Here are George Soros' lectures. They were held at a Budapest university and broadcast on the Financial Times' website. Follow the link to see part of his lecture series on China and the way ahead.
George Soros Financial TImes
Monday, March 29, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Accomplishing a Successful Short Pay Sale
What is a short pay?
A short pay is when an owner pays off a loan by paying less than what is currently owed on it. A short sale is the sale of a property such that it results in a loan being short paid by the owner. Both occur when the property is sold and the market value is less than the loan currently owed by the owner.
Until recently, few people knew much about short sales or short pays. Those real estate agents and attorneys who were active in real estate in the 1990’s are revisiting the now little-known practice of short selling property as an alternative to foreclosure. A short sale is also sometimes called a “pre-foreclosure sale.” However, not everyone facing a foreclosure qualifies for a short sale.
When should a home owner consider a short-pay?
For a home owner whose property’s market value is less than the total encumbrances they owe, and who is having increasing difficulty making the mortgage payment, a short-sale may be a good alternative to foreclosure. Know your options as a seller and you may not be forced to let the property go into foreclosure.
If you don’t qualify for a short pay, you may still be able to negotiate what is termed a work-out with your lender, whereby you agree to pay the balance of the debt upon the close of escrow. As a result of paying off the balance of the loan, you would likely have no negative credit reprecussions or other legal issues.
Contacting a real estate agent or attorney knowledgeable in the negotiation of short sales will start the process and help you figure out whether or not a short pay, with or without a work-out with your lender, is an option for you. Your agent should be well organized and informed to help you the most effectively. When you start this process, be prepared to answer many personal questions about your finances as that is the only way for a good agent to effectively assist you in evaluating your situation.
Who should consider a short pay?
Although a short sale may be best solution for some homeowners, it is not for those individuals who have some assets, a good job with garnishable wages, etc. This is why individuals considering a short pay off should seek advice regarding the advisability of proceeding in this manner.
How does one successfully complete a short pay?
In order to successfully negotiate a short pay, without a work-out on the balance of the loan amount, you will have to demonstrate that the probability of a foreclosure in your case is high. If it is, then the bank will consider you a candidate for a short pay. The package you submit to the lender will consist of all the supporting documentation illustrating your situation and your need for short pay approval. It is not enough to write a hardship letter alone, as most lenders will require proof of the reasons why they should approve your file. The lender will consider the following: illness of the borrower(s) when accompanied by doctor’s statements, death of a borrower(s), divorce or legal separation when accompanied by legal documentation from the court or your attorney, involuntary job loss with documentation and past check stubs, etc. In addition to the above reason(s) and supporting documentation you will provide the lender, they will also require complete financial disclosure of income and assets.
Most lenders will require that the entire package of information be submitted at one time. It is important to the lender that the file they establish on your case not be completed in pieces or sections. The main reason is that the loss mitigation department people, who are those that help us negotiate short pays, may have up to 200 files each at one time to process. As a result, they have no time to track down paperwork or people. If the file is complete, it gets moved to the top of their stack and pushed successfully toward approval. Many loss mitigation employees and negotiators are paid a bonus per approved file, or upon reaching a certain number of approved files. This is because in approving these short-pays and avoiding the foreclosure process, they are also saving the lender time and money.
As you start to think of what will comprise your package, it is also a good time to write a letter of authorization to your bank, referencing your loan number(s) and authorizing your agent to be in touch directly with your lender. Your real estate agent will be doing most, if not all, of the negotiating and following up on your file and this will facilitate that process.
After you have submitted the authorization by fax or email to your lender’s loss mitigation department, your real estate agent can then contact your lender directly. Some lenders will not send out a package with their checklists and forms before you have listed your home and received an offer. They really don’t want to take the time to consider approving a short pay if it doesn’t have an offer for them to review at the same time. Other lenders send out the package at the initiation of the process in order for you to get started. It is prudent to begin collecting your last two years’ tax returns, pay stubs, bank statements, financial statement, hardship letter, etc. whether or not you actually have received the lenders package.
This would be the time to put your property on the market. In order for you to accomplish your goal of short paying the loan, and especially if you are already in default on the loan, the property must be aggressively priced and marketed. It should be priced below what the comparables would suggest, and not at market value. When the first notice of default has been filed by the lender there is a clock that begins ticking and you will have a limited time to accomplish the result you want.
When your agent shows your property, he or she will explain to buyers and their agents that it is a potential short sale. Therefore, the response time from the bank will be slow after submission of an offer and that it may be a while before they hear whether or not the short pay has been approved. It may take as long as 6-8 weeks for the approval process to be completed!
