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I have just started to use direct mail to owners who are 60 days past due. I have been drafting my own letters and am looking for some additional ideas that may have worked for you. Does anyone have a sample mailing letter that has been successful for you? I am in central Florida. Thanks 

It's the end of the year so time for the round-up of distressed property sales in Menlo Park. So here's what happened:

Single family and condo townhomes 2011:

Total sales:  451

Short Sales: 39

REO:           22

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales: 13.5%

Compare to 2010

Total sales:   431

Short Sales:   28

REO:            29

Distressed sales as a percentage of total sales:  13.2%

My conclusion:

The percentage of distressed properties in Menlo Park are  very similar to 2010 at 13.2%, however, there is one big difference. In 2010 there were 6 distressed property sales in homes in the Menlo Park or Las Lomitas School District, with the remainder in the Redwood City or Ravenswood District. In 2011 there were 18 distressed property sales in homes in the Menlo Park School District. This follows a national trend of the higher priced homes as a growing segment of distressed sales.

If you have any questions about short sales or bank owned homes please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E.  01191194

Happy New Year!

Short Sale Superstars

From Wendy and Bryant

Why are you doing short-sales??? I'll admit, my experience is very limited in this arena - I've been a purchaser in two short-sale deals, one closed a few months ago, and t... Started by Mark	20	55 seconds ago Reply by Bryant Tutas
Kicked out of EQUATOR I have a Short Sale with a cash buyer. Had 3 negotiators..WF converted to EQUATOR...File has been closed. I have call 4 times and NO ONE h... Started by Harry Ackley	10	14 hours ago Reply by Joseph Brooke
Flat Fee Commissions Wondering if anyone has ever got a lender to agree to a flat commission? I would love to help everyone but this possible short sale would s... Started by Jennifer Luna SFR	8	16 hours ago Reply by Bryant Tutas
Arms length affidavit question I have a short sale where Freddie is the investor and we were given the short sale affidavit. It's been fun trying to get it notarized by a... Started by Pam Graham	0	17 hours ago
Arms Length Affadavit and Renting property back from new owner I have a question and have googled for weeks trying to get an official opinion on this from someone who might really know. It just doesn't s... Started by Paul Jones	34	17 hours ago Reply by Pam Graham
Citibank wants me sign a letter AFTER my closing took place stating it was ok for them to use portion of HAFA towards balance owed after closing was delayed Looking for some advice.... My home just closed on Tuesday and I found out at the last minute that the $3,000 HAFA amount was going to be r... Started by Kim Hendrick	3

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Tutas Towne Realty and Bryant Tutas just had another successful Oviedo Florida Short Sale closing with SunTrust Mortgage.

The property:

4 bedroom 2 bath townhouse located in Hawthorne Glen Oviedo Florida. This home has 1,828 sq ft of living area. It was purchased new in March of 2006 for $277,200. It Sold today for $125,000. 

Liens:

• 1st Mortgage with SunTrust Mortgage for $234,500

Hardship:

• Curtailment of income. Current on payments. Purchased for their son when he was going to college. He graduated and they no longer needed the unit.

Summary:

This was a referral from my partner Wendy Rulnick. I placed the property on the market 2 September and had multiple offers within the first 3 days. Negotiated a cash deal at $125,000.Within 45 days we had an approval from SunTrust. However they wanted the seller to contribute $10,000 to the transaction.The sellers were not in a position to do so, so we asked the buyer to pay it. They said no.

We canceled the contract and placed it back on the market. Within 1 day we had a new buyer willing to pay $125,000 AND make the $10,000 cash contribution for the seller. This was agreed and fully disclosed on the contract, on the HUD and to SunTrust. The buyer paid the $10,000 at time of closing and the seller received FULL WAIVER OF DEFICIENCY on an investment property with out missing any payments!

I never saw the property, never met the seller or the buyer. The entire transaction was handled via email and text messages.

