This is Derik Lewis with Lawyers Realty Group located in Orange County. We are here to assist you with both aspects of the short sale world, the legal side and the real estate side. We have the expertise you would like and deserve to successfully short sell your home. I’m a real estate attorney and [...]
Make Sure Your Bank Is Reaching Out To You
Hi, I am Derik Lewis with Lawyers Realty Group here in Orange County. At Lawyers Realty Group, we have legal and broker experience to help you with all of your short sale transaction needs. If you have watched the video on the foreclosure timeline and processing, you know that the bank is obligated to reach [...]
Should I Have An Attorney To Assist With My Short Sale?
Thank you for joining me; I’m Derik Lewis with Lawyers Realty Group. We’re here to help people like you with all of their real estate and short sale requests in the Orange County real estate market. Currently I’m discussing a frequently asked question: whether you need to have a lawyer involved in your short sale [...]
What Is Lawyers Realty G...
This is Derik Lewis with Lawyers Realty Group located in Orange County. We are here to assist you with both aspects...
Welcome, I’m Derik Lewis from Lawyers Realty Group in Orange County. Lawyers Realty Group is here to answer all of your questions about short sale transactions.
Today I’m discussing the non-judicial foreclosure process in California. I wanted to show you a few of the documents that banks will mail you and some of the things you would go through in the process so you have a basic understanding of how the process goes.
Foreclosure can not commence until you’re in default; default can be not paying the mortgage, insurance or taxes. Once you have quit paying, you will start receiving letters and calls from the lienholder. There are lots of things they are obligated to mail you before they can initiate the formal foreclosure process. It’ll usually take 3-4 months before they’ll go to the next step. Before proceeding, they are obligated to supply you with alternatives to foreclosure, such as a loan modification or short selling your property.
The foreclosure process begins when they send you a notice of default and election to sell. They need to wait 90 days to provide you the right to cure your default, such as refinance or do a reverse mortgage. After the 90 days, they are permitted to record the notice of trustee sale. They set the date, time and location of where your home will be sold. At the sale, someone will either purchase your property or the bank will take it back. Once your home is no longer yours they have to send you a notice to quit and evict you. Basically from beginning to end, the complete process can take around 8-9 months.
If you’re facing foreclosure, you can always consider short selling your property. There are plenty of alternate options out there and short selling is one that gives you many benefits that other alternatives can’t offer you. If you have any questions or would like to address your specific situation, please take a look at our website. There is an abundance of information out there about short selling your home.
Thanks for visiting our blog; I’m Derik Lewis with Lawyers Realty Group. We are based in the Orange County area and want to assist you with all of your traditional real estate and short sale needs.
I would like to speak a bit about the Mabry case and how the courts are dealing with it. If you’ve watched my previous blog on the foreclosure time frame, you are aware that the lender is supposed to reach out to you, make contact and help you see if there are any alternate options to foreclosure. During the period of time between when you’ve stopped paying your mortgage and the lender contacts you, pay careful attention to what the lender is saying and doing. If they are not providing you the correct information and attempt to make contact with you, they are breaking the law with respect to filing the notice of default.
If you happen to take action against them, they will put off the foreclosure process, but all they actually have to do is talk to you about the alternatives to foreclosure. They do not have to give you a loan modification or find an alternative for you, they’re just doing what the law requires and meeting with you.
Essentially what you should do for this meeting is compile your documents and present them to the lender. If a loan modification is not an choice, they should be suggesting to you a short sale on your property. It saves them money and time in the long and doesn’t have such a drastic impact on your credit. It is my opinion that they should give you a certain amount of time to pursue a short sale and also give you incentives to do one.
If you have any questions regarding this or if you have a claim against your bank and need more information, visit our website to submit an email or give us a call. Lawyers Realty Group can help you pilot the short sale process, so give us a call today.
Hi, I am Derik Lewis from Lawyer’s Realty Group. We’re located the Orange County area and are here to help you navigate the turbulent real estate and short sale market. Today I am talking about short sale transactions on your home.
A short sale is basically the sale of your home for an amount that doesn’t pay any outstanding mortgages or liens. That means you will need lender consent to do a short sale.
Many individuals ask why a lender would approve such a thing. If they don’t do a short sale, their other alternative is to foreclose on the property. If they foreclose, the majority of the time they’re going to become the owner of the house and are responsible for maintaining it and paying all of the taxes and insurance, all in an effort to sell the property to a new buyer. If you’re able to bring a buyer to the table and conclude a short sale that gets them as much as they would get after foreclosure, they are usually willing to cooperate and avoid the hassle.
People also wonder why an individual wants to short sell their home. One reason is that people get to avoid a public foreclosure and a public eviction process; you don’t want to see these on your credit. A short sale won’t have as much of an affect on your credit as foreclosure will and it will permit you to purchase a home again earlier than a foreclosure would. The number one reason that individuals generally do a short sale is to have the ability in that process to negotiate away deficiencies and liabilities from second lien holders, lines of credit and outstanding HOA fees. In a short sale you can negotiate and use the buyer’s finances to hopefully pay them off. If you choose foreclosure, a number of creditors will have the ability to sue you for the balances.
Check out our website where we have a lot of information about traditional real estate and short sale transactions. As always, if you have any concerns about short selling your property or you need assistance, please contact us at Lawyer’s Realty Group.
Hi, I’m Derik Lewis from Lawyers Realty Group. We are here to assist you with all of your real estate and short sale needs in the Orange County real estate market. If you might be facing foreclosure and seeking an alternative to it, you can always consider short selling your house.
I have been receiving a lot of calls lately about individuals receiving letters from their lender stating their loan modification application has been denied due to the net present value test. I have a three part blog on the net present value test on our website if you wanted to take a look at it for a more detailed explanation, but I just wanted to cover it quickly here today.
