About Short Sales

F.G. (NY): “Foreclosures are the top subject in the economic news today. Will it affect my condominium association too? What can be done?”

Dear F.G.: Foreclosures stalk condo owners like a predator looking for his prey. They are at an all time high in over 20 years, especially in the big cities. They are evenly split between builders going out of business and buyers that bite off more than they can chew. With people’s financial house in complete disarray due to general economic conditions or loss of income, condo foreclosures are becoming a fact of life. This is more common than most would have you believe.

If mortgage payments are not made by the current owner, a foreclosure may occur. The bank or lending institution will sell the unit at below market value. This is devastating if it happens to you.

The bank or mortgage lender has no choice but to get some money back through foreclosure because of the lack of payment by the owner. The bank or lender may allow someone else to make the payments and move into the condominium.

When too many condominium owners lose their units to foreclosure, condo associations feel the financial pain. That is bad news for homeowners who depend on them to take care of building maintenance, property insurance, utilities, landscaping, and other amenities that are shared in common.

Borrowing money from a bank or from the association’s reserve, reducing contributions to reserves, reassessing costs, renegotiating service contracts, and delaying capital expenditures are some of the actions that the Board of Directors can take. Obviously, these actions are not very palatable to the owners. Cutting back on amenities, increasing monthly assessments, and levying special assessments usually affect owners immediately.

The Board can offer payment plans or loans to the owners. They can waive late fees or penalties to help owners catch up on delinquencies. Some condo associations are assessing anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000 per unit to make up for the shortfall.

Just because the funds are inadequate, associations cannot abandon their fiduciary responsibility. They must continue to make an effort to collect delinquencies.

When a condominium association forecloses on a unit, the payments will cease. The bank or mortgage lender may accept a deed to the property from the association in lieu of a foreclosure. This could result in a faster sale of the unit to a new owner. The top priority is to get someone into the condominium who will pay the assessments.

Times have changed. Foreclosure stalkers (politely called investors) are not showing up in bunches at foreclosure auctions to snap up great bargains. We always used to hear about the great times when condominium properties were sold with profit to interested buyers and the associations recovered all their money - plus making a profit that financed the new landscaping at the front gate. Those times are gone!

Before you know what to do when facing a Bank of America foreclosure, you need to understand how it works. Lots of Bank of America foreclosure homes are on the market because too many people have mortgages with Bank of America but when they cannot pay the payments, they do not know what else to do.

When Bank of America gives someone a mortgage loan and that person fails to keep up with the mortgage payments, the bank can foreclose on the home and the home then becomes a Bank of America foreclosure home. The bank can try to auction the home off to try to recoup some of their money.

Usually, it will take Bank of America a few months to start the foreclosure process. A homeowner can miss his or her mortgage payments for months before the bank threatens foreclosure. When a homeowner only misses one month of mortgage payment, nothing will happen. It is only after the third month that the bank will start being aggressive.

The Bank of America foreclosure process starts when Bank of America sends out a foreclosure notice. Bank of America may call the homeowner repeatedly to try to figure something out or the bank can just be silent and send out the foreclosure notice depending on the area you are in and the account manager.

Most people start to really be afraid of Bank of America foreclosure when the bank actually sends out official notices of foreclosure. They then try to call the bank repeatedly. Sometimes, it is too late to negotiate with the bank but other times the bank will still be willing to work something out with the homeowner. When calling Bank of America, the homeowner needs to talk to someone with authority to negotiate.

Calling Bank of America to negotiate with them is not the only way to stop the foreclosure process. There are many ways a homeowner can help himself or herself. He or she can put the home on the market and try to sell at a high enough price to pay off the lender. After all, it is far better to sell the home yourself, on your terms, rather than have Bank of America take it away from you.

A Bank of America foreclosure is not without a solution. There are many things a homeowner can do to delay a Bank of America foreclosure process or even stop it. However, it requires research and knowledge that most homeowners do not have. Homeowners should familiarize themselves with real estate short sales if they owe more than their home value.

In summary, a Bank of America foreclosure is not something that you cannot beat. If you understand how a Bank of America foreclosure works, you will be able to find ways to stop it or avoid it. Knowing how to beat a Bank of America foreclosure well in advance will give you a better chance of keeping yourself from the trauma of foreclosure and the risk of destroying your credit.

There are times in your life when you have to make decisions that others may question in order to change your future.

That is the case with many investors who want to build a rental portfolio or invest in real estate but their market is so crazy that a 2/1 shack is 200k or the taxes are so high that getting a positive cash flow is just not happening. So what do you do?

Look for properties in another area, or even another state, which are affordable and give you positive cash flow.

There are plenty of the areas that the news never talks about because they don’t have 50 percent appreciation in a year. They just steadily grow at a measly 3 to 5 percent, and guess what When the Bubble burst they also didn’t have 50% depreciation in a year. In fact, they just hang out and many people just don’t even notice.

So what are the keys to finding a stable area that won’t blow up or down? Here are 7 steps to finding out your area properties to invest in.

1. Look for areas that have a strong rental market. Meaning an area where a good majority of houses are owned by investors who are renting property. This will tell you that the taxes are low and the rent rates are high enough to attract investors who want cash flow.

2. Find the areas that other out of state investors are buying in. Google is one way that comes to mind. Craigslist.com is also a very good source. In fact, I think it is one of the best sources to find great deals.

3. Once you find the area, talk to people there about the markets overall appreciation. Find a market that is just boring, one where no one really ever understood all of the hype about the real estate bubble because it wasn’t happening there.

4. When you find the area that other out of state buyers are buying in, the work begins. You are not there, so someone will have to do your legwork. What is the best way to find the local deals? Find the local wholesaler!

5. Like a spy would find out intelligence. They go to the guy who is connected and who is the big dog dealer around and try to get them on your side. That is what you do to find the best deals in the area.

6. Find the hard moneylenders in the area. Guess whom they will be friendly with? That’s right, the local wholesaler. Find the moneylenders, and you will find the best deal finders. They will be the ones constantly finding great deals and bringing buyers who need to borrow the money. Easy - just like a spy!

7. Talk to the wholesaler in your area. It’s less work and much easier than working with realtors. Be sure to do some checking and asking around, make sure he or she is the big dog, so to speak. They run the volume-based business so they mark the deals up just a few thousand and move them so they can keep buying more properties. Besides, the local wholesaler is going to snatch all the best deals up anyway because they are going to have all the relationships with the realtors anyway and get 1st call on the deals.

In general, for the work the local wholesalers do - looking at hundreds of houses and making hundreds of offers to get their deals - they are more than worth the measly mark up they make. Let them find you the best property mangers and contractors, let them find you quality properties faster, let them help you achieve your investing goals.

Then it is time to get to work and do some deals, build your cash flow, and take charge of your future. Be Bold and Courageous, you won’t regret it!