New Lender Short Sale Guidelines & Mortgage Assistance

NEW SHORT SALE GUIDELINES

The Treasury announced new short sale guidelines that lenders must adhere to.  

With unemployment over 10 percent and millions of adjustable-rate mortgages primed to reset next year, a “tsunami” of distressed properties could be on the horizon. The new guidelines, as well as a growing acceptance by lenders and second-lien holders, give homeowners a better chance of closing a Short Sale rather than losing their house to foreclosure.

The new guidelines also ensure that real estate agents will be paid commissions for their work on Short Sales. Here are some of the program’s other key guidelines (download the program’s full details):

• Lenders must respond to Short Sale requests within 10 business days of receipt of the offer package.
• The seller will be released from all liability for repayment of the mortgage debt.
• Subsequently, the seller is entitled to a relocation incentive of $1,500, which will be deducted from the gross sale proceeds at closing.
• The lender will be paid $1,000 to cover administrative and processing costs for a Short Sale or a deed-in-lieu.
• The property must be listed with a licensed real estate professional who does regular business in the community where the property is located.
• The lender is prohibited from requiring, as a condition of approving the Short Sale, a reduction in the agreed-upon real estate commission. 
• The investor will be paid a maximum of $1,000 for allowing a total of up to $3,000 in Short Sale proceeds to be distributed to subordinate lien holders, or for allowing payment of up to $3,000 to subordinate lien holders.

Here’s a YouTube video that also explains the guidelines.

The Foreclosure Alternatives Program provides financial incentives and simplifies Short Sale procedures by setting limits on the time it takes lenders to respond, freeing borrowers from debt and capping claims of subordinate lenders. 

MORTGAGE ASSISTANCE

If you have a loan with OCWEN Mortgage,  they now have a link on their website to obtain assistance.  They launched a new Web site that connects mortgage borrowers with community groups and government agencies that provide assistance for distressed homeowners.

The Web site — at https://www.ocwencustomers.com/ — lists financial counseling resources, as well as sources for job training, food assistance and utility payment assistance for all 50 states, the West Palm Beach, Fla.-based subprime mortgage servicer said. According to a press release, customers can also access the same database of resources by calling Ocwen’s telephone representatives.

“Our goal is to help homeowners, including those experiencing financial troubles, stay in their homes,” said Ocwen president Ron Faris. “One of the multiple ways we do that is to lead customers to resources that can help them manage or solve personal and financial problems that may be at the root of missed or late mortgage payments.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws. Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
Portland

Market Update: Portland, Oregon Housing Market Q3 2009 Part 2

Here is Part 2 about our Portland, Oregon real estate market for Q3 2009:

OREGON HOUSING PRICES

OregonLive recently reported that Oregon will see 5th worst housing market in the next year:

Oregon’s single-family home prices will fall another 1.8 percent between September 2009 and 2010, the fifth biggest decline projected in the First American CoreLogic Home Price Index. The states expected to do worse than Oregon: Michigan (-6.8 percent), Arizona (-4.8 percent), Washington (-4.2 percent) and Wyoming (-3.3 percent). Looking back, Oregon had the sixth-biggest price decline between September 2008 and September 2009 at 12.6 percent. Ahead of Oregon: Nevada (-25.5 percent), Arizona (-20.3 percent), Florida (-17.7 percent), Michigan (-15.1 percent) and Idaho (-14.9 percent). In both cases, Oregon is doing worse than the national average. First American’s national forecast projects housing prices will bottom out in most markets by March 2010, then turn positive. That obviously won’t be true for Oregon or Portland. First American’s forecast for the Portland market calls for prices to fall 1 percent between September 2009 and September 2010. Here’s a spreadsheet with First American’s forecast for the 50 states.

DISTRESSED PROPERTIES IN PORTLAND

21.9% of listings distressed in PDX

The AP reports that homeowners’ inability to keep up with payments is now more due to unemployment, rather than the sub-prime loans that contributed to the initial increase in foreclosures.

The latest report from the Mortgage Bankers Association indicates that the rate of foreclosure for people with fixed rate loans and good credit is on the rise.

A quick search on RMLSweb reveals that in the Portland Metro area, distressed properties currently make up 21.9% of active residential listings (this number takes into account listings that require third-party approval, as this typically indicates a short sale and those that are marked as bank-owned).

During the third quarter, Oregon had the nation’s 44th-highest rate of homeowners who were late on their payments, and the 21st-highest rate of homeowners in foreclosure, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Oregon has a lower-than-average number of homeowners with sub-prime loans, but a higher-than-average number of homeowners with alternative or “Alt A” loans. Those include interest-only loans, Option ARM loans, or “stated income” loans, where there was no required documentation of their ability to pay.

Alt A loans, like sub-prime loans, are falling disproportionately into foreclosure. However, the Mortgage Bankers report does not track Alt A loans as a separate category.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws. Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
Portland

Real Estate Updates & October 2009 RMLS Stats

HOORAY!!!  My blog should did hit the 100,000 mark today. Thanks for reading.

RMLS™ October 2009 Stats

The October 2009 RMLS™ stats were published Thursday and I haven’t had a chance to look at them as yet.  However, I am posting the report here.  Our inventory of houses for sale is at the lowest we’ve seen since August 2007 and sales jumped by 64% the largest increase since 1996.  I’ll post more data in the next couple of days.  However, if you’ve been thinking of selling or buying, now’s a good time.  With low interest rates, low inventory and the home buyer’s tax credit, it is a good time for all parties.

OTHER NEWS

There’s been a lot in the news lately but the over-riding news story has been the increase in unemployment benefits and the extended/expanded home buyer tax credit.  Here’s a great website with frequently asked questions and answers in regards to the new Home Buyer Tax credit that might come in handy for you.

There have been other news-worthy items as well:

Fannie Mae Offers Deed For Lease Program

As a homeowner you must have tried to modify the loan and been denied

You give the house back to bank via deed- in- lieu of foreclosure

You will be allowed to rent back your home for 12 months

You must qualify to pay rent at the fair market value

You must not use more than 31% of your gross monthly income to rent back

There’s more info on their website about the Deed For Lease program.

Bend Named In Top 25 Cities 

Yahoo!® recently had their Top 25 cities to recover from the economic downturn with a job recovery.  The only Oregon city to make the list was Bend and it posted at #23.

