Michigan has been in the news a lot recently when it comes to depreciating real estate, record foreclosures, unemployment, declining new home starts, etc., etc. You can choose to listen to all of the pessimism and sink back into your scarcity mode or you can choose to look for solutions and have an attitude of abundance.

I spoke to our local home builders association (www.glhba.org) last night and talked about creative solutions that builders can employ to move homes without dropping the sales price and still make a profit. These strategies are not new, i.e. Trades, Lease Options, Land Contracts, etc, but putting numbers to it and quantifying the end results does make a difference. When you have real numbers to work with, you can make better decisions.

In times like these, especially in Michigan, everyone needs to be open to new ideas or at least open to new solutions. One company that is capitalizing on the increasing foreclosure market and helping the seller, the Realtors, and the bank is EZ Home Ownership Realty, LLC (www.ezhomeownershiprealtyllc.com) They have become experts in negotiating short sales with mortgage banks.

The short sale benefits: 1. the seller because it prevents a foreclosure, 2. the bank because they may end up getting more money prior to foreclosure than at the sheriff’s sale, 3. Buyer’s Agent, if they bring a qualified buyer to the seller, they will receive a commission, 4. Listing Agent, they will receive a commission for finding a buyer. 5. the neighborhood because the value of the home doesn’t drop as drastically as it would in a foreclosure sale. There are many more tangible and intangible benefits of a short sale but needless to say, this is a strategy that is being used and becoming more accepted by mortgage banks’ loss mitigation departments.

These solutions may require a little more work to close and in some cases we may not realize the benefit immediately but some business is better than no business. If you structure these strategies correctly, you’ll be in a better position when the market turns and you’ll have established yourself as a trustworthy professional and that will go a long way.