Tutas Towne Realty placed the property on the market 2 September 2011.  The transaction closed on 27 December 2011. 113 days from listing to closing!!

SunTrust Mortgage accepted $125,600 or .54 cents on the dollar for the 1st mortgage. 

***The Seller received FULL WAIVER OF DEFICIENCY on an investment property with out missing any payments!

From Mrs Seller:

• Thanks Bryant!!!  Best news you could have given us.  We will certainly keep you in mind if we should hear of anyone needing your services.  You have been terrific to work with and we can't thank you enough for staying on top of the whole process.

From Mr Seller:

• Thanks Bryant.  You are by far the most professional person I have ever worked with!  Kind of bummed though.  I enjoyed having you in my life.

Do you need help with your Florida Short Sale?

Tutas Towne Realty has already successfully negotiated Short Sales with the following Lenders and Investors.

• Chase Short Sale
• Sun Trust Short Sale
• GMAC Short Sale
• Wells Fargo Short Sale
• Bank of America Short Sale
• USA Bank Short Sale
• PNC Bank Short Sale
• Citi Short Sale
• HomeEq Short Sale
• Fifth Third Bank Short Sale
• ING Direct Short Sale
• GreenTree Short Sale
• Capital One Short Sale
• ASC Short Sale
• First Horizon Short Sale
• E-Trade Short Sale
• Transland Financial Short Sale
• US Bank Short Sale
• IBM LBPS Short Sale
• Nationstar Short Sale
• BAC Florida Short Sale
• Real Time Solutions Short Sale
• Fannie Mae Short Sale
• FHA Short Sale
• Selene Finance Short Sale
• Indy Mac
• One West Bank
• DTA Solutions LLC Short sale

Can we add you to our list of successful Short Sales?

Are you facing foreclosure in Florida?

Provident Funding!!!! Provided me a post christmas gift that I did not anticipate.

12/22 On Thursday of last week I submitted a complete package as instructed.

12/23 Contacted by negotiator countering offer giving us till Tuesday to answer.

12/27 Accepted counter and emailed negotiator new Hud1 and contract

12/29 RECEIVED AN APPROVAL!!!!!!!!  

This is by far the fastest approval I have received.  If any one else has experienced anything like this let me know.  I hope this becomes the norm for Provident Funding and is not some type of once in a liftime experience.

Thank you Adam with Provident for the Christmas gift.

Oscar Lopez

I have been trying to get BOA to move forward with my short sale for 9 months.  My real estate agent has been calling if not weekly almost every other day.  Either they lost the paperwork or the systemn was down.  Nevertheless, we have not only one cash offer but 3 others.  The house has been appraised but because it has taken so long now they are stating that they have to do another - however nothing is happening and in the mean time I have received foreclosure paperwork.  Can someone help me, PLEASE!

• Loan mods are rarely given. One reason for this is that Mortgage In.surance doesn’t pay out on a loan mod but will on a foreclosure or Short Sale.

I was starting to feel like the last player picked in dodge ball. The rejections were really hurting, especially since there was never any reason given. Just messages saying your supporting documents were rejected. Oh the pain!

I finally got a really nice B of A negotiator on the phone today who gave me a simple explanation, the buyer's proof of funds were downloaded as a web page instead of being a PDF of the originals, and the current policy is only original statements are accepted, no web page screen shots.

I guess I should not be surprised. Just yesterday I got an e-mail from PNC saying the same thing. They needed the original October bank statement, not the one that was downloaded from the internet. At least PNC did not tell me I was rejected.

So if you want to keep your ego in tact while doing a short sale with Bank of America or PNC, be sure and give your Santa Clara County short sale agent original bank statements (which you may need to order from your bank if you are paperless), or see if you can download something that does not say web page on the screen. And be sure and ask your agent to get original bank statements for the buyer's proof of funds. There may be other banks requiring that now as well, but these are my two latest encounters.

