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Strategic Defaults Increasing Dramatically | Why Keep An Upside Down Home? – Fresno, CA

Jeremy Smiley — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:29:39 +0000

Why should a home owner keep paying on a home when they are upside down? Is there some sort of moral aspect to paying on a mortgage even when its so severely upside down that the ‘home owner’ has become…in essence…a tenant with their mortgage company as their landlord?

You might be surprised to learn that there are absolutely no ‘moral imperatives’ to pay an upside down commercial loan. Once the commercial property stops making financial sense borrowers often choose to do a ’strategic default’. This has been a normal aspect of commercial loans for years…so, why is there such a double standard when it comes to residential.

Watch this video and share your comments:

Jeremy Smiley, Realtor
Short Sale Specialist
London Properties
(559) 790-8760

(Short Sale Fraud) Short Sale Supervisor Talks to a Real Estate Agent – Recorded Conversation

Jeremy Smiley — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 05:17:56 +0000

Via: jeremybrandt.com

The Short Sales and Bank Fraud story continues to gain traction. After CNBC aired the story we brought them, dozens of other media outlets, bloggers and authorities have contacted me to discuss this topic.

Here is the story of how this fraud initially came to our attention, along with the evidence to back it up.

Last year, I was contacted by an experienced real estate agent in our network who negotiates many short sales. She had recorded a conversation between her and a supervisor in the loss-mitigation department at a major national lender, who she felt was trying to get her to do something illegal.

Here is the audio of that recording, along with the transcript. The names have been removed at the request of the agent to prevent backlash from the bank.

Listen: Recorded Conversation with Bank Supervisor

AGENT: OK, so the only way to settle with *LENDER* then is to get money from somebody else and pay it prior to – that’s what *LENDER-EMPLOYEE* suggested – pay it prior to close of escrow, outside of…. Pardon me?

LENDER: That is something you can do.

AGENT: Pay it outside of escrow, off the HUD, prior to close.

LENDER: Right, that’s something you could do.

AGENT: And is that something you guys do regularly or you see people doing?

LENDER: Yes, that happens – we have people that send us money outside if they need approval letters from the first, and once we receive the additional funds, the approval letter can be sent for what the first actually offered – so it happens.

AGENT: OK and what about the fact that the first says that, no more than you know, a certain percent is to go to the second?

LENDER: OK, if the first… Here’s the thing, if you’re asking what this is about – the first is saying “well here’s what I’m going to allow” and the first is saying “this is what we’re willing to pay out.” If there’s a contribution, if you don’t want to be able to come up with the additional that we’re asking for – the first has already gave their approval on what they’re doing – what someone just comes up with has nothing to do with the first.

AGENT: Even if on this letter it says that “the second is not to receive any more than a certain amount”?

LENDER: The first can not dictate what we receive. The first is saying what they are only going to allow. That’s the amount that they’re allowing to us. If someone out there – the buyer – or a family member puts more money and says here’s what I want to give for you because here’s the additionally requested funds – that has nothing to do with the first.
You’re not asking the first to come out of their pocket any extra than what they are willing to give. So that that’s not any information that might have to be required on the HUD.
Hold on one second please.

LENDER: So I need to have the information – you’ve had the opportunity to go over this with *LENDER-EMPLOYEE* – did he explain all this to you on how this takes place?

AGENT: Well he does but I’m having a tough time, ******, I’m licensed and everybody else…

LENDER: It’s not illegal; it’s not a hard thing, this thing that has happened. The information that you’ve actually received from us – we’re actually trying to help you get this deal closed. If you choose to go back and tell the first what’s going on – you’re going to kill the deal.
So what actually happens prior to closing has nothing to do with the first. What happens at closing – that is information you can provide to them. If you are able to come up with additional funds not to get this deal closed prior to closing, then that’s fine – that’s irrelevant for the first. If you go ahead and you want to let the first know “well, here’s all the information that I have – here’s what’s going on” you will be the one to actually kill this deal. I’m trying to actually give you a way to go about getting this resolved. If you take our suggestion – you take the information that *LENDER-EMPLOYEE* has given you – you can have this done.
If not, then you know, those guys are going to foreclose on it and it’s a done deal. But it’s not like we’re holding up this process.

AGENT: Well, what about the form that the buyer’s lender puts out that there are – that everybody has to sign that says there are no side deals?
I mean that… How do I get around that?

LENDER: What you need to take care of actually is not going to be a problem. What they submit to us – there is $****** they are giving us – the only thing you have to worry about – I mean it sounds like you’re scared that you’re going to be fined for something because you are doing something you are not supposed to. This is what we do all day.

AGENT: Well yes, I don’t want to lose my license, go to jail, I mean, I have to sign…

LENDER: You’re not going to lose your license – we have plenty of realtors who do this, who actually understand how this whole process goes – and they realize that OK, if I want to get this done, this will take place. Nobody’s losing their license and nobody’s going to jail, nobody’s receiving a fine…
So and here’s the thing too, I’ll be really honest with you, if you are uncomfortable about working it, you can probably assign it over to someone else, where they would be able to do this – if it makes you feel that uncomfortable – you should probably just assign it over to someone else. Someone who’s actually been able you know – who’s done this before, who’s more familiar with it.
Not to be disrespectful or rude to you or anything like that, but we deal with this every day all the time, this is not something out of the norm. But if you feel like you are doing something that’s against your morals, please assign it to someone else who’s been able to do deals like this so they can get it done, and you can have a happy buyer and a happy seller.

