometimes a reality, they have devastating, long-term effects to the individual, the community, and the market, driving real estate prices down,” says Shandrow. “One less foreclosure means one less homeless family, one less vacant home in the neighborhood and one less problem for our economy.”

The free book, Should I Short Sale My Home? A Homeowners Guide How to Survive the Worst Real Estate Market in History, is available for download at: http://www.shandrowgroup.com. For further information, contact Shandrow Group at 562.364.9595, ext. 100.

# # #
For frequently asked questions about short sales or related information on foreclosures, visit: www.shandrowgroup.com or call 562.364.9505 ext. 100

“As a Short Sale Specialist, I help families in the Long Beach area navigate their underwater mortgages and find suitable solutions to their loan issues. In some situations it’s too late to do anything, but wait for the bank to take their home. But when a client comes to me early enough in the process, we can usually find an alternative that doesn’t leave them out in the cold. – Mark Shandrow -

Other sources of counseling and information for borrowers in default including:

• Americans for Fairness in Lending: www.affil.org
• Freddie Mac’s online guide to avoiding foreclosure: www.freddiemac.com
• L.A. County Department of Consumer Affairs Home Owner Assistance: 1-800-973-3370
• Los Angeles Neighborhood Housing Services: www.lanhs.org
• National Assn. of Consumer Advocates: www.naca.net
• NeighborWorks America: www.ng.org
• U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development: 1-800-569-4287

The article is about how to run a balanced real estate businesses and life.  I am quoted a couple of times on the third page of the article.  Rumor has it I have a balanced life–I doubt my wife would agree with that. She thinks I work way too much. Ha. Ha.

Just click this link for the article and my genius quotes:

RealEstate Magazine-5-10

We have just relaunched our Government Short Sale program and are helping many home owners avoid foreclosure with HAFA and other short sale programs.

We are constantly looking for ways to bring a higher level of service and value to our client’s, so I greatly appreciate your wonderful comments and feedback.

Sincerely,

Mark Shandrow
Real Estate Broker
Shandrow Group
http://www.shandrowgroup.com
562-364-9505 ext 100

Sincerely,

Mark Shandrow
Real Estate Broker
Shandrow Group
t 562-364-9505 ext 100

We’re proud to announce that Shandrow Group will soon be making its European television debut in a German “60 Minutes”-style documentary on the booming California foreclosure market.

We were honored to have Munich-based FOCUS TV Produktions GmbH along for the ride for an entire day last week as editor Kirsten Moser and her camera crew shadowed Shandrow Group broker-owner Mark Shandrow while he went about his business day. The video shoot included visits to:

• Several bank-owned/REO properties currently under Shandrow Group asset management contracts
• A Shandrow Group-listed foreclosure duplex in Compton
• A single family residence foreclosure currently for sale by Shandrow Group in Long Beach’s historic Wrigley neighborhood
• An upscale lender-owned condominium in Manhattan Beach (which is now in ESCROW!) and several other exclusive Shandrow Group properties featured on our popular VIP Foreclosure List.

The 20-minute FOCUS TV California foreclosure market documentary segment also features a San Diego sheriff performing officer eviction lockouts and a work crew in Perris painting brown grass green, a common instant front yard “face lift” in a foreclosure-blighted neighborhood.

Mark expressed his experienced, informed perspective on what the future holds for the local and national foreclosure market on-camera, specifically regarding the American real estate industry’s emergent shadow inventory phenomenon.

He explained that approximately one-third of Southern California foreclosures are now in what’s called shadow or “limbo” territory. That is to say that they are not registering in county records as having been resold.

Banks throughout California and the rest of the country are “sitting on hundreds of thousands of foreclosed homes that they have not resold or listed for sale.” When those shadow inventory properties flood the market–and they will–home values will dramatically drop in response, Mark told German FOCUS TV reporters.

