changescapeweb, Author at Sandra Meranda

April 19, 2012 by changescapeweb Leave a Comment

6 ways to save your underwater home

Being a distressed homeowner is a very difficult situation. Understanding your mortgage situation and the options available to you is important. Here are some ways to save your underwater home and your upside-down mortgages. Working with an experienced realtor who knows the St. Charles Home market and the St. Louis County Home market can really help.

Factor in all the variables — legal, financial, credit, tax, personal, lifestyle, family, etc. Consult with a reputable real estate broker, mortgage broker, local attorney and local tax professional — at minimum.

Here are six alternatives to walking away from your mortgage

1. Get rid of your credit card debt. Call your creditors and make an effort to settle your debt; many will take a lump sum payment much lower than your balance. While this might have tax and credit score implications, it might also help you keep your house. Or work through steps No. 2 and No. 3, below, to just eliminate those balances, by any means necessary.

2. Get a second job. Take pride and emotional defeatism out of the equation. Taking a second job can help you bring down debt and catch up on mortgage payments.

3. Start a side business. Monetize spare time, quirky hobbies and special skills buy using sites like Etsy.

4. Rent a room out. There are plenty of places to post to rent short or long term.

5. Apply for everything. Applying for everything for which you might possibly qualify, and don’t make assumptions about what programs might work for you, including the federal HARP program and the Home Save program.

6. Short-sell it. If you list your home for sale with a local agent who has experience closing these transactions right this moment, your chances of selling it and having the short sale complete in time to qualify for the income tax exemption that expires Dec. 31, 2012, are actually better than your chances of qualifying for the exemption if you stop making your mortgage payments right now.

Work with professionals to help you make the right decisions as anything you do might impact your ability to qualify for various programs.

Fortunately, your options for avoiding a foreclosure are not so limited as they might seem at first glance.

Read the complete article 6 ways to save your underwater home by Tara-Nicholle Nelson.

This is the time of year for buying and selling real estate. There are large numbers of homes at below-market prices & the Interest rates are hovering below 4%!! The home sale numbers have been increasing every month this year since June. It is never too early to start getting your home for this Spring also. Contact Sandra Meranda for details today!

April 6, 2012 by changescapeweb Leave a Comment

What Does the $25 Billion National Mortgage Settlement Mean For Homeowners?

The federal government and attorneys general have announced agreement on a landmark joint state-federal settlement with the nation’s largest loan servicers, including Ally/GMAC, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. The Settlement, estimated at $25 billion, will provide payments to distressed homeowners and to both the federal government and individual states. It is the largest multistate settlement since the Tobacco Settlement in 1998.

The settlement provides assistance for homeowners in need of loan modifications; borrowers who are current in their payments but “underwater;” and borrowers who have already lost their homes through foreclosure. The Settlement requires servicers to work off up to $17 billion in loan modifications and up to $3 billion in refinancing relief. $1.5 billion is earmarked for payments to foreclosed borrowers.

But don’t look for any immediate relief. Negotiations to settle on an administrator to handle the settlement will likely take up to 60 days. Then it will take from six to nine months to identify who may be eligible. Those in line for relief will then receive such notification. The actual payouts will take up to three years.

Here are some links where detailed information can be found:

News: Read the national news release and find links to your state Attorney General’s Web site for state-specific news.

About the Settlement: Learn about the settlement, who is affected and what claims may still be pursued against the banks. Find links to your state Attorney General’s Office to find state-specific information and contacts.

Help for Borrowers: Learn how to find out if your loan is affected by this settlement, the timeline for relief, how you will know if you are eligible. Find links to your state Attorney General’s Office to find state-specific information and contacts.

The busy Spring real estate season is here! This is the time of year for buying and selling real estate. There are large numbers of homes at below-market prices & the Interest rates are hovering below 4% !! The home sale numbers have been increasing every month since June. It is never too early to start getting your home for Spring also. Contact me for details today!

March 21, 2012 by changescapeweb Leave a Comment

Existing Home Sales Rise Again in January

Existing-home sales rose in January, marking three gains in the past four months, while inventories continued to improve, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, increased 4.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.57 million in January from a downwardly revised 4.38 million-unit pace in December and are 0.7 percent above a spike to 4.54 million in January 2011.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said strong gains in contract activity in recent months show buyers are responding to very favorable market conditions. “The uptrend in home sales is in line with all of the underlying fundamentals – pent-up household formation, record-low mortgage interest rates, bargain home prices, sustained job creation and rising rents.”

March 8, 2012 by changescapeweb Leave a Comment

Ways to Create Less Trash

I’m a big recycler, so I when I came across this article I thought it was worth sharing. There are a lot of things we can do to create less trash. This is perfect as we all start to think about spring cleaning! Here are the highlights: iStock_000017556816XSmall-300x300

Consider recycling all paper and paperboard that comes into your home. If paper is free of food, it can be recycled.
Don’t throw any the leftovers! Nearly 1/3 of of our trash is food, needlessly filling up the landfills.
E-waste is a big problem. There are great electronics recycling programs in St. Charles and St. Louis, so take advantage of them.
Reuse things that you might just be inclined to throw away – use your imagination to re-purpose things into storage or other ideas!
Don’t throw away good clothes – again there are many wonderful organizations across St. Louis and St. Charles that you can donate them to. Or try selling them on eBay or at local consignment shops.
A lot of trash we create is based on what we buy. Don’t buy paper plates or bottled water. Think about the trash you are creating with the products you are purchasing, from meals to electronics, in regard to the way they are packaged.

Check out the full article “Do Your Part: Top 7 Ways to be Less Trashy” for more ideas! Here’s to a less trashy St. Charles!

The busy Spring real estate season is just around the corner! This is the time of year for buying and selling real estate. There are large numbers of homes at below-market prices & the Interest rates are hovering below 4% !! The home sale numbers have been increasing every month since June. It is never too early to start getting your home for Spring also. Contact me for details today!

February 17, 2012 by changescapeweb Leave a Comment

The Top 10 Things to do to Prepare for an Appraisal in St. Charles and St. Louis

Here’s a great article that talks about the top things to do to prepare for a home appraisal. Working with an experienced realtor who knows the St. Charles Home market and the St. Louis County Home market can really help.

How To Prepare for a Home Appraisal

You’ve just signed all of the paperwork for your refinance, handed the loan officer the check for the appraisal, and now you’re wondering what is going to happen next. Good news-the appraisal inspection is painless, and usually takes anywhere from 30-60 minutes to complete. However, there are a few things that you should do to help the process move along as smooth as possible.

Preparing for the appraisal inspection:

Create a detailed list of the recent improvements, which should include the following: when completed, cost of the improvement, before and after pictures if available.
Make sure each room is accessible; the appraiser is required to inspect each room.
If there is a crawl space, this area will also have to be made accessible for inspection for an FHA appraisal.
Give the appraiser room to do their job. Errors are more likely to occur when the appraiser isn’t able to concentrate on their inspection.
Keep all pets restrained. I’ve been bitten twice by a dog, and once by a cat; the owners had assured me that their pets were friendly-not so much!
If you live within a development that has a homeowners association, have the name and phone number of the contact person available, along with a fee statement.
If the appraisal is for an FHA loan, then the area leading to the attic will have to be cleared and made accessible-the appraiser is required to make at least a head and shoulders inspection of the attic area.
Walk through each room and straighten up as if you were getting ready for company to visit. Appraisers are objective and can look past many things, however, the underwriter reviewing the appraisal photos may feel differently.
Complete any unfinished projects-most appraisals are done “as is”, and any projects that haven’t been completed, will have to be adjusted for within the appraisal report.
A copy of any agreements regarding easements (shared driveways and/or garages, etc.) should be made available.

Concerns about value:

For years I’ve been a big proponent of developing a relationship with a Realtor. I’m not talking about a real estate agent who happens to be a relative that lives half way across the state. I’m talking about one that does a lot of work within your neighborhood.

By building a relationship with a professional Realtor (this is all they do and they do it well), they’ll be able to give you great insight as to what’s happening within your neighborhood, and they would be glad to let you know what similar homes are selling for.

Once the appraisal is complete:

You have a right to a copy of your appraisal, so ask for it. If you should find any errors or have any concerns, talk with your loan originator. This is hard for borrowers to understand, being that they paid for the appraisal, but the mortgage company is the appraiser’s client, and they can’t discuss the appraisal with anyone else unless given permission.

Trying to understand an appraisal can be like trying to read the “Dead Sea Scrolls,” so ask questions and get clarification when needed-you paid for it!

Written By Michael S. Bolton, Home Appraiser

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