Buying and Selling Your Davis, CA Home with Keller Williams agent Carmen Isais

Whether you are facing foreclosure or simply need to reduce your payment, Mortgage Outreach Services can help and there is no out of pocket costs to you.

If you’re a homeowner worried about how to pay your mortgage, we can help you understand what options are available and which is the best fit for you:

Refinance: Getting out of your old loan and into a new one can free you from the instability of an adjustable mortgage by putting you into a low-rate fixed mortgage. Rates are at all-time lows, and loans can be extended to as long as 40 years to keep payments low.

Loan Modification: Having your lender modify your loan can reduce your interest rate and payment. In some cases, a lender will modify your loan to reduce the amount of your mortgage balance.

Short Sale: For homeowners in areas where prices have fallen dramatically, the best option may be a short sale. In a short sale, the lender agrees to accept less than the full amount of the mortgage so the property can be sold at the current market price.

As a borrower and homeowner, you have options.  Start by making a Consultation Request or call Carmen Isais directly at 530.601.1003. Let’s meet… once we have some basic information about your situation, we can work together and help you exercise your options.

Written by Carmen Isais

More and more lately the calls I am receiving from would be and past clients has to do with Foreclosure. Anyone who knows me knows that I make an effort to be positive. That being said, more people than I might care to admit are living on the edge of financial chaos. For some of these individuals, property ownership has become a financial burden and they call me with the same question. “What are the alternatives to foreclosure?”

While each case is different, here are my first two usual answers:

Contact the Lender

Before you walk away from your property, have a short sale or decided to return the deed to the bank in lieu of foreclosure, contact the holder of the note (the bank) to see what can be done that is in the best interest of all concerned.

In this market the lenders are more receptive to working out a new payment plan then to have another property on their books. Moreover, what looks good to you in the short term may appear differently when the market does come around and you were wishing you still had that property to sell.

Consider a Short Sale

If you are current on your mortgage and can remain so while your home sells, consider the short sale of your property before jumping ahead to foreclosure or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure.

Why?

Simply put, it makes more financial sense for YOU. Period.

Under the Fannie Mae Announcement 08-16 (released 06/26/2008), short sales or those engaging in pre-foreclosure sales will be cleared to borrow on another home via Fannie Mae in just two years from completion date of the short sale.

This may be painful, but two years is far preferable to the alternative of 5 to 7 years if the home goes to foreclosure and 4 to 7 years if one opts for deed-in-lieu of foreclosure.

One Important Note:

If you are wondering how an Short Sale will effect your credit score as opposed to how a foreclosure will effect it, know that all these alternatives ( foreclosure, short sales, and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure) are all “not paid as agreed” accounts, and considered the same by your FICO® score. This is not to say that these may not be better options for you from a financial perspective, just that they will be considered no better or worse for your FICO score.

Contact a Realtor…

… to help you through the process.
… to answer your questions.
… to talk to the bank on your behalf.
… to market and sell your home, NOW, before foreclosure is your only option.

In most cases of foreclosure I have personally seen, one common denominator has been a lack of resources. That is, the homeowners I know who have gone straight into foreclosure were simply not away of what alternatives where available to them. But, you are reading this article, so you don’t have the luxury of claiming ignorance.

Seriously…

These are all painful choices, I know.  And it is easy to avoid facing and dealing with an overwhelming situation. But, reaching out immediately can save you years of struggling and financial moratorium. If you or someone you know is facing the possibility of foreclosure, call me today at 530.601.1003 or otherwise contact me, Carmen Isais,  I can help.

Written by Darin Zabel

Are you falling behind in your mortage payment and confused as to what your options might be? First thing is first…call your lender and make other arrangements. 

Most Lenders don’t want to foreclose on your property and will be willing to work with you.

Very few items on your credit report hurt your score and ability to get approved at a good rate as lates on your Mortgage.

If you cannot make your house payments you should figure out why you can not make them. After you have figured out why you are unable to make your house payments, putting your home up for sale may be your best option. By putting your home up for sale this may salvage your credit rating and keep your credit history in tact. Also, you will be able to move into a much cheaper place that is affordable and will help you regain control of your finances. Consult a mortgage professional to see if there are any other options available.

The last thing you want to do is declare bankruptcy. The new laws that have gone into effect make this option even less appealing–and less effective in getting you out of your financial straits. The decision to sell your home might be quite stressful, but much less so than the alternatives.

And there is always the chance that the appreciation on your home might give you enough cash to start over again with a clean slate.

If you can not make your payments anymore and you have an FHA loan, then you might be able to get “Special Forbearance”. This means that your lender will arrange for a revised repayment plan which can include a temporary reduction or suspension of payments. To qualify under this program, you must have an increase in living expenses or an involuntary reduction in your income.