With so many bank repossession and default notices expected to explode onto the market in the coming weeks and months, Mark doesn’t foresee the foreclosures trend slowing down any time soon.

“This is just the beginning of the foreclosure market,” Mark commented. “Coupled with property depreciation in California, in the coming years, we can expect this situation to continue to greatly impact the domestic and global economies.”

“On a brighter note, we will eventually see the real estate market come back into balance,” Mark said. “However, it will definitely take plenty of time. Unfortunately, this is the way a free market works. The real estate market became incredibly inflated, and in turn inflated people’s expectations, and it just has to level out at some point.”

Munich-based Focus TV, a spin-off of the internationally read Focus Magazine,  is broadcast throughout Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

All of us at the Shandrow Group truly appreciated and enjoyed the up-close-and-personal opportunity to play a direct role in educating an international audience on the fast-paced, ever-evolving Los Angeles and Orange County area foreclosure climate, and, more specifically, Southern California’s unprecedented shadow inventory, which you’ll definitely be hearing about in the headlines very soon.

When we receive a video link to the segment, you’ll be the first to know!

As always, stay tuned for more exciting Shandrow Group development news.

To contact the Shandrow Group today, call 562.364.9505, ext. 800, or connect with one of our agents via our About Us page.

I had the pleasure of joining 3,000 fellow real estate agents earlier this week as we converged in Palm Desert, Calif. for the spectacular Spring 2009 Reomac Conference. There I gained the latest insider news on successful short sales, foreclosure inventory, loss mitigation and a host of other hot real estate topics that will strengthen the Shandrow Group’s foundation for success.

The 5-star event, held at the Desert Springs J. W. Marriott, welcomed asset managers, portfolio managers, REO brokers, real estate attorneys and loan service providers from all corners of the country. (Reomac is an industry organization that exclusively serves the mortgage default industry).

Some of the more critical and most timely strategies for success that I gleaned from intimate networking conversations, eye-opening educational sessions and a host of impressive speakers are:

• The latest on President Barack Obama’s homeowner rescue plans (which I extensively blogged about in recent weeks)
  
• An insider snapshot of the REO/foreclosure market. Many foreclosures are in the midst of 90- to 120-day hold at the moment due to various foreclosure moratoriums, like the one recently enacted in California by Gov. Schwarzenegger (which I also recently blogged about). When these holds are lifted, a massive flood of foreclosures will inundate the market, adding to an already skyrocketing inventory.
• How to best stay current on the constant barrage of changes shaping the real estate industry, directly from the mouths of top REO industry lenders, servicers, marketers, managers and outsourcers. (REOs are Real Estate Owned properties, in other words, foreclosed upon homes that are reclaimed by banks after failing to sell at sheriff’s sales and foreclosure auctions.)
• A critical update on the state of the U.S. economy and the default industry from world-renowned economist Christopher Thornberg, Ph.D.
• The latest on several key aspects of mortgage default industry litigation
• The latest on the ongoing rise in vacant properties and servicing community responsibilities in response to a wave of vacant property registration ordinances …. and volumes more beneficial default industry insider info.

The most significant lessons that I took away from the conference in Palm Desert are:

1. Change is constant. That the asset management and default industries will always remain in a state of flux. Accordingly, it is critical to attend this caliber of industry gathering to stay on top of the latest market shifts and directly acquire the best practices possible.

2. The right exposure is critical. Attending the latest successful Reomac conference put the Shandrow Group in front of dozens of valuable default industry decision makers. I was thrilled to take advantage of the opportunity to successfully network with lenders, loan servicers and more REO industry professionals than ever before. Reomac Spring 2009 exhibitors, many of whom I was fortunate to meet in-person and discuss crucial real estate issues of the day with, included:

• Arcstone Financial
• Asset Management Servicing
• Single Source Properties
• Crest REO
• Elite Escrow Services
• Great Street Properties, Inc.
• Marshall & Swift
• NationsREO
• Keystone Asset Management, Inc.
• REO Network
• REOMagic
• REOTrans
• Ridgegate Escrow
• Unifund
• Vacant Property Security, Inc. …. and dozens more key national real estate leaders representing the loan servicing and REO marketing and managing industries

In related news, the conference came under fire in the New York Times in this controversial article. In it journalist Eric Lipton‘s point was abundantly clear: profits are up for well-connected real estate agents and asset managers handling bank-owned properties in the wake of the foreclosure crisis.

