Hi Everyone,
Here are the links and follow up from today’s class.
Here is a link to the Washington State website that lists free, HUD-approved Housing Counseling Agencies referenced in DOL’s Short Sale Seller Advisory.
The DOL Short Sale Advisory is for home sellers but really should be for both sellers AND their Realtors/real estate brokers. DFI’s companion advisory is titled “Short Sale Guidance for Licensees” and contains many Q&As for both loan modification and short sale negotiation services. The Seller Advisory dated 12/6/10 that we reviewed in class during the first hour is still the same and has not been updated. The DFI Guidance for Licensees has a new date of December 10th however, there have been no changes made to the form other than DFI made the content fit onto the pages better so it prints out in six pages instead of eight.
There was a request for more reading information on the story about 25-34 year olds living at home and comparing that to the homeownership rate.
Here’s Ken Harney’s article about credit scores and how a short sale v. foreclosure impacts a person’s score.
Here’s more information about the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, taxes, and foreclosure.
This article appeard in the Seattle Times yesterday and gives us a glimpse into local foreclosure data. Notice how many comments the article attracted. People had lots to say about the person in foreclosure who use to work for a subprime lender.
Here’s the interview with local DFI representatives talking about how right now, states have no authority over the large, federally chartered banks….but that will change next year.
Here is the story about Arizona’s attorney general filing a lawsuit against BOA that was in the news this past weekend. He is charging BOA with mortgage fraud because of the way BOA is handling their loan mods and foreclosures. This should be interesting to watch. Oh! It looks like Nevada is suing BOA, too. While we’re piling on BOA, it should not go without mention that the famous Bill Black (former RTC regulator) says we should put BOA into receivership.
Still waiting to hear from David regarding a link to the clarification of Rule 24 from the WA State Supreme Court on the unauthorized practice of law…
UPDATE. From David Monroe: “Hi Jillayne, Here’s the link to the Washington Supreme Court rule that local attorneys like to use to justify their argument that only attorneys can negotiate short sales. They’re referring to Section a4. However, the DOL considers licensed real estate agents to be exempt from this if they’re negotiating a short sale as part of the overall transaction. However, the DOL’s interpretation won’t necessarily protect a real estate agent that’s being sued if a short sale goes bad–The opposing attorney could still use that definition in their case against the agent, since a Supreme Court rule would probably hold more weight than the DOL’s interpretation of the law.”
Thanks for the follow up, David!
Still waiting to hear from Elizabeth about a short sale case in California…
and I will email the following question to DFI: “Can a third party short sale negotiator who is licensed in California, negotiate short sales in WA State for a fee, without being licensed as a loan originator in Washington State?” When they respond with an answer, I will post the answer here for us to read. LOs are busy renewing licenses and DFI is busy processing renewals so I don’t expect an answer immediately.
UPDATE. Jillayne here. DFI responded right away to our question. Here’s their answer: “Hi Jillayne. The answer to your question is no. A company licensed in California cannot negotiate a short sale on a Washington property without being licensed in Washington under DOL or DFI. With DFI, licensing at the company and individual levels would be required. With DFI a California company could license a branch in Washington and then license the individuals.”
There were a few people who asked for more reading material on the mortgage math surrounding short sales. Here’s great article by Tanta that will help you get into the mind of a loss mitigator and learn how she/he decides whether or not to approve your short sale.
Thanks for coming to class today and Happy Holidays to all!