On a recent listing which was a short sale transaction, the buyer activity was truly amazing.  The list price started in the high $140’s and got bid up to the high $150’s.  The listing was on the market for 6 days and received 40 showings from Phoenix Arizona Realtors and over 10 offers.  If this seller where not underwater on the mortgage, the home may have sold for $10,000 more.

As of today, the number of active Phoenix Homes for Sale in the Phoenix MLS has dropped to 15,231.  With this low amount of inventory valley wide for Phoenix Arizona homes, prices in the Phoenix Real Estate Market should see increases in value until more inventory returns to the market.

 

The Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative (HAFA) is designed to help sellers who are attempting to do a Short Sale.  Those who qualify to participate in the program and successfully close escrow on their home are eligible for a $3000 move out payment.  It can also help provide protection for those who have 2 (or more) loans on their property.

Homeowners may be eligible for HAFA if they meet all of the following criteria:
• Home is (or has been) owner occupied within the last 12 months.
•There is a documented financial hardship.
•Homeowner has not purchased a new house within the last 12 months.
•The first mortgage on the home is no greater than $729,750.
•Mortgage was obtained on or before January 1, 2009.
•Homeowners must not have been convicted within the last 10 years of felony larceny, theft, fraud, forgery, money laundering or tax evasion in connection with a mortgage or real estate transaction.


Please visit  www.MakingHomeAffordable.gov  for more information.



If you would like to discuss what options are available to you, and to see whether or not you qualify, please fill out the contact form here, and we'll have a licensed professional contact you.

Have you ever wondered what the impact of being late on your mortage has on your credit score? Two payments? Three? What about after a Bankruptcy, Foreclosure, or Short Sale.

Well, a study has been conducted on just that topic! Click here to read it. It's a short read, so take the time to learn the consequences of these actions on your credit.




If you would like to discuss your options and what the right action is for you, please fill out the contact form here, and we'll have a licensed professional contact you.

 

Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) is a government funded program designed to help homeowners who are struggling with paying their monthly mortgage payments modify their existing loan to more favorable terms.


HAMP uses the following criteria to determine eligibility for home owners:

•Home Owner must occupy the house as your primary residence.
• Home Owner obtained your mortgage on or before January 1, 2009.
• Home Owner’s mortgage payment is more than 31 percent of your monthly gross (pre-tax) income.
• Maximum mortgage amounts for the home owner is $729,750.
• The home owner is able to provide details of a financial hardship and is delinquent on a mortgage payment or in imminent danger of falling behind on the mortgage payment.
• The home owner’s income is sufficient and documented to support the modified payment.
• The home owner must not have been convicted within the last 10 years of felony larceny, theft, fraud or forgery, money laundering or tax evasion, in connection with a mortgage or real estate transaction.


Please visit www.makinghomeaffordable.gov for more information.



If you would like to discuss what options are available to you, and to see whether or not you qualify, please fill out the contact form here, and we'll have a licensed professional contact you.

 

If you were to consider a foreclosure over short sale, your credit will receive reports of delinquent mortgage payments until the foreclosure is complete. With a foreclosure taking at least 180 days, completing a short sale in 90 days could reduce negative reporting to credit significantly. Additionally, in some situations, a short sale may be completed without any missed mortgage payments thereby eliminating any negative reporting from delinquent mortgage payments.


If you would like to discuss your options and what the right action is for you, please fill out the contact form here, and we'll have a licensed professional contact you.

There are a lot of acronyms flying around the lending world these days.  One of them is HARP or Home Affordable Refinance Program.  HARP is a government funded program designed to help you get a new, more affordable, more stable mortgage even though the value of your home has declined.


You may be eligible for HARP if you meet all of the following criteria:

•The mortgage must be owned or guaranteed by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae.

•The mortgage must have been sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac on or before May 31, 2009.

•The mortgage cannot have been refinanced under HARP previously unless it is a Fannie Mae loan that was refinanced under HARP from March-May, 2009.

