Real Estate Information

Q.  I’m in trouble with my mortgage. How can I get help? 

A.  If you don’t know where to turn for reliable answers or need to sort through your options, turn to these experts for advice:

1. Your REALTOR^® can determine the current value of your home and review your options if you owe more than the home is worth.  Knowledgeable agents can also explain more about government programs available today.
2. A foreclosure Counselor will help you evaluate your current financial situation by reviewing your monthly expenses and income.  They can also identify assistance programs and serve as an advocate with your bank, free of charge.
3. A Tax Expert may be needed if you decide to do a short sale or deed in lieu of foreclosure as forgiveness of debt is sometimes considered taxable income.
4. A Credit Counselor can help develop a plan to avoid future financial difficulty and work to repair your credit score if you’ve already missed payments.
5. An Attorney can help if your lender has filed a foreclosure lawsuit.  They can review the lender’s paperwork and see if the loan servicing company made a mistake in applying payments or assessing fees.

If you have any questions, or need capable and trustworthy representation, please call me Randy Harris at 262-844-1900.

Waukesha WI - The Stop foreclosure Institute recently received a question from James. “My loan was just sold. I was making payments to CitiFinancial and they sold it to Nationstar. Is that good or bad?” James asked. 

Here is the answer. It’s neither good nor bad. In fact, I don’t think your loan was sold. You see, most loans were packaged up and sold to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or Wall Street.

James’s loan was more than likely packaged up and sold off. I asked him who his original lender was. He said it was a company called First Magnus. (First Magnus declared bankruptcy in 2007 and was afterwards closed.)

The Stop foreclosure Institute has negotiated short sales on loans that were originally with First Magnus. The last one was sold to a large Wall Street Firm and securitized.

That means James’s loan could be owned by anyone. More than likely it is owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. If not, then it was probably sold to a Wall Street Firm.

The owner of the loan hired CitiFinancial to act as their front man. That means Citi collected the payments, handled escrows and accounting, and manages debt collections and foreclosures.

More than likely Nationstar did not buy the loan. Instead whoever owns the loan hired them to act as the front man instead of Citi.

When we talk, I will explain how the process works in detail. If you prefer, then you can call me at (262) 844-1900.

Thanks for reading this, Randy Harris.

Randy is a Real Estate Agent at Realty Executives Integrity.

Lake County to Lake Shore



Randy Harris specializes in loan modification assistance and short sales in Milwaukee Wisconsin. Milwaukee Loan Modification Help, Milwaukee Short Sales. Milwaukee short sale Realtor Short Sale Realtor. Milwaukee WI Short Sales. Milwaukee Realtor.

 Milwaukee WI – No one wants a deficiency on a short sale. It’s not your fault the housing market crashed. In fact, some people say that the banks and Wall Street are what caused the crash.

Get my Free, Step By Step Loan Modification Guide by clicking here.

Here are four ways that you can reduce the deficiency amount on your short sale.

1. Negotiate with the lender. Many lenders will settle for substantially less than what they are owed. For example, we have seen lenders settle for as low as 10 cents on the dollar. In one case, the lender lost over $100,000 on a short sale. They settled with the home owner for a $10,000 promissory note to be repaid over 10 years with zero interest. Lenders will reduce the amount to settle for over time. They know that the longer they go without being paid, then the less likely it is they will ever be repaid at all. They agree to settle because they know that something is better than nothing.

2. Declare Bankruptcy. If your bankruptcy is approved, then you may be able to have all of the debt erased in a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. The problem is that not everyone qualifies for bankruptcy. The bankruptcy laws were changed in 2005 and made it much harder for the average American to qualify for bankruptcy. Talk to a bankruptcy lawyer to see if you qualify. You may not meet the Bankruptcy “Means Test.”

3. Hire a good attorney. Find a good attorney that specializes in defending consumers from collections. Your attorney may be able to find a loophole in the law that makes the debt invalid. Be careful that you find a lawyer that specializes in this category of the law. You don’t want to pay an attorney to learn on your dime. There are a lot of great lawyers that can help you.

4. Fight the lender’s collections on your own. This is much easier when you genuinely do not have the money to pay. Many people are just scraping by. Every dime they make is being used towards paying rent, car payments, utilities, and food for your family. Most states will not allow a creditor to take food out of your mouth. You can check with a good attorney to find out the laws in your state. There are also legal aid non profits that can give you advice on what to do to stop a garnishment or bank account seizure.

Thinking about a short sale? I can help you short sale your property so you can move on with your life. Send me an e-mail at Randy@HarrisTeamHomes.com. I will contact you for a free consultation. When we talk, I will explain how the process works in detail and answer any questions you may have. Or, if you prefer, you can call me at (262) 844-1900 Discover how other sellers successfully completed a short sale and request a free consultation by clicking here.

