Check out this article, it is the most recent and relevant info from Washington Post.
Ben
Monday, December 28, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan
President Obama unveiled his plan to help stabilize the housing market and keep millions of borrowers in their homes.The Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan includes two initiatives to help struggling homeowners. One is a refinancing program for homeowners with less than 20% equity in their homes, or who owe more than their home is worth. The second program attempts to lower monthly payments for homeowners at risk of losing their home. In addition, the plan includes a third initiative to support low mortgage rates by strengthening confidence in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.Many of the plans details are still being worked out and will not be announced until March 4, here is an overview of the plans main components.
Refinancing Initiative:
Under current rules, those families who own less than 20% equity in their homes have a difficult time refinancing and taking advantage of the historically low interest rates. Therefore, the refinancing initiative in the new plan provides refinancing help for homeowners with less than 20% equity in their homes or who owe more than their home is worth. This initiative is open to homeowners who have conforming loans which are guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and who owe up to 5% more than their home is worth. According to the plan, credit-worthy or responsible homeowners can refinance their mortgage into a 30- or 15-year, fixed-rate loan based on current market rates. The refinanced loan, however, cannot include prepayment penalties or balloon payments. For many families, this low-cost refinancing may help reduce their mortgage payments by up to thousands of dollars per year.As with the rest of the plan, details about this initiative will be released at a future date including what, if any, credit score requirements will be included.
Stability Initiative:
This initiative aims at providing help to individual families as well as entire neighborhoods by helping reduce foreclosures and stabilize home prices. It is intended to help homeowners who are struggling to afford their mortgage payments, but cannot sell their homes because prices have fallen significantly. The goal of this initiative is simple: reduce the amount homeowners owe per month to sustainable levels. To accomplish this, lenders are encouraged to lower homeowners' payments to 31 percent of their income by lowering their interest rate to as low as 2% or by extending the terms of the loan. In addition, lenders can also lower the principal owed by the borrower, with Treasury sharing in the costs. Homeowners who are current on their mortgages but are struggling can still apply for this program. As such, this is one of the few programs designed to help homeowners who may face delinquency soon, but are current at the moment.Since the focus of this initiative is on helping families and neighborhoods, investment properties do not qualify. This initiative also includes a number of additional elements and incentives that benefit homeowners and lenders alike, including:
Incentives to Help Borrowers Stay Current:
To provide an extra incentive for borrowers to keep paying on time, the initiative will provide a monthly balance reduction payment that goes straight towards reducing the principal balance of the mortgage loan. As long as a borrower stays current on his or her loan, he or she can get up to $1,000 each year for five years.
Reaching Borrowers Early:
To keep lenders focused on reaching borrowers who are trying their best to stay current on their mortgages, an incentive payment of $500 will be paid to servicers, and an incentive payment of $1,500 will be paid to mortgage holders, if they modify at-risk loans before the borrower falls behind. Supporting Low Mortgage RatesAs part of the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, the Treasury Department is increasing its funding commitment to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ensure the strength and security of the mortgage market and to help maintain mortgage affordability. This portion of the plan will use using funds already authorized in 2008 by Congress for this purpose.The increased funding will enable Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to carry out ambitious efforts to ensure mortgage affordability for responsible homeowners, and provide forward-looking confidence in the mortgage market.Again, the government plans to unveil the final details of the plan on March 4, 2009. For now, you can download a sheet of common Questions and Answers produced by the government at: www.treas.gov/initiatives/eesa/homeowner-affordability-plan/ConsumerQA.pdf
I will continue monitoring the plan as new information becomes available. If you have any questions or would like to discuss how this may specifically impact you, Id be happy to sit down with you. Just call or email me to set up an appointment.
Ben Blonder
Coldwell Banker
Cell 970 420 6166
Email ben_blonder@yahoo.com
Refinancing Initiative:
Under current rules, those families who own less than 20% equity in their homes have a difficult time refinancing and taking advantage of the historically low interest rates. Therefore, the refinancing initiative in the new plan provides refinancing help for homeowners with less than 20% equity in their homes or who owe more than their home is worth. This initiative is open to homeowners who have conforming loans which are guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and who owe up to 5% more than their home is worth. According to the plan, credit-worthy or responsible homeowners can refinance their mortgage into a 30- or 15-year, fixed-rate loan based on current market rates. The refinanced loan, however, cannot include prepayment penalties or balloon payments. For many families, this low-cost refinancing may help reduce their mortgage payments by up to thousands of dollars per year.As with the rest of the plan, details about this initiative will be released at a future date including what, if any, credit score requirements will be included.
