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Seeking outside help for short sales, REOs Premium Content

By Inman News, Thursday, November 5, 2009.

Alex Charfen is co-founder and chief executive officer of the Distressed Property Institute -- which has trained a number of in-house transaction coordinators and bestowed its "Certified Distressed Property Expert" designation on about 12,000 agents and brokers who have completed its courses.

He is leery of third-party companies that offer to act as short-sale negotiators and make "outrageous claims about their closing percentages," and those that "claim do be national processing centers for foreclosures."

And he said consumers shouldn't have to foot the bill for participating in short-sale transactions.  more...

Congress extends homebuyer credit

By Inman News, Thursday, November 5, 2009.

President Obama is expected to sign a bill passed by Congress today extending and expanding the first-time homebuyer tax credit to homes under contract before May 1.

The credit, equal to 10 percent of a home's purchase price, remains capped at $8,000 for first-time homebuyers, but income limits have been raised.

Congress also approved an expansion of the credit to allow homeowners who have been in a principal residence for at least five of the last eight years to claim a tax credit of up to $6,500 if they sell that home and buy another.  more...

5 things to never tell a buyer

By Bernice Ross, Thursday, November 5, 2009.

A buyer is looking at your home and asks a question. Be careful what you say, as it can cost you much more than you realize.

As a seller, you may find yourself at home when a buyer is looking at your home. In most cases, it's smart to leave during the showing. If you are at home and the buyer or his/her agent asks a question, tread carefully. Here are five things to never tell a buyer.

1. Where is the property line?
It's easy to point to the fence and say that's where the property line is. The correct answer to this question is, "I don't know where the exact property line is. If you want the exact location, you will need a survey."  more...

Putting fair-housing law into practice

By Teresa Boardman, Thursday, November 5, 2009.
Image by <a href="http://www.thegoldguys.blogspot.com" target=blank>thegoldguys.blogspot.com</a>.

Last month, Inman News columnist Bernice Ross wrote an excellent column about fair-housing issues. What she wrote were some blatant examples of fair-housing violations. Such violations can still be found in marketing, and there can be subtle violations, too, as following the letter of the law is complicated.

"Family" is one of those words that pose complications for real estate professionals. I try to dot every "i" and cross every "t" when it comes to fair housing and I believe in fair housing, yet the rules that real estate professionals must follow to be fair are confusing.  more...

A foreclosure protection strategy?

By Janet Portman, Thursday, November 5, 2009.

Q: My landlord, who's been a great guy, told me that he thinks he's probably going to lose the property to foreclosure. My lease runs out in a couple of months, and I was hoping to stay here for at least another year. The landlord offered to renew the lease now, for as long as I want, because he says there's a new law that makes foreclosing banks honor existing leases. If we do this, will it work? --Paul L.

A: Your landlord is correct about the new law. Signed by President Obama in May 2009, the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009 requires foreclosing banks who become the owner upon foreclosure to honor existing leases. If someone buys the home at a foreclosure sale intending to occupy it, however, the new owner can terminate the lease with 90 days' notice. (Incidentally, for month-to-month tenants, both the bank and any new occupying buyer have the right to terminate the rental agreement, but must give tenants 90 days' notice.)  more...

Purchase power: Know your true max

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Thursday, November 5, 2009.

Q: My wife and I were approved to buy a home up to $400,000, but we knew that we couldn't actually afford the monthly payment on that much. So, we started out looking at homes in the $200,000 range. Over the months, we realized that we would have to offer quite a bit more than the asking price to get in. And so many of the properties we were seeing were in really bad shape -- so bad that we couldn't afford to fix them up if we did get them. So we decided to look in the $250,000 range, but even after offering $30,000-$40,000 over asking, we still weren't getting anything.

Now we're looking up in the low $300,000s -- we're starting to see fewer offers on the properties and better places, but I'm concerned by this trend, and I fear that we're in danger of overextending ourselves. How should we proceed?  more...

The end of Big Technology? Premium Content

By Robert Hahn, Thursday, November 5, 2009.

There is a special category of news that no one will actually pay attention to, and yet is incredibly important. For example, most people will not pay attention to the bankruptcy of CIT, which likely means that thousands of small retailers and mid-sized clothing manufacturers will not be around come 2010.

Nor will the vast majority of people even care that Boeing is opening a new 787 plant in South Carolina, instead of Washington, even though the reason why Boeing left its traditional home might be important to think about.

Within the real estate world, the recent unveiling of the new Web site for @Properties, among the largest residential brokerage companies in Chicago, should be filed under "critical but ignored" news items.  more...

FHA delays new condo rules

By Matt Carter, Thursday, November 5, 2009.

The Federal Housing Administration is delaying implementation of new rules for condo approvals until Dec. 7 and will reportedly pull back from some changes that critics said would have delayed or derailed many condominium sales.

In a June 12 letter to lenders, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced FHA would implement a new approval process for condominium projects on Oct. 1.  more...

IRS tax credit safeguards fall short

By Tom Kelly, Thursday, November 5, 2009.

A 4-year-old …? How does a 4-year-old get approved for an $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit?

While Realtors, lenders, appraisers, home inspectors, escrow officers and every other professional service connected to home sales and financing are lobbying for an extension of the first-time homebuyer housing credit, a recent audit revealed thousands of fraudulent claims and a need for more safeguards to support the popular program.  more...