Short Sales & Foreclosure

Many REO home sales in Massachusetts have stalled recently, unable to close  due to a MA Land Court ruling back in March that invalidated two MA foreclosure sales.

As described in the current edition of Banker and Tradesman, home buyers and Realtors® are now reporting that many post-foreclosure sales of REO (Real Estate Owned) homes  in [...]

{ 2 comments }

As you may know, short sales abound in the current MA real estate market. With a short sale, the home being sold is worth less than the mortgage debt secured by the property.  The lender agrees to accept less at closing  than the outstanding mortgage loan balance.

One of my recent listings was a short sale [...]

{ 0 comments }

It’s often ‘buyer beware’ with Massachusetts foreclosures.  This is especially the case for unwary buyers of MA foreclosed homes that lack public sewer service.  The Title 5 regulations can make buying foreclosed homes with private septic systems a tricky proposition.

As you probably know, the Title 5 regulations in Massachusetts mandate that all homes not on [...]

{ 10 comments }

“After weeks of negotiating the purchase (of a bank-owned home) . . . it turned out the bank didn’t actually own the property, and had wrongfully foreclosed on the home.”
This amazing quote is from an irate employee of an affordable housing organization trying to buy a foreclosed home. 
The man wasted weeks of time and effort [...]

{ 0 comments }

If you’re interested in buying a foreclosed home in Massachusetts and will live in the property as your principal residence, there is a new program that may help you.
Massachusetts recently announced modifications to the previously existing “SoftSecond” loan program which are aimed at encouraging low-and-moderate income buyers to purchase foreclosed homes in designated hard-hit areas [...]

{ 0 comments }

Buying a home from a bank after the foreclosure auction can be very lucrative.  And by buying a foreclosed property, you are performing an important function in helping stabilize the real estate market in general as well as the neighborhood in which the home is located.
But REO home sales carry a hidden problem for prospective [...]

Buying a home at foreclosure auction or from a lender post-foreclosure is a very hot topic these days.  And where there’s widespread popular interest in a complicated, poorly understood aspect of life involving lots of money, the scam artists are quick to set up shop.

It seems there are hundreds of web sites featuring photos of [...]

There’s seems to be some confusion about what the phrase “as is” means in practical terms in a real estate sale.

You’ll see “as is” with an increasing number of listings on the MLS as more and more homes are hitting the market either as short sales or as REO sales.
Here’s what an “as is” typically [...]

{ 0 comments }

Short sales are attempts by financially distressed homeowners to sell their homes before the properties go to foreclosure auction. 

The short seller knows that the market value of his home is less than the amount of mortgage debt he owes on the property.  The seller will be “short” at the closing: he lacks the extra money he [...]

{ 0 comments }