How a HAFA Short Sale Can Benefit YOU!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Hello Hampton Roads,

A HAFA Short Sale is a government assisted short sale that is more streamlined, easier, and faster to process than a regular short sale.  HAFA offers a faster timeline than a traditional short sale and provides monetary incentives to distressed homeowners, servicers and subordinate lien holders to make the process mutually beneficial to all parties.

Here are some of the highlights:

• A pre-approved selling price or acceptable sales proceeds amount
• A minimum of 120 days to market the property-maximum 360 days and the foreclosure process is stopped during this time!
• A 10 day time frame to respond to offers to purchase the home
• Debt is eliminated--there is NO deficiency judgment 
• A homeowner may not even have to claim the forgiven debt as income per the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007  (H.R. 3648)--but HURRY as this expires in Dec. 31, 2012!
• No promissory notes or cash is required to close from the homeowner 
• $3000 in relocation assistance to the homeowner
• $2200 to the servicer for a successfully closed short sale
• Up to an aggregate total of $6K to subordinate lien holders to release their liens

Over 80% of primary residences in distress are eligible for HAFA short sales.  If you or someone you know is considering a short sale or other foreclosure option, feel free to contact me!  If I list your home as short sale, my services to the homeowner are FREE.  Let me know how I can help!


Thanks for reading,


 
________________________  
Serving your Hampton Roads and Virginia Beach Real Estate needs.

The Local Hampton Roads Real Estate Market and the National Outlook

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Hello Hampton Roads,

The weather has been beautiful recently, and it is a beautiful time to buy real estate!

On the local front home sales are up and prices are down.
According to an article in today's Pilot Online ( http://hamptonroads.com/2011/11/home-sales-jump-prices-decline-last-october), real estate prices continue to fall while home sales are on the increase compared with October last year, up 12.6%, but down 8.2% from September.

Distressed sales in all of Hampton Roads still played a major factor in the market last month, accounting for 33 percent of October's sales. Those sales include foreclosures and short sales (sales by homeowners whose homes are worth less than the balance of their mortgage).  REIN, the Virginia Beach-based multiple listing service also reported that the median priced home was $181,000 in October, down 10.6% from a year ago.

On the national front, at the recent NAR annual convention, Dr. Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist of the NAR, and Dr. Richard Peach, Senior Vice President of the Macroeconomic and Monetary Studies Function at the NY Federal Reserve Bank presented their findings:

• Investors are supporting the market where cash sales account for between 30%-35%  nationally.
• Mortgage rates are expected to rise: 4.5% by 2012, 4.8% by 2013 and 5.5% by 2014
• Forecasted REO inventory is set to rise over the next 2 years

Read the entire “Economic and Housing Market Outlook” presentation for more insight and  information.  These are interesting times we are living in and real estate can present an incredible opportunity!  Please contact me with any questions regarding buying or selling your home.

I would be honored to help you.

Happy home hunting!

Thanks for Reading,


 
 _____________________________________________________
Serving your Hampton Roads and Virginia Beach Real Estate needs.

Protect Your Home from Declines in Value

Hello Hampton Roads,

Wouldn't it be great if you could protect your home against declines in value? There's a new kind of insurance out there called Home Value Insurance offered by the Home Value Protection Company which protects homeowners against losses in their primary residence when they sell.  Steve Cook wrote a great article about this in the November 10, 2011 issue of Consumer Confidence, Consumer Reports.

Currently the company is only offering this insurance in Ohio and if successful, will expand to other states.   So how does it work? For a monthly premium of $35-$45, a homeowner can recoup a loss on the sale of a home based upon the insured value of the home or the drop in local home values as measured by the Fiserv/Case-Shiller Single Family Home Price Index. Claims are limited to a maximum of 25% of the insured value, and there is a deductible during the first two years.  In addition, for the policy to kick in, the insured home must sell for less than its protected value and local home values must have decreased during the policy period.

Will this program come to this area? We will see, but a company representative said, "Ten years ago people didn’t believe they needed coverage on the valuation of their real estate. Before 2007, prices had never fallen on a year-over-year basis.  Today owners want to protect themselves against future losses."



Have a wonderful day!

Thanks for Reading,


 
 ________________________________________________________
Serving your Hampton Roads and Virginia Beach Real Estate needs.