Tag Archives: Foreclosure Prevention Solutions

Learn More about the Extended Mortgage Debt Relief Act

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mortgage debt tax relief act

 

 

 

 

 

 

Distressed Homeowners – Tax Savings for You

 

We’ve heard that the Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Act has been extended until the end of 2013.  For the average Distressed Homeowner, the tax liability from the forgiven debt can translate into thousands of dollars owed to the IRS.  There is now a report which lays out the particulars of the extended act as well as information about other benefits.

To receive a copy of this free report, please email me with the subject matter: Homeowner Relief Program Report.  Go to the About Us Tab to get contact information.

 

 

OPEN INVITATION: speak with the San Jose Short Sale Agent

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Hello Readers.

Just recently, I went to visit someone a friend attempted to refer who was in the process of losing their home, only to discover that they had moved out of their home.  It was his neighbor down the block and he was shocked at how quickly he left.

This is perhaps the most awkward situation where a friend or acquaintance attempts to introduce me to someone in distress, but is having difficulty finding the appropriate way to breach the subject to the person facing foreclosure.  While my friend was trying to figure out an appropriate way, his neighbor moved out of his home without telling anyone.  Obviously the neighbor was having serious trouble and was in a lot of emotional distress for them to move out of their home in the middle of the night.

Naturally I get financial benefits for doing short sales of homes, but I get paid for non-short sales too.  But there is nothing as addictive as being on the receiving end of genuine gratitude from a family who faced and overcame their foreclosure with their dignity intact and money to help them with the next phase of their lives. Their eyes tell the full story.  The sense of relief knowing they no longer have to avoid calls from collection agencies or the fear of someone trying to serve them with papers at their home in front of their kids.  The sigh of relief they let out when the approval letters arrive.  That experience is priceless.  It’s a drug and I am completely addicted to it.

I don’t care if you choose me to help you or not.  But if you are suffering in silence and are afraid or ashamed to ask someone about your particular situation, but need accurate information, please contact me.  I will share my knowledge and experience with you in a confidential manner with no obligation to work with me. I know the mental and emotional suffering homeowners go through when they are behind in their mortgage and receiving Notices from their lenders.  Something has to be done.  Don’t go into a denial stage and do nothing, thinking that will make the situation go away because it will not go away.  It will only get worse and leave you with less options and possibly force you into making the wrong decision.

Please talk to me or someone like me.  I want to help any way I can.  I just do not want to see another neighbor of a friend leave in the middle of the night when they have other options.

 

Steve Mun
650-605-3188

The Big Secrets about Loan Modifications.

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We hear a lot in the media about the Government requiring lenders to help homeowners with loan modifications.  As always, there is a lot of information as well as misinformation. Find out about the Big Secrets about Loan Modifications.

 

Loan Mod Secrets Report

 

How is the $25 Billion Attorney General Settlement money being used?

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Of the $10.56 Billion used so far, 82% or $8.66 Billion of the funds were used to complete short sales.  On the other hand, less than $1 Billion was used for Loan Modifications and only $348 Million for Principal Reduction.

So what do you think is the favored program to help distressed homeowners?

 

You cannot stop a foreclosure by buying forms from the internet

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You know the old adage:  If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.  

Trying to stop foreclosure action is not as easy as people are led to believe.  It certainly is not a matter of filing forms you bought from the internet and believing that to be sufficient to stop the pending foreclosure.  Stopping foreclosures involve extensive dealings with the lenders and getting them to agree to stop the foreclosure action.  It is a two party transaction; not a single party transaction.  You have to engage the lenders to get them to stop a foreclosure.

It was so complex that even homeowners who were doing loan modifications and in continual communication with them were facing dual track foreclosures, so the legislator had to step in to take action.   So to believe that you could buy a form from the internet and stop your parents from going into foreclosure is taking a huge leap of faith.

I don’t know the details of this story beyond what is written on this page, but if someone on the internet tells you to buy some forms and you can stop a lender from foreclosing on your property is one of those things that is too good to be true.

The heart breaking part of this story is that the daughter trying to help her parents ends up going to jail, plus paying restitution.   So it costs her money and jail time.  Given that these were bogus documents, we can probably speculate that the foreclosure went forward anyway.  Nothing was gained, only tremendous losses were realized.

Folks, these are desperate times, but do not tackle things that are outside your area of expertise. You can easily be participating in Mortgage Fraud if you are not careful and face felony charges like this poor woman.

Hire an experienced professional; they may actually help stop the foreclosure and may even be able to get you money to help you with the relocation.

