Foreclosure, how did I get here?
July 20, 2011 by 1 Comment
Did you know it’s estimated that most American families can only maintain their current living expenses for 30 days or less when income is interrupted.
Most common causes for Distress
- Loss of employment
- Reduced Income
- Business Failure
- Damage to Property
- Death of a Spouse
- Death of a non-wage earning family member
- Severe illness
- Inheritance & tax implications
- Divorce
- Relocation
- Military Service
- Payment Increase or Mortgage Adjustment
- Insurance or Tax Increase
- Separation
- Too Much Debt
- Incarceration
Most banks will give consideration to the causes listed above in the case of a foreclosure and often consider your short sale request.
Unfortunately in most cases the average agent who is not a CDPE, will excuse themselves from the process very quickly. Make sure you confirm that your agent has the training and certification to help you get the job done.
Chris Faircloth Earns Real Estate, Short Sale Designation to Help Homeowners in Danger of Foreclosure
July 12, 2011 by 2 Comments
Virginia Beach, VA – July 8, 2011 – Christine Faircloth of Shaffer Realty, LLC in Virginia Beach has earned the prestigious Certified Distressed Property Expert® (CDPE) designation, having completed extensive training in foreclosure avoidance, with a particular emphasis on short sales. At a time when millions of homeowners are struggling with the possibility of foreclosure, the skills and education amassed by Faircloth will help benefit Hampton Roads area residents and communities.
Short sales allow the distressed homeowner to repay the mortgage at the price that the home sells for, even if it is lower than what is owed on the property. With plummeting property values, this can save many people from foreclosure and even bankruptcy. More and more lenders are willing to consider short sales because they are much less costly than foreclosures.
Today, more than 13 percent of homeowners are delinquent on their mortgage or in the foreclosure process. This is occurring across all price ranges, and the fastest-growing category of homes in foreclosure is the luxury home market.
“The CDPE designation has been invaluable as I work with homeowners and lenders on complicated short sales,” said Faircloth. “It is so rewarding to be able to help families save their homes from foreclosure.”
Alex Charfen, co-founder and CEO of the Distressed Property Institute in Austin, Texas, said that agents such as Chris Faircloth with the CDPE Designation have valuable perspective on the market, and training in short sales that can offer homeowners real alternatives to foreclosure, which can be devastating to credit ratings.
“These experts better understand market conditions than the average agent, and can help sellers through the complications of foreclosure avoidance,” he said.
The Distressed Property Institute provides live and online courses to train real estate professionals how to help homeowners in distress, with a strong focus on handling short sales.
“Our goal is to help as many homeowners as possible, by educating as many real estate professionals as possible,” Charfen said. “Chris Faircloth has demonstrated a commitment to struggling homeowners, a commitment that can provide much-needed stabilization to the community.”
Who Has Your Power?
March 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment
What super powers do you expect to utilize when you buy a house? Your Real Estate Specialists? The Loan Officers? Or maybe the Title Company? Yes, they all have some super powers. Sometimes, you may have the need to have someone else sign documents for you for any number of reasons to buy that dream house. Whatever those reasons are, a Power of Attorney is the document that will be required.
Power of Attorney documents come in all different shapes and sizes. Each dealing with their own issues and each for their own reasons. Some terminate, some do not.
- General POA- used for many reasons, and allows the person with the power to do a lot. Terminates upon death or a specific date.
- Durable POA – most often seen for medical reasons or estate planning, but has many uses. Can remain in force upon death or mental or physical incapacity.
- Specific POA- sometimes referred to as a Limited POA, is used for a specific reason for a specific time period.
For your settlement, a Specific POA is a required. For our agency, we require the names of the party giving and receiving the power 2) The property address and tax id number or legal description and 3) an expiration date. Some lenders, if using the POA for a mortgage, will even require that their name and the sales price or loan amount be shown of the POA as well.
So be aware of who you give your super powers to. Your attorney can best advise you which one will meet your specific requirements, but for the real estate transaction, we will ensure your powers are used correctly and only when needed.
By: Shannon Blatt of Title Concepts
What is inside my computer?
February 9, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Did you know your PC is really a like an accounting office with file cabinets, staff, and an accountant.
You all have heard of the HARD DRIVE, RAM or MEMORY, and PROCESSOR or CPU. Inside your computer are all of these high tech “things”. There are other items like DVD drives, Video Adapter, Network Adapter, Mother Board and more. I am going to explain what the big three all relate to. HARD DRIVE is just a file cabinet. An electric file cabinet used for storing all your data. RAM is MEMORY and that is the staff in the accounting office that does the work like preparing, filing, and sorting. PROCESSOR is the accountant who does all the calculating and directing the office. You may have heard about a dual or quad core PROCESSOR. Well that means you have one processor but it acts like two-dual or four-quad accountants. HARD DRIVE – the bigger it is the more data you can store. MEMORY – the more you have the more staff you have running around doing the filing and sorting at the same time. Too little MEMORY and you will be waiting around for a while for things to get done. PROCESSOR – is how fast the calculations can be done.
The moral of this is that more is more. When you are looking to buy a new computer these items are the big three. More means just that – more speed, more space, more money.
Happy Computing and Happy Valentine’s Day.
If you have any questions email at George@GANcomputer.com GAN Computer Services Inc 3640 S Plaza Trail Suite 204 Virginia Beach 23452 757-301-5099 – George Russo
