Real Estate In Florida

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!

Winds of Change….

Warren Buffet has suggested a law be passed that states that anytime there is deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.

Very interesting. This has been verified click here

Do You Want The US Government To Have The power to shut down the internet, at any time, for any reason, without due process of law!

Learn How This Can Happen.

Read The Following,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act

http://www.mynewitguys.com/community-action/10-reasons-why-sopa-sucks/

http://www.conservativeactionalerts.com/2011/12/keep-the-internet-free-take-action-to-stop-sopa-hr-3261/

Watch wording on insurance policies

CHICAGO – Dec. 14, 2011 – Homeowner insurance policies can vary greatly, and if homeowners aren’t careful, they may find their claims denied when disaster strikes, according to a study to be published early next year by the University of Chicago Law Review.

While home insurers once used standard policy forms by the Insurance Services Office, now some are coming up with their own policies and a few tweaks in the wording can mean trouble for some homeowners, according to the study. Homeowners should read the fine print and carefully review their policies to examine what’s covered and what’s not, the study notes. For example, some policies include mold and lead coverage; other policies do not.

According to United Policyholders, here are a few questions homeowners can ask insurance agents when shopping for a homeowner’s insurance policy:

• What is the coverage for water damage from sewer or pipe problems?
• What is the coverage for any damage to the foundation – is it completely covered, limited or excluded completely?
• Will items be paid at “replacement value” or “actual cash value”?

Study author Daniel Schwarcz, a University of Minnesota Law School associate professor, told The Wall Street Journal that he urges state insurance departments to post their insurance policies online so they can be reviewed closer by consumer groups and homeowners. In October, Nevada began posting policy forms for its largest home and auto insurers.

Source: “A Home-Insurance Trap?” The Wall Street Journal (Dec. 3, 2011)

© Copyright 2011 INFORMATION, INC. Bethesda, MD (301) 215-4688

Bio
Lawrence F. Sanek is a licensed real estate broker and owner of Castle Dream Real Estate, LLC Brooksville, Florida. He is also an engineer with experience in the structural and architectural disciplines. He has many years of experience in selling real estate and enjoys helping families relocate to Florida or to another area in Florida and to Capture The Dream. Visit the Castle Dream website at Castle Dream Real Estate, LLC or contact him direct at 1-888-51-DREAM (37326) or email him at Sanek

Home Searches For The Florida Area You Like

Castle Dream Home Searches

Free Central Florida Home Searches

SEND TO A FRIEND

Join The MGP Real Estate Referral System

For Active and Inactive Agents, Offices and More

//

I Don’t Care What Party Your With: Voters driven by jobs, housing in 2012 election

HouseLogic poll:

WASHINGTON – Dec. 12, 2011 – A recent survey by Houselogic.com, the consumer Web site from the National Association of Realtors®(NAR), finds that jobs and the housing market will be two of the most important issues for voters in the 2012 election. Nearly one-third of respondents said housing will be the top issue on their mind when they head to the polls next November.

“We need to keep housing first on the nation’s public policy agenda, because housing and homeownership issues affect all Americans,” says NAR President Moe Veissi, broker-owner of Veissi & Associates in Miami and 2002 president of Florida Realtors. “The results of this survey show that many Americans understand that.”

Respondents were asked “What issue area will have the greatest impact on your vote in 2012?” National security, healthcare and energy/environment trailed housing and unemployment by wide margins:

• Jobs/Unemployment: 54 percent
• Housing: 27 percent
• National Security: 8 percent
• Healthcare: 4 percent
• Energy/Environment: 2 percent
• Other: 4 percent

With unemployment still high, it is easy to see why many Americans focus on the job market. However, employment and the housing market are linked because economic growth and job creation cannot occur without a housing recovery.

Housing accounts for more than 15 percent of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product – a key driver of the national economy. Home sales generate jobs. NAR estimates that for every two homes sold, one job is created. New spending on homebuilding products, furniture, and other residential investments also has a significant economic impact.

Some recent indicators show that the economy might be starting to rebound, with pending home sales rising strongly in October, according to NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index. However, any changes to current programs or incentives must not jeopardize a housing and economic recovery. Unemployment, consumer confidence and consumer spending will not rebound until a number of issues are addressed.

“NAR actively advocates public policies that promote responsible, sustainable homeownership, which will in turn support overall economic recovery,” says Veissi. “We want to ensure affordable, accessible financing; support tax policies that encourage homeownership; and help more people stay in their homes or avoid foreclosure through streamlined short sales.”

This HouseLogic survey shows Americans understand that a housing recovery is important to the nation’s economic recovery, and many of those housing-related issues will be on the minds of voters in 2012.

