Recently, there was a great article on Moolonamy, about this topic.  The article entitled, “Is It Better to Buy or Rent?“, gives some excellent facts and figures.  There is an wonderful chart outlining the costs and benefits of renting vs. owning a home.

In this economy, with the uncertainty that comes with your job and your financial stability, buying a home is a big decision and renting may be a better option.

Some points to remember when choosing your Realtor:

1. Make sure you like them

Like I said above, you are going to spend a lot of time with them. If you are buying a home, you are going to go with them to open houses and showings. You are most likely going to be in a car with them driving between homes and then with them at the homes. You have to like them and trust them. If you are not happy with your Realtor, find another one. There are plenty to choose from.

2. Ask Questions

You should feel comfortable enough with them to ask any and all questions you have. If you are selling your home, you should ask them questions such as “Will my home be listed on the Multiple Listing Service?” and “How long will my house be listed with you?” If you are buying a home, you should always ask whether the Realtor is working for you or the seller. Many times the Realtor is the Listing Agent and is working on behalf of the seller to help them sell the house. Any questions you have you should get an answer that is clear and concise. You should not be left wondering what is going on.

3. Referrals

If you ask your Realtor for a referral, remember that it is just a referral. You are in no way obligated to use the attorney, appraiser, or mortgage broker that they recommend. You are always free to choose whomever you wish to represent your interests. However, Realtor’s can usually give you a referral to someone in the area and most likely, they have a relationship with them.

Remember that buying or selling a home is a lengthy, complicated process that requires you to be involved in every step. Make sure that you are choosing someone that you are comfortable with to have a relationship with for a few months.

1. Problogger by Darren Rowse

If you blog at all, you know him. He has amazing tips for bloggers, amazing tips for Twitter, and a fabulous newsletter. I read his blog everyday without fail and I learn something new every time. I have had some contact with him during his 31 Days To A Better Blog series. As busy as I am sure he is, he was quick to handle what I needed from him. His blog posts are honest and helpful. You cannot ask for more from someone teaching you how to blog.

2. John Haydon’s Blog

I have mentioned John before on my blog. I really love reading his posts, because not only are there excellent blogging tips, but he gives some practical advice on how to maintain your blog. John’s advice is always clear, concise and useful. Once again, everything that you need someone who is teaching you how to blog and maintain your website should be. Starting January 1st, John is doing “31 Day Challenge: Optimize Your Blog With Social Media.” I cannot wait.  I know that I am going to learn some fabulous tricks and tips.

3. Blogging For A Living

Blogging For A Living is part of a larger website called The Freelance Writing Jobs Network. This is a fabulous website. I have yet to be able to get through all of the information that is on this site, but every day I find something else that engages me. There is so much information that is so useful. There is blog tips, blog tools, blog traffic, blog jobs, community building and monetize blogs. They give so many tips for making your blog work for you an how to integrate it into your website and make it part of your marketing efforts. You are going to love this site.

4. Men With Pens by James Chartrand

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding this website lately, but it does not change the information that is given. James gives amazing information on copywriting and website design. There are many different sections of this blog that focus on different areas of your blog and website, including Better Writing, Better Blogging, and Better Business. If you can’t write, you can’t blog. James has some incredible articles that spark ideas for me and I am never disappointed. Check out the lists and lists of blog ideas and website improvement. I promise you will not be disappointed.

5. Copyblogger

The ideas here for getting readers, maintaining readers, and writing better copy are astouning. Once again, this is a website that has so much information that I have not gotten through all of it. I always feel like a sponge when I read this website. The articles always lead me to try something else. To try something new. To try something different. Further, since there are many different bloggers that contribute to this website, there are many different ideas and ways of apporaching blogging. I like that. New, fresh ideas are what makes blogging great.

There are so many people out there who can help you make your website better and your blog better, but these are the blogs that I love. Where do you go for inspiration and to learn something new about your website and blog?

Related Posts

1. My Favorite Marketing, PR, and Consultant Blogs

2. My Favorite Attorney Blogs

3. The Lovely Blog Award

The Court System is finally standing up for the little guy!

