Short Sale Commander Blog

We are at NAR in San Diego showing Short Sale Commander to 20,000 real estate agents.  If you are attending, stop by and see us in the Green Exhibitors section, Booth # 2342.

If you are near San Diego and want to get into the exhibitor section on us, click the link below and register using the promo code “VIPA09 12000403″.  Make sure you choose Expo Only when selecting your Registration Type.

http://registration.experient-inc.com/shownar092/Default.aspx?link=attendee

by Carrie Bay

The number of applications filed for home purchases last week was the lowest seen since December 2000, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Thursday. The slump comes despite favorable mortgage interest rates, which are still averaging well below the 5 percent threshold.

The one thing that stuck out to me in this article is how much easier the below 7 steps would be if combined with Short Sale Commander.  Most of the steps involve scads of paperwork.  With Short Sale COmmander, it is all built in and can be completed in a matter of minutes.  Go ahead and give it a try with our 14 Day free trial.

Real Estate Agents Can Process Short Sales in Seven Easy Steps

by Christina Inman

In my previous blog posts I told you that real estate agents who are tired of losing commissions to “short sale processing companies” are starting to realize that processing short sales themselves is well worth the effort. But, I’m not sure agents realize just how simple this process–which can net them some serious profits and help them build some great contacts for the future (remember that homeowners could qualify for another mortgage at a reasonable interest rate in as little as 18 months if their short sale is completed successfully–which means they’ll probably be needing an agent to find them another home in as little as a year-and-a-half…). In fact, with a little time and energy, any agent can learn to master the seven relatively easy steps to completing a short sale–in short order!

1. Complete a Property Valuation Analysis – Lenders will only approve a short sale if the borrower owes more than the property’s fair market value. And, the lender must be convinced that a short sale will net them more than a foreclosure. So, preparing a property valuation report that demonstrates this is the first step in the process.
2. Contact the Lender for a Short Sale Application – After getting the borrower’s approval in writing (this is essential), you will contact the lender with that approval. Then, it’s best to contact the lender’s loss mitigation department by telephone with the borrower sitting next to you so the borrower can answer any questions the lender may have. This step will also help you start to build a relationship with the lender that will lead to a successful short sale transaction.
3. Help the Borrower Write the Hardship Letter – Rather than an emotional plea, this must be a fact-based description of the borrower’s financial situation–which is heading towards a bankruptcy, a foreclosure, or both–written in the borrower’s own words. The letter must convince the lender that after analyzing the numbers, they will make more money from a short sale than from a foreclosure.
4. Submit the Short Sale Package – Carefully completing the necessary paperwork and submitting the documentation that proves the borrower’s financial hardship (eg. bank statements, bills, pay stubs and tax returns) is critical. Submitting proof that the property is in a condition that would require the lender to spend a bunch of money on repairs in order to sell it they foreclosed (eg. repair estimates) will also help your case!
5. Prepare the Short Sale Purchase Agreement – A properly prepared purchase agreement will ensure that the transaction goes smoothly.
6. Follow Up With the Lender During the Process – Regular calls to the lender’s agent during the process will help the transaction along. You will know right away if they have any questions that need answering or additional documentation that needs to be submitted. And, it will give you chances to charm that agent!
7. Negotiate With the Lender and Close the Sale – Since you’ve established and maintained a good relationship with the loss mitigation agent throughout the process (you charming devil, you!), as well as submitted a thorough, well-prepared short sale package, an approval is practically guaranteed. But, if the agent somehow finds a reason to disagree with your offer, be prepared to defend it with your comps, photos and other evidence that supports your numbers.

Now that you’ve gotten the approval (like we ever doubted you!) be prepared to close the deal as quickly as possible. Most approvals have time limits, and deals that aren’t closed within them are usually gone for good!

Here’s our new short introduction video, hot off the presses.  It shows a bunch of our newest features.  See more no our website – www.shortsalecommander.com.

When you log into Short Sale Commander today, you will see some significant new features with the release of SSC v2.1.  We have been hard at work adding new updates and features that you have been asking for!   Check out the list of new features below.

Want to make money with Short Sale Commander?  Make sure you check out our new Affiliate Program!

SHORT SALE COMMANDER V2.1 New Features

Profitability Tab – Short sales can be unpredictable as to when they will close, and how much money you are actually profiting on each transaction.  You can put in all your revenues and expenses for that property and it automatically calculates your profit and important ratios to make sure you’re making the most out of this short sale market.  You can also check out the new Profitability Template where you can run reports and really keep a handle on your short sale business.

Lender & Buyer Websites from the Photo Tab – If you want the lender to see photos of what’s wrong with the property, just load them into Bad Photos and a link is created for you to send to the lender.  This lender webpage also has the issues with the property from the Property Tab – helping you get more short sales accepted faster.  Also, a buyers website is automatically created which has all the good photos and pulls the basic property information so you can easily send the link to potential buyers.

