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So, have you been wondering if it is a good time to do a strategic short sale? A short sale is when you sell your house for less than what is owed on the mortgage...quite a common thing nowdays. A "strategic" short sale is when you can afford to keep making your mortgage payments but you are so upside down on your loan that it makes more sense to just let the house go and start over. 2012 may be the time for you to make your move. In 2013 the amount short on the mortgage will become taxable. Currently if you sell your home and the proceeds are $100,000 less than the mortgage you can usually have the bank forgive the amount short and there are no tax ramifications (there are conditions that have to be met and every case is a little different). In 2013 due to changes, if you are $100,000 short and you are in the 25% tax bracket...you will owe $25,000 in Federal Taxes. To avoid the tax, you must sell your house in 2012 and you must have documentation of the bank forgiving the deficiency...
Here's some breaking news regarding Bank of Americas short sale policies from Harris Real Estate Universities short sale guru. The HREU Bank of America Short Sale Insider just returned from an exclusive invite only closed door meeting with Bank of America. Highlights from the meeting: * Bob Hora from BofA is the Short Sale, Deed in Lieu, REO, LandSafe Field Services Executive for Legacy Asset Servicing. He leads a team of 5,000 associates – those that you speak to regarding short sales and deeds in lieu through Bank of America as lender or servicer. * Joining Bob was David Sunlin, Bob's immediate junior who is Senior Vice President and Operations Executive for Short sales, Deed in Lieu and Real Estate Management for Bank of America – meaning he is in charge of real estate operations for Bank of America's default loan servicing operations. * Bank of America wants to do short sales more than they want to do loan modifications through HAMP or in house programs. There seemed to be...
As everyone knows, home values have significantly decreased in the past 5 years. Short sales and foreclosures have greatly affected values. So how do you compete to get your home noticed and under contract? Offer buyer incentives. Here are 4 great tactics from Trulia.com. 1. Offer the buyer an interest rate buy down. What that means is the seller offers to pay points to the buyer's lender at closing to buy down the interest rate on the buyer's mortgage. What buyer doesn't want a lower interest rate? This also helps take away some of the buyer's stress of locking in a rate which can make a buyer hesitate to buy. An interest rate buy down also saves buyer's money throughout the life time of the loan because their payments are lower. Additionally, the seller paid points are usually tax deductible for the buyer. 2. Give the buyer a closing cost credit to help pay closing costs. Many buyers are having to scrape together higher down payments. Closing costs to the buye...
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