Today, 1 out of every 10 homeowners in America is behind on mortgage payments. These are tough and frustrating times. Now more than ever, it’s important to identify your options. Foreclosure can be avoided, your credit can be saved, and your financial future can be salvaged.

Through my experience handling distressed properties at Denny Grimes & Company, Inc., I’ve found that homeowners today have more questions than answers about their circumstances. I have created this site www.freeforeclosureanswers.com to help you understand the possible solutions to foreclosure, as well as provide a detailed explanation of short sales, which may be the best course of action for some homeowners.

You may also have noticed that I’m offering you a FREE Report to explain your options and help you decide on a course of action. The idea of losing a home can be overwhelming, and I feel it is vital for you to have all the facts necessary to make an informed decision.

As an agent with the CDPE® Designation, I have a strong and unique appreciation of the factors affecting the market, and know that there are options available to you.

If you would like to know more about your options, please call me at 239.689.7699.

I am here to help you find a dignified solution to a financial crisis.

Michael Polly

http://www.michaelpolly.com

http://www.fortmyersrealestateagent.com

http://www.capecoralrealestateagent.com

http://www.facebook.com/floridahomesales

Sales of existing homes in Lee County ended the decade with a bang — a record 16,260 were sold with the assistance of a Realtor in 2009, according to statistics released Monday by the Florida Association of Realtors.

That shattered the old record of 12,123 set in 2005 at the top of the residential real estate boom that collapsed the following year.

Meanwhile, prices were moving in the opposite direction. The median sales price for an existing house was $278,200 in 2005 but only $90,400 in 2009.

Nationally, sales of previously occupied homes took the largest monthly drop in more than 40 years last month, sinking more dramatically than expected after lawmakers gave buyers additional time to use a tax credit, according to a separate report today by the National Association of Realtors.

That report reflects a sharp drop in demand after buyers stopped scrambling to qualify for a tax credit of as much as $8,000 for first-time homeowners. It had been due to expire Nov. 30, but Congress extended the deadline until April 30 and expanded it with a new $6,500 credit for existing homeowners who move.

In Lee County, prices finally reached a point in 2009 that triggered a wave of buyers, said real estate broker Denny Grimes, president of Fort Myers-based Denny Grimes and Company, Inc.

“We had the banks setting loose the foreclosures for the first time,” he said. “The prices were coming down and you had sellers (the banks) who were determined to find the market. Everybody wondered if there was a market there — they were hoping and praying there was.”

The moral of the story, he said, is that, “There’s never a shortage of buyers, only of willing and realistic sellers.”

But not every prospective seller is able to make a deal with today’s low prices.

Duane Clairmore, 72, a retired Western Union manager from Wisconsin, said he has been trying for two years to sell his south Fort Myers house without success.

He paid $200,000 for the house in 2005 at the top of the market, but hasn’t been able to sell it even at his current price of $155,000. The county Property Appraiser’s Web site has it appraised at $121,490.

Time is of the essence for Clairmore, who owes $132,000 on the house and is facing a reset in May to a higher interest rate on his adjustable rate mortgage from Chase Bank.

Already stretched to the limit paying the current amount on his $20,000-a-year income, he hopes to negotiate a modification to the mortgage at a mortgage workshop Wednesday.

If not, Clairmore said, he’ll likely lose the house. “I’d just have to bow out,” he said.
Grimes said that for the market as a whole, 2010 should see a continuing erosion of prices for high-end homes as banks take back more houses in that bracket and sell them for what the market will bear.

That process has already occurred with less expensive homes, which were largely purchased and then abandoned by speculators when prices started to fall, he said.
Grimes said, as prices fall for the more expensive homes, the result likely will be an increase in the median sales price.

Nationally, December’s sales fell 16.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.45 million, from an unchanged pace of 6.54 million in November, the National Association of Realtors said Monday.

Sales had been expected to fall by about 10 percent, according to economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

The median sales price was $178,300, up 1.5 percent from a year earlier and the first yearly gain since August 2007. However, some of that increase could be due to a drop-off in purchases from first-time buyers, who tend to buy less expensive homes.
Sales are now up 21 percent from the bottom a year ago, but down 25 percent from the peak more than four years ago.

The big question hanging over the housing market this spring is whether a tentative recovery will stumble after the government pulls back support.

The Federal Reserve’s $1.25 trillion program to push down mortgage rates is scheduled to expire at the end of March — a month before the newly extended tax credit runs out.

Real estate expert Denny Grimes talks about having the right plan to find the best deal while making the best use of your time.

To see the full interview click here

18 months ago people wouldn’t have been able to describe the difference between Chinese drywall and Chinese checkers

So, there are still many unanswered questions about the best way to identify and correct it, potential health risks, and how it will effect the value of the property or even the surrounding neighborhood.

