Under the plan, Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) will offer homeowners so-called relocation payments of between $2,500 and $30,000 if they sell their home in a short sale. In short sale deals, the sale price of the home is less than what the seller owes the bank.

The bank first tested the payments in a pilot program in Florida last fall. Under that initiative, Bank of America paid up to

Bank of America

$20,000 to borrowers who sold their homes in short sales.

“This program can help customers make a planned transition from ownership when home retention options have been exhausted or they have made a decision not to keep the home,” said Bob Hora, an executive for the bank.

Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) started a similar initiative in late 2010 that pays as much as $35,000 to short sellers. Wells Fargo (WFC, Fortune 500) has also paid five-figure incentives to short sellers or to owners who turned over their deeds to the bank.

BofA said it has completed 200,000 short sales over the past two years. These sales are generally more cost effective for banks than foreclosures. By avoiding foreclosure, the lenders get distressed properties back from delinquent borrowers more quickly, which helps them to avoid property tax payments, maintenance expenses and legal fees that can build up for months, even years, as foreclosures work through the system.

Read full article from CNN Money

FORTUNE — Johnny Williams has stepped down as a managing director of equity capital markets with Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAC), where he co-led the firm’s technology, media and cleantech practice, Fortune has learned.

Williams had been based out of Palo Alto, originally joining Merrill Lynch’s San Francisco office in 2003 to led its institutional equities specialty sales (tech) effort. It sounds like he’s planning to take a few months off, and that his decision was unrelated to planned layoffs within BoA’s investment banking group. Today is his last day.

Fellow group co-head JD Moriarty is expected to lead the practice solo out of New York, although Matthew Walsh, a New York-based director mostly focused on cleantech and healthcare, will relocate to Palo Alto to help pick up the slack.

Read article from Fortune

An expected sale of the bank’s non-U.S. wealth-management operations in Asia, Latin America and Europe would eliminate up to 2,000 jobs, the Journal also said.

Reuters reported on April 17 that Bank of America was looking to sell its wealth management units outside the United States for as much as $3 billion.

Bank of America declined to comment on the Journal report.

Last spring, the bank announced a cost-cutting program called Project New BAC that aims to eliminate 30,000 consumer banking and technology jobs over the next few years.

The bank has said it expects to wrap up plans for the second phase of the program, which focuses on investment banking, commercial banking and related support jobs, in May. The second phase is expected to cut fewer jobs than the first because it covers a smaller, more efficient part of the bank.

At the end of March, Bank of America had about 278,700 employees worldwide.

Read Full Article from Reuters

The accord would resolve a New York lawsuit claiming the bank’s board, including former Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis, had hidden how Merrill was headed toward an eventual $15.84 billion quarterly loss, even as it was paying $3.6 billion of bonuses.

The settlement also called for governance changes, including the creation of a board-level committee of independent bank directors to assess major new transactions, court papers show.

Bank of America did not reveal the scope of Merrill’s losses until after shareholders approved the merger in December 2008.

In a Friday night filing in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, directors said the objecting shareholders had no authority to block the settlement, which the shareholders fear would wipe out their claims in a similar lawsuit in Delaware.

The directors said the shareholders had waited an “inexcusably” long three years to get involved in the case and called their $5 billion damages claim “outrageous.”

The directors also said there was “nothing collusive” about settlement talks.

“At bottom, the Delaware plaintiffs’ arguments amount to nothing more than a dressed-up objection to the adequacy of the proposed settlement,” the directors said.

Read Full article from Reuters

From California to Florida, many buyers are increasingly competing for the same house. Unlike the bidding wars that typified the go-go years and largely reflected surging sales, today’s are a result of supply shortages.

“It’s a little surprising because we thought bidding wars were done with,” said Andy Aley, who is looking to buy his first home in Seattle’s Beacon Hill neighborhood. The 31-year-old attorney was outbid this year when he offered up to $23,000 above the $357,000 listing price and agreed to waive inspections and other closing conditions.

Competitive bidding in the current environment isn’t producing huge price increases or leaving sellers with hefty profits, as occurred during the housing boom. Still, the bidding wars caused by tight inventory provide the latest evidence that housing demand is starting to pick up after a six-year-long slump.

