Foreclosure Councelors: What They Can and Can't Do

Foreclosure Counselors: What They Can and Can’t Do

Foreclosure counselors can make the difference between losing your home and keeping it.

Here’s how they work and how to choose one.
A foreclosure counselor can help assess your finances and make a budget, but cannot give any tax or legal advice.

If you’re facing foreclosure, your foreclosure counselor will be a key part of your foreclosure team. As you start looking for one, however, you need to know what exactly they do, what they don’t do, and how to choose one who’s legitimate and qualified.

What a foreclosure counselor does:
Reviews your finances
Helps you establish a budget
Explains your non-foreclosure options, such as

loan modification, short sale or deed in lieu of foreclosure;

helps you navigate the process with any chosen option
Advocates on your behalf with lenders and loan servicers.

Counselors should also be upfront about discussing their

own track records as well as the track records of the agency they work for.

Read more: http://www.houselogic.com/articles/foreclosure-counselors-what-they-can-and-cant-do/#ixzz0vqTnqRA2

Expect to spend two to 24 hours with a counselor, depending on the complexity of your foreclosure situation, including how many lenders you have to provide documentation to and negotiate with.“Be sure the counselor is looking at your entire situation,” and not just your foreclosure, adds Martha Viramontes, director of housing at ClearPoint Credit Counseling Solutions in Los Angeles. “When counselors focus only on your mortgage, they’re fixing only one aspect of your financial situation.” They should give you an action plan containing the tasks you are going to perform to change your financial situation.

What a foreclosure counselor doesn’t do:
Give tax advice
Give legal advice
Give guarantees regarding a particular outcome
Create miracles

For additional advice, add a tax adviser and attorney to your team. Finally, “don’t expect a counselor to be a genie,” says Douglas Robinson, a spokesperson for NeighborWorks America, a nonprofit community development corporation in Washington, D.C., that provides foreclosure counseling. “If you’re in a home that under the most aggressive scenario you can’t afford, but maybe you got into it because of some toxic loan that should never have been available in the first place, you’re probably going to have to move. It’s best you get out smoothly.”

How to choose an agency:
Seek only HUD-approved agencies. HUD makes it easy:

Type in your state or ZIP code at http://www.findaforeclosurecounselor.org/

or call HUD’s foreclosure counseling hotline at 800-569-4287

or its foreclosure prevention hotline at: 888-995-HOPE (4673).

HUD-approved agencies are all nonprofit, community-based organizations that have administered a housing counseling program for at least a year.

HUD-approved agencies also are required to:
Employ counselors who are knowledgeable about federal housing programs.
Have a staff of counselors of which at least half must have two or more years of counseling experience.

At least half must also have received housing counseling training in the past two years.
Provide you with certain documents, such as a privacy agreement explaining how your personal information will be handled.

In addition, at the agency you work with, see if you can find a foreclosure counselor who has certification through the NeighborWorks Center for Homeownership Education and Counseling Look (NCHEC), which has a Foreclosure Intervention and Default Certification Program. Certified counselors must follow NeighborWorks counseling standards and code of ethics and conduct.

They also are required to:
Have at least one year of experience in foreclosure counseling
Attend three foreclosure prevention courses

Check out my website at: http://www.callkim.net/

Kim Duclos Coldwell Banker Wardley (888) 949-2890

Wasabi and Ginger - golden retriever dog eats with hands

Hire Smart When you Hire a Contractor!

With more people working on their current homes, opting to make upgrades, expand or keep up with their current home maintenance needs, contractors and their reliability comes into question.

What to do to hire a contractor.....

1. Verify Qualifications
Ask for references and work samples. Call the references, get a feel for the satisfaction of their past clients. Check the contractor's license and it is easy to do online nvcontractorsboard.com
or call (702) 486-1100

2. Always get 3 bids
Ensure each contractor is bidding on identical work.


3. Get Bids in Writing
Negotiate a clear, detailed contract. Examine plans for accuracy.

4. Monitor Progress
Make frequent walkthroughs and keep a job file. If you live onsight, just make sure that the work is according to the agreements that were made. Make sure any deviation of agreements is approved by you.

