May 2010 Entries
Your woes do not end with delinquency. You now need to get better at your paper
work too, if you want to avail the administration’s mortgage modification
program. With effect from June 1, New Treasury Department guidelines require
loan servicers to verify applicants' income and financial hardship before
placing them into trial modifications. This will make it much tougher to get
temporary relief from unaffordable mortgage payments. But if you make it into a
trial modification, you're more likely to get long-term assistance, providing
you send in your check on time. Of the 1.2 million people who've started trial
modifications,...
Vacancy rates continue to rise in most commercial sectors and are not expected
to level out in most markets until the end of this year or early 2011, according
to the National Association of Realtors®.Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said
there is one bright spot in commercial real estate. “The multifamily sector can
expect increased demand as the economy creates jobs and new households are
formed, likely in the second half of this year,” he said. “However, the office,
warehouse and retail sectors continue to experience the delayed effects of the
recession. These sectors should see gradual improvement after jobs...
With distressed borrowers increasingly turning to short sales as an alternative
to foreclosure, the proportion of damaged foreclosure properties, otherwise
known as REO, sold during April plunged, according to the latest Campbell/Inside
Mortgage Finance Monthly Survey of Real Estate Market Conditions. The survey
found that short sales represented the largest portion of the distressed
property housing market in April, accounting for 17.9 percent of all
transactions. And as short sales surged, the portion of damaged REO transactions
fell to 12.8 percent in April from 15.4 percent in March. According to the
survey, first-time buyers accounted for 43.4 percent of April’s...
Joseph Pisani from CNBC reports on a growing trend in the distressed real estate market. More and more Luxury Homes (defined as homes with mortgages that are equal to or greater than $1,000,000) are falling into foreclosure. According to Mr. Pisani, in February of 2010, 4169 homes were in some stage of foreclosure, which represented an increase of 121% versus last year.
Pisani also reports, "Data shows that that may be the case around the county. The 90-day delinquency rate on home loans worth over a million dollars hit a high in February at 13.3 percent, higher than the overall rate...
Learning how to buy and sell Foreclosures and other real estate investments for
profit is actually pretty simple; like many of the most important things in
life, the important lesson isn't understanding the process or even figuring out
the math...it's understanding the identity traps and negative thinking that keep
you from success.
Over the years a lot has been written about the power of positive thinking but
one of the most enduring classics is the out of print book "How I Found Freedom
in an Unfree World". Although originally penned in the 70's, the content is
still as fresh and...
While the commercial real estate market may not have fully recovered, National
Association of Realtors® Chief Economist Lawrence Yun identified some
developing, positive trends in the market that could eventually lead to recovery
at the “Economics Issues and Commercial Business Trends Forum.” Yun said jobs
only began increasing a couple of months ago and are still below peak. The
commercial market has seen a few improving trends in recent months. The market
is experiencing an increase in transactions due to more distressed properties
available, and prices are beginning to stabilize. Yun believes within the next
year more lending will slowly...
Sooner or later every real estate agent or real estate investor needs to learn
the strategic skill of negotiation. Perhaps one of the most difficult for the
majority of novice and veteran pro's alike is how to properly phrase a response
or rebuttal....especially to these all too common situations.
Modify these to reflect your unique style of communication and don't be
surprised to find yourself using them on a regular basis!
Problem: Strong viewpoint based exclusively on personal opinion void of
objective data, reasoning or case study.
Response: "That is an interesting point and you might be right but I'd like to...
New York City's recession likely will linger for the average resident, for a
long time. The city's recovery might be rocky and long, according to a report by
the think-tank Fiscal Policy Institute, due to the high number of job-seekers,
the concentration of job losses among middle- and low-income people, soaring
bankruptcy rates at small and medium businesses, and the risk the city will
slash public workers to close a budget gap. After nearly sinking during the
credit crunch, Wall Street last year resumed earning record profits. "For the
average New Yorker, however, the bite of this recession is much...
Buying a foreclosure comes with great opportunities, greater pressures and
unknown pitfalls in the foreclosure market. First, you have to decide at what
stage of foreclosure you want to buy. There are three options: 1.
pre-foreclosure; 2. sheriff's auction; 3. repossession, called REO (for real
estate owned by the bank). Pre-foreclosure: These homes are in the foreclosure
process, but they have yet to be sent to auction. Potential buyers must
negotiate a deal with the lender as well as the owner. That makes buying at this
stage of foreclosure complicated and slow. But, you have the advantage of being
able...
Overdue loans in pools of commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) continue
to mount. With each passing month, CMBS delinquency rates jump to another record
high – and April held true to form. The delinquency rate for commercial real
estate loans in CMBS climbed higher still last month, although the rate of
increase slowed from March’s breakneck pace, the research firm Trepp LLC
reported. According to Trepp’s monthly study, the percentage of CMBS loans 30 or
more days delinquent, in foreclosure, or classified as REO jumped 41 basis
points during April, putting the overall delinquency rate at 8.02 percent, the
highest in...
Short sales give distressed homeowners an exit that doesn’t lead through
credit-damaging foreclosure and saves bank’s money compared with taking and
selling houses with failed mortgages. That should make them a preferred option.
But short sales take longer, often two months longer, and can be nearly
impossible if other lenders have liens on the house. So at the urging of the
National Association of Realtors, the U.S. Treasury Department came up with a
new program to encourage short sales. Home Affordable Foreclosures Alternatives,
or HAFA, went into effect April 5, although banks and real estate agents will
need time to...
www.DistinguishedPropertySolutions.com
Tax foreclosures were once all the rage but with media attention on short sales
and REO properties, they have recently fallen out of favor. Of course, among
savvy real estate buyers and investors, nothing is "off the table" so it's only
fair to spend a bit of time examining the pros and cons associated with each.
Tax Foreclosures are Not Tax Deed Sales
It's important to differentiate between tax foreclosures, tax deed sales and
other forms of government sponsored property sales. Tax foreclosures are
typically the result of unpaid tax or other liens placed on the property (for
example, unpaid income taxes)....