2012 Worries, Walmart and Tiffany's

Well, the year was not an easy one. And as we go into the next election, respondents to a Houselogic survey indicated that housing was a large cloud on the mind of the public and fundamental in who they will vote for in the election . Chief among their worries:

Jobs/unemployment – 54 percent
Housing – 27 percent
National security – 8 percent
Healthcare – 4 percent
Energy/Environment – 2 percent
Other – 4 percent

Interesting that being deathly ill with no insurance or being bombed was less threatening than being homeless or unemployed. Brings up my favorite topic, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs:







You just can't be worried about making love when the roof over your head is mortgaged to the hilt and you can't come home from a long day at work when there is no work. Additionally having the phone ring every ten minutes from your loan servicer reminding you your life is going to the dogs doesn't do much but wire your nervous system to crave some certainty.

The challenge with this market is the fear that things are going to correct the minute you cave in and sell short. Now your credit is wrecked and you are a renter again. Or, your FICO is already in the toilet from months of stringing along and the self concept you held of yourself as a prosperous adult homeowner is trashed. "What if I can't trust my own judgement anymore?" The idea that your best thinking landed you in this mess undermines your self confidence which paralyzes you when you have to make yet another critical decision. "Do I stay or do I go now?" The clash is real right now.

The idea of relief in the form of letting go of the precipice and falling onto anything remotely solid is alluring. The idea of letting go of family memories, your pride of ownership, your loss of stature is bruising.

One thing to consider and may console you is this: if you are over 50 you didn't grow up in the age of the internet. You depended on family for fiscal guidance and wisdom. You probably repeated the beliefs and expectations of your family culture and because you were not immersed in information about how the 1% lived, it was okay to have one TV, an old sofa and spaghetti every Family Friday night.

Then came the internet.. Investing was transparent, 401K's for everyone, pressure from the media to invest, to buy homes, to be a full fledged American citizen complete with debt to the hilt. So instead of living within our means we credited up and bought not one house but several. We put money in the stock market and took vacations, because it was expected. Frugal was social leprosy.

Had we stayed naive in our own little community cultures, content with less, we might have actually been happier, ala the cultures in Costa Rica or Columbia.. Very little material wealth, high peace of mind.

But here we are now, aware of fine cigars and fast cars, the ability to stay young and beautiful with enough coin, careless wealth displayed by gold grills on music artists and Mira Lago's over 67,000 sq ft home for the Donald and his 38 year his junior wife. What the hell happened? And we are 114th on the Happiness Index. Go figure.

So we trudge into 2012, (with the Mayan calendar sounding not so bad), and wonder is this the year that things may inch toward happier times?

We know we have an hour glass economy. The Tiffanys and the Walmarts are doing great. The upper crust barely noticed a blip or actually got richer. The 99%, whether they are newly demoted middle class types or the under educated and long bitter bottom of the 99% is disenfranchised. There is no middle anymore. These were the contented folks that poured coffee at Starbucks, delivered our mail, worked at Nordstrom, opened fancy restaurants for the 1% to flaunt their affluence. They had bed and breakfasts, car dealerships, they held us all together, the stitch in the middle that has come unraveled.

So as you ponder your underwater mortgage, your job prospects, keeping the kids in private school, foregoing your annual trip to Hawaii, take heart. You have a lot of company.

I can't say any of this is fun. Working through the broken hearted is awful work. But we will get through it and I find that after the move and the pressure is off and everyone is settled in new surroundings that joy does return. The pleasure in simple things is restored and there is a patina of gratitude that rests nicely on people. There are no U Hauls going to heaven, it's just stuff and when the game is over, all the pieces go back in the box. Embrace simplicity. Look within. Be kind. Do no harm.
And come Jan 1, 2012, you have a nice new white board for your life. Create it carefully and with joy.

America is Falling Behind. Maybe

While China is poised to become the world’s largest economy within a decade, according to some economists, India already has a rising middle class that is larger than the entire US population, says others.
Dire prophesies about the fall of America abound, and they sell books and interviews like moo goo gai pan sells the fortune cookie.

Yes, there has been rapid growth in those two countries, but Americans have not stopped innovating. China and India are moving up, yes, they are rated 94th in GDP and 129th respectively in the CIA’s World Factbook. But China and India lack clean water and access to safe food in many cases where rural communities are filthy compared to the standard of living we enjoy here. Many citizens are subject to horrible working conditions, urban noise, and air pollution. It will take years for the culture of social justice and responsible entrepreneurship to be inculcated into those countries, if at all.

