Posted January 5th, 2011 by Sheila
If you are looking to sell your home, are you at a loss for where to begin? Maybe you have tried the For Sale By Owner thing and put a sign in your front yard and posted your listing on free websites such as Craigslist, but you just can’t seem to get the showings you expected and no offers have been presented. Selling a home is hard work and if you don’t have the resources or the know-how, you will have a tough time in this market. Of course, I feel that hiring a Realtor is essential in this market. If you are looking to do a short sale, a Realtor can help you tremendously and in most cases is absolutely essential in getting the deal done. The best part is it will cost you NOTHING. Realtors collect their commissions from the lenders and should not ask the seller for a single dollar to handle the sale.  If you are one of the lucky ones who can sell their home for a profit or even break-even, paying a Realtor to market and sell your home is well worth the price.
Contact us with any questions today at 813-841-2000 or via email at sheila@buytampafl.com.
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Tags: homeowners, short sale, Tampa Bay area real estate
Posted November 23rd, 2010 by Sheila
As of today, we have seen the 30-year fixed mortgage rate average in at around 4.3%. The big question is how long will this last? According to the National Association of Realtors Chief Economist, Lawrence Yun, there are two reasons interest rates are low. One is low inflation and the other are the Federal Reserve’s purchase of long-term bonds . Mortgage Backed Securities). The Fed announced recently that they may be purchasing MBSs (Mortgage Backed Securities), which will lower rates on all long-term loans. There is a possibility that mortgage rates could go even lower but will not more than likely go higher. This is good news for home buyers who are still on the fence. The current median price of a home in Hillsborough county is $186,300 (Q3 2010), with the expectation it will remain about the same in Q4. The first-time home buyer tax credit boost sales tremendously and sellers are currently feeling the backlash since it has expired. Of course, there is never a guarantee when it comes to interest rates, but for now, it looks like the low rates will be around for a while.
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For more information, please contact me at info@buytampafl.com
Looking for a new home? Search the Tampa Real Estate market for a list of all available homes in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area.
Tags: first time home buyer, hillsborough county, home buyers, interest rates, mortgage rates
Posted August 30th, 2010 by Sheila
The U.S. Treasury Department rolled out the Home Alternative Foreclosure Alternative (HAFA) in April 2010. This program is an add-on to the existing Home Alternative Modification Program (HAMP) that is supposed to guarantee a faster short sale approval and closing while guaranteeing the homeowner that they will not come after them for a deficiency or ask them to contribute either cash and/or a promissory note in order to obtain a short sale approval. The HAFA program is supposed to dramatically decrease the time it takes for a lender to issue a short sale approval. The traditional short sale takes anywhere from 60 to 180 plus days, which is frustrating to everyone involved. HAFA requires that the seller calls the lender before listing the property in order to see if they qualify for HAFA. If they qualify, the lender determines the listing price of the home and the homeowner is instructed to list the property with a Realtor. Once a buyer is found and a contract is submitted, the lender has 10 days to approve the contract. I have yet to complete a HAFA deal, but I am sure HAFA will become very prominent in the real estate world and look forward to a smoother transaction for my buyers and sellers.
HAFA is set up as an alternative to HAMP. Lenders would like to keep homeowners in their homes and would prefer to modify their mortgage in lieu of a short sale, but if the homeowner does not qualify for HAMP, lenders must offer a short sale in writing to the borrower within 30 days. Borrowers will receive a Short Sale Agreement and must respond to the lender within 14 days.
Why go HAFA?
- Quick response from lenders
- Borrowers will not be asked to contribute to short sale and lenders will not come after them for the deficiency.
- Borrowers will receive $3000 that will help with their move.
- 2nd lender is required to release borrower and has to accept 1st lender terms and a maximum of $6000.
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For more information, please contact me at info@buytampafl.com
Looking for a new home? Search the Tampa Real Estate market for a list of all available homes in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area.
Tags: borrowers, buyers, foreclosure, HAFA, HAMP, sellers, short sale
Posted December 11th, 2009 by Sheila
If you are one of the many homeowners struggling to make your mortgage payments and considering trying for a loan modification, don’t get your hopes up. To date, only approximately 31,000 homeowners have actually successfully completed a loan modification. That is only 4% of the actual amount of people who have done the paperwork and have tried to work with their lender. The government is fast-learning that the banks themselves are to blame. Good old Bank of America tops the list as the worst (surprise, surprise). Apparently lenders aren’t as concerned about foreclosures as they say because you would think they would make good use of the programs available and help homeowners stay in their homes by simply lowering the monthly payment. I certainly don’t think that a loan modification is the answer to all homeowners woes, but there are many that would benefit from an extra $500 a month and avoid a foreclosure.
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For more information, please contact me at info@buytampafl.com
Looking for a new home? Search the Tampa Real Estate market for a list of all available homes in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area.
Posted December 8th, 2009 by Sheila
The current way lenders handle short sales is very inefficient and frustrating for everyone involved in the process. It is very obvious to me, as a Realtor, that something needs to change. The short sale negotiation process currently takes anywhere from 90 to 180 plus days, during which time the house sits vacant and deteriorating. The Treasury Department recently released a new plan called the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative Program (HAFA) that may help to streamline the short sale nightmare. HAFA does not apply to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loans, but we are expecting a similar plan to come out soon from them. HAFA will allow the borrower to obtain short sale pre-approval prior to listing the property, which will hopefully drastically cut back on the amount of time a buyer has to wait for a response from the lender on an offer. Another main component that may help ease borrower’s minds, is the HAFA plan requires that borrowers are released from any future liability associated with the first mortgage (no cash required at closing, no promissory notes, or deficiency judgments). I know from my experience, the possibility of a seller getting a deficiency judgment has been a big issue.
Of course, HAFA is complicated (what government program isn’t?). The program contains 43 pages of guidelines and forms that are supposedly going to make a short sale easier. I guess we will see when the program officially rolls out April 5, 2010.
Tampa Real Estate | Tampa Foreclosures | Tampa Real Estate News | Tampa Real Estate Blog
For more information, please contact me at info@buytampafl.com
Looking for a new home? Search the Tampa Real Estate market for a list of all available homes in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area.
Tags: borrowers, buyers, foreclosure, sellers, short sale
If you are looking to sell your home, are you at a loss for where to begin? Maybe you have tried the For Sale By Owner thing and put a sign in your front yard and posted your listing on free websites such as Craigslist, but you just can’t seem to get the showings you expected and no offers have been presented. Selling a home is hard work and if you don’t have the resources or the know-how, you will have a tough time in this market. Of course, I feel that hiring a Realtor is essential in this market. If you are looking to do a short sale, a Realtor can help you tremendously and in most cases is absolutely essential in getting the deal done. The best part is it will cost you NOTHING. Realtors collect their commissions from the lenders and should not ask the seller for a single dollar to handle the sale.  If you are one of the lucky ones who can sell their home for a profit or even break-even, paying a Realtor to market and sell your home is well worth the price.
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