Nov 07
0

Reverse Mortgage – a way to foreclosure proof your house.

By | Aging in Place, Foreclosure, Mortgage, Retirement, Reversed Mortgage, Sonoma County info, Visit WineCountry, Wine Tasting, Winery with picnic place | 10 Comments

A few days ago I had coffee with David Carter, he is a reverse mortgage specialist at BofA. When I initially heard about reverse mortgage I thought is was some sort of a scam… I was wrong. As with any loan product, a reliable specialist is key and David is a specialist.

Recent legislation and changes in the marketplace are increasing the use of reverse mortgages. Here are three factors that make reverse mortgages an improved retirement-planning tool.

1. Fees are lower. The government, with support from lenders, has revised how reverse mortgages are structured.

2. Loans are more flexible. New loans let borrowers take money as they need it instead of all at once.

3. Selling isn’t always wanted, someone likes to stay in his/her house but need some extra income.

You can make payments on your mortgage but you don’t have to. This basically means that you cannot be foreclosed on when you don’t pay the mortgage.

You have to be 62 or older. For more information, contact David Carter: 707.235.8786.

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Fall is beautiful in the wine country, visiting wineries, taste and discover new wines… Found a great winery with a deck where you can enjoy a picnic as well as the views: Everett Ridge  Winery in Healdsburg

Have a great day!

Mirjam

Oct 24
0

Judicial or Non-Judicial Foreclosure?

By | Foreclosure, Short Sale | One Comment

OK, all the articles in the papers about home owners in foreclosure, in some states the whole process takes about 2 years minimal while in other states like California, it takes 3 months and 3 weeks minimal. It is relatively simple, but an important and often misunderstood part of the foreclosure process.

Judicial

A “judicial” state requires a judicial review of the foreclosure case before it can be officially processed. The foreclosure process actually begins by filing a Lis Pendens (“a lawsuit pending”) document in a court of law. Following are the states that require judicial review: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont.

Non-Judicial

In “non-judicial” states, lenders or trustees file a Notice of Default with the county recorder’s office to commence the foreclosure process, and the process does not need to go through the courts. These states include Michigan, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Utah, Washington D.C., West Virginia.

The remaining 25 states allow both judicial and non-judicial foreclosure, though some have tendencies toward one practice or the other. California is one of them and most foreclosures are non-judicial.

For some additional clarification, Thomas Lawler, former director and senior vice president at Fannie Mae, recently provided this informative explanation in a post for The New York Times:

“Some states allow both judicial and non-judicial foreclosures. … And in some states, judges have enormous discretion as to how to handle a foreclosure. … In many judicial states, foreclosures can be challenged, and such challenges have increased drastically.”

This distinction has become increasingly visible due to the recent “foreclosure freezes” by major lenders nationwide, most of which initially halted foreclosure proceedings in the states requiring judicial review.

At this point none of the major banks has a foreclosure freeze in California.

Mirjam

Oct 05
0

Brought to you by the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

By | Sonoma County info | 8 Comments

Great news for distressed home owners! This came in on my daily newsletter from the CAR:

New California Laws for 2011

The recent end of the 2009-10 legislative session has brought the end of short sale deficiency judgments for first loans, and other new laws affecting REALTORS® and their clients.

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.

A Short Sale is a great option to avoid foreclosure, visit my website www.MirjamdeRijk.com for more info about Short sales.

Mirjam

Oct 03
0

Loan Modification, just in name?

By | Economy, Foreclosure, Making Home Affordable, Short Sale, Sonoma County info | No Comments

Do you know people  who have been living in their house for a few years now without paying their mortgage? Wondering when something is going to happen? Well I see the trend changing. Recently I have been talking to home owners who have diligently been working on their loan modification,and nothing is happening so far and now all of a sudden a Notice of Default is filed. It seems like investors are getting fed up with loan servicers -the bank you are talking to to get your modification done- who take so long to make a decision. In our area, this means that if you are not careful, the bank will sell your house -foreclose- while you are still under the impression that you are working on a loan modification. Last year, when a homeowner was receiving a Notice of Default, nothing was going to happen within a short period of time. This has changed, now I see it happening more and more that a bank will move forward with the Notice of Trustee sale 3 months after the Notice of Default has been filed. And 3 weeks after the Notice of Trustee sale, the Trustee Sale will take place -> this is what we call the foreclosure.

If you want to avoid a foreclosure, a short sale is a good alternative for a lot of distressed home owners. One of the benefits is that you are more in charge of the situation, you can negotiate the deficiency,

A few months ago, CDEP posted that Freddie Mac reported its short sale volume was up 600%. Today, REOInsider reported that “short sale volume is up more than 150% from volume in 2Q09, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s second quarter government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) ‘Foreclosure Prevention & Refinance Report.’”

Short sales are on the rise nationwide. More and more agents are receiving training in assisting distressed homeowners, and there is a movement to provide solutions to these homeowners facing foreclosure.  Your truly did some extensive training to be able to help distressed home owners with alternatives to foreclosure.

Mirjam

Sep 24
0

Your credit score, how do you improve it?

By | Buyers, Economy, Sellers, Sonoma County info, Visit WineCountry | No Comments

We all live our lives and don’t think to much about our credit score, however it is important to have a good credit score and it is important to keep track of it for many reasons: when you want to buy real property, make sure you are not a victim of identity theft and many more… Something we just need to do, if your credit is ruined, there is no easy fix to increase it. But there are things you can do to stay on top and to start with in case your credit score is ‘not that great’:

1. Pull your reports online — get them for free, no strings attached, at the government-authorized website AnnualCreditReport.com. This doesn’t get you your actual FICO scores, but it does get you the content of your report.

Look for errors that could be lowering your score: accounts that don’t belong to you, balances that are actually lower than reported, old debts that are paid off that should have been removed entirely (seven years for credit cards, 10 years for bankruptcies).

2. Consider reopening accounts you thought were open but have been closed because you haven’t used them in so long — it will help boost your utilization ratio, one element of your credit score that is dependent on how much available credit you have.

3. Pay down some debt. This both decreases your debt-to-income ratio (36 percent is the goal, including the proposed mortgage payment) and increases your credit score, if you do it right (see the next tip).

4. Don’t close any accounts. Instead, spread your debt out. The ideal utilization ratio is about 20-30 percent of your available credit overall, and on any given account. Closing accounts reduces the amount of credit that is available to you, so it makes it look like you’re closer to being maxed out.

So if you have one card that’s near its max and several others that have zero balances and you’re trying boost your score a bit, quickly, consider balance transfers to spread our your debt more evenly, aiming for 20-30 percent of the available credit on each card.

5. Use your credit regularly — and pay it on time, every time. FICO scores are not simply about making sure you have no debt. They are meant to be a measure that shows that you have a history of responsibly using and managing and repaying your debt.

6. Finally, if you are thinking to buy property in the coming years: check in with your mortgage broker. Have the broker pull your report and score, as the report she pulls is the one she’ll have to go by in the final analysis. If you’re really close to a score level that would empower you to qualify for a lower rate, the mortgage broker can actually run a credit diagnostic on your score and generate some recommendations for which actions you could take to raise your score by the needed few points.

None of these tips will get someone with a 500 credit score to a 700 (other than a massive debt reduction program). But if you’re trying to get a little boost to get you over a credit score hump, these can be potent and save you beaucoup bucks in interest.

And… don’t forget to smell the roses, grape crush is starting, many wineries have events going on in the coming time. Fall colors are beautiful!

Mirjam