THE FORECLOSURE FREEZE: MORE SPECIFICS
The Foreclosure Freeze: More Specifics
The foreclosure freeze remains a hot topic in the media. With hundreds of thousands of homeowners in some level of distress with their mortgages it continues to be an item of interest.
The “robo-signing” scandal is focused on 23 states where judicial foreclosures are the norm. The states involved are: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Vermont.
Judicial
In states that require a judicial foreclosure, the law requires that a judicial review be held of each file before the 
property it is allowed to go through the final foreclosure process. The idea is to have the courts review the files to keep the lien holders honest. Obviously, the local laws place most of the burden on the lien holders to have everything in order.
In actual fact, the “robo-signing” is proof positive that not only the lien holders were just placing a rubber stamp on their processes. To add insult to injury, the court system did nothing to protect distressed home owners from errors in those states. The lien holders are taking most o the heat for their shoddy work. One wonders where the elected officials were when they were suppose to be overseeing the process. It is a sad state of affairs that is not likely to result in any punishment for those who should have been responsible.
Non-Judicial
Michigan, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Utah, Washington DC and West Virginia do not require a judicial review. The lien holders or their trustees file a Notice of Default with the local county recorder which starts the foreclosure process. There are prescribed steps that must be taken and time lines required. The object is to give the distressed home owner notice and provide them with some time to cure their delinquency. A small number of them actually cure their delinquency.
The remainder of the states allows both Judicial and Non-Judicial processes, although most have a tendency toward one practice or the other. California tends to lean away from the Judicial process.
Judges in some states have considerable latitude in how they handle foreclosures. Other states provide much stricter guidelines.
If you have questions or want to discuss a specific situation, feel free to call for a no cost consultation. We are here to help by stopping foreclosure one home at a time. Call (916) 337-0658 TODAY.
El Dorado Hills, Folsom, Cameron Park, Shingle Springs, Placerville, Sacramento, it makes no difference; $ 100,000 homes and million dollar homes; banks are still foreclosing and distressed homeowners need assistance.
FORECLOSURE FREEZE: UPDATE
The Foreclosure Freeze: Update
The foreclosure freeze continues be a hot topic in the media. With hundreds of thousands of homeowners in some level of distress with their mortgages it continues to be an item of interest.
John Stumpf, Chairman and CEO of Wells Fargo, announced that Wells Fargo has no plans to freeze foreclosures today or in the future. He advised that Wells Fargo procedures have always been through and in full accordance with the law.
Apparently, not all mortgage lenders have had the same level of confidence in their procedures. “Robo-signing” of foreclosure files seems to have been a standard practice with many. However, most have gone back and reviewed suspect files and the moratorium is over for a majority of lenders.
One new development has resulted from the recent scandal, New York has become the first state to pass legislation requiring attorneys handling residential foreclosures for these lenders to sign an affidavit that they took “reasonable” steps to review and verify the accuracy of the foreclosures files.
Other states are almost certain to follow. The New York Court of Appeals estimates that there are 80,000 foreclosures actions pending in the state’s courts.
The “robo-signing” scandal is focused on 23 states where judicial foreclosures are the norm. California I not one of those states.
If you have questions or want to discuss a specific situation, feel free to call for a no cost consultation. We are here to help by stopping foreclosure one home at a time. Call (916) 337-0658 TODAY.
El Dorado Hills, Folsom, Cameron Park, Shingle Springs, Placerville, Sacramento, it makes no difference; $ 100,000 homes and million dollar homes; banks are still foreclosing and distressed homeowners need assistance.
THE FORECLOSURE FREEZE AND WHAT IT MEANS!
The Foreclosure Freeze And What It Means
Most of us are is aware of the foreclosure freeze that has been all over the media in recent weeks. In essence, GMAC mortgage had a process in place to maximize the efficiency of their foreclosure handling process. That process had one employee in place to sign 400 foreclosures a day (good old American knowhow and efficiency) that had not been reviewed by anyone at that institution. GMAC, the nation’s fourth-largest mortgage lender, called this little omission a technicality! Fortunately, the courts forced them to halt all foreclosures in 23 states (California not included).
It turns out that Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and other lenders were following similar practices, known as the 
use of “robo-signers.” They were processing delinquent loan files and no one in management was reviewing the files for errors. They were efficiently throwing delinquent borrowers out of their homes without reviewing the conditions of each transaction. They were not even following the law in many of the states in which they were operating. What supreme arrogance!
As a result of the actions started in Maine last month GMAC Mortgage was forced to stop all foreclosures and go back and review each file for the 23 states involved. Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and many other lenders followed suit, in fact Bank Of America also stopped foreclosures in California.
Today Ally Financial (GMAC’s mortgage unit) and Bank Of America are now proceeding with the foreclosure process. You can guess how much scrutiny these files have received.
Unfortunately, far too many paid attention to the media storm, distressed homeowners/borrowers pinning their hopes on a moratorium, prospective buyers halting their buying plans until they could determine where all of this activity would lead. This was also an opportunity for pre-election posturing for incumbent candidates and want-to-be candidates as well.
In the end, it turned out to be a lot of noise over little. The foreclosures continue, the lenders may have changed their processes slightly, but distressed home owners are still losing their homes.
