4.3 Million Foreclosure Victims Offered Independent Case Reviews With Focus On Proper Processes

While I’m not so sure I agree with the word “victims” in this article title I still think it holds some merit and deserves to be shared. So many people have either already been kicked out of their homes or are in the process of being given the boot. I agree that improper processes need to be identified and addressed.

Here is the article from yesterday’s NotaryBulletin presented by the National Notary Association.

In what is being considered the first meaningful response to the foreclosure crisis, the federal government has ordered 14 mortgage lenders involved in the “robo-signing” scandal to send letters to 4.3 million consumers who may have been victimized by foreclosure errors and misconduct, paving the way for a massive number of individual case reviews and potential compensation.

Read more

Check out this scary satellite view of Tampa Bay FL foreclosures!

The national average is depressing enough at 1 in 46 homes being in foreclosure but things get even more bleak when you look at our situation here in Florida. Literally 1 out of every 20 homes in the Tampa Bay area is currently in foreclosure. On the below map the red dots show homes currently in foreclosure.

U.S. ‘Underwater’ Homeowners Increase to 28.6%, Zillow Reports

Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) — The number of U.S. homeowners who owe more than their properties are worth climbed in the third quarter as lenders repossessed fewer houses, Zillow Inc. said.

The share of borrowers with negative equity rose to 28.6 percent, up from 26.8 percent in the second quarter and 23.2 percent a year earlier, the real estate data provider said today. Last quarter’s portion was the biggest since Seattle- based Zillow began tracking the measure in the first quarter of 2009, when 22.3 percent of households were underwater.

Read more

Wells Fargo: Government aid won’t help housing market

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Nov. 4, 2011 – The Obama administration’s plan to help more homeowners refinance underwater mortgages may be a big deal in South Florida, but the lifeline won’t have a significant effect on the nation’s housing market, Wells Fargo Securities predicts.

Nearly half of homeowners with mortgages in Broward and Palm Beach counties are underwater, according to research firm CoreLogic. They’re hoping an expansion of the Home Affordable Refinance Program will help them refinance at current interest rates and get them out from under burdensome mortgages.

Read more

How many foreclosures are currently for sale in Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough Counties?

In total there are 19,1888 properties for sale in all of Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough Counties but only 900 of these are actually foreclosures. This means 4.7% of the homes in the Tampa Bay market that are currently for sale are bank-owned foreclosures.

Halloween is going to suck this year!

Giving new meaning to being “upside down in your mortgage”

Statistics showing bank-owned and Short Sales sell more than normal listings

I’d like to share some interesting statistics with you all. I’ve selected to run these stats for the city of Clearwater, but just about any city in the Tampa Bay area will give you the same results.

Let’s start with the total number of homes in Active status. This gives us 685 single-family houses listed for sale in Clearwater, FL.

Read more

REO agents using low prices like chum to attract buyers

Recently I’ve noticed a trend with bank-owned listings. It seems the listing agents are pricing their foreclosures way lower than the bank would ever accept in order to cause a feeding frenzy to ensue.

I liken it to chumming to attract sharks or larger fish. Once the sharks or home buyers and investors have arrived on the scene the biggest shark or buyer with the highest bid wins.

Read more

The Foreclosure Survival Guide: Keep Your House or Walk Away With Money in Your Pocket

Here is a new book coming out in September of 2011 to help homeowners deal with foreclosure..

Facing foreclosure? Know your options!

Foreclosures climbed a record 81% in 2008, with over 860,000 families losing their homes. In 2009, an additional 3 million foreclosures are predicted as temporary postponements end and homeowners are increasingly incapable of paying the mortgage during this brutal recession.

If you’re having trouble making your mortgage payments or are already in jeopardy of foreclosure, The Foreclosure Survival Guide compassionately gives you the practical information you need, step by step.

Read more

Secrets to Buying REO Listings

An REO listing is a real estate listing owned by a bank typically obtained by the bank via foreclosure on the previous owners. REO stands for “Real Estate Owned,” which if you ask me, is a really stupid name. Why not call these type of listings, “BORE” for Bank Owned Real Estate?” I suppose REO sounds more exciting than BORE now that I think of it.