If you have any questions about buying or selling short sales in San Mateo or Santa Clara County please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E. 01191194

Sad story. A client told me last February that she was not able to make the payments on her $750,000 home loan. The house is now worth about $400,000 and this person wanted to get a loan modification and get the principle reduced. I can not tell you how many times I hear this story and how few times I have heard that there actually was a principle reduction. Actually I can tell you how many times I have heard of a principle reduction, once.

Ok, so it is bad enough that banks have been unwilling to reduce principle but things can get worse. My client received a Notice of Default last February and at that point she decided to try to to get the loan modification. In November she was finally offered the loan mod, which she turned down because not only did she not get the pricnciple reduced, but all the missed payments and late payments were added on to the back end of the mortgage.

So on Dec 20th she got a Notice of Trustee Sale and on Dec 26th signed a listing agreement to short sale the Redwood City  home. Here's the problem. While getting an offer before the sale date of Jan. 12th would be hard, but possible, the Mortgage Servicer, Carrington Mortgage said no deal. THEY DO NOT POSTPONE TRUSTEE SALES FOR SHORT SALES.  That is harsh. Not only that but in order to do a HAFA Short Sale and get the auto postponement you need to initialte it 60 days before the Trustee Sale Date.

So now, this person is going to have her home foreclosed. I am very sorry for her, but maybe someone can learn a lesson from this.  

Do not put your head in the sand!!!!! If you can not make your payments do something the first month it happens, not a year later. If you have a change of circumstances, lose your job, get divorced, your loan resets, have a health problem, do something right away. If you want to keep your home and can make payments if they are lowered then apply for a loan mod. Don't do it after you get the notice of default, because by then it may be too late. Some banks will allow you to postpone a sale up to 3 days before the sale, but not all. If you can not make payments and need to short sell, do it right away, not at the last minute. Don't take chances with your financial future.

If you have any questions about buying or selling short sales in San Mateo or Santa Clara County please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E. 01191194

Hello All, I am at my wits end and cannot and will not let this deal fall apart. I currently have a short sale approved home and the buyer has already signed loan documentation and we are set to close, except we are waiting WF to provide us with an extension that they claim should only be 72 hours and we have now been waiting for more than 2 weeks. Has anyone else had success on obtaining a second extension??? We extended it once but buyer had to choose a new lender and now we are all set to wrap it up and we run into this snag. Please let me know.

Thanks

A short sale is a sale of real estate in which the proceeds from selling the property will fall short of the balance of debts secured by liens against the property and the property owner cannot afford to repay the liens' full amounts, whereby the lien holders agree to release their lien on the real estate and accept less than the amount owed on the debt. Any unpaid balance owed to the creditors is known as a deficiency.^[1] Short sale agreements do not necessarily release borrowers from their obligations to repay any deficiencies of the loans, unless specifically agreed to between the parties. A short sale is often used as an alternative to foreclosure because it mitigates additional fees and costs to both the creditor and borrower; however both will often result in a negative credit report against the property owner.

Often creditors require the borrower to prove they have an economic or financial hardship preventing them from being able to pay the deficiency.

Creditors holding liens against real estate can include Primary Mortgages, Junior lien holders—such as second mortgages, Home Equity Lines of Credit HELOC lenders, Home Owners Association HOA (special assessment liens)—all of whom will need to approve individual applications for a short sale, should they be asked to take less than what is owed.

Most large creditors have special loss mitigation departments that evaluate borrowers' applications for short sale approval. Often creditors use pre-determined criteria for approving the borrowers and the terms of the sale of the properties. Part of this process typically includes the creditor(s) determining the current market value of the real estate by obtaining an independent evaluation of the property from an appraisal, a Broker Price Opinion (abbreviated BPO), or a Broker Opinion of Value (abbreviated BOV). One of the most important aspects for the borrower in this process is putting together a proper real estate short sale package. The package should be well organized along with a hardship letter telling the creditor why a short sale is needed.

