Love's Real Stories

Answering all the real estate questions you never knew you had.
October 3, 2012

Change

You know the real estate market has changed when:

  • A real estate sign goes up in a yard with the “Pending” or “Sold” rider already attached. Word gets out like a rifle shot when a new listing is about to hit the market.
    Inventory is tight. Buyers and agents are in high-performance mode. They can write an offer, sign it, and deliver it faster than a speeding bullet.
  • You go to an open house and the realtor on duty tells you it’s already a pending sale. You are told the seller wants to market the property for “back-up offers.” You become infuriated. “What kind of game is this?” you ask. “Why would I write an offer on a house that is already sold?”
    Now hold on a minute. Financing is not a slam-dunk these days, and sales fall apart. Many a buyer in back-up position has moved into first place and closed the deal. Patience, persistence and perseverance pay off.
  • An ad on the radio announces “The House Flipper” (as seen on TV!) coming to your area for a live seminar; a one-time opportunity for you to learn how to make a fortune in real estate without spending a dime of your own!
    Seven years have come and gone since we’ve heard the old “make millions in real estate with no money down” drumbeating.
  • You drive by a construction site. A foundation for a house is newly poured in the dirt. You call the number on the real estate sign and find out the house is sold under construction, and two more are sold un-built. You’re told you are welcome to make an offer on a house to be built in the future.
    Builders are coming back. Pickup trucks are parked on jobsites. Lumber trucks and concrete trucks are clogging up traffic.

You know the real estate market has changed when television newscasts, radio interviews, and newspaper columns are discussing the same thing- a change in the real estate market.

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August 8, 2012

Irresponsible Foreclosure

Some people are not happy with the trend toward protecting the victims of foreclosure. They see the trend as pandering to the irresponsible.

“I disagree with the term ‘victim of foreclosure’,” said one caller.”Most of these people bit off more than they could chew, and now they want somebody else to fix their problem.” She said she was sympathetic with people who lost jobs and had other legitimate reasons for foreclosure, but they were in the minority. “People give up too easily these days,” she said. “They won’t work their way out of their problems.”

More than one person emailed me blaming the collapse of the U.S. economy on irresponsible foreclosure. Their theory is home prices were driven too high by people buying more than they could afford, and then too low when those people lost their homes. “They shouldn’t have owned those homes in the first place,” said one. “Yes, loans were easy and banks were loose, but people should know better than to buy more than they can afford.

Didn’t their parents teach them not to take candy from strangers?”

One man mapped out the foreclosures in his neighborhood: “My next door neighbor refinanced his place to the hilt, took the money and ran,” he said. The house was abandoned for months before the bank foreclosed, and was a mess when it finally sold. “It sold for half what it would have in good condition. That affects the value of my house,” he said.

The house across the street from him was a “strategic default.” He said the family bought another home, and then let this one go back to the bank. “They just wanted to move and take advantage of low interest rates. They owed more on it than it was worth, so they just walked.” It’s been vacant for months, an eyesore, and selling low as a distressed property.

“The government keeps making new laws so the banks can’t foreclose fast enough and people get off free. Hey, my financial situation sucks, but I’m not going back on the deal I made.

It’s people like me that should be rewarded!”

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June 12, 2012

Sharks and Pirates

Anyone adrift in a sea of mortgage debt, beware the siren call of “foreclosure consultants” and “loan modification experts.” Some are pirates, luring you toward an island of safety and refuge, but it’s a trick. They are intent on crashing you on the rocks and plundering your ship.

If you are “underwater,” in your house, watch out for circling loan sharks. If they smell blood they will attack, and drag you down.

The sharks and pirates we’re talking about here are crooks and plunderers promising loan modifications and foreclosure relief for struggling homeowners. They take money as “fees” for “service” and leave people broke and homeless.

These no-goods are chumming email inboxes, hard mailboxes, and voicemail boxes with sweet-smelling offerings for people who are stressed with loan debt and foreclosure.

Example: Three California attorneys were busted on 19 felony counts of grand theft, conspiracy, and false advertising. These predators advertised loan modification services, claiming to possess “extra leverage” with banks. They described one of their services as a “mortgage violation audit,” in which they would review a victim’s loan documents and claim to find violations by the bank. They claimed to then have the leverage to force the bank to grant a loan modification. The attorneys took up-front fees for their “service,” never did a thing, and left people to sink further underwater.

