Looking for a home or condo to buy in South Florida?
Looking for excellent foreclosures, short sales, REO deals? Or do you need foreclosure defense, loan modifications? imobilia of South Beach has the services available to cater to all of your real estate needs.
imobilia of South Beach is;
An independently owned real estate brokerage located in the heart of South Beach with sale and rental listings that span all of Miami, Miami Beach, South Beach, Brickell / Downtown area and Broward Counties. imobilia offers over fifteen years of Miami raised experience, with a history of over 3000 successful sales.
The owner and operator of imobilia, investor turned broker Mario Rodriguez, has personally bought and flipped over 500 properties. As a CPA, Mr. Rodriguez is dually equipped to find you a property, or sell your property at maximum profitability. As a truly accomplished entrepreneur Mr. Rodriguez is a passionate businessman with extreme work ethic which he instills in all of imobilia’s associates and agents.
What sets imobilia apart from the other companies?
- We know how to find the best deals in town!
- We offer Pre-Approval for first time buyers.
- We specialize in REO and foreclosure properties.
- We also specialize in Short Sales, Foreclosure Defense and Loan Modification
- We are open 7 days a week 12 hours a day, from 9:00am until 9:00pm including holidays.
Whether you are buying, selling or renting, imobilia will guide you every step of the way and ensure the best possible results in the most time efficient manner.
Where do you start?
First time buyers, if you have not been pre-approved, fill out the Pre-approval form, or better yet come on in and start a promising relationship today!
Hablamos Espanol!
CONTACT US:
1464 Washington Avenue
Miami Beach, FL 33139
T 305.672.6540
F 305.402.2425
Home For Sale By Owner
The first lead source of leads for all realtors is the FOR SALE BY OWNER or FSBO or FIZZBO as it’s pronounced. The only thing good I can say about FOR SALE BY OWNERS is that most of them are serious about wanting to sell their home. Take a different approach than the other realtors. Find out first if the owner is in default. If they are, find out how much the owner is asking and how much he owes and what the home is approximately worth.
Sometimes the home is worth more than they owe but the owner is still asking too much or doesn’t know what they are doing to get a sale. Usually, they are selling on their own because the home is worth $106,000 and they owe $100,000. They hope they will be able to walk away with 6k because of the difference. It just doesn’t work that way.
1.) Only a totally uninformed buyer would make a full price offer to a sale by owner.
2.) The owner isn’t taking into account the constantly rising closing costs which are currently about 3% of the sales price. (and that’s just on the selling side)
3.) The owner isn’t taking into account any repair costs which a professional inspection may incur.
4.) The owner isn’t taking into account any back payments, late fees, or attorneys costs if they are behind at all.
5.) The owner rarely takes into account that his home is NOT worth more than the identical home in the same sub-division which sold for $105,000 last week.
6.) Homeowners traditionally ask 6% more than their home is worth and then tell prospective buyers that if it doesn’t sell soon, they will put it with a Realtor and then the price will be 6% even more.
Think of the logic of that last one. A home is worth $106k. The owner thinks because it’s HIS house its worth $110k. He knows the average buyer will offer about 5-10% less so he jacks the price up to $118k. Now he tells the prospective buyer that if it doesn’t sell, he’ll put it with a Realtor at $125k. Meanwhile, there is a short sale and an REO (Real Estate Owned, bank owned, already forecloses) property just down the street with the same floor plan in the same neighborhood for $99k!
The FSBO is dreaming and wishing and hoping. Unless the market is rapidly appreciating (2-4% per month) which it is not now happening nor will it in the foreseeable future. This home owner needs to be educated about the realities. In fact, in my area of Miami Florida, Homes have been DEPRECIATING 2-4% per month since October of 2007. Many homes are worth about half what they were worth in 2006. Using the old square footage average, at the height of the market, homes sold for about $160 per square foot. (including lot) Now they are currently selling for about $75 per square foot or less (including lot) Of course, this doesn’t take into account swimming pools, exclusive neighborhoods or acreage.
In any case, if a seller is asking at, near, or below what is owed on the property (including back payments if behind) that seller is a prime candidate for a short sale. The owner is not going to net out anything on the short sale of their home anyway and almost all lenders require a home be listed with a MLS participating Realtor to qualify for the short sale.
