Foreclosure University

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Jarad

Bought a home through USDARuralDevelopement. We have our property taxes deferred because we are over 62. Can we be “forgiven” one time on all we owe?

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Question: my x husband and I bought a home through USDARuralDevelopement program. We have our property taxes deferred because we are over 62. My question is one of us cannot afford the payment. We were told by a RE Agent that we can be “forgiven” one time on all we owe? Is this true? and as far as the property taxes can our Social Security be garnished?

Answer: – Yes, there is such a program called Senior Citizens Tax Deferral Program and like everything else you must meet certain criteria in order to qualify, like Age, Income and how long you’ve Owned the home. And as far as I understand it does not eliminate your property taxes, it only lowers the amount you have to pay in property taxes and “defers” the rest. Each state may have different qualifications so you may want to contact the Property Tax Division in your state to get more info on it.

Insufficient insurance settlement from the contractors’ policy

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Question: I have a home in Florida with sever construction defects.
The house cannot be sold and does not have any real value (actually a negative value).
We have received a rather insufficient insurance settlement from the contractors’ policy.
Since the settlement was not enough to cover the existing mortgage and provide provide a new place to live we are planning to use that money to set up a new primary residence in Arizona Can we then offer a Deed in Lieu Foreclosure? Can they take our Arizona home.
PS: There is no record with the county or is there anything from the insurance company defining how we use the money.

Answer: -First lets address the whole insurance thing. As with any insurance policy or insurance claim, it’s there to be used to fix or rebuild whatever was insured. So that’ s up to you how you want to handle that. In terms of offering your lender a deed in lieu of foreclosure is definitely a possibility as long as there are no other liens or mortgages on the property. As for your Arizona home, if you didn’t pledge it as collateral for the Florida home, then no…they can’t take it. The worst they can do is sue you and file a judgment against you for the amount they lost. Very rarely happens, but it can happen.

How long after foreclosure do I have until I have to be out of my house?

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Question: How long after foreclosure do I have until I have to be out of my house?

Answer: -Well it depends on your states laws as to how much time you have until you have to vacate your home. If you live in a trust deed state where the redemption period is before the auction, then you’ll have a few weeks to a month to leave your home. If you live in a state where foreclosure is filed judicially, typically the redemption period is after the auction so again depending on your states laws and redemption period after foreclosure, it could be a few months up to six months.

The best way to find out how long after foreclosure until you have to be out of your home is to call up a title company and ask them or you can visit your State Laws page and see when your redemption period is.

Usually you’ll receive a notice from the bank or the individual who purchased the home at auction. There is a small chance that if an investor picked it up, they may allow you to stay there and rent. I say small chance because they are going to question whether or not you have the means to pay them rent when you weren’t able to pay the bank mortgage. You will have to convince them that you are in a good enough situation where you can pay them a monthly rent or they will evict you.

Either way, you’ll know when you need to be out because you’ll see notices on your door or delivered in person. Until that point, you will want to make arrangements with finding another place to live because chances are high the property will go back to the bank and they will ask you to leave. So don’t sit around and wait for it to happen, I’d start looking now for another place and be ready.

What is involved in a short sale?

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Question: What is involved in a short sale?

Answer: -This is a great question…the short sale process involves several steps. First the homeowner falls behind on payments because of some hardship or challenge and can no longer make payments. The house is over leveraged, so the loans are more than what the house is worth, so it makes it near impossible to sell.

If you are the homeowner, here is what is now involved in a short sale…

Homeowner – Buyer/Investor/Agent approaches you to buy your home for less than what it’s worth. You have to concent or authorize buyer to talk to lender about loan(s). You will fill out some paperwork describing your financial hardship, describing your current financial condition, and most likely you’ll also provice some pay stubb’s if you’re employed, bank statements, W2’s, etc. You will be asked to cooperate fully with the buyer to get the short sale pushed through. Once the offer is accepted, you’ll have to sign some more paperwork basically disclosing to you the terms of the short sale agreement and you’ll go to closing and be done. Then you’ll have to move out of your home if you haven’t already. Then the bank will either 1099 you for the difference they lost or they can file a deficiency judgment against you. But a good short sale expert can eliminate the whole deficiency judgment option all together, so really you just have to worry about the 1099.

If you are the buyer or investor, this is what is involved in a short sale…

Buyer/Investor – First you will fax the authorization letter to the bank, the homeowner just signed and wait 24 to 48 hours. Then you will request a “short sale” or “workout packet” from the bank. In the packet will be everything the lender requires in order to accept a short sale. Fill it out completely and make sure you include everything the lender requires. Once everything is filled out, send it back to the lender and start looking for an end buyer. If you already have your list of buyers, call them up and let them know about your deal. You’ll use wet funds to close your deal and sell the property to your end buyer. You make your money and do it over again.

I had an investment property go into foreclosure 9/1/09 in Arizona, Maricopa county.

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Question: I had an investment property go into foreclosure 9/1/09 in Arizona, Maricopa county. The home has a first mortgage for 160k and purchase money HELOC for 20K. Neither loan was ever touched after the purchase. On Aug 17, 2009 Countrywide sent me a letter informing me the HELOC will have a new servicer Real Time Resolutions, INC.
On 9/5/09, I received what seems to be an attempt to collect from Real Time Resolutions, INC. it states I have, “30 days to dispute the validity of this debt or any portion thereof, this office will assume this debt is valid.” The payoff they are requesting is $ 21,193.74 which I am assuming is the HELOC plus fees.

Is this allowed or legal, can a new servicer attempt to collect on the Heloc since the home has already gone into foreclosure? Should I meet with a lawyer or am I okay ignoring these letters?

Please advise and thanks for your time,

Aaliyah, Gilroy CA

Answer: -This is normal protical and yes since your loan was “sold” to a new servicer, they can try to collect the debt. So they will send you certified letters in the mail every month telling you how much you owe and that it’s an attemt to collect the debt. You don’t need to respond unless you are disputing the action and I’m sure they will try to call you every week and threaten you to pay…or else. By sending these letters, it gives them the right to proceed with foreclosure if they want. However, we all know they won’t unless there is substancial equity in the property. More than likely they will just write it off as a loss and 1099 you for the difference.