Finding the Right Short Sale Real Estate Agent in Des Moines Iowa Area

Finding the Right Short Sale Real Estate Agent in Des Moines Iowa Area
Finding the Right Short Sale Real Estate Agent in Des Moines Iowa Area or any area.There are many things that need to be taken into consideration when looking to find the Right Short sale agent in the Des Moines area or any area. It doesn't matter if the home owners are looking for help to re-modify your loan to keep the home or if you are looking for an alternative to avoid foreclosure. Picking the right agent is very important and will make or break what you are trying to get done.
Most Real Estate agents have no idea what an short sale is, so you can bet they don't know how to do them. Yet they will still take a listing just to have a sign in the yard to try and get sign calls with no intention of every selling that home. I recently called a local agent in our market to show one of his listings I asked him specific questions as one should about a short sale Who is lender, is paper work collected, how far behind are they, has BPO been done and a few more the answer I got on all of them was " Um I don't know" then he proceeds to say if I where you I wouldn't even show it is not going to sell the only reason I took the listing was to try and get sign calls. My first thought to this was are you serious who are you helping this home is going to go into foreclosure because you are have no clue what you are doing.
So this got me thinking who else is out there that is going through this same situation and not even knowing that is it happening. So here are some tips and questions to know if you have found the Right Short Sale Real Estate Agent that can successfully sale your home short or help in some other alternative to avoiding foreclosures.

1) Please Remember just because an Agent has a designation does not mean they know what they are doing. I know of multiple cases where agents have a designation for some field of expertise and the fact is they know nothing.
2). Ask the agent for some literature on Short Sales and modifications, if they are truly skilled in dealing in distressed mortgage situations they will have these for you readily available.
3) Ask the agent how many short sales the have currently working, how many they have closed.
4) Ask the agent how they advertise/
5) Ask the Agent to explain to you how their systems are set up for doing short sale or foreclosure alternative.
6) Ask the agent if they handle the short sale negotiationson their own or if they have some one help them with this. If the say they have someone help them be careful of this there are some people who do this by the books and some who walk a fine line between right and wrong. So ask alot of questions if some thing doesn't seem right then chances are it it is not.

7) Ask the agent if they submit more than one offer to the lender at the same time, if they say yes your going to be looking at a much longer time frame and chances of the short sale ever getting approved are slim. Short sale negotiators have 200-400 files per person. So if you submit multiple offers on the same property it will lengthen the time frame. Only one offer should be submitted to the lender for review all others should be presented to sellers and held as back up.

8) Ask the agent who he works with as far as attorneys, cpa's that they may use at times in the short sale or foreclosure alternative process.
9) This may be the most important of all if the agent asks you to sign anything has the property deeded to someone else or transfer power of attorney. Some advise seek a legal council before you ever do this. Once you sign over your property you know longer have rights to it, BUT you still have to pay the mortgage.
There are more questions that you could ask these are some of the most important that should be asked.
Asking these questions and doing your home work will help you in Finding the Right Short Sale Real Estate  Agent in Des Moines Iowa Area or any area. 
I cant stress enough how important chooseing the right agent is in any transaction especially in a distressed situation.
Your able to find all that you need to know about foreclosure alternatives. at www.shanestopsforeclosures.com or www.shanetorres.com


Thanks
Shane Torres, REALTOR® CDPE / SFR Certified RE/MAX Real Estate Concepts
1830 Princeton Dr. Ste C
Grimes, IA 50111
Licensed Real Estate Agent in Iowa

Phone 515-202-5894
Fax     866-838-0904
shane@realestateconcepts.net
shanetorres@remax.net
reoshane@realestateconcepts.net http://shanestopsforeclosures.blogspot.com/

For Information on short sale visit www.shanestopsforeclosures.com
visit my web site at www.shanetorres.com for more information on current listings

Making Sense of Mortgage Modification

There has been much in the news in the past few weeks about mortgage modifications for homeowners who are having trouble making their house payments. Many are having difficulty qualifying for modifications, and so far the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) has had disappointing results.

I have a vast knowledge of loan modifications and Short Sales and have the questions you are wanting.

The Washington Post recently reported that “troubled homeowners who receive housing counseling are 60% more likely to avoid foreclosure and have their mortgage payments lowered significantly than borrowers who navigate the process themselves.” I can help homeowners facilitate the process of loan modification and discuss other alternatives to foreclosure if a modification is not an option.

