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FORECLOSURE ALTERNATIVES QUESTION/ANSWER 1

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Real Estate Broker/Owner with Fred Strickroot - HomeNet - Tampa Bay Area - 727-478-8997 BK3187035

Fred Strickroot of HomeNet and the HomeNet "YOU" Team is a certified Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative (HAFA) and short sale specialist serving the Tampa Bay, Florida areas of Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas counties. In this forum, Fred Strickroot will provide information and respond to questions that the community has regarding foreclosure alternatives. If you are behind on your mortgage payment, and experienced some form of hardship making it difficult to pay your current mortgage, you may qualify for alternatives including modification, short sale, or deed in lieu of foreclosure. Fred will answer questions and continue to post topics based on his knowledge of the most common concerns home sellers have regarding foreclosure alternatives.

Disclosure: HomeNet is not associated with the government and our service is not approved by the government or your lender. Even if you accept this offer and use our service, your lender may not agree to change your loan. If you stop paying your mortgage, you could lose your home and damage your credit.

 

FREQUENT QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

QUESTION 1: A common question that I get from customers is how long does it take to close a short sale?

ANSWER: There is no set period of time, although the process is becoming more streamlined. Many of the lenders are becoming more “short sale” friendly, and are improving their systems to accommodate the processing of short sales. As a guideline, I always tell my customer that it will be a minimum of 45 days. The circumstances surrounding the short sale such as junior liens will lead to delays since junior lien holders will usually have to agree to accept a lower amount because there is no equity in the home to pay out.

IMPORTANT: Junior lien holders do NOT have to agree to take less then they are owed, however, it might be to their advantage to accept what they can get in a short sale transaction since foreclosure may leave them zero return.

 

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Joan Whitebook
BHG The Masiello Group - Nashua, NH
Consumer Focused Real Estate Services

I hope this program will actually help people who are in need of a loan modification.  I don't hear many good things about these programs. What do you think?

Jun 24, 2011 03:22 PM
Fred Strickroot
Fred Strickroot - HomeNet - Tampa Bay Area - 727-478-8997 - Trinity, FL
Tampa Bay Area Homes For Sale

Joan, home loan modification road has definitely been a bumpy one, but there are indications that some of the banks, Bank of America and Wells Fargo (Wachovia) being two that stand out from the crowd, are making an effort to reverse the negativity associated with home loan modifications by setting up systems to respond better to homeowners. What disturbs me is the level at which individuals and businesses are praying on homeowners with "fee based" services that promise home loan modification or try to mislead the customer into a short sale when other alternatives exist that are FREE.

In my opinion, the Realtors first step is to first try to help the homeowner see if they qualify for a home loan modification program. I know there is no money in it for the Realtor, but the homeowner may not qualify for the program at which point a short sale can be an option. That homeowner is going to remember the Realtor that guided them into the home loan modification program first vs. the one that pushed the short sale.

Jun 25, 2011 12:04 PM