Don’t Wait for Gov’t Help, Avoid Foreclosure
There has been much talk and media coverage in recent weeks in Queen Creek, AZ about the president's plan for loan modification to help avoid foreclosure. The program, aimed at helping stabilize the current crisis with homeowners and mortgages in this economic time, helps people facing the frightening possibility of loosing their homes. You may want more information on how this loan modification can help you avoid foreclosure.
The president's program, a part of the Economic Stimulus Package, includes three quarters of a billion dollars that are aimed at helping working class families avoid foreclosure. The unfortunate truth, however, is that the plan is not helping everyone avoid foreclosure. Because of the many requirements to have access to the program, only a small number have been able to avoid foreclosure.
It is because of these stringent requirements that families in Queen Creek, Arizona are still unable to avoid foreclosure and people across the state are losing their homes at a quickening pace. Foreclosure rates are increasing still in many areas of the country and because of government red tape, the rules of using this load program, millions still stand to lose their homes as they are unable to avoid foreclosure.
Most of the three quarters of a million dollars ear marked for this program is being shelled out to the banks and institutions that are supposed to be helping work with home owners to avoid foreclosure. Because the banks are always operating in their best interest, they get to pick and choose which home owners they want to help avoid foreclosure. What if you are not the one that is chosen to help avoid foreclosure?
Maybe it is time to look out for your own best interests. Instead of waiting for the government, and in turn the banks, help you avoid foreclosure, consider some other options that are available to you when trying to avoid foreclosure.
The short sale is a very attractive option. It allows you to sell your house, get free from the existing mortgage that you are drowning in, and most importantly, avoid foreclosure. The bank also, in turn, gets the best of the short sale because they will receive more money from a short sale than they will with a foreclosure.
The short sale is not privy to any special government criteria. There are no business interests involved in whether or not you can use a short sale. You can use it to avoid foreclosure if you are the bank's best friend or their worst nightmare. It creates the best possible situation from a situation that appears to have no winners.
Take control of your future! Don't wait or assume that the government will help you out of this mess. Through bad luck, bad decisions, or bad karma you find yourself trying to avoid foreclosure. Focus on the best possible way to avoid foreclosure, by utilizing the short sale.
For more videos on short sales check out Kevin and Fred on the Short Sale Power Hour. Video for Short Sale Specialists.
Short Shale Genius Provides Further Knowledge
We are setting out on day 2 with Trent Chapman and we are stunned by the number of appearances Trent has had on shortsalepowerhour.com. We asked Trent to come back to talk about the Short Sale Genius Designation program. Everyone knows that we are not huge fans of designations. We have contributed on our own designation recently, but we stole that from Trent. Still, Trent has decided to do a real designation. The designation is for agents who work with troubled properties.
The designation is different from other designations. With other designations, you go to a class and take an exam and obtain your designation. With the Short Sale Genius designation, there are different levels based on how many short sales you have closed.
If you take the class you will get a general designation, but it will also document how many short sales you have closed. Trent merely figured that taking a class and passing a test didn't make a person an expert. So, he decided to introduce a little bit of common sense and honesty into the procedure.
On a different note, software is something that a lot of other agents ask about. Trent offers software that is state of the art with features that help the agent that is doing a few transactions or hundreds. His system actually coaches you along in the short sale process. There are red flags that let you know if a file is out of compliance or taking too long. There is also a feature that allows the home owner to log in and see the standing of their file. It was exclusively built for short sales. Check out the theshortsalegenius.com
If you have questions, get your Short Sale questions answered by Short Sale Specialists.
Watch this and more short sale videos by Kevin and Fred at Short Sale Power Hour
Also, follow Group 46:10 on their blog at Short Sale - Mortgage Short Sale Arizona
Watch Kevin and Fred, Short Sale Specialists, on the Short Sale Power Hour. Video for Short Sale Specialists.
SHORT SELLING Can Save Your Credit
Short selling involves the selling of a property that the home owner can not afford or does not want to pay for any more. Short selling refers to the sale of a home in which the lender allows the home owner to sell the home for less than the pay off amount on the mortgage. Lenders will often times approve of this type of transaction because they do not prefer to take possession of your home in foreclosure. Contrary to popular belief, the bank does not want to take possession of your home.
Lenders in Tempe, AZ understand the value of a home owner short selling the home because they understand the high number of home owners that are struggling to make mortgage payments. Because of this high number, banks and lenders could find themselves having to foreclose on dozens of property if they don't allow short selling.
