Posts Tagged ‘mortgage’

Question: Are there any remedies for people who own a second home? I see a lot of help for primary home owners only. What about for people who use their own life savings to invest on real estate? Is anyone out there on the same situation with a good solution? Please HELP!!!!!

Answer: -Well, I’m sure you’re not the only one out there feeling the pain and have spent all their savings on buying homes either as investments or for themselves.  The best thing you can do is work closely with your lender to see if you can do a loan modification, or try to do a lease option or even rent it out temporarily until the market turns around.  At least that way you have some income coming in to pay part or all of the mortgage.

Question: We own property in Idaho through an interest only loan. We had planned to sell our home in California this year and pay off the land in Idaho with the money from the sale. Now the California house is worth less than we owe on it and we are stuck with an interest only loan on property in Idaho. If we “walk away” from the Idaho property, can they garnish our wages for the amount of the loan?

Question: We have an interest only mortgage on a house that is now worth about half of what the the mortgage is. We have not missed a payment and there is a penalty to refinance. What is the best way to handle this situation.
Frank in Florida.

Answer: This seems to be the ongoing trend these days…houses worth a lot less then the mortgage.  Unfortunately, even if you threaten them you’re going to foreclose, they typically want you to “prove it” or show them your hardships for needing help.  Only after you stop making payments to they become motivated to do something.  But then your credit has been hit and refinancing becomes very tough to do.  So then you try a loan modification and still it’s not 100% your lender will do a modification.  So I guess you need to weight out what it’s going to cost you in penalties and fees to refinance and see how long you need to stay in your home at the new interest rate to make it worth your while.  My guess is that it could be 6 -10 years before you even hit a break-even point depending on your penalties.

Question: I own a home in Southern California. I bought the home using my VA benefits. I am 3 months behind in my mortgage. It doesn’t look like the mortgage co. (Countrywide) is going to modify the loan so that I may keep it, already contacted HUD and they sent a modification proposal to Countrywide 30 days ago but Countrywide has yet to receive it. My question is, I owe $64,000 on a Home Equity Line of Credit I got through Washington Mutual Bank on the house. If Countrywide forecloses, do I still owe the Equity Line of Credit? Will Washington Mutual come after me for the money? I owe $220,000 on the house, it was just appraised at $175,000. Thank you.

Answer: –  California may be one of the few states where they don’t come after you for a deficiency judgment.  If your home is foreclosed on, typically they will 1099 the borrower for the amount they lost. However, VA loans have special exceptions. With VA loans, I believe they may have the right to come after you for the deficiency judgment. You may want to check with an attorney in California on this, but it seems like that’s what I remember.

Question: I have an interesting situation, the house I want to invest in appears to have a first and second mortgage. It appears the owners have already left. The second mortgage has already foreclosed and the 1st mortgage doesn’t go to auction until later. The bank for the second mortgage is listed as the owner of the home. How is this possible?

Also, since the first mortgage hasn’t foreclosed yet and the second mortgage has is it possible to make an offer to the first mortgage and if accepted own the property even though the 2nd is shown as owning the house on the county assesor website?
Thank you

Question: Here is the situation:
I bought a condo in CA and lived in it for 6 mo, moved out and rented it for the last 2 yrs to a couple who cover 80% of my mortgage.I claim it as income property on taxes. My “interest only” loan caps in 2 mo., then payments increase 2 1/2 times the amount I am paying. I cannot afford this. The bank wants me to do a short sale. The house is worth 75,000 less than the loan. I am not in default yet. Here are my questions: Should I tell the tenants to move, if so legally how many days notice? Do I keep making the 80% payments when the payments increase? Should I keep my property manager? He takes 8%. If I keep 2 mo. rent to refund the tenants their deposit is that considered “rent skimming”?
Concerned Landlord

Answer: – Even if you make 80% of the payment, they will initiate foreclosure unless the other 20% is a 2nd mortgage in which they could initiate foreclosure, but will most likely just write it off and 1099 you for the amount they lost.  Depending on how many properties you have now and the tenants you have living in your property, you definately want to consider whether or not to use a property manager.  Some tenents you never hear from, others are constantly bugging you in which case a property manager is worth every penny.  As for rent skimming, here is what it says under California Civil Code 890…

890. (a)

(1) “Rent skimming” means using revenue received from the rental of a parcel of residential real property at any time during the first year period after acquiring that property without first applying the revenue or an equivalent amount to the payments due on all mortgages and deeds of trust encumbering that property.

(2) For purposes of this section, “rent skimming” also means receiving revenue from the rental of a parcel of residential real property where the person receiving that revenue, without the consent of the owner or owner’s agent, asserted possession or ownership of the residential property, whether under a false claim of title, by trespass, or any other unauthorized means, rented the property to another, and collected rents from the other person for the rental of the property. This paragraph does not apply to any tenant, subtenant, lessee, sublessee, or assignee, nor to any other hirer having a lawful occupancy interest in the residential dwelling.

(b) “Multiple acts of rent skimming” means knowingly and willfully rent skimming with respect to each of five or more parcels of residential real property acquired within any two-year period.

(c) “Person” means any natural person, any form of business organization, its officers and directors, and any natural person who authorizes rent skimming or who, being in a position of control, fails to prevent another from rent skimming.

You may want to see if you can resolve this with your tenant and let them know of the situation, at least that way they know what’s going on.