About Me
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Gerard Scheffler- Default and Distressed Property Sales Expert (773) 909-3346
www.chicagolandhomegallery.com - Park Ridge, Illinois, United States
- Gerard Scheffler has been very actively involved in the real estate profession for over seven years. In 2005, immediately after receiving his Broker’s License, he established his first Chicago based brokerage company. The company turned out to be very successful with hundreds of satisfied customers and millions of dollars in closed real estate transactions. Over the years, Gerard has developed a network of returning customers who always refer his services to their family and friends. He is presently a managing broker at Home Gallery Realty brokerage firm specializing in default and distressed property sales. Regardless of his professional development and success, Gerard is constantly looking for ways to improve his skills as well as build his company image and reputation. He is very hardworking and aggressive when it comes to representing his customers ‘ real estate needs and doing his job right. He will work with you to ensure that your property is sold for the highest price possible in the shortest amount of time with the least amount of inconvenience to you. Area of service includes Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake and Mchenry County in the State of Illinois.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Friday, December 30, 2011
Increase in short sales give market a little breathing room...
Short sales up, foreclosures down. That's because in many cases a short sale may be the lesser of two evils for banks and homeowners versus a foreclosure.
It's a tarnished silver lining for people at risk of losing their houses and homeowners in neighborhoods blighted by bank-owned properties, but the robosigning scandal that slowed the foreclosure process to a crawl appears to have increased lender interest in short sales.
"Foreclosure sales are pretty devastating," said Faith Schwartz, executive director of Hope Now, a resource for homeowners facing foreclosure. "We'd much prefer a modification, but if [homeowners] don't quality, then the next best alternative is deed-in-lieu or short sales."
Short sales, in which the lender agrees to let the owner sell the home for less than the amount owed on the mortgage, and foreclosures both climbed in 2010, but while short sales rose by 26,000 this year, the number of foreclosures fell by 255,000, according to Hope Now. Short sales, along with deed-in-lieu of foreclosure deals in which the lender takes the deed essentially as payment for the mortgage, still upend families, torch credit ratings and hurt neighboring property values, but they're far less toxic than foreclosures.
Short sales are better for homeowners. They can stay in their homes, and the quicker process means they can begin rebuilding their credit sooner. Credit scoring firm Fair Isaac Co., which developed the FICO score, says foreclosures and short sales slash the same number of points from a homeowner's credit score. Homeowners with short sales may be able to obtain a loan sooner than foreclosed homeowners, though, which can improve their credit.
In some states, mortgage lenders can pursue a delinquency judgement against homeowners for the difference between the amount due on the mortgage and the purchase price at a foreclosure auction. A delinquent homeowner engaging in a short sale has an opportunity to negotiate away the bank's right to sue for that judgement.The biggest plus for banks is that they stand to make more from a short sale than a foreclosure. According to foreclosure specialists RealtyTrac.com, the average price of a foreclosed home in the second quarter of 2011 was $164,217, while the average price of a short sale was $192,129.
Besides yielding less, foreclosures also cost lenders more in legal and administrative resources. "The incentives against foreclosing are even larger now," Karen Dynan, co-director of the Economic Studies program at the Brookings Institution, said via email. "Servicers are facing enormous staffing constraints because they are trying to deal with so many distressed properties, so it is probably even harder now to find the staff to do the paperwork for the foreclosure."
Lenders are also spending more on due diligence, she said. "Servicers and lenders are being heavily scrutinized right now so they probably are more worried than ever about making a mistake in a foreclosure that could subject them to legal liability in the future."
Neighborhoods also benefit from short sales rather than foreclosures. "Short sales typically sell at less of a discount than foreclosure sales do," Jed Kolko, chief economist at real estate website Trulia.com, said via email. "Also, foreclosed homes often sit vacant while short sales are re-occupied more quickly. For both these reasons, short sales tend to depress neighboring property values less than foreclosures do."
Another issue that plagues foreclosures is vandalism, either from opportunistic criminals preying on vacant homes or from disgruntled homeowners. "It's often not a friendly process so you frequently have cases where people deliberately vandalize homes," Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said.
