Former Countrywide borrowers get cash!

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Feb. 16, 2010 – More than 2,700 people will receive checks from a 2008 settlement Florida negotiated with Countrywide Financial Corporation. As part of the settlement, Countrywide is offering foreclosure relief payments to eligible borrowers who returned valid and timely claim forms and releases under a program administered by the Countrywide settlement administrator. 

More than $16.9 million will be distributed this week, and each check will be written for just over $6,000. 

In July 2008, Attorney General Bill McCollum filed a lawsuit against Countrywide, one of the nation’s largest mortgage companies, for allegedly engaging in deceptive and unfair trade practices. The lawsuit claimed Countrywide put borrowers into mortgages they couldn’t afford or loans with rates and penalties that were misleading. That lawsuit was resolved in October 2008, and the settlement agreement included a foreclosure relief payment program for Florida homeowners with qualifying Countrywide mortgages. 

Eligible homeowners should consider the following:

• Important information: The checks must be cashed on or before May 13, 2010. 

• A payment under this settlement may be taxable, and recipients should consult a tax advisor if they have any questions concerning possible tax liabilities. 

• Recipients with any questions should contact the settlement administrator, Rust Consulting, toll free at (866) 411‐6987, or http://www.countrywidesettlementinfo.com. 

The settlement also includes $4 million to fund a foreclosure defense assistance program. The money will be provided to organizations over the course of two years, and the first funds were distributed in late 2009. The organizations that receive the grants agree to provide free legal assistance to eligible homeowners who face foreclosure but cannot afford an attorney to review their case. 

“These resources, both the checks to homeowners and the grants to fund pro bono foreclosure defense assistance, are substantial assets to Floridians,” says Heather Rodriguez of Holland & Knight law firm and president of the Legal Aid Society of the Orange County Bar Association, one of the organizations that received grant funding and has an attorney dedicated to foreclosure defense assistance. “Orange and Osceola counties are both high in foreclosures, and homeowners are struggling.”
 
Countrywide Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo was also named in the Countrywide lawsuit and the civil case against him is still pending in Broward County Circuit Court. McCollum has also called on Bank of America, the company that acquired Countrywide after the lawsuit was filed, to be more responsive to consumers trying to modify loans and save their home from foreclosure. 
© 2010 Florida Realtors®

Great News for Investors!!

FHA Relaxes Anti-Flipping Rule
Beginning Feb. 1, the Federal Housing Administration will provide mortgage insurance for some purchases in which the seller bought the property and held it for fewer than 90 days.

The agency is changing what is known as the “anti-flipping rule” to speed up sales of renovated homes in communities with too many bank-owned and foreclosed homes, says FHA Commissioner David H. Stevens.

Waiving the 90-day rule will encourage private investors to buy vacant properties, fix them up, and quickly sell them to buyers who will be eligible to buy them using FHA financing.

FHA's change "is going to be absolutely terrific" for first-time home buyers hoping to take advantage of the tax credit, says Bobby Taylor, an associate with Coldwell Banker Mountain West Real Estate in Salem, Ore.


Source: Washington Post

The 'Other Side' of the Loan Modification Story

Loan Modifications Hit Credit Scores
Applying for a mortgage modification and being in a months-long trial period can devastate a home owner’s credit score.


Under the government plan, troubled borrowers can have their mortgage payments reduced to 31 percent of their pre-tax income. They are first put in a trial modification for several months to test whether they can meet the requirements of the new mortgage.


Borrowers who were previously current on their mortgages will see their FICO scores fall about 100 points while they are in the trial period, according to the Treasury Department. Borrowers who were previously late or missed payments will see their scores fall more, the government says.


The longer a borrower is in the trial period, the greater the impact on their credit scores, Once the modification is approved, the borrowers’ mortgage credit status will be listed as current and that should improve their scores, the Mortgage Bankers Association explains.