“The tsunami has leveled off a bit in recent months, because of foreclosure moratoriums imposed by major banks and the Obama administration,” Lipton wrote. “But the real estate agents here were told not to worry—the flood will continue for several more years, and probably has not peaked yet.”

“In February, nearly 45 percent of the home sales nationwide were R.E.O. or so-called short sales, in which homeowners, under duress, sell a property for less than their mortgage …”

Lipton continues, “For real estate industry service providers, like title insurance companies, the REO market has become essential if they want to remain in business.”

Well, there you have it, my personal travel notes from—and the latest media coverage of—a wonderful, business-benefiting networking experience at the April 7-9 Spring 2009 Reomac Conference in beautiful, sunny Palm Desert, Calif. Until my next report from the road ….

Sincerely,

Mark Shandrow
REO Broker-Associate
Shandrow Group
markshandrow.com

Here is what you need to know about President Barack Obama’s new Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan (HASP) to help stabilize the housing market and help millions of struggling borrowers keep their homes. What is it? Who is eligible? How will it directly impact you and your family?

The first portion of HASP, the Homeowner Affordability arm, will offer struggling homeowners three basic, home-securing tools:

1. A refinancing program for those who owe more than their home is worth or have less than 20% equity in their property

2. Lower monthly payments for at-risk-of-foreclosure homeowners

3. A lower mortgage rates initiative aimed at rebuilding consumer trust in lenders like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

The goal of the second portion of Obama’s HASP initiative, the Stability arm, is to curb the tide of foreclosures and stabilize home prices. Those expected to benefit most are homeowners who can’t afford their mortgage payments but aren’t in a position to sell because their home’s value has dramatically dropped in the wake of the credit crunch and economic downturn.

The Stability portion of Obama’s HASP plan will:

Lower the amount home loan borrowers pay per month to more reasonable dollar amounts. Lenders are encouraged to reduce payments by 31% of homeowner’s incomes by extending the terms of the loan or reducing interest rates all the way down to 2%. Also, the Treasury can share the cost of lowering the borrower’s principal.

Who can apply for the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan?

Investors with investment properties will NOT be eligible. Only credit-worthy, responsible homeowners struggling to make mortgage payments but who are still current can take advantage of the plan.

In other words, if you are nearing loan default but haven’t missed payments yet, you are eligible to apply for HASP.

Borrowers who owe up to 5% of their home’s value and have guaranteed conforming loans through Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae will likely be able to refinance. Based the current market, they could be looking at 30- or 15-year, fixed-rate loans, excluding balloon payments or prepayment penalties.

Stay tuned for the latest details on Obama’s Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan. I’ll continue following the plan as new information becomes available. If you have questions on how this will specifically impact you, feel free to call or email me.

Your trusted connection to Southern California’s foreclosures market,

Mark Shandrow
REO Broker-Associate
The Shandrow Group
Keller Williams Realty
markshandrow.com

Southern California home prices have fallen to 2002 levels, according to a recent Los Angeles Times report, and they won’t stop plummeting any time soon.

SOCAL HOMES BECOMING MORE AFFORDABLE
Studies show that significantly more people will be able to realize the American dream of home ownership in Southern California than they have been since 2000. For the first time in years, Los Angeles and Orange County housing prices are beginning to balance out with people’s incomes, housing market analysts say.

