Rochelle Mezzano's Q&A

When a home is sold sooner rather than later in a declining market, the homeowner is able to mitigate more loss to both the homeowner and the bank as well as the immediate neighbors.  So it depends if you are located in a market that is continuing to decline.

Do you owe more on your home than it is worth?  Do you have any mail from agents in your mailbox?  If so, that means they are spending money on marketing and that's a good indication that they will spend money to market your home, too.  If you owe more on your home than it is worth, be sure to ask the agent to disclose how many listings they lost to foreclosure before signing on the dotted line.  Hope this helps, and good luck.

You don't 'need' a Buyer's Agent to buy a house... but it's not a bad idea to have one, especially if it is at no cost to you.

I'm sorry to hear about your situation.  If you are able to mitigate loss, then you are doing the bank a favor.  Good luck.

Hello James, You don't really want to click on a link anyway.  It's bad practice, because if you do that on a bad email you could get a virus.  Good luck.

Do you owe more on your home than it is worth?  Are the home prices declining?  If so, then list now, and you will mitigate more loss.  If you have equity, then list now, and take your cash and run!  People are buying, so just do it!  Good luck.

Hey, if you don't ask, you don't get.  There are no consequences for trying to do a short-sale.  Foreclosure is just the last resort.  Nobody deserves what's happening, but dealing with it is the best for everyone, including the homeowner.

Dear David,  I'm so sorry to hear that you might be considering walking away.  There is so much help out there that is available for free.  Getting a loan modification isn't easy, but perhaps you need better qualified help?  Sometimes an escalation can help get a loan modification quicker.  I don't know too many people who have walked away, simply because the loan modifications and short sales are such a better alternative.  It's probably too late, but good luck.

Were you asking from the Buyer's perspective or the Seller's perspective?  If you are a Buyer and you see this on Zillow, then you could contact the Owner, and let them know you are interested in the home with a click of a button.  If you are a Seller, you could use the feature to let the public you'd like to have a certain price for your home.  The offer/acceptance is informal and it would be my guess that the offer would not be binding just for the asking, etc.  It would also be my guess that anyone who has completed the MAKE ME MOVE feature, has done so quite some time ago while surfing the net, etc., and it would be likely they even forgot having done so.

I'm really sorry to hear that happened to you.  It gives us Agents a bad name.  Short sales are about the hardest thing in real estate.  I wonder when was the last time she closed a deal?  She probably is stressing on losing her oown home.  Simply and firmly tell her you don't appreciate the lack of professionalism, and if it happens again, you'll have a very important decision to make.  Good luck!