There are a couple secrets to buying REO’s successfully. And they are worth understanding because foreclosures are the best deals on the market today. Anyone serious about buying for the lowest price should be focused on REO’s.

Secret 1: Don’t trust the MLS listing report
Just because MLS says the listing is Active and available doesn’t mean it really is. If you’re working with a Realtor and you are about to go view some REO listings do yourself and that Realtor a favor by insisting that they call each REO and verify that the REO is really active and available.

Quite often the REO listing agent received a contract already on the property, submitted it to the bank, received a verbal acceptance of the offer, and is simply waiting for the bank to sign the contract. The time between the contract being submitted and being signed by the bank is what we call “REO limbo.” Don’t get sucked into REO limbo! Request that your real estate agent takes the time to call each and every foreclosure that he or she plans to show you and verifies they are really available. You don’t want to waste your time and emotional energy going to see houses that are actually sold. And when a bank “verbally accepts” an offer it is as good as sold. Read more

What do I need to do to sell my Florida home?

If you’re interested in selling your Tampa Bay, Florida home in 2011 you’re going to need to learn how to look at your situation as objectively as possible. By “objectively” I mean “Uninfluenced by emotions or personal prejudices.”

Easier said than done? Tell me about it.

But you’re going to need to do it nonetheless, so perhaps now is the time to start practicing. A good place to start is by walking out of your home and then back in the front door, pretending you’re an actual home buyer seeing the “property” for the first time. You’ve never been in the house before so look around at what you think a buyer would look at if they were seeing your home for the first time.

Is it clean and organized? Are there unfinished repair or maintenance projects obvious? How does the home smell? Is it light or are all the windows covered making the place feel more like a cave than an inviting home?

These are the physical steps to attempting to see your home objectively – as buyers might see your home. You might also ask some friends to do the walk-through with you and to be honest about what they think a buyer might think. Read more

Where is the Shadow Inventory?

WASHINGTON – Sept. 20, 2010 – For the last year, the real estate industry has been talking about shadow inventory and the coming flood of distressed properties. Where are they?

Here’s what’s happening, according to a recent paper by Alan Mallach, a senior fellow the Brookings Institution:

• Some delinquencies have been resolved through loan modifications or people working out the problems on their own.

• Banks are getting better at managing short sales.

• Investors are aggressively buying up properties, sometimes in bulk, directly from the banks or at courthouse auctions so they don’t hit the market.

The likeliest outcome, Mallach predicts, is a steady flow of foreclosures over a long timeframe that will prevent another crash in home prices – but it will probably lead to low or no appreciation in home prices for a while.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Nick Timiaros (09/16/2010)

Bill could speed up short sales

WASHINGTON – Sept. 17, 2010 – Homeowners underwater on their mortgage may find relief through a bill strongly supported by the National Association of Realtors®. The bill, if passed by Congress and signed by President Obama, would force lenders to respond to a short sale request within 45 days.

The legislation, H.R. 6133, “Prompt Decision for Qualification of Short Sale Act of 2010,” was filed yesterday in Congress by U.S. Reps. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.) and Tom Rooney (R-Fla.).

“The short sale, which requires lender approval, is an important instrument for homeowners who owe more than their home is worth,” says NAR President Vicki Cox Golder. “While the lending community has worked to improve the size and training of their short sales staffs, they still have a long way to go on improving response times. As the leading advocate for homeownership issues, NAR believes that quicker attention to the short sales process is vital to help homeowners … as well as the nation’s economy.”

The number of potential short sale properties is rising across the country. According to NAR data, in the second quarter of 2010, four states have a significant share of properties with short-sale potential: Florida has 27 percent, Nevada 32 percent, California 28 percent, and Arizona 24 percent.

