Welcome to this week’s edition of the Pre-foreclosure Daily Grind! In this edition we discuss a couple of great tips with you! First, we’ll cover a deal we’ve been working on recently, and how we’ve hit a roadblock regarding getting a foreclosure postponed. We will cover what you NEED to tell your clients with regards to how postponing foreclosures works. Second, we’ll talk about the basis on which 2nd mortgages often make the absurd requests they do which helps us all understand such situations.

Many of us have likely experienced a scenario in which we get about 80% of the way through the short sale process, only to have the lender foreclose and take the property right out from under us. This can be very frustrating! We ourselves have had THREE like this in the last 2 weeks alone. So, for those of you who have faced this also, here are a couple of things to keep in mind. First, if you’re working on a property in which the loan is over 12 months delinquent, it becomes less and less likely that the lender and investor (remember, this is the entity that owns the mortgage note) will agree to postpone the short sale. Therefore, as more time goes on, expect that you’ll need a higher offer or larger cash contribution from the sellers in order to get these postponements through. Also make sure to prep the sellers accordingly. Next, keep in mind that when you ARE working on a loan that is over a year delinquent, that the investor will want more money out of the deal to make it worth their while. Additionally, the situation will demand that ALL parties approve in writing BEFORE the foreclosure date in order to postpone the foreclosure.

For example: if it will take 10 business days for all parties to approve the offer, and you’ve only got 7 business days until the foreclosure, then it’s likely you’ll be hearing from the negotiator that they have to close the file out. We all know that it will be headed for REO land. In a situation like this, the only way they may CONSIDER to speed up this approval process is if they get more money out of the deal. Perhaps such money can come from the seller or maybe from the buyer. Thus, make sure to prep all parties accordingly for this, so that they know what to expect. As we all know, expectations are a HUGE part of our business, and are the difference between closing deals and not closing them! In our case it was a Freddie Mac backed loan, in which we had a full price offer in hand. Since there wasn’t enough time to approve it BEFORE the foreclosure, Freddie decided to foreclose anyway. Way to help the economy recover huh?!

This week we also had the privilege of dealing with yet another stubborn and completely unrealistic 2nd mortgage, USAA. This was setting up to be a nice, easy, 2- mortgage short sale, in which the 1st was set to be paid off in full. Despite paying off the 1st in its entirety, there was still a little over $24k left over for the 2nd mortgage! We went into it feeling very optimistic that the 2nd would take the $24k. Even if they wanted a prom note from the sellers, AT LEAST they would be perfectly ok with that sum at close. That way they could go ahead and approve the short sale, and get a nice chunk of their debt right away. However, that was not the case. USAA, for some reason, countered back and wanted…$58,000…dollars…at…closing! For me, there are never enough things I can say about a situation like this, and we’ve all been there, and laughed, maybe cried…and so I won’t waste any words on venting about it. But…what I will do is try to help all of you understand WHY some 2nd mortgages respond in this fashion.

There are 2 things to understand here. First, they are recourse loans, and so they know that even if the 1st mortgage forecloses and they get nothing in that sale, that they can still pursue the sellers legally to recover money. Second, the money they’ll get at close is really the only money they are fully guaranteed to get. The reason for this is because many homeowners simply file bankruptcy after the short sale is done or just simply DON’T pay whatever sum they’ve agreed to with the lender. Therefore, in many instances the 2nd mortgage gets what they get at closing. They lose a lot of their control in the situation because they have released their lien and secure position on title. Make sure to keep this in mind when dealing with them. As for the best way to counter this, just try to get as much money as you can, from each place you can, and present it as your counter offer to them. In most cases, their high counters are really a way for them to say, “We just want to make sure we’re pursuing all avenues to recover as much money as possible.”

Enjoy this week’s Pre-Foreclosure Daily Grind tip of the week, and have a great and profitable week!

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Pre-foreclosure Daily Grind!  In this edition we discuss a couple of changes in the industry and how best to prepare for them.  We’ll cover a new affidavit that Wells Fargo is now requiring for each of their short sales, and what this means for us.  And we’ll also talk about the circus that is now the HAFA eligibility part of the short sale process with Bank of America, and how best to handle it.

As many of you may know, Wells Fargo has recently joined Bank of America and decided to employ a short sale affidavit as part of their process.  This affidavit is intended to prevent many of the occurrences that are being frowned upon in today’s market.  Such occurrences include buying the property and then renting it back to the previous homeowner, and preventing buyers from reselling the property within 90 days of when they purchase it.  This is likely to prevent investors from flipping properties which is often times characterized by buying and reselling within a week, or less.  The affidavit also assures that the transaction is an arm’s length transaction, meaning the buyer and seller have never had, or have, any kind of personal or business relationship prior to the sale.  Outside of that, the affidavit also seeks to ensure that no parties receive any funds outside of what has been approved by Wells Fargo. This is also in place to ensure that there are no agreements or transactions of any kind that are occurring outside of their knowledge.  So be aware of this, and make sure to inform all parties’ right up front, so they know what to expect.

Elsewhere, some of you may be experiencing some delays, among other things, in trying to get your files moving with Bank of America.  This is due to current procedure they’ve employed for setting up files for HAFA.  The way the process typically works right now, is that the file is initiated with Bank of America.  They then determine whether or not the file is eligible for HAFA, which takes some time.  If it is deemed ineligible, it remains with Bank of America (which often becomes a blessing in disguise!).  If it IS deemed eligible, it moves to one of three departments that handle HAFA short sales for Bank of America: Loan Resolution Corp, UTLS, or REDC.  Once there, the file changes hands and documents are transferred to different people and a different department.  At this point the file undergoes more review to make sure it’s eligible.  This means that if something surfaces the file could still be deemed INELIGIBLE, and sent BACK to Bank of America for a standard short sale. Essentially, that means the file starts over again with Bank of America.

Can you see how this can become complicated?  All of this back and forth motion, eligible vs. ineligible, submitting additional documents, and the file changing hands, takes A LOT of time.  The other aspect to keep in mind is that Bank of America WANTS to get the homeowner into HAFA as it benefits them financially.  Therefore, they will likely try to find a loophole to get the seller into HAFA, even if everyone else knows they won’t qualify.  This is a big time-waster that we’ve seen happen many times.  The best thing to do in this type of situation, and any other situation for that matter, is to closely monitor what the homeowner says when they speak to Bank of America regarding HAFA. Also, try to communicate with Bank of America yourself and try to make sure you reach the right outcome right away.  Outside of that, make sure to prepare everyone you’re working with for this step of the process.

Enjoy this week’s Pre-Foreclosure Daily Grind tip of the week, and have a great and profitable week!

On this week’s PFDG “Tip of the Week” we dig into the best ways to get a hold of your loss mitigation negotiator when he or she is not calling you back on your short sale transaction (which happens all too often)! Listen in as we not only cover how to get a hold of an unresponsive negotiator, but when to go over their heads and demand to speak to their supervisor, and when you should NEVER try and go behind their backs.  We’ll also cover Wells Fargo’s new short sale platform and how it differs from Bank of America’s, how Wells Fargo and B of A are handling their HAFA short sales, and also an update on our new and improved CRM (or Small Business Workspace) FinerSolution.com, and much more.

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http://PreforeclosureDailyGrind.com On this week’s PFDG “Tip of the Week” we expose the fact that Astoria Federal Savings is a huge reason why our economy is stuck in the dumps and will be for a long time! Listen in as we uncover how they are hurting homeowners chances of getting short sales accepted, how they are taking money out of real estate agents and loss mitigation specialists pockets, how Bank of America is now processing their FHA and VA short sales, what department/company is now handling HAFA short sales for Bank of America, why it is a “MUST” to follow up and make sure that every document of your short sale package was received by today’s overwhelmed and incompetent lenders, also an update on our new and improved CRM (or Small Business Workspace) FinerSolution.com, and much more. Take a 14 day test drive of the easiest, most comprehensive real estate management platform available! Visit www.PropTrackr.com for more info.

On this week’s PFDG “Tip of the Week” we uncover the newest guideline put into effect by Freddie Mac, which will crush the way short sale negotiators are paid! Listen in as we not only break down this hot topic but also how many First Franklin loans Bank of America purchased and where they went, how to overcome a “dumbass” BofA customer service rep that gives you the wrong information , an update on the launch of our new and improved CRM (or Small Business Workspace) FinerSolution.com, and much more.

On this week’s PFDG “Tip of the Week” we uncover some of the newest Servicing Companies that are breaking into the short sale scene and how they are trying to steal money right out of our seller’s pockets, who CitiMortgage is now outsourcing their short sales to, the new policy that IBM has in regards to BPO’s and Appraisals, a “slick” way to weed out BPO agents, an update on the launch of our new and improved CRM (or Small Business Workspace) FinerSolution.com, and much more. Take a 14 day test drive of the easiest, most comprehensive real estate management platform available! Visit www.PropTrackr.com for more info.

http://PreforeclosureDailyGrind.com On this week’s PFDG “Tip of the Week” we uncover the latest changes to Bank of America’s Equator system and how we now can get a hold of the company doing the property valuations and the BPO’s (this encompasses both Broker Price Opinions and Appraisals). Details you NEED to know and NEED to pay attention to on HSBC short sale approval letters. A real-time update from last week’s video on how we overcame a “Fraudulent” BPO/REO agents mischievous ways. PLUS an update on the launch of our new and improved CRM (or Small Business Workspace) FinerSolution.com, and more. Take a 14 day test drive of the easiest, most comprehensive real estate management platform available! Visit www.PropTrackr.com for more info

On this week’s PFDG “Tip of the Week” we dig into an industry misconception of how many offers that any agent, investor or 3^rd party loss mitigation company can submit to a foreclosing lender at any one time! Listen in as we not only cover how “NOT” to get your file thrown in the garbage, but also why you should stay away from the term “short sale approved” when listing a property, an update to the Equator System when negotiating a Bank of America short sale and how this change can help you get a short sale extension. We also give an update on the launch of our new and improved CRM (or Small Business Workspace) FinerSolution.com, and much more.

On this week’s Preforeclosure Daily Grind “Tip of the Week” we dive into how to weed out unmotivated agents and sellers so you don’t waste your precious time. Listen in as we tackle this extremely important topic and also how we beat Bank of America and Freddie Mac at their own game. Why not quitting on your short sale client should be a “MUST” in your real estate business, plus who CitiMortgage is using as one of their collection companies and more on this week’s Preforeclosure Daily Grind Tip of the Week. Take a 14 day test drive of the easiest, most comprehensive real estate management platform available! Visit www.PropTrackr.com for more info.

On this week’s Preforeclosure Daily Grind “Tip of the Week” we uncover what you need to know about VA (Veteran Administration) insured short sales so your deal moves along smoothly and what their discount ratios are in today’s market. Listen in as we cover this topic and also, how we got a Bank of America short sale acceptance letter rewritten in record time so we can beat the expiring tax credit, what “buttons” to use to get a short sale extended, the amount of time it takes for a VA appraisals to expire, whether or not VA gives extensions to their short sale approval letters, whether or not VA and FHA insured loans are on the Equator System when negotiating a Bank of America loan and more.

Take a 14 day test drive of the easiest, most comprehensive real estate management platform available! Visit www.PropTrackr.com for more info.