TOP SHORT SALE STORIES OF THE YEAR
January 6, 2010
It was a hectic year for short sales, but there was some good news, big and little, that brings hope for 2010. Here are my top short sale stories for the past twelve months, some personal, some national.
1. The first story is a Happy Short Sale Saga. One of my Destin Florida sellers regained employment, so did not have to sell the home he and his family desperately loved! I gladly withdrew the property from the market. Specializing in short sales is often more than closing the sale.
2. HAP – The Homeowner Assistance Program (HAP) is a government program expanded to help our military members who have orders to relocate from bases such as Eglin Air Force Base and Hurlburt Field. Many of these servicemen are upside-down in their mortgages, and HAP is supposed to cover 90% of their loss so they can avoid foreclosure. HAP has not helped many yet and is flooded with applications. The good news is that they are improving their information and refining their system, so hopefully more of our military will be helped in 2010.
3. HAFA – The Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative Program is supposed to get short sale lenders/servicers on board to speed up approvals for homeowners of primary residences. It offers guidelines and incentives to pre-approve short sales and forgive deficiencies. We’ll watch carefully in the spring to report on HAFA progress- or not.
4. Short Sale Training – My first short sale webinar marked the beginning of my business partnership with Bryant Tutas. I prepared for the webinar with nervous trepidation, but ended up loving doing these classes! Simply put, it was a blast! Not only did Bryant and I educate others, it helped me grow personally. We have since incorporated as REGrow, LLC. Expect more good things in 2010.
5. www.ShortSaleSuperstars.com is the community Bryant Tutas and I founded to help short sale agents across the country “Learn, Know and Grow”. In little over five months, our group is now almost 750 members strong. Here, short sale professionals jump in to share secrets and information about every and any lender or short sale situation you can imagine. Here, they are unlocking the knowledge to save more homeowners from foreclosure and do it at the highest levels. This is a tight community of giving short sale leaders that is open for membership. If you have not yet joined – we welcome you to come with us on this exciting adventure.
As a final note, for 2010, I hope we all find greater solutions to the foreclosure and home ownership crisis that is touching the lives of every one of us.
It’s Wendy!
Wendy Rulnick, Broker, CRP, CRS, GRI, ABR Rulnick Realty, Inc.
Destin Short Sales & Pre Foreclosure Help.
Read Wendy’s Destin Real Estate Blog
www.ShortSaleSuperstars.com for agents
Call toll-free 1-877-ITS-WNDY (1-877-487-9639) or local 850-650-7883 ext 204
Email Wendy: itswendy@rulnickrealty.com
Wendy is a short sale and pre-foreclosure specialist and has been featured in “Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine” and “Florida Realtor Magazine”. Call Wendy Rulnick, Broker/Owner,to list and sell your home or condo on the Emerald Coast of Florida in Walton, Okaloosa and Santa Rosa County- Destin, Santa Rosa Beach, Fort Walton Beach, Niceville, Bluewater Bay, Navarre, Seagrove Beach, Watercolor, Sandestin, Seaside, Crestview, Rosemary Beach, Mary Esther, Shalimar, Eglin AFB, Hurlburt Field.
Feds Shut Down Peoples First Bank – Was Denying All Short Sales Part of Its Demise?
December 22, 2009
About a year ago I wrote about People’s First Community Bank in “Short Sale Denied – Despite Cancer Diagnosis”. My seller’s husband had kidney cancer, and her financial situation had become tenuous. She could no longer afford the payments on her lot near Destin Florida.
I worked to help her do a short sale to avoid foreclosure. When we sent in the contract, People’s First told me they “do NOT do short sales, period”. I called them and reiterated the diagnosis of kidney cancer, wondering how this woman could keep up with her payments. I also asked, “Why would your company not consider a short sale in this economy?” I was told they had “not given any subprime loans, they were well-capitalized, and when they lent money, they expected to get it paid back”. I said, “So you’d rather foreclose?” They said “Yes”. When I told them I would write about the story in my blog, they warned me not to.
Today it was announced that the federal Office of Thrift Supervision has closed People’s First. A few weeks ago the bank was notified by OTS for Prompt Corrective Action because they were deemed “significantly undercapitalized”. Basically, a bank’s capitalization rating has to do with its percentage of capital, like cash, as compared to its risk-based assets, such as mortgage loans. According to the FDIC: ”Well Capitalized” means a total risk-based capital equal to or greater than 10 percent, “Adequately Capitalized” is a risk-based capitalo ratio equal to or greater than 8 percent. People’s First capital ratio has been reported at 2.55.
My question is, could Peoples First’s policy of refusing any short sale been part of its downfall? If the bank insisted on foreclosing and repossessing properties, wouldn’t that have added to its risk-based assets? If they had allowed short sales, wouldn’t their percentage of risk-based assets have been decreased?
Finally, wouldn’t allowing short sales have helped them live up to their motto, “The Best Bank in the Neighborhood”?
It’s Wendy!
Wendy Rulnick, Broker, CRP, CRS, GRI, ABR Rulnick Realty, Inc.
Destin Short Sales & Pre Foreclosure Help.
