How to Negotiate a short sale with a lender

You have to ask yourself a question at the beginning of the short sale.

I am willing to negotiate on the banks terms. Or, am I going to take a more aggressive negotiating posture from the begining.

More aggressive -

1. RESPA request.
2. Forensic Loan Analysis
3. Litigation prep
4. Hiring a lawyer and making legal demands
5. Compelling the lender to negotiate in good faith.

Less aggressive but perhaps just as effective

1. Choosing your workout option such as a short sale
and working with a Real Estate Broker who has closed dozens of short sales and working with a lawyer who can protect your interests.

Then if you are not able to reach terms you find acceptable, then stepping up to a more aggressive position.

How to negotiate a short sale.

Loan Modification attorneys who have alleged failed to perform services

News Releases

STATE BAR TAKES ACTION TO AID HOMEOWNERS IN FORECLOSURE CRISIS

MEDIA CONTACT: Diane Curtis 415-538-2028 diane.curtis@calbar.ca.gov

San Francisco, September 18, 2009 — The State Bar of California, alarmed by the number of lawyers preying on vulnerable homeowners, today identified 16 attorneys who are under investigation for misconduct related to loan modification.

“In my 21 years in attorney discipline, I have not seen a crisis of this magnitude. It is truly unprecedented,” said Interim Chief Trial Counsel Russell Weiner, who is waiving investigation confidentiality in favor of public protection. The waiver, allowed by law, is used only occasionally, but Weiner said the seriousness of the problem demanded a strong reaction by the bar in order to protect consumers. This is the first time the names of more than a few lawyers being investigated have been made public.

“The number of attorneys using their law licenses to essentially take money from unwary but trusting consumers is astounding,” Weiner added. “There are literally thousands of victims who have lost money they could not afford to lose. Under the circumstances, the need for public information and protection is paramount.”

Those attorneys being named by the State Bar have allegedly taken fees for promised services and then failed to perform those services, communicate with their clients or return the unearned fees, Weiner said. Some attorneys misrepresented the services they could provide. “It appears these attorneys may have significantly harmed their clients who were already facing great financial pressure and the possible loss of their homes.”

About one-quarter – almost 800 cases – of the active investigations in the Office of Chief Trial Counsel (OTC) are related to foreclosure complaints. The office has experienced a 58 percent increase in active investigations over 2008 due in large part to the huge increase in complaints against attorneys offering loan modification services. “Our office is aggressively investigating these cases and is working proactively with law enforcement,” said Weiner.

In March of 2009, the State Bar created a special team of investigators and lawyers to handle the growing number of complaints received about attorneys offering loan modification services. OTC found that many of the offending attorneys are associated with firms that use telemarketers or phone banks to sign up clients without regard to the facts of the individual case or whether or not the client can be helped, Weiner said.
In many cases, the attorneys work with untrained non-attorney staff engaging in the unlawful practice of law by offering legal advice to prospective clients. OTC also is investigating the non-attorney staff for possible referral to law enforcement.

In recent months, OTC has obtained the resignation of three attorneys who were offering loan modification services. Those attorneys chose to give up their licenses to practice law rather than face disciplinary charges and possible disbarment. In addition, OTC lawyers are preparing to put some attorneys on inactive status pending the filing of formal disciplinary charges

Weiner warned consumers to take special caution when seeking legal representation related to loan modification. “Consumers should not be comforted by advertisements that claim the attorney is a member of the State Bar of California,” he said, noting that all attorneys practicing in California on a regular basis are members. “Such membership does not mean the attorney has any special knowledge, experience or expertise in the area of loan modification. In fact, it appears that many of the attorneys offering these services have little or no prior experience in the area of loan modification.”

The following attorneys have received a significant number of complaints related to the loan modification services they were hired to perform. They are entitled to a full and fair hearing on any charges that may be filed in the future. No discipline may be imposed unless and until the State Bar proves allegations of misconduct by clear and convincing evidence.

