CASH INCENTIVES FOR SELLERS TO CLOSE!

Cash at Closing? Who can get this? Will you get it?

Only Some Banks across America are offering homeowners CASH at closing.  Anywhere from 2,500- 35,000!  Who gets this incentive?  WHY?

     Now Bank of America has publicly offered homeowners between $3-$30,000.  Chase Bank is also giving sellers incentives up to $35,000 for qualified short sales.

Why do banks give this much money to homeowners?  Because believe it or not it is cheaper for them to give them an incentive to sell quickly, than drawing out a non-performing loan for months or even years.
     So many banks have gone under because they would not work with homeowners soon enough or did not have the assets to lean on for long term losses.   Banks finally got the message that it was far better to work with a distressed homeowner than to just take the non-performing asset back.  Now they are sending homeowners pre-qualification letters to short sale and incentives have reached homeowners at closing. This program seems to be very successful at the moment.   I am looking back seeing how far we have come in the short sale business and banks are catching on to the recovery bug.  Recovery always starts with the homeowner and their needs.  When the American homeowner starts recovering, then AMERICA starts recovering.
     Many homeowners and agents are wondering how much they will receive at closing and the answer is: "it varies from home to homeowner"  It really depends on the amount the home appraises for and compared to the loss from the investor.   The less the investor loses the more the homeowner gets at closing.
     Can you qualify even if you had a bankruptcy in the past.  Yes you can still qualify for a co-operative short sale or Cash incentive short sale from either bank.
     Wells Fargo, First Horizon, Citi Mortgage and other banks still do not participate in these pre-approved short sale programs, but i would guess that Wells Fargo would be the next one on board to start that same type of program in the near future since the hold on bank owned homes will be for some time still.
     My opinion is if your bank is offering it to you, take it and run with it!  It will not be there forever, just like anything else the government has ever offered.  Its here today and gone tomorrow!

     Your Short Sale Specialist- Stacie MacDonald

How much power does the Bank have?

How much power does the bank have?

Recently I ran into a short sale that took me by surprise. I was handling a short sale for a successful real estate agent in California.  This short sale lien was owned by the Lien holder *&^%Man*&$% bank.  There was a bonafide offer presented to the Lien holder in a timely manner .  The bank then reviewed the package and ordered the BPO .  After the values came back we were notified by the bank that the value came in $70,000 higher than the offer amount .  The buyer then chose To purchase a FHA appraisal.  After the appraisal came in, we were notified that The FHA appraisal came in at the same value as the offer amount!  Terrific news for our client! We then contested that value at the bank and were quite confident that the bank would then have to accept our FHA appraisal amount as valid and true market value and of course submit our approval letter to us???  We submitted our appraisal along with the offer and ask to have the value contested .  When that review came back , The value by the bank was determined to be the same as their BPO value which was $70,000.00 higher than our appraisal value.  After their re-review of our documents, including the offer and FHA appraisal, the buyers offer again, was denied- Due to an "Insufficient Offer"

     Now many agents would assume that this deal was done and nothing else would help them in obtaining an approval letter, let alone a closing and paycheck.  After submitting complaints to the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, the FTC and the US attorney Generals office and Federal Housing Authority also known as HUD our bargaining position increases each time we make a legitimate complaint against the mortgagor.   

It certainly is the most beneficial thing to do for your client, yourself and your career.  especially if its a legitimate complaint!   You should know why and when to keep pressure on a bank.  It is important in every transaction.

     In this case the homeowner did not have a auction date pending and we had plenty of time to contest their values and contest their methodology.  Unfortunately in many cases their isn't the time or place to contest values.  In that case you should just try to get the highest and best offer instead of continuing on a fight that may end up in foreclosure instead.

    Having the right package to submit for your offer is important.  You should always try to meet your BPO agent at the property for their valuation.  This is not to influence the BPO agents mind.  This is simply to show the BPO agent why you came up with the listing price that incurred the current offer on the table. It is always important to show the actual sold properties to the BPO agent so they can get an idea of where or why  you have what you have on the table.  Remember, they work for the bank.  Many times I have seen BPO agents send in higher than market value reports.  Some agents think its because they want the listing if it goes to auction.  I think its just because they don't have the correct data and are busy themselves to get to their next task.  The easier you make it for them to do their job, the better your results!

     Take care of yourself and your REAL ESTATE!

Your Short Sale Expert at- Short Sales4u

Stacie MacDonald- CEO of Short Sales4U

Harvard University- Posts real estate news that is WRONG!

Did you ever hear the saying "Don't believe everything you hear"
Well, I just heard on news radio that Harvard University posted a statement  stating that the housing market is recovering or looking stronger for the past 10 months.  What angers me about this study or statement is that it is built on false foundations.  the reason why I say that is that the government has a moratorium put on over 7,000,000 bank owned  homes across united states!  This was done to protect the current homeowners from losing  all of their equity and  flatening out the market. About a month ago the government released 1,000,000  bank owned homes to be listed backup on the market .  but for some strange reason I have not seen these homes listed as bank owned properties ?? Anywhere in the U.S., Not on the East Coast or West Coast??.  
        When we have a pull back on the amount of inventory that is available for people , we also have a supply and demand issue which causes a false sense of inflation. The truth of the matter is that there are millions  more homes to be sold that the government or asset managers for the bank s are not releasing.  .  why?   you ask, because it's an election year, the president must have a housing market that looks strong before his election .  quite honestly this happens every election year ,but the difference is that we are in a horrible resession  that is depending on our housing market recovery.  this time holding   1,000,000 homes back from the people is making a huge difference in our perception of  recovery .  Bank owned homes are an epidemic , and a dirty little secret that the government doesn't want you to know about .  so the next time you hear about what even harvard university   says on how are economy is looking or the strength or weakness of our economy is truly a wolf in sheep's clothing .  thank you,  Your short sale and real estate expert- Stacie MacDonald
ShortSales4U