An index that measures the number of contracts signed to purchase previously owned homes rose in March to its highest level in nearly two years, up 12.8% from a year ago and 4.1% from February, the National Association of Realtors reported on Thursday.

“We very much believe we’ve hit bottom,” said Ivy Zelman, chief executive of a research firm, who was among the first to warn of a downturn seven years ago. Earlier this week, she raised her home-price forecast for the year, calling for a 1% annual gain, up from a 1% decline.

Read Full Article from WSJ

HOUSTON, Texas (April 26, 2012)—Two of the region’s top energy bankers have joined the Hancock Holding Company (Nasdaq: HBHC) financial services organization, which includes century-old Gulf South institutions Whitney Bank and Hancock Bank.

Senior Vice President and Managing Director of the Energy Division Donovan Broussard and Senior Vice President and Senior Energy Banker Liana Tchernysheva together bring more than 32 years of experience in the energy banking sector to the company. Leading the Whitney Bank and Hancock Bank Energy Division, both bankers are based at Whitney Bank in Houston and are residents of the city’s greater metropolitan area.

Hancock Holding Company and its banks operate throughout a combined business footprint comprising the five southeastern states that encircle the Gulf of Mexico.

“Oil and gas exploration and production is one of the most important economic sectors in the United States and around the globe and continues to be a significant segment of our business—particularly in the Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida markets we serve,” said Carl Chaney, president and CEO of Hancock Holding Company. “We have a banking presence in every major U.S. port city on the Gulf of Mexico. Adding these two outstanding professionals and strategically locating this team in Houston further strengthens the company’s capabilities in the energy banking arena. We see great opportunity as we grow this area of our business and offer excellent service to new and existing clients.”

Broussard began his career in New Orleans as a Whitney Bank management trainee and now has more than 17 years’ experience in the banking industry, with an emphasis in management and energy lending. He comes to Whitney Bank in Houston from NATIXIS, where, since 2001, he led long-term planning, strategy, and new product implementation and developed client relationships for the company’s oil and gas exploration and production group. During his tenure with the company, he was a top industry producer. Broussard also worked for The Bank of Nova Scotia and Dai-Ichi Kangyo in energy related banking fields. All of Broussard’s positions were based in the Houston market. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Tchernysheva, a 15-year veteran of banking, also joins Whitney and Hancock from NATIXIS, where, as a managing director of the oil and gas exploration and production group, she created and built the bank’s portfolio as a participant and lead originator. Additionally, she established client relationships and performed analysis, underwriting, and portfolio management. Tchernysheva previously worked in several positions at BBVA Compass (formerly Compass Bank) and holds a finance degree from the University of South Alabama.

“As Whitney Bank and Hancock Bank—two of the Gulf South’s largest, oldest, and strongest financial institutions—move forward together, we are expanding the depth and breadth of expertise that have always distinguished our banking teams in delivering comprehensive products and services to people and businesses in the communities we call home,” said Chaney. “This commitment to strength, stability, and service represents the traditions of banking excellence that have been part of Whitney and Hancock for more than 100 years.”

According to a 2010 American Petroleum Institute study, the oil and gas industry employed roughly 1.25 million people in key production states and projected growing economic impact on the Gulf of Mexico region in the coming years. With increased production, the oil and gas industry could create $33 billion in government revenue alone and 290,000 new jobs by 2030.

“The Whitney Bank and Hancock Bank Energy Division is committed to helping create commerce and opportunity across this dynamic region,” added Chaney.

Beginning April 13, 2012, Bank of America will require the following five forms to be submitted to initiate a short sale:

1. Bank of America Third-Party Authorization Form
2. IRS Form 4506-T – Request for Transcript of Tax Return
3. 60-day Estimated HUD-1 (or HUD-1 with closing date if shorter than 60 days)
4. Signed Purchase Contract including Buyers Acknowledgement and Disclosure
5. Bank of America Short Sale Purchase Contract Addendum

If you currently have a short sale file with Bank of America, you will need to complete any outstanding tasks in Equator before April 13. Look for the tasks titled “Submit Short Sale Offer,” “Upload Offer Documents,” and/or “Upload Supporting Documents.”

