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Terrylynn has been a Realtor in Contra Costa County for over 30 years. If you have questions about the neighborhood or surrounding area, please Contact Terrylynn. Enjoy the site, and send suggestions for content to Chris Fisher.
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Loan modifications rise 69 percent in third quarter! Is the end of the tunnel in sight?
The HAMP loan is finally taking off…(Home Affordable Modification Plan) US Department of Treasury, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) www.occ.gov reported that Loan modifications rise 69 percent in third quarter. Apparently there were more than 680,000 home loan modifications and payment plans in the third quarter of 2009, a 69 percent increase over with the second quarter. This is really good news. In addition the report states in part that servicers provided close to 274,000 trial modification plans under the “Home Affordable Modification Program” (HAMP) during the third quarter. I remember recently seeing reports that some lenders had only done 80 or 90 modifications over the last 9 months…these new numbers are encouraging.
Even better news is that servicers provided almost twice as many home retention actions as new foreclosures instituted. We may be rounding a corner or find we’re getting closer to the end of the tunnel. We’ll see as 2010 approaches what it all means, but more modifications will affect that foreclosure doom and gloom so often quoted and reduce those numbers. How much no one knows at this point but one can hope this is a step in the right direction.
The component of the HAMP plan that will assist homeowners in keeping their homes is found in the final statistic that 80 percent of the loan modifications in the third quarter reduced monthly principal and interest payments.
Dan Harris who wrote the book “How to Modify your Mortgage” http://www.loanmodbook.com/ explains how to best handle a loan modification request to the lender by saying “First get educated QUICKLY, learn everything you can about the HAMP guidelines and what your lender offers in the way of assistance. Plan your request for assistance and be organized and prepared BEFORE you submit anything to your lender. Remember the disclaimer they read you when you call? It’s the one where they tell you they are required by law to advise you they are attempting to collect a debt and anything you tell them will be used for that purpose. No matter how nice the representative sounds, they work for the lender and they are there to help collect your payments.”
Good points Dan…you should go to your lender website, there is generally a place where is says loan modifications or “having trouble making payments?”…follow that link and get the financial and other requirements for submitting a modification. Most often there will be forms you can download to use for this purpose. This will tell you the banks requirements for the loan modification. Then when you do call, keep a log of who you talked to, date and time, what questions did you asked and the answers given. There is likely to be a different person every time you call so keeping good records is important for continuity of your next call. And do as Dan says and Don’t tell them anything you don’t want them to know. Stick to the facts, of course explain your hardship and situation, but don’t embellish. Writing it out ahead of time helps to keep you from rambling. And don’t be embarrassed. You are not the only person they’ve talked to and it is much more matter of fact to them than you know. That alone allows you to handle this more like a business call and makes it less personal. You are negotiating on your behalf.
Lastly, your Realtor can be a resource. They talk to clients in various stages of modification, short sale and foreclosure and have some insight into the different lenders and a reference point for the process. They may not know all the answers but they know how to help you find resources. This is what we do…assist our clients in all kinds of markets. Most of us are not just there for the good times, but any time you need real estate counsel.
 DRE #615420
- Terrylynn has been a Realtor in Contra Costa County for over 32 years. She works with Diablo Realty in Walnut Creek and is consistently a top producer. Terrylynn is a local expert, please contact her for any Real Estate needs, or with a question about the area. Visit www.BuyStageSell.com to learn more about Terrylynn and her team of Real Estate Professionals and Staging Professionals, and how their award winning results can earn you more equity $$$ when you sell a home. We even stage our short sales! Why? Because it works.
Existing home sales surged for the third month in a row, September, October and November 2009…rising 7.4% in the number of sales. November saw the largest gain since February 2007 and home resales are 44.1% above a year ago!!! More than half of allsales were first time buyers. The record low prices, great interest rates and Tax Incentives were guessed to be the primary reasons for the surge.
