Real Estate Investing
Which Lenders are the Fastest for Short Sales?
Sunday, April 29th, 2012 | Bank owned, Foreclosures, Pre-foreclosure, Real Estate Investing, Short Sales | No Comments
RealtyTrac recently put together a list outlining which lenders/servicers move through the short sale process the fastest and the cheapest. The frontrunners? Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and FHA have the shortest timelines with 193 days, followed by Ally Financial at 321 days and PNC Financial at 353 days.
The short sale timeline being used as a measure starts as soon as the property begins the foreclosure process to the date it is sold as a pre-foreclosure. The new guidelines instituted by the GSEs, which call for a decision within 30 days, will surely change the game. BOA followed quickly by implementing a 20-day short sale decision timeline. As far as pricing goes, the GSEs again lead the way, selling homes for the least amount, averaging just over $128,000.
Read the complete article here.
”I’ll Take a Case of Water, A Flat-Screen TV and a Mortgage”
Sunday, April 29th, 2012 | Foreclosures, Real Estate Investing | No Comments
Wholesale clubs truly are becoming one-stop shops for everything you need… giant boxes of cereal, lawn furniture, bulk toiletries, and now… mortgages. After testing for a year, Costco is launching a full-service mortgage lending program on its website, in conjunction with First Choice Bank and 10-other lenders. To date, the lending partners have issued over 10,000 mortgages to Costco members. That number is expected to grow substantially once they begin aggressively marketing the service to their millions of members.
Club members can go to the company’s website and enter their information, and within minutes, receive offers from four lenders. Everything is known upfront – rates, terms and closing costs. You may remember hearing about this offering from Costco a few years ago, but their chosen service provider would not disclose enough details about dealing with the Costco members, so Costco started from scratch, partnering with First Choice Bank. While the Costco site gathers offers from multiple lenders, the identity of the Costco member is not revealed until a lender’s offer is officially chosen.
To read more, click here.
Call Ghostbusters or the Landlord?
Sunday, April 22nd, 2012 | Real Estate Investing | No Comments
If you’ve ever invested in rental property and acted as a landlord, you know that there are a lot of issues that come up with tenants that you have to deal with. But this one is a little more unusual, to say the least. A couple in New Jersey is suing their landlord to return their $2,250 deposit because they claim the house is haunted. Their landlord is countersuing, saying the couple broke their lease.
The couple claims there are all sorts of ghostly happenings in the house, from unexplained sounds, lights turning on and off by themselves, doors opening and closing and clothing being strewn on the floor. They even claim to have seen an apparition one night. As a result of the “personal financial troubles,” they are unable to pay their rent. They even called in a team of ghostbusters (who concluded paranormal activity, but not a true haunting). The landlord, on the other hand, claims the couple is just in over their head financially. This is one situation I hope I never have with my own tenants!
For the complete article, click here.
Foreclosures Bring Profits for Many Market Sectors
Sunday, April 22nd, 2012 | Bank owned, Foreclosures, Real Estate Investing | No Comments
You’ve heard me say it before – there’s big money to be made in this very difficult housing market. Foreclosures are aplenty, with an equally high number of people ready to buy or rent the property on the other side, once you figure out your exit strategy. My home town of Cleveland is one of those markets where the opportunity is ripe. Home prices are low, but rental rates remain high. In fact, investors can quickly recoup their money, often in well under a year.
The biggest challenge can be making sure you have enough investment capital to fund your foreclosure purchases (which is something I can help you with, too). In addition to helping build the profits for investors, buying and fixing up foreclosures boost many different segments including cleanup and repair of the properties, as well as maintenance and property management.
To read more, click here.
Short Sale Timeline Requirements Set By GSEs
Sunday, April 22nd, 2012 | Bank owned, Foreclosures, Real Estate Investing | No Comments
This is big news for real estate investors, specifically anyone who does short sales. As of June 15, real estate agents working on short sale offers with loans backed by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae should expect to receive a decision on the short sale within 15-30 days. This is part of the overall process to incorporate more transparency in the short sale process and speed things up.
If more than 30 days will be necessary, the servicers must provide weekly status updates, and reach a decision within 60 days from the offer. In turn, the borrower has some timelines to contend with, too. If the servicer provides a counteroffer, they will need to respond within five days.
Read the complete article here.