Help Pop-Ups – You can now truly understand exactly how to use Short Sale Commander without having to attend our weekly webinar.  All throughout Short Sale Commander, there are help buttons showing you exactly how to use each section and why it’s important to making you more money in short sales. Included in these descriptions are examples and hints to help you maximize your usability of Short Sale Commander.

New ‘Add Property’ Feature – Now you can quickly enter in the basic information of a new property with the Property Quick Add feature.  When you click “Add Property”, a window will open asking for the basic property information.  Once filled in, simply hit “Add Property” and a new property file will then be created with all the basics already filled in.

User Forums – Short Sale Commander now has a place where their users can come together and share information that can further help ease the short sale process.  Learn about other people’s experiences with lenders or tips on how to user Short Sale Commander.  There is also a help section that users can post non-critical questions in that other users can answer.  The User Forum can be access directly from the Short Sale Commander dashboard by clicking the Forum button.  Your account on the forums has been created for you and your username will be your first initial and last name.  Your password will be the same as your Short Sale Commander password.

Affiliate Program – Do you know anyone that could use Short Sale Commander?  Maybe you have an email list or short sale website?  If so, then you’ll want to check out our new Affiliate Program. You can sign up right from our website.  You can track your commissions in real time and we’ll give you emails & web banners to put on your website!

Expanded Pipeline ‘Filter View’ Capability -Now you can choose start and end dates for any of the date fields to run your reports.  You can see which files have foreclosure dates expiring in the next month. With the new Profitability Tab, you can easily see what closings you have coming up in the next 30 or 60 days and how much actual profit you expect to make.

Pipeline & Activity Log Export - You asked and we listened!  Now you have the ability to export all entries in both the Pipeline and the Activity Log.  We also added the ‘print’ feature for the Activity Log.

Short Sale Package Wizard -  You can now change who the main contact is on the Cover Page of the Short Sale Package.  This makes it easy when someone is putting the package together, but they need someone else to be listed as the main contact for the short sale.

Email – Select Recipients – When sending an email, not only do all your users show up for easy selection, but all the important emails for that property are automatically placed on top.  SSC pulls the emails for that file from those assigned in the ASSIGN Tab, the homeowners emails (HOMEOWNER Tab), the buyers agent emails (OFFERS Tab) and even ‘finds’ the loss mitigators emails that are written under the Contacts (MORTGAGES Tab).

The extension and expansion of the homebuyers tax credit that passed Congress November 5, and is expected to be signed in later today by President Obama, allows more first-time buyers to qualify and creates an entirely new credit for existing homeowners who buy a new home.

The effective date is Tuesday, December 1 for the enhanced first-time buyer credit and for the new credit. It is not retroactive. However, first-time buyers who have been rushing the meet the November 30 deadline for the existing program need not worry. They can qualify under the new one. Existing homeowners who are also in the process of buying a home should consider delaying closing until December 1 or later to qualify for the credit.

Both credits expire next spring. Buyers must have a contract on a home before May 1, 2010 and they have until June 30, 2010 to close in order to qualify.

Key Provisions

Amounts:

• The first-buyer credit remains 10 percent of the cost of the home or $8ooo, whichever is less.

• The credit for existing homeowners is 10 percent of the value of the new home or $6500, whichever is less.

Definitions:

• A first-time homebuyer cannot have owned a home during the past three years.

• Existing homeowners must have owned and lived in their current home five out of the preceding eight years.

• Only principal residences qualify. No second homes or investment properties.

Income limits:

• The measure raises the income limits for those claiming the credit to $125,000 a year for individuals and $225,000 for couples, up from $75,000 and $150,000 in the previous first-time buyer credit. After that, the value of the credit phases out.

• The cost of the new home cannot exceed $800,000.

Cost:

Expanding the home buyers’ credit will cost about $11 billion. The total cost of extending the first-time buyer credit and adding the existing owners’ credit is $16.7 billion.

How to Apply::

• Use IRS form 5405, which you file with an amended tax return.

• For more information on applying, go to http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=204671,00.html

The National Association of Realtors is adding a distressed property certification program.  With the looming treasury bill that may require all short sale negotiators to be licensed Realtors, this is a timely additiona to their offerings.

Is Your Agent Experienced in Distressed Properties?

If you are buying a short sale, foreclosed home or other distressed property, you ought to have someone experienced in distressed properties working for you.

Just in the nick of time, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) is coming to the rescue with real estate agents specifically schooled in those subjects.

A new Short Sales and Foreclosure Certification Program (SFR) trains agents how to manage short-sales, foreclosures, and real estate owned (REO or bank owned) transactions, and keeps agents current on national and state-specific information and regulations on these issues.

“There’s a lot of activity in this area and it is certainly helpful for buyers if they have someone who is better able to serve them,” says Stephen R. Pearson, with Century 21 Classic Properties in Watsonville.

“There are some regular sales, but most of our market is short sales, REO, especially in Salinas, Watsonville. We have multiple offers on everything that comes up, so the better you can deal with them and work with banks and sellers, the better you can serve your clients,” Pearson added.

