Chase Outreach Program Targets Both Homeowners and Investors

Sacramento real estate investor Finds Sacramento Area Short Sale Specialist And Certified Short Sale Negotiator to help her participate in the new Chase Short Sale Outreach Program.

Got a call off my Sacramento Short Sale Center Website from a Sacramento investor yesterday about eleven o’clock.  She was frantic, as she had talked with another Sacramento Short Sale Agent who had promised to meet with her on Sunday and preview her triplex and take her listing. She needed it done quickly because she had been  communication with Chase and they had offered her their new CHASE SHORT SALE OUTREACH PROGRAM.  The other agent had flaked and was not answering his phone, (I hope nothing bad happened) so she had asked the short sale negotiator at the outreach program what to do- the negotiator said to Google  Sacramento certified short sale agent and my sites came up several times on the first page.  The investor explained that the Trustee Sale (or Foreclosure Sale) was in almost exactly twenty four hours and she needed to list the property so she could get the listing paperwork turned in to the Chase outreach department and they could extend the sale-

Well, long story short; my sign went up today, the foreclosure sale was postponed and I preview the property and meet the tenants tomorrow.  Another listing and another upcoming Sacramento short sale closing!

California's Newest Short Sale Anti Deficiency Law Will Save Many Homeowners From Deficiency Judgments

Sacramento Short Sale Specialist and Certified Short Sale Negotiator Forth Hoyt reports on California’s newest anti deficiency law for short sellers

SB 931, recently enacted legislation governing “short sales,” goes into effect Jan 1, 2011,  The Legislation applies to any note secured by a first deed of trust or first mortgage for a dwelling of not more than four units. SB931 protects Homeowners as well as Investors, as it is not limited to consumer transactions, nor limited to homeowner occupied dwellings.

…it specifically states that it doesn’t matter if the first note or mortgage was refinanced or not, can be for any amount, and is not limited to owner-occupied dwellings.

So SB931 and California Code of Civil Procedure 580e will give Sacramento Short Sellers exactly the same protection to first deeds of trust and first mortgages.

When this happens, Short Sales in Sacramento will surely increase- no more will homeowners and investors be told by their attorneys to “just let it go back to the bank”.  You see, in the past, if a loan was not “purchase money” the law stated that in a short sale, the bank had the right to pursue a deficiency judgement for the amount the bank lost: the amount between the short sale and the amount owed.  If the home went to foreclosure, there was no such risk…

Questions on your particular situation?

Contact us Today At Forth Hoyt’s Sacramento Short Sale Center

Questions on Why to Short Sale?

Short Sale VS. Foreclosure …Tough Decisions Facing Sacramento Area Homeowners Today

Need information on the newest government anti foreclosure programs?

New Government Foreclosure Prevention Program Eligibility- Which Programs Do You Qualify For?

Short Sales Now Exempt From Anti Deficiency

Stops Deficiency Judgments On All First Mortgages After Short Sale

California SB931, signed October 1, 2010 stops lenders from pursuing deficiency judgments on all first mortgages after short sales in California.

Questions about your particular situation? Contact us Today At Forth Hoyt’s Sacramento Short Sale Center.

In layman’s terms; this new California short sale law means the bank can’t come after you on the amount they were shorted after they agree to a short sale and issue a Short Sale Approval Letter.

New Government Foreclosure Prevention Program Eligibility- Which Programs Do You Qualify For?

Check out the official Full Text from Around The Capital:

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 931, as amended, Ducheny.

Mortgages: deficiency judgments. Existing law authorizes an action for a deficiency judgment for the balance due upon an obligation for the payment of which a deed of trust or mortgage with power of sale upon real property or any interest therein was given as security, as specified. Existing law prohibits a deficiency judgment in any case in which the real property or an estate for years therein has been sold by the mortgagee or trustee under power of sale contained in the mortgage or deed of trust.

