December 2011
39 posts
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Plan to Lease Out Foreclosures Gets Closer to...
Several weeks ago I had reported that the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) was in the works to create a rental program for many of their foreclosure properties. These foreclosure properties include the foreclosures owned by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and HUD. So far, this appears to only be a pilot program that will begin in Spring 2012. If successful, I’m sure the majority of the...
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Anonymous asked: Is your listing on 151 Santa Fe still available?
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The Best of 2011: West County Blog
The housing market this year has been very interesting and with lots of changes on every level. As new things happen, I try to post it as quickly as possible for all to read. 2012 will bring many changes to my blog but for now, let’s take a look at the Best of the Best of 2011. Thank you again to all who take the time to read and support West County Blog.
#1 - $116,876 from Bank of...
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WatchA quick announcement
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West County Blog has moved to Tumblr!
We have moved WestCountyBlog.com from WordPress to Tumblr along with all of your favorite articles. To read past articles, click on the Archive in the top right corner or scroll down the home page.
For now, the new page URL is http://marcguzmanhomes.tumblr.com. This will soon change back to WestCountyBlog.com.
We know that this page right now is very basic, but little by little we will be...
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Your Ability to Pay Won't Be a Qualification...
Lenders will not look at your ability to pay a loan back and not make it a qualification requirement to refinance. In your opinion is this crazy or not? Well however way you look at it, it appears Fannie Mae is making this change to their Home Affordable Refinance Program 2.0 (HARP).
The new HARP 2.0 is supposed to allow a large number of underwater homeowner the ability to refinance...
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The Shocking Data After 4 Months of Decreasing...
After four months of seeing the number of delinquent mortgages decline, Lender Processing Services (LPS) documented the first increase for the month of November. The new data shows a 3% increase in month-over-month of delinquent loans 30+ days past due but not yet in foreclosure. Overall, the number of delinquent mortgages from a year ago is down and calculated at 6,260,000 delinquent...
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New HARP 2.0 Which Allows Underwater Homeowners to...
On Monday, October 24th, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced rule changes to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP). The new rules are designed to double, maybe even triple, the number of underwater homeowners it can help by eliminating the loan-to-value ratio cap of 125%. This would allow many homeowners to refinance at today’s crazy low interest rates without...
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What If You Could Walk Away From Your Mortgage,...
Earlier this year the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the regulator and conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the regulator of the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks, asked the private market for input on how to handle the majority of their current and future foreclosures. If you want to know how many foreclosures are in the pipeline, it’ll be enough for another 6 Years and 9...
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OCC Now Investigating Foreclosures of over 5,000...
Several days ago I released an article here on my blog about the $20 Million Bank of America settlement.
Well the news of this settlement spread so fast that it seemed to have caught the eye of The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). As you know, the OCC was also responsible for requesting the Review of 4.5 Million Foreclosures from 2009 and 2010 to check for cases of fraud and...
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Preparing Your Credit Score Can Save You...
Ok we all know how important your credit score is when it comes to borrowing money for credit cards, auto loans and home loans. But how many of you really know the benefits of preparing your credit score before you buy a home?
If you have ever bought a home, you know that it can be a very exciting and daunting process. As a home buyer you do everything to prepare paperwork for your loan...
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$116,875 from Bank of America for Each...
Several months ago, the Department of Justice settled with Bank of America in which Bank of America will pay a total of $20 Million to 160 servicemembers who were improperly foreclosed upon between January 2006 and May 2009. Each servicemember in the settlement will receive at least $116,875 for the bank’s violation of the Servicemember Civil Relief Act. This law prevents lenders from...
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PMI is Now Officially Bust
On October 22, I reported that the Arizona Department of Insurance took over the PMI Group. Well last week, the PMI Mortgage Insurance group filed for bankruptcy protection. So what does this mean for you and what does it mean to the housing market? Well let’s first start with the history of PMI.
PMI stands for Private Mortgage Insurance. When a property is purchased and the borrower...
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FHA Bailout in the Next 12 Months?
