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short sales

Struggling Californians who get short sales or loan mods may face huge tax bills

by Moe Bedard

With less than a month until tax filings are due, struggling Californians who received mortgage modifications or lost their homes in short sales or foreclosures last year face the prospect of huge state tax bills. That’s because legislation that would prevent their canceled debt from being treated as

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Short sale tax shortchanges ex-homeowners

by Moe Bedard

Tara Blackwell and her husband sold their Fairfield house in December for about half of its original $825,000 price as a short sale, in which the bank agrees to accept less than is owed on the mortgage.

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Nicolas Cage is a one man real estate bubble that went pop!

by Moe Bedard

Cage bought this Tudor mansion in Bel Air, Calif., in 1998 from Tom Jones for $6.47 million. The house, which Dean Martin owned before Jones, has six fireplaces, including one in a bathroom. Cage put it on the market at $30 million a year ago, but recently cut the price to $17.5 million. It is [...]

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The short sale process is an absolute crapshoot

by Moe Bedard

Pricey distressed properties are just a slice of the overall housing market, but a growing one, according to national reports and local real estate agents. They say the pain just took longer to penetrate that sector.

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Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives kicks in April 5th

by Moe Bedard

A new government push to clean up bad home loans could dent bank earnings because the industry may have to take losses on the assets sooner than some investors expect.
The new effort, called Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives, or HAFA, kicks in April 5. Some banking and real-estate industry experts see it as a

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Short Sales Increasing as an Alternative to Foreclosure

by Moe Bedard

In a short sale the lender lets a homeowner unload a house for less than what is owed on the mortgage. The transaction recognizes that the home isn’t worth what the owner paid for it after more than two years of falling real estate values.
Such deals are appealing to struggling homeowners because they escape

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Short Sales and Arm’s Length Transactions

by Moe Bedard

One of the key problems with a short sale is making sure the buyer is an unrelated party; “an arm’s length transaction”.
I’m aware of a property being offered as a short sale in SoCal where the agent is the wife of the owner, and she has been, uh, unhelpful to some prospective buyers. I just [...]

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Luxury Homeowners Facing Default Turn to Short Sales

by Evan Bedard

(Bloomberg) — Homeowners with mortgages of more than $1 million are defaulting at almost twice the U.S. rate and some are turning to so-called short sales to unload properties as stock-market losses and pay cuts squeeze wealthy borrowers.
“The rich aren’t as rich as they used to be,” said Alex Rodriguez, a Miami real estate agent [...]

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Short Sale Delays Prolonging Housing Recovery

by Moe Bedard

Home equity lenders faced with losses from the U.S. property slump are holding out for more money in distressed sales, slowing transactions needed to support a recovery, real estate agents and analysts say.
These secondary lenders are gaining power in negotiating payments from “short sales,” a growing part of the market where homes are sold for [...]

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Short Sales: A Fraying Lifeline for Homeowners

by Moe Bedard

Troubled homeowners may be losing a major lifeline: so-called short sales. To get bad loans off their books and spur home sales, lenders have been forgiving the difference between the outstanding mortgage balance and the purchase price. Banks were never eager participants in short sales, and now financial firms—even those that can offload losses to [...]

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