•The current loan-to-value (LTV) ratio must be greater than 80%.

•The borrower must be current on the mortgage at the time of the refinance, with a good payment history in the past 12 months.

 

 Please visit http://harpprogram.org for more information.

People often ask us what makes one realtor better than another in regards to a short sale.  The truth is that there are many different factors involved in negotiating a short sale and the realtors who run successful short sales are the ones who do their homework up front.  It is important to know who the investor (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac etc.) on the loan is because each investor has different requirements.  It is also important to know how the bank (or servicer) is going to work.  One of the reasons that the Thompson Group has success in working short sales is because we realize how important it is to understand the processes of the companies we are going to be working with.

The servicers we have worked with are:

• Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae, FHA & VA backed loans
• Bank of America (B of A)
• J.P. Morgan Chase (Chase)
• Wells Fargo
• Aurora Loan Services
• OCWEN Financial Corp.
• Desert Schools Federal Credit Union
• Citi Mortgage, HSBC (The Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited)
• CCO Mortgage Corp. (Charter One Mortgage Corp, Citizens Financial Group a subsidiary of The Royal Bank of Scotland plc.)
• AHSMI (American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc)
• Metlife Home Loans
• Seterus (LBPS – Lender Business Process Services)
• Green Tree Servicing LLC.
• USAA (United Services Automobile Association)
• Provident Funding
• M&I Bank (Marshall & Ilsley Corporation)
• US Bank
• Litton Loan Servicing
• GMAC Mortgage
• Carrington Mortgage Services
• Everhome Mortgage Company
• Dyke O’Neal Inc.
• Compass Bank

Legal Advice:  The number one mistake I am seeing from homeowners pursuing the short sale process is failing to get legal advice and failing to get advice from an attorney specializing in the short sale field.  Many times homeowners pursue to completion a short sale only to find out later they are may be liable for the balance of the mortgage.  A good legal consultation costs less than a few hundred dollars and will provide peace of mind while dealing with a sometimes chaotic short sale process.

 

Preparing Hardship Documents:  To give a short sale agreement banks need supporting hardship documentation from homeowners pursuing a short sale.  When done efficiently, all hardship documentation should be submitted up front to banks.  Many times homeowners do not begin to prepare documents until weeks after the home is under contract or fail to update documents in a timely manner during the process.  When banks don’t have these documents the results are lengthy delays, closing of the bank files and risk of foreclosure. 

 

Access to the Property:  If you want to sell a home, then you need to show the home.  With a foreclosure looming in the near future, showing the home is even more important.  After being told recently from a short sale client that the home would only be available a few hours each day due to the large dog residing at the house, we strongly suggested a new temporary home for the dog--At least until the home was under contract.  Upon acceptance of the contract between buyer and seller, large showing windows are not needed unless the contract is canceled and needs to be sold again.

According to Fannie Mae document dated May of 2011, a borrower is not considered in imminent default unless cash reserves are less than $25,000. After determining that the borrower has less than $25,000 cash reserves the service company must submit the borrower to IDI for further evaluation. Further, if the IDI results in a 2, the bank service company must confirm that the borrower has an acceptable hardship. This is the summary version, the full document can be found at stopforeclosure.com.

Keep in mind that when Fannie Mae is referring to cash reserves, Fannie Mae excludes retirement assets.  So how in the world do you determine if you will pass an IDI?    

In my world after shaving out the Fannie Mae guidelines, imminent default means that if the homeowner continues in their current financial circumstances, default on the mortgage will happen sooner rather than later.

In processing short sales, our experience is that common hardships such as health issues, loss of income, drop of income, or divorce all result in reduction of cash reserves due to monthly negative cash flow of the borrower. Generally, upon completion of a financial worksheet our short sales clients are clearly able to document their financial situation and show imminent default. Although we don’t have fancy tools like the IDI, good old fashion adding and subtracting still works in demonstrating imminent default.