A sponsor since 1992, RE/MAX stands as one of only three companies to reach this milestone for Children’s Miracle Network. Because of you, thousands of children each year receive life-changing and lifesaving care at more than 170 participating Children’s Hospitals.

In today’s market, 1 in 7 homeowners is having trouble paying the mortgage. More than 70% of these homeowners proceed without seeking assistance or getting the facts. Many do not even realize that foreclosure is a process, and that there is time to make decisions that may result in a better outcome.

As a homeowner in the Virginia Beach area, you are not alone. Millions of other homeowners nationwide are in the same circumstances. To assist you, I’ve prepared a free report outlining the first steps a homeowner should take when facing a foreclosure.

Please use the link below to obtain your free report. Don’t hesitate. Get back on track today!

http://www.virginiabeachshortsale.com/Your-First-Steps-To-Avoid-Foreclosure.aspx

The Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program (HAFA), part of the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), provides financial incentives and simplifies Short Sales procedures by setting limits on the time it takes lenders to respond, freeing borrowers from debt and capping claims of subordinate lenders.

The Treasury's announcement comes on the heels of more than a year's work by RE/MAX leadership to persuade federal lawmakers to address the need for a simpler Short Sale process.

"While the plan doesn't include all of our suggestions, we feel it's a big step in the right direction," Liniger says. "These new policies will make Short Sales much more attractive to our clients and much easier for us to complete."

With unemployment over 10 percent and millions of adjustable-rate mortgages primed to reset next year, a "tsunami" of distressed properties could be on the horizon, Liniger says. The new guidelines, as well as a growing acceptance by lenders and second-lien holders, give homeowners a better chance of closing a Short Sale rather than losing their house to foreclosure.

Here are some of the program's key guidelines (download the program's full details in the HAMP Supplemental Directive):

• Lenders must respond to Short Sale requests within 10 business days of receipt of the offer package.
• The seller will be released from all liability for repayment of the mortgage debt.
• Subsequently, the seller is entitled to a relocation incentive of $1,500, which will be deducted from the gross sale proceeds at closing.
• The lender will be paid $1,000 to cover administrative and processing costs for a Short Sale or a deed-in-lieu.
• The property must be listed with a licensed real estate professional who does regular business in the community where the property is located.
• The lender is prohibited from requiring, as a condition of approving the Short Sale, a reduction in the agreed-upon real estate commission. 
• The investor will be paid a maximum of $1,000 for allowing a total of up to $3,000 in Short Sale proceeds to be distributed to subordinate lien holders, or for allowing payment of up to $3,000 to subordinate lien holders.

RE/MAX leaders have been advocating Short Sale improvements for quite some time. In September, Liniger met with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and other U.S. housing officials to discuss the need for prompt action. A meeting with Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) also moved the process along.

For their part, RE/MAX Associates have embraced training in Short Sales and REOs. The network accounts for nearly 60 percent Certified Distressed Property Expert designees. That education will continue to play a vital role in order for Associates to successfully handle Short Sale transactions and establish themselves as the leading experts in their markets, Liniger says.

The official effective date is April 5, 2010, but participating mortgage servicers can begin operating under terms of the new program prior to that date if they are ready to meet all reporting requirements.

© 2009 RE/MAX International, Inc. RE/MAX Affiliates may share this article, provided they do not charge for it and this notice is included. All other rights reserved.

Income limits have been raised for Virginia Beach area homebuyers, and now some existing homeowners can also claim a credit if they buy a new home too.

The basics:

• To claim any credit, buyers must have a contract by April 30, 2010 and close by July 1, 2010.
• The income limit has been raised to $225,000 for couples.
• First-time buyers can claim an $8,000 credit, as before.
• Buyers who already own the home they are selling (or have sold), and have lived there for five of the past eight years can claim up to a $6,500 tax credit (on homes worth $800,000 or less).
• Both credits apply only to primary residences.

You can find out more about NARPM on their website at  www.NARPM.org. 

