Oviedo, FL

In a news-heavy week, mortgage markets improved last week, adding to a 3-week rally.

But, given last week's data and domestic story lines, it's surprising that rates actually fell.

1. The Federal Reserve said the economy continues to strengthen
2. Consumer Confidence pushed to a 2-year high
3. 4th Quarter domestic output exceeded Wall Street's expectations

Usually, events like these draw money away from the bond markets and into the stock markets and Wall Street preps for better corporate earnings. The movement pressures mortgage rates to rise.

Last week, however, different stories trumped the headlines including a report from Standard & Poor's that said U.K. banks are no longer counted among the world's most stable. This research, in particular, triggered a flight-to-quality among investors that pumped the U.S. dollar and sparked new demand for mortgage bonds.

It's one reason......

Read the COMPLETE BLOG POST HERE:

What's Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week : February 1, 2010

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Chris is Florida's #1 FHA Mortgage Broker and a syndicated mortgage blogger. He is regular contributor to the three leading industry blog-fronts including The Mortgage Chili Blog, My FHA Mortgage Blog, Top of Mind Networks, the newest contributor to Lenderama and recently featured on Fox35 News.

Chris can be found at
Orlando FHA Loans,
Chris[at]OrlandoMortgagePro[dot]com,
or by calling 407.377.0500 x 210

Below find recent Short Sales in Live Oak Reserve in Oviedo for December 2009.

You may have heard that selling a house as a Short Sale is difficult. Short Sales aren’t difficult. They are tedious, time-consuming, frustrating, require a great deal of patience and enormous quantities of aspirin.

In the end, Short Sales are worth the headaches because they allow homeowners to avoid foreclosure, keep their credit from being destroyed, and move out and move on.

Properties have been listed and sold by various MLS members.

Data drawn from the My Florida Regional Multiple Listing Service.

What’s required to do a Short Sale? Homeowners put their house up for sale in the usual manner, wait for a qualified buyer just like any other home seller would, prepare additional paperwork, work with their real estate agent to obtain lender approval, face a few extra hurdles, wait a bit longer for the closing to take place, and finally move on.

What are the benefits of selling a house as a Short Sale?

1. Substantially reducing or completely eliminating financial liability
2. Minimizing credit damage
3. Emerging from bad credit quicker than from foreclosure
4. Taking care of the problem proactively and responsibly

What should homeowners look for in their real estate agent? The real estate agent homeowners choose should —

• Be serious about the process
• Understand what banks are looking for in terms of price
• Be ready to take on 3-4 times the work a regular sale requires
• Know how to strategically price the property to attract a buyer in weeks rather than months
• Be prepared to follow up, follow up, and follow up some more
• Be able to solve unexpected problems

You may have heard that selling a house as a Short Sale is difficult. Short Sales aren’t difficult. They are tedious, time-consuming, frustrating, require a great deal of patience and enormous quantities of aspirin.

In the end, Short Sales are worth the headaches because they allow homeowners to avoid foreclosure, keep their credit from being destroyed, and move out and move on.

Properties have been listed and sold by various MLS members.

Data drawn from the My Florida Regional Multiple Listing Service.

What’s required to do a Short Sale? Homeowners put their house up for sale in the usual manner, wait for a qualified buyer just like any other home seller would, prepare additional paperwork, work with their real estate agent to obtain lender approval, face a few extra hurdles, wait a bit longer for the closing to take place, and finally move on.

What are the benefits of selling a house as a Short Sale?

1. Substantially reducing or completely eliminating financial liability
2. Minimizing credit damage
3. Emerging from bad credit quicker than from foreclosure
4. Taking care of the problem proactively and responsibly

What should homeowners look for in their real estate agent? The real estate agent homeowners choose should —

• Be serious about the process
• Understand what banks are looking for in terms of price
• Be ready to take on 3-4 times the work a regular sale requires
• Know how to strategically price the property to attract a buyer in weeks rather than months
• Be prepared to follow up, follow up, and follow up some more
• Be able to solve unexpected problems

According to a recent CNBC report, many prominent banks, such as Citi Mortgage, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and others, have been implicated in questionable — some say fraudulent — tactics when they’re the second lien holder in a Short Sale transaction.

While both the primary and second lenders must remove their liens against a property before a Short Sale can close, the primary lender dictates how the proceeds will be shared. Since second lien holders are always in the subordinate position, they often receive a small percentage of the loan balance, often less than 10%.

Now it seems they want a bigger piece of the pie and are resorting to questionable practices to get it.

As is the case for almost all residential sales, every detail of a Short Sale must appear on the HUD-1 Settlement Statement. It seems as though some second lien holders are getting around this requirement by implementing extortionist tactics.

While sellers/borrowers can make direct contributions to the second lien holder, no other party can do so without first getting permission from the primary lien holder. Since the sellers are usually broke, second lenders are looking elsewhere ... by asking for contributions from real estate agents and buyers.

While there is nothing wrong with asking buyers to pay more for the house or requesting real estate agents to sacrifice part of their hard-earned commissions, it is wrong if both parties are asked to keep such contributions secret.

This appears to be what’s happening. In exchange for releasing the lien so the Short Sale can proceed, many second lenders are apparently asking agents and buyers to pay them prior to closing and off the HUD.

If true, this is a fraudulent practice. Any monies paid in the course of the Short Sale must be declared on the HUD. Moreover, any monies paid by buyers or agents must first go to the primary lender, who determines how the funds will be disbursed.

If you’re a buyer or agent handling Short Sales, don’t get sucked in to these practices just to make the sale close.

Residential house sales in Orange and Seminole counties made a strong showing in December of 2009, nearly doubling the number of house sales in December 2008.

Even better, full year sales for 2009 compared to 2008 were up a whopping 67.5%.

Total houses sold during 2009 equaled 20,674, up from 12,325 in 2008, an increase of over 800 house sales year-over-year.