Combs Law Group

Short Sales and Foreclosures Seminar in Goodyear

Chris Combs — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:58:17 +0000

Combs School of Real Estate presents: 2012 Update on Foreclosure and Short Sales

3-Hour ADRE-Approved CE in Real Estate Legal Issues

Register here

Tuesday, May 22, 2012
1:00 p.m.- 4:00 p.m.
Check-In 12:30-1:00 p.m.

Location:
Total Wine
1416 Litchfield Rd.
Goodyear, AZ
Classroom

Seminar Fee with Pre-Registration – $10
Seminar Fee on day of class – $20

Aaron M. Green will be presenting on the following seminar topics:

FORECLOSURE:

Rights of Tenants After Foreclosure
Theft of Fixtures after Foreclosure
Bank REO Properties
Lender Rights and Restrictions in Entering Home
Brokerage Commission Issues

SHORT SALES:

Cancellation of Short Sale while Awaiting Lender Approval
Backup Offers
Debt Forgiveness and Tax Consequences

Register today!

Combs School of Real Estate Offering 2 Classes in Payson

Chris Combs — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:56:16 +0000

Combs School of Real Estate presents 2 different classes in Payson on May 17.

Class: 2012 Update on Foreclosures and Short Sales

3 hours of Real Estate Legal Issues Credit

Thursday, May 17, 2012:
Time: 9:00-12:00 p.m.

Location: Payson, AZ

Seminar Fee with Pre-Registration – $10
Seminar Fee on day of class – $20

Class: Bankruptcy- What Every Real Estate Agent Should Know

3 hours of Real Estate Legal Issues Credit

Thursday, May 17, 2012:
Time: 1:00-4:00 p.m.

Location: Payson, AZ

Seminar Fee with Pre-Registration – $10
Seminar Fee on day of class – $20

Contact Kim Anderson for Registrtation in the classes: Kim@LivingInPayson.com

Law Does Not Limit HOA Transfer Fee

Chris Combs — Sat, 05 May 2012 19:47:57 +0000

Question: We are selling our home in east Mesa for $800,000. Although the escrow is not scheduled to close for another three weeks, we recently learned that our HOA is demanding a transfer fee of one-half of 1 percent, or $4,000, to be paid at closing. My sister is a real estate agent and she says that a new law limits the fee that an HOA can charge to $400. Does this $4,000 fee have to be paid to the HOA?

Answer: Probably. The Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions of an HOA can provide for different types of HOA fees, including a documents fee and a transfer fee. A documents fee is a fee for any documents related to the disclosures an HOA must deliver to the buyer upon the sale of the home — for example, bylaws, current operating budget and a most recent financial statement.

A new law effective Dec. 31, 2011, limits this documents fee to no more than $400. The CC&R’s may also authorize a transfer fee on the sale of a home. A transfer fee can be thousands of dollars, and is frequently a percentage of the sales price of the home, such as your $4,000 transfer fee. Since there is no law limiting the amount of a transfer fee, you will probably have to pay the $4,000 transfer fee.

Contracts 2012 Seminar

Chris Combs — Fri, 04 May 2012 16:32:41 +0000

Combs School of Real Estate presents: Contracts 2012 – Legal Issues in Drafting Contracts and in Litigating Contract Disputes

3-Hour ADRE-Approved CE in Contract Law

Thursday, May 10, 2012
9:00 a.m.- 12:00 p.m.
Check-In 8:30-9:00 a.m.

Location:
WJ Bradley Mortgage
9237 E Via De Ventura Blvd
Scottsdale, AZ 85258
Upstairs Training Room

Seminar Fee with Pre-Registration – $10
Seminar Fee on day of class – $20

Chris Combs and Adam Martinez will be presenting on the following seminar topics:

Review of All the New AAR Forms
New Court Decisions
Financing Problems with PQF and LSU
How to Avoid Problems in Drafting the Purchase Contract
What if the Seller or Buyer Dies or Becomes Incompetent or Files Bankruptcy
What Happens if You or Your Client is Sued?