If these tasks are not complete by April 13, you may be required to re-upload all documents to match the new system (that means five new documents, even if you were only missing one). Your file may also be declined, depending on your open tasks time compared to average timelines.

In addition to these new requirements, Equator will change to allow tasks (after short sale is initiated) to happen simultaneously, rather than sequentially.

We don’t want anyone to be taken by surprise. For full coverage and to make sure you’re as prepared as possible for the changes, join us for an exclusive webinar “Bank of America Short Sale Alert: Changes May Result in Lost Files!”

Register now at http://www.cdpelive.com/120410-bofa

Last month, Bank of America announced a pilot program that will provide some distressed property homeowners with a new foreclosure alternative. This new “Mortgage to Lease” program will allow homeowners facing foreclosure to remain in their homes by converting from home ownership to rental.

In this program, participating homeowners will transfer their home titles to Bank of America for forgiveness of all outstanding mortgage debt. Then Bank of America will lease the home to the former homeowner for up to three years at a rental price less than their mortgage payments, making payments affordable. After the three-year rental period, Bank of America will sell the acquired houses to investors.

For now, the “Mortgage to Lease” program will only affect 1,000 specifically selected Bank of America customers in Arizona, Nevada, and New York. During this initial phase, Bank of America will explore customer, community, and investor reactions and assess the feasibility and practicality of expanding the program.

In order to qualify, the homeowner must meet the following criteria:

• Have a Bank of America loan without junior liens
• Be delinquent 60 days on their mortgage payments
• Be “underwater” on their mortgage
• Must have exhausted other foreclosure alternatives
• Foreclosure must be eminent
• And the homeowner must be occupying the home

Because this program has received national media attention, you may receive questions from homeowners about it. If you do, you can simply explain that this program is tiny and for now will affect less than one-tenth of one percent of all the homeowners with a problem. Remember, Bank of America will be hand-selecting and notifying homeowners for the initial launch.

UPDATE: Bank of America is adding new requirements to their short sale process starting April 13. Alex will give you all the details April 10 on a special, critical update broadcast. Register for the broadcast at http://www.cdpelive.com/120410-bofa.

ATTENTION Agents!

In October’s CDPE Industry Broadcast with Bob Hora, SVP Mortgage Servicing Executive at Bank of America Home Loans, Hora affirmed Bank of America’s commitment to streamlining their short sale process.

In keeping with this commitment, Bank of America is simplifying their third-party authorization process for short sales.

On March 20, Bank of America released a standardized Third-Party Authorization form to be used on all Bank of America short sales beginning April 14, 2012.

For CDPEs, we’ve uploaded the two-page document to the Resources section of the website. Just login, and go to: http://www.cdpe.com/resources/view/906/BofA3rdParty

Or you can download the form from Bank of America’s Agent Resource Center at http://www.bankofamerica.com/realestateagent.

Bank of America will accept other forms until April 14; however, we recommend implementing the form on your next Bank of America short sale!

For those of you who are CDPEs, you should continue to use the “CDPE Short Sale Authorization to Release Information Form” with home owners’ associations, second lien holders, or anyone else you need information from as our contains information specific to those types of organizations.

To watch a recording of CDPE’s exclusive industry broadcast with Bank of America, visit http://www.cdpelive.com/111026-bank-of-america/.

The good news? According to RealtyTrac’s Year-End 2011 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™, total U.S. foreclosure activity and the foreclosure rate were both at their lowest annual level since 2007.

The bad news? Foreclosure levels were artificially lowered due to delays following the robo-signing scandal. However, those delayed foreclosures will likely reappear in 2012.

“There were strong signs in the second half of 2011 that lenders are finally beginning to push through some of the delayed foreclosures in select local markets. We expect that trend to continue this year, boosting foreclosure activity for 2012 higher than it was in 2011,” said Brandon Moore, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.

Fortunately, both the financial and government sectors are more committed than ever to finding alternatives to foreclosure, including short sales. In fact, Bank of America expects a 60-70% increase in short sale closings this year.

