Port St Lucie Home Short Sale Information

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Sharon Kelly - Short Sale Professional

PSL Housing - Washington Only Delaying The Inevitable

Troubled Homeowners Can Get Free Advice On Short Sales and Pre Foreclosures from Sharon kelly of Port St Lucie. Call Sharon at  1 800 778 8335

Psl foreclosures help and advice.

Written by Bob Adelmann Mar 23rd.

Friday’s announcement of more intervention in the housing. mortgage market will result in a deeper, longer, and more painful delay in the inevitable decline in housing prices that are necessary to clear the market. According to the Obama administration, the “broad new initiatives” will help troubled homeowners to refinance their existing mortgages with more favorable affordable ones provided directly by the government. Part of the new program is “meant to temporarily reduce the payments of [those] borrowers who are unemployed [but are] seeking a job.” In addition, the enhancements include inducements to “encourage lenders to write down the value of loans [already] held by borrowers in modification programs.”

In simple English, HAMP (the Home Affordable Modification Program), announced with great fanfare and high expectations early on in the Obama administration, isn’t working, and so more of the same is required. The original intent of HAMP was to “better assist responsible homeowners who have been [negatively] affected by the economic crisis through no fault of their own … and to help more people who owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth.”

Despite claims from the Treasury Department that “more than four million homeowners have refinanced their mortgages to more affordable levels…[and] more than one million are saving … over $500 per month through the … program,” the program “continue[s] to see challenges.” And so, the new program enhancements “will provide more opportunities for lenders to restructure loans for some families.”

So far, HAMP’s list of attempts to prop up the mortgage market include:

• support for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac so they can continue to offer below market interest rate loans;

• support for the mortgage market by buying more than $1.4 Trillion in existing toxic mortgages;

• providing additional federal funds for mortgages that the private lenders aren’t willing to provide because of excessive risk;

• pressuring lenders a “modification initiative” to reduce payments from borrowers to “affordable levels” so that they don’t walk away;

• expanding the guarantees on home loans from $625,000 per loan to $729,750 per loan;

• pressuring lenders to provide “expanded refinancing flexibilities,” particularly “for borrowers with negative equity”;

• another “initiative” to state and local housing finance agencies to “provide sustainable homeownership and rental resources for American families”;

• the First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit;

• providing $5 Billion “in support of affordable rental housing; and

• creating the Hardest Hit Fund for housing finance agencies to support homeowners in “neighborhoods hardest hit by concentrated foreclosures.”

So far, fewer than 200,000 people have been able to get permanent new loans out of the approximately seven million borrowers who are in trouble and behind on their payments. In the fourth quarter of 2009, the number of households at least 90 days past due on their mortgages grew by 270,000, and the number of foreclosures in the fourth quarter rose by 9 percent. And that number didn’t count nearly 40,000 owners who did a short sale on their home (where the lender agreed to accept less than what it was owed on the original mortgage).

The latest survey by Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance showed that nearly half of all home purchases in February were “distressed properties” (involving homes that were acquired as part of either a foreclosure or a pre-foreclosure sale), an increase from 37 percent in November. That report stated,

Increased government efforts, including temporary foreclosure moratoriums and a push to qualify more financially troubled homeowners for mortgage modifications, temporarily reduced the number of distressed properties coming on the housing market in the fall and much of this past winter. But now a growing number of distressed properties appear to be hitting the housing market.

As more distressed properties have come onto the market, home prices are again showing signs of weakness. Average home prices for all four categories of properties–damaged REO, move-in ready REO, short sales, and non-distressed–declined from January to February in the latest survey.

All that HAMP did was to delay these foreclosures from coming onto the market in a timely manner until now. And with the expiration of the First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit of $8,000 at the end of April, that temporary acceleration of future sales into the present will cease.

