Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma

Hillery helps clients in challenging real estate market

Before becoming part of the Willis Allen Real Estate Team, Colonel Bob Hillery had a 30-year distinguished career in the United State Marine Corps. In certain ways, he sees a correlation between his military work and working with people as a Realtor and assistant manager with Willis Allen.

“For 30 years I took care of the troops, and now, I am taking care of people through real estate,” explained Hillery. He perceives this business as helping others and achieving goals by meeting the needs and desires of his clients.

Hillary has dabbled in different areas of real estate, but the majority of his transactions at this time are residential. Of late, he has become an authority in helping people who are facing short sale or foreclosure issues.

Sadly, it’s the sign of the times. With some people at a high risk of losing their homes, a niche has emerged in short sales and foreclosures.

“It’s not something that I picked; it sort of picked me,” said Hillary. “Some homeowners have gotten themselves in over their heads.”

Be it a job loss, medical issues or other personal hardships, there are families out there who are having a difficult time making those mortgage payments.

Hillery approaches this emotional scenario with a homeowner pragmatically. “My first sense is [to determine] how I can keep people in their home,” he said. “That’s my first effort.”

Hillery has sound resources and networks in the lending arena that he utilizes to try and assist his client.

After much analysis, if it is determined to not be feasible to keep the home, the next step is to minimize the real estate loss and stop the negative impact on the homeowner. Hillery fashions a multidimensional strategy to ease the hardships for the homeowner in areas such as insolvency and bank issues.

Hillery advises homeowners facing financial issues not to cave into a foreclosure.

“That’s almost as bad as a bankruptcy because it will haunt your credit for seven years,” he emphasized.

A short sale is a better avenue to take, he said. The abundance of short sales has had a distinct effect on the real estate market.

“With the increase of short sales and foreclosures, the floor of the market is eroded,” reported Hillery.

It’s no secret that these sales are affecting people who are trying to sell their homes in a normal fashion. With this in mind, Hillery suggests that sellers be more negotiable.

Seller incentives are also important. These may include significant price discounts, paying some or all of the buyer’s closing costs or even offering an interest rate buy down for the buyer.

“These are powerful tools for a seller,” said Hillery.

Bob Hillery is proud of his sterling reputation as a diligent problem solver and the fact that he always tries to achieve the ultimate good for his clients.

“Real estate is a service business, and it’s a helping business, too,” he noted.

He can be reached at [email protected] or on his cell phone at (760) 696-7482.

 

Reader Comments(0)