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1. Changes in Popularity of Features in New Homes (14.1) Changes in Popularity of Features in New Homes The national...
2. Unique Features of WHEDA Loans (8.6) Unique Features of WHEDA Loans In an effort to help...
3. What’s Just as Important As Location when Choosing a home? (8) There is no denying that the location of a home...
4. Outdoor Lighting for Curb Appeal and Safety (7.5) This is part 4 of a 4 part series on...

Changes in Popularity of Features in New Homes

The national economy runs through cycles similar to the fashion industry. Things that seem irresistible and trendy this year may be old news by the time next year rolls around. As a result of the economic down turn from the past few years most home builders are turning their attention to items that are practical instead of luxurious.

Sunrooms

As a whole, sunrooms are declining in popularity. According to Rose Quint, a representative of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) “Builders are focusing on features that add immediate value and make a home more practical.” For example, most builders are choosing to add linen closets and walk-in closets in place of a sunroom.

Separate Living Room

Most builders feel that a formal living room will not be very prevalent in new construction for the upcoming year. Families would prefer to have one giant open area that encompasses the living room, dining room and kitchen.

Media Room

Along with the living room, the media room will also likely disappear. The extra cost of the equipment, along with heating and cooling another room that is used sparingly, is just not appealing at this time. What is more likely to appear in new homes is a hidden away station that holds all of the DVD players, cable controls and charging stations for cell phones, tablets, and other media devices.

Two Story Family Room and Foyer

Since builders are approaching new homes with more practicality, it makes sense to cut down on unused space. While a family room may be bigger in new homes to include the dining and kitchen areas, it is unlikely to be two stories tall. The same goes for the elegant foyers that stretch toward the sky with large windows. Both of these features of a home may be lovely in appearance, but they each have a lot of space that is not used by a family of four or more.

Whirlpool Bathtubs

A large tub designed for relaxation and luxury is less likely to part of a new construction in the upcoming year. A separate tub laid out in a classic style is more useful and can be used to make a fashion statement while also having an everyday use.

Luxury Bathroom

Large bathrooms that include walk-in showers and multiple shower heads, as well as lots of floor space, will be harder to find in a new house. Instead, the shower will be smaller, with a single head, and the kitchen will likely include a double sink.

Outdoor Kitchen

The outdoor kitchen will probably disappear from lots of new homes. While it can be a nice place to gather with friends or family for a birthday party or to watch a football game, it also requires having an extra appliance or two. Most families would rather prepare the food inside and simply transport it to the patio and save on the cost of the additional appliances.

Call Carl SanFilippo (888) 445-8880 for a FREE AND CONFIDENTIAL phone consultation.

Short Sale Versus Foreclosure – which should I do?

Getting fired from your job usually means the power source of income is cut off, and being of the first things to get sidelined when this occurs are mortgage payments. Paying for a house to live in might come off to be a little costly especially if you can just opt to rent an apartment. While it is easier to just walk away from your monthly mortgage payments and let the bank take your home, you might want to consider the route of a short sale. So, what is the dissimilarity in the advantages of a short sale VS a foreclosure?

Benefits of a Short-sale – doing something about it

A short sale home specialist describes a short-sale as the lesser of the two evils. If you are concerned on how to Short Sale a home, then the first thing you need to be informed of is that it enables you tons of options that foreclosure doesn’t provide you, such as

• Leave when you want to leave – opting a short sale grants you the ability to stay in your home longer, as the bank will give you notice when the short sale deal is approved for close. A short sale waiting period can go on for up to 2 to 3 months.

• A clean slate –generally while your personal credit and bank records are your own responsibility, a short sale does not impact your credit in the same way as a foreclosure. That means you can do a lot of things that you wouldn’t have the ability to do if you had a foreclosure showing up on your credit. Not only mentioning a clean slate, but on top of this and upon a successful completion of your short sale you may qualify for the HAFA Program. A program that could offer up to $ 3,000.00 CASH BACK towards your relocation! A borrower can be worthy of purchasing a property in only two years after a foreclosure.

• Control over the price – in opposition to foreclosures, short-sales give you the ability to control the price of the sale due to the fact that you still altogether own your home as the bank has not seized ownership of it yet. Granted, short-sale prices are still a lot lower at market value than the property value, but you’d much rather be selling at a loss than letting the bank do all the selling for you. Even though the bank must have the final say so in a short sale offer, prices generally are higher than foreclosed homes. This will do your neighbors a favor by helping to preserve community property values.