In addition, more homeowners are opting for “strategic defaults.” The Los Angeles Times tells the story of Wynn Block. A 66-year-old retired psychologist, she purchased a two-bedroom home in 2006 for $385,000. The market value of her home today is “in the low-$200,000s.”  She said, “There was not a chance that house was ever going to be worth anywhere near what my mortgage was, “ so she elected to walk away.”

Credit bureau Experian and a consulting firm, Oliver Wyman, estimated in a study that nearly one out of every five homeowners who were seriously delinquent on the mortgages in the last quarter of 2008 walked away. Luigi Zingales at the University of Chicago estimated that 35 percent of defaults last December were “strategic defaults.” He added, “The fact that people are strategically defaulting…the risk that the number of people doing this might explode is significant.”

Gary North makes the excellent point that when someone walks away from a mortgage and the house is ultimately sold, the market price drags down the prices of the other homes in the neighborhood, thereby increasing the chances of other walkaways as well.

Finally, there is the “overhang” of potential resets of Alt-A and Option ARM mortgages in 2011 and 2012, which will add additional pressure on prices.

Mark Calabria, director of financial regulation at the Cato Institute, says “it was government, mostly Washington, which got us into this mess in the first place. Decades of subsidies for the housing industry have resulted in … leaving the nation with a massive inventory of vacant homes.” He points out that, “In a nation of 130 million homes, we have almost 19 million that are vacant.” And nearly seven million of those aren’t even on the market, waiting for the “market to turn” before being listed for sale. In any event, Calabria says, “Our housing markets are facing a problem of way too much [emphasis added] housing.” But Washington’s attempts to support the housing market is based on the belief “that getting construction going will reduce unemployment.”

Ultimately, home sales and consequently home construction will not be determined by expensive, wasteful, and interventionist policies, but “by family incomes and basic demographics.” Efforts such as HAMP and additional enhancements announced on Friday are simply “government pretending these fundamentals don’t matter.” He concludes that “when you’re in a hole, [the best thing to do is to] stop digging. In the case of housing, as a country, we built too much. The cure is to build less.” The only way for markets to clear, he says, is to allow supply and demand to even out, and for that to happen, prices must fall further.

All of these federal interventions are foolishness and expensive failed experiments based on false economic theories that will do nothing but extend the time, and the pain, until market prices fall enough to bring buyers back into the market. Politicians’ continued denial of reality through intervention will only delay the inevitable.

Port St Lucie Houses Are Underwater

Over 50 percent of homes in our area are upside down. Have questions or need some advice on what to do with your home? Call Sharon Kelly Realty today at 1 -800 -778-8335 and she’ll help answer your concerns.

Courtesy Paul Ivice-  TCpalm

More than half of mortgaged residential properties in St. Lucie and Martin counties are “under water,” a recent report by a company that tracks home sales, price trends and foreclosures shows.

The report by California-based First American CoreLogic found that 56 percent, or 62,696, of all residential properties with a mortgage in the Port St. Lucie Metropolitan Statistical Area were in a negative equity position for the fourth quarter of 2009. That’s more than double the national rate of 24 percent.

The Port St. Lucie Metropolitan Statistical Area encompasses St. Lucie and Martin counties. First American did not report similar data for Indian River County.

Another 3 percent, or 3,345, in the two-county area had equity of less than 5 percent.

Negative equity, often referred to as “under water” or “upside down,” means a borrower owes more on the mortgage than the home is worth. Negative equity can occur because of a decline in value, an increase in mortgage debt or a combination of both.

First American CoreLogic also reported that more than one-fourth of home mortgages in St. Lucie County are at least 90 days delinquent.

The report found that 26.6 percent of residential mortgages were severely delinquent in St. Lucie County, the third-highest rate among Florida’s 48 most-populous counties. A year ago, 19.7 percent of St. Lucie County mortgages were more than 90 days past due.

Indian River County’s mortgage delinquency rate is 16.6 percent, up from 10.3 percent a year ago. In Martin County, the rate is 11.8 percent, up from 7.1 percent.