By region the changes in units sold November over October were as follows
Northeast 6/6%
Midwest 8.4%
South 4/.8%
West 10.6 %
Inventory is short in supply with supply and demand more balanced. In some areas, like California where we are reporting, there is a serious shortage of supply causing multiple offers on anything under $500,000 in the San Francisco East Bay area. This starts to increase prices as credits asked for by buyers are dwindling. Appraisals tend to follow the REO and Short Sale market though, so perhaps the prices will not rise as quickly as a market not dealing with those challenges. All and all, at least in the West, we are feeling as though the 2010 market will be better for sellers, tougher for buyers, and for those that want something before the April 30th deadline for the tax credit, it may take 5-15 offers to secure a property, so get your Realtor now and get started on that house hunt.
DRE #615420
- Terrylynn has been a Realtor in Contra Costa County for over 32 years. She works with Diablo Realty in Walnut Creek and is consistently a top producer. Terrylynn is a local expert, please contact her for any Real Estate needs, or with a question about the area. Visit www.BuyStageSell.com to learn more about Terrylynn and her team of Real Estate Professionals and Staging Professionals, and how their award winning results can earn you more equity $$$ when you sell a home. We even stage our short sales! Why? Because it works.
City of Concord, California
Phone 925 671 3341 925 671 3341
Website www.cityofconcord.org/living/housing First time home buyers program
Eligible = low and moderate income (sometimes payments will be about what you pay in rent).
Type of loan, deferred payments and shared appreciation of loan (meaning when you buy you have a partner helping you buy your home and when you sell the partner shares in the profit).
Maximum loan $15000 to $25,000 or 20% of the purchase price, (some restricitions apply)
This allows people without a down payment to get a home with a more affordable payment
The loan term 45 years or due upon sale of the property
Interest rate 0 – that’s right a NO interest loan. WOW, the City is serious about helping people afford homes. For the other criteria and restrictions and availability of funds, call or go to the website. Sometimes the funds run out early in the year, sometimes they have funds a lot longer.
Worth checking into.
DRE #615420
- Terrylynn has been a Realtor in Contra Costa County for over 32 years. She works with Diablo Realty in Walnut Creek and is consistently a top producer. Terrylynn is a local expert, please contact her for any Real Estate needs, or with a question about the area. Visit www.BuyStageSell.com to learn more about Terrylynn and her team of Real Estate Professionals and Staging Professionals, and how their award winning results can earn you more equity $$$ when you sell a home. We even stage our short sales! Why? Because it works.
The wild west of Real Estate
December 17, 2009 (Ris Media reports)
“Treasury department recently released guidelines and forms for it’s new Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program (HAFA). Homes Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) provides incentives for a short sale (SS it’s about time)…deed-in-lieu (DIL) used to avoid foreclosure on an eligible loan.”
Terryynn -
The new guidelines are a streamline process to stem the rising tide of foreclosures. WOW…at last. Those of us working in short sales know that it can take 45 to 60 day or 6-12 months to get a short sale approved. What’s the difference? The lender, the paperwork jungle required and then lost and updated and lost and updated… I personally have a short sale going on 7 months and it does look like it might close before the end of the month…whew…I’ll let you know on that one. I’m not counting on anything until I see the deed and keys.
BUT it looks like serious efforts are going to be made to put a badly needed system to the process. It will allow a pre-short sale approval!!! YES!!! Most lenders just say “bring us an offer and we’ll let you know”. A recent short sale I have had listed since August, immediately had two offers that walked away tired of waiting for the cumbersome process. Today we have another offer, much lower than the first two that it would have benefited the lender by $20,000 over the current offer. We’ll see how long before I can get an answer.
Another important provision requires borrowers to be fully released from future liability for the first mortgage debt. That is a big deal as some of the lenders are still trying to play both sides in their negotiation.
