REO | Black & LoBello

Fannie Mae’s new First Look program

On September 27, 2010, in Mortgage, Real Estate, Short Sale, Strategic Default, by blacklobellolaw

As foreclosures increase, the nation’s largest mortgage financier has added 61,929 new REO properties to its inventory in the second quarter. In an effort to step up the unloading of these properties, FANNIE has created its First Look program. See, HomePath.com .

The program is aimed at assisting owner-occupied purchasers and public entities with purchasing the properties. Once the residence has been foreclosed upon, and assuming it has not been purchased by a third party through the foreclosure process, owner occupants, public entities and their partners can submit offers without competition from investors. The First Look period is typically 15 days.

On Thursday, new incentives were added to this program. Qualified homebuyers who will be owner-occupants can receive up to 3.5 percent of the final sales price that can be used toward closing cost assistance, including a home warranty, if available. In addition, selling agents representing owner-occupants will receive a $1,500 bonus. However, the bonus will be hard earned. Eligible offers must be submitted on or after September 23, 2010, and must close by December 31, 2010. The sale must close within 60 days of the offer being accepted.

Tisha Black Chernine, Esq.

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Tagged with: alternatives • asset • Bankruptcy • Black • Black & LoBello • Chernine • deed • deed-in-lieu • Fannie • first • foreclosure • in • Las Vegas • lease • lender • lien • lieu • limitations • limited • Look • Mae • modification • negotiate • Nevada • occupied • of • owner • principal • protection • reduction • REO • sale • seating • second • short • statute • Tisha

CoreLogic Report Finds More Distress With Distressed Home Sales

On September 17, 2010, in Finance, Mortgage, Real Estate, Short Sale, Strategic Default, Taxes, by blacklobellolaw

CoreLogic Report Finds More Distress in Distressed Home Sales

CoreLogic, a California-based research firm has released its inaugural report, a bimonthly study entitlted U.S. Housing and Mortgage Trends which states that we will be seeing “more distress with distressed home sales.” CoreLogic defines distressed sales as short-sales and REO sales.

The report claims this is primarily due to the impending expiration of the federal First Time Home Buyers’ Tax Credit on September 30th. Now that this incentive has run its course, CoreLogic says the share of distressed sales is expected to rise in the fall.

The peak of distressed sales was seen in early 2009, at 35% of overall sales. The low was seen in June 2010 with distressed sales making up 24% of the nationwide market.

Unfortunately for us, as of June 2010, Las Vegas leads the nation in distressed sales at a whopping 61% of total sales. In addition to the negative effects of the post-tax credit environment on overall sales, negative equity will continue to be a major factor slowing the recovery of the housing market, with nearly one in four homeowners being underwater nationwide.

Tiffany N. Ballenger, Esq.

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Tagged with: alternatives • asset • Bankruptcy • Black • Black & LoBello • Chernine • CoreLogic • credit • deed • deed-in-lieu • equity • foreclosure • housing market • in • Las Vegas • lease • lender • lieu • limitations • modification • negative • negotiate • Nevada • of • principal • protection • reduction • REO • sale • short • statute • tax • Tisha

Bank of America’s New Short Sale Processing Software

On February 24, 2010, in Real Estate, Short Sale, by blacklobellolaw

In an effort to streamline their processing of a half-million short sales, Bank of America has announced that all short sales must now be processed through the Equator online transaction manager regardless of the file’s proximity to approval. Effective March 1, 2010, all properties secured by a Bank of America loan must be uploaded electronically. No existing short sale reviews will be grandfathered in. All files, regardless of the stage, will have to be resubmitted and assigned to a new negotiator.

Historically, Equator is a software platform which has been used to track matters related to depressed properties. Traditionally, asset managers and realtors use Equator to list and sell REO properties. Other vendors such as title companies and eviction attorneys use it to assist in relocating the occupants of REO properties.

Bank of America believes that Equator will “streamline” and expedite short sale negotiations by uploading the necessary documents to save time. However, the uploading process takes as much time, on average, as faxing. More importantly, it still takes several weeks for Bank of America to open the file and assign a negotiator.

What this will mean for many of our clients is that the entire short sale package must be resubmitted through the Equator system and the timeframes for processing will have to start over. Due to the particularity of the program, Black & LoBello may be forced to request additional or supplemental documentation from all parties involved in the transaction. Additionally, the short seller is now required to obtain login information before any financial data can be uploaded to the system. Once you have obtained your login information, please forward the login, temporary password, and security question to your processor so that we may make the proper submissions on your behalf.

Black & LoBello apologizes in advance for the inconveniences Bank of America’s decision will cause our clients.

Tisha Black Chernine, Esq.