ZenithPropertySolutions.com/blog » Maryland

Maryland short sale approval success story: $91K Forgiven (discounted) by American Home Mortgage Servicing

Owen McGab Enaohwo — Mon, 31 May 2010 23:56:14 +0000

My reason for doing this:

I have decided from now on to start blogging about my success with short sales so that you can see for yourself the prove that once you hire me as your real estate agent; I will get the job done, you will get to avoid foreclosure and get the peace of mind that you deserve (enough with the self praise – now to details on this deal).

The background story:

Last December, I got a call Michael Y. (my client and seller of this short sale), he said he had seen a blog post online about short sales that I had written and needed some more explanation. Excited, I gladly took the time to answer all his questions over the phone and then set up a meeting with him several days later to sign the listing agreement. The listing appointment with him was great, when it was over I prepared to do battle with his lender, but first I had to get the property listed.

Deal Details:

Bank / Lender Name: American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc / AHMSI

Seller Hardship: Mortgage Adjustment – could not afford the change

Listing Date: 12/14/2009

Contract Date: At the end of the day, we had three contracts on this deal; the first was a cash offer that kicked off the initial short sale negotiation and within a couple of weeks the lender countered but that buyer did not increase his offer price, the second buyer offered a higher amount and also requested a seller closing cost credit which the lender did not approve. Finally our third buyer came in and offered just the right amount on 04/01/2010.

Short Sale Approval Date: 04/21/2010

Closing Date: 05/20/2010

The End Result:

I negotiated a discount of $91K on this short sale for the seller
The seller’s total out of pocket expense was $2033
He did not have to sign a promissory note
He got a full release
He gladly gave me an audio testimonial
I also got a video testimonial from the buyer’s agent

Audio Testimonial from Seller:

Below is the audio testimonial from Michael Y.

Video Testimonial for Selling Agent (AKA the Buyer’s Agent):

Below is the video testimonial from Kim Bogris.

American Home Mortgage Servicing (AHMSI) Short Sale Approval / Demand Letter:

American Home Mortgage Servicing (AHMSi) Demand or Approval Letter for $91k Discount – MD Short Sale Success

Lessons I Learned from this Short Sale Negotiation:

I learned no matter how rocky a short sale negotiation gets, I always have to rise to the occasion, grab the bull by the horn and steer it in the direction that will results in a win-win situation for all the parties involved in the transaction.

Special Thanks To:

Michael for believing in my abilities to get the job done and seeing it through all the way to closing.
Kim, for being a buyer’s agent that really gets it and knows how to set the expectations of her clients (If you are looking for a buyer’s agent in Maryland contact Kim @4109372791, you will be pleased)
Jacquie and Maritza from Wall Street Title Corporation for being my go to title company here in Maryland – you ladies are the best!
LaTonya Folson from American Home Mortgage Service for making this short sale negotiation as smooth as possible (Also I want to thank AHMSi – you guys rock too!)

Call to action:

So I hope you enjoyed reading my blog post. If you a homeowner going through financial hardship, I want you to know that there is a way out. The first step is for you to contact your local Realtor to discuss all your available options.

So if you are a Maryland Homeowner, I will like to hear from you; you can do so by clicking on this link to enter in your information and I will get back to you ASAP – I promise!

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Townhouse For Sale Bowie Maryland Short Sale 11201 Westport Dr Home

Owen McGab Enaohwo — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 23:15:59 +0000

This is an announcement for a Townhouse I have listed For Sale in Bowie MD 20720 – Short Sale:

Submit AS IS offers for this Well maintained end unit townhouse, 3 Br / 2 Ba on main level. Its a beautiful home, Hard wood floors, and finished basement with wall to wall carpet and additional rooms.

For complete information of this property directly from the MLS; Call 301-841-7593 for more information OR go to

http://budurl.com/11201WestportDrBowie

Watch the video walkthrough of this home and leave you comments on my blog

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Should Homeowners strategically default on their mortgage payments?

