Las Vegas Loan Modification

My wife and I bought a home in Las Vegas. At the time of sale we took out a first and second mortgage. The second was secured by the property and was used partially for the down payment (to achieve 20%) and the rest used for improvements to the home (we have documentation to prove that). My wife and I had to move for work and were not insolvent or forced to file bankruptcy. The home was foreclosed on this summer, leaving the second mortgage of $133,300 unsecured. The bank is willing to settle the debt for $15,000 cash. My concern is that they will file a 1099c for the difference ($118,300) and we will owe taxes on that amount. I called the IRS help service and they were not certain whether this amount would be covered under the dept forgiveness act.

Can someone please answer my question; will I owe taxes on that $118, 300?

Yes that could very well happen.
Use the search box at the www.irs.gov website for The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act and Debt Cancellation
If you owe a debt to someone else and they cancel or forgive that debt, the canceled amount may be taxable.
The Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007 generally allows taxpayers to exclude income from the discharge of debt on their principal residence. Debt reduced through mortgage restructuring, as well as mortgage debt forgiven in connection with a foreclosure, qualifies for the relief.
This provision applies to debt forgiven in calendar years 2007 through 2012. Up to $2 million of forgiven debt is eligible for this exclusion ($1 million if married filing separately). The exclusion does not apply if the discharge is due to services performed for the lender or any other reason not directly related to a decline in the home’s value or the taxpayer’s financial condition.
More information, including detailed examples can be found in Publication 4681, Canceled Debts, Foreclosures, Repossessions, and Abandonments. Also see IRS news release IR-2008-17.
The following are the most commonly asked questions and answers about The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act and debt cancellation:

What is Cancellation of Debt?

Use the below enclosed website addresss for more detailed information and some question and answers
Hope that you find the above enclosed information useful good luck.

Hello everyone, firstly thank you for reading my question. I need some serious answers. My husband and i am buying a house in Las Vegas Nevada because my husband is retiring soon (propably nect year or in two). We are house huntig right now and we fell in love one 2 bedroom house and 1 bath for $20,000. We are going to make a $10,000 down payment on it. Since he filed for a bankruptcy a year ago, i do not think that he will be able to have a loan for the rest of $10,000 that we have to pay for the house. I don’t work but i do odd jobs occasionally (selling avon, baking cakes and sell my home made tamales to my friends and neighbors) so i don’t have a steady job. but i have a little over $10,000 saved up for the down payment next year. how can i get the rest of the $10,000 to be financed? Plus, i have a new credit. I did not have a credit card before but now i have one and i am building my credit score. My credit score is about 750ish. Is it possible that i can have the rest of the mortgage to be financed by a company or a bank?? If not, what are my choices? Please help me. Thank you very much. Suggestions from experts are very important to me please give me some advice. I am curently living in Los Angeles Area. Thank you

The bankruptcy might not be as much problem as you think. You should apply for a FHA mortgage loan, Most lenders will consider a mortgage loan application with a bankruptcy that is at a minimum of 12-24 months with the ideal situation being 24 months.

You might consider a FHA mortgage loan as the requirements are not as stringent as those of a conventional mortgage loan. There are some FHA mortgage loans that require as little as 3.5% down payment.

You might want to verify this property that is being sold for $20,000, the ad might say as low as $20,000 and then of course there is the neighborhood where this type property might be located. Also this $20,000 property could be a condo or perhaps a townhouse.

I hope this has been of some benefit to you, good luck.

"FIGHT ON"

Right wingers claim that the housing bust was caused by "liberals’ making it too easy for lower income people to buy homes. This of course is a lie but who cares, it sounds good!

The housing crisis was caused by the massive de-regulation of the mortgage industry. Just go to Las Vegas and see the blocks of foreclosed homes that were bought for a half million dollars by people who could only afford a two hundred thousand dollar house. These homes were bought at inflated prices through ARM loans, and interest only loans. They were told the home would go up in value to the point where at the end of three to five years they could either sell the home for a large profit, or else refinance. These were the six figure yuppie types that bought these places, not lower income people.

The government did not "force" banks to loan money to anyone. This is a Limbaughesque lie.

As for Bush seeing the crisis coming and trying to stop it is laughable. I saw a speech on You Tube where Bush is speaking before a group of Realtors in 2002. He says and I quote, "Just because people have lousy credit does not mean they have to live in a lousy home." He encouraged people with "poor credit to work with Fannie and Freddie."

Yes, after the roof started caving in the Bush Administration told Congress to do something. If Bush was as on top of this as right wingers claim, why did he never mention it in any of his state of the union speeches?

