Torres Ramey's Blog

Got Barbeque?

Torres Ramey — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 19:09:32 +0000

Got Barbeque?

It’s that time of year again then annual Smokin in Mesquite Barbeque Championship Challenge will be coming to Mesquite, NV on Friday, September 2 to Sunday, September 4, 2011. A competition that features barbeque teams from all over the country competing for $40,000 in prize money.

The event is very popular here in Mesquite. There is still time to book great deals at our local casinos Eureka, Casablanca, Virgin River to make it in time for the event. There is more information about the event, schedule, and lodging at http://www.mesquitebbqchampionship.com

If you enjoy barbeque and good food feel free to stay and enjoy our local sites..

Welcome to Mesquite, NV

Torres Ramey — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 17:22:40 +0000

Welcome To Mesquite

The following information is provided to give you a little insight to our great town and community. www.mesquite-chamber.com

What to do:

There are 3 major casinos in town: Eureka, Casablanca, and Virgin River.
Bowling, fishing, Bike riding, Hiking, Baseball/Softball , City Parks and Recreation center, Public Library, Senior Center and an Art Gallery/ museum to name a few.
There are two movie theatres.
For those that enjoy golfing we have 9 different 18-hole courses: www.golfmesquitenevada.com.
We have parasailing and skydiving available too.

Dining:

Mesquite offers a wide variety of venues from coffee shops to steak houses. There are many fast food places throughout the town. A great tip to use when coming to Mesquite is www.restaurant.com which offers discounted coupons to restaurants. In town we have four that are affiliated with the site such as Samurai 21, The Smoke Shack, 19^th Hole Bar & Grill, and Mesquite Playoffs Sports Pub.

Annual Events:

Long Drive Competition

Smokin in Mesquite BBQ

Motor Mania

Tri State Marathon

What’s Near to Mesquite:

St. George, UT: 36 miles

Zion, UT: 79.1 miles

Las Vegas, NV: 87 miles

Brian Head, UT: 121 miles

Grand Canyon, AZ: 357 miles

Please contact The Ramey team at Quality 1 Realty for information of local properties to call home.

www.mesquiterealestateagents.com

Loan Modifications

Torres Ramey — Tue, 12 May 2009 20:12:14 +0000

First of all I want to make sure that everyone is aware that I am not now nor have I ever been a loan officer. Furthermore, I never want to work in the mortage industry, it’s just not for me. Having said this, I am getting a lot of questions about loan modifications, should we re-finance, do a loan mod. etc… The truth is that I am not qualified to give that advice and beware of any real estate agent who does. They should refer you to a professional. I do know several good lenders as many agents do, so contact me and I will give you that information. However, I came acrossed a good article about loan modifications so I am attaching the link for your information. Good luck with what ever you decided to do, remember that information is the key to success. http://stgeorge.erabrokers.com/news/is-loan-modification-for-you/

Torres Ramey

Broker/Salesman

702-371-2785

E mail: tramey@rconnects.com

Short Sales, Why Do them?

Torres Ramey — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:45:11 +0000

If unfortunately you are caught up in all of this housing mess, you might be thinking of doing a short sale. For those of you who do not know what a short sale is, it occurs when a seller sells a property but owes more than the final profit. In other words he/she is upside down in the house. This will include the mortgage, fees and all of the other costs of selling property. After everything is added up, the seller has basically two options. Come up with the difference he/she owes to close the deal or ask the bank/s to forgive enough of the loan to close the deal. Needless to say the seller will not profit from this deal either way. The first option, although hardly ever done, is probably the best option for the seller because it will protect their credit rating. The second and most common form of a short sale seems to be the usual way out for most sellers.

I have thought about this situation and although it’s just my opinion, I really think that the only person benefiting from these short sales are the banks. A short sale when the banks forgive a portion of the loan, shows up on your credit report. When and in what fashion depends on who you ask. Many lenders have told me that it just as bad as a foreclosure on your report. Which of course leads to other issues, like can the lenders come after you for a deficiency judgment? Know one seems to no, although I have been advised that the latter fact depends on your state law. Apparently the rules are different if the property you short saled is an investment property as opposed to your main home.

