The WeBuyTucsonHomes Blog

The same scam artist story is repeating itself over and over again.  If you are in foreclosure and need help there are plenty of places to go.  WeBuyTucsonHomes will be glad to help answer any question you may have regarding the process, how to delay or even stop the foreclosure, or assist you in finding a reputable place for a loan modification.  One thing any reputable company will never do is charge an upfront fee.  Your scam alarm should be going off if someone is offering to stop or delay your foreclosure but they want hefty upfront fees.  Many times a company will receive money from the bank for helping to modify the loan, also there are plenty of government sponsored entities that will assist you with no fees.  It sickens me to see the scams so prevalent in the area.

Arizona republic reports

Foreclosure-rescue scams have shot up 30 percent in Arizona during the past few months.

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard delivered that startling statistic last week at the Arizona Foreclosure Prevention Task Force meeting. It was the right crowd to engage about the growing problem.

“Firms are contacting homeowners on the verge of foreclosure, offering help and instead taking the money the homeowner has,” Goddard said. “We have a real obligation to find these people and prosecute them.”

The latest foreclosure-rescue scam involves loan modifications, the program that’s the backbone of the federal housing plan announced in February. In a loan modification, a lender and homeowner work out a deal to cut interest rates and even principal on mortgages of homes in danger of foreclosure.

Free counselors, certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, are available to help homeowners work with lenders. Arizona homeowners can call the state’s foreclosure hotline at 877-448-1211 to find a counselor. There also are reputable private firms, run by attorneys, mortgage brokers and real-estate agents, offering loan-modification help.

But a growing number of scam artists that have joined the scene, promising help, taking hefty upfront fees and then leaving homeowners on their own.

Data released last week shows mortgage companies have made more than 55,000 offers to modify loans since the program was launched in March. There are 14 companies, which service about 75 percent of all U.S. mortgages, signed up to do loan modifications.

The federal program was expanded to help people who can’t afford their mortgages and don’t qualify for a loan modification. They may be able to still avoid foreclosure by using new streamlined processes for short sales or deeds in lieu. Like with modifications, lenders and borrowers can get $1,000 or more to work out deals to avoid foreclosure.

The different federal housing programs continue to confuse many homeowners and servicers at lenders agreeing to participate, slowing the process.

“What is needed is a coordination of policies between all lenders on both the modification and refinancing programs,” said Jay Luber, Galaxy Lending president.

The Arizona Daily Star ran an article reporting the increased foreclosure sales figures for Pinal county.  According to the article 45% of the existing home sales in Pinal county were foreclosure driven.   That means of the 3,355 home sale transactions 1,515 were from foreclosure.  I can’t find any mention of Pima county but will be on the lookout.

Time and time again, more and more economic pundits and real estate experts keep pushing the housing recovery back.  They gloriously state the recovery will start in the next few months, and everyone should be preparing to buy a house as you won’t see another opportunity like this again in your lifetime!  Then the next month’s real estate home sales reports reveal the facts that any home seller already knows.  The recovery hasn’t begun, more houses are on the market, the average price is dropping, foreclosures are at an all time high, and the banks who are supposed to lend money - aren’t.

While all this news is piling on there are still multiple “the sun will come up tomorrow” real estate professionals out there who will give you an exaggerated price expectation to receive your business.  Many times when a homeowner contacts me about purchasing their home, they will give me a price that a real estate professional has derived for them.  Often that price is based on the average price of homes for sale.  Not the average price of homes sold.  This is an easy statistical switch that has been used for years, and usually sets the homeowners up for home selling failure.

In this market if you want to sell your home quickly, it has to provide an incentive for the buyer.  Most often that incentive is a low purchase price.  When you are deciding what price to sell your home, ask for a list of all the homes that have sold, not the homes that are listed.  You are going to want to set the starting price of your home 1-3% below the lowest comparable home sale.  That will help to generate interest and the feedback should let you know if the house is overpriced and needs a price reduction.  Here is some advice that was offered by a real estate professional.

Advice to homeowners: If you need to sell and you’re not getting much interest, cut the price by an extreme amount. If you make halfhearted cuts, you’ll remain overpriced and you’ll follow the market all the way to the bottom. Advice to buyers: Bargain hard. Many sellers are still asking for too much. “As tough as our market’s been, the toughest thing is to get sellers to understand that prices aren’t going up 18 percent to 20 percent a year anymore,” says Ned Redpath, head of Coldwell Banker Redpath & Co. Realtors in Hanover, N.H.

Sometimes now matter how many reductions or incentives to buy a home -there just won’t be a buyer for a home, and that is where our company can step in and provide a solution for you, the homeowner.  If you have listed your property with no success or you just need a quick solution to selling your home, that is where WeBuyTucsonHomes can help!

