destin florida foreclosure

Can I do a deed in lieu of foreclosure instead of a short sale? How does that work?

A deed-in-lieu is sometimes considered by a lender instead of a foreclosure if the lender believes that doing so would result in less financial loss to them. Such may be the case if the property’s value and mortgage balance are similar. Properties with second mortgages and/or large unpaid assessments and/or judgments are not typically good candidates. 

The good news is that in the case of a deed-in-lieu, the lender will likely agree to not pursue you for a deficiency later, regardless how much loss they eventually suffer on the deal. Otherwise, (at least in Florida) a lender would have up to five years to pursue you. Your credit score will of course be negatively impacted, and it will be extremely difficult for you to obtain a home loan for a minimum of two years after the fact.

Is it possible to do a short sale when there is a second mortgage on the property?

Yes it is possible, but there can be twice as much work to do and more time required to get the short sale approved. Additionally, it is very important that the second mortgage not go more than ninety days in arrears. That is because as a matter of policy, many lenders will assign their seconds to a collection agency after three months of missed payments. These collection companies can be extremely difficult to work with and have been known to kill many a short sale.

If the first mortgagee in a foreclosure sale is “upside down”, meaning the value is less than the first mortgage balance, then the mortgageee in second position gets absolutely nothing.  Even so, many of these collection companies will make insane and unreasonable demands. As a typical example, one such collection company recently demanded $30,000 on a $60,000 second mortgage from the short sale seller who was basically destitute. This seller had lost his job, had spent every dollar of savings trying to keep up his payments. He had nothing left. He could no more come up with $30,000 than the man in the moon.
 
In that case, the first mortgagee was already taking a huge hit, writing off nearly $100,000. The first offered the collection agency in second position $5,000 to settle. The collection company would not agree, the property went to foreclosure and the collection company received exactly what they deserved, which is nothing.
 
In another case … We recently sold a  short sale condo across from the Gulf of Mexico. A collection company was involved and hindered the sale for 26 months!  Yes, we had the property under contract on five separate occassions over a 26 month period of time. Even funnier? We originally had the property under contract for $325,000. 26 months later when the collection company finally agreed to the terms, we sold and closed the property for $209,000.  Effectively, the collection company cost the first mortgagee $116,000.  Even funnier still?  The first morgagee also owned the second mortgage and had assigned it to the collection company.  The collection company was negotiating against their own client!!
 
Some day we will look back at all this and laugh …??

What is a robo-signer and why did some banks stop foreclosures?

Robo-signing is a media term used to describe the process whereby foreclosure affidavits were (allegedly) executed without being reviewed. As a result of the recent scrutiny, many lenders chose to curtail certain foreclosure processes. This is to allow for additional review to ensure that proper procedures are being followed. The current foreclosure moratorium is both voluntary and temporary. We expect foreclosure filings to resume very quickly.

 

For more info please visit http://www.FloridaBrokers.com

I am renting and just got served by a bank that is foreclosing the house. Is my lease enforceable?

According to S. 896, (enacted as Public Law 111-22) passed and signed into law on May 20, 2009, your lease may be valid if it was executed before the owner received a notice of default from the lender. Otherwise, you may be given a 90 day eviction notice. Most lenders will offer you cash-for-keys, meaning that they will pay you to move out and leave the property in broomswept condition.

If I make an offer on a property, isn’t the listing agent required by law to present it to the seller?

Not necessarily. Particularly in the case of bank owned properties, we are seeing more cases in which the seller (bank) instructs the listing agent to only submit offers that meet certain criteria such as price range, closing time frames, and the utilization of special addenda.

As lenders continue to wrestle with the overwhelming demands and requirements to process the rising number of foreclosures nationwide, this will likely become more commonplace.

For information on short sales, bank foreclosures and general real estate topics, please visit www.FloridaBrokers.com  or email us at smith@realtor.com

We made an offer to buy a bank foreclosure. The bank is demanding that we sign a 17 page as-is contract addendum. We made some changes because we didn’t like some of their terms and now they won’t sign at all. Don’t they want to get rid of this property?

Attorneys who were paid by the pound to produce these works of art have been paid to do so to protect the bank’s interest, period. The asset managers responsible for these files are not typically allowed to deviate from the standard, authorized contract addendums. You can get a great deal purchasing foreclosures, but read the contract, perform your due diligence and make sure that what you see is what you get.