As consumption becomes less and less tolerated, as excess is shunned and the new status symbol is simplicity, those countries may for both cultural and religious reasons choose to act more moderately. What we see as progress they may feel is moral and or social decline. The pursuit of pleasure in the US has reached a borderless state and many believe it's time to reign in pleasure for pleasure's sake and return to more a demure expression of our society. All three economies may undertake a wholly more contained expression.

For many in South and East Asia, the teachings of Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching" still resonates and the ideas of individualism, disruption and innovation are not as deeply embedded in those cultures.

America is unique in that it embraces change, tolerates differences, seeks novelty and creativity. We still boast some of the top universities
in the world.

According to Rob Asghar , Fellow at the University of Southern California's Center on Public Diplomacy , for these countries to "become long term giants, they must become more economically and socially integrated." And to achieve that, "they must be culturally integrated, which means a host of conflicts are on the horizon regarding varying societal views on change, tradition, materialism, social mobility, openness, patronage and so on."

Our biggest threat is our own internal polarization and political dysfunction. The American people are ready and willing to adapt, to protect our country's beauty and re assert our best values. If we could stop worrying about our neighbors and pull ourselves up by our own Birkenstocks or Manolo Blaniks, we would make more progress and lessen our anxiety about the threat of the 'other'.

Limes, Potatoes and Cheese!

All the names of our Santa Cruz County agricultural, industrial and tourist history are on the street signs.

Hames, Moran, Corcoran, Hihn, Rodriguez, Castro, Spreckels, Johans, Neary,Portola, Swanton, and Porter, just to name a few. These are some of the names that brought cattle, sweet potatoes, logging, apple farming, tanning, lime kilns, dairy farms, fishing or tourism to Santa Cruz County.

You can see a beautiful remnant of the lime industry here in Santa Cruz at Fall Creek Park in Felton. The plaster and mortar industry depended heavily on Santa Cruz lime kilns which barged the lime blocks up to San Francisco 75 miles away. The history of the lime industry is fascinating and now the old kilns are covered with moss and ferns and are lovely to see and imagine the workers and the hot fires that transformed the lime.

Sugar Beet farming began in Rio Del Mar

Claus Spreckels was another influential founder. In 1872 he purchased 1,500 acres of what is now Rio Del Mar, Seascape and parts of Aptos by Cathedral Dr. He paid about $81,000. He started with one dollar .

Claus was impacted by the turmoil of Europe growing up in Germany in the early 1930's and so left for the US. He arrived in America with a $1.00 and could speak no English. He found work in a grocery store for $4.00 a month! Yes, $4.00 a month. And he was allowed to sleep in the store. After 4 years he understood the grocery business and opened his own store. Not content with that success, he took the arduous journey to San Francisco and opened another grocery and a brewery! He sold the store for $50,000 and the brewery for $75,000 and found his way into the sugar business.

Would you work for $4.00 a month?

He experimented with the land he bought in Rio Del Mar and grew sugar beets. He built a refinery for the beets at what is now the Capitola Fire Station. The beets were shipped from Soquel Landing, which is now the Capitola Wharf.

Adolf Speckels accused of murdering co founder of the
San Francisco Chronicle

He also utilized and extended the wharf in Aptos, now only visible at low tide and then only the remnants of it, as a violent storm left behind only pieces.. He built a spur from the narrow gauge railroad to the pier in order to back haul redwood lumber to Hawaii.

Claus fathered 13 children but only 5 reached adulthood. They married into the Mangels, Corcoran and Grosse families and built some beautiful homes in the area.

Find out why Claus' son Adolf, was acquitted of a charge of murdering the co founder of the San Francisco Chronicle with whom he was angry!

More to come on

The original Spanish Land Grants offered to only a few powerful families .
There were 16 Ranchos covering the Coast to the mountains.

When the Mexican government began giving the large Ranchos away, they were sold only to a few powerful families with long time ties. Later, the families, over time, sold off or leased pieces of the grants to developer luminaries and visionary farmers or men of industry.

Rancho Agua Puerca y las Trancas, or Dirty Water Rancho was the most northly including Swanton and Davenport.


Rancho Refugio connected the Western limits of the city of Santa Cruz to Davenport.


Rancho Canada del Rincon en el Rio San Lorenzo lay north of present day Santa Cruz along the San Lorenzo River.