© 2011 Florida Realtors®

WILL OUR LEADERS AND POTENTIAL LEADERS UNDERSTAND THIS????? WILL THEY STOP BEING LIKE A BUNCH OF SHOOL KIDS ON THE PLAYGROUND, SAYING IF YOU DON’T DO IT MY WAY I WILL TAKE MY BALL AND GO HOME! THEY MUST REMEMBER THE BALL IS OWNED BY THE VOTERS AND THEIR EGOS AND THIER PERSONAL GAINS ARE NOT IMPORTANT. THE WELL BEING OF THIS GREAT COUNTRY IS WHAT IS IMPORTATN!

Bio
Lawrence F. Sanek is a licensed real estate broker and owner of Castle Dream Real Estate, LLC Brooksville, Florida. He is also an engineer with experience in the structural and architectural disciplines. He has many years of experience in selling real estate and enjoys helping families relocate to Florida or to another area in Florida and to Capture The Dream. Visit the Castle Dream website at Castle Dream Real Estate, LLC or contact him direct at 1-888-51-DREAM (37326) or email him at Sanek

Home Searches For The Florida Area You Like

Castle Dream Home Searches

Free Central Florida Home Searches

SEND TO A FRIEND

Join The MGP Real Estate Referral System

For Active and Inactive Agents, Offices and More

//

What went wrong with mortgage aid?

WASHINGTON – Dec. 12, 2011 – Steven and Lisa Maultsby lost their Mississippi home to foreclosure this year. At the time, they thought they were being reviewed for a loan modification through the U.S. government’s foreclosure-prevention program. A Realtor knocking on their door to tell them to vacate told them otherwise.

“I’m bitter,” says Steven Maultsby, 51, who works with undersea robots in the oil industry. “We did everything they told us to do.”

The Maultsbys are angry not only at their mortgage company, but also at the government, and they’re two voices among a discontented chorus.

The Obama administration’s initial foreclosure-prevention programs, launched in early 2009, were intended to help 7 million to 9 million people. So far, they’ve aided about 2 million, and not all of those are out of foreclosure danger.

Programs begun later have also faltered. One intended to help at least 500,000 has helped just a few hundred a year after its launch. Another initiative to extend $1 billion to help the jobless or underemployed avoid foreclosure ended in September, obligating less than half of its funds. The unused money went back to the U.S. Treasury.

As of Nov. 30, the government had spent just $2.8 billion of the $46 billion war chest it had in 2009 to devote to the housing crisis, the Treasury Department says. More has been committed, but only $13 billion will ultimately be spent, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated in March.

Meanwhile, 2.5 million homes have been lost to foreclosure since 2009, an additional 4 million are in the foreclosure process or seriously delinquent, and home prices are still falling in much of the U.S., shrinking household wealth for millions of Americans.

“Every program has fallen far short of goals. I can’t think of one that’s been largely successful,” says John Dodds, director of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project, a non-profit that’s been involved in foreclosure prevention for decades.

The administration’s programs were hampered by design flaws, their reliance on a mortgage industry overwhelmed by the fallout from a historic collapse in home prices, and a brutal extended housing downturn. Nor could they always overcome the conflicting interests of borrowers with too much debt, mortgage investors unwilling to surrender profits and mortgage servicers with sometimes greater financial incentives to foreclose on loans than to permanently modify them, say housing and government policy analysts, consumer advocates and former administration officials.

Critics also say the administration failed to entice banks and mortgage-finance giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to take bolder steps to address the crisis even though the institutions received billions in government bailout funds.

“There was nowhere near the effort to help Main Street as there was to help the banks,” says former senator Ted Kaufman, D-Del., who chaired a congressional oversight panel that oversaw $475 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds. Most of that went to banks and the auto industry, but $46 billion in TARP money also funded foreclosure-prevention efforts.

Administration officials defend their response. They say the scope of the problem was unprecedented – and so were their actions. Federal programs prevented many foreclosures even if they didn’t help as many people as expected, officials say. They say the administration’s efforts will save homeowners billions in mortgage costs.

They also say the initiatives helped millions of other homeowners by driving service improvements in the mortgage industry and preventing an even worse collapse in home prices. Since the peak of the housing market in 2006, $3 trillion in home equity has been lost, researcher LPS Applied Analytics estimates.

“It’s too easy to underestimate the scale and complexity of these issues,” Shaun Donovan, secretary of Housing and Urban Development, said in a recent interview, while acknowledging that some administration programs “haven’t reached as many people as we originally targeted.”

Those shortfalls are most evident in the:

Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Through October, the biggest foreclosure-prevention effort has resulted in 883,076 homeowners getting permanent loan modifications that made their loans more affordable and improved their ability to avoid foreclosure.

But HAMP was targeted to help 3 million to 4 million homeowners, President Obama said when he announced it in 2009. When it expires next December, it will have prevented fewer than 800,000 foreclosures, Kaufman’s congressional oversight panel estimated in December 2010.

