Buying foreclosures in Sequim and Port Angeles is a challenge, and that is an understatement. Here’s a short video that describes why.

Chuck Marunde is a Qualified Foreclosure Buyer’s Agent and can be reached at chuckmarunde@gmail.com or at 360-775-5424.

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Buying foreclosures can be confusing and frustrating.  The foreclosure process around the country is chaotic at best.  This is the first of a two part video series describing the process from default to the Trustee’s Sale and beyond to listing and selling.  We cut through all the nonsense, all the hype, money-making scams, and all the misinformation to get directly to the truth as it effects you, a potential buyer of a foreclosure home.  This is Foreclosures Part 1 of 2.  After viewing this video, watch Foreclosures Part 2.

Buyers and investors in the State of Washington may retain the services of Chuck Marunde to draft and submit offers on foreclosures.  Chuck is a Broker and Realtor, practiced real estate law for 20 years, and handled many foreclosures from beginning to end.  While Chuck prefers not to list foreclosures, he is a qualified Foreclosure Buyer’s Agent with extensive experience.

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The foreclosure process around the country is chaotic at best, and trying to buy a foreclosure can be a very frustrating experience for buyers.  This two part video series completes a description of the process from default to the Trustee’s Sale and beyond.  We cut through all the nonsense, all the hype, money-making scams, and all the misinformation to get directly to the truth as it effects you, a potential buyer of a foreclosure home.  Foreclosures Part 1 should be viewed first.  This is Foreclosures Part 2 of 2.

Buyers and investors in the State of Washington may retain the services of Chuck Marunde to draft and submit offers on foreclosures.  Chuck is a Broker and Realtor, practiced real estate law for 20 years, and handled many foreclosures from beginning to end.  While Chuck prefers not to list foreclosures, he is a qualified Foreclosure Buyer’s Agent with extensive experience.

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Sequim foreclosures at deep discounts are hard to find.   I’m surprised at how many people are diligently searching for Sequim foreclosures and Port Angeles foreclosures.  There are four main foreclosure databases online for consumers.  They are more accurately called “foreclosure information sources,” but for simplicity, I’ll refer to them as “foreclosure data sources.”  Here they are with my analysis as a real estate foreclosure attorney and now real estate broker and Realtor.

Clallam County Foreclosure Data Source No. 1:
Foreclosure.com

This is the largest database in the country for foreclosures.  Unfortunately, in Clallam County it is not complete.  I subscribed to this service for almost two years myself so I could provide a service to my clients, but as I learned and as my clients have discovered, this database is incomplete.  They offer a free trial, but you have to register to get access, and that annoys me.  But there’s a bigger problem.  They do not have a contract with the Clallam County Auditor’s office to scrape the data from the county’s site.  I spoke with one of the founders of Foreclosure.com on the phone, and he was certainly nice but said that they had to focus on larger metropolitan areas, and he had no idea when, if ever, Clallam County would be included in their database.  Right now the foreclosures that show up on their site are pulled randomly and automatically with their software but it is quite unreliable.  So if you are serious about searching for foreclosures that are actually for sale, I do not recommend this site.

Clallam County Foreclosure Data Source No. 2:
RealtyTrac.com

I also tried subscribing to RealtyTrac.com for about a year, but I could repeat what I just wrote about Foreclosure.com.  I do not recommend this site for the serious buyer or investor.  There are foreclosure homes that show up for Clallam County, but again no one is actually entering these, and they do not have a contract to collect the information from the Auditor’s office, so this data is randomly pulled from various Internet sources, and many of these listings are not, I repeat not, for sale.

Clallam County Foreclosure Data Source No. 3:
USA-Foreclosure.com
(Northwest Trustee Services source)

Northwest Trustee Services certainly has a closer connection than the first two, and they hire our local appointed Trustee at the Friday morning sales.  They do the paperwork on many foreclosures and adminster the sales.  It appears they list their data with USA-Foreclosure.com.  This site includes only the foreclosures they are adminstering.  They also do not collect data from the County on all the foreclosures.  This is a good source for foreclosures as long as you realize it is not the full database.

