Can You Believe it - Still More Mortgage Fraud?   by John Occhi, Hemet CA REALTOR   Hemet CA Real Estate   One of my favorite blogs that I keep up with is the Mortgage Fraud Blog - to me it is better than a good episode of Law and Order on the TV (still my favorite show).Well this morning an article was posted about a Mortgage lender publishing a very convincing website with all of the right credentials - you know, Better Business Bureau, State Licensing and an impressive Lexington office address.Well it's all a scam and the Kentucky Office of Financial Institutions has issued a warning to the good citizens of Kentucky to be wary.It should be a warning to everyone not to conduct this type of business with a party that you cannot verify who they are.  Read the article above - there are s... 07/04/2007

Is the Department Of Justice SPAMMING You?   by John Occhi, Hemet CA REALTOR   Hemet CA Real Estate   Fraud has many faces and can manifest itself in so may ways.I just read an article that warns of a new type of SPAM - supposedly from the United States Government with the latest agency being none other than the Department of Justice.(Pardon my French, but you have to have "Balls of Steel" to try and commit a crime, pretending to be one of the scariest organizations in the world - I know I would never go out of my way to make them mad at me.)Other agencies that have been targeted as having sent the SPAM includes the FBI and the IRS.  Powerful enemies.In any event, the SPAM looks like an official complaint and investigation has been launched against you and a copy of the complaint is att... 07/04/2007

What Factors will Influence a Lender to Accept a Short Saleby John Occhi REALTORRealtor Consultant to Foreclosure InvestorsWhen working a short sale, typically one of the first contacts you will have with the mortgage lender will be when you present your short sell package.  The package has to be complete and thorough and most importantly it must compel the lender to accept your short sale offer.The mortgage lender must be able to satisfy them selves that this is in the best interest of the bank.  The short sale package must answer several critical questions from the lenders perspective:The concerns that the bank might have is:1.         Does the homeowner truly qualify for and deserve a short sale?2.         Is it in the banks best interest to accept a short sale or are the better off ... 07/03/2007

When is Flipping Illegal?   by John Occhi REALTOR   Realtor Consultant to Foreclosure Investors   The press can be such a pain in the rear end - all they want to do is sell newspapers and commercials on the networks.  This is why they are constantly on the look-out for any story they can twist and get people excited about nothing.  In my opinion, this is how they are helping to ruin the real estate perception - especially the perception of the big bad ugly real estate investors.The press is constantly looking to report negative news about real estate.  It seems like they have found their own niche market lately whenever they report on ‘flipping' and how they so cleverly associate it with real estate fraud.  Today not only does a large percentage of the public believe that ‘flipping' is ... 07/02/2007

I was surfing the net on Google and found a really cool page - Investor Crossword 3: Financial acronyms and abbreviations.  I guess there are more out there - but his one is enough to get my brain gong at this hour.  In anay event I wanted to share this with everyone - see how smart we all really are...Don't worry, you don't have to tell how you did.I dug a little deeper and the site has all sorts of fun games and quizzes about investing - in general - that I though everyone who ever called themselves an investor should get a kick out of... 07/02/2007

So You Have a Short Sale Lined Up - When Does a Short Seller Receive Money from the Sale - Step #8by John Occhi, Hemet - San Jacinto Valley REALTORHemet - San Jacinto CA Real Estate I was recently working with a short sale seller recently who was really hurting.  Yes he and his wife had made a mistake or two in managing their resources.  This does not make them bad or evil people, does it?  Certainly their woes are no less than my own. I was able to find an investor who wrote a successful offer on their property - but the poor kids literally had no money left.  You see, he lost his job, his wife had trouble earlier in the year with a pregnancy that kept her from working for over six months and they had two other pre-school children to care for and love. He had found a job closer to LA b... 07/02/2007

Loss Mitigator - The Critical Link to a Successful Short Saleby John Occhi REALTORRealtor Consultant to Foreclosure InvestorsIf you are going to be a successful Short Sale investor then the most important relationship you can develop is not with the homeowner or the REALTOR representing them - although both are critical.  No, you have to learn how to get along with the Loss Mitigator employed by the mortgage lender holding the delinquent note.  Not only do you have to get along with them, you have to get into their head and understand their strengths and weaknesses - similar to a chess game.  The difference here - you want everyone to come out a winner - the homeowner and their REALTOR, the mortgage bank and their loss mitigator and you the happy short sale investor.Negotiating with the... 07/01/2007