HAMP “has been a failure,” Neil Barofsky, the former special inspector general for TARP, told a congressional committee in October.

Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP). Through September, it’s helped 928,570 homeowners get lower-interest loans even though they lacked the amount of equity usually needed for a new loan.

HARP was intended to help 4 million to 5 million homeowners. While it was recently overhauled to encourage more refinancings, federal officials now say it will help fewer than 2 million borrowers by the end of 2013, when it expires.

So far, those getting HARP refis also tend to be people who aren’t deeply underwater – those who owe more on their homes than they’re worth. HARP refis have gone largely to homeowners with some equity or who were only slightly underwater, government data shows. It’s unclear whether the recent revamping will significantly change that, says Alan White, law professor and mortgage lending expert at the Valparaiso University School of Law.

More than 11 million homeowners – more than a fifth of homeowners with mortgages – are underwater, says market researcher CoreLogic. Many are unable to take advantage of today’s historically low interest rates and wring some relief from the ravages of the recession and weak economic recovery.

Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Calif., whose district encompasses Stockton, one of the nation’s worst foreclosure hot spots, says more needs to be done and that the changes to HARP are “too little, too late.”

Federal Housing Administration Short Refinance program. Intended to help 500,000 to 1.5 million homeowners refinance into loans with a lower interest rate, the FHA program did fewer than 400 deals through September, a year after the effort’s launch, government data show.

The program requires mortgage owners to forgive at least 10 percentage of a borrower’s unpaid principal before that loan can be refinanced into an FHA loan at a lower interest rate.

But mortgage owners have been reluctant to forgive principal, fearing that doing so for some would create a “moral hazard,” leading other borrowers to default to get help, says James Parrott, a senior adviser to the White House’s National Economic Council.

“The moral hazard concern was stronger than we realized,” Parrott says.

One big bank says it warned of the program’s limitations.

Bank of America, which services 12 million mortgages, gave federal officials data showing the program would benefit only 10,000 to 15,000 customers because of its design and the degree of support from investors who owned loans, says spokesman Dan Frahm.

Almost 1 million modifications

Administration officials say the programs’ statistics alone don’t fully reflect what’s been accomplished. “You have to look at the ripple effect,” Donovan says.

HAMP, which most often lowers mortgage payments through interest rate reductions, is approaching 1 million permanent loan modifications.

That is “not a negligible sum,” Parrott says.

HAMP also “significantly changed the market,” says Michael Barr, former assistant secretary at Treasury who worked on mortgage issues while in the Obama administration.

Before HAMP, mortgage servicers had no standard approach to modify loans. HAMP created one and streamlined the process, says Barr, who now teaches at the University of Michigan Law School.

Since HAMP’s launch, lenders have independently offered more than 2.5 million loan modifications outside of HAMP, staving off foreclosures for many.

“The overall impact of the (HAMP) program has gone unnoticed,” says Teri Schrettenbrunner, senior vice president of communications for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.

HAMP was announced just weeks after Obama took office and at a time when home prices had fallen for 30 months in a row. Given the short time the administration took to launch HAMP and HARP, “We knew they wouldn’t be perfect. We knew they’d be as good as they could be given the time we had,” Barr says.

He says a prime reason that government programs haven’t reached more people is that mortgage servicers “were really bad at doing their jobs.” Servicers collect home loan payments for investor-owners. Big banks, such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase, are among the largest ones.

The servicers lacked adequate processes and enough employees to meet the crush of distressed borrowers, Barr says. They took too long to beef up staff. They couldn’t do “basic blocking and tackling” in communicating with borrowers, he says.

The Government Accountability Office documented problems when it surveyed housing counselors who work with borrowers seeking HAMP modifications. Almost 60 percent complained that servicers lost documents, 54 percent said trial modifications took too long, and 42 percent said borrowers felt that they were wrongly denied modifications, according to the GAO’s report in March.

The Maultsbys weren’t the only ones who lost a house to foreclosure while thinking help was on the way. Others did, too, said Treasury official Darius Kingsley in congressional testimony in October. He called such situations egregious.

The administration casts much of the blame on the industry, but others blame the government.

Barofsky says Treasury had to have known that servicers were “totally unequipped” to handle HAMP when it launched. Still, it rushed out a “poorly designed program,” he says.

Servicers say changing program guidelines made it tough to implement the government programs. In a three-month period, Treasury made 100 changes to HAMP, making it “physically impossible” for servicers to keep up, said Barbara Desoer, president of Bank of America Home Loans, in a recent speech to community leaders in San Francisco.

HAMP provides financial incentives – generally about $4,000 a loan – to servicers to modify loans. The goal is to make it more economical for servicers to modify a loan than to foreclose.