Rancho Tres Ojos de Agua, or Three Springs, covered most of today's High Street in Santa Cruz.


Rancho Arroyo del Rodeo covered what is now Live Oak and Soquel.

The Castro Family owned Rancho Soquel, Rancho Aptos and Rancho San Andreas
which covered the coast from Watsonville to Rio Del Mar and Soquel.

The Perils of Pricing Too High

Perils of Pricing Too High
According to data wizard, Peter Krause, "The principle of conformity states that value is created and preserved when a property’s characteristics “conform” to the demands of the market." Does it have a home office? Is the yard sunny and private? Does the home have hardwood floors. These are common attributes that have appeal to a wide swath of buyers in the immediate market.

Peter continues, "Thus, properties found within this price range are well anchored from a value perspective. Properties that lie outside of this range will, to one degree or another, be impacted by their non-conforming status." for example, a location that is near a body shop or a property that has 4 different flooring materials will find that those characteristics will pull the value proposition down.

This is described by the principle of progression/regression and depends on whether the property is inferior or superior to surrounding properties.

While there are many opinions on pricing there is only one set of facts. I will reveal more soon.

So I Drove My Lamborghini To The Open House and...

When Netflix opened at $15.00 a share it was hoping to get the bounce that PayPal got after Pay Pal went public. Netflix definitely made a splash with a price today of $248.66! And what about the LinkedIn money? Priced suspiciously low at $45.00 a share it soared to $109.00 bringing back a gut wrenching memory of the turn of the century tech culture that left us dizzy with stock options. Well, that LinkedIn IPO was a gift to the early investors who promptly got that money out to the economy.

A guy rolled up in his Lamborghini to look at house, a young guy, and he said, "Dude, I don't want to compete with the next IPO at Facebook or whatever, let's buy this house now!" He was flush with LinkedIn money.

In another case, a big wig at a "group discount" type company, is buying his trophy beach house fast before the tech money rolls out and makes competition drive prices from their current ridiculous values. Cash baby, they are all cash.

Let's Talk Cab and Coffee My Ohana!

Sorry to leave you hanging, I was resting my spirit at the base of Yosemite Falls, which was full to flood stage! Incredible sight. But here I am back in the land of red wine and encouraging you to go see Marin Artukovich at MJA Vineyards.

Marin has a wonderful history that involves two of life's finer pleasures, coffee and wine. He farmed coffee on Kona for years and if you go taste his Cabernet Sauvignon he'll share wonderful stories about beans, brains and roasting coffee while he shares his sumptuous wines. Someone called it "vacation in a bottle!"

Marin moved his Napa wine operation to Santa Cruz and teamed up with local Cathy Bentley who had a background in coffee as well. Together with winemaker Mikael Wargin, this trio of colorful personalities preside over both the MJA Vineyards and the tasting room on Ingalls Street in Santa Cruz.

The tasting room at the Ingalls Courtyard, home to Kelly's French Bakery, is open daily noon to 6! You will not find a more friendly tasting room or a better crowd of fun seekers than at MJA. But don't let the conviviality fool you. There are some seriously good Cabs to be had here. Whether you choose Davine Cellars or Serene Cellars label, you are going to love these lush wines.

Marin also produces 2 Sauvignon Blancs and a Pinot Noir that you must try with his chocolate covered coffee beans as a chaser to the red wines.

If you're shy at all about learning about wine, or have trouble asking questions, start your experience at MJA. The friendly, encouraging atmosphere will make it easy to learn or to enjoy some debate whether you are a beginner or a seasoned connoisseur.

Remember, there are 11 wineries on Ingalls Street , park once and enjoy.
PS! I'm headed over to Main Street Garden restaurant to review this very buzzy spot!

All About Santa Cruz Wineries

You don't have to go to Napa, burn gas, pay $300.00 a night for a room to go wine tasting and meet some nice folks. No, no, no my little oenophile!


You can pedal over to the Ingalls Street Courtyard and have a fantastic afternoon and never get in a car!

Located at the top of Santa Cruz just before you head out towards Davenport, turn left on Swift Street and a short distance to Ingalls St where you turn left again. Park the car. And forget about it.


Here you will find over 10 winery tasting rooms, 2 of which I'll talk about here.


