Sidney Jimenez, CDPE, Short Sale Expert, 954-665-9449,

File this in the “I’ve heard it all now” file.

It seems Lenders are now causing even more pain unto the distressed homeowners in this country. Case in point is a legal battle being waged by cities like Buffalo and Detroit, although what we are about to go over is happening more and more all over the country.

It was that we, as real estate agents, would complain and be dumbfounded by the actions of the Lenders in our attempt to finalize Short Sale transactions. Why would the Lenders be willing to let these properties go into Foreclosure? But now I have an even more perplexing example of how the American homeowner is at the bottom of priorities in this toxic economic environment.

Those cities mentioned above are taking some of the largest Lenders in this country to court for destabilizing and lowering the values of neighborhoods all over their cities. (Bank of America being the biggest culprit…surprise!) Here is how they do it.

The homeowners will try unsuccessfully to work out an agreement with the Lender, whether it is a Loan Modification of Short Sale. After months of negotiations the Lenders don’t come to any agreement and the home is set for Foreclosure. The homeowners are even sent the notification of the Bank Sale or Bank Auction.

Normally this is when the Lender will take ownership of the property and continue towards an Bank Owned Sale of the property. Well, these Lenders are categorizing some of the properties as having a “Toxic Title” and will not follow through with the Foreclosure. What is the harm? The homeowners are now being taken to court and sued and fined because they have left their property in disrepair and many city ordinances are being violated while they are under the impression the Lender has taken title of the property. The homeowner now has to deal with the legal ramifications and expense of the properties condition. Add to that the condition of the neighborhood and the morale of its citizens.

C’mon, does it get worse than this. You try to keep the home by doing a Loan Mod or you find a willing Buyer and try a Short Sale just to have the Lender say no…BUT the homeowner is now legally on the hook because the Lender doesn't want the property.

I just have no more words! There is no way to describe how I feel!

Can You?

Yet another example of Lenders getting into the “Greed is Good” mentality. This time is comes from a surprising area…Property Tax Delinquencies. This is truly despicable, but wait until you hear how this is affecting the Foreclosure market. I’m getting more convinced by the day about the profitability in Foreclosures and Lenders willingness to let the housing market disintegrate. There was a time we all believe that Foreclosures was bad for the Lenders and the country. I think we can take the Lenders out of that equation.

Let’s explain how this is working. It is not news to report that many municipalities are having fiscal problems because of the housing downturn. Property taxes are much lower and many more homeowners are unable to pay their property taxes. Usually, the municipality could place a lien on the property and eventually collect the delinquent taxes. Many times from the homeowner themselves in low interest payment plans.

Well, there are municipalities that need the money immediately and have decided to sell that debt to private companies that are willing to pay the entire amount of the debt or a high percentage of the debt to the municipality. The private companies, in turn, will try to collect on this debt with high interest rates and thousands of dollars in extra fees attached to the amount originally owed. If that doesn’t work, then they can, and do, file for a Foreclosure, often much quicker than the municipality would. The private companies are not concerned with deteriorating neighborhood or rows of empty homes so they will not forestall the filing.

One of the biggest of these private companies is one called Plymouth Park Tax Services and also known as Xspand, as reported by the New York Times. They’ve bought about $2 Billion worth of these tax liens across the country. In a small county near Toledo, Ohio there were slightly over 4,000 Foreclosure filings…1,000 of which were from Plymouth Park. Many that are trying to save their homes by trying to reach an agreement with Plymouth Park report their amount due have more than doubled from what they owe on their tax liens. The extra amounts come from fees attached by Plymouth Park.

Here is the part of the story that really hits hard.

Plymouth Park Tax Services is a subsidiary of JP Morgan Chase.

Dear Mr. President,

As successful as your slogan for the Presidential campaign was, I don’t know if you had any idea how it would change the country. Yes, you won the Presidency but if imitation is the greatest form of flattery then your biggest accomplishment is how Corporate America has taken to your slogan. Although I must confess that it isn’t really used in the same vain.

You know the housing market is in shambles, there does not seem to be any form of recovery on the horizon. That is a bad sign for our overall economy but I guess there are few people worried about that right now. As I, and my Realtor colleagues, try to save as many people from Foreclosure as we can we seem to be hitting roadblock after roadblock. This is where your slogan comes in, Sir

Our conversations with the Lenders go something like this:

"We have a very needy homeowner here that has just lost their home and is flat broke...You can't possible expect them to pay the rest of their debt to you? "YES, WE CAN"

"The homeowner is willing to continue paying his debt to you, you can't possibly report that as a "CHARGE OFF"? "YES, WE CAN"

After receiving Billions from taxpayers to keep you afloat and help the housing recovery, you can't really make policy that will inevitably send MORE homeowners into Foreclosure? "YES, WE CAN"

As you can see Mr. President, our hands are tied and the Lenders in this country are just finding different ways to make money. And these poor people, many, that were duped into taking these toxic mortgages are now being dragged across the coals for a second time so the Lenders can more money off them.

Now, I must give the Lenders equal time to voice their side of the story. I asked a simple question and I thought I heard the right answer, but alas it wasn’t meant to be.

“Mr. Lender,” I said “I’m sure there is common ground here where we can meet in the middle and work out a deal that works for all parties involved. Can we at least talk about it? They responded, “YES, WE CAN.” I couldn’t believe my ears until they finished their response…..BUT WE WON’T!

I’m in Florida, and that fact might be the reason I’m not jumping on the housing recovery bandwagon. There was A report that mentioned home sales went up last month. Many people, including the National media, took that as great news. We seem to go from one extreme to the next…Foreclosure Crisis in June to Housing Recovery in August. I understand we all want this to end and a recovery to hit the marketplace, but depending on where you are, we are very far from just leveling off…never mind recovering.

Take these numbers for instance, taken from a recent report in the NY Times. “In the first six months of this year, 268,064 properties in Florida received a foreclosure filing, up nearly 42 percent from the first half of 2008, making it the second worst state in total foreclosures nationwide behind California. And for those convinced that recent, positive sales figures signal a brisk recovery, consider this: foreclosures outpaced sales of houses and condos in the same period (99,010) by a factor of nearly three. If every home in Boston received a foreclosure notice, the total would still be less than Florida’s.” So the Case Schiller numbers that came out last week saying that sales were up, didn’t tell anyone that new foreclosure filings were also up but outpacing the sales almost 3 to 1.

Folks, our clients need to know the real picture and what is really happening out there. They rely on us as professionals to give them a true picture of what is happening. They see these reports that, falsely, show there is a recovery in the marketplace…Do you really see that? I don’t. Multiple offers on your property is not a recovery, it is desperate race to take advantage of assistance that may not be there after November 30^th. And not to mention the new more aggressive tactics being used by many lenders that will push MORE homeowners into Foreclosure rather than Approved Short Sales.

When you get calls from the agents showing you listings, ask them if their clients are trying to get a house before the $8,000 Tax Credit expires. Then ask them if they would be buying a home if that credit was not available. If you get responses like I do, this little unscientific poll will show why there was a little blip in the sales numbers. What happens when and if those Tax Credits disappear?

Let’s go out there and warn our clients and voice our opinions to what is really happening in our local marketplace. Let’s stop letting others dictate what is happening in OUR marketplace. They told us in late 2007 that the market was recovering and all would be well. As a matter of fact, they said the same thing in 2007, 2008 and earlier this year. Don’t fall for that again! YOU are in the trenches, YOU see what is happening, YOU are the true voice of what is actually taking place...VOICE YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Sidney Jimenez, CDPE

www.RoadtoForeclosureRelief.com

www.SidneyJimenez.com

Contact Me: 954-665-9449

Or Send Me an Email to Go Over Your Foreclosure Relief Options: Info@SidneyJimenez.com

Sidney Jimenez is a Certified Distressed Property Expert and can help you with all your options to avoid a Foreclosure in Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Coral Springs, Margate, Davie, Weston, Southwest Ranches and the neighboring cities in South Florida. You can count on Sidney’s expertise to handle your Short Sale, he’s “Delivering Winning Results”

I recently read a great post from one of the regular bloggers on Active Rain. (Thanks Wendy!) That post brought up another fact of the mistake being committed by all the agents that insist on submitting multiple offers.

I know the arguments, you need to protect your clients, you need to give the lender the choice of "picking" the offer they like the best. Those arguments have been addressed, but there's another reason why submitting multiple offers is not the way to go. The ironic thing is that this will affect the multiple submitters the most.

It seems that there are countless buyers agents that will submit multiple offers to multiple properties. They are tired of being "played" by the listing agents and have found a way to protect themselves and their clients from abuse.

Quite simply, they make an escrow deposit to ABC Title and subsequently will submit offers on multiple properties with the idea of jumping on the first to accept. It seems the requisite deposit has been made but it is with the buyers title company and the listing agent has no control over that. Once they get their property, they will just walk on the rest. Without holding escrow, what is the listing agent to do?

Just another reason to treat these deals with integrity and keeping everyone's interest in mind. We cannot bite the hands that feeds us. Why did it seem a good idea to alienate the one person we ALL need...the buyer?