Loan Settlements for Non-Purchase Money Second Mortgage

Chris Combs — Thu, 03 May 2012 16:06:52 +0000

By Aaron M. Green, Esq.

The focus of this article is settlement of a non-purchase money second mortgage (“NPM Second Mortgage”).

Under Arizona real estate law borrowers of purchase money mortgages (loans used to buy a home, or refinancing of loans used to buy a home without taking any “cash out”) have no personal liability for the debt. However, borrowers who obtained a NPM Second Mortgage, usually a HELOC (“home equity line of credit”), after the purchase of the home can be sued. In such cases the borrower should consider aggressive settlement of the debt. Typically, the earlier a settlement is reached, the more favorable the terms achieved.

The best setting to negotiate a NPM Second Mortgage is at the time of a short sale. Most institutional lenders will usually accept the proceeds of the sale as full payment or require no more than a small cash contribution. For example, we have had clients settle large NPM Second Mortgages ($80,000 to $600,000) in a short sale by contributing zero to $25,000. The amount of the cash contribution largely depends on the available funds in the borrower’s account. It is also very important to review the short sale approval letter to ensure that the lender cannot sue the borrower after the short sale.

If a short sale is unsuccessful, the next best setting to negotiate a NPM Second Mortgage is shortly after a foreclosure. At this time, a borrower can expect to pay 10%-25% of the debt owed. Often times, the settlement amount can be paid over several years with little or no interest.

The worst setting to negotiate is after the lender has retained an Arizona real estate lawyer and filed a lawsuit. Although some lenders will still settle the debt for 10%-25% of the debt,others will require an amount closer to 50%. In fact, the attorney for one lender, Wells Fargo, generally insists on full repayment with interest.

In conclusion , it is much more prudent to pro-actively pursue a settlement early rather than ignore the situation and hope that the lender will forget about the borrower. Lenders have up to six years to sue and all major lenders (Chase, WellsFargo, Bank of America, Citi Mortgage) are pursuing lawsuits on a NPM Second Mortgage.

Disclosure Obligations of Sellers and Brokers Seminar

Chris Combs — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:45:01 +0000

Combs School of Real Estate presents: Disclosure Obligations of Sellers and Brokers

3-Hour ADRE-Approved CE in Disclosure Law

Thursday, May 3, 2012
9:00 a.m.- 12:00 p.m.
Check-in from 8:30-9:00 a.m.

Academy Mortgage
1750 E. Northrop Blvd. Suite 230
Chandler, AZ

Seminar Fee with Pre-Registration – $10
Seminar Fee on day of class – $20

Chris Combs and Aaron Green will be presenting on the following seminar topics:

Statutory and Administrative Rule – Lead-Based Paint/Swimming Pool Barriers/HOA Disclosure/ Affidavit of Disclosure/ Septic Tanks/ Right to File ROC Complaint
Warranties of Disclosure in the AAR Contract
Duty to Disclose Known Property Defects
Discovery of Defect after Inspection Period & Before Close of Escrow
Types of Defects Requiring Disclosure
Broker’s Independent Obligations of Disclosure
Litigating/ Arbitrating Non‐Disclosure Cases
Protecting Buyers from Seller’s Non‐Disclosure

Owners Could Demand Office-Condo-Fee Guarantee

Chris Combs — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 20:28:46 +0000

Question: I am on the board of directors of the owner’s association for a group of office condominiums in north Scottsdale. Most of the owners of these office condominiums are single-asset limited liability companies. The mortgage lenders recently foreclosed on two condominiums. After these foreclosures the delinquent monthly owner’s assessments owed by the two condominiums became uncollectible because the single-asset LLC’s have no other assets. Our board of directors wants to avoid this uncollectibility problem after future foreclosures. Can we require new owners of office condominiums that take title in an LLC to designate a responsible individual to guarantee the payment of the monthly owner’s assessments?