To find out how much is owed on the home and if the owner has received an L.P. (lis pendens) or N.O.D. (Notice Of Default) on the home, you must go to the court records. If you are in a progressive county all the county court records should be freely available online. If not you may have to pay a small fee for online access or actually, physically, go down to the courthouse.
L.P. Lis Pendens is Latin and roughly means lawsuit pending and NOD Notice Of Default means just that. The home owner is in default of the mortgage loan agreement and the lender is pursuing their rights concerning the house. The house being the security instrument for the loan. FSBO’s will make up a very small percentage of your short sale listings.
The Expired Listing
Prior to getting into short sales, the expired home listings were my favorite and main source of income. First of all, you already know that they are serious about selling their home. Secondly, you know that they are already somewhat educated on the value of using a Realtor. Expired Home Listings can be a good source of regular listings and some of these can be converted to short sale listings.
If a home has been on the MLS and in the internet data bases for any length of time and the listing expires, there is one reason and that is, PRICE. No matter how fantastic a home is or how terrible it is, it still boils down to what a ready, willing, and able buyer is willing to pay for the home. Even I have caught myself thinking, “this home will never sell” but I should have added, “at this price.” ANY home will sell at the right price. The challenging opportunity is to convince the owner that the home they are trying to sell is not a castle.
When calling on expired home listings, I won’t take one that doesn’t fit the parameters of my home listing requirements mentioned earlier. This eliminates a few. Next, if the property is owned outright (doesn’t have a mortgage) or the mortgage is 60% or less of rough guess time current market value, I’ll pass if the owner is adamant about the price. Unless they are in default, no matter what size the mortgage is, get to these owners as quickly as possible!
There are many sources for leads for the Foreclosure listing and just as you can pick up leads for a regular listing, these same sources are available to you as a foreclosure agent and more! There are slightly different approaches according to the state you’re practicing real estate in. The first thing you should do is find out if you are in a judicial or non-judicial foreclosure state. There are two main differences between these.
In a judicial foreclosure state like Florida and New York, the foreclosure process takes much longer because everything must be done properly and legally and goes before a judge with an actual hearing and being served official lawsuit papers. In Miami Florida it can take between 8 months to at least one year is normal. On the other hand, Texas is a non-judicial state and the property can typically go to foreclosure as soon as 21-days after the notice of default is served.
The time frame is a a big difference and a lot of people are glad they live in a judicial state. On the other had, many people are glad they live in a non-judicial state for a different reason. in the judicial state, if a property actually goes through foreclosure, the lender always files a deficiency judgment against the borrower. the lender is then allowed to pursue the borrower with all legal means to collect the difference between what was owed on the property and what the property ultimately sold for after foreclosure. A judgment is good for ten years in Florida and can be renewed for another Ten Years. In the non-judicial state if it actually goes to foreclosure, the lender is done has no further foreclosure occurs. The lender will simply mark in the credit report something along the lines of, “Account Settled. Not for full amount” This is an excellent reason for the home owner to do a short sale since the deficiency judgment is rarely filed. In a foreclosure, it is always filed.
Occasionally, the lender will state in the approval of the sale letter that the home owner understands that they (the lender) is reserving the right to pursue the borrower for the difference. This worries the home owner needlessly. The lender knows the home owner has no money to spare at this time so hopes the borrower will win the lottery or something in the next year or two. Without judgment filed, the lender (I’ve been told by an attorney) loses his right to pursue after 2 years and reserving the right to pursue is mainly to appease the stockholders the lender has to answer to.
1. The client financial worksheet
The client financial worksheet normally can be a generic type sheet like the one included in the appendix or occasionally the lender has their own specific form. ASC which is the loan servicer for Wells Fargo is one of these.
