REAL Talk with ROBERT ALDANA

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How to make the most of the government benefits for new homeowners

What's the best deal in real estate today? Short Sales. No kidding....

In this market, there are properties flying off the shelves with offers as soon as they are listed in many instances. In fact, I took a listing last night around 9pm and when I woke up this morning I had an all cash, over asking price offer at 6:45am in my email. Affordable properties are hot right now with prices AND rates being low. So low that the monthly payments are even lower than rent.

So with all these homes being snatched up what are the best deals out there? Try short sales. In case you have been away from the real estate market for the past couple of years, a short sale is a sale of a property where the loan balance is higher then what the property is worth. Lenders are doing them more than ever because they want to avoid costly foreclosure and eviction procedures. In this scenario, everyone wins because the lender gets rid of the property, the seller gets the property sold without having a foreclosure on their record and the buyer picks up a great deal. Short sales are not fun and not easy, but if you have the patience and do your homework, a short sale could be a good option for you. Always see a CPA or Attorney to see if there are consequences in short selling your home.

Modify Your Own Home at NO COST - We'll Show You How

Dear Friends,

As you know, I have been in the real estate industry for over 23 years as a licensed real estate agent. Throughout the years I thought that I had seen it all. I have sold homes, assisted families with their mortgages and for the past almost 2 years I was also assisting families in modifying their home mortgages.

Does it make sense to modify your loan or just sell your home? You may be surprised....

In the past couple of years I have studied loan modifications and know how they work. We have had so many successful and some unsuccessful loan modifications for clients that I now have stats and figures on what lenders do, don't do, who qualifies and who does NOT qualify. The loan modification business is a tough one. A thankless job filled with so much anxiety, fear and panic. People do not know who to trust, what to do or what to believe. We have had a lot of success handling loan modifications but it has not been fun or easy.

Recently, I made a decision to no longer offer services of a loan modification company because over the last 2 years I have been through hell and back working with lenders who have made it so difficult for everyone who has tried to get a loan modification. It literally has been like pulling teeth with no local anesthesia. We have been challenged at every step of the way, on every turn and I have spent hours per day every day just protecting my integrity every time a news story came out about a loan modification company closing down or a client who came in telling me that the lender told them that we had never called them or did anything even after we have had our communication log and documentation to prove otherwise. At some point enough is enough, this is a fight that can't be won when you have lenders running to politicians whom they support and contribute to leading to changes in legislation.

Talk about a Wild and Crazy Week! Whaoh.... Check out these 3 Top Stories

This was quite the interesting week. Aside from a plethora of approvals from many lenders on our loan modification and short sale transactions, 3 things stood out more than anything this week. Here are my top 3 memories of the week: