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Countrywide (Bank of America) has agreed to refinance 390,000 sub prime loans that were originated prior to December 31, 2008. The new program will start December 1, 2008. Countrywide announced that foreclosures would be frozen for homeowners that can qualify for a new loan. Bank of America, the new owner of Countrywide, announced that there will be 8.4 Billion dollars of interest rate and principal reductions to existing loans. The Emergency Economic Stimulus Act 2008 will not show up on Wall Street, in mortgage lending offices across the country, in real estate offices or on car dealership lots for many months - if ever. So this announcement is good news for homeowners with unaffordable mortgages with Countrywide Financial that are on the brink of foreclosure. These mortgage term modifications are a good example of how homeowners standing up for themselves and making complaints to regulatory agencies across the United States helped bring about change. Attorneys Generals across the United States filed suit against Countrywide. The new terms in mortgages is part of the multi-billion dollar settlement. Countrywide was sued for unfair and deceptive lending practices. 390,000 homeowners are going to have a very Happy Christmas! Congratulations! Maya M. Thomas I'm hoping that after we spend the 700 Billion and find out that it doesn't help anyone put their hands on any money that the second 700 Billion will go to the Small Business Administration for emergency loans to my home buyers as well as those who want to buy a car and the small business owners that need money for the next year. I have a DREAM! The bill Emergency Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 passed today (Friday, October 6, 2008). The day before the Emergency bill was passed Citi was threatening to sue Wells Fargo for the right to buy Wachovia for 2.1 Billion to pick all of the depositors cash because of the change in the IRS tax code. The Emergency bill had nothing to do with Citi offering 2.1 Billion and Wells Fargo offering 15 Billion to buy Wachovia. Citi and Wells Fargo want to buy Wachovia to get the 24 Billion dollar tax write off and the depositors cash. Stock holders of Wachovia will benefit by merging with a successful bank. Wachovia stock holders will benefit far more from the 15 Billion Wells Fargo offer. The tax break that got the thumbs up the day before the second vote in the House. The tax change will have a bigger impact on the stock market than the Emergency Economic Stimulus Act. This tax change makes sence for companies. Citi would spend 2.1 Billion to save 24 Billion and get cash which is a "no brainer" right?! Wells Fargo would spend 15 Billion to save 24 Billion and get cash and that's a "no brainer" too! Tax Credits and tax changes will do more to help the stock market and shareholders than the Emergency bill. The modification to the IRS tax code has nothing to do with the Emergency Economic Stimulus Act. The tax break helps a buyer if they buy an entire company (or a bank) and not just the and then write off the bad loans. You can write off 70% of the loans. Acquiring Wachovia would allow the victor to get 24 Billion dollars through tax savings. This is going to change a lot more on Wall Street than the 700 Billion dollar bail out. Incredible isn't it?! Last night I heard that investment banks had their employees on the phone calling their Congress reprentatives to urge a Yes vote. As Realtors we know NAR was e-mailing all of us urging us to e-mail our Congress representatives for a Yes vote. The calls, e-mails and faxes paid off and we got the bail out. I hope it works better than I think it will. I called my Congresswoman's office in Washington DC. I called my local political offices and representatives. The market has clearly been correcting itself starting with the JP Morgan purchase of Washington Mutual and Bear Stearns, the Bank of American acquistion of Countrywide and Merrill Lynch and Barclays Capital purchase of Lehman Brothers. Yesterday Citi was buying Wachovia. Today Wells Fargo is fighting for the right and Citi is threatening a big law suit if they can't buy it. Backward as can usually be expected the FDIC is standing behind Citi's purchase even though the Wells Fargo purchase is for more money and is a better deal for the tax payers meaning You and Me. What is wrong with this picture? Why don't we let free markets repair themselves? I keep hearing over and over in my head, "This is not a bail out!" Yeah, sure... I read the 110 page bill before it went to the Senate and surged to a 400+ page gorilla. The 110 page chimp did not have a single item in it that guaranteed than any of the properties that I have under contract are going to get financing. 