Agents need to be prepared to assist distressed homeowners during the upcoming surge in foreclosure filings. If you’re not already a Certified Distressed Property Expert®, you’re missing out on an incredible opportunity to serve your community while growing your real estate commissions. Click here to watch a FREE PREVIEW of the CDPE Designation Course to find out how you can get started today!

In an effort to shorten overall cycle times, Bank of America has reduced the window for submitting a backup offer on a short sale from 14 days to eight days after the initial offer becomes invalid.

Once a backup offer becomes necessary:

• Contact your short sale specialist immediately to let him or her know you have a backup offer to submit.
• Within eight calendar days, resubmit the listing data, submit the short sale offer, and upload the offer documents and supporting documents.

Note: All backup offers will require approval, regardless of similarities to the previous offer.

If no backup offer is available:

• The short sale will be closed in Equator by your short sale specialist.
• You should return to marketing the property.
• You may initiate a new short sale in Equator when you receive a new offer on the property.

For more great tips on getting Bank of America short sales approved, download our FREE report!

Highlights include:

• When a short sale is submitted with an offer and the homeowner is HAFA eligible, BOA will no longer halt work on the file while waiting to contact the homeowner.
• Short sales initiated on Equator.com that receive a HAFA eligibility message no longer require homeowners to call Customer Care to confirm their interest.
• If homeowners wish to participate in HAFA, agents must submit the requested documents within 14 days.  (Note: the 14-day period begins the day the HAFA solicitation letter is mailed to the homeowner. Agents can obtain the date of the letter from the homeowner.)

These changes impact all short sales submitted with an offer in which the homeowner is eligible for the HAFA program.

Want more info on incentives available to homeowners through the federal government’s HAFA Program? Access our FREE video and report for all the details!

Bob Hora provided insight into Bank of America’s evolving approach to managing their distressed mortgage portfolio, which includes plans to increase short sales by as much as 60 – 70% next year. To achieve this increase, Bank of America is improving their short sale process and implementing a number of new programs to help both homeowners and agents.

In CDPE’s newest report, we detail the information covered in the broadcast, such as Bank of America’s new community outreach campaigns and homeowner transition guides. You’ll also learn how increases in manpower and improvements to Equator will effect you, the agent, and the homeowners you serve.

Download your copy of the report today!

The article references major lenders—including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo—that are offering cash incentives at closing for distressed homeowners who successfully close on a short sale.

In many markets, these attractive incentives have helped short sales outpace foreclosures, resulting in a “win-win” situation for the banks, homeowners and community at large.

Get the inside scoop on Bank of America’s new program to increase short sale closings by 60 to 70% in 2012. Click here to watch our exclusive interview with Bank of America SVP Bob Hora!

Courtesy of The Palm Beach Post, comes some fresh news for Florida, offering up to $20,000 to short sale vs. foreclosure.

The limited time offer has received little promotion from the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank, which sent emails to select Florida Realtors earlier this week outlining basic details of the plan.

Only homeowners whose short sales are submitted for approval to Bank of America before Nov. 30 will qualify. The homes must have no offers on them already and the closing must occur before Aug. 31, 2012.

This signals, in our opinion, the pressure they are feeling in Florida as the housing market continues to languish and the continued pressure to clear up these loans that are facing imminent foreclosure. Other interesting facts in the article include the fact that the current foreclosure timeline is almost 676 days – almost two years!

“I think this is a positive sign that the bank is being creative to try and help homeowners and get things moving,” said Paul Baltrun, who works with real estate and mortgages at the Law Office of Paul A. Krasker in West Palm Beach. “With real estate attorneys handling these cases, you’re talking two, three, four years before there’s going to be a resolution in a foreclosure.”

Guy Cecala, chief executive officer and publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance, called the short sale payout a “bribe.”

“You can call it a relocation fee, but it’s basically a bribe to make sure the borrower leaves the house in good condition and in an orderly fashion,” Cecala said. “It makes good business sense considering you may have to put $20,000 into a foreclosed home to fix it up.”

Bank of America says that if the program shows promise in Florida, it could be expanded to other states. Other companies, including Wells Fargo and J.P. Morgan Chase also have similar programs.

