Answers For Owners Blog

Homeowners in foreclosure are under an unbelievable amount of stress. Their home has transformed to a place that constantly reminds them of their financial problems. Repairs go unmade while threatening letters from collection agents and phone call from creditors keep coming.

Every homeowner in foreclosure wants to end the stress and find a solution. Some owners believe that by packing up and abandoning their property they will be able to leave their financial problems behind. This is not the case.

Walking away will not provide a permanent end to your stress! We can provide you with a permanent debt-relief solution that will help you save your credit.

If you are in foreclosure we can help:

• We will pay your lender the amount that is needed to bring your loan current
• We will pay the costs needed to reinstate your loan
• We will pay off all recorded judgment liens
• We will pay all closing costs

Tags: Foreclosure : Vacant : Mortgage : Stress

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Scams are everywhere - For all of the homeowners who are in foreclosure or experiencing some other sort of difficulty, there are some unscrupulous individuals who lay and wait to take advantage of them.

One common foreclosure scam is equity skimming. Equity skimming is when one person take title to a property subject to an existing mortgage that is in default and is defined as:

A pattern of conduct in which a buyer defrauds a property owner of his or her equity interest or other value in real property under the guise of a purchase of the owner's property, but which is in fact a device to convert the owner's equity interest or other value in real property to a buyer, who fails to make payments, diverts the equity or other value to the buyer's benefit, and leaves the property owner with a resulting financial loss.Lucier

Guess what - This is illegal in all 50 states. Scammers will get homeowners to sign over the deed to their home for no money down. The scammer will then rent out the home to a third party, pocket the rent, not make the mortgage payments, and if there is equity in the home, strip it out using home equity lines of credit. Finally the lender will foreclose and the owner will lose their property and have a foreclosure on their credit.

We work with homeowners in foreclosure regardless of whether or not they have equity in their home. We will take over payments, cure the amount that is delinquent and save the owner from foreclosure. If you are interested in learning more, call us now.

Tags: Foreclosure : Scams : Equity Skimming : Mortgage

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How much do you know about your mortgage? Do you have a fixed or is it adjustable? What is your interest rate and APR? Is there a balloon payment due at any point? Are the monthly payments being applied to the principal of the loan?

If you don't know the answers to these questions you should go to your desk, safe, firebox, sock drawer and pull out the copy of your mortgage and settle in for a nice evening of reading. Chances are you are going to have questions as to the terms in the document. That is where this week's Homeowner Web Resource comes in.

Fire up your computer and go over to the Mortgage Loan Term Dictionary and get ready to be enlightened as to your mortgage commitment.

Tags: Mortgage : Loan

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Posted In: Web Resources For Homeowners , Mortgage

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Yesterday I posted the foreclosure process in judicial states so today I will post the same procedural outline for non-judicial states. (Is My State A Judicial or Non-Judicial Foreclosure State?)

In states such as Arizona, Rhode Island and Virginia, the foreclosing mortgage lender or deed of trust beneficiary will use its power of sale covenant which is contained in the mortgage. This covenant provides the lender or the trustee that holds the deed of trust, the right to foreclose the loan that is in default by filing a notice of default. The notice of default is filed with the county recorder's office.

Here is the step by step foreclosure process as it applies to non-judicial foreclosure states:

• Trustee files a notice of default with the county public recorder's office
• Trustee sale date is set
• Sale is advertised to the public
• The property is sold to the highest bidder or it is taken back by the lender if the high bid is not accepted

Tags: Foreclosure : Non-judicial : law : mortgage

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In states like New Jersey where judicial foreclosure is used to foreclose on a mortgage the lender must file a lawsuit in order to foreclose (Is My State A Judicial or Non-Judicial Foreclosure State?). The defendants in the foreclosure are the delinquent borrower and all lien holders that have an interest in the property (other mortgage holders, municipal authorities [taxes], bail bondsmen, etc.). The mortgage lender filing the lawsuit will serve a copy of the lawsuit on all interested parties (lien holders) and a lis pendens is filed with the Court to alert the public that there is a lawsuit pending. After the defendants are served they usually have 20 days to formally submit their answer and present their case. If there is no reply or the judge does not agree with the defendant the judge will order that the mortgage will be foreclosed on and the property sold by the County Sheriff. The proceeds of the sale will be used to satisfy the amount owed by the homeowner to the lien holders. Here is a quick overview of the process.