Always speak up, ask questions and verify, verify, verify.

Call me with your real estate questions at (702) 521-3939 or (888) 949-2890
Kim Duclos Coldwell Banker Wardley

Safety - Know your Meter Reader

Yes, even though we live in a high tech society, we still have water meter readers working in our neighborhoods. It is important to know who does and does not belong around your home. Having an unfamiliar vehicle near your home can cause concern.

The Las Vegas Valley Water District came up with some tips to identify their water district employee in your area.

1. Water Dist. employees will drive official vehicles with a clearly marked blue and yellow Water District Logo.

2. District Employees and contractors will always display in plain view a Water District photo identification badge with their name and title. District employees wear LVVWD logo shirts that areligth blue, bright orange, white or neon "safety" green.

3. No district employee will request entry to your home or request that you collect a water sample from inside your home for analysis. They may enter a backyard, if necessary, to access your meter.

4. No district employee will ever request or collect payment at your residence for water bills or for services rendered.

If you are ever concerned about anyone approaching or calling your home regarding your water service - please contact the water district. (702) 870-4194.

If you feel you are in stranger danger, always remember 911.

Kim Duclos

Coldwell Banker Wardley

(702) 521-3939

Making a Simple Move

I received an article by Gregory Karp on moving, I thought
it a great idea to share.

Twelve Tips to Make Your Move Simple and Stress-Free (MCT)

Packing your belongings and moving is often fraught with high emotions and involves a to-do list a mile long. So, it’s tempting to give only passing attention to hiring a mover and the related incidental costs. That could be a mistake—for your wallet and your peace of mind. Moving can be quite expensive. A typical full-service interstate move costs about $4,300, while the same in-state move might cost about $2,500, according to the American Moving & Storage Association. And while the moving industry has many fine companies, it is notorious for fraud and dirty tactics by so-called rogue movers.

Here are 12 tips to make your move simple and avoid the hassle.

Choose a type of move: You have three basic choices: do-it-yourself, full service and a relatively new hybrid of the two. Going it alone is the cheapest alternative, costing the rental price of a truck, gasoline, packing materials and, perhaps, pizza and beer for friends you rope into helping. With full-service moves, moving within a state is charged by the hour, while moving across state lines is charged by weight and mileage.

With a hybrid move, a mover will drop off a large container at your home for you to pack. The mover will then load the container onto a truck, drive the belongings to your new location and drop off the container for you to unload. Because you’re doing the manual labor of packing and unpacking, it’s far less costly than a full-service move.

Hire a quality mover: If you hire help, get at least three price quotes and do your homework before selecting a mover. Seek recommendations by talking with family and friends, even your Facebook circle. Investigate a company’s reputation with the Better Business Bureau (bbb.org), Yelp.com

Check a company’s complaint history at the federal government site, ProtectYourMove.gov.
“People think a good reputation equals expensive, but that’s not true,” said Laura McHolm, co-founder of NorthStar Moving in Los Angeles. “You don’t get a good reputation by overcharging people.”

Look for two things when hiring a moving company:

1. A full-service mover should visit your home in person,

2. And not give a quote over the phone or online, and should provide a written estimate, experts say.

Declutter: No matter what type of move you’re making, taking less stuff is cheaper and less hassle. Set up a staging area, perhaps in a garage, with various piles, such as throw out, recycle, donate and sell. For many items, use the rule of thumb, ‘If you haven’t used it in a year, you probably don’t need it.’

Be flexible: Like airline fares, moving rates depend on when you book. The busiest time for movers, and thus the most expensive time for consumers, is summer weekends near the 15th and 30th of the month. If you have time flexibility, ask what rates would be for different days or seasons. If you have extreme flexibility, ask about moving standby: waiting until the mover has extra space and needs to fill a truck.

