“World's Most Complete Neighborpedia”
Sponsor a Community — What is Localism? | Register or Sign In
Explore:   What's happening in your neck of the woods?
Home Annie Collyer

Annie Collyer

Blog_tag

Forcing Inflation...Buy signal?

11-02-10
Annie Collyer

Today are the Mid-term elections. Debates, finger-pointing, even rants abound. The results could be pivotal for our nation.

And the next day, Ben Bernanke and cohorts announce their new unabashed money printing, trying to fuel inflation again...better than the kind of 20-year deflation Japan has been experiencing they think, most certainly.

What does inflation do? It makes everything cost more tomorrow than it does today.

The results...folks have a new urgency to spend now rather than pay more later. Freezers get stocked. Cars get bought. Folks stop wondering about the housing market and they just buy...before interest rates go up, before the cost of housing goes up. Jobs are created.

And, on the downside, stuff costs more. Folks on fixed income get hurt. Even folks on low income get hurt. Inflation is kind of like a equal opportunity tax. Everyone pays it, it just hurts some more than others.

What to do about it? It seems pretty assured that interest rates are going to start to climb soon. That means even if the cost to buy housing remains the same, the cost to own is going to go up. Rents may increase, as costs for taxes, insurance, water, heat and - yes - interest go up. Might be a good idea to stop stalling and just buy.

Of course, that is the main idea. It is widely believed that the housing collapse fueled the current economic problems. And in part at least it did. (Of course, you can go back and play the blame game, but who needs that right now? What we need is to regain economic health! Once elections are over, hopefully we can unite to do just that!) And perhaps a housing recovery will help the entire economy.

What about the 'Shadow Inventory'? A good time to talk about shadows at Halloween, isn't it?

Yes, it is there. BUT, funds are climbing all over it, recognizing the opportunity. Foreign investors can't believe the deals they can get right now. Domestic investors are glomming it up. New homeowners, sometimes tentatively, are buying. But they are scared. DON'T Miss Out!

I know I am getting involved in Bulk REO's and Non-Performing Notes now. What an opportunity...not just for profits, but

-to help bank liquidity by getting rid of toxic assets

-to transform neighborhoods by moving vacant and decrepid homes into hands of local investors who can redevelop housing for local folks

-to provide jobs for contractors, realtors, appraisers, hardware stores, fabricators of housing rehab materials

-to give folks a viable place to invest besides 1% interest in Money Markets and CD's to invest, with security and upside potential

To learn more about Bulk REO's, please go to www.SherwoodAcquisitions.com and register. We are getting product daily. Let us know what works for you, and we will do our real estate match-work.

3 Comments
Blog_tag

Lessons of History- Do We EVER Learn?

09-19-10
Annie Collyer

Can you believe this? Curtis Brooks posted on FB-from Cicero 55 BC: ‎"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work instead of living on public assistance." ---Cicero, 55 BC

32 Comments
Blog_tag

7 Ways to Avoid A Foreclosure

09-15-10
Annie Collyer

7 Ways to Avoid a Foreclosure

Lots of folks are struggling with the threat of foreclosure right now, so I prepared a special report for you with 7 Ways to Stop Foreclosure.

I’m Annie Collyer with Sherwood Properties and we’ve been working with folks looking to stop their foreclosure for the past five years in Northeastern Massachusetts and Southeastern New Hampshire. I know the struggle folks have in this situation, the stress they feel, so I prepared this Special Report so you could know all your options to Stop a Foreclosure.

What is the simplest way to Stop Foreclosure?

The simplest is just come up with the cash – pay off the missed payments and late fees, and keep current after that. The key here is keeping current after the cash infusion, so you don’t end up wasting the money. Some folks can do that, sometimes with money from family, but most can’t so then you may want to look at some of the other options I am going to tell you about.

What about a forebearance agreement?

A Forebearance Agreement can be an effective solution, especially when there has been a temporary emergency that resulted in missed payments – like an illness, maybe. You go to the bank and tell them that the situation was temporary and now you can start paying again and get a written agreement to get back on track. Be sure the agreement is in writing before you send in any payments!

The trouble is those first 6 or 8 payments are very high to make up for the ones that were missed. Before you go down this road, make sure you will be able to afford the payments or you will end up wasting your money. If you miss one, you will be right back in foreclosure.

So then what else can we do?

