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 nice new change within Bank of America that many of you will love to hear, and will make our short sales proceed much more smoothly. We’ll also discuss an initial hurdle with M&T Bank and how to overcome it.

This morning we, and all other real estate professionals out there, were greeted with a nice email discussing a very welcome change to how Bank of America processes short sales in Equator. It was titled “Now You Can Substitute a New Buyer for One Who Walked Without Restart.” As can be extrapolated from that title, we now no longer have to start from scratch whenever we lose a buyer! This surely comes as great news for all of us who have, and frequently do, find ourselves in this exact predicament. With this new change, we will no longer have to wait and go through all the same tasks again, and upload all the same documents again.

The way that this works is pretty simple. Most importantly, do not notify the negotiator you have lost your buyer until you have a new one in place! The reason for this is because the addition of the new buyer to the process works more like a substitution. In other words, when one buyer walks, it will then be necessary to immediately swap the new one in. Therefore, once you have your new buyer’s contract in your hands, the next thing to do is notify your negotiator via email through Equator. They’ll respond in 2 days asking if a backup offer is in place. Then they will ask you to complete 4 tasks which involve providing listing date, a marketing description, and then a marketing plan. They will also ask you to change over the status of the file to “Marketing.” Finally, the last task will be to upload the new offer. And then you’ll be back in business!

In other news, we had a bit of an encounter with M&T Bank this week. Upon calling their customer service department, we were told that this particular department will not speak to a 3rd party unless the homeowner is there present with you, or on the same call via a conference call. So when I asked about where to send written authorization, they said they wouldn’t accept it…period. Way to ensure the short sale DOESN’T get done! I called back a few more times and asked to speak to the short sale department instead. At which time they transferred me to their Homeowner’s Assistance Department, which handles their short sales. Thus, when you have a mortgage with M&T, just seek to bypass their customer service department, and ask to speak to the Homeowner’s Assistance Department instead!

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 which Foreclosing Lenders are pissing off sellers due to their multiple requests for updated documents. Listen in as we not only cover which lenders are causing undue stress on your short sale transactions, but how to make sure your sellers stay with you for the entire deal, how to work with “lazy” and uncooperative sellers, how to prevent any misunderstanding of the process. We take a look at the interesting update on Chase’s short sale approval letter and how it seems like they DON’T want to be paid. An update to our new “one stop” Small Business Workspace FinerSolution.com… Email Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Contact Management, Website & E-mail Hosting and the growing app market.

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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 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 dig into how to keep, a defaulted 2nd mortgage from going from a banks loss mitigation department to a banks recovery department! As you may or may not know, this will make or break your deal! Listen in as we cover this and the importance of doing a quick title pull down BEFORE starting a short sale, the important details you don’t want to miss when viewing the land records. We also cover how you can make a deal with a 2nd mortgage in a short sale easier on yourself. Plus the HSBC’s discount ratio BEFORE they send their bad debt to their recovery department and the HSBC’s discount ratio AFTER they send their bad debt to their recovery department, and so much more.

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On this week’s Preforeclosure Daily Grind “Tip of the Week” we tackle what to do when you are negotiating a short sale and you get stuck with an over demanding loss mitigator. We cover how to figure out if the demanding requests for more short sale documents are coming from the actual lender (Chase), the lenders investor, the Mortgage Insurance Company or just an inexperienced negotiator; The different levels a short sale travels in order to get an acceptance. Plus the latest way Bank of America and their Equator system are jamming up your short sales when you are at the closing stages, and more.

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On this week’s Preforeclosure Daily Grind “Tip of the Week” we tackle the latest way that Litton Loan Servicing is handling their loan modifications. We cover how they deal with sellers, agents and third party loss mitigation companies when they are servicing the 1st mortgage. We also go over what they are doing when they are servicing a 2nd loan and what debt collection company they are working with. Chase’s new practice regarding sellers that miss one payment and what foreclosure “status” they put them in and what you need to do to get them out, and more.

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

On this week’s Preforeclosure Daily Grind “Tip of the Week” we dive into the facts behind doing a short sale on an FHA insured loan. We cover the positives, negatives and give you “hidden” tips and tricks when discounting these properties. Listen in as we also cover the how to “escalate” an FHA insured file so you can speak directly to HUD’s national office, one of the only remaining lenders that still require our sellers to go through HUD counseling. We also touch on the maximum amount of money that FHA will give attorneys and title companies, whether or not an FHA insured property needs to be listed in order to qualify for a short sale, whether or not the homeowner needs to be in default to start an FHA short sale. The “truth” behind whether or not a “VACANT” FHA insured property can be filed for a short sale. We also cover if Bank of America negotiates FHA insured properties on their Equator System 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.