Save on boxes: Buying new boxes from a moving company is the most expensive choice. To save some money on packing materials, ask if you can buy used boxes from your moving company, visit the grocery store and see if they have apple boxes etc.
Cheaper yet is finding free boxes, ideally from somebody who just moved. Ask your real estate agent to connect you with other clients who recently moved. Specialty boxes, such as wardrobe boxes, might be cheaper to purchase at a do-it-yourself moving store, such as U-Haul, than from your mover.

Save on packing materials: If you’re packing your belongings yourself, fill suitcases, laundry baskets and plastic containers with unbreakable items. Use pillows, scarves and towels to wrap fragile belongings.

Mail books: If you have a large collection of books, pack them yourself and ship them at the postal media mail rate as it might be cheaper than paying a mover—a 70-pound box would cost less than $30.

Consider consolidation: For long-distance moves, ask about consolidating your stuff on a truck with other people’s as most homeowners can’t fill a full-size moving van. You might have to be flexible on delivery dates and times, but consolidation can be cheaper.

This is very IMPORTANT - Insure it: Check your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance policy to determine whether it provides coverage for your belongings while in transit. If not, you’ll probably want more than the basic free valuation coverage a full-service mover provides. The standard valuation is 60 cents per pound per item. That means breaking a 10-pound, $1,000 stereo system would net you $6. You’ll want full replacement-value insurance, which reimburses you what it will cost to replace broken items. But don’t necessarily buy that insurance from the moving company. Moving insurance is likely cheaper from a third party, but be aware that you probably cannot get insurance on boxes you packed yourself.

Be prepared: Plot out where furniture and boxes will go before moving day arrives. The less time movers spend rearranging, the less expensive it will be. In urban areas, reserve a space or two in front of your new home for the moving truck by parking your own vehicle there ahead of time. If the movers have to park too far away to unload, you could incur a ‘long carry’ surcharge.

Stake your claim: If you’re moving for a job, negotiate the best relocation package you can. Unreimbursed expenses might be tax-deductible. For details, see Publication 521 Moving Expenses at IRS.gov.

Tip: Tipping each mover $3-$5 per hour is customary, said Stephen Coady, marketing manager for Gentle Giant Moving Co. in Somerville, Mass.

(c) 2010, Chicago Tribune. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA)

On June 1, 2010, Fannie Mae began its own Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) Program, which is designed to mitigate the impact of foreclosures on borrowers who are eligible for a loan modification under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) but ultimately did not complete a modification. The Government is trying to push forward to facilitate a short sale for borrowers that have slipped through the cracks with the modification process. I am hoping that this will be a more positive process with the HAFA short sales, then the ones we are working with in the current market. Buyers will have to seek professional advice as to what tax ramifications they will face and if they will be held responsible for any partial payment as a consequence of the sale.

Program Features

The Fannie Mae Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program simplifies and streamlines the use of short or “preforeclosure” sale and deed-in-lieu of foreclosure (DIL) options by incorporating the following unique features:

Complements HAMP by providing alternatives for borrowers who are HAMP eligible (including borrowers facing imminent default);

1. Utilizes verified borrower financial and hardship information collected in conjunction with HAMP, eliminating the need for additional eligibility analysis;
2. Allows the borrower to receive pre-approved short sale terms prior to the property listing;
3. Prohibits the servicer from requiring, as a condition of approving the short sale, a reduction in the real estate commission agreed upon in the listing agreement;
4. Releases the successful HAFA borrower from future liability for the debt;
5. Uses standard processes, documents, and timeframes; and
6. Provides financial incentives to borrowers, servicers and subordinate lienholders.

The effective date for the implementation of the Fannie Mae HAFA is August 1, 2010; however, servicers are encouraged to adapt their processes to implement these policies and procedures immediately.

Complete program details for the Fannie Mae HAFA can be found here. Additionally, new servicer and borrower materials have been developed to support and facilitate the implementation of the program. All materials – including a program overview and job aid, as well as the required borrower documentation – are available on the new HAFA page on eFannieMae.com.

Please Call me for all of your Real Estate Needs.