Foreclosure rates in January in the Treasure Coast were up compared with the same period last year, according to First American CoreLogic, which analyzes data from 47 million properties with a mortgage, or more than 85 percent of all mortgages in the U.S. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of loans in some stage of the foreclosure process, from 90-day delinquencies through properties sold at auction.

St. Lucie County had the highest rate among the three counties at 15.1 percent, up from 11.7 percent a year earlier. St. Lucie County’s rate was the fourth highest in the state behind Miami-Dade (18.1 percent), Osceola (17.8) and Hendry (15.3).

Indian River County’s rate was 9.7 percent, up from 6.5 percent a year ago. Martin County’s rate was 6.9 percent, up from 3.6 percent.

The national foreclosure rate for January was 3.2 percent.

“Negative equity is a significant drag on both the housing market and on economic growth. It is driving foreclosures and decreasing mobility for millions of homeowners,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist with First American CoreLogic. “Since we expect home prices to slightly increase during 2010, negative equity will remain the dominant issue in the housing and mortgage markets for some time to come.”

Negative equity continues to be concentrated in five states: Nevada, which had the highest percentage negative equity with 70 percent of all of its mortgage properties under water, followed by Arizona (51 percent), Florida (48 percent), Michigan (39 percent) and California (35 percent).

Among those five states, the average negative equity share was 42 percent, compared with 15 percent for the remaining states.

Walking away from your mortgage - yeah or nay?

Walking away from your mortage may not be the best solution for you as a homeowner facing foreclosure

Sharon J Kelly can help you avoid the consequences of losing your home or walking away. This article sheds some light onour current crisis that we are facing.

If you listen to media coverage about the current housing and mortgage crisis, you are likely to hear tales about people who are walking away from their mortgages when they find themselves owing more on their homes than their homes are worth.

The stories range from people leaving their homes and simply mailing their keys to the bank, to those engaging in something called “buy and bail.” “Buy and bail” is a scheme where homeowners apply for mortgages claiming that the rental income on their current home will cover a new home’s mortgage payments. They then buy a second, often nicer, home and walk away from the first home and its existing mortgage, never renting it out as promised. They then allow the bank to take possession of their first home. The new mortgage is much cheaper since housing prices and interest rates are lower.

If walking away sounds easy, it’s not. These practices have hard consequences, including future credit problems, tax penalties and possible jail time, since some of these methods are considered mortgage fraud. Some banks have even begun suing the borrowers for personal assets.

But, these stories may represent the distinct minority of walk-aways. Some housing experts are claiming that true walk-aways are rare and in some communities, like the Twin Cities, nearly unheard of. Kurt Eggert, a professor of law at California’s Chapman University Law School and an expert on predatory lending,

said he thinks that mortgage bankers are trying to shift the blame for the foreclosure crisis to borrowers, with tales of cheating homeowners and innocent lenders.

“Lenders have an interest in painting themselves as responsible, even caring entities,” he said. “They want to cast blame for the sub-prime meltdown and make themselves seem like the victim of borrowers in order to fight off additional regulations.”

Eggert insists that the banks are trying to demonize people who can no longer afford their mortgages. “In the world of high finance, people who take loans to buy high-rise office buildings walk away from them all the time,” he said. “Why the double standard? Because the financial industry is trying to claim that they are the victims.”

In fact, many of the walk-aways are actually investor owned, not owner occupied. A report by Fitch Inc., a financial rating company, found that 66 percent of the delinquencies during 2006 and 2007 were sub-prime mortgages from “those engaged in mortgage fraud for the purpose of property speculation,” that is, investors who fraudulently bought homes not to live in, but to sell at a profit when housing prices rose.

In some states like Nevada, Arizona, Ohio and Florida, during the third quarter of 2007, non-owner-occupied foreclosures represented 22 percent of all loans made, according to the Mortgage Banker’s Association. But banks continue to treat residential real estate investors the same as they do the people who are living in their homes and who want to stay there.