This bill would prohibit a deficiency judgment under a note secured by a first deed of trust or first mortgage for a dwelling of not more than 4 units in any case in which the trustor or mortgagor sells the dwelling for less than the remaining amount of the indebtedness due at the time of sale with the written consent of the holder of the first deed of trust or first mortgage. The bill would provide that written consent of the holder of the first deed of trust or first mortgage to that sale shall obligate that holder to accept the sale proceeds as full payment and to fully discharge the remaining amount of the indebtedness on the first deed of trust or first mortgage. The bill would specify that those provisions would not limit the ability of the holder of the first deed of trust or first mortgage to seek damages and use existing rights and remedies against the trustor or mortgagor or any 3rd party for fraud or waste if the trustor or mortgagor commits either fraud with respect to the sale of, or waste with respect to, the real property that secures that deed of trust or mortgage. The bill would make these provisions inapplicable if the trustor or mortgagor is a corporation or political subdivision of the state.

Even If Refinanced; Even If Cash Out! No More Deficiency Judgments After A Short Sale in California On First Mortgages! Whether Refinanced Or Not!

California May Have a New Anti Deficiency Law Protecting Struggling Homeowners

Sacramento area Short Sale Specialist and Sacramento Area Certified Short Sale Agent Forth Hoyt Reports on:

The Little Bill That Could-

Will the newest California anti deficiency bill become law? The Newest Short Sale Protection law for struggling  homeowners will surely affect the Sacramento short sale market…

Sacramento Short Sales will surely increase if the little bill that could is signed into law- Short sellers will be glad to hear bout this newest California anti-deficiency bill that is specifically written to protect short sellers from recourse - why are we just hearing about this?  Nearly silently, this newest foreclosure protection bill in  California, Senate Bill 931 passed completely unopposed last week and is headed for Governor Schwarzenegger to sign into law. All eyes had been on Senate Bill   1178, which stops lenders from pursuing homeowners who have refinanced and later defaulted, so the hoopla over SB 931 was overlooked. Lawyers sometimes tell potential short sale sellers that a foreclosure or a bankruptcy offers better protection for the homeowner than a short sale.

New Government Foreclosure Prevention Program Eligibility- Which Programs Do You Qualify For?

Just the first couple lines from the SB 931 Assembly Hearing: June 7, 2010

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BANKING AND FINANCE
Mike Eng, Chair
SB 931 (Ducheny) – As Amended: June 1, 2010
SENATE VOTE: 31-0
SUBJECT: Mortgages: deficiency judgments
SUMMARY: Provides that in the case of a short sale on residential real property, the holder of the first mortgage or deed of trust shall fully discharge any remaining borrower’s indebtedness following the sale when the sale has been agreed to in writing. Additionally, that nothing shall limit the ability of the holder of the first deed of trust or first mortgage to seek damages, or use existing rights or remedies in those cases where the homeowner has committed fraud or waste in connection with the sale of the real property.

If signed, this newest California Short Sale Recourse Law  will have a huge impact on  our Sacramento area short sale inventory, as many more struggling  homeowners may use a short sale as a way to get out of their upside down home, if there is  no lender recourse for the amount the bank is short…

More info on New Deficiency Protection For Sacramento Short Sales; SB 931 Protects All First Mortgages.

Need information on you particular situation? Contact us Today At Forth Hoyt’s Sacramento Short Sale Center.

New Anti Deficiency Law Would Help Thousands Of California Homeowners

New California Anti Deficiency Law Would Help Thousands Of Caifornians: SB1178 Would Stop Deficency Judgements For Refinanced Homes

Courtesy Los Angeles Times:

With thousands of Californians facing foreclosure on their underwater mortgages each month, state lawmakers are rushing in with measures to help them cope with their loans and possibly stay in their homes.

Three bills moving through the state Assembly after passing the Senate would delay the start of the foreclosure process and limit lenders’ ability to force borrowers to cover the difference when their home is sold for less than the amount they owe on their loan.
On Tuesday, the Assembly Judiciary Committee approved the most controversial of the measures. The bill would ban creditors from seeking so-called deficiency judgments from borrowers who can afford to make monthly payments yet walk away from a refinanced home that is underwater, meaning that the house is worth less than the loan on it.

