Sell My Short Sales

Los Angeles, California

The numbers don’t lie, and if you think that California real estate is better check out the information below, and you determine for your self.
Every one knows of the hardest hit states in the country through the foreclosure crisis has been California.
California Pre Foreclosures have been consistently high in Los Angeles County, which has 3.08 percent of its households in foreclosure; Orange County has 3.42 percent of families in foreclosure, followed by San Diego at 4.26, San Bernardino with 7.31, and Riverside is still first with 9.27 percent of families in foreclosure.

With Los Angeles Pre Foreclosure down, the outlook for the region is positive you would suspect, as the area has seen foreclosure rates decline on average 25 percent from the November 2008 to November 2009;however we have not seen the eye of the storm as of yet.
The cities with the highest numbers of Notice of Default and Notice of Trustee Sales are Los Angeles (1120), San Diego (1067), Riverside (717), and Corona (505).
Jeff Coga, a short sale investor in Southern California pulled local data, and it clearly showed over 20,000 notice of defaults, and over 31,000 trust deed sales set between January- March. This is a frightening number as it could even be higher as the holiday Moratorium is now officially over today 1/04/2010.
Bernie Germani, another short sale investor in Southern California said ” that 2010 will be no different than 2009 as far as the real estate market in California. We are still declining, and I don’t care what the media tells you, We Aren’t On A Recovery Road Yet. The option arms that are going to adjust this year, and next year we will see many many new foreclosures, and these are good credit borrowers. Don’t let the media trick you into believing we have the bottom of the market.”

Written By:
Susan Park

Popularity: 44% [?]

Los Angeles, California:

Bernie Germani, a short sale investor in Southern California said “He personally knows of siutations where the homeowner was notified the foreclosure was postponed until further notice, and Bernie said some of these familes cried with joy that they could stay through the holidays.”

Written By Susan Park

Popularity: 53% [?]

Remember it was first the sub-prime market and now mortgage experts agree, adjustable rate mortgages combined with rising unemployment and falling property values could create another economic storm capable of ravaging the weak economic recovery. Here’s a quick breakdown of the ARM Storm-Tracker for those savvy short sale investors to beginning their planning:

Resetting Rates: Current interest rates are at or near historic lows with 30 year fixed mortgages below 5 percent while ARM’s are likely to readjust and drive the cost of monthly mortgage payments to double their former payments. Unfortunately, many current ARM holders do not qualify for refinancing due to changes in employment status, high loan to value ratios and increased debt to income percentages.

Evaporating Equity: Not only did millions of Americans take out Adjustable rate mortgages but they built additions and over-improved their homes based upon loans. As home values fell, so did the equity reserves required to refinance their ARM mortgages. Whether it was a first mortgage with minimal down payment or a second (and even third) mortgage, lower property values have all but erased excess equity from a large number of buyers.

Cheaper to Walk: Many homeowners are finding it less expensive to simply walk away from rapidly rising mortgage, rent for awhile then repurchase. According to industry experts, a significant number of homeowners are capable of making the mortgage payment but simply don’t desire to do so given the cost of purchasing the same home after foreclosure. Jesus Yinh of Exit Real Estate Group, said ” he has seen a trend of this happening in the mid Wilshire area of Los Angeles.” Current homeowners are eligible for FHA loans in as few as three years after default – creating an inverse incentive to continuing paying on a property worth tens (or even hundreds) of thousands dollars less than the existing mortgage.

Renting an Increased Option: Throughout the nation lenders are getting creative in order to reduce the inflow of defaulting properties on their portfolio; one of the more popular options among existing homeowners is the ability to rent your current property for a specified period of time.

ReFi with an ARM? It’s true, the FHA has a 3.87 five year adjustable rate mortgage option designed to help keep payments affordable. Unfortunately, it may simply delay the pain until interest rates continue to rise later. However, with a 2 percent cap on each adjustment/rate increase, it could conceivably buy time for those in unusual short term situations such as temporary illness, job loss of other large expenses. It also has the benefit of “buying time” for the banks and lenders who are in no hurry to acquire even more properties given the current backlog of non-performing properties in their portfolio.

What is a California short sale investor to do? Get ready for the coming wave of ARM properties to hit the market. Be sure your mindset is in place and position yourself to solve problems for both homeowners and lenders in need of a new start. Well first off, please come back shortly to http://www.shortsalewealthbuilders.com/
We can show you how to take advantage of California’s short sale market, and in 2010-2011 it will become California’s second Gold Rush… So saddle up, and get ready for the ride of your life.

Popularity: 39% [?]

Late Monday afternoon The Obama administration came to a conclusion on the final guidelines that may make it easier for some financially troubled borrowers to have the ability to shortsale their homes.

