Buying bank owned properties There is a lot of interest in buying bank owned properties these days. A lot of information, some good and some bad, is floating around about the subject. Often the information offered is for sale, with the promise that you can make a lot of money with little effort once you know "the secret formula". The fact is that there are no secrets, and to make money does require effort. What's an REO? REO stands for "Real Estate Owned". These are properties that have gone through foreclosure and are now owned by the bank or mortgage company. This is not the same as a property up for foreclosure auction. When buying a property during a foreclosure sale, you must pay at least the loan balance plus any interest and other fees accumulated during the foreclosure process. You must also be prepared to pay with cash in hand. And on top of all that, you'll receive the property 100% "as is". That could include existing liens and even current occupants that need to be evicted. A REO, by contrast, is a much "cleaner" and attractive transaction. The REO property did not find a buyer during foreclosure auction. The bank now owns it. The bank will see to the removal of tax liens, evict occupants if needed and generally prepare for the issuance of a title insurance policy to the buyer at closing. Do be aware that REO's may be exempt from normal disclosure requirements. In California, for example, banks are exempt from giving a Transfer Disclosure Statement, a document that normally requires sellers to tell you about any defects they are aware of. Is it a bargain? It's commonly assumed that any REO must be a bargain and an opportunity for easy money. This simply isn't true. You have to be very careful about buying a REO if your intent is to make money off of it. While it's true that the bank is typically anxious to sell it quickly, they are also strongly motivated to get as much as they can for it. When considering the value of a REO, you need to look closely at comparable sales in the neighborhood and be sure to take into account the time and cost of any repairs or remodeling needed to prepare the house for resale. The bargains with money making potential exist, and many people do very well buying foreclosures. But there are also many REO's that are not good buys and not likely to turn a profit. Ready to make an offer? Most banks have a REO department that you'll work with in buying a REO property from them. Typically the REO department will use a listing agent to get their REO properties listed on the local MLS. Before making your offer, you'll want to contact either the listing agent or REO department at the bank and find out as much as you can about what they know about the condition of the property and what their process is for receiving offers. Since banks almost always sell REO properties "as is", you'll want to be sure and include an inspection contingency in your offer that gives you time to check for hidden damage and terminate the offer if you find it. As with making any offer on real estate, you'll make your offer more attractive if you can include documentation of your ability to pay, such as a pre-approval letter from a lender. After you've made your offer, you can expect the bank to make a counter offer. Then it will be up to you to decide whether to accept their counter, or offer a counter to the counter offer. Realize, you'll be dealing with a process that probably involves multiple people at the bank, and they don't work evenings or weekends. It's not unusual for the process of offers and counter offers to take days or even weeks.

Looking to Buy? Give me a call 203.667.0897 :) or email nicole@thepropnet.com

Good news for homeowners facing foreclosures scheduled from November 26, 2008 through January 9, 2009. Occupied single-family properties, as well as the completion of evictions from occupied single family properties will be put on hold, to give homeowners time to explore all of their options...

Freddie Mac Fannie Mae has instituted a halt to all foreclosure sales that fit with these guidelines, but you must act fast!

"The temporary halt on foreclosures is designed to allow affected borrowers facing foreclosure to retain their homes while Fannie Mae works with FHFA to implement the streamlined modification program scheduled to launch December 15, 2008. The foreclosure halt will apply to all portfolio mortgages and all MBS pool mortgages owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and to foreclosures of homes that are already in process with foreclosure sale dates scheduled during the halt period. Servicers and foreclosure attorneys (or trustees) must institute the halt on foreclosures for eligible homeowners no later than November 26, 2008.