Mark Ireland, supervising attorney for the Foreclosure Relief Law Project in St. Paul who works locally to help homeowners avert foreclosure, has questions about the common perception that homeowners don’t act in good
faith with their banks.

“I never talked to anyone who called me to say they just want to leave the lender high and dry,” he said. “What I do see are homeowners who are incredibly frustrated. They want to modify their payment or lower their interest rate—they just want to do something. They may not be able to make the full payments but they want to make things work.”

But, said Ireland, when they contact their lender, they get the runaround and eventually they give up and let the bank foreclose. “They just want to get on with their lives. But, this idea of the greedy homeowner who has no morals or ethics, I don’t see that at all.”

It would be a good business decision, Ireland claims, for banks to start to give a little on the principal owed when homes are worth much less than the mortgage. Currently though, even the giant mortgage corporations Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both forbid their lenders to do this. (including properties of one to four units) rose to a seasonally adjusted rate of 9.64 percent, up from 6.99 percent from a year earlier. Of these, 33 percent were prime fixed-rate loans. The situation is not expected to change until employment figures improve.

Courtesy of Stephanie Fox

Call Sharon J Kelly today for help with your home! 1 800 778-8335

What is the Obama loan modification plan all about?

Even if you are not delinquent on your payments, you can still file for an Obama loan modification help if you are facing a financial hardship. Fannie Mae offers early loan workouts to borrowers who face financial difficulties. Even if these borrowers have never been late on their payments, Fannie Mae will offer early loan workouts to help those in need. If you are a qualified homeowner, it is unnecessary for you to have damaged credit scores due to late payments to get the help that you need.

With today’s economy, thousands of people face lay offs and struggle to make their monthly payments on their mortgages. In the past, it was a general requirement that a homeowner had to be 60 to 90 days late on their mortgage payments in order to be considered for a loan modification. This strict policy caused many borrowers to have backed up bills which caused an additional financial hardship. In turn, this huge balance that has been racked up was unaffordable by most homeowners.

If a buyer is able to show his lender that he/she is in danger of defaulting on his/her payments, then their lender will offer them a period of reduced payment for about 3 to 4 weeks. If these new lower payments are all made on time then this reduced payment plan could turn into a more permanent basis. Another thing a buyer can do is prepare for the future if they know that there will be a financial issue. If this is the case, the buyer can contact their lender and apply for a Obama loan modification which will help them out when this financial issue takes place. For example, if a borrower takes a pay cut and will no longer be able to afford their current payment plan, their lender could take this pay cut into consideration and give the borrower a new lower monthly payment plan.

What you must remember is that all lenders will carefully review each borrower’s application and case to make sure that they are in need of a loan modification.  As a homeowner, you will have to submit the correct paperwork, as well as give proof of your current income. This information will help the lender give you your own personalized loan modification. To assure that you have the best possible chances of approval, it is recommended that you learn how to properly complete all the necessary forms.

If you are a homeowner who knows that you will face future payment issues, now is the time to act and apply for a Obama loan modification.  If you think you need to have missed payments to be qualified for a Obama loan modification you are wrong. If you are interested, it is recommended that you begin to research, learn and prepare so that obtaining your end goal is easier for you.

For more information on your current situation and viable alternatives to foreclosure, call 1-800-778-8335.

Difference in a Forbearance Agreement and a Loan Modification

Many individuals confuse a mortgage modification with a forbearance agreement. A forbearance agreement is when a financial institution lets a homeowner not make monthly payments or apply an adjusted mortgage payment for a specific time period. Any interest or late fees that remain unpaid at this point in time will be attached to the loan principal. The financial institution will stop the foreclosure process while in this time frame. This lets the homeowner try to get back on track from their financial problem and allowing them to stay in their home. Many mortgage companies will need homeowners to fill out a forbearance document. This forbearance document is sometimes a bit difficult to complete.

