Tag Archives: destin short sales

President Obama is considering forcing ALL lenders to stop ALL foreclosures!

Posted on February 27, 2010 by admin

His goal may be to literally force every distressed homeowner (and their lender) to attempt a loan mod using the governments HAMP Program. We can assume that once the borrower chooses not to do a mod (or doesn’t qualify for a mod) they will then be pushed to the HAFA program. The HAFA program is all about SHORT SALES (or deeds in lieu of foreclosure).

What effect will this have on REOs? Virtually none. Why? Because of the sheer number of homes that are already in the foreclosure pipeline. Any temporary moratorium would be just that…temporary.

Obviously, the Obama Administration is watching the dramatically increasing foreclosure rates….and will do something more radical to attempt to slow the rate of folks losing their homes.

Believe me, we will be watching this emerging story 24/7. If any new news breaks…we will let you know. Here is the story from Bloomberg.

The Obama administration may expand efforts to ease the housing crisis by banning all foreclosures on home loans unless they have been screened and rejected by the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program.

The proposal, reviewed by lenders last week on a White House conference call, “prohibits referral to foreclosure until borrower is evaluated and found ineligible for HAMP or reasonable contact efforts have failed,” according to a Treasury Department document outlining the plan.

“It is one of the many ideas under consideration in the administration’s ongoing housing stabilization efforts,” Treasury spokeswoman Meg Reilly said in an e-mail. “This proposal has not been approved and there are no immediate planned announcements on the issue.”

She confirmed the authenticity of the document, which hasn’t been made public.

At present, lenders can initiate foreclosure proceedings on any loan that hasn’t been submitted for HAMP eligibility. Under current HAMP rules, foreclosure litigation can proceed while borrowers are under review for the program or even in a trial modification.

The proposed changes would prohibit lenders from initiating new foreclosure actions before loan screening by HAMP and would require lenders to halt existing proceedings for borrowers once they are in a trial repayment plan.

‘Improved Protections’
The Treasury Department will soon release guidance “which will include a set of improved protections for borrowers” in HAMP, Phyllis Caldwell, chief of Treasury’s Homeownership Preservation Office, said today in testimony prepared for a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee. She didn’t provide details.

This proposal goes further than rules adopted amid the crisis by federally controlled mortgage-finance companies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which require lenders to review borrowers for a federal loan modification before a foreclosed property can be sold.

Foreclosure proceedings can still be initiated without a review, said Freddie Mac spokesman Doug Duvall. Fannie Mae spokeswoman Amy Bonitatibus said it adopted the same policy last March.

About 89 percent of outstanding residential mortgage loans are covered by the voluntary HAMP program.

About 2.82 million U.S. homeowners lost properties to foreclosure last year and 4.5 million filings are expected in 2010, RealtyTrac Inc., an Irvine, California data company, said last month.

Seven Million
Obama’s foreclosure prevention initiative, announced in February 2009 to help as many as 4 million Americans avert foreclosure, has modified 116,297 loans through steps such as lowering interest rates or lengthening repayment terms. More than 830,000 borrowers received trial repayment plans through January, according to Treasury data.

“Foreclosure processes differ among states, and the process is often confusing to homeowners already facing distress,” Caldwell said in her prepared testimony. “Treasury has been reviewing guidelines around outreach and the foreclosure process as part of its continual assessment of program effectiveness and transparency.”

Foreclosures may reach as many as 7 million mortgages, and an additional 5 million are at risk of default because borrowers owe more than the property is worth, Laurie Goodman, senior managing director at Amherst Securities Group LP in New York, said in a Feb. 17 interview.

Republican Criticism
“This is a problem of mammoth proportions,” Goodman said. “You can’t throw 12 million people out of their homes, so you need a successful modification program. My fear is that this isn’t it, but I’m highly confident that the administration will continue to iterate until they succeed.”

The Treasury proposal would require all borrowers who are 60 or more days delinquent on their mortgage to be sought out for participation in HAMP. Mortgage companies would need to try to contact the borrower at least four times by phone and twice by certified mail over 30 or more days before going to foreclosure.

Under current Treasury policy, foreclosure proceedings are only halted when a borrower receives a permanent modification plan.

House Republicans criticized HAMP as a failure today, saying in a report that it is prolonging the economic crisis and harming homeowners.