Such strategic defaults recently emerged as a growing problem for the banking industry. They accounted for 31% of all foreclosures nationwide in March, according to researchers at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. That’s up significantly from 22% the previous March.

“We’ve had bank bailouts,” state Sen. Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro) said. “It should only be fair in this economy that we try to figure out ways to help homeowners as well.”

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Contact us Today at Forth Hoyts Sacramento Short Sale Center.

Corbett authored the bill to protect borrowers from being hit with an order to pay whatever portion of the loan amount that isn’t covered by a bank’s sale of the foreclosed property.

Helping homeowners is a matter of balance, Corbett said. Her bill, SB 1178, would insulate refinancers from deficiencies up to the value of their original purchase loan. But borrowers would remain vulnerable for any refinanced loans exceeding that level.

The battle over Corbett’s bill pits bankers and the mortgage industry against the California Assn. of Realtors.

Lenders oppose provisions that would make the ban retroactive to cover existing home refinancing contracts that go into foreclosure after July 1, 2011. They would like the bill to cover only refinancings done after that date.

“It sets a bad precedent to change the rules in the middle of the game,” said Dustin Hobbs, a spokesman for the California Mortgage Bankers Assn.

Realtors, however, are hoping to keep people from being doubly punished by losing their homes and burdened with more debt. They want to bolster a still weak housing market by giving homeowners a chance to get back in the market soon.

“They’d be in a better position if they’re not confronted with signing away their lives,” said Alex Creel, senior vice president for governmental affairs of the California Assn. of Realtors.

A second foreclosure-related bill passed by the Assembly committee Tuesday would prohibit bankers from attempting to collect deficiency payments after a homeowner gives up the property in a short sale. In such sales, banks and homeowners agree to allow sales of houses at less than the loan amounts and avoid foreclosures and black marks on the borrowers’ credit histories.

New Government Foreclosure Prevention Program Eligibility- Which Programs Do You Qualify For?

The third measure would delay the start of a foreclosure process by giving owners more time to work with lenders on a plan to modify loans to lower monthly payments, allowing borrowers to stay in their homes.

Although foreclosure activity is down substantially from a year ago, the numbers remain high, and some experts see another wave soon of foreclosures, short sales and signings of deeds to banks to avoid foreclosures.

In May, 23,911 Californians received notices of default — the first step in the foreclosure process — and 27,841 got notices of trustee sale, according to online tracking service ForeclosureRadar.com. Default notices dropped 43% in May compared with May 2009, while trustee sale notices fell 36%.

Learn More About Your Particular Situation:

Contact us Today at Forth Hoyts Sacramento Short Sale Center.

RealtyTrac, another data analyst, reported that California in May was home to six of the top 10 U.S. metropolitan areas with the most foreclosure filings. Those areas were Riverside-San Bernardino, Bakersfield, Merced, Modesto, Stockton and Vallejo-Fairfield.

Corbett said her measure was particularly needed because few borrowers know that when they refinance their homes for more than the original loan amount, they lose their protection against being hit with deficiency bills, a state law that went on the books in 1933 during the Great Depression.

In recent decades, the deficiency threat was minimal because home values invariably rose, leaving owners with plenty of equity to cover the payoff cost of their refinanced mortgages in the event of a foreclosure. But that changed when the California housing bubble burst in the last three years, sending the statewide median home price plummeting 42%.

Bankers, who have been negotiating with Corbett and the Realtors group, say they sympathize with the call to aid borrowers who refinanced their homes to take advantage of better terms or interest rates.

They persuaded Corbett to not extend protections to borrowers that took cash out of their refinancing, even if the extra money was used to improve properties.

The two deficiency protection bills “place the right balance of risk between the homeowner and the lender,” said Sean O’Toole, ForeclosureRadar’s founder and chief executive.

