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loan modification: Failed Bank of America Loan Modifications are Short Sales in Disguise - 05/30/12 06:05 AM
I was reading a client response letter this morning. My former client wrote, "Elizabeth was excellent and made our short sale process so much better than it could have been. We have heard horror stories . . . " And it made me wonder how does she really know how awful it could have been? I try not to focus on the negative crap in a short sale. I don't always share with a seller every little horrid thing that happens either because I try to spare feelings. But the truth of it is short sales are not always a pleasant … (9 comments)
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loan modification: Banks Write the Rules for California Short Sales - 04/17/12 07:37 AM
Interesting blow up at the California Assembly yesterday. AB 1602 was pulled from committee moments before Attorney General Kamala Harris was to speak. That's the bill that says banks can't have their cake and eat it too. In other words, this bill says banks can't consider a loan modification while they are pursuing foreclosure. Of course, the banking industry is against it. Because banks write the rules.
If you don't think banks write the rules, you've been living under a rock or not involved with short sales. As a Sacramento short sale agent, I have first-hand knowledge of how banks write … (14 comments)
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loan modification: Bank of America Offering Principal Balance Reduction Through National Mortgage Settlement - 03/17/12 09:02 AM
Remember how yesterday I was joking? Saying stuff like we'll see principal mortgage reductions when June dumps Ward for Eddie Haskell? Good thing I didn't offer to eat my shoe. Because, out of the clear blue sky yesterday, my managing broker sent me a letter from Bank of America to a borrower in response to the National Mortgage Settlement. This is the historic $25 billion settlement that 49 state attorneys general reached with the top 5 major banks.
Bank of America is taking the lead. Whether your loan qualifies is pretty unclear, but this particular Bank of America borrower is receiving … (6 comments)
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loan modification: Confused in Sacramento about a Short Sale vs. Foreclosure, Loan Modification or HARP? - 03/01/12 06:37 AM
I'm not gonna talk anybody into doing a short sale. If you don't know if a short sale is right for you, that's your business to decide. If, because I am a Sacramento short sale agent, though, you want my professional opinion, I will gladly give it to you. You might be astonished that I won't sell you on the idea of a short sale. I will tell you honestly what I think about your situation. Everybody's is different.
For some people, a foreclosure is the best thing to do. Some people don't have the stamina, resources, hardship, or right kind … (7 comments)
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loan modification: How Do You Know That Sacramento Short Sale Will Close? - 02/27/12 08:02 AM
How do you know that short sale will close? I get asked that question from buyer's agents. Why? Because I'm a Sacramento short sale agent. I am not so full of myself that I would presume that every agent out there knows how much business I do. And even if they did know who I was, my success doesn't imply, necessarily, that I list short sales that won't close. We short sale agents can't always call 100% of the shots. But I come pretty darn close to it. My reputation depends on it.
I want a buyer's agent to feel secure … (4 comments)
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loan modification: Holy Cow! Goodbye MARS -- Breaking News for Agents - 07/15/11 11:26 AM
All you agents who say the National Association of REALTORS just takes your money and never does anything for it might want to start eating your words. Due to pressure from NAR and a personal visit to the FTC by President Ron Phipps, the FTC is backing off the MARS Rule for real estate agents.
From now on, agents who are licensed and in good standing do not have to comply with MARS when dealing with a short sale. The rules apply to other activities such as negotiating a loan modification. Also, Section 5 which prohibits unfair and deceptive practices still … (8 comments)
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loan modification: California Short Sale Sellers Might Qualify for $5,000 on Top of the $3,000 From HAFA - 07/03/11 09:45 AM
I can't possibly follow every single federal and local assistance program available in Sacramento for sellers of short sales. There are so many of them. But I do try. Some have such tight restrictions that few people qualify. That's how government leaders can say they are helping. They put out programs that help only a limited number of people and then say, but look at our fabulous program and all that we are doing. Jack crap.