Posted via email from Gerard Scheffler's Short Sale & Foreclosure News !
Mortgage Rates Finish 2011 Near Historic Lows ! - What is your current mortgage rate today ? ?
Mortgage Rates Finish 2011 Near Historic Lows
MCLEAN, Va., Dec. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Freddie Mac (OTC: FMCC) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), showing average fixed mortgage rates finishing the year near their all-time historic lows helping to keep homebuyer affordability high. Averaging 3.95 percent, the 30-year fixed has been at or below 4.00 percent for the past nine consecutive weeks and only twice in 2011 did it average above 5.00 percent.
News Facts
- 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.95 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending December 29, 2011, up from last week when it averaged 3.91 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.86 percent.
- 15-year FRM this week averaged 3.24 percent with an average 0.8 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.21 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 4.20 percent.
- 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 2.88 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.85 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 3.77 percent.
- 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.78 percent this week with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.77 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 3.26 percent.
Average commitment rates should be reported along with average fees and points to reflect the total upfront cost of obtaining the mortgage. Visit the following links for Regional and National Mortgage Rate Details and Definitions. Borrowers may still pay closing costs which are not included in the survey.
Quotes
Attributed to Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist, Freddie Mac.
- "Mortgage rates ended the year hovering near historic lows in an already affordable housing market. For instance, the seasonally-adjusted S&P/Case-Shiller® 20-City Composite home price index in October was the lowest seen since March 2003. The largest hit areas were Las Vegas with the lowest reading since January 1997 and Atlanta which was since June 1998. It's not surprising then that over 5 percent of households in December plan to purchase a home over the next six months, the highest share since May, according to The Conference Board."
Freddie Mac was established by Congress in 1970 to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the nation's residential mortgage markets. Freddie Mac supports communities across the nation by providing mortgage capital to lenders. Over the years, Freddie Mac has made home possible for one in six homebuyers and more than five million renters.
SOURCE Freddie Mac
Posted via email from Gerard Scheffler's Short Sale & Foreclosure News !
Mortgage Rates Finish 2011 Near Historic Lows ! - What is your current mortgage rate ? ?
MCLEAN, Va., Dec. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Freddie Mac (OTC: FMCC) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), showing average fixed mortgage rates finishing the year near their all-time historic lows helping to keep homebuyer affordability high. Averaging 3.95 percent, the 30-year fixed has been at or below 4.00 percent for the past nine consecutive weeks and only twice in 2011 did it average above 5.00 percent.
News Facts
- 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.95 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending December 29, 2011, up from last week when it averaged 3.91 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.86 percent.
- 15-year FRM this week averaged 3.24 percent with an average 0.8 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.21 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 4.20 percent.
- 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 2.88 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.85 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 3.77 percent.
- 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.78 percent this week with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.77 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 3.26 percent.
Average commitment rates should be reported along with average fees and points to reflect the total upfront cost of obtaining the mortgage. Visit the following links for Regional and National Mortgage Rate Details and Definitions. Borrowers may still pay closing costs which are not included in the survey.
Quotes
Attributed to Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist, Freddie Mac.
- "Mortgage rates ended the year hovering near historic lows in an already affordable housing market. For instance, the seasonally-adjusted S&P/Case-Shiller® 20-City Composite home price index in October was the lowest seen since March 2003. The largest hit areas were Las Vegas with the lowest reading since January 1997 and Atlanta which was since June 1998. It's not surprising then that over 5 percent of households in December plan to purchase a home over the next six months, the highest share since May, according to The Conference Board."
Get the latest information from Freddie Mac's Office of the Chief Economist on Twitter:@FreddieMac
Freddie Mac was established by Congress in 1970 to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the nation's residential mortgage markets. Freddie Mac supports communities across the nation by providing mortgage capital to lenders. Over the years, Freddie Mac has made home possible for one in six homebuyers and more than five million renters.
SOURCE Freddie Mac
Posted via email from Gerard Scheffler's Short Sale & Foreclosure News !
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Pending Home Sales Rise Again !