A short sale purchase, though it may feel like a good deal to some buyers, is not for those who are faint of heart. It takes both perseverance and patience on the part of the buyer and their agent. Therefore, it is crucial that your agent explain this complex process in detail to the buyer and their agent, lest you find yourself accepting an offer from a buyer who within a couple of weeks feels the need to withdraw his or her offer. Your lender is an intricate bureaucracy and it will take time for your agent to maneuver the maze to obtain the desired results.
Once you and your agent negotiate a reasonable offer, you will sign it and your agent will get an estimate of closing costs based on the recorded liens, and the offer you have accepted. Your package will then be promptly submitted to the lender. After your lender has assigned a person to your file they will locate a broker to do a broker price opinion. This agent will be in touch with your listing agent and will need access to view the property as they prepare their report. A good listing agent will prepare a record of comparable sales to give the agent completing the broker price opinion for the lender when they meet them at the property.
It is your agent’s responsibility from that point on to follow up with the person to whom the package was submitted. The package may move from person to person before it is in the hands of the negotiator who will do a final review and approve the short sale. You hopefully will then receive a short pay approval letter and that is the point at which you can open escrow with the buyer and start the more conventional process of having their inspections done and their appraisal ordered and their own loan process started. The approval letter is usually only good for a certain number of days. If there was a notice of default filed and a possible trustee foreclosure sale scheduled, the escrow must either close before that sale date or, if it is practically impossible, then the negotiator will typically postpone the trustee’s sale 30 days or more if necessary to allow you and the buyer you have procured to close the escrow. There is a very narrow margin of error, which means that if the buyer you are in escrow with does not complete the sale within the allotted time, there is a good chance that you will not have a second opportunity to market the property and start the process again with another buyer before the trustee’s sale goes through.
What about the tax implications of a short pay?
There may be tax ramifications as a result of a short sale that vary from those of a foreclosure. Therefore, before you decide to go with a short pay, you may want to consult with your tax advisor about any tax liability.
A short pay is when an owner pays off a loan by paying less than what is currently owed on it. A short sale is the sale of a property such that it results in a loan being short paid by the owner. Both occur when the property is sold and the market value is less than the loan currently owed by the owner.
Until recently, few people knew much about short sales or short pays. Those real estate agents and attorneys who were active in real estate in the 1990’s are revisiting the now little-known practice of short selling property as an alternative to foreclosure. A short sale is also sometimes called a “pre-foreclosure sale.” However, not everyone facing a foreclosure qualifies for a short sale.
When should a home owner consider a short-pay?
For a home owner whose property’s market value is less than the total encumbrances they owe, and who is having increasing difficulty making the mortgage payment, a short-sale may be a good alternative to foreclosure. Know your options as a seller and you may not be forced to let the property go into foreclosure.
If you don’t qualify for a short pay, you may still be able to negotiate what is termed a work-out with your lender, whereby you agree to pay the balance of the debt upon the close of escrow. As a result of paying off the balance of the loan, you would likely have no negative credit reprecussions or other legal issues.
Contacting a real estate agent or attorney knowledgeable in the negotiation of short sales will start the process and help you figure out whether or not a short pay, with or without a work-out with your lender, is an option for you. Your agent should be well organized and informed to help you the most effectively. When you start this process, be prepared to answer many personal questions about your finances as that is the only way for a good agent to effectively assist you in evaluating your situation.
Who should consider a short pay?
Although a short sale may be best solution for some homeowners, it is not for those individuals who have some assets, a good job with garnishable wages, etc. This is why individuals considering a short pay off should seek advice regarding the advisability of proceeding in this manner.
How does one successfully complete a short pay?
In order to successfully negotiate a short pay, without a work-out on the balance of the loan amount, you will have to demonstrate that the probability of a foreclosure in your case is high. If it is, then the bank will consider you a candidate for a short pay. The package you submit to the lender will consist of all the supporting documentation illustrating your situation and your need for short pay approval. It is not enough to write a hardship letter alone, as most lenders will require proof of the reasons why they should approve your file. The lender will consider the following: illness of the borrower(s) when accompanied by doctor’s statements, death of a borrower(s), divorce or legal separation when accompanied by legal documentation from the court or your attorney, involuntary job loss with documentation and past check stubs, etc. In addition to the above reason(s) and supporting documentation you will provide the lender, they will also require complete financial disclosure of income and assets.
Most lenders will require that the entire package of information be submitted at one time. It is important to the lender that the file they establish on your case not be completed in pieces or sections. The main reason is that the loss mitigation department people, who are those that help us negotiate short pays, may have up to 200 files each at one time to process. As a result, they have no time to track down paperwork or people. If the file is complete, it gets moved to the top of their stack and pushed successfully toward approval. Many loss mitigation employees and negotiators are paid a bonus per approved file, or upon reaching a certain number of approved files. This is because in approving these short-pays and avoiding the foreclosure process, they are also saving the lender time and money.