“Unfortunately, homeowners who need to execute a short sale are severely hampered because lenders (loan servicers) are unable to decide whether to approve a short sale within a reasonable amount of time,” Golder said. “Potential homebuyers are walking away from purchasing short sale property because the lender has taken many months and still not responded to their request for an approval of a proposed short sale price. Many consumers have mentioned that the delay in short sale price approval exceeds 90 days, and in many cases never arrives.”

Golder says she commends Reps. Andrews and Rooney for their efforts on the bill and urges Congress to pass the bill quickly.

How long can you breathe underwater?

Inman News

Top 10 states with highest share of negative equity mortgages

1. Nevada (68 percent of 592,000 mortgages)
2. Arizona (50 percent of 1.3 million mortgages)
3. Florida (46 percent of 4.5 million mortgages)
4. Michigan (38 percent of 1.4 million mortgages)
5. California (33 percent of 6.9 million mortgages)
6. Georgia (28 percent of 1.6 million mortgages)
7. Idaho (24 percent of 243,000 mortgages)
8. Virginia (23 percent of 1.2 million mortgages)
9. Maryland (22 percent of 1.4 million mortgages)
10. Utah (20 percent of 470,000 mortgages)

Expect prices in Tampa Bay to drop even more

We hear so many different opinions on the subject of home values and the overall real estate industry that it is very difficult to know who or what to trust. I’m here to tell you that nobody really knows and anyone who claims to be an expert on the subject is trying to sell you something.

As someone who lives and breaths real estate I can say with complete confidence that I don’t know what the future holds. All I know for certain is that there are too many homes on the market for the quantity of buyers, and as a result prices are down and will remain down. If you’re looking to sell now or in the immediate future you need to face the music. You’re not going to get what you probably feel you deserve for your home should you decide to sell in 2010.

According to Inman News

National home prices were up slightly in February from a year ago — the first annual increase in more than three years — but are expected to give up those gains and more later this year, according to a report from First American CoreLogic.

First American CoreLogic’s LoanPerformance Home Price Index showed prices up 0.3 percent in February from a year ago, compared to a 0.5 percent year-over-year price decline in January.

The index currently shows a 30.6 percent decline in national home prices from an April, 2006 peak, or 21.7 percent if distressed properties are excluded.

Will the $8,000 tax credit be extended?

According to my sources the $8,000 tax credit will NOT be extended. There simply is not enough money available to extend this first-time home buyer tax credit. So it is now or never folks. If you’d like to benefit from this tax credit you need to be under contract in the next few weeks and closed by June 30, 2010. This means short sales aren’t going to work. Concentrate on traditional sales and bank-owned or you will miss the tax credit. Anyone that tells you that you can go under contract and close on a short sale by June 30, 2010 is either under the influence of something exotic or completely inexperienced with short sales.

Fannie Mae to Rent Foreclosed Homes

Thousands of borrowers on the brink of foreclosure will soon have the option of renting their homes from Fannie Mae under a new program announced in early November.

Under the new “Deeds for Leases” program, Fannie Mae will allow borrowers facing foreclosure to transfer ownership to Fannie Mae and sign a one-year lease, with month-to-month extensions after that, as part of the latest effort to help troubled borrowers while keeping a glut of foreclosed properties from hitting the housing market.

But the new government-sponsored program is unlikely to help many distressed homeowners. In the first half of the year, Fannie Mae repossessed 57,000 properties, compared to only 1,200 properties that were leased back to owners.

Fannie Mae has hired an outside management company to administer the program. To qualify, borrowers have to live in the home as their primary residence and prove they can afford the monthly rent. The rent cannot be more than 31 percent of their pretax income.

Source: The Associated Press

Mortgage Delinquencies Reach a Record High

About one in seven homeowners with a mortgage was at least one payment behind or in foreclosure in the third quarter of 2009, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. This is up from about one in 10 a year ago and translates into about 5 million households that are delinquent.

The 14.4 percent rate in the third quarter was the highest rate since the MBA bagan reporting such data in 1972. driven by rising job losses, prime fixed-rate loans made to borrowers with good credit accounted for 33 percent of all new foreclosures in the third quarter, compared with 21 percent a year ago, the MBA said.

