Update to HARP Refinance Loans!

Good news if you are in the group of folks that would like to keep their Atlanta home but really can’t afford it at the moment.  HARP Loans are better now and for several reasons.

First off, an Atlanta HARP loan (Home Affordability Refinance Plan) is simply put: Just refinancing your home.  The fun part comes in is that the same criteria being used for a loan except the most obvious one, the appraisal.  Since the market is understandably down your value is likely less than what your mortgage is, making a traditional refinance impossible and thus forcing you to contact an Atlanta Short Sale Specialist. A HARP loan is still just a refinance and it can keep you in your home only if you can afford the home.  There are certain income requirements.  It’s also only for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac folks.

What are the changes to HARP?

• The new HARP replaces the obligatory appraisal with a computerized model of your home value, called an Automated Valuation Model (AVM). So, whether you owe 110% or 300% of the current value of your home, you will be able to refinance to a lower rate. Source: (Atlanta Harp Refinance)
• Elimination of fees that some lenders were charging.
• Elimination of risk based penalties for those wanting refinance to shorter terms.

You must be current to qualify, so if you are behind, please contact us to stop foreclosure!

Post from: Atlanta Short Sale Listings, Search All Georgia Real Estate, Short Sales Atlanta

Update to HARP Refinance Loans!

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Certified Short Sale Agent

If you have been thinking about a short sale in Atlanta for any length of time you might have seen or heard about real estate agents who are supposedly certified short sale agents.  The truth is that you can get your certification to do short sales by simply putting your butt in a seat and sitting through the class.  It’s bad enough that there are real estate agents out there claiming they are certified short sale agents but what this video is about is that one agent in particular is advertising a completely bogus certification that only they have.

This particular agent is CDRS certified – to see the kind of crappy stuff that passes for certification see for yourself.  Not only this, but this agent claims to be the only agent in Georgia, while I found several with this certification.  She’s the only one that paid extra for their marketing package.  At the end of the day, all this BS is to get more listings!  Short sales are not about listings, this makes me sick to think that home owners are losing their homes because they hired an agent that cared more about the listing than actually completing the short sale.

This kind of deceptive practices could cost someone their home and I am hoping that it’s not you.  Foreclosure is a big deal, it puts the responsibility about what to do with the deficiency squarely in the bank’s hands.  Please interview your real estate agents, yes you need a short sale specialist, but you should care less if they are a certified short sale agent.

Post from: Atlanta Short Sale Listings, Search All Georgia Real Estate, Short Sales Atlanta

Certified Short Sale Agent

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Short Sale Process – Pricing Your Home

Hopefully you watched our other video about pricing or possibly read our post at Gahomedigest about How to Price Your Home, but those post and this one go hand and hand if you are a short sale seller.  This is all part of the short sale process – pricing your home!

Pricing your home to sell as a short sale seller is crucial.  It could mean the difference of going into foreclosure or not.  If you are not using the Jarvis Team, then you must be instruct your agent to be as aggressive as possible, without being ridiculous.  This post isn’t about finding comparables or understanding market value, it’s about the short sale process and pricing your home correctly (low) to get it to sell for the highest possible amount.

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Short Sale Process – Pricing Your Home

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Short Sale Interview Questions

Statistics tell us that the average person that is selling is selling via short sale and that those people tend NOT to interview. This is a travesty and a shame and probably the single reason why so many people fail to sell their home via short sale. Short Sale Interview Questions was designed to help those that actually plan to interview their agents before trusting such a life altering event into their hands.

So what questions should you ask your agent?

1. How Many short sales have you closed while representing the seller? – This is important as it’s likely that an agent of any value will have participated in a short sale transaction in Georgia, but might not have closed any short sale transactions on the seller side.
   Our Answer: Over 100
2. Who negotiates/processes your short sale files with the bank? – This is a trick question in a way.  We’ve come across many agents who have never done a short sale and will never work one either, but instead they send your private financial documents to a third party, often one that they have never met.  This is dangerous, period.  The correct answer should be that they have a trained staff, do it themselves or have a very close relationship with a very unique attorney.  If they say the latter, it’s time to hang up and call that attorney and start with question 1.
   Our Answer: We have a trained staff and a an attorney on retainer
3. What is your closing percentage? – Assuming they answer the first short sale interview question well, you might want to ask them their closing ratio.  A good short sale agent will know this off the top of their head.
   Our Answer: 90%
4. How quickly are your deals closing? – This short sale interview question is another tricky one.  A good short sale specialist will know timeframes of different banks, but might not be able to give you an average.
   Our Answer: Most close in 90 to 120 days depending on the bank.  Citi, Wells Fargo and Bank of America are closing faster, while Suntrust is still taking decades.
   