 
The Modesto Bee _ Jail Time in Stanislaus Real Estate Fraud

Get the facts about the differences – short sale vs. foreclosure

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Unfortunately, there is a lot of conflicting information floating around on the net and in the media  about whether a short sale is truly better for the home owners than a foreclosure.

To help eliminate some of the confusion, the CDPE organization has created this video to help identify and make comparisons in 5 categories which will impact a home owner’s future.   The video is simple and easy to understand and gets to the point of what are important to home owners who may be trying to make informed decisions on some of the most difficult choices of their lives.  

 

 

HAFA Extension and Update

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On March 9, 2012, changes were made to the MHA (Making Homes Affordable Program) otherwise referred as President Obama’s Foreclosure Assistance Program.   HAFA (Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives) is a subset of the above program designed specifically to handle short sales.

There were many changes to the MHA, but we will be focusing on some of the exciting changes to the HAFA portion of the program.

Some of the changes which will impact home sellers are:

 

  • Program end date to be extended out to December 31, 2013
  • $3,000 relocation assistance to owners who live at the property or tenants occupied properties.  Servicer is required to verify occupancy.
  • Secondary lien holders payout has been increased from $6,000 to $8,500
  • Credit Bureau recording will now be required as either code 13 ( paid or closed/0 balance) or 65 (paid in full/foreclosure was started), whereas there were no such guidance before

 

The most significant change, in my opinion, is the extension of the HAFA program for another full calendar year.  HAFA is a highly successful program and its use is increasing on daily basis; and the program has played a major role in giving structure and creating for the first time a national guideline for the entire short sale process.

The fact that the second lien holders will be getting an increase in the payout limit from $6,000 to $8,500 is another component which will make the bitter pill a little easier for the second lien holders.   An additional $2,500 to the second will make it easier and will permit greater numbers of short sales to close.

There used to be an occupancy requirement where the owner had to live in the property within 12 months, and only the homeowner was able to receive the $3,000 relocation incentive.  The update now permits the payment of the relocation incentive to the party which needs to vacate.  So this now means that the tenant can receive the $3,000 incentive instead of the homeowner.  For the first time, this change gives the tenant a financial incentive which was not available before.  Now tenants can earn money to cooperate in showings and work with everyone else to see the short sale close, rather than stand in the way.

For those  homeowners whose primary concerns are about  saving their credit scores, they can continue to pay their full mortgage payments to prevent late payments from showing up on their credit history.  The second component is a uniform reporting requirement to the credit bureaus.   The update makes the reporting simple by offering 2 options to insure that the reporting will be done in a timely and proper manner.

 

HAFA Updates

The Nuts and Bolts of the $25 Billion Robo Signing Settlement

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The latest buzz in Real Estate now is about the $25 Billion Robo Signing Settlement.  In typical fashion, the program was announced first, before the details were released.  Fortunately, CDPE’s parent organization was able to read through the settlement and extract the details.

 

So what are the specifics about this settlement?

 

WHO

 

Bank ofAmerica

Ally

Chase

Citi

WellsFargo

 

HOW WILL THE MONEY BE SPENT?

 

$5 Billion  -  $2,000 payments to borrowers who were foreclosed on between Jan. 1, 2008 through December 31, 2011 and who were subjected to the fraudulent practices.

 

$20 BILLION WILL BE USED TOWARDS FORECLOSURE ALTERNATIVES

 

$10 Billion –  Going to borrowers who are currently delinquent on their mortgages in the forms of loan modifications and principal reductions.

 

$ 7 Billion –   Going to assisting homeowners through short sales, forbearance, relocation assistance or other alternatives.

 

$3 Billion  -  Going to help borrowers who are current on their mortgages but owe more than the value of their home into different refinance efforts.

 

TIMELINE

 

30-60 days  -  Negotiators will select an administrator to handle logistics of the settlement and monitor compliance.

 

6  –  9  Months  -   The settlement administrator and attorney general will identify homeowners eligible for immediate cash payments and notify them by mail.

 

3 Years  -  The time it will take for the settlement to  be completed by the banks.

 

 ADDITIONAL NOTES

 

* Robo-signing practices are forbidden.

 

* Dual-track Foreclosures (working with the homeowner on modification of the loan while simultaneously pursuing foreclosure) is forbidden.

* Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac insured loans are not impacted by this settlement.

 

* Special recourse is in place for Servicemembers who were charged over 6% interest
rates after a valid request to lower their rates under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act
(SRCA) or who were wrongly foreclosed on.

 

* Money will be distributed differently for different states.

