Avoid Foreclosure – AND the Tax Man

Have you ever wondered why some foreclosures sit on the market for what seems like forever and others are foreclosed on right away? The homeowner who has diligently paid their mortgage on time year after year and have built up equity in their home are foreclosed on first! The bank sees the value and plans to make back their money AND get your equity when they auction off your home.

Other homeowners who have little or no equity are allowed to remain in the home without payment sometimes for years!  Banks know they will reduce the incidences of vandalism and have someone who may keep up the home for free if they are allowed to remain.  It also allows the market to appreciate over that time so that a future sale will be more profitable for the bank.

Then, if that’s not enough, the IRS will charge you income tax on the loan amount

in the form of a 1099 Miscellaneous. Your foreclosed loan is taxed as earned income in that single tax year!

Unfortunately sellers lose their home and their equity to banks all the time and then have the double jeopardy of having to pay an additional tax in already distressed situation.

You have options the bank doesn’t want you to know about.  I can help. Call me or go online here and answer a few questions, and I’ll work with you to get what you want for your home and get you moving forward again. I am a REALTOR®, but this is not about listing your home for sale.  I am also an investor and this is about getting you what you want for your house, helping you prevent foreclosure and the taxman. Don’t wait until you’re more than two to three months behind.  Then, it’s much harder to help you get what you want for your house.

Please call me as soon as you know you can’t make your payment.  I’ll ask a few confidential questions by phone to see if my team and I can help, and schedule a visit to see your property.  Call or email me today.  Click this link to see the questions.  My team and I can help you prevent foreclosure, the taxman and get you moving forward.

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Here’s a testimonial from a loyal fan:

‘Chrystal, your experience and professionalism helped me prevail through difficult times in the listing and sale of my long-time family home.

From creating professional marketing materials including onsite brochures, online photo tour, and email blasts, promotion of my listing through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.com, to showing the house 6 of the 24 times it was shown, you were on the job.

After the property was under contract, your previous experience and successful resolution of similar problems discovered during the home inspections helped me work through a difficult transaction that included a breakdown in communications, unexpected property conditions and lender required repairs, and keeping the buyer on track with lending requirements and in love with the house until closing.

I couldn’t have done it without you.  It’s my pleasure to recommend your real estate services to everyone I know.’

Tony Sweatt, Fort Mill, South Carolina

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Don’t Low Ball That Offer!

Do you know the difference between cost, price and value?

When it comes to the real estate transaction, a low ball offer is probably one of the worst things that you can deliver when you come up to bat.

Facing the Consequences

Low balling an offer to the seller or landlord usually has grave consequences.  No matter the financial position of the seller or landlord, right off the bat, you risk insulting them.  The most common responses are to counter the offer at the original full price, refuse to counter, or for the transaction to become a series of balls and strikes with multiple counter offers, usually ending in someone fouling out. The buyer or tenant may eventually get the price that they want, but the cost will be the loss of goodwill in the transaction and more.

Setting the Stage for the Duration

Once woundedness occurs, it is very difficult for that change and for the wounded party to recover.  This is also true with bank committees representing short sales and foreclosures who have no emotional attachment to the home because they are managed by people with emotions whose work environment and nature of the transaction tends to create high stress situations.

Once ill will is established in the transaction, it can promote breakdown in other areas such as negotiation for repairs or lease renewal or extension.

Questions to Ask First

Before you make that low ball offer ask yourself a few questions:

1. Do I really understand the cost of my low ball offer?
2. Is my offer based on similar nearby homes that have recently sold or leased at the same condition, type, and price range?
3. Would I want a buyer or tenant to do the same thing to me if I were in his shoes?
4. What is my REALTOR recommending?
5. What is my plan B if this doesn’t work?

You Make the Market

After you have sincerely considered the questions and are comfortable with the possible outcomes, go ahead and make your best advised offer.  Until you make your offer, even if by necessity low due to property condition, market conditions, and recently appraised values, you never really know what might work for the other party.  However, be advised.  What you pay will become your very own comparable for your future appraised value certainly for the next 6 to 12 months establishing your own neighborhood market price. And you’re sure to become the talk of the next neighborhood bar-b-q, having established a downward trend for neighborhood values for everyone for months or even years to come!

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Chrystal is a REALTOR® and principal of The Safari Group, a local, homegrown real estate firm, specializing in all phases of the residential and small business real estate market.  Celebrating over 20 years in tenant procurement and rental portfolio development, and over 13 years in general residential brokerage in the Charlotte Metro Market, Chrystal offers guidelines to assist tenants, home buyers and sellers in evaluating today’s real estate market for maximum leverage.  In the TOP 5% Nationwide for closing the transaction with Estately, Inc, a national referral company, she can assist you with all your real estate related needs. Contact her today for more at 704.562.1030 TXT/PH or Chrystal@TheSafariGroup.com  Join the conversation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TheSafariGroupRealty

N.C. foreclosures fall 42% in 1Q

Thursday, April 16, 2009, 9:48am EDT

According to data from RealtyTrac Inc., the state had 5,988 foreclosures in the latest quarter, with one in every 689 homeowners receiving a default notice, auction-sale notice or bank-repossession filing.  North Carolina ranked 36th in the nation for foreclosure filings in the latest quarter.  Nevada, Arizona and California posted the top foreclosure rates.  Foreclosure filings in North Carolina fell 40 percent in March from the same period last year. Filings were down 3 percent last month from February. 

Across the country, foreclosure filings rose 24 percent in the first quarter from a year ago. There were 803,489 foreclosure filings, which affected one in every 159 U.S. households. Filings rose 46 percent in March from a year ago and 17 percent from February. Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac tracks default notices, auction-sale notices and bank repossessions.

Its figures exceed those compiled by the N.C. Commissioner of Banks. The company counts every foreclosure filing, including multiple filings for a single household, while the commissioner counts each household only once, regardless of the number of filings it receives.

Rates are low, listings high, prices slashed.  Now is the time to make your move to buy low and sell high, when the market recovers.  Call me to discuss your big picture and for a full listing of foreclosed homes that meet your criteria.  704.562.1030/800.243.6670 x 110

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Living, playing, and working in south Charlotte for over 27 years, and with over 14 years experience in the real estate field as an investor and Luxury Home Specialist, I have the knowledge, experience and discretion you need to maximize your return on investment whether for your personal home, investment portfolio, or small business property.  Contact me at Chrystal.Safari@gmail.com