Owen McGab Enaohwo — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 09:11:46 +0000

I know the title got your attention but before you pass judgment, I suggest you read the entire blog post and then tell me what you think by leaving a comment.

Why do you want to strategically default?

A few years ago, you applied for a mortgage to buy a home for your family to live in and have a roof over their heads. It was meant to be an investment, a means for you to increase your total net worth and move up to the next level in life. You were so glad the bank approved your loan that immediately after buying the house, your family moved in and you began to live the American Dream of Home Ownership or so you thought. Not too long after that the dream became a nightmare; the economy began to tank, you had problems with your job and you bills started piling up. You started having a hard time keeping up with your mortgage payments. Even then, you kept on paying your mortgage.

A few months back, you learned that the value of your “dream home” – the one your family lives in, the one you borrowed money from the bank, the one that you keep paying the monthly mortgage because it’s the right thing to do – is less, so much less, than the initial amount of the loan that you got from your lender. After all, your home was meant to be an investment, and according to what you were told, overtime you were supposed to pay down the mortgage and build equity. So you ask yourself – “Should I keep paying the mortgage for this house when its value is less than the amount that I am paying for?” That is very good question, and in this blog post I have attempted to answer it and suggest options that you have available to you that you might have not been aware of. So please keep reading!

Strategic Default- what’s that?

According to Wikipedia “A strategic default is the decision by a borrower to stop making payments on a debt despite having the financial ability to make the payments”. Let it be clear that my personal and professional opinion on this matter is that it’s morally right to follow through on your obligations to your lender and the main reason I have taken the time to blog about this sensitive topic is to make sure you know that you have an option called a “Short Sale” that will greatly benefit you and your lender. Even though it might seem that the right choice is to simply walk away from a bad debt; stop paying, give up and live your lender to sort out the mess. I am here to say that there is another way! Before I explain what short sale is and why it’s a better choice, let’s back up a little bit.

Why do you have to keep paying your mortgage?

Paying for something that is less in value than the amount that you are paying for it is actually silly. Yes, that’s right. It is out right silly. When companies make an investment that turns out being bad, guess what? They retract, regroup and cut their losses. Why pay a hundred grand for a car that is only worth 60?

But in reality, when you got the loan, the property was valued at a higher amount than what it is now and most people expected values to keep rising. After sometime, maybe 2 or more years, property values went south, and your loan amount ended up greater than the property value. When you bought the home, no one had an idea that property values would go south because values had been going up for years prior. You had an agreement with your lender that you will pay for the mortgage, and pay a certain amount every month until you pay up the whole amount, including interest.

If you did not agree to pay for X number of years, your lender would not have given you the money to buy the house in the first place. You and your lender made an investment decision but instead of strategically defaulting, I suggest you move in another direction, one that not only shows that you are morally right but puts you and your lender in a much better situation.

Why a Short Sale is the best option?

Even if not paying your mortgage seems to be the logical thing to do; there are still other options available such as a short sale. The effect of a short sale on your credit is minimal when compared to a foreclosure. When you walk away from your mortgage, your lender will foreclose your property. When your property is foreclosed, your credit rating takes a huge hit, and you will not be able to get a mortgage to acquire another house for the next 7 years, even if your financial situation improves. Why? Because you walked away from your mortgage obligations and your house got foreclosed. That’s why. On the other hand if you sell your property as a short sale you will be able to qualify for a mortgage within 2 years and buy another home, assuming your financial situation gets better.

Why you should not strategically default on your mortgage?

You can avoid a foreclosure by being upfront with your lender and telling them that though you want to keep paying your mortgage, it’s not financially feasible. Point out the fact that your property’s value is “underwater” – meaning – less than the remaining amount of the loan that you took out a few years ago.