23. Bend, Ore.

Q1 2010 annualized job growth: 0.8%
Q3 2009 annualized job growth: -4.7%

First quarter of recovery: Q1 2010
Unemployment rate: 14.5%
Median household income: $54,179

The economy of Bend, at the Cascade Mountains’ eastern foothills, is especially popular with hikers and skiers. Bend’s job market got hammered during the recession because it depends heavily on highly cyclical industries—construction, the retail trade, and tourism. As the overall recovery sets in, Bend and its highly volatile economy should bounce back faster than the rest of the country.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.  Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
Portland

Oregon Financing Update

Guest Author:

Bob Chiodo, CFP

Equity Home Mortgage, LLC.

www.ResCommLending.com

Apply Here

Estimated Rates for the week of November 9, 2009*

• 30 year fixed=4.750-4.875
• 30 year jumbo=5.50 to $500k; 5.75 – 5.875 above
• 7/1 ARM=4.00 – 4.25 various programs are available
• FHA/VA=4.75 – 5.00
• OR Vet=4.50 w/1.50 – 4.625 w/1.00

It’s been a while since my last update but it’s certainly not due to a lack of news in the mortgage world. As you can see, rates are still down and doing great. We all know that these won’t last forever but we should remain in a narrow range for the next month or so. And since the 1^st time homebuyer tax credit was extended, I think buyers should immediately consider taking the necessary steps to get their first home.

I thought I would take a moment to talk about the impact foreclosures and the alternatives to foreclosure have on a consumer’s credit. This is meant to be just a guideline – lenders can and will have their own rules and these rules change often.  On the research that I have done, it appears that most lenders – as well as the credit bureaus – treat a foreclosure, short sale, or deed-in-lieu of as the same in terms of the impact it has on a borrower’s credit profile. After speaking with an underwriter, it appears that FHA requires that a foreclosure or the alternative to be three years before new financing can take place. For VA, it looks like it is two years. Conventional is more convoluted. Per a recent Fannie Mae announcement, foreclosures have a 5 year time frame with additional requirements up to 7 years (principal residence only, 10% down and a 680 credit score). Deed-in-lieu of’s are 4 years with additional requirements up to 7 years. It appears, however, that short sales have only a two year waiting period. Most of these rules do allow exceptions for extenuating circumstances – which, of course, is very subjective. Now, of course, all of these programs require certain credit scores – conventional being higher than FHA. If the credit bureau dings a consumer’s credit hard for a short sale – as I heard that they do – the loan won’t be able go through with the poor scores. So we are back looking at an FHA loan with the three year wait period. I have also heard that some of the banks are going after borrowers after the short sale is completed and requiring the borrower to cover the short fall. If the credit hit is considered the same and the bank tries to collect on the short amount, it makes one wonder why a borrower would do a short sale in the first place. In any of the above circumstance, the key thing for a consumer to do after completion of a foreclosure (or alternative) is to immediately start rebuilding their credit. Getting a secured credit card would be a great start and working with someone is specializes in this area could well be worth the time and effort.

For homeowners facing foreclosure in Oregon, the state recently passed a bill that requires lenders to meet with borrowers either by phone or in person to evaluate whether the homeowner qualifies for a loan modification. Oregonians should watch their mail for the new notice. They have 30 days to act from the date of the notice to request a loan mod. Once received, they should call their lender to set up a meeting, complete the request form provided in the notice and call 1-800-SAFENET and ask for a referral to a nonprofit foreclosure counselor to help with the modification.

There is a lot more going on then time and space warrant. Fannie and Freddie are about to tighten up on their debt ratios and FHA just published their new condo rules – spot approvals are still good through the end of January. Fannie just released their Deed-for-Lease program which will allow for homeowners to rent back their home after completing a deed-in-lieu of to Fannie. And, of course, a huge change is about to happen January 1 when the new RESPA guidelines take place. More about all of this later.

Thanks for reading and have a great week!

*Rates quoted are for the use of Realtors and others in the real estate/financial service industries. They are not meant to be a quote for an individual situation. Rates change daily and those above are only listed to assist market participants by keeping them informed of current interest rates. Credit scores, down payment, and other risk related issues may change the rate. Quotes are usually shown for a 30 day lock period and a 1% origination or discount fee.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.  Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).

Portland

A Big Headache: Where’s The Note?

I’ve written a couple of posts where MERS electronically kept track of notes rather than recording the title at the required county recorder offices throughout the U.S.  Now, it is not only becoming a problem but a headache for many states.

Real estate agents may also now be required to issue a disclosure to buyers when purchasing a short sale or foreclosure indicating there could be a “cloud” on the title in regards to not only first but also second mortgages.

I haven’t heard of it becoming a problem here in Oregon because we weren’t as involved in the sub-prime mortgage market as many other areas. However, it takes one person to test the validity of their foreclosure to bring the problem to the forefront.  We may still see a wave of issues here locally as well.  You can read more about it here.  There are many states that are having lots of problems because of the electronic tracking that MERS initiated.  I wonder who thought of that great idea??

Laws are written for a reason.  To determine chain of title, it has always been that a transfer of deed needed to be recorded along with the note, in the appropriate county.  Afterall, that’s what closing is – recording. 

Somewhere, someone got the idea to by-pass that law, make a lot of money and just keep track of the note rather than processing the required and necessary recording.  Now it’s coming back to haunt everyone from title companies, lenders, attorneys, courts, real estate agents and not to mention sellers and buyers.  Just one more chapter in this foreclosure crisis that everyone now is becoming aware of and we’re probably not through yet.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.  Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).

Market Update: Bank-Owned vs. Short Sale Stats, What Housing Bust? + PDX Best Neighborhood

CNN just reported that Oregon in comparison to the rest of the U.S., is doing better than most:

Street Sign

“Portland is the shining example of smart growth. In 1973, Oregon passed an urban growth boundary law, which required that each of the state’s municipalities set a line in the sand on which open land could be developed.

The policy is credited with fostering Portland’s excellent reputation as an attractive, livable city — but it may have been too successful. Population growth has been so robust that some residents have complained about too much congestion in its core. And some building has been pushed out into nearby areas, such as in adjacent Washington, that have less strict policies. Meanwhile, home prices in Portland recorded a more than 86% gain from 2000 through the middle of 2007. The median, at $255,000 during the second quarter of 2009, is well above the national average of $174,000.”

PORTLAND NEIGHBORHOOD “BEST NEIGHBORHOOD” IN 2009

Ladd’s Addition in SE Portland has been named one of the “Great Neighborhoods in America for 2009″.  The American Planning Association (APA) announced the country’s 10 Great Neighborhoods, 10 Great Streets, and 10 Great Public Spaces for 2009 through the organization’s Great Places in America national program.  Ladd’s Addition ranked #6 out of the 10 Great Neighborhoods. 

BANK-OWNED vs. SHORT-SALE STATS

The chart below shows activity from 9-1 to 9-30-09 from RMLS™ for the three areas my blog covers – RMLS™# 147 Lake Oswego, RMLS™#147 Lake Oswego, RMLS™#148 West Portland and RMLS™#151 Tigard.  I wanted to see the comparison of bank-owned properties vs. short sales in those three areas.  There were fewer active foreclosure listings than short sale listings in all three areas.  However, there were more than twice as many foreclosures that sold and closed than short sales here locally.  Bottom line, it’s the bank-owned properties that represented the better deals that buyers wanted to purchase.

According to the Oregon.live blog, the (National Association of Realtors®) NAR said that early signs from an consumer survey yet to be released indicate that first-time home buyers accounted for more than 45 percent of home sales during the past year. A separate survey shows that distressed homes accounted for 29 percent of transactions in September. (via Calculated Risk)

SHORT SALES

West Portland led the group with the highest number of short sales listed at 31 and 6 sold, Lake Oswego followed in second place with 22 short sales listed  but only 1 sold, then Tigard with 20 short sales listed and 6 having sold.  West Linn had the fewest number of short sales listed at 18 and 0 sold.

FORECLOSURES

West Portland again led the group and had 15 foreclosures that sold and Tigard was in second place with 12 bank owned properties that sold, West Linn had 5 foreclosures that sold whereas Lake Oswego had only 2 that closed.  According to a REALTrends Report, it states that foreclosures will drop off next year due to national and local economic conditions-including a reviving economy, slowing house price depreciation, and tighter underwriting of recent loans-will lead to a decline in foreclosures in 2010.

(c) Betty Jung 2009

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.  Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).

Buying Bank-Owned Property – Foreclosures=No Disclosures

The other day I wrote a post on property disclosures but wanted to expand that post in regards to bank-owned properties.  Our Oregon Association of Realtors® has this to say about ORS 105.465 and property disclosures:

In most cases, residential property sellers in Oregon must provide a Seller’s Property Disclosure Statement to each residential buyer who makes a written offer.  The form used by the seller is mandated by state law.  The seller’s representations regarding the property are based upon the seller’s actual knowledge at the time the disclosure statement is made and are not the representations of any financial institution that may have made or may make a loan pertaining to the property, or that may have a security interest in the property, or any real estate licensee engaged by the seller or buyer. Licensees are not responsible for misrepresentations by the seller unless they know of the misrepresentation and fail to disclose it. 

A buyer should carefully review the seller disclosures and verify, or ask their licensee to verify, any statements of concern.  REVIEW OF THE SELLER’S PROPERTY DISCLOSURE STATEMENT IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR PROFESSIONAL INSPECTIONS. 

Here in Oregon, sellers may claim an exclusion and are not required to complete a property disclosure under ORS 105.470 only if they qualify under the statute in these instances:

• The first sale of a dwelling never occupied, provided that the seller provides the buyer with the following statement on or before the date the buyer is legally obligated to purchase the subject real property: “THIS HOME WAS CONSTRUCTED OR INSTALLED UNDER BUILDING OR INSTALLATION PERMIT(S) #___, ISSUED BY_____.”
• Sales by financial institutions that acquired the property as custodian, agent or trustee, or by foreclosure or deed in lieu of foreclosure.
• Receivers;
• Personal representatives;
• Trustees;
• Conservators; or
• Guardians.
• Sales or transfers by governmental agencies. [1993 c.547 §7; 1995 c.198 §1; 2003 c.328 §5]

From Phyllis Harb in Los Angeles come these interesting scenarios which are happening in our local Portland real estate market with bank-owned properties as well:

1)  A homeowner contacts their lender for a loan modification, they complete the necessary paperwork and to validate a lower value might provide the lender with information regarding the condition of their home.  The lender denies the loan modification; the homeowner loses their home through foreclosure.

The lender lists the home with a local Realtor© as a foreclosure. The new buyer moves in and was never informed of the former owner’s claims (or even written reports) regarding the condition of the home.

2)  A home is listed with a local Realtor© as a short sale.  A buyer is found and escrow is opened.  This buyer conducts a thorough inspection of the home.   After the inspection, the buyer asks for a credit and the inspection report is forwarded to the lender. The lender/seller refuses to renegotiate and the buyer does not complete the sale, the homeowner loses their home through foreclosure.  The new buyer moves in and was never informed of the written reports regarding the condition of the home.

3)  A homeowner has major damage to their home caused by fire, flooding, mudslide or ???.   Their insurance carrier pays a claim, and because the claim is over a specified dollar amount the check must also be endorsed by the homeowner and the lender.  The check is endorsed, the lender has a record of the claim.  The homeowner later loses their home in foreclosure. A new buyer moves in and was never informed of the written reports regarding the condition of the home.

Just be aware that the house you thought was a deal because it was a bank-owned foreclosure, may become the nightmare money-pit you never wanted or could afford and; ultimately, isn’t such a good deal afterall.

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).

Market Update: Unemployment & Delinquencies in Portland

UNEMPLOYMENT

I’m not here to debate how bad the unemployment figures are.  The recent report was worse than expected and we continue to lose jobs.  Until the job market improves, I personally don’t think our housing market will improve.  There are ”housing experts” saying that this is the worst unemployment picture since the Great Depression.  The job report shows the unemployment rate now stands at 9.8 percent- highest level hit since 1983.  Another 263,000 jobs lost last month.  Larry Summers recently stated that jobs are a lagging indicator and are 2 months behind a recession ending and the Administration won’t consider that a recovery has taken place until the job market improves.

Economist – Bill Conerly has said:

“One last comment on unemployment:  look carefully at the historic pattern and you’ll see that the unemployment rate is a lagging indicator, meaning that it starts to improve after the overall economy is already improving.  As such, it does not prevent the economy from improving.

If high unemployment prevented a recovery from recession, then we never would have recovered from our first recession.  But we’ve recovered from it, and from every other recession.

There are plenty of things to worry about.  The high unemployment rate preventing a recovery is not one of those things.”

CBS News reported the other evening that any recovery is being clouded by the jobs report.  If you’ve been reading my blog you know my concern about economists missing the mark and not knowing this recession was coming.  Now comes a new book that says more or less the same thing.  The economists should have seen this financial crisis coming and I’m not the only one who feels this way.

DELINQUENCY RATE  AND FORECLOSURES IN PORTLAND

First American Core Logic ranks Portland as still having a low delinquency rate.  Portland is considered to be a “Type 2″ which means a relatively low mean delinquency rate – well under 10% with little or no mass in high delinquency neighborhoods.  Portland, Seattle and Charlotte, NC are in this “Type 2″ model.

First American CoreLogic also reports that Portland and Oregon continue to fare better than the national average but the picture is still bleak. Portland’s foreclosure rate in August was 1.8 perecnt, up from .7 percent a year ago. The Oregon foreclosure rate was 1.8 percent and the national average was 2.9 percent. The 90-plus-day delinquency rate in Portland and Oregon was 4.8 percent and nationally it was 7.1 percent.

Housing Wire  says when the 60-plus day delinquency and serious delinquency trends were plotted against the foreclosure rates, delinquencies were shown to accelerate faster than foreclosures as loan servicers increase loan modifications and other workout efforts and moratoria cap the foreclosure rates.

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com.

Re/Max Co-Founder Presents Short Sale Proposal To H.U.D. Secretary Donovan

PRESS RELEASE:

Denver, CO. September 10, 2009 — RE/MAX Chairman and Co-Founder Dave Liniger met with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan on Friday. They had a conversation on a variety of topics related to the current state of the real estate market, but focused primarily on recommendations for streamlining the Short Sale process.

“We feel strongly that if Short Sale transactions can become more like normal real estate transactions, we can make significant headway in reducing the number of vacant and foreclosed homes on the market,” Liniger said. “Because most homeowners aren’t aware that they have this option and loan servicers haven’t made it a priority, we feel that the federal government should facilitate an effective national initiative.”

Also present at the meeting, held in Secretary Donovan’s office, were FHA Commissioner Dave Stevens and Laurie Maggiano of the Treasury Department’s Chief of Homeowner Preservation Office. Accompanying Dave Liniger to Washington was RE/MAX Senior Vice President, Mike Ryan.

A Short Sale can occur when a lender allows a homeowner to sell a home for a price that is less than what is owed on the mortgage, if the homeowner is experiencing a financial difficulty that would make monthly mortgage payments a significant burden. Unfortunately, nearly 70% of homeowners facing foreclosure never list their home for sale, even though a Short Sale has many benefits over a foreclosure.

RE/MAX has made assisting such families a high priority and has undertaken a comprehensive, targeted agent training program. In March, Liniger set a goal of having 7,500 RE/MAX Sales Associates earn the Certified Distressed Property Expert (CDPE) designation by the end of the year. The actual number has already passed 7,000 and represents 62% of all CDPE agents in the United States.

Surveys show that after earning a CDPE designation, agents are twice as likely to be able to keep families in their homes. With the CDPE designation, agents are also able to cut the time in half that it takes to close a Short Sale. The average CDPE agent closes about 10 Short Sale transactions a year.

“Secretary Donovan has a very good understanding of how Short Sales can help this market, and he was certainly open to our specific recommendations, especially in the area of agent training and public awareness. We’re expecting an announcement will soon be made about procedures to facilitate a streamlined Short Sale process,” Liniger added.

Short Sales could be the best solution for homeowners who are facing a foreclosure, have been turned down for a loan modification, or who have lost their job and can no longer make their mortgage payments. Homeowners who find themselves in one of these difficult positions should contact a real estate professional who is specifically trained to handle Short Sales to find out how the process could result in a positive outcome. A CDPE agent is especially aware of this critical process.

A streamlined Short Sale process could benefit the entire real estate marketplace and offers a much better alternative to foreclosure. Lenders often experience greater losses taking a home to foreclosure, neighborhoods suffer greater losses in home values with foreclosed homes, which are often vacant, and homeowners sustain more severe damage to their credit as the result of foreclosure.

The real estate market will not recover until the number of foreclosures is reduced and home prices start to rebound. An efficient Short Sale process can have a significant impact on foreclosures, which remain at record high levels. RE/MAX hopes that a standardized, national Short Sale process will soon be in place to promote a lasting housing recovery.

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).

Banks Say Not Holding Back On Selling Foreclosures

On my blog and others, it’s been said that the foreclosure shadow inventory hasn’t hit the market for sale and that banks are holding back from selling them on the open market.  CNBC just wrote a post after contacting Bank of America to see what they had to say.

The CNBC post says the opposite.  Bank of America says they are not holding back on putting foreclosures for sale.  According to the post:

Bank of America:

Foreclosure sales have been abnormally low since we learned of the pending implementation of the administration’s Making Home Affordable program. From that point, we delayed the initiation of foreclosure proceedings and sales for customers that may eligible for a loan modification under MHA. As a result of this policy, our foreclosure sales in recent months have been as little as half the normal pace we experienced before.

Until a foreclosure is completed, Bank of America continues to exhaust every possible option to qualify customers for modification or other solutions.

Now that Making Home Affordable programs are operational, we do project an increase in foreclosures as we exhaust every available option to qualify customers for modifications and other solutions.

While we have very strong loan modification programs now available, unfortunately, these foreclosure projections reflect the increasing number of customers who will not qualify for loan modification because they have suffered major life events servicers can’t solve…primarily unemployment and underemployment.

We do not hold foreclosed properties off the market. The vast majority of mortgages serviced by Bank of America are owned by third-party investors. We have an obligation to them to prepare foreclosed properties for market and sell them as efficiently as possible.

This was, however, only one bank that was contacted or responded. I’m still somewhat skeptical.  I guess “we’ll see  the foreclosures when we see them”, unfortunately.

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).

Bank Owned: Foreclosure Shadow Inventory

We’ve been fearing a big wave of foreclosures hitting our real estate market that would obviously increase our inventory and continue to reduce prices even further.  The large number of foreclosures for sale in Portland just haven’t been there and I wrote a post about that “shadow inventory” recently questioning where all those foreclosures are and why they haven’t come on the market for sale.

Yesterday, in my Google™ Reader a post caught my attention and may answer the question as to when those foreclosures will flood our market-or not-here in Portland

Banks and their servicing companies have either delayed or canceled foreclosures on the properties which already have foreclosure notices filed on them.  This tactic is to delay the reporting of losses by bankers on hundreds of thousands of homes and give the Administration more time to come up with plans or programs to resolve this financial crisis.

According to Mark Dotzour, Chief Economist at the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M:

“…it appears that we are now going to amortize those losses over a period of years.  Keeping interest rates low will allow banks to earn their way out of the losses incurred.  It’s not really good for the banks.  The losses are hidden from the public and they’ll take years to recognize”.

The delay in reporting further losses could give banks more time to restructure their balance sheets and improve their business.  However, it could also delay the inevitable – more banks failing.

There are now more than 4 million properties that have been foreclosed upon and banks haven’t released most of them to the market.  Will this tactic help or will it prolong the housing crisis? How long do the banks plan on holding these toxic assets? Years?

Source: Housing Predictor

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.

One Third Of All Households In Foreclosure

A new report out by First American Core Logic indicates that one-third of all American households are in foreclosure.  In addition, First American Core Logic also said that:

“If the decline in distressed sales is sustainable, and not simply a result of recent foreclosure moratoriums, this could be the first step toward recovery, which will then be followed by outright price increases that will result in continued upward price trends.”

First American expects home prices won’t bottom out, however, until the end of 2010 and that subsidies like the first-time home buyer tax credit and artificially low interest rates won’t be around forever, but will contribute to continued lower prices down the road.

Until the unemployment picture and housing foreclosures are addressed, we won’t be seeing much of a recovery, at least in my opinion.  Hopefully, however, that will be soon. I find it sad to think we are such a rich nation yet have so many homeless, jobless and so many who have lost their homes to foreclosure.

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.

Market Update: July 2009 RMLS Stats & Expansion of Mortgage Debt Forgiveness

July 2009 RMLS™ Stats

The latest RMLS™ Market Update Report was released yesterday.  The listing inventory in the Portland metro area continues to drop.  We’re inching closer to 5-6 months of inventory which is considered a balanced market for both buyers and sellers.  July’s inventory is at 7.3 months, dropping from 8.2 months in June.

I just love how the media always picks up the “bad” news and seems to highlight that instead of the good.  OregonLive had their headline as – “…prices still down 13%”.  I’ll take all the positive news I can get instead.

Here’s the July RMLS™ Market Update Report. I am wildly optimistic, however, I do remain guarded.  There’s still lots of talk about the “shadow inventory”  of all those properties the banks are holding on to and the foreclosures yet to come on the market.  Let’s hope they don’t put them all on the market at the same time or maybe the numbers are just wrong.  Pending sales – which is a barometer of next month’s market – are up by 8.3% and is a good sign that this uptick should continue into August.

In the next few days I will dig deeper and bring you more information.

Expansion of Mortgage Debt Forgiveness

There has been an expansion of the time-line to the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007.

The Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007 generally allows taxpayers to exclude income from the discharge of debt on their principal residence. Debt reduced through mortgage restructuring, as well as mortgage debt forgiven in connection with a foreclosure, qualifies for the relief.

This provision has been expanded to debt forgiven in calendar years 2007 through 2012. Up to $2 million of forgiven debt is eligible for this exclusion ($1 million if married filing separately). The exclusion does not apply if the discharge is due to services performed for the lender or any other reason not directly related to a decline in the home’s value or the taxpayer’s financial condition.

More information, including detailed examples can be found in Publication 4681, Canceled Debts, Foreclosures, Repossessions, and Abandonments. Also see IRS news release IR-2008-17.

What does exclusion of income mean?
Normally, debt that is forgiven or cancelled by a lender must be included as income on your tax return and is taxable. But the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act allows you to exclude certain cancelled debt on your principal residence from income. Debt reduced through mortgage restructuring, as well as mortgage debt forgiven in connection with a foreclosure, qualifies for the relief.

Does the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act apply to all forgiven or cancelled debts?
No. The Act applies only to forgiven or cancelled debt used to buy, build or substantially improve your principal residence, or to refinance debt incurred for those purposes. In addition, the debt must be secured by the home. This is known as qualified principal residence indebtedness. The maximum amount you can treat as qualified principal residence indebtedness is $2 million or $1 million if married filing
separately.

Does the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act apply to debt incurred to refinance a home?
Debt used to refinance your home qualifies for this exclusion, but only to the extent that the principal balance of the old mortgage, immediately before the refinancing, would have qualified. For more information, including an example, see Publication 4681.

How long is this special relief in effect?
It applies to qualified principal residence indebtedness forgiven in calendar years 2007 through 2012.

Source: Internal Revenue Service

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).

New Oregon Laws To Protect Homeowners

Gov. Kulongoski signed into law two new protections for homeowners in Oregon:

• SB 628 brings lenders and borrowers together to explore loan modification as an alternative to foreclosure, and
• HB 2189 protects borrowers from predatory lending practices by requiring all loan officers to be licensed with the state of Oregon and restricts misleading advertising.

The consumer protection legislation signed into law by Governor Kulongoski will address some of the largest barriers faced by borrowers in our community. During the first half of 2009, Oregon ranked 11th in the nation in foreclosures, with Multnomah County hit hardest. Over the past three years, foreclosure rates have steadily increased across Oregon.

Local organizations as well are working to help renters and homeowners get free, reliable counseling to avoid fraud and explore all options for staying in their homes. Information about upcoming community events for homeowners and renters can be found on the Portland Housing Bureau website.

Source: Portland On Line

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).

“Shadow” Bank-Owned Inventory in Portland

Recently I wrote two posts:  Market Update:  Bank-Owned Properties (Foreclosures) and Market Update: Buyer’s or Seller’s Market? + June Foreclosure/Short Sale Report comparing national reports and our local market data in regards to bank-owned  (foreclosure) properties.  Prior to that, and a few months ago, I had wanted to write such a post but didn’t find a lot of those kind of properties to report on. The numbers just weren’t there.  And, in fact, in my own mind I questioned where all the foreclosures actually were.

I’ve also written posts in the past on how important local data is.  If you’re wanting to have a picnic at your local park here in Portland, you’re not going to search the weather report for the entire U.S. to determine whether it would rain or not.  You’d certainly want to check the weather in Portland instead.  What I’m getting at is that sometimes the national data has absolutely no bearing on Portland, Oregon.  And, in fact, I’ve read several media reports where RealtyTrac’s data and its accuracy have come into question.  The other day, Melina Tomson also wrote a post questioning the number of actual foreclosure in her local market – Salem.

My goal is to provide you with the latest, up-to-date information and have always felt that our RMLS™ is the most accurate and not the national sources.  Our local RMLS™ recently posted similar information on bank-owned properties and stated there really aren’t that many foreclosures on the market and they aren’t a driving force here in Portland.  Where are all the hundreds of thousands of foreclosures we’re supposed to have? What that says to me is that:

• either all the foreclosures that are being reported nationally for Oregon haven’t come on the market as yet and banks are holding back,
• or if the reports are correct then investors as the media has stated are buying large quantities of the foreclosures before they hit the market,
• or the data/numbers just aren’t correct.

Here’s the RMLS™ data:

“With all the stories in the media, it seems like everyone is facing foreclosure these days. (Even Michael Jackson’s doctor.) So I thought it would be interesting to look at the foreclosure market in our service area to find out what’s really going on.

We currently have 30,276 active residential listings in RMLSweb–this includes Oregon and Washington. Of those, 1,172 are marked as Bank Owned. That’s approximately 3.9%.

Out of curiosity, I took my research a little further to find out how well Bank Owned properties are selling versus the entire inventory in our markets. So far in July 2009, 2,707 properties in our entire database sold. According to my research, 430 of them were marked Bank Owned.

If we didn’t add any more listings of any kind to RMLS™ and the active residential properties kept selling at the same rate they did in July it would take 11.2 months to sell our entire inventory and only 2.7 months to exhaust the inventory of Bank Owned Properties.”

So, I am questioning, and have been questioning in my own mind as many others have been, where in fact is all the shadow bank-owned inventory?

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).

Short Sales Stalling Housing Recovery-More Loan Modifications Instead

Last week I attended yet another short-sale class and all the agents at my table agreed that the short sale process is merely a band-aid resulting in clogging and stalling any housing recovery. We all felt that the short sale process wasn’t working since 80% of those properties ultimately wind up in foreclosure and that more loan modifications should be encouraged instead. Banks still aren’t helping distressed homeowners with loan modifications. To date, I have read that only 180,000 to 200,000 home owners have been assisted with loan modifications.

In a recent New York Times article it was stated that the Obama Administration indicated more must be done to assist homeowners.

“Legal experts say the opportunities for additional revenue in delinquency are considerable, confronting mortgage companies with a conflict between their own financial interest in collecting fees and their responsibility to recoup money for investors who own most mortgages.

The rules by which servicers are reimbursed for expenses may provide a perverse incentive to foreclose rather than modify,” concluded a recent paper published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

In previous recessions, we didn’t have short sales and there were no loan modifications.  Only 20% of short sales are closing and the ones that don’t close become foreclosures. Buyers are making offers only to never hear back from lenders and it keeps those buyers from closing on those houses or closing on other houses.

From BusinessWeek (and Active Rain) comes this:

“The banks are in the business to lend money. The whole loss mitigation and short sale business is still a blur to them. Think about how absurd this business is…they will forgive $300,000 on the property without blinking, but will kill a short sale for the remaining $5,000.”

This past weekend, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan also announced a new FHA Loan Modification Program.

“Allows FHA to give qualified FHA-insured borrowers the opportunity to reduce their monthly mortgage payment by modifying the mortgage through FHA-HAMP.

FHA expects all servicers to implement the changes by August 15. The program permanently reduces a family’s monthly mortgage payment through the use of a partial claim, which defers the repayment of mortgage principal through an interest-free subordinate mortgage that is not due until the first mortgage is paid off.

FHA has used the partial claim option in the past, which allows a lender to advance funds on behalf of a borrower, to reinstate a delinquent loan that was up to 12 months delinquent. Now, this program will allow HUD to bring the borrower’s payment down to an affordable level. This will be accomplished by bringing the mortgage current, buying down the loan by up to 30% of the unpaid principal balance and deferring these amounts in a partial claim.

FHA will pay an incentive to loan servicers for each FHA loan modified under this program. A Mortgagee Letter, along with detailed requirements for the FHA-Home Affordable Modification Program, was recently distributed to all FHA lenders. The implementation of this program will further the Obama Administration’s efforts to stabilize the housing market by helping homeowners to stay current on their mortgages and stay in their homes, therefore preventing the destructive impact of foreclosures on families and communities.”

Loan modifications at the very least would:

• assist home owners who are in financial straits
  
• keep the home owner in the property
• have fewer vacant houses
  
• result in fewer foreclosures
• less inventory for sale
• lender/servicer would continue to receive payments
• lenders wouldn’t, most likely, take as large of a loss as with a short sale
• have less financial consequences for the home owner than with a short sale or foreclosure

Hopefully some of these newer loan modification programs will in fact assist home owners.

Our RMLS ® has now put into place a better listing property search parameter for short sales. Not only will we be able to see which houses are for sale with short sales now, but it will ultimately give us a better handle on monitoring how many short sales are actually closing here in Portland.  I’ll keep you posted on the numbers as it will be interesting to see.

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).

Market Update: Buyer’s or Seller’s Market? + June Foreclosure/Short Sale Report

In many of my posts I’ve indicated that the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) indicates that a balanced real estate market, not favoring one side or the other but is equal to both buyers and sellers, is 5-6 months of inventory (or basically under 7 months).  They and I feel that prices begin to stablize around 8 months of inventory.  We currently have 8.2 months of inventory as of June based on our RMLS™ report and hopefully prices will start to stabilize.  Time will tell.

However, what do the different areas in metro Portland have in inventory?  Which areas favor a buyer’s market or a seller’s market?  Which area is considered to be a “balanced” market?

Here’s that information based on our most recent June 2009 RMLS™ Report:

A BALANCED MARKET – FAVORING BOTH BUYERS/SELLERS:

• North Portland=5.7 months of inventory
• Northeast Portland=5.8 months of inventory
• Southeast Portland=6 months of inventory
• Milwaukie/Clackamas=6.8 months of inventory
• Beaverton/Aloha=6.3 months of inventory

FAVORING BUYERS:

• Gresham/Troutdale=8.3 months of inventory
• Oregon City/Canby=12.7 months of inventory
• Lake Oswego/West Linn=11.9 months of inventory
• West Portland=9.2 months of inventory
• NW Washington County=7.1 months of inventory
• Tigard/Wilsonville=9.3 months of inventory
• Hillsboro/Forest Grove=9.1 months of inventory

The NAR (National Association of Realtors®) estimates that the Federal government’s economic stimulus plan, along with lower interest rates and other mortgage relief measures, could help trigger 900,000 additional home sales across the U.S. in 2009, compared with conditions in the absence of the stimulus package.  The Association also expects home inventory to fall below an 8-month supply by the end of the year in the U.S.  RISMedia had a report recently stating that the U.S. real estate market appears to be stabilizing.  You can read it here.

REALTYTRAC JUNE FORECLOSURE REPORT

RealtyTrac reports that: “Foreclosure activity slipped 8 percent lower from the previous month, but the year-over-year increase of more than 50 percent indicates we have not yet reached the top of this foreclosure cycle. Bank repossessions, or REOs, continue to increase at a much faster pace than default notices or auction notices. REOs in June were up 171 percent from a year ago, while default notices were up 38 percent and auction notices were up 22 percent over the same time period.”

As you can see from the stats below, a very small % of foreclosures in Oregon have sold vs. the number of new foreclosures that have occurred just from May to June 2009.

OREGON’S JUNE FORECLOSURE ACTIVITY REPORT FROM REALTYTRAC

SHORT SALES & THIRD-PARTY TRANSACTIONS

As reported recently, our RMLS™ will be adding a short sale parameter to our listings which will provide us with better information as to which houses are short sales vs. bank owned properties and those requiring third party approvals.

The other day I attended yet another short sale training class and will be reporting more information in up-coming posts.  In that class it was stated that only 20% of short sales actually close.  The 80% of short sales that never close, ultimately wind up as foreclosures. I personally am questioning whether the short sale and all the loan modification programs, etc. are helping improve our housing crisis or not?  More on that in a future post.

However, in the meantime, here are some statistics from our RMLS™ on short sales.  You can see the large volume of inventory vs. the much smaller percentage of short sales and third-party listings that are actually for sale.  There’s been a lot of talk about “shadow inventory”.  Shadow inventory being sellers holding back and waiting for the market to improve before they put their houses on the market and the large inventory of bank-owned properties held back from the market and not yet for sale.

Further, from the other chart, you can see there are relatively few houses selling that are third-party transactions which include bank-owned (foreclosures), relocation properties, trust or bankruptcy sales vs. the number that are still for sale.  In other words, all the short sales and bank-owned properties are not selling in large numbers and there will be many to hit the market for sale in the future.  We’re not anywhere near the bottom of the foreclosures.

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).

Short Sale Checklist

In many of the posts I’ve written about short sales, I have indicated that one way to speed up the short sale process is for the seller and/or their Realtor® to submit the necessary paperwork to the lender before they place their property on the market for sale.  What does that paperwork consist of?

Here is a guideline only and may not represent a complete list of all that a lender may ask for in your area or for your situation.  Obviously, you will want to check with your lender first.  *Don’t forget to find out what a lender in second or third position may need as well:

• Provide a “hardship” letter stating why you need to do a short sale
• List all incomes, debts & expenses  (please call your lender after you send this in as they will fill out a financial worksheet together with you over the phone)
• Signed listing agreement including a commission breakdown and signed sales contract (earnest money agreement if there already is one)
• Payoff statement(s) on all mortgages (including per diem)
• Estimated net sheet (including closing costs itemized) Preliminary HUD1 from an Escrow Officer
• Outstanding/delinquent taxes owned on property
• Last 2 months of pay stubs
• Last 2 months of bank statements
• Seller contact info (if not at property)
• Authorization to release information to a Realtor®, Title company, attorney, investor or…..
• All mortgages owed (if in foreclosure or bankruptcy need a contact name and phone number)
• Seller also needs to provide:

Name of 1st mortgage lender

Account number

Phone number

Fax number

Name of Contact

Amount of Payoff $

Lender/Attorney info

Name of 2nd mtg lender*

Account number

Phone number

Fax number

Name of Contact

Amount of Payoff $

Lender/Attorney info

• Name of Realtor®
• Phone Number
• How long property has been listed and on the market
• $ Amount Listed at
• Appraisal of house or CMA (competitive market analysis)
• Credit Report

Your Realtor® should be able to help you.  If you need additional help, seek assistance from a title company and/or a real estate attorney.

If you need more help, search my “Foreclosure, Sub-Prime, Short Sales” category of my blog or call me at 503-495-5220 and I will be happy to see if I can help you.

Source:  Pacific Northwest Title Company

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).

Market Update: Bank-Owned Properties (Foreclosures)

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a long time.  Even though I post daily, it seems there’s always something else to talk about.  Buying a foreclosure or bank-owned property isn’t always the “deal” you think it is.  And, in fact, you can see the selling price vs. the original list price in each of the areas listed below show that banks aren’t coming off their prices as much as you think they are. In past blog posts I have discussed how homeowners are destroying properties. Banks are also not willing to budge as much as you think they would because they either don’t want those huge losses on their books or is it because they’ve received so much bail out money they can actually afford to keep the toxic assets rather than get rid of them? In addition, many foreclosures haven’t even hit the market yet for sale. There are also blocks of foreclosures and entire subdivisions being sold to investors that have also never been on the open market.

Jobs are still a major concern and problem.  According to a recent Yahoo!® article, Wells Fargo doesn’t see the foreclosure crisis getting resolved any time soon.  In fact it’s mentioned it will take at least 3 years to work our way out of this foreclosure crisis.  Without jobs, people can’t keep their homes and the real estate inventory won’t be purchased.  Housing Predictor reports that in the first half of 2009, there were 1.5 million houses in foreclosure.  Oregon ranked #11 for the first half of 2009 and currently we have one of the highest foreclosure rates and rank with the 3rd highest unemployment rate in the nation. See RealtyTrac’s recent foreclosure report here.

How many foreclosures are on the market in West Portland, West Linn, Lake Oswego and Tigard – the areas this blog covers?  Unfortunately our RMLS™ stats are only as good as the data input by the agent.  Also, we don’t have a good system on checking short sales.  I literally have to go into each listing to read it and determine whether it’s a short sale or not as we have no search parameter just for short sales.  In speaking with RMLS™ recently, they are planning on coming up with a better system to track short sales – geez where have we been??  There are search parameters for bank-owned properties, auctions, and third party approval required.  Third party-approval properties could be trust sales, bankruptcy sales or relocation/transfer property sales.  And, as indicated, there’s no parameter for short sales.

If you’d like a list of bank-owned properties, please email me at bettyjung@remax.net with the area(s) you’re interested in and I’d be happy to provide it for you.

Doing my search of bank-owned properties (i.e. foreclosures), this is what I found (this list does not include auction properties):

Bank Owned Properties (Foreclosures) As of 7/14/09	RMLS™  #147 Lake Oswego	RMLS™ #147 West Linn	RMLS™ #148 West Portland	RMLS™ #151 Tigard
Total # for Sale	14	9	45	12
# Attached/Condos For Sale	3	1	17	2
# Detached Houses for Sale	11	8	28	10
Total # Pending	8	15	25	12
# Attached/Condos Pending	2	3	14	2
# Detached Houses Pending	6	12	11	10
Total # Sold	17	23	55	30
# Attached/Condos Sold	4	5	26	6
# Detached Houses Sold	13	18	29	24
High Sales $	$945,000	$825,000	$823,550	$456,500
Low Sale $	$76,500	$116,500	$105,000	$109,815
Average Sold $	$358,929	$358,933	$321,556	$272,081
Average Days on Market	60	67	62	60
Average Sq. Ft.	2684	3020	2032	2180
Average Sold Sq. Ft. $	$150	$122	$158	$134
% of Sold Price vs. Original List Price	90.82%	92.18%	87.89%	92.15%
Source:  RMLS

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung.  All Rights Reserved.  Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate news, go to my website www.bettyjung.com).

Watch Out For Mortgage Scammers

Unfortunately, I’ve written many posts on mortgage fraud and scams because those people who choose to defraud others is on the rise.  Those who claim to be able to assist homeowners with loan modifications are finding their “niche” by cheating those in dire straights.  Homeowners who need help are just wanting assistance, and those criminals are there ready for the picking.  Please be careful!  Click on the side bar under the category “Foreclosure, Sub-Prime, Short Sales”  or here for even more posts on what to watch out for and where to go for assistance.

Scams are increasing with promises to “rescue” homeowners from foreclosure.  What these scams do is take your money, ruin your credit record, and wipe out your equity. Foreclosure con artists take advantage of people behind on their mortgages and are facing foreclosure. Potential victims are easy to find and con artists approach you in person, mail, telephone, or e-mail.  They advertise their services on websites or publications.  They refer to themselves with titles that sound official, such as “foreclosure consultant” or “mortgage consultant,” and market themselves as a “foreclosure service” or “foreclosure rescue agency.”  If someone offers to negotiate with your lender, offers to arrange to stop or delay foreclosure for a fee, carefully check his or her credentials, reputation, and experience.  To protect yourself, follow the recommendations in the Consumer Advisory alert from the Federal Reserve Bank below or consult with an attorney:

Here’s a video from Freddie Mac you can watch on YouTube about foreclosure scams……

Here’s an article from our local Sunday Oregonian on how to stay proactive when seeking a loan modification or facing foreclosure.

WATCH OUT FOR THESE FORECLOSURE RESCUE SCAMS

• Lease-Back or Repurchase Scams – Be suspicious if someone offers to pay your mortgage and rent your home back to you.  This scheme often involves signing the deed to your home to the con artist.  The con artist may promise to sell your home back to you, but this may be very difficult under the terms of the contract. Signing over the deed gives the con artist the power to evict you, raise your rent, sell the house, or steal your equity.  You will still be responsible for your mortgage, so if the con artist stops paying your lender would have the right to foreclose on your home, and the foreclosure and any other problems would go on your credit record.

• Refinance Fraud – Look out for people posing as mortgage brokers or lenders offering to refinance your loan so you can afford the payments.  Con artists may trick you into signing ownership of your home by saying that you are signing documents for a new loan. Signing over the deed to your home exposes you to the dangers described above.  Even if you are a victim of fraud, you could still lose your home.

• Bankruptcy Schemes – Scams attempt to abuse the bankruptcy laws.  A con artist may ask you to give a partial interest in your home to one or more persons.  Each holder of a partial interest can then file bankruptcy.  The bankruptcy court will issue a “stay” order each time to stop foreclosure temporarily.  However, the stay does not excuse you from making payments or from repaying the full amount of your loan.  In another kind of scam, a con artist may offer to obtain refinancing or negotiate a payment plan with your lender.  If you make payments to the con artist, he or she may keep the money rather than pay the lender on your behalf.  The con artist may file a bankruptcy case in your name, without your knowledge, as a part of the scam. Bankruptcy laws provide important protections to consumers.  Scams can only temporarily delay foreclosure, and keep you from using bankruptcy laws legitimately to address your financial problems.  Signing over ownership of your home, or even partial ownership, can result in serious financial harm.

HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM SCAMS

• Know what you are signing. Read and understand every document you sign.  If a document is too complex, seek advice from a lawyer or an approved, trusted financial counselor.  Never sign documents with blank spaces that can be filled in later.  Never sign a document that contains errors or false statements, even if someone promises to correct them later.

• Get promises in writing.  Oral promises and agreements relating to your home are usually not legally binding.  Protect your rights with a written document or contract signed by the person making the promise. Keep copies of all contracts you sign.

• Make your mortgage payments directly to your lender or the mortgage servicer.  Do not trust anyone else to make mortgage payments for you.

• Be very careful about signing over your deed. Foreclosure scams often require you to sign over ownership of your home to a con artist or another third party.  Never sign over your deed without getting the advice of your own lawyer or other independent person that you know you can trust.  Understand the terms.  By signing over your deed, you lose your rights to your home and any equity.

• Report suspicious activity to the Federal Trade Commission and to your state and local consumer protection agencies.  Reporting con artists and suspicious schemes helps prevent others from becoming victims.

If you have a complaint or question involving a national bank and cannot resolve it directly with the bank, contact the OCC’s Customer Assistance Group by calling (800) 613-6743, by e-mailing customer.assistance@occ.treas.gov,  by visiting www.HelpWithMyBank.gov. Or contact Oregon’s Department of Justice’s Consumer Protection Agency at oregon.gov’s website

Source: Federal Reserve Board

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung.  All Rights Reserved.  Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate news, click on my monthly newsletter – JUNG’S JOURNAL – on my website www.bettyjung.com).