Depending on each creditor's policy and the type of loan, creditors may accept applications from borrowers even if the borrower is not in default with their payments. Due to the overwhelming number of defaulting borrowers due to mortgage failures and other causes as part of the financial crisis of 2007–2011, many creditors have become adept at processing such short sales applications; however, it can still take several months for the process from start to finish, often requiring multiple levels of approval.

If you have had a financial hardship, an unexpected financial change, garnishments, or a change in your living situation that has impaired your ability to pay, you may qualify for a short sale. The approval process from your bank is normally 6-8 weeks. After the approval, if you have an offer already; it could be another 45 days. You may also qualify for a moving fee of up to $3k.

As a licensed professional, I would be happy to help you with all of your real estate needs. Please call or email me with any questions that you may have. 916-410-9727 Thank You!

Closed another short sale last week! Chase is great! I was able to get the bank to pay for back HOA and fees of approx $7500 plus I got the seller $20,000 incentive money, just in time for Christmas! Shortly before that I closed an trust sale, both in Orange County, CA.

I just found out the broker that did the BPO on one of my short sale listings (bank is Chase/Wachovia) is not a member of the MLS where the property is located. In fact I've never known him to do business in my area (he's about 45 miles away) and isn't even a full-time or part-time agent in his own area. The 3d party company that hired him to do the BPO states specifically "Do not accept this BPO if you are not a member of the MLS." But the broker did. What would you do: wait and see what happens, notify the 3d party company, notify Chase or....?

One of the best things that has happened to short sales in the last couple of years is the on line platform for processing a short sale. There are several platforms in use, but Equator is one of the more popular ones, and is the one used for Bank of America and Wells Fargo Short Sales. So, instead of your agent having to fax all the documents, usually several times, the short sale documents are uploaded as PDFs onto the Equator web site. In order to keep the process moving forward Equator will assign a task to be fulfilled by the agent, like uploading an offer or financial documents onto the website. Once the task is assigned they will give you a fixed number of days to upload the requested documents. This number of days is the same, no matter when the task is assigned. So if it isa 2 day task and it is assigned on a Friday, it is due Sunday, period.

So my latest Bank of America short sale assigned me the task of uploading the signed offer on Friday, with a due date of Sunday, which happens to be Christamas.

And that is why this Palo Alto short sale agent is cheerfully working Christmas Eve. 

Enjoy your holidays!

If you have any questions about buying or selling short sales in Santa Clara or San Mateo County please feel free to contact me!

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E. 01191194

Currently working on a Fannie Mae pre-approved short sale with BOA as a servicer.

1.  Seller took the time to get a pre-approved price for the short sale

2. I listed the home at the pre-approved short sale

3.  Got an offer at the pre-approved shortsale - Cash

4.  Got a message through equator that they agreed to th eoffer but they needed a couple of the changes on the HUD

5.  Made the changes and submitted them all through equator immediately

6.  This was 7 weeks ago of constant follow up with no response

7.  Escalated through Fannie Mae - got some action and an extension of the approval -

8.  No answer yet and the same run around to call tomorrow.

We have the banks claiming they want to work with Realtors and get the short sales done I am not seeing this.

We have people in selling CDPE certs that to me they sound like just more scheme to get money out of us and encouranging us to work with banks.

Is anyone experiencing the same  levels of pain.

I know a lot of you are going to think I am crazy but I really love short sales. I am sorry that the market is such that there are many people who need to sell their homes short, but that is the current reality. Given that reality there are many things about the short sale process that I enjoy, fewer things that I just tolerate, and even fewer I hate. 

I HATE PRIVATE THIRD LIENS ON SHORT SALES!!!! I can not emphasize this enough. 3rd liens are always tough, but private ones are the worst, because very often there is an emotional component to the person holding the private third, and also because it is often not a large, impersonal bank losing the money, it is a real person, who probably was depending on that income.