Point 2: Pay attention to the year the property was built

Most experts suggest that if a property was built or remodeled from 2004 to 2006 that there MAY be a potential for CDW

In Lee County 25% of the available inventory was built in that time frame, so there is a 25% chance CDW could exist

Point 3: If the property was built in that time range, have the property inspected for sooner verses later. That means buyers of short sales, have a Chinese drywall inspection as soon as the seller signs your offer.

Don’t wait for the lender’s approval because that may take months

Sellers, have your home inspected before you put it on the market

In fact, all owners of property built in that time frame should have an inspection because not only is there property tax relief but I believe there will be government intervention into the correction of it.

Watch whole story: http://www.winknews.com/features/62314162.html By WINK News

There is nothing short about the short sale process, but sellers MUST remember that time is not on their side.

Because most sellers of short sale properties are not making mortgage payments and many are facing foreclosure. Lenders are taking months to respond to an offer on a property, so the sooner the seller receives as offer, the better.

Therefore, it should be every seller’s goal to have a contract within the first 90 days.
Watch the full video interview of with Denny Grimes here

By WINK News

Story Created: Sep 7, 2009 at 3:05 AM EDT

(Story Updated: Sep 7, 2009 at 3:05 AM EDT )

BY DON MANLEY
dmanley@news-press.com

Single-family home prices are climbing in Lee County and sales continued at a torrid pace in July, although there was a slight dip from June’s record-setting pace.

Meanwhile, sales across the nation and state are up, but with a drop in the median sales price.

A total of 1,570 single-family homes were sold with the assistance of a Realtor in Lee County in July, according to statistics released today by the Florida Association of Realtors. That’s down from a record-setting 1,705 sales in June, but the July total was staggering compared with the same month in 2008 - a 104 percent increase.

The median sales price for July in Lee County was $89,000, an increase over June’s median sales price of $87,900. For most of the past 31Ú2 years, the sales price has been dropping sharply.

Statewide, there were 115,882 Realtor-assisted sales in July, up 37 percent from July 2008. The median sales price was $147,600, down 24 percent from the July 2008 median price of $193,800.

In a separate report released Friday, the National Association of Realtors announced that sales of previously occupied homes rose for the fourth consecutive month, posting an increase of 7.2 percent - the largest increase in at least 10 years.

Experts say the flood of foreclosed homes that has hit the market is still glutting inventories and depressing prices. But some local experts say the red-hot market is about to cool, at least temporarily.

Fort Myers-based real estate broker Denny Grimes of Denny Grimes & Co. predicts sales numbers for August will show a decline because the pending sales for July (815) are down by 50 percent from June. Not all pending sales close, but pendings feed the number of closed sales.

Grimes cited three possible reasons for a drop in sales: July, August and September are traditionally slow sales months; an “interruption of supply line,” meaning fewer foreclosures hitting the market; or demand has declined, which Grimes said he doubts.

“We’ve had a fantastic year and we’ve had a great month, year over year, but before we go out and buy a bottle of Dom Perignon, July pending sales are down,” Grimes said. “The prudent person is going to keep the champagne on ice, and over a cup of coffee, try to figure out why are sales slowing.”

He also predicted a drop in the median home sales price for August because the median price for July pending sales was $79,000.

Banks have been releasing fewer foreclosed homes onto the market of late, perhaps hoping for prices to escalate, said Keith Campbell, a managing partner for Silverleaf Capital Group in Fort Myers. The company sometimes represents large investors who buy available homes in bulk.

Campbell theorized banks are being selective to avoid further depressing prices.

“I think the banks have been been besieged with so many properties that now, they’re ramped up to handle them with asset managers,” Campbell said.

He said investors will continue to be a force in Southwest Florida.

“There’s a lot of money trying to come in from outside the area because of all the press we’ve received,” Campbell said.

That helped feed the uptick in prices. Demand is outpacing supply, said Steve Koffman, a real estate broker with Century 21 Sunbelt in Cape Coral.

“We’re clearly seeing inventory levels drop and that’s because of extraordinarily low prices,” Koffman said.

“The mindset of the buyers today is very much what it was in ‘04 and ‘05, with people wanting to buy before prices get too high. The one major difference is we’re selling houses below replacement cost, and back in ‘04 and ‘05, we were not.”

Denny Grimes, President

Denny Grimes & Company, Inc. - Statistics supplied by http://www.homey.com

Inventory fell to 10,300 single family resale homes. That’s one percent less than last month. Pending sales were almost 2% meaning there is new inventory still out pacing sales.

Of the sales, over 61% were under $100,000. With out these, sales would be 1072 less. This is the market that is on fire and where buyers are seeing values they can’t pass up. Homes above this price are still facing an uphill battle with some upper price ranges facing 100 months of inventory.

Still seeing this level of demand speaks well for the interest of people to be near our waters and living in the hot sunshine of SW Florida. The heat that’s here even when the artic wind blows in the north. Remember to put the sunscreen on when your on the beach New Year’s eve.

Michael Polly
http://www.homey.com
http://www.michaelpollycom

To try it out for yourself visit http://www.homey.com

See the video:
http://www.winknews.com/news/local/45957832.html