Be Prepared: Crucial Updates to Bank of America’s Short Sale Process Coming April 13

April 6th, 2012 in CDPE by cdpe

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 [...]

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Bank of America Announces New Pilot Program

April 4th, 2012 in Alex Charfen by cdpe

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 [...]

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UPDATE: New Requirement for Bank of America Short Sales

March 22nd, 2012 in Alex Charfen by cdpe

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 [...]

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Lenders Providing Large Cash Incentives to Homeowners for Short Sales

February 26th, 2012 in CDPE by cdpe

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 [...]

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Obama Proposes Mortgage Refinancing Plan to Aid Millions of Homeowners

February 14th, 2012 in CDPE by cdpe

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 [...]

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U.S. Government Settles with Banks on Robo-Signing Scandal

February 10th, 2012 in CDPE by cdpe

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 [...]

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RealtyTrac: Foreclosures Set to Rise in 2012

January 18th, 2012 in CDPE by cdpe

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. [...]

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Freddie Mac Announces Up to 12-Month Forbearance for Unemployed

January 12th, 2012 in Alex Charfen by cdpe

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 [...]

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Where is the Real Estate Market Headed in 2012?

January 10th, 2012 in Alex Charfen by cdpe

On Thursday, Veros Real Estate Solutions released its VeroFORECAST real estate market forecast for the 12-month period ending Dec. 1, 2012. Their findings indicate “the national housing recovery will continue to be gradual and slow without any significant changes in markets.” Veros predicts up to four percent appreciation in the strongest markets, including Fargo and [...]

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Federal Reserve Recommends Short Sales Among Solutions to Housing Crisis

January 6th, 2012 in Alex Charfen by Alex Charfen

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 [...]

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Three Surefire Strategies to Multiply Your Short Sale Listings in 2012

January 3rd, 2012 in CDPE by cdpe

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 [...]

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Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac Announce an “Eviction Moratorium” for the Holidays

December 19th, 2011 in CDPE by cdpe

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 [...]

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Bank of America Announces HAFA Process Improvements

December 7th, 2011 in CDPE by cdpe

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 [...]

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Why are CDPE’s founders so passionate about saving families from foreclosure? Because they’ve been there.

November 28th, 2011 in Alex Charfen by cdpe

Sometimes we reach our greatest successes when we refuse to accept our failures as just that. In a revealing profile, the Westlake Picayune’s Dale Anderson takes an in-depth look at our founders Alex and Cadey Charfen’s humbling fall into bankruptcy and triumphant rise to success. After riding high on the South Florida housing boom, the [...]

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Report: Bank of America Plans 60-70% Increase in Short Sales Next Year

November 22nd, 2011 in CDPE by cdpe

Recently, CDPE author and Charfen Institute CEO Alex Charfen hosted an exclusive broadcast with Bob Hora, Senior Vice President of Mortgage Servicing at Bank of America Home Loans. Bob Hora provided insight into Bank of America’s evolving approach to managing their distressed mortgage portfolio, which includes plans to increase short sales by as much as [...]

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