As we all know, the recession is over. Joe Biden told us so. Ben Bernanke said the same. Obama’s chief economic officer Lawrence Summers even said “everybody agrees that the recession is over.” (1) Honestly, how could anyone disagree? After all, the Dow Jones is up almost 50% over the last year and we onlylost 36,000 jobs last quarter, which is apparently great.
So we’ve had a jobless recovery because our economy grew 2.2% last quarter. Unfortunately, as Anthony Randazzo points out in Reason Magazine, most of that “growth” is based on temporary government programs:
“Consider that 37 percent of the third-quarter GDP growth was due to motor vehicle purchases, which were stimulated almost entirely by the Cash for Clunkers program… Another 20 percent of third-quarter GDP growth came from new residential investments, propped up largely by the First-Time Homebuyer Credit… Overall, government support accounts for roughly 77 percent of economic growth in the third quarter of 2009, according to my analysis of Commerce Department statistics. This means that non-Washington GDP growth was closer to 0.34 percent from July to September 2009, instead of 2.2 percent.” (2)
He concludes, “This is not real growth. It’s the national equivalent of a credit-card buying spree, with the bills—in the form of debt service and unfunded liabilities—to be paid off later. It is a faux recovery.”
Everybody take a nice long look at today’s Pending Home Sales Indexfrom the National Association of Realtors, because it’s just about the last positive picture we’re going to see for a while.
Yes, the index rose even more than expected, as buyers rushed in to take advantage of the home buyer tax credit.
And yes, those numbers will show up in Existing Home Sales in May and June, but then look out.
The Short Sale Doctors, Realtors, and Stewardship Properties partner together for successful short sales. See YOU & US.
~ Why Agents LOVE Our Service ~
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Together We Create 6 WINS…
A Win/Win/Win/Win/Win/Win Situation!
1. A WIN for the Seller: Relieve over-leveraged homeowners from the pain of foreclosure and having their credit report badly damaged. They can now start a new chapter in their life.
2. A WIN for the Lender: Our packets go to the lender in perfect order so that they can process and negotiate the short sale in the most streamlined way possible. A successful short sale brings them greater financial return than the alternatives of an auction or REO sale.
3. A WIN for the Realtor: Collect a FULL commission and do what you do best–buying and selling real estate. By using our services you will not get bogged down with the paperwork, calls and interactions with overwhelmed loss mitigation departments. When we buy the house (over half the time), agents can receive even more commission.
4. A WIN for Us: We seek to get paid a loss mitigation fee from the short sale lender. In many cases we end by purchasing the home ourselves and making a larger profit margin from a subsequent sale.
5. A WIN for the new Buyer: Now that the property’s price has been appropriately discounted for the market, it is much easier to attract a new homeowner.
6. A WIN for our City & Country: In a small way we hope to contribute to healing our nation of the debilitating financial crisis brought upon by the increasing foreclosure rate. This will revitalize our economy and lead the world out of a damaging recession.
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SALEM OFFICE(503) 365-7070. . . .EUGENE OFFICE (541) 343-7070 2055 Liberty St. NE, 97303 . . . . . . . 1247 Villard Street, 97403 . . . .
Kind Words We Appreciate…
The Short Sale Doctors & Stewardship Properties’ staff,
Scott and I want to thank you all for the incredible work you did on the short sale of our home.
The months surrounding our looming foreclosure date were filled with a lot of doubt, fear, and anxiety. The moment I spoke with Margo, we were convinced to give Stewardship’s services a shot. It saved our financial future and our sanity. The shortsale process was unbelievably simple for us as homeowners in comparison to the months of struggling to communicate with our mortgage holder.
Jered did a phenomenal job of keeping us updated on the status of the settlement process. Every member of the Stewardship Properties’ team treated us with utmost respect, kindness and empathy through one of the most difficult times in our life. Our time was running out, foreclosure was closing in, and Stewardship Properties rescued us with time to spare.
We are very grateful for all of you, what you stand for, and the work you do.
ke a nice long look at today’s 