According to HUD’s annual audit of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), there is a 50-50 chance that FHA will need a bailout from taxpayers in the next 12 months. HUDs report stated that FHA’s cash reserves have fallen to $2.6 Billion, down from $4.7 Billion the year before.
Now what is the important item to note here? Per federal statute, FHA is required to have a ...
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FHA Loan Limits Going Back to $729,750, But Not...
Well it looks like after reducing the maximum loan limit from $729,750 to $625,000, the House and Senate will be restoring the $729,750 loan limit; except only for the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will keep the $625,000 loan limit. The loan limit restoration is part of the Transportation and Housing Appropriations Bill that will be voted on November 18th.
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It's a Felony to Foreclose on Your Home
Check this out… Nevada recently passed a new law that makes it a felony (yes that is right, a FELONY) if a mortgage servicer commits false representations concerning title to a property. This is Nevada Assembly Bill 284, which also imposes a $5,000 fine if any type of fraud is detected, now requires mortgage servicers to provide additional documentation during the foreclosure...
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New Baby Boomer Strategy: focus on Passive Income...
Michael Zuber at The Bigger Pockets Blog wrote a great article on the new Baby Boomer strategy. Michael wrote, “I suggest all of them stop focusing or even worrying about net worth, and instead focus on creation of passive income streams.” The Bay Area real estate market is prime to take advantage of low prices and above average rents. Below is more of the article written by...
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Bullet Train from SF to LA Doesn't Cost $33.6...
Ok, so that headline may sound like Dr Evil from the Austin Powers movies. How many of you actually read it in the Dr Evil voice? But even though it wasn’t Dr Evil speaking the headline, it sure feels like he is controlling the budget for high-speed rail project in California.
The high-speed rail project was approved to build a bullet train, very similar to those in Europe and...
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Just Released! HARP Allows Underwater Homeowners...
On Monday, October 24th, it was announced by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) that they have changed the rules to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP). The new rules are designed to double, maybe even triple, the number of underwater homeowners it can help.
So What is HARP?
The Home Affordable Refinance Program began in 2009 to allow underwater borrowers the ability to...
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Funding Sources for Determined Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs have always known how difficult it is to raise funding for their ideas and for the businesses. Trust me… I know. But even though obtaining funding for your business today is still difficult, there are more options available than the traditional Family & Friends. So, I’ve decided to list a few online sources that I have found. Good luck!
Angel List...
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Arizona Department of Insurance Takes Over PMI...
Mortgage Insurance is essential to mortgage lending. Most lenders will require mortgage insurance to protect themselves against default; this also allows many consumers to obtain loans with minimal down payment (3-5%). The PMI Group is one of the biggest four mortgage insurance companies and earlier this year the Arizona Department of Insurance, PMI’s primary regulators, ordered PMI...
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Could New Credit Score Supplemental Report Change...
November 30, 2011…
This is the day that is being claimed to change consumer credit reports. CoreLogic, a leading provider of financial, property and consumer information, is releasing its latest product “CoreScore.” The CoreScore report will not replace current credit reports, but instead will be a supplemental report to a credit report. It’s sole purpose will be...
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EBMUD Now Requires Homeowner in 6 East Bay Cities...
In an effort to keep the San Francisco Bay clean, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) are requiring that old and cracked sewer laterals be fixed or replaced. This is to ensure that sewer laterals do not allow infiltration of rainwater which can overwhelm wastewater treatment facilities. The following cities will be affected: Oakland,...
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Top 14 Banks to Spend Another Year Reviewing 4.5...
Last Monday John Walsh, acting Comptroller of the Currency for the OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency) called for an independent review of almost 4.5 Million loans.
The top 14 major servicers were undergoing independent reviews of 200 loans to determine if there were any errors, misrepresentations or other deficiencies in the foreclosure process. After review of the 200 loans,...
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Building a $300 House for the Poor
I recently read this article on Harvard Business Review Magazine’s website and found it to be a really great idea. Vijay Govindarajan from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and co-author Christian Sarkar developed a concept of building a house for the poor that would cost under $300. The idea started from a simple comment in a blog post and has grown into a challenge that...