Financial incentives will help. $1500 for borrower relocation assistance; $1000 for servicers to cover processing; and up to $1000 for investors for allowing a total of $3000 in short sale proceeds to be distributed to the subordinate lien holders. I wonder the affect, will the second lenders now up their requirement to sign off on the short sale? We’ll have to wait and see.
All in all, regulation is needed, hopefully this new beaurcracy will assist and give relief at last that realtors know has been missing. It’s basically been the wild west of real estate and we need John Wayne to come and rescue us. Will this be it? Hopefully so.
DRE #615420
- Terrylynn has been a Realtor in Contra Costa County for over 32 years. She works with Diablo Realty in Walnut Creek and is consistently a top producer. Terrylynn is a local expert, please contact her for any Real Estate needs, or with a question about the area. Visit www.BuyStageSell.com to learn more about Terrylynn and her team of Real Estate Professionals and Staging Professionals, and how their award winning results can earn you more equity $$$ when you sell a home. We even stage our short sales! Why? Because it works.
Staging-It's all in the Details.
It's always interesting to watch a rehab and staging of a property. The work is done, it's beautifully neutral and a blank slate for the staging crew to make magnificent. You begin to put in the furniture and the rooms fill with promise. Then you look around and it's all still a bit bland.
In the staging team it is not unusual to have one of the team who gets the BIG picture, others get the details. Have a great team that combines those and you end up with phenomenal staging. When we walked into this living room after staging, it looked oh so nice, but it needed just a little something to tie it all together. And little it was, but the result was finished.
What do you think? Show us some of your DETAILS!!! (The frosting on the cake, the finishing touch. Clayton, California Property listed the week of 12-09-09.. We'll let you know when it sells.)
Added the oranges to the bowl of natural items to pick up the color of the pillows and the picture.
The candles themselves were a little stark. Warmth was added by the holly.
Capped off the pears with a little pop of red!
DRE #615420
- Terrylynn Fisher has been a Realtor in Contra Costa County for over 32 years. She works with Diablo Realty in Walnut Creek and is consistently a top producer. Terrylynn is a local expert, please contact her for any Real Estate needs, or with a question about the area. Visit www.BuyStageSell.com to learn more about Terrylynn and her team of Real Estate Professionals.
No, it's not Tahoe.
It's Concord, Clayton, California on December 8, 9, 2009
Magical, and long lasting ...our golden hills look marvelous with a coat of snow. Normally (the few times it has snowed here) it melts in a couple of hours, it lasted a couple of days. Breathtaking and with luck stayed over Wednesday, which is grandpa day for 4 of our 5 grandchildren. The kids rewarded grandpa with a couple of snowballs.
Oakhurst golf course
Mt. Diablo from the end of Mt Rushmore culdesac greenbelt in Dana Hills
Mt. Diablo foothills from the window of property at Mt Rushmore Court, Clayton
Mt. Diablo
The best thing about snow - Kids playing in it!
DRE #615420
- Terrylynn Fisher has been a Realtor in Contra Costa County for over 32 years. She works with Diablo Realty in Walnut Creek and is consistently a top producer. Terrylynn is a local expert, please contact her for any Real Estate needs, or with a question about the area. Visit www.BuyStageSell.com to learn more about Terrylynn and her team of Real Estate Professionals.
Do you have a full bowl of alphabet soup?
 SRES, GRI, CRS, RCS-D, E-Pro, EcoBroker, GREEN, LGLS CP, CLHMS, CSP, Etc...etc...
In a recent interview in the CAR (California Association of Realtors) Magazine Steve Goddard, CAR 2010 President, who has 13 real estate designations, was asked this question about designations.
'Q. If you had to recommend only one or two designations that an agent should earn in preparation for the market's return, which one(s) would it be?
A. I'd recommend that newer agents - in the first 5 years of their career-obtain their Graduate REALTOR Institute (GRI). Then the Certified Residential Specialist (CRS), if they are doing residential real estate transactions. I would ask everyone to get more educated in real estate and raise the bar for us."
