Disqus - Latest Comments for dpeeples

Re: How long does the import process take?

Dave — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:37:01 -0000

My comments are now imported.

Very cool.

Re: How long does the import process take?

Dave — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 15:54:38 -0000

I'm having the same experience as eur3k4. I received an email stating that the problem should be fixed, but a new import does not seem to be working. It's only 105 comments.

Re: The Indymac Short Sale and Loan Modification Truth

Dave — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:52:53 -0000

Steve - I certainly understand your frustration.Loan modifications are an alternative to short sales. Some lenders are willing to modify the one or more of the terms of the loan in order to make it a performing loan for the borrower (terms: principal, interest rate, loan length).

Typically speaking, they are more likely to do this when hardship exists and usually when payments have already been missed. However, it can't hurt to ask if they will consider modifying your loan (especially if you have an ARM resetting soon). In my experience, banks are willing to conduct modifications when the borrower can almost (but not quite) afford the house any more due to a moderate hardship.

Who is your loan with?

Re: Negotiating Short Sale Values Part I | Bank Decision Makers

Dave — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:48:32 -0000

@ Alex,

You would send in any evidence you could to convince the decision maker/investor that this deal was in their best interest. Examples of documentation that would come in handy are:

recent comparable sales
active listings at low prices
recent foreclosures
recent NOD addresses
recent lis pendens
signs of vandalism
signs of job loss
etc...

I find it effective to give them something visual, along with data.

Re: Mortgage Fraud Causes Florida Short Sales and Foreclosures

Dave — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:45:11 -0000

Alex,

The names of the company can be found if you follow the link in the blog. I did not want to publish them as they are only allegations so far.

thanks.

Re: Aurora Short Sales | Aurora Loan Services Next to Fail?

Dave — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:20:53 -0000

I doubt it Scott. They will most likely keep that operation going.

Re: The Indymac Short Sale and Loan Modification Truth

Dave — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 13:28:38 -0000

Steve,

Great question. Lenders are reluctant to agree to a short sale if there is no true hardship. Your desire to purchase bigger for less makes your comment sound as if you are not under duress as a home-owner.

Having said that, the likelihood of a lender cooperating with a short sale is unlikely. They typically tend to approve short sales when a borrower is unable to make payments and the alternative is foreclosure.

You may want to pursue a loan modification.

You are not alone. Many people are feeling frustrated at buying "at the wrong time".

This too shall pass.

Good Luck!

Dave

Re: WaMu and National City Short Sales | Do They Get It?

Dave — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:21:17 -0000

John,

You will probably need some help from someone with good (and complete) access to information regarding recent sales for property in your immediate area.

You will need someone who can show you the historic trend in pricing going back to 2001 for houses that are very similar to the one you are looking at. I'm not saying that your offer should necessarily be the 2001 price, but it is important to see how irrational the prices were for the past 7 years.

In my opinion, all prices from 2003 and beyond are highly suspect due to the surge in buyers created by easy money and credit. Essentially, to get a good buy now, you need to discredit any benefit from the boom "years".

Your next homework assignment should be to find someone that can get access to sales data. Any real estate agent can do this, but most will focus on the very recent history (past 1 year or less). I think it's important to be aware of effects of the real estate boom of 2004-2006 before buying.

I would be really curious to know what similar homes were selling for from 2001-2003.

thanks,

Dave

Re: WaMu and National City Short Sales | Do They Get It?

Dave — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:54:10 -0000

John,

This is not a good start, it is a GREAT start. Here is what the bank will require of them:

1. Financial worksheet
2. hardship letter
3. last two pay stubs
4. last two months of statements from all bank accts
5. last two years of tax returns
6. A list of all repairs necessary
7. A list of all liens/assessments against the property
8. A listing agreement from their Realtor

*These are items that their agent should be helping them gather and submitting to the bank for them. I include them for you, so that you could "coach" them to getting the job done.

I will comment about "valuation" in the morning as Dad duties are calling right now. However, "valuation" is highly debatable, I wouldn't worry about it at all right now if I were you.

Great start!

Re: WaMu and National City Short Sales | Do They Get It?

Dave — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:12:09 -0000

John,

Just because WaMu has indicated that they are willing to do a short sale, there is no indication that they will accept an offer short of pay-off.

I questioned how much it would have cost in 2001, because that would give some sort of indication as to how the market was before any signs of irrational lending and appreciation took place.

What city and state are you?

I'm not trying to be a real estate bear, but this is what I do every single day. ANY sale from 2004 and beyond is suspect of being irrational, in my opinion.

If you want to make a case study out of this, I will coach you through this every step of the way on this blog, if you want.

We will start with valuation and offer, all the way through closing.

If not, no big deal.

Re: WaMu and National City Short Sales | Do They Get It?

Dave — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 21:13:22 -0000

John,

First of all, there is so much to talk about on this one. I might make a new post out of it tomorrow (if you don't mind). There is just so much to talk about. Let's get started:

1. Owners are keeping up with payments: not a deal killer, but lenders are less likely to budge when there is no perceived or demonstrated hardship by the borrower.

2. Borrower is closing on a new property? Ok, this is out of my comfort zone. Borrower is about to default on an existing loan, but they are about to close on a new one? I am sure that their new lender would like to know about their potential short sale. God Bless America.

However, as a buyer, this has nothing to do with you so I will stop my rant.