3 deals have died in the last 2 weeks due to financing just 1 day before closing. Maya M. Thomas I read the 110 page Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 today (Oct. 1, 2008) and it looks like we brought Main Street and Wall Street together. Homeowner's and the financial systems are on the same team now with plenty of security guards to TRY and make sure the rules are followed. I say security guards because they don't have more than a over sight and post reporting function. I believe the 700 Billion should go to the Small Business Administration for immediate emergency loans to small business owners, home buyers and car buyers. We have thrown 620 Billion dollars of liquidity to the financial markets and that money has done nothing and now we are throwing 700 Billion more with a contingency plan to throw anther 700 Billion if this 700 billion doesn't do what it is supposed to doesn't do what it's supposed. The plan is to have us make a profit from this loan. There is a stipulation that the President will come up with a plan to get our money back from the financial system if the bailout doesn't go according to plan. I was 100% against the first bill. I don't like this bill, but I'm on board with NAR and realize that something must be done and this is what we have. We don't have 3 bills to choose from. I would much prefer to see the Fed lend directly to Americans as they did during the Great Depression. It is history and fact that those loans made money for the government and the project is considered a success. It worked once in a similar situation why not try it again? I don't think that the bailout money that goes to the financial system will come right back out to Americans. The banks will hold a lot or most of the money and maybe lend a portion. That won't solve the liquidity problem. We're spending a bunch of money to buy the bad loans and the banks are not going to turn on the water faucet just because they got some bad debt off their books. The banks are going to be happy that they aren't going out of business and can coast on tax payers money while they hope the economy improves around them. As much as it may not make sence I would prefer to let the bad loans stay where they are and let the small business owners that need to make pay roll and Americans that need to buy a car or a house go to the Fed directly for the next year. Wall Street should have a chance to deal with the problems as in a normal market where the bad companies go bust and get bought by the companies with money. If we have to intervene in one year then we've given the Wall Street the chance. The Wall Street normalization has already begun. Warren Buffet bought an energy company and lent 3 Billion to GE. Bank of America bought Countrywide and Merrill Lynch. JP Morgan bought Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual. Citi bought Wachovia. The Fed kicked in Billions for AIG, Indymac and Lehman Brothers. Barclays Capital bought Lehman Brothers. The market is functioning. Yes, the consolidation doesn't add liquidity, but that's where the one year Emergency Fed Bank Money comes in. Problem solved! Our liquidity problem is different today than the Great Depression because we not have companies with Billions of dolllars and we have Americans with Billions and Millions of dollars. Only a couple of people had money during the Great Depression. Everything can be sold at some price. The businesses that go bust will be swallowed by smarter and richer companies. The "busted" companies can be started new again by the same people or new people. This "End" for some is the "Beginning" for a whole new generation of people and businesses. It's evolution! My last gripe... all of the reports in the bill should be presented before the checks are cut, not after. If only I was a Senator or a Congress woman! OK! HERE IS THE BILL CLIFF NOTES! Golden Parachutes and Severance Packages are not allowed for executives in companies that sell assets to TARP and there are lots of rules about executive pay in public companies. The bill says that we can recover bonus and incentive money that went to senior executives that were based on inaccurate earnings statements! If a company pays an executive more than $500,000 in Workers Compensation the company can not claim a tax deduction. All companies who participate in this bill must cooperate with the FBI in their investigation of fraud, misrepresentation or malfeasance. Other than the reference on page 65 line 8-15 that the allowable public debt will be increased to $11,315,000,000,000 (11 TRILLION, 315 BILLION!) the revised bill looks as reasonable as giving away $750 BILLION dollars can look. The bill requires background checks for Asset Managers that are hired and specifies that there can not be a conflict of interest between the Asset Managers and the financial institutions. The Asset Managers will define the bad loans that we will buy and establish how we will value and buy the loans. All profits we make from this bill will pay down the National Debt. Companies that participate will give Warrants to us the tax payers. The Warrant will give tax payers the right to receive dividends and own stock without voting rights. If the government sells the stock we keep the appreciation in the stock (Warrant). If after 5 years the program looses money the President must present a plan to Congress to recover the money from the financial institutions that benefited from this bill. Homeowners, buyers