Register Real Estate Advisors

When you are having trouble paying your mortgage, you have several options.  You can use the property as a rental and buy a second cheaper home to live in, do a short sale, go into foreclosure, or do a bank walk away.  There are pros and cons to each option and each impacts your credit differently.

I have seen families rent out their homes and purchase or rent a cheaper house until they catch up financially.  This is a viable option as long as you find a good tenant that pays on time every month and does a good job maintaining the property.  A con is that if the home needs a lot of repairs over the next year it could be costly.  In this situation, your credit has no negative impact unless you slow pay on your mortgage due to slow paying tenants.  Remember that if you cannot find tenants, you still have to continue to pay your mortgage, HOA fees, taxes, and insurance.  If you purchase a smaller home, now you owe two of everything!

If you sell your house for more than you owe on it and you aren’t paying the difference, you are doing a short sale.  This shows slow pay on your credit, but at least you can buy another house in a few years which is a better outcome than having a foreclosure on your credit.

The only good thing about a bank walk away is that you no longer owe on a mortgage.  As for your credit, it’s just like a bankruptcy.  As far as your credit rating is concerned, a deed in lieu and a bank walk away damage your credit equally according to FICO.  Bad credit can damage any security clearance you have.

These are some things to think about when you cannot afford your mortgage.  You should always consult with as many professionals as you can to determine which route is better for you.  If you would like to talk with a Realtor who can help you through a short sale, give RREA a call today to speak to one of our Realtors.

Register Real Estate Advisors is a proud member of the Greater Houston Association of Builders. As the GHBA celebrates Professional Designation Month RREA decided to outline some of our Realtor Designations. At RREA, Shannon Register is both the Broker and Owner. A Broker’s License is probably the highest real estate designation available. We have several Realtors in our brokerage that are Broker Associates (they have a Broker’s license.) Another one of Shannon’s designations is the GRI – Graduate Realtor Institute. This designation includes training in marketing, brokerage, and general real estate buying and selling. The ABR – Accredited Buyer’s Representative Designation makes Realtors an expert when it comes to working with buyers. Shannon also has completed the Texas Realtor’s Leadership Program and is certified to work with the Texas Veterans Land Board. Many of our agents can work with Texas Vets. Shannon has been certified in new home construction sales. Through the local board of Realtors, she is a Social Media Pro. Through the National Association of Realtors she has her ePro Designation. In addition to all of these, Shannon holds the Short Sale and Foreclosure Certification and the Certified Distressed Property Expert Designation. Many of the RREA Agents have their ABR and CDPE. The Certified Negotiation Expert is another one that many of our agents have. This is an important one because you want whoever the Realtor is that is representing you to be a good negotiator. Shannon is also an Accredited Luxury Home Specialist. This designation is for Realtors who work with consumers that are purchasing homes over $400K in the Houston Market. When choosing a Realtor or Broker to represent you with your real estate needs, you want to choose one that is educated in that area and will work for you. To learn more about RREA’s agents, you can read their profiles at rrea.com/team.

As a Realtor in the Spring and The Woodlands area, I read a lot of articles about the foreclosure crisis and short sales.  I am a Certified Distressed Property Expert, which just means I earned that designation because I took a lot of classes on distressed properties and how to help homeowners that are upside down on their mortgages.  The article below is from the Huffington Post and I thought it was intersting and wanted to share it with my readers.

More than four years into the housing crisis, and after millions of Americans have lost their homes, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is finally taking a stand.

Bernanke sent a Federal Reserve paper to the leaders of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Financial Services arguing that relying heavily on foreclosures to deal with mortgage borrowers that can’t meet their obligations is “costly and inefficient” for the housing market because they can lead to deteriorating homes and weigh on the property values in the surrounding community.

Instead, the paper encourages lenders to “aggressively” pursue loan modifications and for servicers to be given more incentives to seek alternatives to foreclosure.

Foreclosures “can result in ‘deadweight losses,’ or costs that do not benefit anyone, including the neglect and deterioration of properties that often sit vacant for months (or even years) and the associated negative effects on neighborhoods,” the paper said. “These deadweight losses compound the losses that households and creditors already bear and can result in further downward pressure on house prices.”