History

Years ago, lenders conspired to bypass the mortgage recording systems put in place by local municipalities, as well as avoid the fees associated with the recording of assignments of mortgages. In order to accomplish this task, lenders formed a company known as the Mortgage Electronic Recording System or MERS. Many mortgages state that the owner of the mortgage is MERS as nominee for the lender. The issue here, is that MERS is not the actual lender or the note holder and one can only foreclose if they are in fact the party that has been defaulted. In the case of MERS, the investor is the owner of the note but MERS is the owner of record of the mortgage.

What Does This Mean?

In short this means that the note and mortgage are owned by seperate entities and a foreclosing party must own both in order to foreclose. If a borrower fails to make payments, then the borrower has defaulted on the note and the owner of the note therefore has a cause of action for default on the note only and is not able to foreclose. The note holder may have the right to a judgment on the note and may be able to attempt collections on the note but cannot actually institute a foreclosure proceeding. The mortgage document, which allows for foreclosure, has not been violated since the borrower has only defaulted on the note and has not offended the owner of the mortgage. A mortgage holder may still be able to institute a foreclosure proceeding against the borrower for other violations of the mortgage such as transferring the property without consent, condemnation of the premises, etc.. but the mortgage holder may not institute foreclosure proceedings based on nonpayment of the note. This means that under the new rulings by a Kansas Court, MERS does not have the ability to foreclosure the mortgage and the investor may only recover under the terms of the note.

Proof Of Ownership

A foreclosing lender must prove that it is the owner of the defaulted mortgage and note, and not the owner of only one of those two documents. In keeping with the Kansas Court, the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York threw out a first mortgage of more than $400,000.00 in its ruling. The foreclosing servicer and underlying investor could not prove that they were the actual owners of the mortgage. The underlying investor, U.S. Bank , could not prove that it owned the mortgage that was being foreclosed upon by it servicer, PHH Mortgage. The lenders here used MERS which allowed them to assign the loan without filing actual assignments in the Municipality’s recording office. Since there was no assignment of record, U.S. Bank was unable to prove that they were the aggrieved party and therefore, had no standing to foreclose.

Summary

Although these rulings are being or will be appealed by the lenders, these rulings show a change in the way the Court System is looking at foreclosures. After years and years of deferment to creditors and a bending of the rules when it comes to proof of claims in foreclosure and collections matters, the Courts are now requiring lenders to prove that they are in fact the aggrieved party and to provide proof. If the lender is unable to prove that they are the aggrieved party, Courts seem much less likely to simply defer to the creditors. It seemed that the burden of proving the debt has finally been shifted back to where it belongs. Now the lender must prove that the debt is valid and owned by them, before the Court will allow them to proceed.

What This Means For You

About 60% of all mortgages that were given out during the lending and refinance boom are held by MERS as nominee. There is a good chance that your mortgage is held in this fashion. If you can find your copy of the mortgage papers you signed all those years ago, look on the first page of the mortgage documents and see who is named as the lender or mortagee. If it is MERS as nominee, you may have a viable defense to foreclosure or may be able to have the debt completely relieved in bankruptcy.

Disclaimer

The rulings cited in this blog post are cases of first impression and the full ramifications of the rulings are not yet known. The ruling of the Kansas Court is not binding upon any other State and until the appeals process has been completed there is no way of knowing what the actual outcome may be. This article written to show the trend of the Courts in moving away from a creditor bias and toward a more fairly viewed interpretation of the law and rules surrounding mortgages and foreclosure. This is not legal advice but rather a resitation of facts and an analysis of what appears to be happening around the Country with the hopes that some of our collegues may be inspired to pursue these types of defenses to foreclosure proceedings and establish the rule of law more thouroughly and to give hope to those who are facing similiar circumstances.

If your mortgage is owned by a small lender or a non-participating lender or servicer such as Green Tree, or a federal credit union, or a local bank chances are that your lender is not participating in the MHA. Under these circumstances, modification of your current loan is still possible; however, the requirements and the lenders negotiations are different.

