Angella's Real Estate Secrets & Insider Tips

Government & Bank REO Websites

Here are some government and bank REO websites:
http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/wiki/REO_Database_List.asp
http://www.bankrepobustours.com/BankREOs.php – this is my other website.
Enjoy,
Angella

Home Price Decline Slows, But More Drops May Be Ahead

Home Price Decline Slows, but they still predict an average nationwide home price decline of 5%.  However,  some of the SoCal areas that are the best for investors have already bottomed out last year, and will not go any lower.  Regardless, this is a great time to buy, so make sure you don’t miss the [...]

ENOUGH ALREADY!!! New $1.5B Obama Foreclosure Prevention Program To Save A Few Select?

The new Obama Foreclosure Prevention Program is supposed to save a small number of homes, in five hardest hit states,  from going into a foreclosure?  How many homes?  At $100,000 per family, the plan is only going to help 15,000 families.   Why are we stretching this out?  Just let the economy recover on it’s own, [...]

Loan Mortgage Modifications More Successful Lately

Loan Mortgage Modifications More Successful Lately -
As of last month, Bank of America Corp. had completed loan mortgage modifications for just over 5 percent of the roughly 240,000 borrowers who started the process. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. were also below 10 percent.
The government “massively overestimated the ability of the mortgage industry to [...]

30-Minute Conversations to Real Estate Success

30-Minute Conversations to Real Estate Success – Another great article for beginner real estate investors.  Enjoy!  Angella
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You’ve probably heard that one of the fastest ways to get what you want is to surround yourself with people who already have it.
I’m a firm believer in this, and frankly its something I’m still working to do more [...]

Foreclosures down in January 2010, but surge on way?

Foreclosures down in January, but expect a surge later this year, especially after the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit expires in April.
Among states, Nevada posted the nation’s highest foreclosure rate, followed by Arizona, California, Florida and Utah. Rounding out the top 10 were Idaho, Michigan, Illinois, Oregon and Georgia.
The metro area with [...]

Wholesaling Real Estate 101 – Step by Step

Here’s a great step-by-step article about Wholesaling Real Estate.    Click here for the link if you want to see the original article.
Enjoy,
Angella
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Step #1: Market for a Motivated Seller
Behind every great real estate deal is a motivated seller, and your job as a wholesaler is to get your marketing message in front of as many of [...]

Top Foreclosure Cities: 2009’s 20 Worst-Hit Cities

Top Foreclosure Cities
Duuuuh…   Of course there’s a drop in the foreclosure filings – banks had a foreclosure moratorium over the holidays!
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Foreclosure plague: 2009’s 20 worst-hit cities

By Les Christie, staff writer , On Thursday January 28, 2010, 5:55 am EST
Cities in the so-called Sand States dominated the foreclosure rankings in 2009, with the 20 worst-hit [...]

Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009

Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act came into effect in May 2009, provides protection for tenants, including tenants in housing subsidized by Section 8, who are living in homes subject to foreclosure.

Highlights: Under the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act:

All tenants must receive a 90-day notice before being evicted as the result of a [...]

Areas To Invest: High-Speed Rail Through Palmdale, Ca

We’ve been talking about the Antelope Valley area (Lancaster/Palmdale – click HERE) being one of the best ones to invest in SoCal, and below is another reason to add why many of us have been investing in that area for years.
The plans for the high-speed rail network will create over 200,000 new jobs between Bakersfield, [...]

Piggyback Mortgage Plan – Release of 2nd Liens

‘Piggyback’ Mortgage Plan – will it work?
This article covers it all – Lenders who deserve what they got (for allowing ANYONE to take out a 2nd loan and trying to avoid the PMI); critics who claim it’s unfair to people who are still paying their mortgages on time and a bailout for banks that made [...]

California Default Notices Fall 24% in 4Q

California default notices have fallen because the banks do not want to foreclose, even though lots of homeowners are still defaulting.   These numbers definitely do not mean that the RE market is recovering.  See article and comments below:
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By ELLIOT SPAGAT, AP Business Writer Elliot Spagat, Ap Business [...]

Top 10 Commercial Real Estate Experts on Twitter

From my friend’s Megan McGinnis’ blog (http://MeganMcGinnis)  – thanks for compiling the list Megan!  Follow these Commercial Real Estate Experts on Twitter and learn from them…
1. Duncan C. Wierman | ( DuncanWierman on Twitter )  — Software CEO turned Real Estate Investor / Marketer. I show you how to use creative online marketing methods to [...]

FHA Wavies 90 Days Seasoning For One Year

FHA 90-Day Anti-Flipping Rule Waived For One Year – In an effort to stimulate home sales, HUD has announced that as of February 1st it will suspend its 90-day anti-flipping rule. This should have the effect of making FHA loans more easy to obtain for recently refurbished homes.
With certain exceptions, says HUD, “the FHA currently [...]

The Future Of Short Sales – Video

The Future Of Short Sales

Reasons to Prevent a Foreclosure – Video

Reasons to Prevent a Foreclosure

10-Day Short Sale Time Limit May Spur Housing Market

Short Sales – New U.S. Treasury guidelines that put a 10-day time limit on short sales, and add financial incentives for buyers and sellers could help homeowners on the verge of foreclosure.
Homeowners stuck while banks mull whether to approve short sales could benefit from new federal guidelines that give lenders a 10-day limit to respond [...]

Effect of Foreclosures vs. Short Sales on Credit

Effect of Foreclosures vs. Short Sales on Credit

Loan Principal Reduction Program For Investors

Loan Principal Reduction Program – Scroll down past the article…
Servicers who lower distressed homeowners’ mortgage payments by reducing the principal balance, as opposed to just making interest rate adjustments, are much more likely to see the payments keep coming in and ward off a redefault, according to a new study published by the Federal Reserve [...]

To Stop Foreclosure Or To Let The House Go? Your Options!

To Stop Foreclosure Or To Proceed? Your Options!
Here’s a good series of videos recorded by Ed, on your options if your property is upside down.

Top 10 Real Estate Trainers on Twitter

Top 10 Real Estate Trainers on Twitter – A great post borrowed from Megan McGinnis @ http://Megan-McGinnis.com:
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1. Peter Olsen | ( PeteOlsen on Twitter )
At Rent To Own Homes, LLC. we are looking for homes in all 50 states that we can rent to own!
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2. Joe Manausa | ( HousingReporter on Twitter )
Tallahassee Real Estate [...]

Hate it!!! Home Foreclosure Moratorium For the Holidays

Home Foreclosure Moratorium Over the Holidays again – so when is someone going to give me a moratorium on my mortgage payments?
“Some lenders have declared limited foreclosure moratoriums this year to give troubled borrowers time to catch up on their payments or work out other solutions. Those announcements continued Thursday: Mortgage titans Fannie Mae and [...]

Real Estate Investing – Areas to Buy In (2 of 2)

Real Estate Investing – What are the areas with the highest population and job growth in SoCal?    I’ve pasted the excerpts from the SCAG reports below, but to summarize  the results it’s the Antelope Valley (Palmdale/Lancaster) with a 168% population growth, and West Riverside County, with an 86% growth.
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North LA County Subregion (Antelope Valley) (pg [...]

Real Estate Investing – Areas to Buy (1 of 2)

Real Estate Investing can be tricky and confusing, especially for beginners.   So you’ve decided it’s time to start investing in Real Estate, since this truly is the “once in a lifetime opportunity” everyone is talking about, but don’t know which areas are the best to invest in?
Each locality has a Planning and Development organization, [...]

Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) Update

Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) Update – I missed this HAMP update yesterday. Although the changes are not all that relevant to most loan originators, struggling homeowners should take note.
From the release:
Critical Home Affordable Modification Program Waiver Granted to Participating Servicers
Effective today, a new critical Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) Waiver is granted to [...]

Free Real Estate Legal Forms

Free real estate legal forms are not something you can use every time you need one, since each state has their own format and legal verbage.   But if you are looking for free legal forms to use as a reference, this is a great website to find them: http://lectlaw.com/formb.htm
I use this website to find [...]

What Does Buying an “As Is” Home Really Mean??

Buying an “As Is” Home article is correct regarding all of the points made, but it did omit one important item – there’s nothing wrong with asking for a price reduction, or cashback towards repairs, after the inspection has been completed.
When representing Buyers, even on a bank repo clearly listed as an “As Is” house, we [...]

Mortgage Loan Limits for Conventional, FHA and VA

The mortgage loan limits and policies established in 2008 and 2009 will continue through 2010.
There are several types of mortgage loan limits. Generally, most borrowers need to look at conventional, FHA and VA loan limits to see how much can be financed with the most-widely originated loans.
If you borrow at or below the conventional mortgage [...]