So assuming for a minute that a short sale is just as bad on your credit report as a foreclosure, who is benefiting from the sale? It must be the lender! It would seem to make no difference to the seller either way. Coupled with the fact that the lenders are taking months to approve a short sale and making everyone jump through hoops, the question begs to be ask, why are sellers doing them? Truthfully I don’t have a good answer. Did you know that a lot of banks not only require two to three months bank statements , but also want your last two years of TAX returns. Let me ask you this? What if you filed a joint return with your spouse and you are the only person on the loan for the house that is being sold short? Maybe your spouse doesn’t want the lender to see his/her tax return, then what? As a real estate agent I can say with the utmost certainty that I would prefer to sell a property already owned by a bank, than a short sale and I don’t know any other agent who feels differently. Having said that I think a lot of agents do them A. To make a living and B. To try and help people out of the mess that they are in. The issue here is with the banks. We the agents are trying to make a living and the sellers are trying to do the best that they can do by not completing loosing the house and the banks do not want to cooperate.

It’s a shame that this is all happening in our housing market and there is NO end in sight. The situation could be made better though if the banks would just cooperated a little more instead of being absolutley rediculous and hard headed. What I have explained here in this blog, are situations that other agents and myself run into on a daily basis. Yes we are very frustrated because see the root of the problem every day. We can all agree or disagree on how we got to this point, but fixing the situation should be our highest priority and when it comes to the banks, it obviously is not. I hope that if you do a short sale yours goes smoothly but don’t expect it to. Please do yourself a favor and get all of the information you can first. Remember that these are just my opinions and are not legal advice. Make sure that if your have any questions reagrding these or any other real estate matters, to seek professional legal advice from a qualified attorney and/or your accountant.

Torres Ramey, ABR

Broker / Salesperson

702-371-2785

To Buy A REO, Or Not To Buy A REO.

Torres Ramey — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 23:45:07 +0000

As I write this entry I am wondering how long the real estate investors out there will take before they decide that the market has fallen enough. I’m not talking about the occasional flipper, I’m talking about the true investor that usually pays cash or is experienced in tying up properties with mortgages. I ask this question because, it was reported that homes sales were up over 5% in September. In the western part of the US the increase was over 20%, wow! OK this was a rhetorical statement, obviously investors have begun to take notice of lower interest rates and phenomenal deals they can make on REOs or bank owned properties.

A little about buying REOs. True investors know that working with banks can be at best tedious and at worst disastrous. They are NOT for the buyer who has to be in a home quickly, and they are NOT for the buyer who wants all repairs made and costs paid etc… You must remember that banks are usually losing money on these homes and want to loose as little as possible. Is that their problem? Absolutely. However, once you have made an offer on their property, they know that you’re interested. The bottom line is they can be very tough to negotiate with and take experience.

I bring this up because it seems that on a daily basis I get buyers asking me about buying foreclosures. Most of them really have no idea what they’re getting into. You need to have money in the bank for unexpected repairs, unpaid HOA dues etc… Personally, I believe you can often negotiate a better deal with a regular seller because they know the market is tough and have been told by their agent that they need to be realistic. I know, right now you are probably saying, “but the bank doesn’t want to own real estate”. True, but the banks credit won’t be severely hit due to a foreclosure and the amount of times I have seen a bank turn down a reasonable offer is astounding. Remember the person/s negotiating for the bank has no personal interest in the home and doesn’t truly care if the deal works out or not. I have seen many offers turned down only for the home to be sold at auction for much much less than the offers would have recovered for the bank. Sounds like the banks are being kind of dumb right? Right! Unfortunately though this is what occurs on a daily basis. Remember we are only talking about buyers who are paying cash, if you are getting a loan to buy this property it opens up a whole new world of issues. Still, with all that’s been said here, these deals can be done. All I am trying to do is give a friendly word of caution, REOs are not for everyone. Remember one thing your mother probably told you; 1. If it looks to good to be true, it probably is. Happy hunting!

Torres Ramey, ABR

Broker / Salesman

702-371-2785

www.torresramey.com

How Much Do I Offer???

Torres Ramey — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 23:43:09 +0000

Often I get asked from buyers and less experienced agents here in Mesquite, “how much should we/my clients offer on a house?” Well the answer is, depends. It depends on several things, first and foremost, what can you afford? Assuming that the home you are looking at is in your price range and with current market conditions the way that they are, you certainly are going to make a lower offer than the asking price. Yes, even if you absolutely love the house, don’t like to make or receive counter-offers and/or need to be in a home right away. Why? If the sellers have an agent and especially if you are buying a house from a bank, they the sellers, by virtue of their agents or representatives’ will be informed that no one ever makes their best offer the first time. Knowing this you and your agent should definitely make a lower first offer. Ok it’s true there are times when the seller accepts the first offer and it is usually in the type of market that we are in now. However, I would submit to you that the reason they took that offer is because the buyer offered too much. The seller is now celebrating because more than likely they got MORE than what they wanted/needed out of the house.

You see when you make your first offer you are really trying to figure out what range or price the sellers really want/need to get out of the house. It’s a “feeler” if you will. The exact amount of how low your offer should be truly depends on the area and market the home is in. For example, here in the southern part of Nevada, if you are not fairly close to the list price you will probably get a rejection! No counter-offer at all. I know some of you are thinking that’s crazy, and your right, a seller should always make a counter-offer. Out here though, it’s fairly common to get a rejection even in the market we are in. It should be said that the offers coming in are lower than you would see in a “normal” market but still not as low as you might think depending on what part of the country you’re from. In other words instead of an offer being 10K low, they are 20k low now. That’s not a big difference considering the current market.

Now the price of the house has a lot to do with what I am saying too. A higher dollar priced house is going to get a much lower offer than a single family home in the average price range for the market. Example… a home listed for 1 million would probably get a first offer in the range of 900k-950k. Whereas a home listed at 250k will probably get a first offer of in the range of 230k-245k. Another question I get asked all the time from buyers when I am representing the seller is, “what is their lowest price”, or “what is the lowest amount they’ll take.” Buyers ask this for two reasons. First, they want to see if their offer will work without using counter-offers and secondly, they are trying to get best deal or not pay too much. My answer to them is always the same, assuming that the seller has not authorized me to advertise a lower price than the listing price, “sorry I can’t give you that information you’ll have to make an offer.” Buyers do get angry when I tell them this, but they don’t realize that I would be breaking the law by divulging this information. Remember all anyone really wants is a fair deal, and that applies to both the buyer and seller. So as the buyer the only way to know that you didn’t pay too much is to start low and work up. I’ll leave you with one last thought; I believe it was Donald Trump who said, “If you are not embarrassed by your first offer, you offered too much!”

Torres Ramey, ABR

Broker / Salesman

702-371-2785

www.torresramey.com

Changes

Torres Ramey — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 23:40:19 +0000

My career in real estate started in 2001 after a 20 year combined career in the military and law enforcement.http://www.torresramey.com/About_Me/page_2114421.html and through out the past seven years I have been told many things about the markets, and especially the mortgage market. For example the interest rates were about 7.5% when I started in business and that wasn’t bad! I was told then they would never go lower, and they did, clear down to the 4.75% range. Wow, I thought now that’s almost like stealing money to pay for a house, the rates were so cheap. Of course the problem at that time was, in Las Vegas and else where the prices were climbing so fast that government loans and clients incomes couldn’t keep up. So the 80/20 loans were created and the government loans basically went away until recently. Then the rates went up again in 2006/2007 into the high 6% range and I was told by lenders that they would never go down into the 5% range again, those days are long gone! So imagine my surprise today ( I’m being sarcastic) when I received an e mail from a lender I know who just locked in a loan at 4.875%. While I was being told all of this great advice from those whom supposedly know everything about the world of lending I remembered when I was a senior in high school and my mother (then a R.E. Broker herself) was trying to sell houses when the interest rates were 15-18%. those rates eventually changed so I figured the rates of 6-7% probably would too. They did, and in a big way.

You see it basically comes down to this. Greed. Mortgage companies don’t make money unless they make loans and investors will only lay off buying mortgage backed securities for so long, why, greed. Nothing really wrong with that, it’s just a simple fact of life. When the interest rates were 15-18% and no one could afford a mortgage, all inclusive trust deeds/contract of sale etc.. were done like crazy. So lenders not wanting to loose out on doing mortgages created the “Due on Sale” or ”Alienation” clauses that just about every mortgage now has. These clauses basically state that if you sell your home you must pay us (your mortgage company) off. So, although AITD and contract of sales are legal that can certainly now create a big legal mess. Eventually interest rates and markets will and do turn around, that’s probably the one thing you can count on in a free market system. As I stated before I have received a lot of advice from ”experts”, some of it was good and some of it wasn’t. However, the only thing that I have learned for certain is that it will change. Wishing all of you a great holiday season and an even better 2009.

Torres Ramey, ABR

Broker / Salesman

702-371-2785

www.torresramey.com

When Will The Banks Get It?

Torres Ramey — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 22:36:16 +0000

For several years now the banks have been trying to get into the real estate business. Thank goodness they really have not been able to. Of course one could argue that NOW they are in the business, but I’m sure it’s not what they had planned. I am very glad that the banks have now seen another side of real estate, maybe this will wake them up to the fact that they have absolutely NO clue about what they are doing. It’s sad really.

Banks could very easily correct the housing problem almost singlehandedly if they would just stop going from one extreme to another with regards to their lending policies. Now I realize that the GREED that caused the over whelming use of 100 % financing loans etc.. is coming from wall street. It’s also true that if a mortgage broker did not make those kind of loans during the height of their period, they would have went out of business because another broker surely would have. However, obviously not everyone who bought a home using those kinds of loans should have been approved ( and they were). Now, because they have gone to the other extreme, it’s difficult to say the least to get a loan. Make up our minds!!!

The question of “when will the banks get it?” is almost the same question, “which came first the chicken or the egg?” There doesn’t seem to be an answer. I would submit to you though, if the banks would speed up the process of selling the properties that they control, the real estate market and the economy would certainly recover much faster. It is appalling how long a bank will take to sell a house, not to mention the demands they make, such as which title company they want etc… I mean it is a buyers market after all. Of course several of the offers they get on properties fall out of escrow IF they ever make it that far and I think it would be very hard to find an agent who is surprised by that fact.

Yes, buying a bank owned property MAY save you money, but then again maybe not. Depending on repairs, back taxes, HOA fees etc… The unfortunate part to this whole story is that Banks don’t and probably never will understand the correct way to sell real estate. Even though they do it, it doesn’t mean their good or even adequate at it. Look at all of the issues they have right now with running the actual banking system and then to be able to deal in real estate, please…. Of course the person who suffers is the consumer and that is unfortunate. Hopefully the banks will get a clue and start doing things right, then maybe all of us will be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Torres Ramey

Broker / Salesman

702-371-2785

torres@torresramey.com

Short Sales

Torres Ramey — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 19:09:11 +0000

In the past seven years I have done quite a few short sales both in good markets and down markets. As the title of this blog states, “the only thing short about short sales is the money.” It is absolutely astounding how much banks complain and ask for money from the federal government (which is all of us taxpayers), but when it comes to getting the homes off the market, they drag their feet. Yes, I know that the banks have a huge bureaucracies (that they’ve created) but truthfully WHO cares! Certainly not the buyer and seller, they just want their deal to close. Waiting several months for an answer while the bank tries to get other offers in and gets the buyers into a bidding war will certainly make deals go south in a hurry. For example: A house was offered at 179k, a buyer made an offer of 175k plus closing costs. The bank turned down the offer and then thirty days later sold it for 134K. This kind of blatant stupidy occurs for several reasons, but most likely because the persons making the decision for the banks do not know what they are doing and/or do not care if the property sells or not. There are currently a ton of horror stories all over the country right now about short sales and REOs or Bank Owned properties, and it’s interesting to note that the common denominator in theses stories is always the bank. Of course they have every excuse know to man, but as I said before, no one really cares about their problems and until they wake up they’re going to keep having issues.

As agents we are asked on a daily basis about short sales and REOs. We must and do inform the clients that if they are in a hurry, don’t be. REOs are not so bad regarding time but short sales, well, let’s just say don’t hold your breath and certainly don’t start picking out the furniture. I have seen these deals take longer than four months and have heard of them taking even longer. “Time is of the Essence” means nothing to a bank (unless they want something). Remember the old saying “buyer beware” well it applies to all real estate transactions and definitely to these types deals. You’ll get a lot of disclosures that protect the banks and not you, and none regarding the property. If you are OK with that, fine but as with all homes a very good home inspection is a must. I certainly don’t want to discourage the buyers out there from buying short sales and REOs, however, I would think twice about buying a short sale if I didn’t have a lot of time or had very little patience. Good luck with your house hunting!

Torres Ramey, ABR

Broker / Salesperson

702-371-2785

ERA Brokers Consolidated

550 W. Pioneer Blvd. Suit 100

Mesquite, NV 89027