Loudoun Foreclosures

A Seller’s Guide to the Short-Sale Process

Some of you may be wondering how you can go about selling your home the "short-sale" route, but aren't sure how it works. Well, here's what I call a "Seller's Guide to the Short Sale Process"... First and foremost, let's define "short-sale" as it relates to real estate today: A short sale is a sale of real estate in which the proceeds from the sale fall short of the balance owed on a loan secured by the property sold If you're not sure whether you'll be "short" if you sell the house, hire an appraiser or ask a Realtor to do a CMA ...

10 Questions To Ask Before Writing an Offer on a Short-Sale

It's like the Wild West right now when it comes to short-sales in Loudoun County (and the entire Northern VA area). Some take 60 days to settle while others take 6 months (if they settle at all). Some are handled by agents, title companies and negotiators that know what they're doing while others are not. The list goes on... That's why every buyer (and buyer's agent) should ask the listing agent/broker (or seller if FSBO) the following 10 questions before they write an offer on a short-sale... Have you received any other offers that you are waiting to hear back on from ...

Are the Foreclosure Floodgates About to Open?

At the end of last year, many banks and financial institutions including Fannie Mae adopted some sort of "foreclosure moratorium" and they did the same thing again this year at the request of the Obama administration. The moratorium halted foreclosure proceedings on many who were facing foreclosure or in the process of getting foreclosed on. Fast forward to April 1, 2009... The moratoriums have pretty much all been lifted and the banks are back at it - foreclosing and eventually putting those properties on the market. Based on how long foreclosure proceedings take in Virginia and how long banks take to process everything before listing ...

Do You Know What the Bank Addendum REALLY Says?

If your offer on a bank-owned or short-sale property is "accepted", you will receive the bank's addendum to sign. Many buyers (and their agents) just skim through it, sign on the dotted line and send it back to the listing agent. But they don't truly understand what the addendum says nor how it could affect them. Some say, "It's just an addendum. The original sales contract has been accepted and those terms are what count." Wrong. The bank's addendum always has language in it that says something similar to, "This addendum supersedes the terms of the contract of sale and all other addendum." ...

Do You Get a Home Inspection With a Foreclosure/Bank-Owned or Short-Sale Property?

You may be wondering if you're able to do a home inspection on a foreclosure/bank-owned or short-sale property prior to writing an offer or afterwards. Well, the answer is "no" and "maybe". The "no" is the easy part - the "maybe" is where it gets tricky. The easy part...You definitely do not get to do a home inspection prior to submitting an offer. That's the case with most all residential real estate sales - foreclosures/bank-owned properties, short-sales, traditional resales and new construction. The tricky part...you may or may not be allowed to do an inspection of the property after verbal or written ratification. Let me explain... Some banks ...

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Happy July 4th!

Hope everyone has a great July 4th weekend! -Danilo Read More →

Negative Equity, Not Sub-Prime to Blame; New 125% Refi LTV

Two interesting discussions are going on right now over at VAR buzz (Disclosure: I wrote one of the posts). The first is about the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) increasing their loan-to-value (LTV) limits from 105 to 125 percent. The second is about how it’s... [Read more]

10 Things To Look Out For With Bank-Owned Property Contracts

I had the opportunity to attend an excellent “REO Contracts” (aka “contracts on bank-owned properties”) class yesterday presented by Keith Barrett, Esq of Champion Title in Leesburg, Virginia. The class went over some of the main pitfalls of REO... [Read more]

A Seller’s Guide to the Short-Sale Process

Some of you may be wondering how you can go about selling your home the “short-sale” route, but aren’t sure how it works. Well, here’s what I call a “Seller’s Guide to the Short Sale Process”… First and foremost, let’s... [Read more]

10 Questions To Ask Before Writing an Offer on a Short-Sale

It’s like the Wild West right now when it comes to short-sales in Loudoun County (and the entire Northern VA area). Some take 60 days to settle while others take 6 months (if they settle at all). Some are handled by agents, title companies and negotiators that know... [Read more]

Do You Qualify for a Loan Modification?

This article about loan modifications was passed along to me by Morgan Brown from Blown Mortgage. It’s a must read if you’re thinking about asking for a loan modification from your bank/lender. Loan Modification Math Too many people considering whether loan... [Read more]

Best Condo Investment Opportunities in Loudoun, Fairfax County

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Can You Make Money “Flipping” Homes in this Market?

Ever since the Loudoun/Northern Virginia real estate market turned in 2005, real estate investors have not really been able to make a lot of money “flipping” homes. In fact, many lost money. This is because prices were still declining and investors ended up... [Read more]

Foreclosure, Bank-Owned, Short-Sale Properties Bulk of Loudoun Home Sales

Foreclosure, bank-owned and short-sale properties make up over half of total home sales in Loudoun County. This has been the case for some time now and will most likely continue through at least the end of 2009, if not longer. A few things I’ve noticed… The... [Read more]