Stability Initiative:
This initiative aims at providing help to individual families as well as entire neighborhoods by helping reduce foreclosures and stabilize home prices. It is intended to help homeowners who are struggling to afford their mortgage payments, but cannot sell their homes because prices have fallen significantly. The goal of this initiative is simple: reduce the amount homeowners owe per month to sustainable levels. To accomplish this, lenders are encouraged to lower homeowners' payments to 31 percent of their income by lowering their interest rate to as low as 2% or by extending the terms of the loan. In addition, lenders can also lower the principal owed by the borrower, with Treasury sharing in the costs. Homeowners who are current on their mortgages but are struggling can still apply for this program. As such, this is one of the few programs designed to help homeowners who may face delinquency soon, but are current at the moment.Since the focus of this initiative is on helping families and neighborhoods, investment properties do not qualify. This initiative also includes a number of additional elements and incentives that benefit homeowners and lenders alike, including:
Incentives to Help Borrowers Stay Current:
To provide an extra incentive for borrowers to keep paying on time, the initiative will provide a monthly balance reduction payment that goes straight towards reducing the principal balance of the mortgage loan. As long as a borrower stays current on his or her loan, he or she can get up to $1,000 each year for five years.
Reaching Borrowers Early:
To keep lenders focused on reaching borrowers who are trying their best to stay current on their mortgages, an incentive payment of $500 will be paid to servicers, and an incentive payment of $1,500 will be paid to mortgage holders, if they modify at-risk loans before the borrower falls behind. Supporting Low Mortgage RatesAs part of the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, the Treasury Department is increasing its funding commitment to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ensure the strength and security of the mortgage market and to help maintain mortgage affordability. This portion of the plan will use using funds already authorized in 2008 by Congress for this purpose.The increased funding will enable Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to carry out ambitious efforts to ensure mortgage affordability for responsible homeowners, and provide forward-looking confidence in the mortgage market.Again, the government plans to unveil the final details of the plan on March 4, 2009. For now, you can download a sheet of common Questions and Answers produced by the government at: www.treas.gov/initiatives/eesa/homeowner-affordability-plan/ConsumerQA.pdf
I will continue monitoring the plan as new information becomes available. If you have any questions or would like to discuss how this may specifically impact you, Id be happy to sit down with you. Just call or email me to set up an appointment.
Ben Blonder
Coldwell Banker
Cell 970 420 6166
Email ben_blonder@yahoo.com
Friday, January 30, 2009
SHORT SALE LISTINGS, some good deals here!
Alright...so first go to:
www.coloproperty.com
Click "Input MLS #"
Then put in the following numbers, and check them out. If you are interested in seeing any of these homes, please let me know by email (ben_blonder@yahoo.com) or cell (970 420 6166)
MLS#s:
586796
585704
584642
588894
589404 ****** this is the best of the bunch
www.coloproperty.com
Click "Input MLS #"
Then put in the following numbers, and check them out. If you are interested in seeing any of these homes, please let me know by email (ben_blonder@yahoo.com) or cell (970 420 6166)
MLS#s:
586796
585704
584642
588894
589404 ****** this is the best of the bunch
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
MY experience, as a short sale BUYER
So I was under contract for over 2 months on a short sale with a partner that I invest with. We were very hopeful and excited that we were going to get the property, at a screamin deal. We had our offer submitted for quite a while.
It was a property that I had listed myself, and it was scheduled to go to foreclosure auction on Jan 7th of this year. Well, we thought that since we had an offer that was reasonable, not just some stupid lowball, that the bank (Suntrust, 1st and 2nd loan) would be willing to extend the foreclosure sale date and give us time to negotiate with them. The reason I thought this was because I have worked with Suntrust, as recent as last November which is only 2 months ago. I had a deal with them that I was the listing agent, and the buyers DID lowball, and Suntrust extended the foreclosure sale date (I didn't get this listing until 1 week before the foreclosure sale) and we closed the short sale, for WAY less than the seller owed.
So I was going off of a past experience.
Well, it turns out they rejected our offer. We found this out the day before the foreclosure sale. So my partner and I hit the phones...desperately trying to get them to extend the sale date. I told them that if they just let me know what the 1st lien needed to net---because we knew what the 2nd needed to net for them to sign off on the deal---that we could fill in the blanks and list it at the right price to get them what they needed.
For some reason, Suntrust totally denied us and foreclosed on the property. You can imagine the despair. It was HORRIBLE! Because they didn't give us a chance. We found out, about 10 minutes before the sale happened, that Suntrust was only SERVICING the loan for Wells Fargo, so Wells Fargo was who was calling the shots. They DIDNT TELL US THIS!!! If we had known that, we have worked with Wells before, and we have contacts in their loss mitigation department that we could have called on, etc. We feel like Suntrust really dropped the ball on this deal.
The funny thing is....we KNOW exactly how much was owed, we know that the 2nd lien was wiped away because of the foreclosure sale, we know all the costs associated with foreclosing, AND WE KNOW IF THEY WOULD HAVE TAKEN OUR OFFER THEY WOULD HAVE MADE BACK WAY MORE MONEY THAN THEY WILL NOW. I am going to follow this property and watch to see what happens....I bet it is listed for about $140k. I bet they end up with an offer of $130k...which was what our offer was. But then Wells has to pay a realtor 6% to list, they have to pay the foreclosing attorney, they have to pay insurance, utilities, cost of money/time, clean out costs, etc. My guess it that they will net about $15k less than if they would have just taken our offer.