The Obama administration has already pursued policies aimed at encouraging lenders to modify loans, although to very limited success. The Home Affordable Modification Program, which Obama announced in February 2009, had helped fewer than 700,000 homeowners as of October, despite promises that the program would encourage banks to modify the loans of 3 to 4 million homeowners.

The paper mirrors findings from regional Fed banks indicating that foreclosures can be detrimental to more Americans than just those who are losing their homes. Properties that are occupied, but in foreclosure, drive down the surrounding property values twice as much as vacant properties, an October study from the Cleveland Federal Reserve found.

And with millions of foreclosed properties already in the pipeline, the foreclosure process is already taking longer than in recent memory — a situation that may only be exacerbated if lenders don’t take the Fed’s advice. The average foreclosure process now takes 674 days, almost triple the time necessary in 2007.

Another alternative to foreclosure proposed in the paper is to combine a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure — or a program where borrowers return the home to lenders without foreclosure proceedings — with a rent-back arrangement. Others have floated a similar plan, including left-leaning economist Dean Baker, that would allow defaulting borrowers to stay in their homes, but as tenants.

The Obama administration also considered a plan in August to boost falling home prices by turning thousands of government-owned foreclosure properties into rentals. If the program goes through, the spaces would likely have some takers; the U.S. apartment sector has expanded past recovery, indicating a boost in rental demand.

Register Real Estate Advisors is pleased to announce that Sheryl Hunter was awarded the 2011 “Top Selling Agent” for the company at our recent awards ceremony.  As a Realtor, Sheryl is professional and has a solid understanding of the real estate industry.  She has gained extensive experience from listing and selling properties in and around the Houston area.  Among her specialties, Sheryl has acquired her Accredited Buyers Representative Designation and she is a Certified Distressed Property Expert.  She understands the current market challenges for sellers and the difficulties with qualifying for a mortgage.  Congrats Sheryl!  If you or someone you know is looking to buy or sale a property in 2012 – contact Sheryl at 281.288.3500.

Are you in need of a short sale, but have a second lien holder on your home? Having a second lien does make it more difficult to do a short sale. The first lien holder will decide how much money the second lienholder will get paid off if the short sale is accepted. So what if the second lienholder won’t take that amount from the first lienholder? It can be a mess!

So you had your Realtor do a short sale. She found a buyer after advertising for months. You and your Realtor and the first lienholder negotiated the contract. Everyone is happy except the second lienholder. You see, if the second lienholder won’t take the payoff from the first lienholder, then clear title cannot be transferred to the buyer, which means the short sale cannot be done. So, the home goes into foreclosure or the sellers have to file bankruptsy. The short sale is over.

In the past I had a seller who was in this situation. The seller, their first lienholder of thier mortgage, and the buyer were all in agreement on the short sale. The first lien holder, the bank, was going to give $3K to payoff the second lienholder. But the second would not take the $3K. They wanted their full amount due (which if the sellers could pay they would not be doing a short sale!) So the home was not able to sale. Everyone loses. The Realtor loses commission even though they found a buyer. The seller loses their home to foreclosure. The bank has to pay additional fees for the foreclosure. The buyer lost the house they wanted and could afford to buy. The second lienholder walks away with nothing. It’s such a shame when this happens.

If you are interested in doing a short sale, please contact your Realtor early on in the process. Once a foreclosure date has been set, it is hard to get the bank to extend it out to allow time to market the property. If you have a second lienholder, tell your Realtor in the beginning so they can start the negotiations between the second and first lienholders. It can be done. I have seen many second lienholders take the settlement from the first lienholder. It usually works out, but unfortunately, sometimes it does not. Make sure you use a Certified Distressed Property Expert if you need to do a short sale. There are so many things that can cause a short sale to foreclose. Make sure you have a Realtor that can get it closed for you! At RREA, we have many Realtors with the CDPE designation that have closed many short sales. Please call today if you or someone you know is having a mortgage crisis. We can help!