However, O’Toole said the third bill to push more loan modifications beyond what federal authorities and lenders themselves were doing was “misguided.” That legislation won’t work if government agencies and lenders don’t come up with billions of dollars to reduce monthly principal payments sharply, he said.

“Homeowners that are saddled with uncertainty are less likely to be productive consumers,” O’Toole said. “That’s part of the reason why our economy is still struggling.”

marc.lifsher@latimes.com.

Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

Contributed by Wereheretohelp.org

Sacramento Foreclosure Specialist Reports:

Foreclosures Will Continue

I was Researching Sacramento area HAMP loan mod success rates this nmorning and came across this startling article in DSNews. It looks as if all the good news the Obama powered media has been pumping out is a little off center.  Kinda Scary!

Home loan delinquency rates in the United States have now surpassed 10 percent, Lender Processing Services (LPS) reported this week.When you factor in homes already in the foreclosure process, the total rate of noncurrent mortgages sits at 13.3 percent, according to the data in the Florida-based company’s national loan-level database.This rate indicates that more than 7.2 million mortgage loans are now behind on payments, LPS explained, with another one million properties already taken back by banks and in REO status.LPS’ January 2010 Mortgage Monitor report, shows that within the population of loans that were current at the end of 2008, the percent of “new” serious delinquencies is 4.64 percent – higher than any other year analyzed. Of loans that were current as of December 31, 2008, by December 2009 there were 2.3 million new loans that were considered seriously delinquent.

Contact us today… Sacramento Short Sale Help can snswer your questions.

Seemingly less-risky, prime mortgages continue to loom large as the industry’s big, pink elephant. Prime loans, including agency, non-agency, and jumbo, have experienced deterioration at a worse pace than subprime, Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured mortgages, and all loans as a whole, LPS said. The company’s analysis shows that within the prime loans category, those with unpaid principal balances between $417,000 and $600,000 have performed the worst. The Mortgage Monitor report also indicates that 2009 vintage loans are performing better than loans from any of the prior five years and have been steadily improving as pools of loans grow larger. This improvement is attributed to more restrictive underwriting guidelines, but that also means “liquidity is still not available where it is needed most,” LPS said.The company’s analysis shows that states with most noncurrent loans are: Florida, Nevada, Mississippi, Arizona, Georgia, California, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Ohio.Those with the fewest include: North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Vermont, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington.

More Questions? Sacramento Short Sale Help is here when you need us! 

Tags: Sacramento+area+HAMP+loan+mod+success, National+Mortgage+Delinquency+Rate, foreclosure+process, noncurrent+mortgages

Sacramento Foreclosures will continue until prices rebound, people get back to work and the economy improves. Analysts say that will be at least four years. But economists agree that the California economy is more tied to joblessness than to housing.

Even though there are signs California may be beginning to emerge from the recession; the numbers indicate there are many more homes to come through the “foreclosure pipeline”.  Housing sales have been growing for several months, and state Controller John Chiang on Thursday released his December cash report that showed the month’s receipts rose above estimates by $481 million, or 5.7%.

According to an article the other day in the Bee, even the Appraisal Institutes economic forum analysts agree that joblessness and politics have more to do with the economy than foreclosures.

(Source: The Sacramento Bee) By Jim Wasserman, The Sacramento Bee,

Jan. 16–Even as Sacramento entertains ambitious proposals for a new NBA arena, economists Friday warned it will take up to four years for the region to recover from its overbuilding and overspending spree.

Analysts Friday told 150 residential and commercial appraisers that area recovery could begin taking shape in mid- to late 2011. But it will be prolonged, slow and susceptible to setbacks, they said during a 2010 economic forum sponsored by the Sacramento Sierra chapter of the Appraisal Institute.

The pronouncements came as the capital region endures 12.4 percent unemployment and predictions the jobless rate may rise to 13.5 percent. Hanging, too, over Friday’s forum: a wild-card specter of new state cuts that many fear could disproportionately afflict the capital.

