Well I wanted to talk to you about being proactive. Often when we are faced with a difficult situation, especially one where we don’t see any way to win we often curl into a ball and hope the problem goes away. I am here to tell you that this problem will NOT go away. It doesn’t matter if your neighbors had a foreclosure, it doesn’t matter what condition the economy is in and it doesn’t even matter if you cannot find a job right now.  In order to get thru this situation you must act. You must take it upon yourself to do something. You must do something effective.

I talk to people almost every day who are trying to modify their mortgage. Many people start the process but most never finish. Most people blame the bank and the incompetent people who work at the bank. None of that matters, really, none of it matters. I have modified loans when the sale date was 2 days away. I have done this several times. It can be done. You must be proactive and step out of your fear or depression or whatever you have convinced yourself that you have. You can do this. Get up stop talking to people who cannot help you and start taking matters into your hands.

If you need help than ask for help from someone who has knowledge and can help you. Don’t ask your girlfriend, neighbor, or parents. These people will only confuse and frustrate you. In an effort to help, if you are facing foreclosure and want to modify your home loan, then for a limited time I will be giving away free copies of my eBook “How to modify your mortgage” on my website at www.sellonterms.com . Read the book follow the steps, figure out if it makes sense to keep your home and most importantly….Do something!

Until next week…

Arthur V. Veal IV is owner of We Buy Houses Home Services. His company specializes in buying or leasing homes that are having a hard time selling for numerous reasons.  For more information, please visit www.sellonterms.com.

I understand why a realtor would not understand many creative financing techniques. Many realtors have not had to use creative financing in the last market boom. When the market is hot, there is not much use for creative financing in most cases. However, when the market is slower like it is now, then creative financing becomes one of the strongest tools in a real estate professional’s arsenal. If you are a home seller and are serious about selling your home then in my opinion you have two true options. The first option is to lower your price to make your home attractive to the general market. This works if you have a lot of equity and don’t mind giving up a significant amount of equity to sell the house. Your other option is to hire a professional realtor or work with a company that is familiar with different creative financing techniques. Either one of these options usually results in selling your home quickly in a down market.

When choosing an agent, ask questions about their experience in creative financing. Ask them what alternatives they can use to sell your house if it does not sell right away. These simple questions will help you find a well-educated realtor to sell your home. In this market climate that can make all the difference between selling and sitting on your home for months or even years.

Until next week…

These companies have no motivation to secure a modification for their clients. They already have the client’s money and they don’t know if they can get the modification completed anyway. This situation creates an abrasive relationship. I can see why many companies are considered frauds.

In my opinion, the best way to do a loan modification is to complete one yourself. Banks really try to help homeowners that honestly want to save their home and just need help. Only you can show the bank your sincerity and desire to save your home. If you need help come to the “We Buy Houses Home Services “How to modify your own home mortgage seminar” hosted by Family Christian Center church in Munster Indiana on March 29 at 7 PM. We will discuss everything you need to know concerning modifying your own loan and what you should and should not say and do. The best thing about our class is that it is absolutely free. I will be on hand to answer questions about your specific situation. If you are serious about keeping your home, this is the help that you have been waiting for. I hope to see you there.

Until next week…

For more information or to register for the “how to modify your mortgage seminar” please visit fccmax.com

After giving this some thought, I realized another potential problem waiting to happen. When prices begin to rise, the banks will take notice, they will say to themselves now is the time to get rid of the properties that we are holding because the property values are increasing. You see the banks are holding a very large inventory of houses that they have taken back in foreclosure. The banks have not put these properties on the market because they don’t want to flood the market and cause prices to drop down even lower. However, if the market starts to increase, then the banks will be forced to push these houses onto the market because they want to get more money for these properties. The banks will not be able to hold their properties off the market because like any other investor, they fear that prices will drop again and they want to get rid of the stuff they have.

Therefore, this process will flood the market with properties and more than likely cause the property prices to head back down because inventory will outpace demand. Add this to the fact that the banks have settled the robo-signing lawsuit and will start foreclosing on properties again in full force, which will increase their inventories even more, and you have reason to be concerned.

If you are a homeowner and you are considering selling your home than my suggestion is to sell at a price that places you ahead of the market or to consider selling your home with creative financing to give yourself the best chance of a fast sale.

Until next week…

The government has decided to start allowing real estate investors to modify the mortgages they have on investment property thru the Home Affordability Mortgage Program (HAMP). Real estate investors will be allowed to modify up to four mortgages on properties that are not their primary residence. This is a big deal.

I have followed loan modification news for years and the one rule that has held true for most of my real estate career is that banks or the government does NOT help real estate investors. The bank and the government feel that if you invested in real estate than you are financially strong enough to deal with a market downturn. They also feel that they want to help families that are losing their home much more than helping a landlord. The government has recently changed position on this issue because they feel that real estate investors can now help the economy by renting a house to a family that needs housing.

Since the real estate market has fallen in the last few years, the rental market has exploded. Many landlords have the ability to pick and choose from a large group of potential tenants because the housing market is stopping many people from buying. Therefore, the government feels that if they make these investment properties affordable, then the property owners will rent them out and further decrease the number of vacant properties in the market.  As of now, the only limitation to this program that the government is talking about is the fact that the landlord must rent the property out. I don’t really see this as a restriction because in most cases and in this market, a landlord wants to rent out their property.

