I received the nicest email today that I wanted to share with you:

Carmen,

My family and I would just like to take a minute to thank you and Ariel for all of the hard work you put into making our experience in Phoenix a memorable one. Although the process isn’t over, we are very appreciative of the care and attention that has been paid to us. We would like to let you know how accommodating and professional Ariel was throughout the weekend. We came to a decision Friday night of what we wanted, and completely changed our focus. Ariel had many properties lined up for us, but had to abandon that plan to search for others in a different area. She explained the pros and cons about buying in certain areas, but didn’t discourage us, or try to impose her personal opinions. She worked very hard to find us many exciting places to view. We look forward to the remainder of the process and will be talking to others about our experience.

Sincerely,

Val/Sam, Sandi/Kurt, Michelle/Wayne J

We specialize in Scottsdale real estate but are happy to show clients properties anywhere in the Phoenix area. I have hand selected only the finest professionals for our team. We strive to provide the most exceptional service possible. Visit www.GreyhawkCondosOnline.com or call us at 1-800-300-0263 to start your home search.

Carmen Brodeur BA, LLB
Realtor / Former Attorney
www.GreyhawkCondosOnline.com
1-800-300-0263

Many clients buying homes in Arizona ask us about short sales. It is not a term commonly used prior to this year. Short sales are pre-foreclosure situations where the homeowner is about to be foreclosed on so they are tying to sell the home. However, they owe more to the bank than what it is worth. This is called “being underwater” on your mortgage. They try to sell it for an amount LESS than what they owe on the mortgage.

There are thus a minimum of 3 parties in a foreclosure: seller, buyer and bank. There is a fourth party if there is a second mortgage. All 3-4 parties must approve the sale. As you can imagine this is very difficult, impossible in many situations. Most short sales do not sell. I have heard up to 80% of short sales never close.

The biggest hurdle for a short sale is getting the bank’s approval for the home to sell for less than the mortgage amount. The bank is writing off the balance of the loan over and above what they get at the sale. It is a very slow process to even get the bank to respond to your offer, much less give approval. It usually takes 2-3 months for a bank to acknowledge that you have put in an offer on a short sale. At that point they will assign a negotiator to the file. That person will order an appraisal on the property. This is usually another month to get this back. Then the bank will look at your offer to see if it is close to the appraised value of the home. It will only accept offers close to the value of the home. If your offer is significantly less than the value of the home it will reject it or counteroffer.

Short sales often do nothing but waste a seller’s time and create frustration. Many times the home is listed on the mls for an artificially low price that the home would never sell for. The listing realtor is doing this just to get offers on the home. The listing Realtor knows that the bank would never approve a sale at that price. This is done all the time unfortunately.

Other reasons short sales fall apart and do not sell:

• The homeowner abandons the property and can’t be found to sign the final documents (this happened to one of our clients after they waited 3 months and jumped through all the hoops)
• The homeowner declares personal bankruptcy and nullifies the deal
• The buyer gets frustrated and tired of waiting around for 3 months while they see other great foreclosure opportunities pass them by and they finally give up
• The two banks that hold the 1st and 2nd mortgages cannot agree on a price together or how they will split the proceeds. I have seen this happen even when the same bank holds the 1st and the 2nd but they are processed out of 2 different states with 2 different offices responsible.
• The bank takes too long to even acknowledge that there is an offer on the table and the home gets foreclosed in the interim. This should not happen but unfortunately often the offer is sitting in a pile on someone’s desk for months.
• There are other liens on the title that can’t be cleaned up. For example if there is builder liens, mechanic liens, HOA liens etc someone needs to pay for those before the home can be sold. The homeowner is destitute and can’t pay. That means either the bank or the buyer has to pay. This is another whole can of worms.
• Just before the deal is finally about to close (this is 3-4 months down the road) the homeowner moves out and intentionally damages the property. I have seen many punch holes in the walls, missing appliances or flooded homes in the past year. I think most people believe they are “getting back at the bank”. As you can imagine, when damage is found at the final walk through the deal falls apart.

This is just a short list of the possible problems and pitfalls with short sales. As a former lawyer the possible legal problems with short sales is mind boggling. Bank owned foreclosures have clean title and the banks ususally respond within 48 hours. The entire deal is under contract within a few days and closes within 30 days generally. We recommend to our buyers that if they want a quick super deal they should try to stick to true foreclosures, instead of wading into the murky waters of pre-foreclosures. Please feel free to call me at 1-800-300-0263 to discuss how to tell the differences between foreclosures and pre-foreclosures.

Carmen Brodeur BA, LLB
Grayhawk Realtor / Former Attorney
1-800-300-0263
www.GreyhawkCondosOnline.com

There has been a flurry of condo sales at The Edge at Grayhawk recently. The market in Scottsdale in the lower price ranges is really starting to move fast. Numbers don’t lie. The number of listings is down and the number of sales/month is moving up. There have been numerous foreclosures at the Edge which further fuels the fire. There are often multiple bids for each new foreclosure that goes on the market. The foreclosures in the Edge that are on the market more than 15 days are very few and far between. They are either facing Thompson Peak Parkway or are priced inappropriately. The good foreclosures go quick.

The following are the recent sales at The Edge at Grayhawk.

