Shippensburg Short Sales

Posted on March 10, 2010 by JA/LEX Real Estate in Shippensburg real estate

At JALEX Real Estate Services we are working to keep you informed of the latest industry developments and trends. We are also committed to developing new business opportunities within the Shippensburg real estate market. This is a recent article taken from the web at ecredit daily describing a new plan to stimulate the Short sale market.

A new initiative by the Obama Administration in its slow-moving and often-criticized foreclosure rescue effort will now offer a short-sale alternative that includes some principal forbearance and $1,500 in “relocation” assistance to borrowers.

The plan kicking off April 5 — Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives, or HAFA – is for homeowners who have already qualified for the government’s primary foreclosure-prevention campaign, the $75 billion Home Affordable Modification Program, HAMP, and have failed to complete its reduced-mortgage payments trial.

The new program takes borrowers off the hook for owing the difference between the balance of mortgages and the short sale price. Under HAFA, up to $3,000 would go to holders of second mortgages and borrowers get the $1,500 to help them move.

Short sales can be cheaper than the prolonged foreclosure process for banks and they prevent foreclosed and abandoned properties from adding to neighborhood blight and under-valuing. But short sales are also hampered by second-liens and reluctance from banks to take significant losses.

U.S. officials are trying to restrain the foreclosure crisis as ominous signs emerge, including the unabated foreclosure filings still hitting some states. And a potential of higher rates of filings in months to come as more homeowners find themselves “underwater,” or owing more on their homes than the value of the properties.

Moreover, HAMP has fallen short after a year of targeting more than 3.4 million eligible borrowers, those 60 days late on their mortgages. Only 116,000 borrowers have been given permanent mortgage reductions through January – a 3 percent rescue rate.

HAFA has already come under fire from appraisal groups for allowing “broker price opinions,” or BPOs, to become part of the process. BPOs are estimated values of a property as determined by a real estate broker.

Four organizations representing more than 35,000 real estate appraisers sent a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner saying that BPOs will encourage loan modification fraud – including fraud involving short sales as a new form of mortgage fraud.

“We urge the Department to reestablish independence in the valuation process to protect the safety and soundness of financial institutions, improve transparency, and safeguard the public trust,” the appraiser organizations’ letter said.

JALEX Real Estate Services is working on developing a new business strategy to market to Shippensburg area homeowners who may benefit from this emerging program. This is another way that we are working to become the primary real estate services provider in the Shippensburg area. We hope to offer real estate sales and services for a variety of different consumer needs in the Shippensburg area. We are hard at work developing marketing strategies for the Shippensburg short sale and foreclosure market that we have identified as emerging. We are educating ourselves and preparing our Shippensburg real estate agents to offer the best services we can to those who can benefit from this emerging market.