Erin Bucaro had her eye on a four-bedroom home in Fairway Canyon, a golf community in Beaumont, Calif.

Driving around the neighborhood, she noticed papers posted on the door, a sign that a bank had taken it over. She’d have to move fast.

Bucaro lost out on a nearby foreclosure in February. By the time she put in an offer a week after it listed for sale, it had already gone to escrow.

This time the 29-year-old nurse made sure her offer would be first on the table the morning it listed.

The 3,000-square-foot home went up for sale at $227,000 — less than half of what it sold for brand-new a couple of years earlier.

Bucaro agreed to the list price, but asked the bank to pay $8,500 in closing costs. It countered at $234,000, including costs. Bucaro accepted.

Buyers are out in force — and aggressive — in many markets hard-hit by foreclosure, such as Riverside and San Bernardino counties in Southern California’s Inland Empire, where Beaumont is. Other major foreclosure spots are Las Vegas, South Florida and Phoenix.

With prices cut up to 50% from their peaks, low interest rates and $8,000 tax credits for first-time buyers like Bucaro, people are vying for bank-owned bargains as hungrily as speculators during the housing boom. Multiple bids are common.

“Supply and demand takes over,” said Mark Stark, owner-broker at Prudential American Group Realtors in Las Vegas, which has the highest foreclosure rate in the U.S.

Troubled Properties Sell

Homes banks took back and are selling off make up anywhere from 40% to 80% of the inventory in these markets. Many go at prices that barely cover construction costs.

“If you’re Mr. and Mrs. Smith and you want to sell your house, you can’t compete with the bank properties,” said broker Bob Wasson of ReMax Results in Moreno Valley, Calif.

Distressed homes made up a third of May sales, downwardly distorting the U.S. median existing-home price, the National Association of Realtors said this week. The median fell 16.8% from a year ago to $173,000.

In just the last year, purchase prices in top foreclosure markets dropped nearly 30%, by various first-quarter estimates. Miami fell even more.

Foreclosed homes in Riverside and San Bernardino counties are selling at 2000 prices. It’s the same in Las Vegas. South Florida is back to 2003.

“Foreclosures are devastating for values,” said Peter Zalewski, principal of Condo Vultures, a brokerage in the Miami area. “That said, as first-time buyers pick off properties, it’s working to stabilize prices.”

And clear out inventory: The number of unsold homes on the market at the end of May fell 3.5% from April to nearly 3.8 million, the NAR said.

Price Risk Persists

Some surveys suggest month-to-month price drops in hard-hit markets are getting less severe. But an expected new wave of foreclosures as payment-option adjustable rate mortgages reset higher, plus more job losses, might stall a recovery and push prices down further.

For now, though, demand for bank-owned homes in foreclosure-heavy spots is so high that contracts are being signed at prices above original, albeit deeply cut, listings. It’s especially true for homes in good shape.

“We have qualified buyers who are willing to pay more than the listed price,” said Garey Teeters, a broker with Coldwell Banker-Teeters in Yucaipa, Calif.

But appraisals often come in under the agreed-upon sales price, quashing the deal. “It’s the biggest problem we have now,” Teeters said.

Close to 20% of contracts over the last two months have been canceled due to low appraisals, he says, as new government appraisal guidelines make appraisers more cautious.

Prices have dropped the most — and are still falling — in exurbs farthest from urban coastlines. They include new developments bordering the Florida Everglades and the easternmost reaches of the Inland Empire in California, like Beaumont.

Taking advantage of the steep dip, a Jamaican banker is assembling a portfolio of $40,000 homes in Homestead, some 20 miles south of Miami. In this region, new housing tracts reach to the brink of the Everglades.

In Las Vegas, as other foreclosure markets, the low end is seeing the steepest drops. Here, homes going for $70 per square foot are common.

“If I had a bucket full of money, I’d buy 10 myself,” said Heidi Kasama, broker-owner at Windermere Summerlin Real Estate.

Investors Flash Cash

Stark says about 38% of Las Vegas deals are cash, indicating investor activity. Most financing is through government-insured Federal Housing Administration loans.

