›

Investigating short sale in Wallingford

WandererWanderer
edited September 2007 in Seattle Real Estate
I am happily renting in Wallingford and never really got serious about trying to buy a place in the last year. However Century 21 sign caught my eye for a house that was FSBO for a while. I was further surprised to see "SHORT SALE NOTICE" on the flyer. Being an avid bubble reader, I am keen to these kind of things... but who the heck gets caught short in Wallingford. I am but a novice in sleuthing stuff like this, so I would love a concise list of all the ways you all seem to get info so quickly.

3835 Corliss Ave
MLS #27102302... that was on the flyer but it is pretty easy to find on the CBBain map. Listed same as the flyer at $649,721
Easy enough to Zillow... $804,946 (mm-hmm) and sold in 1999 for $406K.
Soooo... trying to find out why they are short. The KC parcel viewer isn't much help other than giving some names. Is there another source of info???

Comments

  • AlanAlan
    Purchased in 1999 for $406k. I don't see a mortgage in the public records. It looks like they paid cash. This isn't really a short sale. Short sales are sales made for less than the amount owed on a mortgage. It is often done as part of a mutual agreement between the bank and an owner who is being foreclosed on. Since there is no loan, there is no short sale. They are trying to get the interest of people who want to take advantage of people in foreclosures.

    It looks like a couple who are active in real estate investment. I count twelve properties purchased between 1993 and today. They are likely quite wealthy.
  • S-CrowS-Crow
    A short sale is a term that is used to indicate that the seller may end up selling the home for less than the outstanding mortgage (s) on the home. In this case, there is a high likelyhood that this is the case. The home appears to have been financed with lenders associated with sub-prime.

    From what I understand, if a home is listed in the NWMLS and the sale is expected to be a "short sale," the listing must disclose this.

    Some lenders will take a loss and others may not. Hope that helps.

    PS. Some homes that are short sales are not necessarily a candidate for a good buy. In fact, many homes that have sold as a "short sale" have a history of enormous increases in sales prices over a very short period of time, say less than 5 yrs for example. While you may stumble upon a home marketed as a short sale, it would be very wise to see the chain of title/sales over the last few years. With the recent appreciation gains over the last few years, recently lenders have been scrutinizing chain of title/sales on the subject property being appraised. This is to help cut down on the fraud. Just slighly too late in my opinion.
  • WandererWanderer
    Thanks to both of you.

    I am familiar with what a short sale is and everything else that a year of reading seattlebubble will teach you. This seems like an odd property in that you both had completely different reads. Alan, the thought had crossed my mind that they were using "SHORT SALE" as a ploy because, really, who gets short in Wallingford right now? The fact that the listing and flyer say that all offers have to be approved through the bank sounds pretty convincing though.

    One used to be able to see all of the HELOC loans and 80/20 100% LTV loans, but that is no longer available as far as I know. S-crow, I respect your knowledge and experience in the profession... how did you come to the conclusion that it was a subprime loan/lender?

    Thanks again.
  • S-CrowS-Crow
    HI Wanderer,

    Sorry for the redundancy. Yes, this is a short sale and the home appears quite encumbered. Long Beach Mortgage is the subprime arm of Washington Mutual. I have not looked up if any of the loan (s) were reconveyed (paid off)., but if the agent is marketing the home as a short sale, the likely hood of it being otherwise is low... thus I didn't bother to look up the reconveyance records.

    Being in escrow affords access to records that we need in the course of work everyday and there are a lot of people in the business (agents and title companies, mortgage companies etc..) that we call for quick queries when we need it.
  • fasterfaster
    Wanderer wrote:

    3835 Corliss Ave
    MLS #27102302... that was on the flyer but it is pretty easy to find on the CBBain map. Listed same as the flyer at $649,721

    This house isn't doing so well. It's apparently been sitting vacant for quite some time. Asking price is down $100,000, sold "as-is, without warranties or representations of any kind".


    Relisted as a lender owned repo at $551,000

    3835 Corliss Ave N
    Seattle, WA 98103
    MLS: 27175515

    http://www.redfin.com/stingray/do/print ... id=1167384
  • bilirubenbiliruben
    I was trying to figure out what was wrong with that house this morning.

    Assume structural damage or something, because it's way below market for that neighborhood.
  • Denny RetrogradeDenny Retrograde
    Hmm. Kinda troubled property. A couple bought for $406K in 1999. Then not a couple after that. Then two trustee sales narrowly escaped in 2001 over about $30K unpaid on different loans. Now King County Assessor seems to show title held by ReconTrust, a delicious nationwide default/foreclosure/eviction processor lenders hire to offload their stuff, with Countrywide the most recent recipient of property tax bills. Taxes not delinquent.

    Was interesting to learn about ReconTrust for the first time. Could they become the Starbucks of repo men? Their website proudly claims:
    Our services include foreclosure processing and case management for bankruptcy, evictions and litigation. We operate in 14 states now and our reach will extend to 22 states by 2008.
    Heck, I bet by end of 2008 they can be in all 50 states, plus Guam, and two offices kitty-corner from each other in Vancouver, B.C.
  • SeattleMooseSeattleMoose
    "Assume structural damage or something, because it's way below market for that neighborhood."

    How about "something" is the new paradigm...much lower prices!!!

    Nah, Wallingford is "special"...just like Ballard (miss ol Baby Blue)
  • jillaynejillayne
    Recontrust is a trustee services company. They're the ones that help the lender foreclose on the home via a trustee sale.

    Interestingly, for the states Recontrust services, WA comes in third for foreclosures in process.

    http://www.ctcres.com/

    They're not the only game in town, though. We have Regional Trustee Services and NW Trustee Services that make up the bulk of the market share in this sector. Yes, these companies are probably in super growth mode. Any laid of production worker (not LOs) could apply to work in this sector.

    So it sounds like this property is headed to auction, with the homeowners trying to sell short ahead of the trustee sale. I give chances of this short sale going through as: zero.

    If the homeowners have other assets, like other real property, it's not a short sale. It's a "seller signs a new deed of trust at closing, secured against one of the other properties" transactions.

    If they have other assets, a lender cannot approve a short sale. Competent real estate agents know this. This real estate agent is going to spend time and money trying to market the property all for nothing.
Sign In or Register to comment.