Homes in Hollister CA – Bank of America is consistently the worst short sale lender with which we have dealt. A lot of people sent me emails similar to the following: "You need to stop complaining. If you think having to re-open a file is bad, imagine working on a file for eight months." Get my Free, Step-by-Step Loan Modification Guide by clicking here. They have the resources available to make the changes. Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup all issued stock to pay off their bailouts. Paying off the bailout cost all these banks their fourth quarter, 2009 profit. In addition, they diluted their stock by issuing more shares, which as any person knows drives the share price down. We can get them to improve their process and response times on loan modifications and... 10/01/2011

Hollister CA – The Stop Foreclosure Institute recently received a question from Amit. Here is his question. "Why does my lender need copies of my last two pay stubs? Are they hoping to garnish my paycheck? I am concerned that if I give it to them, then they will use it to garnish my paycheck. They have said if they don't get them, then they will not approve the short sale. What should I do? Amit." Click here to discover how other sellers successfully executed a short sale and avoided foreclosure. Here is our answer. Amit, we are not lawyers and therefore can't answer the garnishment question. Are you at risk of having your paycheck garnished? I don't think so, but that's just my opinion. Here is the first reason I don't think they will garnish your wages: because they don't request tha... 09/29/2011

Hollister CA – The Stop Foreclosure Institute recently received a question from Will. Here is his question. "I am thinking of short selling my house. There are some problems with the house. I know that most home buyers get a home inspected before they buy it. Do I have to tell them about the problems, or should I leave them for the inspector to find?~Will." Click here to discover how other sellers successfully executed a short sale and avoided foreclosure. Here is our answer. Will, we would disclose everything to the home buyers. It doesn't do you any good to hide any problems. The inspector will probably find them anyway. But if any are missed, the buyers could sue you later on for damages. I don’t know all the legal ramifications, but in my opinion they could sue you for hiding a pro... 09/28/2011

Hollister CA – Some people think they can go around a homeowner and buy a home directly from the bank. "The seller has to submit our offer to the bank because the bank owns the house," they tell us. They assume they can sidestep the seller and buy the house directly from the bank. The truth is that until the bank forecloses on the house, the seller owns it and is in the driver's seat. Click here to discover how other sellers successfully executed a short sale and avoided foreclosure. If the seller works with another buyer on a short sale and the bank approves the short sale, then buyer will get the house. If you really want the house, it's best to work with the homeowner during a short sale. However, if you want to try your luck, you can wait until the foreclosure is completed and buy ... 09/26/2011

Hollister CA Homes– The Stop Foreclosure Institute recently talked with a homeowner whose home had been sold on the courthouse steps. We asked if she had considered selling the home as a short sale. "I did, but I heard that short sales are difficult and not worth trying. My friend told me the banks never approve them," she told us. Get my Free, Step-by-Step Loan Modification Guide by clicking here. After we got off the phone, we reviewed what she had lost. She lost the opportunity to protect her credit and to be able to buy a home threee years after the short sale sold. Now she will have greater credit damage and will have to wait five to seven years to buy another home. Ouch! All this could have been avoided if she had known the truth about short sales. Yes, short sales are approved by... 09/25/2011

Hollister CA – The Stop Foreclosure Institute recently received a question from another agent. Here is her question. "I have a short sale listed. At what time in the short sale process do you stop accepting additional offers for submittal to the lender? If you accept another offer after you've already submitted one to the lender, does it reset your timeline to the beginning? "Do you just put them in backup position? What about the poor buyer whose offer was submitted and has already been waiting for weeks for lender approval? Do you allow them to match the higher offer? "You guys have so much experience. How do you handle this? Thanks~Diane." Get my Free, Step-by-Step Loan Modification Guide by clicking here. Here was our answer. It all depends. We like to stay with the original offer i... 09/24/2011

Hollister CA – I recently saw an article written by a prominent, so-called short sale expert. In the article, this supposed expert said the only rules for short sales are HAFA, but even those rules are subject to interpretation. That's like saying there are no traffic laws. If that were the case, then everyone could drive 100 MPH and never get a ticket. It's like saying the court system has no rules. Go ask a judge or lawyer, and you'll find out the truth about that pretty fast. Click here to discover how other sellers successfully executed a short sale and avoided foreclosure. The good news for short sale sellers is that there are rules. There are lots of rules, in fact. These rules protect you from renegade, rogue employees at short sale lenders. They also protect you from the lender... 09/23/2011