Bucaro says she “got into the perfect storm” of motivating factors. As first-time buyers, she and her ironworker husband get an $8,000 federal tax credit. And as an Air Force veteran, she qualified for a zero-down Veterans Affairs loan. She got a 30-year fixed mortgage at 4.85%. The couple and their two young children plan to move in by July 1.

“I’m so happy,” Bucaro said.

But real estate agents complain that moratoriums on foreclosures have kept back a lot of new inventory, limiting the number of homes they can sell to now-eager buyers. Also, they say banks are releasing foreclosed homes to the market in a slow and controlling way.

Bank Buys Take Time

Complicated guidelines for selling bank-owned homes also are slowing what would otherwise be a much faster sales pace, says Mike Novak-Smith, a broker with ReMax Results in Riverside, Calif.

In Las Vegas, inventory is about half what it was a year ago, brokers say. “If we got it back to 25,000 or 30,000, I’m very confident we could handle it. The market is selling about 3,500 homes a month,” Stark said.

But Teeters said, “The dam is about to break. We’re told that in July, banks will release more REOs (real estate owned by banks).”

Las Vegas broker Kasama sees more bank supply coming on as well.

“Banks have a large backlog of inventory they will bring back on the market,” she said. “That will continue to keep our prices low.”

Senate Passes Ammendment to Protect Renters in Foreclosure Crisis.

Washington, D.C. – May 6, 2009 – (RealEstateRama) – An amendment by Senators John Kerry and Kirsten Gillibrand to protect renters from being thrown out of their homes after a foreclosure passed the Senate today as part of the larger housing bill, the Help Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009 (S. 896.) S. Amdt. 1036, the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act, ensures that tenants and families nationwide have at least 90 days to find their next home if they are renting in a building that is foreclosed upon.

“More than 30,000 renters across New York, who dutifully pay their rent on time each month, may face eviction because they live in a building that is about to be foreclosed,” said Sen. Gillibrand. “These tenants have almost no rights when a bank seizes their home. Families without the means to find temporary housing or move into another unit can be kicked onto the streets, because their landlord failed to meet his or her obligation to pay. This is wrong and I am proud to partner with my colleagues to pass new protections for these families.”"Renters are blameless victims in the housing crisis,” said Sen. Kerry, who has previously introduced legislation to protect military families facing foreclosure. “Tenants who do no wrong shouldn’t be evicted without notice and without the necessary time to make alternative living arrangements. This victory will prevent a spike in vacant properties in our communities and give families who don’t have the means to find another place a chance to plan.”Renters often have no idea their home is about to be foreclosed upon. Depending on state law, renters in foreclosed properties may be evicted with limited notice, forcing families to move quickly and increasing the number of vacant properties in neighborhoods. Low-income renters who live in properties subject to foreclosure are lack the resources necessary to easily relocate.

The Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act states that tenants in any federally related mortgage loan (as determined under Section 3 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act) or any dwelling or residential real property with a lease have a right to remain in the unit until the end of the existing lease. If a purchaser intends to use the property as a primary residence, the lease may be terminated and the tenant must receive 90 days notice to vacate; and tenants without a lease or with a lease terminable at will under state law must receive 90 days notice to vacate.

The amendment is cosponsored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Development Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), and Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR).

“No state in the nation feels the pain of the foreclosure crisis as intensely as Nevada,” said Majority Leader Reid. “The most recent statistics show that one in every 27 Nevada homes is in some stage of the foreclosure process. Homeowners suffer deeply as they struggle to keep their houses, but renters often face sudden and unjustified loss of the roofs over their heads because of foreclosure as well. Those without the money to pick up and move unexpectedly suffer the greatest trauma, and this legislation provides them deserved and overdue protections.”

“A tidal wave of foreclosures is sweeping across the country and my home state of Connecticut, leaving countless victims in its wake, including many renters who are facing eviction through no fault of their own,” said Chairman Dodd. “This measure will help defend the hard-working tenants who pay their rent on time and are being unfairly forced out of their homes because their landlord is in foreclosure. Just as we have established protections for borrowers who fell prey to predatory lending, we must also protect these often-overlooked victims of the foreclosure crisis.”