But the incentives weren’t big enough to draw broader servicer participation, says Jared Bernstein, former economic policy adviser to Vice President Biden.

What’s more, the government made HAMP a voluntary program for servicers, then failed to make sure that participating servicers followed HAMP’s rules, consumer advocates say.

HAMP ran for two years before financial incentives were withheld from any noncompliant servicer, even though abuses were “widespread,” Barofsky says.

“There’s been no enforcement or accountability,” says Diane Thompson of the National Consumer Law Center.

The $1 billion Emergency Homeowner Loan Program was open to homeowners in 32 states who were ineligible for aid from a $7.6 billion fund for homeowners in 18 states hardest hit by the recession and falling home prices.

HUD took too long to launch the program, which didn’t leave enough time to get applicants through an onerous application process, consumer advocates say. Instead of helping 30,000 homeowners as first intended, the program is on track to help fewer than 12,000, HUD’s preliminary data show.

That “is an absolute disgrace,” says Ira Rheingold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates.

HUD officials say it took time to identify contractors to run the program, set up fiscal controls and ensure the program was run fairly.

“We, too, are disappointed,” Carol Galante, a senior HUD housing official, testified at a congressional hearing in October.

More but smaller plans to come

New efforts are underway, but none appear to have the scope of previous plans.

State attorneys general and federal officials are negotiating a multibillion-dollar settlement with major mortgage servicers to help more homeowners. If a deal is struck, it will include principal forgiveness on more home loans, Donovan says. That may show loan owners that forgiving principal really does lead to fewer defaults, Rheingold says, and encourage more of it.

Most of the $7.6 billion in Hardest Hit Funds, too, have yet to reach the market. States have through 2017 to use those funds.

The Treasury Department also says there are still 1 million homeowners who could be eligible for HAMP.

“We’re going to keep fighting to fix this housing market,” Donovan says.

© Copyright 2011 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Bio
Lawrence F. Sanek is a licensed real estate broker and owner of Castle Dream Real Estate, LLC Brooksville, Florida. He is also an engineer with experience in the structural and architectural disciplines. He has many years of experience in selling real estate and enjoys helping families relocate to Florida or to another area in Florida and to Capture The Dream. Visit the Castle Dream website at Castle Dream Real Estate, LLC or contact him direct at 1-888-51-DREAM (37326) or email him at Sanek

Home Searches For The Florida Area You Like

Castle Dream Home Searches

Free Central Florida Home Searches

SEND TO A FRIEND

Join The MGP Real Estate Referral System

For Active and Inactive Agents, Offices and More

//

First major state lawsuit filed over ‘robo-signing’

By Diana Olick, CNBC.com

After a year of fruitless negotiations between major banks and the nation’s state attorneys general, Massachusetts has filed the first major lawsuit over so-called “robo-signing” foreclosure processing.

Attorney General Martha Coakley filed suit against Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Citi, Ally Financial and Wells Fargo, as well as the MERS corp (Mortgage Electronic Registration System, Inc.).

The Attorney General alleges these five entities “engaged in unfair and deceptive trade practices in violation of Massachusetts’ law by: Pervasive use of fraudulent documentation in the foreclosure process, including so-called “robo-signing”, foreclosing without holding the actual mortgage, corrupting Massachusetts land recording system through the use of MERS, and failing to uphold loan modification promises to Massachusetts homeowners.”

The suit seeks civil penalties and restitution for slleged harm to borrowers, in addition to compensation for state registration fees that were allegedly avoided. The lawsuit also seeks “to hold the banks accountable through permanent injunctive relief to provide a solution for prior unlawful foreclosures and to require that the banks, going forward, register assignments and other documents in accordance with Massachusetts law.”

When asked how much the banks could have to pay out if they lose the suit, Coakley responded, “I can’t give you a number, but I can tell you it will be a lot of money.”

While several lawsuits have been filed surrounding the subprime mortgage mess that resulted in the biggest housing crash since the Great Depression, this is the first state suit over alleged fraudulent documentation in foreclosure processing. The state of Nevada recently made foreclosure documentation fraud a criminal act.

The big banks are currently in negotiations with state attorneys general and the federal government over a settlement that could cost those banks $20 billion. Those talks, however, have been going on for over a year, with Massachusetts, New York and Delaware attorneys general no longer participating, and California’s attorney general the main hold out. This now hits the banks in addition to that potential settlement.

“We are disappointed that Massachusetts would take this action now when negotiations are ongoing with the attorneys general and the federal government on a broader settlement that could bring immediate relief to Massachusetts borrowers rather than years of contested legal proceedings,” a spokesman from JP Morgan Chase tells CNBC.

“We have been cooperating with the Attorney General as she has looked into these matters, and believe we have operated appropriately in compliance with existing laws,” said a Citi spokesman.

