Stop Michigan Foreclosure

So you probably have heard by now that house prices have fallen significantly in the last year in Michigan (no surprise, I know). In fact, if you saw this story in the Detroit Free Press or heard this story on the Southwest Michigan news you also know that foreclosures continue to plaque Michigan.

The ironic part of all this to me is that the agencies and options for helping people keep their houses gets all the attention in the news. The cold hard facts are that many people can not keep their house because:

• they have missed too many payments to qualify for a refinance
• as these above articles point out, there’s no equity in their house, and there needs to be a little bit to refinance
• their hardship is not over and they can’t afford or qualify for a work out with their lender
• they just want out from under the burden of a stressful situation

The only remaining option is to sell their house and after reading all the news about falling house prices and rising inventory that sounds just about hopeless.

Well, I am here to tell you it is not hopeless. We work with lenders every day, getting them to accept less than what is owed on your house so it can sell in Michigan’s housing market today. This is what we specialize in and do every day (called a “short sale“). In fact, at the end of October, we had been to the closing table 6 times.  Meaning 6 houses we have helped successfully sell with a short sale, in October alone.

So stop fretting over all the bad news and take action today. We can’t help everyone and the sooner you contact us the better chance we can do something to help you. We will work harder than anyone to get you back to better times and we keep all your information confidential. Oh….and there is never a fee to you. Now isn’t that some good news for a change!

Ann

One of the most common questions we get is: “My house is about to be sold at a Michigan foreclosure sheriff sale.  Do I have a chance of selling it before the end of the redemption period?”

Great question!

Of course there’s a chance it can sell! How big of a chance? That’s a big “depends” on at least…

1) When the sheriff sale is scheduled (even if it’s past, there’s still time – but you need to act quickly)

2) What you owe

3) What it’s worth (in this market)

4) Maybe you need a short sale (which of course we can take care of for you, at no charge, *IF* we decide to take your case on)

5) If you are able to stop your bank from drastically reducing the amount of time you have to sell it (we haven’t lost one yet)

6) ….

… and many other factors.

Emily (aka “Mom”) can discuss these with you. Of course you’d be much better off selling (even if you need a short sale [you lender taking less than owed]) as compared to doing nothing and having them come after you for the money they’ll end up losing.

We can help with all of this, and of course, there’s never a fee.

Joel

Five months ago I talked to a homeowner that wanted to sell her house. She had lost her job, was fortunate to find another right away, but it only paid about 1/2 as what she used to make. She was a perfect candidate for a short sale.

It was never real clear to me why she decided to attempt a short sale herself since we never charge for this (we get paid by the buyer). I guess because it just sounds so simple: List your house with a Realtor®, get your lender to agree to take less than what’s owed.  Maybe she wanted to use her own Realtor® and we only use agents that are hand-picked and specially trained to work with our team.

But you know those car commercials that have the small print that says “professional driver, closed course”? Or “don’t try this at home”? You know, the standard disclaimers. Why those disclaimers? Because the professionals make it look so easy they don’t want you to get hurt trying it on your own.

Well you can probably guess what happened.  She called me yesterday trying to salvage her short sale.  To make a long story short, she had a buyer (which was the only good news), but the buyer wouldn’t pay what the bank wanted because the bank thought it was worth more.  This rarely happens on our cases (because we have our own “Bank Bully”).

The second thing wrong with the offer was her second mortgage wanted much more than the first mortgage would allow them to get.  This often happens with our cases, but because our buyers are cash buyers, by carefully working with both mortgage companies and the title company, this can also be eliminated.

Long story short, if she had brought us in early on, she’d be out from under this house and very likely would have thousands of dollars of debt forgiven.  As it stands now, unless she can raise $10,000 right away, she’ll have two mortgage companies after her for all of the money they will lose (likely over $40,000).

Unfortunately, it was much too late and too much had gone wrong for us to get involved to fix things for her.  The moral?  Keep the short sale business to the professionals who get 70-80% of their offers approved.  And of course “don’t try this at home”.