“This amendment offers important protections to tenants who, through no fault of their own, are being forced out of their homes during this foreclosure crisis,” said Sen. Kennedy. “I commend Senator Kerry for offering this amendment, and I’m hopeful that it will be approved.”

“Renters have been the forgotten victims of the housing crisis,” said Sen. Merkley. “It is simply unfair that these families, who followed the rules and who may have lived in their houses and apartments for years, should be forced to leave their homes by circumstances beyond their control. I applaud Senator Kerry for bringing this issue to light and fighting for these innocent victims of the foreclosure crisis.”

http://RealEstateRoadKillUSA.com

Trying to cut its losses, Bank of America Corp. has changed its policy on short sales, making it easier for borrowers to sell their homes instead of going into foreclosure.

Until a month ago, B of A and its Countrywide Financial Corp. had required that 10% of a home’s sale price go toward paying off home equity lines of credit before they would agree to a short sale. But Terry Francisco, a spokesman for the Charlotte company, said Monday that it changed its policy last month, agreeing to accept 5% of the sale price when there is no equity available to holders of the first or second liens.

The new policy “is based on the assumption that it is in the best interest of all parties involved to accept a short sale, as opposed to proceeding to a foreclosure,” Francisco said. “We believed that the previous policies set an arbitrary amount that did not take into account the savings derived from proceeding with a short sale.”

B of A expects the change to increase the number of short sales, he said, and even though it is releasing the liens, it reserves the right to pursue deficiency judgments against borrowers.

With foreclosure moratoriums being lifted in the past month, bankers are looking for ways to deal with an anticipated flood of distressed properties and are trying to determine which borrowers will get loan modifications and which will go into foreclosure.

Experts on short sales say they have been difficult to negotiate with lenders that are often reluctant to accept discounted payoffs when a home is sold for less than the balance due on the mortgage. But losses on foreclosures can be as much as 30% higher than on short sales, and housing prices are still falling, so servicers are slowly starting to change their policies, experts said.

One critical issue is second liens, particularly home equity lines of credit; these lenders are even more loath to permit a short sale, knowing that the primary lien will likely receive almost all the sale price, leaving little or nothing for holders of secondary notes.

Raffi Tal, chief operating officer at IShortSale Inc. in Woodland Hills, Calif., said holders of second liens are often offered payoffs of $1,000 to $3,000 in short sales, and many such deals are held up because the lenders refuse to accept these payoffs.

“The banks are holding short sales hostage,” Tal said. “They don’t care that a year from now they will have to take over the property and sell it for 30% less when they could have sold the property in a short sale in 30 to 90 days.”

Experts have long complained that the largest lender-servicers – B of A, Wells Fargo & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. – are also the largest holders of second liens.

The four largest banking companies own 52% of residential revolving lines of credit, or $441 billion of loans in the second lien position, according to Laurie Goodman, senior managing director at Amherst Holdings LLC’s Amherst Securities Group LP. That includes $92.6 billion of second liens on their balance sheets, she said.

Tom Kelly, a spokesman for Chase Home Finance, said it has a “disciplined process” for handling short sales with HELOCs.

The process includes determining if the offer is at fair market value, which may require a new appraisal, requiring that borrowers submit hardship information to determine their ability to contribute to the shortfall and investigating for misrepresentations and “non-arm’s-length transactions,” Kelly said. “This doesn’t happen overnight.”

Norm Miller, a professor of real estate at the University of San Diego’s Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate, said 77% of foreclosures in California have second mortgages, most of them HELOCs, which often scuttle short sales.

There are other factors holding up short sales, including the commissions paid to real estate agents and mortgage insurance.

Some servicers have cut real estate commissions on short sales from the standard 6% to 3% or less, experts said. To combat that practice, Fannie Mae adopted a policy March 1 saying the sales “may not be conditioned upon a reduction of the total commission” paid to real estate agents.