• Lender files a lawsuit to foreclose mortgage with court
• Borrower responds to the lawsuit and a hearing date is set
• Foreclosure lawsuit is heard by the court and the judge either dismisses the suit or orders the property to be foreclosed on
• A sale date is set
• The foreclosure auction sale is advertised
• The property is sold to the highest bidder or taken back by the lender if there is no acceptable bid amount

Tags: Foreclosure : Judicial : law : mortgage: New Jersey

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Some homeowners facing foreclosure negotiate a deal with their mortgage lender called a ‘short sale’. Under the terms of a short sale, a new buyer assumes the property and the lender forgives the leftover balance of the original mortgage. Things To Know: (1) Short sales are time intensive - in order to be successful the process must begin soon after the notice of foreclosure. (2) The homeowner is not allowed to rent the home back from the new buyer. (3) The seller may have to pay taxes on the amount of the mortgage that was forgiven by the lender. Benefit of A Short Sale: In certain circumstances it is preferable to preserve your credit history and pay a tax bill then to it is to lose your home to foreclosure.

Tags foreclosure : short sale : new jersey : mortgage

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I am excited to post our very first Answers For Owners Podcast. If you are a homeowner currently in foreclosure then you may have first hand knowledge and experience with what we will discuss on today’s podcast – an overview of common foreclosure scams that are run on homeowners.

When a lender files a foreclosure lawsuit it is a pubic record and almost immediately the calls, knocks at the door and letters offering help begin to arrive. The typical homeowner facing foreclosure gets at least 300 pieces of mail from groups offering some type of help. While some of these offers are legitimate and the people making them are honest and good, others are made by scam artists looking to take advantage of someone down on their luck. I hope that after listening to this podcast you will be able to tell the difference between someone’s legitimate offer to help and offers that do not have your best interest at heart.

This podcast will discuss:

Equity Skimming
Phony Loans
Corrupt Brokers
- and -
Internet Scams



MP3 File

Tags - foreclosure : podcast : new jersey : scam

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Posted In: Foreclosure , Podcasts

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BusinessWeek writer Dean Foust wrote a column for their Hot Property section where he looks at the timeless question of Agent v FSBO. I like that Dean brought up motivation as a factor for how agents influence their client's (the seller) decision to 'work with a buyer'.

In the world of agents, it's all about turns. Better to move that house today, than wait another six weeks for $20,000 more, since their cut of that higher price is roughly $300 (or 1.5%, assuming the 6% commission is split four ways between two agents and two brokerages). Flip and move on, flip and move on.

Homeowners need to keep in mind that their agent is human. Their agent may be a hustler working to get as many people in to see their home as possible and marketing the home in a variety of ways, but at the end of the day it will always come down to how much more money is the agent going to make by getting a higher sale price compared to how long it will take or what they have to do to get that higher amount.

Many homeowners see that they make the same if not a little more selling by themselves versus listing with an agent. The question comes down to the amount of time you have. Selling with an agent will 99% of the time get your home sold faster, but probably not as fast as you might expect.

In the first 6 months of 2007, there were 167 homes sold by agents in Middlesex County New Jersey, and the average time it took to them to sell the home was 105 days. During that same time, 5,289 homes in Middlesex County were listed for sale with an agent. That works out to be 1 sale for every 32 homes listed in the same 6 month period.

A 1:32 ratio shows that the market is tight even for homes that are priced right and in great condition. Clearwater Properties buys all types of homes in all types of condition. If you are a FSBO that wants to sell your home and are flexible with either your price or your terms, you should contact us TODAY so we can work with you.

Tags - FSBO : Agent : Home Sale : new jersey

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If you begin to miss mortgage payments in New Jersey, your lender will file what is called a lis pendens. Since New Jersey is a judicial foreclosure state, the lis pendens filing will notify the public that your lender is seeking to foreclose on your property to settle their mortgage lien.

When you are a homeowner facing foreclosure, the easiest sure fire way to stop the foreclosure sale is to make up the amount of missed payments, late fees and interest with your lender. What do you do after that happens?

Once you as the owner are 'caught up', meaning your mortgage is reinstated,
the lender, through their attorney, is supposed to file a discharge of the lis pendens. Make sure this happens.

Some suggestions for owners who have stopped their lender's foreclosure action:

1) Request a reinstatement letter from the lender/foreclosing attorney
2) Arrange to personally deliver the reinstatement amount to the attorney in exchange for a discharge of lis pendens
3) Take the discharged lis pendens to the county courthouse, along with the proper recording fee, and have the discharge recorded

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We just produced another video for the Clearwater Properties YouTube channel. This episode is going to be of particular interest to New Jersey landlords who have problem tenants. In our video we go over the 17 different causes for evicting a tenant under New Jersey law. Since each of the acceptable eviction causes have different notification and procedural requirements, we went ahead and created a helpful guide for landlords which outlines the notification requirements that must be given to the tenant before an eviction suit can be filed.

Watch the video below so you can learn how to get your free copy of this report.

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Posted In: Info For Landlords , Videos

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Landlords in New Jersey must file what is called a Landlord Registration Statement which is a document that contains specific information about the landlord, the mortgage holder of the property, the address of a county representative for the tenant to contact in an emergency as well as the name and address of the property's maintenance supervisor.