More details:

Bank of America’s plan excludes Ginnie Mae, Federal Housing Administration and VA loans.

Similar to the federal Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives program, or HAFA, which offers $3,000 in relocation assistance, the Bank of America program may also waive a homeowner’s deficiency judgment at closing.

A deficiency judgment in a short sale is basically the difference between what the house sells for and what is still owed on the loan.

HAFA, which began in April 2010, has seen limited success with just 15,531 short sales completed nationwide through August.

In our opinion, this is just again a math decision a bank makes that falls in line with the bank’s decision. How does the bank minimize their lost? Short sale with a $20k kicker; or something else?

Post your thoughts in the comments!

We just closed another short sale in Oceanside California!

Amazingly, our client asked that we tell her story and share it with other people in her situation.

About 18 months ago our client and her husband experienced a medical hardship, and after exhausting their savings , they found themselves unable to make their mortgage payments. Once they could no longer make the payments they decided to call the lender and ask for help. Time and time again, they felt ignored and unsure of the process. Without anyone to refer them they decided to google it. Our client did some research online and found a company that told them they could help them with a deed in lieu for $2,500.

This was serious money for them but they felt that it was there only choice to settle with the bank. Even though a deed in lieu is a voluntary foreclosure they were told that it was better for them to go this route. Many months passed and eventually they realized that the money was gone. Worse yet, almost 10 months had passed and still nothing had been resolved. She then heard about an attorney who claimed he had the power to help people in foreclosure. So, $4,000 later, all they had learned is that she could do a short sale or wait for the bank to foreclose.

Does this sound like your situation ?

During this time the home across the street was also in foreclosure, and they too had left the house vacant. This home was broken into by teenagers who burned it to the ground. Frustrated and worried, she looked online once more and searched for Carlsbad Short Sale Expert, this is how she found me, how I am not sure but she did.. She liked the information on my site www.shortsalemc.com and decided to let me help her.

When I looked at the file I felt that this file was doomed, the file had the following red flags:

• The second had not been paid and the loan was sold to a credit company.
• The HOA had not been paid and the lender (Bank of America) does not pay these fees.
• 18 months had passed with no payment.
• The home was vacant.
• The seller had no money to contribute towards a short sale settlement.

Every possible bad scenario played out here, so why did I take the file? We had a client that did want to avoid foreclosure and trusted me. The other reason was that we had a plan …after the financial review we designed a planned to get this done that involved another important piece …Buyer COOPERATION.

We set out to find a buyer that would follow the process and help settle the debt. In return we got them an awesome price ($30k under market value).

We were able to:

• Negotiated the second lien payoff so they would not go after our client.
• Paid off the HOA thru strong negotiations with buyers agents.
• Had the clients move back in to take care of the property.
• Got seller $2,500 from the lender to relocate.
• Only worked with the strongest buyers, not just any offer.

I am glad to have been able to help them. I am also glad that she did not give up and tried one last time. She said the last time she prayed that God would help her find someone and said I was the answer to her prayers. Wow, I did’t know what to say to that! That was by far the best compliment I had ever been given!

Are you in a similar situation? Do you need help to avoid foreclosure?

Let me help you…

www.shortsalemc.com

www.mikerebroker.com

Do they collect fees for every month they are ‘mitigating loss’ ?

It would seem that way, because the only lenders that move for a quick resolution are those that are servicing their own money? I wonder what investors have to say about this.

If you know something about this subject I would like to hear from you. I would also like a better way to contact investors who hold mortgage notes.

Michael-Edward Cruz

Well, 2011 sure is off to a heck of a start, isn’t it? As we predicted here over and over again, the short sale marketplace is going to continue to be an important part of the still-stagnant housing recovery for the foreseeable future. So if you aren’t up to par on what you are doing, it’s time to get on board!

This recent article from Inman expands on what we have been saying, and predicts 5- 8 years of high short sale volume. What does this mean to you? You need to be competent in managing your short sales, and Short Sale Artisan helps you do exactly that! Even to 2020 and beyond!

The short-sale marketplace is not failing down anytime soon, and if genuine estate professionals wish to excavate into that niche, they should teach themselves thoroughly. That was a summary from dual short-sale specialists who spoke during Real Estate Connect Thursday.

