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If you have followed my posts, you know that short of walking down the halls of Congress, I have been all over this potential legislation, garnering support via letters, op-ed pieces, etc. Just when it looked like the possibility for an extension had died in the Senate last week, largely due to being and amendment to an already water-logged bill. "WAHLAH" Members of Congress today introduced a stand alone bill H.R. 5623 called the "Homebuyer Assistance and Improvement Act". With a vote of 409-5 House lawmakers passed a standalone bill that would extend for three months Wednesday's deadline for closing on a home purchase in order to claim the federal homebuyer tax credit . The bill is now headed to the Senate, where if all goes well, can then become ready for Prez. signature.

Just the same, we should all press on as if there was no such possibility, just in case this does not happen. The chances for this happening are greatly increased if we all take one little moment when we are on hold with someone and shoot an email over to our 2 State Senators urging them to pass this bill. If you need the link for emailing your Congress person, click here: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

I ask you, not only for assisting yourselves, but to help the 180,000 people like me who do not want to lose the tax credit on our home purchases. Thank you so much! =)

I have a HAFA submission that has been in the Equator system for about 7 weeks (now in underwriting) and the buyers are getting nervous at this point as they have been in contract for just about 90 days. I have had great success in escalating stale short sales in the past to executive level employees at the bank but have not tried this with a HAFA submission going beyond the "30 Days" guideline for a response. LRC (Loan Resolution Company) is handling BofA's HAFA casefiles and are apparently backlogged at this point.

Property:

Hardship:

1st Mortgagewith Citi Mortgage for $92,000. Agreed to accept $54,442 or 60% of the balance owed.

No Seller contribution or promissory note. Citi Mortgage issues a waiver of deficiency. It doesn't get any better than this.

This Kissimmee Short Sale transaction took 35 days from listing to closing!!!

closed June 23th.

Sometimes things just fall into place.

Do NOT be foreclosed on! Avoid foreclosure. Short Sales DO close.

Want to find out more? www.CentralFloridaShortSales.com

***I am NOT an Attorney nor do I play one on TV. Click the button below for my Bio.

Has anyone tried to use the equator to obtain short sale leads? Does it work (did yu get any leads)? Did you get certified? At what level were you certified, Platinum, Gold or Silver?

Thanks, Steve

Then Senate is poised to approve the ammendment and it will have to get thru the house.

I know all my short sale buyers and sellers are hoping it goes thru! I'm sure yours are too!

If passed buyers will have until Sept 30 to close escrow in order to meet the tax credit qualifications.

I received what looked like a form letter today about one of my new Destin Florida short sale listings. The property address was inserted in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. Here is the email:

"I noticed your listing at STREET # STREETNAME. DESTIN, FL, is it still available? If so, I am very interested in buying the property. I realize it is a short sale and may take many months to get bank approval but I am willing to wait. I am local and I buy 10 properties a month.

I can guarantee you a full listing side commission, regardless of what commission the bank approves; my only stipulation is that I am able to negotiate with the lender. Please email me the specifics of the property and some times that we may be able to meet so I can discuss an offer with you."

Hmmmm.... Maybe I should jump because it is not a cheap property. It has only been listed one day. Plus, he will pay me my "full listing side commission" and I don't have to do anything!

I know how I responded. How would you?

It's Wendy!

Wendy Rulnick, Broker, Rulnick Realty, Inc.

Call toll-free 1-877-487-9639or local 850-650-7883 ext 204

Email Wendy: itswendy@rulnickrealty.com

Destin FL Real Estate

Destin Short Sales & Pre Foreclosure Help.

Read Wendy's Destin Real Estate Blog

Wendy is a short sale and pre-foreclosure specialist and has been featured in "Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine" and "Florida Realtor Magazine". Call Wendy Rulnick, Broker/Owner,to list and sell your home or condo on the Emerald Coast of Florida in Walton, Okaloosa and Santa Rosa County- Destin, Santa Rosa Beach, Fort Walton Beach, Niceville, Bluewater Bay, Navarre, Seagrove Beach, Watercolor, Sandestin, Seaside, Crestview, Rosemary Beach, Mary Esther, Shalimar, Eglin AFB, Hurlburt Field.

