Once again, EasyHUD is bringing you another first!

On this week’s Insider Interview, I will have Jeff Troyer of Automated Response Technologies sharing a secret that only the most successful foreclosure investors know about - How to do more deals by NOT answering the phone! I know it soundsw a little "too good to be true", but by the time we finish this 60 minute call you will know EXACTLY how the big dogs of foreclosure investing are using some VERY simple technologies to automate their Foreclosure lead generation and client follow up!

Join me on Wednesday, 2 May at 900pm EST/600pm PDT by reserving a spot on this exclusive (and free) Foreclosure training call. Just go here to join me:

http://www.AskJeffTroyer.com/ <– Go HERE NOW

1. House Builders Struggle to Unload Backlog (efinancedirectory.com)
2. Why This Slump Is Different (businessweek.com)
3. San Francisco house prices likely to fall 53% (californiahousingforecast.com)
4. Code red on U.S. housing industry (seacoastonline.com)
5. House sales fall even faster in 1st quarter (chicagobusiness.com)
6. More Bad News on US Housing Market (marketoracle.co.uk)
7. Dow 13K and Second Great Depression (bullnotbull.com)
8. Mortgage brokers: biggest liar gets deal (realestate.aol.com)
9. Vacancy rates increase, forcing both rents and prices down (PDF - census.gov)
10. All the World’s a Bubble (biz.yahoo.com)
11. House Prices Slide as Property Glut Grows (biz.yahoo.com)
12. House Price Declines Show No Signs of Abating (usmarket.seekingalpha.com)
13. Housing Slump Could Lean Heavily on Economy (stlouisfed.org)
14. Spending May Take a Hit as U.S. House Prices Decline (bloomberg.com)
15. More housing woes forecast (palmbeachpost.com)
16. Housing Going down (economist.com)
    
    
    

1. Slide in US house sales continues (guardian.co.uk)
2. $1.7 Million Romanian Straw Man (bubbletracking.blogspot.com)
3. Credit Score Scam Keeps Subprime Loans Flowing (financial.seekingalpha.com)
4. How Family Descended Into Nightmare of Foreclosure (realestate.aol.com)
5. MA foreclosure rate deemed a crisis by governor (southcoasttoday.com)
6. Flippers flop as hot housing markets cool in Vegas, elsewhere (marketwatch.com)
7. San Francisco Bay Area Housing Report: March 2007 (homeguide123.com)
8. California foreclosures increased 68 percent from the previous quarter (english.people.com.cn)
9. Foreclosure filings in North Carolina increase 25% from last year (journalnow.com)
10. BankAtlantic’s profits drop amid rise in troubled real estate loans (sun-sentinel.com)
11. Builders May Break Loan Covenants (bloomberg.com)
12. U.S. economy poised for nose dive (wnd.com)
13. Rising foreclosures have widespread fallout (realestate.msn.com)
    

1. Federal Housing Finance Reform Act of 2007 (thomas.loc.gov)
2. Tips for Finding Deals in Rental Market (biz.yahoo.com)
3. Nearly $50 billion in Subprime New-Vehicle Loans in 2006 (webwire.com)
4. Mortgage Delinquencies Reach All-Time High (thetrumpet.com)
5. Danger! Stock market partying like it’s March 2000 (articles.moneycentral.msn.com)
6. House sales ‘very sick,’ figures hint (palmbeachpost.com)
7. Mortgage ‘meltdown’ hits U.S auto sales (yahoo.reuters.com)
8. KPMG claims fraud at Fannie Mae (nalert.blogspot.com)
9. Housing Crash Contained, Or Not? (Mish)
10. Fannie and Freddie still a danger to economy (PDF - ofheo.gov)
    
    
    

1. Prices Plummet Las Vegas (inbusinesslasvegas.com)
2. ‘Upside Down’ House Sellers Owe More Than They Get (washingtonpost.com)
3. Poll on subprime bailout (money.cnn.com)
4. Senators see no need for subprime bailout (reuters.com)
5. The Fatal Flaw in Housing Bailout Plans (Mish)
6. Why we shouldn’t be bailing out subprime lenders or borrowers (sfgate.com)
7. Not convinced of the risks? (seekingalpha.com)
8. Are you still renting? Yes! (pimco.com)
9. Builder tells subs to cut prices mid-contract (contractormag.com)
10. California house prices to weaken further (marketwatch.com)
11. Subprime assault on southern California (ft.com)
12. GE Announces Poorhousing Initiative (fool.com)
13. Appraisal Inflation (washingtonpost.com)
14. Appraisal fraud rampant (bakersfield.com)
15. Credit derivatives: At the risky end of finance (economist.com)
16. 2.7% of all houses in US are empty (market-ticker.denninger.net)
17. Disconnect from Reality (Charles Hugh Smith)

Landing The First Deal
Frustrations of forming your first real estate deal
By E.S. Berry Paramount Principle, Inc.