Hollister CA – If you have negotiated a short sale or loan modification, you've probably heard the lost paperwork excuse. "Oh, we lost your paperwork. Please refax it to this number," the lender's representative tells you. I have heard this excuse countless times. No one can lose paperwork that much. I'm now convinced it's a lie. But why would a lender blatantly lie like that? Click here to discover how other sellers successfully executed a short sale and avoided foreclosure. In my opinion, lenders do that to make up for their failings. See, most loan modification and short sale departments are stretched to the max. The employees are overworked and underpaid. Everyone just gets into the mindset of not caring. They have to deal with angry people every day. The people are understandably ... 09/22/2011

Hollister CA – You may wonder why a sales contract says the seller pays for certain costs and yet the bank covers the costs. Here's how it works. The sales contract may have a certain clause say: "Seller to pay title and seller's documentary stamp taxes." How does the bank pay that cost if it says the seller is paying it? Click here to discover how other sellers successfully executed a short sale and avoided foreclosure. In traditional real estate (non short sale), certain costs are normally paid by the seller and other costs by the buyer. For example, the seller doesn't normally pay the buyer's home inspector. In these cases, the seller is actually paying those costs. So sales contracts have always been written like that. On a short sale, the costs are paid by the seller on the closin... 09/21/2011

Hollister CA – Yes, many people think they can negotiate with the lender. But some of them don't have the skills necessary to be successful. Here are a few of the things someone needs before he can negotiate a short sale. Click here to discover how other sellers successfully executed a short sale and avoided foreclosure. The person must have the ability to understand HUD-1 Closing Statements. The lenders will want a copy of the closing statement, also call a HUD-1. Most people in the lender's short sale departments are very familiar with HUD-1s. The person negotiating with you will need to answer any questions he has about the HUD and how to make changes to it. He must know the short sale seller’s rights. Most short sale transactions fall under certain guidelines. The lenders don't alw... 09/20/2011

Hollister CA – We recently gave a couple of common reasons that short sales fail. Today we'll go through a few more reasons. To recap, here are the reasons we put in our previous blog post. Reason #1: The sales price is lower than the lender wants. The lender thinks the home is worth more than for what it's selling and won't approve the short sale unless the price is for the value the lender has. Reason #2: The tenant doesn't allow the home to be shown. Many tenants do not want the home shown to buyers because they will have to move before it sells. Click here to discover how other sellers successfully executed a short sale and avoided foreclosure. Reason #3: Your Realtor never followed up with the lender. Short sale negotiators are not in a rush. They don't get paid by the file. They ... 09/19/2011

Hollister CA – The Stop Foreclosure Institute recently received a question from another agent. Apparently the agent was being mislead on a short sale by a large national lender. Here is the question we received: "Do you have a number to contact Fannie Mae? The bank (Large National Bank) will not allow the seller to not do a short sale and agree to repay the loss on a promissory note. The bank contact said she has to talk to the investor, which is Fannie Mae. My sellers just wants to sell and move on with their lives.~Janet." Get my Free, Step-by-Step Loan Modification Guide by clicking here. Here is our response. I understand the logic of what your sellers are trying to do. The sellers think they can just sell the home for less thant it's worth, sign a promissory note for the difference... 09/18/2011

Hollister CA – The Stop Foreclosure Institute gets asked this question quite a bit. The answer depends on the type of loan you're looking to use to purchase your next home. Here are the details on your options to buy another home after a short sale. Get my Free, Step-by-Step Loan Modification Guide by clicking here. Owner Financing. You can buy a home with owner financing any time after a short sale. FHA Financing. FHA is very popular because it requires you to put down only 3.5% and pay your closing costs. You can usually convince the seller to pay your closing costs, thereby reducing your down payment to 3.5% of the purchase price. FHA's current guidelines state that you can get an FHA loan immediately after a short sale, provided you never missed a payment. If you were in default at ... 09/17/2011

