Another day, another court ruling against the banksters who have fraudulently foreclosed on millions of homes! I have been writing about how the courts have been wising up to the games the banks have been playing to foreclose on properties that they have no claim to, and the latest ruling is one of the biggest. The Federal 6^th Circuit Court in Ohio has cleared away a major hurdle that has stopped a lot of homeowners in their tracks.

In many homeowners’ cases, a major claim is that their note never made it into the trust that the foreclosing bank is acting as the servicer for. As soon as the homeowner makes their initial charge that the loan never made it into the trust, the bank would respond saying that, since the homeowner is not an owner or investor in the trust, they have no standing to challenge the validity of the transactions that purport to transfer the note into the trust. Since they have no standing to demand to see the chain of title on the note, their main claim is tossed out by the court, and their case is dismissed.

The 6^th Circuit Court’s has ruled that the homeowner DOES in fact have the standing to challenge title and therefore the validity of the transactions that claim to show the note belonging to the trust. Not only that, but the court found that whether or not the homeowner had previously defaulted on his mortgage. The court was incredibly forceful in their ruling, almost recommending a RICO action against the banks. Read More→

With only a few days left on extensions for business filing (Sept 15^th) and a few weeks for personal (Oct 15^th), I recently have had a number of clients who need some basic information that really has to come from the IRS. It might be a form or other basic information. Always check with your CPA first then if you still need assistance look at the IRS website.

When you’re looking for tax information help, you want to find it as quickly and easily as possible. That’s why the IRS redesigned its website. It’s now even more user friendly.

Here are the top 10 reasons to visit IRS.gov: Read More→

Multifamily real estate can be one of the most profitable real estate business models but it can also come with some barriers to entry. Qualifying for a loan to buy apartments can be challenging but not impossible. One of the major misconceptions today is that a bank will lend only on the value of the property and will not look at your personal financial standing for the loan qualification. This simply is not true. A lender will always look at the financial wherewithal of the borrower. The good news is that you can have partners that bring some of the things that you may not have and help you to qualify for a loan.

What I am discussing here is what we call a “Sponsor”. A Sponsor is a partner that brings the needed qualifications that will help you get the loan and the deal done. Sponsors can bring many things to your business besides money and net worth. They can bring experience too. Let’s start with the money side first.

Most banks and lenders will want you and your team to have a net worth greater than the loan amount. If you want to qualify for a $1,000,000 dollar loan then you and your team will need to be worth at least $1,000,000. If you don’t personally have that much net worth then you will need to bring on a partner or partners that do have it, in order to satisfy the lender. Net worth is a gray area that will ultimately be judged by the lender, but for this conversation I will give you some guidelines from the loans I have done. Read More→

There are indicators home values in recreation and in particular what are considered mountain homes in many US market areas lost tax value year over year. The data I have been seeing using REIAComps this year is proof which can affect your investing business.

For those of you already connected to REIAComps, the control and feeling of confidence you have over your deals is priceless. Having tax data at the ready adds power and knowledge to your tool belt. Using REIAComps to investigate the changing tax value of dwellings gives you an unfair advantage.

For not the first time the value of the property on many county tax rolls went down in this year’s reassessment of many recreation homes. What this has meant is an increase in the tax millage rate for these counties, school districts and municipalities. Read More→