and Realtors® will all be happy that the bill encourages lenders to negotiate Short Sales. Hopefully lenders will get away from the "drag your feet until the buyer goes away" current way of negotiating Short Sales. The wording was not very specific. I would have liked to see some time tables added and some specific oversight or direction. Homeowners will be happy that the bill encourages lenders to negotiate new principal, interest and period of repayment mortgage terms for property owners that want to keep their property if the loan was originated prior to March 14, 2008. That loan origination date is a modification and extension over the previous date of origination. Renters in multi unit buildings are also protected. If you rent a commercial space or an apartment and you pay your rent there are provisions to keep you in your home or business even if the owner fails to pay the mortgage. Small banks with assets of less than 1 Billion that were adequately capitalized as of June 30, 2008 are eligible to participate in the sale of bad assets. Each financial institution may sell a maximum of $300 Million in bad loans to the tax payers. This bill terminates after the last bad loan is acquired and transferred out of the government's possession. Some new committees have been created to work with the existing ones to play a role in the oversight. There are new positions and reports that must be completed according to timelines and after certain funds have been released. The checks and balances appear to be strong. I would prefer to see a report go to Congress before the money is spent for final approval. The way the bill is written now the Secretary of the Treasury gives a report after each $50 Billion is spent. The first release of money is for $250 Billion. The second $100 Billion will be authorized by the President. The final $350 Billion requires Congressional approval. A new creation is within the Treasury Department. The new Office of Financial Stability will operate the newly created Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Controller of the Currency, Office of Thrift Supervision and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will guide TARP's operation. To help with the policing is a new position called the Inspector General (IG) which will oversee TARP and is authorized to investigate TARP. The new IG must give quarterly reports to Congress. The Federal Reserve must also report, as usual, to Congress on the implementation by lenders. Judicial review is specified and a Congressional Oversight Panel has been given the assignment to oversee all of the reports that are created through this bill. This new bill would get my vote in the current form. No one wants to spend this money, but we need to do the bailout if we are in the real estate business. The country would no doubt go on with out it, but this bill will insure that we can still sell houses. As we have all found out, we are the single most important element of a healthy US economy. Maya M. Thomas Do you want to want a Visa to enter the United States anytime that you want indefinitely? Buy a business! The purpose of an E-2 Visa is to bring capital to the United States, employ US workers and stimulate the economy. If you are from a treaty trader nation you can get an E-2 Visa. An E-2 Visa gives an international investor the right to travel anywhere in the United States anytime. There are no travel restrictions. You can register the business with as many owners as you wish. Each owner must contribute something of value to the business. Each owner must be approved by the country. Each owner must contribute a 'substantial' cash investment. Each owner must have a supervisory or executive capacity or possess a highly specialized skill essential to the efficient operation of the company. The business must provide goods, service or technology. The minimum cash investment is 80% of the value or sales price of the business. The funds can not come from outside financing. The cash may not come from anyone other than the investor seeking the E-2 Visa. Your money must be 'at risk' in the sense of a normal commercial investment. The expected investment is $100,000 to $150,000 per person, but you could be approved with a lower amount of money invested. It all depends on whether the Embassy approves your application and believes you are contributing substantially to the US economy. Here is what you need! Once your forms are approved you obtain Conditional Residence by filing a CIS I-485 application to Register Permanent Residence. To become a permanent resident you file a CIS I-829 Petition by Entrepreneur to Remove US Condition 90 days before the second anniversary of your Conditional Residence. BE CAREFUL! Don't waste your time and effort! I just got an open letter to All Realtors from Aurora that said that the maximum commission on an Aurora Short Sale is 5% if the sale is a "two Realtor situation." If the sale is a "one Realtor situation" the commission is 3%. Aurora doesn't realize that 4 people share the fee in a "two Realtor situation" and one person does twice the work in a "one