Short Sales reduce numbers of strategic defaults..

Since beginning my short sale career when this mess in the Coachella Valley, CA took hold years ago, it has been my mantra that the Lenders do NOT want to be truthful with their shareholders regarding true values of their housing assets. Now, I am seeing this very idea in various media outlets. I still believe it! If they were okay with telling the truth, and not "cooking" the books, they would work with their Short Sale Agents in a timely manner and let us help them clear out the inventory, set the price/sf back where it should be to actually SELL, and get us back on track. They will HAVE to declare these losses anyway..they just want to control the timing as long as they can..infuriating! The following is from First Tuesday and gives some interesting timelines.

Presently, the average time period in California between a homeowner’s first default and the trustee’s sale is around 12 months: five months in default before the notice of default (NOD), and another 7 months to complete the foreclosure. Prior to 2008, foreclosure periods stretched across three months of delinquency followed promptly by the recording of an NOD, with the trustee’s sale occurring four to five months later. (So true..used to be 6 to 7 months across the board here in Coachella Valley.)

However, the foreclosure routine has been altered and extended as the result of California legislative changes in the periods for enforcement of lender foreclosure remedies. (And, I believe, the Lenders inability to be truthful regarding their asset's true values..)

Entirely aside from the lender’s inefficiency in handling their files, what lenders are not doing currently is putting all of the real estate owned (REO) properties on the market in order to avoid declaring a loss. Lenders do not declare the loss at the time of the actual foreclosure sale. At the trustee’s sale, they bid on the property for the amount of the outstanding loan balance, declaring their bid as the cost of acquiring the property.

After, when the sale of the REO takes place, it inflicts damage on the lender’s reported solvency since they accept the price for the property the new buyer pays, a price generally well below the original outstanding loan balance paid by the lender at the trustee’s sale. On closing, they must declare for the first time the loss they have long held on that loan. On a resale of the REO they must “book” the loss as the asset (mortgage, turned home, turned cash) has been liquidated.

Ah-ha!

Great Blog - Good Information.

I purchased three California homes in 2009. All REO's. My advice - What have I learned? Prequal with the bank taking the loss. Hire the listing agent on the property you wish to buy. If you use a buyers agent, only make offers on property listed within that agents brokerage. If not my advice, you are wasting your time. Most successful distressed sales in CA are inside jobs. Sort and sweet.

AS FOR PNC SHORT SALE;

On April 2 this year, I made an offer on a short sale. PNC 1st TD - Citi 2nd. Over one million in loans. BOP 50% under loans - Whew! A huge loss! Bets are presently 50/50 to get a short approved. As of now, property vacant for 6 months. Foreclosure on hold.
What I have done: I paid for a full appraisal with comps. I submitted the appraisal with my offer. My offer is well over the BOP, and $15K over appraised value. I also sought, and received loan approval from PNC. Not prequal - This time I sought and received full loan approval for the appraised value, conventional, 20% down. In short, I think have done all I can think to do as a buyer to make my offer stand out.
Ouestion; Have I done enough? Is there more I can do? What would you do now?

Do NOT be foreclosed on! Avoid foreclosure. Short Sales DO close.

Want to find out more? www.CentralFloridaShortSales.com

***I am NOT an Attorney nor do I play one on TV. Click the button below for my Bio.

Brian Buffini Cinemeeting sponsored by First Mortgage/ Wells Fargo in NW Ohio community of Maumee OH ...

If you weren’t there you really did miss a great program with Brian and probably one of the best explanations as to the short sale process and why it takes so *&^&%&## long!!

Basically, they said there are many ingredients in the mix (parties to the mortgage) that have to agree to the final short sale price. Typically the mortgage lender you are speaking with is only servicing the loan by contract, because over 80% of the loans are owned by Fannie, Freddie, or private investors who have to be contacted for their approval.