We are seeing a trend where large lenders bound by the terms of the MHA are selling off large portions of the nonperforming and slow performing loans to servicers and investors that are not subject to the MHA and therefore are not required to modify loans under that program. IndyMac Bank has sold what seems like all of their second mortgages to Green Tree  for what we can only infer to be this reason, although it may have some basis in their merger with One West Bank.

Major Differences

1. Under the MHA, lenders who offer a loan modification must reduce your monthly mortgage payment to 31% of you gross monthly income. Lenders who are non-participatory are not subject to the same regulations.

2. MHA Modifications must be for the entire term of the mortgage, however these other lenders are not required to make long term modifications. Many of the non-participatory lenders offer only short term solutions that stay in effect until the borrower’s hardship has passed. If the hardship affecting the borrower has not passed by the time appointed in the modification agreement, these lenders will typically extend the terms of the modification until such time as the borrower is able to resume normal payments, refinances, sells, or otherwise disposes of the mortgage.

3. Large lenders are overwhelmed with modification requests and papers get lost, the loss mitigation division is so large that you deal with a new representative every time you call, and they are unable to properly train the entire staff. Small lenders however, have a smaller depatments, one person is assigned to your loan in particular, papers are direct to your negotiator, and the modification typically takes less time with fewer missteps and errors.

4. Smaller lenders and investors typically give their customer service repesentatives and loss mitigation specialists much broader power than the large lenders do. This allows small lenders to expidite the modification process and to tailor each modification, forebearance or work out plan to the individual borrower’s needs unlike to cookie cutter approach mandated by the MHA and adopted by the large lenders.

Although your mortgage may be held by a non-participatory lender, there is still a good chance that a borrower can get a modification and some relief from the overpowering monthly mortgage bill. It is not as easy to predict the benefit the lender will offer or the terms of the loan modification but these lenders understand that reduced payments far exceed no payments at all and are typically willing to help borrowers with hardships. The loan modification waters remain murky regardless of the lender who hold the mortgage and note.

Related Posts:

1. Do I Need To Hire An Attorney To Do A Loan Modification?

2. The Top Five Loan Modification Myths!

3. Streamlined Refinance As An Alternative To A Loan Modification

There are a ton of available outlets to help you find your home.

1. Realtor Websites

The first place to begin looking for a home is the Internet. Websites upon website offer houses for sale in every community across the globe and any house available for purchase will be there. All sites are not created equal however, and there are certain things you should be wary of when beginning your search especially if you are not familiar with real estate purchases. Many websites that are created specifically for a certain realtor such as Century 21, Prudential Real Estate, Re-Max, Coach, and all the others will list their exclusive listings before general listings. These listings are exclusive to the specific realtor. That means that the realtor will not have to split their commission with another realtor and therefore make more money on the sale of these homes. So obviously, they want to sell them first. Many listing agreements have an exclusivity clause in them whereby the realtor gets to list them exclusively for a short time before they are obligated to get other Realtors and general listings involved. The use of these websites is an invaluable tool but be mindful that what you are seeing are listings new to the market and not yet price reduced.

2. MLS (Multiple Listing Service)

Almost every region has a multiple listing service where a realtor can list a home for other realtors and the general public. In lower NY State, you should use MLSli.com, which stands for Multiple Listing Service Long Island. Although the title seems to limit the service to Long Island, many listings are in New York City and the surrounding areas. MLS services are a great resource as you can see listings from every realtor and from many for sale by owner listings as well. This side by side view of the market in a current area will help you to see where the good deals are and the average value assigned to properties of different types in certain areas. You will also be able to contact realtors directly to schedule viewings and open houses are listed. The MLS website has additional tools on it that can be very helpful such as mortgage calculators, income calculators, and tools to search houses that were recently sold in the area to give you an idea of an acceptable price. Remember asking price for a house is rarely what is paid, everything is negotiable, especially in the current housing market.