Meanwhile, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who is spearheading the 50 state negotiations, issued a release saying he was informed of Coakley’s decision. “She also indicated that she’ll evaluate the joint state-federal settlement we’re negotiating, which we hope to reach soon.”

Coakley, however, criticized the banks: “I believe that the banks have failed to offer meaningful and enforceable relief to homeowners for their deceptive practices.”

This new lawsuit could be just the beginning of a slew of state suits against the banks if no multi-state agreement is reached.

“To us, this is all about politics,” claims Jaret Seiberg, of the Washington Research Group.

“Massachusetts Democrats are all getting into election mode even though State Attorney General Martha Coakley is not facing re-election. This action will generate significant attention for Coakley and will help energize the Democratic base.”

Seventeen major banks are already facing a lawsuit from the Federal Housing Finance Agency over mortgage securitization issues during the housing boom and the resulting losses to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Bio
Lawrence F. Sanek is a licensed real estate broker and owner of Castle Dream Real Estate, LLC Brooksville, Florida. He is also an engineer with experience in the structural and architectural disciplines. He has many years of experience in selling real estate and enjoys helping families relocate to Florida or to another area in Florida and to Capture The Dream. Visit the Castle Dream website at Castle Dream Real Estate, LLC or contact him direct at 1-888-51-DREAM (37326) or email him at Sanek

Home Searches For The Florida Area You Like

Castle Dream Home Searches

Free Central Florida Home Searches

SEND TO A FRIEND

Join The MGP Real Estate Referral System

For Active and Inactive Agents, Offices and More

//

Canadian endvestors pounce on Florida Watch For Others Joining The Canadians

29 November 2011 12:06 excerpt from OPP

Overseas property agents are noticing more and more Canadian buyers surging into Florida to buy distressed properties for their retirement. Dubbed “Canadian endvestors,” they are snapping up homes at heavily discounted prices and sitting on them until they stop work.

Speaking exclusively to OPP this week, Ralph E De Martino, 2011 Residential President of The Miami Association of Realtor and president of local agency group Ocean International Realty, said “Canadians love it here and their currency has exaggerated buying power. That, coupled with low prices… it’s a no brainer to buy and to buy now.

“This trend is likely to continue as more Canadian buyers are telling their friends. It’s like a snowball effect,” De Martino added.

Canadians have the cash, they know the Florida market place and are moving quickly to buy.

It has been discovered that the Canadian endvestor likes everything kept as simple as possible. “ A one-stop shop is what they really want,” he says. “They want a company that deals with everything from buying to renting and management.”

The Canadian endvestor phenomenon will continue to grow, says Murphy, “albeit steadily,” and he takes a more sanguine view of the future potential.

 The Brazilian buyer market is also going from strength to strength and it could easily surpass Canada in the next 18 months. It is also worth noting that much of the Canadian confidence is directly linked to a strong local property market and currency, both of which I think are more fragile than market sentiment would have you believe. Nonetheless, the retirement benefits of Florida are manifold and it makes a lot sense for 40-somethings to purchase and rent out now when they have the cash to spare and they get so much bang for their Canadian buck.”

Investors from Canada take a different point of view. Loxley McKenzie, managing director of consultancy Colordarcy, told OPP “Canadian investors are one of our strongest markets for investing in quality tenanted apartments in Florida. We see the majority of uptake in the Tampa, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando area. The typical Canadian investor is not looking to live in Florida, they are looking to take advantage of one of the great opportunities available today. They want a cash-flow positive investment in a market that they feel comfortable investing.”

“The number of Canadian investors in Florida have increased in 2011 by 80%, and are very confident that growth will continue, because although we see indicators and statistics which show that the Florida market is stabilizing – it will be a slow recovery. As such, cash-rich Canadians will certainly have the resources and time to make investments. The existing Canadian investors are also some of our biggest repeat buyers.”

Typical endvestor buyers Mark and Anna Frankland, from Ontario, who are still many years away from retirement, recently invested a two-bedroom condo in the Bella Casa development. “The prices are so good. Our Canadian dollar is up. It’s just the right time to buy,” says Mark.

Local realtor Brett Ellis says that the Franklands have the right approach. Thousands of Floridians have lost their homes and now cannot qualify for mortgages. “Any Canadian who buys in this market has built in renters, because there are so many people who have to rent here, not out of choice but out of necessity,” Ellis argues. And “the Franklins’ house only cost them $149,000. Six years ago, it would’ve cost them almost triple that amount.”