The financial worksheet gives the lender some idea of the clients financial situation. If the worksheet shows that if they tightened up their budget a notch, the owner actually could afford the house, then the lender may offer a loan modification. If the worksheet shows the owner cannot afford the house, the lender will go ahead and (99.9% of the time) do a short sale. If the owner can probably head for foreclosure if the owner refuses a loan mod. This is to take back the property, file the deficiency judgment, and come after the homeowner for the difference. The financial statement is very important to the process and the numbers for expenses (groceries, utilities, cable, water, autos, gas, etc.) should be in within reason. A lender will not check the statements of expenses with a private investigator but if the expenses seem unreasonably high, the lender will assume the homeowner is being deceitful and may deny the short sale on those grounds. The bottom line is that the outgo must exceed the income by a significant amount. This is an amount that no reasonable budget restrictions can overcome.
2. The Authorization Letter
The authorization letter should include the sellers’ full name, address of the property, loan number, last four digits of the social security numbers, full names printed and signed, and the people that the authorization is for. This should include yourself, the name of the closing agent at the title company that you will have open title on the property, and anyone that is going to be calling the lender to work the short sale. For example, an assistant or if you’re in an office that has a “calling short sale lender person,” or if you decide to farm out (outsource) the calling the lenders process, you would need the name of that person or organization. You also should have the name of the real estate company you’re working for with your cell, fax, and regular office phone numbers as well as email address.
After the authorization is faxed, you can work on getting a complete short sale package put together while you’re waiting for an offer to come in on the property. Some people will tell you that the order of the pages is important but I think this is only true concerning a document like a purchase offer. It is multiple pages and you really should take the trouble to make sure page 2 follows page 1 and so on.
3. The Hardship Letter
Another key factor that, strangely enough, is given a lot of weight by some lenders and is not even considered by others is the Hardship Letter. This is an explanation of hardship that is normally handwritten, signed, and dated. The letter basically gives a reason or excuse to the lender on exactly why they are late or totally unable to make their payments. “My house isn’t worth what I paid for it” is not a valid excuse. Reasonable and valid excuses are something along the lines of, divorce, death, disaster, disease, destruction, and the main one lately is de-employment. (loss of job)
The exception to the handwritten part is when the owner’s handwritten part is when the owner’s handwriting is totally ineligible or read with great difficulty, and illiteracy. In both cases, I normally type out what the homeowner says is the reason for the hardship, let them read it or I read it back to them, and then have it signed and dated. The hardship letter must ALWAYS be signed and dated no matter what form it’s written in.
4. Two Most Recent Monthly Bank Statements
The 2 most recent months’ checking account is next on the list of documents needed for the complete short sale package. This gives the lender an idea of how much money is coming in and how much is going out and what the money is going for and how much is accumulating. (if any) Just as they wanted corroboration of the client financial sheet.
5. Two Most Recent Pay Stubs
When you give copies to the lender of your 2 most recent pay stubs, this is reinforcement again of the client financial statement. Take home monthly income is stated on the financial sheet and it needs to match up pretty closely with the pay stubs. Some homeowners are receiving unemployment income. Even though this is temporary, the lender still wants that income counted. With a regular paycheck that is direct deposited, the employer also sends a paper trail to the employee stating how much money was deposited and where it went. It is fine to include these statements in lieu of actual pay stubs. If the unemployed have direct deposit they are not sent a paper trail and have no proof of how much income is directly. Indirectly, if the homeowner will circle the direct deposit amounts on the 2 months bank statements with a notation about what it is, that is acceptable.
6. Last Two Years Tax Returns
Now for the final back up documentation of the client financial form, the lender wants the last 2 years tax returns from the homeowner. Just one year back is sufficient most of the time depending on what time of the year it is. For documentation of documentation of documentation they also ask that the W-2′s for the homeowner / employee be included. The good news is that they really are only interested in the top 3 pages of the tax return so you don’t have to send the entire return.
In the case of the self – employed, the lender sometimes wants to see a profit and loss statement for at least the past fiscal year and sometimes likes to see the quarterly tax contributions. As an independent contractor, we Realtors walk a fine line between employee and independent business. The tax return and sometimes the lender will tell you if they need additional information.
Investment into foreclosure properties can be a great opportunity for those looking to make money in today’s real estate market. Bank owned foreclosures are typically 15% – 30% less expensive than regular sales. In today’s real estate market, limited foreclosures are put on the market, because if too many foreclosure properties are released at once, then it will depreciate the prices of regular sales. With the current high foreclosure rate in today’s market, this must be enforced to ensure that the current depreciation of regular sale properties do not depreciate more.
