About Elkhart County, IN

Not a very pleasant thought, to lose your home, let alone 70 something ways to lose your home, and there is probably many many more reasons besides those I list in which you can lose your home says Elkhart REALTOR Evelyn Johnston. Metropolitan Title Company provided the list, something to get your mind thinking about what assurances you have when you purchase Title Insurance...

Some of these items will also stop a Short Sale from being approved as well. Let's take a look and see what not to do...

1. Forged deeds, mortgages, satisfactions or releases - well, yes, forgery is never a good thing!
2. Deed by person who is insane or mentally incompetent. - Every State has rules about who can and cannot sell a home. If the person selling is not mentally competent, they cannot sell.
3. Deed by minor (may be disavowed) - a minor can sign a bill of sale and agree to sell a property but by reason of their age alone, they can withdraw their approval, legally.
4. Deed from corporation, unauthorized under corporate bylaws or given under falsified corporate resolution. If a fast talker sells you a piece of property that does not have the authority to sell, it can be revolked. This is why a competent Title Company should always be used.
5. Deed from partnership, unauthorized under partnership agreement
6. Deed from purported trustee, unauthorized under trust agreement
7. Deed to or from a "corporation" before incorporation, or after loss of corporate charter
8. Deed from a legal non-entity (styles, for example, as a church, charity or club)
9. Deed by person in a foreign country, vulnerable to challenge as incompetent, unauthorized or defective under foreign laws.
10. Claims resulting from use of "alias" or fictitious name style by a predecessor in title.

Part 2 of 70 something ways to lose your home coming soon!

Without title insurance from a reputable and financially secure company, your title could be worthless. With the proper insurance, your rights will be defended in court. For more information about your Title Insurance call Metropolitan Title at 574-293-9111. For information about Elkhart Real Estate, call your local Elkhart Expert Evelyn Johnston with Prudential One Realty at 574-304-7148.

Elkhart REALTOR Evelyn Johnston with Prudential One Realty says, if you are looking for a really good deal, here is one you are to late on! This 3 Bedroom 3 Full Bath home sold to a new owner today. This Short Sale was approved through Bank of America in record breaking time!

Elkhart Attorney Deborah Beaverson with Riverwalk Law is the main reason that affected Short Sale processing time down to a manageable level. Her expertise and constant contact with Attorney's Fiewell & Hannoy and her professionalism won the day for me and our mutual Clients. Thank you Deb!

If you want to take advantage of the First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit, Act Fast as Elkhart REALTOR Evelyn Johnston with Prudential One Realty reports CNN urging Home Buyers on! If you think you have plenty of time, Read the article below!

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Use any metaphor you want: the ticking clock, sands running through the hourglass or pages falling away from the calendar. The fact is, time is running out to claim the $8,000 first-time homebuyers tax credit.

Passed earlier this year as part of the economic stimulus package, the credit is good for up to $8,000, or 10% of the purchase price, and applies to people who have not owned a home in the previous three years. (There are some income restrictions.) The best part: Unlike a similar program from 2008, the credit does not have to be repaid.

The bad part: It ends on Dec. 1.

Because it usually takes around 90 days to close on a house after a contract is signed, buyers have very little time left to act. As of Thurs., Aug. 27, there were only 96 days left before the credit ends.

"Buyers have to get a home under contract very, very soon," said Tom Kunz, CEO of Century 21. "They probably should get out looking."

Sense of urgency

What they will find may surprise them: Many of the prime properties have already been snapped up. Home sales have been on the upswing, and inventories are so depleted in hot markets that first-time buyers are struggling to find homes in their price range. (Check prices in your city.)

In Whittier, Calif., for example, there are few repossessed homes for sale. Those are easy to buy because there isn't a lot of red tape and the bank wants to get rid of them as quickly as possible. Instead, most of the properties are short sales, where the sellers have to convince their lender to let them sell the house for less than they owe.

"That's why there's such a sense of urgency now," said Irma Tapper, a Century 21 real estate agent in Whittier. "The banks have to approve short sales, and they're taking three to six months to do that."

That means a first timer putting a bid on a short-sale might not get an answer form the bank until well after the Dec. 1 deadline for the tax credit. So when an actual repossession listing hits the markets, it creates a feeding frenzy.

