September 17th, 2010

Hello and Welcome to Xima’s Webinar Training Archive for September 17th, 2010. Here are some of the questions our subscribers asked in today’s training. Please watch the video to see the answer to all these questions and more:

• Q: How can i find the mailing or contact information for the property owner
• Q: Can you calculate ARV with XIMAUSA
• Q: can you show us a judgment
• Q: How do you add your name, email, phone # and picture to your property analysis? Thanks.
• Q: Since the lis pendens stays with the property record forever is there a way that we ban tell if things are clear or still
• Q: can we tell what the judgment is? date of judgment
• Q: on the foreclosure information example that you showed us it gave a date of 9/22? how is this done 5 days early? Also is that a fanny mae property as shown on the right?
• Q: When looking closer into pre-foreclosures, I see some that were filed over a year ago. What is the standard time frame for a property to move to full foreclosure. Also, if the property owner works things out with the bank (no pre-forclosure), how long will it take for us to see that on XIMA.
• Q: can you search expired listings?
• Q: how do we export to excel
• Q: does xima still do labels or do we do labels
• Q: does it show city liens
• Q: its shows liens under judges name what is that
• Q: how do you search by days on market
• Q: have to send property reports in emails

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September 10th, 2010

Hello and Welcome to Xima’s Webinar Training Archive for September 10th, 2010. Here are some of the questions our subscribers asked in today’s training. Please watch the video to see the answer to all these questions and more:

• Q: Can you show us a basic comp analysis?
• Q: How does Xima compute “Active” and “Market” values — why are they not similar, not correlated?
• Q: what do different “house” icons mean (colors, F vs F-Sold, etc.)
• Q: how can we save and print the report you’re currently reviewing for the MB property?
• Q: I’ve  been sent report links before. How can I get the link for the report.?
• Q: how frequently is Xima database updated?
• Q: I would like to market to home owners with home values of $750,000 who are not under water, how do I do a search
• Q: when running comparables on a property what are the defaults used for the comparable search and can they be changed to automatically use parameters set by the user?

For single family homes, there are two basic methods used in real estate appraisal. They are replacement cost analysis, and using comparable sales. A third appraisal method, based on capitalization, is used for income properties, and is covered in another article.

In figuring replacement cost the question is: What would it cost to buy this land and put this house on it? If the land (improved) would cost $40,000, and the house could be built for $150,000, the value indicated would be around $190,000 – if the house is fairly new. If it has used up 10% of its useful life, you can deduct $15,000 for depreciation.

Replacement cost is not really a very useful measurement. It is difficult to say what the land is worth in a city center where none is left for sale, for example, and tough to gauge depreciation. It is used as a secondary method, and for unique homes that can’t be compared easily with others. The primary method of real estate appraisal used for homes is a market analysis using comparable sales.

Real Estate Appraisal 101

To get a good idea of what a home should sell for, you need to compare it to homes that have sold. Find at least three similar homes in the same area that have sold within the last year, preferably within the last six months. This information is available in the county records, or from a real estate agent with access to the MLS (multiple listing service).

Now the confusing part. You start with the selling price of each of your comparables. If your subject home has a second bathroom, and the a comparable doesn’t, you add the value of the bathroom to the sales price of the comparable. If a comparable home has a blacktop driveway, and the subject home doesn’t, you take the value away.

You are rectifying differences, to see what comparable homes would have sold for if they were like yours. So if a comparable sold for $140,000, and a bathroom is worth $15,000 in your area (ask a real estate agent for help with these figures), you ADD $15,000 for the bathroom it doesn’t have. Then you subtract, say $4,000, for the paved driveway it does have. This gives you a comparable sales price of $151,000.

You do this with all differences between the subject home and each comparable. When done, you average the three comparable prices. So if the three comparables have adjusted sales prices of $151,000, 162,000, and 149,000, you add the three figures and divide by three. The indicated value of the home is $154,000.

Of course all appraisal is an inexact science. If you can only find comparables sold over a year ago, you have to estimate appreciation in the area. If one sold with seller financing, you have to decide how this affected the price. For all of it’s flaws, however, for single family homes, this is the most accurate method of real estate appraisal.

Go here to find out how to run your own comparables using the most advance Real Estate tool available

A short sale is a sale of real estate in which the proceeds from the sale fall short of the balance owed on a loan secured by the property sold.

In a short sale, the bank or mortgage lender agrees to discount a loan balance due to an economic or financial hardship on the part of the mortgagor. This negotiation is all done through communication with a bank’s loss mitigation or workout department. The home owner/debtor sells the mortgaged property for less than the outstanding balance of the loan, and turns over the proceeds of the sale to the lender, sometimes (but not always) in full satisfaction of the debt. In such instances, the lender would have the right to approve or disapprove of a proposed sale. Extenuating circumstances influence whether or not banks will discount a loan balance. These circumstances are usually related to the current real estate market and the borrower’s financial situation.