July 7, 2009	3 bed/2 bath	1286 sq ft	$165,000	$128/sq ft
July 2, 2009	1 bed/1.5 bath	1121 sq ft	$113,000	$101/sq ft
June 29, 2009	1 bed/1 bath	786 sq ft	$86,500	$110/sq ft
June 26, 2009	1 bed/1 bath	786 sq ft	$84,900	$108/sq ft
June 26, 2009	2 bed/2 bath	1116 sq ft	$147,000	$132/sq ft
June 23, 2009	2 bed/2 bath	1116 sq ft	$145,000	$130/sq ft
June 19, 2009	1 bed/1 bath	956 sq ft	$118,000	$123/sq ft
June 9, 2009	2 bed/2 bath	1116 sq ft	$130,000	$117/sq ft
June 8, 2009	3 bed/2 bath	1286 sq ft	$167,000	$130/sq ft
June 5, 2009	2 bed/2 bath	1116 sq ft	$161,000	$144/sq ft
June 2, 2009	2 bed/2 bath	1104 sq ft	$137,000	$124/sq ft

Visit www.GreyhawkCondosOnline.com to view all condos available in Grayhawk Scottsdale or to sign up for free email alerts as soon as new foreclosures hit the market. We are true Grayhawk specialists and can help you find the perfect Grayhawk home or investment property.

Marc Brodeur BS, DC
Grayhawk Real Estate Specialist
www.GreyhawkCondosOnline.com
1-800-300-0263

The wonderful thing about condos in Greyhawk Scottsdale is that there is truly something for everyone. There is everything from inexpensive one bedroom condos for $100,000 to luxury golf townhomes and villas for $800,000. Looking for a house, rather than a condo? Houses in Greyhawk range from $320,000 to $3,200,000.

Visit www.GreyhawkCondosOnline.com for all Greyhawk Scottsdale real estate or call 1-800-300-0263 to speak to a Greyhawk specialist.

Carmen Brodeur BA, LLB
Scottsdale Realtor / Former Attorney
www.GreyhawkCondosOnline.com
Carmen@ScottsdaleExperts.com
1-800-300-0263

Today’s Grayhawk Foreclosure Deal of the Day is a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom townhome with garage at the Village at Grayhawk for $203,000. It is a huge 1400 square feet in a premium Grayhawk Scottsdale community. The Village at Grayhawk is an exclusive townhome community within Grayhawk. It has a large community pool, fitness center and walking paths. The Village at Grayhawk is only a minute from the Grayhawk Golf Club with two 18-hole golf courses, clubhouse and restaurant.

This is another great example of the foreclosure deals currently available in Grayhawk, Scottsdale. We are your Grayhawk foreclosure specialists.

All Grayhawk Foreclosures Click Here
All Grayhawk Condos Click Here
All Grayhawk Homes Click Here

Marc Brodeur BS, DC
Grayhawk Specialist Realtor
We Welcome Your Calls at 1-800-300-0263
Marc@ScottsdaleExperts.com

The Grayhawk Golf Club just dropped their prices from High Season Rates to Mid-High Rates. High Season at the Grayhawk Golf Club is from January 1 to April 5th. Mid-High runs from April 6 to May 3rd. This is the perfect opportunity to try out either of the professional level golf courses in Grayhawk at reduced rates. Grayhawk Golf Club is just one of the many amenities that make Grayhawk such a fabulous place to live. There are 36 holes of pure Scottsdale perfection waiting for you.

Grayhawk Golf Club Rates April 6 – May 3, 2009

Monday-Thursday $155, Friday-Sunday $180

Twilight $100

View all available Grayhawk GOLF condos with perfect GOLF COURSE VIEWS at www.GrayhawkCondosOnline.com. We specialize in Grayhawk Scottsdale golf properties. We welcomes your calls at (602) 791-0536.

Did you know that Greyhawk Golf Club has its own channel on YouTube where you can:

• Meet the Golf Pro’s
• Get Hole by Hole Descriptions
• Watch Tips from the Pro’s
• Meet the staff including the beverage cart ladies
• Tour the Clubhouse and Restaurants, and more.

Grayhawk on You Tube

Greyhawk has many Golf View Townhomes and Golf View Homes to choose from starting at only $425,000. A small price to pay for a spectacular golf view in prestigious Greyhawk. Prices are down 30-50% from 3 years ago. Now is the time to get that Golf Home you have been dreaming of.

View all Greyhawk GOLF VIEW Condos at www.GreyhawkCondosOnline.com. We welcome your calls at (800) 300-0263.

Marc Brodeur BS, DC
Scottsdale Realtor
www.GreyhawkCondosOnline.com
1-800-300-0263

It is interesting to see who the current buyers are. It is intelligent astute investors who know the drop in price is only temporary. The buyers are on average highly educated professionals who plan to increase their wealth by buying low and selling high. That is exactly how the rich get richer.

Find out more about Grayhawk Condos or Grayhawk Homes available at www.GrayhawkCondosOnline.com.

Marc Brodeur, Grayhawk Specialist
We Welcome Your Calls at (602) 791-0536

There are many spectacular Grayhawk foreclosure deals on the market. My favorite of the day is a large 2 bedroom plus den condo at the Village at Grayhawk. It is a huge 1843 square feet. That is larger than many bungalow homes. It has beautiful dark kitchen cabinets with granite counter tops. It has a large balcony with pleasant view of trees and open space. There is a two car garage with epoxy floors and extra storage space. All of this for only $285,000. The last owner paid $450,000. It is a great deal just waiting to be snapped up by a lucky buyer.

About the Author: Marc Brodeur BS, DC is a Grayhawk Scottsdale specialist. He enjoys helping people find the absolute best deals possible in North Scottsdale. Visit his website at www.GrayhawkCondosOnline.com. View all available Foreclosures at Grayhawk.

We welcome your calls at (602) 791-0536 or 1-800-300-0263.