Over the last few weeks I’ve run across a few articles what the future holds for the large number of homeowners in default or about to go into default and facing foreclosure.   Many experts expect to see a big increase in successful short sales.  While I’m not a national expert, I am a full time Realtor trained in working with distressed property owners.  As such I keep a close eye on the direction of the distressed market is going .  I try and analyze what’s working for distressed homeowners and what’s not working.  From my point of view it does look like 2010 will be the  Year of the Short Sale.

2009 might be called the year of the foreclosure.  It might also be called the year of the failed mortgage modification.   Foreclosure activity hit highs in the summer of 2009.  In my blogs on Shadow inventory you can see the trend. Foreclosure activity peaked in July and the trend has been downward.  Unfortunately foreclosure sales are not keeping pace with number of defaults.

Also during 2009 the Obama administration introduced the “Making Home Affordable” campaign.   This program was all about keeping people in their homes through refinancing or loan modification.   As part of the Making Home Affordable program many banks signed on for the  Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).  HAMP gives lenders incentives for modifying loans for trouble home owners.   The aim of HAMP is laudable, but the results have been disappointing.    Some say the program is poorly designed, others blame the lenders, but another fact is undeniable. Many homeowners in distress cannot afford to stay in their home even if the loan payments are lowered significantly.  Eventually, these homes will be sold.

After several months of poor progress of the HAMP program, the administration announced a new directive to HAMP participants as part of the Making Home Affordable program.  This new directive is called Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives ( HAFA).   HAFA gives incentives to banks for Short Sale and Deed in Lieu of foreclosure.  The directive goes into effect April 5, 2010.  Lenders can choose to participate before April 5.   In most cases Short sales and Deed In lieu are much more cost effective than foreclosure for lenders.  In basic terms; Short sales and Deed in lieu make more sense than foreclosure! Unfortunately, short sales too often end up in frustration and foreclosure.   Many Realtors acting as buyer agents will discourage buyers from making offers on short sales for this reason.

So what’s different in 2010?

Besides the HAFA directive, there are  other factors that point to an increase in short sales in 2010.

• Major mortgage servicers like Wells Fargo  have been ramping up the number of people working with distressed home owners. In a December 10, 2009 press release Wells announced, “The company has worked to improve responsiveness to its customers and improve its overall operating process through efforts such as increasing home retention staff by more than 7,600 people in 2009 – for a total of 15,000 U.S.-based staff – to manage the increased home preservation volume.”     Even Bank of America, which has a terrible reputation regarding short sales has promised to streamline its short sale process.
• Realtors across the country are becoming better trained to help home owners.  The Certified Distressed Property Expert (CDPE) Institute recently announced that 19,000 people have completed their training course and are now CDPE members.  The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has also begun a certification program called Short Sale and Foreclosure (SFR) Certification.
• Political pressure is ramping up big time!  Everyone is aware of the anger over the housing collapse.  With congressional elections coming later this year, there is pressure to show results. With so many loan modifications failing the  alternative with the least pain for homeowners, lenders and the housing market would seem to be a big increase of short sales.

What should a homeowner in trouble do?

First of all take  action! Learn your options.

• Avoid foreclosure scams-never pay up front fees!
• Check out the Making home Affordable website: http://makinghomeaffordable.gov/
• Find a free local housing counselor through The Minnesota Home Ownership Center
• Attend a free Seminar put on by a top notch CDPE short sale expert.  Our team is sponsoring two of these events check them out on this site.                          How to Avoid Foreclosure Seminars
• Down load helpful information from my short sale site.

The  Minnesota Real Estate Team is dedicated to solving the Foreclosure crisis one homeowner at a time.

Technorati Tags: Avoid Foreclosure, Foreclosures, HAFA, HAMP, Home affordability, Making Home AFfordable, Short Sale Seminar, Short Sales

Home affordability has never been better.  This is especially true with the discounted prices on foreclosures and short sales. Down payment assistance, rehab loan money, and historically low interest rates make this a great time to buy a new home.  But how do you turn a run down foreclosure or short sale  house into your dream home?

Mary Alice Short of the Minnesota Real Estate Team and Elizabeth Vaughan of Cornerstone Mortgage have the answers.  Mary Alice knows short sales and Foreclosures inside and out.   She can tell you how to get your offer accepted.  Elizabeth knows all the programs available to help you fund the rehab and purchase of these distressed houses.  You will be able to ask questions and be well on your way to a game plan that will put you in the home you want.

