Home Loan Advocates

Headline: DOJ sues NAR (National Association of Realtors), alleges illegal restraints on Realtor Competition The highlights I read from Inman news just a few minutes ago are: - The U.S. Department of Justice has filed an antitrust lawsuit against the National Association of Realtors alleging the 1.4 million-member trade group’s rules are illegal restraints on Realtor competition... - DOJ also offered a settlement requiring NAR to repeal or change several anticompetitive policies including: 1) Prohibiting MLSs from disclosing to prospective buyers the commission that the buyer broker will earn if a buyer purchases a home 2) Allowing buyer brokers to misrepresent to buyers that a buyer broker’s services are free 3) Enabling buyer brokers to filter MLS listings based on the level of buyer broker commissions offered and to exclude homes with lower commissions from consideration by potential homebuyers; 4) Limiting access to the lockboxes that provide licensed brokers with access to homes for sale to NAR Members The DOJ stated, These NAR rules, policies, and practices reduce price competition among brokers and lead to lower quality service for American home buyers and sellers. The DOJ said that, if approved by the court, its proposed settlement will improve competition in the real estate market, providing consumers with more choices and better service. The DOJ believes that home buyers and sellers should be aware of all the broker fees they are paying and the settlement proposal will prevent traditional brokers from impeding competition including by internet-based methods of home buying and selling by providing greater transparency to consumers about broker fees. This will increase price competition among brokers and lead to better quality of services for American home buyers and sellers. This finally happened! Those of you that know me, know I have been saying big changes are coming to the real estate industry around buyer agent commissions and other antitrust allegations. What are your thoughts?

Consumer advocates report an increase in reports of foreclosure rescue scams!

David Bartels & Lee Honish wwww.LeeHonish.com & www.HomeLoanAdvocates.com 1. It's a terrible time to sell your home 2. Home prices are plummeting 3. Buyers are ...holding off on home purchases 4. Homes can't be viewed in person 5. Everyone's fleeing cities for the suburbs See more

Many banks initially offered 90-day forbearance periods, but all have now extended those programs to last at least six months. And while homeowners were concerned at first that they would have to repay their missed mortgage payments as a lump sum, most banks now offer several additional options: -A repayment plan allows homeowners to pay an extra amount along with their regular mortgage payment to repay the skipped payments in forbearance. -A deferment plan allows homeowner...s to push the amount due to the end of the loan term. Depending on the program, this amount may be due as lump sum payable upon maturity, payoff or finance of the mortgage. -A loan modification allows homeowners to apply to have their loan interest rate reduced, extend the term of the loan and/or reduce their monthly payments.

If you are one of the 60% of mortgagees that have a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan, forbearance agreements will push your payments to the end of the loan. The other 40% might have to pay the missed payments in a balloon note in 120 days plus the 4th month payment. make sure you are talking to your lender or call us for insight. Happy to help!