Clallam County Foreclosure Data Source No. 4:
Clallam County Auditor
(the original  or source database)

Finally, we arrive at the original source of foreclosure data, the Clallam County Auditor’s office.  This is where all real estate documents must be filed, including the Notice of Trustee’s Sale, which shows the balance owed, by whom, the scheduled date of the Trustee’s Sale, and the Trustee or Attorney handling the foreclosure.  If you want reliable data, this is the place to go, and this includes every Foreclosure in Clallam County.  The challenge is that this is a database of real estate records that is not designed for real estate investors or buyers.  That means the searchable fields are not at all convenient for searching.  You’ll have to spend hours every week to sift through thousands of real estate recordings to find a diamond in the rough.  But let me save you a lot of time:  You can filter your search by searching only the Notice of Trustee Sales.  The results are still clumsy, but that does narrow it down a lot.

Finding a Sequim foreclosure or a Port Angeles foreclosure that is a good deal will be very hard, and when you find one, you can bet that many others have found it to, including some cash strong investors who know how to do their due diligence.  There are some who work at this 40 hours a week.  Do you have 40 hours a week to filter through 1,000 foreclosures to find one that you would be willing to buy so you can complete with other bidders?  Now if we were in Las Vegas or Phoenix or Miami, this would be a totally different scenario, but in Sequim and Port Angeles, you can see why hunting for foreclosures is such a challenge.

I’ve handled many foreclosures as a real estate attorney, and as a Realtor I’ve represented clients buying foreclosures.  If you want me to represent you, I’d be glad to.  I don’t have the 40 hours a week to search for the steal of the century, but if you get lucky and find one, I can guarantee I know how to buy it.   Some fees are negotiate, and others are not.  You can email chuckmarunde@gmail.com or call 360-775-5424 anytime.

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Should I stop making mortgage payments and let the bank foreclose? This is a question that a lot of people are asking as they struggle financially to pay their bills and make their mortgage payment. In some cases a spouse has lost her job, and the income no longer supports a large mortgage payment. There are a thousand stories across the country explaining why good, hard working Americans cannot make their mortgage payments.

Should I Stop Making Mortgage Payments?

So the question comes up, “Should I stop making mortgage payments?”  Here is some practical advice intended to help you make wise decisions as well as protect your number one responsibility–your family.

Let’s break this into two common scenarios.  The first involves a family that finds the current fair market value  (FMV) of their home to be substantially less than their mortgage balance.  In other words, they are upside down.  The second situation involves a family with a mortgage balance equal to the FMV of their home, or less, but because of a loss of income, they realize that in the months ahead they will not be able to continue to make the payments.

Stop Making Mortgage Payments – The Dilemma

First, for the family that is upside down on their mortgage but can afford to keep making mortgage payments (and does not have to say, “I have to stop making mortgage payments.”), it is both a financial and moral issue.  You’ll have to address the moral issue consistent with your own values and beliefs. I will say this, and this is the old moral and theological question:  If you are a father and have children to feed, and you have no money and no food, would you steel a loaf of bread to feed your children?  Absolutely, and that is also the correct answer among theologians.  So if you are unable to make your payments and you have a responsibility to take care of your family, you may have to stop making mortgage payments.

Stop Making Mortgage Payments – The Financial Picture

On the financial issue, it may make more sense to let the house go into foreclosure than make payments for the next 20+ years on a $400,000 mortgage balance.  You may end up paying a total of $700,000 (principal plus interest) over that time period, but right now you may be looking at a house with a current FMV of only $275,000.