It goes to show that not all banks are rational...in my humble opinion. The short sale industry is extremely dynamic, constantly changing, etc. Especially with the "bail-out" money not all spent yet...we have no idea what is really going to happen.
I will update this blog with the list price and sale price of this property when it hits the market. I cannot wait to see how dumb Suntrust/Wells Fargo was by not accepting our offer.
It was a property that I had listed myself, and it was scheduled to go to foreclosure auction on Jan 7th of this year. Well, we thought that since we had an offer that was reasonable, not just some stupid lowball, that the bank (Suntrust, 1st and 2nd loan) would be willing to extend the foreclosure sale date and give us time to negotiate with them. The reason I thought this was because I have worked with Suntrust, as recent as last November which is only 2 months ago. I had a deal with them that I was the listing agent, and the buyers DID lowball, and Suntrust extended the foreclosure sale date (I didn't get this listing until 1 week before the foreclosure sale) and we closed the short sale, for WAY less than the seller owed.
So I was going off of a past experience.
Well, it turns out they rejected our offer. We found this out the day before the foreclosure sale. So my partner and I hit the phones...desperately trying to get them to extend the sale date. I told them that if they just let me know what the 1st lien needed to net---because we knew what the 2nd needed to net for them to sign off on the deal---that we could fill in the blanks and list it at the right price to get them what they needed.
For some reason, Suntrust totally denied us and foreclosed on the property. You can imagine the despair. It was HORRIBLE! Because they didn't give us a chance. We found out, about 10 minutes before the sale happened, that Suntrust was only SERVICING the loan for Wells Fargo, so Wells Fargo was who was calling the shots. They DIDNT TELL US THIS!!! If we had known that, we have worked with Wells before, and we have contacts in their loss mitigation department that we could have called on, etc. We feel like Suntrust really dropped the ball on this deal.
The funny thing is....we KNOW exactly how much was owed, we know that the 2nd lien was wiped away because of the foreclosure sale, we know all the costs associated with foreclosing, AND WE KNOW IF THEY WOULD HAVE TAKEN OUR OFFER THEY WOULD HAVE MADE BACK WAY MORE MONEY THAN THEY WILL NOW. I am going to follow this property and watch to see what happens....I bet it is listed for about $140k. I bet they end up with an offer of $130k...which was what our offer was. But then Wells has to pay a realtor 6% to list, they have to pay the foreclosing attorney, they have to pay insurance, utilities, cost of money/time, clean out costs, etc. My guess it that they will net about $15k less than if they would have just taken our offer.
It goes to show that not all banks are rational...in my humble opinion. The short sale industry is extremely dynamic, constantly changing, etc. Especially with the "bail-out" money not all spent yet...we have no idea what is really going to happen.
I will update this blog with the list price and sale price of this property when it hits the market. I cannot wait to see how dumb Suntrust/Wells Fargo was by not accepting our offer.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Happy New Year
Welcome to 2009. It should be a VERY interesting year in all things financial. Banks are still failing, people are still losing their homes and jobs, the stock market is in turmoil, and we have a new president about to be installed. Enough already!!!
Does anyone have ANY idea how this is all going to shake out? I mean, we are definitely in a recession, there is no doubt about that. Now, can an economic stimulus package help save our economy? I am pretty sure that will be one of the first things on Obama's desk.
How about distressed mortgages? Can the government take the necessary steps to offer a 4.5% interest rate to all homeowners? Wouldnt that go a long way towards reducing foreclosures? That is one of many options.
One thing is certain, and that is UNCERTAINTY. We just do not know where our economy, real estate market, job market, etc is going to be even one year from now. It is very tough to predict the future, especially when the present is so chaotic. There has never been such a dynamic, constantly changing financial environment. All we can do is to try and keep up with it and realize how it will affect us in the future.
Ben Blonder
Coldwell Banker
Cell 970 420 6166
Does anyone have ANY idea how this is all going to shake out? I mean, we are definitely in a recession, there is no doubt about that. Now, can an economic stimulus package help save our economy? I am pretty sure that will be one of the first things on Obama's desk.
How about distressed mortgages? Can the government take the necessary steps to offer a 4.5% interest rate to all homeowners? Wouldnt that go a long way towards reducing foreclosures? That is one of many options.
One thing is certain, and that is UNCERTAINTY. We just do not know where our economy, real estate market, job market, etc is going to be even one year from now. It is very tough to predict the future, especially when the present is so chaotic. There has never been such a dynamic, constantly changing financial environment. All we can do is to try and keep up with it and realize how it will affect us in the future.
Ben Blonder
Coldwell Banker
Cell 970 420 6166
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