According to the Times: “The January median sales price for Southern California homes fell to $250,000, a 40% drop from the same month a year prior … The price decline was accelerated by foreclosures, which accounted for 60% of sales last month.”

Experts expect Southern California home prices to experience an additional 25% to 30% decline. Los Angeles area home prices aren’t predicted to significantly increase again until at least 2010 or 2012.

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF PLUMMETING PRICES
With so many affordable houses flooding the local market, now is a great time to get into your dream home and I can help. Foreclosures are even more affordable investments. Sign up for my VIP foreclosures list here and take action now.

Your trusted connection to Southern California’s exploding foreclosures market,

Mark Shandrow
REO Broker-Associate
The Shandrow Group
Keller Williams Realty
markshandrow.com

Call to Schedule a Personal Tour

Address: 5341 Appian Way, Long Beach, CA 90803

Home Type: Single-Family

Square Feet: 1,569

Lot Size: 3,900 sq. ft.

Rooms: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths

Year Built: 1961

Neighborhood: Belmont Shore
This amazing, not-yet-listed foreclosure is located in Long Beach’s most exclusive beachside neighborhood. The spacious 3-bedroom, 2-bath luxury home is nestled among some of the finest, most sought after beachfront real estate Long Beach has to offer. It doesn’t get better than Belmont Shore. The neighborhood pairs upscale designer boutique shopping and fine dining with a relaxed, ocean-air ambiance that’s unmatched anywhere in the city. The exclusive enclave is overlooked by Belmont Heights to the north and west and bordered by canal carved Naples and the Peninsula to the east.

A visit to the tropical foliage-festooned four-mile expanse known as Belmont Shore wouldn’t be complete without a sunny walk down the 2nd Street shopping district. The stylish stretch features 15 blocks of international cuisine, lively cafés, specialty shops and exclusive fashion boutiques. Here you can choose between dining choices of every scale, a burgeoning entertainment and bar culture and plenty of sensory inspiration for an ocean-view romantic stroll.

School District: Long Beach Unified School District
This upscale single-family, bank-owned home is zoned for three of the Long Beach Unified School District’s highest ranking schools, from elementary to high school.
The city’s nationally recognized school district is slated to receive some $56 million over the next two years as part of President Barack Obama’s $787 billion federal economic stimulus package. LBUSD was one of the top five finalists for the 2008 Broad Prize for Urban Education, recognizing America’s best urban school system for increasing student achievement. The district was the national Broad Prize winner for the 2003-04 school year.

Elementary: Lowell Bayside Academy
In 2008, the top-ranking K-8 school was named a 2008 California Distinguished School by the California Department of Education and was also selected for the prestigious designation in 2001. A recent cover story in Los Angeles Magazine named Lowell Elementary in its “60 Great Schools” selection. The school has also garnered the coveted U.S. Department of Education National Blue Ribbon Award.

Middle School: Will Rogers Middle School
In 2000, Rogers received the prestigious National Blue Ribbon Award, the country’s highest school honor. The acclaimed middle school was among only 40 California schools and 198 nationally to be selected that year from 377 nominees.

High School: Woodrow Wilson Classical High School
Newsweek magazine’s national ranking of “America’s Best High Schools” listed Wilson Classical High School, along with five other LBUSD high schools, among the top 5 percent of U.S. public high schools for 2008. Wilson ranked 452 among 1,300 U.S. high schools. It was not the first time the school was listed in Newsweek’s esteemed list.

GET VIP ACCESS TO MORE FORECLOSURES LIKE THIS NOW
This high-end Belmont Shore property is only one of dozens of great investment foreclosures on the Shandrow Group’s exclusive (and ever-growing!) list. Sign up today to get instant VIP access to Long Beach’s hottest foreclosures—BEFORE they come on the market.

Your trusted connection to Southern California’s exciting foreclosure market,

Mark Shandrow
REO Broker-Associate
The Shandrow Group
Keller Williams Realty
markshandrow.com