Even so, the delinquency remains on credit reports for up to seven years and can make getting credit for something else like a car difficult and expensive, borrowers report.

Source: CNNMoney.com, Tami Luhby (12/28/2009)

Selling Your Home-These low cost ideas may help!

10 Big-Impact, Low-Cost Remodeling Projects

If you have decided to sell your home; here are 10 budget-minded enhancements that may make your home stand out, sell faster and for more money.

1. Tidy up kitchen cabinets.

"Potential buyers do open kitchen cabinets and look inside," says Morrissey. "Home owners can add rollout organizing trays so when buyers peek in, they feel like there’s lots of room for their stuff."

2. Add or replace tile.

"By retiling very inexpensively, you make a room look way cleaner that it was," says Javier Zuluaga, owner of Home Repairs and Remodeling LLC in Tempe, Ariz. "Every city has stores that offer $1 to $2 tile, so home owners have to pay only for the low-cost tile and labor to replace a dated backsplash or add a new one. We also use inexpensive tile to upgrade bathrooms."

3. Add a breakfast bar.

When a wall separates a kitchen from a family room, suggest cutting out an opening to create a breakfast bar. "In one home, there was a cutout in the wall between the kitchen and living room," explains Matthew Quinn, a sales associate at Quinn’s Realty & Estate Services in Falls Church, Va., who handles estate and real estate sales for family members whose loved ones have passed away. "We left the structure of the cutout, added an oversized granite breakfast bar, and put chairs in front of it. That cost about $600."

4. Install granite tile instead of a slab.

"Everybody is hot for granite kitchen countertops, but that can be a $5,000 upgrade," says John Wilder, a general contractor and owner of Fence and Deck Doctor in New Castle, Ind. "Instead, home owners can put in 12-inch granite tiles for about $300 in materials and get very high impact for little money."

5. Freshen up a bathroom without retiling.

"With a dated bathroom, I recommend putting in a new medicine cabinet for $100 to $150, light fixtures for about $100, a faucet for $50 to $75, and a vanity for $200 to $300," says Wilder. "And instead of replacing the tile, the existing grout can be lightly scraped and regrouted, which leaves a haze that can be buffed out and will make the tile look brand new. Also install glass shower doors. A French door adds a lot of panache and elegance for $250, and people will notice the door, not the tile. With all that, you’ve done a bathroom remodel for $1,000 to $2,000."

6. Freshen up the basement.

"If home owners have cement block or poured concrete walls in the basement, suggest they have a contractor fill in cracks with hydraulic cement and then paint with waterproofing paint," recommends Wilder. "They can then add a top coat to add color. They can also paint the basement floor with a good floor paint, which spiffs it up. The basement may not be finished, but it’s no longer a damp dungeon."

7. Add a room.

Look for large spaces that can be enclosed to create a new bedroom for just the price of creating a wall. "One time, we closed off a half-wall to an office and added a door to the other side of the room, thus creating another bedroom," says Quinn. "That $400 procedure, which took a contractor one day, netted about $40,000 in the sales price." Zuluaga has also added bedrooms inexpensively. "In a two-bedroom house, there was an archway that led to a third room that was used as a den," he explains. "It had a dry bar where there would have been a closet, so we took out the dry bar and created a closet so the owners had a third bedroom."

8. Spruce up cabinet fronts.

Suggest home owners update tired-looking kitchen cabinets. Reconditioning is the least expensive move for under $1,000. "If the wood is starting to look shabby from use or contaminants in the air, we take out the nicks and scratches, recondition it with oil, and put new hardware on," explains Heidi Morrissey, vice president of marketing and sales at Kitchen Tune-Up in Aberdeen, S.D. For $1,500 to $4,000, owners can replace the cabinet doors and drawer fronts, and for $4,000 to $12,000, they can have all the cabinets refaced. "With refacing, owners can change the color of the cabinets by replacing the door and having a new skin put on the boxes," says Morrissey. "If they have oak cabinets today, they can have cherry the next day."