Answer: Probably. The covenants, conditions and restrictions or other governing documents of the owner’s association should provide for amendment by a certain percentage of the owners — for example, 75 percent. If so, an amendment could be adopted to require a responsible individual to execute a personal guarantee of payment of the monthly assessments.

Seller Carry-Back Financing Is Booming Again

Chris Combs — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:12:09 +0000

In today’s Arizona real estate market, with many homes still being lost to foreclosures, many investors today are paying cash to buy a home and then “flipping” the home with seller carry-back financing. The advantages to the investor are two fold.

One, many buyers cannot qualify for conventional financing, and an investor using seller carry-back financing can sell the home for a price higher than fair market value.

Two, the investor can require the buyer to make a significant cash down payment, and the investor will then have a secure investment earning interest at higher than the market interest rate for investments.

The advantage to a buyer, who often has just lost their home to foreclosure, is that the buyer can get back into a home while housing prices are low, take advantage of tax deductions for mortgage interest and real property taxes and build equity in the home.

Deed Clause Key to Boat’s Fate

Chris Combs — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 17:55:37 +0000

Question: We live in a subdivision in Queen Creek. Apparently, at one time there was a homeowners association, but because of so many foreclosures in our subdivision, the homeowners association no longer exists. There are deed restrictions, however, and these deed restrictions prohibit boats and campers in the driveways of homes. The tenants next door have both a boat and a camper in their driveway. When we asked the tenants to move their boat and their camper from their driveway, they refused. The owner of the home then called us to say that the deed restrictions are no longer enforceable. Is that true? Do we have any recourse?

Answer: Whether or not there is a homeowners association, any homeowner generally has the right to enforce deed restrictions unless the deed restrictions have been abandoned by the homeowners. In other words, the deed restrictions in your community would be abandoned if many homeowners in the neighborhood have had boats and campers in their driveways for years. If the deed restrictions have not been abandoned, you, as a homeowner, have the right to get a court injunction ordering the tenants next door to move their boat and their camper from the driveway. If you are successful, the court generally will award you a judgment for real estate attorney‘s fees and court costs.

New AAR Forms Recently Released

Chris Combs — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 18:11:04 +0000

In February and August of every year the Arizona Association of Realtors® (“AAR”) releases new AAR forms and any revisions to existing AAR forms. The following are the new and revised AAR forms released February, 2012:

1. Agreement Notice (Pursuant to the Short Sale Addendum)

Under the AAR Short Sale Addendum used in most Arizona short sale transactions, if the seller and the bank agree to the short sale the seller was required to deliver an Agreement Notice to the buyer. There was no form for the Agreement Notice, and the Agreement Notice could be as simple as an email from the seller’s agent to the buyer’s agent. Lenders today, however, are more frequently requesting modifications to the purchase contract, e.g.,change of close of escrow date. Therefore, the new Agreement Notice form has two options. One, approval of the short sale contract with no amendments requested by the lender; or, two, approval of the short sale contract by the lender only if the short sale contract is amended by the seller and the buyer executes the AAR Addendum attached to the new Agreement Notice.

2. Revisions to Multiple Counter offer and to MultipleOffer/Counter offer forms

Both forms now require a deadline for final acceptance by the seller. If the seller does not accept the buyer’s offer by this deadline, the buyer’s acceptance is deemed with drawn.

3. Revisions to the Domestic Well Water Addendum and to the Domestic Well Water Addendum to the SPDS

These two forms had not been revised for almost ten years. These revisions clarify such matters as the well inspection requirements and the buyer’s obligation to investigate current water use laws.

4. Broker’s Initials

The Arizona Department of Real Estate requires that the designated broker review all listing agreements, purchase contracts, and non-residential lease agreements, or similar instruments, within ten business days of the date of execution. A.R.S. §32-2151.01(G).

In response to requests from designated brokers, the prompt for a broker’s initials already on several AAR forms was added to 15 more AAR forms suchas the Counteroffer and the As Is Addendum.