Wachovia and LenderHelp - Short Sales completed in 7 days

Banks, Featured Posts, Lender Help Success, Press, Short Sales No Responses »
Dec 222009

If you have a World Savings or Wachovia home loan we have great news for you.

Wachovia is the first lender to help make the short sale process short! That’s right they have tested a fast track short sale in the central valley and it was a huge success!

Now this program is available to all homeowners with Wachovia loans.I can get you:

  • 7 day turnaround of your Short Sale
  • $2500 in moving expenses from Wachovia if a Short Sale is your best option
  • A manager (not a clerk) will discuss your situation

But you must contact me to help expedite your options.  Do not delay get a hold of Troy Huerta today to see if you qualify for a fast track transaction

Posted by seidel.phyllis at 8:48 am

Lender Help and Troy Huerta in Smart Money

Lender Help Success, Partnerships, Press, Short Sales No Responses »
Oct 142009

We want to thank Jim Kortovich from Smart Money for supplying us the reprint of the August 2009 article

Click below for the PDF:
Troy Huerta and Lender Help in Smart Money a WSJ Magazine

Posted by seidel.phyllis at 6:34 am Tagged with:

Bank of America Not Hiring the Right People for Loan Modification Call Center

Banks, Blog, Press No Responses »
Sep 112009

I was driving to work this morning and heard a report on Loan Modification on NPR’s Morning Edition. It started out as puff piece on how well Bank of American was doing with homeowners who need loan modifications.

Luckily by the end it got real as the to the real situation:

She tells the borrower he has to be able to support even a reduced mortgage payment, and he doesn’t make enough money to do that. That sounds reasonable. Except that as I look over her shoulder at the borrower’s income, he still makes $2,400 a month, and judging by what he owes — around $200,000 — it appears that he actually should qualify for help through the government’s Making Home Affordable plan.

I ask Ingram about this, but she says that that isn’t right. “No, he does not qualify,” she says.

But, in this case, too, after NPR inquired further with supervisors, it turned out that the homeowner actually did qualify. So, even just while I was at the call center, either the computer or somebody made a mistake, and a homeowner got rejected when he shouldn’t have.

In the end, the bank did offer the homeowner a loan modification. Bank of America says that while NPR’s inquiry may have expedited that decision, the bank would have come to the same conclusion through its own review process.

Housing advocates say major banks are denying help to thousands of people who should qualify, and many don’t get saved by a second look.

Meanwhile, this year alone, 2 million people are on track to lose their homes through foreclosure — the most since the Great Depression.

After hearing and reading the report it demonstrates why  why agents and sellers need to work with specialists. The Senior Vice President Ken Scheller is in charge of “home retention” — an effort he says is designed to “keep as many people in their homes as possible,” but they have these horrible call centers.  They hire customer service people who are not sophisticated enough to put in the right data to calculate income.

Mr. Scheller should be hiring out of work loan officers that understand loans and the qualifying process.  Many good people are loosing their homes for lack of knowledge with the big banks.

Loan modifications can work…but as the article stated if you can not repay the debt short sales and deeds in lieu of foreclosure need to be looked at.

Here is the link for to hear the report on Morning Edition

Posted by Troy Huerta at 7:30 am Tagged with: ,

Short Sales Process Only Gets Harder

Press, Short Sales No Responses »
Aug 252009

The North County Times did an article about the difficulty of doing Short Sales.  It reinforces the idea that you need an expert on your side. You wouldn’t go to court without an experienced attorney. Why would you go to your lender without an experienced short sale specialist?

Short sales have always been more complicated and taken longer than other sales because lenders usually verify financial hardship and determine what is an acceptable amount to lose on the property. In many cases, a second lender has loaned $50,000 to $100,000 on a property and is being asked to settle for $10,000 or less. Some lenders also demand that the borrower repay a portion of the remaining balance over several years after the deal closes.

But agents say short sales have grown more complicated than ever, because of their sheer number, because of the prevalence of second loans, and because several large lenders have recently merged with others. Agents have complained that it’s possible to call a lender three times in a week and get three different people responsible for the same property.

Beer said the situation may have eased in the last couple of months as lenders develop standards for approving short sales. The second loan is often paid off at 5 cents on the dollar, a low percentage that is nonetheless fair because such lenders get nothing in the event of a foreclosure, Beer said.

Agents have said pressure from federal and state governments has helped to discourage outright foreclosure, thus gumming up real estate markets. But Beer said such pressure and the smaller losses that result from short sales are also incentive to move them along.

I agree short sales have grown more complicated than ever…and Beer said the situation has eased in the last couple of months.

I don’t agree that there has been much easing because the banks are so overwhelmed. Most second lenders will not even consider releasing the lien for less than 10% of their outstanding balance. Bank of America  is now requesting the sellers provide a small cash contribution at closing or sign a promissory note as part of a morale obligation.
Click here for the rest of the article

Posted by seidel.phyllis at 6:57 am Tagged with: ,

Support Home Owners 4 Hope

Press No Responses »
Aug 032009

All of us that are working with banks day to day are seeing banks become less interested in helping Home Owners who find themselves underwater on their loans. Banks would rather see good people lose their house and go into foreclosure than provide Meaning Loan Modification

This is a highly charged issue affecting 1 in 10 homeowners or more nationwide. That adds up to over 10 million hard working, tax paying owners who would really prefer not to be kicked out of their homes due to conditions well beyond their control so that banks can continue to pad their bottom line at our expense.

Dave Van Waldick is driving an effort to create enough public awareness and media attention to get the major banks and government to sit up and take notice.

He is asking for two very simple things:
1) Banks and the government should create immediate procedures that provide meaningful homeowner Loan Modifications in a reasonable timeframe like 90 days or less.
2) Restore homeowners mortgage related credit to zero lates and re-run credit scores immediately to improve their ability to get normal credit or buy a home.

The first public forum discussion to be held on Friday August 10 in front of Chase/WAMU in downtown San Diego.

click here for more information from HomeOwners4Hop.org

Posted by seidel.phyllis at 10:11 pm Tagged with: ,

Short Sales Offer Solution to Foreclosure Crisis - Part 1

Portfolio, Press, Short Sales, Trends No Responses »
Jun 162009

By Annalisa Burgos, FrontDoor.com | Published: 6/15/2009

Despite its name, a short sale is by no means a “short” process. But unlike what you may have heard, getting a short sale approved by your lender is not as hard as you may think — if your real estate agent knows what they’re doing.

In order to orchestrate a successful short sale, you need a master negotiator, says Troy Huerta, short sale division leader at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in San Diego. “Many agents forgot how to negotiate. There was no negotiating in the past. You would list a home at a ridiculous price and someone would pay it.”

Those days are long gone. Home values are falling. Unemployment is at 9.4 percent. And according to RealtyTrac, there were more than 321,000 foreclosure filings in May, 18 percent higher than a year earlier. That’s expected to get worse.

But there’s a way to help ease this flood of foreclosures, Huerta says. Do more short sales.

In the past, lenders have been reluctant to do short sales. And why would they? They stand to lose a LOT of money. But the reality today is that if a lender doesn’t do a short sale, it may get stuck with a property that is harder to sell or will sell for less than it could have gotten. (A buyer is more willing to buy a short sale in good condition than a bank-owned foreclosure that needs a lot of work.) Not to mention the cost of pursuing the foreclosure process.

Even Fannie Mae felt short sales could help reduce foreclosures. It launched a pilot program pre-approving short sales for homeowners in Phoenix and Orlando.

Now, lenders should be more motivated than ever to get these deals done — as part of President Obama’s economic stimulus plan, the federal government will pay lenders up to $1,000 for each completed short sale or accepted deed-in-lieu of foreclosure.

In Huerta’s market — San Diego — about 70 percent of the properties for sale are short sales, 20 percent are bank-owned or REOs, and 10 percent are traditional sales.

On average, only a third of short sale deals actually close. In other words, the failure rate for the average agent doing a short sale is a whopping 66 percent, Huerta says.

The problem? “About 80 percent never counteroffer,” Huerta explains. “The bank will tell them no and the agent stops there. But that’s their job to say no.”

Negotiating a short sale is essentially loss mitigation, Huerta says. The property is priced based on two to three broker price opinions (an agent’s estimate of its current market value), which is less than what the seller owes. Interested buyers tend to start with a lowball offer and lenders want to recoup as much as they can, so it’s the agent’s job to negotiate a price that satisfies both parties. If the seller took out a piggyback loan or a home equity loan, multiple lenders are involved. And with the barage of short sale applications lenders get, you can see why the process can take as long as six months to a year.

But short sale experts who have extensive contacts within the mortgage industry and experience with these complex deals can close them quickly. Huerta and his team, for instance, work with lenders throughout the country, like Countrywide and Washington Mutual, and can get these deals done in 60-90 days, boasting a 90 percent success rate.

