Interest Rates Are Increasing

Interest rates have increased almost 3/4 of a point in the last six months. Most experts expect rates to continue to increase through the year. Interest rates along with price determine the overall cost of a home. Even with prices softening, if interest rates rise, it may be less expensive to buy now rather than wait.
The 30-Year Mortgage May Disappear

There has been much debate regarding government’s role in providing support for homeownership. There are several experts who believe If Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s roles are eliminated, or even limited, it may be the end to the 30-year mortgage. This concern is addressed in MSN Real Estate’s Is it curtains for the 30-year mortgage?
QRM Requirements Could Be Much More Stringent

Here are proposed changes to the requirements for a ‘qualified residential mortgage’:

* Certain mortgage types would be eliminated
* You would need to put a minimum of 20% down
* You would need a minimum 690 FICO score
* The ratios of income to both the mortgage payment and overall debt would become much more conservative (28% and 36%)

There would be loans available to purchasers who don’t qualify under the new rules. However, they will probably be more expensive to the buyer (both in rate and costs).
Rents Are Expected to Increase

The supply of available rentals is decreasing and the demand is increasing. That will lead to an increase in rental costs throughout the year. The Wall Street Journal this week quoted a report by Reis, Inc:

“Expect vacancies to continue declining, and rents rising through the rest of 2011 at an even faster pace.”

Bottom Line

You may be waiting on the sidelines to see if prices will continue to depreciate before you purchase a home. The mortgage expense is a major piece in the overall financial picture of homeownership. Make sure you consider it when timing your decision.

Below are numbers for Bank of America, JP Morgan, Citi Mortgage, Wells Fargo and how they have been doing with HAMP ( Home Made Affordable Program)- Is your lender trying to foreclose on you? Would you like to minimize the damage to your credit and avoid foreclosure?     FREE CONSULTATION AND FREE SERVICE Joshua Groesbeck 208-353-7131 or josh@homeswithjosh.com

As of November 30, 2010, there were an estimated 1,420,048 borrowers eligible for HAMP who are 60 or more days delinquent.

The servicer performance report released Monday by Treasury revealed that as of the final day of 2010 there are a total of 521,630 active permanent modifications and 152,289 active trial modifications.

By contrast there have been 1,025,907 homeowners rejected for HAMP modifications by the eight largest servicers, and there have been 572,655 canceled trial modifications.

To date there have been 1,466,448 HAMP trials started.

The report details numbers reported for several servicers, including the Bank of America (BofA), Citi, JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo. Though the “big four” banks are leading the pack in numbers of modifications, the numbers are quite low over all when contrasted with the 3 to 4 million homeowners HAMP projected to help by 2012.

On top of that, it seems the pace of modifications is slowing dramatically.

Bank of America has the highest number of modifications of all surveyed servicers. The company reported it currently has 45,753 active trial modifications and 90,243 active permanent modifications.



Loan servicers will have 30 days to send a borrower a short-sale agreement that includes the list price or acceptable sales proceeds under recent changes made to the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program, aimed at distressed borrowers who don’t qualify for other government loan modification programs.

Once a sales contract has been initiated, loan servicers then have 30 days to approve or reject the transaction.

The stricter timelines are believed to help speed up the short sale process, which has faced numerous complaints for how long it takes lenders to review and approve short sales often causing buyers to walk away.

The stricter timelines were apart of several revisions the Treasury Department recently announced to its HAFA program — the second major revision to the program since its launch in 2009.

Another big change: Loan servicers will no longer be restricted on paying second-lien holders, allowing them more freedom particularly when dealing with second-lien holders when borrowers owe less than $100,000. Loan servicers used to be restricted to paying second-lien holders no more than 6 percent of outstanding loan balance (with an overall limit of $6,000) in exchange for releasing subordinate liens. Second-lien holders have been another big obstacle to completing short sale transactions.

HAFA’s new directives also now forbid loan servicers from deducting vendor expenses from commissions paid to real estate brokers.

The rules are effective Feb. 1. It does not apply to mortgages owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, or insured or guaranteed by a federal agency such as the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).