Mortgage companies are who we ought to blame. They were lending money to people with NO CREDIT checks, and lying about people’s incomes to get them into expensive homes.

The Republican National organization of Realtors were cheering as well.
Lower income people did not get ARM loans and interest only loans, the got standard FHA loans.

When Bush ran for re-election in 2004 he boasted at every campaign stop about all the new and "minority" home ownership.
The Real,
Even Alan Greenspan said that blaming the "Community Reinvestment Act" is nonsense.

low income people did NOT buy homes on anything but standard FHA loans.
White Power,

Bush did not warn anyone until the ship had sailed. Bush ran for re-election in 2004 boasting of all the new home owners. Low income people DID not get loans with balloon payments. Six figure types did.

Turn Rush,and Hannity, off and get real facts.

Why did Bush not ONE TIME mention this impending crisis in any of his State of the Union Speeches?
Warren,

The banks were NOT forced to loan money. They loved the government backed loans because they could make money with little risk.

Bush bragged in 2004 about all the new "minority home owners." It was part of his "ownership society."

It was actually the Bush administration who encouraged the onslaught of subprime loans. A couple of things happened. There were house flippers who thought the prices of homes were going to continue to rise (right before the so-called bubble pop). Also, a lot of high risk (or low income) people obtained loans they never should had. All this piled up. Then, companies like AIG sold credit protection on these loans. And when the housing market topped out and declined and the unemployment rate went up, many loans couldn’t be paid off.

The whole plan of blind consumer confidence was a fail. Money circulation in itself isn’t enough for a good economy.

I have a perfect credit (estimae between 745-795) and I have been with new employer for over 6 months not a bad income too (500 per week). I would like to get something with no money down in Las Vegas, NV. Is it gonna work? What is the best way to do that now? Thanks.

I never owned a home or anything, I only had one auto loan and I paid it off. I have / had credit cards too (no late payments at all etc). No collections or nothing negative at all, credit history for 6 years.

It is difficult, but if you find a private seller, who will do AN AGREEMENT OF SALE", then you will have a chance. Possibly someone in financial difficulty or some one with several homes to unload.

If anyone can give us any advice, it would be greatly appreciated. I don’t know anything about this, so I’m not even sure where to begin. Since it’s considered a secondary home (even though we don’t own a primary home), I don’t think we’ll qualify for anything. Advice please???

I figured it would be easiest to do this in list format. Here are the details:

- We rent our primary residence in California (we’ve been renting for the past 10 yrs).
- We purchased our 2nd home in Las Vegas - plans fell through to move there so we’ve been renting it to tenants the past 3 years (now an investment property although rent barely covers 1/2 the mortgage).
- Our tenants just moved out so now we have to cover the $1,200.00 rent plus start paying electric and water bills.
- We’re being forced out of where we’re living now because the owners are doing a short sale. The new place we’re renting is $300.00 more a month.
- We are current on our payments but fear we’ll have to miss payments soon since we have to come up with $1,500.00 more a month (we’ve been notified by our property management group that it’s been hard finding new renters unless we significantly lower the rent).
- I was just told that I may be put on part-time again due to the slow business.
- Do we have to be completely out of savings, etc, in order to qualify for anything?

Many thanks in advance…
The house we are living in right now we are renting from our landlord (we don’t own our primary residence). We were supposed to move to the Vegas house but was unable to due to personal reasons. My husband did try to look for a job there but the tech positions there don’t pay as much as they do here in Silicon Valley (I’d be working as well). And unfortunately, my sister and her family are living with us right now so whatever they can repay us is all that we can get from them. We definitely didn’t buy the Vegas house as a means to make a quick buck. It’s been five years and the rent didn’t cover half the mortgage.
Ibu: We did it as a secondary residence since we couldn’t move in right away. After a year, we started renting it out. It was never claimed as a primary residence.

Honestly even being broke will not help you with investment property. People make bad investments all the time, with real estate, commodities, stocks, you simply eat your loss, the tax payers are not going to eat it for you.

The best you can hope for would be a deed in lui of foreclosure.

Hi Friends;

I have recently moved to Las Vegas.

I immediately found out that the HOA (Home owners Association) is harassing the residents by giving them hard time and fining for smallest problems and no one dares to challenge them.

And it not often to the benefit of any other residents.
It seems that HOA in Las Vegas is corrupt and is always harassing the residents.

The HOA fee is only $10 /m but they fined the previous owner of my house almost 8000$ for not cleaning the front yard. I had to pay that $ 8000 because I had already put a deposit of the house and bought it through short-sale.
The previous owner had given up on the property like many millions of Americans who have defaulted on their mortgage.
But the HOA, instead of a simple clean up of the yard and charging the owner a cleaning fee , kept fining them.
I am not kidding…. $ 8000 fine..