As you start to think of what will comprise your package, it is also a good time to write a letter of authorization to your bank, referencing your loan number(s) and authorizing your agent to be in touch directly with your lender. Your real estate agent will be doing most, if not all, of the negotiating and following up on your file and this will facilitate that process.
After you have submitted the authorization by fax or email to your lender’s loss mitigation department, your real estate agent can then contact your lender directly. Some lenders will not send out a package with their checklists and forms before you have listed your home and received an offer. They really don’t want to take the time to consider approving a short pay if it doesn’t have an offer for them to review at the same time. Other lenders send out the package at the initiation of the process in order for you to get started. It is prudent to begin collecting your last two years’ tax returns, pay stubs, bank statements, financial statement, hardship letter, etc. whether or not you actually have received the lenders package.
This would be the time to put your property on the market. In order for you to accomplish your goal of short paying the loan, and especially if you are already in default on the loan, the property must be aggressively priced and marketed. It should be priced below what the comparables would suggest, and not at market value. When the first notice of default has been filed by the lender there is a clock that begins ticking and you will have a limited time to accomplish the result you want.
When your agent shows your property, he or she will explain to buyers and their agents that it is a potential short sale. Therefore, the response time from the bank will be slow after submission of an offer and that it may be a while before they hear whether or not the short pay has been approved. It may take as long as 6-8 weeks for the approval process to be completed!
A short sale purchase, though it may feel like a good deal to some buyers, is not for those who are faint of heart. It takes both perseverance and patience on the part of the buyer and their agent. Therefore, it is crucial that your agent explain this complex process in detail to the buyer and their agent, lest you find yourself accepting an offer from a buyer who within a couple of weeks feels the need to withdraw his or her offer. Your lender is an intricate bureaucracy and it will take time for your agent to maneuver the maze to obtain the desired results.
Once you and your agent negotiate a reasonable offer, you will sign it and your agent will get an estimate of closing costs based on the recorded liens, and the offer you have accepted. Your package will then be promptly submitted to the lender. After your lender has assigned a person to your file they will locate a broker to do a broker price opinion. This agent will be in touch with your listing agent and will need access to view the property as they prepare their report. A good listing agent will prepare a record of comparable sales to give the agent completing the broker price opinion for the lender when they meet them at the property.
It is your agent’s responsibility from that point on to follow up with the person to whom the package was submitted. The package may move from person to person before it is in the hands of the negotiator who will do a final review and approve the short sale. You hopefully will then receive a short pay approval letter and that is the point at which you can open escrow with the buyer and start the more conventional process of having their inspections done and their appraisal ordered and their own loan process started. The approval letter is usually only good for a certain number of days. If there was a notice of default filed and a possible trustee foreclosure sale scheduled, the escrow must either close before that sale date or, if it is practically impossible, then the negotiator will typically postpone the trustee’s sale 30 days or more if necessary to allow you and the buyer you have procured to close the escrow. There is a very narrow margin of error, which means that if the buyer you are in escrow with does not complete the sale within the allotted time, there is a good chance that you will not have a second opportunity to market the property and start the process again with another buyer before the trustee’s sale goes through.
What about the tax implications of a short pay?
There may be tax ramifications as a result of a short sale that vary from those of a foreclosure. Therefore, before you decide to go with a short pay, you may want to consult with your tax advisor about any tax liability.
Monday, March 8, 2010
The Benefits of a Real Estate Team
“We interviewed a ‘stand-alone agent’ and another who has two assistants. The single agent pointed out that we might never hear from the other agent if we hire her because the assistants do all the work. We know you have a team approach and would appreciate your comments.”
- A prospective home seller
Have you seen the paperwork required to sell a California home recently? The listing forms and disclosures now total fifteen pages, eight reports, and one booklet. The sale process includes thirteen pages or more, three certificates, several pages of disclosures, and supplemental escrow paperwork. Home inspections may take three to four hours and produce reports up to twenty pages. Supplemental inspections of roof, fireplace, plumbing, etc. can add further reports. Pest control reports are several pages, and preliminary title reports can be lengthy. By the time an escrow closes, the file may be over an inch thick!
Can you visualize the time it takes to process, organize and monitor all of these details? Are you aware of the current contingency removal process? It requires keeping track and taking affirmative action by specific dates, and there are often several different issues and time frames to deal with, as well as three to four inter-related forms.