Source: Daily Real Estate News

With the Robo Signing fiasco, banks have been on high alert not to exacerbate the already “questionable” processing of foreclosures.  What that means is that banks are much more willing to work with sellers that want to short sale the home.

We’ve been listing and selling short sales for more than 3 years.  Banks used to fight tooth and nail to hold onto the property and threaten foreclosure if the seller did not pay up.  Now…we see banks sitting on their hands because so many homeowner’s have decided to take them up on that foreclosure offer!  Needless to say, “Houston…we have a problem”.

Homeowners are in a state of confusion, the kind of confusion that makes you so paralyzed it’s difficult to make important decisions.

It’s unfortunate, but true, there is a lot of “bad” information being given by so called short sale specialists and attorneys.  We always suggest that our clients speak to an attorney prior to selling their home on short sale, I wish we could say that our clients always get solid “knowledge” from the attorney they consult.

With that said, all banks are different in their terms of settlement when accepting a short sale.  The fact that you have a second lien on the property also adds another element to the approval conditions because both lien holders have to approve and agree on the settlement terms.

****Something to keep in mind, a foreclosure in most cases is your primary loan taking action to regain possession of the property.  If you have taken out a second lien, a home equity line of credit, or any other liens on the home these loans will remain collectible against you and are going to be actively pursued by the debtor/s.  Walking away does not relieve you of the home mortgage debt.

Here are some key elements that you should be aware of when you decide to short sale your home.

1. If you have more than one loan on the property your real estate agent must negotiate with all lien holders to get approval to sell the property.
2. Depending on the investor of your loan/s you may be asked to contribute to the release of these liens.  If you have the means it may be requested that funds be brought to close of escrow.  In most cases, 2nd lien holders have been known to request on average 10% of the balance due them.
3. In most cases your real estate agent can negotiate terms to pay this small balance back to the lender over 5 plus years with no interest.  This is referred to as a promissory note.  Keep in mind, you are going to be resolving your debt for pennies on the dollar.  Example-you borrowed $200,000 on a second.  They want you to pay $20,000 to release you from $180,000 debt…no recourse.
4. HAFA is a Government program that you can apply for if you meet the guidelines of the program.

If you or someone you know is considering a short sale, please contact us for a confidential consultation.  One thing that we want to make sure you are aware of is that the real estate commissions are paid by your lender.  There is no charge to you for our services. Josh 208-353-7131 or josh@homeswithjosh.com

Mortgage rates have hit a new record low for the 10th time in 11 weeks as investors continue to turn to Treasury bonds as a safe haven; the shift in money is cutting yields, which mortgage rates tend to follow.

Freddie Mac reports that 30-year fixed loans averaged 4.32 percent, down from 4.36 percent a week ago; and the 15-year fixed rate fell to a new low of 3.83 percent, down from 3.86 percent.

These rates are outstanding now combine that with low home prices: BUYERS BEWARE YOU MAY JUST FIND THE HOME YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR!

Joshua Groesbeck or josh@homeswithjosh.com and of course 208-353-7131

Goal:  Avoiding Foreclosure

The following are the steps that you as a homeowner can anticipate in the short sale process.  This is a general outline of how the process occurs, however please note that lien holders can change the order of some of the steps.  Detailed below is the process our team uses to process a short sale.  For a brief overview please see. www.homeswithjosh.com and look under Short Sales or Call 1-800-290-1076 Ext#3000

Pre-Listing

1.
Please contact Josh’s office for a brief consultation about short sales.  Josh or one of his team members will collect some basic information about your situation.
2.
A tentative appointment will be scheduled to answer questions and/or list the home for sale in the short sale process.
3.
Josh and his team will prepare a short sale packet which will be sent to you either via FEDEX, regular mail or email.  We provide a thorough packet of information in advance of the appointment so you have the opportunity to evaluate our process and have your questions answered in advance.  If what we send you and what we discuss prior to the appointment makes sense and you feel comfortable and confident to go forward with the short sale process, our appointment will be confirmed. The packet will include:
*
Information about the short sale process.
*
Market data on the value of your home in today’s market.
*
Recommended short sale pricing.
*
Listing contract and related forms.
*
Property detail report from the county assessor’s office.
4.
The appointment.  Josh will either come to your house to receive the documents or they can be returned via fax or email. We can do listing appointments via telephone or email if necessary.
5.
Once we receive a signed listing agreement we will begin the short sale process.
6.
An authorization form will be submitted to your lien holder(s) enabling us to speak to them on your behalf.  Unless previously provided, the lien holder(s) will provide their short sale requirements when the authorization is received.

