California Short Sale Help

Free Short Sale Help

If you think things were already bad enough, it may be getting worse.  Not that I am a cynical person, but I not only read what’s going on in our real estate market, but I also talk with real home owners every day experiencing this themselves.

Once again, our country’s largest mortgage servicer, Bank of America, has come up with a proposed settlement between them and their investors which could leave several thousand distressed home owners/borrowers in a very vulnerable spot.  They could be losing their homes and being evicted more quickly than what we’ve been experiencing.

Before you decide not to make your mortgage payment or decide to go into foreclosure, please stop and think.  Do your self a favor, and do your due diligence.  Either try again to do a loan modification or do a short sale.  Review What Is A Short Sale and What Is a Hafa Short Sale before it’s too late.  It’s so much easier to get started BEFORE you have a Notice Of Sale on your title.

Read the article written by the New York Times

I hope this will enlighten you a little more about what our big banks are doing, and I’m sure it won’t stop here.  All we can do is to take care of ourselves and seek out consumer advocates, such as your local Short Sale Specialist, like myself, or a loan modification specialist if you want to try to do a loan modification.  If you would like to find out if you qualify for a HAFA Short Sale or a Traditional Short Sale fill out the form and I will get back to you in a timely manner.  I am a consumer advocate and a Realtor and my goal is to help home owners become more educated on their options and come up with solutions that meet your needs. 

You may also email me your property and personal situation and I will personally answer your questions.

Your HAFA Short Sale Specialist, Suzanne B Martin  888-700-5035

HAMP and HAFA Programs

Is a loan modification right for me?

It is recommended that you start your due diligence with this step.

A loan modification allows homeowners to lower their mortgage costs and stay in their home without the threat of foreclosure. In this tough economy, a loan medication can great improve one’s economic situation, improve the quality of life for you and your family, and reduce the amount of stress you might be experiencing on a day to day basis.  The thought process you would be discussing is, “if my bank can lower my payment, I want to stay in this house”.  Here are a few reasons why a bank would consider doing a loan modification for you:

*Interest rate above 6%
*Unaffordable Payments
*Adjustable Rate Loan
*Victim of Predatory Loan
*Delinquent payments
*Current or Pending Foreclosure
*Negative Equity
*Catch Up on Payments

There are many, many loan modification companies and a truck load of attorneys who are doing loan mods these days. Some are better than others and some are not good, so you really need to ask questions about how they do business, what the procedure is, how long it should take, how much money it will cost and make sure the payment is going to be low enough for it to make a difference in you being able to afford the mortgage payment. So many times a bank will do a loan modification but it’s just a band aid on an overall bigger problem and the property will result in a foreclosure anyway. So, please…..do yourself a favor and make sure the numbers pencil out before you put yourself through what could be a very long and frustrating ordeal.

There is another Loan Modification program that you NEED to know about. It’s called the Home Affordable Modification Program and The Home Affordable Refi Program. HAMP and HARP. You may have heard about it. It was introduced through the Obama administration back on March 4, 2009.

HAMP: The U.S. Department of Treasury released the Making Home Affordable Program for loan modifications and special refinancing terms by the Nation’s leading banks. The Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) will offer assistance to millions of homeowners, making their mortgages more affordable and helping to prevent the destructive impact of foreclosures on families, communities and the national economy. The HAMP Program will help at risk homeowners avoid foreclosure by reducing monthly mortgage payments. The HAMP Program can reduce your interest rate as low as 2% Fixed and extend your loan to 40 years if necessary. You will also qualify for principle reduction each year while in the program.

HARP: Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) ends June 2011 but may be extended.

*125% LTV Max (i.e. $350,000 Loan/$280,000 Property Value)
*FICO Score 640 Minimum (Freddie)/700 Minimum (Fannie)
*DTI (Debt To Income Ratio 50% Max)
*Must be current on payments
*Must not have PMI on current loan (no PMI will be on new loan)
*Must be owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac

The Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) will be available to 4 to 5 million homeowners who have a solid payment history on an existing mortgage owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Normally, these borrowers would be unable to refinance because their homes have lost value, pushing their current loan-to-value ratios above 80%. Under the HARP program, many of them will now be eligible to refinance their loan up to 125% LTV to take advantage of today’s lower mortgage rates or to refinance an adjustable-rate mortgage into a more stable mortgage, such as a 30-year fixed rate loan.