Realtor situation." When Lehman Brothers went bankrupt I cheered with joy because Aurora was a Lehman Brothers company. Only Chase comes second to unpleasant banks to work with in a Short Sale. I will never bring a buyer to Aurora listing when there are other homes available. I just worked on an Aurora sale for 9 months. Aurora took so long to make a decision that the sold price was $205,000. The first contract for $269,000 was my buyer. If I had known when I submitted that $269,000 contract that Aurora was going to give me 3% I would have walked away from the deal and sold the couple something else. The buyer got so frustrated that they bought another house with another Realtor®. Aurora took so long to make up their mind that 6 buyers and agents walked away from the deal. I would have walked away from the final sale if I was not working for a kind and lovely couple that I wanted to help. A better fee policy might be to offer: A Realtor® who is able to get a contract on an Aurora's property for 100% of appraised value will get an 8% commission. A Realtor® who is able to get a contract for an Aurora property for 95% or more of appraised value will get a 7% commission. A Realtor® who is able to get a contract for 90% or more of appraised value will get a 6% commission. If the contract is for less than 90% of appraised value the commission is 5%. I don't think that Aurora realizes that a Realtor® can be the difference between an offer that is 100% of the offer price or 70% of the offer price. It's certainly better to know what I'm going to get paid before I give the Full Service Effort. I won't feel cheated again now that I know that Aurora has selected the Limited Service Package. Everything that I normally do to get a qualified motivated buyer to offer the best price quickly will not included in the Aurora Limited Service Package. The commission savings will be deleted from the offer price when a contract is submitted by a buyer. The listing will look like a Bargain Basement Short Sale not a beautiful home to be cherished and longed for. It's much easier for a buyer to be unemotional with a home that looks pathetic and unwelcoming than an inviting home that you don't want to leave. Aurora will not get Full Service Marketing. There will be no cleaning, no staging, one picture in the MLS, no post cards, no calls to agents who specialize in buyers who buy this kind of home, no featured listing spot on my web site, no Realtor.com showcase listing, no dedicated web site, no blogging, no marketing, no advertising, no brochure, no virtual tour, a lock box, no Open Houses, no Broker Open House, no Realtor Caravan, no showings after 5 pm (if not on lock box), no Saturday or Sunday showings (if not on lock box) and no negotiation. Now that I know that my fee only 5% I don't care what Aurora will sell their property for. Fewer offers will be submitted to Aurora as the property lingers on the market month after month and the prices of the surrounding homes fall month after month. The will yard be over grown and mold might grow in the air conditioning ducts. Eventually the property will sell for 20% or 50% of what it could have sold for. I'll never be frustrated with Aurora again! I'm happy that I won't be wasting 150 hours marketing a property for Aurora ever again. I can now invest those 150 hours working for sellers who are willing to spend a tiny bit more to make a lot more money. Maya M. Thomas Arnold Schwarzenegger fired 20,000 employees and reduced the wages of 200,000 state employees to minimum wage. Cities and states are doing all they can to save money and make more money. I was angry with our Monroe County Commissioners when they announced last week that they want to raise our taxes 18% (over the 2007 rate). Still, we're lucky because we haven't fired any cops, teachers or other city employees this year. County employees and the Key West Police Department have cut all over time which has caused a surge in foreclosures and short sales of homes owned by Key West's Finest. Two weeks ago the Key West City Commissioners voted to stop issuing building permits if a homeowner owes money for parking tickets, speeding tickets, Code Enforcement violations or any other reason. Maybe this will bring some needed money to the city. Our city is getting creative with our fund raising. Mandatory recycling was proposed this week by the City of Key West Commissioners. Failing to recycle would become a Code Enforcement violation and you would be fined! Garbage truck drivers would be told to tag any bag that sounds like it has glass bottles in it. The drivers would be instructed to leave the bags on the curb. In Key West if you've got any outstanding debt you owe to the city, "Pay Up!" The U.S. is in the seventh straight month of employee lay-offs at about 450,000 this year. It was good news this week when we heard this week that just over 50,000 people lost their jobs across the country last month. That is much better than the 70,000 and 80,000 of the prior months. You can find me in the Florida Keys and Key West at (305) 522-1398 or e-mail me at MayaMarieThomas@Hotmail.com.com.