Bio
Lawrence F. Sanek is a licensed real estate broker and owner of Castle Dream Real Estate, LLC Brooksville, Florida. He is also an engineer with experience in the structural and architectural disciplines. He has many years of experience in selling real estate and enjoys helping families relocate to Florida or to another area in Florida and to Capture The Dream. Visit the Castle Dream website at Castle Dream Real Estate, LLC or contact him direct at 1-888-51-DREAM (37326) or email him at Sanek

Home Searches For The Florida Area You Like

Castle Dream Home Searches

Free Central Florida Home Searches

SEND TO A FRIEND

Join The MGP Real Estate Referral System

For Active and Inactive Agents, Offices and More

//

Bank can go after other assets in Florida if you default on mortgage – What About Your State ?

January 10, 2011|By Doreen Hemlock, Sun Sentinel

Worried that your bank might go after your other assets if you’re late on the mortgage or lose your home to foreclosure?

It can happen in Florida, especially if a bank sells your foreclosed house and doesn’t recoup the full loan amount and if you’re a big-dollar borrower.

With nearly half of all mortgages under water in South Florida, plenty of residents may wonder if their home lender can garnish their wages or suddenly lock down their deposit accounts.

Rules on tapping assets vary by state and depend on the terms of specific loans and accounts.

Problems on typical home loans usually don’t crop up before foreclosure. They tend to come after the bank sells the home and ends up short.

In Florida, banks can go to court for a “deficiency judgment” to collect the rest of the money owed on a mortgage after foreclosure, said Anthony di Marco, vice president of the Florida Bankers Association.

Banks can pursue other assets with that judgment. They can file a lien on your boat or car. But “they can’t jump priority on a loan,” so the lender for that boat or car has first dibs to collect, di Marco said.

Florida banks usually don’t target other assets after foreclosure if they don’t see much to tap. “Collecting on judgments is time-consuming and costly,” said real estate attorney Shari Olefson, a partner at Fowler White Boggs in Fort Lauderdale and author of “Foreclosure Nation: Mortgaging the American Dream.”

But banks pay more attention to borrowers with multimillion-dollar homes or businesses that default on big commercial properties. The lender can check if the customer has other accounts with the same bank. Depending on the terms of those savings or checking accounts, they may move to freeze, sweep, garnish or otherwise tap those accounts to collect money owed, Olefson said.

There’s another risk for smaller borrowers later. Banks may sell their deficiency judgments to a collection agency. The judgments are valid for up to 20 years. That leaves an agency focused on collections ample time to come after you for the balance still due, she said.

“That’s why it’s so important for people to deal with these mortgage problems upfront,” Olefson said. “So if you have the chance to do a short-sale through the bank, or if you have the chance to negotiate with the bank and clear up the loan — rather than have this financial time-bomb ticking over your head for years — you’ll be so much better off working with the bank.”

And be sure get any settlement reached with the bank in writing, mortgage specialists add.

No matter what, some types of assets are off the table when banks look to collect money due on homes.

Some federal payments cannot be garnisheed at any time to cover a mortgage. Those include Social Security checks, veterans benefits and some railroad retirement payments, among others, according to the American Bankers Association in Washington, D.C.

Some states don’t let banks go after an individual’s assets after a home is seized and sold, said Mark Tenhundfeld, the association’s senior vice president of regulatory policy.

Even with a deficiency judgment, Florida law specifies 11 items that cannot be garnisheed to pay court orders in most cases, including unemployment benefits, disability checks and payments from Supplemental Security Income, a federal anti-poverty program.

Consumers in Florida have complained about what they see as improper garnishments by banks.

The Florida Office of Financial Regulation said concerns often center on Supplemental Security Income payments garnisheed to pay the mortgage loan.

But a consumer can reverse the practice by showing that the law exempts that income from garnishment or by going to court to resolve the issue, said Flora Beal, a spokeswoman for the regulators office.

Banks have sometimes garnisheed funds that are electronically deposited into a customer’s account, not knowing that the money came from exempt sources, according to the Florida Bankers Association.

The borrower’s recourse: Inform your bank that the money is exempt and seek to get it back, said the association’s di Marco.

That’s not always easy, according to South Florida building contractor James Clare III.

Clare said he fell off a roof during a job, was disabled and lost income. He ran late on mortgage payments and other bills. One day, he found that his bank would not allow him access to a disability award electronically deposited into his account at the same bank.

Clare engaged a lawyer, but he said it took weeks for the bank to give him access to the funds and then, only after he agreed to bring some payments up to date.

“I had no choice. It would have cost me more to go to court. My attorney said by the time I’d pay all the fees and all the bills over a year or two, the money’s gone,” said Clare. “It was the most frustrating time.”