A Foreclosure Seminar will be held at Register Real Estate Advisors in Spring, Texas on Thursday, September 1, 2011. This foreclosure counseling will help consumers understand how they can stop the foreclosure process and sell their home as a short sale. It will also look at how to buy short sales and explain foreclosure purchasing. If you or someone you know is at risk of losing their home, please have them come to this seminar or contact a Realtor in confidence for help. Please forward this information to them becuase there is help for distressed homeowners. The seminar will be held at 1614 Louetta Rd. Ste I Spring, Texas, 77388 from 6-7pm. These informative seminars will be hosted by Realtors and will sometimes have guest speakers such as Title Company Representatives, Lenders, Inspectors, Appraisers, and other industry experts. We hope you will attend and bring your questions!

AUSTIN (Austin Business Journal)
– The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and NeighborWorks
America have given Texas more than $135.4 million in federal grants to
help homeowners at risk of foreclosure.

The Emergency Homeowners Loan Program provides funding to help
homeowners who fall behind on their mortgage
payments because of involuntary unemployment or underemployment
caused by the economy or medical conditions.

One in every 1,074 homes in Texas received a foreclosure filing
last month.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Realtor.org)
– Fannie Mae has implemented new measures that will require mortgage
servicers to act more quickly and consistently in helping troubled homeowners
avoid foreclosure.

“We want homeowners to be able to understand their options when facing
foreclosure, and we want servicers to reach homeowners early in the process,
communicate frequently and clearly, and help homeowners avoid
foreclosure,” said Jeff Hayward, senior vice president of Fannie Mae’s
national servicing organization.

Among the changes, mortgage servicers will be required to:

• contact
  homeowners verbally and in writing within 120 days after a loan first
  becomes delinquent;
• complete
  a loan modification or other option that keeps the borrower in their home
  or helps the borrower avoid the foreclosure process;
• follow
  a clear timeline if foreclosure is unavoidable and begin the
  foreclosure process once a loan has been delinquent for more than 120
  days; and
• make
  it clear when a property in the foreclosure process will be sold.

SAN ANTONIO (San Antonio Express-News, Dallas Morning News)
– Foreclosure-tracking firms are reporting drops in foreclosure rates around
Texas, but at least one housing expert cautions against jumping to conclusions.

“What we’ve had is a slowdown in foreclosure activity because of the
‘robo-signing’ scandal,” Dr. Jim Gaines told the San Antonio Express-News.
Gaines is a research economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M
University.

Foreclosure postings around the rest of the country have dipped because of
fraud allegations leveled against financial institutions where employees
“robo-signed” volumes of foreclosure paperwork without verifying the
information. Gaines said Texas could be following the same pattern.

San Antonio-based foreclosure tracking firm RexReport reported 6.9 percent
fewer foreclosures in the first half of 2011 than during the same period last
year.

Foreclosure Listing Service said postings in the
Dallas-Fort Worth area are down 7 percent so far this year compared
with the first six months of last year.

On the other hand, 2011 could, in retrospect, be seen as the
turning point.

“At the local level, it really could be some early sign that we’ve gotten
over the hump of the big wave of problems of foreclosures. It’s a relatively
small drop-off, but at least it’s a drop-off,” Gaines said.

If you are looking for a new home in an area with an incomparable standard of living, then look no further than The Woodlands! The Woodlands offers a small town feel with all the big city amenities so you never have to travel far to “go out” for an evening. You will find a wide selection of new homes in The Woodlands ranging from spacious family homes in villages to condominiums and townhomes in the price range of $180,000 to $340,000. New homes in this price range are being offered by numerous builders including D.R. Horton, Beazer Homes, Pulte Homes, Lennar, Chesmar, Gracepoint, Ryland, Village Builders, and Highland Homes.  Give Krista a call today at 832-585-3035 to receive a personalized list of homes that meet all of your needs.

