Rhode Island real estate keeps getting better: Congratulations to Mandie Sullivan, Focus Professionals, Inc. new Principal Broker!

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We here at Focus Professionals, Inc. want to congratulate Mandie Sullivan, long time agent, on earning her broker’s license, and becoming the new Principal Broker at Focus Professionals, Inc.

Mandie worked hard to earn her license, and is very proud to have received it. She is now the designated, or Principal, Broker for our Rhode Island Real Estate firm.

We look forward to a long and productive future relationship in Rhode Island’s real estate market.

Looking for Rhode Island home to purchase? give us a call or contact us via our RI Real Estate website

A list of useful strategies to avoid foreclosure

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If you’ve defaulted on your mortgage payments and foreclosure is looming over you, then you should look for strategies that could prevent it. There are different ways by which foreclosure can be avoided. It is important that you explore all the strategies to avoid a foreclosure so that you can select a suitable option for you. One such strategy involves mortgage loan modification. To find out more, read along the article.

Different ways to avoid foreclosure

Foreclosure is not something which is inevitable if payments on mortgage are not made. Small steps from your end can help prevent it. Given below are the various ways by which you can avoid a foreclosure:

Mortgage loan modification

Mortgage loan modification is the process by which the terms and conditions of a mortgage is altered to make it more affordable to the borrower. It can be reduction of the principal amount/interest rate, extending of the time period of the loan or other forms of modification. With more favorable terms and conditions, you can become regular with your payments and thus can eventually pay off your mortgage. If you want to resort to mortgage loan modification, then you can either negotiate with your existing lender or can talk to other lenders as well.

Mortgage refinance

This is a process by which your existing mortgage is substituted with a new one which offers more favorable terms and conditions to suit your requirements. A new loan can enable you to make low monthly payments so that you can make payments properly. If you think that this method can be beneficial for you, then compare the deals offered by various lenders in order to obtain the most favorable one.

Forbearance

This is a process by which your lender will provide you with a repayment plan which will be based on your financial condition. You can be permitted to make low payments or no payment at all for a certain time period. You may have to make up for reduction after that period is over. For this to be effective, you’d have to show your lender that you’d receive some form of monetary benefit in the future, be it in the form of bonus, additional cash or other means.

Short sale

To avoid foreclosure, you can go for a short sale. This is a process by which a property is sold for a price less than the remaining balance of the mortgage and the money received from the sale is used to pay off the mortgage. Though this process will not save your house, it has certain advantages over foreclosure. Foreclosure affects your credit score severely for which you may not be granted a new mortgage for a period of 7-10 years. Short sale also negatively affects your credit score but it has a less severe impact. After a short sale, you may not be granted a new mortgage for 2-3 years. Additionally, lenders agree to forgive deficiencies more in case of short sales than in foreclosure cases.

Deed-in-lieu of Foreclosure

This is a process by which you hand over your property to your lender before it is taken through a foreclosure. As compared to a foreclosure, this process will do less damage to your credit score. This process can be advantageous to the lender as well, as it can save his time and money which would have been needed for a foreclosure.

From mortgage loan modification to deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, there are various means by which you can prevent foreclosure. Research well about each of them, before you select one.

Tips and tricks on how to gear up for short sale real estate investing

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Purchasing real estate is probably the biggest investment that you’ll ever make in your life. Thus, it’s very essential for you to take note of each preliminary measure prior to making an offer on a house. Above everything, you need to have sufficient money for down payment and get pre-consent for a loan from a mortgage lender. However, before you take out a loan, it’s always advisable to make use of a mortgage loan calculator to calculate a mortgage payment. Nevertheless, under the present economic scenario, it’s quite natural for you to feel scared of dealing in the real estate market, since you would be uncertain whether the value of the property that you’ve recently bought will drop even more before you get an opportunity to flip it. Under such situations, you might think of short sale real estate investing.

Normally, a short sale implies that you purchase a house whose proprietor has failed to make his mortgage payments and is about to lose his home, while simultaneously persuading his bank to accept an amount, that’s much less than the actual mortgage sum. This plan could indeed work, as the home proprietor can now be free of making any further mortgage payment on the home, which he isn’t in a state to do right now. Rather than repossessing the property, the bank would place it for auction by means of foreclosure. However, this could be an expensive and time-consuming process.

