What are the HAFA Benefits? Can I Do A HAFA Short Sale?

West Sacramento has become a Short Sale Hotbed… HAFA is making Short Sales Easier!

West Sacramento HAFA Certified Short Sale Specialist and Expert HAFA Short Sale Negotiator Forth Hoyt Explains The Benefits Of HAFA.

A moving, evolving and improving system; HAFA is definitely getting better and better, moving towards becoming the solution it was supposed to be when it was first rolled out.

You see, the HAFA Government Short Sale Program was created in the wake of a Failing HAMP loan modification program that is only providing less than 50% of its applicants with any type of successful modification.

…and of those 40ish% of homeowners that are successful, less than 3% receive any type of principle reduction to their loan -so less than 1 in 100 loan modification applicants get what they need as far as a long term, sustainable solution…

So you can see why the government had to step in and attempt to set up a program that would streamline and systematize the very hard to manage and difficult Short Sale Process.

HAFA is a last-ditch effort to keep homeowners out of foreclosure, after failing a loan modification attempt.

Designed by the Administration and funded by the Treasury, The HAFA Program, which took effect April 5, 2010, provides servicer, seller and Investor( whoever actually owns the note) benefits

When HAFA was first introduced, these servicer, seller and lien holder incentives were touted as being designed to simplify and streamline the use of short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure. A great deal of hoopla and fanfare over the new program made it sound like the HAFA program was going to be the short sale Garden of Eden.

What a joke-

I personally was talking sellers out of using HAFA because I had several terrible experiences with the program and thought it was not only a waste of time, but nearly guaranteed that the homeowners wold end up with a foreclosure on their credit-

However, in the last several months there have been major changes to the HAFA program and the way it is being administered and currently I have three HAFA short sales that are moving along nicely and look forward to an approved HAFA short sale in just a few days.

What in the World Is HAFA?

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What do I need to do to be considered for HAFA? How do I find out if I can do HAFA?
Contact you bank(‘s) or servicer(‘s) immediately and ask if you qualify and/or if your investor(‘s) is/are participating in HAFA.They will tell you that homeowners must be evaluated for HAFA within 30 calendar days of the following:

• The borrower does not qualify for HAMP.
• The borrower does not successfully complete a HAMP Trial Period.
• The borrower is delinquent on a HAMP modification.
• The borrower requests a short sale or Deed-in-Lieu of Foreclosure.

What Other Government Programs Do You Qualify For? CHECK YOUR ELIGIBILITY NOW!

Are you in,West Sacramento, Folsom, Granite Bay, El Dorado Hills, Natomas, Roseville, Elk Grove, Mather, Lincoln, Rocklin, or any other Sacramento area? We really are here to help!

More Questions About your Situation? Talk To A Certified West Sacramento Foreclosure Prevention Expert and HAFA Specialist Today!

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

Or Find if you qualify for your 1st or 2nd Lien Modification Program (2MP) harp

El Dorado County Approved And Pended Along With Closed Short Sales

Looking For Short Sale Information in El Dorado County?

Need Short Sale Market Stats or Short Sale Market Information For El Dorado Hills? Sacramento Area Multi-Certified Short Sale Specialist Forth Hoyt Shares Short Sale Market Facts for El Dorado County and El Dorado Hills

The Short Sale is becoming a more viable foreclosure option in El Dorado Hills and El Dorado County.  Short Sales are going pending and approved in El Dorado County much much more successfully than in the past. See the graph above and the chart below that illustrate that short sales are going pending and approved much more that in the past.

	1 month			1 year
	May 10	June 10	% Change	June 09	June 10	% Change
For Sale	187	203	8.6%	227	203	-10.6%
Sold	40	46	15%	21	46	119%
Pended	59	98	66.1%	48	98	104.2%

With the short sale being approved, going pending, and actually closing escrow in El Dorado County so much more frequently and consistently, I wondered how they were doing as a foreclosure option in El Dorado Hills? So lets take a look at El Dorado hills short sale information

But first:

• Short Sale VS. Foreclosure …Tough Decisions Facing El Dorado Hills and El Dorado County Homeowners Today.

The Chart Below shows that El Dorado Hills has an inventory of Active Short Sales that is barely more than 1/4 of the active short sales in El Dorado County, yet Pended and Approved Short Sales and Closed Short Sales that is nearly half of the entire El Dorado County Short Sale Inventory for these categories!

El Dorado Hills Short Sale Market Stats for 6/09 to 6/10

With so much talk about short sales as an option to foreclosure, and with many new Government short sale Programs it’s nice to see they are actually closing and getting short sale approval on more and more short sales.

• New Government Foreclosure Prevention Program Eligibility- Which Programs Do You Qualify For?  CHECK YOUR ELIGIBILITY NOW

When you look at the year over year numbers, you can really see that short sales in El Dorado Hills are definitely trending upward and being successfully used as an anti-foreclosure tool in El Dorado Hills

The Chart above and graph below show that, not surprisingly,nearly half of the pended short sales in El Dorado County were short sales that were approved and went pending in El Dorado Hills.