Pending Home Sales Rise Again
Pending home sales continued to gain in November and reached the highest level in 19 months, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.
The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, increased 7.3 percent to 100.1 in November from an upwardly revised 93.3 in October and is 5.9 percent above November 2010 when it stood at 94.5. The October upward revision resulted in a 10.4 percent monthly gain.
The last time the index was higher was in April 2010 when it reached 111.5 as buyers rushed to beat the deadline for the home buyer tax credit. The data reflects contracts but not closings.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the gains may result partially from delayed transactions. “Housing affordability conditions are at a record high and there is a pent-up demand from buyers who’ve been on the sidelines, but contract failures have been running unusually high,” he said. “Some of the increase in pending home sales appears to be from buyers recommitting after an initial contract ran into problems, often with the mortgage.
“November is doing reasonably well in comparison with the past year. The sustained rise in contract activity suggests that closed existing-home sales, which are the important final economic impact figures, should continue to improve in the months ahead,” Yun added.
Pending home sales are not affected by the recently published rebenchmarking of existing-home sales because the index uses a different methodology based directly on contract signings, and is adjusted for seasonality.
The PHSI in the Northeast rose 8.1 percent to 77.1 in November but is 0.3 percent below November 2010. In the Midwest the index increased 3.3 percent to 91.6 in November and is 9.5 percent above a year ago. Pending home sales in the South rose 4.3 percent in November to an index of 103.8 and remain 8.7 percent above November 2010. In the West the index surged 14.9 percent to 121.2 in November and is 2.9 percent higher than a year ago.
Source: NAR
Posted via email from Gerard Scheffler's Short Sale & Foreclosure News !
The Federal Housing Administration is extending its “anti-flipping” waiver through the end of 2012...
FHA Extends Anti-Flipping Waiver to Speed Sales
The Federal Housing Administration is extending its “anti-flipping” waiver through the end of 2012, which allows buyers to purchase homes that have already been sold in the last 90 days.
The waiver, which was soon set to expire, is “intended to accelerate the resale of foreclosed properties in neighborhoods struggling to overcome the possible effects of abandonment and blight,” Carol J. Galante, the acting Federal Housing Administration commissioner, said in a statement. “FHA remains a critical source of mortgage financing and stability and we must make every effort to promote recovery in every responsible way we can.”
An anti-flipping rule originally took effect in 2003 to stop a spike in home flipping that was being blamed on driving up home prices during the housing boom. The rule prevented FHA-backed loans from being used to purchase homes that had been owned by a seller for less than 90 days. But the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development decided to reconsider the 90-day limit in 2010 after skyrocketing foreclosures and abandoned homes were causing blight in neighborhoods across the country and hampering nearby property values.
The temporary waiver to the anti-flipping rule will allow buyers and investors to quickly resell refurbished homes and not have to wait 90 days to do so. Since the waiver took place in 2010, FHA has insured nearly 42,000 mortgages worth more than $7 billion on homes resold within 90 days of the last purchase, according to HUD.
"It's certainly an inducement to move real estate and reduce inventories," says Don Cameron, a real estate investor who owns a franchise of We Buy Ugly Houses in South Florida. "Why wait 90 days before you can close on a home?"
The waiver, however, still prevents predatory flipping, and sellers must justify any increases in value if the sales price of the property is 20 percent more than what the seller had recently purchased it for (such as by providing extra documentation on renovation expenses). Sales also must be in “arms-length, with no identity of interest between the buyer and seller or other parties participating in the sales transaction.”
Source: “Government Extends Waiver of Anti-Flipping Law, Allowing Homes to be Bought and then Sold in 90 Days,” McClatchy-Tribune Regional News (Dec. 29, 2011) and HUD.gov
Posted via email from Gerard Scheffler's Short Sale & Foreclosure News !
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Foreclosure free ride: 3 years, no payments !
Foreclosure free ride: 3 years, no payments
@CNNMoney December 28, 2011: 10:04 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Delinquent borrowers facing foreclosure are learning that they can stay in their homes for years, as long as they're willing to put up a fight.
