I have a rental property in Las Vegas that has gone down in value and is now vacant for a month due to the tenant losing their jobs there. The balance on my loan is at $278k option ARM and will adjust march 2010. I’ve been paying the minimum of $1600 per month since I can only rent it for $1100 max and I’ve been losing upwards of $600 per mo. due to HOA property mgmt and utilities. According to initial estimates, the property value is between $120k to $159k. Weve been current on it since 2005 since my wife and I are both employed. But there’s very little left in our savings and I cant see myself keeping this property and continuously losing money. The property is in fairly good shape according to my property mgr. I tried loan mod but my lender disapproved saying we’re current and we’re positive after evaluating our financial data. I’m looking at short sale or foreclosure as possible exit strategies.
Does anyone have a similar situation and what kind of settlement did you end up having?
I have worked on on many cases similar to yours. I actually work in a short sale negotiations firm so we see cases such as this all the time. I would not recommend going through with a foreclosure because that would severely damage your credit and set you back.
Yesterday we actually closed a short sale in LV where he homeowner purchased a property for 240 and it was short sales for 110 and the homeowner did not have to make a cash contribution or take a note.
A large portion also depends on the bank of lender that is holding and servicing your loan. Some are tougher than the next.
If you have any questions or would like additional information feel free to send me a message.
For once I agree with 90% of Lyonelk’s Post. Notice though he did say…
Yesterday we actually closed a short sale in LV where he homeowner purchased a property for 240 and it was short sales for 110 and the homeowner did not have to make a cash contribution or take a note.
This was only one short sale in where the homeowner did not have to make a cash contribuion or take a note… Chances are the homeowner had noting in his savings and his wife nor him worked. This is a big risk to take and there was nothing said about a 1099. Which might have a huge effect on Taxes.
While I love to Short Sale properties and make a great deal it is not always the best option for the seller. Other options to consider would be and not limited to…
Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure-
Obama making home affordable plan at 4.75%
Loan Modification for a limited time (banks are doing these all day long)
I would have to say to write a STRONG hardship letter to your lender and offer the Deed in Lieu they are going to say thanks yet NO. That is perfect let them work out a Mod with 4 months no payments at this time you are able to try and rent the property. And at that time bam you are now 4 months behind on there records and you can do the loan mod or the Short Sale, From there see if you can get the property down to where it makes sense to do that. If so you are good if not, Deed in lieu it anyway. That looks better the a Foreclosure or a Short Sale on your credit.
I have offices there in Las Vegas and know the market well, I also invest heavily in Arizona so you might say my primary investment markets are Nevada and Arizona. The problem investors are having is banks and lending institutions are refusing to modify or amend the agreement for a non-owner occupied rental or real estate investment.
These lenders feel that if we as investors bought and wanted the property, the lender is not about to take the loss to help us out. I have friends who are upside down on over a dozen properties and they have tried everything including an attorney to open communication and negotiate a deal, so far none of there lenders are willing to move on any of these properties to take a loss as a bank and leave these investors in control of the property.
Although there is a big push to help owner occupied homeowners out of a messy situation, there apparantly is little or no desire to help investors who got caught holding portfolio properties that are now under water.
If your an investor and have been successful in convincing a lender to take a loss, and reduction of payment but leave you in control of the property let us know as I would be interested to know how you convinced the bank when they don’t like to take a loss that contributes to the inverstor.
Abrei asks a straight forward question and gets straightforward, outstanding answers.
Wish life were always that simple!
Here’s another thought, Abrei. Call Dolf de Roos and see if he’d like to buy it. When the market was skyrocketing in '05-'06, I know he said that he and a partner set a goal to buy a house a week there.
Maybe they, or someone like him, would like to do a lease option or a subject to, and take away the monthly negative cash flow drain, or at least a portion of it. The real key is to see if you can find a tenant, contract purchaser, or a lease/option candidate, who will cover the lion’s share of your debt service before all your savings is gone.
Get busy and explore all of your options on how to turn this non-performing into a performing, because it might be a whole lot easier to find a decent tenant than it will be to work a SS on investment property.
Dolf de Roos and his Investors are now probably in the same boat. My guess is that they are now trying to Short Sale at least one property a week. There was a time in Vegas that we were putting a house a week under contract and selling the contract before we could close on the house. Now the same houses are all worth 10-40% less then what those people bought them for. And they are now stuck. Yet this is not just a Nevada Problem the news reported that 18% of USA HOMEOWNERS were upside down on there houses. So this is a nationwide problem, as far as the Lease Option Idea there are some States that no longer allow them I know that in Texas they have been gone sense 2005 Here is a link as to why
There are other States that followed shortly after on the same law. So I just stay clear of them 100%.
There are options for letting someone assume your mortgage. Yet you would be giving someone else your problems. And How I look at that is if they want them they are free to have them.