As a CDPE, I feel it’s my duty to help anyone I can during these hard times. If you would like to know more about mortgage modifications and whether or not you might qualify, please feel free to contact me.

Wells Fargo Allows Foreclosure Postponements for Short Sales in Certain Situations

Wells Fargo Allows Foreclosure Postponements for Short Sales in Certain Situations

In November 2010, Wells Fargo advised NAR that it has modified its existing guidelines to allow the postponement of a scheduled foreclosure in connection with a short sale, but only in limited situations. For loans owned by Wells Fargo (including Wachovia) and other loans serviced by Wells Fargo but owned by an investor, the policy allows for one foreclosure postponement, but only if: (1) Wells Fargo has a short sale sales contract in hand that has been approved (including approvals from junior lien holders and mortgage insurers, if applicable), (2) the buyer has proof of funds or financing approved, and (3) the short sale can close within 30 days of the scheduled foreclosure sale. Not all investors allow for such postponements. In jurisdictions where the courts will not approve the delay, the postponement policy will not apply. Wells Fargo is willing to address situations that do not qualify under these guidelines on a case-by-case basis.

More Homeowners Underwater as Depression-Era Depreciation Nears

Nearly one-quarter, or 23.2 percent of U.S. homeowners with a mortgage, were underwater on the loan in the third quarter, meaning they owe more on the home than it is worth, according to figures released Wednesday by the real estate data provider Zillow.

The third-quarter underwater number rose from 22.5 percent in the second quarter and is the highest it’s been since Zillow began tracking negative equity in 2009.
The subtle hints of stabilization in home values that started emerging earlier in the year began to wane last quarter.
Zillow’s home value index recorded a 4.3 percent year-over-year decline in Q3 and was down 1.2 percent from the second quarter. The Seattle-based company says its index reading has fallen for 17 consecutive quarters now. The company’s market data shows the median home value nationwide has dropped to $179,900.
With home values nationally 25 percent below their June 2006 peak, the current housing downturn is approaching Great Depression-era declines, when home values fell 25.9 percent in five years (between 1929 and 1933), Zillow pointed out in its report.
Home values fell from the second to the third quarter in 77 percent of markets covered in Zillow’s study. In five of those markets – the California metropolitan areas of Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, and Ventura – home values began to drop again after five consecutive quarters of increases.
Other markets that showed signs of stabilization in previous quarters also faltered, with home values flattening or becoming negative in large metros like Boston and Denver.

“While not unexpected, the unceasing declines in home values signal that we’re in for a long, bleak winter of continued troubles for the housing market,” said Dr. Stan Humphries, Zillow’s chief economist. “The length and depth of the current housing recession is rivaling the Great Depression’s real estate downturn, and, with encouraging signs fading, will easily eclipse it in the coming months.”
With home values declining again, more and more homeowners find themselves sinking in mortgage debt. Zillow says in some hard-hit markets, as many as four out of five single-family homeowners with mortgages were underwater in the third quarter.
Las Vegas had the highest percentage of underwater borrowers in Q3, with 80.2 percent in negative equity, followed by Phoenix with 68.4 percent. In total, 11 markets tracked by Zillow had negative equity above 50 percent.
“The high percentage of homeowners in negative equity continues to be troubling, in that it represents a huge number of people who are not only more vulnerable to foreclosure, but who are essentially trapped in their current homes and are prevented from selling and buying a new home,” according to Dr. Humphries. “This has profound implications for future demand and will be a millstone around the neck of the housing market.”
As home values continue to fall and negative equity’s grip gets tighter, additional signs of trouble have emerged.
Zillow says foreclosures have reached a new all-time peak, with 1.2 out of every 1,000 homeowners in the country losing their homes in September.
Sales of homes previously foreclosed in the past 12 months reached a near-peak level during that same month, with foreclosure re-sales making up more than one-fifth (20.1 percent) of all sales, according to Zillow. The company says the last time foreclosure re-sales reached similar levels was in March 2009, when they made up 20.5 percent of all sales.
Additionally, more than one-quarter (27.3 percent) of homes sold in September were sold for a loss, marking a near-peak level, Zillow reports. The peak was hit in February 2010, when 27.7 percent of homes sold went for a loss.

