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Real Estate and Grief

It doesn't matter if REOs are here to stay or short sales are the new REOs. It's the sense of helplessness that it brings to the homeowners and agents alike.We are talking about the new revolution in real estate.

Will you be a fighter?

And yet, a new model of real estate snuck up on most of us. It started with a small band of rebels, the ones who threw away the old, tired rules and instituted fresh new ones. The rest of us stood by and watched, some of us in horror, some of us in awe, most of us hoping the rebellion would be short-lived, that soon we could return to the old model and the old way of doing things. But the rebels’ voices became louder and more strident.

They called it ‘The Short Sale Revolution’

Ultimately, we couldn’t do anything but notice.To notice, though, is not to accept.

First, we had to go through the 5 Stages of Grief.

Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance
At first, we entered a state of denial. This can’t be happening, we said to ourselves. And even if it is, it won’t last long.

Then we got angry ... good and angry. At the banks, at Wall Street, at Washington, at buyers, at sellers ... at the unfairness of it all. Why me? we whined. Why real estate? Why my profession? Why now?

Then we bargained for the old ways, stuck to our business models, and dug in our heels. Wishing and hoping all the while for everything to return to the way things used to be.

Towards the end, we became depressed, wondering if anything would ever be the same again. We experienced feelings of hopelessness and frustration. We mourned the loss of business and the putting off of dreams. We felt a lack of control and were confused about what to do next. Sometimes we cried. Other times we yelled and shook our fists at the sky.

Finally, realizing change was here to stay, we accepted the truth, and more importantly, understood it wasn’t our fault. We began to look for solutions. We started revising our business plans, throwing out what didn’t work, and trying new ways. During the process, we adapted to the way things are and not the way we wished them to be. We also learned that this is an ongoing process. If ‘this’ doesn’t work, maybe ‘that’ will. The learning curve is steep. The rules change constantly. We have to adapt every minute, every hour, every day. And we have to remember that we’re not only reinventing our business but reinventing ourselves.

What happens when foreclosures and short sales work their way out of the system ... one year, two years, three years from now? What then? Will all our hard work be wasted? Not in the least. Because we will have survived and become stronger for it. And we’ll be better at what we do.

It’s the dawn of a new era. Welcome it. Embrace it. Spit in its eye when you feel the urge. But keep on ‘keeping on’. The real estate market is here to stay, and so are we.

Need help in Southern California short sales, reos, loan modifications

call me

Carmen Cooley Graham 619 218 7390

Keller Williams

DRE # 012961519
Don't be a victim I am here to help.
www.Carmensellssandiego.com

carmencooleygraham@yahoo.com

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Quote: “This Supplemental Directive provides guidance to servicers for adoption and implementation of the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program (HAFA). HAFA is part of HAMP and provides financial incentives to servicers and borrowers who utilize a short sale or a deed-in-lieu to avoid a foreclosure on an eligible loan under HAMP.” November 30, 2009 the Obama White House released their “Introduction of Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives – Short Sale and Deed-in-Lieu of Foreclosure. Unlike much of Congress, I have read this document and want to highlight some features for you that you will want to be aware of. First, you can read the document for yourself by following this link, https://www.hmpadmin.com/portal/docs/hamp_servicer/sd0909.pdf which was provided by Tere Rice, a member of REOPro. These guidelines are a part of HAMP, the governments Home Affordable Modification Program and for servicers who participate in HAMP this directive does “require participating servicers to consider borrowers for other foreclosure prevention options, including Short Sale…” In essence, we now have a White House Directive to banks and servicers to use Short Sales as a tool to prevent foreclosure. You would think this was a no brainer however, now with this directive comes objectives and benchmarks. One of these benchmarks / objectives / procedures is, “The servicer accepts the short payoff in full satisfaction of the total amount due on the first mortgage” In other words, no deficiency judgments on first mortgages. The directive goes further and says, “With either the HAFA short sale or DIL (Deed-in-Lieu), the servicer may not require a cash contribution or promissory note from the borrower and must forfeit the ability to pursue a deficiency judgment against the borrower.” A second process change is the streamlining of the process. The directive allows utilization of all the borrowers information collected originally for HAMP consideration in conjunction with the Short Sale. It allows the borrower to receive PRE-APPROVED short sale terms prior to listing the property. It prohibits the servicer from requiring, as a condition of approving the short sale, a reduction in the real estate commission agreed upon in the listing agreement. Requires the borrower be fully released from any future liability for the debt. Provides incentives to borrowers, servicers and investors to cooperate as well as uses standard forms and documents. Now, we do have some requirements here and they are….. 1. Must be principal residence 2. The mortgage loan is a first lien mortgage orginiated on or before 1/1/09. 3. The mortgage is delinquent or default is reasonably foresseable. 4. Current unpaid principal balance is equal to or less than $729,750.00 and the borrowers total monthly payment exceeds 31 % of the borrowers gross income. 5. Lastly, the borrower must have been declined for HAMP or HAFA before Short Sale or DIL will be considered. Some other interesting things I read was the requirement that servicers notify borrowers that a Short Sale is an option. The servicer will have to independently assess the value of the property at the servicers expense. The home must have clear and marketable title. All decisions must be communicated to the homeowner in writing. It must explain why a short sale can’t be offered and give the homeowner the option to call the bank and discuss why. The servicer is required to provide the Minimum Net Proceeds hence, the Pre-Approval. The directive does have a lot of time lines requirements….really too many to log here in this blog so, it’s impearative you read this document before you do your next short sale. Some requirements extend all the way to the agent yourself so, you better be aware of how this is going down otherwise, you may find yourself on the wrong side of the directive. The best part is, “APPROVAL OR DISAPPROVAL OF SALE. Within 10 business days of receipt of the RASS and all required attachments, ther servicer must indicate it’s approval or disapproval of the proposed sale by signing the appropriate section of the RASS and mailing it to the borrower.” If you are wondering what a RASS is, then you better read the directive.
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