If you would like to see if you qualify for a HAMP modification, send an email to suzanne@calshortsalehelp.com and ask for a HAMP Work Sheet. One will be sent to you to be filled out and returned to be evaluated.
Or call: 888-700-5035 and ask for a HAMP Work Sheet.  Visit:  http://www.calshortsalehelp.com

loan modification allows homeowners to lower their mortgage costs and stay in their home without the threat of foreclosure. In this tough economy, a loan medication can great improve one’s economic situation, improve the quality of life for you and your family, and reduce the amount of stress you might be experiencing on a day to day basis. The thought process you would be discussing is, “if my bank can lower my payment, I want to stay in this house”. Here are a few reasons why a bank would consider doing a loan modification for you:

Keep It Clean and Simple

If you are an investor of real estate buying short sales, a buyer hoping to find your next home or a real estate agent writing an offer on a short sale, there are some pointers to writing a nice clean offer to make it easy for the bank to select and work with you.  Also, remember, short sales are sold “as is” and the banks will not fix anything.

 No matter what State you work in, the Banks get offers from them all.  What makes a bank choose one short sale offer  over another?  Well, it’s really very basic when you think about it.  First of all most short sale listings are priced appropriately to sell around the listing price if the listing agent chose the price.  It’s not uncommon to come in a little less, but to deviate from the list price by too much, your offer will be looked at as a “low ball” offer and possibly could just be “rejected” without a counter offer depending on the bank.  Bank of America is notorious for that.

There are some very obvious items that the banks will not approve. 

 Here are some of the most  common examples:

1. Home Warranty
2. Credit for Closing Costs
3. Pest Control or Termite Treatment
4.  Repairs or a credit for repairs

Here are some tips to write a complete, clean offer that the banks will love:

1.   Make your offer legible and signed in ink by both seller and buyer.
2.   Make your offer as straight forward as possible.  Don’t ask the bank to pay for anything that they would view as a “concession”.
3.   Include your proof of funds or pre-approval letter.
4.  As an extra, you can attach your CMA –market analysis–to show how you came up with your offer price.
5.  Submit to the listing agent and be patient.  However, make sure you ask your listing agent if he/she will be submitting more than one offer at a time.  The banks get confused and can only focus on one at a time.



If you are in a market where there may be multiple offers on properties, using these guidelines will give you the edge over your competition so you have a better chance at getting your offer accepted!  Visit http://www.calshortsalehelp.com for more information on short sales.

Avoid Foreclosure with HAFA

In February 2009, the Obama Administration introduced the Making Home Affordable Program in an effort to try to stabilize the real estate market and to help struggling homeowners stay in their homes.    There are a few components to this program:  HAMP and HAFA.

HAMP is the Home Affordable Modification Program.  If you want to keep your home but you’re having a hard time paying for your mortgage because of the interest rate is too high, you should try to modify using the HAMP program.

HAFA is the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative program.  If you know that you won’t be able to stay in your home due to job loss, relocation for a j0b, or have another type of hardship that is preventing you from being able to afford to pay your mortgage AND you have already tried a loan mod, your next step is the HAFA Short Sale. 

HAFA Benefits

• You will receive $3000.00 at closing to help with your moving costs
• You will be fully released from future liability for your first mortgage debt (no cash contribution, promissory note or deficiency judgement is allowed) Also, any Junior lien holder who accepts a HAFA incentive must also release you frm future liability.

HAFA Eligibility

• The property must be a primary residence
• The first lien must have been originated before Janury 1, 2009
• The mortgage must be delinquent or default must be foreseeable.
• The current unpaid principal balance may not be more that $729,750.
• Your total monthly payment must exceed 31% of your gross income.

Every situation is different and has particular circumstances that your service my look at to qualify you under this program.  To find out if you qualify for the HAFA Short Sale Program go to the home page of www.calshortsalehelp.com and fill out the inquiry sheet.  Someone will be in touch with you within 24 hours or less.  Also, if you would like to obtain a free book on Short Sales versus foreclosures and loan modifications, there is a free E-Book on this site as well.  Or…feel free to contact us at info@calshortsalehelp.com and request your copy.

We at CalShortSaleHelp are here to help in any way.  We LOVE your questions, so please let us know what questions you have about your particular situation!

Suzanne Martin, Realtor, VP of CalShortSalesHelp.com