But, that’s NOT how it’s worked out. Instead of hearing great stories, now you’re hearing great excuses for why your realtor hasn’t sold your house: “It needs more bedrooms; you need to come down in price; the school district isn’t the best”, etc.

Contact Us Now!  We’ll act quickly to give you a real solution.

We Can Buy Your Home Fast, Your Realtor Can’t

At this point, what you really need is to sell your house now. That’s where we come in: We aren’t interested in listing your house again; we want to buy it! We are professional real estate investors – not real estate agents. We’ve built our reputation over the years for quick action and fair prices. We can often give you even more than one solution to your problem.

You just want an honest, fair way to sell your house, without realtor excuses. That’s exactly what we’ll provide.

Contact Us    |    Complete the Seller Request Form

The organization posted a new educational article on April 16, 2010 titled “Emerging Fraud Trends: Short Payoff Fraud.” Essentially, the article stated that a short payoff or a short sale can be considered fraudulent if the lender agrees to a short sale that already has a third-party buyer in place that is paying a higher amount than the agreed-upon loan payoff amount. This is a serious yellow flag for short sale investors who make their living negotiating good short sale deals with banks, then selling their new properties to other buyers for a profit.

The article described scenarios and red flags for short sale payoff fraud. The scenario revolved around a short sale facilitator who set up a deal with a lender to purchase a home worth 80K for 70K while the lender took a 30K loss. The facilitator does not let the bank know that he already has a buyer ready to pay 95,000 for the property. The second the facilitator puts his profits in his pocket, Freddie Mac considers him guilty of fraud because his negotiations caused Freddie Mac to ultimately take a “larger than necessary” loss on the sale of the property.

The article urges buyers, sellers and lenders to be on the lookout for short payoff fraud red flags. These flags include sudden borrower default, a borrower who is current on other obligations and the buyer of the property being an entity rather than a person. The article also tells readers to keep an eye out for resale options in their purchase agreement.

Everyone involved in a short payoff is encouraged by Freddie Mac to report potential short payoff fraud the second they become aware of a second purchase contract for a higher price. This may not yet be a law, but the signs are not good when Freddie Mac has posted such a direct attack on short sale investors.

HUD Issues Problematic Rules Interpreting SAFE Mortgage Licensing ACT

HUD has proposed to eliminate ALL seller financing unless the seller lives in the home or becomes a licensed mortgage originator. The proposed HUD Rules interpreting the federal SAFE mortgage act can be viewed at www.regulations.gov  Use the search parameter “HUD” and the keyword “safe mortgage”.  Please review and comment regarding the impact of this broad interpretation of the law. 

“In addition to establishing HUD’s responsibilities under the SAFE Act, through this rule, HUD proposes to clarify or interpret certain statutory provisions that pertain to the scope of the SAFE Act licensing requirements, and other requirements that pertain to the implementation, oversight, and enforcement responsibilities of the States. HUD solicits comment on the proposed clarifications and on the regulations proposed to be codified.”

History:
As you may recall, we lobbied hard in North Carolina last year to maintain the right for individuals to make up to five seller financed transactions per year before being subject to mortgage originator licensing, etc…  However, that law was passed subject to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) approval of the law as “compliant” with the intention of the federal law.  If any state does not have a compliant law, the SAFE act allows HUD to implement licensing for the state.  HUD has since issued proposed rules.  In a nutshell, seller financing would no longer be allowed for non-owner occupied homes.

How YOU can help:
We learned about the publishing of the rules very late in the process… and the deadline for comment is upon us on February 16.  However, we desperately need for thousands of REIA members across the country to go on record with HUD on this issue.  We will be working to try to affect this law in other legislative ways, but cannot hope to gain traction unless our members have clearly communicated that they are opposed to this portion of the rules. This is your chance to be counted on this issue.
 
PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR COMMENTS TO HUD!  We have only four days left to flood this system with comments.