Like loan modifications. Good idea. Bad implementation. Ask any Sacramento short sale agent, and she will relay the horror stories she's heard from her many … (5 comments)
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loan modification: It Doesn't Always Pay to Signal Your Turn in a Conversation - 05/30/11 11:38 AM
My husband believes that some things I say just pop up out of the blue with absolutely no reference point. He says, in conversations, I don't signal my turns. My brain is constantly in transition. Yet, he loves me anyway.
During brunch at Bistro Michel yesterday, we were discussing vampire teeth. You mostly see this in women, not men, but I suppose men aren't immune. I'm talking about those long canines. The type that suggest I'd like to bite your neck, in a Bela Lugosi kind of way. They say that the eyes are the windows to your soul, but I … (16 comments)
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loan modification: What Takes Short Sales So Long to Close? - 04/30/11 10:52 AM
What takes short sales so long to close in Sacramento? That's what buyers want to know. I can tell you what part of the problem is and you're looking at her. OK, not me, personally, but some other Sacramento short sale agent. It's the listing agents who can hold up the short sale process and cause delays.
Short sale listing agents who screw up do 3 major things wrong. The first thing is they don't collect the entire short sale package upfront from the seller. I know, sellers grumble and don't understand why they have to submit all of this stinkin' … (6 comments)
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loan modification: Bank of America Short Sales and Equator Have a Gaping Hole in the System - 04/14/11 10:25 AM
You'd think I would be happy that the Feds have reached initial agreements with some of the big banks over this foreclosure mess, but in many ways it's like the foxes guarding the hen house. So much of it is political bones thrown at starving dogs. The government doesn't do enough and everybody knows it and doesn't care.
One of the settlements is the banks have to promise not to move forward on a foreclosure after granting a loan modification. That didn't seem to be the problem. The problem is banks are promising temporary loan modifications yet refusing to put these … (8 comments)
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loan modification: Did Your Sacramento Short Sale Agent Give You a MARS Disclosure? - 03/30/11 10:18 AM
My phone rang off the hook over the weekend but it wasn't sellers looking for a Sacramento short sale agent to list and sell their home. It was sellers who already had listed with me and who had received an email from DocuSign. My transaction coordinator sent out the MARS disclosures on Saturday. I knew these forms would be difficult to explain the minute I laid eyes on them.
The MARS forms are meant to protect the public from ripoff schemes and scam artists, especially those who charge fees in advance for negotiating a loan modification or a short sale -- … (5 comments)
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loan modification: Can I Apply For a Loan Modification and a Short Sale at the Same Time? - 03/14/11 11:17 AM
One of the first questions almost any Sacramento short sale agent will ask a potential seller is: Have you applied for a loan modification? The reasons are many. First, it's probably been denied. Loan modification hell is ubiquitous. If denied, it's an easier process to move into the HAFA short sale program.
Second, banks will not accept a short sale file if a file for a loan modification is already open. If you're wondering why the bank has not verified receipt of your short sale package, it's probably because they won't open the short sale when a loan modification is open. … (4 comments)
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loan modification: How Anger Can Disrupt the 5 Stages of a Short Sale - 01/17/11 09:32 AM
There is a lot of anger in short sales. Sellers can get stuck in any one of the 5 stages of a short sale, but I see a lot of them who struggle to push past the anger stage. It festers and churns, like a supervolcano underground, and it might never erupt. Unresolved anger can eat away at a seller's inner core. That anger needs to be released, and hopefully not directed at their Sacramento short sale agent. Sometimes, I gotta duck to move out of the way of that flying fry pan.
The anger manifests itself in subtle ways that … (10 comments)
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loan modification: Why Would Anybody Ever Do a Loan Modification? - 11/17/10 10:11 AM
Almost every short sale I handle in Sacramento is a rejected loan modification. So, it is rare to have sellers call to say the bank has offered them a loan modification in the middle of a short sale but sometimes it happens. When they ask for my opinion, should they do a loan modification or a short sale, that's really up to them.