Overall, I am unsure how many landlords or investors will use this program. Many investors have lost a significant portion of their portfolio because they were unable to sell. In addition, many investors have been speculators. Speculators are people that buy a property with no plans to fill the property. They simply planned to own the property for a short time and resell it when the values increased. This program will be interesting to see how it takes place and if it does have any influence on the local real estate market. By the way, for those of you who think you may be able to use this information, the program starts in May 2012.

Until next week…

Today, more and more banks are becoming landlords. They are becoming landlords on properties that they take back in foreclosure. Many banks are allowing families that lost their house to foreclosure to remain in the house even after the sale. Some families are staying in their home six months, a year, or even two years after the sale date. The reason banks are doing this is that ultimately it saves them money. Let me explain…

Banks have an oversupply of home inventory. Banks have more homes than they ever expected to have in their REO inventory. The banks are not set up to manage this many homes and so what they end up doing is simply not managing the homes. The banks are not cutting the grass, the banks are not paying the water bill, and the banks are not maintaining the properties in any way shape or form. Local villages and cities have gotten tired of banks not maintaining their properties (and found a new revenue stream) and so they are starting to charge fees to the banks because they are not maintaining the property. Therefore, a bank may take a house from a homeowner in January and not do anything with the house until October. However, when they go to sell the house they see that they have several thousand dollars in fees from the city or village. The banks don’t want to pay these fees. So to stop this, they allow the previous owner to stay in the house and therefore if the house were not maintained then the previous owner would have to pay the fees.

When the bank finally decides that it doesn’t want to take the house back, they proceed with an eviction. Then they don’t have to worry about any fees when it’s time to sell. Some banks do this process formally by giving the previous owner a lease that allowed them to rent on a month-to-month basis until the bank decides what to do with the house. Other banks simply don’t file for eviction and then the owner is never formally asked to leave the house. This is dangerous for the homeowner because it does not provide any kind of security and they can be charged fees by the bank and the city, which they may have to pay later in court.

If you find yourself in this situation, the best thing you can do is talk to your bank and work out a formal arrangement. It is better to have the peace of mind of knowing where you are with the bank and finding out what options you have.

Until next week…

In this market, many people are turning to renting out a house that they are unable to sell. In fact, more homeowners are renting out homes that they could not sell, then homeowners that are actually putting their house on the market. If you are contemplating making this move then I want to give you an alternative to renting out your house and my reasoning behind the alternative.

When you rent out your house, you are forced to deal with a few things that you probably don’t want to deal with. For example, when you rent out a home you are responsible for repairs on that property even if the tenant causes the damage. Unless you are set up to make repairs on a property regularly, then you might want to consider doing something else.

Second, when renting a property, you are also forced to collect rent and in some cases deal with evictions. These two processes can be very strenuous and tiring to an unfamiliar property owner. Finally, when becoming an unexpected property owner, it is easy to miscalculate expenses and end up paying money to rent out your home instead of profiting from it. I have seen this happen to many unexpected landlord’s because they did not realize some of the other fees that they would pay such as vacancy expense, landlord licensing (in some areas), and cleanup costs.

So the alternative to dealing with all of these issues is to either become a management expert or to do it a better way. Consider selling your home under a rent to own agreement. Renting to own will relieve many of the issues that a property owner has to deal with. No property repairs, no cleanup costs, and you can secure your sales price with your tenant as a potential buyer. You can also let a company rent your house for you. We Buy Houses Home Services has a program that will handle all of the details of a rent to own without the owner paying any direct expenses. The company would handle all the details, including tenant screening, rent collection, repairs, and if necessary eviction court cases.

Renting to own is also possible through an attorney that is well versed in lease options or rent to own setups. Consider renting to own as an alternative that allows you to rent the house until the market improves and sell the house to a buyer who is already familiar with the property.

Until next week…

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Presents

The Do-it-Yourself Loan Modification Seminar

A 90-minute seminar showing you all the in’s and out’s of modifying your OWN home mortgage.

• Are you facing foreclosure?
• Are you scared you may lose your home?
• Are you behind on payments?
• Why pay someone else to help you! Do it yourself!

Learn the steps you need to do to get your loan modified. Once modified, you will be current on your loan, your payment can be significantly lower, and you may get the loan amount reduced. Don’t pay someone for something that you can do yourself. At this FREE 90-minute seminar….

You will learn the following:

• Learn the loan modification process
• Learn who to talk to at the bank
• Learn what information to give and how to give it to the bank
• Learn what to do if the bank loses your paperwork
• Learn what to do if you are denied modification
• Learn how to AVOID falling behind again!

This class is being taught by Arthur V. Veal IV:

• Syndicated columnist for the “Real Deal Real Estate Column”
• Featured Yahoo! finance columnist
• Owner of We Buy Houses Home Services
• And host of the “Real Deal Real Estate Television Show”

 NEXT SEMINAR: Family Christian Center Church Munster, IN

February 23rd. 2012 7pm

To schedule seminar appointments for churches or community groups contact:

We Buy Houses Home Services @ (312) 698-8851

Or email sales@sellonterms.com