1 month			1 year
	May 10	June 10	% Change	June 09	June 10	% Change
For Sale	55	68	23.6%	79	68	-13.9%
Sold	12	20	66.7%	5	20	300%
Pended	19	46	142.1%	18	46	155.6%

With so much talk about  giving homeowners foreclosure options, stopping foreclosure and working homeowners to avoid losing their homes, (except for a principle reduction loan modification that makes sense!) you might think that the foreclosure filings such as notice of default and notice of trustee sales in El Dorado Hills And El Dorado County would both be down. NOT THE CASE!  Foreclosure filings for both El Dorado Hills and El Dorado County are both way up, yet the postponement of the El Dorado County Trustee Sale (at the courthouse steps) have just continued…

Courtesy of SacBee-

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Sacramento Real Estate Market Reports

Its easy to understand why; in most cases, you cannot come close to buying a new home for what you could buy a re-sale for here in the Sacramento area.

I have said for a long time that our entry level price range must eventually “bounce” here in our Sacramento housing market in and get back in line with replacement costs. When the supply of repos and short sales slow, the prices must recover to be closer with new construction. I mean it’s almost ridiculous: In some neighborhoods, if someone gave you the lot, paid for the permits and gave you a truckload of lumber, you still couldn’t build a new house as cheap as you could just buy a re-sale home!

Michael Shaw of the Sac Bee wrote a great little piece the other day and I am including it here:

November new-home sales in Sacramento were 32 percent lower than the same month in 2008, according to figures released by California Building Industry Association on Wednesday.

A total of 141 new homes of all types were sold in the four-county region, compared with 181 sales the year before. The average price paid for those homes, however, inched 2.8 percent higher to $329,300.

The association reports home sales figures compiled by analyst Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, which tracks new home communities with more than 10 units.

In the state, the November sales rate at California new-home communities was 4 percent lower than 2008

Sacramento Foreclosure Solution Expert Report

Short Sale Help Is On The Way! BofA Implements The REOTrans Equator Short Sale Process Module.

Sacramento Short Sales are here to stay… and with more and more defaults and homeowners in foreclosure, short sales will become even more and more rampant in Sacramento.

Bandk of Amerioca Short Sale System

Short Sale Help

The problems with most Sacramento short sale transactions are the extremely slow communication, processing, negotiating and approval of short sale files.Even though their are several banks that have been really good to work with; Wachovia has been good for a long time, Chase is becoming a breeze; Wells Fargo is getting things lined up, and now even Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are pledging to help the Short Sale Process to become smoother.

Click here for Sacramento short sale help.

The “writing is on the wall” for 2010 to become the year that servicers, banks, institutions and secondary investors all get their act together to help make the short sale process more mainstream, less painful, confusing and stressful for buyers!

Over the last few years; often times, after Sacramento buyers have written offers on two, three, even four or more short sales without success, they just quit looking at short sales altogether and look for an REO or equity sale…

We will Surely look back at 2010 as the year the game changed… as more and more banks implement systems to make the Short Sale Processmore streamlined, easier to manage and even transparent; more like traditional real estate transactions! Sacramento’s real estate market will see a huge change as Bank of America gets its act together and starts closing short sales faster and more consistently

Click here for Sacramento short sale help.

The new Equator Short Sale Processing Module  (formerly known as REOtrans) has been launched as the industry’s first short sale processingonline portal. The amount of people I talk to here in the Sacramento area just amazes me; its like one of every three or four people I visit with about their mortgage have a BorA or Countrywide BofA

Although Equator has declined to name the lender, the new Internet based platform, as recently reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, will be used by Bank of America. A representative from BofA recently told the Chronicle that they were using the Equator platform to manage the short sale process. Great news, as Bank America is hands down the WORST bank to deal with on short sale files right now! 

The Short Sale platform will allow everyone involved in the transaction to work together, in real time with access to all documents, processing requests etc. and will be a huge asset in helping to shorten the time frames of short-sale approvals.

As reported in DSNews:

“This is the first time that short sales have been handled through an electronic platform,” said Equator CEOChris Saitta. “With our new system, everyone works together in real time, dramatically improving communication and approval timeliness for our client, its borrowers, vendors, and real estate agents.”

Just think– The short sale process becoming more like traditional real estate!

Click here for Sacramento short sale help.

If you are a buyer or a homeowner with questions about your options, Contact me today for Sacramento Short Sale Help!

Folsom real estare, Granite Bay real estate  and El Dorado Hills real estate specialists: TheHoytGroup!

HoytGroup Tools:

FEATURED FOLSOM HOMES FOR SALE Some of the Best Folsom Homes listed with all the companies, special deals, Great Features, you might call this our favorites list…

FOLSOM BANK OWNED HOMES still the best deals around; great folsom distressed sales and folsom foreclosure pricing, plus quick closes and usually easy transactions!

