Short Sale Process

New FTC Requirements for Short Sales Ventura Realtor

Brought to you by the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®
	New FTC Requirements for Short Sales Ventura Realtor Tami Winbury. REALTORS® who negotiate short sales with lenders and those who promote their services as a way to help consumers avoid foreclosure must generally comply with new disclosure and other requirements under the federal Mortgage Assistance Relief Services (MARS) rules, according to the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (NAR).  These new rules, however, do not apply to real estate agents who limit their short sale services to providing customary assistance to consumers in selling or buying short sales, such as listing homes for sale, showing homes, and finding desirable homes for consumers, and who do not negotiate with lenders and do not promote their services as a way to help consumers avoid foreclosure.  C.A.R. is in the process of expeditiously preparing standard forms for REALTORS® to use to comply with MARS. On February 23, 2011, NAR announced that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) staff’s position is that real estate agents who negotiate short sales with lenders, along with those who promote their services as a way to help consumers avoid foreclosure, must generally comply with MARS (which came into full effect on January 31, 2011).  Other mortgage assistance relief services offered to a consumer in exchange for consideration that are generally regulated under MARS include, without limitation, negotiating, obtaining, or arranging a loan modification, deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, loan forbearance, or extension to cure a default. Under the FTC staff’s position, real estate agents who fall within the scope of MARS must generally provide certain disclosures, refrain from claiming an advance fee, refrain from engaging in certain deceptive acts, retain records for 24 months, and monitor their independent contractors and employees as specified.  More specifically, real estate agents who negotiate short sales with lenders and those who promote their services as a way to help consumers avoid foreclosure must comply with the MARS rules, including, but not limited to, the following: Disclosure Requirements: Disclose on promotional materials for general commercial communications that the company is not associated with the government, and that a lender may not agree to change a loan. Disclose, before a specific consumer agrees to use an agent’s services, as above, and that: (1) the consumer may stop doing business with the brokerage at any time; (2) the consumer must pay the broker’s total compensation as specified if the consumer accepts the lender’s offer; and (3) the consumer does not have to pay the brokerage if the consumer rejects the lender’s offer. Disclose, when furnishing the lender’s offer of mortgage assistance relief to a consumer, items (2) and (3) directly above, and provide a notice from the lender of the material differences between the lender’s offer and the consumer’s current mortgage loan. Prohibited Acts: Refrain from requesting or receiving payment until the consumer enters into a written agreement with the lender (California law further restricts advance fees). Refrain from engaging in certain deceptive acts, such as representing that a consumer should not contact the lender, misrepresenting the likelihood of obtaining a short sale, misrepresenting the amount of time it will take to accomplish a service, misrepresenting the consumer’s obligation to make loan payments, or representing the benefits of any MARS service unless such representation is based upon competent and reliable evidence substantiating its truthfulness. Record Retention and Monitoring Duties: Keep for 24 months copies of records, including, but not limited to, all consumer files, contracts, MARS disclosures, written communications, commercial communications, marketing materials, websites, weblogs, sales scripts, and training materials (California law further regulates record retention). Take reasonable steps to monitor that their independent contractors and employees comply with these rules, such as monitoring communications directed at specific consumers, establishing a procedure for receiving and responding to consumer complaints, investigating promptly and fully each consumer complaint received, and maintaining records to show compliance with the monitoring requirements. Finally, MARS also prohibits anyone (not just MARS providers) from providing substantial assistance or support to a MARS provider, when that person knows or consciously avoids knowing that the provider is engaged in any act or practice that violates MARS. The MARS rules are fully set forth at Part 322 of Title 16 of the Code of Federal Regulations.  The FTC also offers a business compliance guide called “The Mortgage Assistance Relief Services Rule”.  For NAR’s guidelines on MARS, go to “New FTC Rule Requires Short Sale Disclosures”.

Showing in Ojai Feb 26 2011 002

Snowing in Ojai!

Snow Day in Ojai!  It hasn't snowed in Ojai since 1949.  So cool!!!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6ltfLHr_JE

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6ltfLHr_JE

Buying Foreclosures

When Buying Foreclosures, Check if Bank Owns Mortgage with Tami Winbury.

There are many risks, albeit manageable ones, involved in buying foreclosures even short sale foreclosures. For instance, there is an off chance that the foreclosure was faulty and the buyer might have problems in terms of claiming ownership.Such problem is actually one of the things that the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts is looking into. A lower court decision ruled that the residential property buyer never owned the home in question since the bank who sold it repossessed the home before it had the mortgage.Other states have been dealing with the same issue involving the buyer’s right when buying foreclosures from foreclosed auctions. More and more homebuyers and investors, especially those looking into fixing up distressed homes are becoming hesitant to do so since they are afraid of problems with the title. Of course, such fear may hobble the housing market, especially since majority of the homes for sale are either short sale or foreclosure.Last year, a scandal involving improper documentation done by loan servicers and banks erupted and triggered an investigation spanning all of the 50 states. Statewide, the number of foreclosures increased by 32 percent from 2009’s 9, 269 to 12, 233.Because of the broad implications, the Supreme Judicial Court has decided to bypass the intermediary panel and take on the appeal. Although the court can decide the fate of individuals buying foreclosures, which are later to be found faulty embroiled in such legal problems, it could also decide to leave the decision making to legislators.If the buyer was not able to purchase title insurance, things can even get from bad to worse. The latest case could also create trust issues involving bundled mortgages as well as securities sold to investors. In the past, mortgage-bond investors have claimed that there are banks overstate borrower’s income, inflate appraisals and engage in unscrupulous lending practices.

Read more: When Buying Foreclosures, Check if Bank Owns Mortgage | Foreclosure Newshttp://www.eforeclosuremagazine.com/foreclosure-market/buying-foreclosures-bank-mortgage#ixzz1CcqxtSnw

5 Stages of Buying Your First Home

Buying a home is not a discrete event; it's a process - a sequence of events that happens over time, sometimes over as long as several months or even years!  While general guides to buying a home are a dime a dozen, I'vm excited to share with you some insider secrets you may not have heard elsewhere - one for each stage involved in buying a home. Here's to helping you make the best decisions at every phase of your homebuying process!

Stage One: Deciding Whether It's The Right Time to Buy.
Insider Secret: The market is the least important factor you should consider when deciding whether and when to buy a home.
Why: Everyone knows affordability is at an all-time high.  Home prices are low, and so are interest rates. But trying to time the market is a fool's errand; many who get caught up in that game of trying to make sure they buy at the absolute bottom will end up losing out on very, very favorable conditions.

Beyond that, the most important considerations when deciding whether and when you should buy a home are personal, not market driven. On today's market, it only makes sense to buy a place if it's going to be sustainable and work for you for at least the next 4-5 years [if your town's real estate market has been fairly recession-proof] or 7-10 years [if the housing/foreclosure crisis has hit your area pretty hard].

Against this "smart holding period" backdrop, smart buyers decide to buy when it makes sense for:

• their life plans (i.e., they are comfortable making the commitment to live in the same town, and the commitment to )
• their family plans (i.e., whether they plan to get married, have children or empty their nest in the time they plan to own the home - and the implications of these plans on their space needs and location priorities)
• their career plans (including, but not limited to: whether they have job or income security, whether they feel they will be working in the same area for the foreseeable future, and whether they want to work less or start their own business in the months or years to come)
• their financial plans (including foreseeable changes in income and expenses, e.g., kids going to college or making partner at the firm).

More