By Tom Branch, on November 30th, 2010 According to the Distressed Property Institute, more than 80 percent of distressed homeowners who go into foreclosure have never contacted their lender or a real estate professional for help. That’s a staggering number when help and relief are available.
 Licensed from iStockPhoto Without fail, our phone rings off the hook near the end of every month from desperate homeowners looking for help. After checking the local foreclosure lists, we often find that the house is already scheduled for foreclosure the following week. At that point, it’s nearly impossible to get a Short Sale in place to stop it.
An important thing to understand about Short Sales is that the process is anything but “short.” The only thing “short” about a Short Sale is the payoff to the lender. The sooner the homeonwer contacts someone for help, the more time is available to work the Short Sales process.
We encourage homeowners across the United States to get educated on the options available should they become financially distressed. Short Sales are a great tool, providing relief to all parties.
Just remember to choose a REALTOR® with a proven Short Sale track record to negotiate on your behalf. Making the right choice can mean the world of difference to your financial future.
Read our multi-part blog titled, “Short Sales 101“
By Tom Branch, on November 28th, 2010 We recently converted our blogging platform to WordPress. We did a custom template self-hosted version in order to have it match our primary website in basic design and look. At some point, we will move the entire website onto the WordPress platform but that’s down the line and the subject of another blog.
 Licensed from iStockPhoto We left the original blog online for a while as we moved some of the older posts onto WordPress. When we were done, we deleted the old blog files. All appeared well.
A few days later we were checking our domain in Google’s Webmaster Tools and noted we were getting lots of 404 errors on the old blog posts. A 404 error tells the world that the “requested page was not found” on the server. Apparently we had developed back-links to the old blog site and Google had indexed many of our blog entries. We were a bit concerned about all the 404s impacting our ranking on Google and were desperately looking for an answer.
Disclaimer: the rest of this is technical in nature.
We’re running an Apache Server and the answer was both easy and elegant. In the root directory of an Apache Server is a file named, “.htaccess” and this file can be a powerful tool. Our old blog was in the /blog subdirectory and the new blog was in the /wordpress subdirectory. We wanted any URL calling a file in the /blog subdirectory to be sent to /wordpress/index.php.
For example:
http://www.thebranchteam.com/blog/archives/2008/09/entry_114.html
Should be redirected to:
http://www.thebranchteam.com/wordpress/
We downloaded the existing .htaccess file to my PC, opened it in notepad, and added the following:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^blog/.*$ /wordpress/ [R=301]
Basically, the code tells the server to take any requests for files in /blog/, redirect them to /wordpress/, and report it as a 301 (moved permanently) rather than a 404 (file not found)
We saved the file and uploaded it back to our server. Problem solved!
By Tom Branch, on November 28th, 2010 The Branch Team | Real Estate Broker 0547597 | RE/MAX Dallas Suburbs
 Copyright 2010 - Imaged2Sell 3 Bedrooms | 1 Bath | 1236 SF/Tax
Garland TX Homes For Sale – Great frame home on treed lot. The eat-in kitchen has gas stove and breakfast bar. Two living areas offer lots of room. The three bedrooms have solid oak floors and plenty of closet space. The exterior of the home was painted in July 2009. The large landscaped lot has a lush lawn and mature trees provide shade. The fenced back yard is perfect for pets or entertaining. Garland ISD has school of choice program. This home is ready for new owners!
Click here for current status, pricing, photos, and a virtual tour.
Source: NTREIS
By Tom Branch, on November 27th, 2010 The Branch Team | Real Estate Broker 0547597 | RE/MAX Dallas Suburbs
 Copyright 2010 - Imaged2Sell 4 Bedrooms | 3.1 Baths | 2-Car Garage | 3118 SF/Tax
Garland TX Homes For Sale – Great floor plan with 2 masters, 2 living areas, and 2 dining areas. Family room with fireplace and wet bar. Sunroom overlooks the backyard deck and heavily treed yard. Kitchen has loads of storage space, flat cooktop, Zodiac counters, Bosch dishwasher, and large walk-in pantry. Massive master has jetted tub, dual vanities, separate shower, and walk-in closet. Lots of updating including AC compressor, extra insulation, hot water heater, etc.
Click here for current status, pricing, photos, and a virtual tour.
Source: NTREIS
By Tom Branch, on November 26th, 2010 The Branch Team | Real Estate Broker 0547597 | RE/MAX Dallas Suburbs
 Copyright 2010 - Imaged2Sell 4 Bedrooms | 4.1 Baths | 3-Car Garage | 5329 SF/Appraiser | Pool & Spa
Colleyville TX Homes For Sale – Exquisite home for the most discerning buyer. Half acre corner lot provides incredible views of large pond, greenbelt and fountain. Chef’s kitchen has granite, hand finished cabinetry and glass block accents. Secluded master retreat has fireplace, double shower, and staircase to library. Private guest suite down – game, media, and 2 bedrooms up. Large balcony overlooks sparkling pool, spa and outdoor kitchen – perfect for entertaining. Must see!
Click here for current status, pricing, photos, and a virtual tour.
Source: NTREIS
By Tom Branch, on November 24th, 2010
A new Dairy Queen, the Texas Stop Sign, recently opened in Frisco, Texas. The new location is just south of Main on the east side of Preston Road near the heart of old Frisco.
 Copyright 2010 - Tom Branch I’m not originally from Texas. The Air Force brought me here in 1979 and stationed me at Reese Air Force Base in Lubbock. On one of my many motorcycle rides in the Panhandle, I stumbled upon a Dairy Queen.
While I liked ice cream, I was really hungry that day. I’d never heard of a Country Basket nor cream gravy. It was love at first bite! My tour of duty at Reese ended and I was transfered to Germany (German food is also wonderful but that’s the subject of another blog) but I never really forgot about DQ.
As luck would have it, the Air Force brought me back to Texas several times over my 21-year career. I eventually retired and settled in Dallas. Imagine my disappointment to discover that there were only a couple of DQs within driving distance–one in McKinney and one in east Plano.
One of my neighbors is employed by DQ’s corporate headquarters and I was complaining about the lack of a local DQ. I got a nice surprise when he told me about the new Frisco location! Needless to say I’ve been up there a couple of times already.
The Frisco DQ is located at 8890 Preston Road.
Base Map ©OpenStreetMap Contributors, CC-BY-SA
By Tom Branch, on November 23rd, 2010 Another short sale closed! The sellers avoided foreclosure, the buyers purchased a nice home at a discount, and the lender did not have the losses involved with a foreclosure.
 Copyright 2010 - Imaged2Sell Many people feel that the nation’s economy rises and falls with the housing market. While this is often true, we believe the current housing crisis is a direct result of the economic downturn and massive job loss across the nation.
In the Short Sale community, the vast majority of homeowners did not get a bad loan or buy more house than they could afford; they’re just good, hardworking Americans who fell on bad times.
All indicators point to Short Sales being on the real estate horizon for the foreseeable future, at least through 2012, and maybe longer. Industry experts see another wave of distressed homeowners surfacing when the once popular Pay Option Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) begin to adjust in the coming months.
These mortgages allowed the borrower to essentially “pick a payment” that fit their budget in order to get into the house they wanted to purchase. These loans have the potential to negatively amortize and the rate will adjust upward – it’s just a matter of time. Pay Option ARMs were widely used in California and will begin adjusting soon.
We encourage homeowners across the United States to get educated on the options available should they become financially distressed. Short Sales are a great tool, providing relief to all parties.
Just remember to choose a REALTOR® with a proven Short Sale track record to negotiate on your behalf. Making the right choice can mean the world of difference to your financial future.
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