If a “stand-alone” agent is meeting with a current or prospective new client, or is out for two to three hours showing properties to a buyer, who is available to answer phone calls and coordinate marketing activities in the office? Who is going to assure that advertising details are completed, digital photography done, and publication deadlines are met? How will brochure boxes get put up, and who has the time to keep them stocked?
If a single agent is at a lengthy property inspection, who can make the calls for a last minute appointment? And who can do a short-notice showing? When an agent is involved in family activities, may be out for a day with the flu, or is otherwise occupied for several hours, who is available to cover the office? If the agent has an arrangement where another agent will cover such times, how familiar might the other agent be with all the details of your home and property showing routine? The “team agent” also is much more able to be involved in networking with buyers’ agents to increase the attention and energy about your home.
I could never provide by myself even half the level and quality of service my team and I offer. Each of us has areas of specialized skills as well as being able to cover each other’s activities when necessary. We have systems and checklists for handling nearly every aspect of the sale from start to finish, including effective marketing, advertising and escrow management.
The business model that many “team agents” use is similar to a doctor’s office, where a different individual is primarily responsible for reception and information gathering, preliminary measurements and temperature reading, obtaining of any lab samples needed, record-keeping and invoicing. Certainly, the doctor could do most or all of the functions and activities, and probably does in some small towns or rural areas. But in most practices, the professional level of service requires at least two to three other people in the office.
Would a baseball team thrive with just one coach? Could a CPA provide high-quality service for more than a few clients if he was also the receptionist, bookkeeper and file clerk? Would you hire an attorney who did all his own research, computer entry, copying of documents, office records and filing? Also, would you rather have an attorney who is in the courtroom every week, or one who is there three or four times a year? The median average agent serving the Palisades does only one sale a year.
I suggest that you get a list of sellers represented during the last few years by both of the agents. Call and ask them to describe their experience, and find out if they would use the same agent again.
If you would like some guidelines for interviewing agents, please call me for a booklet of some suggested questions and other issues to consider.
- A prospective home seller
Have you seen the paperwork required to sell a California home recently? The listing forms and disclosures now total fifteen pages, eight reports, and one booklet. The sale process includes thirteen pages or more, three certificates, several pages of disclosures, and supplemental escrow paperwork. Home inspections may take three to four hours and produce reports up to twenty pages. Supplemental inspections of roof, fireplace, plumbing, etc. can add further reports. Pest control reports are several pages, and preliminary title reports can be lengthy. By the time an escrow closes, the file may be over an inch thick!
Can you visualize the time it takes to process, organize and monitor all of these details? Are you aware of the current contingency removal process? It requires keeping track and taking affirmative action by specific dates, and there are often several different issues and time frames to deal with, as well as three to four inter-related forms.
If a “stand-alone” agent is meeting with a current or prospective new client, or is out for two to three hours showing properties to a buyer, who is available to answer phone calls and coordinate marketing activities in the office? Who is going to assure that advertising details are completed, digital photography done, and publication deadlines are met? How will brochure boxes get put up, and who has the time to keep them stocked?
If a single agent is at a lengthy property inspection, who can make the calls for a last minute appointment? And who can do a short-notice showing? When an agent is involved in family activities, may be out for a day with the flu, or is otherwise occupied for several hours, who is available to cover the office? If the agent has an arrangement where another agent will cover such times, how familiar might the other agent be with all the details of your home and property showing routine? The “team agent” also is much more able to be involved in networking with buyers’ agents to increase the attention and energy about your home.
I could never provide by myself even half the level and quality of service my team and I offer. Each of us has areas of specialized skills as well as being able to cover each other’s activities when necessary. We have systems and checklists for handling nearly every aspect of the sale from start to finish, including effective marketing, advertising and escrow management.
The business model that many “team agents” use is similar to a doctor’s office, where a different individual is primarily responsible for reception and information gathering, preliminary measurements and temperature reading, obtaining of any lab samples needed, record-keeping and invoicing. Certainly, the doctor could do most or all of the functions and activities, and probably does in some small towns or rural areas. But in most practices, the professional level of service requires at least two to three other people in the office.
Would a baseball team thrive with just one coach? Could a CPA provide high-quality service for more than a few clients if he was also the receptionist, bookkeeper and file clerk? Would you hire an attorney who did all his own research, computer entry, copying of documents, office records and filing? Also, would you rather have an attorney who is in the courtroom every week, or one who is there three or four times a year? The median average agent serving the Palisades does only one sale a year.
I suggest that you get a list of sellers represented during the last few years by both of the agents. Call and ask them to describe their experience, and find out if they would use the same agent again.
If you would like some guidelines for interviewing agents, please call me for a booklet of some suggested questions and other issues to consider.
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