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Archive for 'Foreclosures / Short Sales'
Huge Victory For Benicia, Vallejo Short Sale Sellers With More Than One Mortgage
July 16th, 2011 categories: Foreclosures / Short Sales
Gov. Brown Signs New Anti-Deficiency Law
A long-awaited bill preventing lenders from going after borrowers with a second mortgage for the difference after the completion of a short sale was signed into law as an emergency measure by Gov. Brown yesterday, which means that it goes into effect immediately.
That should come as welcome news to short sale sellers in Benicia and Vallejo as well as the rest of California.
In January, a new law went into effect offering protection from a deficiency judgment on a borrower’s first mortgage after a short sale. But until yesterday, that same protection didn’t apply to the lender of a second (or other “junior” mortgage).
The new law (SB 458) prevents lenders from going after the borrower for any repayment once the short sale has been completed, regardless of whether it’s a first, second, third or umpteenth mortgage.
That’s a huge victory for short sale sellers, for while many first mortgage holders often are very cooperative, it’s usually the second lender that becomes a thorn in the seller’s side. Read the rest of this entry »
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How Big Is Benicia-Vallejo’s Shadow Inventory?
April 7th, 2011 categories: Benicia, Fairfield-Gr Valley, Foreclosures / Short Sales, Market Update, Selling, Suisun City, The Economy, Vacaville, Vallejo
About a week ago, I listened to Rick Sharga, Sr. V.P. of Realty Trac, share his firm’s current foreclosure numbers. In his talk, one statistic really stood out: right now, there are 1 million foreclosures in the U.S., yet only 300,000 of them have come on the market.
In other words, 7 out of every 10 U.S. homes that the banks already own haven’t even hit the market yet. That’s the “shadow inventory” that you may have heard people talk about.
It prompted me to look at our local market a little closer and see how big our own shadow inventory is right now. The numbers were pretty startling. Not quite as large as the nationwide figures that Mr. Sharga talked about, but still pretty shocking nonetheless.
I looked at all five cities in our primary market area (Benicia, Vallejo, Fairfield, Suisun City & Vacaville) and found that about 3 of every 5 foreclosed homes have not yet come on the market. Read the rest of this entry »
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What The End Of The Rainy Season Means For Some Benicia-Vallejo Short Sale Buyers
March 31st, 2011 categories: Buying, Foreclosures / Short Sales
If you’re buying a vacant short sale property in Benicia, Vallejo or elsewhere in the Bay Area, it’s important to know that we’re getting close to the time of year when what you see today may not be exactly what you see the day escrow closes.
That’s because in another month or so, we’ll be at the end of the rainy season, which means that the yards of many of those short sale listings will go from lush and green to dry and brown — and often within a matter of days.
Green Today, Brown Tomorrow
While the hills are still green and the ground is still moist from last week’s downpours, the warm, sunny weather of the last few days reminds us that we’re nearing the end of the rainy season.
In another month or so, it will be time to start watering, mowing and pruning on a regular basis, which often doesn’t happen when the responsibility falls on the shoulders of a short sale homeowner who’s already moved out.
If you buy and close escrow on a short sale between October and April, you usually get a free pass, since mother nature keeps things moist. But when the warmer weather arrives, unless someone’s there to water, fertilize, trim, mow, edge and pull the weeds, that lush green lawn you saw in March can quickly turn to a dry brown carpet by early May.
And if you’re buying a short sale, where you might be waiting two, three, four months or more for the seller’s lender to approve the sale, you could end up in a situation where a big chunk of the money you had allocated for carpet, paint, cabinets or appliances might end up going to unexpected landscaping instead.
It’s In The Contract, However…
On page 4 of the standard California purchase contract, it says that the seller shall maintain the property “in substantially the same condition as on the date of Acceptance.” But I can Read the rest of this entry »
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.600 Is A Pretty Good Batting Average…Unless You’re Talking About Short Sales
March 14th, 2011 categories: Buying, Foreclosures / Short Sales, Viewpoint
A few days ago, our state association, the California Assn. of Realtors, released the results of a recent survey which claims that only three out of every five attempted short sales in the state actually went through.
A .600 batting average may be great if you’re Barry Bonds, but it’s not so great if you’re talking about the percentage of short sales that were successfully completed.
The report lays blame with the banks for dragging out the process for months and months on end. And to be sure, with some banks, that’s definitely an accurate statement. But others, like Bank of America and Wells Fargo have made great strides in streamlining the process over the past 12 months.
In fact, on all of the short sales I’ve negotiated with Bank of America since last summer, I’ve gotten responses in about 30 days or less. That’s a far, far cry from what was happening a year ago — when their norm was a good 6-8 month wait (if you were lucky).
I don’t dispute CAR’s findings, but based on my own personal experience with representing short sale clients here in Benicia, Vallejo and elsewhere in Solano and Contra Costa counties, I think it’s fair to point out that while many banks are definitely the root of the problem, some of the blame for that 40% failure rate lies with sellers or their agents.
Now, I certainly haven’t had a 100% success rate and anyone who tells you they have isn’t telling the truth.
But by the same token, I’m sure I’m well above the 60% figure that CAR’s survey suggests.
What’s more, I’m sure colleagues of mine who know what it takes to successfully negotiate a short sale would say the same thing.
In my experience, if an agent is only successful on 3 out of every 5 short sales, they’re either not doing something right, are plagued by sellers who aren’t really committed to the short sale process or are in the midst of a run of incredibly bad luck.
Most of the time, the handwriting’s on the wall for all to see, with plenty of tell-tale signs that this particular short sale has little chance of going through.