By law, a lender in Tempe, Arizona can only have a certain number of foreclosed properties. With record numbers of home owners defaulting, lenders must be cognizant of this. So, short selling gives the bank an opportunity to keep themselves from taking on to many foreclosures.
Short selling a property can save the property owner from having to deal with foreclosure or any other option to defaulting on their loan. The process of short selling generally takes about four to six months to complete. Short selling also allows the home owner to walk away from their mortgage without owing any additional moneys.
However, there are exceptions to this rule. The lender can issue a letter that requires you to pay off the difference between the sale price of the home in a short selling process and the mortgage pay off amount. This amount can be a difficult amount to pay off in some cases.
When you utilize the short selling process, there are many ways that it can affect your credit. If your lender allows the short selling of your home to be used as payment in full, your credit will barely take a hit and you may even be able to purchase a new home in as few as a dozen months to two years. However, if the lender requires that you pay the difference and, in turn, you can not make up the difference, your credit can be hit hard by this. Taking out another loan to pay off the difference in your short selling process may not even be an option for you as your credit and financial means could be limited.
So, with this in mind, home owners using the short selling process should be sure that they negotiate for a judgement of "Payment in Full" from their lender. Without that judgement, it could take you as long as ten years to restore your credit.
Watch Kevin Kauffman and Fred Weaver of Group 46:10, Short Sale Specialists, on the daily Short Sale Power Hour.
Right Time For a Short Sale to Avoid Foreclosure
It is hard to digest the fact of facing a foreclosure for your dream home. It is important to analyze the facts and alternative solutions when facing with a foreclosure. A short sell can be the right answer and a best solution. Selling a home yourself or through a Realtor will allow to have the remaining profits in your hand. Lenders are even ready to give extra time if the sale is under the way. It will not hurt the borrowers to have a genuine conversation with the lender to seek extra time until the sale closes.
A short sale is accepted by the lender for a lesser pay than owed. This is generally approved when the property value is decreased and the money owed is greater than the existing market value. Under these circumstances, most lenders will accept for a short sale because they have understood that short sale is better than foreclosure. The borrower must approach in the proper way for the lenders to nod their head for the deal. They might want to take:
Trent Chapman Chats In relation to Escalation
Short Sale Power Hour is delighted to welcome Trent Chapman, Short Sale Genius, back to the episode. Trent has exhausted loads of time teaching realtors how to escalate. He provides a form letter on his website, theshortsalegenius.com, to offer people an illustration of how to communicate the escalation message to the lender. Basically, it gives a universal script as to how you can explain that the short sale is better than foreclosure.
Alas, since too many people have merely copied and pasted the document, Matt Vernon may have a problem with it. For folks that do not know, Matt Vernon is a bigwig at Bank of America. So, Trent will be getting in touch with Matt Vernon to discuss the escalation letter.
The plan behind the letter is that Trent needs to help agents in knowing how to escalate. When you are addressing someone that is higher up in the lender, you need to make the account as short as possible. We recommend that you tell them the following. This is the property. It has been on the market for 'x' days. We have a bid. It's full market value. Here is the fair market value based on these comps. Then you offer them the numbers. With a short sale, you will get this much cash and if this forecloses, you will get this much cash. That is the general idea of the email.
If you have questions, get your Short Sale questions answered by Short Sale Specialists.
Watch this and more short sale videos by Kevin and Fred at Short Sale Power Hour
Also, follow Group 46:10 on their blog at Peoria - Mortgage Short Sale Arizona
MORTGAGE SHORT SALE, A Five Step Process
Are you falling behind on your mortgage and want to avoid foreclosure through a mortgage short sale? The the five steps below to execute a mortgage short sale.
The foundation of a mortgage short sale in Phoenix, Arizona is as follows...a mortgage short sale is when you find a buyer for your home and the lender agrees to take the offer even though it will not pay off the mortgage entirely. In the mortgage short sale process, the lender forgives the remainder of the mortgage balance.
Step 1:Begin the mortgage short sale in one of two ways.
(1) Find a buyer in Phoenix, AZ for the mortgage short sale of your home and then contact the lender to see if a mortgage short sale is acceptable. Or, (2) contact the lender and ask for their approval in using a mortgage short sale to sell the home.
It will work out better if you already have a buyer ready to purchase your home, possibly an investor or a friend or family member. However, if you don't have a buyer already, you should probably talk to the lender about a mortgage short sale. Lenders do not have to agree to a mortgage short sale. So, you should check on the lenders terms and conditions to see if you can use a mortgage short sale to get rid of your property. Check on this so that you don't waste time and energy trying to find a buyer.