While this is primarily aimed at First-Time home buyers,  even move up buyers will find lots of useful information.

Saturday, February 13th, 9-10:30AM; 436 Gateway Blvd, Burnsville, MN 55337.

Sign up here:

Technorati Tags: Bank owned, First Time Home buyer seminar, Foreclosures, Free Real Estate Seminar, Short Sale Seminar, Short Sales

Some of our talented Minnesota Real Estate Team members who also happen to be Certified Distressed Property Experts (CDPE) will be hosting two upcoming seminars.  One  in the northern suburb of Coon Rapids, and the other, south of the river in Burnsville.

1.) Thursday, February 18th from 6:30 to 8 pm at the Coon Rapids City Center-11155 Robinson Drive, Rob Reinke will host Short Sales: how to avoid Foreclosure.

2.) Thursday, March 4 from 6:30 to 8pm at Cornerstone Mortgage-435 Gateway Blvd, Burnsville, MN, Denae Frampton and Trent Johnson will host Short Sale Solutions.

If you or someone you know is struggling with a mortgage come and learn your options. Learn about the short sale process and how professional negotiating can save you from foreclosure. Our CDPE’s have extensive training and can go over all of your options.   Bring your questions, because these experts will take all the time  you need to help you choose your best alternative.   We are dedicated to helping solve this crises one homeowner at a time.

I have also set up a special informational site where you can download free reports regarding short sales and some of the myths and misconceptions.   This site is on my property information website FyiBob.com under the Short Sales explained tab.

For more information or to save a spot at one of the seminars use the contact form below.

Technorati Tags: Avoid Foreclosure, Short Sale Seminar, Short Sales

Fixer Upper Mortgages

One of the big challenges of buying a home these days is how to buy one of the many distressed houses that need fix-up.   The traditional ways to do this is to either save your cash and fix up with your own funds or take out a construction/rehab loan and later replace this loan with a traditional fixed rate mortgage (see ‘Doing the Two Step‘).  Both of these methods are beyond the means of most home buyer’s.  In an earlier post I talked about one program offered only on Fannie Mae owned properties called HomePath.  Today I want to talk about another program for financing real estate, the FHA 203K,  which a can be used on almost any distressed house.  This program is not available to investors.  But this program can be a great way to create the home of your dreams from what first looks like a run down mess.  The Minnesota Real Estaete Team will sponsor a seminar  Fixin’ to Stay? Use a 203k - Tuesday, March 2nd, 6:30-8PM in Burnsville.

There are two versions of the FHA 203K.  Both loans involve only one mortgage which finances both the purchase and rehab with one mortgage and one closing.

1.) The Streamline FHA 203K is meant for projects under $25,000 which are not too complex in nature.  This is perfect for those neglected homes that need paint, flooring, and non-structural repairs.

2.) The full version or just FHA 203k, can take on just about any rehab project up to tearing down the house and reusing the foundation.

These are great loans in today’s market, because there is so much fixer upper  inventory available today.  The FHA 203K also allows even first time home buyers to customize a home to fit their dreams.

So What’s the catch?

Actually there are a lot of “catches.”   First of all you need to find a lender willing to underwrite an FHA 203K  because not all lenders have the experience and capacity to help a home buyer with a 203K.  It also helps if you have a Realtor who can team with the lender to help you coordinate the complications of a 203K purchase.  Purchasing a house with a 203K requires a step buy step process that will involve a team of professionals to be involved.  The entire team needs to understand the process and paperwork.   There is also an order that should be followed to insure the best outcome.  Understanding, the loan process, the construction process and all the paperwork involved requires teamwork and preparation.   To borrow another sports cliche´ you first  need a game plan and you need a team to carry out that plan. Here are the key players needed besides your lender and Realtor: contractors, inspector, consultant (not needed for Streamline 203K),and appraiser.

FHA 203K Rehab Game Plan

As you might suspect that someone (me)  who writes a blog about Fixer Uppers might be able to help you put together that game plan and find great players for your team.    I’ve put together an online Businesses I Refer list online on my website FYIBob.com.  I have the names and contact numbers of people who would be a great additions to any FHA 203K team.   I can also provide you with great search tools for finding just the right fixer upper to rehab into your dream home.   I can set you up with MLS search functions for your phone for when you are driving around a neighborhood you like,  and an online home search engine you can use on your computer.

