A Renter In Foreclosure

Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009

The Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009 signed into law on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 (Pub. L. 111–22) provides a 90-day notice requirement and additional protections for tenants in foreclosed properties.
Below you will find the major provisions outlined under Title VII, Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009. - During the term of the lease, the tenant has a right to remain in the unit and cannot be evicted, except for actions that constitute good cause.
- If the lease ends in less than 90 days, the new owner may not evict the tenant without giving the tenant at a minimum 90 days notice.
- At the end of the term of the lease, the new owner may terminate the tenancy if the new owner provides a 90-day notice.
- The new owner may terminate the tenancy if the owner will occupy the unit as a primary residence, and has provided the tenant a notice to vacate at least 90 days before the effective date of such notice. This is the only exception to the rule that the tenant may not be evicted during the term of the lease.
These provisions expire on December 31, 2012.





One More thing on Hiz Honor....Perhaps if he had been a movie buff and watched this great Andy Griffith Movie (pre Mayberry, pre Matlock) like I did in college....rent it. great stuff.

Loan Disclosure Rules to Change

The National Association of Realtors has released an overview memo outlining mortgage disclosure-requirement changes that go into effect July 30. Here is the NAR document:

Lenders will be subject to new disclosure requirements for mortgage loans under the Federal Reserve Board Truth in Lending Regulation (Reg Z). The new requirements apply to loan applications filed on or after July 30, 2009 (about two months earlier than originally planned). The new rules are complex and compliance will be a challenge for lenders. REALTORS® will want to learn the basics so they can advise clients of potential delays and the new procedures. Key highlights of the changes:
• The new requirements apply to all mortgages secured by a borrower’s home, including primary and second homes and refinancings. Investor loans continue to be exempt.
• Lenders must give good faith estimates of mortgage loan costs within 3 business days after the consumer applies for a loan (early disclosure). The lender may not collect any fees before the disclosure is provided, except for a reasonable fee for obtaining a credit report.
• The closing may not take place until expiration of a 7 day waiting period after the consumer receives the early disclosure.
• Consumers may shorten or waive the 3-day and/or 7-day waiting periods for a “bona fide personal financial emergency,” but only after receiving an accurate TILA disclosure. In the final rule’s preamble, the Fed stated that it “believes waivers should not be used routinely to expedite consummation for reasons of convenience.” The Fed decided not to insulate lenders from liability even where a consumer modifies or waives the waiting periods.
• If the annual percentage rate (APR) changes by more than 0.125 percent, the lender must provide a corrected disclosure to the borrower and wait an additional 3 business days before closing the loan. The APR includes not only the interest rate on the loan but certain other costs related to settlement, so it will be important for any fees that affect the APR to be as accurate as possible, as early as possible, to minimize the need for a corrected TILA disclosure.

What Does It All Mean? .....Call your mortgage rep.

Little Fish. Big Fish.

When the chairman of the Senate's Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee is getting sweetheat deals from Countrywide, is there any wonder that we have a housing crisis?

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/29/senators-see-countrywide-discounts-as-common-court/?page=2

Do you think Dodd's mortgage was done at The Malibu Diner?....Maybe Hiz Honor should have gotten a loan instead. The sad truth is that this young up and comer had a lot to learn about real corruption from the good ol' boys in Washington.

Protest? Yes, Another Protest.

Seems that Hoboken Revolt is at it again. This time with a city hall protest calling for our mayor to resign.

http://www.nj.com/hobokennow/index.ssf/2009/07/protest_calling_for_mayor_camm.html

I am not for it or against it. Judging from the online response it seems like it could be a large crowd. Then again, there were a lot of people who screamed about the tax increase but only a couple of hundred showed up at the rally(see my December 19,2008 post) ...leads me to wonder why people could be more interested in corruption that led one man to get rich versus corruption that led all of us to go poor.

What's next? a reval that levels the taxes? An examination why so many public officials own condos with city views at Maxwell Place? Check 'em out at http://www.njactb.org/ (I wonder if Governor Corzine won the lottery to get the best unit there?) We could hold a protest everyday if we wanted. Maybe it should be a political appointment? Official in charge of corruption rallies.


Hoboken Real Estate
Single Family Homes
Available 24
Avg asking price $1.26M
Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed

Mayor Today. Gone Tomorrow.