Chuck Whitehead, who runs the Coldwell Banker agency in Temecula, Calif., said one recent listing hit the market on a Friday and by Monday there were 57 bids.

The National Association of Realtors attributes much of this activity to the first-time buyer tax credit. It estimates that 1.8 million buyers will file for the credit, and 350,000 of them wouldn't have been able to buy without it.

"It makes a big difference because most of these clients are in a lower price range," said Michelle Edmunds, an agent with Coldwell Banker in Temecula, Calf., who has closed sales for six first-time buyers. "The houses they buy need work and normally they wouldn't want to move in because of the [less than perfect] conditions the homes are in."

That is true for Wesley Forsythe. This June, the 30-year-old computer consultant and his girlfriend bought a row house in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia. Since he paid just $80,000 for the three-bedroom, two-bath place, the credit acted like a 10% discount.

"It allowed us to expand our price range and plan additional renovations," he said. "My mortgage is several hundred dollars less than what my new rent would have been."

Forsythe applied for the credit immediately after closing, filing an amended 2008 tax return. The IRS cut him a check in less than seven weeks. He's spending it now on new hardwood floors, repainting most of the interior and renovating a bathroom. He's stretching the cash by doing much of the work himself.

Cash for Clunkers effect

Of course, analysts worry that this frenzy will dry up once the tax credit expires. They argue that without the incentive, much of the pressure on homebuyers to act quickly will vanish, and the nascent housing recovery could slump.

In many ways the tax credit is similar to the Cash for Clunkers program that ended this week. Already, auto dealers are anticipating that car sales will evaporate after accelerating during the program.

"It's just like Cash for Clunkers," said Robert Dye, a senior economist for PNC Financial Services Group. "It runs the risk of a let-down as the program runs its course."

Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., who is a former real estate broker, is pushing legislation to extend the tax credit through next year, increase it to $15,000, include non-first-time homebuyers, and remove income restrictions.

The effort has drawn strong industry support.

Call Elkhart Real Estate Expert Evelyn Johnston with Prudential One Realty at 574-304-7148 to begin your home search today!

"We need to stimulate the move-up buyer," said Century 21's Kunz, "so it works its way up the pricing food chain. That's what we need to get inventory moving again."

Elkhart REALTOR Evelyn Johnston says according to CNN, Customer satisfaction with newly built, single-family homes is increasing after sagging in boom years.

New YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Builders may not be putting up as many houses as they did during the boom, but what they are building, they're building better.

According to the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 U.S. New-Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Study, overall customer satisfaction increased for the second consecutive year, up 32 points to 811 on a 1,000 point scale.

Satisfaction with the quality of the home also grew, to 825 up from 799. The rate of customer-reported problems dropped to 9.55 problems per home down from 11.51 problems in 2008.

"Fierce competition among home builders has led to a market where only the strongest companies have survived," said Paula Sonkin, vice president of the real estate and construction industries practice at J.D. Power and Associates. "This is great news for new-home buyers -- particularly first-time buyers -- since builders are offering unprecedented high levels of quality, value and service at relatively low prices."

Various California markets, plus Phoenix and Tampa, Fla., recorded the greatest gains in overall satisfaction. Those are all markets hit hard by the real estate bust and they have lots of unsold inventories.

J.D. Powers rates satisfaction on nine criteria: workmanship/materials; builder's warranty/customer service staff; price/value; builder's sales staff; construction manager; home readiness; recreational facilities provided by the builder; builder's design center; and location.

The quality of workmanship and materials has become significantly more important to consumers, the study found, while the construction manager and readiness has become less of a concern.

"Fewer home buyers are spending large amounts of time working with construction managers or are concerned about home readiness, since many builders have large inventories of homes that are already complete at the point of purchase," said Sonkin. "For homeowners, this can make for a smoother, turnkey ownership experience, with fewer unanticipated delays."

Instead, she added, "Upgrades, like granite countertops, have become the norm."

Of the 23 markets covered by the report, Pulte brands, which include Del Webb, DeVosta Homes and Pulte Homes, led in satisfaction in 12 of them. Other market leaders include Ashton Woods, Brookfield Homes, Centex Homes, Darling Homes, David Weekley Homes, K. Hovnanian, Lennar, M/I Homes, Pardee Homes, Shea Homes, Standard Pacific Homes, and Village Builders.

