Potential Impacts of the Debt Ceiling Law on Real Estate

This video is published by the National Association of Realtors. The speakers talk about the details of the law that raised the debt ceiling, and kept the government in business. They also talk about what's next, with an emphasis on the real estate industry.

Get the Score Lenders Use to Evaluate Your Home Refinance Loan

After you’ve determined that you’re ready to refinance, you need to understand how lenders see you. Lenders will determine your credit-worthiness based on your three FICO® scores. By getting your scores, you can be sure that you know the kind of loan offers you should be receiving before lenders present you with numbers. Read more...

Congratulations Intero Gilroy - Best of Winner

Intero Gilroy awarded the Best of Gilroy 2011 Dispatch readers' poll!

Intero and Western Bancorp voted the Best Real Estate and Mortgage Company in the Silicon Valley

The results are in and Intero Real Estate Services, Inc. and Western Bancorp were voted the Best Real Estate Company and Best Mortgage Company in Silicon Valley in the 2011 San Jose Mercury News Reader’s Choice Awards. For Intero this marks our second time we’ve been honored with this award. Thank you we appreciate your votes!

Law Against Short Sale Deficiencies Expanded

Brought to you by the California Association of Realtors.

In a major victory for REALTORS®, Governor Brown signed into law this week a C.A.R.-sponsored bill, Senate Bill 458, prohibiting a deficiency after a short sale for one-to-four residential units, regardless of whether the lender is a senior or junior lienholder. Effective immediately for transactions closing escrow from this day forward, both senior and junior lienholders cannot require a borrower to owe or pay for a deficiency in a short sale. This law also prohibits any deficiency judgment to be requested or rendered for senior or junior liens after a short sale of one-to-four residential units. Any purported waiver of this rule shall be void and against public policy.

Although a lender cannot require a borrower to pay any additional compensation in exchange for a short sale approval, the new law does not prohibit a borrower from voluntarily offering a monetary contribution to a lender in hopes of obtaining a short sale. A lender is also permitted under the new law to negotiate for a contribution from someone other than the borrower, such as other lenders, agents, relatives, and the like.

Exceptions to the new law include a lender seeking damages for a borrower’s fraud or waste; a borrower that is a corporation, LLC, limited partnership, or political subdivision of the state; a lien secured by a bond as specified; a public utility lien; and additional rules apply if a note is cross-collateralized by more than one property.

This law is fully set forth as Senate Bill 458 (Corbett) at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/.

Are Falling Home Prices Saving Marriages?

By Gino Blefari
President & CEO
Intero Real Estate Services, Inc.

You'll often hear people in the real estate business talk about how most home sales are triggered by life events: marriage, divorce, babies, job relocation. These are the standard igniters. But how do situations change when the housing market is slow? Read the whole story...

Intero Insider Video Series - featuring Steve Becerra from Intero Saratoga

This Intero Insider-Video Series brings you Steve Becerra, one of the top real estate agents at Intero Real Estate Services from the Saratoga office. Steve has been in the business for over 20 years and is an expert on the commercial real estate market, owning his own brokerage business for 10 years. Steve speaks with Intero COO Tom Tognoli and shares his knowledge about the current condition of the commercial market both locally and globally as well as giving us his insight about what to expect in the future
 

FHA gives jobless homeowners one-year break

News Flash from CAR (California Association of Realtors)

Beginning Aug. 1, the Federal Housing Administration will extend the period for unemployed homeowners to miss mortgage payments from four months to a full year, providing qualified homeowners with more time to find employment before the foreclosure process begins. Here are the "Cliff Notes"...

• The new Special Forbearance program falls under the FHA’s Loss Mitigation program, which FHA-approved servicers must participate in. 
• The extended grace period only applies to FHA-backed loans and homeowners in the government’s foreclosure prevention program, the Making Home Affordable Program (MHA).
• In addition to extending the forbearance period and removing the up-front hurdles for borrowers, the FHA also reemphasized its requirement that participating servicers conduct a review at the end of the forbearance period to evaluate the borrower for all additional, applicable foreclosure assistance programs and notify the borrower in writing whether or not he/she qualifies for any other available option.
• If the borrower does not qualify for any foreclosure assistance option, the servicer must provide the borrower with the reason for denial and allow the borrower at least seven calendar days to submit additional information that may impact the servicer’s evaluation.
• Housing and Urban Development, which oversees FHA, hopes private lenders and government-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will adopt a similar policy.

For additional information on the program, including eligibility and requirements, please visit http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/.

The full story is here.

California Economist comes to Intero

We had Carole Rodoni in the Saratoga Office recently giving her economic and housing forecast…check it out.  The whole thing is about an hour, but worth it. She speaks on The Two Americas: The San Francisco Bay Area & The Rest of the Country. Here' the first of three videos:





And here's links to the other two video segments:

Part 2
Part 3

Being FICO wise

By Chris Moles, Brokerage Counsel, Intero Real Estate, Inc.

A recent study shows that foreclosures and short sales have a similar immediate impact on a property owner’s Fair Issac Company (FICO) Score.

Data from the three major credit reporting agencies suggests that a typical distressed homeowner with a FICO score of 620 was likely to see his score fall to between 575-595 after either closing a short sale or defaulting to foreclosure. The same study suggested that those with a score of 720 could expect a drop to between 570-590 and those with a score of 780 could expect a drop to between 620-640. The manner of parting with the property did not seem to affect the average FICO drop, indicating that a short sale is not “better” for a person’s credit score than a foreclosure.

Those secondary credit considerations that some use to justify selling short (like trying to “settle a debt” or “work with the bank”) are not factored into the strict FICO equation. Therefore, short sales and foreclosures are weighed the same – each is a "failure to pay as agreed.”

Giving FICO advice
These results simply reinforce the real estate agent’s duty to manage the client’s expectations and not give financial advice. Short sale listing agents do not exist to give credit advice. Rather, they exist to facilitate the client’s decision to sell short and avoid foreclosure. Whether the client should sell short or strategically default is ultimately a choice that the client must make with his own professional legal and/or financial advisor.

Of course, if advising clients on FICO matters, real estate agents should always disclose that short sales and foreclosures have the same general effect on the client’s FICO score. It is not accurate to say, “a short sale will have a less detrimental effect on your credit score than a foreclosure.”