-  California will receive the largest portion of the settlement:  $12 Billion

 

Major Lenders offering cash incentives to distressed homeowners to complete short sales

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As I had written before, lenders offering cash incentives to distressed homeowners has apparently now grown also to include Bank of America and Wells Fargo.  These actions simply go to reinforce the fact that lenders will make more money doing Short Sales than Foreclosures and get the underperforming assets off their balance sheets much quicker.

 

If they made more money foreclosing, we would not see these tremendous efforts to drive distressed homeowners to complete Short Sales.

 

From the distressed homeowner’s point of view, there are other things happening which are ancillary benefits that make completing short sales extremely appealing to them.

 

The key to this huge payoff is that the lenders contact those who they believe to be at greatest risk and send them those wonderful letters.  If you are fortunate enough to receive one of these letters, you need to contact a seasoned professional like the San Jose Short Sale Agent immediately and set things into motion.

 

If you are not the recipient of one of these letters, then you can help others by passing along this information, so that these distressed homeowners  who may receive then, do not end up throwing them away thinking they are some sort of ploy or junk letters.

 

 

Banks Paying Homeowners to Avoid Foreclosures

Dual track foreclosure by lenders is alive and well in Silicon Valley.

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I am mad as hell as I write this entry.  Once again, dual track foreclosure has proven to be alive and well and being practiced by one of the large banks in Silicon Valley.

 

What is dual track foreclosure?  Simply put, it is when the lender agrees to work with homeowners on a loan modification request, but also continues its foreclosure effort  simultaneously.  If the homeowners are being given the chance to work on a loan modification, why not stop the foreclosure effort until the resolution of the modification request?   The problem is that by permitting the homeowners to work on a loan modification, it gives them the false impression that the foreclosure action has halted during the loan modification process.   Those homeowners whose loan modifications are rejected are discovering that their homes are being foreclosed soon thereafter, often not giving them enough time to prepare to deal with the loan modification, let alone the foreclosure.     In even worse scenarios, the homeowners are being foreclosed on while they are anxiously awaiting answers to the loan modifications.  Homeowners are given false hopes of saving their homes through a loan modification, but while they are working through the process, their homes get unceremoniously snatched away without warning.    

  

Legislative efforts were made earlier in the year in California to try to stop this deceptive practice by the lenders, but it never passed.   The lobbying efforts of the lending institution were sufficient to get the bill killed in the California Senate.  The despicable practice is still not illegal and being widely practiced.

 

Being the San Jose Short Sale Agent, I received a call from a prospect today who was referred to me by a recent client for whom I completed a successful short sale.  He wanted me to help him because he spoke with someone at Wells Fargo who kindly informed him that they denied his loan modification and by the way, they are going to foreclose and sell his home (court house auction) next week.   Here is an example of a dual track foreclosure at work.

 

This homeowner had trouble making his mortgage payments because his wife had lost her job.  They went from a two income family for which they qualified their loan to a single income family.  They had been working with Wells Fargo since April of this year to get qualified for a loan modification.   After months of providing documentation, they were told a few days ago that their loan modification was being rejected.  And also, by the way, the foreclosure auction (Notice of Trustee Sale) had been scheduled for next week.  When the homeowner asked if he could get a 30 days extension to hire a Realtor to do a short sale, they rejected that request as well.

 

I would love to help this homeowner, but the problem is, with less than a week to go before the auction date, I cannot stop this trustee sale from taking place.  Even if I had a viable offer in hand, most lenders and Wells Fargo, specifically, will not stop the sale if the sale is scheduled to take place in less than 7 days.    Had the homeowner called me a week or two ago, I could have worked some magic, but now with less than a week to go before the sale date, he is out of options.   Had he not relied solely on the bank to and taken other steps, we could have prepared him for a HAFA short sale and probably gotten him $6,000 to pay off the second lien and another $3,000 in relocation expenses.  Instead, he will get nothing for months and months of waiting.

 

Some of you skeptical readers out there may be wondering if I may be exaggerating how often dual track foreclosures may be occurring in the real world?  More often than  you would like to believe and sometimes with confusing results.

 

 

Family Fights to Keep Home After Accidental Sale – Local News – Sacra Men To, CA – Msnbc
For homeowners out there who are  working on loan modifications, do not put all of your hopes into that one basket.  The chances of homeowners getting successful permanent loan modifications are small to begin with, most receive a temporary modification or are summarily rejected like the person who called me today.   So protect yourself and  consider multiple options, do not make the mistake of believing that the lender will have your best interest at heart.