Here are some signs you may be in for a bumpy short sale road: Read the rest of this entry »
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10 Ways To Help Avoid A Short Sale Disaster
March 11th, 2011 categories: Benicia, Foreclosures / Short Sales, Selling, Solano, Vallejo
As anyone looking for a home in Solano County right now can tell you, many of the homes on the market right now are short sales (where the seller owes more than the home is worth and can’t complete the sale without their lender(s) agreeing to reduce the amount they owe).
Short sales are far more complicated than a regular sales transaction and can take far take longer, too, due to the time a bank can take to review the seller’s financial situation.
Right now, about 4 out of every 10 homes on the market in Solano County are short sales, including 43% of the homes in Benicia and 47% in Vallejo. And, despite what you may have heard, many short sales do indeed close escrow.
Most of the short sales we’ve represented clients on over the past few years have successfully closed.Yes, there can be some drama or unexpected twists and turns along the way.
But sadly, many sellers or agents either throw in the towel far too early — either out of frustration or by giving up at the first sign of a short sale decline.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from representing short sale clients it’s that there’s definitely an art to successfully negotiating a short sale. There’s far more to it than just shuffling papers and waiting for the bank to give its answer.
Over the years I’ve found that there are 10 critical factors that either the listing agent or the seller can directly control. Read the rest of this entry »
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Bank of America Announces New Loan Modification Program For Military Personnel
March 11th, 2011 categories: Foreclosures / Short Sales
A few years ago, a past client of ours who was in the military received orders to relocate to a new base in another state.
They didn’t have a choice. They had to move.
Yet, their home was worth at least $150,000 less than when they’d purchased it a few years earlier. After numerous futile attempts to have their loan terms modified, they decided to do a short sale.
They ultimately successfully closed escrow, but always wondered why Bank Of America, their lender, wouldn’t have modified the loan to a point where they could have rented it out and covered their payments.
As it was, by the time their short sale was approved and escrow closed, BofA ended up losing about $200,000.
Well, had our clients been a few years later on the military relocation schedule, their story could have ended up much differently.
That’s because yesterday Bank of America announced its new Military Loan Modification Program, which for now will apply only to loans that BofA itself actually owns. Read the rest of this entry »
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Chase Offering Some Benicia, Vallejo Sellers $20k To Do A Short Sale?
March 9th, 2011 categories: Benicia, Foreclosures / Short Sales, Vallejo
Tales Of Letters Offering Upside-Down Borrowers $20k…But Are They Legit?
Over the past few months, I’ve heard rumors of Chase Bank offering some upside-down borrowers a $20,000 incentive to sell their homes as a short sale.
When I first saw this, I thought it was probably nothing more than an internet scam perpetrated by some unscrupulous bottom-feeders in our industry who were trying to prey on down-on-their-luck homeowners.
There are a few short sale programs (BofA’s Cooperative Short Sale and the Fed’s HAFA program), where the homeowner receives a few thousand dollars as an incentive to participate in a short sale.
But $20,000?! That seemed wildly unlikely.
However, at our local Assn. of Realtors breakfast this morning, I heard the same rumor Read the rest of this entry »
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BofA Proves Its Short Sale Mantra Isn’t All Talk
March 8th, 2011 categories: Foreclosures / Short Sales, The Economy, Viewpoint
A year ago, if you’d asked me who were the worst banks to negotiate a short sale with, I would have quickly put Bank of America near the top of that list.
Back then, BofA was notorious for dragging out short sales for months on end, for asking for the same documentation over and over again, and for switching negotiators in mid-stream and starting from scratch. Each time you called, you got a different story. It all depended on who answered the phone.
There was no consistency and certainly no commitment to expediting the short sale process. It was as if the powers that be at BofA just wanted to make the homeowner’s life a little more miserable by dangling the possibility of doing a short sale in front of them before ultimately making a settlement demand so unreasonable that the owner would finally just walk away out of frustration.
A year ago, I wondered whether the acronoym BofA really stood for “Bank of Anxiety,” for that’s the state of mind most short sellers found themselves in for months and month on end.
Fast forward to the present
Well, as they say, that was then and this is now. Read the rest of this entry »
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Big Vote Thursday: The End Of Loan Mods?
February 28th, 2011 categories: Foreclosures / Short Sales, Loans / Financing, The Economy
If you own a home in Solano County and are thinking of applying for a loan modification under the government’s widely publicized Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), come Thursday you may find yourself out of luck.
For that’s when the House Finance Services Committee plans to vote on a bill that, if passed, would signal the end the White House’s failed loan mod program.
When the HAMP program was announced by President Obama almost two years ago, there were high expectations and hopes that it would help millions of underwater borrowers restructure their loans so that they could stay in their homes with newly affordable monthly payments.
Well here we are two years later, and only about 3% of the $29 billion (yes, billion) that was allocated has been spent. Less than 15% of the Read the rest of this entry »
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Solano Home Buyers Get 2-Month Extension On 3.5% Fannie Mae Closing Cost Credit
April 28th, 2010 categories: Benicia, Buying, Fairfield-Gr Valley, Foreclosures / Short Sales, Solano, Suisun City, Vacaville
Non-Investors Who Buy A Fannie Mae Repo Can Still Get The Credit If They Close By June 30
In what amounts to an unexpected gift to buyers of Fannie Mae bank-owned homes in Solano County, the secondary mortgage market giant just announced that its 3.5% closing cost credit incentive program, which was scheduled to end Apr. 30, has been extended to June 30.
So if you buy one of the 96 Fannie Mae-owned homes in Solano County that are either presently for sale or about to come on the market and can close escrow in the next two months, you could be eligible for up to 3.5% in credits at close of escrow.
Of the 96 homes for sale in Solano, 89 are Read the rest of this entry »
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