Let's start with Silver Mountain Winery. Jerold O'Brien has been producing wine for over 30 years from his vines high atop the Santa Cruz Mountains. His Certified Organic vineyard sits at almost 2100' above the sea with commanding views over the mountains and looking down onto a distant Highway 17! Amongst the clouds, the occasional snow flurries, and the gorgeous sunlight, Jerold's grapes thrive.


Growing tender Pinot grapes is his passion and his wine reflects this commitment. Along side these luscious reds is his crisp Chardonnay. Not overly oaky or loaded with butter, Jerold's Chard is a favorite at the tasting room. The Chardonnay grapes are also grown at the vineyard and are organic.

Members of his very successful wine club stop at the winery to taste as a benefit of membership and enjoy 20% off on all the wine they buy during the year, except of course, Jerold's generously discounted collections, like his Economic Recovery Special, featuring Spencer's Choice Pinot . Spencer is the beautiful blue eyed winery dog who presides over the porch! This velvety elixir is sumptuous and opens in the glass beautifully.


The second Silver Mountain tasting room is located at 402 Ingalls St Suite 29, right next to the Santa Cruz Organic Brewery and is open Thursday through Sunday Noon to 5 ish! If the room is packed , they'll keep pouring! The winery itself is open only Saturday, Noon to 5:00PM and is located about 9 miles up Old San Jose Road, turn right at Miller Hill Cut off.


Next stop is across the courtyard to Sones Cellars. Michael and Lois Sones met at sea on a cruise ship, so the masthead on their label is a nod to that romance!


I love their Cancione Del Mar, or Song of the Sea, a crisp blend of great whites, using Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Torrontes and my beloved Viognier. This blend is redolent of pineapple and pear, soft and yet has a nice slice of mineral, like a ripe apple cut with a carbon knife!


Another fun offering at Sones Cellars is the The Hedgehog. You purchase a special bottle that you can bring in and refill with quality table wine, much as they did in the old days! This is a great red wine and perfect for Friday dinner.


If you haven't visited this chic and lively little corner of Santa Cruz, you need to stop missing the fun! I'll share more tidbits about the other wineries soon! And of course a story on Kelly's French Bakery who started the whole enterprise on Ingalls.



http://sonescellars.com/
http://silvermtn.com/

Good Mood Food for Getting Through a Short Sale

Let's face it, the world is a complex place and just calling the bank can be a hassle when you have to scream "Representative, representative!" 100 times to get the computer voice on the phone to transfer you . Anyone can lose a good mood in a call queue. Here's some foods to consider. Good Mood Food, starting with the Omega Monsters: Salmon, walnuts and canola oil. These babies help your heart, eyes and joints as well as fighting depression. Stock up on flax seed, tuna, trout, sardines, mackerel and anchovies. 2-3 Servings a week. B6 Team: Vitamin B6 aids in the production of serotonin, the feel good brain chemical. It reduces anxiety and mood swings so get at least 3 servings a day of red bell pepper, spinach, potatoes, chicken or nuts. 3 servings a day Group of B12 : Vitamin B12 fights depression and fatigue and is found only in animal foods that may be high in saturated fats. Too avoid that choose skinless chicken breast, low fat cottage cheese, or Greek Yogurt. 2-3 servings a day. Seize the C:Funk fighting serotonin is a neurotransmitter and requires Vitamin C. Red bell peppers, cantaloupe, and strawberries are good sources and have anti aging properties! That should boost your mood! 2 servings a day What's a Serving look like? fish, beef, chicken 3 oz nuts, seeds, oil, dried fruit 1 oz Cereal,leafy greens, dairy 1 Cup Veggies, sliced fruit, juice, oatmeal 1/2 C It's spring! ( I think) So celebrate with some good mood food!

