Mike Hughes' Blog

  Why do Realtors think preapproval letters are about as worthless as a wet cocktail napkin? Has it become so bad that Realtors believe a do-it-yourself prequalification is better than one from the mortgage office? I believe the time has come for preapproval letters to gain some respect. We can a...

As an expert on short sales in Washington, I have helped counsel many buyers and sellers through the process and have had many common asked questions about how it works. If you have further questions, please feel free to add them and I would be happy to answer. Q: What is a short sale? A. With re...

I hear this question every so often so I thought I'd address it.  Of course here in Southern California, about 90% of the home inspections we perform are vacant houses, usually foreclosures or short sales.  However I know there are still sellers out there. So how does a seller have the house "pas...

Okay first let me BUST a MYTH out there. The administration is telling people that even though YOU are not going to get bailed out while your neighbor who is going through foreclosure is, you should be happy because YOUR home will not suffer further loss in value if we can get these foreclosures ...

The author writes for Philadelphia, but these ideas hold true for EVERY market.4 Main Reasons Why Philadelphia Houses Do Not Sell   Below are the 4 main reasons why Philadelphia houses do not sell.  I believe these 4 reasons are also the main reasons in any geographic market as well: Each reason ...

Inspired by Donna Rattee"ARE THE BANKS REALLY WORKING WITH YOU" it suddenly occured to me that the answer is a resounding . . . . . . NO!   NO!   NO! WHO CAN EXPLAIN THE INEXPLICABLE?  Banks reject offers for foreclosures and then sell the property months later for much less money. Banks ignore c...

Recently, there have been an increase in reports of lenders entering homes pending foreclosure, changing the locks and removing personal property.   Often, the justification provided by the lenders is that they received a report that the property was vacant and unsecured and that they were simpl...

Great re-cap by Dan Hartman - Dan, congrats on your featured BLOG post!As I write this, the president is poised to sign the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, better known as the $787 billion Economic Stimulus Plan. There has been much speculation about what this plan might do for ho...

President Obama will be traveling to Denver to sign his newly passed "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009". While there has been much said about the bill, the end result is yet to be seen. Changes to the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit are not significant. We already had a $7500 tax cr...

Hitwise just released their January 2009 ranking of the top real estate websites, according to market share.  In case you aren't familar with Hitwise, they track how approximately 10 million US Internet users interact with more than 1 million websites each month.  They then rank these sites withi...