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“Walking away from my property” is a phrase often used by struggling homeowners who are considering allowing their homes to fall into foreclosure. However, the phrase does not accurately depict what negative effects a foreclosure actually has on a borrower’s situation yet many believe that it is as simple as letting your home fall into foreclosure and walking away. That is certainly an understatement and I will tell you why.

Think about the basic situation. You borrowed money from X (lender one) and Y (lender two assuming you have 2 liens) and later you tell both X & Y you are unable to repay your debt. So you “walk away” from the situation. Would X & Y just accept the loss and wave their hands while you leave the situation? No. Here is what they will do.

Recourse & Non Recourse State
There are different foreclosure laws in every state. This determines what the lender can legally do in the event a borrower doesn’t pay the owed amount. In a recourse state, both X & Y are able to pursue you for the remaining balance even after your home is foreclosed on. In a non-recourse state, X is not able to pursue you legally BUT Y can and probably will come after you for the remaining balance. In other words, if you have a second mortgage (2nd lienholder) on your property, they can still get their money back.

Credit Reporting
If you “walk away” from your home and debt owed to X & Y, don’t you think they will tell A,B,C, and all other future lenders of what you did? However you handle your debt owed now will put on your credit report for future lenders to see. You will have either a “foreclosure” stamped on your report which means you really did just walk away from a bad situation or you can have a “paid for less than original amount” aka a short sale on your report which shows to A,B,C that you put effort in settling your remaining debt with X & Y rather than walking away from them.

What you decide to do now will be put on paper either way. If you “walk away,” it may be easier now but harder later in various ways such as not being able to obtain another mortgage and/or a possible lawsuit.

Keep in mind that lenders WANT you to do a short sale. You may be wondering, “well I can’t afford to do a short sale…” This is a myth my friends. If you work with the right short sale agent, you shouldn’t be paying a penny. In fact, lenders typically pay YOU for doing a short sale and it can be up to $30,000 if you do.

In this 2012 year with all of the laws and lender practices now supporting homeowners who take the time to short sell their home, simply walking away from your home will make a strong statement to all who take a look at your credit report (future lenders, bosses, apartments for rent and etc.)

If you live in Washington state, our short sale experts will show you how you can settle with your lenders and walk away with little to no liability. Connect with us HERE and we will contact you within 24-48 hours.

Hope this helps

Peter

Trying to figure out what the best financial option is for your living situation? If you live in Seattle or other major areas in Washington State, some statistics may help you put into better perspective how you should handle your future living situation.

The first nugget of information is from an article by MSN 5 Places Where Renting Beats Owning. Seattle was one of the lucky five stated in the article.

A recent study done by Marcus & Millchap discovered that the average monthly rents in Seattle are $377 lower than mortgage payments. Using a suburban example in the Green Lake area, we can use a 1,800 sq. ft. home that rents for $1,795 a month. If the individual(s) decides to purchase the home with a 10% down, 30-year fixed mortgage at a 3.7% interest rate, they would be paying $2,130/month.

Homeowner’s should consider property taxes, insurance, maintenance, and other expenses that come with homeownership as well. We can conclude that renting in Seattle is the CHOICE way of living. Or at least until you are financially ready to purchase.

What if I am currently a homeowner?

The second nugget of information is from an article by Business Insider 12 Cities Where Homeowners Are Deep Underwater. Again, Seattle happened to be one of the lucky twelve.

Seattle, Washington
Negative Equity Share: 37.8%
Total Amount In Negative Equity: $23.0 billion
Delinquency Rate: 10.3%
37.6% of underwater homeowners owe 20 percent or less, while 9.1% of underwater homeowners owe more than double what their home is worth.

Negative equity means the borrower owes more on their mortgage(s) than their home is worth which is also known as “Underwater.”

Why are short sales so popular especially in Seattle and other places in Washington State? Because it is an opportunity to walk away from a home that is probably deep underwater, rebuild credit and ultimately your financial wellbeing.

Hope this helps

Peter

Are you in the market to purchase a home this year? Homebuyers and investors are now presented with prices at unprecedented lows and interest rates that have never been so desirable. For those who are now “looking,” the big questions to ask would be, did our housing market really hit rock bottom and should I look into these cream of the crop deals AKA short sales, reo’s & foreclosures?

So, have we hit rock bottom? 

