CA SB 931 Passes Senate – Bans Deficiencies on 1st Liens after Short Sales
August 25, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
The California Senate has passed SB 931 unopposed. SB 931 prohibits banks from pursuing deficiency judgements against sellers on 1st liens in California, regardless of whether the seller has refinanced or pulled cash out. In California, once a seller has refinanced their mortgage, whether it is a cash out refinance or simply a refinance to [...]
Luxury Property Short Sales & Strategic Defaults
August 24, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
The upper end, luxury real estate market in San Diego, Palm Desert & Orange County has finally taken a significant hit in property values. Prices in the upper end (here defined as properties that were worth at least $1,750,000 or more at the peak of the market), have dropped by as much as 50%, and [...]
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Loans Now Eligible for HAFA Short Sale Program
August 16, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
As of August 1, 2010, Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac insured loans are now eligible for the government HAFA short sale program. HAFA, which stands for Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative, was launched in April of 2010, but did not apply to government insured loans, even though the program is administered through Fannie & Freddie. HAFA [...]
Important FHA Loan Information
July 28, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
With over 40% of purchase loans now being FHA, FHA loans have become a huge part of the US real estate market. The following outlines some important points about FHA loans: 1. FHA loans are not only for lower-income borrowers. FHA loans are available to everyone. There is no maximum income restriction associated with FHA [...]
San Diego Real Estate Market Statistical Update July 2010
July 8, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
Updated Real Estate Statistics, July 2010* Avg time it takes for a homeowner in default to lose their home has gone from 251 days in Jan 2008 to 438 days in April 2010 – a 75% increase. 40% of all mortgages issued in 2010 are FHA (gov insured) – up from 20% in 2009, and [...]
Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative (HAFA) program and San Diego California
May 14, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
HAFA & The Year of the Short Sale At the end of 2008, I predicted 2009 would be the “Year of the Short Sale” because lenders would finally come to the realization that short sales save them a tremendous amount of money versus foreclosing. They did and it was. I made the same prediction this [...]
The Growing Phenomenon of The Strategic Default
May 10, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
60 minutes ran a story tonight about the growing phenomenon of “strategic defaults” – people who are walking away from their homes and letting them go to foreclosure, not because they cannot afford them, but because it makes the most business sense in light of how upside down they are on their homes. The story [...]
HAFA Short Sale San Diego
May 7, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
Matt Battiata, Broker & CEO of The Battiata Real Estate Group in San Diego, California discusses the California Home Buyers Tax Credit and the new Obama Making Home Affordable HAFA Short Sale Program, which went into effect on April 5th 2010. The HAFA program requires banks to streamline their short sale approval process. The HAFA [...]
Bank of America Short Sale Update 5/7/2010
May 7, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
With the implementation of their new Equator software platform, Bank of America has dramatically improved their short sale processing. We are now generating short sale approvals from Bank of America in an average of 30-60 days, and in many cases less, which is a huge improvement. Bank of America also assigns one negotiator to handle [...]
CA Dept of Real Estate Alert: Be Aware of Short Sale Scams
May 7, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
The following is an excerpt from the California Department of Real Estate Alert to consumers regarding the prevalence of real estate scams surrounding short sales. In April of 2010, the federal government will offer financial incentives to push short sales through a program called Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives. The program is designed to spur home [...]
California Foreclosure Timeline
I am often asked by homeowners considering a short sale what the timeline is for the foreclosure process in California. The following is the special foreclosure timeline for loans originated between 2003 & 2007 on owner occupied residences. This timeline does not apply to borrowers who have filed for bankruptcy. The difference between this timeline, [...]
How to Find out if you have a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan – New HAFA Program does not Apply to Fannie or Freddie Loans
April 17, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
The new government HAFA program that regulates and streamlines the short sale process does not apply to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac insured loans. Fannie & Freddie have their own short sale guidelines. You can find out if you have a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac insured loan by going to this link: Click Here [...]
New HAFA Short Sale Rules – Program Ends Dec 31 2010
The HAFA program simplifies and streamlines the use of short sales by incorporating the following unique features: • Complements HAMP by providing viable alternatives for borrowers who are HAMP- eligible. • Utilizes borrower financial and hardship information collected in conjunction with HAMP, eliminating the need for additional eligibility analysis. • Allows the borrower to receive [...]