“Job losses continue to increase and drive up delinquencies and foreclosures,” said Jay Brinkman, the MBA’s chief economist. “Prime fixed-rate loans continue to represent the largest share of foreclosures started and the biggest driver of the increase in foreclosures. The outlook is that delinquency rates and foreclosure rates will continue to worsen before they improve.

The MBA said loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration are also showing signs of trouble. More than 18 precent of FHA borrowers are at least one payment behind or in foreclosure. The association expects foreclosures to peak in 2011.

Source: Mortgage Bankers Association

Only 1 in 8 short sales ever close

Fannie Mae recently released statistics showing the difficult nature of a Short Sale transaction and how that relates to Foreclosure statistics.

In 2008, Fannie Mae found that for every one short sale that closed, eight homes went into foreclosure. This speaks to the difficult nature of the Short Sale process and the backward nature of how lenders handle them.

Daughtry , Home (Live on American Idol)

Chris Daughtry, in my opinion, is the best singer that has come from the American Idol show to date.

I’m staring out into the night,
Trying to hide the pain.
I’m going to the place where love
And feeling good don’t ever cost a thing.
And the pain you feel’s a different kind of pain.

Well I’m going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.
I’m not running from.
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don’t regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old,
So I’m going home.
Well I’m going home.

The miles are getting longer, it seems,
The closer I get to you.
I’ve not always been the best man or friend for you.
But your love, it makes true.
And I don’t know why.
You always seem to give me another try.

So I’m going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.
I’m not running from.
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don’t regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old,
So I’m going home.
I’m going home.

Be careful what you wish for,
‘Cause you just might get it all.
You just might get it all,
And then some you don’t want.
Be careful what you wish for,
‘Cause you just might get it all.
You just might get it all, yeah.

Oh, well I’m going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.
I’m not running from.
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don’t regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old.
I said these places and these faces are getting old,
So I’m going home.

Charles Rutenberg is rated #1

If you’ve been paying attention as you drive around Tampa Bay neighborhoods you’ve undoubtedly noticed an abundance of Charles Rutenberg Realty signs dotting the yards. There are good reasons for why we’re dominating the real estate market, but this blog post isn’t about the why of our success. It’s simply to note that we are successful and significantly more so than every other real estate brokerage in town.

Charles Rutenberg has 3x as many listings as the 2nd place real estate company. With 1997 total listings we have more listings than the next 4 brokerages combined. We control an impressive 19.46% of the market for active listings.

But active listings are only one indicator of success. Even more important than what we have for sale is what we actually have under contract. According to the Kenst Report, the industry ratings guide for the Tampa Bay area, Charles Rutenberg Realty is outperforming all other real estate brokerages. Our share of the market is just under 25% at 24.83%. Our nearest competitor comes in at 10.43%.

And even more important than active listings and listings under contract are listings we’ve actually sold. So let’s take a look at those numbers now. From January of 2009 through the end of September 2009 Charles Rutenberg Realty sold more than 2x as many listings as the 2nd place real estate brokerage. And to show this isn’t some sort of fluke we can look at the same statistics for 2008 and see a similar level of dominance.

Why share these statistics with Tampa Bay area home buyers and sellers? The time will come when just about everyone will need to buy or sell real estate. And at this point a decision needs to be made. Will you hire the best or one of the rest? Yes, that rhymed. I couldn’t help it. I feel like a cheerleader right now, but trust me, you don’t want to see me in a cheerleader uniform.

How much money do I need to purchase a home at a real estate auction?

My last blog post was about how illogical and financially nutty it is to attend a real estate auction and place bids on a piece of property you’ve never even seen in person. One of the reader comments I received asked me a really good question. I responded to the question, but I’ll now post my response as it just might help many other prospective auction buyers that are tossing around the idea of buying through a real estate auction.

