Washington Real Estate Law Blog : Washington Real Estate Lawyer & Attorney : Dickson Steinacker Law Firm : WA HOA, Building & Zoning Updates

If you’ve ever tried to modify a Loan through a Bank, then you already know one thing:  Banks can often make the process so difficult it doesn’t even seem worth the effort.  This is what separates the accepted applicant from the denied applicant.  In 2010, every creditor / lender / Bank has figured out one thing… some people won’t follow through with their loan modifications if you make the process difficult.  Borrowers will falter, hesitate, miss a deadline and POOF! their opportunity to modify their existing loans has passed.  Don’t be that borrower.  Here are a few tips from the trenches of the Battle for Loan Mods being fought daily:

1)        Never give up.  Be relentless.  The lender is not going to push your case through the system – that is your job.  So eat healthy meals, exercise, and lift weights because getting a loan modification is like participating in an athletic event.  It is tiring, requires personal strength, and certainly demands some serious stamina.

2)       Be well-informed.  Read all of your loan documents.  No matter how boring they may seem, being a smart debtor makes you a valuable debtor.  If you have two mortgages, keep your first mortgage and your second mortgage separate in your mind.  Also, check out the website for your lender.  Visit the Bank’s websites, learn about their departments and practices.

3)       Be well-prepared.  Always keep your loan information spread out, with the most important pages on top, when you’re ready to call the lender.  Have your notes from previous phone calls ready to answer questions.

4)       Take notes.  Keep track of every name, extension, and job title of every person you speak with during a phone call to your Bank.  Remember, employees at the Bank, like anywhere else, can move, be reassigned, forget, or misplace information.  That’s where you step in and lead them in the right direction.

5)       Keep a calendar.  As you learn about important deadlines, write them down on a calendar (or, if you are tech saavy, you can use Exchange or an open source alternative) and keep a reminder note about a week out.  When your reminder hits, call the bank and make sure you are in compliance for that step.  Ask if there is anything else you can do and be prepared to hustle any documents they need out the door that day.

6)       Get your documents in early every time!  Always send in your documents as soon as you can and then call and verify that they were received by the Bank.  Never assume that they received your documents just because you faxed them in.  Lenders rarely complain if you send too many copies, so back up your emails with letters and your faxes with certified mail!

7)       Finally, never give up!  You are a rock, strong and unbending in your determination to modify your loan.  You are an arrow, aimed at your goal of a loan modification and focused on helping your creditor find reasons to approve it!

The loan modification process is not a sprint, it is a marathon.  You must be prepared, informed, and studiously devoted to your own cause.  If you cannot find the time to devote to this process, hire someone who can.  If there are issues or questions you can’t answer, ask an expert.  Whatever happens, don’t give up!  For more information on loan modifications, follow this link to a fantastic collection of past blog entries devoted to loan modifications.

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As summer in the Pacific Northwest heats up, finally, outdoor fires from grills, barbeques, etc.  becomes a way to enjoy the sun.  While property owns can cook outdoors, everyone needs to keep in mind the Puget Sound Clean Air Regulations and nuisance laws to keep their summer fun from becoming a legal headache.  While burning your hotdogs is unlikely to cause a problem, clean air regulations prohibit any person from causing or allowing outdoor burning that causes an emission of smoke or any other air contaminant that is detrimental to the health, safety, or welfare of any person, that causes damage to property or business, or that causes a nuisance. 

A nuisance is anything injurious to health or indecent or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to essentially interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of the life and property.  Emitting large quantities of noxious smoke in considered a nuisance in Washington and can subject the person violating the regulations to legal action from the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency and lawsuits from their neighbors.

After the weather cools down again, remember, it is illegal to burn anything other than manufactured logs or dry wood in an indoor fireplace.  You can, however, burn small amounts of paper to get the fire going.  It is always illegal to burn garbage in an indoor or outdoor fire.  In addition, a chimney producing too much smoke can be subject to an enforcement action if it exceeds 20 percent opacity for six consecutive minutes.  To see what this looks like please see http://www.pscleanair.org/actions/woodstoves/opacity.aspx.        

Have a safe an enjoyable summer and remember to be a good neighbor and environmental steward by keeping an eye on your fires.

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This article outlines an interesting requirement that the Tacoma city council passed that will take place in October of this year.  In short, before any home can be sold or undergo significant remodeling, their must be an inspection of the sewer lines. 

The reason is outlined in this article from last week, and basically states that older private sewer systems are allowing rainwater to get into their lines (probably due to degradation).  As a result, the public sewer treatment systems get overloaded and can cause raw or almost-raw sewage to seep into the streets and sometimes directly into commencement bay. 

The natural consequence of this requirement is that that home sales will suffer.  Obviously, this is because in the current market buyers have most of the leverage.  If a seller finds there is a problem in the sewer line, he may have to repair it (likely a very costly endeavor), or may have to reduce the price on the home significantly.  Worst of all, the seller may simply lose the sale altogether. 

The real question is why now?  Does the City of data that shows this is an urgent need?  While we are all sensitive to environmental concerns, I would hope that the government is trying to also be sensitive to their constituency.  Given the current housing climate, significant requirements placed on home sales ought to be reserved until more robust times. 

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Often times, people who have second mortgages believe they are essentially shut out from the loan modification option.  This may not be true.  The government has a program which may assist those who wish to modify their current loan, but who also have a second mortgage.  This article discusses the options in general detail. 

For even more information, look at the government's website here. 

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According to this article from Reuters, banks are still hesitant to carry through with loan modifications.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2419665720100624

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According to this article, published on AOL's real estate section, if a homeowner simply "walks away" from a mortgage, Fannie Mae is raising the stakes.  Here is a short quote from the article: 

Here's the breakdown for eligibility depending on how you got out of your last mortgage:

Deed-in-Lieu of Foreclosure> -- reduced from four years to two years if you can put down 20 percent on your house, four years if you can only put down 10 percent.

Preforeclosure Sale -- remains at two years if you can put down 20 percent, four years if you can only put down 10%.

Short Sale -- will be the same as pre-foreclosure sale. Currently there are no set rules for short sale.

Strategic Default (Walk Away) -- seven years.

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http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlewaterfronthomes/archives/212793.asp?from=blog_last3

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The month of May showed a mixed bag of real estate sales statistics for the Seattle area, with an increase in pricing, but softening of inventory.  Apparently, the small bounce in pricing is related directly to the impact of the tax credited offered by the federal government.  Now that it has expired (or is expiring as the last sales close), it will be interesting to see the impact.

Here is the full story. 

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http://blog.seattlepi.com/intelligentinvestor/archives/212001.asp

The above link provides an exhaustive outline of what someone interested in purchasing a foreclosure/short sale home should consider. 

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