This under normal circumstances will qualify you for a short sale. You can sell your property at a price that reflects its current value which is less than the amount that you owe your lender. Previously in a short sale, all the proceeds of the sale will go to your lender but now assuming your lender follows the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program outlined by the Treasury Department for short sales, you can get $3,000 towards your moving expenses. Your lender will agree to accept the payment from the sale, and forego the amount that is “short” of the total amount that you owe them.

In a short sale, you avoid foreclosure. Your credit rating does not take a big hit. And you can purchase another home after two years.

As a professional real estate agent, I favor a short sale instead of a strategic default. A short sale is more advantageous to you, while a strategic default can be disastrous.

Read my other blog posts so you can learn more about short sales. If you are a homeowner in Maryland in need of a short sale I will like to be of service to you and answer all the questions that you might have. Click this link and completely fill out the questionnaire to get a hold of me immediately!

So what do you think, should homeowners strategically default on their mortgage or sell their property as a short sale? Please leave your comments and questions on my blog, I am eager to get your opinion!

Image by: Quint Cobb Foreclosure Relief

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The HAFA Guidelines for Maryland Homeowners who need a Short Sale in order to Avoid Foreclosure

Owen McGab Enaohwo — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 06:56:52 +0000

In a nutshell, the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) Program which kicks off on April 5th, 2010 is for those homeowners who have decided that “enough is enough” and have chosen to take control of their situation by getting their property sold by a Real Estate Agent by means of a Short Sale. Please read my previous blog post titled “Take a dose of the Short Sale pill from your local Realtor to relieve your Mortgage payment Headaches” to get an idea what a “Short Sale” is all about.

In that post, I stated that the “short” in a short sale transaction means that the property in question ends up selling for less than what the borrower actually owed their lender. Up till now, it did not mean that the transaction will be a quick or fast sale. In fact, the short sale process usually takes a lot of time to negotiate successfully and – can become frustrating to many homeowners as well as their Real Estate Agents.

The good news is that the HAFA guidelines are meant to make short sales alot faster, and more transparent to all those involved but I know what you are thinking, you are saying to yourself – “What will HAFA do for me and my situation?” Allow me to walk you through the guidelines and it’s proposed benefits.

What is HAFA and how is it of benefit to me?

This program is a subset of the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) program and is for homeowners who are unable to retain ownership of their homes due to their current financial distress. HAFA provides incentives to qualified home owners. One major incentive is that borrowers are to be completely released from any amount owed on the mortgage balance as a result of a successful short sale. This applies to both the first mortgage lender as well as the second. Hence, the lenders are not allowed to request for any cash contribution, have the borrower sign a separate promissory note or go after the borrower for the balance by means of a deficiency judgment. Also homeowners are given $3,000 to cover their moving expenses (note this was previously $1,500 and it was recently increased. Either way, I think this is a much needed answer to many homeowners prayers).

How do I qualify for this program?

To qualify for this program you must beyond a doubt be able to say YES to all of these questions:

Is the home you are staying in now, your principal residence?
Was the the first mortgage on your property issued before 2009?
Are you in financial distress? Are you behind on your mortgage payments or do your foresee a predictable default?
Is the unpaid principal balance of your mortgage less than $729,750?
Is your monthly mortgage payment greater than 31% of your gross income?

If your answer is yes to all the question above then you qualify.

So how does HAFA streamline the Short Sale process?

Notification

Your loan servicer is directed by the HAFA guidelines to consider you for the HAFA program within a month after one of these things happen to you:

- You fail to qualify for a HAMP trial period plan.
- You do not successfully complete a HAMP trial period plan
- You missed at least two consecutive payments on your HAMP modification
- You requested for a short sale

Your loan servicer is tasked to communicate to you that you are qualified for a short sale, and you are given 14 days to respond to their notice. If you will not respond within this time frame, you will lose your qualification.