Investor Abbreviationsby John Occhi REALTORRealtor Consultant to Foreclosure InvestorsEvery industry has its own language.  Doctors talk medicine.  Lawyers talk law.  Construction workers talk construction.  Every other industry has its own set of terms that are unique - often separating the novice form the professional, or even better separating the professional from the general public.  I for one believe it is designed that wayReal Estate investing is no different.In real estate investing there are many terms that are referred to by initials.  We all know some of the simple stuff, like ROI or "Return on Investment" and then there is FSBO which identifies a real estate home that is not listed by a REALTOR and is "For Sale By Owner".There are many others - so lets take a look at a few t... 07/01/2007

So You Have a Short Sale Lined Up - When is Enough Too Much? -  Step #7by John Occhi, Hemet - San Jacinto Valley REALTORHemet - San Jacinto CA Real EstateWhen you are investing in short sale real estate you have to determine where the line is at just how much money you can...and should make?"What" you ask?  You say, "As an Investor, I am entitled to every dollar I can ethically make on every short sale real estate transaction"!  You say, "After all, I am the one taking the risk".Well, you may be right...but then again.Let me remind you of the old fairly tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  You remember the story about the girl who stumbled into a good deal and she had to check it out.  Well, not only was she able to get what she wanted, she found herself getting a bit of everything ... 07/01/2007

The number of real estate sales recorded in April were the lowest numbers since April 1995. If history repeats itself, we will see a slight increase in activity in 2008, and, by 2009, the market will be in full recovery mode. While there are no guarantees this will happen, we do know that real estate runs in cycles and that history is a fairly accurate predictor of the future. While we report activity for all of California, there are certainly pockets in California that are performing differently than the state as a whole. Areas that have a high percentage of new home product are experiencing an especially slow market. Central California, which has the highest percentage of new home product, is slower than the northern or southern parts of the state. Areas that have a high percentage of... 06/30/2007

Real Estate Market Snapshot | Hemet CA 92543 | June 29, 2007  by, John Occhi, Hemet CA REALTOR  Hemet CA Real Estate  At the request of a real estate investor client who found me here on ActiveRain, I was asked to provide a snapshot of the current real estate activity for homes for sale in Hemet, CA in the 92543 zip code.As you review this real estate information, you will realize that in many sizes of homes, we actually have close to a 2 year inventory.  To understand the real estate "inventory" figures simply divide the number of homes sold by 2 - since this represents a 2 month period, then divide it by the number of active listings.  This will tell you how long it should take to sell off the existing inventory of homes for sale in Hemet, CA.I broke the real estate information down b... 06/29/2007

Real Estate Market Snapshot | Hemet CA 92544 | June 28, 2007  by, John Occhi, Hemet CA REALTOR  Hemet CA Real Estate  At the request of an investor client who found me here on ActiveRain, I was asked to provide a snapshot of the current real estate activity for homes for sale in Hemet, CA in the 92544 zip  code.As you review this information, you will realize that in many sizes of homes, we actually have close to a 2 year inventory.  To understand the "inventory" figures simply divide the number of homes sold by 2 - since this represents a 2 month period, then divide it by the number of active listings.  This will tell you how long it should take to sell off the existing inventory of homes for sale in Hemet, CA.I broke the real estate information down by size of home:Hemet CA 925442 Bed... 06/28/2007

Everywhere You turn - Mortgage Fraud   by John Occhi, Hemet CA REALTOR  Hemet CA Real Estate   Hemet, CA is located in Riverside County in Southern California - separated from the Palm Springs area by a simple mountain to the east.  We are the western end of the region known as the Inland Empire - a region that has thrived in recent years with overflow populations moving east from Los Angeles and Orange counties and north from San Diego County.Unfortunately, with the growth we have experienced, we have been subject to an enormous amount of real estate fraud.  Just this morning, in my email I received notice that a local Inland Empire Mortgage Broker has finally been sentenced for his role in a massive real estate fraud scheme - that I ha sure has had ripple effects through the local eco... 06/27/2007

