Stop Foreclosure
Certified Pre-Foreclosure Specialist
If you or someone
you know may be facing foreclosure, please contact me to find out how I can save
your home. As a Certified Pre-Foreclosure Specialist, I am specially
trained to provide you with the tools to prevent your home from falling victim
to bank foreclosure.
What is a CDPE?
A Certified Distressed Property Expert®
is a real estate professional with specific
understanding of the complex issues confronting the real estate industry, and
the foreclosure avoidance options available to homeowners. Through comprehensive
training and experience, CDPEs are able to provide solutions for homeowners
facing hardships in today’s market, specifically short sales.
The prospect of foreclosure can be financially
and emotionally devastating, and often homeowners proceed without guidance of
any kind. The developers of the CDPE Designation believe that the best course of
action for a homeowner in distress is to speak with a well-informed, licensed
real estate professional. They have the tools needed to help homeowners find the
best solution for their situation. Often, when other options have been
exhausted, CDPEs can help homeowners avoid foreclosure through the efficient
execution of a short sale.
While enduring financial difficulties is
challenging for any family, the process of finding a qualified real estate
professional should not be. Selecting an agent with the CDPE Designation ensures
you are dealing with a professional trained to address your specific needs.
CDPEs don’t merely assist in selling
properties, they serve and help save their clients in need.
PSC: Pre-Foreclosure
Specialist Certification
Real estate professionals with
the PSC designation are industry leaders in providing
solution-based relationships and strategies to PartnerFirst Nationwide Real
Estate Network members and clients. Through education, PartnerFirst Nationwide
Real Estate Network has established a national network of top-notch short sale
agents with the "Pre-Foreclosure Specialist Certification" (PSC)
designation. Our Agents connect homeowners with mortgage servicers by providing
viable pre-foreclosure solutions to all parties involved. Members of
PartnerFirst National Real Estate Network hold a high standard of excellence,
compassion, integrity, and commitment to bringing stability back to the housing
market one pre-foreclosure solution at a time.
There are many approaches
to foreclosure avoidance. Becoming familiar with the options available will help
you better decide which is best for you.
Repayment plan:
A repayment plan enables the homeowner to submit payment of a portion of the
past-due amount and penalties with future payments until the past-due amount and
penalties are paid-off.
Forbearance: Typically, when the threat of foreclosure is a result of a
temporary loss of income, the lender may agree to a forbearance wherein they
will allow the homeowner to delay payments for a short period, or negotiate a
payment plan to make up for missed payments over the course of several months.
Loan Reinstatement: This is the most commonly accepted method of saving
your home if the lender has initiated the foreclosure process. With a
reinstatement, you work out a solution with your lender to repay all of your
missed payments, late fees and/or attorney costs (if applicable).
Deed-in-lieu: Is a deed instrument in which a mortgagor (i.e., the
borrower) conveys all interest in a real property to the mortgagee (i.e., the
lender) to satisfy a loan that is in default and avoid foreclosure proceedings.
Short sale: Also known as a real estate short pay-off or a
pre-foreclosure workout, a short sale is an agreement with a lender to accept
less than the amount owed by a borrower via a sale of the property to a third
party. With this agreement, the lender releases the borrower from the mortgage,
thereby preventing foreclosure.
With a short sale, your FICO score will not be as negatively impacted as it
would be with a foreclosure, and you will be able to purchase a new home much
sooner as well. In many foreclosure situations, the lender will ultimately sell
the property at a significant discount once they foreclose and repossess the
property. The homeowner can then be financially liable to the lender. While the
same may be true with a short sale, the difference is with a short sale the
homeowner is still involved in the process and can therefore contribute their
input and have more control over the sale price of the property and the
potential associated liabilities. In a foreclosure, however, once the lender
repossesses the property, the homeowner is typically defenseless with respect to
what follows next.
In order to be eligible for a short sale, a homeowner must be able to prove to
the lender that they are a victim to a "hardship" and are therefore
unable to continue making payments on their mortgage.
A hardship situation is one that is the result of some extenuating circumstance
that forced the borrower into a position where they can no longer afford their
mortgage payments. While every situation is unique, some common examples of
hardship include:
- Unemployment or loss of
primary income source
- Inability to work due to
health crisis
- Mounting medical expenses
- Employment relocation
- Failure of business
- Bankruptcy
- Death of spouse or
significant other
- Divorce or separation
- In addition to the homeowner
proving hardship, lenders require a specific set of supporting financial
documents to consider a short sale.
As with all foreclosures, there
are several potential tax and liability considerations when doing a short sale.
With a short sale, however, these potential tax and other liabilities are
typically less frequent and less severe.
Tax ramifications: After completing the short sale your lender may decide
to issue you a 1099 for the difference between the price your home sold for and
what you owed, and you can later be taxed by the IRS on this amount as income.
It is important to note that if specific criteria are met, the IRS may release
the borrower from this tax liability. Furthermore, Congress is currently
considering legislation that would eliminate this taxation of so-called
"income" due to cancellation of debt.
Lender recourse: In some states and with certain types of loans, lenders
can pursue a court decision called a deficiency judgment making you personally
liable for the remaining amount owed to them above the short sale price. In some
cases, the lender may ask you to pay a portion of the difference back in the
form of an IOU.
The lender has sole discretion whether to pursue a deficiency judgment in those
instances when a deficiency judgment is permitted. A short sale gives the lender
the ability to cut its losses upfront thereby avoiding the expense and time of a
foreclosure and potentially greater losses. Whether the lender chooses to go
through with a foreclosure or agree to a short sale, they are taking a loss
either way, but in many cases they would take less of a loss with a short sale
and resolve the matter in a comparatively shorter time frame. In nearly every
case, a short sale offers a better return on the lender's investment than a
foreclosure does.
My goal is to
educate you on your options and rights as a homeowner in order to be informed as
to how you, or someone you know, can avoid foreclosure. If you or someone
you know may be facing foreclosure, please contact
me and I will begin the process to help save your home.
Contact us
|
|
