Congrats to my awesome team for raising the bar in 2011 – taking us to #81 in the Nation for Sales Volume!

In just one year, we closed over $80 Million in sales. It takes incredible teamwork to make that happen – thanks so much everyone! The reviews we receive say it all. Check out my profile on Zillow.com, where Jennifer Young Homes is ranked as a “Premiere” team: http://www.zillow.com/profile/Jennifer-Young-Homes/Reviews/

Both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae will be offering additional consideration to military personnel who may be facing problems with their mortgage due to service related orders.  The two GSEs were directed to address mortgage servicer practices that pose risks to home owning service members and to ensure compliance with applicable consumer laws and regulations. The “guidance” came from regulators the Federal Reserve, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and other regulators.

The guidance pertains to risks faced by homeowners who have received Permanent Change of Station (PCS) orders, that is have been ordered by the military to relocate to a new duty station or base.  Such orders are received by about one-third of active-duty service members each year.

PCS orders are non-negotiable and carry short, strict timelines.  Homeowners with such orders, however, are still obligated to honor their financial obligations including their mortgages.  In the current environment, with so many homes underwater, these service members may be unable to sell their homes and obtain sufficient funds to pay off the mortgage debt and may have to continue mortgage payments while making rent or other housing payments in their new location.

Under the new guidelines, receipt of a PCS will be treated as a hardship for the purpose of qualifying for a short-sale even if the homeowner is current on the existing mortgage.  Military with PCS who complete a short sale will be exempt from deficiency judgments from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and relieved of any request or requirement to contribute cash to the sales proceeds or to sign a promissory note for any outstanding balance as long as the property was purchased on or before June 30, 2012.

In addition to holding PCS order, the homeowner must have a mortgage owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac to be eligible for the program.  The status of the mortgage can be current or delinquent.  Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were instructed by regulators last year to treat PCS orders as a hardship for purposes of modifications and forbearance.

Paul Mullings, Freddie Mac’s Interim Head of Single Family Business and Information Technology said, “Freddie Mac is proud to support this important new effort to help servicemen and women when national duty requires them to sell their homes in an uncertain market.  We look forward to working with our servicers on this new short sale policy.  Together we can help ease the challenge of relocation for military families when Permanent Change of Station orders are received.”

The Federal Housing Finance Agency said it would provide final guidance by September 30 and the short-sale reforms would be effective 60 days later.

For more info on short sales call me at (703) 774-9572 or email jennifer@jyhteam.com.

Don’t miss this brand new listing in Manassas! Located on Yoder St in the Oakenshaw neighborhood, this home is priced right at $319,000. Call for showing today – and if you’d like more info on how you or someone you know can short sale in Virginia, call me at (703) 774-9572 or email me.

Successful HAFA Short Sale – Chase Bank and Citi Mortgage Short Sale SOLD in Alexandria, VA

Congrats to our client who successfully took advantage of the government’s HAFA Short Sale program last week! He received $3,000 in relocation assistance and his unpaid mortgage balances were written off and deficiencies waived. Our seller paid over $400,000 for his home on Huntley Creek in Alexandria, VA in 2006, but just SOLD for only $275,000. For more info on short sales and how you can take advantage of the HAFA program, call me at (703) 774-9572 or email me at me.

The Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives program, which is part of the Obama Administration’s Making Homes Affordable program, has been extended one year and now covers rental properties.

Launched in 2009, HAFA was designed to help distressed homeowners avoid foreclosure and includes a $3,000 relocation incentive for the seller. It also ensures that the outstanding loan balance is forgiven. Now, HAFA was predicted to help millions, but has only been used on about 40,000 short sales. The Jennifer Young Homes team has closed numerous HAFA short sales, each one with its system snags…but a great program all around. Here are the details of HAFA updates:

The U.S. Treasury Dept. on March 9 and April 17 issued Supplemental Directives 12-02 and 12-03, which included wide-ranging changes to the program “in an effort to continue to provide meaningful solutions to the housing crisis.” The changes, which took effect June 1, include:

EXTENSION: The HAFA program has been extended through 2013. To be eligible, an initial package must be submitted on or before Dec. 31, 2013, and the transaction must be closed on or before Sept. 30, 2014.

OCCUPANCY: The program is now available on investment properties. Previously, HAFA guidelines required that the applicant occupied the property as a primary residence, though they still qualified if they had moved out within the previous 12 months.