“We’re looking during 5 to 8 years conservatively (of high short-sale volume),” pronounced Holly Maloney, a authorized short-sale dilettante and a Realtor during Huff Realty in Cincinnati, Ohio. “It’s a marketplace that’s going to be there. You possibly learn how to do it, teach yourself or work with someone who knows how to do it, differently you’re going to be giving business away.”

5 – 8 years is their conservative estimate!

Travis Waller, a authorized residential dilettante during RE/MAX Advantage Plus in Teaneck, N.J., expects disastrous equity to trigger a second call of foreclosures “that no one is even vocalization about.”

More than one in 5 homeowners with mortgages — scarcely 11 million borrowers — due some-more than their homes were value during a third quarter, according to a latest numbers from debt information aggregator CoreLogic.

“Until stagnation gets better, a market’s not going to get better,” Waller said.

Again making the case that volume and low home sales, and further depressing home values, as well as a jobless recovery, are contributing to home sales lagging some of the other gains that have been made throughout this economic “recovery”.

“It unequivocally comes down to display of your papers to a banks. The banks commend who has knowledge and who doesn’t,” he said. He generally represents sellers and carries between 15 and 25 listings in a month.

That is what we have been saying at Short Sale Artisan for well over a year. Formulating an ironclad short sale package is crucial to your package getting accepted. That isn’t going to change in the future, as you are always making the case to the bank that the short sale is the best way for the lender to mitigate their loss.

Both also offering agents this tip: Get a e-mail residence for a detriment slackening officer you’re traffic with. “It expedites a routine since during that indicate we can start e-mailing (him or her) PDFs,” instead of promulgation them faxes, Waller said.

This is a very key statement and underpins the importance of building relationships with loss mitigation representatives and banks you work with. If you are a high volume customer, they recognize you, and your offers are reasonable; you will dramatically improve the likelihood of speeding up your short sale offer and getting to approval.

Short sales will continue to play an important role for the foreseeable future – so you need to know them! What are you plans and predictions for the future of the short sale marketplace?

Foreclosure activity increased 65 percent nationwide year-over-year, according to RealtyTrac’s Q3 2010 Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report.  The report showed that cities in California, Florida, Nevada, and Arizona once again accounted for all top 10 foreclosure rates in the third quarter among metropolitan areas with a population of 200,000 or more, while cities outside those four states accounted for many of the biggest increases in metro foreclosure activity.  California, Florida, Nevada, and Arizona cities also accounted for 19 of the top 20 metro foreclosure rates.

With one in every 36 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the third quarter, Modesto, Calif., posted the nation’s third highest metro foreclosure rate, despite a nearly 18 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the third quarter of 2009. Other California metro areas in the top 10 were Stockton at No. 4; Merced at No. 5; Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario at No. 6; Bakersfield at No. 9; and Vallejo-Fairfield at No. 10, according to the report.

A total of 48,849 properties in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana area received a foreclosure filing in the third quarter, the second highest metro total, despite a nearly 3 percent decrease from the previous quarter and a nearly 30 percent decrease from the third quarter of 2009

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Michael-Edward Cruz (Broker) delivers real estate information for North San Diego, South Orange and South Riverside Counties. If you need to know about your real estate market for Carlsbad, Aviara, Bressi Ranch, La Costa, San Clemente, Talega, Shorecliffs, The Reserve, Temecula, Red Hawk, Wine Country. If you live outside these areas and need help with an agent referral we can help you.

Michael-Edward Cruz
California Real Estate Broker 01758933
www.mikerebroker.com
www.shortsalemc.com
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Monday, Nov. 15, 2010 | 2 a.m.

In 2004, two years before I bought my house, a website urged real estate investors thusly: “It is important that investors make their investments as soon as possible. This is because Las Vegas is growing and expanding at a scorching pace.”