A Good Way To Fail

We are odd creatures about price. When I had a flower shop in Santa Monica, on my first Valentine's Day I thought selling discounted roses would be the way to lots of orders. I answered the phone full of enthusiasm for my discounted humanitarian price that would drive romance to a new high. But a funny thing happened. 2 out of 3 people said "Thanks." and hung up. The next year I tried a different tactic. I used higher quality roses, better vases and silk ribbon. Then I doubled the price from last year. I answered the phone a nervous wreck, choking out the new price with dread. "Here's the address" they all said. Why? Because, they figured, if I was charging more, they must be better and because I was ethical and wanted them to come back next year, they were better. Consider a glass of wine. "How is it?" my friend asks. Well, compared to Chateau Haut Margeaux, not so great. Compared to Two Buck Chuck? Awesome! How do we quantify value? As a real estate business person, our brokerage fees are hard to quantify. If we do a superlative job, shield our client from stress, mask the difficulties, resolve all the discord and present a sale at the end of 45 days of our own hellish labors, they wonder what we did. If we involve them in the drama, offer them sleepless nights participating in the uncertainty of a transaction in this market, or blast the other agent so we look like heroes, they often wonder, "Why am I paying this guy to torture me?" Since homeowners on average sell only once every 6-9 years, they are not selling in the same market in which they experienced the last sale, so all of their expectations will be violated. Unlike going to the cleaners or grocer, which they do weekly, the consumer cannot compare their experiences tangibly and they tend to make choices largely on price of services. Once they realize they have chosen badly, they are in too deep. Our current market is NOTHING like anyone has experienced prior. Please find a full time, constantly re educating, active, engaged real estate business person. This person should also be networked to financial advisers, tax experts, lawyers and estate planners so they pick up on trends, problems and market conditions well ahead of the newspaper or colleagues. In addition they must now stay on top of on line marketing or pay dearly to have a service that provides SMM, RSS, blogging, syndication, hosting, photography, video, hosting, players and links, all so that your home shows up on Google! This all takes drive, and additional time, energy and resources to deliver a better outcome. So you can pay now or pay later, but I say pay for the best and get a superior outcome.

Realtors With Experience Are The Key!

Are you deep into a short sale? Ready to scream? Here are 5 key things to keep in mind: 1. Work only with an experienced Realtor. This industry is wiping out the weak, the lazy, the uneducated and the slackers. It is far too difficult to make a short sale work to risk it on a rookie. Be sure you have an experienced Realtor. Ask the following questions: a. What is Equator? b. How many stages are there in a short sale offer? c. How have you handled the Jr. lien holder previously? d. Please explain the 'investor' stage to me. e. Please explain the language in the Car SS form. If you get vague answers or a deer in the headlights look, excuse yourself immediately. Each bank is different so there is no uniform protocol to getting the short sale done, but each requires the following: 1.A signed purchase agreement by the buyer and the seller. Even if the seller is behind in his loan payments, has a notice of default, or is trying for a loan modification, he is still the owner of record and must agree the sale. 2. A hardship letter that is very detailed and offers the following four parts: 1. What lead to your financial collapse? 2. What sacrifices have you already made? 3. What are the benefits of the short sale? 4. A statement that you are willing to maintain the home. 3. Your last 2 years tax returns 4. Your last 3 bank statements 5. A list of any other assets or a statement that you do not have any. 6. Your agent can provide comparable sales in the neighbor and should write a detailed letter shedding light on the conditions in your neighborhood. 7.A Financial Statement for any period not covered by tax return. It is very important that you separate the elements and label them with a sheet of paper: My Financials, My Tax Returns, Comps, My Hardship etc. The person reviewing your file looks at hundreds of files and is very jaded. And probably tired. You must get them to wake up. A photo is also helpful, even an image of a pencil or a beleaguered person will jolt the attention of the asset manager looking at your file and will make you stand out. This is war, a war of attention. Fortune favors the BOLD! Also, be neat, this sends a message that you are responsible and can complete a goal. They are stocked up on whiners and wimps. GO AFTER IT! And remember, a short sale successfully handled frees you of negative equity, you can re purchase in many cases after two years, and you relieve a lot of stress on your self or your family. Good luck!