EasyHUD.com – I want to. . .as they say, “keep it real”, because over the last 100 days I have found it very frustrating and a tad bit irritating in trying to land my first deal. I’m not even talking about the “home run deal” that you frame and hang in your office, I’m talking about ANY good deal. I have been full time since January 2007 (barely 100 days) and I have yet to put together a complete good deal and cash a check.

Now lets be clear, when I first started out 100 days ago, my business model was centered on a sub prime model concept. In the front was a line of people wanting to get a house with bad credit and in the back was a line of sub prime mortgage lenders more than willing to give them loans. My company would play the middle and make a nice piece of change.. . .that was the plan. Well no less than 30 days into the year it became very clear that my model was to say the least. . out dated. I had to literally tear up my business plan and start over if I was going to make it in the jungle.

Now on a good note, my marketing is very strong and the phone rings on a consistent basis BUT, 90% of the calls are what I THOUGHT were bad deals. People in situations where they owed more than the home was worth. It seemed like the industry was changing right before my eyes. The “old school” investors at the REIA meetings didn’t have ANY answers and most of the time they won’t even talk to me unless the deal is “juicy” or unless I buy their “handy dandy real estate investor” handbook for $999.

I begin to stress out because family and friends all seem to wonder, “where’s all the money you said you’d make”. My start up capital is on a steady decline keeping rent paid and the lights on when I got a call that created a shift in my thoughts. A person in foreclosure called and told me their situation and said something like.. “and the bank said I could do a short sale…”. A short what? A short sale?

I immediately google the term and for the next 30 days I am all about learning the in’s and out’s of a short sale. I spent a lot of time listening to Lynn & Judson Voss from www.getrealreia.com on a podcast. They are very down to earth and take a lot of time explaining a lot of the different ways to make real estate work for them. I found www.EASYHUD.COM which to date is a priceless resource due to the fact that it is very current on a very specific niche, short sales. I found www.biggerpockets.com which has a lot of resources for beginners. All of these sites have forums, all of these sites are free and none of them ask for $999 to tell you the basics.

As of today, while I still haven’t landed my first deal, there are potential deals in the pipeline. I have also diversified my approach and chose more than one way to “skin the cat” in my business model which helps a great deal. This is not a success story about how I made 50 grand on first deal or anything like that, but more or less a testimonial to education. It was the pursuit of education that helped turn things around and it will be education that helps close deals. Get educated. Stay Educated.

Resources

EASYHUD.com | Foreclosures Short Sales
http://www.easyhud.com

Get Real | Real Estate Investing For the Rest of Us
http://getrealrei.com/

Bigger Pockets | Real Estate Investing Guide
http://biggerpockets.com/

1. Builder D.R. Horton 2Q Profit Tumbles 85 Percent (biz.yahoo.com)
2. Subprime mess - no easy fix (money.cnn.com)
3. Debate on lenders’ foreclosure role (msnbc.msn.com)
4. Foreclosure Activity Increases 7 Percent in March (biz.yahoo.com)
5. U.S. Foreclosure Filings Up 47 Percent From Previous March (quote.bloomberg.com)
6. March Foreclosure Report (efinancedirectory.com)
7. Overcharges run rampant in house loans (mortgage101.com)
8. Wa-Mu Accounting Playbook (Mish)
9. Schadenfreude and the Lender of Last Resort (drhousingbubble.blogspot.com)
10. Housing Bust Meets the Equity Blues (bloomberg.com)
11. Fed gets oversight of mortgage lenders (investmentnews.com)
12. Houston house sales slide for first time in three years (news.moneycentral.msn.com)
    
    
    

1. Subprime mortgage industry meltdown (bankrate.com)
2. Foreclosure filings jump 79 percent in California (builderonline.com)
3. Baltimore Housing Market: Foreclosures Ravage Suburbia (efinancedirectory.com)
4. House hears of mortgage fixes; foreclosures inevitable for many (washtimes.com)
5. Subprime fallout hits WaMu (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
6. Subprime Meltdown Shakes Builders’ Confidence (realestatejournal.com)
7. High Court steps into US subprime crisis (ft.com)
8. Luxury Home Prices Fall in New York’s Long Island (bloomberg.com)
9. FL residents defaulting in larger numbers (tcpalm.com)
10. The CPI: Three-Card Monte (Mish)
11. Foreclosures in full boom (sacbee.com)
    

1. Open for fraud (indystar.com)
2. Real estate agencies start up divisions to profit from foreclosures (eastvalleytribune.com)
3. Inventories rise, prices fall and expectations sink (sptimes.com)
4. Lender Fremont Unloading Subprime Loans (forbes.com)
5. Worst is far from over for battered housing sector (money.cnn.com)
6. Riding Out the Subprime Disaster (finance.yahoo.com)
7. HUD spelled backwards is DUH (homelandstupidity.us)
8. FL Residents miss more mortgage payments (sun-sentinel.com)
9. Subprime mortgages can’t easily be rewritten (marketwatch.com)
10. Filing Bankruptcy Isn’t Helping Houseowners Avoid Foreclosure (realestatejournal.com)
11. Housing Slump Takes a Toll on Illegal Immigrants (nytimes.com)
12. NAHB-Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (nahb.org)
13. Credit Card Debt: Symptom of Sick Housing Market (thetrumpet.com)
14. Fannie and Freddie advocate even looser lending standards (reuters.com)
15. CA regulator calling for ban on stated-income loans (latimes.com)
    

How Does Bankruptcy Affect a Short Sale?
By: Cory Boatright

The Homeowner is in Bankruptcy

First off you don’t ever want to offer legal advice to the homeowner unless under the rare situations where you’re a qualified attorney. Let’s discuss the two typical types of bankruptcies that you may encounter.

Chapter 7 - know as Liquidation

Chapter 13 - known as Reorganization

With either type you are going to have to contact the Trustee of the Bankruptcy to get the property released out of it.

You will need to get a letter called “Affidavit of Abandonment for Real Estate & Asset”
This letter will allow you to obtain clear title so you can close on the property with your buyer. Bankruptcy puts a hold or “stay” on the foreclosure process or any other debt collections period. This will continue until it is completed or a “release of stay” is issued by the judge for the lender or lender’s trustee to proceed with the foreclosure.

If you try to do anything with the homeowner while they are in bankruptcy it can be considered “fraudulent conveyance” since the asset (the property) you want to buy legally isn’t in the owners control at that time. In fact, their’s a Federal Law that states that ANY conveyance while the property is in the bankruptcy will not be valid! The bankruptcy has control over it. You see when a person files for bankruptcy the Bankruptcy Court will assign a Trustee/Attorney to manage the debt situation for the homeowner until it is discharged or dismissed.

The only way you can get the deed legally is stop the bankruptcy or get the Trustee of the Bankruptcy Court to agree to release it. You will need to contact the Bankruptcy Court Trustee or Attorney and tell them you have interest in buying the house. Most of the time if they deem the property has equity, they WILL NOT release it. That’s why it is vital to communicate with them about doing a short sale and the property it’s not worth what is owed on it. Therefore it essentially has negative equity. I have been through this process a lot and can tell you it IS NOT EASY…but doable. You will need to have all your contractor reports, appraisals, supporting documents ready to send to the Bankruptcy Court Trustee at a moments notice.

In my experience, it usually takes a minimum of 20 days before you get an answer. That is of course if they aren’t backed up with other files in front of yours which is like…never. Before attempting this make sure the property you’re dealing with has a significant upside to it. I’d say at least $30,000 profit or you’re probably wasting your time. It can be profitable, but you must pick and choose your battles. Be sure and keep a pulse on how much time you have before the sheriff sale too.

If the Bankruptcy Court Trustee agrees to release the property from the bankruptcy you can expect the foreclosure process to begin very quickly. Keep a pulse on how much time you have to get it closed. It is best to have the buyer ready to go before getting the property released.

With cases in bankruptcy, I usually get the deed and all the other documents signed, but I DON’T FILE THE DEED until I know the bankruptcy is complete or dismissed.

One other thing: EVEN IF… the BK has been dismissed some title companies still need the “Affidavit” mentioned above filed by the attorney that filed the BK for the homeowner…or use another attorney, in order to get clear title.

I hope this helps.

Cory Boatright
Loss Mitigation Specialist