ELAINE HOFF
A great idea
South Shore Realtor George Raymond has received numerous phone calls in recent months from homeowners struggling to keep up with mortgage payments.
Some of the calls have come from homeowners who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth and can’t sell them to pay off their debt.
Raymond, who owns Herbert W. Raymond & Son, Realtors, in Weymouth, doesn’t have quick and easy answers for such homeowners. “I don’t think a lot of people know what exactly to do when they’re in that situation,” he said.
That’s why Raymond and other Realtors like him have registered to attend a certification course on foreclosures, auctions and short sales. Short sales are transactions in which the homeowner, with the lender’s permission, sells the home for less than is owed.
The one-day course will offer Realtors information on how to assist clients through a short sale to avoid foreclosure, how to list and market foreclosed or lender-owned properties, and how to represent a buyer at an auction. The course, which was developed by the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, will take place Jan. 22 at the association’s headquarters in Waltham. So far, 60 Realtors have registered for this month’s course, and MAR has organized a session for Feb. 20.
Margaret Grant, MAR’s associate general counsel, said the association developed the course after its legal hotline experienced a spike in the number of calls from Realtors who had questions about foreclosures and short sales.
Some of the more common questions had to do with clients who were trying to sell properties at prices that weren’t high enough to cover their mortgage debt. Other Realtors had questions about how to help those clients who had defaulted on mortgage payments to stop the foreclosure process. And some Realtors who were in the process of negotiating short sales wanted to know how to deal with the lenders and get them to accept the sale and forgive part of the mortgage debt.
Rather than trying to address those questions piecemeal, Grant said the association decided to have one session where a large of amount of information could be shared.
“The leadership team in Massachusetts made the determination that the members needed the information to help consumers avoid foreclosure,” she said.
The course comes at a time when foreclosure activity is on the rise. Experts are anticipating more foreclosures as homeowners with adjustable-rate mortgage loans face a spike in monthly payments.
Some owners will have trouble selling their homes because prices have fallen and they won’t be able to fetch a price to pay their mortgage debt. Others will have trouble refinancing because lenders have tightened lending standards and aren’t offering certain types of products.
Lenders filed 21,005 foreclosure petitions, the first step in the foreclosure process, from January through September of last year, according to The Warren Group, parent company of Banker & Tradesman. That’s more than double the petitions posted during the same months in 2005. More foreclosure petitions were filed during the first three quarters of 2007 than all of 2006.
Elaine Hoff, a broker with RE/MAX Encore in Wilmington, said she thinks the certification course is a great idea. She is planning to attend the MAR course so she can understand the foreclosure and short sale process better.
“I have several clients that I have to help get through this,” she noted.
Hoff already has some experience negotiating short sales. Last year, she helped a Tewksbury homeowner who purchased a single-family property two-and-a-half years ago with a no-down-payment, adjustable-rate mortgage. The homeowner tried unsuccessfully to refinance into a fixed-rate mortgage and was facing higher mortgage payments. Hoff listed his home and negotiated a short sale with the lender.
Now, Hoff is working with another seller who bought a home eight years ago and refinanced into a higher-cost loan two years ago that he can’t afford.
“I want to do everything I can for my client,” she said. “If I can help people stay in their houses, that’s fine. But if they have to sell, especially if it’s a short sale to avoid foreclosure, I want to know the best way to handle it for my client.”
‘So Much Misinformation’
The certification course will feature three instructors. Wayne Robison, a Minnesota-based broker, will discuss short sales. Robison, who helps operate a Web site called www.foreclosureu.com, specializes in foreclosure sales.
Val Gehringer, a Virginia-based Realtor and national auction coordinator for Keller Williams Real Estate, will provide the ins and outs on auctions. Gehringer was a speaker at a forum on auctions at a National Association of Realtors convention in Las Vegas last November.
North Andover-based broker Linda Kody will offer tips on the pre- and post-foreclosure process and listing foreclosure properties. Kody lists and sells foreclosed properties in Lawrence and other Merrimack Valley communities.
“There’s so much misinformation out there. People don’t understand the entire process. This is going to open the door to help people get educated,” said Kody, who owns Kody & Co.
She said Realtors should seriously consider taking the course.
“It’s what our market is right now, and as Realtors we take that pledge under the Code of Ethics to help consumers, to protect property rights, and to be knowledgeable in our field. I think everyone who is going to be practicing real estate right now needs to have knowledge of it,” Kody said.
That’s why Raymond is participating in the certification course.
“There are a lot of people who need answers to this, and I think they rely on real estate brokers to advise them. I think you have to be up on the latest. It changes every week,” he said.
Like Raymond, Hoff said she wants to know all she can to help struggling homeowners. She said some experts are expecting the housing market to turn around this year, but relief won’t come quickly enough for some property owners.
“I do see a light at the end of the tunnel but it doesn’t matter if the market is going to pick up. If it’s happening to you now, it’s terrible,” she said.