3. Open Houses

Set aside a few weekend days and travel to the places you think you want to live. This is supposed to be fun, but remember what you are there for. While it is exciting to look at a potential new home you must do so with a critical eye. Remember the house was prepared for you and in many instances even staged by a professional designer to give off a certain aura. Use a critical eye and think about those possessions you have and don’t want to discard, ask yourself, “Will my couch fit here?”, “Will my TV look right there?”, and “Will our bed fit in this room?”. Remember once you buy it, it is yours and if it is not right you may not be happy.

Related Posts:

1. 7 Days To Owning A Home

2. 7 Days To Owning A Home: Day 1 – Credit

3. 7 Days To Owning A Home: Day 2 – Financials

4. 7 Days To Owning A Home: Day 3 – Where To Live?

1. Do your research. Really look online at websites like MLSLI.com, realtor sites like Remax.com, Coldwell Banker, etc… to see exactly what comparable houses are selling for in the recent past.
2. Offer less than you think the seller will accept. Sellers are not getting a thousand bids on houses anymore. They will consider just about anything and this will begin the negotiation process. The old rule of thumb was that an offer within 15% of the asking price was acceptable and deemed a serious offer. However, that number has now changed to 20%.
3. Make yourself look like a good buyer. Be prequalified for a mortgage so the Seller knows you are serous and ready to go. Have your attorney’s information on hand and a decent downpayment ready to be placed on contract.
4. Never put more than $10,000.00 on contract. We are no longer in the times of 20% down-payments. A $10,000.00 downpayment is sufficient for almost every Residential Real Estate Transaction.
5. Do not put money on a binder. It was common practice that buyers would put a few hundred dollars down when making the offer to show they were serious. This practice is no longer necessary and a buyer in this market would be foolish to put anything down before contracts are prepared.
6. Make sure your attorney does Real Estate Transaction Law on a regular basis. Just because Real Estate Transaction Law is typically non-adversarial does not mean that anyone can do it. There are specific terms in the contract of sale that must be amended to protect your interests. The contract of sale currently in use by most attorneys in New York was drafted many years ago and does not compensate for the current conditions in the Real Estate Market.
7. Get a home inspection. Make the contract contingent upon a home inspection. Use a reputable company, we typically suggest Housemasters because of their nationwide presence, decent pricing, and ease of use. Their reports are thorough and accessible almost immediately.
8. Stay on top of your Lender. Lenders are creating more and more hurdles for borrowers to jump over to get financing. They are arbitrarily reducing appraisal values due to a declining market, asking for additional paperwork and mandating that the borrower remain up to the minute with their documentation. Many lenders want your paystubs, bank statements and other documentation within a few days of when you get them to keep their files current. Of course, the Lenders rarely tell the borrower about this and will all of a sudden threaten to kill the financing unless all the papers are in within 24 hours or some other ridiculousness. Be prepared and save the stress.
9. Make sure you are getting exactly what you are paying for. Make sure that you go to the premises before closing and test everything! (This is called a “walk through”). Make sure the toilets flush, the heat works, the stove works, the fridge is operational, the A/C is running, the boiler and hot water heater are working correctly, the washing machine, dishwasher, etc. Be thorough because once you own it, you own it and the seller is off the hook for most of the issues.
10. Don’t let the lender push you around. Lock your interest rate if you can. It looks as if interest rates are climbing again so be careful to get a good rate and lock it in to protect your payment. Lenders have a duty to make money for their stockholders. One way to do this is to allow approved loans to “float” until the date of closing and then lock in your interest rate. While this was beneficial while rates were dropping, it is not in the borrower’s interest currently. Furthermore, if your rate goes up, your payment goes up, and you may no longer qualify for the mortgage, if you are close to the Debt-to-Income ratios established for the loan program and could be held in default by the seller.

Experience is the key in the purchase of real estate. Where a borrower may buy two or three homes in their life time, their counsel should have closed a hundred loan and real estate transactions. Your attorney needs to be up to speed on the current market conditions, scams, bank policies, title issues and the tricks of the trade he/she can use, as well as those used by all the other people involved, including Seller’s counsel and the lender.