Marketing

1.
Your home will be listed immediately on the Multiple Listing Service.
2.
We will market your home through various affiliated web sites and all other applicable marketing strategies.
3.
During the marketing period we will receive offers and present them to you as they are received.
*
Offers will be presented to you on an offers spread sheet.
*
You will be able to see the net offers as they come in.  We highlight, in yellow, the current highest net offer.
*
You will sign the purchase offer of your choosing.  We will advise you as to what appears to be the strongest offer.  We will encourage you to consider two important factors; price and the willingness of the buyer to wait for the short sale process to complete rather than back out in the middle of the process.
4.
You will select and sign the offer that is most likely to meet the lien holder(s) criteria for a short pay off of your loan.

Short Sale Processing

1.
After you select an offer it will be signed by you and presented to your lien holder(s).  This is the official beginning of the short sale processing phase.
2.
You can track your short sale offer, as it is processed, online at Short Sale Status.
3.
The offer and all documentation required by the lien holder(s) is submitted by our office to the lien holder(s).
4.
Documents go through a processing period and are assigned to a negotiator.  The lien holder(s) assign a negotiator to your file.  The negotiator will ultimately make the final decision about your case.  The negotiator will review your offer and present the offer to any investors into your loan.
5.
A BPO (Broker’s Price Opinion) or appraisal will be ordered by the negotiator.  This BPO is used to determine the value of your home and whether or not the net proceeds of the offer are sufficient to satisfy the investors and thus provide a short pay off of the loan(s).
6.
The negotiator will evaluate your financial situation to determine whether or not you qualify for a short sale.  The offer will be presented to the investors who are invested into your loan.  They will decide if your short sale is approved or not.
7.
The negotiator will report the response of the investors.  There will be one of three options:  Short Sale Approval, Short Sale Approval with Conditions or Denial.  If any other answer then Short Sale Approval is provided we will negotiate further on your behalf.
8.
After all negotiations are complete you will either accept or reject the terms of the short sale.
9.
Written short sale notification is delivered to the buyer’s agent and Escrow begins.

Escrow

1.
Escrows in short sales generally follow the same process as a regular escrow.  One difference is that the short sale approval has a “good through” date by which time the short sale must be finalized and escrow must be closed.
2. When escrow begins you will need to make plans to be moved out of the house by the close of escrow.

Josh Groesbeck

208-353-7131 or josh@homeswithjosh.com

The following are the steps that you as a homeowner can anticipate in the short sale process.  This is a general outline of how the process occurs, however please note that lien holders can change the order of some of the steps.  Detailed below is the process our team uses to process a short sale.  For a brief overview please see. www.homeswithjosh.com and look under Short Sales

Pre-Listing

1.
Please contact Josh’s office for a brief consultation about short sales.  Josh or one of his team members will collect some basic information about your situation.
2.
A tentative appointment will be scheduled to answer questions and/or list the home for sale in the short sale process.
3.
Josh and his team will prepare a short sale packet which will be sent to you either via FEDEX, regular mail or email.  We provide a thorough packet of information in advance of the appointment so you have the opportunity to evaluate our process and have your questions answered in advance.  If what we send you and what we discuss prior to the appointment makes sense and you feel comfortable and confident to go forward with the short sale process, our appointment will be confirmed. The packet will include:
*
Information about the short sale process.
*
Market data on the value of your home in today’s market.
*
Recommended short sale pricing.
*
Listing contract and related forms.
*
Property detail report from the county assessor’s office.
4.
The appointment.  Josh will either come to your house to receive the documents or they can be returned via fax or email. We can do listing appointments via telephone or email if necessary.
5.
Once we receive a signed listing agreement we will begin the short sale process.
6.
An authorization form will be submitted to your lien holder(s) enabling us to speak to them on your behalf.  Unless previously provided, the lien holder(s) will provide their short sale requirements when the authorization is received.

