All Mortgages Are Now Assumable

mortgage czar
February 14, 2009

by Roberta Murphy If I could be  President Obama’s Mortgage Czar for just one week, the first thing I would mandate is that all existing mortgages become assumable. When starting my real estate career in Houston, Texas during the last century, it was not uncommon for buyers to assume or take over  existing  financing. In fact, it was a perfect way for the self-employed or those with dinged credit to…

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The F-Word in Luxury Real Estate

by Roberta Murphy Forecl—– It’s a word softly whispered when luxury homeowners in luxe communities like Palm Beach (33480), Beverly Hills (90210), Greenwich (06831) and Rancho Santa Fe (92067) discuss their local real estate markets. Real estate prices have been declining in many of these markets throughout the country, and some of the heavily mortgage homes are ending up as foreclosure sales. The most prominent foreclosure victim of late is…

June 10, 2008
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Rise in Luxury Home Foreclosures, Short Sales and REO’s?

Luxury Home Foreclosures
May 26, 2008

by Roberta Murphy Luxury Home Foreclosures? It appears that even the luxury real estate market will not fully escape the financial ravages that are taking down less-expensive neighborhoods. Housing Wire asks: Has REO gone jumbo? To find out, they consulted with Integrated Asset Services, LLC in Colorado to see if foreclosures are moving up the real estate food chain. And though not all properties with loans in excess of the…

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Troubled Homeowners: Beware the Predators

by Roberta Murphy The real estate predators are always there–in good times and in bad. There are whispered stories in real estate circles of certain escrow and loan officers who, in the heady days of real estate, slipped deeds into the stacks of papers homeowners were signing as they refinanced their homes. The deed, of course, moved the property into the predator’s claws. As the Discovery Channel shows, predators will…

May 12, 2008
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Short Sales in the Luxury Home Market

Short Sale
March 25, 2007

by Roberta Murphy Some of the more difficult listing appointments our group encounters these days are ones that involve short sale conditions. In this situation, the seller owes more on the property than what it is worth in the current market. A year or so ago, we were having to explain how short sales worked to anguished sellers. These days, sellers call us, say they are underwater with their mortgages,…

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