Step 2:If your lender is ok with a mortgage short sale, get all of the information that the lender will need to verify the mortgage short sale of your home. Most lenders will request a hardship letter stating why you need to mortgage short sale your home, a copy of the buyers offer, a proposed settlement statement, and the lender might want to speak with the potential buyer. Generally, the lender collects this information to make sure that you are not going to profit from the sale. Since the lender will lose money, they want to make sure that you are not making any money.
Step 3:Give your lender all of the documentation and information that they need to approve the mortgage short sale of the home.
Step 4:Protect your own interests in this process. If the lender agrees to a mortgage short sale, make sure that you have a real estate agent or lawyer to help you understand the terms of the mortgage short sale. Most important is the idea that your lender will accept the offer as payment in full. It is within the lender's rights to ask for you to pay the difference between the offer price and the payoff amount.
Step 5:If you lender approves of the mortgage short sale, have a real estate agent contact a title company to handle the transaction. When you have reached this point in a mortgage short sale, it is much the same as a regular home sale.
What is Foreclosure and How Can Loan Modification Help?
With the economy at its lowest point in memory and unemployment at historically high levels, you may be concerned about your economic future. As you track the news, the buzz surrounding plummeting home values always includes a discussion of foreclosure. It seems that more and more people have to foreclose on their homes. Perhaps you are struggling financially, and you are wondering if foreclosure is a possibility for your home. Maybe you've heard about a loan modification or a mortgage modification as an alternative to foreclosure, but you are unsure as to what any of that means.
A foreclosure is when the legal ownership of a home ends. In other words, the lending institution that holds your mortgage takes your house and you have no more legal rights to it. This often happens when the monthly mortgage payments have not been made. Usually, the lending institution will sell the house at an auction and use the money from the sale of the house to pay down the remaining mortgage debt.
The current administration is trying to help homeowners avoid foreclosure by working with lenders to offer loan modifications to their customers. A mortgage modification can help you avoid foreclosure when your lending institution changes a portion of the mortgage agreement so that you can afford the monthly mortgage payments. The mortgage holder can reduce the interest rate on the mortgage, or they can lengthen the term of the loan and reduce the interest rate. Changing one or both of these terms of the mortgage will lower the monthly mortgage payments. The goal is for the homeowner to avoid foreclosure and keep their house.
Before deciding that foreclosure is your only option during this difficult economic climate, consider loan modification. Likely you will need to summarize your monthly income and your monthly expenses. You will also need to write a hardship letter along with your application.
If you are serious about mortgage modification, you should look into getting a home loan modification kit. One such kit is 60 minute loan modification; it is basically a loan modification encyclopedia. The kit includes outlines of properly written hardship letters, important information about all major lenders, important to know terms and vocabulary and much more.
If you want to learn more about loan modification and 60 minute loan modification click here
Article Directory: EzineArticles http://ezinearticles.com
Post Short Sale Approval Troubles
Today, Kevin and Fred have decided to embrace a subject that they have never covered previously. In addition, they haven't ever discussed it in one of their Crush It classes. The subject is post short sale approval problems. Essentially, you already have an approval from the lender and problems arise. How do you handle them? What is actually occuring out there?
With a deal that closed yesterday, our escrow official was looking to get the closing HUD approval from our negotiator at Citi. It was closing today. The negotiator denied the closing HUD despite the fact that all of the conditions were met. The worst part was that the negotiator was not willing to articulate in plain english to clarify that the HUD had to look a specific way. It is important to note that just because the deal is approved, it does not mean it is closed.
Recognize that your approval note at most banks says that they have to approve of the final HUD. Because the approval letters do not state what they are paying and what they are not paying, you might not know if they will grant it.
We had one more post approval problem of late, with an approval from the coordinator. We scheduled the closing. About a week into the closing, we got a shout from a new negotiator that introduced themselves as the the new negotiator for this folder. She asked for a number of papers so that she could get the folder accepted. When we informed her that we already had the folder accepted, she let us know that that approval was no longer valid because they never got the folder accepted from the investor.
This is the type of stuff that is occuring out there that you will not here in a standard short sale training lesson. The point is that there are post approval problems and you are going to have to work with them if you want to be victorious in this business
If you have questions, get your Short Sale questions answered by Short Sale Specialists.
