The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 was enacted on December 20, 2007. Generally, the Act allows an income tax exemption for a homeowner that has income realized as a result of a loan modification, short sale or foreclosure.

The Act is set to expire at the end of this year (December 31, 2012). This means that if anyone wishes to take advantage of the benefits of this Act, they must complete their modification, short sale or foreclosure on or before Dec 31, 2011.… Read the rest

If you have a home loan with Wachovia and are considering a short sale, reach out to us today to learn about Wachovia’s “Fast Track” short sale program.  The program was created by Wachovia to assist homeowners that have loans with World Savings, World FSB, Golden West Financial and of course Wachovia.  This new program has been streamlined to enable fast and easy processing of the short sale. 

This program was introduced statewide in 2010, yet very few Realtors® are aware of it.  The program was started by Wells Fargo after they aquired both Wachovia and World Savings bank.  They determined that it makes more sense financially for everybody involved to create a streamlined program to facilitate market value sales on loans that were issued by Wachovia, World Savings, and Golden West.  These loans were acquired at a discount, so they can afford to write these loans off of their books.… Read the rest

The December home sales numbers for San Diego came out and are a good reflection of how the overall market performed for 2011. Close to one third of all sales involved a foreclosure and about 20% of sales where a short sale.

The overall sales numbers were higher than a year ago, but still more than 20 percent below the average number of transactions for the month.… Read the rest

Senate Bill 458 – SB458 | Senate Bill 931 – SB931 | Short Sales Waiving Deficiency Rights and Forgiving Balances

Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Senate Bill 458 (SB458) on July 15th, 2011. This bill expands the anti-deficiency protection to all second lien residential mortgages on 1-4 unit properties. The bill prevents second mortgage holders from pursuing a borrower after the closing of a short sale for the remaining balance on a loan.… Read the rest

Bank of America sent an exciting email today, notifying everyone that they have updated their short sale procedure to now allow back up offers to be submitted if a buyer falls out.  Previously, the file needed to be declined and the process was started over. This is another big step Bank of America has taken to improve their short sale processing times.… Read the rest

Home prices hit new lows in March making it the lowest month in the housing market falling past the bottom reached two years ago.  And with prices falling again, some economists fear that the nation’s housing market could enter a new downward spiral with declines pushing more borrowers underwater, triggering more foreclosures and setting off further drops.  

Home prices in big metro areas have sunk to their lowest since 2002, the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city monthly index showed Tuesday, May 30th.… Read the rest

Another short sale was just closed with Chase. Although the property was located here in San Diego, our sellers lived in Colorado. Although they are located out of state, it does not cause a problem in getting the short sale approved.  All of the communications are handled via email/phone and the paperwork is done through FedEx.  Our sellers trusted us because we stayed in constant communication throughout the entire process.… Read the rest

Tax Consequences On A Short Sale or Foreclosure

 ** We are not tax experts. The information and examples provided below are for informational purposes ONLY. It will serve in a starting point to further investigate how a short sale or foreclosure may effect your taxes. We HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you consult a CPA and tax adviser regarding your tax obligations BEFORE you consider a short sale, deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure or foreclosure.… Read the rest

Bank of America Short Sale Letters – Deficiency vs. Non-Deficiency

If you are considering a short sale, or in the process of completing a short sale with Bank of America, you need to be aware of the two variations of the short sale approval letter they use. Not understanding the letter or having someone negotiate the short sale that doesn’t understand how to negotiate with Bank of America could potentially cost you thousands (or hundreds of thousands depending on your loan amount).… Read the rest

We just closed another file with Citimortgage on the first and Chase on the second. This family had experienced a reduction of income and were no longer able to keep current on their mortgage. They purchase the home in 2005 and had refinanced both of the loans.

2960 Alanwood Court, Spring Valley

The first mortgage balance was approximately $292,000 and the balance on the second was approximately $55,000.… Read the rest