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May 7, 2012 Leave a comment
Pending-home sales in March hit their highest level since April 2010, spurring the return of real-estate bidding wars.
Nick Timiraos reports on The News Hub. Photo: Peter Earl McCollough for The Wall Street Journal.
March 8, 2012 Leave a comment
To avoid losing homes to foreclosure due to long response times for short sale transactions, three senators introduced legislation to speed up the short sale process.
Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Scott Brown (R-Massachusetts), and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) proposed the bill addressing the issue of short sales timelines on February 17. A short sale is a real estate transaction where the homeowner sells the property for less than the unpaid balance with the lender’s approval.
“There are neighborhoods across the country full of empty homes and underwater owners that have legitimate offers, but unresponsive banks,” said Murkowski. “What we have here is a failure to communicate. Why don’t we make it easier for Americans trying to participate in the housing market, regardless of whether the answer is ‘yes,’ ‘no’ or ‘maybe?’”
The legislation, also known as the Prompt Notification of Short Sale Act, will require a written response from a lender no later than 75 days after receipt of the written request from the buyer.
The lender’s response to the buyer must specify acceptance, rejection, a counter offer, need for extension, and an estimation for when a decision will be reached. The servicer will be limited to one extension of no more than 21 days. The bill will also allow the buyer to be awarded $1000, plus “reasonable” attorney fees if the Act is violated.
According to a release from Short Sale New England, short sale homes do not bring down neighboring home values like foreclosed homes do, and 83 percent of short sale buyers are satisfied with their purchase, according to a 2012 Home Ownership Satisfaction Survey conducted by HomeGain.
“The current short sale process can be time consuming and inefficient, and many would-be buyers end up walking away from a sale that could have saved a homeowner from foreclosure,” said Moe Veissi, president of the National Association of Realtors. “As the leading advocate for homeownership, realtors are supportive of any effort to improve the process for approving short sales.”
Equi-Trax released a survey last year on the issues real estate agents face when completing short sales. Guy Taylor, CEO at Equi-Trax, said 71.9 percent of respondents reported that a short sale can take four to nine months to complete, and they think that is simply too long.” The survey also found that 18.2 percent of deals require less than three months to complete, with 10 percent requiring more than 10 months.
When agents in the survey were asked to how the short sale process can be improved, 57.6 percent said lenders should take less time to close transactions, 14 percent said borrowers should be better educated about short sales, and 40.4 percent said both of these changes are necessary to improve the process.
In April 2011, a similar bill was introduced by Reps. Tom Rooney (R-Florida) and Robert Andrews (D-New Jersey), but this version requested a response deadline of 45 days instead of 75 from lenders. The legislation never came up for debate before a House committee.
Author: Esther Cho • Date: 02/20/2012
February 28, 2012 Leave a comment
Mortgage Debt Forgiveness: 10 Key Points
Canceled debt is normally taxable to you, but there are exceptions. One of those exceptions is available to homeowners whose mortgage debt is partly or entirely forgiven during tax years 2007 through 2012.
The IRS would like you to know these 10 facts about Mortgage Debt Forgiveness:
1. Normally, debt forgiveness results in taxable income. However, under the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007, you may be able to exclude up to $2 million of debt forgiven on your principal residence.
2. The limit is $1 million for a married person filing a separate return.
3. You may exclude debt reduced through mortgage restructuring, as well as mortgage debt forgiven in a foreclosure.
4. To qualify, the debt must have been used to buy, build or substantially improve your principal residence and be secured by that residence.
5. Refinanced debt proceeds used for the purpose of substantially improving your principal residence also qualify for the exclusion.
6. Proceeds of refinanced debt used for other purposes – for example, to pay off credit card debt – do not qualify for the exclusion.
7. If you qualify, claim the special exclusion by filling out Form 982, Reduction of Tax Attributes Due to Discharge of Indebtedness, and attach it to your federal income tax return for the tax year in which the qualified debt was forgiven.
8. Debt forgiven on second homes, rental property, business property, credit cards or car loans does not qualify for the tax relief provision. In some cases, however, other tax relief provisions – such as insolvency – may be applicable. IRS Form 982 provides more details about these provisions.
9. If your debt is reduced or eliminated you normally will receive a year-end statement, Form 1099-C, Cancellation of Debt, from your lender. By law, this form must show the amount of debt forgiven and the fair market value of any property foreclosed.
10. Examine the Form 1099-C carefully. Notify the lender immediately if any of the information shown is incorrect. You should pay particular attention to the amount of debt forgiven in Box 2 as well as the value listed for your home in Box 7.
For more information about the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007, visit www.irs.gov. IRS Publication 4681, Canceled Debts, Foreclosures, Repossessions and Abandonments, is also an excellent resource.
February 7, 2012 Leave a comment
“We have jobs,” said Tanya Marchiol of Team Investments, a local real estate investing firm. “Not a lot of big markets like us that went through the bubble have so many jobs.”
The unemployment rate in the metro area fell to 7.7% in November, a 1.1 percentage point improvement from 2010 and better than the national rate of 8.2%.
Home sales have been picking up, thanks to rock-bottom foreclosure bargains. During the fourth quarter, homes sold 27% faster than they did during the same period in 2010, according to Realtor.com.
A four-bedroom, two-bath house in good condition is currently listed for under $80,000, a significant discount from the $200,000 or so it would have fetched during the 2006 peak, said Marchiol.
Even with sales volume and home prices solidifying, Phoenix buyers are not likely to become overnight real estate millionaires. Over the next five years, forecasting firm Fiserv expects local prices to rise at a steady but paltry 2.4% annual average rate.
October 27, 2011 Leave a comment
Home prices are up for 20 major cities but are still below where they used to be according to S&P’s Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices. Phoenix was included in the research so it is somewhat good news to hear that home prices have risen. Typically the spring and summer housing demands are seasonally strong. With the holidays around the corner and as long as the economy remains weak, foreclosures continue to happen and lending standards tightened, there probably wont be much movement. Here’s a look at Arizona’s seasonal trend in the last 12 months based on the Median Sold List & Sale Price pulled from the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service.
August 25, 2011 Leave a comment
Last week the IRS released the ”Ten Tax Tips for Individuals Selling Their Home,” (IRS Summertime Tax Tip 2011-15). One of the most important items Sellers are most concerned about is Capital Gains. If you are thinking of selling your home, this is a good starting place BUT definitely talk with your CPA or Tax preparer for legal advice on your specific situation.
August 3, 2011 Leave a comment
Why you should Google your Address!