Read Wendy’s Destin Real Estate Blog
www.ShortSaleSuperStars.com for Realtors
Call toll-free 1-877-ITS-WNDY (1-877-487-9639) or local 850-650-7883 ext 204
Email Wendy: itswendy@rulnickrealty.com
Wendy is a short sale and pre-foreclosure specialist and has been featured in “Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine” and “Florida Realtor Magazine”. She serves: Destin, Santa Rosa Beach, Fort Walton Beach, Niceville, Bluewater Bay, Navarre, Seagrove Beach, Watercolor, Sandestin, Seaside, Crestview, Rosemary Beach, Mary Esther, Shalimar, Eglin AFB, Hurlburt Field.
Bryant and I have been negotiating with him for a couple of weeks now and have finally came to terms on his fee and the terms for the interview. He has to remain anonymous as it could jeopardize his job if they knew he was giving this interview.It’s feels kind of like “The Insider”!
We can assure you that the Interview is going to be awesome. Wendy and I spoke with him for about an hour recently and were blown away at the stuff we learned in such a short period of time.This knowledge WILL make you money!
The time is Saturday August 29 at 11:00am Eastern (10:00 Central). The place is your computer as the interview is being done as a Webinar. The cost is……. 27
The Interview is being recorded and will be available on MP3 just in case you can’t make it “live”. This may be the best $27 you have spent in a long time.
If you are an agent working Short Sales now or want to in the future then this Short Sale Class is a must. This is what Wendy Rulnick and Bryant Tutas’ students say:
“I had the fortune to be part of your short sale basics webinar. I want to express my gratitude and appreciation to Wendy Rulnick and Broker Bryant sharing their expertise in a conversational setting walking us students through from start to finish of a typical Short Sale transaction. This webinar was filled with materials and information giving the most inexperienced the confidence taking on Short Sales.Having participated in classroom environment, read, studied short sale blogs, information and guidelines in the past; this is by far the best step by step instruction that I have received in my over 10 years experience in real estate. You guys truly are the SuperStars! Thank you, Petra Norris Broker . Lakeland, FL
“I had the honor of participating in the first of a five-part series on Short Sales with Bryant Tutus & Wendy Rulnick and the class was absolutely wonderful!” Debe Maxwell, Realtor, Charlotte, NC“I am very impressed with yours and Wendy’s webinars! I learn much better with audio, where I can listen to it repetitively. I have downloaded these webinars, and that is just what i have been doing (listening to it over and over to learn the material). You are making the short sale exceedingly understandable. In my previous office, this stuff was secret like REO’s, and only for the “experience seasoned agents” That is why I did not have access to this info, or get to learn this. It was not taught!!!
Thank you so very much for allowing us to participate, share, and learn. I find you both to be extremely knowledgable in this field, and make it tremendously enjoyable! You both are wonderful teachers! I do love all the real short sale experiences that you share with us also. This is an enormous learning experience for me. I also like the “conversation aspect” of this training. It is very informative to have you and Wendy converse, unrehearsed, so that we may learn. Thank you for sharing!” Ginger Moore.
“Thanks for sharing your joint experience in the minefields of Short Sales, the web forum, and all you have done. The webinars have been fantastic. I look forward to sharing with you and the charter members as well. This will be an awesome resource site for all of us as we work through the Short Sale maze. Short sales will be around a long time and there is great opportunity for all. The webinars have been fantastic.”Don Duft, Realtor, Virginia
“Today’s webinar (Session 5) was the best of all, a great capper to the entire series. Bryant and Wendy impart wisdom, not just process. I’m going to listen to this session again” Judy Chapman, Realtor, Oveido, Florida
Join the www.ShortSaleSuperstar.com site and learn more to sign up for the 8 hours webinar with real-life short sale scenarios.
Here is a sample of the short sale class for you enjoyment!
Short Sale Webinar – Dissecting the Financial Worksheet
July 15, 2009
Broker Bryant and Wendy Rulnick just finished teaching Short Sale Basics: Session 2, part of our 5-session webinar series about short sales. Today we covered qualifying the seller and short sale documents. There was a lot of material, in fact we went over time! Part of our in-depth analysis included dissecting the financial worksheet (one of my favorite things to do). We provided a made-up example and found “errors” for discussion.
Here are a few of the possible mistakes you might find in the financial worksheet:
- Numbers don’t add up – that’s right, simple math mistakes adding up income and expenses.
- Monthly gross income used, not net income
- Annual gross income used, not monthly
- Bonuses from last year are included in current year
- Current year commission or P&L is based on last tax year, not recent income
- Rental income listed when tenant is moving out
- Gross rental income is not adjusted for expenses
- Listing the same military base housing allowance when it is changing upon relocation
- Incorrectly assuming property value when listing assets
- Not including current mortgage and associated expenses for short sale property
- Not including anticipated rent and expenses upon relocation
- Spending money on frivolous items, like tennis lessons, skydiving, vacations, etc.
- Not itemizing “miscellaneous” expenses
Finally, when monthly net income is more than monthly expenses- there may not be a hardship at all!
The financial worksheet is one of the most problem-ridden parts of a short sale package. In a questionable hardship case, you can use the financial worksheet as part of your seller pre-qualification.
Want to learn more? Our next Short Sale Basics webinar is Saturday, July 18, at 11:00 Eastern. All five sessions will be available on MP3 if you cannot attend live or miss any. Session 3 we will be covering the short sale listing, price reductions (one of Bryant’s favorite subjects) and more. See you then!