When you apply for a loan modification, there are two tests a lender has to do. The first is a fairly easy concept, the affordability concept; you look at your gross income and the guidelines say you can afford about 31% of your income towards your housing debt. If you’re above 31% the lienholder can reduce their rate and extend the term; if they can do these things and get you to the 31%, then you’re approved on the first part of the test.
The second test is the net present value concept, which is a dilemma for most people. Basically, the bank is looking at the worth of the home and attempting to determine if they were to foreclose and sell, how much money would they make in that sale. What they do is evaluate the amount they will make in the sale versus giving you the loan modification you would need to get you to that affordability rate and seeing which one has less of a loss to them. If selling the property gets them more money, then their rules state that they must sell that property rather than grant you that loan modification.
If you have any more questions regarding this or other options to foreclosure like short selling your property, please visit our website or get in touch with us. We can help you evaluate your state of affairs, save your credit and short sell your home.
Thank you for visiting the website; I’m Derik Lewis with Lawyers Realty Group. We’re here to help you with all aspects of conventional real estate and short sale dealings in the Orange County area. If you’re going through foreclosure and are in search of an alternative to it, you can always contemplate protecting your credit and short selling your home.
Today I am going to talk about my opinion about another alternative to foreclosure that I am a little cynical about, trial loan modifications. I had an individual ask me if trial payments on a loan modification are a bank tactic. When you apply for a loan modification, they ask you some general questions and then mail you some paperwork to fill out. If you’re anywhere in the range of qualifying for a loan modification, they’re forced to send you the documents and talk you through it. The servicers have an incentive to put you into a trial payment plan. The trial payment is a way to get you to keep sending them money while they take more than enough time processing your loan modification.
It’s my belief that the servicers are collecting the payments, taking their fees first and then sending the remaining balance towards the payment. After a considerable amount of time, individuals are still receiving debt validation notices telling them they’re behind by so much money, even though their loan modification application has not been denied yet. I think that the servicer will put anyone into a trial modification period in order to get the payments coming in so the servicer can collect their fees.
I’m not saying that there are not some valid loan modifications out there; I think you just need to be careful about making the choice of doing a trial loan modification. We have a lot more information on our website regarding this, so feel free to check it out. There is also a plethora of information if you are searching for other alternatives to foreclosure, such as short selling your home. If you have any further questions about trial loan modifications, short selling your home, or current real estate information please contact me today. You can email me or call me. We’re happy to help you at Lawyers Realty Group.
Hi, I am Derik Lewis with Lawyers Realty Group. We are here to assist you with all of your real estate and short sale needs in this troubled Orange County housing market. I would like to cover a few things concerning bankruptcy because I’ve gotten quite a few inquiries this past week. One important item to remember is that bankruptcy is not going to save you from foreclosure; if you are trying to end the foreclosure on your home, you can always consider doing a short sale.
You can file a chapter 7 or chapter 13 bankruptcy claim; the U.S. Trustees website will explain it to you, but basically a chapter 7 is a total liquidation. A chapter 13 bankruptcy is a reorganization. You can inform all of your unsecured creditors that any amount you have over necessities in income will be payed towards those creditors for the next 3-5 years. If you finish that plan, the rest is forgiven. Some people may earn too much money to qualify for a chapter 7 bankruptcy, so they are required to do a chapter 13.
Many individuals have wondered when they can file and how it may affect a foreclosure. If you’re looking to postpone the foreclosure sale and protect assets and liability, you will want to file at least two business days before the foreclosure date.
Bankruptcy is not an alternative to foreclosure because the lienholder can request to carry on with the foreclosure; if you’re looking for an alternative, you can always consider short selling your home. At Lawyers Realty Group, we work in coordination with the bankruptcy filing and we contact the lender as your lawyer and start talking about from the start the a short sale. This buys you extra time, but also gives you the benefit of not affecting your credit as much. If you want more information about short selling your home, or are wondering if you meet the criteria to short sell your home, please feel free to check out our website, email us or give us a call.
Hello, i am Derik Lewis from Lawyers Realty Group, Orange County’s top short sale team. I often hear people say that California is a non-deficiency state, which actually isn’t true. Lenders in California have the right to seek deficiency judgements and certain lenders are allowed to sue for outstanding balances for a period of 4 years after default.
What we do have in California though, is a set of laws called the anti-deficiency laws. What these laws do is bar lenders from seeking deficiencies and keep them from being able to sue in particular situations. These laws can all be found in California’s Code of Civil Procedure (CCP).
CCP 726 is the foundation of the anti-deficiency laws. What 726 says is that a bank would need to go after a property before sueing the borrower. Even if the house is worth less than what the borrower owes, the bank still has to try to reclaim the house before they can sue the borrower.
The most protective law that keeps banks from going after borrowers is CCP 580b, the purchase money protection. If you have a loan that was used to finance the purchase of the home, the lender is barred from seeking any type of deficiency or from sueing you, whether it is after a short sale or foreclosure. If you refinance part of that loan, you will lose the purchase money protection. There are a couple of other laws that protect you if you have refinanced as well.
We have a new law, CCP 580e, which says that in a short sale, the primary lienholder is not permitted to reserve the right to sue you post short sale. There’s more information about this on our website, especially in the webinar. You are also always encouraged to email me through our website or call us with any questions you might have regarding avoiding foreclosure and doing a short sale on your property.
Derik has 20 years' experience in the real estate business. As an attorney in private practice, he has represented clients in negotiating, documenting and closing real estate transactions. He represented the real estate lending divisions of some of the world's largest banks including JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo Bank. Derik has a comprehensive understanding of loan origination, loan modification, foreclosure, short sales and how lenders make critical decisions throughout the process. More About Derik