The survey is based on responses from 26,231 buyers of newly built, single-family homes who have lived in their homes an average of four to 18 months.

If you are looking for new home construction in Elkhart, call your local Real Estate Expert Evelyn Johnston with Prudential One Realty at 574-304-7148.

According to a recent CNN news release:

A report released Thursday shows that substantially fewer people had their homes repossessed in August.

Unfortunately, a large number of Americans are still falling behind on their payments.

A total of 76,134 troubled borrowers lost their homes in August, but that is 12.7% fewer than in July, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosed properties.

The pipeline of troubled borrowers remains full, however. Filings of all kinds dropped only slightly, just 0.5%, from July.

According to RealtyTrac spokesman Rick Sharga, there are a couple of possible explanations for the decline in bank repossessions, called REOs in the industry.

"It could be that the government-led mortgage modification programs are finally gaining some traction," he said. "But it could also be that the banks are still delaying repossessions of these properties."

Because banks take big losses on REOs, they may leave delinquent borrowers in their homes, especially where lenders already have a substantial amount of vacant, unsold inventory. Presumably, the borrowers are caring for the properties, which saves banks the time and expense of upkeep and maintenance.

Plus, there is always hope that some of these borrowers will "self-cure" -- or catch up on their loans without assistance -- which is better for banks' bottom lines. In fact, a recent report from the Boston branch of the Federal Reserve found that 30% of borrowers who have missed two mortgage payments eventually become current.

Increases in short sales could also be reducing the repossession statistics, according to Duane LeGate, president of HBN Interactive, a short-sale specialist. These are transactions in which lenders allow borrowers to sell their homes for less than what they owe.

"A lot of banks are delaying the foreclosure process if they see any kind of chance of making a reasonable short sale," he said.

The reprieve in repossessions could be coming to an end, however. Sharga expects a spate of payment problems to start this fall as interest rates reset on some of the exotic mortgage products that proliferated during the boom. Option ARMs (adjustable rate mortgages) in particular will be a big problem.

A Fitch Ratings report released last week forecast that of the $200 billion in option ARMs outstanding, $29 billion will reset to fully amortizing loans by year's end, and another $67 billion will recast in 2010. The average payment increase will be 63%, or $1,053 a month -- an impossible hurdle for many borrowers.

These loans are named for the options they give borrowers. They can pay at a minimum rate, which does not even cover interest; at an interest-only rate; at a fully amortizing 15-year rate; or at a fully amortizing 30- or 40-year rate.

More than 60% of all option ARM borrowers, and more than 80% of all option ARMs issued in 2006 and 2007, often pay just the minimum amount, according to First American LoanPerformance.

That means the principal balances of these loans actually grow. And when they get too large, somewhere between 110% and 125% of the original loan amount, the lender will convert the loan into a fully amortizing mortgage. That usually results in payment shock, a huge jump in monthly mortgage costs.

"We're in the soup for at least another year," Sharga said.

That could mean a third dismal year of foreclosures. So far this year 540,222 homes have been lost to repossession, which is on par with the first eight months of 2008.

Where it's worst

Six states account for 60% of all foreclosure filings, according to the RealtyTrac report. California, where many option ARMs were issued, leads with more than 92,000 filings, followed by Florida with more than 62,000. Michigan is next with more than 19,000; Nevada, whose foreclosure rate of one for every 62 households was the highest in the nation, and Arizona both had close to 18,000. Illinois recorded more than 13,000.

California homeowners also lost more properties to repossession than any other state. There were 14,590 in August, twice the number of Florida, which was the second worst-hit state with 6,446.

Still, those figures show month-over-month improvement. In California, the August total was down nearly 32% from July, and Florida showed a 4.6% improvement. REOs also steeply fell in Arizona (down 16.7%) and Nevada (off 23.8%).

The list of cities worst hit by total foreclosure filings include many names familiar from past months. Las Vegas had the nation's highest foreclosure rate, with 16,798 filings, or one for every 47 housing units.

Second was another repeat offender, Stockton, Calif., where one of every 62 homes had a filing. Modesto, Calif. was third with one in 63.

If you are facing foreclosure and would like to sell your home before your credit report reflects a foreclosure call Elkhart Real Estate Expert and Certified Short Sale Expert Evelyn Johnston with Prudential One Realty at 574-304-7148.