These scammers are often very sophisticated and can play the part of a legitimate property manager well enough to fool potential renters. Make sure you are checking your vacant properties and Craig’s List on a regular basis. If you find an unauthorized ad flag it so that others will know that it may be fraudulent and contact Craig’s List to request that they remove it from their website. Some property managers have even posted an additional listing with the same name but included, “THIS IS A SCAM” or similar language at the end of the post to help warn people. This way it will come up in the listing right after the fraudulent post and give the property manager an opportunity to provide the correct information.

The FBI has received countless complaints about this and other rental scams but they explained that this type of crime is low on their list of investigative priorities. If one of your properties gets caught in this scam, we recommend you visit www.IC3.gov and report the crime. The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). IC3's mission is to serve as a vehicle to receive, develop, and refer criminal complaints regarding the rapidly expanding arena of cyber crime. If you encounter a potential tenant who has been scammed and made the mistake of providing sensitive personal information such as their social security number, it is highly recommended that they go ahead and put a freeze on their credit.

 

1. Uncle Sam is willing to help. First-time buyers (defined as anyone who hasn’t owned a home in the last three years) are entitled to a maximum $8,000 tax credit; interest rates are at record lows; and the Federal Reserve is doing its best to make mortgage loans available.

2. People have to live somewhere. About 800,000 new households are formed each year in this country, ensuring that the housing market will tighten, even if the economy doesn’t soar.

3. Borrowers leverage their investment. If you put $10,000 into the stock market and it earns 10 percent, you’ve earned $1,000. If you put $10,000 down on a home and its values increases 10 percent, you’ve made $10,000.

4. When prices come back up, you’ll have instant equity. In parts of the country where foreclosures have driven down prices, better times will mean the price of the home you buy will rise rapidly.

5. Mortgage costs stay the same. If you get a fixed-rate mortgage, the monthly payment stays the same – while everything else, including rent, goes upward.

6. You own it. There is something comforting in the notion that your home is your own. You can paint it any color you want, let the dog run in the back yard and hang a swing for the kids in the front.

Good Morning America cited data from Zillow this morning which heralded Virginia Beach as the number one place, and Richmond as the number seven place, to buy a home right now.

When buying a home, according to Zillow, buyers should “look for communities with a strong job market and stable housing values. Some common threads: cities with military bases, state capitals and college towns all fare well because they are more ‘recession proof.’”

Here’s what Zillow is seeing…

In Virginia Beach:

- Median home value: $223,800, down 1 percent from a year ago.
- Property values are up 7 percent compared to five years ago.
- Houses cost an average of $139 per square foot.
- Buyers are paying 2 percent less than the listing price.

In Richmond:

1. Whole house, attic, garage & shed clean and free of all personal property. Anything left behind may not be there when you return.

2. All doors, window facings and baseboards cleaned and touched up as needed.

3. Blinds and ceiling fans clean and in good working order.

4. Ensure all light bulbs, switches and fixtures are in good working order.

5. All appliances, vents & filters clean and in good working order.

6. Kitchen & Baths need to sparkle. Sinks and tubs have to have working stoppers and properly caulked where needed.

7. Have carpets professionally cleaned.

8. Have fireplace & chimney professionally inspected and cleaned.

9. Install "heavy duty" door stops behind each door.

10. Heating & A/C system serviced and new filter(s) installed.

11. Provide current code and instructions for security system.

12. Each floor is required to have working smoke detector with fresh batteries.  Carbon monoxide detector (gas homes) and halon fire extinguishers recommended, but not required by Virginia law.

13. Garage door opener & remote(s) need to be in good working order and have fresh batteries. Provide current code and instructions for using exterior key pad.

14. Have grass freshly cut, all flower beds clean & weeded and install fresh mulch. Provide name & number of who will cut grass until rented if necessary.

15. Provide 4 keys for each unique lock. If more than 2 unique locks, have locksmith re-key locks to one matching key. Please verify all keys work, including new keys!

