All Forum Posts by: Preston Hamilton

Get a hold of someone who does shortsales. I have a few in your area that I'm working on now. However I live in Oregon so if you want one on one face time you should contact someone locally.

Its pretty easy to get rid of the deficiency judgement if you know how to speak with the bank during the process. The 1099 issues are a little more complex, however my CPA usually takes care of all my clients and sets them up in advance to minimize the issue, or avoid it outright. PM me your email and I can send you a document covering the tax implications and things you can do about them. I won't quote it because I'm not a CPA

FMV is all a matter of opinion though. Always keep that in mind, and I have got WAMU to pay 5% on a single realtor many times. It all depends on the relationship you can build and how well you present your case.

Like I said, can you prove that it needs to be done in order to make the house marketable? That is the real question, you can deduct anything you want, if you can get the person on the other end of the phone to believe its a problem.

I'll give you a vague answer, but the most accurate.

You can claim whatever you want, can you justify it to the bank is the only real question however. Meaning if you can show pictures, get a bid and make it so that someone sitting at a desk a thousand miles away understands what you are trying to say, they will likely sign off on it. If you can't, then they won't

Simple, drive to any part of California, knock on about ten doors and you should probably find two foreclosures.... :beer:

But in reality, most of mine come from referrals from mortgage brokers and realtors. I haven't had to actually market for a foreclosure in a long time. Those guys are in the thick of it, and if they do a warm hand off to you, letting the person in trouble know your name and you can do something with their house, it works a thousand times better than a cold lead off the street.

Nothing is ever falsified, and all claims are documented with photos, I even send them the disk.

All aspects of the repair job are also disclosed fully to the buyer, so they understand the issues as well. Full disclosure is the only way as far as I'm concerned. I give them a copy of the shortsale packet usually for their own review. Now if they think they can fix everything for a lot less than what the lender thinks..........

And you are right, its totally a numbers game as well with the lender, the mitigators aren't getting paid much to work the files either. Combine that with someone who really doesn't feel like doing a BPO, and they leave a lot of margin for negotiation, you just have to know the house inside and out in order to make it work.

buyers are secured before closing. If you can't find a buyer before you close, then its probably not that great of a deal! Simple matter of networking.

Usually investors who then can do whatever they want with it, fix and flip, rent out, re-sell etc. Very rarely will I want to retail anything out, it takes too long and ties up money. Generally the property is sold before the close though. Sometimes, if someone is qualified and has a loan ready to go, but generally speaking I want to leave a lot of equity on the table so they close fast.

In this case I have a buyer at 300k that is ready to do whatever it is that he wants as far as rehab, will likely split it up into a multi unit and hold

That is the money making part, you better damn sure know that market better than the bank ever has a chance too, and provide one of the most compelling and well put together arguments ever as well.

All the usual techniques apply, I'm sure its not rocket science anymore, but they include:

-detailing repairs to the property, with a contractors help (there is mold in every house in my area if you look hard enough), know how to present this information and document it to the T. In fact, do the work of the BPO or the appraisal and present it in such a way that it almost looks like an appraisal, or pay someone to do it yourself. Ideally, find out who and when the bank is getting their appraisal done.
-Detailed recent local comps, obviously you want to pull the lowest ones possible
-local media and news, if the new next door neighbor is a rapist, grab some newspaper articles (I know, sounds low, but do it anyway)
-Expand your thoughts! Stop thinking like everyone else who goes in and makes a pathetic offer.

One I'm currently working on, several other people had tried to short before, the bank was stating value was 632k, based on recent appraisal, loans added up to 440k, they had agreed to bring the second down to 6k from 88k. Everyone was trying to close the deal at around 380k or so. NOT HAPPENING! Couldn't even get a buyer at that price. Why not when the comps were there for 632k? Nobody seemed to notice that half the square footage was below grade and didn't even have carpet on it. There was moss and general wear and tear everywhere, the garage needs to be gutted. I could go on and on.

Needless to say, I started at 185k, and the bank is now hoping for 250k (where we thought we would be anyway). Stupid people left all that on the table and gave up.

You can get a lender to bite of on 80% of FMV all day long. The negotiation is in determining what the FMV is :wink:

Thats the way I look at it anyway, absolutely destroy their BPO and come up with a number of your own, and convince them its a better number than they have. You will end up around 80% of that number eventually.

Should have made it more cleaer. Indy is the only one I know of that is friendly to more than 10 props, however you are correct, they don't do anything stated anymore.

Aurora still has aggressive LTV's, but closing one there is a pain in the neck anymore