Posts Tagged ‘relief’

Saturday Round-Up; Mortgage Debt Relief Extended?; NY Foreclosure Dismissed; Foreclosure Crisis in A Quilt

Saturday, March 31st, 2012

cowboy lassoBill extends Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007

I warned you earlier this month that if you’re considering a short sale, the time to get the ball rolling is now.

That’s because the Mortgage Debt Relief Act, which was passed in 2007, is set to expire at the end of this year. If that happens you’ll have to pay taxes on any forgiven debt that comes out of a short sale.

I remain skeptical that Congress, in this election year, will come through and extend the MDRA, but at least some Congressmen haven’t forgotten how important this legislation is. Then again, in an election year anything is possible.

U.S. Reps. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and John Larson, D-Conn., have introduced the Homeowners Tax Fairness Act. It would extend the Mortgage Debt Relief Act for another three years.

Let’s hope Congress gets their act together and passes this bill.

NY Foreclosure Case Could Be A Game Changer

It remains to be seen if a foreclosure dismissal will have an impact here in Florida, but none the less it has the chance to be a real game changer.

The case is OneWest Bank, FSC vs Galli. OneWest had tried for a partial summary judgement against the Gallis, but the judge in the case denied it and instead ruled in favor of Mr. and Mrs. Galli.

As I’ve always said, you have to make the banks prove they own the note, but in reality it’s more than that. I could pick up a note off the street and say I owned it, but it wouldn’t necessarily be true.
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House Flippers Getting Mortgage Relief? Obama Expands HAMP

Wednesday, March 7th, 2012

Upside Down HomeHomes need to be occupied.

That is the bottom line.

Today’s housing market needs a dramatic overhaul and it’s been long overdue for a fix. So we don’t have the time to be contemplating moral hazards anymore.

So I’m OK with President Obama extending mortgage assistance to owners of multiple homes.

According to Bloomberg, the administration will open up the Home Affordable Modification Plan, or HAMP, to these additional borrowers starting in May.

Borrowers who qualify for HAMP can have their monthly payments reduced through lower interest rates, longer mortgage terms and forgiven principal.

Landlords can apply for loan modifications for up to 4 mortgages as long as they rent out the homes or plan fill them, according to Bloomberg, who says about 700,000 landlords might qualify.

This has angered some, who are saying the administration is rewarding speculators who may have caused the housing market to collapse, and should focus solely on those who haven’t been able to pay their mortgages because of financial hardship. In a dream world, they would be right.

The problem with that notion is while speculators may have played a role in the housing market collapse, I still lay most of the blame squarely on the banks. You might say a so called ‘house flipper’ was only buying homes to pad their bottom line, to which I respond, what exactly do you the banks were interested in?

They were the ones engaging in rampant fraud, not the speculators.

I must again go back to this 60 Minutes piece about abandoned homes rotting their neighborhoods from the inside out. Banks response to these vacant properties has been to walk away from homes and allow them to go to waste.
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Thinking of Doing a Short Sale? Better Act Fast!

Thursday, March 1st, 2012

It’s a great time to do a short sale.

Banks have finally realized they have much more to gain by agreeing to a short sale rather than allowing a home to go through foreclosure.

Data released by RealtyTrac today shows pre-foreclosure sales, which are often short sales, were up 15% in the fourth quarter of 2011.

It’s easier than ever before to walk away without a deficiency and maybe even thousands of dollars in your pocket.

And to top it off you usually don’t have to pay taxes on the debt you walked away from when you agreed to the short sale on your primary residence.

If you can’t stay in your home, this is frequently the best possible scenario.

You don’t have to pay taxes on that debt because of the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, which was enacted in 2007 as President George W. Bush was leaving office.

But like all good things, it may not last.

There is growing speculation that this tax break, which will expire at the end of 2012, will not be renewed.

Even though the bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and was enacted by a GOP President, tea partiers and Republican strategists alike seem fixated on the ‘moral contagion’ factor as well as the program’s $2.7 billion price tag.

Which means that if you agree to a short sale on your $200,000 home for only 150K, you could have to cough up taxes on the $50,000 of forgiven debt.

Currently the Debt Relief Act allows for up tax relief on up to $1 million of debt if you’re single, $2 million if you are married.

Once again there’s a lot of talk from some conservatives about the cost to the taxpayer. Never mind the fact that President Obama and the $25 billion settlement has made principal reductions and loan modifications the centerpieces for stabilizing the housing market.

So even the idea that this tax break might not see the light of day in 2013 is a slap in the face to everything the Attorneys General spent months haggling over.

The same government that is dangling the carrot of refinancing in front of you might very well bat it away with a massive tax bill.

Bottom line, if you’re thinking about a short sale, get started NOW. Short sales can sometimes take months to complete, and if you wait til one minute after the clock strikes midnight on December 31st, you run the risk of your beautiful stage coach turning back into a pumpkin.

It is of course an election year, so this lame brain duck Congress cannot be counted on to come through for homeowners. I thoroughly expect them to let the Debt Relief Act lapse, and once again you’ll be on the hook for taxes on ‘loan forgiveness income’.

Loan forgiveness income. If that’s not an oxymoron, then I don’t know what is!

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