Short Sale Agreement

You are given 14 calendar days to sign and return a Short Sale Agreement (SSA) to your loan servicer from the date the document is sent to you. Once signed and returned, your lender then allows you to sell your house within a 120 days by means of a Real Estate Agent (Hopefully you choose me).

Purchase Offer

Within three business days after a purchase offer is received, you or your agent is to submit a completed Request for Approval of Short Sale (RASS) to your loan servicer. Upon receiving the RASS with the complete set of attached documents, your servicer is given 10 business days to advise you whether your request has been approved or denied.

Closing the Short Sale

Your loan servicer may request the sale close within a reasonable timeframe but is not allowed to demand a closing less than 45 days from the date of the contract for sale without your consent. This is mandated so as to give you enough time to move out of the property. Within 10 business days after receiving the short sale proceeds your lender has to fully release their mortgage lien and the investor has to waive the right to seek deficiency judgments and may not require a promissory note for any deficiency.

Conclusion

HAFA is a fast track approach to implementing a Short Sale. Most home owners facing financial distress in Maryland can make use of this program as from April 5th, 2010. That said, you need to proactive and quickly make the decision to free yourself from the headaches and worries of foreclosure.

By writing this blog post I have taken the liberty to simplify the 45 page document that serves as the new guidelines for the implementation of HAFA. So please feel free to download the entire PDF document and read it yourself because now is the time to grab the proverbial “bull by the horn”, remove your head from the sand (also known as the Ostrich Symdrome) and go get a local Maryland Real Estate Agent who understands the HAFA guidelines in it’s entirety to list your property and negotiate a short sale with your lender on your behalf.

If you have questions about this blog post, or an idea to share, please feel free to leave a comment.

If based on what I have discussed so far you feel I am the right agent to help negotiate your short sale then I will be glad to assist you as well. Click this link and I will get back to you immediately

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Single Family Home For Sale Bowie Maryland Short Sale 3416 Inverwood Ln Houses

Owen McGab Enaohwo — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 07:16:22 +0000

This is an announcement for a Single Family Residence I have listed For Sale in Bowie MD 20721 – Short Sale:

SHORT SALE deal. Submit AS IS offers for this Well maintained Single Family Home (Colonial) with 3Br/3Ba. Its a beautiful home with ceramic tiles in the kitchen & foyer. Totally updated from top to bottom, finished basement, Wood floors, storage shed, large backyard and more.

For complete information of this property directly from the MLS; Call 301-841-7593 for more information OR go to

http://www.budurl.com/3416InverwoodLn

Watch the video walkthrough of this home and leave you comments on my blog

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Condo Home For Sale Beltsville Maryland Short Sale Houses 10402 46th Ave Unit 202

Owen McGab Enaohwo — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 06:42:22 +0000

This is an announcement for a Condo I have listed For Sale in Beltsville MD 20705 – Short Sale:

SHORT SALE deal. Submit AS IS offers for this Well maintained Condo with 2Br/1Ba on main level. Its a beautiful home with ceramic tiles in the kitchen & foyer. The community has a playground and an outdoor pool. All utilities are included in condo fee. Close to shopping, Univ of Maryland College Park & transportation.

For complete information of this property directly from the MLS. Call 301-841-7593 OR go to

http://BudUrl.com/1040246thAve202

Watch the video walkthrough of this home and leave you comments on my blog

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Free Short Sale Seminar for Maryland Homeowners on How to Stop Foreclosure by Owen McGab Enaohwo; a Realtor and Certified Short Sale Specialist

Owen McGab Enaohwo — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 07:38:07 +0000

I am offering a Free Short Sale Seminar for Maryland Homeowners on How to Stop Foreclosure. This is a community outreach program I am offering to the Maryland public in order to meet my goal of helping 67 families avoid foreclosure in 2010 (See Press Release for more details – www.budurl.com/VowToHelpMDFamilies)

Title of the Seminar: What is a Short Sale? Is it right for me?

Cost of the Seminar: $Free.99 = Its totally free!

