Blog Home > Short Sales
On April 2, Bank of America announced the latest round of changes to their short sale process. The changes, aimed at streamlining and expediting the process, include new requirements for initiating a short sale and changes to Equator. Beginning April 13, 2012, Bank of America will require the following five forms to be submitted to [...]
Last month, Bank of America announced a pilot program that will provide some distressed property homeowners with a new foreclosure alternative. This new “Mortgage to Lease” program will allow homeowners facing foreclosure to remain in their homes by converting from home ownership to rental. In this program, participating homeowners will transfer their home titles to [...]
ATTENTION Agents! In October’s CDPE Industry Broadcast with Bob Hora, SVP Mortgage Servicing Executive at Bank of America Home Loans, Hora affirmed Bank of America’s commitment to streamlining their short sale process. In keeping with this commitment, Bank of America is simplifying their third-party authorization process for short sales. On March 20, Bank of America [...]
For awhile now, we’ve instructed agents on government incentives available to distressed homeowners who opt to do short sales. Such programs include the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program, which provides up to $3,000 to assist the borrower with relocation fees. In recent news, major publications including USA TODAY and CNNMoney have spotlighted the incentives [...]
The Obama administration announced its latest plan to help troubled homeowners, enabling an estimated 3.5 million underwater mortgage holders to refinance at today’s historically-low interest rates. However, experts speculate the proposal—which is expected to cost up to $10 billion and would be paid for by imposing a fee on major banks—could have a difficult time [...]
Yesterday, the Justice Department and 49 out of 50 state Attorneys General announced a settlement agreement with 5 of the nation’s largest banks in the Robo-signing and Mortgage Service Fraud scandal that first came to light in late 2010. The settlement, worth $25 billion dollars, was the largest government negotiated industry settlement since the Tobacco [...]
Current studies show that over 6 million homeowners in the country are potentially facing foreclosure. However, initiating the conversation to find out if a homeowner needs your services can sometimes be uncomfortable or even offensive. That’s why we have a refined a script that works well in any situation, whether you are on the phone [...]
There’s both good news and bad news on the foreclosure front. The good news? According to RealtyTrac’s Year-End 2011 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™, total U.S. foreclosure activity and the foreclosure rate were both at their lowest annual level since 2007. The bad news? Foreclosure levels were artificially lowered due to delays following the robo-signing scandal. [...]
Effective Feb. 1, Freddie Mac is giving mortgage servicers expanded authority to provide six months of forbearance to unemployed mortgage holders without prior approval, and an additional six months (12 months total) with prior approval. This new policy essentially doubles the previously offered forbearance period. It’s important to note: This applies to Freddie Mac-owned or [...]
In an effort to shorten overall cycle times, Bank of America has reduced the window for submitting a backup offer on a short sale from 14 days to eight days after the initial offer becomes invalid. Once a backup offer becomes necessary: Contact your short sale specialist immediately to let him or her know you [...]
On Jan. 4, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sent a letter and white paper to Congress outlining his insights and recommendations on restoring the health of the U.S. housing market. Among the key findings on current market conditions: Housing prices remain 33% below their early 2006 peak Currently, 1 in 5 mortgage holders are underwater [...]
With 1 in 10 homeowners not paying their mortgage—and Major Lenders predicting huge increases in short sale closings in 2012—savvy agents are finding new and creative ways to find and attract distressed property listings. A great place to start your outreach campaign is a list of NODs. Notices of Default, or NODs, are legal notices [...]
On Dec. 21, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released its latest report, which shows delinquencies remained elevated during the third quarter of 2011. The number of new foreclosures increased by 21 percent during the quarter, partly due to servicers lifting the voluntary “foreclosure freeze” implemented in late 2010 as a result of [...]
The holiday season should be a magical time of year. However, for a growing number of families, the usual holiday celebrations are trumped by financial troubles, foreclosure and the looming threat of eviction. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac offered some relief to such families by announcing an “Eviction Moratorium” through January 2, 2012. During this [...]
In an effort to reduce cycle time and improve customer service, Bank of America (BOA) announced several changes to their Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) short sale process, which agents should be aware of. Highlights include: When a short sale is submitted with an offer and the homeowner is HAFA eligible, BOA will no longer [...]
Enter Email to Subscribe to RSS Feed