If you would like to sit down and discuss your own plans my contact numbers are on the sidebar of this blog.  Or you can use the contact form at the bottom of this post.   The Minnesota Real Estate Team will also be sponsoring a seminar to help you become more familiar with the FHA 203K rehab process. As I mentioned above;  on Tuesday March 2 from 6:30-8 pm Cornerstone Mortgage and the Minnesota Real Estate Team will sponsor “Fixin’ to Stay? Use a 203k!”

Use the contact form to reserve a spot at the seminar, request more information, or set up a one on one consultation.

[contact-form]

Technorati Tags: FHA loan, Fixer Upper Inventory, real estate finance

Daunting, mysterious, scary — are these words that describe your feelings about buying your first home? Just say “no” to the negatives and “yes” to the positives!  Come learn about the buying process, from working with a loan officer to getting pre-approved and house-hunting with a Realtor, to getting your offer accepted and finally closing on YOUR first home!  Learn about the special first-time buyer programs that are available just for you. Many programs offer down-payment and closing cost assistance as well as lower-than-market interest rates.

Join Darcy McDonald of Cornerstone Mortgage and Steve Howe of The Minnesota Real Estate Team as they lay the groundwork for you to travel through the real estate transaction.  This seminar is set up to show you how to get off to a fast start, and prepare you for every step along the way until you reach the end of your journey — moving into your new home. They will also address today’s current marketplace, the extended tax credit and special loans to help you fix up those not-so-nice houses.  After attending this seminar your feelings about buying a home will be fun, exciting, and easy.  Feel free to bring your questions and get ready to become educated on buying your first home!

Call 952-240-5949

Technorati Tags: First Time Home buyer seminar

Are you still using excel spreadsheets to track your rent amounts from each tenant?  Are your bills sitting in huge piles on your desk waiting to be turned into your accountant?  Are you unable to track your monthly cash flow or see if you are even turning a profit at this rental property thing?  Maybe you bought QuickBooks, but never could get past installing it (the software can have a steep learning curve).

Make this one of your New Year’s resolutions, to start using QuickBooks in 2010.  Attend our Free Investment Property 201 seminar series on January 26 at 6:30 in Burnsville.  Deborah Beneke, CPA, from Olsen Thielen will be helping you get started and answering your questions.  She will show you how to set up your accounts, where to classify expenses, and how to automate those monthly mortgage payments and rent collections.  Don’t be intimidated or disorganized any more.

This is an invaluable seminar for anyone that is serious about owning investment properties.  It will fill up fast so sign up on our registration form or call 612-281-5419 for more information

Technorati Tags: Quickbooks, Real estate investment seminar

Join Rebecca Ross, member of The Minnesota Real Estate Team, while she discusses the following issues: Elder Law (Power of Attny- Health Care Directives- Contract review), Financial Concerns (Wills and Estate Planning), In Home Health Services, Senior Housing/Assisted Living, Mortgage Info- Reverse Mortgages, and Real Estate- Selling the Family Home.

call 952-649-1456 to register

From his experience of owning 15 rental properties, Ryan O’Neill will teach you a concrete, non-infomercial way to build wealth through real estate. This seminar will be a one and a half hour presentation in regards to wealth building through real estate. There is no charge at all, no contracts you sign with us, no consultation fees, no hidden agenda. The seminar simply will be an excellent opportunity for you to learn more about our process: how you get pre-approved, what type of low-down loan product to choose, and then how we step you through the process of finding the home and helping you get it rented out. Whether you are a beginner or an advanced investor, this will be a great chance for you to learn more about how you can build your long term wealth through buying real estate. Again, all of us at www.InvestmentPropertyGuys.comown rental properties. Our team leader, Ryan O’Neill owns 15 single-family homes, and our mortgage coach Rob Bonahoom has over 20 properties.  Rob will talk about Rehab financing for fixer upper houses.   All of us have experienced the benefits of real estate, and we’re excited to share a free seminar with you on how you too can get into the game (or continue on).

All of these seminars run 1 1/2 hours from 6:30-8:00pm.   They are all held at the offices of our preferred partner Cornerstone Mortgage, 436 Gateway Blvd, Burnsville , MN.

For more information contact me at: 952-240-5949 or email: bob@MnRealEstateTeam.com

Technorati Tags: Free Real Estate Seminar

Tenants:  How to get them in and how to get them out

All of these seminars run 1 1/2 hours from 6:30-8:00pm.   They are all held at the offices of our preferred partner Cornerstone Mortgage, 436 Gateway Blvd, Burnsville , MN.

For more information contact me at: 952-240-5949 or email: bob@MnRealEstateTeam.com

Technorati Tags: Add new tag, First Time Home buyer seminar