Paul Francis, CRS

Tara, Nice article... "Please note: I am not talking about any sort of paid referral arrangement. In fact, I constantly take care to let my buyers know that, while it's not illegal for a real estate broker to take a referral fee from a mortgage broker with the proper disclosures, I have no such paid affiliations." Very well said. I just finished answering a request from a buyer looking for a lender that can handle his circumstances and I referred a couple of lenders that I've used for years with the following statement: No... I do not receive referral fees, gifts, etc..etc.. for referring them. I refer them because over the years they have made my clients happy and do what they say they are going to do. I think we make enough money for a transaction and should avoid the slippery slope of adding pocket change. Going after this is just a sign of greed in my opinion. Paul Francis, CRS Prudential Americana Group www.LasVegasRealEstateHome.com 702.592.3058

Unless of course you are part of the "Friends of Angelo" program where you can have two primary residences. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090727/ap_on_go_co/us_senators_mortgages "Feinberg also told House investigators that Countrywide counted both of Dodd's homes as primary residences. "He was allowed to do both of those as owner-occupied, which is not allowed. You can only have one owner-occupied property. You can't live in two properties at the same time," he said." • Dodd heads the Banking Committee and is a major player in two big areas: solving the housing foreclosure and financial crises and putting together an overhaul of the U.S. health care system. LOL!! Paul Francis, CRS Prudential Americana Group www.LasVegasRealEstateHome.com 702.592.3058

You completely forget to mention the necessity of being able to qualify a seller for a short sale in the first place. "but it seems as if fewer purchases are actually being completed" ??????????? "The short sale seems complicated -- mostly because it takes so darn long to accomplish -- but it's not." If you want to start writing about short sales... you need to keep in mind that when it comes to this Specialty... No two sellers have the same finacials, same loan and/or same hardships. To suggest that the main thing involved with a short sale is: "The key in all of this is the lender accepting a price that is less than the amount owed on the property" ... is probably the reason why your sources say only 1 to 3 out of 10 applications get accepted. Out of those 10 applications... probably only 5 of them have a true hardship to qualify and out of that five... two to three of them waited too long because they read too many articles / hear that a short sale is a waste of time, or were strung along forever from false promises about a loan modification... and then give us only a week before the final stage of the foreclosure to put their packages together, list the property and find a buyer. Granted... it would certainly help out if the loss mitigators were not working on 500 files each to help speed up the process... Regardless... articles / interviews from the pros that are closing 75%+ of their short sales would be far more beneficial then complaining about the process. Then...Maybe... just maybe the bogus applications for a short sale from sellers who just want to get rid of their liability would be cut down and the loss mitigators could concentrate on the sellers who truly do have a hardship and are just trying to do the right thing instead of just walking away or mailing in the keys. Of course... that is going to involve more education on what qualifies for a short sale to begin with. Something that is completely lacking in mainstream real estate journalism when it comes to articles concerning short sales. Paul Francis, CRS Prudential Americana Group www.LasVegasRealEstateHome.com 702.592.3058