San Diego Real Estate: Short Sale, Foreclosure or Deed in Lieu?
July 1st, 2008 Categories: Mortgage News, Real Estate News, San Diego, San Diego Market Trends, San Diego Real Estate
San Diego’s mortgage meltdown has left many stressed and relocating homeowners wondering what to do. Should they just let their home go to foreclosure? Should they see if their lender will accept a deed in lieu of foreclosure? Or should they go through the uncertainties of a short sale on their San Diego home?
Fannie Mae’s recent announcement seems to provide some real clarity for owners of San Diego homes in default.
In a nutshell, avoid foreclosures, bankruptcy and deed in lieu of foreclosure if at all possible. It is far, far better to have a short sale–or a pre-foreclosure sale–as a resolution.
Why?
Under the Fannie Mae Announcement 08-16 (released 06/26/2008), short sales or those engaging in pre-foreclosure sales will be cleared to borrow on another home via Fannie Mae in two years from completion date of the short sale. This may be painful, but two years is far preferable to the alternative….
of 5 to 7 years if the home goes to foreclosure and 4 to 7 years if one opts for deed in lieu of foreclosure.
I am horrified that there are real estate agents advising people that there is no difference between a short sale and foreclosure–or that a deed in lieu of foreclosure may be preferable to either.
If homeowners were to follow this fallacious advice, our country’s real estate market would remain in the tank for at least another five years–and by that time we might have gone through an economic depression of epic proportions.
If your San Diego home is in default, please contact a qualified short sale specialist as soon as possible to help avoid the long-lasting consequences of foreclosure. The best buyer for your home is a cash buyer who is in a position to perform on short notice–at no cost to you.
We work with such a buyer–and are willing to forfeit any real estate commission on the sale to this investor group, because they will eventually turn around and list with us.
For additional information, call Mike or Roberta Murphy at 760-402-9101/9102.
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How to Delay a San Diego Foreclosure
June 7th, 2008 Categories: Real Estate News, San Diego, San Diego Market Trends, San Diego Real Estate
A looming foreclosure weighed heavily on our North San Diego County clients. Their custom home, purchased at the height of the San Diego real estate market in 2005, had plummeted in value.
Unable to pay mortgage payments of $8000 per month, they threw up their hands and asked for our assistance. We listed the home as a short sale, and dropped the asking price regularly. We hired a professional photographer, advertised heavily both off and online, and whispered the situation and opportunity to countless agents. We procured one lowball offer, which the lender rejected after reviewing their own BPO (Broker Price Opinion).
With payments in arrears since last November, their home was to be sold at foreclosure just yesterday, June 6, 2008. Though the family had located a new home out of state, they were not scheduled to move in until mid-July.
Their worst nightmare was not just the foreclosure, but the fear of a Sheriff showing up at their front door to physically remove them and their possessions out to the street.
And they had no place to go in the meantime.
We had called the lender repeatedly to try and stall the sale–and failed. We tried to procure a legitimate offer that would halt the sale–and even considered (momentarily) writing one ourselves to help these clients. At the eleventh hour, we located a bulk buyer of real estate who apparently has the cell phone number of key asset managers and lending vice presidents.
A magical call and verbal offer from this heavy-duty buyer on Thursday was enough for this lender to cancel the foreclosure that was to take place the next day. The sellers are beyond caring about their home’s sale price; they just want to be sure they have a roof over their heads for the next few weeks until they can make an orderly move with their belongings and pets.
And equally important, they are not paying one red cent to have this issue resolved. Beware the scammers who charge thousands to handle these matters.
We are re-listing the home with the bulk buyer (via a trust agreement) and will have the home back on the market next week–at a price we would never have dreamed possible. Our clients will be able to remain in the home, will keep the lawn and gardens watered and be able to relocate on their own schedule.
And buyers who are seeking a magnificent ocean view custom home in North San Diego County will delight at the pre-negotiated bargain we will be offering next week!
Note: If you are facing foreclosure and perhaps owe more than what your San Diego home is worth, please give us a call at either 877-818-8197 or 760-402-9101. At no charge, we may be able to delay the sale and perhaps even find a way for you to remain in your home.
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San Diego REO Listings Offered by Ghosts
May 12th, 2008 Categories: Mortgage News, Real Estate News, San Diego, San Diego Market Trends
I’ll never understand the process by which lenders choose to list their
San Diego REO’s and foreclosures. Some are listed by normal real estate agents, but more and more these REO’s (bank-owned properties) are listed by unknown companies with agents who rarely respond to phone calls or emails.