“I don’t expect 2010 to be anything more than a year of stabilization,” said Garrick Brown, Sacramento research director for commercial real estate brokerage Colliers International. Brown said rents are still falling and more stores, offices and industrial spaces are sitting empty.

“I think we’re about to enter a period of two to three years where there’s virtually no new construction,” he said. “It means there’s going to be a lot of developers out there without a lot to do.”

Brown said retailers are again filling large area stores that went dark after 2008 retailer implosions. But they won’t fill smaller shopping center spaces any time soon.

“You won’t see a new push by mom and pop retailers for four or five years. They’re dependent on home (refinancings) and it’s not happening,” he said. Unfilled space and tenants struggling to pay rent are forces pushing many owners toward foreclosure, he said. That suggests a sequel to the residential meltdown that began in 2007.

But an often-predicted tsunami of commercial foreclosures won’t happen, Brown said. Instead, they will dribble out “in waves of distressed assets the next five years.”

Folsom home-building industry consultant Greg Paquin told appraisers that commercial real estate “is where (the residential market was) two years ago.”

He said 2009 was the bottom for capital-area home builders, who reported a half-century low of 2,814 sales for the year. That’s an 84 percent drop from the housing boom’s 2004 peak. Sales will rise 10 percent this year, said Paquin, president of The Gregory Group.

Though residential foreclosures still cloud the housing market, Paquin said he doesn’t expect a double-dip recession or spiraling inflation, or, in response to a question about rising commuting costs, the death of suburbia.

“I’ve heard people say the suburbs are dead.

I strongly disagree,” he said. “I think we’ll see urban-style development in suburban areas.” Paquin, like Brown, expressed anxiety about the politics of state budget cuts. Both analysts noted that large-scale state employee layoffs could push area unemployment past 15 percent, delay recovery by a year or two and send the foreclosure rate “vertical.” Said Brown: “Until we get a handle on that, it’s hard to know what’s going to happen to our local economy.”

Los Angeles economist Chris Thornberg sounded the same theme, saying the economy rests more on political decisions than fundamentals.

Thornberg declared the U.S. recession over, saying, “The recession didn’t end because the problem of imbalance was fixed. It came to an end because of massive government intervention in the economy.”

Thornberg, head of Bacon Economics, said the shape of recovery depends on the “politics of the next 18 months.”

He told appraisers he’s bullish on California and praised a return of cheaper housing once again aligned with incomes.
“For all intents and purposes we’re back to where we need to be,” he said.
Thornberg counseled patience in working off excesses from 15 years of large trade deficits, overspending and debt.
“We have to work our way back to where the economy can grow normally,” he said.

Tags: Sacramento+foreclosures, california+economy

Foreclosure Rates May Soar

Foreclosure Notice in Sacramento

Courtesy Chris Mcglaughlin

One in every 7.5 homeowners either fell into delinquency or foreclosure as of November 30, 2009, according to the December mortgage monitor report from Lender Processing Services.  The total number of delinquencies reached a record high of 9.97%, a 5.46% increase from the previous month and a 21.29% increase from November 2008. Loans falling into more severe delinquent categories reached 5.01% through November, compared to 1.52% of loans improved toward a current status.  That’s compared to November’s mortgage monitor report, when 4.02% of current mortgages through December 2008 fell into delinquency by October 2009.  More than 4% of the loans that were current in December 2008, fell behind by 60 days or more, including foreclosure, by the end of November 2009. 

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It’s the highest rate for that part of the year since LPS began reporting the data.  The foreclosure rate in November reached 3.19%, a 1.46% increase from the previous month and an 81.41% increase from November 2008. This doesn’t include the amount of homes falling into the shadow inventory of foreclosure. Some data providers like First American CoreLogic speculate that number could be as high as 1.7 million as the roadblocks of the government incentive programs and moratoriums clog the foreclosure pipeline.  “Foreclosure starts continued to decline as a result of loss mitigation efforts like the federal government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and elevated delinquent loan volumes,” according to the report. “The reduction in foreclosure starts, combined with the steady increase in the number of seriously delinquent loans, has resulted in an ever-growing ‘shadow’ inventory of troubled properties.”  The states with the most non-current loans were Florida, Nevada and Mississippi. Those with the fewest were North Dakota, South Dakota and Alaska.