Forbearance agreements can differ greatly from one institution to another. Some financial institutions need the homeowner to supply a tiny monthly installment to help make up the missed payments on top of the regular mortgage payment amount. Let’s say that your regular mortgage payment is $2200.00 a month and you did not make a total of three payments. Your financial institution may ask you to submit an extra amount of $200.00 a month on top of your regular payment of $2200.00. This extra amount is then used towards the payments you did not make. This will continue until your account is paid up to date.
Some forbearance agreements will have the homeowner not make any payments at all for a certain amount of time. This will give the homeowner more time to get back on track. The missed payments and all applicable interest will be tacked on the the principal amount of the loan. The regular terms of the loan will be back in place upon the start of the regular monthly payments.

Other forbearance agreements let the homeowner to stop making monthly mortgage payments all together for a fixed period of time. This allows the homeowner to get back on his/her feet. Any missed mortgage payments and interest are added to the loan principal. The normal terms of the mortgage are back in effect once the monthly mortgage payments start again.

 

Considering Home Loan Modification? Read Through These Basic Facts

Mortgage Modification really means a permanent change in one or more of the terms of your home loan allowing it to be changed so that you have a lower payment.

Read through the following to determine whether home loan modification is right for you:

• This service is a viable option when the rate or terms of your current home loan make it impossible for you to continue making the payments, thus risking losing your home.
• Mortgage modification is not synonymous with debt consolidation, refinancing loans, or even forbearance. Your lender is agreeing to change the terms of your mortgage originally agreed to when you closed on your home or refinanced.
• Mortgage modifications stop foreclosure proceedings and put you back in good standing with your lender. There are some other facts that explain why lenders actually want to work with you to negotiate a loan modification.

The good thing about loan modification is that you can roll the principal and interest, past due escrow, and late fees into the mortgage modification and thus will not be lost revenue to the lender. Loan modifications may use a step rate approach or an extended term methodology to allow you to repay and get up to speed on your mortgage. It’s a win win situation - as you get more time to pay, and your lender gets more overall interest!

Steer Clear of Foreclosure with a Home Loan Modification

Mortgage lenders don’t want to foreclose on you any more than you want it to happen. Face it - they’re not in the real estate business - they are in the banking business. They’d much rather work with you to modify your home loan. Loan modification lets you spare your credit score the major damage it would take from a foreclosure. And, if you don’t know it yet, let me tell you: Your credit score is your key to the kingdom, so to speak - so keeping it in good shape should always be your goal.

Here are the requirements you must meet in order to be considered a good candidate for a loan modification process to be started on your behalf:

• Your monthly mortgage must be impacted by a verifiable reduction in income
• You must be currently employed or have another source of verifiable, stable and predictable monthly income
• The home loan you wish to modify must be for your primary residence

If your current mortgage payments are too much for you to handle, don’t panic. If you have the ability to pay your mortgage at a lower rate, loan modification may very well be a viable way for you to stay out of foreclosure.

 

For more loan modification information and other foreclosure options, call 1-800-778-8335.

 

 

Article source:  Ezine

Facing Foreclosure? Writing an Effective Hardship Letter Is Important

How To Write An Effective Hardship Letter

If you find yourself facing foreclosure, and are attempting a loan modification, then you will need to learn how to write an effective hardship letter. If written properly, your hardship letter can often help influence your lender to permit a short sale or modification of your existing loan. In fact, learning how to write an effective hardship letter can often be the difference between success and failure in your attempt at a modification.

The first thing we are going to look at is what exactly a hardship letter is. Then, we will learn how to write an effective hardship letter that will help to persuade the lenders to agree to a loan modification or short sale.

