Seller Financing Content Index - Page 1

Seller financing is when a home seller acts as a mortgage lender and extends the home buyer a mortgage loan. Rather than paying the bank or another lender, a home buyer pays the seller directly in seller financing. Seller financing can be risky. Learn how seller financing works here.

**Selling A Home And The Due On Sale Clause** If you are selling your home and are not planning to pay off your loan, you should know that your loan probably has a due on sale clause. The due on sale clause allows the lender to call the loan due. The lender can accelerate the payments owed and force you to pay off what is owed on the loan. If you are the lender on a loan and your borrower sells the property without getting your permission, you should make sure your loan documents have a due on sale clause.

**Loan Modification Help: Get Some Answers From The Bank CEO** Are you in loan modification hell? Like thousands of other people, this reader has filed for a loan modification, but can't get any answers about the future of his loan modification from his lender. The banks are swamped with loan modifications and foreclosures right now, but you deserve answers about the future of your loan, too. If you're not getting anywhere by calling customer services lines and other options, try using the format below to document your loan modification situation and get some answers from the bank CEO.

**Short Sale vs Foreclosure: Which One Can You Get To Close Faster** When you are out shopping for a home are you better off looking for a seller doing a short sale or buying a home that has been foreclosed on by the bank. In a short sale you will deal with the owner of the home but will be at the mercy of the bank but in a foreclosure, you will be dealing directly with the bank trying to sell the home in the open market.

HUD Secretary Donovan and FHA Commissioner Stevens briefed leaders on the FHA's financial outlook today, in coordination with the release of its annual independent actuarial study. The study found the capital reserve ratio to be 0.53 percent of total insurance in force this year, well below the congressionally mandated threshold of two percent. The FHA holds $31 billion in total reserves today. Robert Ryan was introduced as the FHA's first-ever Chief Risk Officer. Ryan will focus on understanding risk to the FHA's insurance fund and develop policy responses that address that risk.

FHA cash reserves fall to the lowest level in history, below the congressionally mandated level. The Federal Housing Administration's mortgage insurance cash reserves fell to the lowest levels in recorded history, 0.53 percent. The FHA announced today FHA cash reserve levels have fallen below the congressionally mandated threshold. The annual independent accounting survey of the FHA came with the assessment that additional action needed to be taken to manage risk to prevent further losses.

**$8,000 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit To Be Extended and Expanded** First time home buyers and others can celebrate soon. There's movement to extend and expand the first time home buyer tax credit. But wait, there's more. The new and improved home buyer's tax credit will be expanded to include higher income earners and existing home owners. The fragile real estate may have hit a jackpot as the expanded and improved tax credit was surely supported by the real estate industry and residential mortgage brokers. It's the new and improved home buyer tax credit.

Winterize Your Home And Get a Tax Credit. The IRS has advised taxpayers that the Expanded Recovery Act Tax Credit will help homeowners winterize their homes so they can save energy and save money at the same time. But the IRS cautions homeowners to check the tax credit certification before they buy winterizing tools.

**Contractor's Liens and Foreclosures** Worried about contractor's liens? When you buy a foreclosure, check to see if there are any contractor's liens against the property that have survived the foreclosure. Often, the lender will wipe out all other subordinate liens, including contractor's liens, in the foreclosure process. But in some cases, those liens may still exist and be valid. If you suspect there might be other liens that will be filed against the property even after you close, be sure to purchase a title insurance policy with coverage over contractor's liens. You will want to have this insurance in place to have a title company cover the costs of litigation and the costs to remove the contractor's liens with the purchase of the title insurance even if you bought the property after a foreclosure.

**Why Buy Title Insurance On a House When You Pay Cash For the Home** If you are making the largest investment of your life, wouldn't you want to make sure you are protected by obtaining and buying title insurance? When you buy title insurance on a house, a title company gives you certain guarantees that you are the rightful owner of the home and certain other title protections. Title insurance does not protect you against future title problems that might develop nor does it protect you from fire or other casualties. But if you are paying cash to a seller are you certain the seller will give you good title to the home?

**Home Buying Risks, Pitfalls and Tips For New Construction Homes Part 2** Home buying has risks associated with it, particularly the purchase of a new construction home in a new development. There are pitfall all along the way. What should you do to protect yourself? How do you handle the uncertainty of buying a new construction home in a new development? One reader suggests that the buyer should share any risks in that new construction purchase with the lender that give the buyer the loan. Would you agree? What about municipal inspections and certificates of occupancy? The builder's or developer's reputation? What about using a real estate attorney? Leave your comment below.