“By every empirical measure, HAMP has failed,” according to the 18-page report released by Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. “In its current form, HAMP both hurts homeowners who might otherwise spend their trial-period mortgage payments on rent and also distorts the housing market, delaying any recovery

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The Truth about Short Sales

Posted on February 26, 2010 by admin

There are a lot of misconceptions about short sales in the real estate marketplace. Here are just a few of them:

1)  Short Sales are impossible and never get approved.  FALSE

TRUTH: Short Sales are more difficult, but they are NOT impossible.  While there are no guarantees in any transaction, more and more short sales are being approved monthly.  However, a Real Estate Agent MUST be educated on the process, or it will be nearly impossible.  I am tenacious and I don’t take no for an answer but always look for a solution to any problem.

2) Banks are NOT accepting Short Sales; They are waiting on a bailout.  FALSE

TRUTH: The reality is that banks have already been bailed out, and are really trying to do anything they can, within reason, to avoid foreclosing on a property.  More banks are aggressively pursuing Short Sales and Real Estate Agents who understand how to process them.  It is strictly business, it costs the bank (in most cases) far less to short sell than to foreclose.

3)  You must be behind on your mortgage in order to negotiate a short sale.  FALSE

TRUTH: At one time this was true, but today, this has almost all together reversed.  Today lenders are looking for verifiable hardship, monthly cash flow shortfall or pending shortfall and insolvency.  If you meet these three requirements and are in a position where you can not or will soon not be able to afford your mortgage, now is the time to pursue a short sale.   There are a few lenders who still hold on to this rule, but they are few and far between.    In fact, most lenders in any circumstance would rather sell short than foreclose.

4)  Buyers are not interested in short sales and avoid them.  FALSE (mostly)

TRUTH: Some buyers are not interested because of the time it takes, especially with time constraints like the  First  Time Homebuyer Credit.  On the other hand, many agents are getting calls from buyers who say “I only want to look st foreclosures and short sales.”  These have become synonymous with the term ” Good Deals”.

5)  Listing a home as a short sale is an embarrassment.  FALSE

TRUTH: Most sellers don’t want the world to know they can’t pay their bills, but according to recent estimates, 1 in 5 homeowners in the United States owe more on their house than it is worth.  Even wealthy owners have to stop the bleeding somewhere.  Most sellers are to be congratulated for admitting they need help, taking action and finding a professional who can work toward a solution.

6)  The bank would rather foreclose than bother with a short sale.  FALSE  FALSE  FALSE!!

Truth: This myth started with collection people working for lenders on commission.  The reality is that banks do not want to foreclose on property, it costs too much.  An average foreclosure can cost the bank up to $40,000 and they still have holding costs, insurance, real estate brokerage fees, etc. and then they still get less than market value.  Do the math, which would you do?

7)  There is not enough time to negotiate a short sale before a foreclosure.  FALSE

TRUTH: This is a myth that hurts homeowners.  Many don’t realize that the foreclosure process is lengthy.  It can take a year or more, and if an attorney gets involved, it can be stalled far longer.  Almost all lenders will stall a foreclosure with a legitimate contract for short sale.  So if  Lis Pendens has been filed, no worries, that’s just the beginning.  If it is slated for the courthouse steps, hurry up, if there is an offer you may be able to stall.  Don’t wait that long.  Go get it on the market today with a competent Real Estate Agent who knows how to work short sales and avoid foreclosure.

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Stop The Banks! The Banks Are Trying To Change The Foreclosure Process!

Posted on February 2, 2010 by admin

The Banks’ Lobbyists Are Trying To Change The Foreclosure Process!

It is not a good thing to give the banks more power.

If you are a real estate agent or a homeowner in the state of Florida please contact your Congress men and women today, please contact your state Senators today! Do not let this plea go unanswered.

If you are in the business of real estate you need to be involved with the political process and this call to action is NOW.

If you are a short sale agent, if the banks get their way with this, this will directly impact your short sale closing ratios. This will also put more of your sellers at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure. Make sure you read the 53 page bill.

Get your Board of Realtors® involved with defending the very essence of NAR and state boards- the protection of homeowners’ rights.

Already Palm Beach County has stopped the foreclosures “on the courthouse steps”. Actually the foreclosure sales were held in the court’s cafeteria but now in order to facilitate so many foreclosures, the county clerk has put all the foreclosure auctions online. This is yet another hurdle to us agents who are scrambling to get the foreclosure stopped because we have a bank that does not know how to talk to their other departments!