Lawrence F. Sanek is a licensed real estate broker and owner of Castle Dream Real Estate, LLC Brooksville, Florida. He is also an engineer with experience in the structural and architectural disciplines. He has many years of experience in selling real estate and enjoys helping families relocate to Florida or to another area in Florida and to Capture The Dream. Visit the Castle Dream website at Castle Dream Real Estate, LLC or contact him direct at 1-888-51-DREAM (37326) or email him at Sanek

Home Searches For The Florida Area You Like

Castle Dream Home Searches

Free Central Florida Home Searches

SEND TO A FRIEND

Join The MGP Real Estate Referral System

For Active and Inactive Agents, Offices and More

//

WELLS FARGO Shortsale/Foreclosure Circus Update 12/08/2011

Wells Fargo’s Loss mitigation department is a farce. You fax in documents as requested, they lose documents that are in the middle of the fax and they tell you they never got them. You get 30 days for approval on the 2nd lien holder which is Wells Fargo but the 1st lien holder which is Wells Fargo can’t get their act together.

I get told by one of their representatives they have everything except a few documents have to be updated. I get those updated, fax them over and when checked upon then I am told they don’t have some of the documents which another representative informed me they had. I wonder if they know how to use a computer.

Then I resend the offer and HUD-1 again which was received and now I am told they don’t have it. Then I am told to resend again and check back in a week which I did today. Now I’m told I have to do it thru Equator, and include any documents that are requested.

At this point I personally hope the lenders get stuck with as many homes as possible especially since they prefer foreclosure as opposed to getting the property sold and off their books.

Now I’ll have another buyer that is going to walk away from this property, because of the complete confused state the lenders are in.

This entire system with the less then knowledgeable representatives and a system that just loses information is a laugh.

So to laugh even louder I go to the Equator system and it does not accept the information supplied. It then tells me to contact the Wells Fargo customer service at a telephone number I usually call.

I called and now I am being told I may have to fax in the information which I already have done. But Wells Fargo customer service tells you to use Equator.

Then Wells Fargo’s customer service cannot even gain entrance into the Equator system without sending a request to someone and being told I should know in 72 hours if accepted. But if not call back.

But NO ONE CARES ABOUT THE DEADLINE the Wells Fargo 2^nd lien holder has set. So when the 2^nd expires you get to start all over because the 1^st lien holder Wells Fargo will not do anything without the approval of the 2^nd lien holder Wells Fargo.

Just think the fun it is when you have two different lien holders. Talk about a BIG FIASCO contact WELLS FARGO and they WILL SHOW YOU HOW TO DO IT PROFESSIONALLY AND GET NOTHING DONE EXCEPT LOSE BUYERS.

I am trying to decide what came first dumb or stupid. Gee I wonder how many other lenders operate this way.

UPDATE 10/28/2011- now I’m told that the shortsale is still not open, but they will send an email to FHA to get it opened. I informed the Wells Fargo representative that another email was sent approximately 2 weeks ago to FHA to do that. I asked how long it would take to know when the shortsale would be opened and guess what the answer was I DON’T KNOW.

UPDATE 11/02/2011 now on 11/01/2011 they had to send a 3rd email to their FHA department and we have to wait another 72 hours to see if the shortsale gets opened. FYI the approval from Wells Fargo 2nd expires on 11/03/2011. Gee I wonder what will have to happen next, like I don’t know I will have to go back to the 2nd for another approval which will by past expereince will be good for 30 days. Why can’t the 2nd be non-expiring or 90 days maximum, because the most they will get is $2,500. Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of the WELLS FARGO SHORTSALE/FORECLOSURE CIRCUS.

UPDATE 11/15/2011 Still waiting for Wells Fargo 2nd to send letter of approval for their acceptance of $2,500 in this shortsale. Still amazed no matter what they will not get more then $2,500 but will only give a 30 day approval. OH THE WISDOM OF THESE LENEDERS. Why wouldn’t they give a longer notice. Some light was shed on this at the NAR convention in Anaheim this past week. Didn’t dawn on me till I had a conversation with an attorney very well versed in this whole shortsale/foreclosure mess. The stalling, loosing parper work tactic is because WELLS FARGO CANNOT FIND THEIR PAPER WORK TO LEGALLY DO THE SHORTSALE/FORECLOSURE SO STALL LOOSE PAPERWORK ETC. WHAT A CIRCUS.

UPDATE 12/08/2011 Well to take and explain a very very long frustrating short sale experience, because of incompetent customer service representatives, it took the Wells Fargo Vice President National Field Short Sale Manager to intervene to get the process moving again. I thank him for his assistance, but it should not be necessary to go that far up the ladder to get this accomplished. But when there are customer representatives that do not want to take the time to review the computer for the documents that have been submitted snd follow the process, then this type of problem will continue to exist. I firmly believe that if instead of receiving a pay check if anyone invovlved in short sales should only get paid when a deal is closed then the thinking and professionalism would change quickly as well as getting properties sold and helping the housing market rebound along with unemployment.