Follow these simple steps:

1.  Logon to www.regulations.gov   You will see two white boxes for searching

2.  On the left box labeled “Document Type”, pull the menu down and select “proposed rules”

3.  On the right box labeled “Enter keyword or ID”, enter “safe mortgage”.  Then, press search

4.  Locate the blue search result “FR-5271-P-01 Safe Mortgage Licensing Act: HUD Responsibilities…”

To read the rules:  click on the blue title FR-5271-P-01  You will be taken to another page. You will see “views”.  You can click on PDF file or another symbol which will show you the rule document online. If you want to submit a comment after reading the document, use your back button to return to the search results and then move on to #5 below.

5.  To submit a comment:  On the right of the screen, across from FR-5271-P-01, click on “submit a comment”

6.  Complete the form providing required information with blue asterisks and your comments and then submit.  (Note: you do not need to fill in the blanks for organization name, government agency type, or government agency)

What do you say?
Say what you feel, but say it politely!   The message should include that you would like the definitions in the proposed rules to be changed so that private individuals can originate and service loans on properties they personally own.  Some ideas from others:        

• The SAFE Mortgage Licensing Act was intended to regulate the mortgage industry, not private individuals.  If I own my own properties and want to sell them to someone and let them pay me, I should have the right to do this without being a licensed mortgage broker
• Many properties have special circumstances where full bank financing is not possible.  Vacant rsidential lots, investment homes, homes in flood areas, etc. may not be eligible for traditional financing. Individuals who own their own properties have always been able to offer other private parties the option to pay them directly.  These rules would prohibit that for all properties which are not owner occupied.
• bank loans are not available on some types of properties
• the tight lending climate has made bank financing “out of reach” for many
• seller financing is an “age old” tradition based on private property rights
• these rules would prohibit even partial seller financing – i.e. a “seller second”
• according to HUD’s “Residential Finance Survey” in 2001, roughly 40% of all non-farm residential properties in the US are owned free and clear
• an estimated 6 million Americans own a property other than their own primary residence
• an estimated 4.5% of Americans own three or more properties, many purchased solely as investment properties
• 40% of non-owner occupied residences are mobile homes which are more difficult to sell with bank financing
• approximately 5% of homes in US are for sale or for lease… seller financing may be key to liquidating this inventory

The continued success of our industry as we know it is threatened by these proposed regulatory changes. Please do not hesitate to follow the steps above and make your voice heard.

But, that’s NOT how it’s worked out. Instead of hearing great stories, now you’re hearing great excuses for why your realtor hasn’t sold your house: “It needs more bedrooms; you need to come down in price; the school district isn’t the best”, etc.

Contact Us Now!  We’ll act quickly to give you a real solution.

We Can Buy Your Home Fast, Your Realtor Can’t

At this point, what you really need is to sell your house now. That’s where we come in: We aren’t interested in listing your house again; we want to buy it! We are professional real estate investors – not real estate agents. We’ve built our reputation over the years for quick action and fair prices. We can often give you even more than one solution to your problem.

You just want an honest, fair way to sell your house, without realtor excuses. That’s exactly what we’ll provide.

Contact Us    |    Complete the Seller Request Form

Real estate agents can take months to sell a house and you don’t have that kind of time.  And, you can’t afford to ‘dump’ it for a ridiculously low price.  How can you sell your house quickly, and still get a good price?

Contact Us Now!  We’ll work within your time constraints to solve your real estate problem and sell your house quickly.

Specializing In Job Transfer & Relocation Situations

You’ve come to the right place! We specialize in job transfer and relocation situations to help sell your home.  We can usually give you not just one, but several options for solving your problem.  When you meet with us, we’ll listen carefully to your situation, and will quickly formulate choices that no one else probably told you about.  You have enough on your mind with your relocation or job transfer; let us help you take one worry “off your plate”!

