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About Teresa
Teresa Turner, Realtor & Broker, with The Teresa Turner Realty Group at Keller Williams Town & Country Realty, is one of the most established and respected names in NW Florida Real Estate with 25+ years of experience in Residential Real Estate. Over that time, she has developed a superior pipeline of connections and is the go-to person for getting results in Residential Real Estate. She understands and cares for people and is excellent at coming up with unique marketing strategies to solve complex problems and get homes sold. She keeps your personal information confidential and considers discretion to be her duty in dealing with your real estate situation. Teresa maintains a strong work ethic and is committed to building relationships based on trust and integrity. She is a Real Person with Real Solutions to your real estate needs.
Tag Archives: equator short sales
Can Foreclosure Mediation Really Help You?
Many of my clients that are in foreclosure have asked me about the mediation option and how viable it really is in the State of Florida. Mediation is a process in which both sides of a dispute meet with an unbiased third party trained to help people work out their differences. In mediation, each side has a chance to compromise and agree to a solution so that a judge doesn’t force a solution on the parties. Mediation can end in a successful settlement or it can reach an impasse in which the parties don’t agree to a resolution.
Two years ago, the Florida Supreme Court ordered that mediations must take place in every foreclosure case involving a person’s primary residence. The homeowner has to fill out a lot of paperwork and submit financial information before the mediation.
Unfortunately, the program has been expensive for lenders and not successful in resolving the foreclosure problem. Statewide, between March 2010 and March 2011, only 3.6% of all cases referred to mediation ended in a written agreement. A committee is recommending changes to the program.
It appears that there is a systematic failure by the program managers to get the borrowers to participate, and unprepared lenders are only going through the motions. Also, many homeowners mistakenly think their foreclosure cases are somehow on hold until after the mediation.
Mediation should not be mandatory, but it should be available to homeowners by request only. For a successful mediation, you must send in all of the required paperwork on time and go in with realistic expectations. If you have more than one lender and/or lien, you have to get all the parties to agree, which can be somewhat involved.
Information courtesy of Gary M. Singer, Sun Sentinel
Do You Know Who Really Owns Your Mortgage Loan?
Most people know who the servicer is for their loan because that’s who you make your mortgage payment to each month. But many banks are just servicers for the investors. The best way to get this information is to send a letter called a “Qualified Written Request or QWR”.
Under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (or RESPA), borrowers may request certain information from their servicers. Most servicers will acknowledge this request within twenty (20) days and comply with the request within sixty (60) days. During the 60 days while the servicer is preparing the info, the lender may not report overdue payments to the credit bureaus. Information requested can include: payment and escrow amounts and history, other charges and expenses billed to the borrower and who the current holder of the note and mortgage is, as well as the transfer history.
You may be surprised to know who the investor is on your loan. Mortgage Notes are being sold frequently these days and sometimes to private investors in your own community!
Is the place you want to rent in foreclosure?
In representing bank owned properties, one of the unpleasant tasks I handle is to confirm occupancy on a property that has been recently foreclosed on. Almost every time I check on the property, there is someone living there and they are usually surprised to see me. They are usually leasing the property and paying rent and had no idea that the property was in foreclosure. It’s very upsetting to them and we have to work together towards a smooth transition.
In talking with the last tenant, she asked me how would she have known the house was in foreclosure? It got me to thinking that there are probably many more people like her out there who may be renting a place and need this information. Probably the easiest way to make sure that your landlord is current with their lender is to ask to see their latest loan statement. While a landlord may be reluctant to share this information, tell them that it’s justifiable for you to see it, given all the foreclosures on the market. You can also call the Homeowner’s Association and ask if your landlord is in good standing.
Another option is to do a search of the public records. You can do this by accessing the website of the clerk of the court in the county where the property is located and searching under your landlord’s name for any legal actions. If there is a Lis Pendens filed with your property address, then there is a good chance the property is in foreclosure. There is also a section on Foreclosures where the sale dates are posted. You can check this calender to see if your landlord and/or property is listed.
There are laws protecting a tenant’s rights to finish out their lease, even if the property is foreclosed on. You will need to document your lease and prove that it is valid by providing a written lease that is not expired and is signed by all the parties along with copies of your last five (5) rental payments.
Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Act Expiring
WARNING: Unless extended the much lauded Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Act expires end of 2012. If you are underwater and on the fence about when to list your home as a Short Sale (to avoid a foreclosure) you must act before its too late…
….there is no guarantee the the Forgiveness Act will be extended into 2013. Bottom line, take action now!
From MarketWatch.com
Thirty-five percent of current clients surveyed by YouWalkAway.com said that they’re walking away from their homes sooner because of the upcoming expiration of the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act at the end of next year, according to a news release from the company.
YouWalkAway.com markets itself as an authority on foreclosure laws and consequences, which helps underwater homeowners “take control of their financial future,” with many of them deciding to walk away from their home and allowing it to enter foreclosure.
The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act gives tax relief to homeowners who have sold their home via short sale or lost their home to foreclosure. It takes about a year to complete the foreclosure process, the company says.
“The survey results are not surprising; YouWalkAway.com has seen a number of homeowners reach out to us due to the impending 2012 deadline,” said Jon Maddux, chief executive of YouWalkAway.com, in a news release. “Many are deciding to begin the foreclosure process sooner rather than later in order to ensure their foreclosure is complete by the end of 2012.”
“Today, about 80% of the people who come to me inquiring about foreclosure tax ramifications qualify for tax relief under the Mortgage Debt Relief Act,” said Cheryl Gerhardt, a CPA who has worked with some YouWalkAway.com clients, in a news release. “These are usually people who purchased during the height of the market from 2005 to 2007 and never had the opportunity to take out a second, whereas a few years ago clients who were getting foreclosed upon had made purchases in the early 2000s, took out a home equity line of credit and could not qualify.”
If the expiration of this law is, indeed, a factor in people choosing to walk away from their homes sooner rather than later, it will be interesting to see how it plays out in the foreclosure numbers in the year ahead.
Bank of America Stopping Foreclosures for the Holidays
This was just released from Bank of America this past week…
As the holidays approach, Bank of America will comply with applicable Holiday Moratorium requirements to avoid causing emotional distress to the occupants of a property.
For this reason, foreclosures, evictions, relocation assistance (Cash for Keys) or lockouts will not be scheduled or occur during the following Holiday Moratorium dates:
Nov. 23-27, 2011, returning to business as usual on Nov. 28.
Dec. 22-26, 2011, returning to business as usual on Dec. 27.
For VA properties, the year-end dates are Dec. 22 through Jan. 2, returning to business as usual on Jan. 3.
Thank you Bank of America.