Benefits of a Foreclosure – the art of walking away

Foreclosure is the easy way out. Basically, foreclosure is simply turning your back on your property until the bank decides to foreclose on it. This is a little known fact, but foreclosure potentially could be the worst thing that you can do. Contemplate it – after the bank forces you to turn over your property, they get to clean it up, put it on sale for a reduced price and whoever gets the property will either: (a) renovate it and try to sell it at a very high premium; (b) sell it as being and the seller can still get a respectable profit out of it or; (c) whomever gets the property can just live in it, still getting the better end of the deal because of the bargain price that he or she bought it for.

Foreclosed properties can sell pretty rapidly as compared to a short sale. While this sounds pretty good on paper, remember that it is the bank that already owns the foreclosed property, they are the ones who profit the most from a fast transaction, so please, take this time to read further into abstaining or preventing foreclosure.

Also, while it may seem really easy to just walk away from your property and let the bank acquire it, you may want to acknowledge the following consequences:

• Waiting period before you can buy – records of foreclosure can affect even the period when you can purchase your next home. Generally speaking, banks select more responsible and trustworthy people without any sort of negative records to approve a home loan application. The current waiting timeframe for anybody to be granted by a bank or an institution to mortgage a home again is 5 years most likely. In addition, do you think a bank will let you purchase a home if records show that you already failed in maintaining a previous mortgage?

• A foreclosure record can leave a lasting impression – records of a previously foreclosed property may appear on your personal credit for up to 7 years. That is a lot of time to consider especially if you want to apply for something that is bank or credit related in the upcoming seven years. While most people will believe that they wouldn’t mind this kind of record because they are not planning on doing anything bank related, consider this: any type of foreclosed property records can severely affect your job applications. Why? Some employers look at your credit background to see if you are responsible in your credit, and a foreclosure blemish may cause them to conclude that you are delinquent if you have a foreclosure on your record.

• It shows up on your credit records – managing your credit rating and record should by far be more critical than anything else you should contemplate before taking the easy way out. It is noted that your credit rating can plunge as low as 160 to 105 points depending on the manner of foreclosure or on your credit history. This is especially important to consider if you have an active business or you are looking into bank loans for business or other concerns. A foreclosure can at times be read as a severe negligence on the part of the person. It is important to note that banks do not consider any type of personal issues that is on your plate during the time of foreclosure: it’s either your payments are made on time or they are not.

• It affects your loan applications – similar to most of the reasons above: why would you think any bank will give you a loan if your records reveal that you had trouble paying for one before? Even if the intention might be very different from that of a home purchase, like a school loan, car loan or business loan, it is still the same thing.

• You get evicted immediately – unlike if you put your home up for a short sale; eviction usually is very quick if your property is being foreclosed on. Generally, a notice period of 30 days is given to the person with a foreclosed property, but any other extensions might not be considered by the lending institution, person with a foreclosed property, but any other extensions might not be considered by the lending institution.

So, which is the better option? A short sale or a foreclosure?

Deciding a short sale over foreclosure may be the best option by far. The mere fact that you have control over the price and the time when you can sell your home is a better alternative than being forced to hand over your house and being ordered to leave the premises as soon as possible.

While it is ultimately up to the person to choose either a short sale or a foreclosure, what is substantial is that options are weighed first and think of how it may affect your ability to buy a home in the future and affect your credit rating. Researching is a job well done. Now, your next step is to contact one of our highly trained Short Sale Specialists, so they can get your short sale on started and successfully completed!

Carl SanFilippo

Nj Short Sale Agent

www.njshortsalesspecialist.com

When the time comes near to close on an existing approval letter, the terms of the new offer must correspond with the offer that was approved already, and the buyer must close by the date in the short sale approval letter or an extension may be mandatory. The short sale approval process may perplex some people but with the help of an experienced agent, the short sale process should be somewhat of a smooth process.
A lot of people become bewildered when they see the phrase “approved short sale”. The short sale process can be challenging so it is easy to not understand the entire lingo that can be involved. Banks usually do not approve a short sale until an offer from a buyer has been received to the bank. The typical way a short sale can be approved is for the buyer to give an offer and get the offer approved.
The way the short sale approval process works is that the agent will list the short sale, the seller will give the agent the documents required that the lender has asked for, the buyer will then submit an offer. The listing agent will send in the short sale package, the accepted offer and a HUD to the lender, while the buyer waits a possible four months. Once the short sale approval letter is received by the agent, the agent will contact the buyer’s agent to present the news. Then the buyer’s agent informs the listing agent that the buyer has bought something else, which results in a cancelation. The buyer then cancels the transactions while the listing agent is not happy with the buyer’s agent, but will then put the home back on the market as an approved short sale.
Reasons that a buyer might cancel an approved short sale may be that the home may need too many repairs, or the appraisal came in to low, or the buyer does not qualify for the loan. When a new buyer is brought into the picture, they will generally have to match the exact terms of the short sale approval letter.

NEW JERSEY SHORT SALE AGENT

Short Sale Opposed To Foreclosure

Short Sale Versus Foreclosure – which should I do?

Getting fired from your job usually means the power source of income is cut off, and being of the first things to get sidelined when this occurs are mortgage payments. Paying for a house to live in might come off to be a little costly especially if you can just opt to rent an apartment. While it is easier to just walk away from your monthly mortgage payments and let the bank take your home, you might want to consider the route of a short sale. So, what is the dissimilarity in the advantages of a short sale VS a foreclosure?

Benefits of a Short-sale – doing something about it

A short sale home specialist describes a short-sale as the lesser of the two evils. If you are concerned on how to Short Sale a home, then the first thing you need to be informed of is that it enables you tons of options that foreclosure doesn’t provide you, such as

• Leave when you want to leave – opting a short sale grants you the ability to stay in your home longer, as the bank will give you notice when the short sale deal is approved for close. A short sale waiting period can go on for up to 2 to 3 months.

• A clean slate –generally while your personal credit and bank records are your own responsibility, a short sale does not impact your credit in the same way as a foreclosure. That means you can do a lot of things that you wouldn’t have the ability to do if you had a foreclosure showing up on your credit. Not only mentioning a clean slate, but on top of this and upon a successful completion of your short sale you may qualify for the HAFA Program. A program that could offer up to $ 3,000.00 CASH BACK towards your relocation! A borrower can be worthy of purchasing a property in only two years after a foreclosure.

• Control over the price – in opposition to foreclosures, short-sales give you the ability to control the price of the sale due to the fact that you still altogether own your home as the bank has not seized ownership of it yet. Granted, short-sale prices are still a lot lower at market value than the property value, but you’d much rather be selling at a loss than letting the bank do all the selling for you. Even though the bank must have the final say so in a short sale offer, prices generally are higher than foreclosed homes. This will do your neighbors a favor by helping to preserve community property values.

Benefits of a Foreclosure – the art of walking away

Foreclosure is the easy way out. Basically, foreclosure is simply turning your back on your property until the bank decides to foreclose on it. This is a little known fact, but foreclosure potentially could be the worst thing that you can do. Contemplate it – after the bank forces you to turn over your property, they get to clean it up, put it on sale for a reduced price and whoever gets the property will either: (a) renovate it and try to sell it at a very high premium; (b) sell it as being and the seller can still get a respectable profit out of it or; (c) whomever gets the property can just live in it, still getting the better end of the deal because of the bargain price that he or she bought it for.

Foreclosed properties can sell pretty rapidly as compared to a short sale. While this sounds pretty good on paper, remember that it is the bank that already owns the foreclosed property, they are the ones who profit the most from a fast transaction, so please, take this time to read further into abstaining or preventing foreclosure.

Also, while it may seem really easy to just walk away from your property and let the bank acquire it, you may want to acknowledge the following consequences:

• Waiting period before you can buy – records of foreclosure can affect even the period when you can purchase your next home. Generally speaking, banks select more responsible and trustworthy people without any sort of negative records to approve a home loan application. The current waiting timeframe for anybody to be granted by a bank or an institution to mortgage a home again is 5 years most likely. In addition, do you think a bank will let you purchase a home if records show that you already failed in maintaining a previous mortgage?

• A foreclosure record can leave a lasting impression – records of a previously foreclosed property may appear on your personal credit for up to 7 years. That is a lot of time to consider especially if you want to apply for something that is bank or credit related in the upcoming seven years. While most people will believe that they wouldn’t mind this kind of record because they are not planning on doing anything bank related, consider this: any type of foreclosed property records can severely affect your job applications. Why? Some employers look at your credit background to see if you are responsible in your credit, and a foreclosure blemish may cause them to conclude that you are delinquent if you have a foreclosure on your record.

• It shows up on your credit records – managing your credit rating and record should by far be more critical than anything else you should contemplate before taking the easy way out. It is noted that your credit rating can plunge as low as 160 to 105 points depending on the manner of foreclosure or on your credit history. This is especially important to consider if you have an active business or you are looking into bank loans for business or other concerns. A foreclosure can at times be read as a severe negligence on the part of the person. It is important to note that banks do not consider any type of personal issues that is on your plate during the time of foreclosure: it’s either your payments are made on time or they are not.

• It affects your loan applications – similar to most of the reasons above: why would you think any bank will give you a loan if your records reveal that you had trouble paying for one before? Even if the intention might be very different from that of a home purchase, like a school loan, car loan or business loan, it is still the same thing.

• You get evicted immediately – unlike if you put your home up for a short sale; eviction usually is very quick if your property is being foreclosed on. Generally, a notice period of 30 days is given to the person with a foreclosed property, but any other extensions might not be considered by the lending institution, person with a foreclosed property, but any other extensions might not be considered by the lending institution.