Other victims were told to reject the loan modification offered by their bank. The attorneys-gone-bad claimed they could secure a better interest rate, a lower payment, and a principal reduction. In one case, a man was also told his second mortgage would be eliminated. Four months later, the man lost his home to foreclosure.

“Homeowners facing foreclosure are being targeted by predators, including those who use their law licenses to gain credibility and scam innocent Californians,” said California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris.

Harris is out to nail the scammers. “My office’s Mortgage Fraud Strike Force is dedicated full-time to cracking down on these deceptive practices,” she said.

Harris wants everybody to remember one thing: “Taking up-front fees for foreclosure consulting is illegal.”

Beware the sharks and pirates.

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June 6, 2012

How’s Your Bliss

Who knew there was an outfit called “Career Bliss,” which measures happiness in the workplace and publishes rankings every year? This year, according to the report, the most blissful person on the job is a realtor. Realtors were ranked Number One based on the Career Bliss survey which compiled “bliss points” based on answers to their questions.

I’ve known a few realtors in my time, and it’s true, they are friendly, helpful people who smile a lot, but blissful? Isn’t blissful a term traditionally reserved for otherworldly, metaphysical people, perhaps familiar with the lotus position?

I found a realtor, and she did appear somewhat otherworldly, but only because she was moving so fast her outline was blurry. She was not in the lotus position.

“So how’s your job these days?” I asked.

“What?” she said. “You know perfectly well how my job is. I have two listing appointments in the next two hours; two escrows that might be falling apart; I have three offers to present on properties with multiple offers already in place; and I have property inspections and appraisals lined up throughout the day. Why?”

“So how does that make you feel? Like blissful or anything?”

She stared into my eyes as if searching for something she was missing.

“Listen, I’m really busy,” she said, “I’m a little stressed and you’re starting to stress me out more.”

She turned to go and her outline was blurring again. “Wait!” I said. “I mean, how do you like your job?”

“You’ve known me for 20 years. You know perfectly well I love my job.”

“Well, you said yourself you’re stressing.”

“Thanks to you!”

“You’re welcome”

She narrowed her eyes and searched me one more time. She vibrated, blurred, and disappeared.

The CEO of Career Bliss, Heidi Golledge, said, “Real estate agents have definitely weathered quite a financial storm over the past few years. But right now interest rates are low and inventory is low, making it a real estate agent’s dream as new homes hit the market getting multiple offers in the first week. Real estate agents are very satisfied with the control they have over their daily tasks. The recent market growth also has made their job particularly rewarding.”

The realtors I know have been friendly, helpful people who have smiled a lot, before, during and after the “financial storm.”

We better look more closely at realtors – they may not know it, but apparently their smiles now contain an unworldly ingredient.

Bliss.

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May 30, 2012

Banks Busted for Bilking Soldiers

The National Mortgage Settlement to help struggling homeowners, in which $25 billion was negotiated with the five biggest banks as a fine for fraudulent mortgage practices, brings special help to members of the Armed Services:

  • Wrongful foreclosures: Bank of America, Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, and Ally have agreed to conduct a review, overseen by the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, to determine which service members were foreclosed on in violation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) since Jan. 1, 2006. The banks are required to provide any service member who was a victim of a wrongful foreclosure with a payment equal to their lost equity, plus interest, and an additional $116,785.

The compensation for service members is in addition to the $25 billion settlement.

  • Interest Charged in Excess of 6 percent: The banks have agreed to conduct a review, also overseen by the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, to determine whether any service member, from Jan. 1, 2008 to the present, was charged mortgage interest in excess of 6 percent after a request to lower the interest rate. The banks are required to pay a refund to service members, with interest. This compensation to service members is also in addition to the $25 billion settlement.
  • Veterans Housing Benefit Program: $10 million will be paid into the Veterans Housing Benefit Program Fund through which the Department of Veterans Affairs guarantees loans on favorable terms to eligible veterans. Many veterans with VA loans will be eligible for relief provided through the servicers’ $20 billion consumer relief obligations.
  • Foreclosure Protections for Servicemembers in Harm’s Way: The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act prohibits banks from foreclosing on active duty service members without first securing a court order. The settlement extends this protection to all service members, regardless of when their mortgage was secured, who within nine months of the foreclosure received Hostile Fire/Imminent Danger Pay and were stationed away from their home.

If you or anyone you know is a Member of the Armed Services, and may have been victimized by B of A, Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, or Ally, go to http://www.nationalmortgagesettlement.com, and follow directions.

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