The Real Reason So Many Home Loan Modifications Fail

This guy is so right, it’s not even funny!  Enough with wasting our tax payer’s money and dumping good money after the bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Loan Modifications, or rather the majority of them, fail.  That’s the simple truth.  Want to know why?  Take a look at the article ( click here for a link).
If you are in the [...]

Housing Slump May Worsen Next Year, Not Get Better

Housing slump worsening is actually pretty good news for the real estate investors.   With the way this recession has been going, it’s been hard to make heads or tails of anything.   Rather than letting the economy take its natural predictable course, the government interference and all of the programs they’re coming up are delaying the inevitable.  
The [...]

Commerical Real Estate News Update

Commerical Real Estate News Update – Not sure I agree about 2010 being the same as 2009, or that commercial RE is logjammed because of the debt problems.  I think it is going to decline through 2010, and the problem is not the national debt, but the fact that so many properties are upside down [...]

Home Buyer Tax Credit: 10 Things to Know

Home Buyer Tax Credit extension finally passed on November 6th, and I thought that the investors would finally get a break by receiving a $6500 tax credit when purchasing an owner-occupied property.  Unfortunately, that’s not the case.   I’ve rarely lived in one of the properties I own and, so mostly I rent because I move [...]

Hate It!!! Fannie Mae To Rent Out Homes Instead Of Foreclosing

Fannie Mae “Deed for Lease” program is not something I’m too excited about.   Yes, I tried getting it approved for a friend of mine when she was being foreclosed upon, but in general why should someone get a free ride?  With the new program, the rent amount cannot exceed 31% of homeowner’s monthly income, so [...]

Hate It !!! House Votes To Expand Homebuyer Tax Credit

Ok, so finally investors get a break and are able to benefit from the Home Buyer Tax Credit.  But once again, there’s a problem – the tax credit gets phased out for those who earn over $125,000/yr.    Why is it that those who fund the bailouts and these tax credits don’t get to benefit from [...]

FREE For RE Investors & Realtors – Daniel Pendley Event

Hello Investors & Realtors,
This is sooooooooooooo exciting!!!   A group of local RE Investors (myself, Ginger Macias, JJ San Jose, Megan McGinnis, Michael Brandt, Maynard Clarkson, etc) are involved in a project where one of the members personally knows Daniel Pendley!   Daniel Pendley is a world-renowned real estate trainer and motivational speaker, and usually packs [...]

Commerical Properties Needed – Criteria Below

Folks,
If anyone is aware of commercial properties that meet the criteria listed below, please let me know.  Thanks, Angella
Apartments:

75+ units
On-site management
Produce 10% cash on cash return based on Actuals, not ProForma
Class B & C props.
Located in A, B, or C location; no class D areas
Upside potential in rents or management
Pitched roofs
Individual meters
Assumable debt
No boilers
No [...]

Commercial Real Estate Prices Down 41% From The Peak

Commercial Real Estate prices have dropped, but they are still lagging behind the residential market, so we still have not hit the bottom.
The Moody’s/Commercial Property Price Indices fell 3 percent in August from July, bringing the market’s decline to almost 41 percent since its peak in October 2007, Moody’s Investors Service said in a statement [...]

Mortgage Loan Modification Basics

Mortgage loan modification process is not as simple as many assume.  Here’s a link to a good LA Times article explaining mortgage loan modification programs, and what it takes to qualify for them – http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar/22/business/fi-cover22
Some of the main points covered are:

Most people will not qualify for a mortgage loan modification under any program, because [...]

Video – The Bankruptcy of Capmark and Its Impact on Commercial Real Estate

http://www.marcusmillichap.com/Video/fox_102609.asp

Tenant Screening – Things Tenants Won’t Tell You! (Part 5 of 5)

Tenant screening can sometimes be very time consuming if you do a thorough job of it, but it’s well worth your time if it prevents you from having to evict your renters in the future.   Don’t misunderstand me – most applicants I’ve encountered are great and honorable people, but sometimes you come across a bad apple [...]

Tenant Screening – How Messy Are They? (Part 4 of 5)

Tenant screening can be very time consuming if you do a thorough job of it, but it’s well worth your time if it prevents you from having to evict your renters in the future.   Don’t misunderstand me – most applicants I’ve encountered are great and honorable people, but sometimes you come across a bad apple that [...]