The word from Old Hoboken....Camarrano Lives. Only time will tell. In the chance that things don't go his way...It will be tough to sell that brownstone. According to the second quarter real estate report, They just aren't selling.

A good article on the market.

http://rismedia.com/2009-07-23/signs-of-change-existing-home-sales-rise-36-in-june/

The most important information in this article is not the increase in home sales but the new appraisal standards. Not surprising when the government gets their hands on things. I have a client in downtown Jersey City who just tried to refi and the appraiser used comps from Journal Square. Shockingly the appraisal came in 67% of what it should have.

Lesson: Even if you are doing a refi, contact your realtor. You can get a set of comps that will help your out of town appraiser do his job and maybe get you your loan.

Hoboken Real Estate Condos

Available 549

Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed

Buying In The Dark

So I get home from work last night about 10pm. And I click on the monster flat screen and troll around the HD offerings wishing that FIOS would come to my building. There on ABC is a show called Dating In The Dark. (Some contrived social experiment that is usually relegated to the backwaters of late night cable...Date My Ex typifies this genre.....well those dog days of summer have opened up a whole in the ABC schedule. How about a rerun of Happy Days?) So the new show is about they put together these singles in the dark (literally they can't see the other person) and based on conversation and touching see if there is a "Love Connection". The twist is that after they profess to have made a connection, each person gets to look at the other person, though not at the same time....blah blah blah. The idea being that we are mostly ruled by our judgement of attractiveness based on looks despite the professed deeper meaning of personality.

Buyers are the same way! A wake up call to sellers? Paint, clean, stage. Location is nice, size is nice, price is nice....but if a buyer walks in and doesn't fall in lust...No second date. And the seller is left waiting on the balcony in agony as the girl leaves with her suitcase through the back door. (watch the show to see what I mean.)

One other bit of advice I gleaned from the TV last night. Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the moon landing. I watched a show on the whole process since I never paid much attention to it other than the Armstrong one small step for man thing. Here's the take away: You see the flag and the glory and the aforementioned quote and that is all anyone remembers. These guys were 15 seconds away from running out of gas. 15 Seconds!!! From horrific death, humiliating national failure. Then they busted something that they needed to get back to the space ship. A pen holding in a circuit breaker saved them again from horrific death and humiliating national failure. Yet, this is not what people remember. Buyers: take note. Buying today could seem like a no brainer through the prism of time.

Hoboken Real EstateCondos

sold first 3 weeks of july: 34

Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed

You Are The Boss

Back from 10 days of needed vacation. With a fresh perspective and fresh insight.....

Sometimes you're so close to something that you can't see the forest through the trees. Buyers and sellers sometimes get this way. Take this story I just heard today from a buyer who was closing on an out of town property. (not my client) She had a closing date and was going to do the walk through in the morning and there is the seller still not moved out. Now her agent tells her it is no big deal and her lawyer says they can put some money in escrow in case the seller damages something on the way out. (turns out the seller could only put $2000 in escrow). I think the agent and the lawyer did their client a disservice.

The buyer could have just pushed off the close. (and the seller really needed to close that day) Maybe pushed it off a week. (The buyer did not need to move for a few weeks.) I bet the seller would have found a way to put more in escrow and thrown in a few hard dollars to boot. It's not being nasty, it's business.

My point is this: When a buyer/seller goes beyond the bounds of reasonableness and tries to take advantage of a situation or the niceness of the other party, that's when you slam them. The agent just wants to close. The lawyer just wants to close....and they want you to get stuck with the inconvenience....I bet if the lawyer was the buyer or the agent was the buyer, they wouldn't just be saying no problem.

You are the boss. It is your signature on the check. They work for you.

Hoboken Real Estate Condos

Available 549
under contract 153

Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed

Another Auction Comes To Hoboken

They are auctioning off the condominiums at 1300 Park in Hoboken on August 5th. Different developer but the catastophe of "The Juliana" still leaves me questioning whether auctions are right for the Hoboken market. I've been wrong before....

Hoboken Real Estate
Condos
Available 556
Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed

The Q2 Report Is Here.

Goto http://www.hobokenhomefinder.com/, click on the picture of the report and I'll send you the complete 14 page report. Yes. technical limitations require a few extra steps. Do you want the report or not?

Hoboken Real EstateQ2, 2009
Condos Sold 128
Condos Under Contract 200

Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed