Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.”

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

G. Washington

http://www.dsnews.com/articles/servicers-proprietary-mods-increase-11-as-foreclosure-stats-drop-2011-08-31

Ten Tax Tips for Individuals Selling Their Home

The Internal Revenue Service has some important information to share with individuals who have sold or are about to sell their home. If you have a gain from the sale of your main home, you may qualify to exclude all or part of that gain from your income. Here are ten tips from the IRS to keep in mind when selling your home.

1. In general, you are eligible to exclude the gain from income if you have owned and used your home as your main home for two years out of the five years prior to the date of its sale.
2. If you have a gain from the sale of your main home, you may be able to exclude up to $250,000 of the gain from your income ($500,000 on a joint return in most cases).
3. You are not eligible for the exclusion if you excluded the gain from the sale of another home during the two-year period prior to the sale of your home.
4. If you can exclude all of the gain, you do not need to report the sale on your tax return.
5. If you have a gain that cannot be excluded, it is taxable. You must report it on Form 1040, Schedule D, Capital Gains and Losses.
6. You cannot deduct a loss from the sale of your main home.
7. Worksheets are included in Publication 523, Selling Your Home, to help you figure the adjusted basis of the home you sold, the gain (or loss) on the sale, and the gain that you can exclude.
8. If you have more than one home, you can exclude a gain only from the sale of your main home. You must pay tax on the gain from selling any other home. If you have two homes and live in both of them, your main home is ordinarily the one you live in most of the time.
9. If you received the first-time homebuyer credit and within 36 months of the date of purchase, the property is no longer used as your principal residence, you are required to repay the credit. Repayment of the full credit is due with the income tax return for the year the home ceased to be your principal residence, using Form 5405, First-Time Homebuyer Credit and Repayment of the Credit. The full amount of the credit is reflected as additional tax on that year’s tax return.
10. When you move, be sure to update your address with the IRS and the U.S. Postal Service to ensure you receive refunds or correspondence from the IRS. Use Form 8822, Change of Address, to notify the IRS of your address change.

For more information about selling your home, see IRS Publication 523, Selling Your Home. This publication is available at www.irs.gov or by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

http://www.dsnews.com/articles/major-lenders-offering-perks-on-short-sales-2011-07-28

1. Get Quick Results

Banks are getting increasingly hard to deal with. Any borrower that has tried to deal with the bank has experienced one or more of the following problems: excessive hold times; conflicting stories; repeated requests for the same documents; denials, and solutions that were more expensive than what the borrower started out with. Knowing what documents are required, knowing what departments to call, and knowing what people to talk to is most of the battle. A well done and complete loan modification packet will help ensure a speedy review process, and good results. Banks have testified to the government that they have trouble getting the necessary documents from the borrower, yet many people have lost their homes even though they complied with every request from the bank. The problem is that everything in the packet needs to be current for the negotiator to be able to work on the file. Knowing what the bank wants before they ask for it is the key to success.

2. Get Affordable Payments

Getting approved for a permanent offer is difficult. Most borrowers do not realize it, but they can be denied because of one number being off on their financial statements. Unfortunately, the approval process for a loan modification is just like buying a new home. Underwriters and negotiators have to run waterfall tests and Net Present Value tests that only a few, select borrowers are going to successfully pass. Too much income can leave you with too high of a payment, too little can cause your application to be denied; even expenses need to be itemized a certain way depending on the bank. What borrowers may think is helping them, often ends up hurting them. The loan modification process is a juggling act between getting the payment that you want and getting something offered in the first place. Success in this regard is not always dependent on your financial situation; sometimes how you fill out the financial forms is the bottom line. Knowing what each bank is going to look at, based on their policies and your experience with them can be the difference because almost every bank varies in what they look for.

3. Stop the Trustee’s Sale

Once you stop making payments it is only a matter of time before the bank starts the foreclosure process. Soon after you stop making payments, the bank will hire a trustee company to handle the process. This hired company will be the one to send you a Notice of Default which is a 90 day opportunity to cure the mortgage default. Usually 3 months after the Notice of Default, you will receive a Notice of Trustee’s Sale. This notice is the 20 day warning that your home will be auctioned off. Working with the bank on a modification is often a strategy for postponing sale dates and buying time. Some borrowers have managed to stay in their home, payment free, for years because they knew how to handle it. Unfortunately, it can also be a way to lose the home accidentally. Many borrowers have had their home sell even though they were in review for a modification. Many have lost their home while on a forbearance plan, a repayment plan, or even on the trial period of the Treasury Department’s HAMP program. The real problem is that the bank may have the sale on hold, but forget to communicate that to the trustee company. It is important to keep tabs on your sale date and to contact the foreclosure attorneys to confirm that they know not to sell the home. Managing the trustee’s sale for your home is an important part of the loan modification process.