In addition, the PMI or MIP companies have to approve any loss and finally if there are any junior mortgages, seconds or home equity lines, their approval is needed too!

Most of all, it seems one of the biggest hang ups is with the seller providing timely and complete documentation for all these parties to see. Makes a LITTLE more sense now why it takes sooooooo long, at least to me!

(The above is one broker's perspective recently, but I don't know if I necessarily agree with the comment about "one of the biggest hang ups is with the seller providing timely and complete documentation". Yes, many sellers dig their heads in the sand, hoping it will all just go away, but my experience has been that more often than not, the seller DOES submit the required documents, but the LENDER LOSES some of that documentation!

A good rule of thumb is to always, ALWAYS reference the loan# on every single page of documentation.

The fax numbers that agents are told to submit docs to is oftentimes a communal number and a communal area where they are received. Without the loan# on every page, it is highly likely that someone will grab the wrong papers or mix them up, or, or, or ...

If THEY can't be organized, at least WE CAN!!

Here are some current comments and trends which one of an industry lead online articles inspired some thoughts and feedback which you as readers repositioning your business strategies may find insightful to current local, regional, and national market conditions that we are tracking for our clients around short sales acquisition both one off and bulk asset acquisition.

I wish what you reported in your article on short sales gaining momentum was occurring in the NY Metro area? In spite of all the reports that shorts are gaining traction we are seeing the opposite. A recent interview with an investment company we are working with tied to the Treasury reported a pull through rate on short sales at a meager 7-13% of actual files in the pipeline vs approved and closed shorts.

In an environment like a Chase for example where you may have 30-50 thousand requested short sales I am not sure where the amount collection level supports the cost containment justification to cover the head count and operational cost investment to support short sales at the present level? Another area which seems to be behind so many issues sited on the SSS Site has to do with the lack of trained and qualified personnel,not to mention the readiness of the supporting team members, at all levels necessary to keep the disposition process moving. The ROI to the organization based on the sizeable investment being made to staff vs the value returned to shareholder value has to be another emerging problem and which is also not calculated in the loan losses building another case for streamline short sales to emerge- but how soon? The Short Sale scaling up trend seems to be emerging but the business metrics and pull through on closed loans seems to be one of the great mysteries of our current industy?

In spite of growing inventory we are still butting heads on appraisal value and determination of actual true distressed fair market value which is used normally to negotiate actual settlement value. In spite of slowing market conditions investors generally are looking for better then 90% settlements of inflated values which seem to be reached in a declining % of deals as buyers are being more sophisicated after making too high a buy on this first short sale acquisition that can't cash flow or be resold now that the title has become marketable.

I further asked the author on the Short Sale Trend Article tp please convey in future writing that distressed valuation and retail stated fair market value are two different and distinct values which if denied by services, common, will result in higher loan loss levels which is the baseline for hopefully more services waking up to this reality. An area where professional value create value is through the process of clearing and negotiating liens and clouds on title which is something we handle ever provide credit to investors. Without this layer in the supply chain these untold millions of properties will not be absorbed in many markets as the 1.5 million properties were absorbed in 2009.

We are also seeing the some major delegated services are in fact re-tooling to do short sales however we have not seen number of short sale approved units pop. In spite of data supporting market stability or growth many markets are on the decline partially due to clouds on title comon with transaction worked out as a short sale.

A call to one of our realtor partners in the Fort Meyer area revealed that now as oil is hitting the beach fewer people will be thinking about visiting or owning in Florida which will also add salt to the wound in the florida real estate market as yet another issue concerning declining real estate value is starting to hit the west coast of Florida coast?

What I am seeing in an increase in interest in one off note purchase transactions to avoid the delays, frustration, and head butting rampant when 3rd party negotiation company, title, realtors, or others attempt to negotiate a short sale settlement are delayed or outright fail. Education at all levels is still a problem on both the side of servicers, institutions, and agents attempting to obtain a short sale approval as advanced understanding of investor regulations is broadly unknown by most practioneers and which must change to have the same transparency that the institutions expect from the prospective buyers.