I do caution that they consider the fact they might be just kicking the can down the road. I suggest they get legal and tax advice. Loan modifications should include a principal reduction to be truly favorable to … (27 comments)
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loan modification: There Once Was a Man From Nigeria - 11/07/10 10:52 AM
Fall comes late to Sacramento as compared to the rest of the country. Yesterday, as leaves whirled in the street, I pulled my car up to the curb at a short sale home in Elk Grove and waved to the 3 children playing in the driveway of this home. Children are often oblivious to the inner workings of those around them. That's one of the precious things about being a kid: to enjoy insulation. I didn't have that barrier between me and the rest of the world when I was growing up, so I know first hand what it's like to … (12 comments)
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loan modification: Are You Certain You Want to Buy That Sacramento Short Sale? - 10/08/10 10:57 AM
Although it should not amaze me, it still does. It's not unusual for me to send a counter offer for one of my Sacramento short sale listings to the buyer's agent and never hear from the buyer's agent again. You'd think that buyer's agents are in the business of putting their buyers into escrow and closing that escrow, but perhaps not. I'm not privy to their business practices; I simply don't know.
I read about the 40,000 homeowners expected to show up at Cal Expo today for the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America's Save the Dream Tour. People slept last night … (5 comments)
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loan modification: I'll Brave a Sacramento Short Sale Over Yanking Out a Cactus Thorn - 09/08/10 10:09 AM
It's hard to accurately predict how you may react to particular circumstances until they actually happen. But I am relatively certain that if I found myself trapped in a mountain crevice and had to cut off my arm with a dull knife to survive, I would probably die. I don't know if I am brave enough to slice off a body part or gnaw my way to my own bones with bare teeth. It's safe to say that I have an aversion to pain. Even though I sell short sales.
My sister, on the other hand, can have her teeth drilled … (7 comments)
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loan modification: A Wells Fargo FHA Short Sale in Sacramento Was a Real Nail Biter - 08/21/10 10:40 AM
There are short sale agents back East like Chris Ann Cleland who love to work with Wells Fargo on a short sale. But, here, in Sacramento, those short sales are typically a struggle. Doesn't mean I don't list them and sell them, though, because as a Sacramento short sale agent, I'm not in the practice of boycotting lenders. You work with what you get. But, still. Wells Fargo, spittooey.
When it's a Wells Fargo FHA loan, it can be even worse. Because FHA wants to set the list price, just like a regular HAFA short sale but it's not HAFA. I … (12 comments)
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loan modification: Do You Believe in East Sacramento Short Sales? - 08/08/10 10:42 AM
A short sale or no short sales, when buyers don't conform to the marketplace, many agents will dump those buyers because they view those people as a waste of time. Conforming to the market means the buyer is looking in the price range the buyer can afford to pay, and the buyer is willing to buy one of those available homes. Now, I don't work with insane people, if I can help it, but I will work with buyers I like -- even if they don't fit the mold -- as long as they are serious about buying a home.
See, … (8 comments)
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loan modification: This Sacramento Short Sale Agent Will Cancel Any Seller's Short Sale Listing Upon Request - 06/20/10 09:52 AM
Sellers of short sales in Sacramento are not required to do a short sale if they don't want to. Even if they have signed a listing agreement and a purchase contract. That's because short sales are subject to the seller's approval of the terms and conditions set forth by the bank's approval letter. But even if the short sale approval letter is clean, without deficiency verbiage, and there is nothing in that letter to cause the seller any concern, if the seller wants to cancel the transaction, I'll let the seller do it.
Some agents don't want to let sellers cancel … (13 comments)
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Elizabeth Weintraub, Sacramento Short Sale Agent, Land Park, East Sac, Lyon RE
Sacramento,
CA
More about me…
Top 1% at Lyon Real Estate #00697006
Address: 2801 J Street, Sacramento, CA, 95816
Office Phone: (916) 233-6759
Cell Phone: (916) 233-6759
Email Me
Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate, midtown Sacramento. Selling since 1974. Home Buying Columnist at About.com. Sacramento short sale agent.
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