Joshua Jarvis - Short Sale Specialist

Joshua Jarvis, Short Sale Specialist said this earlier, "There's no such thing as a "potential" short sale, in my mind at least. It's either a short sale (or a foreclosure)or not, there's rarely a circumstance where there is anything potential about it, unless your client is financially able to make the payments, lives in the home and lots of cash reserves - even then, it's not a potential short sale, it's still just a short sale. The only "potential" short sales in my book are the leads I haven't called. As in they are "potentially" a Jarvis Team short sale. =). "

Is Your Home Value Under Water In Atlanta

Is Your Home Value Under Water In Atlanta

If you're like most home owners you will wonder what the value of your home is from time to time.  You can see what is going on in the market by being a market insider.

Click Here To See Your Market (FREE)

If you find that you are "under water" and need to do a short sale, then be sure to click this link and have your questions answered by a short sale specialist and request your free short sale package.

New Short Sale Timelines

New Short Sale Timelines
I was working on a resource guide for our buyer's agents and buyers of our short sale alike and wanting to give them some more specifics than just the usual 60 days and get into some bank specifics.  After reviewing our data  from doing Atlanta Short Sales, I was very impressed to see that Timelines have sped up significantly!
I was pretty impressed that Citi Short Sales got even better! Suntrust also made huge improvements!

1. Citi Short Sales - Less than 30 days in most cases.  Our last one was 6 days! 
2. Wells Fargo Short Sales - Less than 30 days if the only loan, 45 days at most (in most cases)
3. Bank of America Short Sales - 45 days or so.
4. Chase Short Sales - 60 Days or Less, they're aggressive but rarely do we see Chase on the home by themself.
5. GMAC Short Sales - 30 Days or less, they are generally very good about approving.  Most of our closings with them have been with them being in 2nd position.
6. Suntrust Short Sales - 60 to 90 days - This is down from our average of 6 months!!! 
7. HSBC Short Sales - Another favorite, under 45 days. 
8. SPS Short Sales (Select Portfolio Servicing) 60 Days or less.  They will actually do the short sale if you're current! 

Notably bad lenders to deal with short sales - Ocwen, AMHI, Aurora and Greentree.

Bank of America Short Sale Page Resource Opens

We're happy to announce that we have just launched our first in a bunch of many more to come, resource pages for short sale sellers. Our first page targets Bank of America short sales and aims to be the "end all be all" for Atlanta Short Sale clients. It's a huge list of information from contact information to timeline expectations. As the premier short sale specialist we cill continue to to create a page in this way one for each and every bank we currently work with. It's important to take note of that this information is specifically for GA Home Owners, and may not be relevant to you and where you call home.

While the Jarvis Team has long been one of the best short sale agents in the county, we really wanted to become "the source" for all the information as it relates to short sales. There's investors, agents and more, that want to take advantage of short sale sellers. A few even run ads on the radio and television. It's important for home owners to educate themselves and we're making an effort not to sell them on us per se but rather educate them so they can make the best decision.

Do I owe short sale taxes?

The issue of taxes on a short sale come up almost as much as what is a short sale. Short Sale taxes are to a certain degree problematic when compared to the normal real estate transaction.

First of all, if the home is the seller's primary residence and they sell it via short sale then they are exempt from taxes on it under the Debt Forgiveness act of 2008 (was extended). So short sale taxes don't really come into play in this instance. For investors or people who have moved on however, taxes could play a role.

However, as this Short Sale Tax Video, but it sure looks like investors shouldn't owe any short sale taxes let alone any taxes period. One thing that will throw off this conversation is previous depreciation taken on the home and home owners that did not buy as investments but have rental homes for example that they purchased through non-traditional financing such as 100% financing. However, if you purchased your home for a higher value and sold it for less, there's still a loss. For more answers consult with a CPA.  (Joshua Wilson an Atlanta CPA featured in the video)

If you have other short sale questions comment below or call 770-406-6123. You can also learn more by watching our real estate videos.

Flagstar Bank & FHA Short Sales – Jarvis Team Closes Another

Roswell, GA – The Jarvis Team, a RichLife Advisor and Atlanta’s Premiere Short Sale Specialist Team closed another short sale last week.  Located at 620 Pine Grove in Roswell GA, this home was an FHA Short Sale through Flagstar.  There were many hurdles that are common with FHA short sales, but at the end of the day those hurdles are not comparable to other ones associated with non-fha short sales.  Here’s the common problems, or wrinkles with FHA short sales:

• If the bank does not know how to handle them (Bank of America), then your file could be processed then have to go to the back of the line to start over.
• FHA does not pay seller concessions (closing costs), except for 1% if the buyer is getting an FHA Loan
• FHA does give up to $1,000 to the home owner for “moving expenses” however, in many cases this will need to be waived in order to assist the buyer in paying for closing costs.  Some banks like, Citi, make this decision for the home owner, other banks leave it up to the home owner.
• There is an FHA Appraisal done on the property. 
• Different banks use different timelines.  In theory, the home owner and realty should have at least 90 days to sell the property after receiving the pre-approval letter.  In some instances (Suntrust), the time starts when the process starts.

Lucky for the Jarvis Team, this short sale was with Flagstar Bank and they have a highly trained and specialize person handling the file that knew what he was doing.  It helped tremendously.

Wells Fargo Short Sale Information

This message was direct from Wells Fargo.

Short sales remain significant factors in today's marketplace, allowing more prospective buyers than ever to become homeowners. Because these transactions are more complex, it is imperative that real estate and lending professionals work efficiently as coordinated teams to help our customers.

We are committed to accelerating the short sale process. In fact, for those loans we hold in our portfolio, we have already undertaken efforts to streamline the sales approval process. The majority of the loans we service, however, are owned by other investors. So in many cases, Wells Fargo must obtain the approval of the first and any second mortgage investors. Our goal in these situations is to move the process along as quickly as we can.

Wells Fargo Short Sales are some of the most streamlined and easy to work processes in the country.