4. Keeping a Foreclosure From Being Recorded

If you are denied for a loan modification, you will want to short sale the property. Short sales are an agreement with the bank to sell the property for less then you owe and have far less effect on your credit then a non-judicial foreclosure. Managing the modification process well will leave you the opportunity to short sell the property before it goes to auction. The sad reality is that a lot of borrowers do not know when they are going to be denied and do not have enough time to work with the bank to avoid a foreclosure on their record. The home can often be sold within days of a denial letter and sometimes they are even sold before the borrower even knows something is wrong. Depending on the bank, there may be an opportunity to short sale the property if you manage it correctly. Beside the credit implications, a short sale can also keep you in the home for a few more months.

It was the 3rd agency to promulgate its own regs, behind the Department of Financial Institutions and the Department of Real Estate, making it late to the “look like we in government are doing something for the beleaguered homeowners” party.

But of course, looks and sounds can be deceiving. Take the name of this Act passed in California – the Foreclosure Prevention Act. Sounds nice, but the title is very misleading. Ok, it’s not misleading, but it is in fact deceptive. If this was a business peddling this law, it would be labeled false advertising.

This Act does not prevent ANY foreclosure. Let me say that again: this law does not stop, prohibit, hinder, terminate or PREVENT ANY FORECLOSURE. Just wanted to clarify.

When this Act was first passed last February, I had many realtor and loan officer friends of mine calling me up excitedly to talk about the “moratorium” on foreclosures due to this Act. It was all over the news, in the newspapers (‘what are these?’ my kids ask), on the internet, the cable news shows, and as comments on Facebook and MySpace. Well, a moratorium is simply a postponement before certain obligations are met – so this Act is not really a prevention of foreclosures, but more like a postponement on foreclosures.

So this postponement almost doubles the time it takes a bank to foreclose using the nonjudicial process against a homeowner. Before this Act, a bank would often record and serve a very official-looking Notice of Default after the homeowner stopped making her monthly payments on the mortgage loan. This Notice would inform the homeowner that the bank was serious, and starting the foreclosure process to ultimately sell the home. The homeowner then had 90 days to “cure” the default by repaying the amount in arrears. At some point shortly after the 90 days, the bank would then serve, record and post (usually on the front door) a Notice of Trustee Sale which told the borrower the day, time and location the bank would be selling the home at a “Trustee Sale” auction-style. This Notice has to give the homeowner 20 days notice of the sale.

Whew! You’re certainly getting quite a legal lesson here today. So this Foreclosure Prevention Act extends this 90-day period to 180 days between the Notice of Default and the Notice of Trustee Sale. The problem is that this Act doesn’t even do a good job postponing the sale of the home. Did I mention that it fails to prevent an actual foreclosure despite its name??

Naturally, this Act has many exceptions to this expansion to a 180-day period, because, well, it was written by politicians with the help of lobbyists and lawyers. I will just concentrate on 2 exceptions:

1. A homeowner only gets the original 90-day period if the bank involved has a “comprehensive loan modification program.” This simply means that the bank talks a good game about trying to help homeowners get loan modifications. Before this Act was effective back in February 2009, most of the major banks and loan servicers had already been approved by the State of California for this exception.

2. A homeowner also gets the shaft if the homeowner “contracted with an organization regarding extension of the foreclosure process.” So, if the homeowner hired an attorney or other professional to negotiate with the bank, the homeowner gets the shorter foreclosure process. So the more help you get, the faster your home will sell.

And for this, we sent representatives to Sacramento?!? Sheesh!!

So in summary, this Foreclosure Prevention Act does not prevent or really postpone anything, and it seems we have sent the foxes to Sacramento to guard the henhouse, er, homes.

Good luck – you’ll need it (or a good lawyer).