A new state program may help you pay your mortgage if you are unemployed or under-employed.  The Florida Hardest-Hit Program has $1 Billion to help homeowners pay their mortgage.  Yes, there are some rules and guidelines, but if you qualify, you may get assistance.

Here’s the Link:  https://www.flhardesthithelp.org/

Let me know if you are able to get help! I Love success stories

Or, if you’re interested in selling your home BEFORE it goes to foreclosure, Contact me right away for a free consultation!

Today there are 752 Bank Owned and Short Sale Houses in Seminole County between 100-300,000
And 37 of them are WATERFRONT!!!

There are some amazing deals and interest rates are still VERY low, so it is a great time to buy a home for LESS than you’re currently paying in rent!

Buying a property that is bank owned or pre-foreclosure presents challenges because often they are not maintained well and need repairs. Let my years of experience help YOU get into a GREAT home at a GREAT price!

Click HERE to glance at the 752 available homes
Click HERE to see the 37 waterfront foreclosures

Call me right now if you’d like to get pre-qualified and see how affordable a home can be! 407-260-8800 ext. 107

Today Fannie Mae launched a new consumer education website on foreclosure options.

The way I found out about it was when I received a call from the Orlando CBS affiliate, Channel 6 News asking if they could interview me about the new site… www.KnowYourOptions.com

So while he was asking me questions about the ramifications of a foreclosure on your life (credit, jugdments, etc.) I pulled the site up quickly to take a peek!  It’s actually a pretty good site!

A lot of the information they are sharing is similar to the info I put on MY info site, www.BeforeYouShortSale.com which is for Orlando Short Sale Homeowners info.

They cover the options for when you want to keep your home, including something they call “Deed-for-Lease” which is where you deed your home to the lender (called a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure or dil) and then they will rent it back to you for a specific period of time for current market rent value.  The other options when you want to stay in your home are: refinance, repayment plan, forebearance, and modification and on the site they explain what each of these are and the benefits.  But remember… if you want to stay in the home you will need to be able to qualify for the payment, so if you are without income you will most likely not qualify to keep your home.

They also cover the options for when you can’t or don’t want to keep your home.  These include Deed-in-Lieu and Short Sale and cover the what’s, how’s, and benefits of these options for your family.

Within an hour of my “phone interview”, the reporter from Channel 6 was here in my office with his camera guy to do an interview and find out more about what options a homeowner has in Orlando if they are facing a challenge with their mortgage or facing short sale or pre-foreclosure.  The spot will run tonight on Channel 6 between 6-7pm and I’m figuring will be re-run on their website www.clickorlando.com

If you are a homeowner facing trouble with your mortgage, check out the site: www.KnowYourOptions.com it has some really good information that might make your decision easier.  And if you are in Seminole County or the Orlando area… give me a call!

UPDATE: Here’s the link to read the article and watch the video replay, CLICK HERE

In the first quarter of 2010 (January - March) there was a total of 1,210 sales in Seminole County Florida.  Of these,

23% were Short Sales (a short sale is when the seller owes more to the bank than what it’s worth and the bank lets them sell it anyway)

37% were REO which stands for Real Estate Owned (means the bank has already taken the home as a foreclosure and is now trying to sell it)

39% were “Regular” Sales, meaning neither a Short Sale or an REO

If you are thinking of buying or selling a home that potentially is a Short Sale or an REO, make sure your Realtor is experienced in these tricky transactions.

If you need more info on the possibility of selling YOUR home as a short sale, please visit http://www.BeforeYouShortSale.com

Andy Tolbert, The Blue Jeans Broker, has launched a new website to help homeowners make one of the most difficult decisions they’ve ever faced… what to do when you can’t afford your home any more!

When Andy sits down with a homeowner, she spends as much time as is needed to answer all of their questions about their situation.  To help more homeowners, she has recorded videos of the top questions and answers and has posted them on a website for you.

visit www.BeforeYouShortSale.com now for all of your answers!

That’s exactly what my clients Tricia & Jim just did!  They are newlyweds and wanted to get out of the apartment complex they were in.  When things broke, the manager would never fix them, so Jim figured if he was fixing things anyway, it might as well be on his OWN house!