Matt McCabe, the president of Loan Resolution Corp., a Scottsdale, Ariz., company that helps lenders resolve defaulted loans, said servicers “put themselves in a position” to get a short sale rejected. “Some realtors were shying away from short sales because it takes so long and commissions were being cut, even though it saves lenders a lot of money.”

Rich Rollins, the president and chief executive of National Quick Sale LLC, a Jacksonville, Fla., start-up that specializes in short sales, said mortgage insurance companies also are holding up the process, because the insurers take the first 25% loss on a short sale.

Experts agree that many servicers are ill-equipped to handle the negotiations that typically involve several lenders, a defaulted borrower and a willing buyer, who typically waits months before a package is approved. In some cases, short sale offers are rejected because the calculation for the property’s fair net value does not match the buyer’s offer – even if that offer is higher.

“Short sales have always been the last tool that servicers ever use, because they have to coordinate with too many stakeholders in the loan, and it takes a lot of follow-up,” said Cheryl Lang, the president of Integrated Mortgage Solutions, a Houston consulting firm.

Servicers typically have a small staff with knowledge of short sales working out of the loss mitigation department, which is separate from real-estate owned specialists with expertise valuing properties. Many servicers “just don’t have the technology and infrastructure to deal with short sales,” Lang said.

Because the majority of short sales involve multiple lien holders, a buyer often waits at least 90 days before getting a response from a lender on an offer. In a rapidly changing housing market where prices are falling every month, many buyers are unwilling to wait that long and often walk away.

“The banks really need to get short sales done faster,” McCabe said.

Some specialists said the government should not have given the largest lender-servicers money through the Troubled Asset Relief Program, because they were then unwilling to accept short sale offers and are waiting for the housing market to recover.

Tony Renzi, the president of GMAC Mortgage and chief operating officer of Residential Capital LLC, said servicers are starting to see “more flexibility from second lien holders,” largely because of the sheer volume of foreclosures expected. “There’s more of a recognition, given that the second lien would rather take something than see the property go through liquidation and have the second lien charged off. Getting something is better than nothing.”

Courtesy of Kate Berry – Financial Planning

Florida has one of the top foreclosure rates in the country, and mortgage fraud is one of the issues at the heart of the matter. In order to revive Florida’s and the country’s economy, a multi-agency approach to combating mortgage fraud is necessary. It is a serious area of concern for all of us, but particularly for agencies that oversee the real estate industry professionals and are responsible for protecting the public.

I was so pleased to receive Attorney General Bill McCollum’s letter this week, which sought our help-and the help of other agencies-in creating a statewide mortgage fraud network. He recognized the need for a more coordinated effort to combat mortgage fraud and reached out to all involved.

This past Wednesday, I represented the department at a summit called by the Attorney General, which included the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Office of Financial Regulation’s Division of Insurance Fraud, the Florida Chiefs of Police Association, the Florida Sheriffs Association, the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association, and the Florida Bar.

The Attorney General felt that Florida was “in a state of emergency” as his office has received more than 5,000 complaints about mortgage fraud, credit repair and debt relief services. Everyone at the table acknowledged the seriousness of this problem and committed to this organized effort to share information in a more consistent and uniform manner.

Many of the agencies in attendance already work together in an informal manner when investigating mortgage fraud. Our role at DBPR is to investigate cases that involve alleged violations by license real estate sales associates, brokers or appraisers. The criminal cases are referred to the local or state law enforcement organizations. The Division of Real Estate will pursue the administrative charges, and the department will prosecute them before the Florida Real Estate Commission.

As a result of this meeting, members formed a work group that would focus on three issues with an emphasis on how to collaboratively approach each issue. The issues are:

1. To establish a centralized intake system that will serve as a clearinghouse for citizen complaints.
2. To identify better ways to educate the public about mortgage fraud and how to file a complaint.
3. To create a triage system to determine the offense type and coordinate the agencies that would be involved in investigating the offense.

The overall goal of this committee is to create a system where mortgage fraud complaints are quickly investigated by the proper authorities, and each agency works with other agencies as a team.

I fully support the Attorney General’s effort to combat mortgage fraud, and I can tell you that at DBPR, we have and will continue to tackle this serious issue head-on.
Charles W. Drago
Secretary

Department of Business and
Professional Regulation

Poor Strategy When Facing Foreclosure

In some markets more than 1 out of 10 homeowners are dealing with a pending foreclosure.  The most common initial reaction is to avoid the lender and bury one’s head like an ostrich hoping to avoid danger.  It is impossible to hide from mortgage obligations without dire consequences but a proactive strategy can produce positive results.

The first step is to stare the problem right in the face.  You’ve got to deal honestly with the questions at hand.  For instance:

• Could you afford to stay if the payment was lower?
• Are you expecting that you can catch up on arrears?
• Do have the money to move if evicted or sold as a short sale?
• What would be the effect of a deficiency judgment on your financial condition, both present and future?

Next is to determine the goals of your strategy.  Where do want to be when this is over?

• Do you want to stay in the house if the payment can be made affordable?
• Do you owe much more than the house is worth and just want a way out with some damage control?
• Do you need to stay in the house for as long as possible without being able to make any mortgage payments?

Your options will be dictated by how you have addressed the above questions and defined your immediate goals.  The most common options include a refinance or modification of the mortgage, a sale of the property, negotiating a deed in lieu of foreclosure or just stalling what may be an inevitable foreclosure.  Most important to remember is that in most states a foreclosure is a legal procedure.  Richard Weinstein, an attorney in Jupiter, Fl specializes in foreclosure defenses and explains that, “there is much too much at stake for the average individual to try to properly address all the issues of the foreclosure process.  The homeowner has rights they must demand and possibly assets they need to protect.  Unrepresented borrowers very often find themselves unnecessarily homeless and still hopelessly in debt.”

I couldn’t agree more!  I have seen too many regretful real life experiences with disastrous results that could have been averted if the homeowner in distress had gotten proper advice before it became too late.  The sooner the dangers are acknowledged the more options that remain available, both practical and legal.

Some have advised that the first person to talk to is your lender.  Here I disagree.  Doesn’t it make more sense to first speak with someone who is already prepared for your lender’s response and knows what information should be shared?  If you find yourself in the position that you cannot meet your mortgage obligations I encourage you to speak to a mortgage professional that is well versed in all possible remedies.  Elite Lending offers free consultations for homeowner’s in need.  Please call 516-575-5626 for more information and visit www.EliteLending.biz.

Now that negative equity sales are accounting for more than half of the transactions in many markets if you’re not involved in any short sales you might be getting left in the dust.  Real Estate Agents, Mortgage Brokers, Short Sale Negotiators and Title Agents are all wrestling with the same beast – no matter how hard you work and how high your level of expertise, many short sale transactions will fall apart.

Lately, second mortgage holders have had no qualms about squashing deals over a few thousand dollars.  Just when FNMA and Freddie Mac have announced they will protect Real Estate Agent commissions in short sale negotiations, second lien holders are insisting on higher pay-offs and suggesting it comes from commissions.

Here’s a quote from a recent conversation with a negotiator in Citi’s loss mitigation department: “Citi’s position is that real estate agents should not profit from short sales and should share in the losses”.  Some lenders, including Bank of America and Citi, have suspended progress on many negotiations midstream until new authorization forms are signed on their letterhead.  Countrywide has insisted on second lien pay-offs before making determinations, then closed files if it takes more than a few days to get attain them.  Of course by now we are all getting accustomed to documents being lost or misplaced as part of standard operating procedure in loss mitigation departments.

As frustrating as all this sounds, nothing is more disappointing than working hard (very hard), for months and finally getting an offer accepted by the bank only to find the buyer, for whatever reason, is no longer interested in proceeding.

The reasons are many, but most could be avoided if the lenders could condense the timeline on the negotiating process.  In many instances the buyer’s due diligence clock doesn’t start until the offer is accepted by the lender and the buyer can choose to walk with limited consequences.  Now, everyone involved has run the gauntlet and the accepted offer is without a buyer!  Real Estate Agents, Mortgage Brokers, Title Agents and Short Sale Negotiators are “all dressed up and nowhere to go”.  The work has all been done and no one is getting paid! The distressed sellers and disappointed Agents need to find new buyers before the lenders acceptance of the offer expires, normally in 30-45 days.