16. Repair wall holes and touch-up and/or paint where needed.

17. Provide good notes and instructions for unique things about your home that can help the tenant and your property manager in the future.

I hope you found this list of items helpful.  If you have any questions or need a referral to hire someone to help perform any of these tasks to prepare your home for property management, please feel free to give me a call.  Jorge Gonzalez, RE/MAX Allegiance 757-287-3400.

The problem with foreclosure websites is they draw their info from public notices, city records and the like for free.  Then they repackage the information to sell to the public on the internet. This is perfectly legal, but not always very helpful to buyers. A buyer would have to do all the legwork trying figure out what is good and what is not. For most buyers, they do not have the time or know how to do this. To make matters worse, not all homes on these sites even make it to foreclosure to begin with.

The real drawback to paying money to subscribe to a foreclosure website is the information is not always accurate either.  I will share with you a great example of this.  A friend of my mine owns several investment properties.  Her mortgage company recently sold her loans to another mortgage company, and the new company has messed up the payment processing for her accounts.  She has actually paid the mortgages on time, but her rental properties are showing up on these sites as going into foreclosure for non-payment.  Now some prospective buyers are writing her tenants letters and knocking on their doors to get into the houses to find out how to buy them.  

My advice to buyers is to just focus on all homes that are actually listed for sale.  You also need to understand that just because it is a foreclosure does not make it a great deal either. Please remember foreclosure homes have probably been neglected for a long time, since the owner could not pay their mortgage it is unlikely they kept up with preventive maintenance or other repairs either.  Many will have undisclosed problems and most will require some investment and sweat equity to bring them up to par. For some buyers, it may just be a better idea to buy a non-foreclosure home without having to deal with the unknown factors.  

Most of legitimate properties for sale that are foreclosures and short sales are listed in the MLS.  I have a program that can provide buyers with automatic daily e-mail of listings of the homes in the Virginia Beach area and other Hampton Roads cities are listed as bank repos, short sales, and Government owned VA and HUD homes and I can do this for you for FREE. The best part is you would know about these homes before most agents and other buyers even realize these homes are for sale. All you need to do is let me know what you are looking for and I can set it up for you today!

If you would like to discuss the issue further or you would like to receive foreclosure listings by e-mail, please drop me a line at Jorge@House4U.com.

FOR RENT $1,000 - Beautiful 2 bedroom townhome in the Kempsville area.  This home features laminate wood floors through most of the home and the interior was just freshly painted.  Large family room with a wood burning fireplace and ceiling fan.  Good size kitchen with an eat-in area, stove, refrigerator, and dishwasher included.  In addition, there is a foyer area and a half bath off the main hallway.  

Upstairs has 2 large bedrooms and 1 full bath.  Both bedrooms have good size closets and the Master bedroom has a walk-in closet.  Full bath has a full size bathtub too.  At the top of the steps in the hallway is the utility closet that houses the washer and dryer (provided).

Outside in the backyard is an oversized multilevel deck and an attached shed. Behind the house are two school baseball fields, so you have extra privacy with no neighbors behind your home.  

This home is centrally located to the majority of bases in the area.  It is also convenient to shopping and highway access.  No smoking is authorized.  No Section 8 on this property.  Owner will accept pet with a $350 pet fee per pet.  

House is currently rented, but will be available by April 1st.  

Video Source: NAHB

2024 Twinflower Ct

Congress has included language in the economic stimulus package to compensate service members who sell their home at a loss or have been foreclosed upon because they were forced to move after a base closure, reassignment or a combat wound required them to be relocated near a health facility. The program also covers surviving spouses of those killed in combat.  Under the new provision, the government will cover 95 percent of a loss if a service member is forced to sell. The government can also choose to acquire the title of a home by paying off the balance of a service member's mortgage or paying the owner up to 90 percent of the home's previous value. No dollar ceiling has been set.  Click here to read more in a recent Virginian-Pilot article.

Source: Center For Real Estate Newsletter

Source: NAR