Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act

The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act is a government bill that offers relief to most homeowners who would normally owe taxes on the forgiven debt after performing a short sale. The Act became law in 2007, and benefits both lenders and borrowers. Under previous US law, when debt is forgiven by a commercial lender (Bank of America, Chase, US Bank etc.), that debt would normally require the borrower to include that amount as taxable income on tax returns. This would normally have caused the borrower to have to pay taxes on their forgiven debt. With this act in place, a borrower DOES NOT have to pay income tax on forgiven debt in most cases. For example, if the lender forgives $50,000 of debt to the homeowner after the completion of a short sale, under current tax laws that $50,000 is considered income. If your combined federal and state marginal tax rate is 25%, you would then owe $12,500 in taxes. Under the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, you would be allowed to exclude from income the discharge of debt, and therefore not have to pay the taxes associated with it. The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act was extended until the end of 2013 as part of the fiscal cliff deal passed by Congress. The limits of the debt that can avoid tax ramifications is up to $2 million, or $1 million if married but filing separately. The specific purpose of this act is to help homeowners avoid financial hardships by performing a short sale. However, certain conditions have to be met. The Sween Gardner Real Estate Team ... www.SweenGardner.com

Five Ways to Love Your Home Again

If you've fallen out of love with your home, and you're committed to staying put for years to come, it is a worthwhile endeavor to rekindle that romance, and re-excite the spark that makes coming home, being home, maintaining home, and even writing out the checks that keep the lights on, the mortgage paid and the taxes current, a blessing. Here's how: 1. Spend time in someone else's home. Make more of an effort than you might otherwise to accept your pals' barbecue and dinner party invites. Go on those home and garden tours that are put on locally. When you travel, consider renting someone else's home (or part of it) on a site like Airbnb.com or VRBO.com, rather than just getting a hotel room. And pay attention to the homes' locations, comfort level, amenities, decor and nice touches, or lack thereof. Most likely, one of two things will happen: If you love their space, you'll leave inspired to make tweaks to yours; if you don't love it, you'll be super-grateful for your home, just as it is. 2. Get out of your comfort zone and routine. Following the theme of inspiration and gratitude, seek out experiences entirely outside of your comfort zone. The further outside your comfort zone the better. Take a trip to a destination unlike the places you normally vacation; if you live in the city, go stay on a working farm. And if you don't have time to take a whole trip, just spend a couple of hours in a part of town that you don't normally go to, or spend an afternoon doing something you've never done before: Take a workshop, go for a hike or take a tour. If you drive, take the bus. If you're always checking your phone, lock it in the trunk of your car for a whole weekend. If you eat out, cook -- and vice versa. When you have experiences that jolt you completely out of your sense of the norm, it resets your brain in a way that allows you to come home and see things that are familiar in a very different light. 3. Inventory and fix any little glitches. It's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day duties of living and working and raising a family. As time goes on and little things at home break or need repair, many of us fall into the habit of putting them on a list that never gets done. Over time, as the list of doors that creak and handles you have to jiggle grows longer and longer, that can create doldrums and annoyance, as you have to deal with these little glitches on a daily basis and it starts to feel like “broken” is the normal state of affairs at home. Try taking meticulous care to log and have fixed any and everything that isn't working exactly as it should. It's a never-ending battle, mind you; if you keep on living in a home, things will continue to wear out or break, so have a handyman on call to constantly tend to the ongoing list. And every time something is fixed, you’ll be reminded of just how much you love your home. 4. Have a Financial Health Day. Many times, financial hemorrhages and simply feeling like your home is disproportionately draining your bank account can create resentment and anxiety that gets in the way of feeling warm and fuzzy about owning it. Now, every mortgage or home-related financial problem might not be within your power to fix, but rather than letting things spiral without doing anything, the next time you take a personal day off from work, set aside some time to do a deep dive into your home-related financials. Set an appointment with your mortgage broker to discuss refinancing, if appropriate. Appeal your home's property tax assessment, if you believe it's too high. Check to see if recent increases in your home's value will qualify you to have the private mortgage insurance removed from your mortgage. Figure out what side business or job you can do to pay down your consumer debt or help get you out of the stresses of paycheck-to-paycheck living. 5. Make peace with long-ago compromises. You may have lived in homes for decades and may still have pent-up resentments and anger about compromises made with your spouse or co-buyer during the house hunt. And that's a terrible way to live, because you spend so much time and money at and on your home -- if you feel that way, you essentially live with a major emotional dissonance. This can also create a grave rift in relationships, as the disgruntled party might wield the fact that she acquiesced on such a big item as a weapon of martyrdom or victimhood.

Here's your opportunity to get into the highly desirable Eastgate community! Come visit 453 Eastgate Lane in Martinez on Sunday, September 9th, to preview this fabulous property!!