Well, you can sell to a cash buyer. A cash buyer is going to pay less than market value, but they can do it quickly. You need to have equity to sell quickly to a cash buyer. Equity means that you owe less than you can sell it for. A lot of folks think they can list and sell it, but these days it takes quite a while to sell for a full retail price, there are commissions and closing costs to pay- and there is not always enough time or equity to take care of all that before the foreclosure gavel is swinging.

What if we don’t have any equity?

These days a lot of folks don’t…they are upside down on their mortgages. When you know for certain that there is no way for you to keep your house, then the best course to take in that case is to do a short sale. That is where your bank agrees to take less than is owed as a full settlement on your mortgage. It takes time and you can live there in the meantime and plan for your next move. It costs NO money out of your pocket. And it often removes a lot of the stress while your negotiator is doing the short sale for you.

What about filing Bankruptcy?

When you file for bankruptcy, that does stop foreclosure in its tracks. The thing is, it is not a permanent solution. It is a temporary halt. But it is a screeching halt, and the bank can’t do anything until they get the property released for foreclosure. To do a bankruptcy you need to consult a MA or NH bankruptcy attorney. I am not an attorney and I can’t tell you whether or how a bankruptcy could work for you. It is an option to consider, so consult a MA or NH bankruptcy attorney.

I have 2 other bonus ways to tell you about- ways to stop foreclosure.

First is the deed-in–lieu. This can take a little time. What you are doing with this is to just give the deed to the bank instead of having them foreclose. Now, you have to have only one mortgage for this to work. And – this is big- it is just like a foreclosure on your credit report. Some folks would rather do the deed-in-lieu even though it is a terrible thing on the their credit, just to get it all over with. Banks would normally rather do a short sale, since they really don’t want to end up owning your property if they can avoid it, but it is something to consider perhaps.

The 7th Option to avoid foreclosure is the big one being pushed on the banks by Obama – loan modifications. This is where you keep the house with a written new loan agreement that the bank thinks you should be able to afford. This is definitely an option to investigate fully before you give up your home. Obama is strongly encouraging the banks to get in the business of doing loan mods, and that may help you.

Feel free to contact me at www.SaveMyForeclosureHaverhillMA.com if you want specific thoughts about your situation.

2 Comments
Blog_tag

5 Keys To Short Sale Acceptance

09-08-10
Annie Collyer

Back porch falling off, old roof

Those of us doing short sales know that one barrier to be overcome is getting the Lender to agree to a reasonable price. Sometimes it can take months for a short sale to be completed, and the buyer has to hang in there for the duration. The price they end up paying has to be worth all the waiting and aggravation! How do you get the Loss Rep to agree to a fair price?

First, you want to communicate with them in such a way that you are both on a team working toward a common goal. The best ways to have the Lender join your team are two: have a complete package for them, and talk to their WIFM’s. WIFM’s are What’s In It For Me?

One thing you know is they want to get a deal done so they can make a bonus check. To do that, it helps to know the 5 Key Considerations they have in making a loss mitigation arrangement. The Lenders have actual checklist that permit them to discount the value of a property. These are critical ingredients for you to know.

THE FIRST KEY for the bank to allow a big discount on a short sale is showing that the property is functionally obsolescent. That means such things as having only one bathroom. In my area, we have a lot of homes affectionately called bungalows. These have typically a living room, a kitchen, a dining room or a bedroom and a bath on the first floor. Then upstairs they have three bedrooms off a small hallway. They are functionally obsolescent because the only bathroom is on the first floor off the kitchen.

Anything that is not 3-4 bedrooms and at least 1.5 to 2.5 baths is functionally obsolescent in my area. A condo for a similar price point offers far more functionality than these old bungalows.

Other things that fall into the functional obsolescence besides the layout and flow of the house are outdated kitchens and bath and poor heating systems. So you can cast some of the needed repairs under the category of functional obsolescence.

THE SECOND KEY for the Lenders to give huge discounts is poor site or location.

This can be location on a major highway. It can be a huge cliff in the yard, making the yard unusable. I had one property with a 40 foot retaining wall in the back yard. While the property had plenty of acreage, the usable space was about 12 feet from the back door to the retaining wall. I had another home located right next door to a church that was under major reconstruction that would last for the next several months. While not a permanent problem, it was a location issue that impacted the salability of the property until the construction was completed. Another home I worked with was located to the rear of another property and had no driveway and very limited access. The property owner in front of her was constantly allowing her tenants to park on her accessway as well. This is a location issue, too.