(888) 949-2890 http://www.callkim.net/ kim.duclos@coldwellbanker.com

Top 10 Energy Payback Projects

I love to shop at Lowes for projects, I don't have to admit this, but it is true. My sister likes Home Depot, but I am a Lowes Fan. Lowes works with us Realtors to offer benefits to our clients and it has definitely been a plus for my clients. The program is called "Realtor Benefits Program" and they send out a mailing and offer the home buyer or seller a minium of 10% off on their purchases up to $10,000. I have had clients that have saved big on flooring, installation and have been thrilled with the outcome.

I was reading an article by Josh Garskof (he writes for the Lowes Website) and he had some great ideas on energy saving. Please take a look at the article below.

Make these simple improvements now, start slashing your energy bills for years to come.

Projects With Immediate Payback (0 to 6 months)

Wrap the Water Heater
Until you’re ready to upgrade to a super-efficient, on-demand water heater (which costs about 25 percent less to operate than that big tank in your basement because it heats only the water you need), get the most from your existing one by covering it with a water heater blanket. This insulated jacket fits over the tank to help reduce the gas, oil, or electricity that’s required to keep water hot and at the ready. You can install it in just a few minutes. And while you’re at it, insulate the first five feet of hot-water pipe after it exits the tank and the last five feet of cold-water supply before it enters the tank. Together, these fixes will yield an immediate 15 percent reduction in the heater’s operating costs.
COST: $30
PAYBACK: up to $50 per year

Install a Programmable Thermostat
Turning down the thermostat 7 degrees at bedtime will knock 10 percent off your heating costs, but who wants to wake up to a frigid house? A programmable thermostat automatically drops the heat at night and cranks it up in the morning, so the house is warm before your alarm clock rings. Program it to lower the heat again while you’re at work and the kids are in school all day and you’ll reap additional savings. Best of all, many of these battery-operated units are easy to install yourself.
COST: $30 to $80
PAYBACK: $100 to $250 per year

Seal Gaps and Cracks
Check the attic floor and basement ceiling for gaps around pipe and wire penetrations and fill them with insulating foam, such as Great Stuff, which expands to fill any void you find. Check doors and windows for air leaks and seal with self-adhesive weatherstripping. “Sealing the building envelope generates immediate energy savings for little upfront cost,” says Nate Kredich, a vice president at the United States Green Building Council.
COST: $50 for all the Great Stuff and weatherstripping you’ll need.
PAYBACK: $100 to $250 per year

Use Compact Fluorescent Bulbs
If you replace conventional incandescent light bulbs with CFLs, you can slash as much as 15 percent off your household electricity bills. “The first CFLs had a greenish cast to them,” says Mark Loeffler, director of New Haven, CT based environmental design firm Atelier Ten, “but a high-quality bulb you buy today works well for general ‘ambient’ lighting.” Still, stick to incandescents for task lighting (because they’re less diffuse) and in bathrooms, where CFLs can be unflattering. Look for bulbs with the highest Color Rendering Index you can find—generally in the low- to mid-80s, compared with early CFLs, which scored about 70, and incandescents, which have a CRI of 100.
COST: about $3 each; $60 to replace 20 bulbs, two-thirds of the bulbs in a typical house.
PAYBACK: As much as $10 a year for one high-use bulb; $150 to $170 a year for 20 CFLs

Projects With Short-Term Payback (1 to 3 years)

Install Ceiling Fans
Thanks to the wind-chill factor, a ceiling fan makes you feel cooler by evaporating the moisture from your skin. So if you install one over your bed, for example, you should be able to raise the thermostat setting on the air conditioner by a couple of degrees and still feel just as comfortable. And because the fan uses no more energy than a 100-watt bulb, that’s a far more economical way to keep cool. You can reverse the fan’s direction in the winter and it will help push down heated air that gets trapped at the ceiling, reducing the amount of work your heating system has to do.
COST: $60 to $700
PAYBACK: $120 a year in electricity bills for air conditioning and $100 to $250 in heating fuel savings

