Thank you for visiting my website. If you have been browsing the web looking for real estate in Ft Lauderdale, especially real estate on the East side  (Beach side) you have come to the right place. If you have ever wondered if you are working with a local agent, you can stop worrying and start smiling, since I have been a longtime resident of the Coral Ridge and beach area and I can tell you the story of how this area came to be developed. Please browse the listings posted and if you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to contact me, I will be very happy to help you and answer any queries you have. 

 Interesting REO's (Real Estate Owned) Properties

As you browse through the houses I have listed on this site, you may notice that quite a few of them are "Short Sales". A short sale is where the price is negotiated with the lender(s)before the property goes to foreclosure and becomes and REO. Negotiating a sale BEFORE foreclosure becomes a "win-win-win" for the stricken homeowner, the bank and a potential buyer, since the homeowner will not have a foreclosure on their record, the bank will not have to take back and hold yet another property (an expensive and long-term process) and buyers also have an opportunity to pick up a deal. We currently have 14 short sale and REO's under contract, plus another few deals that are not distressed properties. PEOPLE ARE BUYING! They are not listening to the media and the proof is in our sales! Anybody who has been looking for buys must know the frustration of seeing a house one day, only to have it disappear the next. REO's take a long time to process through the current system. The amount of time it takes from when a lis pendens is filed to the sale on the courthouse steps to the eviction process (if that become necessary), to the time the house becomes available for sale can be literally MONTHS! A house can be "lost" in the system in some cases for years (I have tracked one REO since 2005!) so our aim is to get them SOLD before that happens. With that in mind, I teamed up with an expert in short sales and if you have looked at the listings posted on this site, you will know we are busy!

We want to help, so we split the workload. I work with buyers. That is all I do now and my business partner works with sellers. That way, we do what we do best and you get the best of us together! To that end, I will start to post lisitings here that I think are exceptional buys right now, plus underneath that I will post some Q+A's regarding short sales from the local title company we predominantly use for closings. As always, if you have any questions, email me or call me right now! at 954 608 9441.......

BEACH AREA REO

This FOUR bedroom, three bathroom, two car garage pool home is appraised in the Broward County Tax records at $1,180,140.00 and is currently being offered for sale at $799,500.00

As a point of reference, the pink condo in the background is actually situated ON the beach, (that's how close to the beach it is!) The house is located in the Bayview Elementary School District and is between Oakland Park Blvd and Sunrise Blvd, which puts it very close to both the Coral Ridge Mall, (Publix and Target) and the Galleria Mall, (Macy's and Capital Grill). An added benefit of living on this street is the access to Birch State Park through a private residents entrance. You have it all here...... beach, park, four bedrooms, pool .....I could go on!

DEEPWATER OCEAN ACCESS

(one fixed bridge) REO This Property is PENDING SALE

This property is situated East of Federal Highway in a "gated" community. It is appraised in the tax records at $1,092,000 and is currently on the market at $599,900.00

The home does need TLC (hence the price) and is a three bedroom, two bath, two car garage pool home with 115' on the canal (there is ONE fixed bridge)

SHORT SALE

This Property is PENDING SALE

This four bedroom, three bathroom home is situated in Coral Ridge Isles. The house sold for $800,000 in 2006 and is currently on the market at $549,000.00

 This property is one of our listings, so please look at the additional pictures we have posted. There has been a considerable amount of interest in this property.

Property Taxes

For detailed, up to the minute information on Broward County Property Tax, please visit www.BCPA.net

At this site you will find property search features, along with a Home Buyers Tax Estimator

Roberto and Associates

Short Sale Q & A

(reproduced with kind permission of Joe Roberto)

SHORT SALE TIPS

To answer some frequent questions, issues, and concerns, we will begin including tips regarding short sales in our upcoming emails. A few things for this week:

• Q – Are we still seeing the first mortgage lenders wanting approximately 80% of the loan balance?
• A – Generally speaking, yes. One has even been approved as low as 68%. But keep in mind that the greater the recovery amount is, coupled with other factors like if the owner has true financial hardship, etc., the higher the likelihood that the lender will approve the request.

• Q- What happens when the first mortgage holder does not want the second mortgage holder to get what they are requesting – yet the second will not allow for anything less? (Example, second lender wants $4,000 but the first lender only wants the second lender to get $1000)
• A – While we all know and agree that a short sale for lenders is better than a foreclosure, both lenders must be in agreement in order for the short sale to close. Keep in mind that the lenders do not talk with each other. We try to facilitate getting an approval from both – but this obviously delays the process when they are at odds. There are some options that we can try should this be the case.

• Q – Do short sales only get approved for folks who have stopped making mortgage payments?
• A – No. If someone can demonstrate factors like the property has been on the market for a while, they are barely able to continue to make payments, etc., most lenders are willing to discuss options with them. Granted, if someone is late with payments, a lis pendens has been filed, they are delinquent with their association dues and/or they are delinquent with their property taxes, all of these factors show the lender they are at risk with the property – making these short sale decisions a higher priority with the lenders.

• Q – Do cash offers make a difference with lenders approving short sales?
• A – Yes, it appears so since many lenders also know that qualifying for a mortgage has gotten harder for the buyers. But, if the lender thinks that a cash offer is from a buyer who is an investor, and may be suspicious that they are going to flip the property, then they may not necessarily react the way one would expect. Remember, some lenders will not approve a short sale if there is an investor buying the property. Whether you may not agree with their position, lenders do not want to take a loss if someone is there to make a quick gain and possible flip the property.

Please understand that each lender, transaction, case, etc. is unique with short sales. Property owners involved with selling their property as a short sale should always seek professional legal and accountant guidance with questions. We speak to issues, questions, etc. we see as a title company facilitating a short sale.

BUYER/SELLER SHORT SALE SEMINAR

Do you have buyers who want to buy a short sale and/or sellers who are selling their property as short sale who may benefit by coming to a short sale seminar at our office? If so, please drop us an email at info@robertoandassociates.com . Depending on the response, we will consider holding a separate one for buyers and sellers.

If you have made it all the way to the bottom of this page, thank you for taking the time to read through everything and I hope you found the information informative and useful. If I can be of help, email me or pick up the phone and call me. If I don't know the answer, I'll find it for you!

Have a great day!

Allison 

 Call me at (954 608 9441) or send me an e-mail allison@allisonralph.com

I look forward to working with you!

Allison Ralph, ASP, CRTS, GRI

ClearHomes Team

Keller Williams Realty Professionals
954 608 9441
Allison@AllisonRalph.com

P.S. If you're not ready to meet in person, please tour my website. I'm sure you'll find the resources here useful and helpful. Enjoy!