All Forum Posts by: Sean Dougherty

Thanks ahead of time for any pointers or advice. 

I am in contract on a short sale. Junior lien came up in title report. Ditech is 2nd lien holder. SPS is senior. Seller has already qualified for short sale with SPS. Now 2nd lien holder is requiring her to qualify for short sale as well. 

How likely is it that the second lien holder (ditech) will require some payment on amount owed in order to approve the sale. If they do ask for reimbursement, will they negotiate with senior lien holder? Considering all funds are going to senior holder, it seems logical that the two banks would negotiate in order to complete approval process.

Is that how things go? Or will I (the buyer) have to be the middle man negotiating between both lenders? Any help would be appreciated.

Hello,

   I've come to a road block in a short sale property I am attempting to purchase. I will make a long story short and get down to the essential questions. 

 Title report via escrow on this property showed a junior lien taken out at the same time as the senior lien from the same bank (Country wide). Both loans were mortgage loans and were initiated in 2005.  One was for $250k and the second for $54k. 

  In 2008 some how the second loan was sold off to a company called "Beneficial Financial." Since that time the borrower has received no bills at all. For over 10 years nothing. Borrower had even forgotten about this loan. Now trying to purchase this property I am attempting to negotiate this lien in order for title to be free and clear. 

  I have tried everything I can think of to contact this entity. From the research I have done it seems they have gone out of business. The only lead I found was a web page saying "We no longer service any loans. For questions please mail a letter to this address." I have mailed numerous letters there with no response.

 I am speaking with a real estate attorney, but thought I would ask here as well. Here are my questions:

1) Has anyone had any experience with "beneficial financial'? It seems somehow or other they were affiliated with HSBC but I tried to call them and they weren't helpful.

2) Is there any legal process, in the situation where a lien holder cannot be contacted or located, where you can give ample and public notice for lien holder to come forward and claim possession, otherwise lien will be forgiven?

3) What other options do I have? 

4) If bank were to foreclose on this property what method would they use to remove this lien?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks a lot.

Just a quick question I have encountered while pursuing pre foreclosure leads.

When I approach a home owner who has equity in their home I am trying to get their equity at a discount. What incentive can I offer them to discount their equity to me when they could list their property tomorrow on the mls and get fair market value for it?

All I can think of is

1. I am a cash buyer who is ready to buy today not weeks or months down the road.

2. No guarantee to sell before foreclosure if listing on MLS

3. We can cut realtor fees by dealing directly.

Anything I am missing? It still seems unlikely to convince most to drop their price much.

I have a distressed homeowner who is interested in selling his home to me as a shortsale. He is way upside down on his mortgage and has experienced financial hardship. (Lost job.) Yet he does not live in the residence, it is not his primary home. Will this disqualify him from a shortsale?

If his hardship does qualify him with his lender, does this mean they will automatically forgive any deficiency after the sale?

Hello, I am a preforeclosure investor. In the past one of my main incentives to convince owners to sell to me through short sale was that government funded programs were in place that would give the qualified homeowner upto $10,000 to close before auction date.

I have always worked through HAFA in the past. Now that HAFA has expired are there any other programs that offer "moving incentive"? Or is there a general policy banks have that they may offer some funds to encourage a short sale?

Hello everyone.

  I am dealing with a situation here and I am not sure how to proceed. Thanks in advance for any help. Here is the scenario:

   I am the buyer of a short sale home.  It has taken a year to finally get approval, junior leans settled etc. Seller has been fully cooperative up to this point and will be receiving HAFA funds of $10,000 at closing. Seller's daughter and her family are living in the house. Seller has been aware of closing date since it was scheduled 30 days before and has guaranteed that his family will be out by then. I went for final walk through this morning and sellers family has done nothing to pack or move their belongings and they have ALOT of stuff. (Like it would take at least a week to move all of it.) Closing is in two days and I am scheduled to sign closing papers and deposit funds tmro morning.

  I did not speak with the residents of the house or with the owner as my agent says he will initiate the communication as he is representing both of us. I told my agent that I will not sign closing papers until I am confident that they will be vacating. I do not want to inherit the house with them in it and have to evict. But considering they are only bound to move once escrow has been closed, what is the best way to go about this?

  I feel it is in my best interest to wait until they are fully moved out to sign closing papers and transfer funds to escrow. I have had to go through evicting tenants in the past and it is a nightmare. Once they have all of their possessions out of the home then I will sign closing papers and change the locks. But as long as they have possessions in the home, then legally they have access to the property and I cannot change locks. (As far as my experience tells me from past evictions.)

Considering they have not lifted a finger in the vacating process and closing is just now 2 days away, isn't it logical that I tell them that I will extend escrow until they are fully vacated?

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks so much.

yes sir Ocwen.

The home has been listed for months on MLS with no offers, how is that not sufficient enough "verification".

It has been listed as contingent. Now when it is listed on HUBZU it will be active??? I am confused. Doesn't the seller chose the offer to be accepted?

Hello everyone and thanks in advance for any advice/information anyone can provide.

Making a long story short, or as short as possible:

I have located a homeowner who has been issued notice of default and is delinquent for over 2 years on his mortgage. He agreed to sell to me and I set him up with my realtor and he has been approved for HAFFA funds. Seller is more than willing (grateful even) and cooperating with all paper work etc. We submitted offer of $180k to bank.