REDC auctions used to require showing a $5,000 cashier’s check just to get in the door, but the market is changing and this door amount has been dropped to $2,500. I assume this change is an effort to attract more buyers/bidders. Quite frankly I don’t know the real reason. But the lowered amount has probably increased the number of people that will now consider buying at an auction.

Keep in mind the $2,500 is only to get in the door. No, they don’t take the $2,500 check from you at the door as some sort of cover charge, but they do want to see that you’re a real buyer and not wasting their time, money and limited seating. If you cannot come up with a $2,500 cashiers check you aren’t a good prospect for a real estate auction.

There are some upfront expenses. You have to pay the deposit payment on the property right then and there…or at least right after winning the bidding. So assume the winning bid is $100,000. The first cost that is added on is a 5% buyer’s premium, which goes straight to REDC to cover their expense of running the auction. So now the winning bid is $100,000 + $5,000 or a total of $105,000. Read more

Would you buy a home you’ve never even seen? People do.

On Monday of this week I worked as a contract signer at an REDC real estate auction down in Fort Myers, Florida. Real estate auctions are such a wonderful opportunity for investors to pick up really low-priced properties to add to their portfolios. Heck, they’re great for just about any buyer with a bit of cash in their pocket. Anyone with the right market knowledge and experience (or an experienced Realtor representing them) should seriously consider checking out the next auction. Email me at chris@callchristoday.com if you have questions or need some advice on how to purchase through real estate auctions. They are fun, fast and potentially financially rewarding.

But on to the purpose of this post. It never fails to amaze and amuse me how many auction bidders bid on properties they have never even seen in person. I can’t picture a more foolish thing to do, but it happens every auction. These buyers are expected to have done their due diligence and visited each and every home upon which they are considering bidding. By the time of the auction they should know the condition and history of the property and neighborhood. But many people just don’t do their homework and they arrive at the auction virtually blind. Read more

Why do lenders agree to Short Sales?

This is one of those questions many people are asking me these days. There are so many homeowners in Tampa Bay, Florida that are behind on their payments and exploring their options that I thought I’d write a bit about why short sales make sense for lenders. I can assure you they aren’t accepting less than you owe because they want to do you a favor!

Lenders are willing to accept a Short Sale for the following reasons:

• To avoid the cost of foreclosure — Lenders lose, on average, $50,000 per foreclosed home
• To avoid adding additional real estate to their inventory; afterall, they are in the business of lending money, not purchasing homes
• Perhaps the Seller has a true hardship and is a likely candidate for filing bankruptcy

So even though a short sale might be in your lenders best interest it is often a challenge to get them to realize this fact. This is why you need a knowledgeable Realtor skilled in navigating complex real estate transactions like Short Sales. Please don’t hesitate to call me if you have questions or need help. Also, you’re free to post comments right here and I’ll respond quickly.

Home short sale flips nixed

By SHANNON BEHNKEN
sbehnken@tampatrib.com
Published: June 12, 2009

TAMPA – It may be a bit tougher now for investors to flip short sales for big profits.

Attorneys’ Title Insurance Fund notified its 6,000 member lawyers this week that it will not insure deals made with a popular – but controversial – method for closing flips of short sales. A short sale occurs when a mortgage holder agrees to allow a home to sell for less than the mortgage balance so that foreclosure can be avoided.

The Orlando-based fund is a major underwriter for lawyers who write title insurance in Florida. In a letter to lawyers, the fund said it has become aware of short sale programs advertised on the Internet that promise to make investors lots of money with little or no work.

The letter says they involve investors entering option deals with homeowners for “the exclusive right to purchase their property for a period of time.”

The investor negotiates a short sale with the mortgage holder by convincing it that the price it is offering is the market value of the property. The investor then finds a buyer for a much higher price. The sales happen simultaneously, and the investor pockets the difference.

The problem is that “the original lender is not told that the buyer is flipping the property on the same day for thousands more than the lender has been told is the market value of the property,” the letter states.

The fund’s decision could have a major effect on short sale flips because many investors use lawyers to close deals when traditional title companies won’t.

The option contract method has been gaining steam as a way to work off inventory in a bad real estate market.