Tenant Screening – Lies About Employment & Salary! (Part 3 of 5)

Tenant screening can be very time consuming if you do a thorough job of it, but it’s well worth your time if it prevents you from having to evict your renters in the future.   Don’t misunderstand me – most applicants I’ve encountered are great and honorable people, but sometimes you come across a bad apple that [...]

Tenant Screening – Track Down the REAL Landlord! (Part 2 of 5)

Tenant screening can be very time consuming if you do a thorough job of it, but it’s well worth your time if it prevents you from having to evict your renters in the future.   Don’t misunderstand me – most applicants I’ve encountered are great and honorable people, but sometimes you come across a bad apple [...]

Tenant Screening – Don’t Let Them Lie To You! (Part 1 of 5)

Tenant Screening, and how it is done, will either make you or break you as a landlord.  Properly screening potential renters means solid tenants, and cashflow, throughout the years.   Not  doing a good job of screening applications could mean evictions, negative cashflow, and  damaged property to deal with.
For one thing, I never admit [...]

Landlord Tenant Relationship – “Hard-Nosed” Landlording: Keep Your Tenants In Line

Landlord tenant relationship can be difficult or easy – it’s totally up to you, the landlord.  One way to make it easy on yourself is to set expectations up front.  As I had mentioned in one of my comments, I manage my own single family homes and condos within a 400 mile radius.  Yes, you [...]

California Cracks Down on Mortgage Fraud

California now has new laws that are supposed to prevent homeowners and home buyers from mortgage fraud.
Legislation to increase protections for consumers in the lending market and provide law enforcement with more tools to crack down on deceitful mortgage practices was signed into law Sunday, October 11, 2009 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The bills are supposed [...]

Fight For Your Money! First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit Expires.

C.A.R., in cooperation with NAR, has issued a Call-for-Action in support of extending the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit beyond its November 30th expiration date.
You can do two things to help:

If you are a Realtor, call your member of Congress to urge them to extend the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit. Call 1-800-961-3302 [...]

Loan Modification Scams – No More!

Loan Modification Law Enacted –   On October 11, 2009 Governor Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 94 (Calderon), and the legislation took effect immediately upon his signature. Thus, California law now prohibits any person, including real estate licensees and attorneys, from demanding or collecting an advance fee from a consumer for loan modification or mortgage [...]

Buyers of Foreclosed Homes to Pick Their Own Title / Escrow Company

Buyers of foreclosed homes can now choose a title or escrow company of their own choosing.   How does that benefit us, the investors?  For one thing, we can start using our own title companies, and start giving them additional business in exchange for providing us with all those property profiles.   REO flippers can now select [...]

Commercial Property Types – Which Ones Meet YOUR Needs?

It is important to choose the type of commercial property, or type, that best matches your particular needs and interests.    The list below describes advantages and disadvantages of the various types of commercial investments:
1) Apartment Building Investments: These are the most popular asset types and will be used to familiarize you with all the key skills you need to know [...]

First Time Real Estate Investors – Getting Over Your Fear

One of the biggest obstacles beginner real estate investors have to overcome is FEAR.    Below are some ideas to help you overcome it.   After the first few deals, buying and selling real estate becomes almost like buying a pair of shoes.    You walk by, you see it, you like it, you analyze it, and you [...]

Commercial Property Investment Advantages – No Clogged Up Toilets!

Commercial property investing is one way to participate in the game of real estate.  Investing in commercial real estate has some advantages to consider that SFR investors don’t necessarily benefit from.   Some of these advantages are:

Increased Cash Flow: If you are heavily leveraged and your rental home doesn’t have a tenant, you won’t have [...]

Commercial Property Investing – Is this a good time?

Commercial property investing is a little more complicated than SFR investing, but the profits and the rewards are also much greater.  Many people are concerned that now, during the recession, might not be a good time to invest in commercial property,  expecting additional price drops in the commercial real estate market. However, even though we [...]

Hate It !!! Government Is Wasting More of Our $$$ on Short Sales

Short sale bail out – See below for the new Short Sale program, but as far as I’m concerned – Why can’t the government stay out of private business?  If borrowers can’t pay, evict them!  I don’t want my tax money to go to people who lied on their apps and bought homes they [...]

Foreclosure Home Inventory Shortage

Foreclosure home inventory has dropped drastically in the last few months.  Those of us who are continuously making offers on properties will tell you that within hours there are multiple offers on every REO that pops up as a foreclosure listing in the MLS.   The selling price ends up being much higher than the listing [...]