Hollister CA – The Stop Foreclosure Institute recently received a question from David. Here is his question. "My lender ******** Bank verbally told me that my short sale was approved. However, now they are now telling me that Fannie Mae did not approve the sale. "They gave me an option to pay $3000 upfront and to agree to pay off the deficiency. I just cannot afford this option. The pay-off amount on the mortgage is $122,000. "The buyer is offering $99,000. The bank's appraiser said the house is worth $92,000. The buyer has been waiting to buy the house for 11 months. "What the bank is telling my just doesn't make sense. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.~David." Click here to discover how other sellers successfully executed a short sale and avoided foreclosure. Here was our... 09/16/2011

Hollister CA – A good short sale Realtor will mean the difference between success and failure on your short sale. Here are the qualities that make a good, effective short sale realtor. Click here to discover how other sellers successfully executed a short sale and avoided foreclosure. Persistence. Short sales are frustrating. Many times you will feel like giving up. Many times you will feel like you have finished the task. The short sale will be approved. Then the lender tells you it needs a certain document signed by all parties. The lender won't approve the short sale until it has that document. You have to send the document and have it signed by everyone. Some people will be busy and won't respond. You will have to persist until they sign it and send it back. You never know what doc... 09/15/2011

Hollister CA – The Stop Foreclosure Institute recently received a question from Chuck. Here is his question. "I'm trying to short sale. I received a note from my Insurance agent that my homeowner insurance will be cancelled as of this month because the insurance company went under. "My insurance agent told me that he can place me with the state-run insurance agency for $1900, but I will have to pay the money by the end of the month. "I do have $924 in my lender's escrow account. What do you think I should do?~Chuck." Click here to discover how other sellers successfully executed a short sale and avoided foreclosure. Here was our answer: Chuck, Let me ask you a question. Who is the beneficiary of any insurance for your home? If you are short selling, then you're probably upside-down. Yo... 09/14/2011

Hollister CA – The Stop Foreclosure Institute recently received a question from Dave. Here is his question. "I would like to short sale my house. However, the foreclosure has already started. I don't know how soon the bank is going to come and kick me out. "Can I still short sale? Or is it too late?~Dave." Click here to discover how other sellers successfully executed a short sale and avoided foreclosure. Here is the answer to his question. Dave, yes you can still short sale your house. It does depend on how far along you are in the foreclosure process. You have to remember that the foreclosure process can take a long time. We have seen foreclosure court cases drag out for two to three years. In one rare case, Patsi Campbell, a homeowner in Florida, had a foreclosure drag out for 25 ye... 09/13/2011

Hollister CA – The Stop Foreclosure Institute recently received a question from Katie. Here is her question. "I am an agent and I am helping someone short sell his house. X Lender (to remain unnamed) claims it has sent a short sale package to the seller a couple of times. "But the lender hasn't, because my customer has never received anything. What can I do? The lender won’t start the short sale process until it receives the filled-out package back from the seller.~Katie." Click here to discover how other sellers successfully executed a short sale and avoided foreclosure. Here was our recommendation to Katie. Katie, you need to find out who owns the loan. Most likely it isn’t X Lender. Then tell the lender representative person that you will contact the loan owner directly and let that... 09/12/2011

Hollister CA – The Stop Foreclosure Institute recently received a question from Tom about short sales. Here is Tom's question. "My ex-wife decided to short sell our former house. Unfortunately, we both signed the mortgage when we bought the house together. I think that means I am still liable for the debt. "The court gave her the home in the divorce. The market has declined, and the house is worth about $120k less than the mortgage amount. "I have a good job and some assets. Will I have to pay back the bank for the money it loses? (My ex is selling because of financial problems.) "Also, someone said I might have to pay income taxes on the written-off debt. Is that true? Please help me out here. Sincerely, Tom." Get my Free, Step-by-Step Loan Modification Guide by clicking here. Here is ... 09/11/2011

Hollister CA – Are you looking to buy a short sale? Before you make an offer, you need to check to see how competent the listing agent is at short sales. The listing agent is the agent with the property for sale. He will usually be in charge of processing the short sale with the lender. Get my Free, Step-by-Step Loan Modification Guide by clicking here. If the listing agent is a genuine short sale expert and knows what he's doing, you have a very good chance of the short sale being approved and buying the home. I'll show you how to separate the experts from the pretenders in this post. If the agent is not a genuine short sale expert, you're probably wasting your time. You should go find another home to buy. First, ask the agent how many short sales he's successfully sold. If he's sold o... 09/10/2011