Arnold, CA

I am heading to Arnold, CA tomorrow to check on 3 new foreclosures. If you are looking for a home or cabin in the Arnold, CA area then let me know and I can give you a heads up on these new listings! Arnold is located in Calaveras County. It is close to Bear Valley Ski Resort.

Arnold CA - [caption id="attachment_969" align="alignright" width="327" caption="The only thing certain in life is death and taxes - Benjamin Franklin"][/caption]

The Stop Foreclosure Institute recently received a question from a homeowner facing foreclosure. I'll call him Peter to protect his identity.

(Foreclosure is embarrassing and I don't want to put his name out there.) Peter asked, "I am six months behind on my mortgage payments. I just got the tax bill for 2010 in the mail. Should I pay it?"

He continued, "What will happen if I don't pay it? Will my house be auctioned to pay the taxes?" 

Discover how other sellers successfully did a short sale and request a free consultation by clicking here.

Here is the answer to Peter's Question. It all depends on what his plans are and how tight he is on money.

Most people in Peter situation fall into one of 3 categories.

Category A. They want to keep their home. They are already working on a loan modification with their lender. They are saving every extra penny possible and maybe even working an extra job.

Category B. They don't want to keep their home. They might be thinking about a short sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure.

Category C. Cannot afford to keep their home, but want to stay there as long as possible. Maybe they bought an expensive home and aren't making the big bucks anymore. But, they can afford to rent a smaller, less expensive home.

First a little background on Peter. Peter is in Florida. In Florida, the county cannot auction your home to pay the taxes for at least 2 years. But, usually it is 5-7 years before that actually happens.

This means you have a long window to pay back that tax bill. here is the other thing that often happens. Your lender pays the tax bill. I'm sure you're asking, "Why would the lender pay the tax bill?"

To protect their interest. If the house gets sold at auction, the lender's first mortgage could be wiped out. Lender's have whole departments that do nothing but track property taxes that are due and pay them if necessary. They will pay back taxes and tack it onto what you owe them.

Here is one other caveat: The interest rate on delinquent property taxes in Florida is 10-18%. That can rack up pretty fast.

Here are my answers for how Peter should handle this tax bill.

If he falls into Category A: Pay the tax bill as soon as possible AFTER your loan mod is approved. However, Peter should first attempt to negotiate a successful loan modification with his lender.

Most lenders want a "good faith down payment" to modify a loan. So until the modification goes thru, Peter save all his money for that.

Because if the loan modification is not approved, then Peter will have wasted money paying the taxes. It will be just one less payment for the bank after they foreclose.

If he falls into Categories B or C: Do not pay the tax bill. The lender will end up paying the bill after they foreclose. Or, it will be paid as part of a short sale. Peter will have sold the house, or his lender will have foreclosed on it long before it can be auctioned for unpaid taxes.

Thinking about a short sale? I can help you short sale your property and never pay the bank another penny. Send me an e-mail at danseider@gmail.com. I will contact you for a free consultation.

When we talk, I will explain how the process works in detail. If you prefer, then you can call me at (209) 743-1061.

Discover how other sellers successfully completed a short sale and request a free consultation by clicking here.

Thinking about a loan modification? Our Arnold Loan Modification Kit has the instructions you will need to get a loan modification approved with your lender. Click here to request a copy.

Thanks for reading this, Daniel Seider.

Daniel is a Real Estate Broker at Big Trees Real Estate.

Phone: (209) 743-1061. danseider@gmail.com.

Climb Higher

View My homes for sale at www.bigtreesrealty.com.

Daniel Seider specializes in loan modification assistance and short sales in Arnold California. Arnold Loan Modification Help, Arnold Short Sales, Arnold Short Sale Realtor. Short Sale Realtor. Arnold CA Short Sales. Arnold Realtor.

Arnold CA - Should you walk away or should you stay? Here is how to determine whether or not you should walk away from your home. Because of the decline in the nationwide housing market, I doubt that your home is worth what you paid for it.

Discover how other sellers successfully did a short sale and request a free consultation by clicking here.

First, determine the current market value of your home. Talk to a realtor. They will give you a market analysis, based on what other homes similar to yours are selling for.

For example, we recently helped a home seller who had paid around $700,000 for his home. We thought the home was worth about $400,000. His mortgage payment was a little over $4500 a month.

When you add in the property taxes and insurance his total monthly payment was around $5,300 a month. Similar homes were renting for  around $2,500 a month.

If you compared rental payments, he was way upside down on his home. We ran the numbers and saw that he was on track to repay $1,697,000 over the life of loan.

Next, let's look at how much he would save by short selling and renting a similar house for two years. First, he would be saving $2500 a month by renting a similar home. In addition when he bought a similar home for $400,000 then he would repay around $934,000 over 30 years.

$1,697,000 minus $934,000 is $763,000. That means he would save $763,000 in mortgage payments over the next 30 years. What can you do with $763,000?

Would it make retirement easier? You probably could completely pay for 3-4 kid's college tuition. Most people could put 6-7 kids thru college with that kind of money.

Or, he could retire a few years early. Enjoy a little bit more of the "Golden Years."

It appears that he would be doing better for himself and his family by short selling the house. The bank was probably bailed out by the American Taxpayers. If he pays taxes, then he helped out with that bailout.

This is why I recommend that you look at all the numbers when you are trying to determine whether or not you should walk away. How much money will you be repaying over the life of the loan? Just Google "amortization calculator" and run the numbers.

Add up how much money you would be paying back with your current home and compare it to how much you would pay if you short sold, rented for two years, and bought another home after that.

Thinking about a short sale? I can help you short sale your property and never pay the bank another penny. Send me an e-mail at danseider@gmail.com. I will contact you for a free consultation.

When we talk, I will explain how the process works in detail. If you prefer, then you can call me at (209) 743-1061.

Discover how other sellers successfully completed a short sale and request a free consultation by clicking here.

Thinking about a loan modification? Our Arnold  Loan Modification Kit has the instructions you will need to get a loan modification approved with your lender. Click here to request a copy.

Thanks for reading this, Daniel Seider.

Daniel is a Real Estate Broker at Big Trees Real Estate.

Phone: (209) 743-1061. danseider@gmail.com.

Climb Higher

View My homes for sale at www.bigtreesrealty.com.

Daniel Seider specializes in loan modification assistance and short sales in Arnold California. Arnold Loan Modification Help, Arnold Short Sales, Arnold Short Sale Realtor. Short Sale Realtor. Arnold CA Short Sales. Arnold Realtor.