If the landlord owns two or less rental units, the Registration Statement must be filed with the municipality in which the property is located. However, if a landlord owns more than two rental units, the registration statement should be filed with the Department of Community Affairs.

Landlords are required to to post the Registration Statement on the property where it can be readily seen and also give a copy to the tenant.

Are you selling your rental property or buying an income property that is already occupied with tenants? If the property has more than two units as the new landlord you will have to modify the existing Registration Statement. Failure by a landlord to follow this and other obligations under New Jersey law could affect their rights during the tenancy.

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• Once payments are three or four months past due, a collection letter is sent to the homeowner. At this time, the homeowner can choose to go into loss mitigation to try to save the home from foreclosure.

• The delinquent loan is sent to an attorney.

• Within 30 days, a complaint is filed with the court. This is the foreclosure filing, a public record that anyone can access.

• Within 20 days, the homeowner must appear in court to state why foreclosure must not proceed.

• The court rules that the mortgage holder is in default.

• During the next three months, a home appraisal is completed, a sheriff's sale date set, and the sale of the home is advertised.

• Ten days before the sheriff's sale, the homeowner receives a notice of the pending sale.

• The sheriff's sale occurs. At this point, the loan will be around eight months delinquent.

• Thirty to 90 days after the sheriff's sale, the property is officially transferred to the new owner.

• If the delinquent payer is still in the home, the sheriff gives him or her 10 to 15 days to move out.

Source: Delaware Office of the State Bank Commissioner

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Posted In: Foreclosure

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Failure to pay rent. These four words can mean a world of trouble for landlords. In most jurisdictions landlords can evict their tenants for failure to pay rent due and owing. In New Jersey, a state whose laws and courts are very pro-tenant, the use of the words "due and owing" indicates that the Court must listen to any equitable defense a tenant may have which would establish why the rent is not "owing". An equitable defense is one that will show the Court that the rent is truly not owed by the tenant due to things such as the property being in a condition that makes it either unsafe or uninhabitable for the tenant.

Failure to pay rent due and owing is the only ground that does not require a landlord to send notice to the tenant before instituting an eviction suit. Under New Jersey law, the term "rent" is not only limited to monthly monetary payments that are due. Other monies that can be considered rent include expenses incurred by the landlord due to the non-paying tenant such as late charges, insufficient fund fees charged due to bounced checks, filing and service costs for court and counsel fees as well as any non-paid rental installments.

It is important to note that a landlord who accepts partial payment for rent does not waive their right to collect the additional rent due. In order to protect yourself as the landlord, you should send the tenant a letter which states that the acceptance of the partial payment they submitted is not a waiver of your right to collect the balance due.

The remainder any unpaid rent, along with the charges for bounced check and court fees listed above can be pursued in an eviction action provided they are characterized as "additional rent" in the lease agreement.

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On a national level a majority of foreclosure activity has occurred in the single-family residence market while the townhome and condo market represented a much smaller portion of the overall housing market. It is interesting to note that some surveys state that 81% of the foreclosures nationally are of single-family homes and condos and townhome foreclosures represented about six percent of total foreclosure filings.

Where I am located, there are many owners of condos and townhomes facing foreclosure. I was just working with an owner of a townhome in Edison New Jersey the other day. While doing some research prior to our meeting I noticed that there were 4 other owners in his development also in foreclosure.

One bit of advice to owners facing foreclosure has to be not to wait to develop a plan to fix your situation. Early proactive action by homeowners facing foreclosure can improve your chances of saving both your home and your credit. However, as time goes on and the sheriff sale date comes closer, the fewer number of options available to you will remain. The options that you will be left with late in the process will be few and severe with long lasting effects (selling your home or declaring bankruptcy).

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This week's Homeowner Web Resource is the newly created Answers For Owners Squidoo Lens. We see our new lens as a place where we can provide more detailed information that will complement the information we already provided here.

We are going to continue to add links to people and information we find online that we think provide useful answers to the questions that owners of problem properties have. It will also be the place that we will host some really cool polls that everyone can participate in.

Take a hop on over and participate in our first poll that has to do with FSBOs and how long they think it will take them to sell their home without an agent.

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Attention all For Sale By Owners (FSBOs) out there who are tired of all the the phone calls and letters coming in from agents looking to list your home. Here is a 6 step sheet from RISMedia that coaches agents how to get you to give up your quest to keep all the profits from your home and list with them.

Its interesting that tying their commission percentage to their actual performance is not listed as a tip.

Before you sign on to a 6 month listing with an agent who may or may not find you a buyer, reach out to us.

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Posted In: For Sale By Owner (FSBO) , Web Resources For Homeowners

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