RELOCATION INCENTIVE: It remains at $3,000, but the incentive will only be paid to: Owner-occupants, Tenants who will be required to vacate after the sale, The borrowers’ legal dependents, parents or grandparents who live in the property rent-free, and who will relocate.

Investment property owners are not eligible for the incentive.

JUNIOR LIENS: The amount allowed to pay off a junior lien, such as a second trust deed, has been increased to $8,500 from $6,000.

Note: The HAFA program has often been rejected because the junior lienholder was unwilling to accept $6,000 payoff because it was less than 10% of outstanding balance. Though the new $8,500 limit is a greater incentive for junior lienholders, HAFA still may not be viable for homeowners who have large home-equity loans.

MILITARY DEPLOYMENT: Owner-occupancy guidelines have been expanded to include active military members who have been deployed or forced to relocate for service, as long as the home was their primary residence, they plan to move back in after their service is completed, and the home is not occupied by a tenant.

MORTGAGE LATES: Homeowners do not have to be delinquent on their payments to apply. And the homeowner can elect to make full payments during the short sale process, in order to stay current on their loan.

***The Treasury’s version of the HAFA program does not apply to all mortgages. Loans owned, insured or guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, VA or the Rural Housing Service are not eligible for this program.

***Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have their own versions of the HAFA program, and they have not adopted the frequent updates along with the Treasury.

Alexandria Short Sale Approved by Suntrust

Seller More Than $156,000 Upside Down on Mortgage!

All deficiency rights are being waived on this one as well. These sellers are more than ready to get to closing on this short sale on Cheyenne Knoll in Alexandria. The subdivision is Windy Hill at Lincolnia…they bought at the height of the market and owe over $576K. We currently have it listed for $429,900 and it is expected to close this month. The approval letter on this one is below. Note that if the short sale does not make it to closing for some reason, the sellers have agreed to sign a Deed-in-Lieu with Suntrust within 15 days. We DO NOT want to see that happen. For more info on this case or to talk about your own situation, call me at (703) 774-9572 or email me at me.

With rules that take effect in a few days, federal regulators have hopes of greatly streamlining the short-sale process.

According to The New York Times, Starting June 15, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will require both agencies to give short-sale buyers a final decision within 60 days. (In a short sale, a lender agrees to accept less than the balance on a mortgage.)

Fannie and Freddie must also respond to initial requests for a short sale within 30 days of receiving the buyer’s submission.

In March, the most recent month for which data were available, short sales represented more than 14 percent of existing home sales, according to CoreLogic, a data analytics company, compared with 12 percent for all of 2011 and about 10 percent in 2010. And as the number of short sales has risen, foreclosures have fallen. Completed foreclosures represented 25.3 percent of home sales in March, versus 34.9 percent in all of 2011 and 42.7 percent in all of 2010.

Lenders favor short sales because they are less costly and more efficient than foreclosures. Yet the homeowners, trying to exit as gracefully as possible, never know how long the process will take or how badly their credit will be hurt. Both short sales and foreclosures remain on the credit report for seven years — but foreclosures don’t appear until the legal paperwork is filed, and that could take months, Mr. Griffin said.

As for the actual credit score, the effect was measured in an analysis by VantageScore, a provider of credit scores used by lenders. The higher the credit rating a consumer has, the more points he or she would lose in a short sale. If consumers started with, say, an 830 score, they would most likely lose 100 to 110 points from a short sale, 120 to 130 points from a foreclosure. But a homeowner with a 625 score, who is behind on his mortgage and some credit card payments, would lose 15 to 25 points from a short sale and 10 to 20 points from a foreclosure, the VantageScore analysis shows.

8 Short Sales SOLD in May by Jennifer Young Homes Team – Virginia Short Sale Experts!

In just one month, we were excited to help 8 clients and their loved ones sell their home for LESS than what they owed on their mortgages. Just last week we closed one of those sales in Winchester, VA where the seller owed over $220,000. In the end, the current market dictated it be sold for $127,100. This was a Fannie Mae backed mortgage and they were set on foreclosing, but we stuck with it and matched a buyer that was willing to commit to the wait involved. Here is an approval letter from HSBC on this short sale. If you or anyone you know needs our help, call me at (703) 774-9572 or email me at me.