Real Estate Professionals... are you staying informed and updated on the developments and guidelines regarding all alternatives to foreclosures in order to assist homeowners?
My recommended approach to serving your clients who are dealing with their own housing crisis and/or economic downturn is to be the conduit of information. Provide options and possible solutions as well as recommendations to other experts and professionals to help each individual make their best decision.
One of your initial qualifying questions is to ask the homeowner... "Do you want to keep/stay in your home?"
If the answer is yes, then consider recommending that the client...
- Contact their loan servicer to see if they qualify for a loan modification under HAMP or another program
- Visit the www.MakingHomeAffordable.gov website to learn more about HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program)
- Learn about their rights under the new Nevada legislation concerning the Nevada Foreclosure Mediation program (http://www.nevadajudiciary.us/index.php/foreclosuremediation)
If your client is unable to get loan modification, then a short sale may be an option for them. I encourage you to get educated on the short sale process if you haven't already done so. Steve Kitnick and I teach the CSP (Certified Short-Sale Professional) designation course in Las Vegas at least monthly. You can check the schedule and register for an upcoming course right here on this blog or at Steve's site: NevadaCE.com.
Here are some more resources, recent articles and news regarding Short Sales & Loan Modifications:
A link to an article on the new Treasury
Guidelines for Short Sales (HAFA):
Treasury Releases Guidance for Making Home Affordable Short Sales
Not effective until April 5, 2010. Unless participating servicers want to opt in early!
MakingHomeAffordable.gov
website is a MUST read/review. It's loaded with all the information
regarding loan mods under the HAMP program.... Who is eligible, Is the
Loan with Fannie or Freddie, How to request the Loan Mod, etc.
Did you know?......(from the site):
A wide array of servicers have agreed to participate in the Home
Affordable Modification program and have already engaged borrowers and
expanded capacity to begin the modification process for eligible
homeowners. In addition, all servicers for loans owned by Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac are required to participate. The following is a list of servicers who have formalized their commitment to the program through a signed contract:
Search for Your Mortgage Servicer: show all servicers
Other recent articles of interest:
Quarter of HAMP Mods in Default Again
Industry's Mortgage Workouts Exceed Completed Foreclosures, HOPE NO...
Bank of America: 2/3 of Borrowers May Lose Government Mods ....of the 65 thousand trial modifications set to expire Dec. 31st with B of A, a full two thirds of the borrowers, while current on their payments, have not submitted the full documentation required to turn a trial mod permanent under the HAMP guidelines.
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- DailyDose email from DSNews.com.
- Calculated Risk blog
- Bubble Meter blog
- Dr. Housing Bubble