Contact Us Now

There are a lot of contradictory terms in this one, for example first time home buyer does not neccassarily mean you have to be a first time home buyer. If you want to buy a home or if you want to sell an investment property, look into this tax credit, it could be time well spent. We are currently soliciting a lot of our tenants to see if they would like to purchase the home that they are living in and we can help them get the $8,000 tax credit for a down payment. If you need help… give as a call or drop an email

The seller grows impatient. They want their home sold and they are running out of time. That’s when they call their listing agent up and say “Realtor, if you don’t sell my home soon I’m going to have to RENT it!”

Rent is that dirty 4 letter word.

If you are a real estate agent you need to learn not to fear this. You can still get your full commission from this seller because now they are a prime candidate for a lease option sale. One of the biggest hurdles sellers often have to overcome with considering a lease option is the idea of having tenants in their home. But they’ve just told you that they are now considering just that.

Selling on a lease option is obviously not the first choice, but it sure beats losing the listing or just renting the home and not getting paid squat!

Real estate investors who are trying to find real estate agents to work with need to keep in mind that real estate’s dirty 4 letter word is your key to networking with agents. Most agents don’t know what to do when they hear the word “rent.” You can show them how you can help both the home seller and the agent. Plus if you let the agent double dip when you find the tenant-buyer the agent is really going to appreciate you. You did all of the work finding the buyer, they come out looking like a hero, and everyone gets what they want.

• The buyer must not have owned a home in the past three years
• The new house must become the buyer’s primary residence for 3 years, if not, then you must pay back the $8,000
• This credit will only apply if the buyer buys between January 1, 2009 and November 30, 2009.

The 2009 Credit is a true, money in the pocket deal. Those that bought a home under the 2008 version (which was basically an interest free loan to be paid back over the course of 15 years) cannot claim the 2009 credit.

The income qualifications hinge on the Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI)

Adjusted Gross Income is your total annual gross income less your standard deductions or if you itemize, then the deduction would be your total itemized deductions. Example, if you make $50,000 a year and you have $10,000 in itemized deduction then your AGI would be $40,000.

For single tax payers the breakdown is as followed in terms of MAGI:

• Full Credit – x < $75,000
• Partial Credit – $75,000 < x < $95,000 – Partial Credit
• Not Eligible – $95,000 < x

Married Partners who file separately each having a MAGI <$75,000 are eligible for $4,000 each.

Filing jointly with a combined MAGI of $150,000 < x < $170,000 will be able to get a reduced credit.

When a buyer is looking to take advantage of the 2009 Tax Credit and meet the qualifications they have two options that they can take and in some cases it may be better to do one over the other:

Claim it for 2008 – If the buyer has already filed their 2008 return they can file a 1040x amendment and claim the credit after the purchase. This would be worthwhile if their MAGI fell in the range of getting a full credit and/or if they are expecting to be earning more in 2009 that would push them into partial credit territory.

Claim it for 2009 – The buyer can claim their credit on their 2009 tax return by using the 5405 form. If the buyer isn’t expecting to make as much this year, but made $75,000 < x in 2008 it would be worth considering waiting for the 2009 tax season.

Anyone selling homes should take measures to integrate this incentive into their marketing materials. It would be a savvy idea to incorporate the 2009 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit into a special report, into your flyers, handouts, internet ads, pretty much anything across the board when it comes to pushing the sale of a property to an end buyer. Those who can do this the best will have an advantage over those who don’t in what will possibly end up becoming a lucrative but competitive field. As home prices fall to levels where renters, who didn’t have their credit ripped apart by the foreclosure wave, will fit these tax credit qualifications will be looking to move up, especially with a $8,000 sweetener.

Our commitment to provide the best real estate service in the Twin Cities led us to redesign our website to bring even more real estate information and expertise to consumers.

You’ll easily find the real estate solutions we can provide to buy your house fast, the homes we have for sale and the rental properties avavilable.

We have also added a real estate blog to the site to bring you current information and expertise on the current housing market  and our solutions.  Stay tuned for more great information from Rosen Properties.