University of Arizona law professor Brent White argues that so-called “strategic defaults” can potentially save homeowners hundreds of thousands of dollars and are morally no different from a business deciding to cut its losses on a venture. He argues this is really the only option.

whether or not it is the smart move financially, family’s will still need a place to live, and many will want to return to home ownership eventually, particularly those who gave up their previous homes as an economic choice, rather than out of necessity.

Five-year wait for Fannie, Freddie mortgages

If you lose your home to foreclosure, voluntary or otherwise, you won’t be able to qualify for a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac conforming loan for at least five years and perhaps seven. Same for an FHA loan. Because conforming and FHA mortgages account for the great majority of home loans made in this country, particularly in the middle and lower price ranges, that’s a pretty big obstacle to overcome.

Of course, you can always seek a nonconforming mortgage, but those lenders will have their own guidelines for how soon they’ll lend after a foreclosure. They’ll also be likely to demand a 20 percent down payment and charge a relatively high interest rate.

A short sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure may be better strategies than simply allowing your home to go into foreclosure. With a short sale, you can qualify for a Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac-backed mortgage in as little as two years, and three years on a deed-in-lieu. And while both have the same impact on your credit rating as a foreclosure, your credit can begin to recover in as little as two years after any of them.

Credit impacts decline after two years

That’s not to say you’ll get a great interest rate after two years, but you can at least get a decent one. Of course, the full effect of a foreclosure, short sale or deed-in-lieu will remain on your credit for seven years, but the impact does begin to tail off significantly after the first two.

As for the effect on your credit score of a foreclosure or short sale, many mortgage advisers say you can expect a drop of 200-300 points, with the biggest drop for those whose credit was previously unblemished. However, much of that decline is due to the accumulation of missed or late payments that precede a foreclosure or late score.   Put the impact of a foreclosure or short sale by themselves at about 100-150 points.

If you’re faced with the possibility of losing your home, either involuntarily or as a deliberate economic choice, you’re probably better off pursuing a short sale or deed-in-lieu instead of simply allowing the property to fall into foreclosure. The effect on your credit score may be the same, but if you want to get back into home ownership within a relatively short time, either a short sale or deed-in-lieu will provide the quicker route back, provided your lender is agreeable to them.

“Flipping” Coplan said, ” is when a house is bought and quickly resold for a profit.”  ”Foreclosed homes, typically damaged like the one [pictured] here, are being bought, fixed up, and resold for substantial profits.”

Until now there have been seasoning requirements that do not allow a property to be resold for 90 days on some loan types.  The FHA which is a large part of mortgage activity taking place is valley has suspended the 90 day seasoning requirements for 1 year starting February 1st.

Last Month, foreclosure activity was up 4 percent from the previous month in the Valley, over one in every 100 houses received a foreclosure filing during January.  Phoenix had the second highest foreclosure rate among metropolitan areas  according to the latest report from Realtytrac.

The Valley was the only metro area among the top 10 to post a month-overmonth increase in foreclosure activity.  The anti-flipping waiver isn’t the solution to the foreclosure crisis, but it’s a step in the right direction, said Jay Butler, associate professor of real estate in the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.  The waiver includes numerous safeguards to prevent inflated pricing, such as if the price of the home is 20 percent over the previous sale, the seller has to justify that increase, he said.

Josh Coplan has been in Real Estate for 6 years and is Certified in Short Sales & Foreclosures Resources(SFR).  We congratulate Josh for making it to the front page of the East Valley Tribune, and also congratulate the Tribune for their excellent selection.

Unfortunately these days, this is neither unusual or unexpected…almost considered standard practice. Having put in an offer in on an REO (Real Estate Owned aka Bank Owned property) about three weeks ago, Troy Reeves finds himself in the same position, wondering the same thing. “Why do banks take so long to respond?” Troy and The Reeves Team are experienced real-estate-owned agents who have worked with small and large banks in getting responses to offers. So, while having lunch the other day, we brainstormed some ideas as to why the process length seems to vary:

1) The Asset Management Company (who has been hired by the bank to handle the sale of the property) has been given strict instructions to hold any offers for a minimum number of days.

2) The Asset Management Company has been instructed to hold all offers until a minimum number of offers have been received.

3) The Asset Management Company has been given strict instructions to hold all offers until the end of the month, end of the quarter or end of a fiscal year.

4) Sheer Volume – Consider the stacks of paperwork that one Asset Manager deals with and is responsible for processing; then consider the number of signatures (approvals) that may be required to advance the purchase process.

5) The offer has been approved by the Asset Management Company and then requires a secondary approval by the Investment Group (that purchased the loan previously). Take into consideration that this group may only meet once a month. If this is the case, an additional 30 days could be added on to the waiting period.

Perhaps just the sheer volume of foreclosed homes on the market is overwhelming. Certainly the banking industry could not have been prepared for this influx – even with advance notice. Is there a solution? The bank’s first solution was the moratorium. The period of time that the banks “held” off on putting any new properties on the market. What did this waiting period accomplish? If the intent was to slow down the fall of property values, perhaps it did help accomplish just that. While the prices are not exactly where they were before the 2005-2006 housing boom, at least we’re hopeful that the downward spiral has slowed. While it may be too soon to tell, for now, we’re all in this together … waiting.