5. Have you dealt with [Bank Name]?  – A good short sale agent should be able to answer all of your short sale interview questions with ease and this one is no different.  They shouldn’t hesitate, either they have or haven’t.
   Our Answer:  We’ve dealt with most banks and servicers, from Greentree, Ocwen and Nationstar to the big ones like Bank of America, Suntrust, Chase and Citi.
   
6. Do you have your own short sale package? – Top short sale agents will have their own package. At the very least they’ll have a collection of documents for you.
   Our Answer:  We got one!  Just request it by filling out our stop foreclosure form. 
   

BEWARE! There are some real estate agents that have gotten some designations that have absolutely NO experience helping owners avoid foreclosure.  The classes and “designations” are good education, but a far cry from experience.  Would you want a surgeon fresh out of college to operate on you if they had no experience?

Post from: Atlanta Short Sale Listings, Search All Georgia Real Estate, Short Sales Atlanta

Short Sale Interview Questions

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Short Sale Investor Offers

Supposed Short Sale Investors make all kinds of offers on our short sale listings. In this video and post we’ll cover what a REAL offer is and how to weed out the true investors interested in taking advantage of the low prices in the market and the pretenders who watched a late night webinar and bought a get rich quick scheme.

A true buyer or short sale investor will have a few things accompanying their offer.

A Purchase Contract

An investor or any legitimate buyer will use the standard contract that is common for the state. They won’t use strange one page offers. It’s not a red flag for an offer to have special stipulations, but it is a red flag if there’s an excessive number of pages. In Georgia, most offers consist of 10 or so pages.

Earnest Money

This one is controversial in some circles, but in my opinion, if you don’t have money on the home then you aren’t a real buyer. Legally speaking, an offer can be made with as little as $10 in the deal (as custom) but if you are a buyer and are serious about buying a home I have listed, I expect at least 1% of the purchase price as earnest money. It’s just an act of good faith that if you have the money to buy the home, then you can show a little of it.

Proof of Funds

Here’s a place where many webinar investors get agents and short sale sellers alike. Their short sale offer will contain an approval letter for transactional funding. That might sound confusing but basically the number one scam being run in Georgia has supposed short sale investors buying a home using what’s called transactional hard money funding. This type of “funding” is typically for one day at a very high price. These type of investors are exactly the ones we want to eliminate, as they plan to sell the property the next day. While there is nothing wrong with profiting from a short sale and “flipping” the home the next day, it’s nearly impossible in the state of Georgia and furthermore most investors have not done this type of transaction ever before and are “TRYING” it out on your home.

Post from: Atlanta Short Sale Listings, Search All Georgia Real Estate, Short Sales Atlanta

Short Sale Investor Offers

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Short Sale Taxes

The question of taxes on a short sale come up almost as much as what is a short sale. Short Sale taxes are somewhat complex when compared to the average real estate transaction.

First off, if the home is the seller’s primary residence and they sell it via short sale then they are exempt from taxes on it under the Debt Forgiveness act of 2008 (was extended). So short sale taxes don’t really come into play in this instance.

For investors or people who have moved on however, taxes could play a role. However, as this real estate video shows, just because you received a 1099 doesn’t mean you owe taxes.

In our scenario, the investor purchased a home for $100,000, put $20,000 down as a down payment. Unfortunately, he had to short sale the home for $50,000. He would likely receive a 1099C for $30,000 (if he used the Jarvis Team). Many accountants would say that the bill due to uncle sam for short sale taxes would be $30,000 times your tax rate. However, a good accountant will see that the investor ALSO experienced a loss, which can offset these taxes. I’m not short sale accountant or attorney so be sure to watch the Short Sale Tax Video, but it sure looks like investors shouldn’t owe any short sale taxes let alone any taxes period.

One thing that will throw off this discussion is previous depreciation taken on the home and home owners that did not buy as investments but have rental homes for example that they purchased through non-traditional financing such as 100% financing. However, if you purchased your home for a higher value and sold it for less, there’s still a loss. For more answers consult with a CPA.

If you have other short sale questions comment below or call 770-406-6123. You can also learn more by watching our real estate videos.

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Short Sale Taxes

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How to Buy A Short Sale

You might like the idea of buying a short sale but there are some things you need to know before you head out the door to get what you might think is the best deal in town (How to Buy A Short Sale).

What is a Short Sale?

So you’ve read all the short sale blogs about short sales and you probably know that a short sale is simply selling the home for less than what is owed.  Here’s why that’s important to you as the buyer (aka the person with the money).

1. This home is trying to avoid foreclosure, it means that renting it would put you in harms way (of being foreclosed on too).
2. This home is being sold for less than what it’s worth (so lease purchasing [at the price that is owed to the bank] isn’t a good move)

That primarily deals with renting and renters but you were here to find out about How to Buy A Short Sale.