With the current low prices of regular sale properties, and the low prices of current foreclosures makes foreclosures a great opportunity for investment. With prices sure to go up in the future, this will make your foreclosure investments more profitable.
The prices set on a foreclosure may also effect other houses within the same neighborhood or region. This is known as a comparable. If the price set on a foreclosure is low, it will have a negative effect on other housing in the direct region or neighborhood.
Also, getting foreclosed houses sold and off of the market helps to narrow the inventory which has a positive effect on prices on other properties in the same region. Less inventory tends to boost sale prices.
The rehabbing potential in foreclosures today is a huge opportunity. With prices so low now, in 5 years the market will change and those that invest into a property that needs repaired or rehabbed will see a huge return when the market increases in property value in 5 years.
It will be important to answer these questions:
What is the average sales price of the homes selling in your area? How many homes are for sale in your area? What is the average commission paid out per side? How much of your commission is left after your broker takes his cut? How much money do you want to make in the coming year? After taxes and expenses? How many closed sides will you need to achieve this goal? What is the fall through rate? Double it, if you’re a rookie. Now how many closed sides do you need after taxes and expenses? How much time is spent on a regular listing for the day of the listing until the closing? How much time is spent on a short sale form the time of the listing until closing? How many leads come in from sign calls? Form the Internet? From open houses? From floor duty? How many listings can you handle at any given time? How many buyers? How much extra should you earn when hiring an assistant for 10-20 hours per week? What part of your work can be delegated to an unlicensed assistant? What part can be delegated to a child of yours that will do it for the sheer joy of working with you?
Real estate agents in Miami have had to cope with a number of changes to their businesses since the great recession of 2008-2009. It is likely that none have been as drastic, difficult to understand, or had more of an impact on agents transactions than the changes resulting from modifications to long standing appraisal practices due to Miami Foreclosures, REO, Short Sales, HUD If you have an understanding of the appraisal process, foreclosure process and the legislation, rules, and guidelines affecting appraisers, foreclosures and appraisals. Rather than instruction on how to appraise, the objective is to provide information to assist real estate professionals in separating reality from myth. The more you know about the person with the clip board, the more effective your ability to deal with the myriad of changes and challenges ahead.
The practice of developing an opinion of the value of real property is called real estate appraisal, property valuation, or land valuation. Appraisals are needed because of the diverse nature of real property and foreclosed property in Miami. It is clear that no two properties are identical and all parcels differ from on another in some aspect. Not the least of which is their location, one of the most important determinations of their value. Due to the inherent of real property versus foreclosed property in Miami, there is no centralized market for the trading of property rights, as there is for trade in corporate stock and some classes of personal property. The absence of a market based pricing. The absence of a market based pricing mechanism determines the need for an expert appraisal of real estate and or property foreclosed and not like REO status.
Real estate licenses are likely to encounter appraisers and appraisals in a number of circumstances. Most often related to a mortgage loan, an understanding of federal, state, and private appraisals requirements will help you enhance your credibility and productivity and avoid misunderstandings and appraisal related catastrophes.
(FIRREA) or Federal Financial Institutions Reform Recovery and Enforcement ACT of 1989
For many real estate licensees the recent financial crisis affecting the residential real estate market is new. But it is by no means the first national real estate econimic calamity. In the late 1980′s the savings and loan industry, at that time one of the primary sources of capital for the funding of single family residential mortgage loans, all but collapsed. During the savings and loan crisis, over 700 savings and loan associations failed at a cost of over $120 billion to U.S. taxpayers. As a direct result, Congress enacted the Federal Financial Institutions Reform Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA). In addition to establishing the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) to close the insolvent savings and loan associations, dispose of their assets, and provide funds to replenish deposit insurance funds. At that time, many states like Florida required real property appraisers to hold a real estate license, but Congress insisted the real estate appraiser licensing and regulations agency be separate and distinct from the agency charged with the responsibility of licensing and regulating real estate brokers and sales associates.
