short sale: California Homeowners Bill of Rights - New Law for 2013
- 01/01/13 05:29 AM
The new California Homeowner Bill of Rights becomes law today. If you're not familiar with this measure, it was a bill carried on behalf of California Attorney General Kamala Harris last year that sought to codify some of the measures set forth in the national mortgage settlement deal struck in early 2012. Initially opposed by the California Association of Realtors as well as the California Bankers Association and the California Mortgage Bankers Association, the bill was pushed through the legislature by a closed joint committee of both houses so when the bill eventually reached the floor, it was voted on immediately (29 comments)
short sale: Free Homeownership Seminar for Distressed Homeowners
- 05/20/11 06:37 AM
Free From Riverside County - if you're a distressed home owner you should make time to attend this valuable seminar called 'Can I, or Should I keep my home'.Attendance will dramatically improve your uunderstanding of the loan modification, shorty-sale and foreclosure process and what your best option might be at this time. Taught by non-profit HUD approved instructors, you will also find out how to avoid fraud, who to contact at your lender, what government programs are available to assist you and what your IRS issues ay be. Held locally at the Southwest Riverside County Association of Realtors office on Jefferson (0 comments)
short sale: Robo-signing & our attorneys general. Activists searching for a cause (or a clue).
- 11/20/10 08:22 AM
What did I warn against back when this foreclosure/robo-signing fiasco first exploded on the scene? I said it would either blow over come November 3rd or the knee-jerks would over-react and create a crisis where none existed. Well, somehow we're seeing both of those come to pass today. Politicians by and large have passed on the opportunity to make a mountain out of a molehill so far. There's still time for them to climb aboard the bandwagon but the Republicans are too busy gloating and the Democrats are too busy dealing with Pelosi. But the attorneys general (as opposed to the (37 comments)
If you missed my post a couple weeks back on your bank’s right of offset – you should be aware that if you have your checking account, auto loan and/or mortgage at the same bank and you get delinquent on one of your loans, the bank can step in an take the money from your checking account to meet the delinquency. It’s called the ‘Right of Offset’ and they don’t even have to let you know they’re going to do it or that they even did it. You won’t know until your other checks start to bounce. This can be (0 comments)
short sale: New 'Short Refinance Program'. A Bigger Leaker Than HAFA, HAMP, TARP?
- 09/07/10 11:18 AM
The news media has been brimming with one Obamannoucement after another the past few days. Apparently after dodging the issue the people are most concerned about thus far, it has finally dawned on him just before election day that it's all about the 'JOBS'. Faced with the very real prospect of losing both the House AND the Senate, Barry has decided it's time to 'deal with the issues'. As his party stalwarts will tell him, a day late and a trillion sort. So we get another BIG announcement tomorrow of the new 'short refinance program', dubbed 'the most ambitious effort yet (4 comments)
short sale: Daddy. Why do they call it a short sale when it takes sooooo long?
- 08/23/10 06:03 AM
Why do they call it a 'short-sale'? You could actually have a baby in less time than it takes to work through the short sale process in many cases. And while lenders are promising to expedite the process and reduce the lead time, the fact remains that the problem is growing and as more and more short-sales are brought into the pipeline, the lead time threatens to increase rather than decrease. Lenders are expected to try to negotiate more than 400,000 short sales this year - triple the amount they had to work with just two years ago. Do you really (13 comments)
short sale: Tax Upsides & Downsides of Mortgage Debt Relief
- 04/14/10 07:42 AM
Upside - Downside of Debt Forgiveness. As you are aware, California just passed SB401 which brings th state of California into compliance with the Federal Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007. Essentially what that means is that, like the federal program, California homeowners who have benefited from a short-sale or foreclosure (benefited? That's questionable), qualify for relief. Most of you already know what it means but for any first-time readers, this means if you took out a loan from a lender to buy a house and that house is now worth half what it was when you bought - you (3 comments)
short sale: Debt Foregiveness? Watch Out For The Strings!
- 04/09/10 05:22 AM
108 pages! 108 mind-numbing, single-spaced goddam pages! The goal was simple - bring California's tax code regarding debt forgiveness - specifically regarding short-sales and foreclosures - into conformity with federal tax code. In Sacramento nothing is simple, folks. I was on a conference call with CAR Chief Lobbyist Alex Creel yesterday when he broke in to announce that both our Senate and Assembly had rushed a bill through and sent it to the Governor for signature. This was a 'cleaned-up' version of a bill the Gov. vetoed a couple weeks ago because it had a bunch of frivolous crap (4 comments)
short sale: Social Control of the Housing Crisis vs. Strategic Default
- 11/30/09 03:34 AM
Brent T. White, an Associate Law Professor at the University of Arizona, has published a 50+ page paper on why he believes homeowners who are upside down in their mortgages should just walk away. It's an interesting piece and, while I don't agree with some of his hypothesis and conclusions, he does have some valid points. You can read the whole paper here and I would love to hear your comments. I know we are seeing more 'strategic defaults' in our area and there are those that are voicing concern that a new wave of these may derail the fragile recovery (2 comments)
short sale: NAR Real Estate Summit - FDIC Chair Bair - "It'll be a slog."
- 05/19/09 12:18 PM
Much of the afternoon was devoted to the commercial market and banks. The commercial market is a great source of concern right now. Commercial defaults could freeze the housing rebound while its impact on the credit market could drive even more banks out of business - including some that are starting to turn around today. The triple whammy of housing defaults, followed by commercial defaults, followed by credit card defaults is not a good combination for recovery - did I mention unemployment? But that's worst case and hopes are high (if not the actual hopers) that we may be on our (4 comments)
short sale: NAR - Redefining Win, Lose & Draw
- 02/23/09 04:55 AM
Let me begin by saying I like our NAR President Charles McMillan. I think he's a good guy, he works hard for us and he truly believes in the Realtor Party. Having said that I must beg to differ with some of the recent utterings from the national office regarding Realtors 'success' with the recent stimulus bill. In his most recent update, posted immediately before this one, he refers to the major gains by Realtors in the bill: Dear Fellow REALTOR®,
For nearly four months, NAR has been working to deliver to you and to our nation a comprehensive (29 comments)
short sale: Temecula Valley Wine Country Short Sale Homes 7-29-08
- 07/29/08 04:23 PM
7-259 wine country short sales You might think that owners of $1,000,000+ homes in the Wine Country would have the backing to weather the current storm in the real estate market - but you would be wrong. While they are not losing homes at the same rate as local tract home owners, the number of bank owned homes in the Wine County currently accounts for 4% of the active inventory (Temecula Valley Wine Country Bank Owned Homes) and homes with notices of default account for another 10%. A home with a notice of default filed is typically going to be a (2 comments)
short sale: Short Sale Tax Foregiveness Bill signed
- 12/21/07 04:38 AM
President Bush signed into law today a new measure giving tax breaks to homeowners who have mortgage debt forgiven. Under preexisting law, the debt forgiven by a lender, such as for short sales and refinances, was generally taxable to the borrower as debt discharge income. With the passage of the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007, a taxpayer does not have to pay federal income tax on debt forgiven for a loan secured by a qualified principal residence.This tax break applies to debts discharged from January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2009. Qualified principal residence indebtedness is debt incurred in (6 comments)