Schwarzenegger signs Short Sale Bill SB401- Forgives CA Taxes on Short Sales
April 15, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed CA Senate Bill 401 into law, which conforms California tax law with Federal tax law on debt forgiveness from short sales and foreclosures on a primary residence. Governor Schwarzenegger made the following the statement: “”This legislation is a great example of what we can accomplish when we work together to [...]
Details of the New Obama Short Sale Plan (HAFA)
April 15, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
The New Obama Short Sale Plan has gone into effect. HAFA contains provisions that regulate the short sale process in order to help homeowner’s avoid foreclosure through a short sale. The details of HAFA are as follows: – Targeted at homeowners who have tried to modify their loans through the government HAMP program. – The [...]
California to Forgive Taxes on Short Sales – Retroactive to 2009
April 15, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
The California State Assembly has passed CA SB 401 which conforms California state tax law with federal law with regard to lenders’ debt forgiveness on real estate short sales, foreclosures or loan modifications. This bill picks up where the last bill, which expired at the end of 2008, left off. The Assembly passed a similar [...]
Bank of America Eases Qualifying Guidelines for Self Employed Borrowers
Bank of America announced today that it would allow the use of business funds for down payments, closing costs and reserves. This is a significant move by the nation’s largest bank toward easing lending guidelines by allowing self employed borrowers to use their business capital in order to qualify for a mortgage. While this falls [...]
CA Legislature Approves Bill Aligning State Tax Law with Feds on Short Sales
March 15, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
The CA state legislature approved a bill that would exclude homeowners who do a real estate short sale from having to pay taxes on the debt forgiveness, aligning state law with the federal Mortgage Tax Debt Forgiveness Act. CA had a similar law on the books up until the end of 2008, at which point [...]
Obama Short Sale Program kicks off April 5th
March 11, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
The Obama Administration’s new short sale plan, which begins April 5, calls for banks to agree to not pursue borrowers for any deficiency judgments after a short sale, requires second lien holders to accept a maximum of $3000 to settle their debt, allots $1000 to mortgage servicers for a successful short sale, and allows for [...]
What’s the Deal with a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure?
A deed in lieu of foreclosure is basically a voluntary foreclosure, where the homeowner agrees to surrender the property to the bank, and the bank, in exchange for not having to incur the legal expenses of going through the foreclosure process, in some cases agrees to not pursue any deficiency against the seller. In past [...]
Chase Bank Short Sale Update
March 5, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
Chase Bank will no longer accept offers on short sales from any investor/corporate/trust entities i.e. any offer from an LLC, Corporation, Trust etc. This is becoming increasingly common among the nation’s large lenders as more and more short sale investors attempt to purchase short sales at below market prices in order to immediately flip them [...]
Sound Familiar? Morgan Stanley walks away from $2 Billion in Commercial Real Estate
March 5, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
Giant Wall Street securities firm Morgan Stanley has announced the “orderly transfer” (read “strategic foreclosure”) of five commercial San Francisco buildings back to their lender, Barclays Capital. Morgan Stanley bought the buildings at the peak of the market and since then, the properties have lost as much as 50% of their value. Like any business, [...]
Beware – All lender short sale policies include a “waiver of funds” clause
March 1, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
Beware: All lender short sale policies include a “waiver of funds” clause that prohibits sellers from receiving any compensation from the short sale transaction, including a kickback from the real estate agent’s commission. Violations of this clause are a federal offense and constitute loan fraud.
Short Sale: Ethical Dilemma or Business Decision?
February 19, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
Not a day goes by that I do not get a call from a San Diego homeowner who is struggling with the moral dilemma of whether or not they should short sale their home. I say “moral dilemma” because that’s how they perceive it, but the truth is that morals and ethics have nothing to [...]
Bank of America (BofA) Short Sale Update
February 19, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
Bank of America, via their new Equator software platform, has implemented a requirement that the buyers financial information be input into the system – i.e. buyers Social Security #, address, etc. We speculate that they are requiring this information so they can do checks to make sure the buyer and seller are not related in [...]