Could we fix the sub-prime mess by letting homeowners roll their 7 percent sub-prime 30 year mortgage into a 50 year 4 percent mortgage? What about just letting them keep the 30 year mortgage and reducing the rate to 4%? A pretty normal short sale in Key West Florida is a mortgage on $500,000 at 7 percent interest. This payment is $3,326.51 before taxes and insurance. In Monroe County you can safely add $14,000 per year for taxes and insurance which would bring the payment to $4,493.18. We could save a homeowner $1,500 per month and maybe they could stay in their home with a 50 year mortgage at a reduced interest rate. If a lender rolled the hypothetical mortgage into a 50 year 4% mortgage the payment would go $1,928.53 before taxes and insurance. It would be $3,095.20 per month with taxes and insurance. If a lender allowed a homeowner to keep the 30 year fixed mortgage at 4% the monthly principal and interest payment would be just $2,387.08. The payment would go to $3,553.75 with taxes and insurance. A $500,000 mortgage at 7 percent over 30 years would get the bank $1,197,543.60 in payments on the $500,000 loan. The bank would get $1,157,118 in payments at 4 percent over 50 years for the $500,000 laon. The bank would still get $858,484.80 in payments on a 4% 30 year fixed $500,000 loan. Any of these numbers are a lot better than writing off $250,000. A homeowner could always make a bigger payment to principal with their tax return or a raise. If a family member got fired, the family had a medical emergency or maybe at Christmas they could make the smaller payments. My grandmother used to tell me when I was a little girl to get a 30 year mortgage and pay it off in 15 years. She would sit with me, pencil and paper in hand, and show me how much money I could save by paying off the mortgage early. You can find me in the Florida Keys and Key West at (305) 522-1398 or e-mail me at MayaMarieThomas@Hotmail.com.com. The car, truck and SUV deals are fantastic! Hummer's sales are down 61%. All of the car manufacturer's sales are slowing even if their name is Toyota or Honda. You can buy an SUV for $15,000 off sticker price all over the country. I've been told the trick is to go on the last day of the month... You can lease a Nissan Pathfinder for $250 a month with no money down for 3 years! I've been wanting a hybrid so I can be "Green" and energy efficient, but these good deals are making me want a big luxury SUV! You can find me in the Florida Keys and Key West at (305) 522-1398 or e-mail me at MayaMarieThomas@Hotmail.com.com. Walmart told their employees to vote Republican today. Not straight out, but they warned their employees of the dangers of voting for a Democrat. The big deal is that Walmart is worried that a Democratic President will make it easier for unions to organize and unionization at Walmart would drive up costs. A Democratic President, Senate and House would likely increase the minimum wage which would also increase Walmart's costs. This election affects everyone is so many different ways! Businesses and everyday citizens are trying to save money. In my past, before I was a REALTOR®, I noticed something curious about the employees that I worked with in Key West. At big companies most employees silently resent or even hate their employers and feel taken advantage of by them. Big companies often give employees a good reason to resent and mistrust them. One big company I worked with would find all kinds of ways to cheat their employees and managers. I wonder if Walmart employees will silently vote Democrate so that the do get a pay raise and can "stick it" to Walmart? This Key West company cheated employees by having them clock in and out on two different time cards for two different departments to get around paying overtime and dozens of other no-no's. They cheated managers that were salary non-exempt by decreasing their hourly rate of pay so that the paycheck at the end of the week was the same every week. Salary non-exempt employees are supposed to be paid "half" their hourly wages for over time and can not be docked for sick days so they cheated them every week. I can't even go into the stuff they did to the contract labor! On top of this, health insurance was subsidized for Managers and free for Directors, but full price for hourly employees so of course no hourly employees could afford to have insurance. I watched employees go to the Human Resources Department and get fired for asking about their pay. Today I recommend that an employee go directly to the Department of Labor when they find themselves in a situation like this and ask the DOL will keep their name confidential so they don't get fired or retaliated against. If the company does it to one employee they are likely to do it to others. You can find me in the Florida Keys and Key West at (305) 522-1398 or e-mail me at MayaMarieThomas@Hotmail.com.com.
Hi Friends, Keep in mind that I'm NOT an attorney and I must recommend that you consult an attorney regarding all of the information that I share with you. Consider this a friend at lunch telling you what she heard that could be helpful to you. On the subject of seller credits: Be careful what you call them. For an FHA mortgage you can only include closing costs and pre-pays such as insurance as a seller contribution. Use the wording "and/or pre-pays" when including seller contributions on a contract. You can include only the first year of wind, flood and homeowners insurance. Be sure to get a good faith estimate in writing! There is a 3% cap on conventional and FHA loans and a 6% cap on VA loans. Hope this helps you! You can find me in the Florida Keys and Key West at (305) 522-1398 or e-mail me at MayaMarieThomas@Hotmail.com.com. |
Maya Thomas Key West, FL More about me… Exit Realty Old Island Key West Office Phone: (305) 522-1398 Cell Phone: (305) 522-1398 Email Me
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