Foreclosure investment

Last updated

Foreclosure investment refers to the process of investing capital in the public sale of a mortgaged property following foreclosure of the loan secured by that property.

Contents

In real estate, foreclosure is the termination of the equity of redemption of a mortgagor or the grantee in the property covered by the mortgage. Depending on the type of foreclosure proceeding, the sale may be administered by the courts (judicial foreclosure) or by an appointed trustee (statutory foreclosure). Proceeds from the sale are used to satisfy the claims of the mortgagee primarily, with any excess going to the mortgagor. Anyone may bid on properties sold at a foreclosure sale. As a practical matter, however, most properties are acquired by the lender, often for the amount owed on the foreclosed loan.

When interest rates rise, home owners with variable interest rates often become over-extended, providing opportunities for foreclosure investment professionals to obtain investment properties at depressed prices. [1] The most common reason for foreclosure is dissolution of a marriage, followed by a failed business venture. [2] Foreclosure investing can provide favorable returns; in February 2011, foreclosed homes accounted for 39% of home sales in the United States, most to investors. [3]

Stages of foreclosure

The foreclosure process begins when a financially distressed homeowner fails to make a loan payment and is served with a summons from his or her creditors. After service, papers will be filed with the county clerk's office and be made a matter of public record (in some areas the place where deeds and mortgages are registered may go by a different name, such as the office of the land registrar). This notice is usually known as Lis Pendens, which is Latin for "pending legal action". At this point, any attempts by the homeowner to borrow from public credit sources will be met with a negative response. This stage is called pre-foreclosure, and during this stage, a homeowner has a few ways to avoid foreclosure. [4] One of the ways to avoid a foreclosure is to short sell their property and pay off their outstanding mortgage. A pre-foreclosure short sale can be a good opportunity for investors to buy a property at a discount directly from a financially distressed homeowner. [5] On completion of the publication process, the foreclosure action will be permitted to proceed and the owners have a limited amount of time to pay up, sell, or make other deals with creditors. If none of these actions are taken, a foreclosure sale will take place. If no one bids the amount owed, the property reverts to the lender and becomes a real estate owned property held in inventory by the lender. Experienced foreclosure investors may work in all of these various stages, but the possibility of making a transaction with the homeowner is no longer possible after the property is REO. [6]

Often, foreclosure investment can take place before the actual foreclosure process begins through a pre-foreclosure sale. This scenario occurs when the homeowner attempts to sell a property before being foreclosed upon, often "short-selling" for less than they owe but more than they believe they would recover in a foreclosure.

See also

Related Research Articles

A mortgage is a legal instrument of the common law which is used to create a security interest in real property held by a lender as a security for a debt, usually a mortgage loan. Hypothec is the corresponding term in civil law jurisdictions, albeit with a wider sense, as it also covers non-possessory lien.

This aims to be a complete list of the articles on real estate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foreclosure</span> Legal process where a lender recoups an unpaid loan by forcing the borrower to sell the collateral

Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan.

A bridge loan is a type of short-term loan, typically taken out for a period of 2 weeks to 3 years pending the arrangement of larger or longer-term financing. It is usually called a bridging loan in the United Kingdom, also known as a "caveat loan," and also known in some applications as a swing loan. In South African usage, the term bridging finance is more common, but is used in a more restricted sense than is common elsewhere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second mortgage</span>

Second mortgages, commonly referred to as junior liens, are loans secured by a property in addition to the primary mortgage. Depending on the time at which the second mortgage is originated, the loan can be structured as either a standalone second mortgage or piggyback second mortgage. Whilst a standalone second mortgage is opened subsequent to the primary loan, those with a piggyback loan structure are originated simultaneously with the primary mortgage. With regard to the method in which funds are withdrawn, second mortgages can be arranged as home equity loans or home equity lines of credit. Home equity loans are granted for the full amount at the time of loan origination in contrast to home equity lines of credit which permit the homeowner access to a predetermined amount which is repaid during the repayment period.

Nonrecourse debt or a nonrecourse loan is a secured loan (debt) that is secured by a pledge of collateral, typically real property, but for which the borrower is not personally liable. If the borrower defaults, the lender can seize and sell the collateral, but if the collateral sells for less than the debt, the lender cannot seek that deficiency balance from the borrower—its recovery is limited only to the value of the collateral. Thus, nonrecourse debt is typically limited to 50% or 60% loan-to-value ratios, so that the property itself provides "overcollateralization" of the loan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Real estate investing</span> Buying and selling real estate for profit

Real estate investing involves the purchase, management and sale or rental of real estate for profit. Someone who actively or passively invests in real estate is called a real estate entrepreneur or a real estate investor. Some investors actively develop, improve or renovate properties to make more money from them.

Equity stripping, also known as equity skimming, is a type of foreclosure rescue scheme. Often considered a form of predatory lending, equity stripping became increasingly widespread in the early 2000s. In an equity stripping scheme an investor buys the property from a homeowner facing foreclosure and agrees to lease the home to the homeowner who may remain in the home as a tenant. Often, these transactions take advantage of uninformed, low-income homeowners; because of the complexity of the transaction, victims are often unaware that they are giving away their property and equity. Several states have taken steps to confront the more unscrupulous practices of equity stripping. Although "foreclosure re-conveyance" schemes can be beneficial and ethically conducted in some circumstances, many times the practice relies on fraud and egregious or unmeetable terms.

