House, er, townhouse of the week in Toluca Lake

This is 4354 Cartwright in Toluca Lake.  The picture doesn't quite do it justice.  It's a 2 bed, 3 bath, 1380 sf. with an attached direct-entry 2-car garage, a loft and four -- yes, four -- decks or patios.  Two of the decks are roof-top and have views.  The building is mid-block away from busy streets and is in a nice residential neighborhood.  You can even walk to Firenze! Or the BMW dealership on Lankershim! Or St. Charles!  And if all that isn't enough, it just had a price reduction to $349k.  And the hoa is a low $230 a month.  I'm very impressed by this townhouse complex -- so much so that my husband and I made an offer on another unit here for ourselves last November (alas, we were outbid.)

Now for the bad news: it's a short sale.  But if you're willing to wait out the process, you'll have a really nice unit.

Toluca Lake home for sale -- nicest from yesterday's caravan

The nicest house that I saw on caravan yesterday was 4355 Clybourn in Toluca Lake (pictured above).  It's a 2+2 with separate office and pool for $749k and it has a really comfy ambiance.  That's a terrific price for this neighborhood, too. (You may recall my posts on the short sale that's catty-corner across the street, 4362 Clybourn -- I've just heard that the foreclosure sale has been post-poned again -- that makes about six postponements.)


I also saw another Toluca Lake home that is on a cut-through street and is priced at about $1.5 mil.  It just wasn't that awe-inspiring, unless you count the Michelob tab at the wet bar, the bidets, and the pet bunny.

Short sales in Burbank, Studio City and the east San Fernando Valley: new HAFA program details

I've just posted details about the new Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative (HAFA) program on my website's short sale page. Here's a slightly edited version:


The new HAFA program revamps the short sale market.  In 2009, the Treasury Department introduced the HAFA program to provide a viable short sale option for homeowners who are unable to keep their homes through loan modification -- the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). The goal is to reduce the number of foreclosures by incentivizing banks to pursue short sales instead of foreclosures. And yes, the devil will be in the details.

Here are some of the differences between HAFA and the way short sales have been previously handled by lenders and borrowers.

• Uses borrower financial and hardship information already collected in connection with consideration of a loan modification.  A borrower will no longer have to submit a second package if they have already submitted a complete first package.
• Allows borrowers to receive pre-approved short sales terms before listing the property (including the minimum acceptable net proceeds).  This is huge for both the borrower and the real estate agent as we’ll now know the minimum the bank will accept.
• Requires borrowers to be fully released from future liability for the first mortgage debt (no cash contribution, promissory note, or deficiency judgment is allowed).
• Uses standardized documents, processes and timeframes/deadlines.  There should be no difference now between the way, say, BofA handles a short sale as versus Wells Fargo.
• Mortgage servicers are required to make a preliminary decision regarding allowing the short sale within 15 days of receiving a borrower’s completed package!  We’ll see if the lenders institute enough internal procedures to guarantee that this holds up.
• Provides the following financial incentives:

• $3,000 for borrower relocation assistance;
• $1,500 for servicers to cover administrative and processing costs;
• Up to $2,000 for investors who allow a total of up to $6,000 in short sale proceeds to be distributed to subordinate lien holders, on a one-for-three matching basis.  In other words, the Treasury will match one dollar to each two dollars the first mortgagor gives the second mortgagor, up to $6,000.  However, 2^nd mortgages are still “the elephant in the room.”
• Requires loan servicers participating in HAMP (the loan modification program) to implement HAFA in accordance with their own policy and investor guidelines. (Remember, the lender’s main concern is not the borrower.  It is the lender’s investor.) What constitutes investor guidelines? It includes factors like total potential loss, local market conditions, timing of foreclosure actions, etc.

Here are a couple of links that you may find useful:

www.makinghomeaffordable.com/contact_servicer.html.
Home Affordable Foreclosures Alternatives Program: Guidelines and Forms