Sween Gardner | (925) 570-8016 453 Eastgate Ln, Martinez, CA Fabulous townhome in the highly desirable Eastgate community! All appliances are included. Traditional sale. 2BR/1+1BA Townhouse offered at $150,000 Year Built 1984 Sq Footage 1,088 Bedrooms 2 Bathrooms 1 full, 1 partial Floors 2 Parking 2 Lot Size Unspecified HOA/Maint $320 per month DESCRIPTION Home is in excellent condition with crown molding, updated flooring & upgraded kitchen appliances. All appliances are included -- including the stackable washer/dryer. Traditional sale. see additional photos below

PROPERTY FEATURES - Laundry room - Living room - Storage space - Dishwasher - Dryer - Garbage disposal - Refrigerator - Stainless steel appliances - Stove/Oven - Washer - Balcony, Deck, or Patio - Swimming pool - Ceiling fans - Central A/C - Central heat - Double pane windows - Cable-ready - Guest parking - Fireplace COMMUNITY FEATURES - Clubhouse - Swimming pool - Guest parking

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS 453 Eastgate Lane Eastgate Community Kitchen Kitchen Kitchen Living Room Living Room Bedroom Full Bathroom Bathroom Community Pool Common Grounds Common Grounds

Contact info: Sween Gardner CA DRE License No. 01490830 (925) 570-8016 For sale by agent/broker

Posted: Sep 7, 2012, 7:39am PDT

BofA Makes Changes to Trim Short Sale Timeline

Bank of America is making changes to its short sale procedures and introducing an improved task flow within the short sale technology module from Equator, BofA’s short sale management platform of choice. The goal: to reduce the timeframe for a short sale decision to less than three weeks.

Starting Saturday, April 14, real estate professionals working with BofA will be required to submit five documents for short sales initiated with an offer:

• Purchase Contract including Buyer’s Acknowledgment and Disclosure
• HUD-1
• IRS Form 4506-T
• Bank of America Short Sale Addendum, which includes the Agent Certification form
• Bank of America Third-Party Authorization Form

For more information, go to BofA Makes Changes to Trim Short Sale Timeline.

Foreclosure Backlogs Persist

Foreclosure Backlogs Persist
Robo-signing impacts felt most in judicial foreclosure states

The improving job market and economy is helping push mortgage delinquencies and foreclosure starts down, but the percentage of loans in the foreclosure process remains stubbornly high, especially in states most affected by robo-signing issues, according to a quarterly survey of lenders by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Since peaking at 10.1 percent in March 2010, the percentage of borrowers behind on their house payments has fallen to a seasonally adjusted 7.6 percent at the end of 2011 -- about halfway to the pre-recession average of roughly 5 percent, said MBA Chief Economist Jay Brinkmann.

The percentage of loans entering the foreclosure process -- which before the downturn averaged just under 0.5 percent -- has also declined, from a peak of 1.4 percent at the end of third-quarter 2009 to 1 percent at the end of fourth-quarter 2011.

For more information, go to Foreclosure Backlogs Persist

Forecast: Real Estate Recovery Won't Arrive Till 2013 or Beyond

'Wost case scenario': 12-year supply of distressed properties

The real estate market will see improvement in the remainder of this year and in 2012, but is unlikely to recover until 2013 or beyond, said speakers at a recent Pacific Coast Builders Conference (PCBC).

"We're in a 'broken W' economy. A couple of quarters up, then down," said Ken Rosen, chair of UC Berkeley's Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics. He was one of three panelists in a session titled "Translating the Macro Economic Forecast to Real Local Market Knowledge."

"The housing market may have bottomed, but chances of a housing recovery this year are pretty slim," said Elliott Pollack, CEO of Elliott D. Pollack & Co., an economic and real estate consulting firm.

Overall, "the recovery is happening, it's just not happening as fast as we'd like," Rosen said. “Tight credit restrictions are one of the biggest factors constraining that recovery. Thirty to 40 percent of the people who want to buy a house don't qualify. Credit should be loosest at the bottom of a cycle," he added.


For more information, go to Real Estate Recovery Won't Arrive Till 2013 or Beyond

A Career in Real Estate

A career in real estate is perfect for you if you are an entrepreneur who likes people, is enthusiastic and energetic!  The benefits of being a real estate are numerous:

• Be your own boss. Most real estate agents are independent contractors. They set their own work schedules, develop their client base, decide on their marketing methods and grow their business as their own.
• Your business growth is all up to you. There are no limits for growth of your real estate business. Couple a good attitude with a superior work ethic and you can realize fantastic rewards. You'll need to incorporate good business skills and develop effective marketing. It's all in your hands.
• Excellent client service will yield future rewards. It's a huge benefit of this business to be able to reap future business from the good will of past customers (clients). So pay as much attention to the nuts and bolts of the job and to customer service as you do to marketing. You'll see great results later.
• Your time is yours, so take that vacation! Develop relationships with other agents in your office. Once you find someone with a similar style and work ethic, you can work with each other to set up off time and know that your clients will be handled the way that you want. You're in charge of your business and your time off.
• Your business can be as large as you like. The real estate business offers huge potential for expansion from your "one person show" beginnings. As an agent, your income is controlled in large part by the time you invest.

For more information, go to A Career in Real Estate