Author Archive
Fighting Over Credit Card Lien Releases on Short Sales
Posted on March 26, 2013 byWorking on short sales is always exhilarating when you receive updated title work which shows there are additional liens against the property. Many Realtors, Investors and Short Sale Negotiators aren’t knowledgeable or prepared to fight the fight against Credit Card Liens on short sales. I recommend that the first thing you do when working a short sale is to order a title commitment which will do a search to see if there are any liens on the property. Are you aware that the title companies also do a name search for your Seller and Buyer? When a name search is done against the Seller, any outstanding judgments or liens show up on title. In addition, the title company is to order a lien search against the property for water, sewer, and code violations which cost approximately $140. Due to the cost, this additional lien search is done right before closing. I always recommend that the Realtor or the Investor make a personal call to the water, sewer and code violation departments as soon as they start negotiating their short sale. By making the personal call, you can minimize some costs versus have the title company search for you. Some counties provide this information online. However, don’t depend on your inexperience of checking liens on the property, I would highly recommend that you contact the County Department and talk to a live person for confirmation. Read More→
Facts About Loan Modifications
Posted on February 28, 2013 byMany of the Sellers that are upside down on their home are stressed out and don’t know what to do. First off, I want all Sellers to know that when they got a loan from the bank their money was given to the bank from an investor. This investor could be a trust, reit, or maybe the government. The bank guaranteed the investor or group of investors a set interest rate. Many Sellers are attempting a loan modification hoping to keep their house. I always ask my Sellers if could wave my wand what do you want from the bank. Most of them will answer that they want the bank to reduce their balance on their loan or they want a certain amount for their monthly payment. Here are some facts I want to share with the Sellers: Read More→
Short Sales Are Sailing
Posted on January 30, 2013 byMany Investors and Realtors avoid short sales like the plague. They are definitely missing the boat! My business specializes primarily in short sales and I have seen an increase in the number of approvals we are getting. The time line for a short sale varies from 90 to 120 days if you submit the lender a “complete” short sale package. Since short sales are dominating the market, the Lenders are creating more streamlined processes to conduct smoother short sales. If you do short sales, then I am quite sure you have heard of the online system called “Equator.” Equator allows all of the short sale paperwork to be processed electronically through one common venue, versus traditional and random faxes and emails. Having a file processed online avoids the common objection from the short sale lender of “We didn’t receive the documents.” Effective January 1, 2013, the newest lender that has started to use Equator is Chase. The following lenders and servicers are presently using Equator: 1) Bank of America, 2) Chase, 3) Wells Fargo, 4) GMAC, 5) Nationstar, 6) ASC, 7) Carrington Mortgage, and 8) Homeward Residential Services.
The Equator System assigns applicable tasks to each party (Agent, Negotiator, Closer, etc) including a deadline in which to complete each task. I like the fact that the lenders can no longer say “Oh, we never got that paperwork.” However, I don’t like the fact that they are tracking our information. Nationstar has taken the collection of Buyer’s information to a whole new level. They require all Buyers to fill out a loan application even though they most likely will not be using Nationstar as a lender. This application has been mandatory and this has not been waived on any of my files. If you are a Buyer on any property, you are required to provide your name, address, telephone number, DOB, SS#, assets, employment history and more. This is regardless if you are purchasing for investment or personal use and if you are getting a mortgage or paying cash. Read More→
WARNING! Short Sale Lender Has Mandated Deed Restrictions On Deed For Closing!
Posted on January 1, 2013 byThe Short Sale lenders are getting crazier and crazier. That is why you need to stay current with the short sale changes. Approximately 3 years ago, Bank of America was the first short sale lender to start requesting that the new buyer of the property consent to not resell the property for less than 30 days. This statement was included in their short sale approval letter. This statement alone caused a lot of challenges to investors who were still looking to close back to back on transactions. A few short sale lenders thereafter, such as GMAC and Wells Fargo, started adding 60 to 90 day resale clauses on their Arm’s Length Affidavits, but not their short sale approval letters.
Recently, I was in the process of purchasing a property where I needed to get an extension on the short sale approval letter. The reason was that the Homeowner Association advised us that, pursuant to their by-laws, their 35% ownership of investment properties had been reached and only homeowner occupants can purchase the property. The servicer for the lender was Seterus. I received a brand new approval letter for the same exact buyer as before, but with a few different statements: Read More→
Your Hourly Wage is $XXX with Short Sales
Posted on November 28, 2012 byYou Can close Your Short Sales with Only ONE WEEK of Work!
Ever wonder how much you earn per hour by the time you close a short sale deal? The industry has transformed from being extremely difficult without standardization to becoming streamlined with a specific system per lender. Many investors hate the idea of doing short sales because of the fallacy that they are so time consuming. Is this true…literally? Have you ever broken it down per deal? The time you actually spend on 1 deal versus the cash you earn is really quite exciting!
The market got tighter with fewer houses for sale, making it a Seller’s market. The Lenders slowed down their foreclosure processes, in my opinion, due to the Presidential Election. Now that the election is over, the lenders are going to be pushing really hard to get the foreclosures through.
