You HAFA Give It A Try!

Many of the agents that I speak with wait to start the short sale process until they have an offer. Big mistake!! Why wait?... Why not try and make some headway with banks before you even have an offer? Maybe the seller can go HAFA (Home Affordable Foreclosure Avoidance) program. The HAFA program offers full deficiency release, $3000 seller for moving costs once approved, and the bank is able to make a decision 10 days after they get an offer. Unfortunately, inexperienced agents would rather wait to get a buyer before even considering HAFA. Don’t wait…get the ball rolling, this will help you to put time on your side not the bank’s.

        

          Once you get a short sale file, research the options that are available for that seller and get moving on something. Most people aren’t even aware that the HAFA program exists so you should definitely find out if you can get them qualified. Even though I’m always the buyer on my short sale deals, I still try to exhaust every option I can to do what’s best for my client. Even if it means that I will make less money on that deal.

           In my experience I’ve found that if you make it not about the money…in the long run you’ll make more money. I’ve gotten countless referrals over the years by going the extra mile for people.

NACA Making a Big Splash!

For those of you who are not yet familiar with NACA… get familiar. It stands for Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America NACA’s  Home Save Program is nationally recognized as the most effective solution for homeowners with an unaffordable mortgage providing these solutions nationwide as the largest such organization. The NACA solution is to restructure the existing mortgage by permanently reducing the interest rate to achieve an affordable mortgage payment. A mortgage restructure is not a refinance that requires eligibility for a new loan (i.e. high credit scores, high property values, etc). Since a restructure reduces either or both the interest rate and/or mortgage principal on the existing first mortgage, there are no mortgage criteria eligibility restrictions. If the homeowner is unemployed NACA provides a forbearance with a minimum payment until that have steady income to have their mortgage restructured. The only homeowners not eligible are investors who own other properties. NACA’S Save the Dream events are amazing with thousands of people having their mortgage payment permanently reduced by over $500 and many by over a $1,000 a month often with interest rates reduced by 3% or 2% and sometimes a principal reduction. They have legally binding contracts with all of the major lender/servicers, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to make mortgages affordable. Many people actually receive a permanent restructure the same day! The best part is that all NACA services are FREE.

       In addition to their Home Save program they offer a PURCHASE PROGRAM
NACA provides the best home purchase program in America right now. NACA provides free personalized and comprehensive counseling to all Members to address your particular credit and financial issues and help determine a mortgage payment you can afford. NACA’s counseling and underwriting criteria are “character-based” and not based on credit scores and ratios. This enables them to fulfill their mission of assisting working people who otherwise do not have access to affordable credit. Consequently, the vast majority of NACA Members are low- to moderate-income many of whom have neither perfect credit nor substantial savings.

        The NACA mortgage is unique in that everyone receives the same incredible terms which makes homeownership affordable and you do not need perfect credit.

• No downpayment,
• No closing costs,
• No fees,
• Fixed 30 year below market rate at 4.125% (as of 7/15/2011).

        NACA has established an extremely effective process for you to work through the process. They have established a personalized web-page called a Web-File for each member in their program. Your Web-File is specific to your specific circumstances that provides updated information as well as your status as you work towards purchasing your home. It provides you with updated information including your Task List which identifies your what additional documents and items necessary, ability to make an appointment with your mortgage consultant, conditions necessary to get your bank application approved, and much more.  
       My broker/wife has referred over a dozen people to NACA just in the last two months alone and they love her for it! People have everything to gain and nothing to lose. If you know someone that could use a mortgage restructure or buying a home you would be doing them a huge favor by telling the about NACA.

Using Facebook to Serve Foreclosure Notices?

One of the things which can delay legal cases, even foreclosure filings, is when the courts are having a hard time locating and serving the persons involved. In several other countries this particular problem has already been resolved. According to Facebook statistics, 30 percent of their 500 plus million users are in the United States and it is also currently the top social networking site beating Twitter and MySpace by far. Therefore it should be considered logical for lawyers or document servers to consider using it. In 2009, the Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court granted a lawyer’s application to use Facebook to serve lien notices after several failed attempts of serving the documents in person and by e-mail. It was not even the first time the court has agreed to this as it previously allowed serving thru text messages and email.
        Last March, a British lawyer was also allowed to serve court summons to a debtor via Facebook. It was the very first time a British court allowed this and many viewed it as the court’s way of embracing technology and making court processes efficient and effective. It looks to me like more and more countries are adopting this practice of serving legal documents via Facebook. In the US, the practice has yet to be adopted and considering the growing trend among other countries, many people might be wondering if such practice will do more harm than good.
        When you hear news like this, it’s not surprising if your first thought would be about privacy concerns. For starters, Facebook is already under fire due to various issues concerning the privacy of their users and this could possibly be another. But based on the previous cases when legal notices were served via the social networking sites, it would seem the main objective is to make sure the person is notified. If e-mail, text message, fax and even personal visits don’t work, then why not consider Facebook? It can be a reliable and private method of serving foreclosure notices. Of course, there is also the problem of making sure that they’re serving the RIGHT person. This is the tricky part and such burden will be the responsibility of the lawyer, who will have to prove to the court the Facebook account holder is the person concerned.
          Considering most banks are up in their eyeballs in terms of foreclosure cases, serving foreclosure notices via Facebook might help them move ahead. They could even utilize the social networking site to contact the borrower immediately after the missed payment. Lenders can ask for the borrowers Facebook account during mortgage application to ensure all avenues of communication are open and if you’re going that far, you might as well use Facebook to submit and follow up with Short Sale files. It makes perfect sense to me.