The guidelines are to help encourage the use of short sale transactions in which the borrower with lenders approval sells the home for less than what is owed on the loan.
The program taunts that it will now become easier for borrowers to voluntarily relinquish ownership of properties through a “deed in lieu of foreclosure.” (In the past banks said this program would be rolled out, but it has never quite taken off.) A homeowner just gives the property back voluntary to the bank while being in default, and it was not to have as much damage as a foreclosure to the credit score, but banks balked at this program.

Short sales generally results in higher profits for the bank than a foreclosure, and will have less economic effects to the local neighborhood, because homes aren’t left vacant, they are not exposed to squatters, and vandalism.

The new proposal would allow borrowers to receive $1,500 from the government if they sell their home as a short sale. Mortgage-servicing companies(the companies who manage the mortgage for the investor.) will receive $1,000 for each completed short sale. Is this a big enough incentive for them to get the job done?

The program is open to borrowers who have 1st pursued a government loan modification but did not qualify, or are delinquent on their modification.

This program was first introduced in May, but did not include short sales. This is the Obama administration’s $75 million foreclosure-prevention plan, which include incentives fore mortgage companies and investors to rework these troubled loans.

Under the new guidelines, second- mortgage holders can receive up to $3,000 of the sales proceeds in exchange for releasing their liens.

Another great idea(hopefully it works) is that borrowers who complete a short sale under the new program must be “fully released” from the future liability for the debt.  Susan Park, an Exit Real Estate Group Realtor said ” this will be a huge opportunity for homeowners to help insure no further repercussions of worrying if they will be sued from their lender over the remainder of the mortgage balance.”

Bernie Germani, a short sale investor in California said “he has been waiting for this day to come, but has some reservation that it will not be able to help more people out who truly need this program.”

Jeff Coga, said ” If this program works out the way it is designed to, this will have a very positive impact on the real estate community across the country.”

Popularity: 46% [?]

The Moody’s/REAL Commercial Property Price Index (CPPI) published last week showed a decline of 3.9 percent in real estate values from August to September. Prices in September were 37 percent lower than they were a year ago, and 43 percent below the index’s peak in October 2007.

Commercial property prices have clearly taken a nosedive, but Moody’s says the pace of decline appears to be moderating. From February to May of this year, the Moody’s/REAL CPPI averaged a drop of 4.6 percent, falling more than 7 percent during the months of April and May. But looking at the June to September four-month period, the average decline has retreated to just 3.2 percent.

Still, the agency’s analysts expect commercial property values to fall in the coming months by as much as 12 percent more from the October 2007 peak before experiencing a modest rebound to be followed by a long, gradual recovery.

In a report accompanying the agency’s price index, Nick Levidy, Moody’s managing director, explained that cash flows for properties with short-term lease structures, such as hotels and multifamily, are likely to hit bottom in 2010 or early 2011. The bottom for office, retail, and industrial properties, he says, will take longer to form.

“We believe that valuations will rebound off the bottom and settle in for the longer term at levels 30 percent to 40 percent below the market top as liquidity and investors return to the sector and property cash flows begin to recover,” Levidy said.

According to Levidy, in general, commercial real estate lags the overall economy and is dependent on both business and consumers for demand, but he says specific property types are strongly affected by certain macroeconomic metrics. “Employment growth is fundamental, for example, to the office property market,” Levidy said. “The health of the residential housing market is a key for the multifamily sector and retail properties are greatly dependent on rising consumer confidence.”

Cash flows from properties that back commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS) will recover slowly over a period of several years, Moody’s said in its report. In addition, refinancing risk on CMBS will grow as maturities near on bonds issued during the 2007 peak of the market.

Popularity: 27% [?]

To All California Realtors/ Investors/ Wholesalers/ whomever:
California Revitalization Group is in need of your short sale listings:

My name is Bernie Germani, I work with a group of CASH BUYERS and were interested in working with you and your team, we would like to purchase at least 5-10 Short Sales each and every month, we can have a CASH offer within 24-48hrs on all properties that fit within our buying criteria.

Have you been trying to do Short Sales, but can’t get them completed?

Do they take too much time?

It’s time you discovered:
California Revitalization Group, Exit Real Estate Group, and Short Sale Wealth Builders!

No fees or costs of any kind to you the Realtor, or your seller in default
Get your FULL listing commission of 5-6% on average
Let us negotiate the short sale discount, saving you many hours of time and increasing your success rate
You, as the Realtor, will retain the listing AND your client
No more long phone calls and frustrations dealing with loss mitigation
Access the progress of your short sales online, 24/7!

In other words….

YOU list and sell the property
YOU make your commission
WE do the short sale negotiations

It’s THAT SIMPLE!

That leaves you time to do what YOU do best:

• Finding Sellers
• Finding Buyers
• Marketing and Listing Properties
• Cash Big Fat Commission Checks!

Popularity: 36% [?]