From CNN Business

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The Dow has shed thousands of points and the global economy is in crisis.

So who wants to buys a house right now? Not many people, it turns out.

The National Association of Home Builders, for instance, has seen its contract cancellations spike recently to as high as 30%, compared with an average rate of about 20%. During the housing boom, as few as 5% of sales were cancelled.

“The events of the past couple of weeks have people’s heads spinning,” said Steve Melman, NAHB’s director of economic surveys.

The National Association of Realtors estimates that about 25% of the clients its members are working with are staying on the sidelines. They’re looking at homes and intend to buy at some point, but right now they’re worried about their jobs, their declining investments and falling housing prices.

“You have to have a lot of confidence to make this kind of big-ticket purchase in the current environment,” said NAR spokesman Walter Molony.

If your house is for sale currently you might have thought it was going to sell only to fall out later. If you decide to sell you home to us at WeBuyTucsonHomes.com you won’t have to worry about the sale being canceled. We are committed to purchasing you home once we write a contract. Call us today to receive a free offer on your home!

~Caleb

Mr. Mortgage mentions GetGreenCredit.com as a viable mortgage modification company that may help you reduce your principal balance, and lower your interest rate to 2-3%. I haven’t heard of GetGreenCredit.com and I don’t endorse the company, but if you owe more on your house than its worth (if you purchased or refinanced in the last few years, the chances are high your loan is more than what your house is worth.) it might be worth your time to contact them. Be sure to research the company, and maybe even contact other debt settlement companies to compare their offerings.

Here is the Mr. Mortgage video. It runs 10 minutes and he speaks about GetGreenCredit.com starting at the 7 minute mark.

As always if you need to sell your house quickly contact WeBuyTucsonHomes.com today and we will answer all of your questions.

Caleb

Many mortgage companies have started programs to outline what type of risk a home mortgage contains dependent on the zip code.  This translates to home buyers having to pay an extra 5% or more on their down payment.  For some home buyers this will keep them on the sidelines as an extra 5% of a $200,000 home is $10,000.  With tightening lending standards this could mean buyers may need to come up with 25% or more!

These new standards can be attributed to the declining market conditions, the multiple month supply of homes on the market, and many home owners ready to walk away from their homes.  As banks try to avoid getting caught with a mortgage balance more than the value of the home, these lending practices become a self fulfilling prophecy.  Many want to be homebuyers do not have the additional 5% down payment so they will sit on the sidelines.  The homeowners trying to sell their homes have no buyers so they will be forced to lower their prices, thus bringing down the average home selling price and turning many homeowners upside down on their mortgages. 

In another note, the National Association of Realtors has changed their prediction of prices being flat in 2008, to a slight decline of 1.2%  This is still the most optimistic prediction of several investment firms.  Merrill Lynch has a 15% drop in home prices this coming year, while many others think 15% will be a minimum drop.  This could leave even more homeowners with mortgage balances exceeding their home values. 

It’s not a pretty market out there, but if you need to sell your home and if you believe you are upside down in the market, then we can help you.  WeBuyTucsonHomes.com is an investment company that specializes in helping homeowners that need to sell their home quickly.  We have multiple years experience in dealing with banks and homeowners who are in a situation that calls for them to sell quickly.

According to recent research posted in a New York Times article, if you are not yet behind on your payments but are about to be, it is now tougher to contact your mortgage company when trying to negotiate a short sale. 

… it is possible to get a feel for what is happening on the ground from a new survey of 2,400 real estate agents sponsored by Inside Mortgage Finance Publications. The survey taps into the outlook of people who see troubled borrowers firsthand, when they try to sell their homes before foreclosure occurs.

For example, agents participating in the survey confirmed what many borrowers say: that loan servicers are downright unresponsive. This is especially true when distressed owners try to sell their homes before being put through the trials of foreclosure. When they sell at a price that is lower than the outstanding mortgage debt, that is known as a short sale.

Asked how servicers could streamline such sales, one said: “Allow you to go directly to the loss mitigation department without having to speak or argue with eight people before they finally give in and transfer you.” Another said: “Respond to offers within five business days — they are killing the market by taking upwards of three months to respond to an offer.”

A third participant said: “Answer their phone, make it easier to talk with the appropriate people, instead of playing Mickey Mouse games. I have never understood why these companies who are owners of a defaulted loan do not make it easier to communicate with agents who are trying to sell these homes.”

A few months ago mortgage companies were holding press conferences to announce great new programs developed to work with homeowners who were at high risk for foreclosure.  They would talk about “streamlined” processes, willingness to help modify loans, even help to reduce payments all to keep the homeowner in their house.  But now research has come out that many banks have not taken this course, and it appears they now have an adversarial relationship with the homeowner who is trying to do the right thing and let the banks now they are not going to be able to make payments on their home.

