Short Sale Information & Dual Agency Warning

In a short sale of a home, a lender allows the property to be sold for less than the total amount due. In many cases, the lender forgives the remaining debt.

'Short Sales' Rise As Housing Market Cools from the WSJ
reports that more borrowers are turning to this method of dealing with their debt as the number of people falling behind on their mortgage payments climbs to the highest level in five years.

Short Sale May Be an Option When Mortgage Debt Looms Too Large
from the WSJ reports that a homeowner stuck with two home loans and no means for paying them looks for help. Columnist June Fletcher on a possible way out for consumers faced with a home worth less than their debt.

Wrap Loans aka Wrap-Arounds (revisited)

Economy Can Withstand More Mortgage Foreclosures - By James R. Hagerty, The Wall Street Journal

Housing Bubble and Real Estate Market Tracker from SA for 3/20

DUAL AGENCY:
Some states allow agents to represent both the buyer and seller in the same real estate transaction or allow separate agents from the same real estate company to represent separate sides of the same real estate transaction, a situation known as dual agency or designated agency.

Some agents and brokers have their own rules for the road in dealing with dual agency. Dual agency has been a hotly debated issue in the real estate industry for many years, as it ties into Realtor ethics and responsibilities to clients.Here's an example of a company policy on dual agency from BloodhoundRealty.com: HERE.

There is no way that an agent should represent both buyer and seller in a transaction. Ask any realtor if they can handle it and be objective and, after seeing dollar signs, they will say they can do it and have done them in the past. But, then ask them about their listing and out will spew information favoring their seller (client) therefore unfavorable to you, their potential client. Just how will you expect to hire the listing agent to represent you, knowing what they know about their seller, and ask them to then hammer the seller, which is their job on your behalf? They simply can't.

Ask the designated broker and the broker will suggest that the agent simply act as a third party neutral. Terrible idea! Solution: hire your own agent or ask the agent to pass off one side to a fellow agent in the same office. My job, as agent or as principal, is to get 75% of what I want and giving the other side 25% of what they want. Would you want your agent to be "neutral"? No way.

John Paul Getty: "If you owe the bank $100 that's your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that's the bank's problem."