San Jose Real Estate * Santa Clara County * Richard Gonzalez * Real Estate Broker * Realty World Powerhouse Brokers

I week ago I attended the California Association of REALTOR meetings in Indian Wells and attended an open committee meeting with high level managers from Bank of America and Wells Fargo. I added a video describing these changes to my Youtube Channel.

Click on the video below to see my report from the Indian Wells Resort.

Procrastinators assemble!

Here are a few of the Valentine’s activities happening this weekend at Santana Row for those of you who have waited to the last minute to make plans with your significant other.

Dining at Santana Row is always fun.

Click here to see all Valentine’s dining specials at the Row

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Burke Williams is having a spa promotion that should sit well with anyone who loves a little TLC.

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Pinkberry has a promotion though 2/19. I personally havent tried Pinkberry but there is always a line out the door. Share one with your honey.

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Swing Your Sweetheart this Sat, Feb 13th from 3-5pm in Park Valencia! Professional instructors from Cheryl Burke Studio will be teaching a complimentary dance class. While you’re there, enter to win a Romance Package including a night stay at Hotel Valencia, dinner for two on The Row & complimentary dance classes from Cheryl Burke Dance!

I decided to create an ongoing video update of the Santana Row neighboring area sales and will continue to do so on a quarterly bases to help you track sales activity along with financing terms used in the area. The video can be viewed on my youtube channel and can be viewed by clicking the video below.

Until November of 2009 Bank of America / Countrywide short sales were difficult to navigate and a communication challenge to say the least. Our average time to receive an approval ranged from four to six months. As a result Bank of America created a partnership with equator.com thus reducing the short sale approval timeline from 6 months to 45 days.  For this reason and because there continues to be confusion with the process I decided to provide 3 steps to successfully initiate a B of A short sale and navigate through this new system.

One small task at a time

Step 1 . Listing agent must Register on equator.com  once your REALTOR has informed B or A that you are short selling your home. B of A will then assign the short sale to your REALTOR in the equator.com system. Your REALTOR will then upload a laundry list of documents one task at a time. Tasks are the basic process initiated by B of A to ask for the necessary documents needed to start the short sale. Your REALTOR will be asked to upload the following:

• Purchase contract
• MLS information
• Buyer Pre-qualification including social security numbers
• Picture of home
• Authorization from seller to allow REALTOR to talk to B of A

Step 2. Seller needs to notify B of A that they want to start a short sale. equator.com will provide a password to the seller and the seller must have an email address of their own to access the system.

Step 3. Seller must upload independent of each other (one task at a time) the following documents.

• 2 yrs tax returns
• 2 months bank statements
• Pay stubs for the last 30 days
• Hardship letter
• Financial statement

Challenges:

• There are still many people who don’t have an email address or are not comfortable uploading documents into the system.
• Sellers will get blocked out of the system if they have too many failed attempts at accessing with an incorrect password(it happens all the time).
• Sellers must respond as quickly as possible when given tasks. Failure to do so will slow the process down and may stall the process until requested documents are uploaded.

Goal:

Once B of A receives the information they will begin processing your short sale. 2010 is primarily expected to be a short sale year as banks begin to develop new processes to handle the paperwork involved.  Knowing what to expect and being prepared is key when navigating the B of A short sale system.

Mortgage Protection for Silicon Valley homebuyers

The California Association of REALTORS has decided to extend this offer to 2010 and while the media continues to announce the Federal tax credit I am concerned that message is not getting out to everyone. Most buyers are unaware of this great program for first time homebuyers and have not registered themselves for this complementary program.

I have even talked to REALTORS who are unaware of this program and should be advocates for this piece of mind. The program is available to all first time homebuyers who used a REALTOR and are member of the California Association of REALTORS.

If you already closed escrow you can still take advantage of this program by filling out the application and including a copy of your purchase contract and HUD 1 final closing statement.

Whats the benefit you say?

Through the C.A.R. Housing Affordability Fund’s Mortgage Protection Program, first-time home buyers who lose their jobs due to layoffs may be eligible to receive up to $1,500 per month, for six months, to help make their mortgage payments. A qualified co-buyer also can participate in the program, and receive a monthly benefit of $750 per month for up to six months.

Who Qualifies?

• TO QUALIFY FOR THE MORTGAGE PROTECTION PROGRAM APPLICANTS MUST: ·
  
• Be a first-time home buyer – someone who has not owned property in the last three years (includes co-buyer).
• Open escrow April 2, 2009, or later, and close on or before December 31, 2010 (purchase agreement cannot be dated before April 2, 2009)

• Use a California REALTOR® in the transaction (fee for referral does not qualify)

• Purchase the property in California

• Be a W-2 employee (cannot be self-employed)

Fill it out sign it, have your REALTOR sign it and mail it. It’s as simple as that. Don’t forget to add this to your list when you close escrow.

http://www.car.org/members/hafmainpage/carhafmortgageprotection/