More info here

Posted by seidel.phyllis at 2:50 pm Tagged with: ,

Short Sales Offer Solution to Foreclosure Crisis - Part 2

Press, Short Sales 1 Response »
Jun 162009

By Annalisa Burgos, FrontDoor.com – Published: 6/15/2009

WHAT SELLERS SHOULD KNOW

Get help now. Talk to your lender and/or a real estate professional as soon as you know you can’t make your mortgage payments. Huerta says struggling homeowners oftentimes will only seek help after they’ve already maxed out their credit cards and borrowed $80,000-$100,000 from their life savings to get their head above water.

“You don’t have to be living under a bridge,” Huerta says. “You don’t need to exhaust every dime you have or wipe out your life savings. The sooner you seek help, the more options you’ll have.”

Work with a short sale expert. Once you decide to pursue a short sale, contact the major real estate brokers in your market and see if they have a short sale specialist. Get recommendations, research online and interview at least three agents. Ask to speak to their previous clients.

Don’t worry about paying commission. Unlike a traditional sale, the lender picks up the tab for the broker’s commission, typically 5 percent.

Establish financial hardship. The specialist will go over your financials to make sure you have a legitimate financial hardship that prevents you from making your mortgage payments, i.e. you received a cut in pay, you lost your job, you have no 401K.

Be patient. Lenders are inundated. “In April, Countrywide and Washington Mutual received 1,000 short sale applications a day,” Huerta says. While deals have been done in 60 days, the process can take as long as six months. If you’re in a hurry, a short sale may not work for you.

Scrape up some cash. Yes, you’re short on it, but even putting in $1,000 can do wonders for getting a deal done. And it’s peanuts when compared to the write-off you’re getting on your home loan. One of Huerta’s clients took out an $80,000 home equity loan to buy a car and jet skis, lost his source of income and made no payments on the loan. As part of the short sale, the seller agreed to repay just $4,500 of that 80K.

WHAT BUYERS SHOULD KNOW

Commit to the process. If you decide to buy a short sale, understand that the process needs your help to move forward. Don’t wait until 60 days after submitting an offer to order the home inspection. Having all your ducks in a row shows the lender that you’re serious and boosts your chances of getting your offer accepted. “Put money in escrow. Show the bank you’re a real buyer. Do the appraisal and home inspections,” Huerta says.

Short sales give you more control than REOs. Homebuyers are attracted to bank-owned foreclosures because of the perceived bargain they offer. But that isn’t necessarily the case. An REO is often sold “as-is” and may require substantial work, especially if it has been vacant for some time. A buyer could end up with a serious foundation problem and not know it until after the purchase.

“Short sales are owner-occupied, so they’re taking care of the home,” Huerta says. “They’re in better condition. They may be priced more than an REO, but you can negotiate things like inspections.”

Skip the bidding war. An REO will typically get 16 offers, and a buyer may end up paying more than market value for the property, as opposed to the short sale in better condition down the street.

It’s worth the wait. Buyers often prefer REOs because it only takes 30-45 days to close. Short sales, on the other hand, can take 60-90 days, or longer depending on the agent. But if you can afford to wait, you could end up with a better property in the same area for less money.

Put your money where your mouth is. Just as a seller should contribute some cash, lenders want to see a buyer with some skin in the deal. “You’d be amazed with the kinds of deals I’ve done thanks to $1,000,” Huerta says.

More info here

Posted by seidel.phyllis at 2:45 pm Tagged with: ,

Lender Help Offers Solutions to Foreclosure Crisis

Featured Posts, Portfolio, Press, Short Sales No Responses »
Jun 162009

HGTV Front Door interviewed Troy Huerta about helping other buyers and other agents increase their success rate and reduce the time it takes to close Short Sales. Here is part of the interview:

….Now, lenders should be more motivated than ever to get these deals done as part of President Obama’s economic stimulus plan, the federal government will pay lenders up to $1,000 for each completed short sale or accepted deed-in-lieu of foreclosure.

In Huerta’s market — San Diego — about 70 percent of the properties for sale are short sales, 20 percent are bank-owned or REOs, and 10 percent are traditional sales.

The failure rate for the average agent doing a short sale? A whopping 66 percent, Huerta says.

The problem? “About 80 percent never counteroffer,” Huerta explains. “The bank will tell them no and the agent stops there. But that’s their job to say no.”

Negotiating a short sale is essentially loss mitigation, Huerta says, which is why the process can take as long as six months. But short sale experts who have extensive contacts within the mortgage industry and experience with these complex deals can get these deals done quickly. Huerta and his team, for instance, work with lenders like Countrywide and Washington Mutual and can get these deals done in 60-90 days, boasting a 90 percent success rate…..
Click here for the article

Posted by seidel.phyllis at 9:23 am
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