▪ David Arase, Bar No. 233705, Arase Law Firm and National Housing Assistance

▪ Stephen Burns, Bar No. 113371, Legal Group Network

▪ Robert Buscho, Bar No. 122556, United Law Group

▪ Nicholas Chavarela, Bar No. 251632, Rodis Law Group and America’s Law Group

▪ Steven Feldman, Bar No. 103676, Feldman Law Center

▪ Eric Johnson, Bar No. 224065, Avantgarde Group

▪ Paul Lucas, Bar No. 163076, Lucas Law Center

▪ Brandon Moreno, Bar No. 233750, U. S. Foreclosure

▪ Jeffrey Nemerofsky, Bar No. 213014, U.S. Advocacy Law Group and U.S. Financial Products

▪ Gregory Paiva, Bar No. 207218, Law Offices of Gregory Paiva

▪ Adrian Pomery, Bar No. 249664, U.S. Foreclosure

▪ Ronald Rodis, Bar No. 181873, Rodis Law Group and America’s Law Group

▪ Mark Shoemaker, Bar No. 134828, Advocates for Fair Lending

▪ Marc Tow, Bar No. 78429, Marc Tow and Associates

▪ Michael Yellin, Bar No. 255050, A Fresh Start Loan Modification

▪ Sean Rutledge, Bar No. 255938, United Law Group

California loan modification information

Most expensive houses - La Jolla wins?

same-4-bedroom-house-wildly-different-prices.html: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance: "La Jolla, on the other hand, is the most expensive; a comparable house there goes for a cool $2.125 million. That's more than $2 million disparity is up from 2004, when the spread between the most expensive and most affordable towns was $1.5 million."

I would like to know if that comp in La Jolla had a white water ocean view, but it is a amazing to see that La Jolla is more expensive that Greenwich. I have read Greenwich does have pretty good inventory right now.

Home prices looking forward

Home Price Increases Depends on Foreclosure Sales - Developments - WSJ

Where will home prices head this fall? It depends, in large part, on how many more foreclosures are made available for sale, as a new study by LPS Applied Analytics, a real-estate research firm, makes clear.

LPS looked at the link between sales of bank-owned foreclosures (known as REO, for real-estate owned) and the rate of home price declines. In Michigan, for example, REO accounted for 64% of sales in the first half of 2009. Home prices declined by 47% over that time, though the decline falls to just 26% when excluding REO properties.

Buying a home - what size will your down payment be?

Mortgages - A Down Payment Anomaly - NYTimes.com

HOME buyers are often advised to come up with at least a 20 percent down payment, or face the likely additional expense of private mortgage insurance. But this year, at least, that counsel would not have saved them as much money as in the past.
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Rules put in place in late 2008 by Fannie Mae and similar rules adopted by Freddie Mac are less favorable to borrowers who put down 20 percent to 25 percent, considered to be the industry minimum. (Fannie and Freddie are the government-controlled companies that establish the underwriting standards for most of the nation’s loans.)

For most people, it turns out, smaller down payments result in lower interest rates. Whether that benefits borrowers in the long term, though, is open to debate.

What happens to the recovery if the FHA runs out of money?

FHA loans have driven this market recovery. 

REALTOR® Magazine-Daily News-Will Taxpayers Have to Bail Out FHA?

Will Taxpayers Have to Bail Out FHA?
The Federal Housing Administration stepped up to guarantee low-downpayment mortgages for riskier buyers after the mortgage market crashed. Now with many of them in default, the FHA’s losses have mounted, and it’s possible that its reserves will fall below the 2 percent level required by law. If that happens, taxpayers may have to bail out FHA.

Some housing analysts say that this will lead to tighter restrictions on FHA mortgages.

"It absolutely changes the political dynamic once you have to ask taxpayers" for money, says Lisa Marquis Jackson, vice president for John Burns Real Estate Consulting.

The 10 states with the most FHA-insured mortgages are:

1. Texas
2. California
3. Florida
4. Georgia
5. Ohio
6. Illinois
7. Pennsylvania
8. Michigan
9. Virginia
10. North Carolina


Source: The Wall Street Journal, Nick Timiraos (09/05/2009)

REALTOR® Magazine-Daily News-Option ARMs Put Recovery at Risk

REALTOR® Magazine-Daily News-Option ARMs Put Recovery at Risk: "“Everyone’s been focused on subprime, but we’re more concerned about this,” says Todd Jadlos, managing director of LPS Applied Analytics, which analyzes data for the financial industry. “By the time subprime defaults had increased 200 percent, in June and July of 2007, option ARMs had gone up 400 percent. People just didn’t notice because the overall numbers weren’t as high.”"