11/10/2010 By: Carrie Bay

COMPLETE LIST OF HAFA PARTICIPATING BANKS LENDERS AND MORTGAGE SERVICERS

Here is the list……lenders participating in HAFA:
Allstate Mortgage Loans & Investments, Inc.
American Home Mortage Servicing, Inc.
AMS Servicing, LLC
Aurora Loan Services LLC
Bank of America, N.A.
Bank United
Bay Federal Credit Union
Bayview Loan Servicing, LLC
CCO Mortgage
Carrington Mortgage Services, LLC
Central Florida Educators Federal Credit Union
Central Jersey Federal Credit Union
CitiMortgage, Inc.
Citizens First Wholesale Mortgage Co.
Countrywide Home Loans Servicing LP
CUC Mortgage Corporation
DuPage Credit Union
EMC Mortgage Corporation
Farmers State Bank
First Bank
First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Port Angeles
First Keystone Bank
Franklin Credit Management Corporation
Glass City Federal Credit Union
GMAC Mortgage LLC
Great Lakes Credit Union
Green Tree Servicing LLC
Harleysville National Bank & Trust Company
Hillsdale County National Bank
HomEq Servicing
Home Financing Center Inc.
Home Loan Services, Inc.
Horicon Bank
IBM Southeast Employees Federal Credit Union
IC Federal Credit Union
J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, NA
Lake City Bank
Lake National Bank
Litton Loan Servicing
Los Alamos National Bank
Marix Servicing, LLC
Members Mortgage Company, Inc
Mission Federal Credit Union
Members Mortgage Company, Inc.
Metropolitan National Bank
MorEquity, Inc.
Mortgage Center, LLC
Mortgage Clearing Corporation
National City Bank
Nationstar Mortgage LLC
Oakland Municipal Credit Union
Ocwen Financial Corporation, Inc.
OneWest Bank
ORNL Federal Credit Union
PennyMac Loan Services, LLC
PNC Bank, National Association
Purdue Employees Federal Credit Union
Qlending, Inc.
Quantum Servicing Corporation
RG Mortgage Corporation
Residential Credit Solutions
RoundPoint Mortgage Servicing Corporation
Saxon Mortgage Services
Schools Financial Credit Union
SEFCU
Select Portfolio Servicing
Servis One Inc.,dba BSI Financial Services, Inc
ShoreBank
Stanford Federal Credit Union
Technology Credit Union
United Bank Mortgage Corporation
U.S. Bank National Association
Vantium Capital, Inc.
Wachovia Mortgage, FSB
Wachovia Bank, NA
Wells Fargo Bank, NA
Wescom Central Credit Union
Wilshire Credit Corporation
Yadkin Valley Bank

I DO NOT THINK THIS IS BREAKING NEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nation's Biggest Banks Each Hold over $20B in Foreclosures: Report

10/22/2010 By: Carrie Bay

New data released this week shows that the nation’s largest banks are holding monstrous volumes of soured home loans. Not only has the housing crisis left major lenders knee-deep in an ocean of non-performers, but added exposure to early delinquencies means they could sink even deeper.

According to an analysis by Weiss Ratings, an independent ratings agency covering the financial sector, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo each reported more than $20 billion in single-family mortgages currently foreclosed or in the process of foreclosure as of midyear.
In addition, Weiss found that for each dollar these banks held of mortgages in foreclosure, there were an additional $2 in loans in the pipeline that were 30 days or more past due.
Among all U.S. banks, JPMorgan Chase has the largest volume of mortgages in foreclosure or foreclosed with $21.7 billion. On top of that, the company has $43.4 billion more in mortgages past due.
Compared to JPMorgan, Bank of America has a somewhat smaller volume of foreclosures — $20.3 billion — but it has a larger pipeline of past-due mortgages at $54.6 billion.
Wells Fargo’s foreclosures come to $20.5 billion, with $48 billion in overdue home loans.