3. "I’ve been told that banks will acept 80-85% of the home’s value". This is an old but goody. While this may happen on occasion, it certainly is no rule. The real question is 80-85% of what "value"? Of loan amount, sure. Of liquidation value, probably not. Having said all that, it varies from lender to lender and it is definitely possible to purchase below market value.

4. "Nothing is selling!". How much are comparable properties listed for? Your offer needs to be WAY below comparable list prices. A good thing to know would be, "how much would that same property have cost in 2001"?

5. If anything (without knowing anything but what I've read in your post), $335K still may not be a good buy.

6. Is this for primary occupancy or investment?

Great comment.

Dave

Re: Negotiating Short Sale Values Part III | The Waiting Game

Dave — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:43:49 -0000

Come on Bob,

[sarcasm on]

You don't think guys like Angelo Mozilo lead by example?

[sarcasm off]

Re: How to do a Short Sale in a Post-Crash Economy?

Dave — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:22:19 -0000

Ok,

That is a very good start. I would now talk to your agent about making your property more attractive to a buyer. Countrywide will not really talk until a contract is in place. I would reduce your property $10,000 every week until you get an offer (starting today).

Countrywide is notoriously difficult to work with. They take a very long time at every step of the way. However, they are predictable.

To answer your original question, I think that the current financial crisis may be to your benefit when doing a short sale. I think through all of this, large lender accounting practices are being revealed...and it's not good. I think this will lead to much more willingness (and ability) to conduct short sales.

Please update often, and the shortsaleblogger community will help.

Best of luck,

Dave

Re: How to do a Short Sale in a Post-Crash Economy?

Dave — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:24:18 -0000

RR,

What makes you say that you think you are a good candidate (I'm not doubting that you are, I'm just wondering what makes you say that)?

Since your property is already marketed for sale, the next step is simple: find a buyer.

A few questions come to mind:
How long have you had it listed?
Does your agent know what they are doing (with regards to short sales)?
What are your loan balances?
What is your house worth?
Have you ever refinanced?
If so, was it a cash out refinance, or rate and term only?
What is the hardship explanation for not being able to afford payments?
How far behind on payments are you (if at all)?

That should be a good start!

Re: Negotiating Short Sale Values Part II | Short Sale File

Dave — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:01:31 -0000

A. Lee,

The biggest piece of advice I can give right now is to understand the concept of "leverage".

I had attended an introduction seminar to one of those “buy property with no money” programs, and gained a lot of useful ideas from their initial concepts.

Some of these "concepts" can be ok, but the bottom line is that short sales exist mainly because people failed to understand the risks of easy credit and excess leverage.

No money down can be a good tactic if you have money. If you have no money, then no money down is suicide.

I don't have any one good book to read, but here are a few to get started (none are short sale speciific):

Negotiate This - Herb Cohen
What every real estate investor needs to know about cash-flow - Frank Gallinelli

Hope this helps.

Re: Negotiating Short Sale Values Part II | Short Sale File

Dave — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 20:47:18 -0000

Two very good reasons.

Re: Ocwen and Countrywide Short Sales…no wonder

Dave — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:12:36 -0000

Yes they do Dawn. I would suggest at least attempting a short sale prior to a foreclosure sale occurring.

Are you aware of Fannie Mae seasoning differences between foreclosure and short sale?

After a foreclosure, Fannie Mae will make you wait five years before becoming eligible for a FM loan.

For a short sale, they only make you wait two years.

Re: Negotiating Short Sale Values Part II | Short Sale File

Dave — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 13:31:04 -0000

Thanks wilwork,

That means a lot. Good luck on your future purchase.

How did you determine 2Q 09?

Re: Wells Fargo Short Sales | ShortSaleBlogger

Dave — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 07:01:58 -0000

Robin, welcome Back!

A couple of thoughts come to mind. Most second mortgage holders are willing to accept 10% as a pay-off. However, the first mortgage holder may not be willing to allow $3,000 go to the second if they are getting shorted over $56,000. My advice, don't worry about it right now.

Your agent needs to meet the appraiser or the BPO agent at the property when the appraisal is conducted. They need to arm the appraiser with everything possible to support the offered amount (comparable sales, details of all the distressed sales, pictures of vandalism, crime reports, whatever...).

Make sense?

Re: Anyone Listening to Peter Schiff Now? | Short Sale Solutions

Dave — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 19:34:02 -0000

Greg, I think there are plenty of people wondering why they didn't pay more attention to what Peter was saying.

Re: Ocwen and Countrywide Short Sales…no wonder

Dave — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 06:38:21 -0000

Thanks Joe. Many feel that WaMu will fail by early next week.

Re: Anyone Listening to Peter Schiff Now? | Short Sale Solutions

Dave — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:22:39 -0000

Jon,

No doubt. I think what Mr. Schiff is saying is that until people acknowledge that there is a fundamental flaw in home values, that nothing will change. Obviously, I agree with you that short sales are a good solution to many home owners.

ps - I'll leave your link active this time, but next time please refrain from putting self serving links in the comment (just use your comment name for that).

thanks,

Dave

Re: GMAC Closes 200 Retail Offices

Dave — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:55:25 -0000

Agreed. Some experts are predicting over 200 bank failures in 2009.

Re: Florida Short Sales to Surge | ShortSaleBlogger

Dave — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:54:20 -0000

Michael,

Do you have a link for those stats? I'd love to see them.

thanks,

Dave

Re: Is Now a Good Time to Buy? | ShortSaleBlogger

Dave — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:28:11 -0000

Thanks Bob,

I would love to know what Mr. Buffett has to say about today's Fannie and Freddie news.

What do you think?