I want to teach you a step by step process of how my students and I buy and sell short sales and the true time involved to make a profit of not less than $20,000.00. In this article, I am not withholding any secrets to my or their success. Read More→
Short Sale Liens Get Mean
Posted on November 1, 2012 byNow IS the perfect time to purchase and resell short sale properties. Why? Due to major mistakes by Lenders made at the time Homeowners obtained financing, our market is flooded with homes in which the Lenders are willing to accept short sales. Lenders such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo, GMAC, CitiMortgage and Chase from 2006 to 2008, have major mistakes in their paperwork. They are reaching out to Homeowners asking them to do a Short Sale or Deed-in-Lieu. However, many of the Homeowners aren’t aware of the fact that they can’t do a Deed-in-Lieu if they have a second lien. And, if they owe Homeowners Association dues, which are a personal debt against the Homeowner, they may still be liable for the difference.
Homeowners Association dues need to be satisfied in full so that if a house is deeded back to the Lender, the Homeowners are no longer responsible for any more dues. There is a statute which states that the Lender that forecloses on the property is responsible to pay only one year of Homeowners Association dues. When conducting a short sale, this statute has little or no meaning to the short sale Lenders, meaning they may not agree to even pay one full year. I have seen Homeowners deed their property back to the Lender only later to find out that they are still liable for the difference owed on the Homeowner Association dues. Brutal! Read More→
Did You Give Up on Short Sales?
Posted on April 11, 2011 by
“When you are through changing, you are through.” ~Bruce Barton
If you are counting on the past real estate trends and regulations to help you close deals today, that is enough to put you out of business. The short sale industry is changing and if you don’t change, your short sales deals will fall apart. NO CLOSINGS = NO CA$H. For the past couple years, I have watched the short sale industry change on a monthly basis for Investors and Realtors. What worked in the past is not working now; what worked in January 2011 is not working now. Since I am a Real Estate Broker and an Investor, I have had to watch with a keen eye in order to adapt quickly and successfully to the changes.
In order to allow your business to grow and be successful, you must also invest the time to “sharpen the saw” and renew the “mind” of your business………for the sake of your business. The only guarantee we have is that change will always continue. It’s scary and often we want to bury our head in the sand and wait until it passes, but that’s not a choice here. We must arm ourselves with education and turn change from our enemy into our friend. Join us Tuesday evening at 7 PM ET on the Real Estate Junkie Webcast to find out how!
Real Estate Junkie Webcast
Tuesday at 7 PM ET
Real Estate Junkie Live Webcast Starts Jan 11, 2011
Posted on January 11, 2011 byYOU CANNOT WIN TODAY’S BALL GAME,
WITH YESTERDAY’S HOME RUN!
WHAT WORKED IN REAL ESTATE IN THE PAST, ISN’T WORKING NOW…
WHAT DO I DO? HELP!
How many times have you had this conversation in the past year? Almost everything we knew in real estate last year has changed immensely. Yes, it’s changing daily!!! This makes it very challenging to launch successfully in 2011… IF you are not educated! Times are financially tough, but never too tough to neglect education! Remember the saying by Derek Bok, the former president of Harvard University: “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance”
Many of us became ‘seminar junkies’ in hopes that we will become the next Donald Trump or at least better our income. Unfortunately, a seminar junkie spends thousands of dollars driving from bootcamp to bootcamp, but never really earns back the investment or fully understands how to put the education into action. After attending these seminars, we are still are afraid to get going due to the minimal education and direction provided at the seminar or due to the lack of money. Even worse, you may have found out that what you have been doing in the past isn’t working now! 2011 is one of the best years ever to invest in real estate and you can do it with “no money” and “no credit!”
What, you say? HOW???? Watch to our new live Real Estate Junkie Webcast on Tuesday, January 11th (and the first Tuesday of each month) from 7:00 PM to 8PM ET!!
Webcast Tonight: REOs vs. Short Sales. Is the Bank’s Mistake Your Problem or Your Profit?
Posted on October 12, 2010 byWebcast on REOs vs Short Sales is Tonight, Tuesday, Oct 12th, 2010 at 7PM ET.
Did you hear about Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and GMAC putting the brakes on the foreclosure process? What does all this mean to you as an investor, mortgage broker, realtor or homeowner? First off, the attorneys who were representing the Mortgage Companies have documentation with wrong information. As a Homeowner, it will allow you additional time for work a loan modification or a Short Sale. Just because the Mortgage Companies say stop the foreclosure action for a while, it does not mean the Judge needs to comply. The Court will not automatically stop the foreclosure action unless the attorneys working for the Mortgage Companies file the necessary paperwork. Learn the foreclosure process and understand the foreclosure time line. Check the court docket in your area to keep informed. You will need to make sure that the mortgage companies’ attorney has filed the necessary Motion to delay the foreclosure process. Mortgage Companies don’t always know when their attorney has scheduled a sale date. We had to stop a foreclosure sale on a house we bought and resold many times.