Marketing

1.
Your home will be listed immediately on the Multiple Listing Service.
2.
We will market your home through various affiliated web sites and all other applicable marketing strategies.
3.
During the marketing period we will receive offers and present them to you as they are received.
*
Offers will be presented to you on an offers spread sheet.
*
You will be able to see the net offers as they come in.  We highlight, in yellow, the current highest net offer.
*
You will sign the purchase offer of your choosing.  We will advise you as to what appears to be the strongest offer.  We will encourage you to consider two important factors; price and the willingness of the buyer to wait for the short sale process to complete rather than back out in the middle of the process.
4.
You will select and sign the offer that is most likely to meet the lien holder(s) criteria for a short pay off of your loan.

Short Sale Processing

1.
After you select an offer it will be signed by you and presented to your lien holder(s).  This is the official beginning of the short sale processing phase.
2.
You can track your short sale offer, as it is processed, online at Short Sale Status.
3.
The offer and all documentation required by the lien holder(s) is submitted by our office to the lien holder(s).
4.
Documents go through a processing period and are assigned to a negotiator.  The lien holder(s) assign a negotiator to your file.  The negotiator will ultimately make the final decision about your case.  The negotiator will review your offer and present the offer to any investors into your loan.
5.
A BPO (Broker’s Price Opinion) or appraisal will be ordered by the negotiator.  This BPO is used to determine the value of your home and whether or not the net proceeds of the offer are sufficient to satisfy the investors and thus provide a short pay off of the loan(s).
6.
The negotiator will evaluate your financial situation to determine whether or not you qualify for a short sale.  The offer will be presented to the investors who are invested into your loan.  They will decide if your short sale is approved or not.
7.
The negotiator will report the response of the investors.  There will be one of three options:  Short Sale Approval, Short Sale Approval with Conditions or Denial.  If any other answer then Short Sale Approval is provided we will negotiate further on your behalf.
8.
After all negotiations are complete you will either accept or reject the terms of the short sale.
9.
Written short sale notification is delivered to the buyer’s agent and Escrow begins.

Escrow

1.
Escrows in short sales generally follow the same process as a regular escrow.  One difference is that the short sale approval has a “good through” date by which time the short sale must be finalized and escrow must be closed.
2. When escrow begins you will need to make plans to be moved out of the house by the close of escrow.

Josh Groesbeck

208-353-7131 or josh@homeswithjosh.com

After watching the video please feel free to post questions that you may have.

It is not uncommon to think that while you may be having problems making your payment, the future will be different. Isn’t that the idea many shared with the adjustable mortgage loan? I am making $40,000 this year but in the next year or two I should be making $55,000 a year. The downturn in the economy has burst the bubble for millions who expect the best but in turn get what exists in “Today’s Economy”.  Don’t get me wrong we all want the best but I am trying to remember the last report about  the average worker getting the “Big Bonus” or “Generous Unexpected Raise”-

I was talking to a wise man the other day and he said “Josh, don’t we always want things we can’t afford? It seems to me that when I suddenly can afford those things, I no longer want them. Does that make me crazy?” I paused for minute and thought this guy probably has money for a rainy day and isn’t that what we all truly want??  I am willing to bet that he is not trying to figure out whether or not his house payment alone is eating up 31% of his gross pay and then what does that leave him to pay utilities, credit cards, car payment, student loans, entertainment, etc… And finally will his bank help  him modify a loan payment enough (?)  And/OR wipe the principle down to market value (?)   Probably not-

I encourage all of you who may be having a problem making the house payment to first look at all of your options to avoid foreclosure- If you want to and can get your home loan modified-Awesome- But if you can’t and need assistance please call– I have been specializing in Short Sale Properties before and after the housing boom- A Full-Time specialist with the knowledge and systems to help you!

By applying at www.IDshortsale.com you can count on a fast response with options to AVOID FORECLOSURE

Always feel free to call direct 208-353-7131 or josh@homeswithjosh.com

source:titleonecorp