Archive for March, 2009

Mortgage Reform is a must. I am currently dealing with two potential short sales on properties that have loans larger than what a buyer has offered on the properties. It becomes a short sale if the bank agrees to take a loss on the property and convey it to the new buyer. The current process of trying to get answers from the mortgage company is incredibly frustrating and totally inefficient. In order for the mortgage company to talk to an agent a letter from the Seller needs to be sent to the mortgage company authorizing them to communicate with their agent. No problem there. I understand the privacy issues at stake. If the mortgage company does not lose the document, you need to give them 3 days before they will talk to you if it is faxed. Now that is efficient. Once they have the authorization and you have sent them a contract they have up to 14 days to let you know that they have received it. At least in my case, that is what they told me. At that time, they will let you know if they received it, and only, if they have a complete short sale packet. Of which, there are not standard forms that they supply agents, but apparently you need to have ESP to figure that one out. If you don’t, they will not respond to your offer. The complete short sale packet includes, but may not be limited to, seller’s last two year’s tax returns, last two months bank statements, a letter of hardship if they are not working and a whole list of more items that seem pretty standard to me. Unfortunately, they don’t supply this standard list? Why I ask. For each day that goes by, the bank is losing money and it is costing the borrower more money. There is no urgency to this process. Deals get lost because buyers don’t want to wait the 30-45 days before they really know if their offer is going to be accepted or not. It is a ludicrous system and needs to be changed. The people that got us in this mess, are dragging their feet to help get us out of it. The longer it takes, the more that is lost. Where can we go and who can we turn to for help in this situation? Not long ago banks wanted to get in the real estate business and were turned down. Thank goodness for congress recognizing that it could lead to huge problems. Oh wait, it was their lending problems that did lead to huge problems in the real estate market and our global economy. Now who is going to change the rules to make sure they don’t make things worse than they already are. Someone needs to take control and institute new regulations that will expedite the process. Based upon my experience it won’t be the mortgage companies.

CENTURY 21 Advantage awarded the CENTURY 21® System’s National Quality Service Award

South Burlington, VT, March 2009 — Century 21 Real Estate LLC, franchisor of the world’s largest residential real estate sales organization, has announced that CENTURY 21 Advantage is a recipient of the 2008 CENTURY 21 Quality Service Office award for its commitment to providing quality customer service to its clients.

“Receiving this award is a great honor and a testament to the focus and attention we commit to our clients in ensuring that they understand each and every step of the home buying and selling process,” stated Brian French, Broker/Owner of CENTURY 21 Advantage.  “This award is the collective result of the efforts of each and every member of the CENTURY 21 Advantage staff.”

Located at 1993 Williston Road in South Burlington, CENTURY 21 Advantage is a full-service brokerage firm specializing in residential sales.

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Impressive Sales Earn CENTURY 21 Advantage
Sales Associate One of the
CENTURY 21® System’s Top Honors

Kelly Farr Earns Masters Award for 2008 Sales Production

CENTURY 21 Advantage is pleased to announce that Century 21 Real Estate LLC recently recognized Kelly Farr, sales associate with CENTURY 21 Advantage, as one of the System’s top-producers nationwide when it honored her with the coveted Emerald Level CENTURY 21 Masters Award.  She was also ranked #3 in the State of Vermont for CENTURY 21 agents for Sales Volume and #5 in the state for Units Sold for 2008. In addition she was 1 of 7 agents that achieved the prestigious Quality Service award. 

“Kelly places her real estate wisdom and passion for life into her everyday business, helping to make clients more comfortable with the real estate transaction as they make what may be the most significant purchase of their lives,” said Brian French, broker/owner of CENTURY 21 Advantage. 

“Kelly is a valued and trusted real estate resource for the Greater Burlington community and a major contributor to the overall success of CENTURY 21 Advantage and the CENTURY 21 System as a whole.”

CENTURY 21 Advantage is a full-service brokerage located at 1993 Williston Road and specializing in Residential sales.

Jeanie Gracey, Broker

Kelly Farr, Realtor

Jeanie and Kelly Sales Associates with CENTURY 21 Advantage in South Burlington, were named the office’s top sales associate in the month of February.

We are pleased to recognize Jeanie and Kelly with this honor.   Their competitive intelligence, professionalism and dedication to homebuyers and sellers have made them a valued and trusted real estate resource for the Greater Burlington community and a major contributor to the overall success of our office.

After reading a number of articles dealing with our dire economy and future predictions, I can only wonder in amazement how we got in this mess to begin with. Years ago, communities could count on their local friendly conservative bankers to help them do the right thing in terms of loans. You know, not giving you a loan unless you had the werewithal to pay it back. Establishing an equity position, so if you did default they could unload it without a significant loss. Having you have a viable ongoing place of employment for at least two years and your last two years of tax returns to prove your income just to name a few. I wonder now, as we all endure the incredible pain and uncertainty of our current economy if some of the mortgage giants and banks who caused this mess, think about what they have done and really care at all. It is a different world today then it used to be when i was growing up and looking to buy my first property. I wonder what our economy would be like now, if all our friendly conservative bankers with the old rules were the ones that were the ones  giving the  loans a few years back. I bet we wouldn’t be where we are today. Yes, things aren’t like they used to be, and that is not always a good thing.