Topics to be covered:

The new Treasury department’s Short Sale Guidelines, the benefits and how it will affect you
Can A Short Sale Prevent Foreclosure?
Do I Have To Be Behind On My Payments?
What Is A Recourse Loan?
Dealing With A 2nd Lien Holder…Does It Affect The Sale?
How Long Does A Short Sale Take To Complete?
Are There Tax Ramifications?
How Does A Short Sale Affect Credit Scores?
Can I Live In The House While It Is Up For Sale?
Short Sale –vs- Foreclosure?
Bank Pays Commissions – It’s Free To You…You Pay NO Realtors Commissions

Venue:

Online off course by means of modern day technology! So schedule an appointment at your convenience and free time. First become a fan of my FaceBook page, then make your appointment and I will be available to answer all your questions:
(link to my FaceBook page www.budurl.com/ShortSaleSolutions)

To get updates on short sales and other foreclosure related information you will also have to follow me on Twitter:
(link to my Twitter profile @PropertyLion)

Time: You schedule the appointment and I will be there for you. I am at your service! Call me now @ 301-221-8929 to schedule an appointment

This is a community outreach offered by a local real estate agent that is
a member of the community and is a Certified Short Sale Specialist.
If you or someone you know is struggling with house payments or a great
deal of negative equity this discussion will benefit you.
Completely confidential and no obligation, I am here to
help.

Owen McGab Enaohwo
301-221-8929

Maryland Realtors

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Short Sale Single Family Home For Sale Severn Maryland 8157 TELEGRAPH RD Houses

Owen McGab Enaohwo — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:11:37 +0000

This is an announcement for a Single Family Residence I have listed For Sale in Severn MD 21144 – Short Sale:

HOME SOLD AS IS. TOTALLY UPDATED FROM TOP TO BOTTOM IN 2005. CROWN MOULDING,DECK AND TOTALLY FINISHED BASEMENT WITH FAM RM,1/2 BATH AND 3RD BR. WOOD FLOORS ON MAIN LEVEL. MBR WOOD FL.WALK IN CLOSET&SUPER BATH. YOU MUST GO INSIDE IT IS BEAUTIFUL.PRICED WELL BELOW NEIGHBORHOOD.

For complete information of this property directly from the MLS; Call 301-841-7593 for more information OR go to

www.budurl.com/3Br2BShortSaleSevern

Watch the video walkthrough of this home and leave you comments on my blog

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Short Sale Rancher For Sale Randallstown Maryland 3616 Rusty Rock Rd Homes Houses

Owen McGab Enaohwo — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:41:21 +0000

This is an announcement for a Rancher I have listed For Sale in Randallstown MD 21133 – Short Sale:

Submit AS IS offers for this Well maintained Rancher, 3 Br / 2 Ba on main level. Its a beautiful home, Hard wood flrs throughout main level, and fully finished basement with wall to wall carpet and additional rooms. Huge back yard with cement patio and shed. One bathroom on main floor needs little work.

For complete information of this property directly from the MLS; Call 301-841-7593 for more information OR go to

www.budurl.com/3br2baRandallstown

Watch the video walkthrough of this home and leave you comments on my blog

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Short Sale Condo For Sale Bowie Maryland 4807 River Valley Way Homes Houses

Owen McGab Enaohwo — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:18:11 +0000

This is an announcement for a Condo I have listed For Sale in Bowie MD 20720 – Short Sale:

Home will be sold AS IS, bring offers! This beautiful condo in Glensford is perfect for those wanting stress-free living!Just come home to this 2 huge bedrooms, 2 full baths, separate living and dining rooms with beautiful cathedral ceilings, living room w/fireplace, an updated eat-in kitchen, deck, Fabulous!

For complete information of this property directly from the MLS. Call 301-841-7593 OR go to

www.budurl.com/2br2baCondoBowie

Watch the video walkthrough of this home and leave you comments on my blog