Archive for 'homeowner'

Homeowner Associations Getting Out of Control in Florida

Wow – What a crazy week I had.  I am writing this article to let everyone know what is going on with Homeowner Associations during a short sale.  First off, I want everyone to understand that Homeowner Associations have the right to personally go after each and every Seller regarding their dues and it can become a personal judgment against the Seller.

Many homeowners are behind on their houses payments are being forced into foreclosure.  When it comes to a short sale, all liens or amounts due on the property for potential liens will need to be discounted and/or paid off in full.  Florida has many properties that have homeowner associations dues.  Some have more than one homeowner association.

It use to be so easy to negotiate with the homeowner association regarding the dues owed on a property.  A couple of years ago Florida passed a law that guaranteed the homeowner associations one year worth of dues should the house go into foreclosure.  This law did not take into consideration what if the homeowner needed to do a short sale.  When the law first past, many homeowner associations would  not even consider negotiating on the balance due to them during a short sale because they knew that the Bank would have to pay them at least one year worth of dues should the property go to foreclosure.

Recently, I had not just one deal but three deals where the homeowner associations would not agree to accept the short sale discount that the Bank offered.  All three properties were under $60,000 and were getting more than 1 year worth of homeowner association dues.  The worst part of negotiating with the homeowner associations they request an estoppel fee to be paid upfront  for providing the homeowner with the total amount due for homeowner associations fees.  The estoppel fee is either paid to the management company and/or an attorney.  The price ranges from $100 to $500.  This is totally crazy because if you contacted your mortgage company for a payoff their would be a nominal fee of $15 for the payoff figure.  Who do you think is paying the fee prior to finding out of they will NOT agree to the discount? We have to guess at the amount due based on what the homeowner informs us and when we know we are getting close to a short sale approval, the estoppel fee is paid by the title company and/or the homeowner.   I am now requesting my sellers to pay for the estoppel if they are more than 1 year behind on their homeowner associations dues.  In addition, after reviewing the amount due to the homeowner associations, they are including late fees, interest fees, attorney fees, broken blind fees, non-approved tenant fees and more.  A homeowner association bill that was originally $900 for late dues is now $21,000 based on the above junk fees.  $1,000 for broken blinds, give me a break they can only see the blinds from outside the unit.  I do understand they don’t want junky properties however, how would they like boarded up properties or broken windows like there are in many states.

I totally understand that right now it is tough for the homeowner associations as they are taking a big hit due to the non-payers.  In addition I feel sorry for all the homeowners whose dues are being raised to cover the homeowners in foreclosure.  However, do the homeowners who are current really know what is going on.  Do they know that many houses could be sold if the homeowners association would agree to a discount versus allowing the house go to foreclosure which decrease the value of their properties more?  I kind of doubt it!  If they did, they would be in agreement that having some monies being paid now and a new neighbor paying their homeowner dues is better than waiting the 749 days which is the time line for many foreclosure actions in Florida.

I am still working on two of the three properties dealing with the attorneys from the homeowner associations to get them to accept $4,000 now and a new buyer which would avoid the homeowner going into foreclosure.  The last negotiation I had with the attorney for the homeowner associations refused to talk to me and would only speak through her secretary.  We were off by $1,800 which the attorney said “have the buyer, realtors and title company take a discount”.  It is bad enough that the short sale lender is reducing commissions to realtors to 5% or 4% if you a good enough agent to list the property and find a buyer, now the homeowner associations are working against the people who are helping them stabilize their community by selling their homes.  This is totally wrong!

If you are a homeowner and you are going through foreclosure, I would recommend to do your best to keep up your homeowner associations dues or they can come after you personally.  If you are a realtor, I would highly recommend that you find out from your homeowner how far behind they are on their dues.  If you are a homeowner paying your dues, attend your board meetings and find out what are they doing on short sales.  You do have the right to speak at a board meeting.

We are all working together to improve the economy, can we all play nice?  I would sure hope so.  I did close one of the three deals but had to pay $300 towards the homeowner associations dues.  I didn’t like it at all, however, it was the only way to get the deal through.  I would have loved to walk away from the deal and tell them forget it.  However, there were circumstances that stopped me from doing so.  The short sale approval letter was expiring and the bpo value on the property would be expiring too so that would mean another bpo value from the bank and more paperwork from the homeowners plus my homeowner would still have the same problem next time.  The buyer had to be out of their place and had given notice so that would mean possibly a new buyer.  I am a great negotiator when in comes to playing poker (that is what I call negotiating), however, I knew when to fold and close the deal for the benefit of all parties including the homeowner associations.

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Kimberlee Frank

www.SellFastRealty.com

407-888-3433

 

 

 

 

 

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Veteran Short Sales his house keeps his VA Eligibility

When I moved my office into Winter Springs Centre, in Winter Springs, Florida rented a unit right next to the Eagles Club.  The Eagles Club also known as The Fraternal Order of Eagles, The Fraternal Order of Eagles is an international non-profit organization uniting fraternally in the spirit of liberty, truth, justice, and equality, to make human life more desirable by lessening its ills and promoting peace, prosperity, gladness and hope.

I joined the Aerie Eagles Club #4449 which has many members including many veterans.  I liked the club because it was a private club, helps so many charities and the fact that it is right next store to my office.  I still can remember one of the first times I was in the club and they had the music playing and was questioning “I wonder who is moving in next store?”  Someone asked to turn up the music and the bartender said “no” out of respect of the new neighbor.   I laughed and said who cares about that new neighbor they won’t care, turn up the music.  However, they wouldn’t turn it up until I said I am the new neighbor and I like music please turn it up.  That was a beginning of a great friendship with the members of the Aerie Eagles Club #4449.

Eagle can Fly Now

The more I went into the club, the more questions members would ask about foreclosure versus short sales and how it would effect a veteran and their eligibility.  Even though I had done well over 500 short sales, I had never done a VA short sale before and didn’t know what would happen when I did.  Now I do know.  Here is the the story:   I recently represented a Veteran, Patrick, who didn’t know what he was going to do with his house.  He had purchased a manufactured home on land for $125,000.  He was in foreclosure and very frustrated about the situation.  His hours were cut from his place of employment and on top of all the craziness his wife and him separated.  The house was in bad shape.  There was a lot of water damage by the front bay window causing interior and exterior damage.  The value of the home with the land was $25,000.

I tried putting Patrick through the HAFA Program and he was denied the $3,000 because he had vacated the home.  However, I did get the bank to agree to the short sale and not go after him for the difference.  So, he received a full satisfaction of the loan on his home.  I was at the club tonight when he told me that he recently received a letter from Veterans saying “That he still has his eligibility to purchase another home however, could not use that eligibility certificate for 6 MONTHS.”  I was so excited for him as 6 months is nothing!  He even told me that his credit increased by 15 points because the loan was now paid off.   He told me that he can now sleep at night thanks to me and in the future, not that he wants another house now, he can use his VA  Eligibility when he wants too.

I told him that if you short saled a FHA loan that the homeowner won’t be able to get another FHA loan for at least 2 to 3 years and that 6 months was great.  So, if there are any Veterans out fighting the stress of foreclosure and  wondering if they should do a short sale versus foreclosure, I am suggesting that a short sale is better.  Why lose your VA Eligibility Certificate when you fought for our country and you deserve to keep it!

Thanks to all the veterans in this world we love you and should you have any questions or need my assistance, call me at 407-888-3433.

God Bless,

Kimberlee Frank

www.SellFastRealty.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Probate Personal Representative Short Sales House in Lutz, Florida

It’s hard enough when a loved one passes away to deal with their estate but did you know that when there is real estate involved in an probate estate, the probate cannot be closed until the real estate is transferred to the heirs.  What happens when the house is in foreclosure and the heirs don’t want it?  Well, you need to do a short sale and sell the house.  If you don’t, it could take the bank years before they complete the foreclosure action stopping the family from having closure.

Sell Fast Realty recently helped a Probate Personal Representative short sale a property.  It was simple and easy to process the short sale as the original short sale package wasn’t needed.  All we needed was the death certificate of the individual along with the letter of authority from the personal representative.  This personal representative tried for a long time to sell the house but no one wanted to buy it.

Sell Fast Realty, Kimberlee Frank and Linda Trimpey, was able to sell the property after a couple of buyers and a few hiccups with delays from the bank.  The first buyer couldn’t wait until we received the approval letter and backed out of the purchase.  The following day we received the approval letter from the bank.  The buyer didn’t care and had moved on.  We found another buyer with the exact terms (price and closing costs).  The bank then decided to other another value on the property.  The negotiator countered  the buyer’s offer.  However, I provided the new negotiator with the approval letter.  He said that it didn’t matter and he wasn’t going to send it to the investor for review.  I informed him that the bank was receiving $4,000 more but he said it didn’t meet the investor’s guidelines.  He also added that the bank wasn’t going to pay the homeowners association dues and pay the personal representative fee.  I said this is ridiculous.  I called two different supervisors and after I called for 7 days straight and emailed every contact I had at the bank, I finally got to speak with a supervisor who said “it is approved as is – with the same terms from the first buyer.”  The Probate estate did not have to pay any money for a deficiency judgment nor did they have to pay for Sell Fast Realty’s commission.  The Personal Representative received $500.00 in order to process the sale.  The probate can now be closed and the family can have closure.

If you know anyone who has a Probate estate and needs to sell their property in Central Florida, call Sell Fast Realty at 407-888-3433 and we will be happy to help.  Or, if you are a Realtor and need help with your short sales, go to www.ShortSaleNegotiating.com

God Bless,

Kimberlee Frank

www.SellFastRealty.com

www.ShortSaleNegotiating.com

407-888-3433

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