FOLSOM SHORT SALES sometimes the best values if you are patient!

We are your folsom real estate specialists– our buyer inquiries have been averaging over 12 per day– even right before christmas! With at least three open houses per week, over thirty websites and a team of seasoned professionals (over 100 years of realestate expernce combined) the hout group is you Folsom Real Estate Leader!

Forth Hoyt CRS, RDCPro
SRES, e-PRO, Master’s Club

Certified Preforeclosure Specialist

Our Mission Statement:

We Care…

About our clients;
their dreams,
their goals,
their needs…
About everyone involved in every transaction…

My team works constantly to improve our systems and services;

WE DO IT RIGHT!!

Going well beyond the standard level of service provided by most agents, we are continuously changing, growing and updating in our pursuit of excellence; we remain focused on education, training and renewing our commitment to quality. We strive to provide the best service,the best advertising, the best, most up-to-date exposure techniques, most in-depth market knowledge and the best Real Estate advice around…Period!

As we guide you through the real estate process, we’ll get you the best deal in the least amount of time, with the fewest hassles, and we’ll have fun doing it! We’ll provide a level of service that makes it very easy for you to refer your friends and family to us!

Give us a call!

Thanks,

The Foreclosure market here in Sacramento is currently drying up… very few homes coming on the market as REO or bank-owned, fewer foreclosure filings, Multiple offers for the homes that are priced right, and an overall sense of “wait and see” seems to be on most potential buyers’ minds right now.

The banks have been rescheduling foreclosure sales or Trustee Sales at the county courthouse for so long, that now the foreclosure departments just haven’t been scheduling them in the first place– kinda makes sense, if all your going to do is reschedule it and put it off anyway; why spend the time and money on  scheduling it in the first place?

If the number of buyers at the foreclosure sale (trustee sale) is any indication– there must be many investors who believe the prices are not going much lower, or who think there may be some up-tick in the market sometime soon: the number of buyers has tripled or quadrupled in the last several months and continues to grow, according to friends who attend the sales down at 720 9^th St. downtown Sacramento (address for the Sacramento County Municipal and Superior Courts). they say tat over 90% of foreclosure sales are postponed still, or re-scheduled, usually for only 30 days at a time…

In other Sacramento area real estate news: According to OBSNews

An amendment co-authored by Sacramento Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D–California) has been based by the House of Representatives and was added to the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (H.R. 4173) yesterday. The act requires mortgage servicers or lenders who are participating in the Making Home Affordable Program (HAMP) to publicly report their progress in helping responsible homeowners stay in their homes. The amendment was introduced by Congresswoman Matsui with Rep. Betty Sutton (D–Ohio) and Rep. Kathy Castor (D–Florida), and debated on the House floor. Passage of H.R. 4173 is expected today.

“Too many families in my district of Sacramento have faced foreclosure on their homes as a direct result of the economic meltdown,” stated Matsui. “There is another uptick in foreclosures expected that could affect as many as 4.5 million homeowners over the next two years. The Making Home Affordable Program holds the potential to greatly reduce these figures, and my amendment will ensure accountability on the mortgage industry. Transparency will incentivize the mortgage industry to help responsible homeowners stay in their homes.”

Some information courtesy (OBSNews.com)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – (Business Wire) The California State Department of Real Estate (DRE), the state department that issues licenses to real estate professionals and protects consumers in real estate transactions, has intensified its efforts to ensure all consumers receive the protection they deserve.

See the Earth Times Article here

Real Estate Commissioner  Jeff Davi said recently “The economic downturn coupled with the unprecedented number of foreclosures has created a rich environment for scammers who have come up with a variety of schemes to take advantage of desperate and financially stressed homeowners, not only must we take aggressive regulatory action against these con artists but we must educate and provide homeowners with the necessary tools to protect themselves against scammers who have charged thousands of dollars in upfront fees and deliver nothing in return.”

Loan modification scams in particular are plaguing of course, California, Nevada and Florida, but also other states as well…

One of the biggest steps that the DRE here in Sacramento has done recently to combat these scams is to re-write the most recent Public Service Announcement in Spanish, the PSA is a comprehensive document warning consumers of loan fraud. Now the DRE has also expanded its Spanish language Website to educate consumers on how to avoid falling victim to a loan scam.

Cold Sacramento Real Estate Market

If Sacramento area real estate buyer trends have any resemblance to the national trends, things may be heading into a long, slow spell…

Even with mortgage interest rates are at their lowest levels in five weeks, a seasonally adjusted index of home purchase applications was at its lowest level since 2000, the Mortgage Bankers Assn. said in a report yesterday.

The closely watched Freddie Mac report on rates also came out Thursday, showing 30-year fixed home loans at an average of 4.91% this week for borrowers paying 0.7% in up-front points and fees to lenders.

So even though mortgage rates are so low, home sale mortgage applications are declining —

So even with the government’s $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers has been extended, and a $6,500 credit for many move up buyers, the numbers are way down…