9. Replace light fixtures.

"In a foyer and in bathrooms and kitchens," says Wilder, "replacing overhead light fixtures provides a lot of pop for a little money." If the kitchen has track lighting, Zuluaga suggests the home owner spend $450 to $600 to have an electrician replace it with recessed canned lights on a dimmer switch to add ambience. For about $700, Zuluaga also suggests installing pendant lights over a kitchen island or peninsula.

10. Tech-up the garage.

"Sometimes we replace the garage door opener with a remote touchpad entry system," says Zuluaga. "That costs about $425 and makes it look like a high-end system."

Source:G.M. Filisko is a freelance writer for REALTOR® magazine.

Buy a New Home for LESS than $85,000-- Consider Purchasing a Condo.

New FHA Guidelines Could Aid Condo Sales

In an effort to continue to support the recovery of the Real Estate market in our neighborhoods, the Federal Housing Administration has provided new condo-loan guidelines that took effect Dec. 8 could make it much easier for condo buyers to get a loan. (Hooray!)

Under previous guidelines, half the units in a new condo development had to be sold before the FHA would underwrite a mortgage in the complex. New guidelines cut the requirement to 30 percent and raise the ceiling on FHA loans in a development to 50 percent from 30 percent.

The new rules also allow condo associations to turn down an accepted offer if they agree that it’s too low—unless they will be violating the Fair Housing Act. This is expected to motivate many associations to seek FHA-approved status for their buildings.

Even if they solve the vacancy problem, FHA loans can be a tough sell in some buildings, says Miami-area practitioner Madeleine Romanello, an associate with Douglas Elliman Florida.

"An FHA loan still has the connotation of being low-income. Condo boards say, 'No, we don't do FHA.' They don't understand that the FHA is the only game in town. We could be moving tons of condos if we could get their buildings FHA-approved," Romanello says.

Round 3: Short Sale Structure

Government Announces Short Sales Guidelines
After a long, difficult year for banks, struggling to handle the slew of homeowners trying to gain permission to sell their home for less than they owe, the U.S. Treasury Department announced new guidelines this week designed to make short sales go more smoothly.

To qualify under these new guidelines:

• The property must be the home owner’s principal residence.
• The home owner must be delinquent on the mortgage or close to defaulting.
• The loan must have been made before Jan. 1, 2009, and be for less than $729,750.
• The borrowers’ total monthly mortgage payment must exceed 31 percent of their before-tax income.

Under the plan, borrowers will receive $1,500 from the government for selling homes for less than the amount of their mortgages. Mortgage-servicing companies will get $1,000 for each completed short sale. Second-mortgage holders can receive up to $3,000 of the sales proceeds in exchange for releasing their liens. Investors who hold the first mortgage can collect up to $1,000 from the government for allowing the payments.

Borrowers who complete a short sale under the program must be "fully released" from future liability for the debt, according to the guidelines.

For individuals seeking to purchase a home, this is great news; the home purchase could now occur more easily as a result of these new guidelines. In addition, this is a promising outlook for distressed homeowners looking to sell in 2010; a winning solution for all.

Survey Says

Tampa is #8 on the list of areas with the Most Overpriced Properties

Despite having no luck selling their properties, homeowners in some parts of the country have clung tenaciously to their notions of the value of their homes.

Forbes magazine ranked markets it considered the most overpriced based on the ratio of the median initial list prices compared to the median list prices at the time the properties actually sold. It also factored in how long the properties stay on the market.

In addition, the magazine considered expert forecasts of price increases in the areas, which could be what encourages homeowners to price high.

The top 10 areas where Forbes found the most over-priced properties were:

1. Orlando

2. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach

3. Jacksonville, Fla.

4. Baltimore-Towson

5. Chicago-Naperville-Joliet

6. San Antonio, Texas

7. Denver-Aurora

8. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater

9. Indianapolis-Carmel

10. Austin-Round Rock