What Most Americans Are Missing

Fallan Research and Communications, Inc. discovered that 91% of all homeowners still believe real estate is a good investment. 72% of renters want to own a home.http://www.realtor.org/wps/wcm/connect/4cdb6500463596dc84e7bdce195c5fb4/3_11_Home_Dellivery.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=4cdb6500463596dc84e7bdce195c5fb4 Americans have never been good at planning. While other cultures have traditionally saved more and planned for future generations, our cultural trait of "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" has led us to be a do it yourself culture. But as we have slowed down the pace of our lives and find ourselves taking a hard reflective look at the value of acquisition verses security, we are making changes. Security, while instinctive has not been intellectually embraced. Living Americans have never experienced a war or physical threat to their safety. Apart from the terror of aids in the 80's, no plague or pox has made us think about our destiny. We have enjoyed freedom from worry that burdens many other nations even today. The 'Greatest Generation' that experienced the depression did plan, many have enviable fortunes to pass down, but find their children are spoiled and entitled and have no life skills to manage any form of wealth. But those that still have their thinking caps on, are rethinking the whole thing. Gone are the casual expenditures on the next big flat screen. Maybe a hybrid is not so geeky after all. Do I really need 200 channels of TV for $150.00 a month? What legacy do I want to leave and how much time have I remaining to get it together? Through all of the soul searching and agonizing "if only I'd have...." the dream of home ownership is alive. It is largely a biological drive to own your own shelter. Animals defend their nest courageously, without shelter they die. We have a deep limbic need to feel secure in our nest. Ownership speaks to that drive as well as the highest of Maslow's needs, self actualization. http://www.abraham-maslow.com/m_motivation/Hierarchy_of_Needs.asp Nobody wants a landlord telling the they can't express themselves with a lavender bedroom, or decoupage bathroom door! "Let me be me!" is every renters cry. So having a home expresses both the second of Maslow's needs, Shelter (second only to air,water,sex, and food) and the highest, self actualization. As you think about whether to buy a home or not, remember it is not totally realistic to think only in terms of fiscal sense. You must have shelter. Renting is great when you are young with few assets and responsibilities, but when you are 80 and don't want your kids to put you in a home or hanging out with a lot of other folks with walkers, owning you own home gives you massive control over your destiny. ONLY by buying young and buying smart will you assure yourself of that security. Or, if you have squandered that chance and are over 40 , buy smart and hand the asset to a well informed adult child, and you will have made a legacy for them and for their children. Only by setting that example and talking about the virtue of sacrifice and planning will we save our society from the "me first" thinking that took root in the 80's. By being committed custodians of our assets and thinking more about generational time lines, will we starve out the disposable thinking of many Americans today. If you accept that the new normal may not hold the cavalier expenditures of the past, that life is profound and your responsibility is to model good decisions for your children, nieces, nephews, friends and business relations, you settle into a way of thinking that is more about quality and less about quantity. Shelter, it is a huge concept. It has been a long time since prices and % rates collided to your benefit. Think long and hard about the wealth creation you can gain right now in this historic time. This constellation of conditions may never come again, as this event is a product of globalization. Once the standard of living has equalized around the globe, things will settle again into more predictable patterns and this anomaly will vaporize. The dream is alive, and the means are here to make huge gains. Don't miss it, but expect it to manifest slower than we fast paced Americans prefer.

HAMP and HAFA Offer Real Help to Distressed Homeowners

Don't believe all the negativity in the anecdotal world. The HAMP program, Home Affordable Modification Program from the government has modified 600,000 mortgages and the servicers, or the company collecting on home loans on other programs, has created a look a like program following the HAMP guidelines and have modified over 1.5 million loans.

That is 2.1 million homeowners that have had real help in staying in their homes. The 1.5 million look a likes required no tax payer dollars as well, but would not have happened but for the structure created by HAMP.


HAMP lenders receive an incentive only AFTER a successful short sale closes, or a loan modification is successful. There are many incorrect myths about this process currently.


As recently as Feb 1, 2011 the rules have changed for the better. Until recently, selling your home short of the needed money to pay off the loan could take over 6 months, and often ended in foreclosure if all parties were not communicating effectively or at all. Some of the changes are:



1. A borrower's reason for relocation no longer needs to be connected to employment nor be of a certain distance from the property. Borrowers may have moved up to 12 months prior to certain dates in the HAFA process but may not have purchased another home.


2. Servicers are not required to determine if the borrower's total monthly mortgage payment exceeds 31% of gross income. Borrowers will still be required to show a hardship.


3. Servicers are now required to communicate approval, disapproval, or a counter offer no later than 30 calendar days after receiving an (i) executed sales contract, (ii)Alternative Request for Approval of Short Sale and (iii) a signed Hardship Affidavit.


4. If an unsolicited borrower requests HAFA, the servicer has 30 calendar days to determine the borrower's eligibility and , if eligible, send the borrower the Short Sale Agreement.


5. HAFA will no longer impose a 6% cap on payments to each subordinate mortgage/lien holder. The $6,000 aggregate limit is still in effect.

If you check out this website, www.hopenow.com/questions.php to take a self assessment quiz.


Please do NOT avoid your loan servicer. If you are too distraught, I am happy to call and start the process. The NEW HAFA rules make short sales much more desirable and way less cumbersome. HAFA, Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives program.


Pick up the phone, call me or call your lender if you are in trouble.