HUD Mortgage Letter and the Appraiser
Effective January 1, 2010, FHA approved lenders are prohibited from accepting appraisals prepared by FHA roster appraisers who are selected, retained, or compensated in any manner by a mortgage professional or any member of a lenders staff who is compensated on a commission basis tied to the successful completion of a loan.
FHA Roster appraisers are required to avoid conflicts of interest and the appearance of conflicts of interest. In order to help appraisers avoid conflicts or the appearance of conflicts, FHA prohibits substantive communications with the appraiser relating to or having an impact on valuation, including:
Ordering or managing an appraisal assignment by members of a lender’s loan production staff.
Any person who is compensated on a commission basis upon the successful completion of a loan
Who reports to any officer of the lender not independent of the loan production staff and process.
In Addition to the new appraiser independence requirements, the Mortgage Letter reaffirms policies announced nearly a decade ago. Mortgage holders and third parties working on behalf of mortgages are prohibited from:
Withholding or threatening to withhold timely payment or partial payment for an appraisal report.
Withholding or threatening to withhold future business for an appraiser, or demotion or terminating or threatening to demote or terminate an appraiser.
Expressly or implied or promising future business, promotions or increase compensation.
Conditioning the ordering of an appraisal report or the payment of an appraisal fee salary, or bonus on the opinion, conclusion, or valuation to be reached on a preliminary value estimate requested.
Requesting that an appraiser provide an estimated, or desired valuation in an appraisal report prior to the completion of the appraisal report or requesting that an appraiser pride estimated values or comparable sales at any time prior to the appraiser’s completion of an appraisal report.
Every participant in the real estate market has endured changes in Miami Foreclosures as a result of the financial crisis. For certain, more change is in the works, and appraisals will be subject to some of them. Federal agencies are hard at work drafting rules and regulations to implement the appraisal related sections of the Wall Street Reform Act.
The BPO stands for Broker Price Opinion. It is somewhat like an appraisal. A true appraisal is done by an actual professional that takes courses and practices under a master appraiser until they receive their certification. Appraising property is an art and there are good appraisers and bad appraisers. The good thing about appraisers is that you will rarely have to deal with them because a professional appraisal can run $250-$450 dollars per home. A normal bank doesn’t mind paying their CEO several million dollars to run the company into the ground, but when it comes to taking back homes, any expenditure on their part is a disaster.
This is where the BPO comes in. Rather than paying an actual appraiser about $350 for an actual appraisal, the bank goes on the cheap and gets a Realtor to give an opinion of what they feel the home is worth. There are two types of BPO’s. There is the “drive by” BPO and there is the “interior” BPO. A drive by usually pays 35 to 40 dollars and an interior can pay between 50 and 75. Some brokers spend 3-4 hours doing one BPO. Some spend as little as 20 minutes. I had a BPO done on one of my properties today and the BPO person was in and out of the house in less than 60 seconds. Some spend no time at all and have an assistant drive out to the property, take the photos, and work up the BPO. The assistant is usually unlicensed and gets about half what the lender is paying the broker. Some brokers make excellent money doing this by having many, many BPO’s to do and having one or more assistants doing all the work.
The BPO is, by far, what will make or break your Home Sale.
The reason is due to the fact that if the BPO comes in too high, it will be a miracle if an uneducated investor comes along and pays top dollar for what is clearly not a top dollar situation. (A distressed home) The distressed home is on a timeline and once headed for foreclosure, it is rarely stopped and hardly ever slowed down. BPO’s are good, or valid, for a period of 90 days. This is why it is crucial to get one as low as possible and as quickly as possible. Especially with the Miami Foreclosures. I actually had to wait trhough 2 outrageous BPO’s (180 days) by brokers that didn’t even live or work in my area until the third one was accurate and the lender jumped at the same offer that they had sneered at previously.
I cannot stress the importance of meeting the BPO person at the home and doing the reverse of a buyer. Point out every possible thing you can that is wrong with the house and talk about the other factors that influence a homes value that are somewhat intangible.
What are some of the intangibles? Since some of the tangibles are a leaking or sagging roof, a cracked foundation, rotted fascia boards, termite damage, holes in the walls, and things along that nature. Some of the intangibles would be sexual predators living within half a mile of the subject property, only one bathroom, weird colors painted on the walls, extra high property taxes, extremely high and required home owner association fees, and vacant homes in the area. Every vacant or foreclosed home within a half a mile of the subject property will cause 1% drop in perceived value of the home.