Foreclosure Starts Down, Loan Performance Up
Sunday, April 15th, 2012 | Bank owned, Foreclosures, Real Estate Investing | No Comments
According to a report released by LPS Applied Analytics, loan performance was up and foreclosure starts down compared to the previous month. Despite this, foreclosure rates are near historic high rates but delinquency rates are at the lowest point since August 2008.
Foreclosure starts are down over 15%, with foreclosure inventory at 4%. That may seem low, but compare it to December 2005, when the rate was only .5%. “The national pipeline ratios – 90-plus delinquencies and foreclosures divided by the 6-month average of foreclosure sales – continued to decline.” These rations are higher in the Northeast, specifically New York and New Jersey. Foreclosure sales dropped in both judicial and non-judicial states. The average foreclosure pipeline in judicial states is 84 months, while New York is 846 months and New Jersey 772 months. “Cure rates for all types of loans, including one-month delinquencies to foreclosure initiated loans, were higher. Additionally, repeat foreclosures decreased 8%on a month-over-month basis.”
To read more, click here.
Single Family Rental Investments Thrive
Sunday, April 15th, 2012 | Bank owned, Foreclosures, Real Estate Investing | No Comments
If you’re a real estate investor in northeast Ohio, then this is great news for you. If you’re in a market in Florida or the Midwest, the news is equally as good. According to CoreLogic’s MarketPulse report, these markets yield the highest single-family rental cap rates.
In the last five years, 3 million former homeowners have been turned into renters due to foreclosures. Right now, single-family rental investing is a $3 trillion market, with single-family rental units accounting for 52% of the residential rental market. So where are the most attractive markets for single-family rental investing? West Palm Beach, FL tops the list with 12.4%, followed closely by Cleveland with 12.3%, Ft. Lauderdale at 12%, Chicago with 11.6%, and Las Vegas with 11.4%. During the recession, single-family rents actually increased during the recession, while home values still decreased, making a perfect situation for investors.
For the complete article, click here.
FHFA Director Supports HAMP Principal Reductions
Sunday, April 15th, 2012 | Bank owned, Foreclosures, Real Estate Investing | No Comments
Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency Edward DeMarco released preliminary findings from an FHFA analysis earlier this week, and stated, “principal reductions done under large incentive payments from the Treasury Department would save Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac enough money to begin an umbrella write-down program,” – up to $1.7 billion.
Despite this, DeMarco stressed that strategic defaults could quickly erase any benefit. When looking at 700,000 borrowers, it’s predicted that Freddie and Fannie could lose $63.7 billion if the loans aren’t modified. “With the tripled incentive payments to reduce principal under HAMP, the losses would be $53.7 billion if some principal is forgiven.” Reducing the principal would save the GSE’s $1.7 billion, at a cost of $2.1 billion to taxpayers for the program.
Read the complete article here.
Yours for Only $10,000
Friday, April 6th, 2012 | Bank owned, Foreclosures, Real Estate Investing | No Comments
I am so excited to call this article to your attention because it’s something we’ve known for a long time – that this is a great time to be a real estate investor. While the housing bust has created a lot of challenges, there are also a ton of opportunities. There are literally thousands of homes on the market today priced at or below $10,000!
Most of these bargain-basement priced homes are foreclosures, and some are just considered worthless. According to Realtor.com, in the 10 largest metro areas, there are at 100-200+ homes in this price range. Seventeen more have at least 100 homes available for $15,000 or less. But in order to turn these opportunities into money in your pocket, it’s important to understand the community and any housing recovery plan or programs that may be in place. As we say, focus on your sweet spot and do your research. A successful investor is a smart investor.
To read the complete article, click here.
Housing Prices Expected To Rise by 2013
Friday, April 6th, 2012 | Bank owned, Foreclosures, Real Estate Investing | No Comments
According to the recent Real Estate Consensus Forecast conducted by the Urban Land Institute, home prices are expected to increase in 2013, with housing starts nearly doubling by 2014. Housing prices are expected to stabilize his year, and then increase by 2% next year, followed by 3.5% in 2014.
The rate of unemployment is expected to continue falling, with the GDP growing. Inflation and interest rates will continue to rise, which will increase costs for investors. Survey results do not anticipate substantial increases in real estate capitalization rates for institutional-quality investments, expected to hold at 6%. While this steady growth is encouraging, we can’t take our eyes off some impending global and national events which could provide influence, including the upcoming presidential election, Europe’s debt crisis, major international elections and tightening financial regulations.
Read the complete article here.
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