Fremont Real Estate Blog

Just released by foreclosureradar: California The number of foreclosures Sold to 3rd parties, typically investors, declined 15.6 percent in September. Most foreclosure investors flip the properties they purchase after taking care of title, occupancy and repairs. This process is taking 44.5 percent longer than it did a year ago, up from 95 days to 137. The number of foreclosure sales that went back to the bank was up 4.9 percent, while the total inventory of Bank Owned (REO) properties increased by 5.3 percent as REO resales slowed. Notice of Trustee Sale filinges declined 17.2 percent while Notice of Default filings were essentially flat with a decrease of 1.9 percent. SUNIL SETHI REAL ESTATE Sunil Sethi / Broker, President, REALTOR, MBA / SUNIL SETHI REAL ESTATE 38750 Paseo Padre Pkwy Suite B3 / Fremont, CA 94536 www.sunilsethi.com CA DRE#: 01173766

Because the banks may not have not crossed all their “t”s and dotted all their ‘I’s in doing some foreclosures, lawyers are finding a way to extend the period of time an owner can stay or their property. The owners will still be eventually foreclosed upon, and this action will only result in lining the pockets of some lawyers and raising the transaction cost for future home buyers. Old Republic Will No Longer Insure JPMorgan and GMAC REOs Even more questions about the legality of foreclosure proceedings have prompted Old Republic National Title Insurance to decide it will no longer insure titles to homes foreclosed by JPMorgan Chase and GMAC Mortgage. Chase and GMAC both halted foreclosure sales in 23 states and are reviewing legal filings that they say may have been signed without a notary's presence or without verifying the supporting documents. SUNIL SETHI REAL ESTATE Sunil Sethi / Broker, President, REALTOR, MBA / SUNIL SETHI REAL ESTATE 38750 Paseo Padre Pkwy Suite B3 / Fre...

C.A.R. just passed me this summary of Senate Bill 931, which sounds like the existing “One Action Rule” that applies in the case of foreclosures, which says the deed holder is allowed one action, either take the proceeds from the foreclosure or a deficiency judgment for the unpaid debt. “No Short Sale Deficiencies: Starting January 1, 2011, a seller's first trust deed lender cannot obtain a deficiency judgment against the seller after a short sale. Providing written consent to a short sale shall obligate the first trust deed lender to accept the sales proceeds as full payment and discharge of the remaining amount owed on the loan. This law applies to first trust deeds secured by one-to-four residential units, but does not limit the lender from seeking damages for fraud or waste by the borrower. Senate Bill 931.” SUNIL SETHI REAL ESTATE Sunil Sethi / Broker, President, REALTOR, MBA / SUNIL SETHI REAL ESTATE 38750 Paseo Padre Pkwy Suite B3 / Fremont, CA 94536 www.sunilsethi.co...

DSnews just sent this headline to me: Wells Fargo Puts a Stop to Short Sale Extensions Wells Fargo will no longer delay foreclosure proceedings in hopes that a short sale deal will come through. At the requests of its mortgage investors, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the bank has stopped granting extensions for distressed homeowners to complete short sales. Going forward, borrowers must close on short sales by the date quoted in their approval letter. The policy change will allow the bank's foreclosure proceedings to advance, even if a short sale is already in negotiation. SUNIL SETHI REAL ESTATE Sunil Sethi / Broker, President, REALTOR, MBA / SUNIL SETHI REAL ESTATE 38750 Paseo Padre Pkwy Suite B3 / Fremont, CA 94536 www.sunilsethi.com CA DRE#: 01173766

Freddie to Auction REO Homes to First-Time Homebuyers Unlike a traditional foreclosure auction, this will give 1st time home buyers an opportunity to buy homes at a foreclosure auction but with a mortgage. The 1st two events take place in Southern California (Inland Empire) and Las Vegas. check it out. -sunil

I was thinking after the holidays, the lenders might lose their soft heart or patience with various plans to keep home owners in their home. As I've mentioned before if we don't start seeing more inventory this quarter, I don't see why it'll change later for buyers. On a positive for buyers, I did see two examples of short sales attempted and rejected by the lender. One of which should be going to sale today. There are still a lot of buyers, who’d like to buy while mortgage interest rates are low. The Obama administration needs to let the natural foreclosure cycle happen and let buyers into homes who can afford to make the payments on their mortgages. An example of a property that should have been foreclosed on months earler: There was one up for sale today in Southwycke Ter., Fremont. The home is vacant, and by the looks has been vacant for a long time. The roof is leaking and the water has caused mold to set in. The home is being neglected and should have been forecl...

An REO (Real Estate Owned) refers to property owned by a bank through the foreclosure process. What happened is that the home went to the court house auction steps. The crier called out the bids for the property, and no one was willing to pay the bank what their opening bid was. As a result it became REO. If an investor bought the property it would be referred to as a foreclosure. The distinction is importance for financing. If it’s REO, you’ll have no problem getting a loan on it immediately after the auction. However if an investor bought the property and put it up for sale, then many banks will say you have to wait 90 days before they’ll lend on the property. Bank of America is one of the few exceptions to the rule. In today’s market most deals fall apart because of the financing, not the house, so choose the financer appropriate to the property. Now if the bank ends up getting the property, the bank hires an asset manager who hires a real estate agent, who puts it on MLS for expos...