Thinking about a loan modification? Our Milwaukee loan modification kit has the instructions you will need to get a loan modification approved with your bank. Click here to request a copy.

Thanks for reading this, Randy Harris. Randy is a Real Estate Agent at Realty Executives Integrity. Milwaukee Short Sales Realtor: Phone: (262) 844-1900. Randy@HarrisTeamHomes.com. Lake County to Lake Shore View My homes for sale at http://www.Milwaukee-Short-Sale.com. Randy Harris specializes in loan modification assistance and short sales in Milwaukee Wisconsin. Milwaukee Loan Modification Help, Milwaukee Short Sales. Milwaukee short sale Realtor Milwaukee WI Short Sales. Milwaukee Realtor.

"It's tough to make predictions especially about the future."
-- Yogi Berra

One of the most common questions we are asked is…what are our 2012 housing predictions.

Your best way at predicting the future is looking at the present. Specifically, what is happening nationally with housing now.

Lets review the facts:

* Foreclosures made up roughly one-third of all home sales this spring. While that’s a smaller share of sales from the previous quarter, it’s six times the percentage of foreclosures in a healthy housing market.

* foreclosure sales, which include homes purchased after they received a notice of default or that were repossessed by lenders, accounted for 31 percent of the market in the April-June quarter, foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. The share of the market would likely have been larger this spring if not for a state and federal investigation into faulty paperwork by banks and servicers. The probe has led many banks to delay foreclosure sales. Once that is complete, foreclosures will likely surge later this year.

* As a percentage of all home purchases, foreclosure sales peaked two years ago at 37.4 percent. In the second quarter, they declined from 36 percent in the January-March 2011 period. Its important to understand that the number of foreclosure sales occurring isn’t due to an overall decrease in distressed property. Fewer foreclosure sales nationally are a direct result of the before mentioned foreclosure fraud, robo-signing issues.

* In all, 265,087 homes in some stage of foreclosure or owned by banks were sold in the second quarter, down 11 percent from the same period a year ago. Sales of all other types of homes also declined, according to RealtyTrac’s figures, which differ from other home-sales estimates.

* Distressed properties, often in need of repair, typically sell at big discounts and weaken prices for neighboring homes.

* A bank-owned home this spring sold for 40 less than the average price of other homes, according to RealtyTrac. That’s worse than the 36 percent in the previous quarter and 34 percent from the same quarter one year ago.

* Sales of homes in the foreclosure process or short sales went for 21 percent less than the average home sold, the firm said. That’s worse than the average of 17% in the first quarter and 14% in the second quarter of 2010.

* The average sales price of a foreclosure property was $164,217, down less than 1% from the January-March quarter and nearly 5% from the April-June quarter in 2010, the firm said.

* In Nevada 65 percent of all home sales were foreclosure sales.  This leads all state according to RealtyTrac.

* In Arizona, foreclosure sales represented 57 percent of all home sales for the quarter, up 16 percent from a year ago.

* In California, foreclosure sales accounted for 51 percent of all home sales in the second quarter, virtually unchanged from last year.

* Several other states had foreclosure sales that accounted for at least one third of all home sales in the first quarter: Michigan, Colorado, Florida, Illinois and Oregon.

Based on those facts….our predictions are no housing market recovery of any significance and and increase in distressed sales in 2012.

So you'd like to buy a foreclosure around the metro Milwaukee area ... the process is a little different than an equity purchase.
1) The Bank won't consider any offer unless you attach proof that you're a qualified purchaser. Proof of funds if you're a cash buyer or if you're planning to finance the purchase a complete pre-approval letter from a qualified lender
2) Are you ready to close in 30 days? The bank will want to close this sale ASAP - typically 30 days from acceptance.
3) You're buying the property "As Is". Your inspections should be thorough, timely and extensive because when you own the home the problems will be yours ... period.  I work with a lot of really good Inspectors that will actually try to talk you out of the sale.
4) There's a reason the property has gone to foreclosure - try to find out why.
... and my last point is that if you're going to buy a foreclosure use an agent (ideally me) that has experience representing foreclosure buyers. Often the agent that listed the property is too busy servicing the banks asset manager (very demanding and rightly so) to fully serve a buyer.

One of our goals is to make sure you have the opportunity and tools available to stay updated on home values in your area. So I wanted to point you to a quick resource at MilwaukeeHomeandCondo.com. This site will send you the most recently Sold and Listed homes and condos from around your neighborhood.  It will work for any metro Milwaukee county, including Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington. You will notice that my website is constantly updated with current homes for sale in your neighborhood as well as the surrounding area. If you would like a more detailed report of homes that have recently SOLD in your neighborhood, please send me a quick email at Randy@HarrisTeamHomes.com and I will send you a customized neighborhood sales report for your home or condo.