Eligibility – Foreclosures

The temporary foreclosure halt applies to single-family properties which have or will have a foreclosure sale date scheduled to begin on or after November 26, 2008 and through January 9, 2009 and where the property is occupied. If the servicer, attorney, or trustee has knowledge that the property is vacant, the foreclosure sale should continue as scheduled. If the servicer, attorney, or trustee is unsure whether a property is occupied,

the servicer, attorney, or trustee should assume that the property is occupied. During this period servicers are expected to continue working with borrowers to resolve the delinquency using Fannie Mae’s available foreclosure prevention options. To facilitate borrower communication with servicers, servicers must instruct foreclosure attorneys and trustees to send a letter to each impacted borrower urging the borrower to contact his or her servicer. Attachment 1 contains a sample letter that attorneys and trustees may use for this purpose.

This initiative does not affect mortgage loans that have not yet been referred to foreclosure. Servicers and foreclosure attorneys (or trustees) should follow the foreclosure policy guidance contained in the Fannie Mae Servicing Guide for all loans previously referred and for all new referrals as long as such actions do not result in foreclosure sales being scheduled during the halt period.

Eligibility – Evictions

Fannie Mae is also implementing a temporary halt on the completion of eviction lockouts of occupied properties beginning November 26, 2008 and ending on January 9, 2009. This initiative does not affect foreclosed properties where eviction actions have not been initiated. Fannie Mae will continue to initiate the eviction process on acquired properties during the period but these actions will not result in lockouts being scheduled on occupied single-family properties during the halt period. Fannie Mae will provide separate guidance to the eviction attorneys to implement the halt of eviction lockouts

during the halt period.

Delinquency Status Reporting and Tracking

Servicers should continue to report the “delinquency status” and “reason for delinquency” codes and delinquency code “effective dates” when transmitting monthly delinquency status information as described in the Servicing Guide, Part VII, Chapter 6: Delinquency Status Reporting.

Each servicer must maintain a schedule of all foreclosure sales affected by the halt. This schedule should include the Fannie Mae loan number and the date on which the sale was scheduled to occur. Each servicer should provide the schedule each month for the months of November 2008 through January 2009. Schedules should be submitted within 10 business days after the end of each month and the schedule should be submitted to Fannie Mae via e-mail to the following address: foreclosure_halt@fanniemae.com .

* * * * *

Servicers should contact the National Servicing Organization’s Servicing Solutions

Center at 1-888-326-6438 (option 2 – Servicing, then option 3 – General Servicing) if

they have questions about Lender Letter 04-08.

Michael A. Quinn

Senior Vice President

Single-Family Risk Officer"

Hopefully this will help spread the word on this rare opportunity. If you need help with your home currently in foreclosure or delinquent mortgage, I can offer free advice!

Nicole Borsey -nicole@thepropnet.com

BROKER

The Property Network

Stamford, CT

203.667.0897

The Key to your CT Home TM

According to Real Estate Website Trulia.com:

http://www.trulia.com/home_prices/Connecticut/Stamford-heat_map/

Stamford ZIP codes	Avg. listing price Week ending Nov 12		Avg. sales price Jul-Sep '08		Median sales price Jul-Sep '08		Price per sqft Jul-Sep '08		Trulia popularity Week ending Nov 12
Name	Amount	w-o-w	Amount	y-o-y	Amount	y-o-y	Amount	y-o-y	Rank
06902	$946,275	11.5%	$588,273	19.1%	$441,000	-0.8%	$311	1.6%	1
06901	$383,428	3.7%	$545,388	116.7%	$335,000	24.1%	$393	1.8%	4
06903	$2,231,851	3.0%	$1,077,110	4.8%	$854,000	-0.7%	$362	1.7%	3
06905	$682,764	-	$568,685	21.5%	$550,000	19.2%	$337	1.2%	2
06906	$514,474	-0.8%	$428,254	-1.4%	$400,000	-11.1%	$283	-4.1%	5
06907	$650,802	-4.2%	$408,147	-19.0%	$375,750	-28.2%	$297	3.8%	6
06904	$749,300	-5.3%	-	-	-	-	-	-	7
06910	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-