There is some positive action in this arena. The lenders are becoming more agreeable to allowing distressed borrowers to get approvals on their short sales and thus avoiding the blight of a foreclosure on their credit record. Some lenders have streamlined their processes so that short sales do not take as long. However, one factor remains constant. Distressed homeowners should engage the services of a Realtor who specializes in helping homeowners avoid foreclosure in the early stages of their foreclosure process. They need help in navigating the treacherous waters of a pending foreclosure. There are solutions available to most and the earlier one starts the more options they have.
If you have questions or want to discuss a specific situation, feel free to call for a no cost consultation. We are here 
to help by stopping foreclosure one home at a time. Call (916) 337-0658 TODAY.
El Dorado Hills, Folsom, Cameron Park, Shingle Springs, Placerville, Sacramento, it makes no difference; $ 100,000 homes and million dollar homes; banks are still foreclosing and distressed homeowners need assistance.
9 DEADLY MISTAKES HOME SELLERS MAKE – #7
DEADLY MISTAKES HOME SELLERS MAKE – #7
Selling the most expensive asset that most families own is serious business, not something to be taken lightly. It can be a highly stressful process and costly mistakes are easy to make. In order to net the most from the sale it takes careful planning and some work on the seller’s part.
Based on our years of first-hand experience, we have compiled a list of the 9 Deadly Mistakes Home Sellers Make to help home sellers avoid them. As the old proverb says, “forewarned is forearmed.”
A copy of the list is available at no charge to anyone who requests one by e-mail. Send your request to: Mike@SellYourVilla.com
DEADLY MISTAKE #7 –
Not knowing how to price your home to sell.
For most homeowners, this is probably the most difficult part of the selling process. The key to selling a home, or anything else, is to price it properly. Any home, even one in terrible condition, will sell if a buyer perceives that there is value in the price that they are paying. This is one of several areas where the assistance of a skilled Realtor can pay dividends.
One thing to keep in mind is that a raising, or falling, tide floats all boats. It makes little difference at which stage the market is when you make a decision to sell. If you have to take a hit on price when you sell the seller of the home 
that you intend to buy will have to take that same hit. If you rake in a nice profit when you sell your home, you are going to have to pay a high price on the home that you buy.
Over the past few years market prices have declined. It is difficult for many homeowners to accept the drop in the actual market value of their home. Too may have their hearts and minds tied up in 2005 pricing (the height of the market). Sellers frequently do not take the time to look at their competition when considering pricing their home. They do not look at it from the buyer’s side. Most buyers look at anywhere from five to fifty homes before they find the one they want. Before they make that offer, they have a good idea what the market values are. Their agent will do a market analysis for them before they make a decision, making them even better prepared. If your asking price is too high they won’t bother making an offer because they will be confident that you are not in tune with current market prices and will not be willing to negotiate.
Some sellers want to start high, thinking that they can always drop their price if they don’t get any offers. This is flawed thinking. The will have lost many opportunities because buyers will pass their home up in favor of well priced homes. Once your listing becomes “stale,” buyer interest wanes. Price reductions, chasing the market down usually end up with a no sale situation.
Pricing a home too low is also a bad idea, unless you can create a buyer bidding situation in which the winning bed is well above your original asking price. This is difficult to accomplish and usually works out very well for the seller when it happens. The danger is that if the final offer price is too high the home will not appraise and the buyer will not be able to get financing to complete the purchase. Lenders are VERY CAUTIOUS right now and many deals fall apart because of the appraisal.
When prices are raising or falling quickly pricing becomes more difficult. You have to depend even more on your Realtor to get the pricing right.
It makes no difference if you are in El Dorado Hills, Folsom, Cameron Park or any other city or town in California, or in any other state. The same rules apply. If you are considering selling, contact your Realtor today!
If you have any questions or want to put your home on the market call today: (916) 337-0658. You will get a no-cost market evaluation and suggestions on how best to maximize your selling net!
9 DEADLY MISTAKES HOME SELLERS MAKE # 4
DEADLY MISTAKES HOME SELLERS MAKE – #4
Selling the most expensive asset that most families own is serious business, not something to be taken lightly. It can be a highly stressful process and costly mistakes are easy to make. In order to net the most from the sale it takes careful planning and some work on the seller’s part.
Based on our years of first-hand experience, we have compiled a list of the 9 Deadly Mistakes Home Sellers Make to help home sellers avoid them. As the old proverb says, “forewarned is forearmed.”
A copy of the list is available at no charge to anyone who requests one by e-mail.
DEADLY MISTAKE #4 –
Forgetting about health and safety issues
Be up front and disclose to your Realtor any problems with the property. The chances are that the problems are going to be discovered anyway. A decade ago, health and safety issues were rarely a part of the typical real estate transaction. Today, however, it is common for inspections relating to health, safety and even environmental concerns to be part of most sales contracts. Moreover, in many states, the seller must disclose to the buyer any knowledge of existing property problems. In many cases these issues have been or can be factored into the home’s listing price.
Lenders are more cautious than ever, requiring copies of every inspection report and demanding that every problem be corrected before the loan will be funded. So, disclosing problems and getting them corrected is the fastest way to get your home sold.
A good listing agent has two jobs. First to sell your home and get you the highest possible net proceeds. Second is to do so in a way that will not end up in litigation six months to a year after the sale because the buyer was not told everything about the property.