Realtor Alphabet soup is often viewed by the public as a commitment to a real estate career. The very act of obtaining continuing education in various specialties does raise the bar for the clients who need those specialized services. Some Realtors buy into that theory and some do not.
Thinking about this as purely a business decision, any business benefits from continued and varied upping of the bar in their business in order to keep up with the competition, increase their market share and in reality keep their current clients. Examples would be a Realtor that 10 years ago didn't need a PDA or laptop and today has clients texting them with properties they want to view or seeing them on uTube. Savvy Realtors know that if you don't embrace the technology beast, you'll be out of business. And so the career professional Realtors take regular classes and designations in order to stay current and move their business forward. It is my personal opinion, If you are serious about your business, it's just good business.
What's your alphabet soup? Designation or not, where are you getting educated?
Terrylynn, Full bowl of Alphabet soup
CSP Realtor, SRES, CRS, GRI, EcoBroker, LGLS CP, RCS-D
Diablo Realty, Walnut Creek, California
www.BuyStageSell.com
DRE #615420
- Terrylynn Fisher has been a Realtor in Contra Costa County for over 32 years. She works with Diablo Realty in Walnut Creek and is consistently a top producer. Terrylynn is a local expert, please contact her for any Real Estate needs, or with a question about the area. Visit www.BuyStageSell.com to learn more about Terrylynn and her team of Real Estate Professionals.
 The market in Diablo Creek has been rough this year. There were only 4 sales between $120,000 and $155,000 for a 2 bedroom and $175,000 for a 3 bedroom. It can only go up, right? It does appear the bottom is near, and we have signs of at least some stabilization in the real estate market. IF FHA does not implement the proposed regulations on their process for condos and PUDs, it will help tremendously to allow this market segment to recover along with the single family home market.
Our near Clayton, Mt. Diablo foothills location is one of the reasons as we enjoy many of the amenities without having to travel far to do so. The walking trail, parks, festivals, farmers markets, rehab of shopping areas and adding some terrific restaurants in the Clayton and Concord shopping centers have been a big boost to those not wanting to have to travel long distances for those amenities. This area is poised for growth as the economy picks up and with interest rates under 6% is a tremendous value. Why our all time high price was $425,000 ...so for those that can hang in there and enjoy our neighborhood it's a great place to live, with good schools and a beautiful complex, thanks to the diligence of the Board of Directors.
Building, List Price, Sold Price, Bed/Bath, Date Sold
1544, $144,900, $155,000, 2/1.5, 10/12/09
1548, $130,000, $130,000, 2/1.5, 7/22/09
1594, $123,750, $175,000, 3/1.5, 6/18/09
1555, $147,000, $147,000, 2/1.5, 5/15/09
DRE #615420
- Terrylynn Fisher has been a Realtor in Contra Costa County for over 32 years. She works with Diablo Realty in Walnut Creek and is consistently a top producer. Terrylynn is a local expert, please contact her for any Real Estate needs, or with a question about the area. Visit www.BuyStageSell.com to learn more about Terrylynn and her team of Real Estate Professionals.
Are you a Realtor that your clients have to endure? Helping my senior citizen mom purchase a car this weekend was quite a reminder about people in sales. The experience at the different dealerships seemed to have a theme.
 OLD SCHOOL - The slick haired, fast talking, patronizing, cigarette smoking HIGH pressure sales person (sorry guys, usually men). He greeted us at the car, started bonding (he thought) immediately by asking us personal questions which were very off putting. He told us his story about needing to buy a car himself and if he just won the contest and sold enough cars, he'd win (all about me). He treated my 80+ year old mom like she was a fragile idiot who couldn't make her own decision, bending down when he talked to her and speaking at her softly like she was a child. He said things like "I think you need an automatic because your hands don't work so well when you get older or you can't get into a car this big?" (patronizing) It took forever for him to ask her what she wanted and when he did, didn't listen to the answer. Then said as we walked in to see the manager about the "best price". "Now don't get mad at me, my manager makes me do this" (blame others). ERGHHH you get the picture. We left irritated, and even if we LOVED the car, would have wanted a different salesperson to get the credit. He was something we had to endure to get through the process.
There are real estate offices like this too, you know who they are...there is one in every community. They haven't changed their clothes or photo or methods since they got their license years ago. They don't believe in education or designations as they think "experience" counts for more. They try to make you FIT a property rather than find one that you feel fits.
Do your clients have to endure YOU?
Is it all about you?
Do you treat the client like they don't know what they want or need?
Are you patronizing?
Do you blame others for your mis-steps?
DRE #615420
- Terrylynn Fisher has been a Realtor in Contra Costa County for over 32 years. She works with Diablo Realty in Walnut Creek and is consistently a top producer. Terrylynn is a local expert, please contact her for any Real Estate needs, or with a question about the area. Visit www.BuyStageSell.com to learn more about Terrylynn and her team of Real Estate Professionals.
Help for the distressed homeowners started with the 2009 tax filing season. These three options take away the previously inflexibility of the IRS as far as negotiation with homeowners. IF you qualify for one or more of these you could obtain serious tax relief from the IRS. See what I mean? Hopefully as diligent Realtors we are advising our clients to seek the services of a CPA, tax attorney, etc, before making decisions that could affect their property and liability, as this sounds hopeful for many.
"Internal Revenue Service News Release (January 6, 2009) The Internal Revenue Service today kicked off the 2009 tax filing season by announcing a number of new steps to help financially distressed taxpayers maximize their refunds and speed payments while providing additional help to people struggling to meet their tax obligations. Among the areas where the IRS can provide assistance:
Postponement of Collection Actions: IRS employees will have greater authority to suspend collection actions in certain hardship cases where taxpayers are unable to pay. This includes instances when the taxpayer has recently lost a job, is relying solely on Social Security or welfare income or is facing devastating illness or significant medical bills. If an individual has recently encountered this type of financial problem, IRS assistors may be able to suspend collection without documentation to minimize burden on the taxpayer. (Personally I have clients that have received this benefit...so it's worth the time and trouble to send in your documentation if you fit this criteria for postponement.)
Added Flexibility for Missed Payments: The IRS is allowing more flexibility for previously compliant individuals in existing Installment Agreements who have difficulty making payments because of a job loss or other financial hardship. The IRS may allow a skipped payment or a reduced monthly payment amount without automatically suspending the Installment Agreement. Taxpayers in a difficult financial situation should contact the IRS. (Personally I know people who have exercised this option as well, with no berating or negativity on the phone by the IRS, they are a kinder, gentler government agency these days.)
Additional Review for Offers in Compromise on Home Values: An Offer in Compromise (OIC), an agreement between a taxpayer and the IRS that settles the taxpayer’s tax debt for less than the full amount owed, may be a viable option for taxpayers experiencing economic difficulties. However, the equity taxpayers have in real property can be a barrier to an OIC being accepted. (This can be a huge benefit to taxpayers who made lots of money in previous years and didn't have the cash left to pay the tax. Realtors, loan agents, independent contractors and others on commission income are being assisted with this provision.)
The NEW Kinder, gentler IRS is doing it's part to ease the burdens this economy has thrust upon us. Hopefully none of you need this assistance, but it's nice to know it's here for you or any of your clients that could benefit from the provisions. There are more, so check out the IRS website...for details. http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=202244,00.html
DRE #615420
- Terrylynn Fisher has been a Realtor in Contra Costa County for over 32 years. She works with Diablo Realty in Walnut Creek and is consistently a top producer. Terrylynn is a local expert, please contact her for any Real Estate needs, or with a question about the area. Visit www.BuyStageSell.com to learn more about Terrylynn and her team of Real Estate Professionals.
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