These people are a corrupt group of people and do not do anything for the resdients except giving them fines.
They seem to have more power than the police.

Now that I am in the house I see that many people are being harassed by the HOA and people are scared of them and no one wants to stand up .

Where is the authority where we can make a complaint?

Is there an agency that regulates and controls Home Owners Association?

Thanks for help

The Commission for Common-Interest Communities and Condominium Hotels regulates HOAs in Las Vegas. If you wish to file a complaint, see this page: http://www.red.state.nv.us/compliance/compliance.htm

Scroll down for instructions on filing a complaint against a HOA.

mortgage. Does anyone know her best option? Rent/short sale/bankruptcy/walk away? She is afraid if she walks away or claims bankruptcy then the banks might come after her inheritance (which is to keep her in a nursing home) Can anyone help?

Almost everyone that bought a house in the Las Vegas area in the last five or so years is upside down. You sister-in-law has several options, including the ones that you mentioned. Which one is best depends on many factors that are no included in your question. Based on when you say, I would say that bankruptcy may be the worst option, or at least the option of last resort.

There are a few professionals in the Las Vegas area that can assist your sister-in-law in deciding what the best options are, and help her implement her plan. (There are tons of people advertising that they can help, but only a few that I would actually trust.) The first thing she will need is a real estate agent who is experienced with situations like hers. She may also need a lawyer to help her negotiate with the mortgage company.

My best advice is to have her seek legal/real estate agent advice in the Las Vegas area.

Good luck!

Ok here is the problem. My wife and I live in Japan and my mother (62) lives by herself in Las Vegas. She is renting an apartment and would like to buy a home (she can pay $150,000 cash and maybe carry a small mortgage), but she can’t find anywhere she likes. She has tried Texas, N and S Carolina and the only place she feels at home is Vegas. My worry is that she may need to sell in 5 to 10 years to be closer to us and I am wondering if she buys a home if she will be able to make her money back. What does everyone think?

No one here can predict what the housing market will do in 5-10 years.

As a real estate appraiser I am often asked the question, “does the low sales price of the foreclosure or auction sale transacted in my neighborhood negatively influence the appraised value of my home?” It’s a difficult question to answer, especially when you are answering it to a woman on the phone with you who are already crying because she lost her entire life savings when she lost the equity in her home. Sadly the answer to that question is often yes. If the foreclosure or auction sale was a “market sale” that was not transacted under duress, it must be considered together with the other neighborhood home sales when the property is appraised.

Appraisers consider, however, the fact that some foreclosure and auction properties are in sub-standard condition. For more detail go to: www.gurus-apprentice.com.Many foreclosure and auction properties are in need of new paint, flooring, doors, pool repairs, roof repairs, new fixtures or they had some other deferred maintenance that will require a significant cash outlay by the buyer. It is reasonable for an appraiser to adjust a comparable sale if that sale was in need of repairs on its sale date.

As Las Vegas, Nevada appraisers and agents we have found that there are generally fewer foreclosure sales and fewer auction sales in neighborhoods where many of the properties were not sold to out-of-town investors. Investor rich neighborhoods have seen some of the highest foreclosure rates and have had some of the largest sales price decreases in the Las Vegas market. Thus, home price decreases can vary substantially from one subdivision to the next in Las Vegas simply based on the number of investor foreclosures and auctions sales.

Las Vegas sales statistics provided by Data Quick, Inc. via their DQnews Internet site  confirms that the median sales price of homes varies considerably among the zip coned areas.

A foreclosure property in your neighborhood can take several weeks to several months to sell, even when a ready, willing and able buyer presents an offer. For more detail go to: www.killer-sales-letters.com.Often there are two or more underlying mortgage holders who must approve a sale, and we have found that mortgage holders rarely accept the first offer made to them in short sale situations. Foreclosure sales can be even more damaging when a property appears to be falling in value as it is offered by the agents at an ever decreasing asking price in their attempt to secure offers for the bank. The longer that a foreclosure property remains on the market the more that it appears to the public and lenders that the home and / or the neighborhood are undesirable.

Thus, large sales price reductions notable for foreclosure and auction sales can cause a significant negative influence to your home appraisal, and thus to your homes value. Keep in mind that these generalizations may or may not apply to your specific situation.

Baljeet
http://www.articlesbase.com/real-estate-articles/sales-letter-based-on-the-number-of-investor-foreclosures-and-auctions-salesf-726996.html

After highs of late 2006 and early 2007 the Las Vegas housing market has been free falling. Loosing almost $10,000 a month for most of the last year the median priced home has dropped from around $300,000 in 2007 to around $180,000 today.

Because of foreclosures the opportunities to buy great homes at low prices are everywhere. But Las Vegas is truly leading the pack as 1 in 76 homes in the Las Vegas market is in some stage of foreclosure. (RealtyTrac) That is more than double the amount of its nearest rival Florida at only 1 in 173 homes. Arizona, California, and Michigan round out the top 5. Of the sales in October 86% of them are foreclosures or short sales.

Analysts like Steve Bottfeld of Marketing Solutions have been very bullish on the Las Vegas housing market over the years. Bottfeld talks about his 3 legged stool theory of how to gauge the bottom of the market. First, he looks at the inventory of homes listed on the multiple listing service (MLS). Second, he looks at the volume of business or simply the number of homes being sold in the marketplace. Lastly he looks at the third leg of the stool, the average median price of the home. As Bottfeld states, once the inventory stops increasing, the volume starts upward and the price stops going down you have found the true bottom of the market. From the data that we now have available to us it appears as though that elusive bottom is right around the corner if not sitting right in front of us.

Stool Leg Number 1: Inventory Stops Increasing

Rick Shelton or ReMax and Associates and 2010 president ?elect of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors (GLVAR), which happens to be the 5th largest MLS in the country recently spoke at the Real Estate Insider Club of Las Vegas. He discussed how the inventory of homes on the MLS had stopped going up and was running in a range of around 22,000 units on the market for several months running. After a dramatic increase over the last year or so the inventory appears to have finally peaked. And so the first leg of the stool appears to be taking shape towards recovery.

Stool Leg Number 2: Volume of Sales Picks Up Dramatically

The sales volume or number of homes that are now selling has been increasing all year from lows of late 2007. Sales volume in November 2008 was nearly double that of November 2007. Of course it helps that home prices are in some cases only 35% of where they were from their inflated highs of late 2006. I just put an offer in on a home for one of my investor clients for $96,000. The home sold in July of 2006 for $300,000 as it is listed for only $109,000. At a full price offer of $109,000 this represents a value of only 37% off of its high value in 2006. Although you will read in the paper about a 30% drop in values I am telling you that we are, in some cases, looking at a 70% decrease in home values in Las Vegas in certain areas. With prices as low as they are today it is no wonder the volume has shot up dramatically.

Stool Leg Number 3: Median Sales Price Slows to a Crawl

After dropping nearly $10,000 a month for the last year home prices fell only about $2800 last month to a level that puts us at near $184,000 for the average median price. From this point it appears as though the bottom is in site and possibly only a couple of thousand dollars away. As the third leg of the stool takes shape the savvy real estate investor realizes that the bottom is here or near and now is the time to start buying these low priced homes before the national media gets wind of it.

Investors that have been sitting on the sidelines are now stepping back into the market to grab up these low priced 2-year-old foreclosed homes lost by other less savvy investors and owner occupants that could not afford the homes they purchased at those inflated levels. Many of the new investors in the Las Vegas Real Estate market are foregoing the credit crunch and buying homes for all cash. These investors reentered the market as homes once again began to cash flow. Cash flow can be simply defined as the point at which the income (rent) from the property exceeds the costs of ownership (mortgage, taxes, insurance, property management, and maintenance etc)

Anyone that is looking to buy a home in Las Vegas should note that the timing may not get better than this. Interest rates are at historic lows in the 5.5% range. Even the national builders are getting into the game to compete against the foreclosures. New home manager for Richmond American Homes in Las Vegas Melissa Schmidtberger is promoting a 4.5%.5% 30-year fixed mortgage special at homes starting from $139,000. I never thought we would see national builders building at levels under $100 a square foot again but they are.

As of November 2008 over 18 builders both local and national now have prices starting at under $100 a square foot. With the government aiding first time buyers with tax credits up to $7500 and mortgages under 5% it is actually cheaper to own than to rent. It also appears as though new home prices are at the bottom as only 399 building permits for new homes were issued in October. This is the lowest level in decades.

I am actually very surprised that more owner occupants, second home buyers, vacation home buyers, and baby boomers looking to retire are not already in this market buying homes at 35 cents on the dollar. We all knew we were in a recession for the last year but it took the government a full year to realize it and report it to us. The same will be true on the bottom of this real estate market. If we wait until the news reports that the bottom of the market was a year ago we will be paying a lot more for that cheap foreclosure and we will be kicking ourselves saying, I wish I would have bought that home a year ago when it was a lot cheaper than it is now.

Glenn Plantone
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/the-bottom-is-near-if-not-already-here-693486.html