The SFR certification program is offered by the Real Estate Buyer’s Agent Council of NAR.

The program includes training for real estate agents on how to manage short-sales, foreclosures, and REO transactions. Agents learn how to direct distressed sellers to finance, tax and legal sources. They also learn to qualify sellers for short sales, how to negotiate with lenders and how to limit buyers’ risk associated with distress property transactions. The training provides resources to help Realtors stay current on national and state-specific information as the market for these distressed properties evolves.

To earn the certification, agents must complete a one-day education program, either in-person or online, as well as in three one-hour Webinars. The certification program also will be offered at NAR’s Conference & Expo in San Diego, CA Nov. 13-16.

Continue Reading….

By Robert Freedman, Senior Editor, REALTOR® Magazine

But not in the way you might think.

A new financial regulator is in the works but it’s one of those developments that’s easily lost in the news while other federal initiatives command the headlines.

The Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA), which passed the House Financial Services Committee just a few weeks ago, would represent a sweeping change in the way financial services companies are regulated. Right now, our alphabet soup of federal banking regulators—OCC, FDIC, NCUA, and so on—have two missions: 1) to oversee the safety and soundness of financial services companies, and 2) to protect consumers.

The logic behind CFPA is to split off the consumer-protection side of the regulators’ portfolio so they can focus on bank safety and soundness. The new agency would focus on consumer protection.

What’s key for real estate professionals is that CFPA will focus only on financial servcices companies. That seems obvious, but it wasn’t always this way. As the language was originally drafted, any number of professional services that handle money in some way would have fallen under the definition of financial services. Thus, real estate professionals, who handle earnest-money deposits among other things, could have been subject to regulation under CFPA.

The fact that the House Financial Services Commtttee makes clear in its bill that real estate brokers and sales associates aren’t regulated under CFPA is an advocacy victory for REALTORS®, who, through NAR, let lawmakers know that the original draft would lead to unforseen consequences if it wasn’t changed. It was.

You should be aware that CFPA could still touch the real estate transaction in several ways, though. Assuming the bill passes in something close to its current form, the Real Estate Settlement Preocedures Act (RESPA), which today is overseen by HUD, would be placed under CFPA.

Aspects of the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), which real estate professionals know mostly for its role in providing data on mortgage lending, would also fall to CFPA. But CRA—the Community Reinvestment Act—would not. CRA is the law requiring banks to make loans in all the areas from which they collect deposits. In other words, they can’t collect deposits in a low-income area but not make loans there.

Continue Reading…

By Brian Summerfield, Online Editor, REALTOR® Magazine

Amid several news reports that the first-time home buyer tax credit will almost certainly be extended, I’ve seen more than a few blogs and online comments arguing against it. Some of them say the government can’t afford it, and lament the fact that we’re borrowing from our children and grandchildren to pay for this. Others maintain that the tax credit artificially stimulates demand, and the market will resume its slump whenever it does expire. Still others claim that it hasn’t really motivated enough buyers who would not have otherwise purchased a home to justify the program.

I may disagree with some of these arguments, but I’m glad people are making them. It’s essential that we have a healthy debate on this important subject rather than move forward with our eyes closed and our mouths shut.

However, there is one argument that I take issue with: The tax credit and the “Cash for Clunkers” program are essentially the same thing. I’ve read this line of reasoning in a few places, and in each instance, it seems to confuse rather than clarify. It seems to me that the two initiatives are very different in a few significant ways:

• Appreciating vs. Depreciating Assets: Most of the time—and the past couple of years notwithstanding—a home will appreciate in value, whereas an automobile will always depreciate (unless it’s some sort of rare collectible). The tax credit encourages spending on something people can use to build and preserve wealth; Cash for Clunkers does not.
• Capital Flows: One criticism of the Cash for Clunkers program was that the biggest beneficiaries were Japanese auto manufacturers. Six out of top 10 vehicles purchased through Cash for Clunkers were Japanese (Toyota alone accounted for nearly 20 percent of all sales), yet all of the top 10 cars traded in were manufactured by American companies. With the tax credit, much more of the money remains in the U.S. economy.
• Distribution: The Cash for Clunkers program was a credit at the point of sale, meaning if you traded in your car for one with better mileage, you got an amount somewhere between $3,500-4,500 knocked off the price, depending on fuel efficiency. Although the tax credit can be—and has been—monetized up front in many instances to help with closing costs and down payments, it’s structured to be doled out the following year as a refund.
• Target: In the case of Cash for Clunkers, the aim was to boost sales of a certain kind of product: new cars that get good mileage. With the tax credit, the goal is to encourage a certain kind of consumer: the first-time home buyer. The distinction is important because the latter should have a greater and more enduring impact on the economy.

I understand why people are skeptical about whether the tax credit extension will produce the desired outcome and how it will be financed. But to me, the tax-credit-is-the-same-as-Cash-for-Clunkers argument falls flat, and isn’t helping people make their case.

http://speakingofrealestate.blogs.realtor.org/2009/10/30/the-tax-credit-vs-cash-for-clunkers/