Tag: Stop Foreclosure

Orlando Real Estate Attorney Drops the Ball, Homeowners Pay the Price!

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Last week we picked up a new client , we’ll call him “Joe”, and his story one that we’ve heard far too many times, only the characters were different. So I felt that I needed to share it with everyone in hopes that someone will benefit from it.
Joe fell behind on his mortgage about 6 months ago and decided that he wanted to short sale his Orlando house. Instead of consulting with an Orlando short sale realtor, he and his wife went to see a real estate lawyer.

Joe’s BIG mistake

The biggest difference between consulting with an Orlando real estate attorney and consulting with an Orlando realtor is that one charges $250.00 per hr and the other doesn’t get paid until the job is done. Can you guess which one is which?

Anyway, back to the story. When they sit down with the attorney, they were so impressed with all the shiny plaques on the wall and the expensive furniture, that by the end of the conversation, they wrote him a big fat check for $3,000.00 for him to complete their short sale…[ I guess my mom was right I should have gone to law school!]

The plot thickens… At first they asked him to submit the usual paperwork: bank statements, tax returns, etc. Then he would call in for the usual update once a week or so. This went on for a few months and the answer from the law firm was always the same; it’s being worked on.
After he didn’t hear back from the lawyer for a while, he decided to call his lender to find out what’s going on and guess what?…. The lender had closed the file because of missing documents!!

Joe was furious and wanted answers so he called the Law office to speak with the lawyer. His only conversation with the lawyer to this point was when he wrote him the check, after that he would always be transferred to a processor or secretary.
When he demanded to speak with the lawyer, they said he would have to schedule an appointment to come in…Oh, and he would have to pay the hourly rate of $250.00!!

With an approaching auction date, and having to start the short sale from the beginning, he was now in a much worse position. Not to mention he lost the $3,000.00 that he paid to the lawyer…have you ever tried getting a refund from a lawyer before?
We’re working hard on Joe’s file right now, especially to stop the foreclosure sale on his house. Since he wasted so much time, our work is cut out for us.

The moral of this story is…Even if you’re considering a lawyer to do your short sale, why not consult with an experienced Orlando short sale realtor first. It’s Free!

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Why Pay an Attorney to Do an Orlando Short Sale, Get Help For Free!

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Save your Money, Hire an Orlando Realtor

When it comes to lawyers doing Orlando short sales, the fact is most people just don’t need them. Foreclosure filings hit a lull in Florida during the last year. The robo-signing scandal caused many banks to put new Florida foreclosures on hold. That’s coming to an end, and we can expect filings to jump again as we’ve been seeing recently.  Orlando homeowners will be looking for help with their situation. The truth is that the process isn’t just hard, It’s scary. We’re talking about potentially getting kicked out of your home.  It’s tough to navigate the system alone and it’s crucial that you get help from a proven Orlando Real Estate Expert.

Here’s the good news: There is a lot of help available in Central Florida for free. That’s right. No charge. On the house, Gratis.
Organizations certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development should be the first stop for people who have fallen behind on their mortgage or are worried they’re about to. These nonprofit companies are great resources for people who want to know if they qualify for a loan modification.

Your best option however,  is to speak with a Top Orlando Short Sale Broker.  Not only do they not charge anything to speak with you, but they often times will know a lot more about Orlando Short sales than an attorney will. Most of the time attorneys outsource their short sale files to Orlando Brokers anyway,  since by law, a Broker has to be involved in the transaction to represent the seller.

So why would you pay an Attorney upfront, or at all, when you can hire an Orlando Short Sale Expert for Free? If one of my clients had an extra $2,000 or $3,000 to throw around, I’d much rather see them put that toward their moving expenses, etc  than toward attorney fees.

When it comes to short sales there’s never a 100% guarantee that a broker or an attorney will produce the results that borrowers want. The difference is that Brokers won’t take your money in the process. As a matter of fact, they only get paid if they close the deal. How’s that for incentive?

It’s actually illegal in the state of Florida for companies to take money upfront in exchange for mortgage modifications. Lawyers, however, are exempt from that rule… Maybe my mom was right, I should have gone to law school.

Far be it from me to say that lawyers are never needed. Legal counsel is an important part of some foreclosure cases. But watching people plunk down thousands of dollars for help they can get elsewhere for free is just sad. It’s like seeing people suffer from the housing meltdown not once, but twice.

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Orlando Foreclosure Growth Pushing Down Home Values

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Home values are being negatively affected by an increasing amount of foreclosures

Orlando Florida Foreclosure listings keep on growing, continuing to push down home values and casting a shadow over the efforts of local and state governments to stabilize and strengthen the housing market.

Orlando real estate experts say that the increase in foreclosure and short sales have caused home values to slide down even further. They said that home sellers are forced to reduce the sale price of their properties to be able to compete with discounted prices of foreclosed homes.  Sometimes   buyers are having to bring more money to the table because of the property not appraising.  Many times, a reduced property value could kill a sale.

Lenders will usually determine the loan amount based on either the appraised value or purchase price of the property, whichever is lower. In the event that appraisals come in at a lower amount than the purchase price, then either the buyer needs to bring more money to the table in order to obtain the financing or the seller will have to accept a reduction in the purchase price. Because of the volume of foreclosure houses and short sales, many homes listed for sale are priced well below the fair market value.

Although Orlando short sale experts say that home prices are showing some signs of stability. A great number of distressed foreclosure home and short sales still need to be closed and then cleared from banks’ inventory before the housing market could reach any kind of stability.

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