In 2005, one year before I bought my house, Ken Jones of something called the Institute of Real Estate Technologies was — in a document on greatlasvegashomes.com — dismissing fears of a bursting real estate bubble: “However, there is no rationale or fact-based reasoning being put forth to support this fear; just that ‘prices are too high.’ ”

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Michael-Edward Cruz
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800-374-9110 Ext 1
www.mikeREbroker.com
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If you or someone you know is thinking about short selling their home or buying a new one call the best today.
Michael-Edward Cruz
Broker License 01758933′
800-374-9110 Ext.1

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

by Michael-Edward Cruz – California Real Estate Broker 951-572-2789

I found a promising article detailing how some lenders are beginning to shift their focus from foreclosure to short sales. Unfortunately I could not link to it on my blog due to copyright laws.

Some Lenders are now considering short sales as a real solution. AFTER the mass foreclosures in 2007 – 2008, AFTER the disaster in modifications in 2009, they might finally be listening to us.

I can’t really complain though.  Before I worked for this team lead by Troy Huerta, 2 out 3 of my deals foreclosed!  I was a typical agent throwing darts in the dark and having the closing figures to show for it.  My success rate was less than 33%.  Since teaming up with Troy, my success rate is an admirable 100%, so far.  This year alone our team has already closed 20 transactions!!!

A big part of my difficulty stemmed from my lack of planning to deal with lenders rather than the lenders not actually listening.  Lenders will always find ways to make more and more money no matter what.  Otherwise, how will their CEO’s be able to remodel their offices for less than $2 million?  When dealing with our pre-foreclosure transactions, we focus our job on showing them that a short sale is better than a foreclosure.  Most of the time a short sale is better, unfortunately it is not always easy to get the lender to understand. That is why I have teamed up with Troy Huerta from the Real Estate Insight Team at Keller Williams.

Troy Huerta has been featured by Smart Money magazine (a Wall Street Journal

publication) as a Power Broker. The impressive part of Mr. Huerta’s success is his fundamental understanding of the short sale process and his ability to turn nearly every transaction into a win-win-win situation for lenders, sellers, agents (and buyers).  Armed with a strong lending background, Troy foresaw the market turn and did everything he could (including purchasing a local and well-established real estate office) to position himself one step ahead of the rest.  The first year (June 2007 – June 2008) he had successfully closed 50+ short sales at a time when offices were folding like houses of cards and agents were being driven from their once thriving (and easy paced) careers.  His understanding of how lenders work has made him the “go to guy” on short sale transactions. He has held DRE credit courses on short sales and currently designates certificate courses for agents looking to break into this market. His success has been truly amazing. He has a great team that I am lucky to be a part of.

After my first experience as an REO agent, I knew that this was not the answer for me in this market.  The whole experience was not worth the money I made when the sale was finalized. I went into this business to help people realize their dreams of homeownership, not contribute to the nightmare of foreclosure.

I am happy with my choice to be persistent and find a way to become successful with the short sales. Most agents ran from this (sooner or later). Most of the agents I have talked to have said “It’s too much work”, ” I hate dealing with lenders” and my favorite, “they take forever to close”. I agree that they should not work on short sales.  You have to love it and “get it” like we do.  A comprehensive list of negotiators you’ve closed with in the past doesn’t hurt either.

While our primary focus is on listings and homeowner assistance, we offer professional negotiation services to agents who can’t or don’t want to handle the negotiation portion of their transactions.  Our system of short sale closings enable us to continue our success as things get “easier”.

WITH LENDERS WORKING WITH US + OUR SUCCESS WHEN THEY WERE NOT = THE ABILITY TO HELP AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE IN 2010

Are you late on your mortgage?  Do you have an NOD and are in danger of foreclosure?  Do you know someone who is struggling to make ends meet?  Is the loan modification game getting you tired and at greater risk of foreclosure?  CALL THE NUMBERS BELOW, LEAVE A MESSAGE WITH YOUR SITUATION AND A SPECIALIST WILL CALL YOU TO DISCUSS YOUR OPTIONS

800-374-911-0

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35062033/ns/business-answer_desk//

For help with your short sale call us

North San Diego County
Troy Huerta
760-420-5498
http://lenderhelpinc.com/

South Riverside
Tiffany Ayres
http://livinginharveston.com/

South Orange County
Michael-Edward Cruz
949-630-9743
http://shortsalemc.com/