Should we be looking for some logic in the lender’s decisions to list with these phantoms?
There again, these may be the same folk who lent mortgage funds to ghosts in the first place. I mean, they loaned hundreds of millions to phantom borrowers who said they earned $20,000 a week working as a gardner or car salesman– or whatever suited their imaginations. Their homes, haunted by unsustainable debt and a declining San Diego real estate market, floated back to the lender…who then turned to eidolon agents to market their foreclosed properties.
I guess if lenders didn’t bother to check the reality of their borrowers in the first place, why should they now take to time to check the substance of their real estate representation for their REO’s?
We have worked with several buyers of San Diego foreclosures, and are appalled at the low level of representation a number of these foreclosed properties receive. In several cases, we have ended up faxing offers to the agent’s number listed in the MLS, and waited for a response from…someone or anyone. No reply was forthcoming, even though our offers were at and above the listed price.
We have an offer in on one foreclosure near San DIego State University now, and it cannot be presented to the lender because the agent is on a two week vacation. (Uh…isn’t there an assistant, or another agent who is taking care of this absentee’s business?)
Are the banks/lenders aware of this non-representation?
And why am I feeling that we are in deja-vu all over again? I hoped thought most of the dingbat agents had left the business after the crash of the 2003-2006 real estate market.
Regrettably, those San Diego agents seem to have taken another get-rich course and are now in the foreclosure business.
And it seems many lenders have ended up with the same folk who helped get them into trouble in the first place.
I am wondering if this is a phenomenon that is isolated to the San Diego real estate market–or is it more widespread?
For the sake of our national economy, I hope not.
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Should I Wait to Buy a Home in San Diego?
May 5th, 2008 Categories: Oceanside, Real Estate News, San Diego, San Diego Market Trends, San Diego Real Estate
A Zillow questioner asks if he or she should wait to buy a home in San Diego until the market levels out.
It is a question that seemed to beg an answer from me, if only because we are personally struggling with that very issue as I write this post.
We have an opportunity to buy an Oceanside property that should yield a mildly positive cash flow with a 20 percent down payment. It is new construction, close to Oceanside beaches, and the only hurdle is finding financing that is reasonably acceptable for our circumstances. But that is another story.
The Zillow questioner is asking about the advisability of buying a piece of San Diego real estate as his or her home in today’s market. So much depends on location and local market conditions.
My advice:
You may want to explore home financing options available today that might not have worked just a couple of years ago.
The ACORN loan (available through Bank of America and Chase) is great for buyers earning less than $92,000 per year and who own no other real estate. The down payment is low and there is no PMI (private mortgage insurance). Loans are available up to $500,000, and buyers must attend a one-day class on home ownership prior to receiving an eligibility certificate.
FHA loans are also making a recent strong appearance in San Diego, and we are using them with a number of our buyers. These loans offer 3 percent down payments on mortgages up to almost $700,000. There are additional fees involved with FHA loans, but motivated sellers may be willing to assist with these costs–and may also be willing to reduce the home price to meet FHA loan maximums.
The best strategy is to find a very well-priced home (compare to area comparables)–or perhaps even a San Diego foreclosure– and secure the best available mortgage financing.
It’s a raging buyer’s market that will benefit the courageous, hard-working and smart investor.
This is advice I would offer to anyone considering the purchase of San Diego real estate in the sub- $700,000 range.
If you are considering San Diego County real estate beyond that price range, please give me a call at 877-818-8197 or 760-402-9101 and we can discuss other options.
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New FHA Loan Limits for San Diego County
March 6th, 2008 Categories: Mortgage News, Real Estate Juice, Real Estate News, San Diego Market Trends, San Diego Real Estate
California is privileged to have HUD release their new FHA loan limits just ahead of the rest of the country, who will get their own announcements tomorrow.
These new temporary limits were government-derived by calculating 125 percent of each California countys median home price.
In San Diego, for example, the median home price at time of calculation
(from the San Diego MLS) was $558,000. Hence, the new FHA loan limit in San Diego County will now be $697,500.
Many distressed San Diego homeowners and potential home buyers will rejoice at the new loan limits that may provide financing or refinancing for their homes. And these long-awaited increases may help to contribute to the recovery of the San Diego real estate market.
San Diego real estate, though, is apparently still more affordable than that in 14 other California Counties, where FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limits were hiked to $729,750. Many of those counties are located in the San Francisco and Bay area, along with Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, and Santa Barbara Counties. San Bernardino and Riverside Counties cap out at $500,000.
We havent done an FHA loan in our real estate practice in years, but I think its time we quickly went back to school!
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