Watch this and more short sale videos by Kevin and Fred at Short Sale Power Hour
Also, follow Group 46:10 on their blog at Foreclosure Help - Mortgage Short Sale Arizona
Short Selling Tax Implications
Our nation is currently experiencing a lot of ups and downs in housing market. Properties that used to be worth a lot of money are now worth just a fraction of that. Because of this, many property owners are in a tough situation where they owe a lot more than their mortgage is worth. Also, selling the property would leave them well short of the needed money to pay off the mortgage. You need to understand the implications of short selling your home.
When you add in the fact that many of these upside down homes in Tempe, AZ are in markets that are already distressed and many of the homes were purchased with an adjustable rate mortgage, things become increasingly difficult. Now, mortgages are seeing interest rate hikes and that tacks on thousands of dollars in monthly mortgage payments.
When you combine the two effects, dropping home values in Tempe, Arizona and increasing mortgage payments you are already in trouble. However, couple those problems with the loss of a job, a major contributor to our country's financial situation, and you have the makings of a disaster. This current situation also contributes to the short selling phenomenon that a growing number of people are starting to enjoy. With the advent of short selling, home owners are able to avoid foreclosure and come out of a terrible situation in better position than otherwise thought possible.
In most cases, short selling will be a much better solution in the long term than letting your home go into foreclosure. Most people who need to use short selling are already unable to afford their mortgage even if they choose to refinance. You must recall that most of these people were assuming that if they needed to sell their home, they would make a profit on it because real estate always increases in value.
The process of short selling can remove a huge burden from the back's of many home owners. In the past, short selling meant that you would face a large tax on the sale. Now, depending on your state laws, you may not be hit with the taxes that previously came from short selling.
In many states, some of which tax short selling real estate at nine percent or higher, a seller will need to make a significant tax payment. However, with short selling, remember, you are not in a position to keep your home. So, even with the tax implications, short selling is often times the best scenario.
While the federal laws regarding short selling are fairly clear, it is in your best interest to check the short selling tax laws that are applied at the state level. Being informed as to the tax implications you may face in a short selling situation is important. When you don't know what you don't know, you should try to find out what you don't know.
Short Sale Success, Do Something Uncommon
We are going to talk about mindset once more today. We have noticed a trend on our preferred social media website, facebook. Coincidentally, facebook recently surpassed 500 million users. So, that is a great lead generation method on mindset Monday. Just ask the 23 customers that we got through facebook and closed on.
The theory that we would like to talk about is that we have noticed lots of realtors on facebook that are complaining. We are not mad at them because many of them are our associates. Yet, we see a lot of the status updates about which lender you loathe. Also, there are loads of status updates asking if anybody has a good contact at this particular lender or that particular lender. In light of these facebook postings, we would like to take people back to the January 2nd installment.
The theory that was discussed on that installment was to do something distinctive. This isn't an installment to get mad at realtors. The purpose is to not get stuck in a rut doing the identical thing all of the time and hoping for distinctive outcome. You will have to do something distinctive.
One of the things that we advocate to realtors is to talk to somebody distinctive at the lender. If you are wondering how to achieve that, try jigsaw.com. We get emails all day for connection details. It is important to note that we will never respond with contact information, but we will regularly respond with a suggestion to try jigsaw.com
Just one example of doing something distinctive, Fred couldn't get a lender employee to stop talking today so he just started pushing buttons on the telephone. It almost certainly wasn't the most mature thing to do. However, he was doing something distinctive. If what you have been doing isn't getting you the outcome you desire, try something distinctive. The worst thing that can ensue is you will still not get the outcome you desire.
If you have questions, get your Short Sale questions answered by Short Sale Specialists.
Watch this and more short sale videos by Kevin and Fred at Short Sale Power Hour
Also, follow Group 46:10 on their blog at Casa Grande - Arizona Short Sale Specialist




Fred Weaver is a founding co-owner of Group 46:10. He has been working in the financing/real estate business for over 7 years. Fred began his real estate career by working for a large wholesale bank as a processor and rate/lock specialist for home mortgages. After 2 years in the business, Fred transferred from the banking side of home loans to the mortgage side. While on the mortgage side of financing, Fred gained experience originating mortgages and processing files for Morgan Capital of Arizona, Inc.
Kevin is a founding co-owner of Group 46:10. He began working in the real estate business in 2007 after spending 8 years working in the finance industry for companies such as Bank One, Green Tree Financial, & GE Capital.