PART OF THE SOLUTION

Foreclosures. They’re a painful and sobering blot on the psyche of an already beleaguered real estate market. Unless we as a real estate community unite in dealing resolutely with this year’s unprecedented wave of new foreclosures—many of them tied in one way or another to investors who long ago fled their fiscal responsibilities—the phenomenon will continue to throw a heavy wet blanket on the ability of the region’s real estate market to recover and begin a new era of normalized appreciation.

For this reason Michael Saunders & Company, through its MSC Assets Management Group, is proud to partner with banks and other lending institutions throughout the region; to assist them in the efficient management, maintenance, marketing and ultimately the sale of foreclosed properties—from Palmetto to Punta Gorda. Additionally, we have just been awarded the opportunity to manage, market and sell the foreclosed inventory of properties for Freddie Mac (The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation) in the Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte County areas.

The last thing a bank wants to do is initiate foreclosure proceedings on a home or commercial property. They’re not in business to repossess properties and re-sell them on the open market. So when all attempts to keep owner and property together fall short and foreclosure becomes the solution of last resort, it just makes sense for banks and other lenders to partner with a company whose only business for the past three-and-a-half decades has been managing and selling homes and commercial properties throughout Southwest Florida.

Early this summer, Dean Little—Vice President of First Community Bank of America, headquartered in Pinellas County—did just that. He selected MSC Assets Management Group to direct the sale of some 15 foreclosed properties his bank now owned throughout the region. In his own words, Dean chose the group for one simple reason: “When buyers want to find out about properties in and around Southwest Florida, it’s Michael Saunders & Company who commands the marketplace and is it’s most active and visible seller.”

All but two of Dean’s properties have since been sold. More are about to be listed.

The process of managing and selling foreclosed properties is far more complicated than typical real estate transactions. As a full-service division of Michael Saunders & Company, MSC Asset Management Group steps in to manage every detail and administer the entire process—with success hinging on the individual steps taken to obtain an accurate property valuation, maintain the property, establish a competitive market price; and provide maximum marketing and Web exposure. An entire section of michaelsaunders.com —entitled Bank Owned & Best Opportunities—now showcases the most outstanding values in competitively-priced properties currently listed with Michael Saunders & Company. In a very short time it has become the most visited and re-visited section of the Web site; with proof of its success measured by the large number of properties that have sold or gone pending only days after debuting on the site.

The overarching objective of MSC Asset Management Group is to sell each property as efficiently and cost effectively as possible in order to achieve the highest possible recovery in the least amount of time. The process is designed to save time, money and resources for the lender by allowing the professionals at MSC Asset Management Group do what each has been formally trained to do.

The team begins by evaluating the property and arranges to have it secured, monitored and thoroughly cleaned, with follow-up recommendations for repairs, upgrades and on-going maintenance. The utilities are turned back on, if need be, and placed in the group’s responsibility. If an overgrown yard needs remedial care or a sickeningly slime-green swimming pool needs to be made crystal clear, MSC Assets Management Group arranges to get the job done.

“The team from MSC took all of my bank-owned properties and made them their total responsibility,” Dean Little recalls. “Basically they do all our work for us. They are completely responsive to our needs, communicate very effectively and are fully accessible at all times. I wholeheartedly recommend MSC Assets Management Group to anyone who desires fast resolution on foreclosed properties.”

As a market, we are by no means alone in facing the foreclosure dilemma. The crisis now confronts this and other nations; albeit with the most populous regions of California and Florida especially hard-hit. The sooner the issue is resolved, the better it will be for a country whose economic well-being is in large part a reflection of growth and stability in the housing sector. With the problem now identified, Michael Saunders & Company is extremely proud to be part of the solution.