AGENT: Well, how do I get, I mean what’s the logic or if I could understand – when I’m signing a paper put out by FHA that says there are no side deals – this is a side deal.

LENDER: This is a contribution. You guys are able to come up with money in order to get this deal closed.

AGENT: OK

LENDER: OK. So the offer that we have it still stands – you can call *LENDER-EMPLOYEE* back and let him know if, what you’re going to do, and if you guys foreclose, we understand. If you’re not comfortable with this – go ahead and assign it over to someone else.

AGENT: OK, well thank you for your time.

LENDER: No Problem

Jeremy Smiley, Realtor
Short Sale Specialist
London Properties
Fresno, CA
(559) 790-8760

Record High Foreclosures and Option ARM Resets

Jeremy Smiley — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:26:18 +0000

via Record High Foreclosures and Option ARM Resets.

By Ian Cooper
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

With headlines of higher default rates for Option ARMs about to be a daily occurrence, is there a way to profit from others’ misfortunes?

Yep…

But let’s first look at the size of the crisis… and why the crisis is far from over.

To say the end to our woes is in sight is as premature as saying terrorism is under control.

Unemployment will continue to climb. Consumer spending will suffer. And housing is only expected to worsen, as more resets rear their ugly heads.

Sure, construction of new homes (helped by good weather) rebounded in November. And sure, the gain is a hopeful sign of a housing recovery. And yeah, sales have surged in recent months, as home buyers scrambled to take advantage of the first time home buyer tax credit…

But there’s only one problem with the bullishness: It’s overdone.

There is no recovery. The crash is far from over. Even Moody’s doesn’t see an end to the housing meltdown, believing that home prices will soon start moving back down because of coming foreclosures.

Another obstacle for the housing recovery is the number of mortgages that are underwater where borrowers owe more than what the house is worth. This negative equity doesn’t qualify those people for refinancing and even prevents them from selling the home, often resulting in “strategic defaults.”

But the most devastating of all could be the coming Option ARM (adjustable rate mortgage) resets of 2010 and beyond. It could easily lead to higher unemployment, housing glut, decreased home values, and the death of the cash-strapped consumer.

What do you think will happen to housing when the resets happen? What do you think will happen when monthly payments on a $400,000 mortgage jumps from $1,287 to $2,593?

This is reality. And savvy investors will play it smartly.

Sure, you can short housing names and housing-related retailers… but everyone knows about those. You have to invest where the sheep haven’t been.

You have to invest in the very stocks that benefit as foreclosures worsen… you have to buy the companies that help when foreclosures mount… and you have to do it fast, as the sheep catch on.

Here’s why…

The Year of Option ARM Resets. . . and Why There’s No Foreseeable Bottom

About a year after the Obama Administration unveiled the housing rescue program, foreclosures continue to hit new records. More than 2.8 million properties were foreclosed upon in 2009, up some 21% from 2008 and up more than 120% from 2007, according to RealtyTrac.

And another three million could foreclosure this year alone.

And they find themselves in foreclosure because:

They couldn’t afford the properties they bought;
Jobs were lost… and is only expected to worsen;
And others are just walking away because “it’s not best for their finances… “

These “walk aways” or “strategic defaults” have more than doubled from 588,000 from 2007 to 2008, according to reports.

And there will be more, as financial “experts” tout the benefits of walking away from mortgages.

Does that sound like a recovery in process to you?

Unfortunately, just as 2007 and 2008 were the years of subprime woes, this one will go down as the year of Option ARM resets. With billions in Option ARM resets in 2009 and 2010, this crisis is about to unleash a fury no one’s prepared for.

It won’t be as bad as subprime, of course. It’ll be worse.

That’s because lenders created these ARMs with “teaser” features for borrowers, which included making lower minimal payments for the first few years before the loan reset to a higher payment schedule.

And if that weren’t bad enough, there was another feature called “negative amortization,” which meant you weren’t paying back any principal.

In fact, with negative amortization loans your loan balance increased over time. Incredulously, every time you made a payment, you owed the bank even more. These are the loans that allowed consumers to buy houses they couldn’t otherwise afford.

As for speculators, they may use negative amortization loans if they believe prices will increase at a fast pace. But with the opposite happening, they’re out of luck.

And the banks will be left holding the bag.

Big banks and mortgage services face a huge increase in mortgage delinquencies this year. And the government’s program to modify troubled home loans is “ill-equipped to handle even the current volume of modifications,” say reports.

At issue are the Alt-A and Option ARMs that became wildly popular before the financial crisis. You see, as the subprime market surged to $1 trillion, the Alt-A and Option ARM markets far exceed $1.5 trillion… meaning the ARM crisis is far worse than subprime.

But as we’ve said, there is a very easy way to profit as the foreclosure crisis worsens… you buy and hold the companies that process foreclosures and make a killing as it happens.

And we’ve got two companies will profit from the rampant increase in foreclosures and defaults.

Unfortunately, if we mention there names here, we run the risk of running the two stocks to the moon… something we really don’t want to do. So, we’ve prepared a special report for Options Trading Pit readers that unveils the stock names, and how to play them with options, as well.

But you’ve got to hurry. One of the options is already up some 40% in about a week.. and we only expect further growth from mounting foreclosures. For more on Options Trading Pit… and to get your hands on our latest special report, click here.

And as for the housing bulls… well, they’ll learn the hard way.