Lawrence F. Sanek

Ceritifed HAFA SHORTSALE SPECIALIST

Bio:
Lawrence F. Sanek is a licensed real estate broker and owner of Castle Dream Real Estate, LLC Brooksville, Florida. He is also an engineer with experience in the structural and architectural disciplines. He has many years of experience in selling real estate and enjoys helping families relocate to Florida or to another area in Florida and to Capture The Dream. Visit the Castle Dream website at Castle Dream Real Estate, LLC or contact him direct at 1-888-51-DREAM (37326) or email him at Sanek

Home Searches For The Florida Area You Like

Castle Dream Home Searches

Free Central Florida Home Searches

SEND TO A FRIEND

Join The MGP Real Estate Referral System

For Active and Inactive Agents, Offices and More

//

Top 6 reasons mortgage applications are rejected

Mood of the Market BY TARA-NICHOLLE NELSON, MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2011. Inman News™

Half of refinance applications are abandoned or rejected, as are 30 percent of purchase mortgage applications, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. All told, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) says that well over 2 million mortgage applications were rejected last year.

Want to avoid falling into that number? It’s tough — especially in light of the fact that mortgage lenders have become increasingly restrictive in terms of their lending guidelines since the housing market crash.

Here, as a cautionary tale and primer on what to expect, are the top six reasons mortgage lenders reject applications.

1. Income issues. Most failed applications falling into this category have income too low for the mortgage amount they are seeking; often, a spouse’s credit issues can create this problem, too, as the income the spouse plans to actually chip in toward the mortgage cannot be considered by a lender. 

But increasingly, the recent vagaries of the job market are also causing this issue, as people who have changed their line of work or have changed from salaried employee to freelancer over the last couple of years can also have their home loan applications rejected based on income.

2. Muddled money matters. If the mortgage for which you’re applying plus your monthly payments on credit card, car and student loan debts will comprise more than 45 percent of your total income, you could have problems qualifying for a home loan. You might also run into problems if you rely too heavily on bonuses, overtime, cash wages or rental income — all of these can be difficult or impossible to get a mortgage bank to consider, and if they do, they might not take all of it into account.

3. Credit issues. Today, the mortgage-qualifying FICO score cutoff falls somewhere between 620 and 660, depending on which lender and which loan type you seek. More than one-third of Americans, by some numbers, have credit scores too low to qualify for a home loan. Even if your credit score is high enough to qualify, if you have any late mortgage payments, a short sale, a foreclosure or a bankruptcy in the last two years, loan qualifying could be difficult to impossible.

4. Property didn’t appraise. Since the whole industry had its hand (among other things) smacked for allowing home values to skyrocket in a very short time, appraisal guidelines have tightened up — some would say, even more than overall mortgage guidelines. So, it is increasingly common to have the property appraise for a price lower than the sale price negotiated between the buyer and seller.

This is especially common in the refinance realm, as well over a quarter of U.S. homes are now upside-down, meaning the mortgage balance owed is greater than the value of the home. (If you’re trying to refinance an upside-down mortgage, consider the FHA Short Refi program — contact your lender or get referrals to any mortgage broker who makes FHA details to apply.)

5. Condition problems. With all the distressed properties on the market, and with most nondistressed sellers barely breaking even, more home-sale transactions than ever are falling apart due to condition problems with the property. Many lenders will not extend financing on homes where the appraiser points out problems like cracked or broken windows, missing kitchen appliances, electrical problems, or wood rot.

And in the world of condos and other units that belong to a homeowners association, if more than 25 percent of units are rented (rather than owner-occupied) or more than 15 percent are delinquent on their HOA dues, new applications for refinance or purchase mortgages on units in the development are likely to be rejected.

6. Technical difficulties with application. The days when lenders just took your word for it are long, long gone. Applications with incomplete or unverifiable information are doomed.

If any of these mortgage loan application glitches arise in your homebuying or refinancing process, it’s critical that you connect with your mortgage professional, be it your banker or mortgage broker, to determine what course of action to take.

In some cases, it might be as simple as buying a stove you find at Craigslist and installing it before escrow closes; but with income issues your mortgage pro will need to help you determine whether it makes sense to pay some bills down, get a co-signer, or even wait six months so your income documentation will qualify.

Bio
Lawrence F. Sanek is a licensed real estate broker and owner of Castle Dream Real Estate, LLC Brooksville, Florida. He is also an engineer with experience in the structural and architectural disciplines. He has many years of experience in selling real estate and enjoys helping families relocate to Florida or to another area in Florida and to Capture The Dream. Visit the Castle Dream website at Castle Dream Real Estate, LLC or contact him direct at 1-888-51-DREAM (37326) or email him at Sanek

Home Searches For The Florida Area You Like

Castle Dream Home Searches

Free Central Florida Home Searches

SEND TO A FRIEND

Join The MGP Real Estate Referral System

For Active and Inactive Agents, Offices and More

//