According to Weiss, including all foreclosed and delinquent categories, Bank of America has the largest volume of bad mortgages among U.S. banks, with $74.9 billion, while Wells Fargo has the second largest with $68.6 billion.
Other banks, despite their large size, are less heavily exposed to mortgage difficulties. Citibank has $6.3 billion in foreclosures and $19.2 billion in past-due mortgages, or a total of $25.6 billion.
The volume of foreclosures and delinquencies held by other large banks, such as U.S. Bank ($9.5 billion), PNC Bank ($8.9 billion), and SunTrust ($7.3 billion) is even smaller.
Martin D. Weiss, chairman of Weiss Ratings, said, “In addition to the volume of bad mortgages, the vulnerability of each bank to the foreclosure crisis depends on the capital and loan loss reserves it has set aside to cover losses and other factors such as its earnings, liquidity, reliance on less-stable deposits, and the quality of its overall loan portfolio.”
Among banks with $1 billion or more of mortgages already foreclosed or in process of foreclosure, Weiss found that Wells Fargo has the greatest exposure to bad mortgages in proportion to its capital. For each dollar of Tier 1 Capital, the bank has 75.4 cents in bad mortgages, or a ratio of 75.4 percent.
The equivalent ratios for JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and SunTrust are 66.8 percent, 66 percent, and 57.6 percent, respectively.
Weiss explained that losses on foreclosures and past-due loans will first be absorbed by the banks’ loan loss reserves, but then they may have to dip into capital.
“Considering that many large banks also take other kinds of risks beyond strictly home mortgages,” Weiss said, “these are very large exposures that could directly impact shareholders and even the safety of depositors.”
Reflecting both their exposure to foreclosures and the other economic factors, the JPMorgan, BofA, and Wells all merit a rating of D (“weak”) or lower from Weiss Ratings, indicating vulnerability to financial difficulties and instability if conditions continue to deteriorate.

Thanks
Shane Torres, REALTOR®

CDPE / SFR Certified

RE/MAX Real Estate Concepts
1830 Princeton Dr. Ste C
Grimes, IA 50111
Licensed Real Estate Agent in Iowa

 

http://shanestopsforeclosures.blogspot.com/

For Information on short sale visit http://www.shanestopsforeclosures.com/

THEY ARE ROLLING AGAIN

Bank of America and Fidelity National Reach Agreement for REOs

10/18/2010 By: Joy Leopold

Bank of America and Fidelity National Financial have come to an agreement regarding the foreclosure paperwork issues that have plagued several of the largest lenders in the past weeks.

Under the agreement, Jacksonville, Florida-based Fidelity agreed to continue to provide title insurance for Bank of America’s recently foreclosed homes. BofA agreed to cover all court related costs and settlements related to any lawsuits, and Fidelity agreed it would defend new homeowners in court.
Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America is working on similar agreements with other title insurers, though at this time it has not lifted its ban on foreclosure proceedings.
Dan Frahm, spokesperson for Bank of America Home Loans, said the bank on Monday began the process of

preparing 102,000 foreclosure affidavits for submission in the 23 states in which judicial approval is required for foreclosure.
“We anticipate that by Monday, Oct. 25, the first foreclosure affidavits will be resubmitted to the courts,” he said.
He continued, “Upon judgment, foreclosure dates will be set and Bank of America will resume foreclosure sales in such proceedings in the 23 judicial states.”
Of the other states, Frahm said, “We will continue to delay foreclosure sales in the remaining 27 states until our review is complete on a state by state basis.”
This agreement comes on the heels of assertions by some title insurers that they would no longer insure foreclosed properties for lenders. Fears of title-ownership discrepancies have put REO sales on hold until banks can verify that documents signed by “robo-signers” are valid.
Agreements between lenders and title insurers can help the REO market gain some much-needed stability.
(ALTA) released a statement in support of such agreements during this foreclosure furor.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency released a directive with guidelines for servicers to take to identify and correct potential mistakes in foreclosure paperwork.
“ALTA supports FHFA’s outline for an orderly and expeditious resolution of foreclosure process issues that will provide greater certainty to homeowners, markets and other stakeholders,” said Kurt Pfotenhauer, CEO of ALTA


Thanks
Shane Torres, Real Estate Expert
CDPE/SFR Specialist
RE/MAX Real Estate Concepts
1830 Princeton Dr. Ste C
Grimes, IA 50111
Licensed Real Estate Agent in Iowa

Phone 515-202-5894
Fax     866-838-0904
shane@realestateconcepts.net
shanetorres@remax.net
reoshane@realestateconcepts.net