Michael Murphy at MarketWatch.com lays out the compelling, and concise, case (bullets have been shortened):

1. Desperate sellers. Not the homeowners, of course. It’s the banks that financed the mortgages that are desperate…. That gives the few buyers out there big leverage.
2. Little competition. … those investors willing to be patient and do the work will reap big rewards down the road.
3. Low financing rates. … getting 4-to-1 to 32-to-1 leverage at a low fixed rate of interest is like having someone give you money … rates for 30-year fixed mortgages are an incredible 4.5%. That’s the lowest in 39 years….

To drive his point home, Murphy correctly points out that the real estate summer sales season is almost over. Most house hunters prefer to get settled before school starts and certainly before the holiday season begins to heat up.

Indeed, the time between Labor Day (Sept. 6, 2010) and New Year’s Day (Jan. 1, 2011) is the perfect time to “seriously consider making a low-ball bid on a distressed situation.”

Get a headstart today with a seven-day trial to search Foreclosure.com for the best deals in you’re area — it’s FREE! Click here.

Joe Martin — a successful and experienced broker based in Arizona — responds to pressing real estate agent and buyer concerns each month in the “Ask Joe” section of the free Foreclosure.com Agent University newsletter. Below is an excerpt from the July 2010 edition.

First, let’s define what “staging” is for those who have not heard the term before.

Home staging “is the act of preparing a private residence for sale in the real estate marketplace.” The goal of staging is to make a home appealing to the highest number of potential buyers, thereby selling a property more swiftly and for more money.

Staging techniques focus on improving a property’s appeal by transforming it into a welcoming, attractive product that anyone might want.

Craig Peck, the designated broker of RE/MAX Diamond in Mesa, Ariz., stated he believed staging could reduce days on market (DOM) by as much as 50 to 70 percent.

It appears he wasn’t far off the mark.

Read the rest of this entry »

In three ways, according to Senior Researcher, Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center, Urban Institute, Kathryn L.S. Pettit, in a recent interview with NPR.org:

• Family turmoil. Even before losing your home, the stress that parents are feeling over their financial difficulties, qualitative work has shown greater levels of anxiety and depression among parents going through this problem. So that can happen even before the move is the move actually occurs.

• Switching neighborhoods/schools. Dislocation can affect their educational progress and social development.

• Living in hard-hit foreclosure areas: Their families may not even be in foreclosure, but they are still being impacted by their surrounding area.

Pettit is the director of a project that examines how foreclosure affects children and schools in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and New York City.

To view her comprehensive library of foreclosure-related studies click here.

Pettit’s research on “kids in foreclosure” is in the beginning stages; however, that should not diminish the importance of it. Children are often lost in the shuffle as their parents stress over finances and other provider-related responsibilities.

Her advice to parents going through foreclosure, or possibly headed down the path, is to avoid it at all costs. Reach out for assistance as soon as possible to eliminate the problem before it has time to grow roots.

Easier said than done, but sound advice nonetheless, whether children are involved or not.