Paul: My most rewarding short sale experience happened earlier this year, when we helped a buyer purchase two Kansas City investment properties just in time to save the rental families from a distressed asset foreclosure eviction. They purchased the properties days before the lender foreclosure was to occur, and eviction was soon to follow. The Kansas City families were able to continue living in the investment properties without any interruption, and the new owner made several needed improvements and repairs right away.

Additionally, I had been teaching this buyer couple how to purchase property with their self-directed IRA's and how they were a good fit for this particular property. They had retirement money to invest with a goal of making more than they could with just mutual funds and stocks. 

Applying my knowledge and experience with self-directed IRA investing and short sales, the result was a win-win for everyone. The distressed asset seller and lenders avoided two foreclosures, the rental families were able to stay in their homes, and the buyer couple now has two more income-producing assets in their self-directed IRA retirement accounts, which they said are now increasing in value for the first time in a long time.     

Russ has worked in real estate since 2002 and has achieved between $3.5 million and $8 million in sales volume per year ever since. In the past two years, he's listed approximately 95 short sales.

Paul works with Realty Resource, LLC and has been the listing agent or has partnered with other listing agents to educate sellers about their options to avoid foreclosure over the last two years. He’s sold both investment property and personal residences as short sales.

Thanks again to Russ and Paul for their help these past seven weeks! If you missed a week, don't worry - all of the questions and answers are accessible online here. Just scroll down to "Resources from KCRAR/Heartland MLS." The Q&A series will also run in its entirety in the October issue of Realeyes.