After you’ve discovered the property that you would want to buy, contact the owner of the property. While you have a talk with the proprietor, just remain sensitive to the trader’s fiscal situation and problem. Also be precise and clear in your statements so that no misunderstanding crops up between you and the owner. Once the trader is influenced, you need to get his consent to sign a written contract, as proof for the bank. Collect some information about the lender, so you may easily approach him with your proposal. However, you require being flexible while talking to the lender, as he might not be ready to accept your offer initially. When you make the offer, just show how serious you are regarding the purchase of the property and also persuade them to come down a bit. Once your deal is finalized, get a written approval from the lender.

Remember that perseverance in a very significant factor in this matter, since you might not always be successful in convincing every seller, each time you’re keen on a particular property. However, remain patient and carry on with your attempts, since owing to the existing financial situation there are several houses up for short sale. Besides a proficient lawyer and a good tax consultant, you’ll also need a good contractor for taking care of the legal as well as physical welfare of your property after you’ve obtained it.

New Short Sale Information posted to our company website…

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We recently updated our company website with a whole bunch of new short sale information, where we explain the various Home Affordable programs including the HARP, or Home Affordable Refinance Program, for sellers who are underwater; the HAFA program, or Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives; the HAMP program, or Home Affordable Modification Program; as well as the process of doing a short sale, what are considered curable defficiencies, non-curable defficiencies, and such.

Here is an excerpt from one of our pages:

Loan Modification – A loan modification is a permanent change in one or more of the terms of a mortgagor’s loan, which allows the loan to be reinstated and results in a payment the mortgagor can afford. Modifications may include a change in the interest rate; capitalization of delinquent principal, interest or escrow items; extension of the time available to repay the loan; and/or re-amortization of the balance due. Modification may be appropriate for borrowers who have experienced a permanent or long-term reduction in income or an increase in expenses, or who have recovered from the cause of the default but do not have sufficient surplus income to repay the arrearage through a repayment plan. To qualify, borrowers must be able to support the monthly mortgage debt after the terms of the loan are modified. Not all loans are appropriate for modification. Loans which best support modifications include those with above-market interest rates, lower loan-to-value ratios, and/or mature terms (loans paid down 10 years or more). The modification tool is valuable when the arrearage can be capitalized into the loan balance, the term extended, and/or the interest rate adjusted to current market rate so that the resulting monthly payment is at a level the borrower can afford.

We hope many of you who are in need of assistance with a short sale find the information useful. With short sales constituting a larger percentage of real estate sales in Rhode Island than ever before, home owners who are struggling to make their increased mortgage payments, or who have lost income either through unemployment or other means, should consider these options… and of course, we are available to assist. Severaql of our agents have significant experience with short sales, and do not require some third party facilitator to work through these transactions… this of course reduces fees and the length of time the transaction will take.

Give us a call if you have any questions about short sales, preventing foreclosure and/or bankruptcy, or anything else related to real estate: 401-293-0631

Selling yoru home? Use a full time agent…

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I cannot tell you how many times over the past year or two we have encountered difficulty in showing a house to very interested buyers because the agent who had the listing was unable to show the because they had a full time job that would require our buyer to take days off work just to see that house… in many instances in fact, the house could only be shown at some highly inconvenient time for the buyer due to issues with work schedules of the agents…

I realize that in this economy, it is really only a few agents that can support themselves full time in real estate… but when it comes to selling your home, would you want an agent that could not accommodate the buyers schedules and so must keep the house on the market for far longer than would otherwise have been the case… and of course, the longer the house remains on the market, the less likely you are to get the top price for it, since buyers are aware that a house that has been on the market for a long time generally means a seller will be more motivated than otherwise.

hitting as brick wall

Dealing with such a listing agent can be like hitting a brick wall… your house cannot be showed to prospective buyers in a way that expedites the sale… the buyer agents become frustrated, as do the buyers, and they move on to other houses, which can be shown…

Is this how you want your house listed?

When listing your home for sale, make sure your agent can show the house whenever prospective buyers want to see it… and one sure way to do this is to ensure that they are actually full time agents… why go with an agent that is not successful enough to do this as a full time job, when you can have one that is, and that has the pattern of success that will aid in getting your house sold as rapidly as possible for the best price that can be had… USE FULL TIME AGENTS…