Understanding Foreclosure

Foreclosure– how do you mean that?

Understanding Foreclosure Timelines

Foreclosure: a process and an event…

Most of the time, Foreclosure means one of a couple of things; a process, as in “my Brother is in foreclosure”, or it can be an actual event: “that 4600 square foot home went for $243,000 at the foreclore sale the other day…”

You see, foreclosure as a process means the three steps a bank or investor goes through to take a  home or piece of property back;

The legal Foreclosure Time-Lines in California:

After you are 60 days past due on your mortgage payment, (or 90 days since your last payment), the bank can file a notice of default:

Then, 90 days after that, the Notice of Trustee Sale can be filed. No earlier than 20 days later, the Trustee Sale can be held-

So;

60 days late = Notice of default

90 days = Notice of Trustee Sale

21 days= Trustee sale

The fastest your bank can take a home back in California is 171 days late on payments or 211 days since the last payment.  Most banks and servicers are being very slow to file the initial Notice of Default- almost all wait over six months.  The Notice of Trustee Sale may take up to a year after the Notice of Default is filed.  Even after the Notice of Trustee Sale is filed, the banks/sevicers are now re-scheduling over 3/4 of the Trustee Sales, many for an additional 30, 60,or 90 days initially and then rescheduling again if they have made contact with the homeowner and there is any hope of a loan modification or short sale.  They don’t want any more foreclosures unless it is clear there is no  foreclosure solution. The writing is on the wall: Less foreclosures and more short sales for 2010 and beyond!

Tags: Foreclosure+Timelines, Understanding+Foreclosure

December Sacramento Trustee Sale Report 

November California Notice of Default and Notice of Trustee Sale Numbers…

Graph of California Notice of Defaults/Trustee Sales

Courtesy dr.housingbubble.com

Sacramento Trustee Sales Continue to be Re-Scheduled on nearly 90% of trustee sales at 720 9TH ST  downtown Sacramento most days. Imperfect foreclosure, and/or new policies under the HAMP/TARP guidelines are usually blamed.

The whole state of California has been experiencing this too, lately, even though Fannie Mae said on Dec. 15^th that they were not going to re-schedule or postpone any more Trustee Sales.

According to Sean O’tooles blog on ForeclosureRadar (www.foreclosureradar.com), the only website that tracks every California foreclosure and provides daily auction updates, issued its monthly California Foreclosure Report for for November 2009. Despite apparent headline month-over-month declines in foreclosure activity, the real story requires looking at changes in the average daily activity. November had only 18 days on which filings could be recorded or trustee sales held because of fewer days in the month, Veterans Day and the Thanksgiving Holiday, while October had 22 recording days, and 21 trustee sale days. After adjusting for this difference in days we find little month-over-month change in the statistics, with the exception of Notices of Trustee Sale which declined 13.4 percent, Cancellations which rose 40.0 percent and Sales to 3rd Parties which rose 8.0 percent on a daily average basis.

“We’ve been waiting to see some impact from the Home Affordable Modification Program,” says Sean O’Toole, Founder and CEO of ForeclosureRadar.com. “The 40 percent increase in cancellations this month is likely just the beginning of what we expect will be a wave of cancellations under this program”.

Foreclosure Filings

It is important to recognize that the decline in Foreclosure Filings is primarily due to a difference in the number of days documents can be recorded month-over-month and not fewer filings each day. With just 18 recording days in November versus 22 in October, average daily filings of Notices of Default only declined 1 percent, while Notices of Trustee Sale declined 13.4 percent from the prior month.