The Agent Insider Blog

I just came across a very interesting article that forecasts the number of homeowners underwater will rise from 14 million today, to 20 million by the end of 2011. It also points out a correlation between the rates of strategic default, a borrower’s credit score and the state of residence (recourse vs. non-recourse). Excerpt From [...]

I had the pleasure to be interviewed a few weeks ago for an article that was posted to the NAR’s homeowner focused website – houselogic.com. The article covers the HAFA program incentives, advantages and disadvantages of a short sale and also gives homeowners a short explanation regarding how to begin the short sale process. Read [...]

Click here to get the chart from the video. This video covers five differences between the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Treasury HAFA Programs: Agent commission differences in the programs. Borrower considerations for eligibility. Factors that can disqualify borrowers from the programs. Minimum Acceptable Net Proceeds (MANP) Servicer requirements after the SSA is signed DOWNLOAD [...]

Now that we have three independent HAFA programs in play (the U.S. Treasury Department HAFA program and the recently released Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae HAFA programs), I am regularly being asked about the differences between the three programs in their guidelines and forms. The three programs are about 80% the same but there are [...]

A few weeks ago I posted an article on this blog in which I expressed concern about deductions that could occur from real estate agent commissions because of the language in the new HAFA short sale guidelines that are about to go into effect.  That language states that agent commissions are protected up to six [...]

This week the US Treasury Department released it’s long awaited new short sale rules and forms.  The new program is called HAFA (Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives) and sets forth new government policies for a short sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure. It is the new rules and procedures for HAMP participating lenders and servicers to follow when a homeowner doesn’t qualify for [...]

HUD, FANNIE MAE AND FREDDIE MAC ALL NOW AUTHORIZE PAYMENT OF SIX PERCENT COMMISSIONS A major issue real estate agents have faced when negotiating short sales with lenders and servicers was that it was always a battle to try and get paid a full real estate commission on these difficult and time consuming transactions.  The loss mitigators working [...]