Showing properties 1 - 15 of 500+. See more The Woodlands Listings.
(all data current as of 5/23/2012)

1. $1,195 : 68 Laughing Brook Ct, The Woodlands
   
   3 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 1,942 sq ft

   Lot size: 7,146 sqft

   Year built: 1989

   Parking spots: 2

   Days on market: 1

   Listed with Moco Realty Inc.
2. $1,695 : 42 W. Stony Bridge Ct., The Woodlands
   
   4 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 2,085 sq ft

   Lot size: 15,367 sqft

   Year built: 1988

   Parking spots: 2

   Days on market: 1

   Listed with Keller Williams Realty The Woodlands
3. $1,800 : 130 Star Ridge Cir, The Woodlands
   
   3 beds, 2 full baths

   Home size: 1,872 sq ft

   Lot size: 6,549 sqft

   Year built: 2005

   Parking spots: 2

   Days on market: 1

   Listed with Coldwell Banker United, REALTORS
4. $1,950 : 19 Opaline, The Woodlands
   
   4 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 2,512 sq ft

   Lot size: 8,100 sqft

   Year built: 1999

   Parking spots: 2

   Days on market: 1

   Listed with First Millennium Realty
5. $127,990 : 38 Verbena Bend, The Woodlands
   
   2 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 1,497 sq ft

   Lot size: 2,424 sqft

   Year built: 2000

   Parking spots: 2

   Days on market: 1

   Listed with Michael A Blum
6. $168,900 : 6 Windswept Oaks Pl, The Woodlands
   
   3 beds, 2 full baths

   Home size: 1,937 sq ft

   Year built: 2001

   Parking spots: 2

   Days on market: 1

   Listed with RE/MAX The Woodlands & Spring
7. $174,900 : 95 Rockridge Dr, The Woodlands
   
   3 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 1,796 sq ft

   Lot size: 7,945 sqft

   Year built: 1987

   Parking spots: 2

   Days on market: 1

   Listed with RE/MAX The Woodlands & Spring
8. $192,000 : 111 Indigo Cir, The Woodlands
   
   3 beds, 2 full baths

   Home size: 1,940 sq ft

   Lot size: 6,958 sqft

   Year built: 1996

   Parking spots: 2

   Days on market: 1

   Listed with RE/MAX The Woodlands & Spring
9. $270,000 : 11 Westward Ridge, The Woodlands
   
   3 beds, 2 full baths

   Home size: 2,888 sq ft

   Year built: 2001

   Parking spots: 3

   Days on market: 1

   Listed with Coldwell Banker United, REALTORS
10. $280,000 : 97 Stony End Pl, The Woodlands
    
    4 beds, 2 full, 2 part baths

    Home size: 2,496 sq ft

    Lot size: 13,560 sqft

    Year built: 1992

    Parking spots: 3

    Days on market: 1

    Listed with Keller Williams Realty The Woodlands
11. $310,000 : 6 Tunica Pass Ct, The Woodlands
    
    4 beds, 3 full, 1 part baths

    Home size: 2,725 sq ft

    Lot size: 11,798 sqft

    Year built: 2007

    Parking spots: 2

    Days on market: 1

    Listed with RE/MAX The Woodlands & Spring
12. $332,784 : 31 Jasper's Place, The Woodlands
    
    3 beds, 2 full baths

    Home size: 2,560 sq ft

    Year built: 2012

    Parking spots: 2

    Days on market: 1

    Listed with Village Builders
13. $338,221 : 11 Brakendale, The Woodlands
    
    3 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

    Home size: 2,609 sq ft

    Year built: 2012

    Parking spots: 2

    Days on market: 1

    Listed with Village Builders
14. $450,000 : 7 Webb Creek Pl, The Woodlands
    
    5 beds, 3 full, 1 part baths

    Home size: 3,437 sq ft

    Lot size: 9,440 sqft

    Year built: 1998

    Parking spots: 3

    Days on market: 1

    Listed with Keller Williams Realty The Woodlands
15. $450,000 : 31 Kerouac Court, The Woodlands
    
    4 beds, 3 full, 1 part baths

    Home size: 3,793 sq ft

    Lot size: 9,849 sqft

    Year built: 2006

    Parking spots: 2

    Days on market: 1

    Listed with Coldwell Banker United, REALTORS

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.