So You Have a Short Sale Lined Up - The Loss Mitigation Specialist is Your Friend -  Step #6 by John Occhi, Hemet - San Jacinto Valley REALTOR Hemet - San Jacinto CA Real Estate Stress can be a funny thing.  It's not just sitting up waiting for your teenage daughter to come home from the prom kind of stress -we are talking about stress that is the effect of life changing events - good and bad.                                                                                          In the last installment of this series, So You Have a Short Sale Lined Up - Seller Issues - Step #5 we talked quite a bit about the stress of the homeowner.  Today, we will look at things a little bit differently - from the standpoint of the loss mitigation specialist employed by the mortgage lender.Never for... 06/27/2007

So You Have a Short Sale Lined Up - Seller Issues -  Step #5   by John Occhi, Hemet - San Jacinto Valley REALTOR   Hemet - San Jacinto CA Real Estate   By now you should knot that getting involved in buying and investing in short sale properties can be very rewarding financially.  You should also know that you, as an investor, are walking a fine line between your own financial success and future and the downside of the homeowner who is probably losing more than their home- their credit, all for the money they have put into the home, the memories, relationships and all sorts of negative issues that good people find when bad things are happening to them.When you are negotiating a short sale, whether it is for a Hemet, CA home for sale or property anywhere else you know the homeowner is no... 06/26/2007

Top 500 Zip Codes for Foreclosuresby John Occhi, Hemet CA REALTOR   Hemet CA Real Estate   I recently wrote a blog post where I provided a Foreclosure Heat Map that was provided by RealtyTrac.  RealtyTrac does pretty much what its name implies - they track real estate data - focusing on the foreclosure market. They recently released a study of the top 500 zip codes in the United State that are affected by the foreclosure market.Of the 500 zip codes pointed out by RealtyTrac, I am sad to say that California leads the country with 138 - including two of thew 3 zip codes we have here in Hemet, California - including my own 92544.The list includes 19 zip codes in Riverside County and another in San Bernardino County bringing the Inland Empire region to 39 zip cdes across the nation that are... 06/26/2007

Foreclosure Heat Map   by John Occhi, Hemet CA REALTOR   Hemet CA Real Estate   RealtyTrac is a company that tracks data in the foreclosure world.  They recently released a "Heat Map" that shows real estqate foreclosures across the country - for the year 2006. When you check out the map, it appears as if most of the foreclosures are taking place in one of two regions.  There is the "Sunbelt" and the "Rust Belt" I thought others would find this map interesting and perhaps even fine a use for it.  If you do, please let me know, because I am trying to figure that one out. 06/26/2007

The times are definitely changing for mortgage lenders and investors as they realize that they have a very real potential for a flood of REO properties to deal with in Hemet CA and eslewhere.  In order to prevent the foreclosure and pending inventory of REO properties, the industry is starting to grasp and focus more on loss mitigation techniques to creatively avoid the whole foreclosure mess.The Center for Responsible Lending recently released a study predicting that 2.2 million American households are going to lose their homes. This study predicts that over 20% of all subprime loans originated in the 2006-2006 period will fail amassing up to $164 Billion in foreclosures - just in the subprime market.It has been reported over and over again that subprime borrowers received risky loans ... 06/24/2007

Short Sale and Information Overload   by John Occhi, Hemet - San Jacinto Valley REALTOR   Hemet - San Jacinto CA Real EstateOnce you receive the "Short Sale Package" from the bank, you will know specifically what they are looking for.  You need to gather these documents and put them in the specified order.Do not spend a lot of time with fancy report covers thinking that you are going to wow them with your package because you spent $10 on a report cover with some really trick graphics - you are not.  You are going to fax them the package - so they have it NOW.I know one very successful Investor who faxes it to the Loss Mitigation agent of the lender and then looks for telephone confirmation an hour later.  If he gets the run around answer that the agent does not see it, he re-faxes it ri... 06/23/2007

So You Have a Short Sale Lined Up - Find the Buyer -  Step #4by John Occhi, Hemet - San Jacinto Valley REALTORHemet - San Jacinto CA Real Estate We have done our diligence and now know what we need to about the market and what it is we should be telling the bank. We have found a deal and gotten the ball rolling. You have put in your offer and are expecting positive results very soon.  We have identified our potential buyer, if we are going to flip the property and now we need to know how to go about getting the word out.So, as a REALTOR I may sound a bit biased - but I speak from the heart when I suggest that the best use of your time is to put your newly acquired treasure chest in the hands of a local professional Realtor.  There are many advantages, that I will not address here - but ... 06/23/2007