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Real Home Owner Stories: A Fresh Start

by Don DeHanas, Broker

For homeowners who are in danger of losing their home to Foreclosure, it is common to feel like you are all alone and that there is no one who can help. This simply isn’t true. There are real people who have been in the same situation who have found solutions. Take, for example, Dan and Jessica M. of Grand Blanc Township, Michigan.

For Dan and Jessica, their homeownership dream always involved building a house on a piece of land. “We build a house on half an acre,” said Dan.

 

In order to achieve their dream, they stretched a little beyond what they were comfortable with by getting two adjustable rate mortgages, a common practice at the time. “The introductory rates were 8.5% and 11.5%, but our lender said, ‘Don’t worry, you can refinance after two years.’”

 

For a while, they were getting by. Then, a couple of things happened. “We had our first child, and soon afterward, Jessica lost her job,” said Dan. “Soon, bills started piling up.”

 

Because they believed they’d be able to refinance, they started paying their bills on credit cards. “We hung on for the full two years hoping we could refinance at a lower interest rate, but when the time came, our lender said no because our home’s appreciation was too low.”

 

Dan and Jessica needed help. A friend referred them to a real estate agent who was a Certified Distressed Property Expert®. The agent answered their questions. Most importantly, the agent explained the difference between a Foreclosure and a short sale. In a short sale, the bank agrees to allow the home to be sold for less than the amount due on the loan.

 

“With this information, we were able to decide that a short sale was our best option.”

 

It was a stressful process, but the agent helped them tremendously. She even kept a potential buyer from walking when the process was taking longer than expected. “Honestly, if it weren’t for her, the buyer would have left and we’d have been stuck.”

 

Dan and Jessica’s story is just one of many. I have a report entitled “How to Avoid Foreclosure” which tells other stories of real homeowners who faced foreclosure and found relief. Download the report, read the stories, and then contact me for a free, confidential consultation.

Debt Forgiveness Act Scheduled to Expire Next Month

by Don DeHanas, Associate Broker

The Debt Forgiveness Act, scheduled to expire on December 31, 2012 could impact many homeowners of distressed properties. Those are homes in a state of pre-Foreclosure where homeowners are attempting to avoid foreclosure by selling them as a short sale.

Federal tax law generally requires that a taxpayer who has indebtedness that is forgiven by a lender is required to claim and pay taxes on the amount of the forgiven indebtedness, which is classified as "income." As a result, prior to 2007 homeowners whose homes were foreclosed upon or who completed short sale transactions (or received principal reductions in loan modifications) were potentially required to pay taxes on the amount of indebtedness which was forgiven in those transactions. The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 was passed by Congress in order to modify the law by providing taxpayers who met certain requirements an exemption from taxation on the forgiven indebtedness. That law, however, is scheduled to expire at the end of 2012 and, unless extended by Congress, will result in the loss of this exemption and the imposition of additional and potentially significant taxes on thousands of distressed homeowners.

More than 50,000 homeowners go through Foreclosure each month and the number of short sales has increased significantly over the last few years to approximately 500,000 per year. In addition, as a result of the $25 billion foreclosure irregularity settlement which the nation's largest mortgage lenders recently entered into with the federal government, thousands of homeowners may receive principal debt reductions over the next few years. Although an extension of the exemption would seem to be a "no brainer," the fact that Congress is entering a "lame-duck" session creates the possibility that little legislation will move ahead through the end of the year.         

Even if the law does expire, some homeowners will still be eligible to exclude the income from forgiven indebtedness. For example, if the debt is discharged in bankruptcy or the homeowner is "insolvent" (meaning they have more debt than assets) at the time of the debt forgiveness, no tax is due. But homeowners who are considering a short sale and their agents should take this pending expiration into account and seek competent legal or tax advice so they will be prepared for the ramifications to them, if any, that will result if the law is not extended by Congress prior to the end of the year.

Affordable Housing in Maryland. Now you can help do sething about it.

by Don DeHanas, Broker

I am pleased to announce that the Maryland Association of REALTORS® (MAR) launched an initiative on Tuesday, November 28th known as the League of Maryland Homeowners (LMH). LMH will give homeowners and aspiring homeowners a voice in Annapolis and build an online movement for housing affordability along with the efforts of our Realtor® members.

  The goal of the League of Maryland Homeowners is to give homeowners a voice in the public discussion about how to address the challenge of keeping housing affordable. LMH will provide information to the public and tools to help them communicate with elected representatives at the State and local levels about housing affordability policies.

Signing up with the LMH is easy.  Go to http://www.leagueofmarylandhomeowners.org and follow the prompts. Once you sign up, you will receive emails from the League with information about housing affordability issues, or asking you to take action such as writing or phoning your elected representatives about issues. This website communications tool is similar to a version of the Legislative Action Center that the Maryland Association of Realtors uses.

This effort is an opportunity to create a grassroots coalition of advocates for housing affordability issues across party lines among the general public. I encourage you to visit and explore the LMH web site and to help to spread the word to family and friends.  I believe it will be productive for both REALTORS® and the public.

 

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The DeHanas Team
DeHanas Real Estate Services
601 Post Office Road, Suite 2D
Waldorf MD 20602
Office: 301-870-1717
1-800-842-0190
Fax: 240-754-7867

Servicing all Anne Arundel County, Calvert County, Charles County, and Prince George's County as well as Annapolis, Bowie, Chesapeake Beach, Crofton, Dunkirk, Edgewater, Ft. Meade, Huntingtown, La Plata, North Beach, Odenton, Owings, Pasadena, Severn, Waldorf, and the Upper Marlboro areas of Maryland, all of Washington DC, and Northern Virginia, including Alexandria, Arlington, and King George County real estate advertised in this website are subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap and familial status, or national origin, or any intention to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination. DeHanas Real Estate Services will not knowingly accept any listing agreement for real estate sales in Anne Arundel County, Calvert County, Charles County, and Prince George's County as well as Annapolis, Bowie, Chesapeake Beach, Crofton, Dunkirk, Edgewater MD, Ft. Meade, Huntingtown, La Plata, North Beach, Odenton, Owings, Pasadena, Severn, Waldorf, and the Upper Marlboro, all of Washington DC, and Northern Virginia, including Alexandria, Arlington, and King George County areas which are in violation of the law. Our clients and customers are informed that all dwellings advertised on our website in Anne Arundel County, Calvert County, Charles County, and Prince George's County as well as Annapolis, Bowie, Chesapeake Beach, Crofton, Dunkirk, Edgewater MD, Ft. Meade, Huntingtown, La Plata, North Beach, Odenton, Owings, Pasadena, Severn, Waldorf, and the Upper Marlboro, all of Washington DC, and Northern Virginia, including Alexandria, Arlington, and King George County areas are available on an equal opportunity basis. All prices and finance claims appearing in this site are subject to change without notice.