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All Forum Posts by: James Harkness

James Harkness has started 6 posts and replied 189 times.

Post: Help with ARV!

James HarknessPosted
  • Real Estate Lender
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 216
  • Votes 112

Don't use zillow to measure value.

How are you coming up with the price you should contract the property for if you don't know the ARV of the property?

Post: Asking Price Vs Appraiser Price

James HarknessPosted
  • Real Estate Lender
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 216
  • Votes 112

If you are going to be getting financing from a bank, they will require an appraisal of the property. They will order the appraisal, and will not consider an appraisal you had done on the property previously in most cases.

Post: Deficiency judgement after a short sale

James HarknessPosted
  • Real Estate Lender
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 216
  • Votes 112

I actually do help people to sell their properties, but thank you for telling me what my job entails. I get them in touch with real estate agents, and allow them to complete a short sale. Without allowing them to do a short sale, they will NEVER sell the property because they owe more than what it is worth. So if you ask me, that is quite a lot of help.

I will also be happy to speak with any attorney and tell them directly that they cannot change anything that I can or will do for a customer. I genuinely do the best I can for everyone, and am tied down by the guidelines of the investors who purchased our loans. So a lawyer does nothing but hamper communication with the customer and make the process take longer. No matter what a lawyer says, if my investors will not allow me to bring a loan down below a certain interest rate, I cannot do it.

As far as never having a customer pay a contribution, good for you, but my bank does not allow that in most situations. If we are going to forgive a customer of 100k in debt, they can and should contribute something towards their obligation.

And I'd love to know how it is misleading to say that I don't charge fees when in fact, I don't? I'm being paid by the bank, not by the customer. Regardless of whether you want to believe that I charge a fee or not, a customer is only paying additional monies to use a lawyer and it isn't necessary. Most people don't realize that it is something that they can do on their own, and people like to perpetuate the fear that they must have a lawyer or they will get screwed. Totally false.

Post: Deficiency judgement after a short sale

James HarknessPosted
  • Real Estate Lender
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 216
  • Votes 112

Crosswind,

Asset manager's aren't bad people. We try to help people to not lose their properties or to help them sell their properties. We do not charge fees to the customer for our services, and having an attorney that you pay does not change a single thing that we can or will do for a customer. All it does is add legal fees that they have to pay to the attorney.

That being said, I would never recommend against legal advice if thats what makes you feel comfortable.

And don't offer money to your asset manager, they will let you know if you have to make a contribution to get the short sale done.

Post: Deficiency judgement after a short sale

James HarknessPosted
  • Real Estate Lender
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 216
  • Votes 112

Matt,

I am an asset manager, and deal with these kinds of things every day. In order to complete the short sale, the bank should have required a lot of financial documentation from you, including the past two years of tax returns and at least three months bank statements for all of your accounts.

The purpose of this clause is that if you are sitting on a large sum of money, they are reserving the right to go after you for the deficiency balance. You should make sure what their intentions are before signing the documents. Someone must be in touch with an asset manager at B of A in order to have gotten this short sale approved.

In most cases, the bank I work for does not go after the deficiency balance, however, we do normally require that the owner/seller contribute by signing a promisory note to help absorb some of the loss. This is usually in the amount of somewhere between 5k and 10k and spread over 30 years. The thought process is that they are excusing you of 100k in debt for exchange of only 10k of debt (much more manageable).

Post: Loan To Value (LTV) Question

James HarknessPosted
  • Real Estate Lender
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 216
  • Votes 112

Why would you pay more than what the property appraises for?

Post: Pre approved short sale

James HarknessPosted
  • Real Estate Lender
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 216
  • Votes 112

I believe that pre-approved means that the bank has already discussed doing a short sale with the borrower, and stated that they would consider offers for a short sale. I think this is how realtors list the properties to let potential buyers know that there is a chance that the property will sell below market value.

A short sale that is not pre-approved means that the borrower has not discussed a short sale with the lender. You will find homeowners who are delinquent on their payments and do not even know that a short sale is an option or what it even means... or they don't think that it would be an option for them. In discussing a home owner's situation, you would need to educate them on what a short sale is, and ask them if it would be a solution to the problem they would consider.

Post: Help me understand refinancing???.....

James HarknessPosted
  • Real Estate Lender
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 216
  • Votes 112

Get a lender first, and they will get an appraisal done for you. They will not consider an appraisal that you have gotten on your own beforehand.

Post: Does This Work? Please Help!!!

James HarknessPosted
  • Real Estate Lender
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 216
  • Votes 112

Banks are still going to look at your credit score. Banks are not in the business to foreclose on properties and then have to sell them as REOs.

Your credit score will be a determining factor in your abilty to get a cash out refinance.

You will likely need to get a hard money loan, where they don't look at your credit score as much and instead focus on the value of the collateral when doing a loan.

Post: Regarding Real Estate Investing

James HarknessPosted
  • Real Estate Lender
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 216
  • Votes 112

In principle, what you say makes sense. However, in the current economy, you will not find a loan for zero down. You should look into subject to purchases or assumptions if this is what you are looking to do.