Where does this leave the homeowner who has realized they are no longer going to be able to afford payments on their home?  Unfortunately they are left in the same situation as before and will have to work through the process of contacting the bank, getting in contact with the loss mitigation department, then trying to find a buyer for their property. 

The article shows, that even large banks still have human components that make the decisions, and it is always best to try and take a “friendly” approach opposed to an adversarial “me vs. the bank.”  I have found just having common courtesy and being patient is much better than taking a hard stance and demanding a bank work something out. 

If you are a homeowner and find that you are about become behind in your payments, or already behind please contact WeBuyTucsonHomes.com to receive a free consultation and free offer on your home.  There is never a charge and everything is strictly confidential.

~Caleb

According to an article from cnn.com:”

“The group’s forecast released Tuesday also no longer sees even a modest rebound in existing home prices this year, as it had previously forecast, and pushed back the estimate of a full-year uptick in prices to 2009.

 The National Association of Realtors’ Pending Home Sales Index, which measures the level of sales agreements, fell 2.6 percent to 87.6 in November, turning lower after two months of modest improvement from a record low hit in August. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast only a 0.8 percent decline.”

The article quoted is optimistic about home prices stabilizing in the coming year, and beginning in 2009 starting to rebound higher.  I believe the recovery will take longer than the National Association of Realtors is predicting.

One reason is a simple measure of how many homes are being taken back by the banks.  If you look at a blog dedicated to tracking how many homes CountryWide Financial has taken back, you will see that they are having trouble selling homes to get them off the books.  In simple economics means supply is greater than demand at the current prices.  Once I start to see the chart leveling off for more than a couple of months I would look to call a bottom, but for now a lot of homes owned by mortgage companies are overpriced.

How can you use the above information?

• If you are facing foreclosure act quick to sell your home.  The further behind on payments you become, the higher your starting asking price will have to be to repay your loan.

• If you have equity in your home and need to sell quickly, you might start with a lower asking price compared to all the other homes in the neighborhood.  You can always contact us at  webuytucsonhomes.com for an offer to purchase your home.
• If you have no equity and need to sell your home, ask your lending company if they will work with you to obtain a short sale.  Webuytucsonhomes.com can also help you negotiate with your bank if you want us to buy your home!
• If you aren’t planning on moving in the next 4 years, stay in your home!  There are many extra costs associated with buying a new home and they can quickly add up.  There is also a chance that interest rates are going to be going lower, so it maybe better to try and refinance at a lower rate in the future!

I hope these help and if you ever have any questions about real estate or selling your home, please contact us at WeBuyTucsonHomes.com!

~Caleb

Fair Isaac’s Revamped FICO Aims to Forgive Small Slips,Punish Repeat Offenders

Blogger goes in-depth and makes looming prediction for the Housing Markets

Hovnanian: 40% Cancellation Rate

Could credit card debt be part of the reason Homeowners are entering foreclosure?

Case- Shiller median home price data show an astounding downturn!

If you have any questions about selling your home or investment property quickly give us a call today or contact us via the web at www.webuytucsonhomes.com

Happy Holidays!

~Caleb

Recently I was called to speak with some people who had been served with a Notice of Sale. While driving out to the community, I started to notice more and more signals homes had long been vacated. The subdivisions were newer, about 4-5 different builders, and most of the homes being built in the past 3 years. How could these new homes become vacant so quickly? We will find that out latter.

After the meeting I decided to drive the neighborhood to get a feel for the type of homeowner that would like to live in this particular subdivision. The neighborhood was newer, housing prices had been in the 250,000 range, but prices now were sharply dropping.

Touring the neighborhood for a few minutes I ran into blocks and blocks of empty lots. There were about 3 homes built for every 20 empty lots. The sales office for the builder wasn’t even open on a weekend, looking up the sales on the local MLS site revealed 22 homes for sale in a 1/4 mile radius. Not only were these homes for sale, but 1/4 of them mentioned a short sale in their listings.

So when the struggling homeowners decided to sell not only were they limited by their own mortgage company, but they were competing against a builder who was releasing homes at prices lower than the previous year. This could be the reason why so many homes were vacant. Coupled with ARM’s resetting and the builder reducing prices, the only choice for the homeowners was foreclosure.

This would set the scene for crimes described in this CNN article. Crime scene: Foreclosure I honestly hope Tuscon does not see a crime spree from the recent empty foreclosures. A good way to avoid having empty homes in your neighborhood is to contact We Buy Tucson Homes

Do you know a family member, a friend or co-worker, or someone in your neighborhood who is facing foreclosure? If so please have them contact We Buy Tucson Homes! We will do our best to keep them in their home, and the house from becoming vacant for a long period of time.