Faster Short Sale Approvals after B of A Insurance Scam

Ever feel like your mortgage servicer or company is just toying with you and your HAMP program- It should be black or white, completely transparent and well let’s admit it– Can I get a loan mod and does it even make any sense if my home is totally upside down (bought at 300k now worth 175k)- Here in Idaho job unemployment rate is still above 9% and not looking to drop drastically anytime soon.  If your loan company is jerking you around please don’t hesitate to call or email Josh with your questions. Idaho’s Best Short Sale Specialist! Read below what the big boys in banking are doing it might make you shake your head–

Bank of America gets caught with their hand in the jar and blames Countrywide.

But doesn’t Bank of America own Countrywide?  Yes!

When Bank of America took over Countrywide in 2008 during the worst housing crash since the Great Depression, according to Bloomberg, BofA absorbed Balboa Insurance.  Essentially, Balboa Insurance…now owned and operated by BofA, is insuring their own bad debt.

What does this mean?  Bank of America’s “Countrywide Loans” that have been defaulted against by homeowners are insured, meaning Bank of America is feeling no pain and actually is gaining from this type of bad debt. Meaning that BofA is in no hurry to sell bad debt.  That’s why there is “Shadow Inventory” and Short Sales are taking so long to approve for sale. There’s no hurry when your making money.

Why Bank of America is gaining on a defaulted loan?  It seems that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) uncovered ”scamming” on behalf of  “Countrywide” last month.  Remember, Bank of America bought/took over, what ever you want to call it, Countrywide at the Federal Governments request.

What was the scamming?

Countrywide had established Balboa Insurance to cover their home loans gone bad.  In an effort to help defray these losses on bad loans, Balboa Insurance and Countrywide would over charge the now defaulted homeowner for any related services to the default…like mowing the lawns, maintenance of the home, painting, etc…yes, Countrywide in it’s need to make money, charged up to 2 times the amount back to the homeowner for these services.  This is in clear violation to FTC guidelines as it pertains to loan servicing.

So what?

Well, Millions and millions of dollars have been scammed from the clients that they hold a fiduciary responsibility. Kinda like Bernie Madoff screwing his own clients out of their money.   Well, it’s now 2 years later, and Bank of America “Countrywide” division has been caught red handed.  However, no one is being held responsible.  Why?

BofA was helping out the Feds by taking over the Countrywide catastrophe and with that comes immunity.  Above the law stuff…”you do us a favor, no one will suffer.”

Know that BofA has been caught, the new CEO, Brian Moynihan stated earlier this month that they have a “desire” to sell Balboa Insurance.  Desire?  What does that mean?

C’mon…let’s be real.  BofA makes tons of money on bad loans.  That’s why it takes so freakin’ long to get a BofA short sale approved!  That’s why there is “shadow Inventory”!

So what happens next?

As soon as CEO Moynihans “desire” is fulfilled and Bolboa is sold…it should open the flood gates to short sales and release of “shadow inventory”.

It’s good news…however, no one person is held responsible. No one goes to jail.

Do the Feds a “solid” and your protected!

Don’t DoThis When Buying A House

The process of purchasing a home stretches far beyond the actual purchase of the home. It has far-reaching effects and consequences if not handled properly. There are quite a few commonly made mistakes in home buying, a lot of them have to do with the contracts that are necessary to complete the sale and others are mainly related to skipping vital parts of the process in order to make a quick purchase. This tends to happen when there are competing offers. Sellers think they have hit a gold mine when there are competing offers on their home.

This is the kind of environment where buyers can get taken advantage of, so be careful. One of the most commonly skipped steps is the home inspection. Bad idea. How do you know what the possible concerns with a house are? What happens if you win the bid war only to have to spend twice what you saved in fixing the house? Was it worth it? Home inspections are vital to ensuring that buyers are getting a good, safe product. If a home sale comes down to the condition of skipping the inspection you may want to question the reason for that condition.

Try to avoid verbal agreements in the deal at all costs. As this kind of agreement is almost impossible to verify, make sure that every aspect of the sale, its subjects, what comes with the home is all detailed in writing and signed by both parties. With a purchase of this magnitude everything should be detailed and recorded. This also applies to the original listing information. It’s a good idea to verify all the listing info at the start of the purchase. If this info is incorrect, take the time to check for other inconsistencies.

The focus of this article is not to make you nervous about buying a home, merely to make you aware of some of the things to look out for when doing so. It would be nice to think that all sellers are scrupulous and honest, but if that were so then articles such as this one would not be necessary. Be careful and do your homework when purchasing a home and confer with your realtor on all aspects of the sale. They are the best people to help you avoid any pitfalls.