Once again, time remains the # 1 obstacle to a smooth and successful short sale transaction. On the selling side it takes the form of the time spent negotiating with the lender and keeping the buyers engaged, all the while trying to keep the property from getting to the courthouse steps.  From the buyer’s side of the market, there is a teeming interest in purchasing these deeply discounted properties but without waiting for 4-6 months to see if an offer will be accepted while other opportunities come and go.

Many real estate professionals are finding salvation in a brand new, free cooperative service at RealEstateRoadkillUSA.com.  The website takes these “accepted offers in need of buyers” and presents them, not only as the best deals in the market, but ready to close immediately.  Remember, once an offer is finally accepted the lender doesn’t care who the buyer is as long as the bottom line remains the same.

Although the service has only recently become available, real estate agents and buyers are flocking to the website like bees to honey (or vultures to carrion).  These are the absolute hottest deals available and all the work has already been done to prepare them for closing.  Wouldn’t you have to be crazy to buy any property without looking here first?  Likewise, if the buyer is lost on an accepted offer it makes perfect sense to post it on RealEstateRoadkillUSA.com immediately.  Currently the website is servicing limited areas but opportunities exist for enterprising real estate professionals poised to serve as “gatekeepers” in their market.  Details are available in the “Join Our Network” section.

Like it or not, short sale transactions are going to represent a growing market for years to come.  Lenders are being encouraged to exhaust all options before foreclosing and hopefully they will streamline and homogenize the process in the months to come.  In the meantime we can only try to work smart and diligently to avoid “All Work and No Pay”.

For the sophisticated home buyer, the current market conditions present some unique
opportunities. Gone are the days when it is necessary to pay “full retail value”, unless
you are looking to buy a property with very unique characteristics, or in a very specific
location.

The current local inventory is full of “distressed” property listings. So how should you
proceed.

Firstly, I would recommend that all buyers work with a local expert. A well established,
local, full time, Realtor is the most able to correctly determine the current value of any
property.

There seem to be many “bargains” around, that are selling for a fraction of their previous
selling price. But are they really  such a “great deal?”  Your Realtor needs to complete a
“Comparative Market Analysis” (CMA), to determine the actual current value of any
prospective purchase. You may be surprised to learn that even though a property may
be listed for ONLY 60% of it’s previous selling price, that it is still overpriced by 10-15%
versus other competitive listed properties.

So be careful !

What should you be looking for ? What are the choices ?

Pre-foreclosures (short sales)

These are properties that are typically at some stage of the foreclosure process. At this
point the homeowners have determined that they will be unable to sell for a price, that
will allow them to pay off any existing notes & mortgages. They will have priced their
property at less than the existing debt and are waiting for offers.

Only when an offer has been received, can they start the “short-sale” process with
their lender. This process can take many months and there is no guarantee that the
lender will ever accept an offer – They are not obligated to do so !

So, as a buyer – do you have 6 or more months to wait for a decision?

Bank Owned REO

These are properties that have already been foreclosed, and now belong to the lender.
They are typically listed with a local Broker, and offers are then presented to the bank
for their approval. Again there is no guarantee that they will accept an offer. The time for
acceptance can take many weeks, and they are geared up to receive and consider multiple
offers.

There is no guarantee that the price of the REO is actually a good deal. Very often buyers
fall into the trap of assuming that because it is a “foreclosure” property owned by the bank
-that it must be a steal !  Often this is not the case.

Short Sale Approved (Road Kill)

These are pre-foreclosure properties, on which an offer has already been submitted and
approved. For various reasons the “buyer” is unable to close. This then means that the
price has already been negotiated and a new buyer can close, normally within 30 days.
At this stage the bank do not care who’s name is on the contract. They have already made
a decision to take a loss and are just looking to close the transaction, and get the property
off their books, as soon as possible.

So if you are looking for a quick decision, a quick close, and at a price that can be quickly
researched for a “steal”. Then ROAD Kill is for you.

.