All Forum Posts by: Maurice George

@Jean Smith

Since it has been reduced 3 times, it doesnt really matter whether you are an owner occupant or not.  I would consider submitting as an investor so you are not tied to the 12 months of occupancy.  Your other questions:

-Your agent (the listing agent) has no idea how many bids have been placed nor does anyone else with a Hudhomestore account.  Only agents with an Naid# can access the page to place bids

-Post or email me the numbers on your bid.  Bids usually always receive the generic counter(unless you bid 20K on a 100K property but even then its probable)  The counter will almost always be in the 88% range

-You agent knows the next morning excluding weekends whether the bid was accepted so you are not getting the entire story

@Kevin Powell

Typically, manual reviews happen on properties that have been on the market 60+ days and one if not more price reductions have occurred . The asset manager will take the highest bid to HUD to see if they will accept it

There is no specific formula for the manual review and in most cases you do not even know it happens except if it is accepted.  Occasionally, I receive a call/email asking if I am still interested.  I say "I" because I am a Broker making my own offers.  Otherwise your agent would be contacted.  There is no system in place to ask for a manual review

Just wanting to warn everyone about possible issues with using the provided title services associated with a Hubzu auction property.

This is what happened to me on a recent transaction on a fix and flip property that I bought in Northern Kentucky just outside Cincinnati.

Hubzu’s contract states, basically, that if the buyer uses their designated title agency (Premium Title / Altisource) for title work and closing then the seller will pay the closing fees and owners title policy. This could save the buyer around $800 to $1200 depending on the purchase price. Kind of enticing and that is what I did in a recent transaction.

The issues began at closing:

The closing agent was a notary with very little knowledge of the paper work required. Basically it is Sign-Here-What-Is- It-I-Have-No-Idea type of situation. The closing agent noticed that the seller’s attorney-in-fact had signed the deed where I, the buyer, should sign. This caused a 2 hour delay in closing while we waited for the new deed.

80 days later - I now have a contract to purchase and will close in a couple weeks. I happen to check to ensure the deed has been recorded and to my amazement it was not. I immediately sent an email to Altisource notifying them of the issue. They replied and said they were assigning a complaint with someone at Premium Title, the closing agency.

A week went by without hearing a word from Premium. There is only an 800 number for Premium which connects you with their call center in India. After going through their voice prompt system I finally was able to establish communication with someone.  All they do is act as a go between with the people that do the work at Premium Title in Atlanta. You can never speak with a person that knows and understands the issue.  After many days, phone calls and emails they finally send the deed for recording.

In the mean time I get a call from my buyer’s title company informing me that there is a mortgage against the property that has not been released and that we cannot close unless this is cleared. Here we go again, back to the phone. As stated, you are dealing with a call center in India. They do not know the difference between a deed and a release of mortgage. They promise that the matter is being taken care but there is a back log in the recording department.

A back log? They sent me a copy of the release of mortgage which was dated March 2015! They have had the document from March and now it is September and it is not recorded! And to top this off they allowed me to close with the open mortgage!

Again, no sense of urgency on their part. I begin demanding contact information for someone in the recording department. They cannot give that out. I demand to speak with their manager, “He is out of the office”, “what about their manager?”, “We will have him call you”, never happened.

Remember the complaint that Altisource filed? They finally send me an email wanting to help. I call and get a call center representative in India again and he is clueless about the situation. After multiple phone calls, emails and broken promises of returned calls I finally get an email notice, with a tracking number, that the release of mortgage has been sent for recording.

The after days of waiting and checking, the release is never recorded. I call the court house to find out what is going on. They only know that they do not have it. If it was not recordable then they just put it in an envelope and snail mail it back to the sender. Later find out that Premium Title did not send the proper fee.

Here we go again, back to India. No one can give me an answer to what is going on or allow me to speak with anyone in the department that understands the situation. After days of intense phone calls they finally give me an email and phone numbers for a Vice President and 2 managers at Premium Title in Atlanta. I left voice mails with all and no returned calls. Even though one of the voice mails promises a return call in 2 business hours.

After numerous voice mails and emails I finally get an email response from one of them and all they say is that they are looking into it. Days of waiting, emails, unanswered voice mails and calls to India I finally get an email that states they have a new release and will be sending it for recording.

It was finally recorded and we closed.

Bottom line: It is enticing to save a couple hundred dollars, but you have no representation on title issues.When all goes well, as a previous transaction did, there is no problem. But when there is a problem you are not their customer and they have very tall walls that you cannot get through.

What did I learn: Until the deed is recorded there is nothing that prevents someone from recording a lien on the property against the previous owner and your owner's title policy may not (probably will not) cover it.

I will use my own title company in the future.

Friends, 

just to close this threat, the second title company also refused to close this loan. At this time, we have given up and will sell this property next year. Here is the response from the underwriter of the title company. I hope this will be helpful for others in the same situation.

"Thanks for the additional info! We are not going to be able to insure this transaction because of homestead concerns. Since they live out of state and this is the only property they own in Texas, this property is their Texas homestead for insuring purposes although they do not live there. This is the case because they do not have any other property in TX to claim as their homestead. Because of this, even though they’ve removed the exemption, we look at the property as homestead and thus, the only way they would be able to do this transaction would be as a Home Equity and cash out of it.

Let me know if you have any questions. Have a great week!"

@Chloey M. I have no idea :).  Can’t remember yesterday.  Such a long time and many deals ago.  Sorry.

I hesitated to jump in as the OP seemed to have a problem with the business side than the information he provides. A couple of months ago, I happened to catch an interview where Larry detailed his program. I believe I commented on another thread. In my opinion, the information was outdated as much has changed with HUD going to a single Asset Manager. As someone who buys and tracks the bid results, I cannot not find any evidence of a property being sold for 50% off after being on the market for a few weeks(As kindly as I can put it)

I am Curious to see if anyone goes after properties in which both owners have passed away, the property is upside down with a large mortgage and the family (Heirs) wants absolutely nothing to do with the property and do not open estates for there passed loved ones. In theory does anyone here continue to actively go after these leads do a judicial probate to become PR of Estates then do a shortsale on the property. Trying to see A is this Legal and B is this possible. 

@Maurice George, you can pay the heirs for access to inspect the property and you can buy personal property. But, many times the children do not want their parents' name dragged through the mud of foreclosure lawsuits or foreclosure notices, and are also fearful that it might affect their inheritance in any other assets, such as cash or other real estate.  TThey will usually work with you.

There is more flexible on reverse mortgage short sales than other deals. Buying personal property or paying an heir to cooperate may be acceptable as they are not a borrower on the loan. Obviously this should be disclosed to the servicer.

You probably don't need an attorney. Reverse mortgage short sales are very simple. The lender really needs only an MLS listing, copy of contract, proof of ability to close, and an estimated settlement sheet. No borrower financial information is required. Whoever will do the closing can provide the estimated closing statement. Then the lender orders an appraisal. @Wayne Brooks is right, the offer will need to be 95% of appraised value to be approved. You can contest the appraisal successfully, though.