Your mission, should you choose to be successful at listing your home, is to make friends with the BPO person. Tell them the home owners sad story so empathy will be felt. Explain that hardly anyone was even looking at the home when you were surprised to get even the offer as they can reasonably make it so that your poor home owners can finally get this nightmare of potential foreclosures behind them. Show them all the bad tangibles and talk about all the bad intangibles. Mention how bad the landscaping is (cuz it usually is) and how much it would reasonably cost to do all the repairs and fixing up that this home needs. Tell them your home owners would have taken better care but it’s about all they can do to keep the lights on and put food on the table. (I’ve used the previous things to tell BPO person something that is NOT true.)
The same goes for the buyers. The buyers are this young couple just starting out and they are willing to do the fixing up necessary with a little sweat equity but they are trying to be careful about overextending themselves and are so afraid of this economy and the perilous economic times we are facing that if there offer isn’t accepted they just can’t come up anymore and will have to keep renting until the situation for them specifically and new BPO friend, weave it as a story and paint a picture. Facts are just cold words that are soon forgotten. The picture you paint will stay with them and if they like you and feel empathy for the sellers, they will do their best to bring you that BPO price you are looking for.
From the 1990′s through today, real estate professionals viewed the Federal Housing Administration’s mortgage insurance programs as bureaucratic, over strict and out of date technologically compared with conventional, private mortgage industry competitors. FHA’s market share fell from the 12% to 13% range in the mid 1990′s to less than 2% in 2005.
Today, the situation in South Beach is starkly different. FHA commands a large and growing market share an estimated 30 percent of all loans in 2010 and a 75 percent share of first time buyers in some local markets. The agency has overhauled its controversial appraisal rules that once required home sellers to correct minor property defects prior to closing, and has greatly sped up its loan processing turnaround times. Real estate and mortgage professionals who are not familiar with FHA’s programs and rules today are at a severe competitive disadvantage when it comes to serving their clients.
WHAT IS THE FHA
The Federal Housing Administration was created by Congress in 1934 in the depths of the Great Depression. Its purpose was, and is, to provide liquidity for the residential mortgage market and facilitate home purchase. FHA is part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). It does not lend money. Instead, it insures home loans made by private lenders that comply with the agency’s underwriting standards. If borrowers subsequently default and go to foreclosure, lenders submit insurance claims and are reimbursed by FHA for 100% of the unpaid balance plus additional costs incurred during the delinquency and foreclosure process.
Borrowers pay insurance premiums to FHA in 2 ways:
an upfront premium at the time of closing
monthly premiums during the term of the loan
These premiums not only are used to fund FHA’s insurance activities, but also pay for the agency’s administrative operations. FHA does not receive money from the federal budget, but is designed to be self sustaining through its premium income and reserves. Typically, FHA generates net income for the government.
FHA’s Advantages For Borrowers
FHA’s decades old core function has been to provide financing resources for consumers who may not otherwise have access to conventional mortgage financing at favorable rates and terms. This means for Miami Foreclosures as well! These borrowers typically include:
First time home buyers with modest incomes and only small amounts of cash for down payments and settlement expenses.
Buyers with higher than typical dept to income ratios, and credit scores that are considered marginal or unacceptable by conventional mortgage market standards.
Buyers who need to make repairs to properties after acquiring them, and are seeking financing for the repairs plus the cost of the property itself.
FHA guidelines allow for leniency when evaluating consumers credit backgrounds. The FHA credit guidelines are more lenient than conventional guidelines. Today most conventional loans conform to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guidelines because most conventional loans are sold in the secondary mortgage market to these institutions. FHA also accepts nontraditional credit history data based on applicants payments for rent, utilities, cable, and other periodic debt obligations, and allows seller contributions toward buyers closing expenses and loan fees up to 3% of the loan amount. FHA does no require borrowers to have cash reserves, unlike most conventional lending programs.
The Miami market is a great market to invest into foreclosures right now so don’t delay! Act now so you can take advantage of this great opportunity today!