Cheryl Hale

Hi, thanks for your responses. The property management company will not release any contact info for the board to my realtor. So he is unable to contact the association. The condo owner does not have any contact info for the board either. He did speak to the president of the board last Friday, and she told him not to call her anymore. At that time she stated she would call me on Monday evening ( two days ago). I have left messages for the property management company, but no one has returned my calls.
In addition, the realtor was notified by the property management company that there was a new form to sign, which he brought to me on Monday - this form indicated that renter's were not allowed to have pets. I initial notifed the realtor that I had cats, and he informed me it would not be a problem. The lease I signed indicated that pets were allowed - I have 2 cats. I am wondering if they are stonewalling me because they do not want the cats.
At this point, I am supposed to move in 4 days. I have another apt I can rent where I do not need board approval - can I get out of the lease at this point? My realtor has been calling daily for over a week to try and get things expedited and we are getting stonewalled. Or am I supposed to wait until Sept 1 to consider them in violation? Or should I consider myself denied because I signed the form indicated renters are not allowed to have pets? I have to vacate my current residence and do not have time to wait - I need to be in my new place on the 1st. - Wed Aug 27 2008, 16:27

Hi Bill,

I have been working with a realtor on this rental. He tells me the property mgmt company did not give my paperwork to the board until last week. He said the property mgmt company said the board had 30 days. He has contacted the president of the board, and she was supposed to call me on Monday regarding my inteview. I have not heard from her yet. According to him, she is quite put off about this as she only took the job because "no one else would" and just because it's an "emergency for her, doesn't mean it's an emergency for me".

I will try contacting the property management company. - Wed Aug 27 2008, 05:28

I agree with Scott...he has given you some good advice. As long as you do not have equity in your home, the 2nd will not foreclose. They may tell you that they will, but that is just a tactic to get you to pay. If you are not late yet, or only 30 days or so late, you will be connected with the collections dept. Their job is to get you to make a payment ASAP. Unfortunately, most lenders' loss mitigation depts are set up so that they won't negotiate with you until you are delinquent.
This is a stressful and emotional time...I agree that it is best you leave the negotiations to an experienced 3rd party, whether it be an attorney or one of the non profit agencies. At lot of the lenders are overwhelmed and their loss mitigation departments are overworked and undertrained for these circumstances. I would definitely call the hotline number that Joan mentioned.
If you cannot afford the payments even with a negotiated plan, then a short sale would be your next best option. - Thu Aug 21 2008, 17:20

Hi Julia,

With 10% down, you are not going to get away from the mortgage insurance factor. Right now, FHA would be your best bet for 90% financing. They do not do risk based pricing for higher loans to value as most othere lenders do, and the MI rates are very reasonalble.
As far as the best deal, rates change daily. So if you get a quote from someone today, and another quote on Monday, the rates could have changed, so the quotes will be moot as far as comparing apples to apples.
Rates also depend on your credit score, income ratios, reserves and other factors. So if a lender does not have 100% of your financial information, they may not be able to quote you properly. Also, just because someone quotes you a rate that involves "no points" doesn't mean you are getting the best deal. Brokers make commission on YSP or yield spread premium, so in effect, you pay a higher rate to pay their commission. This is not necessarily a bad thing, After all, they do deserve to get paid for their work. And getting a loan approved and closed takes many hours of hard work behind the scenes. And they don't get paid unless your loan closes.

In my opinion, your best bet is to talk to no more than 3 brokers or lenders. Pay attention to the fees on the Good Faith Estimates and point blank ask them how much commission they intend to make. Please do not expect a broker or lender to make $500 or so....there is an incredible amount of work involved. An ethical broker or lender won't be afraid to tell you their "fee". No hard and fast rules, but a reasonable commission is in the area of 2% or so of the loan amount. However, it takes just as much work to close a 100K loan as it does to close a 300K loan, so you can see how a broker working a smaller loan may charge a higher percentage. In addition, the broker, like a realtor, does not pocket all of the commission. Usually at least half of it goes to the "house" to cover overhead.

Hope this helps - Fri Aug 8 2008, 15:38

I agree with all of the previous answers, with maybe the exception of being a receptionist :). However, this is not a market for novices. If you are looking to buy foreclosures or REO properties for rehab,etc, do a google search for some real estate clubs in your area. They usually have monthly meetings and you can learn from the pros, as well as develop some great contacts. In my opinion, Ted has given you some great advice if this is the direction you are looking to go in. - Wed Aug 6 2008, 18:13

contact your lender immediately...you want to work with the loss mitigation department, not the collections department. They may be able to modify you loan for you. However, they will only do so if you can demonstrate that you have the ability to pay a regular monthly payment. You need to analyze your budget and see what you can realistically afford to pay. If this payment is too small for the lender, then Chris' answer below is really the only solution. If you have any credit card bills, I suggest you stop paying them. it won't be pretty, but it gives you more $$ toward the house payment. You can always renegotiate with the creditors later. - Sun Jul 13 2008, 09:42