A hardship letter is a written document to your lender that is intended to convince them that a loan modification will help you to stay in your home based on new loan terms. Your letter should state why you are seeking a loan modification as well as outline how it will help you continue paying the loan. It is vital to show your lender that you are resolute to stay in your home and that your new payments will allow you to prioritize the mortgage payment. You also need to outline the financial difficulties that led to the late payments on your mortgage, and how you plan to stay current going forward.

As you are writing your letter you should keep it brief and to the point. Make it relevant to your situation and circumstances while keeping it short, one page at most. The specialist that will review your loan modification request with your hardship letter is generally working on many files at the same time. So, they are not interested in reading a novel. The message that you want to convey most to the lender is that you are responsible and just had a rough stretch. The modification that they are providing is what you need in order to get back on track.

Sharon J Kelly-Brown

Top 5 Tips to Avoid Foreclosure

Top 5 Tips to Help You Avoid Foreclosure

Seeing the bills stack up can bring any independent strong individual buckling to their
knees underneath the weight of it all. While it may seem hopeless there are a few things
that homeowners can do to prevent, stop or at least limit the damage done by a foreclosure.

1. Do not ignore the problem.  Ignoring the bills does not make them go away anymore than

wearing leopard print makes you a leopard. Open the bills as they come in and keep them

organized. It is important to contact the lender the moment you realize you are not going

to make the payment. They are far more willing to work out a deal if you are up front and

communicative with them.

2. Contact a counselor. HUD has many resources available to homeowners if they simply call

and ask for them. There are HUD approved not-for-profit counseling agencies to help

homeowners understand the intricacies of the industry. They are often knowledgeable about

your specific lender and are aware of other options that you may not be aware of.

3. Avoid the scams. There are hundreds of scams running rampant looking to cash in on hard

hit foreclosure families that are desperate to find a way to save their home. Be wary of

for-profit and fee based agencies and counselors. They are often too good to be true and

not looking out for your best interest but their own.

4. Get creative: Your lender stands to lose a great deal of money with a foreclosure and

they are often willing to listen to reasonable offers. In order to prevent as much loss as

possible it is worth it to throw out ideas that your lender might jump on, oftentimes

simply renegotiating the loan is within reason.

5. Don’t bank on it. Bankruptcy is an option, however, not one to be taken lightly. If you

are unable to work out a deal with the lender a bankruptcy judge might be able to reduce

your debt to reasonable terms that might work for both parties involved. It is extremely

important to look at all your options before turning to this plan.

Courtesy Sharon Kelly-Brown

Live in Florida? Facing Foreclosure? Read On For Valuable Information

How To Stop A Foreclosure in Florida

If you live in Florida, then you know that this state is known for having a high rate of foreclosures. If you are behind on your payments and are worried about losing your home, you should know that there is hope. There are some steps you can take to protect your home from foreclosure and turning this situation around. The following are some ways to stop a foreclosure in Florida.

One of the first things you should do to stop a foreclosure in Florida is to talk to the lender. If you show that you are willing to try to pay what you owe, a lender will most likely be able to work with you. After all, it is better for a lender to work with you than to lose money by placing a house in foreclosure. Thus, try to come up with a compromise with your lender so that you can work out a payment plan that works for both of you.

If you want to find a surefire way to stop a foreclosure, you may want to refinance your home. If you do this, you can gain the funds you need to pay your lender and stop the foreclosure from happening. Remember that if you want to refinance the home to keep you from losing your home that Florida law says that you have to inform both the lender you owe and the court if the foreclosure process has already begun.

Lastly, if you want to stall the foreclosure process to that you can gather together the funds you need to pay your mortgage and keep your home, then you should appeal to the court. Some Florida courts will give individuals a month or two to help homeowners pay off the amount they owe. You should come to the court with a plan for how you plan to acquire the necessary funds and the reasons for why you are behind in your payments. If you show that you have lost your job but now have a new one, a court will see that you will indeed be able to make your payments with an extension.

Courtesy Sharon Kelly-Brown