With the California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger , signing into law today AB 957, homebuyer’s can no longer be railroaded by banks, on which escrow and title company will be used to complete a transaction. Any bank that so bullies these terms could find themselves facing triple damages. I love it. I'm looking forward to helping my clients these bad boys. Next they need to do something about these 14 page addendums that banks give you on any REO purchase. It's total bullshit that they can get away with rewriting the entire contract and call it an addendum. REALTORS are not lawyers so technically you should be employing a lawyer to read through the 14 page addendum, but no one does, since no one wants to pay th emoney Banks should be forced to either use one standard contract per state, or to use the contract prevalent for the county. Any deivation is an unnecessary burden to the buyer. For more about AB957 read here . For commonly asked questions surrounding AB 957, please se...

Chicago Title passed me this links to Bank's REO Properties. Not sure how helpful they maybe, since you're generally only able to buy the property once it's listed but here you go. I say generally, I've heard of people who have relationships with banks and get access to REO assets of bank at a preferred pricing. Unforturately, I haven't developed those relationships yet. American Mortgage HSBC REO Bank of America HUD REO BB&T REO (Branch Bank and Trust) IndyMac Bank Beal Bank Commercial REO JP Morgan Chase Chase M&T Bank Citibank National City Mortgage Coldwell Banker REO Division Ocwen Financial Compass Bank Regions Bank Properties Countrywide Sallie Mae Financial Services Properties Fannie Mae REO SunTrust REO FDIC Real Estate Owned Taylor Bean REO Freddie Mac REO Wachovia GRP Financial Services Properties Washington Mutual HomeSales.gov Wells Fargo

Michael Gray, CPA will be hosting a financial TV. August 19 and 26, he’ll have an attorney on to speak on Short Sales and Foreclosures. The 26 th show sounds more interesting. August 19 – William Mahan, Attorney, "The Mechanics Of Short Sales and Foreclosures." August 26 – William Mahan, Attorney, "Tax Considerations For Short Sales and Foreclosures." The half-hour shows will be broadcast Wednesday afternoons at 4:30 p.m. Pacific Time. You can watch them on Comcast channel 15 in San Jose and Campbell, or as streaming video online at www.creatvsj.org . We will be posting the shows to YouTube and will sell them on DVDs for a small charge. The web site for the show is http://www.financialinsiderweekly.com . [Ed: We have the domain and website posted, but it won’t load on my computer yet. Sometimes it takes a few days. Hopefully, it will be accessible tomorrow.]

Debt Relief Income Exempt from California State Income Tax: This will be welcome relief for those taxpayers who had relief of debt in 2007 & 2008. If you've already filed your tax return, there are options to file an amended return. Given that the federal provisions were recently extended to 2012, California legislatures are being short sighted, and creating unnecessary anxiety for taxpayers who will be recognizing relief of debt from 2009 to 2012. Details on Senate Bill 1055 summary: The California mortgage forgiveness debt relief law is effective immediately. It is similar to federal law, but with important differences. The California law covers qualified debt forgiven in 2007 and 2008, and it: Limits the amount of qualified principal residence indebtedness to $800,000 for taxpayers who file as married/registered domestic partners ( RDP ) filing jointly, single, head of household, or widow/widower, and to $400,000 for taxpayers who file as married/ RDP filing separately. Lim...

this was just passed to me by Bayeast: I've highlighted in Bold the sections I find interesting. They are not asking that the conforming loan limit stay at a maximum of $729,750, instead they are making the maximum for most of California and other priced areas $625,500. This means any home priced more than $781,875 will require more than 20% so as not to exceed the $625,500 limit. example buy a home for $900,000 in 2008 you could get a conforming jumbo loan for $720,000, but buy the same house in 2009, the 1st mortgage is capped at $625,500 if you want a GSE sponsored loan (read lower interest rate), and the difference of $94,500 will have to come from a second mortgage if you can find one (I say that because they are hard to find). So he'll be affected the most, any home sold for more than $781,875 ($625,500/80%). Write your congressman now, if you disagress with the new limit. ------------------------------------------------------------ National Association of REALTORS® Summa...

FORECLOSURE RELIEF BILL BECOMES LAW This week, the State Legislature enacted foreclosure reform law to address the adverse effects of high foreclosure rates in California. The new law requires lenders to contact homeowners to explore options for avoiding foreclosure at least 30 days before filing a notice of default. It also requires owners acquiring property through foreclosure to maintain the exterior of vacant residential properties. The new law also extends from 30 to 60 days the time for residential tenants to move out of properties that have been foreclosed upon, unless other laws apply. These requirements will remain in effect until January 1, 2013. The full text of Senate Bill 1137 (Perata) is available at www.leginfo.ca.gov. Highlights of the new law are as follows: - Contact Between Lender and Borrower: Effective on or about September 8, 2008, a lender, trustee, or authorized agent may not file a notice of default until 30 days after contacting a borrower to assess the borrow...

both of these are great opportunites if you are looking for great schools associated home priced under $550K. Click Here to View Listings 3105 KITTERY AVE, San Ramon $549,990 Just came back on the market 6873 HEATH CT, Pleasanton $558,000 Just had a price change

I saw this property shortly after it came on the market because it was priced at $779,900 for a 4 bedroom, 3 bath with 3281 of living sq ft and an 8800 sqft lot. The price per sqft asked was $238. The neighboring homes were selling for about $950k. The faults were the property was that the previous owner (currently bank owned) had gutted the master bath . All in all it needed about $50k of work. it just closed on 6/12/08 and the buyer got a great deal.

I'm always looking for bargains in good school districts. I saw a beautiful home in San Ramon's Windemere community with almost 3900 living space asking $950,000. It's bank owned. This will go fast. call me if you're interested.