It might be easy for someone not in that situation to be critical and say you shouldn’t stop making mortgage payments.   But one has to consider the long term picture, the challenges of growing older with the increasing cost of living and the growing burden of health care costs.  The first rule of life is survival, and if survival means you must let a house go into foreclosure, then it is a tough decision that you will have to live with.  Millions of Americans have found themselves forced to make such tough decisions this past year.  Millions of Americans have had to stop making mortgage payments over the past three years.

Second, for the family that realizes they will run out of money to pay the mortgage in six months, it makes no sense to continue to throw precious money into the dark hole.  If you know you will run out of money, and if there is no apparent pot of gold at the end of your rainbow, then giving a corporate institution on the east coast precious money you will need to survive in six months makes no sense at all.  You may have no choice but to stop making mortgage payments.  You must place your family’s survival at the top of your priority list.  The banks, who have their own ethical and financial problems, must fend for themselves.  When it comes to balancing the welfare of your bank or your family, it is no contest.  Your family wins, and you are ethically, morally, spiritually, and financially justified if you stop making mortgage payments.  And you should not throw good money after bad, meaning you should not pay property taxes either, or put money into the house for any other reason.  Of course, if you have the money and income, you should make the payments, but we are discussing a family that does not have that option.  Put in its proper perspective, it is not such a difficult moral decision.  Uncomfortable?  Yes, but necessary.

The question often comes up for those who have made a decision to stop making mortgage payments, should I list the home for sale as a short sale, since it is upside down now?  The answer is yes, but you have to put a very sellable price on it, otherwise you will end up in the same situation 95% of everyone else, which is that they put too high a listing price on it, and it never sells even after reducing the price several times, and then it goes into foreclosure anyway.  Get it sold now at a low short sale price.

If you must, stop making mortgage payments and let the bank foreclose, but take care of your family and your needs as you grow older.

If you need to consider selling your home, because you are in default right now or will be soon, email me or call me to discuss your options.  As a Realtor and retired real estate attorney, I would be glad to share whatever I know with you.  For those who have to make the hard financial decision, it is not wrong to stop making mortgage payments.

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Sequim foreclosure home for sale – One acre country home just outside of Sequim, Washington now in default and foreclosure and must be sold fast.  This is a fine two-story Colonial custom home with over 3,400 square feet, a 3-car attached garage with a very high ceiling, a glass sun room, a large kitchen with lots of custom built cabinets, and an unusually large laundry room just off the kitchen, which doubles as a mud room from the garage.  This home has  3 bedrooms, one den, and one extra room.

As the photos show here, this really is a beautiful home.  The yard and the house are looking a bit run down right now precisely because the mortgage is in default and will be sold at a foreclosure sale unless someone snatches it up at cost.  The sellers will net zero on this sale at $510,000.  Update:  Price just reduced by seller to $460,000.  Must be sold fast. This house was originally listed for sale at $699,000, but this real estate market has taken a toll on many sellers, and buyers now have the opportunity to walk in and pick this stunning property and home up for bargain price.

The location is great if you’re looking for a country home.  There’s something majestic about the look of this home when you first see it and every single time you drive by it.  I’ve been driving past this home since I first moved to Sequim in 1994.  I lived just down the hill on Ward Road adjacent to the Olympic Game Farm.  I believe every time I ever passed this home on Lotzgezell, whether I was jogging, bicycling, or driving my car, I always had to look at this home, which sits down Three Firs Lane and off Lotzgezell several hundred yards.  It has a majestic appearance that makes it stunning.  Maybe I just love a traditional colonial, or maybe this home is beautiful to everyone.  What do you think?

This home needs some tender loving care, but remember it is a foreclosure.  Now I’ve seen a lot of foreclosures for sale, and I can tell you this one is head and shoulders above the rest.  Most foreclosures are terribly run down and many in this market have been looted of fixtures and appliances by the prior owners.

To see more photographs and details on this home, go to Sequim Foreclosure Home for Sale.

If you have an interest in looking at this home, call me right away at 360-775-5424.

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