Please post your market conditions and trends you are seeing in your market so we can leverage these conditions and trends and hopefully all lobby to our local legislatures education to support better practices to help people sustain the dream of home onwership in the US which is under attack and will not be as strong without your help. Think Global and react locally. Happy Selling- Craig

T. Craig Barry

http://www.lossmitigationsvcsnj.com

LossMitigationSo@aol.com

D (614) 404-9622

F (973) 900-8798

"Your AZ, CA, FL,OH & NJ Luxury Short Sale Consultants & Property Acquisition Source

I have been negotiating a short sale on a Florida condo with Konduar Capital and they have been pretty wonderful through the whole process - UNTIL..... we got down to the second lien holder who won't play ball - even though the foreclosure sale is coming up next week. The negotiator who is handling everything at Kondaur has advised that the buyer should go down to the court and just purchase at our agreed price in the contract. We have been informed what has and has not been paid and what fees will be covered by Kondaur & what the buyers will have to pay....

Now of course, from the title search we know there are HOA fees due (I am told the MAX they can get is 6 months worth? is that true??) and there may also an outstanding assessment for $3000. The buyer wants to lower their offer by that amount and is then willing to buy at the sale.

Now here's the trick - We have an email from Kondaur that they are willing to pay commissions - but not anything signed by them..... Now I'm just wondering if they will try to subtract out what the buyer doesn't pay from the realtors??... or if there is any guarantee they will pay us at all.... The other agent and I are kinda' thinking it would be a whole lot easier if we take a risk that no one else will buy it at the sale (I would say it would be a remote chance - but the price they want doesn't make this condo a super deal so we doubt it) If we take the risk & no one else buys it - Kondaur will get it back and we can resume negotiations with them and our buyer.... I just don't know how to advise every one - I don't really want to be in a "come to find out" position! Any advice???

HI,

Has anyone been able to get Chase to waive going after a deficiency judgement if the seller agrees to pay on a promissory note?

Thanks!

KIM

Colleagues,

I read through the Fannie/Freddie HAFA programs released yesterday afternoon.

Overall, on first (and quick) read, the program reads like it was designed by analysts without a deep understanding of the issues and realities of the short sale process.

A program designed in the clouds for implementation here on planet Earth.

It may have the effect of reducing the return for transacting a short sale property, and therefore increasing the number of properties going to foreclosure.

For example, the program states:

real estate sales commission customary for the market. The servicer may not require that the commission be reduced to less than 6 percent of the sales price of the property;

But, Freddie caps settlement charges at 9%, including commission, conveyance/property tax, attorney, recordation, HOA. So, the commitment to "not lower commissions below 6%" is a bit of a sham, I think. "The Servicer did not require you to reduce the commission, we just aren't going to pay the bill."

(Not sure if this applied to Fannie, I hope not. Fannie does seem to hold their cards close to the chest.)

Minimum Allowable Net Proceed is not shared with seller, buyer, or agents. It's just a secret between Fannie and the Servicer. This provides no assistance to sellers. (Why can't Fannie learn from HUD?)

Handling of Second Liens seems to be disconnected from reality. Consideration is capped at 6% up to $6,000. (I think Fannie currently allows 8% up to $8,500.) Also, no additional payments are permitted, and the 2nd must waive future rights to the deficiency. An unfunded mandate, moreover Fannie has no way to require the 2nd to agree to this, I think. (Maybe the big players will agree to this for each other?)

Deficiency Waiver is included, but this program requires HAMP eligibility and liquid assets under $5,000 (or 3xPayment). So, pretty much the Creditor could not collect the debt anyway, and if necessary the debt could be extinguished in bankruptcy.

So, overall, my first read is BAD PROGRAM. What are they thinking?

Curious to hear what others think. (Maybe I was just tired and grumpy last night.....)

michael