After 3.5 months Bank orders appraisal that comes back at $230k. I request a variance and submit with it 2 estimates from local contractors bidding the cost of repairs. ( Both bids are for over $100k.)

Now 3 weeks after that the bank responds that they are demanding that property be listed on HUBZU website to be auctioned off to highest bidder and I am welcome to submit my offer via the website.

The listing agent is also my agent who I have been working with on many short sale deals. He says he has no choice but to list on HUBZU because bank refuses to even negotiate otherwise. Seller and listing agent have accepted and tried to push my offer through as it is the only offer that came in. I am willing to negotiate price but bank says NO. Right now listing is CONTINGENT. And initially the bank says they only want to deal with one offer at a time. Now they all of a sudden are demanding to list on HUBZU for it to even qualify as a short sale.

 What can I do? My agent specializes in short sales and he says he has never seen this. Is there anyway I can push my offer through without it going on HUBZU? Any advice please!!

As a buyer, I have on offer pending on a pre approved short sale home in Nevada City California. The previous buyer just walked and we are using the approval letter the Bank gave them. Approval was for $228k. I have offered $230k all cash no contingencies. Sellers accepted my offer and now its on bank's desk. Listing is now pending and listing agent told me no other offers will even be submitted to bank unless mine falls through.

Here is where things are getting tricky: Bank wants to close as quickly as possible because they want to use the previous approval letter they issued, which expires May 15th.  So listing agent therefor asked for 17 day escrow  to close before expiration of approval.  But now bank said they have standard 15 day time window  before they EVEN REVEIW my offer. I am confident it will be accepted as it is all cash no contingencies and above BPO. So 15 days to review offer plus 17 day escrow puts us right at May 15th, a little too close I feel, especially the way short sales are so unpredictable.

What are my options? Can a approval letter's expiration date some how be extended to allow escrow to close? Or is there a way I can speed up the process of having bank review my offer. They said that my offer is now in a stack of papers that will be reviewed in the order they were received. If there is serious "time is of the essence" implications for this offer to go through, is there any way to expedite the process?

Hello all. So I am trying out this preforclosure venture. Done a lot of research. Found all the listings in my area and have written each of them. Here is the first letter I wrote. I got about 5% response rate so far after 7 days.

attn: OWNERS NAME OWNERS ADDRESS PROPERY LOCATION

Dear ________________

Hello, my name is --------------. I am a local resident here in ----------- for the last decade. I am an honest, private, small time, local investor. I am not a real-estate agent or with a large company. I am contacting you because I have interest in purchasing your home located at “---------------.” Through county records I was able to see that your home may be at risk of being repossessed or auctioned. Please forgive me if this is not the case or if the default has already been resolved. I am not fully aware of your situation. But I wanted to simply let you know that I am interested in purchasing your home. I offer all cash, simple, quick, efficient transactions that could relieve what debt you may owe and also avoid forclosure. If you have any interest or would just like to talk over details please feel free to respond. I am happy to answer any questions. I would only offer a solution that would be beneficial for both of us. I am not a scammer.

Disregard this letter if it is not applicable or you have no interest. Please forgive me if this letter is at all invasive or insensitive. I understand you may be in a difficult situation.

Aloha and good luck. Sincerely,_____________ NAME, PHN # AND EMAIL ADDRESS

I am working with those who have responded but wanted to continue to contact those who have not. Here is the second letter I have drafted but not sent yet.

OWNERS NAME ADDRESS & PROPERTY LOCTION

Dear Mr ________

Hello, I had sent you a letter a week or so ago in regards to my interest in your home. I thought I would follow up with another letter. I can imagine that being faced with possibility of forclosure is a difficult situation to be in. I’m sorry. I am respectful of your privacy but I simply want to express my interest and provide you with some options. Please give me a few minutes of your time.

I am an honest local investor and again I am very respectful of others and their hardships. I would not pressure you on any matter or scam you into any transaction. If anything I would just like to share with you some of my knowledge in regards to the benefits of avoiding the forclosure of your home.

Obviously the ideal solution is for you to cure the default and keep your home. Depending on your situation I may also be able to point you in that direction. Yet if that is not possible, your next best option is to sell your home before it is repossessed.

Very briefly let me explain the advantages of selling your home before it is forclosed:

-By selling, your lender usually forgives your entire debt and back payments, regardless of what home sells for.

-Only minimal damage to your credit occurs because lender agrees to a settlement.

-Bank or buyer may even offer you “moving funds” and you can walk away debt free with money in your pocket for a fresh start.

- Whereas if your home is forclosed there will be a default judgement against you for the full amount owed. That debt will follow you until it is repayed and your credit will be severely damaged.

Although each individual case may differ, these are general guidelines. Selling a home before it is lost to forclousre is a no brainer. I can offer all cash transactions and close deals quickly and efficiently. Please give me a call, even if it is just to talk and get more information. And again please forgive any invasiveness or insensitivity on my part. I hope my offer can benefit you, if not, I completely understand and wish you good luck with whatever route you may take.

Sincerely,------------ NAME AND PHN NUMBER AND EMAIL ADDRESS