In the United States, a mortgage note is a promissory note secured by a specified mortgage loan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Real estate owned</span>

Real estate owned, or REO, is a term used in the United States to describe a class of property owned by a lender—typically a bank, government agency, or government loan insurer—after an unsuccessful sale at a foreclosure auction. A foreclosing beneficiary will typically set the opening bid at a foreclosure auction for at least the outstanding loan amount. If there are no bidders that are interested, then the beneficiary will legally repossess the property. This is commonly the case when the amount owed on the home is higher than the current market value of the foreclosure property, such as with a mortgage loan made at a high loan-to-value during a real estate bubble. As soon as the beneficiary repossesses the property it is listed on their books as REO and categorized as an asset..

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mortgage loan</span> Loan secured using real estate

A mortgage loan or simply mortgage, in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any purpose while putting a lien on the property being mortgaged. The loan is "secured" on the borrower's property through a process known as mortgage origination. This means that a legal mechanism is put into place which allows the lender to take possession and sell the secured property to pay off the loan in the event the borrower defaults on the loan or otherwise fails to abide by its terms. The word mortgage is derived from a Law French term used in Britain in the Middle Ages meaning "death pledge" and refers to the pledge ending (dying) when either the obligation is fulfilled or the property is taken through foreclosure. A mortgage can also be described as "a borrower giving consideration in the form of a collateral for a benefit (loan)".

In real estate, creative financing is non-traditional or uncommon means of buying land or property. The goal of creative financing is generally to purchase, or finance a property, with the buyer/investor using as little of his own money as possible, otherwise known as leveraging. Using these techniques an investor may be able to purchase multiple properties using little, or none, of his "own money".

In real estate in the United States, a deed of trust or trust deed is a legal instrument which is used to create a security interest in real property wherein legal title in real property is transferred to a trustee, which holds it as security for a loan (debt) between a borrower and lender. The equitable title remains with the borrower. The borrower is referred to as the trustor, while the lender is referred to as the beneficiary.

Loss mitigation is used to describe a third party helping a homeowner, a division within a bank that mitigates the loss of the bank, or a firm that handles the process of negotiation between a homeowner and the homeowner's lender. Loss mitigation works to negotiate mortgage terms for the homeowner that will prevent foreclosure. These new terms are typically obtained through loan modification, short sale negotiation, short refinance negotiation, deed in lieu of foreclosure, cash-for-keys negotiation, a partial claim loan, repayment plan, forbearance, or other loan work-out. All of the options serve the same purpose, to stabilize the risk of loss the lender (investor) is in danger of realizing.

A licensed trust deed investment company (TDIC) offers investments in collateral-backed property loans in the United States. Unlike private individuals who are generally subject to usury laws limiting interest rates on loans, TDICs can legally lend to property owners at rates determined by market demand. Because TDICs usually lend to borrowers with needs banks cannot accommodate, market rates for trust deed investments are usually significantly higher than bank mortgage rates.

Mortgage modification is a process where the terms of a mortgage are modified outside the original terms of the contract agreed to by the lender and borrower. In general, any loan can be modified, and the process is referred to as loan modification or debt rescheduling.

Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS) is an American privately held corporation. MERS is a separate and distinct corporation that serves as a nominee on mortgages after the turn of the century and is owned by holding company MERSCORP Holdings, Inc., which owns and operates an electronic registry known as the MERS system, which is designed to track servicing rights and ownership of mortgages in the United States. According to the Department of the Treasury, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, MERS is an agent for lenders without any reference to MERS as a principal. On October 5, 2018, Intercontinental Exchange and MERS announced that ICE had acquired all of MERS.

American Homeowner Preservation is an online real estate crowdfunding platform which purchases pools of nonperforming loans from banks and other lenders and then offers borrowers who want to stay in their homes debt restructuring options with reduced payments and discounted principal balances. If homes are vacant or families want to move, AHP offers deficiency waivers and incentive payments to cooperate with short sales in order to put the homes back into service.

A short refinance is a transaction in which a lender agrees to refinance a borrower's home for the current market value, in effect making it more cost effective for the borrower. The lender agrees to replace his own current loan with a new one, and pays off the difference. This new loan typically has a lower balance, and borrowers typically receive a new interest rate, which is often lower than their former one- resulting in a reduced mortgage payment.

In the United States, the Trustee Sale Guarantee (TSG) is the title guarantee that is issued at the beginning of a foreclosure. TSG helps the foreclosing trustee and beneficiary through the delivery of the information required in ensuring compliance with the statutes of foreclosure stipulated by the state.

References

  1. ↑ A variable interest rate is an amount of compensation to a lender that is allowed to vary over the maturity of a loan. The amount of variation is generally governed by an appropriate index.
  2. ↑ Theodore J. Dallow, How to Buy Foreclosed Real Estate, Adams Media Corporation. 2000.
  3. ↑ "Foreclosed homes account for 39 percent of Feb. 2011 real estate sales". Investing Foreclosures. 31 March 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
  4. ↑ Copp, Carol. "Pre-foreclosure: How it Works in Real Estate, FAQs". Invetopedia. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  5. ↑ Ference, Audrey. "What's The Difference Between Short Sale, Pre-Foreclosure, and Foreclosure?". realtor.com. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  6. ↑ George Achenback, Foreclosure Properties, 4th Ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1999
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.