So, which is the better option? A short sale or a foreclosure?

Deciding a short sale over foreclosure may be the best option by far. The mere fact that you have control over the price and the time when you can sell your home is a better alternative than being forced to hand over your house and being ordered to leave the premises as soon as possible.

While it is ultimately up to the person to choose either a short sale or a foreclosure, what is substantial is that options are weighed first and think of how it may affect your ability to buy a home in the future and affect your credit rating. Researching is a job well done. Now, your next step is to contact one of our highly trained Short Sale Specialists, so they can get your short sale on started and successfully completed!

www.njshortsalesspecialist.co,

When I first heard about the Bank of America Cooperative Short Sale Program, I thought it might be more blah blah and less ah ha!

I was initially skeptical, A) because banks are famous for coming out with “new programs” that don’t end up getting squat done! And B) because I was told that with this program, the bank does the appraisal BEFORE an offer is received for the property.

Issue “B” was what I was more concerned with. I thought that with an appraisal being done before an offer is received, that there were great odds of the bank determining a value for the property much higher than we could actually get an offer for.

I thought of a way around this tho! We processed the file through their co-op program, and the seller received a check for $2,500!! So how did we get around the value issues with the lender? Give me a call and I’ll be happy to share with you how we get this accomplished now without having to worry about a high value when dealing with Bank of America co-op short sales. Now I’ve closed several through the Bank of America Cooperative Program, and my clients are getting checks! If you would like to see if you can qualify for the Bank of America Cooperative Program and receive a check for doing a short sale, contact me right away!

A quick side note about the BofA Cooperative Program: The process of going through the Bank of America Cooperative Short Sale program can take a little longer than a traditional short sale with BofA. This is because they outsource a lot of the processing. Of course this may be a benefit to you, depending on your situation. I have also found another benefit to this tho. Hit me up

The Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007 is set to expire!!

The window is closing rapidly on one of the most important tax-relief provisions enacted by Congress during the housing crisis to help financially strapped homeowners. Time is running out to Short Sale your house. Although the 2007 law that allows taxpayers to exclude from income the amount of debt that is forgiven or canceled by their lenders doesn’t expire until Dec. 31, it’s likely to take every bit of the coming months to persuade your bank to either foreclose or allow you to sell your house for less than it’s worth (Short Sale).

While owners who are struggling to hold onto their homes shouldn’t throw in the towel solely because of the pending tax bite, it is certainly something to consider.

Under the tax code, borrowed money need not be reported as income because you have an obligation to repay. But if the lender subsequently cancels what you owe, the IRS requires that you report that debt as income because the duty to repay it no longer exists. So, if you owe $250,000 and your lender forgives $50,000 of that debt in a $200,000 refinancing, that $50,000 is considered income. If your combined federal and state marginal tax rate is 36 percent, you would owe $18,000 in taxes.

Under the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007, though, taxpayers are allowed to exclude from income the discharge of debt on their principal residence when they do a short sale— at least until 2013.

So when your lender agrees to a short sale, there is no tax on the difference between the selling price and the amount you owe. When your lender forecloses, there is no tax on the canceled debt. Even when you refinance at a lower loan balance, there is no tax on the difference between what you owed on the old loan and what you now owe on the new one.

But unless Congress extends the law — and there is no indication lawmakers are even thinking about that — all residential mortgage debt relief that takes place on or after Jan. 1, 2013, will once again be considered taxable income.

Why worry about this now, Because the timelines on debt forgiveness decisions by lenders are absolutely horrendous.

Of course, each state has a different timeline. But the shortest is 463 days in Minnesota, according to Lender Processing Services. So the tax absolution window may already be closed for foreclosures.

There are no hard-and-fast numbers when it comes to short sales or loan modifications. But they also can be long, drawn-out transactions.

According to a nearly year-old survey by Equi-Trax Asset Solutions, a Santa Barbara, Calif., analytics company, it can take anywhere from four to nine months for underwater borrowers to persuade their lenders to sign off on a deal in which the lender will net less than what the borrower owes (Short Sale).

Eighteen percent of the 600 agents polled said short sales can be closed in less than three months if the stars line up just right. But almost 10 percent said these transactions require more than 10 months to complete.

There are many factors besides a tax break to consider when deciding whether to give up your house. What will a foreclosure or short sale do to your credit score? How long will you be precluded from buying another house? Will the extra income push you into a higher tax bracket? How long will it take before the amount I owe is on par with what is owed? Is it worth being tied down to one property for many years or should I just short sale and be back in the market within 2 years and probably buy more house for way less.

Consequently, as always when it comes to such matters, you should consult a tax professional before making any decisions.

At Trinity Homes & Investments we discuss all available options with our clients before deciding which course of action to take.  Our mission is to find dignified solutions to foreclosure.