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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

Fannie Mae 3.5 Credit 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 »

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

How Long Before You Can Buy Again After A Short Sale? Fannie Changes Its Policy

April 21st, 2010 categories: Foreclosures / Short Sales

CalendarSeveral years ago, just as the economic meltdown was gaining momentum, Fannie Mae announced that it would look much more kindly on underwater homeowners who took steps to avoid foreclosure when it came time to buy again.

At the time, it proclaimed that those who sold their homes in preforeclosure sales would be eligible to obtain a new loan from Fannie in just two years, which was a far cry from the 7 year wait if they just walked away and let it go to foreclosure.

One thing that policy didn’t do, however, was specifically mention short sales. It simply said “preforeclosure sales.”

Most industry folks assumed that short sales (where the lender agrees to a reduced loan payoff so you can sell your home for its present value) fell under the “preforeclosure sale” umbrella.

However, Fannie never really clarified that. Until now. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

Tax Relief For Distressed Solano County Sellers Finally Goes Into Law

April 13th, 2010 categories: Foreclosures / Short Sales, Selling, The Economy

Not only did the rain clouds disappear yesterday, but so too did the dark black clouds that had been hanging over many penniless Tax Reliefdistress-sale sellers from last year, who were about to incur huge state income tax bills.

But just about the same time the skies parted over Solano County yesterday afternoon, a new tax relief law went into effect, which will save distressed sellers who sold their homes in 2009 thousands of dollars.

The Long Wait Is Over

Prior to the passage of  SB 401, most California sellers who received debt relief  through a short sale, foreclosure or loan modification would have been required to report the forgiven debt as ordinary income and pay taxes on it.

Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

Sold Your Solano Home As A Short Sale Last Year? Calif Tax Relief May Be On The Way

April 6th, 2010 categories: Foreclosures / Short Sales

If you sold your home as part of a short sale last year and have had a hard time sleeping lately due to California’s decision to possibly collect Short Sale Taxestaxes on the debt relief your lender provided when you sold your home, that looming nightmare might go away in matter of days.

That’s because, as the Sacramento Bee reported earlier today, California legislators will likely vote later this week on a bill that would reverse that decision and allow short-sellers to enjoy the same tax-free benefits that are currently available on their federal tax return.

Normally, debt forgiveness is considered income and subject to taxation. However, early in the economic meltdown, Congress changed the tax code to provide a waiver for many who had lost their home or been forced to short-sell their home. Those people would have otherwise been hit with a monstrous federal tax bill.

But in late March, Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed a state bill that would have changed California’s tax code to mirror that federal tax exemption. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

6 Big Real Estate Changes For Benicia-Vallejo Home Buyers & Sellers This Month

April 5th, 2010 categories: Buying, Foreclosures / Short Sales, Loans / Financing, Selling, The Economy

Big ChangesIf you’re planning to buy or sell a home in Benicia, Vallejo or even anywhere else in Solano County, you may need a scorecard to keep track of all the changes that either already have occurred or will take place by the end of April.

I’ve been a real estate agent since 1995. And before that I worked in the title and new homes sectors of our business — dating all the way back to 1978. And in all the years I’ve been in the real estate business, I can’t remember another time when this many changes occurred in one single month.

So if you’ve got your scorecard ready, here’s a quick overview of some of the changes that are taking place in April: Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

BofA Will Slash Loan Balance By 30% For Some Underwater Borrowers Starting In May

March 28th, 2010 categories: Foreclosures / Short Sales, Loans / Financing, The Economy

Pull QuoteBank of America just announced a new loan modification program that could help hundreds if not thousands of underwater Solano County homeowner.

This represents the first attempt by a major bank — and they don’t get much bigger than banking giant BofA — to slash an underwater borrower’s principal rather than simply reducing the interest rate for a period of time.

BofA’s newly announced program is slated to start in May and it’s not available for every BofA borrower. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: 1 Comment »

Any Light At The End Of The End Of Solano’s Foreclosure Tunnel?