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Why Waiting for a Housing Recovery to Upgrade is...
Lately I have been talking with many people and this topic keeps coming up. Let’s assume you wanted to upgrade your home and could have sold your house in 2007 for $500,000. But now it is only worth $275,000. Living in the Bay Area this scenario is very common. I have found that many people are deciding to wait for the housing market to recover before making the move; everyone seems...
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Foreclosed Homeowner Scamming Tenants in Bay Area
One of the biggest disappointments for a tenant is moving into a house only to find out shortly after that the homeowner is in the foreclosure process. Or even worse, has already been foreclosed upon! Then the new owner (normally the bank unless an investor bought the property at auction) can initiate the eviction process after foreclosure and all rents and security deposits are lost...
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Breaking News: $1,000,000 to Lose Weight!
Seven local communities in Northern California are each receiving a grant of $1,000,000 from Kaiser Permanente through Kaiser’s Healthy Eating Active Living program, or HEAL. The purpose of Kaiser’s HEAL program is to help underserved neighborhoods fight obesity and prevent health problems through community efforts. The neighborhoods include: North Richmond/Iron Triangle in...
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Landlord, Tenants and Pets: Are You Allowed to...
Recently I have been getting a lot more questions on landlord-tenant law. There is often confusion and misinformation out there about what is and is not permissible. Let’s talk about the rights of the landlord to restrict their tenants from having pets.
As a general rule, a landlord can completely disallow a tenant from having a pet or animal, except in those situations when it is...
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California Only - Short Sale Deficiencies Are Now...
California Senate Bill 458 was signed into law on July 15th. Here is an article from Agent Insider written by the attorney Lance Churchill.
Effective Immediately All Short Sale Lienholders No Longer Have Any Deficiency Rights
California Senate Bill 458 was signed into law on July 15 and is effective immediately for all short sale transactions the close after July 15, 2011. The law...
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Another 6 Years and 9 Months Before Housing...
Today Lender Processing Services, a leading provider of integrated technology, data and analytics to the mortgage and real estate industries, issued their “First Look” Mortgage Report for the month of June 2011. This data is complied from approximately 40 million mortgage loans.
It was found that there are 4,285,000 mortgage loans currently 30+ days past due but not in the...
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Live Reasonably Within Your Means and Make...
You hear it today in all circles of life, the news media and political talk. Friends, family, politicians, bloggers, journalists, reporters, experts, etc all keep talking about “we must live within our means” and not overspend; especially if we don’t have to spend the extra money. And due to the current economy, most of us have cut back on our spending. But what I...
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30% Cash Bonus for Paying Your Mortgage on Time?
I read this article today from CNBC and just thought it was very interesting. I had to share it with everyone. To read the full article, click on the link at the bottom.
Should Everyone Get Bonus For Paying Mortgage On Time?
By: Diana Olick CNBC Real Estate Reporter
… “As home values continue to fall and more borrowers fall into a negative equity position on their home...
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Power of Leverage: 19% Return on Investment!
We have all heard that investing in real estate is one of the safest investment vehicles long-term. However we know due to the financial crisis and real estate crash that in a matter of a couple years, 20 years of equity can be wiped out. Yes I said 20 years. Some properties in the areas that I sell are priced at where they used to be priced 20 years ago. So with this, many ask me: Why...
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Illegal to Remove Your Own Appliances???
Do you remember that commercial where as customers are buying the latest technology items (laptops, cell phones, 3D TV), the newer items are released? My favorite was the 3D TV being delivered and the 4D TV was being advertised on the side of the delivery truck. Well new laws and changes seem to keep on coming as quickly as technology.
Today I want to discuss the different local laws...
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Lower FHA Loan Limits on the Way
About a month ago, the Young Professionals Network for West Contra Costa Association of Realtors put together a Short Sale & BPO training seminar for our Realtor members and their assistants. After the seminar, a fellow Realtor and I held a brief Market Update Presentation during lunch. One of the big topics we discussed was the fact that FHA will be making many lending changes in the...