Editorial
Front Page - Monday, September 28, 2009
NAR offers foreclosure training
Ethan C. Nobles
Special to the Daily Record ecnobles@att.net
The National Association of Realtors has announced the formation of the Short Sales and Foreclosures designation.
The NAR is offering classes nationally and will offer them online later this year to members wanting to earn the designation. The program isn’t available in the Natural State yet, but the Arkansas Realtors Association plans to offer it to its members and will release more details later this year.
An NAR designation is earned by members who choose to be trained in various areas. Members holding the SFR designation have taken training on how to deal with foreclosures and short sales.
“As Realtors, we believe that any family that loses their home to foreclosure is one family too many,” said NAR President Charles McMillan. “Unfortunately, there are situations in which people just cannot afford to keep their homes. A short sale can help families protect their credit by avoiding a foreclosure. When a foreclosed or REO (real estate owned) property is sold, it helps the surrounding community by reducing the impact of those properties on home values in the immediate area.”
According to the NAR, both short sales and foreclosures have become fairly common over the past couple of years as a natural consequence of the fallout from the subprime market that started in earnest in 2006. A short sale is the option many homeowners choose in an attempt to avoid foreclosure.
In a short sale, the lender agrees to consider offers for less than what is owed against the property. The reason lenders consider short sales is that they stand to lose less money than they do through foreclosure. The seller avoids having his or her credit report stained by a foreclosure proceeding while the lender – in theory – avoids both the costs associated with foreclosing on a property and losing money when the property is sold.
While short sales have become a more palatable option to lenders in the past couple of years, there are still a number of foreclosures on record. While a disproportionate number of foreclosures have been associated with subprime loans, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis observed in July that the number of prime loans going through the foreclosure process has been on the rise.
According to RealtyTrac.com, a site that keeps up with foreclosure rates, there were 1,900 properties in at least one part of the four-step process through which lenders must go to foreclose on a home. One out of every 677 homes in Arkansas was involved in the foreclosure process in August.
RealtyTrac.com tracks the number of foreclosures reported in all counties through Arkansas. In Arkansas, there were six foreclosure properties (one out of every 1,249 housing units) in Grant County, 78 foreclosures (one out of every 540 homes) in Faulkner County, 85 foreclosures (1 in every 299 houses) in Lonoke County, two foreclosures (one in every 2,462 homes) in Perry County, 295 foreclosures (one in every 591 houses) in Pulaski County and 200 foreclosures (one in every 200 homes) in Saline County.
For more information about the NAR program, visit realtorSFR.com on the Internet. For more information about the SFR program in Arkansas, visit the Arkansas Realtors Association on the Internet at ArkansasRealtors.com.
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