Elva Branson-Lee, CDPE

Georgia home owner, this post may be for you. We real estate professionals know that times are tough.

The Best Atlanta Short Sales team receives calls every week from Georgia residents who are struggling to make ends meet. The current recession has made it difficult for many residents to keep up with their mortgages.

We know how to help. We understand the Georgia Foreclosure laws and what the timeline is for Foreclosure in Georgia. You are invited to read about others in Georgia who have been in your situation, and how they have been helped. Find their testimonials at AvoidGeorgiaForeclosure.com.

Please remember... we have been there before and gone down this road with many other home owners. If you want to save your family embarrassment of foreclosure, let us help.

Please visit our website to get answers to your pre-foreclosure. We want to help you.

I'm feeling a little blue, today. I tried and failed to stop a foreclosure so I could help a family short sell their home. It's the first time I've NOT been able to get a sale postponed when there was a viable offer on the table, and it's got me thinking.

See, today is Foreclosure Sale Tuesday in Georgia. It comes around once a month on the first Tuesday, which for many residents turns out to be their last Tuesday as a Georgia home owner. On this day each month, bargain-hunting real estate buyers -- some hoping to become homeowners and others looking for real estate investments -- gather in front of their county courthouses in hopes of snagging a deal.

Many do, and I'm delighted for them.

But at the same time, I'm saddened for those who are losing their little piece of the American dream. And I'd like to blame somebody, but I'm not convinced that either side of the issue is more at fault than the other.

Im a realist. I know that many of those losing their homes today shouldn't have bought them in the first place. Some were borrowers who may have gone a little wild during the boom, biting off more home than they could chew. Some will be investors who, spurred on by meteor-like home prices shooting towards the stars, ended up buying multiple properties at high prices, signing outlandish loans, taking out large sums with "Flip This House" dreams of living in high style.

But none of that would have been possible, of course, if banks chasing quick profits had not abandoned their lending standards, offering all manner of "new" and "creative" mortgage products which ended up being unsustainable.

Yes, there's plenty of blame to go around, but none of it matters on a day like today. Because my client family is losing their home, and for the first time...there's nothing more I can do about it.

Today, we are just three days away from the darkest day of many Georgia home owners lives.

On the first Tuesday of each month, people gather at area Georgia courthouses to bid on other people's foreclosed homes. It can be a great day for the bargain-hunting buyer, but a bleak day for the person losing their real estate investment and their home sweet home.

Here are a few quick facts about the Georgia foreclosure process leading up to this sad day:

- Judicial Foreclosure Available: Yes, BUT... the vast majority of Georgia foreclosures are non-judicial, due to the "power of sale "clause which is contained in most mortgage agreements.
- Non-Judicial Foreclosure Available: Yes. This is the most prevalent form of foreclosure in the state of Georgia.
- Primary Security Instruments: Deed of Trust, Mortgage
- Timeline: Typically 90 days, BUT... it could be much less, as little as 30 days
- Right of Redemption: Yes
- Deficiency Judgments Allowed: Yes

Don't wait until it's too late to save your home from this foreclosure process. Get the facts you need. Know your options. Then call on expert help if you choose to short sell before they foreclose.

If ever there was a time to talk to our friends and neighbors about the condition of our communities, it's NOW.

Back in the fall, Moody's economy.com web site forecast that by this June 12.7m American homeowners will be underwater in their mortgages. That's a quarter of all homeowners who have mortgages.

Frankly, it would not surprise me to know that this estimate has already been surpassed in Georgia, and in the metro Atlanta area in praticular. Most of our neighborhoods and real estate markets are short sale- and REO-driven and have been for the past year.

Owners in this predicament who must sell have few alternatives if they are not flush. But rather than walk away or allow their lenders to foreclose, I hope more of them will contact a specialist such as me and find out about the alternatives that ARE available.

Too many Gerogia home owners in default go into foreclosure without ever seeking any help. The result is foreclosure-blighted communities. Get information on Home Affordable foreclosure alternatives.

Don't let this happen to your neighborhood. Contact me for more information.

If a real estate agent does not yet know how to manage the intricacies of the short sale, it's time they learned. These tricky transactions are going to be a major part of our industry for a while yet. In the metro Atlanta market, short sales easily comprise 25-30% of all current listings.

As we short sale specialists continue to anticipate the institution of the new Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives(HAFA) program's short sale guidelines, I am encouraged on five important points:

(1) No more commission cuts! Participating lenders will no longer be permitted subsidize their own contractors by grabbing a portion of the agents' commissions. The "new rules" prohibit loan servicers from demanding that real estate brokerages reduce the commission stated in the listing agreement as a condition of approving a short sale -- a practice that's been a sore point with many real estate agents.

(2) Troubled borrowers who agree to a short sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure will receive up to $1,500 to assist with their relocation expenses. I've actually seen this provision in practice in recent months for sellers who had FHA-backed mortgages. Now, these new guidelines extend the practice to include conventional mortgages.

(3) Loan servicers and investors who sign off on payments to subordinate lien holders will earn incentives up to $1,000 for successfully completing a short sale or deed-in-lieu. I'm not sure that this is much more incentive than the servicers are already getting, but I hope it is going to be on TOP of what they are already getting. That would make it attractive.

What do you think? Has anyone out there in the Rain-Making community had an update or further insight on this point?

Now, these last two points are the BEST of all in my opinion:

(4) No more having to submit an offer and pray for a counter in order to know what the lender will consider an acceptable net. Now, troubled borrowers interested in exploring a short sale will receive preapproved short-sale terms prior to the property listing.

And...

(5) Servicers must agree to fully release them from future liabilityif the sale goes through. To date, all of my lenders have agreed to fully release the lien, but I've heard the stories of those who would not. This provision takes that worry out of the game.

Now, how many of the lenders will play by the new rules? That remains to be seen.