Real Estate Industry Blog

The foreclosure process is either judicial (through the courts) or non-judicial (outside the courts).  I notice there are a few Californians here on the short sale blog.  California is most commonly non-judicial foreclosure through power of sale.  Most of my short sale purchases are in Florida which is judicial foreclosure. So I say, give ear [...]

Real estate investors were pleased to see that Mortgage rates held steady during the first half of the week, at least until Wednesday’s Fed meeting. As expected, the target for the Fed Funds rate remained unchanged, close to a level of zero. Heading into the announcement, the biggest question for investors was whether the Fed [...]

Should a homeowner who cannot make their mortgage payments consider “short Sale”? There is not best answer since each householder’s circumstances is different.  To know if you should put your house on the market as a “short sale”, read through this summary of how the process works.  Then call us to discuss your specific case before [...]

I just recieved an email from another professional who’s negotiations have come to a complete halt while working with a servicer to modify his clients loans. He wrote the following: I am currently working with (1) Investor, we are Modifying (20) Loans with ASC, It has taken a LONG time to get (1) negotiator, & [...]

We’ve been talking about a new platform for over a year.  During that time we have looked at many different proprietary platforms but ultimately settled on a platform powered by WordPress.  One of the reasons why we couldn’t have launched sooner was the technology provided by WordPress was still only in beta and didn’t have [...]

As home prices spiral downward in the state of California, the increasing number of mortgage defaults has been on the upswing during the past few years. Many homeowners today realize that what they owe is not what the home is remotely worth. As a result, foreclosures in California now skyrocketing  to a level that the average Californian homeowner is not prepared to handle. A great solution, that should [...]

“IT’S A CRUEL, CRUEL SUMMER…LEAVING ME HERE ON MY OWN.” From 80′s band Bananarama And that’s exactly what potential home buyers and refinancers who stay on the sidelines might be singing. I sit here and look back at the events that took place this past week, and here are Bernie Germani’s thoughts. Although home loan [...]

A new President took office, a large fiscal stimulus package moved closer to passage, and investors became more concerned about the impact of the enormous amount of debt which will be issued to pay for all the government programs. The most recent proposal called for an additional $825 billion to stimulate the economy. As the [...]

The Broker Price Opinion (BPO) is the hinge on your short sale transaction leading to success or failure.  A high BPO and your deal falls apart while a low BPO can close it.  Let me illustrate with two recent examples. The BPO company calls me to see if the property is on lock box.  I [...]

I have been generating real estate leads from my Las Vegas Real Estate website since 2003.  My assistant would handle all the follow-up and schedule appointments with clients that were coming into town to view homes.  This worked really well for me until we became to busy to handle all the leads in 2005.  In [...]

Rates on mortgages and interbank loans(what banks charge each other) slide. Demand surges for corporate bonds. In my opinion the global credit freeze is slightly improving, and thawing since the Treasury and the Federal Reserve launched a massive rescue of  the financial system last fall. The consumer is the best indicator of better credit market [...]

Lakewood, California: If your client has an FHA insured loan please understand this. Your client will need an application (HUD Form 90036) to participate in a pre-foreclosure sales program, as well as a home-ownership counseling form (HUD Form 90038). The listing: Borrowers shouldn’t enter their house in the local multiple listing service until they establish communication [...]

Mortgagee Letter 2008-43 contains the new FHA short sale [a/k/a FHA Pre-Foreclosure Sale (PFS)] program guidelines.  It’s definitely an improvement for anyone involved in shorting an FHA loan.  Here’s some of what you need to know about the FHA PFS: They removed the calculation that required the property to appraise for at least 63% of [...]

At the end of 2008 the AP reported the top ten counties in the country to expect higher foreclosure ratings  in 2009 based on lower home values. Number 3 on that list was Riverside county, which includes Temecula and Murrieta. With the number of new construction and the speculators that were in the county during [...]

You might think you are going to lose your home. However this might not be the case. If you don’t have a foreclosure scheduled the following video will show you how to pin point the amount of time in your area from foreclosure filing to foreclosure sale.

Short Sales in Las Vegas will increase in 2009 due to the local economy.  Even though Project City Center is expect to create over 20K jobs, many Hotesl & Casinos will be letting employees go as visitors to Las Vegas drops.  Many of these employees who lose their job won’t be able to afford their [...]

Weak economic data and strong demand for mortgage-backed securities (MBS) helped mortgage rates remain at historically low levels during the week. Refinancing activity has increased dramatically as borrowers have rushed to take advantage of low rates. As a result, backlogs have developed at almost every step in the origination process, extending the time necessary to [...]

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae will implement a revised Home Valuation Code of Conduct beginning May 1, 2009. In an attempt to increase the reliability of appraisals, the revised code builds on existing seller-servicer guidelines and will apply to lenders that sell single-family mortgage loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. One major difference in [...]

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