In the present troubled housing market, lenders are now under considerable pressure to cooperate in restructuring your mortgage if you have an adjustable rate mortgage with a rate increase approaching. For help with restructuring your loan feel free to give us a call! We have a list of lenders that have loss mitigation departments and we would be willing to speak to these departments on your behalf.

Darin Zabel
530.753.5657
www.lucentloans.com

Posted by Darin Zabel

For the first time in California’s history, foreclosure sales exceeded 1,000 properties per day in April, according to a report released Tuesday afternoon. Foreclosure sales at auction — the last step in the foreclosure process — jumped 44 percent in April to 22,838 sales, representing $9.45 billion in combined loan value, according to foreclosure data firm ForeclosureRadar.

The vast majority of properties sold at auction received no third party bids, despite ever-increasing discounts from lenders anxious to prevent further build-up in REO inventories.

Average discounts at auction hit 25 percent in April, ForeclosureRadar said, but nearly half of all properties taken to foreclosure sale even offered discounts of 30 percent or more from the current loan balance. The majority of these loans were 80 percent LTV first mortgages, making discounts of 40 to 50 percent from the prior sales price common in many parts of the state — and yet, almost nobody bid on the properties, forcing lenders to add to their already bloated REO books.

The largest discounts offered in major Southern California counties were in luxe Santa Barbara, where properties auctioned off at a 29 percent discount, and Riverside, where the discount averaged 28 percent for the month. Even Orange County — home to such glitzy locales as Newport Beach and Laguna Beach — saw lender bids at foreclosure sales average 21 percent less than the amount originally owed.

“We expected a significant increase in auction sales based on previous default patterns,” said Sean O’Toole, founder of ForeclosureRadar. “Unfortunately, the continued increases in defaults tell us that the worst is still ahead.

“It is time for lenders to accept this reality, and start approving short sales rather than forcing more than two-thirds of troubled homeowners through the entire foreclosure process.”

New borrower defaults, referenced by filings of Notices of Default, increased slightly from March’s numbers to set another new record high, reaching 44,101 new filings during April. Notices of Trustees Sale, issued approximately 3 months following a Notice of Default, jumped 7.8 percent in April — surpassing the previous record with a total of 29,892 new filings.

Lenders added 22,324 properties to their real estate owned inventory in April, ForeclosureRadar said, and are increasing REO on their books an average of 1.36 times faster than they can sell the properties in inventory, O’Toole said. Amazingly, and in a sign that foreclosures are spreading to every part of the state, foreclosure sales nearly doubled in both Marin County — a 96 percent increase — and Orange County, up 82 percent in just one month alone. Orange County posted 1,133 foreclosure auctions during April.

For more information, visit http://www.foreclosureradar.com.

Posted by Carmen Isais

A short sale is, simply put, the sale of a home where the proceeds of the sale are less than the amount still owed on the house. Say a home has a fair market value of $400,000, but the amount owed on the property is $475,000…. should that house go to market the current owners wouldn’t receive enough money from the sale of the home to cover the indebtedness and would therefore be “short” the cash to pay the bank.But, what about Davis short sales?

Where are they?

By large, the short sales and foreclosed properties we have in Yolo county are predominately in the cities of Woodland and West Sacramento. Why this is, is perhaps a matter for debate. In general I can safely say it boils down to resources, both financial and otherwise. I have out of state clients, for instance, who purchased Davis property less than three years ago when the California real estate market was at an all time high. This home was purchased for a child who attends U.C. Davis, but now he has graduated and has moved to Oregon. The Davis home is now vacant and they want to sell. The home was originally purchased for almost $600,000. But, today the property might only resell in the high $400,000.

I break this news to them, and while they are disappointed, they decide to wait. Why? Simply put, they can afford to. The cost to them and their credit outweighs the financial burden of carry two mortgages. This sort of luxury is not very common and in any other case they family would be forced to sell via a short sale.

Now, the above is hardly a thorough explanation of what is happening in the Northern California short sale market, but instead serves as an example of why Davis real estate investing is different.

Do we see short sales in Davis? Yes, in any market short sales and foreclosures occur everywhere. But, due to the very small numbers of these type home sales in Davis, we are unlikely to see Davis home auctions and the like. In real numbers, there were a total of 13 short sales and foreclosed property for sale in Davis last year.

While notices of defaults due occur more often, these situations are usually quickly remedied by a traditional home sale or by the owner’s outside resources.

I receive weekly updated lists of served notices of defaults in Davis, Woodland, and the surrounding area. If you, or someone you know, is interested in learning more about short sales, foreclosures or NOD’s, don’t hesitate in contacting me directly at 530.601.1003.