I was able to help them find a beautiful 3 bedroom, 2 bath in a great neighborhood in Longwood.  It has a big 2-car garage, a family room, a living room, a formal dining room AND the kitchen had already been remodeled! It was bank owned and it needed a little bit of cosmetic work like some paint, carpet, and the shower redone, but overall it passed the home inspection and termite inspection with flying colors!  In the end, they should have well over $50,000 in equity!  And we even got the Seller (the bank) to pay $6,000 of their closing costs for them!

Would you like me to help YOU find a house like that in Seminole County?  I specialize in finding your next home at great discount prices.  My background in the Foreclosure industry for almost 10 years has given me great insight into how the banks think and that lets me find the best deals.

Call me today to schedule a consultation over the phone.  It will cost you nothing but could make you thousands when you buy a home (just ask Tricia and Jim and their $50,000 +++ equity!  They could actually re-sell that house right now and make money…but I don’t think they’re going to!)

Andy Tolbert

407-842-7700

p.s. I’m the one in the light blue shirt in the picture!

Yes, it’s official, yesterday Governer Crist and other lawmakers decided to NOT let criminals with certain crimes on their records get a mortgage broker’s license. WOW! We are such a progressive state (that’s sarcasm by the way!)

Florida has always had a policy on this. Way back when I got my license (I think ‘96?) I had to go to the police station and have my fingerprints taken, supposedly for a background check. And yes, thank you, I passed! And so did my husband, Tim.

Would you, and should you, trust someone that is a former bank-robber or drug dealer with your most private information (including your social security number, bank accounts, etc.)?

Absolutely NOT. I firmly believe that there is nothing wrong with interviewing your mortgage broker or real estate agent and find out if THEY are the right ones to be working with. Go ahead. I’ve got nothing to hide!

Here’s a link to an article about this topic: http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/n1-081308.cfm

Ready to buy a foreclosure bargain house in Seminole County? Call me today and let’s see if we will be able to work together! Yes, it’s a 2-way decision!

I get this question all the time, and there’s a lot of misinformation floating around out there, so I decided to get you some clarification.  This is as of 8/1/08 guidelines.

Please note, this is Fannie Mae’s Guidelines, so FHA, VA, and other types of loans will differ.

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy (liquidation):  4 years from the discharge or dismissal date

Chapter 13 (repayment plan):  2 years from discharge (paid as agreed) or 4 years from dismissal (kicked out)

Extenuating Circumstances: reduced to 2 years.

Multiple Bankruptcies:  5 years (exceptions may reduce it to 3 years)

Foreclosure:  must wait 5 years from the date of completion, and then from years 5-7, must put minimum 10% down and must have a credit score of 680 or more.  Primary residence only.  (extenuating circumstances can reduce it to 3%)

Deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure: must wait 4 years from the date you deed property back to lender.  Then from year 4-7 may require a larger downpayment. (extenuating circumstances: reduced to 2 years, but still may need larger downpayment from year 2-7)

Short Sale / pre-foreclosure sale:  2 years with no additional requirements or guidelines. (no extenuating circumstances)

As you can see from the guidelines, a short sale is better than a deed in lieu, and a deed in lieu is better than a full-blown foreclosure.

Hopefully this will help folks out who are facing tough decisions.

Here’s a link to see the actual FNMA guidelines that were released.

AndyTolbert

Now THAT’S a headline for you!

WINK News out of Fort Myers Florida obviously wants to draw your attention to the plight of the neighborhoods with abandoned houses with pools that may become breeding grounds for mosquitos.  I’m sure we may have the same concerns here in Seminole County when it comes to foreclosure houses.

Here’s the thing though, they made a big deal about it, but when the inspector actually looked, out of 100 “problem homes” there was only ONE that was a breeding ground.  Is the whole Florida Foreclosure Home Crisis getting blown out of proportion?

Yes, it’s just another sign of the times…

Here’s the link to the article if you want to see the cute fishy that eats the mosquito larvae!  http://www.winknews.com/news/local/26844234.html

See you next time.