Mortgage Underwriting Guidelines Beginning To Ease By C. J. Coury I have been looking forward to writing about this topic for months now – the time has finally come! Over the past 2 years or so we have been witnessing the end of a much too liberal lending era. Unfortunately, the change in direction went too far and stayed too long. To quote the top mortgage professional Penny Hill “the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction and is stuck on stupid”. I am pleased to announce that it is finally beginning to swing back to the level […]
Top 10 Questions to Talk Over with Your Attorney Prior To The Pre-Foreclosure Decision By Jim Soda It is imperative that any homeowner seeking to determine if a short sale is in their best interest, be able to distinguish between their own interests and the interests of lenders, buyers, investors, and real estate-related professionals
Seller Financing By Jeff Riddell It’s hard to get a mortgage these days. So, what’s a seller (and maybe the seller’s real estate agent) to do? Seller financing (sometimes called owner financing) may do the trick. Florida recognizes several approaches, each with its pros and cons. First there is the traditional seller carry-back mortgage. The buyer and seller sign a purchase agreement that not only describes the purchase price, but also the seller financing covering a portion of the purchase price. Seller financing could, of course, cover the entire purchase price, but that usually isn’t prudent—sellers want buyers to have some […]
Improved Short Sale Process By C. J. Coury The Short Sale phenomenon that has been escalating over the past few years has reached the point where some drastic changes are needed. Today’s most prominent process model for these transactions requires that an offer to purchase be presented to the servicing lender prior to any action being taken to obtain investor approval of the reduction in their pay-off. This, coupled with servicers being woefully understaffed, has had an enormously negative impact on all parties involved in the transaction and has, in fact, contributed to a reduction in the median sale price […]
Take Over The Payments By Jeff Riddell Unfortunately, many people would like to dump their properties even though they made substantial downpayments. Some use jingle mail (send the keys to the lender and walk away). There are consequences, however. Since the lender will still need to foreclose, the owner will still have a foreclosure on his record. Other than the temporary moratorium for primary residences, at least in Florida every foreclosing lender has the right to pursue a deficiency judgment, and more are doing so. Usually there is no defense to the deficiency claim. To defend, the owner would need […]
Refinance Now By C.J. Coury Although it is certainly more challenging to obtain a new mortgage loan in today’s market you simply must make the attempt if you have an interest rate above, at or near 6%. It is widely believed that rates will begin to rise this spring and could increase as much as 1% or more from today’s historic lows, eliminating the opportunity to realize the benefits of refinancing for many. While it is true that many loans today are being scuttled by evaluations and qualifying documentation, it is also a fact that there are options available to […]
1031 EXCHANGE By Jeff Riddell If there are taxes to be saved, a 1031 exchange should be considered as the exit strategy for any real estate that qualifies. Under the current rules the process is simple: Hire a qualified intermediary (QI) company and sign an exchange agreement, sell your relinquished property, escrow the proceeds with the QI company and reinvest in qualified replacement property within 180 days. Except for personal use properties, any real estate qualifies if it’s held for investment or productive use in a trade or business—including rental real estate of every kind. Tax deferred exchanges under Section […]
1031 Exchange Qualified Properties By Jeff Riddell Over the last several articles, we have covered real estate investing for various age groups, from youngest to oldest. One thing is common to all of the age groups: There will come a time when every real estate investor decides to dispose of his investment. If you don’t like to pay capital gains tax (or recapture of depreciation, if applicable), we should touch on the subject of 1031 exchange. The sleeping giant has in fact started to awaken. After my company, U.S. 1031 Exchange Services, Inc., facilitated over 500 exchanges in 2005, business […]
Financing “As-Is” Properties By C. J. Coury A rarely used loan product, the FHA 203(k), is fast becoming one of the hottest topics on the training front. The renewed interest in this evolving product is due to the high number of distressed properties on the market and the declining amount of “cash” buyers to sell it to “as-is”. There are numerous misunderstandings about this product that I would like to help clarify: 1. The maximum loan amount is currently $417,000 2. There is no maximum sale price for the property 3. There is no maximum amount for the repairs or improvements 4. The improvements […]
RESPA/Regulation X Changes Information Courtesy Of C. J. Coury The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced significant revisions to the lending requirements under RESPA/Regulation X. These changes impact the Good Faith Estimate (GFE) and HUD Settlement Statements (HUD-1 and HUD-1A) and will be effective with new first mortgage applications taken on or after January 1, 2010. These important regulatory changes will place new requirements on lenders to ensure that borrowers are better positioned to understand their mortgage transaction. Following is an overview of the four key changes associated with the new Regulation X requirements. 1. Good Faith […]
Appraisal Reconsideration Requests – How To? By C. J. Coury In accordance with the new Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) lenders are no longer allowed to select the appraiser or question them on their evaluations. While this will certainly all but eliminate fraud in the evaluation process it has caused some new concerns for lenders and Real Estate professionals. Any time change occurs in our lives there is a certain learning curve that takes an unspecified amount of time to run its course. The HVCC is one of those changes that we must learn to navigate around while the […]
Understanding HVCC By C. J. Coury As you all know, the Federal government has now implemented the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (a.k.a. Appraisal Independence) and all lenders must adhere to it if they are going to sell the loan to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. The rules, regulations and requirements do not apply to FHA or VA loans. The pressure that appraisers felt to hit a predetermined figure when appraising real estate is what ultimately led to this momentous change for our industry. We now must work our way through some new routines while we develop a clear understanding […]
Finally Some Relief For Tenants On Their Foreclosed Rental Property By Steven R. Greenberg On May 20, 2009, President Obama signed into law the “Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009″ (the “Act”), which includes the “Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act.” The Act provides new protections for “bonafide” tenants of residential property being foreclosed by a lender holding a federally-related mortgage loan. The Act is intended to provide protection for tenants of properties of which a lender has foreclosed who find themselves evicted overnight from their homes at the completion of that foreclosure, often losing advanced rental payments and […]
Under Promise And Over Deliver By C. J. Coury I am sure that you have all heard the phrase “Under Promise and Over Deliver” and that you do your best to live by it. However, some times we don’t recognize the opportunity to follow this sage advice when it presents itself. The current market is presenting us all with one of those opportunities right now – Setting Proper Expectations. I recently received several requests from REAL Magazine contributors and readers to once again stress the importance of reducing preventable stressful situations by setting the right expectations at the beginning of […]
What’s So Bad About Short Sale Flips? By Anne L. Weintraub, Esquire Anne Weintraub P.A. REALTORS®, buyers and sellers are being approached by vendors on a daily basis to participate in short sale flips. Short sale flips occur when a third-party individual or business negotiates with the seller’s lender to take a short payoff. The lender relies on the vendor’s package from the seller which includes an offer from a buyer-who may actually exist or not-when it grants the short sale approval. The buyer allegedly closes on the property, the lender gets paid off, and then the buyer sells […]
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Thursday, August 12, 2010
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