Among the tactics: Challenging the bank's actions, waiting to file paperwork right up until the deadline, requesting the lender dig up original paperwork or, in some extreme cases, declaring bankruptcy.
Nationwide, the average time it takes to process a foreclosure -- from the first missed payment to the final foreclosure auction -- has climbed to 674 days from 253 days just four years ago, according to LPS Applied Analytics.
It takes much longer than that in Florida, where the process averages 1,027 days, nearly 3 years. In D.C., foreclosure averages 1,053 days and delinquent borrowers in New York often stay in their homes for an average of 906 days.
And while some borrowers are looking for ways to make good with lenders and get their homes back, many aren't paying a dime. Nearly 40% of homeowners in default have not made a payment in at least two years, according to LPS.
Many of these homeowners are staying in their homes based on a technicality. There is rarely any dispute over whether or not they have stopped paying their mortgage, said David Dunn, a partner at law firm Hogan Lovells in New York, who represents banks and other financial institutions in foreclosure cases.
"In my experience, they never say, 'I'm not delinquent' or 'I want to pay my bill but I'm confused over who to send it to,' or 'Oh my God, you mean I didn't pay my mortgage?' They're not in technical default. They're in default because they're not paying," he said.
Millions eligible for foreclosure review
Ironically enough, the banks have given delinquent borrowers some of the ammunition they need to delay the foreclosure process. During the "robo-signing" scandal in 2010, it was revealed that bank employees signed paperwork attesting to facts they had no personal knowledge of. Now, borrowers are routinely challenging that paperwork.
A Staten Island, N.Y. man who owed $300,000 on his mortgage and hadn't made a payment in two years, said his attorney used the robo-signing issue to fight his foreclosure.
In his case, the lender's paperwork included many different papers signed by the same employee. The problem was that the signatures didn't match. The judge dismissed the lender's case against the borrower, although it can be re-filed.
"It looks like I'll be in my home for some time to come," said the homeowner, who asked to remain anonymous. He said he is currently not making any payments on his home.
Sometimes just asking the bank to produce the paperwork that shows it is the legal holder of the mortgage note can stall a repossession, said attorney Robert Brown. Since mortgages are often transferred electronically, the official paperwork often gets misplaced.
10 cheap foreclosed homes for sale by Uncle Sam
"My lawyer asked my bank to produce an affidavit that entitled them to foreclose," said a client of Brown's, who lives in Harlem and also asked to remain anonymous. "They couldn't do it."
The case was dismissed, without prejudice, though the lender can try again -- if it finds the paperwork.
In some of the more extreme cases, borrowers will file for bankruptcy in order to block a foreclosure. In these instances, courts order creditors to cease their collection activities immediately. Home auctions can be postponed as the bankruptcy plays out, which can take months.
The ensuing delays are further harming the housing market. People who stay in homes undergoing foreclosure for years often don't maintain the properties, causing blight and lowering property values in the surrounding neighborhoods, said Dunn.
Home prices: Your local forecast
Then there are the court costs that lenders bear, which will eventually be borne by home buyers as lenders increase their borrowing fees to cover the increased risk, Dunn said.
David Berenbaum of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), a community activism group, disputes the contention that owners are gaming the system for free rent and hurting the housing market.
"Most people do everything in their power to maintain these homes," he said. "They take in relatives, get second jobs and even rent out rooms."
What really needs to be done, he said, is for lenders to work harder to find solutions that allow delinquent borrowers who can afford to make reasonable mortgage payments to keep their homes. 
Posted via email from Gerard Scheffler's Short Sale & Foreclosure News !
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Monitor Your Credit Report- Sprawdzaj Swoj Credit !
I have attached some interesting info how to protect a credit report. Please read this article and call me with any questions you may have. I hope you are not the one, with stolen identity.
Before I meet my wife, she had a credit report ruined, because of identity theft. She went to a bank apply for a credit card...then found out that she was late and reported to a collection agency's for over $ 2, 000 unpaid Gas bills...we solved this problem..it took me almost a year to have her credit clean up again.
First step : Make a police report,
Next step : Call me !