Ron Ballard
IRS Affirms Most CA Short Sales Are Not Taxable
By a letter released November 15, 2013 the IRS has confirmed that most recent (and future) California short sales will not generate taxable cancellation of debt income. While this letter was issued in the context of short sales occurring after 2013 the reasoning applies to many short sales all the way back to January 1, […]
Will Fannie Mae Still Dictate That Listing Agents Lie Too?
On February 12 I pointed out on this blog how Bank of America was requiring listing agents to lie and violate their MLS rules by keeping short sales as “Active” even after there was a binding contract to purchase the property. It has come to my attention that Fannie Mae appears to be doing the […]
Bank of America Retracts Onerous Short Sale Listing Requirements
It took a record short time of less than three days for Bank of America to respond to a groundswell of agent objections to retract an updated short sale listing requirement that appeared to require listing agents to lie and to break their MLS board rules. Whether the February 11 “reminder” was an attempt by […]
Bank of America New Rule Requires Short Sale Listing Agents to Lie
[NOTE: There is an important update about this information posted on this blog on February 14 at http://bit.ly/YceBUc ] Not only does an updated Bank of America short sale listing rule require the short sale listing agent to lie, it also dictates that they breach their MLS rules and put their sellers’ property and persons […]
FHA Extends Waiver of 90-day “Anti-flipping” Rule Through 2014
On November 29, 2012, the FHA extended the waiver of the 90-day “anti-flipping” rule for two years, through December 31, 2014. Last year’s extension was only for one year. You can get the link to the actual release in the Federal Register at the end of this article. Despite all of the hype about the […]
Agents Face High Risks with Bank of America New TPA
Real estate agents (and attorneys) soon will be held legally responsible for reading the corporate mind of Bank of America. Fortunately for everyone else, they will not be allowed to even communicate with Bank of America, much less be required to read its mind. Unfortunately, all of this will further harm distressed borrowers and suffering […]
Do Short Sales Net Banks 24% More Than Foreclosures?
Despite the “professional” statisticians analyzing the distressed property markets, one independent brokerage decided to gather the facts themselves. They concluded that in 2011 bank owned foreclosure properties sold for 24% less than short sales. McGeough Lamacchia Realty, with offices in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, apparently got fed up with all the talk about losses in the market and decided to […]
Can a “Note Buyer” Help Your Short Sale?
For the last several years private investors buying mortgage notes to facilitate short sales have been a quiet force for effective transactions outside of California. This practice is becoming increasingly more available in California recently as well. What or who is a “note buyer” and how can they help with a short sale? To understand […]
Why Freddie Mac Lied About Short Payoff Fraud
For nearly two years now we’ve heard Freddie Mac attacking private real estate investors who want to buy and resell short sale and REO properties as engaging in “fraud.” They have repeated this lie so much that it is accepted as “true” by many in the residential real estate industry, especially real estate agents receiving […]
Links to (weak) National Mortgage Settlement
The news is abuzz with this “historic” settlement that gives the big banks a big break and does little for consumers. As we’ve seen in the past, the claims in the press releases and sound bites are rarely close to the reality. Over the next several weeks I expect to dig into the actual agreement […]
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