I was referred to Dawna by a mutual friend when I started looking for my dream retirement beach house in Cayucos. Our journey together took three years with lots of looking and discussions to finally find me the perfect house. I can't thank Dawna and her amazing Executive Assistant Jodi for all of their patience, helpfulness and hard work on my quest to find the perfect home. Both Dawna and Jodi made me feel like they had all of the time in the world for me when I called with questions or concerns. Dawna is always cheerful and such a pleasure to work with. She is very responsive and extremely knowledgeable about the central coast. I highly recommend Davies Company Real Estate for all of your real estate needs. I wouldn't hesitate to use Dawna again and I did.... I used Dawna to sell my Paso Robles home after I purchased my new home. I once again found both Dawna and Jodi to be extremely professional and knowledgeable about the market. Dawna did a wonderful job of marketing my house and went above and beyond until it sold.
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Make a detailed current financial statement of your assets and liabilities, income and expense. Consider all monthly expenses, income, and monetary commitments.
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Gather all documents in your possession relating to the ownership, financing, and original purchase of the home. This may include your loan documents, deeds, purchase contracts, disclosures, and condition reports. Get a box; put all of these in one place. This is a hassle, but well worth the effort.
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Meet with a real estate advisor. Get a realistic market perspective for your local area and general buyer sentiment. Get informed about the value of your property as an opportunistic buyer would see it, whether you are considering selling or not. Also learn from your advisor about what to expect from the process of selling a home, both as a distressed property and/or conventional sale, and develop a strategy for resolution. This can vary, depending on your property location, market conditions, news events, your lender, the number of loans on your property, whether you and your property can qualify for federal or lender modification programs, etc.
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Meet with tax and legal counsel regarding consequences of any action you might be considering, bring your documents listed above. This is very important; laws and precedents change frequently.
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Make a well-informed decision about your financial and real estate future given all of the information you have gathered. Questions to consider are: Under what conditions could you keep the home? Do emotional ties to your home outweigh the cost to keep it? Who is affected by a sale of your home? If you are considering a short sale or a deed in lieu, or actual foreclosure, are there moral or ethical issues you have concerning walking away from a debt or having one forgiven? Do your immediate financial needs take precedent over consequences of a distress sale?