The Florida Supreme Court just made a ruling that all banks that are filing foreclosures must offer the homeowners mediation from now on. This new rule started to be in effect on January 1, 2010. Well, this bill slaps the Florida Supreme Court right in the face! It would be a mute rule.

So the banks have now pulled their resources together and are lobbying the Florida house and congress to get this new bill passed. The Florida Bankers Association is a 400 member lobby.

They are trying to undo decades of Florida law by undoing our judicial foreclosure process and change it to a non judicial foreclosure process where homeowners could be foreclosed on in as little as 3 months. Florida has been a judicial state for decades. They want to get this on the books by July 1 of 2010. This would been that they could bypass the judges. Of course they want to bypass the judges. After all, the judges are making the banks show proof of ownership of notes and making the banks obey the laws of service in the state of Florida. The judges will 99.9% of the time rule in favor of the homeowner postponing the foreclosure when we have an offer for a short sale.

37 states have fast track foreclosures. But Florida is and has always been a state where homeowners’ rights matter.

 172,894 South Florida homeowners were served with foreclosure lis pendens notices last year.

This 53 page bill states that the non judicial foreclosures must be completed in no less than 3 months and no more than 1 year.

Here in Florida in a judicial process it takes 18 months or more to foreclose on a property and longer if you hire an attorney for foreclosure defense.

I love how they try to sell this bill as doing some good for the people. That is a bunch of loaded boloney. The bankers also put in the bill to keep their right to deficiency alive and well in the state of Florida. But then the bank throws a little morsel to the homeowners saying they will waive the deficiency if the homeowners do not wreck the house.

It amazes me how they package this bill. The name is so deceiving. They must hire a marketing company to come up with the names for bills so that they sound good to the people.

The name of this bill is:
The Florida Consumer Protection and Homeowner Credit Rehabilitation Act!!!!
What a joke! How in the world do they get to put a name like this on a bill that is just there to protect the banks’ interests?

They mask this with pretending that this bill is really helping! The sponsor of the bill said that this is to help break a foreclosure crisis caused by mortgage fraud. Excuse me? How is taking away judicial rights helping break through fraud?????

He also said that this bill protects the innocent victims- the neighborhoods. How is that going to happen? Agents- please send your congress men and house representatives photos of homes you drive by that are BANK OWNED!!!!

The bankers spokesperson said that getting the foreclosures into the hands of the banks and out of the homeowners’ possession will help with blighted urban neighborhoods and help relieve the judges who are overworked and have too many cases. He also said that this will help the HOA’s and keep the houses nice and neat. What a good scam to get you to believe that taking away more rights is somehow a good thing.

Governor Charlie Crist would also have to sign this Pro Banker bill if this bill becomes law. He is under a lot of pressure from the populist movement and they are not happy with the bankers right now. This may not be a move he is willing to take to risk the Senate race he is in.

The Florida legislature resumes again on March 2. Please get the word out to all the attorneys you know, all the homeowners you know to stop this bill. You never know when you may be in the same situation as these people we are helping to save from foreclosure.

This post is from Katerina Gasset at www.Short-Sales-Florida.com

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Bank Hiring Surge

Posted on January 31, 2010 by admin

Banks across America are mounting a hiring surge right now. Why?  They are gearing up for what lies ahead…more defaults, more short sales and more foreclosures.  Collectively, the big 4, including Bank of America, Chase, Wells Fargo and Citi have recently added over 17,000 new employees to their payroll to help manage the volume of loan modification and short sale requests as well as the disposal of foreclosures.  And the most ambitious are those that have a large number of Alt-A  (Interest Only and Option ARM) loans.  Wachovia, for example, is loaded with these loan products.  They were recently acquired by Wells Fargo so now it’s Wells Fargo’s responsibility to deal with the mess that is going to be hitting them this summer when many of these Alt-A loans begin re-casting to fully amortized loans.

Experts are predicting more mortgage mayhem. Now you can see why banks are on a hiring surge.  2010 and 2011 are shaping up to be as big (if not bigger), than the sub prime meltdown of 2007 and 2008.  Believe it or not,  2009 was the “eye” of the storm.

When you study what the banks are doing, hiring tons of employees to gear up for more defults, short sales and foreclosures, that should give you a clue as to what lies ahead…you guessed it…more defaults, short sales and foreclosures. Short sales and foreclosures dominate the residential (and soon to be commercial) real estate markets.

Bottom line…there is no shortage of short sales and foreclosures in our area or in this country.

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