The housing market showed signs of improvement this 2012 year. Non-distressed properties show on average a 1.7% increase in prices according to a recent HousingPulse survey and experts are optimistic for the latter half of 2012.

Does this mean the only direction house prices can go is up from here on out? Not necessarily. One of the key factors that result in house prices increasing is the decrease of supply in the market (less supply, more demand). Although it may seem our nations shadow inventory is decreasing as investors are rapidly buying homes at all-time low prices, a new wave of foreclosures are set to flood the market again as a result of the robo-signing scandal. This incident caused many lenders to lag behind in listing their foreclosure properties and ultimately pushing them through. One could reasonably presume prices to halt its gain again or drop even lower.

However, this does not mean that now is not a good time to purchase a home.  If your financial status suffices to buy, looking into short sales and REO properties can win you an outstanding deal in today’s market. Mortgage rates recently hit another all-time low. According to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey released on July 5^th, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages sunk down to 3.62 percent which is a considerable decrease from a 4.6 percent just one year ago. Concurrently, rent prices have gone up on an average of 5.4 percent over the last 12 months according to real estate website, Trulia.

Washington State (Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA), is in the top 20 nationwide for rising short sale discounts. The average sales price is $224,294 with an average discount of 31.35 percent.

*Before you begin putting offers on properties, I highly recommend following Dave Ramsey’s guide prior to purchasing a home.

Our team of agents specialize in short sale and reo properties and have been extremely successful in helping clients purchase discounted homes in the Washington State area. If you are looking into purchasing a home this year, contact our team of local agents to find the best deals in your desired location(s).

Peter

Full Article at: www.seattleshortsaleblog.com

Our team of agents at Seattleshortsaleblog has been extremely successful with short sales for many years now and pinpointing the key attributes that has contributed to our success is quite apparent once you meet our negotiators. As emphasized before in our previous blogs, one of the biggest downfalls in the short sale arena is the lack of communication, or more specifically, the lack of a good communicator. Facilitating a transaction with multiple parties who have only their own financial interests in mind, is not an easy task which is why we at seattleshortsaleblog continue to emphasize the importance of a professional negotiator in your short sale. Let’s explore some qualities to look for when choosing the right agent for your short sale.

Why is a negotiator important in a short sale? Picture a room of five famished people waiting for food and suddenly throwing one pie right in the middle. Most likely, a fight will break out for the pie and it will probably end up getting ruined resulting in a loss for everyone. A negotiator is like an individual who comes in to help everyone get a piece of the pie with minimal losses for everyone. A short sale transaction is a very similar situation. Everyone is trying to get the most pie they can get but without someone facilitating the portions each entity will receive, it often leads to a foreclosure which is a severe loss for all parties.

So, how do you identify a pro negotiator? I believe one very important factor for a good negotiator is his/her personality. To briefly describe some personality traits that I believe all successful negotiators should have is first and foremost, charisma.  You want a negotiator who is enjoyable to speak with and can build relationships.  Second, is stability and to be direct, an uncanny ability to control emotions. Third, and really most importantly is the ability to listen, you need to provide a party with what they want in order to get what you want or at least mediate their wants and fill as many as possible.

In working with all parties of a transaction, the negotiator should be able to influence servicers (banks), agents, and buyers (exempt sellers because negotiators are on their side). Without building good rapport and maintaining good relations with all of these members, the short sale can easily fall through.

Another key factor for a good agent/negotiator is organization. A short sale involves a plethora of various documents coming from different parties. Without have these files organized, a short sale typically fails as lenders are very particular about timely file submissions. For more information, please read our previous blog on The Key Factor For A Good Short Sale Agent.

What do you think? Are there more qualities a pro negotiator should have? Would love the feedback. Thanks!

Peter

Improvements and more improvements have been the recurring case for the government sponsored enterprises Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Although these GSE’s (Government Sponsored Enterprise) had a slow start in finding the right solutions for the housing crisis we are facing, the momentum for improvements via federal guidelines have picked up speed. The Goal: Get through distressed properties quickly to catalyze the housing recovery. How? Streamline their short sales. Let’s explore new and improved federal guidelines these GSE’s will implement on November 1^st.

Click the links below to see if your mortgages are backed by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae:
Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae

Please read this concise document from FHFA.GOV HERE for the new Fannie and Freddie Guidelines and eligibility requirements.

Notes on new FHFH Guidelines:

• A significant change for starters is homeowners being eligible for a short sale without being in default or at risk of imminent default. If the homeowner is able to show hardship and back it up with proper documents, a short sale is now possible. Note that it is not only for those who are relocating due to current or new employment (this may be confusing).
• The right to pursue deficiency waiver for monetary exchange or promissory note applies to those who have sufficient income or assets. Even then, if you have a solid negotiator and/or short sale team, you can walk away from the property with little liability.
• For those who are in serious financial distress (missed several payments and have low credit scores), a short sale will be more streamlined as documents required to show hardship has been reduced or eliminated.

In the past, the GSE’s guideline alterations were not received well by many professionals in the real estate community. However, these new changes presented by the FHFA were well received by U.S. Realtors and an international credit rating agency. This includes the National Association of Realtors who said, “Making the short sale process go more smoothly will help avoid foreclosure and keep homes occupied.”

www.seattleshortsaleblog.com

Peter

Many homeowners are now capable of purchasing a home with the all-time low home prices and interest rates. Short sales and Foreclosure/REO properties offer cream of the crop deals that are difficult to simply pass by. If you are looking into the housing market, it is wise to adequately educate yourself especially when looking into distressed properties.

The big question we’ve been getting is, is a short sale or a foreclosed property the better deal? Below is a large pros and cons list for both short sales and REO properties.

*Information derived from Foxbusiness, ABC ActionNews, RealtyStore, WhisselRealty

Pros

• The seller of the property is a bank that has no emotional attachment to the property…they are all about the numbers.
• They are often priced aggressively as the bank wants to sell the property as quick as possible.  They want to stop the business of managing and selling property, and get back to the business of lending money.
• These homes are typically vacant and are very easy to show.
• The banks will usually respond to your offer in 3-5 business days.
• If the home is owned by Fannie Mae, it may qualify for HomePath financing which only requires 3% down and does not require an appraisal or mortgage insurance (MI).

Cons

• Because these homes are aggressively priced, they often received multiple offers.  This is where it becomes important to work with an agent that has a strong understanding of how to write your offer to make it stand out from the competition.
• These homes are sold as-is and the bank will often make no repairs.  As you have probably seen in the news, many of these homes have been stripped by the previous owner and/or vandalized by criminals.  Because of this, they may not qualify for FHA or VA financing.
• You will also have no disclosure forms from the previous owner with REO properties, nor will you be able to get good answers about the neighborhood with repossessed homes as simply as you would through the normal process with a realtor and private seller.
• In these post-bubble days, a bank may also not own the repossessed homes as cheaply as was the norm in previous economies. They may also try to recoup some of their expenses from the foreclosure process as well as the monthly costs of owning and carrying REO properties.

Short Sale Properties: Homeowner sells for less than what is owed.

Pros

• Many agents will not show short sales due to the long response time which opens up opportunities for those buyers that are not in a hurry to buy.
• These homes are typically in better condition than bank owned homes because the homeowner is usually still occupying them and taking care of the home.
• The banks will often accept less than market value because they do not want to foreclose on the home and take on the task of managing and selling the home.

Cons

• The process of negotiating a short sale with the mortgage bank typically takes 1-6 months.
• The bank is under no obligation to approve a short sale offer.  Less than 50% of short sales that are submitted to banks are approved.
• Often times the banks will not pay off all of the liens against the property (HOA dues, property taxes, ….) and the buyer may be asked to pay for these items.

In conclusion, one of the main discrepancies between a short sale vs an REO property can be described by the scenario of buying a used car either from a dealer or from a private owner. If you get it from an owner (REO), you may get the vehicle at a more discounted price but the quality of the asset is a gamble. You may end up spending a lot in repairs because the vehicle’s engine hasn’t been maintained.

In many cases, an REO property is vandalized and/or the previous owner out of spite, trashes the property prior whereas in a short sale, the property is significantly less likely to be vandalized or mistreated prior to transferring the home.

What do you think? Which would be the better deal? Short sale vs Foreclosure

Only if you want to pick the worst choice in a bad situation.  With a foreclosure, your credit will be severely impacted, security clearances can be challenged, your ability to finance ANYTHING in the future will be challenged, and the debt owed will not go away.  When you do a short sale in Virginia, or other states, you will most likely ALWAYS be in a better position.