A short sale typically is executed to prevent a home foreclosure, but the decision to proceed with a short sale is predicated on the most economic way for the bank to recover the amount owed on the property. Often a bank will allow a short sale if they believe that it will result in a smaller financial loss than foreclosing as there are carrying costs that are associated with a foreclosure. A bank will typically determine the amount of equity (or lack of), by determining the probable selling price from a Broker Price Opinion( BPO) (also known as a Broker Opinion of Value (BOV) or through a valuation of an appraisal. For the home owner, advantages include avoidance of a foreclosure on their credit history and partial control of the monetary deficiency. A short sale is typically faster and less expensive than a foreclosure. In short, a short sale is nothing more than negotiating with lien holders a payoff for less than what they are owed, or rather a sale of a debt, generally on a piece of real estate, short of the full debt amount. It does not extinguish the remaining balance unless settlement is clearly indicated on the acceptance of offer.

Short sales are common in standard business transactions in recognition that creditors are not doing debtors a favor but, rather, engaging in a business transaction when extending credit. When it makes no business sense or is economically not feasible to retain an asset, businesses default on their loans (called bonds). It is not uncommon for business bonds to trade on the after-market for a small fraction of their face value in realization of the likelihood of these future defaults.

Negotiations

Lenders have a department (typically called “loss mitigation”) that processes potential short sale transactions. Today, lenders may accept short sale offers or requests for short sales even if a Notice of Default has not been issued or recorded with the locality where the property is located. Given the unprecedented and overwhelming number of losses that mortgage lenders have suffered from the 2009 foreclosure crisis, they are now more willing to accept short sales than ever before. This is great news for borrowers who are “under water” ” or in other words those who owe more on their mortgage than their property is worth and are having trouble selling to avoid foreclosure because of this.

Lenders have a varying tolerance for short sales and mitigated losses. The majority of lenders have a pre-determined criteria for such transactions. Other distressed lenders may allow any reasonable offer subject to a loss mitigator’s approval. Multiple levels of approvals and conditions are very common with short sales. Junior liens – such as second mortgages, HELOC lenders, and HOA (special assessment liens) – may need to approve the short sale. Frequent objectors to short sales include tax lien holders (income, estate or corporate franchise tax – as opposed to real property taxes, which have priority even when unrecorded) and mechanic’s lien holders. It is possible for junior lien holders to prevent the short sale. If the lender required mortgage insurance on the loan, the insurer will likely also be party to negotiations as they may be asked to pay out a claim to offset the lender’s loss in the short sale. The wide array of parties, parameters and processes involved in a short sale makes it a relatively complex and highly specialized type of real estate transaction which is why unfortunately short sale deals have a high failure rate and often do not close on time to save homeowners from foreclosure when they are not handled by a knowledgeable and experienced professional. The best sources of knowledge and expertise in short sales are short sale negotiators, loss mitigation specialists, and real estate lawyers who specialize in short sale.

One thing a buyer should know about a short sale is there is no necessary commitment by the bank to sell the house. When the bank completes a short sale they have to write off the difference between their loan amount and the lesser proceeds from the escrow, something they wish to avoid. You may go through all the paperwork to make an offer on the house, pay for inspections, and put down a deposit to start the sale process. After you have made your offer, the bank may try to convince the seller to refinance their loan and stay in the house, which avoids the bank having to take the write off. Any short sale contract includes a contingency where the bank must approve the sale. If the bank persuades the seller to refinance the house, the bank doesn’t approve the short sale and the buyer gets their deposit back. In this situation the bank has tied up several months of the buyers time and now the buyer must start the buying process over again. So if you have a fixed time period to get in a specific city or neighborhood you may be better off with a foreclosure (the bank formally took possession of the property) or a situation where the seller has equity. So in a short sale situation look for clues like has the seller moved out (revealed they have no intention of staying in the property) and/or grill the selling realtor about how much the selling bank has agreed to sell the house at (the price you want to offer).

Credit Reporting

A short sale does adversely affect a person’s credit report, though the negative impact is typically less than a foreclosure. Short sales are a type of settlement. Like all entries except for bankruptcy, short sales remain on a credit report for seven years. Depending upon other credit information it is typically possible to obtain another mortgage 1-3 years after a short sale.]

While it is frequent if not common for a lender to forgive the balance of the loan in question, it is unlikely that a lien holder that is not a mortgagee will forgive any of their balance. Further, it is common for a lender to omit updating mortgage balances zero balance after a short sale. However, willfully misrepresenting information on a credit report can constitute libel in some jurisdictions, and lenders may be sued in civil court for engaging in this behavior.

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MORE INFORMATION

Xima USA provides the best and most accurate foreclosure and pre-foreclosure information, data, and statistics available, making it a valuable resource to invest wisely Xima USA offers you everything you need to profit from foreclosure investing. It is your one stop destination to search for foreclosed homes, foreclosures Florida, properties with positive equity, short sale, pre-foreclosures or distressed homes. It creates comprehensive property comparison reports in a specific area, giving you a very powerful tool when making or negotiating an offer. XimaUSA is mainly geared towards real estate brokers and investors, and the main purpose is to identify the best investment properties. You are able to search for properties with 30%, 40%, or even 50% equity, and identify possible short sales. You can also identify distressed sellers and FSBOs, so you may easily get those hot listings.

All this information is collected from many different sources and presented to you in one place, in a very easy format. This will give you the ability to get MLS listings information, public records, mortgage, pre-foreclosure and foreclosure details, you can get comparables of active listings, closed sales and rentals. Best of all, you can customize and print reports, mailing lists and labels for easy mailings.

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