Critics say mortgage holders are misled and don’t realize they could be selling for more. Some real estate agents and buyers complain that the option contracts lock some buyers out of the market. That’s because some types of loans forbid flips.

Some lawyers have raised concerns that sellers may have to pay the difference later.

But proponents say investors can make money and homeowners can avoid foreclosure. They say mortgage holders would lose even more money if they foreclosed on the home.

What is a short sale?

A short sale is a sale of real estate in which the proceeds from the sale fall short of the balance owed on a loan secured by the property sold.

In a short sale, the bank or mortgage lender agrees to discount a loan balance due to an economic or financial hardship on the part of the mortgagor. This negotiation is all done through communication with a bank’s loss mitigation or workout department. The home owner/debtor sells the mortgaged property for less than the outstanding balance of the loan, and turns over the proceeds of the sale to the lender, sometimes (but not always) in full satisfaction of the debt. In such instances, the lender would have the right to approve or disapprove of a proposed sale. Extenuating circumstances influence whether or not banks will discount a loan balance. These circumstances are usually related to the current real estate market and the borrower’s financial situation.

A short sale typically is executed to prevent a home foreclosure, but the decision to proceed with a short sale is predicated on the most economic way for the bank to recover the amount owed on the property. Often a bank will allow a short sale if they believe that it will result in a smaller financial loss than foreclosing as there are carrying costs that are associated with a foreclosure. A bank will typically determine the amount of equity (or lack of), by determining the probable selling price from a Broker Price Opinion BPO (also known as a Broker Opinion of Value (BOV)) or through a valuation of an appraisal. For the home owner, advantages include avoidance of a foreclosure on their credit history and partial control of the monetary deficiency. A short sale is typically faster and less expensive than a foreclosure. In short, a short sale is nothing more than negotiating with lien holders a payoff for less than what they are owed, or rather a sale of a debt, generally on a piece of real estate, short of the full debt amount. It does not extinguish the remaining balance unless settlement is clearly indicated on the acceptance of offer.

Short sales are common in standard business transactions in recognition that creditors are not doing debtors a favor but, rather, engaging in a business transaction when extending credit. When it makes no business sense or is economically not feasible to retain an asset, businesses default on their loans (called bonds). It is not uncommon for business bonds to trade on the after-market for a small fraction of their face value in realization of the likelihood of these future defaults.

Read more about short sales at Wikipedia

3 States Account For Half Of The Country’s Foreclosures

Since 2007, foreclosures have dominated national real estate news. You can’t turn on the news or open a paper without seeing at least one foreclosure-related story.

But for all of the discussion, even two-and-a-half years after the peak of the housing market, home foreclosures continue to be geographically concentrated.

In looking at the latest stats from foreclosure marketplace RealtyTrac, more than half of the country’s foreclosure actions from March 2009 occurred in just 3 states — California, Florida and Nevada.

Foreclosures Account for More Than Half of All Sales

In its monthly existing home sales report, the National Association of Realtors said foreclosure sales accounted for more than half of all existing home sales nationwide in March. NAR also reported that foreclosed homes sold for 20 percent less than homes not facing foreclosure.

Source: National Association of Realtors

Unpaid real estate property taxes in Tampa Bay skyrocket

According to the St. Petersburg Times a record number of property taxes are going unpaid in Tampa Bay thus depriving our area of millions of dollars of tax revenue. As of April 2009 114,000 properties had overdue tax bills totaling more than $300 million.

• Hillsborough County property owners owe the most, with nearly $160 million overdue, a 6 percent increase from last year.

• In Pinellas County, property owners have not paid about $116 million in taxes, up 18 percent from last year.

• Pasco County has $35 million outstanding, while Hernando County property owners owe about $20 million.

The St. Petersburg Times reports that about a third of the properties with overdue bills are homeowners. The rest are commercial properties, including First Central Tower in downtown St. Petersburg, the Tierra Verde Marina, the Brookside Apartments in Temple Terrace, and the Safety Harbor Spa.

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