1. A good short sale listing agent should be able to complete the short sale in 90 days (for the worst banks) most of the time.
2. Your short sale problems are directly related to the listing agent being able to do their job effectively with the bank. (If they aren’t good at their job, you might not even get a chance to buy the home).
3. Your agreement is with the seller and yourself, NOT THE BANK.  The bank approves the shorted amount but your contract (the legal thing) is with the seller.
4. The word “Short Sale” does not mean that you are getting the deal of the century.  It means someone is selling their home and if the agent priced it right and managed the BPO right, then chances are you, you will pay slightly more than a foreclosure but far less than “retail.”
5. Yes you still want to inspect it, PREFERABLY after the short sale is officially approved.
6. You will buy title insurance.  Seriously, there’s not a subliminal suggestion here.  You will buy it or Clark Howard will make even more annoying noises on his radio show.
7. Don’t expect to get repairs.  The seller doesn’t likely have any money and the bank doesn’t understand “Pay You to Fix” anything.
8. Don’t expect a warranty of any kind – The seller doesn’t likely have any money and the bank doesn’t understand “Give You” anything.
9. Don’t expect more than 3% closing costs – The seller doesn’t likely have any money and the bank doesn’t understand “Pay You” anything.

Finally, here are some short sale myths for buying a short sale in Georgia..

1. The bank owns the home – FALSE! – The home owner owns the home until the bank takes it as the collateral used for their loan.
2. Your offer has to go to the bank – FALSE!  Your offer must be presented to the seller but the seller may opt to use your offer for drawing paper for their kids.
3. The bank wants to foreclose – FALSE! – They just want the most money.  If the listing agent hasn’t proved this out then they may believe that they should foreclose to get more money.
4. The bank will see that the offer is in their best interest – FALSE! – The bank thinks getting 2007 money on the 2011 sale is in their best interest.  The bank doesn’t operate in reality and most likely neither do you.  It’s OK, we’re all a little weird that way, but the bank will see the net offer and if their other checkboxes are checked and if they are in a good mood, and there’s no MI company and their manager approves it and they have delegated authority on your offer and hopefully the offer was higher than the BPO value then they might think your offer is better.
5. After the inspection you can negotiate based on findings – FALSE! – The bank has already paid their $8/hr employee for 30 days to move paper around and approve this file, so you’ll have to buy it and like or leave.  Either way, she’s still going to be posting on facebook when the listing agent calls to discuss the “new” deal.

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How to Buy A Short Sale

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Chateau Elan Short Sale Review

I decided to review Chateau Elan Short Sales to see if there were any oustanding deals.  What I found was amazing, there are homes there at 50% off.  The photo here isn’t clip art, this is the foyer of a home in Chateau Elan that is selling for about half of what it was originally.

See Chateau Elan Short Sales.

What amazed me was that the number of short sales available was low and that the effort put into selling them was so low.  Several of the homes don’t have photos!  I understand if you don’t take a photo of a $60K house, but a home that used to retail in the Millions should have some good photos.

Stay tuned for our report on why luxury short sales are easier than regular ones!

Post from: Atlanta Short Sale Listings, Search All Georgia Real Estate, Short Sales Atlanta

Chateau Elan Short Sale Review

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Hamilton Mill Short Sale Review

When you take a look at the short sale listings it’s pretty interesting.  In our Hamilton Mill Short Sale Review, you’ll see that there’s a few things going on.

1. The neighborhood itself is relatively strong.  There’s not many short sales or foreclosures.
2. Agents or homeowners are not being educated about short sales.  There’s double the number of foreclosures as short sales.
3. There’s no specific demographic or special case.  In other words, there are high end or luxury short sales and foreclosures and lower end short sales and foreclosures.

Below you will see all the Hamilton Mill Short Sales.

Hamilton Mill Short Sales

As you can see there’s not many to choose from.  That doesn’t mean that there aren’t opportunities.  Check out Hamilton Mill Foreclosures too Hamilton Mill Foreclosures in Dacula, GA

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Hamilton Mill Short Sale Review

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We get a lot of questions about strategic default. This is where a home owner who can afford the mortgage decides to walk away. This is not a home owner that does a short sale (unless they stop making payments). This video explains it in pretty good detail. The unfortunate truth is that the banks have a different set of standards than home owners.

Basically the bank can do whatever they want, they can sit on your paperwork they can decide to ask you for money to mitigate the damage all the while not holding up their end with other creditors. While this video is funny, it’s certainly not “FAKE.” Our government may take the bankers defaulting as a joke, but be assured the bank can (and in some cases) will pursue you for the difference of the loan. This is what makes the short sale so attractive.

Post from: Atlanta Short Sale Listings, Search All Georgia Real Estate, Short Sales Atlanta

Strategic Default

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