Tag: Foreclosure

Real estate auctions, can you trust them

February 16, 2016

Those flipping TV shows can’t be wrong, can they ? Oh my. If only customer/clients

realized they are buying a house, not a candy bar. (photos of actual house shown to client).

“If it was that easy…” right ? Here’s some of the better article excerpts I’ve found.

  • Property taxes, utility bills and assessments are sometimes not available at the time of auction or are not paid from the auction proceeds. These become the responsibility of the winning bidder. For example, water and sewer accounts for the property may be delinquent in the name of the previous owner and service may not be reconnected in some municipalities until the accounts are brought current.
  • Hubzu: One persons experience: “… I have been bidding for weeks on a distressed property and have gotten the same run around that others have posted on this forum. The photos they had listed were not current. I enlisted the help of a local agent and then drove over 500 miles to view it myself. It was in MUCH worse condition – no flooring , at least 1/3 of the drywall taken out, appliances in disrepair or gone, all interior doors and facings removed due to water heating flooding the unit while it was bank owned…”
  • One expert’s single word of advice for folks who dream of buying a foreclosed house at auction: “Don’t.”… “I caution anyone who isn’t in the (real estate) business: Buying (at auction) can be one of the worst decisions you’ll ever make,” says Jim Hamilton, a Realtor in Los Gatos, Calif. Another bit of counsel from Hamilton: If you want to buy foreclosures at auction, plan on making that your full-time job. If buying a house is like navigating an obstacle course, then buying a foreclosure is like crossing a minefield.

More:

More info:

Tax break for struggling homeowners set to expire

November 8, 2012

“People trying to do short sales are freaked out about it,” said Elizabeth Weintraub, a real estate agent in Sacramento, Calif. “They’re telling me they’ll do whatever it takes to close by the end of the year.”

….. If the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 does not get extended by Congress by the end of the year, homeowners will have to start paying income taxes on the portion of their mortgage that is forgiven in a foreclosure, short sale or principal reduction.   more

Lender started foreclosure … What should I do?

October 26, 2012

Q. My lender has started foreclosure proceedings. What should I do?

A. Immediately contact an attorney and/or a MSHDA approved foreclosure prevention counselor in your county. Click on the following link for information on foreclosure prevention counselors. http://www.mshda.info/counseling_search/. Many Michigan counties also have lawyer referral services that can assist you in finding an attorney. The Save the Dream toll-free number is 866-946-7432. Operated by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA), the hotline directs homeowners to a homeownership counselor in their county who specializes in foreclosure prevention.

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For more specifics and some general counsel on “short sales”, auctions, time tables, tax consequences (there’s a big one), etc, give me a call asap.