According to a securitization research note by Barclays Capital, short sales have been boosted by mandatory and voluntary foreclosure prevention efforts that prevent mortgages from entering real estate owned (REO) status.  As federally-funded modifications made through the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) grow in frequency and lenders are expected to hold off on foreclosure proceedings, the REO pipeline shrunk, according to BarCap researchers. The foreclosure prevention efforts have had the effect of “artificially” boosting short sales.  “The artificial constraints to foreclosure auctions have resulted in a reduction in REO stock,” BarCap said. “As a result, the net volume of REO liquidations has also dropped.

As short sales are not affected by moratorium, their rate held up and their overall share in distressed sales increased.  It has now risen more than 10 points from the lows to about 35% of overall liquidations. It remains to be seen if this increase will sustain itself once the large number of loans sitting in foreclosure are finally released into REO.”  BarCap researchers pointed to the difference in severity seen in foreclosure and short sale scenarios as one of the drivers behind servicers choosing short sales.

Servicers that pursue foreclosure on non-performing loans held within securitization have to make principal and interest advances until the loan’s liquidation, BarCap said. If the asset declines in value during the liquidation timeline and it neighbors other REOs, the final selling price will likely come in far below the current broker price opinion (BPO), which leads to high severity.  Short sales, on the other hand, pose a shorter timeline during which fewer principal and interest advances are needed. The asset has less time to depreciate, and borrowers have a strong incentive to maintain the property in order to sell it. After all, a better-maintained house attracts stronger bids, reducing overall severity in comparison with the REO liquidation scenario.  A short sale also tends to cost the lender less than foreclosure and it spares the borrower the negative credit score implications.

Jeff Coga, a California short sale investor said “We don’t need to do transactions outside of California because we have our hands full with all the short sales that Realtors are bringing to us to write a No contingency offer on and help their clients from a foreclosure. Realtors are now flocking to us, because they know we can get these transactions closed.”

Susan Park, an Exit Real Estate Group Realtor, said in the Los Angeles area west of down town  short sales make up about 1-3 transactions in that market space.”

Popularity: 26% [?]

Barbra Streisand obviously wasn’t singing about Bond prices or interest rates in her 1980’s song. But those lyrics were fitting last week when the Federal Reserve stepped in with more buying of Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS), helping Bond prices recover from news of a weak Treasury Auction. Overall, home loan rates bounced around last week and ended the week very slightly improved.

But that said, we can’t “push our luck” and think the Fed will continue to step in and help support home loan rates…we have to remember that the Fed is actually winding down exactly this type of buying support.

As you can see from the chart below, the Federal Reserve’s purchases of MBS peaked at an average of $25 Billion per week back in May – and they are getting closer every day to being done spending their allotment of $1.25 Trillion. Since they announced that their remaining purchases would be rationed out until the end of March 2010 – but that they wouldn’t be making any additional purchases beyond the original commitment – the average purchases per week have been moving lower, down to $14 Billion per week so far in November.

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Chart: Fed’s Purchase of Mortgage Backed Securities (Weekly Averages Per Month)

Why is this important? Because home loan rates are based on MBS – so when the Fed agreed to be a big buyer, it helped provide a market and helped keep MBS prices high and home loan rates low. So as the Fed’s program wraps up and eventually stops, home loan rates are quite likely to be on the rise. So while rates are still very good, they may not be for long. Let’s be sure to talk if you haven’t yet explored how the current rate environment might benefit you or someone you know.

Popularity: 10% [?]

I actually took this post from my Activerain blog and decided to repost it. We have Realtors that read this blog and just wanted to lend some information that could be a great benefit to them if they’re struggling.

If your an active Realtor you know how tough its been to stay afloat these last few years in the business. If you’re still struggling to get a handle on your finances there may be hope. Realtors and Brokers can apply for federally backed loans through the SBA. This is great news at a time where real estate professionals are “struggling to find money for day to day expenses, debt service, capital, and funding for expansion.”

Let’s take a look at 3 SBA loans that are most relevant to real estate professionals and how these funds can be used.

1. ARC (America’s Recovery Capital): No- interest, no-fee, deferred payment short term loan. The ARC loan can loan up to $35,000 to small businesses that need capital to ride out the wave of uncertainty until the business can return to profitability. You can use this money to pay existing debt including credit card debt, if the debt was used for business expenses. The loan is available until September 2010 or until the funds are available.

2. Section 7(a) Guaranty Loan Program: With this loan you’ll have to apply with a participating private section such as a bank. You can use this money for working capital or debt replacement. Loan limits are up to $2 million and is intended for long-term needs rather than emergencies. The SBA will guaranty this loan up to 90% from payment default by the borrowers.

3. Section 504: This loan is intended for long term, fixed rate financing for fixed assets such as buildings and land. It’s great for Brokers who are expanding their business or for offices who are branchign out. Section 504 will loan up to $1.5 Million.

If you want more information please visit www.SBA.gov. Now “Go Get Your MONEY!”

Popularity: 11% [?]