A THIRD KEY on the Lender list of undesirables is structural problems. Structural problems could be a deal killer for you as well. If there are major cracks in the foundation, or severely rotted sills, or crumbling walls or a leaky roof, you may want to walk away from the property. Or you may want to market it to a builder or major rehabber. It could be a tear down.

One big factor that I look to include in my short sale offers is the presence of mold in a property. Most mold is harmless, but there are some that are actually toxic. If I have any moisture in a basement, there is a strong likelihood that there is mold. And I will certainly include that as a part of short sale offer package. You can even buy an inexpensive mold test kit at a Home Depot and mail it in to the Lender as a part of your offer presentation!

The thing is a major structural problem is something that will not go away, and definitely impacts how a Lender will respond to your offer for a short sale.

THE FOURTH KEY on the Lender List for maximum discounts is economic impact. This is the category where you group your information about the marketplace. Things like average days on market. The number of similar homes listed for sale. The trends of real estate values in your area. The new construction activity that competes with your existing property.

AND THE FIFTH KEY on the Lender list is the financing terms. This encompasses just about everything else the Lender must consider. It includes the closing costs, the amount of the write-off they will take, the discount you are looking for from their appraisal result.

If the property needs repairs, this includes buyer financing qualifications. Whether the buyer will be able to go FHA or VA, or will they need to do a conventional loan with a higher down payment? Or does it need to be a cash or rehab financing deal?

Or, let’s assume for a moment that you have a property that is in pristine shape. It does not have functional obsolescence. It has a great location. There are no structural problems. And the market in the area is really not all that bad. What can you do?

Even with a prime retail property, the Lender will do a short sale. Remember it is not their business to own properties. Their business is to collect interest payments. When that is not happening, it is in their interest to get rid of the bad debt. And the fastest ways for them to do that are either work out a Forbearance or Loan Modification agreement with the borrower, or do a Short Sale if the current owner does not qualify for the reworking of the mortgage.

The Lenders have guidelines for how much they can discount for a short sale. Depending on the type of loan involved, the discounts can range from 10-18% off the retail quick sale market value, even for a home in good condition.

I believe in team building. The Loss Mitigator is not your adversary. They are a part of what makes the short sale happen. (I know, sometimes it seems they are the enemy.) If you give them a good package, and address with them the issues that permit them to work with you, you can work with them toward the same goal ~ completing the short sale successfully!

The more you can slant your presentation to address the 5 Key Considerations, the higher the discount from retail you can get on your short sale. Strengthen your presentations by keying in on these points that matter to the Lender, and you will get bigger and bigger discounts, and higher and higher successes in working short sales!

4 Comments
Blog_tag

First Step in A Short Sale- Listen!

09-06-10
Annie Collyer

Listen to What Your Short Sale Client Needs!

This does not mean that you are getting consumed by their needs when you work their Short Sale. It means that you remember to listen to what matters to them. Is it, for instance, where their children go to school? Or avoiding foreclosure so they can begin to rebuild their credit? Or keeping their favorite chandelier?

One of my clients biggest concern was avoiding a public notice of a foreclosure auction in their local paper. Their son had a couple of months until graduation from the local high school, and they did not want him to be embarrassed. Once he graduated they would move, and it would be a nonissue to them. Once I knew what was most important to them, I could help them meet their goal - and make money doing it.

A young man wanting to start doing short sales and having some difficulty recently asked me to join him on a meeting with a potential client for a short sale. He requested that I give him feedback to help him become more effective. I found that a challenge to do in a nonoffensive way! Here is what happened on the call…

As the homeowner was trying to talk about her situation, he interrupted her repeatedly with talk about his own goals in life. He was so far off her wavelength, I was not sure how to bring him back. I was amazed that anyone could be so focused on what he wanted that he could miss completely what another person was saying.

What I did was I asked him why he was in this business. He said it was about his making money and building his investment portfolio. I told him I understood he was in this to make a good living. And then I told him that he needed to think about what was going on for the potential client, their distress, their pain, their needs. And the lights went on for him. He understood that when he was with them, it was about them and their situation and what he could do for them. That they did not need to know - and did not care, did not have the emotional room to care - what doing their short sale would mean for him and his family.

I know that you are in this Short Sale business to make money, sometimes very large amounts of money. I know this is not a charity project! To do that, you are performing a service that impacts peoples’ lives in very fundamental ways. And our clients have to invest in the process, to give us the information we need to help them. We need to listen to and provide a service that meets our clients’ needs in order to be successful at short sales.

25 Comments