Beef Up Attic Insulation
“Heat rises, so adding insulation to the attic floor is one of the best energy retrofits you can do,” says physicist Max Sherman, who leads the Energy Performance of Buildings group at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. If the insulation on (or in) your attic floor is less than 10 inches thick, bring it to at least that depth by rolling out additional batts over what’s there, and you’ll shave 15 to 30 percent off your heating bills.
COST: $300 (to add 3 inches of fiberglass insulation to a 1,000-square-foot attic floor) * some insulation products are eligible for 30 percent tax credit under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (link)
PAYBACK: $150 to $300 a year for the average home heated with natural gas; $350 to $700 for oil heat.
TIP: If your wall cavities are uninsulated, you can cut another 20 percent off your heating bills by blowing cellulose insulation into them ($1,000 to $2,000, plus the cost of minor repairs to siding where the contractor drills his access holes).

Projects with Long-Term Payback (5 or more years)

Plant a Tree
Putting a deciduous tree (or several) on the south or west side of your house will shade the building in the summer, reducing the strain on your air conditioning system and cutting costs by about 25 percent. And when the tree drops its leaves in the winter, the sun’s warming rays will penetrate, helping to keep heating bills in check.
COST: shade trees start as low as $50 each.
PAYBACK: $100 to $200 a year, once the tree is mature.

Upgrade to Energy-Efficient Appliances
Energy Star appliances consume 10 to 50 percent less electricity than standard appliances sold today, and if you’re replacing equipment that is older than 10 years, the energy savings will be even greater. Refrigerators and clothes washers are two of the biggest household energy guzzlers. A new Energy Star fridge uses half the energy of a machine made a decade ago; a front-load washer uses 35 percent less electricity than an old top-mount, plus it consumes less hot water and spins the clothes so effectively that you save money on dryer operating costs, too.
COST: $600 to $1,400 for a front-load clothes washer; $1,000 to $3,000 for an Energy Star refrigerator
PAYBACK: $145 a year in electricity savings for the washer, plus gallons of water saved on every load; $60 a year for the refrigerator

Replace Your Aging Heating or Cooling System
The life expectancy of a furnace is 15 to 20 years, and for air conditioning equipment, it’s only 10 to 15. Even if your old system is still chugging along, you can reap dramatic benefits by upgrading to newer, more efficient technology. If you live in the frost belt, replacing a 20-year-old furnace or boiler with a new one will pay for itself in 7 years, then start putting money in your pocket. In the sun belt, replacing central air conditioners that are just a decade old can have an even bigger return.
COST: $3,000 to $8,000 for an efficient furnace, boiler, or air conditioning unit *super-efficient equipment may be eligible for 30 percent tax credit under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (link)
PAYBACK: $500 to $1,800 per year
TIP: To determine what energy retrofits will yield the biggest payback in your house, fill out the Home Energy Calculator worksheet at hes.lbl.gov.

And Don’t Forget These Freebies
Not every energy upgrade costs money or requires making an alteration to your house. Take these three, for example.

Turn down the temperature on your water heater by 10 degrees, and you’ll save 3 to 5 percent on operating costs. Many heaters are set at 140 degrees, but in most cases, 120 or even 115 degrees is plenty. Your shower won’t feel any different, because you’ll just mix in less cold water. And today’s dishwashers have their own heating units that boost the water temperature to sanitizing levels.
COST: free
PAYBACK: $15 or more per year

Adjust your normal day and night-time thermostat temperatures slightly higher in the summer and slightly lower in the winter. For each degree of change, you’ll save 3 to 5 percent on operating costs.
COST: free

PAYBACK: $150 to $300 per year for every 2-degree drop in the winter and increase in the summer.
Shorten your family’s normal shower lengths by 5 minutes. You can do this by using a kitchen timer or watch alarm to get everyone out of the habit of lingering endlessly under the spray.
COST: free

PAYBACK: $100 per year for each family member who shaves 5 minutes off their average shower time.

Now this can't be all hard, but can be all good!

Call me for your Real Estates needs, I am here to help!

Kim Duclos http://www.callkim.net/ (888) 949-2890

Coldwell Banker Wardley