Deborah Wilson Stark County OH Real Estate

This is better than cash for Clunkers.

The Federal Housing Tax Credit has been extended and expanded until April 2010.

Find out how you as an existing homeowner and a First time home buyer in Stark County OH can both benefit from the New/Extended Federal Housing Tax Credit program.

Visit Federal Housing Tax Credit for more information

A Short Sale is another way to stop foreclosures. Be sure to read Stopping or Preventing Foreclosure in Canton, Perry, Plain, Jackson or Stark County Part 1 and Part two.

The first step is to create a short sale package to present to the bank. All packages must have the following items:

1. Since the Real Estate Agent will be talking to the bank for the homeowner, the agent will need an Authorization to Negotiate. This is a form that states that I as the Real Estate Agent will be negotiating on behalf of the homeowners. This form should have the homeowner's name,address, Account number, social security number, date of birth, and any other relevant information. This is faxed to the bank.

2. Hardship Letter - The homeowner needs to write a letter stating what happened that caused them to be in this situation. The situation could have been a loss of a job or a family member, illness, death, divorce etc.

3. The bank will also want two months of bank statement, W2, 1099, Tax Return. The point is to show the bank that you are unable to pay the mortgage.

4. Financial Report - How is the money spent that you do have.

5. Photos of the house - Exterior and interior.

6. New Comps of the neighborhood. What is active, pending and what has sold.

7. Repair estimates.

8. Any headlines or articles about Real Estate in the area.

If you are facing foreclosure, please email me at Dwilson@cutlerhomes.com or call me Deborah Wilson at 330-904-4545. I can help.

In Part One - Preventing and /or Stopping Foreclosure, I shared President Obama's Making Homes Affordable Program. A program designed to keep Americans in their homes. If you did not see it, you can read it here now.

In Part Two, we will focus on eight strategies that will prevent or stop foreclosure. Strategies you can use right now whether you live in Massillon, Plain, Perry, North Canton or Jackson Twp.

But what happened? Let's face it, we're all probably a couple of paychecks away from calamity if a hardship were to happen.

People fall into financial hardships in a number of different ways. Below are some of the reasons why this happens.

Health issues: This is one of the tragedies of not having health insurance or inadequate health insurance, combined with expensive medical bills, can drive homeowners into financial hardship very quickly and cause them to get behind on their house payments and or real estate taxes. This is especially true for the self employed.

Death: Death of a spouse or a loved one. The spouse or heirs cannot or will not pay the mortgage. Once the estate is settled, the bank is forced to take the property back.

Predatory lending or borrowing: Allowing people to borrow when they clearly demonstrated they didn't have enough income to handle increased payment amounts.

Divorce/Separation: A couple separates or divorces and the other person can not make the payments on their own for a prolonged period of time.

Job loss or transfer: Due to the economic climate or global competition may employees are their jobs or businesses. It could be due to downsizing, consolidation, mergers, or just outsourcing jobs overseas.

Two house payments: Having two house payments due to one of the properties not selling fast enough due to a declining market.

4 Ways to Avoid Foreclosures in Canton OH

1. Workout arrangement: (Forbearance) Most lenders will work with a homeowner to work a repayment plan that is affordable to them.

2. Spread out missed payments: (Repayment Plan) The lenders might let the homeowner resume monthly payment

after being behind for a few month, as long as they include an additional amount to make up the difference.include back payments and re-amortize the loan.

3. Changing the terms of the loan: (Loan Modification) If there is an adjustable rate mortgage, the lenders might freeze the current rate so homeowner can keep making current payments, or the lender might extend the term of the loan to reduce the payments.

4. Add back payments to the loan: (Refinance) If there is enough equity in the property and sellers meet the lending guidelines, the lender might increase the loan balance to

4 Ways to Stop Foreclosure for your Stark County home.

1. Reinstatment of Loan: The lender may consider giving the homeowner some additionaltime to bring payments current and pay lender's cost of filing for a foreclosure, to stop the process.

2. Sell the property. if there is enough equity in the property to pay off the mortgage and cover all expenses. Hire a Real Estate agent to market it aggressively. Incentives for buyers to buy it, and agents to sell it.

3. A short sale is a loss mitigation solution. A pre-foreclosure solution. A short sale is when what you owe is greater than the value of the property. It is called a short sale because the bank will be shorted the money it is owed on the mortgage.

A short sale is sold by the homeowner before a foreclosure takes place. Anyone two-three months behind in their mortgage payments is a candidate for a short sale. There are only two reasons why a owner would not be eligible for a short sale - The homeowner filed for bankruptcy or the house is already in foreclosure and the house is scheduled for auction.

4. Deed-in-lieu of Foreclosure: Sometimes when the owner has had a hard time selling the property through a Realtor, ever on a Short Sale,the lender might allow them to deed the property back to the bank as long as there are no other liens against the property. This way the bank doesn't run up more legal and holding cost.

In Part Three, we will focus on the Short Sale process.