February 17th, 2010 categories: Benicia, Buying, Fairfield-Gr Valley, Foreclosures / Short Sales, Market Update, Selling, Solano, Suisun City, Vacaville, Vallejo

Everyone agrees that the real key to restoring the economy and home values lies in working through that huge backlog of distressed properties.Pull Quote

For, the sooner we get to a point where the lion’s share of active listings are being sold by regular sellers with equity rather than banks or upside-down borrowers, the sooner this ugly market will be behind us.

About six months ago, I downloaded the foreclosure statistics for all five cities in our Solano County market area and back then almost 60% of what had already been foreclosed upon had not yet come on the market. Most banks were keeping what has become known as their “shadow inventory” off the market.

Since that time, the banks have started to release more inventory, but rather than a flood, the release of new bank-owned listings has been more of a trickle. So a few days ago, I decided to download the raw foreclosure data and see if anything had changed.

REO Graph for Solano - 2-15-10In a nutshell, as the numbers above and below illustrate, it looks like we still have quite a way to go before the local Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

New 3.5% Seller Credit For Some Solano Buyers…But You Have To Close By April 30

January 29th, 2010 categories: Benicia, Buying, Fairfield-Gr Valley, Foreclosures / Short Sales, Loans / Financing, Solano, Suisun City, Vacaville, Vallejo

If you’re planning to buy a home in Benicia, Vallejo or any other Solano or Contra Costa County city we serve, you might want to focusClock-Money on a Scale your eyes on Fannie Mae-owned homes for the next month or two.

For yesterday, Fannie announced a new incentive program which will provide up to a 3.5% credit to cover closing costs or a combination of credits & new appliances for qualified buyers who purchase a Fannie Mae-owned home between now and the end of April.

The details:

  • The offer must be accepted on or after Jan. 28, 2010
  • Escrow must close by April 30, 2010.
  • Buyers must be owner-occupants (no investors)
  • Qualified buyers get an incentive worth up to 3.5% of the cost of the home
  • The incentive can be used to cover closings costs, new Whirlpool appliances or a combination of the two

So, on a $250,000 home, for example, if you qualify for the full 3.5% credit, you could Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

Fraud & Deceit — It’s Just Business As Normal For Some Short Sale Lenders

January 26th, 2010 categories: Foreclosures / Short Sales, Loans / Financing, Viewpoint

Thankfully, Someone’s Finally Blowing The Whistle


We’ve all heard the banks moan and complain about how they were duped into making bad loans to unscrupulous borrowers in the subprime era.

Pull Quote

Or how homes were appraised at values clearly tens of thousands more than the property was really worth.

Well, these banks certainly had a right to be angry.

But now, it seems, the shoe’s on the other foot.

For, these same banks who have positioned themselves as the innocent victims in the mortgage meltdown are now aggressively and openly trying to defraud each other with short sale side-deals in a manner that essentially holds the down-and-out homeowner — who’s trying to make the best of a bad situation — hostage.

Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

Gallows Humor? There’s Actually A Street In Vallejo Called “REO ALLEY”

January 18th, 2010 categories: Foreclosures / Short Sales, Vallejo

Talk about irony.REO Alley, Vallejo

I’ll bet you didn’t know there’s a street in Vallejo Called “REO Alley“?

If you’ve ever driven around Vallejo in the vicinity of Sonoma Blvd. or Broadway St., you’ve probably passed by this tiny little alley just north of Tennessee St. many times without ever knowing the name (or perhaps without knowing it even had a name).

But in a city that’s seen its property values nosedive over the past few years due to a preponderance of REO (foreclosure) sales, it seems eerily ironic that it would have a street called REO Alley.

REO Alley 2, Vallejo

I actually happened upon this tiny little alley accidentally, while doing an MLS search in the vicinity. When I pulled up the street map, I saw that just a few blocks away from the property I was searching for was a street that appeared to be called “REO Alley.” Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »