Recently, I conducted closing where the seller was a real estate attorney from Chicago. The closing went very smoothly and we had a nice conversation about law and the number of different types of law that attorneys are involved in. I asked how he decided to concentrate his practice on real estate and his response brought a smile to my face. “It’s the happy part of practicing law”, he claimed.
We recently competed a short sale closing where the property was in foreclosure. The property is still in foreclosure and will be until the lender, one of the larger banks, and their assembly line lawyers dismiss the suit. This, of course, can take several months. If anyone has tried communicating with a lender, you will understand that something so simple is, in fact, next to impossible. The large lenders communicate with the lawyers in the same inefficient manner.
One of my goals for 2013 was to get my website up and running. Check. Next goal, start blogging for search engine optimization. Check. Make sure you blog once a week so you are consistent. Ok, so blogging is not my strong suit. Let’s put this down in “Things I Need to Work on” colomun – maybe I will get better in 2014.
The past few years it has been difficult for most indiviudals to get a mortgage. For the most part, mortgage modifications didn’t work, banks were not reducing principal, and any “government programs” were nothing but a crule joke. The inclement real estate weather appeared to be socked in for the long haul. Your credit score didn’t matter – all that mattered to any lender was your income. I am sure I don’t need to go into detail about what happened to most people’s income.
Working with lenders can be very difficult. We recently closed a short sale where the buyer was getting a loan through the Veterans Administration and working with a mortgage broker. This was also a short sale, so not only were we working with the buyer’s mortgage broker and lender, we were also working with the seller’s lender. Continue reading
I have been working on short sales on a regular basis over the last few years. This has gone hand in hand with clients going into foreclosure and attempting to find a reasonable resolution for them. I don’t know exactly how many foreclosures I have been involved in, or how many short sales I have been involved in. I cannot say that it has ever been a high priority to actually keep count. I am more concerned with doing a good job for my client and giving them an acceptable exit to their stressful situation. That being said, I can say that a high percentage of the properties that do become short sales are eventually approved and successfully closed. Continue reading
Recently, we did a short sale closing with Wells Fargo. To clarify, our client was in foreclosure with Wells Fargo, he was also being sued by Wells Fargo on his second mortgage. The plaintiff in both cases were the same – Wells Fargo, N.A. It is not unusually to be working on a short sale while the property is involved in a foreclosure. In fact, it sometimes helps the short sale process if the property is being foreclosed.
The term “underwater” took on a new meaning a few years ago. Before 2006 has anyone ever heard of a homeowner being “underwater”? Although we have helped hundreds of clients who are “underwater”, this term always had a different meaning to me. I have actually enjoyed being underwater, and try to get underwater as often as possible. Continue reading