But feelings aside, I learned something very interesting today from Chase. I was told it is their policy to only give $1000 to a third lien, period. This is good information to have, because while they made an exception for me on a Redwood City short sale, I do not expect to get it again. 

So next time I take a short sale listing with Chase as the first lender and a private 3rd lender, I will be able to negotiate upfront with a solid number. If the third is unwilling to take $1000 then I can hopefully find out what they will take, and get that worked out up front.

If you have any questions about buying or selling short sales in Santa clara or San Mateo County please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E. 01191194

Have a great property listed short with one loan with B of A..primary residence, Seller not trying for HAFA..slam dunk!  But..the darned BPO came in $130,000 over market!  It hasn't happened to me often with B of A short sales, usually that's reserved for Chase who I suspect may specifically try to hire Agents that submit high BPO's ??? 

Buyer #1:  Submitted $850,000.  B of A countered at $980,000 because that is what the BPO "supports".Buyer didn't even want to counter..too far apart.  They walked and I re-listed at $980,000 after submitting my comps and supporting docs and going back and forth to no avail.

Buyer #2:  Submitted $851,000.  B of A countered again at $980,000 and "has comps to support it."  Again, I submit my real comps (BPO is based on surrounding streets and developments..why didn't she use THIS street?  Plenty of closed comps....)  Again..buyer walks.

Buyer #3:  Submitted $865,000..wow!  BPO expires 1/6.  I have a sane negotiator and we talked back and forth via equator and e-mail..B of A countered at $980,000 AGAIN!  OK, I tell my guy, your investors are leaving $15,000 on the table because this home will generate another offer at $850,000 or less when this buyer walks and the file is closed and I re-list and you finally order a CORRECT BPO! 

I figured he'd just stick to the $980,000, but he sent me an e-mail, "I am going to submit this to the Investors and let's see what they say.."  At least he's giving it a go. 

I just like to report on sane responses because so many of them are not.  To Be continued...

Hi folks. Many of you may know that the Short Sale lenders are start to get very proactive with getting short sales approved and closed.

Some of the lenders are even paying the borrowers to do a short sale.

All of this is good except for the part where they are also staring to completely control the real estate transaction.

I really like streamlined short sales but I’m not sure I like this little diddy I received form Bank of America:

• “Borrower is in a streamline Cooperative Short Sale program.  We require 3 open houses and a broker tour.  List price is determined by the bank’s pricing tool.”

Open houses? Broker caravan? Really?

How can Bank of America have any clue of what works in MY market? The answer is they don’t.

Fortunately for me I sold this property in less than a week at full “approved” listing price. Now lets just wait and see how long it really takes to receive the written approval on my approved streamlined short sale. Want to start a pool?

I have a client who is hesitant to get involved in a short sale because she is unsure how long it will be before she can attempt to get a new mortgage. She thinks it is possible to negotiate the way the bank will report the short sale to the credit agencies. Has anyone had experience with this process? Is it possiblre to negotiate this?

There are several different types of short sales that will approve your price and the seller's eligibility before you get an offer. If you do not qualify for one of those programs (like HAFA or Bank of America co-operative short sales) then you can try to do a traditional short sale.

In most traditional short sales after the seller signs an offer, his/her short sale real estate agent will send the offer and all of the seller's financial documents to the lender. This can be a time consuming process, and if the lender is still using faxes to gather information rather than online platforms, several weeks can be lost while the lender checks to make sure all the needed documents have been collected.

Chase has a policy which makes this portion of the short sale truly shorter. Once the seller signs the listing agreement the short sale realtor can send all of the documentation to Chase. Once an offer is received and signed, you will be weeks ahead of the game.

So, if you are short selling your home with Chase be sure and ask your short sale realtor to send in your documents right away and save time when you get that offer!

If you have any questions about buying or selling short sales in Santa Clara or San Mateo County please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E. 01191194