Joel

Have you ever wondered if someone will want to buy your house if you were to list it for less than what is owed, and wait for your lender to approve a short sale? After all, it takes longer and is more complex than a typical buy-sell transaction.

The answer is yes! Buyers are willing to wait the extra time if they understand the process, time lines and know what is going on.

That is why we use top notch Selling agents to list your house. They know how to communicate with the buyer’s agent during the process and keep things moving forward.

Here is a recent testimonial that we got from a Buyer’s Agent after we closed on a home sold on a short sale.

“I appreciated the constant communication. They gave expectations of our time line and were easy to work with.” Nancy

Your house can sell and you can get out from under the debt and stress if you put the right team to work for you. Call us, we are here to help.

Ann

If my house already sold at the sheriff’s sale, how am I able to still sell it? Great question!

You have certain rights from the time your house is sold at the sheriff sale through the end of your redemption period. Those include the right to occupy the house, the right to purchase the house back by paying cash or getting a new mortgage, and the right to sell the house to pay off the mortgage.

Of course after all of those missed or late payments, unless you have a ton of equity (40% or more), no one will give you a new mortgage because of the damaged credit. Coming up with that giant pile of cash to pay off the old mortgage in full is also unlikely.

This leaves your last likely option which is to sell it during the redemption period. If you owe more than what you owe (including all mortgages, not just the one that foreclosed), we may be able to help with a short sale (never a fee of course).

Emily

Yesterday, I had the privilege of calling a homeowner to tell her that our “Bank Bully” was able to negotiate a settlement with their mortgage company as part of the short sale.

What does this mean? Well, it means that this family now has the piece of mind that they can move forward with their lives, knowing that their mortgage company won’t come after them for the deficiency on the loan.

How wonderful is that?!

Not all short sales include a settlement, but honestly, I’m getting used to it since most of Joel’s do.

Emily

One of the questions we get very frequently is “Why do you guys complete about 70%-80% of your short sales successfully while the national average for Realtors® is only 10%?”

This is a great question, and there are several reasons.

1) All we do are short sales. It’s a specialty which requires a specific set of skills. Try this analogy: When you go to see your family doctor, he’s a “generalist”. He can handle many things that could be wrong with you (broken bones, high blood pressure, the flu, etc.) But if you need brain surgery, you expect him to send you to a specialist.

Most Realtors® are also generalists. They are great at what they do if you fit into a “normal” real estate transaction. Of course short sales are far from “normal”. Obviously, you need a specialist!

Many Realtors® come to my State of Michigan approved course specifically for Realtors® so they can learn from me. The families we work with have decided to have the experienced instructor on their team and not the student.

2) We can’t do what we do without Realtors® though. We team up with the best of the best. They know how to get houses sold in this market, in any condition. Plus we’ve trained them to work within our proven system. Learn more about our team of Realtors® here.

3) We take complete control of the entire transaction! This my make you uncomfortable, which is normal. After you meet our team, I doubt you’ll still feel this way and you’ll likely be very glad we’ve taken control so we can get you out of this nasty position you are in. One of the main reasons shot sales fail is because the unknowledgeable Realtor® or the seller says the wrong thing at the wrong time to the wrong person. We take complete control in an attempt to prevent that from happening.

4) We have inside contacts at most major lenders who put our transactions on the fast track for approval.

5) We’ve invested over $47,000 on training, education, legal & accounting advice over the last 3 years. Let that investment pay off for you by getting us on your team.

Joel

Just how big of a discount (“hit”, “haircut”, etc.) will your lender take on a short sale? When you’ve got me (Melissa “Bank Bully” Arp) negotiating the short sale, there seems to be no limit!

Last week we closed on a house in Waterford Township (Oakland County). The owners owed $190k on their house and I got Citi to agree to a $92k purchase price. After closing costs and commissions, Citi put $84k in their pocket. That’s over a $100k hit!

But most importantly, Citi settled the account. This means they agreed that it was paid in full (for less than the full balance of course) and will be reporting a zero balance to all three credit bureaus.

These things don’t happen overnight and without a TON of effort. If you think you owe “too much”, you probably don’t. Put the “Bank Bully” to work for you today!

Joel